Kids Tribob Duathlon

A family outing in the morning yesterday. Was there to cheer my kids on their 2nd duathlon for the year. They were severely handicapped like the 1st race. Bike can only go as fast as their fixie will allow them. Again. But the red faced kids were fun to look at. Suffering not on my end but theirs! Nice! :P

***

Saturday saw the early morning rain wash out any possibilities of riding. Decided to have breakfast with my wife after dropping kids for their enrichment classes. Started my bike session just before noon. That only meant that I could not hit the 200km that I planned to and in the end did 120km only. It was nothing of high intensity considering that I had some residual fatigue in me and also had to hold back because of the prescribed 32km run on Sunday.

From this ride, I realised that eating up after the session was very important. I felt faintish after the ride despite having nailed my nutrition on the bike. Missing lunch could have contributed to it and perhaps not carbing up for the week could have been a factor as well. Because all fainting spells were gone after I ate up a double portion of spaghetti.

The run was suppose to be my last big one before I break for reservist. But instead of my usual route of 32km, I decided to run to my parents' place and have my dinner there. Huge mistake. It turned out to be the hardest 32km run I had to do in a training session. I had to keep climbing slopes for a good 7km of the route. I got to the last 4.5km and I decided to turn into the track to finish up the rest of the mileage. I was just too trashed to do any more slopes. The body was feeling too weak already.

To make things worse, the GPS did not compute the laps accurately and I did almost 33km. And that took me 3:27. Way way off the mark of 5:40 pace that Coach had tasked me to do. Will live to see another day.

LOOK Keo Power Pedals

LOOK (pun intended) at the review here. Could this be the future of powermeters as well? Many considerations though. I have heard of how fragile LOOK pedals are because of the presence of play at the spindle. And with the strain gauge at the spindle, will there be a compromise in structure? Just a perspective from a layman, nothing scientific. The pedal is probably the part that is most ill treated in the whole bike besides the tyres. Clip in and out all the time, used as a bike stand against the kerb, 1st part to hit the ground if bike topples sideways? And if you think that its going to be cheap because it is so small, think again. 1600-1800 euros! That is more than the price of the Quarq.


However with another competitor, with the market dominated by upmarket SRM and Quarq, midmarket Cycleops and the low end iBike (which I use), this may be good for end users. Perhaps the price of these equipment will feel the heat and reduce its prices in due time and made more affordable to a bigger market segment in the cycling industry.

***

Bollocks! I have to miss JP Morgan because of work commitment. Irony is that this was suppose to be corporate race. Afraid there will be no choice. It will be the 2nd DNS for this year! But with 1 DNS, I have compensated by registering for 5km Open Water Swim at East Coast in July (and I signed up for Newton 30km over the weekend).


I will have 1.5years to train for IMWA 2012 after Cairns. No letting up. Hopefully to do an 11 hour race then? Very, very ambitious I must admit but will work on the bike as well as run. I dont think my swim can go down much further. Even if it does, it will be too small and may not be significant for the whole race.


And in 2013, perhaps Norseman. IF I can get a slot. Otherwise it will be back to June/December races again. Am hoping that I can mark my 5th ironman chase with the toughest IM in the world. And yes, the target will be the black tee.


Lets see how things turn out. A plan can only be just that, a plan. There are still too many variables in life. Uncertain variables.

Tired Week

Hectic season has come to pass and gone with the wind. Could finally breathe in huge sigh of relief. Spent the week trying to convince my wife to go with me to Annapurna on a 50km trail run cum holiday but she had flatly turned it down. It was suppose to be a trip without the kids.


On hindsight, it probably would not make much sense to get to Pokhara if we dont get out of town to trek? Unless we go there just to enjoy the slow moving lifestyle, low cost of living and appreciate a different culture and lifestyle we wont get to see in Singapore. I think the run includes going up Poon Hill where there is a magnificent showcase of the Himalayans at dawn. Have wanted to go back to trek in Nepal again but the very thought was snubbed out by The Wife so many times. No choice but to put a pin in that thought.

***

The press had loads to debate on various local issues. One of which was a picture of a army boy who had his backpack carried by his domestic helper. And the other was the fielding of a 27 year old (or young) politician for the coming elections.


Of course with the above picture, sparked off a furore of doctored pictures on the internet related to the domestic helper, just to spite the young soldier. To what extent should we as parents pamper our children? I know I dont. At least not in terms of simple things like carrying their own burden. When my girls started school, they were already carrying their own bags, despite them being big and bulky. Has the growth in wealth, led to a new generation of youths who are probably a far cry from their forefathers who could take in the hard knocks of life? Or is the new generation expected to be performing at a different level of competence that do not require such lifeskills any more? Is the old school of upbringing passe or are they still relevant in the current knowledge base economy? The evolution has taken for a turn. I suppose we can only find out the impact of this in another decade or 2. Hopefully the change is for the better of the society. Although frankly, I personally doubt it. Perhaps not all are in this state, but quite a handful I am sure. Being in schools, I have seen quite a fair number of students heading in this direction of over sheltered nature. And the "I, me and myself" mindset.

***

The week had passed so fast. Soon it will be reservist time. Was hoping to intensify sessions before the 2 weeks break from everything but the body just refuse to budge. Some of the guys chipped in to buy a clock for Monday's swim session. Before I could offer to contribute, Dion said that it was fully paid for already. Clock was useful in timing the rest period as well as the intervals between swimmers. Useful but not sure if the price tag was well worth it. $490!


Tuesday's lone interval session didnt turn out too well. Did a 7:10 1.6km, 15:04 3.2km, 2 sets of 800m in 3:34 and 3:27. All sets were over what Coach had prescribed. I am still not in tune with doing quick sets without looking at 400m lap splits. The inability to gauge my speed was probably largely due to unaccustomed to faster pace runs. And on top of that, I was doing intervals alone. I miss the heart thumping sessions with Andrew and the MR25 runners. And I miss the opportunity to train with people who would serve as a motivation and provide the social interaction as well.


As the week progressed, the fatigue slowly ate me up. The bike ride was suppose to be 85km, mostly to serve as a reduction of workload. Really, the sets were not all that tough. But after the ride I just did not feel like doing the 4km run. And I gave in.


Thursday got slightly better. Somehow this felt like some sinusoidal curve. Up and down throughout the week. Did 6km tempo run but instead of 5min/km, completed in 28:30, which worked out to be 4:45 pace. Pretty decent because I know I could have gone on beyond the 6km quite comfortably. Maybe even 10 if I had dug in slightly. So 5min pace is comfortable over 10km. This bit is comforting.


This morning was a day off from work. Did my swim sets after dropping my kids to school. 1km time trial in 17:26, hitting under 1:45 for most laps. Thereafter completed 10 x 50m on the 55s. 3 x 200 in really tired times of 3:27, 3:35 and 3:37. Notice the drop again. Final sets of 3 x 100m all under 1:45.


Hopefully tomorrow's 200km bike session will be fine. Will try to carb up more and rest more tonight. Maybe it was all due to sleep depravation. Been going into the sessions feeling sleepy and tired. Havent had a chance to do my short naps before the sessions. Hopefully that could be a contributing factor. 70.3 fatigue should be gone after more than a week. That shouldnt be used as an excuse any more. Just got to perk up the mind!