Sick

Bah, I'm on the brink of a flu and I've been fighting it for almost a week now. What with multi-vitamins, lots of water, tons of rest...in fact I haven't run since last week...although that probably is more due to laziness than illness. Despite my efforts I'm having a persistent cough that wouldn't go away. Hopefully if I keep up the rest, water and vitamin intake, I'll be feeling 100% by next week and I'll have no excuse to not run!

I miss waking up bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Back to Being Lazy

Wow....I haven't run since last week's pathetic 4k run. So that's like 5 days (except for the 1.5 hours of windsurfing on Saturday...which to me is more fun than exercise) of laziness. Don't I feel guilty now...

Cuts, Scrapes, Bruises and One Wrecked Sail

My poor sail is with the Windsurfing Doctor this week because I managed to make two huge holes in two separate panels. So RM is going to get it all fixed up for me and hopefully I'm good to go next weekend.

I tried using the harness on Saturday and it was well, weird. I get the whole, 'your arms will be less tired, you're using your body weight' argument, but firstly, I kind of like my arms being tired and secondly, being hooked onto the sail just means if I let go of my sail because of whatever reason, the darn thing pulls me along with it and I wind up landing on my sail, looking completely stupid and putting rips and tears into it.

But being me, I don't like knowing that I suck at anything (which is probably why at some point of time, I'll probably be heading back to complete my dive course). So I'm sure I'll be back next Saturday, harness and all, putting new holes in my sail and more. L's going to look at my rig next week and I might be on my way to buying a new sail! I hope to God it's a lot lighter than my current sail!

What I did over the weekend:
Saturday: Windsurfed for 1.5 hours

All About Fish

Long time ago, I mentioned that I had too much body fat and was trying to eat a bit more healthily. I can't remember if that's actually what I wrote, but in my head I knew I had to start eating more healthy.

Since that entry, I've made only a half-hearted effort at eating healthy. The moment I started running 7k and upwards, I convinced myself I could eat anything. So I've been eating all kinds of junk - McDonalds for breakfast, curry for lunch, fries in the afternoon and the list goes on...

This week, I decided to make some effort to eat a bit healthier and have more fish. Fish to me is the miracle food group. Every other runner goes on about having more carbs, but I'm more about the fish. There are so many health benefits in fish and it tastes oh so yummy when it's cooked just right.

So, my fish intake this week has been as follows:

Monday: Asian Grilled Salmon with buttered bismati rice and stir fry vegetables
The recipe for the salmon is here and this time around I went easy on the sugar, so the fish turned out just nice. Tasty and healthy.

Tuesday: Grilled Sanma with Curry Udon
Sanma is one of my favourite fishes. I know it's strange, but it tastes soooo Japanese. And it's so easy to make, just season with salt and pepper and chuck it on the grill. The curry udon was a bit on the dodgy side though. Coupled with the fact that my sister completely overcooked the udon and added too much water to the curry, the whole thing just tasted like it was choke full of MSG.

Didn't do fish on Wednesday

Thursday: Grilled Italian Sea Bass fillet with Herb Butter
I didn't cook this. One of my close guy friends and I went on one of our dinner dates at this lovely Italian restaurant on Bukit Timah called Casa Roma and they served a really mean fish dish. My dinner date had a lovely squid ink pasta with prawns in white wine sauce. It was a kick ass dinner!

SO that's my fish roundup for the week!

I Suck at Running

I do. 10 seconds into the run, I was exhausted. Yes, TEN.WHOLE.SECONDS. It was pathetic. I bumped into a friend midway through the run, so I had to look lively for a good 5 minutes after (you know, one always has to give the impression that one's at the peak of their fitness....it's an ego thing and I'll be the first to admit to that).

I think because I haven't been running enough lately, my legs have forgotten how to run. And I'm back to starting off too fast. And not drinking enough water through the course of the day.

So today my legs don't feel good. After spin class on Wednesday and last night's run, I think I should just give my tired feet a wee break. And I know I didn't run all that far yesterday, but well....WHATEVER....I think I've been pretty darn good this week with the swimming, cycling and running...ooh, I can probably take part in a triathlon after this...but like a really really short one

What I did last night:
Ran: 4k in 29:10

Back Spinning

Whoa, crotch burn!!!!

I went back to spin classes last night and I have to say I enjoyed this class a bit more than the Monday classes. The lady was more attentive and didn't let anyone slack off. On top of that when she was leading the class on her bike and somehow no matter how much I felt like dying it was nice knowing that she was as drenched in sweat as I was. The guy on the Monday class just seems to shout a lot and the only reason he was sweaty was probably only because he was so into his shouting.

I think I might start going for these Wednesday classes from now on, which means I've got to play around with my schedule.

What I did last night:
Spin classes for 1 hour

The Non-Run

I did swim though!

By the time I got home yesterday, I was just too lazy and hot to do any running. I think this is why I prefer incorporating my run into my journey home. I don't feel I'm wasting more time running after I've taken an hour to get home. Did I say 'wasting time'? Sacrilege! But yes, when it's half seven and I haven't had dinner, the thought of a one hour run isn't all that welcome.

All the same, I did swim 15 laps in the pool and didn't pick up a neck ache for a change, so I did do some sort of exercise!

What I did last evening:
Swam 15 laps in 1/2 hour (I think, I kind of only half checked the time)

I Must Run Today

I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today I must run today

My chant for the moment because I'm getting really sleepy.

A Weekend of Wind...NOT

This weekend I decided to get back windsurfing. I've actually managed to morph into the kind of windsurfer (if I can even qualify for such a term) I used to hate. I go all the way to the club nowadays to sit around drinking and barely touching my precious board and sail.

I made a change this weekend. I went down to the club on Saturday and went out for about a half hour or so...and realised because I have been so out of touch with windsurfing, I couldn't remember half of what used to come somewhat naturally to me. The sail felt heavy, my toes hurt from gripping the board and when I woke up on Sunday, everything thing waist up that could ache, ached.

But being super motivated meant I dragged my ass down to the club on Sunday and went out and died. I spent five minutes shooting out and the rest of the time struggling to get back to the bay I set off from. The current was too strong, the wind too light and wee old me was not a happy bunny.

Needless to say, the aches from the weekend are more painful today. Yet in a sick way, I rather like having them. Makes me feel like I'm doing something at least.

What I did this weekend:
Saturday: 1/2 hour of windsurfing
Sunday: 1/2 hour of windsurfing

And yes, I do recognise how pathetic it is that I'm sore all over from a mere 1 hour of windsurfing this entire weekend.

Last note:
I watched Tropic Thunder on Sunday night and it kicks ass! One of the funniest films this year!

Trippin' on Guilt

I'm supposed to run tonight. I probably won't be going to do that because I went out last night for my monthly alumni drinks and as usual I ended up staying till the bar shut and they kicked us out. I'm tired, I probably still have a blood alchohol level that's waaaaay too high and mainly I'm just too darn lazy.

I'm going to go home tonight and try and get some much needed sleep as well as catch up on the latest episode of Heroes. I actually know what's going to happen in that episode because I had no self control and went to read up on it on heroeswiki. I'm a nerd like that.

What I did yesterday:
Drink....aaargh, I feel sooooo guilty!

Bad Run

Yesterday's run was really crap. I've no idea why my legs were aching, but they've been aching since my trip to Dayang. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the squatting toilets, but I digress.

The moment I started on the run I knew it was going to be a lousy one. Everything hurt, I was hot, I felt tired and I just wasn't in a mood to run. But because I was all changed in my running clothes, it seemed a bit lame to hop into a cab and ride home. I had to at least make some effort to sweat a little.

I sweated buckets and I managed to pick up my least favourite side-stitch, the one that aches around the ribcage area. My run ended then, and I grabbed a cab home. All in, it was a disappointing and crummy run. But this isn't my first lousy run, and I'm sure I'll have many more like these to come. So I'll just write it off as a bad day.

Meanwhile, I really really need to fit some sleep in my schedule. I haven't had enough sleep since last Wednesday and I'm building up a giant sleep debt.

What I did yesterday:
Ran 4k in 28 minutes

Open Waters - Pulau Dayang

(warning, this is a real long one)


What a complete failure! I am officially a dive drop-out. I went for the first shallow dive and decided to give up altogether, so the dive trip became a beach holiday for me. Let's start from the beginning:

After travelling for 4 hours on a bus and another 3.5 hours on a boat, our whole dive group got to Dayang at 4am in the morning. Barely 4 hours of sleep later, we were woken up and the bunch of us drowsily trooped off to wash up and have our breakfast.

In the first dive we were supposed to run through the drills
1. ditch and don the mask,
2. ditch and don the BC,
3. ditch and don the weight belt
4. ditch and don the regulator

The first dive was the most shallow dive (well, from what I heard, since I only went for just the one) and round about when I reached the bottom, I had a massive headache and my breakfast was more or less ready to come flying out of my stomach. In my defence, I managed to tolerate this general queasiness for quite a while, but when I was going through the 'BC ditch and don' drill, I stuck my hand through the wrong hole and then things started getting bad. Subconsciously I kept finning, which meant I was slowly shooting upwards. Just before I hit the surface I realised I was too high, so I stopped finning and sunk down. When I tried yanking my hand out of the wrong hole again, I subconsciously started finning again...essentially I was shooting up and down for all of 6m. Needless to say, if I was feeling sick before, after that bouncing up and down in the water, my breakfast was ready to be unleashed. I signalled to the instructor that I had to go up and up I went.

I know everyone's going to go on about how it's so beautiful under water and that there are so many different kinds of fish, but frankly the sea is just a big seafood menu to me, when I see any sea creature, I think of how best to cook them, and I end up getting mighty hungry at the end of any trip to the aquarium. Fish just don't interest me all that much.

So I spent a lot of the time this weekend alone chilling by the beach. Thank goodness the beach was lovely. Powdery sand, clear blue waters...Saturday was a beautiful day, so I spent it swimming, sitting in the sun and just being lazy. At night, I watched more football than I ever watched because there really isn't much else to do. Not that I'm complaining. I'm all caught up on football now so I can go back to neglecting it for another month.

In all, despite not diving (which was why I went to this wee little island in the first place) I rather enjoyed this weekend. I made wonderful new friends and I had a lovely time sitting around really, really relaxing and not having a care in my mind. I wish the living conditions had been a bit more 'tourist friendly' though. I didn't feel clean my entire time in Dayang, and sleeping with a sleeping bag on the bed, is not my perfect way to be resting. All that aside though, I'd give this holiday a 7 out of 10, simply because I haven't had a beach holiday in such a long time.

Just a Little Bit Further (My Longest Run So Far)

Yesterday I did my longest run and about 20 times along the way, it almost turned into a short run. But by some strange rare determination that descended on me, I made it all the way to 1k from my place and walked the 1k in.

I was an idiot really. At half 4 in the afternoon I got hungry and went down and bought me a bowl of noodles. Real bright of me. Because I was just burping noodles the entire way home (I know this is in the 'too much information' territory) and it was not fun.

It's been really humid lately as well. With the monsoon season coming upon us, it's been raining on and off...which is fine, however, in between the rainy parts of the day, the air is still and muggy, which makes running just that bit more uncomfortable.

After all the running, I went out to meet K for drinks. One always has to gain back the calories they lose running, so I did my share of 'gaining'.

What I did last night:
Ran 10.48k in 1hr 19 minutes

A Slow and Steady Run

After a whole week of booze, rich food and utter sloth, the guilt finally hit me last night. I brought my backpack and running gear into work yesterday morning, but it was mostly just a meaningless gesture to make me feel like I was making an effort when I expected to be out boozing after work. However when work drinks got cancelled last night, I ran out of excuses to slack off further so finally(!) after one whole week of laziness the roads of Singapore found me once more.

Despite having had curry for lunch again (like I said, I didn't actually think I'd be doing any running), the run was actually alright. It was insanely humid last evening, so that was a bit uncomfortable but otherwise, yesterday's sloooow run was just another one of those uneventful runs. I had a side stitch midway through but that disappeared on its own after a couple of minutes. All in all, I have nothing really much of value to report on the run.

Next up, I'm planning to do a long (by my standards) one on Wednesday since I'll be off on my open waters dive this weekend with the lovely Ms T.

What I did last night:
Ran 4.5k in 32:26 mins

One Giant Wasted Weekend

I achieved absolutely nothing this weekend at all. For that matter, I don't believe I achieved anything the whole week that went by. In fact it's not a matter of believing or not, I officially declare that my entire last week was spent eating a whole lot of junk, drinking a whole bunch of alcohol and doing not a whole deal. Nonetheless, I've had my week of rest and relaxation and now it's time to get my lazy ass off the couch and back on the streets again. G is trying to convince me to do a Biathlon in February and I probably need to get what little training I can get in before that.

What I did the entire weekend:

Sat around at the windsurfing club drinking a lot of JD Cokes and doing absolutely no windsurfing