Sunday, August 29, 2010

Crazy Long Walk Repeated

With Shawn this time! Shawn got dragged in because he went on for a good many days how easy it was to walk 50 Km and so he pretty much couldn't get out of doing our walk. Fair play to him, despite virtually taking tiny baby steps the last 10km we did, he still wanted to press on till the end. Gina and I were the ones who decided to call it a day. We figured we didn't really have anything to prove. The distance and time we spent walking was pretty damn good, be it 48 or 55 km! That, and the fact, I'm pretty easily impressed with myself so well...

The walk this time around actually wasn't so bad for Gina and I, surprisingly. I think, having done this stupidly long route before, we went in with very low expectations. And as is always the case, when your expectations are really low, chances are you'll end up being pleasantly surprised! Of the route, Gina and I were dreading the bit through NUS (National University of Singapore) but when we actually got through it we agreed it really wasn't all that bad. The brain is a funny thing that is able to skew your perceptions of things. Other than my sore soles, the major issue on the walk hit me about 30 km in when every moment we stopped walking, be it to stretch or rest, my calves would just seize up and cramp. And it'd take a good 10 minutes of walking before they started half functioning again. That being said though, I think I handled this walk a lot better than the last one. So congratulations my two girls for surviving through this again; well done Gina, we went a little further than the last time!; and a giant pat on the back for Shawn on his virgin ultra walk that he survived, aches, pains and all!

I iced my calves before I slept last night, and tried to ice my feet but they hurt too dang much. So today I'm a bit sore, but my poor poor feet are the ones taking the toll of yesterday's walk.

What I did:
Friday: Swam 600m in 16:47 minutes
Yesterday: Walked 48K in 14 hours 50 minutes

Friday, August 27, 2010

One Step Forward, One Step Back

Pretty much means I have made zero progress running-wise. I went for a 2.5k run again yesterday and I lasted about 1.7k before I had to stop and walk because my side stitches just refused to let up. I did walked about 300m before I got back into a sad painful little run back home. So the run was better than the last one but worse than the first run. I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad. Mainly I just feel a bit blah. I guess after the first run, I expected to be flying and breezing through my runs, but it seems like I'm just hobbling through them, constantly plagued by stupid side stitches. Nonetheless, the upside is I did last a lot longer, side-stitch and all, than the last run, so in that sense things do look like they're going the right way. As for the first run I'll just treat that as a fluke. If only all runs could be like that run!

Finished off everything with 2 thirty-second planks, 20 crunches, 10 reverse crunches, 10 scissor crunches (or whatever they're called) and 10 sit-ups. Obviously my stomach muscles are aching today, would I dare to expect anything less?

What I did yesterday:
2.5k in 19:54 mins (Average speed: 7:55 min/km)
2 thirty-second planks, 20 crunches, 10 reverse crunches, 10 scissor crunches (or whatever they're called) and 10 sit-ups

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Zero Exercise and A Bunch of Junk Food Later

I'm feeling bad. Very very guilty. Tonight I go for my sad little 2.5K run again and hope that I won't die from it. Tomorrow I go for a 1.2k swim and hope that I won't die from it. And on Saturday, Gina, Rachel, Shawn (who got suckered into this) attempt our 55K walk again...and hope that I won't die from it. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

More Update on My Bowel Movements

Still crapping/leaking oil out my ass. Am really beginning to wish I didn't have the dang white tuna. 5 sashimi slices...that was it...and here I am paying for that 'indulgence'. Hopefully all will be well tomorrow. I have big plans to go for swim training and I'm not sure I really want to whilst I have this embarrassing situation on my hands. So...this serves as a word of warning...avoid white tuna/escolar/butterfish/whatever the hell else it's called with your life! Well unless you feel a great need to experience the joy of oily poops. Consider yourself warned! Let's pray that this is the end of my poop stories for now!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Is there such a thing as over exercise? - My Mad Weekend and A Short Story on Poop

This weekend I went a bit mad. How mad? Well, listen on...I started off Saturday morning rather dehydrated. I'd been out for dinner the night before and we had some wine - also I didn't think to drink loads of water before I slept. So my attempt to do a 2.5k run was pretty much shot down when I had a stitch barely 100m into the run. I pretty much walked the rest of the way. How could I have gone on last week about how great running was only to have it come back and bite me in the ass?

After my rather pathetic run, I headed off for Pilates. This weekend Karrie's off on a course so Theresa took her class. It was mad hard. It's usually mad hard as it is, but I guess I arrived late and didn't have any time to warm up so it was pretty darn rough.

So, still on Saturday activities...after Pilates I went on to Muay Thai and Robert was taking the class. It's almost like everything was meant to be tough that day. Muay Thai completely kicked my ass. Robert went through a whole bunch of speed drills...NOT.FUN. I could barely feel my arms after. When I tried to send a text to a friend on my phone after my hands were shaking. Yup, I did feel kind of pathetic.

Had myself a ramen and sent my bike to the bike shop to get it sorted. I realised how dense I was. I didn't know I had to pump my tyres regularly, so essentially I was cycling on them flat...which meant I had to get both inner tubings changed since I probably wrecked them. I informed them that my gears were sticking and they told me my chain wasn't lubricated...I was all 'er...we have to lubricate it?!?' Well, they lubricated it and cleaned it up for me...it was filthy! And I felt ashamed. Almost like you invited a friend to your house and forgot to clean it up when they arrived. Sigh.....

So that was Saturday. I was completely exhausted when I was done with the day. Although still had time to meet D for dinner and drinks. Next thing I know, it's 2am, I had a bike ride planned for the next day and I was very aware that I was going to regret playing till so late.

Sunday, sure enough, I regretted not sleeping earlier and not hydrating myself properly. I kept pushing our bike ride till later and by the time we actually met up it was almost 11am and it was bleeding hot. We cycled from the hawker centre to the start of Changi Beach and back wherein Gina managed to crash into a lamp post and screwed up her front tyre...which resulted in a grueling ride for her all the way back to the Windsurfing Club before a good samaritan there helped her do a temporary fix on it so she wouldn't die the last 2.5k back to the hawker centre. The great part about working so hard and sweating everything out has to be the guilt-free pigging out you can do after. And believe you me, Gina and I pigged out!

That was my big weekend. I went a bit mad and I did ache kind of crazily after, but well it's been a while since I've ached so much and masochistic as it sounds, I took a sick pleasure in aching that much. Plus I had the best sleep ever on Sunday night so I'm not complaining. What I will complain about though is this lovely welt-rings I have around my thighs I suspect because I'm allergic to the material they stick at the bottom of your bike shorts to prevent them from running up. Very very sexy welts. Sigh.

On a completely random note, today I crapped oil. I thought I had some medical problem and was dying before I thought to google 'sh*tting oil' - yes Google is my best friend and I google every damn thing. It actually makes me feel good when I feel something completely random and you find other souls out there who are going through the same thing. Anyway, long story short after piecing together different information from different sites, the cause for my oil crapping today was....wait for it....white tuna. You'd think they'd warn you this might happen when you order white tuna sashimi. NOT.FUN.AT.ALL.

What I did over the weekend:

Saturday:
2.5k run in 20:29 mins (Avg speed: 8:11 min/km)
50 mins pilates
1 hr Muay Thai

Sunday:
26k bike ride

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Long Swim

After my run on Monday, I was a bit lazy on Tuesday and skipped swim training. I was originally supposed to go for spin classes but once again it was all booked up. (I hate my gym!). So yesterday, because I was feeling guilty for not doing anything on Tuesday, I decided to head to the pool at home and go for a long swim - or at least, long by my standards.

Originally planned to do 20 laps in the pool non-stop, but that plan got changed to 4 sets of 300m instead. I don't really like my new goggles. Water somehow keeps getting in from goodness knows where and it keeps fogging up. Anyway, being ever prepared for this situation, I bought another pair of goggles with this pair, so hopefully those fit better. It's just so dang hard to try on a pair of goggles when you're not in a pool. How would I know how good they are if there's no water around when I'm trying them! Gah...oh well...

Today my legs still ache from my run and there is a very very slight bit of soreness from my swim. Overall though, I think I'm set for another 2.5k run tomorrow! HUGE goals I set for myself!

What I did:
4 x 300m: 33:56mins

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Running and the Aftermath

After days and weeks and months of not running, I finally hit the streets on Monday. Originally I planned to go for spin class, but lately it's been impossible to book the dang class and every time I walk in it's full up....which is a real pain....The silver lining of course is that because I was all psyched up to do something, I felt inspired to hunt down my now dusty runners, my mp3 player and my good running attitude (that was hidden under cobwebs and other crap)...

It was a pleasant surprise to find the first 1km a breeze and very enjoyable. I haven't run in so long that every time I talk about it it winds up sounding like I hate running. The truth is I do dislike a lot of it immensely, but there are good moments and this first km was one of those moments. As always, my stitch set in pretty much after I was basking in the joy that is running and proceeded to get progressively worse as I went along. Still 2.5k down I was tired, sweaty and friends once more with running. Yes, that's all I did. And two days later I'm still aching. Sad, but true.

What I've done:
Saturday: 1hr Pilates
Monday: 2.5k run in 17:34 mins (Avg speed: 7:01 min/km)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Happy Birthday Singapore

Well, a belated one. So this weekend we had Monday off. I did nothing except a pilates class. It's kind of a crappy time for me and frankly I really look forward to the day I look back on all this and think I'm being a drama queen. In the meantime I'm just feeling out of sorts and numb down to my insides. I miss being happy.

What I did:
Last Thursday: Swim training - First time doing interval training...I wanted to die (2.2k)

Last Saturday: Pilates 1 hr

Monday, August 2, 2010

Hello Muay Thai My Old Friend

It's been ages and ages and ages since I've gone for my last MT class. In fact I think the last time I went for MT was when Keith was in town. And Keith was in town in January I think. I also remember getting stomach flu that last time. This Friday that went by wasn't so bad. Well wasn't so bad in that I didn't get stomach flu. But it was still one of those 'This is what it's like to be tortured' sessions. Granted I'm sure I've had harder classes, but with my fitness level close to zero, my general unhealthy lifestyle (I think I actually had a fried chicken wing every day for that week...gross yes) and the fact that I was still aching from my swim training the night before, it still felt pretty rough. BUT despite the voices in my head screaming 'I want to die' almost all the session, it felt pretty good that I was still standing at the end of it all.

Well obviously the next day I ached all over, but I haven't had these aches in ages and it made me feel pretty good about myself. Especially since I went for a whole bunch of drinks after MT. My weekend was just spent lazing. Had myself a girly Saturday where I went for a 1 hour back massage, followed by a manicure and a facial (yeah, I don't usually go for facials...in fact I've only been for at most 2 in my entire life)...Life's been rough these past few days, but the pampering and my ability to do my sport again has helped a lot.

What I've done:
Friday: 1 hour of Muay Thai