Tuesday, September 20, 2011

One Weekend, Two Runs

And I even squeezed in a swim in between. Okay, the runs were pretty lame distances, but well....baby steps.

I did a miserable 4k run on Saturday before my power boat practical class and I started way too late on in the day. Despite the fact that 9.30am to me is pretty damn early, it is just too darn hot to run any distance. I was supposed to do 6k and at 3k I pretty much slowed down to a trot and called it a day after taking the short cut home. Then I did a few crunches to make myself feel better about life and my fitness level. It is actually rather sad that I constantly feel this need to justify my laziness to myself.

I spend Sunday eating way too much and lazing all afternoon. I did get some reading done ('One Hundred Years of Solitude' has to be one of the most confusing books I've ever read - every next person is called Aureliano or Jose Arcadio!) at Starbucks and was going to nap at home when I finally decided to just get my act together and just do a swim or a run or anything. I ended up putting in 360m in the pool and another 2.5k on the road. It was a lot less miserable. Which brings me to the conclusion that I can't do sport in the morning. I will still struggle to try and wake up early enough, but frankly it ain't happening for me!

What I did

Saturday: 4k run in 30:04 mins

Sunday:
360m swim
2.5k run in 16:31 mins

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Old Bag of Bones

Yesterday was the start of my 12-week training for the half marathon I'm doing at the end of the year.



It did not go well. I was tired, my legs felt wonky and my system was all "what the hell do you think you're doing?!?!" It wasn't very fun. Only thing going for me were some awesome songs that I've not been listening to while on my running hiatus.

Today, my poor right knee is aching and my thighs are shot. My ankle hurts too. Everything starts falling apart in your 30s and I can finally acknowledge I'm no spring chicken!

What I did:
Ran 5km in 35:44mins

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Mega Tri Race Report



Well, technically it's just a race report on the swim leg since I did this as a relay with two other speedy girls. (Go Team Short Fart!)

I thought it was a good race - well organised and all. But really I was in it for all of half an hour and I was pretty much limited to the sea where I couldn't really have a conversation with any volunteer or race organiser, so what do I know!

I did like that it was at Changi Beach and not East Coast Park. I actually am getting tired of everything being at East Coast Park. I get that we're a small country, but it's so darn boring having every other race - triathlon or running - start there.

Anyway, I digress. I had packed all my stuff the night before, so when I woke up at 5.30am, I could hit the snooze button on the alarm and be in half-slumber for a while. I was out the door by 6.15am with my bike strapped onto the car. I figured parking was going to be a pain, so I had the bright plan of parking a ways down and cycling to the race start. Of course once I got there, I had to beg the guys at the bag drop to treat my bike as a bag and let me store it with them. And to their credit, they actually allowed me to do that!

It was one of those drizzly mornings, which meant the sea was getting choppier. As I was there a good hour before my wave, I had to kill a lot of time by wandering around the area. Had my banana, drank some water and then warmed up with 20 minutes to go.

The swim itself went pretty well. My swim coach (Coach Alain) told me to flank the swimmers instead of ending up right smack in the middle and getting a foot in my face, so I did. I think if I hadn't been sick and started training a lot earlier I would have felt better about the race, but as it turns out, it wasn't altogether a bad race. I was comfortable mostly, although panicked a bit half way (I only panicked because I couldn't see anyone in front of me for miles so I thought I was dead dead last). I want to work on the gliding technique Coach Alain taught me because I found that that helped sometimes. And obviously his 'four strokes between breaths' advice flew out the window pretty much 30 seconds into the swim. I kind of expected that.

When I finished off, I had to trudge through the shallow end of the beach and some guy overtook me (I maintain I swam faster still) and clocked in a split second better than me...dammit. I overtook him when he went he was strolling to the relay area with his cup of water (how weak!) and ran past him towards speedy Nat who was doing the bike leg to pass her the timing chip. Then, and only then, did I get my drink. I was pretty pooped by then, so I flaked out on the rest of my team by hopping on my bike, cycling back to the car and then driving home to sleep.



Results: 1km in 23:23mins

Turns out I actually did better than expected. I'd been steadily getting about 29-30 mins or so for my swims at the pool so I would have been satisfied finishing in 25 minutes. I'm not complaining about my time, but dang there are some fishes out there. The fastest swimmer in the relay category did 1k in 17:07 mins! That's insane!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Back in the Pool

Here's what's happened since my last post:

1. I did a walk with a friend, B. Same route Rich and I took the last time, but it was nice introducing it to someone else.

2. Went to Hua Hin for the Jazz Festival and it was pretty good fun. Not as many international acts as I had expected, but my favourite bit of the Festival was this awesome ‘face-off’ improv bit between the bassist and the drummer. Very good. Also somehow for a free concert, I thought it was better run than many of Singapore’s outdoor concerts. A lot less contrived somehow. But mainly Hua Hin is my new favourite place and I got to meet up with my good friend, T, in Bangkok as well!

3. Singapore has a new President (not so new now, since this is 5 days after the event)!

4. I went to Universal Studios in Singapore finally! I think the one in LA is better, but this is much, much better than Hong Kong Disney! And I might have rediscovered my love for roller-coasters. Well, maybe not ‘love’, but somewhere in that region. I stuffed my face with all sorts of junk food, which really what going to an amusement park is all about. Not too smart before you take a roller-coaster that constantly spins you around though!

5. I finally got into the pool again. I swam 600m on Tuesday and 1k 20m (sorry 30m pool so distances are weird). I ache now. Swim training tonight. I’ll probably ache more tomorrow. See what happens when you leave everything to the last minute?