The 10k Challenge

Fish Burps and other Weird Running Things I've Discovered

2011-11-24T14:29:00.001+08:00

1. I’m glad that I’m only doing the halfie and not a full marathon because I’ve pretty much run out of detours to make to get home. Also, I realise my ‘ultimate running playlist’ doesn’t last for all that long. Plus, around the 16k mark is when my bag’s jostling against my neck starts becoming unbearable.

2. Having a filling sushi meal before a long run gives you fishy burps and it lasts the entire run. And it isn’t pleasant. The thing is I actually know all this because I’ve stupidly done it before, but apparently I’m not smart enough to learn from my mistakes.

3. I sing when I run. Well mostly I mouth out words of songs, but if ever I’m feeling out of it and there’s no one around I sometimes belt out the chorus of a song. Obviously I run out of breath really quickly and then regret doing that. I also regret it when sometimes I don’t do a good enough check and realise there are actually people near me. There actually is a good reason why I sing/mouth words whilst running: I find it helps me run through a stitch. I wish there was some scientific way to explain this, but there isn’t. It just works for me. So if someday you’re in a car and you drive by a crazy person running and looking like she’s talking to herself. It is likely to be me trying to get rid of a stitch. Sometimes I do a little jig too but that has nothing to do with side stitches and more to do with me being a little too into my music.

4. My brain stops working when I run. When I was running back last week I spotted someone I thought was an old friend of mine. I yelled his name as I ran past. The guy stopped and looked quizzically at me, which should have been my first clue. Instead of running on, I stopped, looked at the guy, pointed at him and said ‘SR?’ Doh, obviously it wasn’t him and obviously I looked like a complete fool. I refused to take that route when I did my long run this week lest I meet the guy.

5. On top of achy legs, my stomach muscles ache after a long run. I’m not sure why, but today it feels like I did a bunch of crunches yesterday night!

6. Not really running related but I take back what I said about good yoga schools. I realise I meant good yoga teachers. I went back for a yoga class on Monday this week and had a very blah class. The instructor was nice, but it just felt like a whole bunch of stretching. And it was hardly challenging. And there was a lot of sitting around cleansing your mind of this or that. Yawn.

What I did this week:

Monday: 1hr yoga

Yesterday: 16k run in 1hr 57mins (The last time, and only other time, I did a 16k run I did it in 2hr 26mins, so even if this is the slowest a human being could run, I’m not complaining!)

Training Updates

2011-11-21T11:22:00.003+08:00

Last Monday: 1hr Personal Training

Last Thursday: 14K run

It was long and painful. I was pretty much over it by about 10k but I pushed through (woohoo!) and made it all the way without stopping to trot...well at least not till the last 1k. Point to note, overhead bridges are the enemy 13k into a run!

Saturday: Woodcutter's Trail/Butterfly Trail in 3.5hrs

It took that long not because the walk was particularly long but there was just so much stopping and waiting around for people. We did this with the local Y and there were a lot of people. While I think there are overseas treks that I might do with the Y, the local ones just have a lot of slow people. I'm not particularly fast, but these guys are sloooow.

And while I think it's great that the Y organises walks like these because it gets people (who might ordinarily be inert) out and moving as well as raising awareness on the presence of this ("natural") side of Singapore, but short of there being another local trail I need directions through, I'd probably be a bit reluctant to join them. Sorry Gracie!

Sunday: Salomon X-Trail Race - See below.

On a side note, since Jo asked - I wasn't actually doing real yoga yet. It was a beginner class to prep your body for yoga (or something like that) and it involved doing a lot of squats. I think when I progress further I'd be learning Ashtanga yoga?

2011 Salomon X-Trail 10k Race Report

2011-11-21T10:44:00.008+08:00

Despite signing up for a ton of races this year, this is the first running race I've turned up for in ages and my legs are feeling 'achy' today.

Overall I like the Salomon X-Trail. When I'm mentally prepared to get muddy and gross then sloshing around in mud is actually pretty fun. More fun is running right through mud puddles and getting mud on the nancies who were tip-toeing around the puddles. It's a trail race and you're already half covered in mud, might as well enjoy it!

The morning started off well weather-wise. Clear skies and all that. I was sleepy. Very very sleepy. I think I probably was half asleep at the start line. By the time my legs started working, Rich was already off like a shot while I mucked around at the back trying to get into a rhythm.

As Rich describes it, the trail route basically looked like someone took a pen and just scribbled all over a map.

Although it's not completely obvious, the course isn't on a huge area, but somehow it never really felt boring. Well actually there was a lot of scrambling up and down hills as well as overtaking walkers on narrow trails, so there wasn't much time to get bored. And there was never really much of a bottle-neck situation...yes there were bits where I had to slow to a trot but frankly I was just pleased to have an excuse to rest my tired legs.

When we met up after the run, Rich and I agreed that the Salomon X-Trail is one of the more fun races. Hills, mud and lovely trails...what's not to love about it? And a special shout-out to the volunteers at this race who are one of the best race cheerleaders!

Time: 1:20:24 (86th out of 254 women! woohoo!)

Unlucky 13 and an Eventful Weekend

2011-11-10T14:08:00.004+08:00

13 isn't my lucky number it would seem. I've got to 13k on my training schedule but it's been a hard to actually run it. The first time I managed only 10k (and this involved a lot of stopping, wheezing and walking), the second only 4k-5k (?) because my watch/foot-pod bailed on me and I had a bad stomachache (which resulted in more stopping, wheezing and walking) and the third I have no idea how far I ran because (11k-12k maybe?) the same watch/foot-pod was still spoilt despite sending it to get fixed. So no idea if I've done 13k yet but I did feel completely wrecked after my 1hr 41 min run on Friday and there was a lot of walking, hobbling and near-crawling at the end of it. I also felt like throwing up after which I'm not sure was really a great achievement.

Anyway, I just got back from Hong Kong last week and wound up with a massive stomachache for a week. I supposedly had an acidic stomach (whatever that means) so was put on meds for a week, which is my justification for being a bit lazy last week. All I did were the two runs (the 4k-5k and the 11-12k one)!

I felt a bit better over the weekend and went for a 2.5hr trek on Saturday(I always feel a bit stupid using 'trek' in the Singapore context since trails here are hardly challenging!) and then yoga and rock-climbing on Sunday. I was supposed to meet K for a drink somewhere in the weekend but my stomach was still a bit iffy and I didn't want to risk aggravating it.

Incidentally I tried yoga again (see above) and went to a proper yoga studio this time. It was so difficult! And we're talking just the beginner lesson, not even a real yoga class. At first I wanted to laugh because he made us sway to and fro and for some reason seeing everyone do that seemed hilarious to me. But as he made us do squats combined with some complex arms above head moving at your waist thing, I wasn't laughing and was just desperately hoping the class would end. So I sweated it out like a pig and today I ache so bad. But a good ache. They did all the 'close your eyes, cleanse your mind' thing at the end, but that gave me time to just lie down and die a little, so I was cool with it. Bottom line, I'm glad I gave yoga another shot and the yoga at True Fitness is kind of crap.

What I've done (at least what I remember I've done)

3rd Nov: 10k run
Wednesday: Ran 4k-5k
Friday: Ran 11k-12k
Saturday: 2.5hr trek from Rifle Range to Mandai
Sunday: 1hr yoga and 1hr rock-climbing

In Hong Kong-

5th Nov: 4k run and 20 minutes weights
6th Nov: 2hr hike @ Dragon's Back

So Far So Good

2011-10-27T11:32:00.004+08:00

Not sick so far and keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

In the meantime I've managed to fit in a walk/trek at Bukit Timah Hill with friends twice and I've done a bunch of runs. Bukit Timah Hill is really challenging. I keep forgetting that somehow and every time I go back it hits me really quickly how much the uphill stair climb is just sheer torture. I do like though that, in my head, it somehow translates to a great ass workout!

Oh on a side note, R and I went to Macritchie to do a trail run (although half of that run was on a boardwalk, so not really trail) yesterday and I have to say, the people at the Nature Reserve just seem a lot friendlier than the Macritchie crowd. I mean it's nice when people say a cheery 'good morning' every now and then. I think I said 'Good Morning!' to only one person yesterday...or rather I greeted a few people but got ignored. People need to be nicer in our world!

What I've done since my last update a gazillion years ago:

14th Oct: Ran 5k in 35:09 mins
15th Oct: 1hr walk with B at Bkt Timah Hill
16th Oct: 600m swim
17th Oct: 1hr personal training
20th Oct: Ran 8k in 58:16 mins
22nd Oct: Cross-trainer 10 mins and some number of crunches
23rd Oct: 2hr walk with D at Kampong Trail/Bkt Timah Hill
24th Oct: Ran 5k in 34:24 mins
26th Oct: Ran 4k at Macritchie in 29:29 mins

Tonight I Run

2011-10-14T16:22:00.003+08:00

It's been a real pain. Every time I get back on the training schedule, I fall ill. I don't even know how many times I've been ill this year. Sucks. Basically I've been sick the last week. I got back from Samui/Phangan with a flu then pretty much ended any hope I had of doing the Nike Run. So while R and G had a guilt-free champagne brunch buffet after to celebrate, I just stuffed my face in celebration of well...being ill. And I just felt a bit left out when everyone was talking about how the race went.

Yesterday I went back for Personal Training and did some weights. I'm still a bit coughy, but going to head for a 5k run tonight and get an early night. Hopefully this doesn't mean I get ill tomorrow because I would really like to get to where I can run 10k at one go and not get sick the next day!

What I've done:
1hr personal training

One Weekend, Two Runs

2011-09-20T17:20:00.004+08:00

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

Old Bag of Bones

2011-09-14T10:26:00.005+08:00

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

Mega Tri Race Report

2011-09-13T11:11:00.007+08:00

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!

Back in the Pool

2011-09-01T14:23:00.001+08:00

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?

Sick! Again!

2011-08-15T17:30:00.003+08:00

Good grief, this is the most times I've been sick in a year. Yet another half-arsed flu.

Oh and yeah, so much for 21 days of habit building. I guess you pretty much guessed when I stopped updating!

Day #7: Gym time at the Venetian Gym

2011-08-08T09:12:00.003+08:00

No not the city, the hotel... Did 3K in the gym, cut down from 5K because I got so darn bored. I tried distracting myself, but somehow that didn't quit pan out, so 3K was all I managed, did about 60 crunches, 20 sit-ups and a bunch of other random stuff. I wish there was a system to how I work out at the gym and in my head, there kind of is, but somehow, put down on paper it always looks so darn haphazard!

Day #6: Swim

2011-08-07T16:01:00.004+08:00

No idea how far I swam, but I do know now that swimming in a heated pool in an even hotter Macau is just not a whole lot of fun. Plus whilst swimming I could make out strands of hair in the pool. Can you say gross loudly enough??? So I guess the pools in a casino-hotel aren't made for swim training....I got tired of meandering around families or children and couples making out in the pool, so basically called it a day after less than 20 minutes. Real yucky swim....blech

Day #5: 20 minutes at the gym

2011-08-06T15:40:00.003+08:00

10 minutes on the gym bike and well 10 minutes messing about with some half hearted crunches.

Day #4: Run 4k

2011-08-05T06:42:00.002+08:00

This actually started off pretty well. I was running with a lilt in my step and going at a pretty decent pace thinking to myself 'now why did I ever think running was all that hard?' Now obviously that barely lasted till 2k before it finally dawned on my thick skull that I was going a tad too fast and I probably couldn't sustain the pace. So I dropped the pace...and then I dropped it some more....but by then I pretty much had a stitch that wasn't going to go away. All in a planned 5k run became a 4k run which I wound up struggling through.

What I did yesterday:
Ran 4k in 27:58 mins

Off to Hong Kong!!!

Day #3: 5 Crunches

2011-08-04T09:08:00.002+08:00

Yes you read right. I did a grand total of 5 crunches yesterday. I was really tired and was pretty happy to hop into the shower and go to bed. But in the whole doing something by way of sport for 21 days thing, there you go. 5 crunches!

Day #2: Personal Training - TRX

2011-08-03T09:37:00.004+08:00

Who knew TRX could be so tiring?

I need to start getting my gym bag sorted before I wake up in the morning because I inevitably forget something when I pack and dash. Yesterday I forgot my sports bra. Which pretty much meant I had to do personal training in my regular one and then beg the instructor not to have a sweaty session because I'd have nothing to change into! It's amazing how much I ache today despite the non-sweatiness of my workout!

Meanwhile today (Day #3 of my 21 days of doing something) is going to be a bit of a struggle since I'm feeling super sleepy. I'll probably have to fit in some time on the elliptical or do a short swim after my trip to the manicurist!

What I did yesterday:
1hr personal training

Day #1: 600m Swim

2011-08-02T09:54:00.009+08:00

I've decided to take inspiration from Jess and her 21 Day Habit and try to get back into the groove of things by just training (read: struggling through some activity) for 21 days (it takes 21 days to form a habit and all). I'm in a slump right now and really need a big kick in the back side.

So to start off, I did 600m in the pool last night. I planned it such that I'd be at the pool at a time when the annoying little brats were back home having dinner, but evidently I'm not that great a planner. A huge group of kids decided to play ball in the middle of the pool. You'd think their parents would tell them to be nice to the swimmer who's meandering around them and stick to one corner instead of using the entire pool, but no such luck. The parents joined in (of course they would!). After getting kicked in the head once and having a kid swim over me, I was resigned to the fact that they were likely to be there throughout my swim and convinced myself that at least I was having some real race simulation kicks and all! Can't beat that!

Nat, Small Addie and I are taking part as a team in the Mega Tri (or most crazy expensive race in the world - 400 SGD!!!) in September and it should be fun. I think I have the best deal because I pretty much just have to finish a 1k swim, while Nat has to clock 65k on her bike and Small Addie has a whole 18k to run! Hats off to the girls who have a much harder race than me! It'd be fun taking part in a triathlon as a team and I can hardly wait (also I can't bail out of it). So keep your prayers and best wishes for Team Short Fart - the shortest (literally!) team in the race!

What I've done

Yesterday: 600m @ 16:02 mins

OSIM? What OSIM?

2011-08-01T14:02:00.002+08:00

Yeah, I didn't make it down for the race. I really need to get my mojo back.

Countdown to the OSIM Mini Tri

2011-07-27T14:58:00.002+08:00

Yeah, fat load of training I'm doing coming up to it. I was supposed to have a whole bunch of races this month, but somehow between sore throats and stomach flues, I've succeeded in missing all of them.

I've also succeeded in not training, which meant as of last weekend a part of me started freaking out a little. Not enough it seems, because although I made a bunch of big plans for Saturday, I ended up lazing around instead. So Sunday was when the big catch-up training session started and I managed a swim-bike brick. I was supposed to head to East Coast early in the morning to do a proper bike ride, but ended up sleeping in and then popping my bike on the spinner.

Personal training on Monday and guess who forgot to bring her shoes? Ended up having a kick-boxing session instead, which was pretty fun. I did realise that I'm having a bit of a dodgy left ankle when I kicked the bag with my left foot and got hit by a shot of pain. Need to go get that sorted soon.

Swim training yesterday and it was so so so tiring. Also it was weird, there were only 4 people who showed up and I was the only girl. Great to have a whole lane to myself so when I did the backstroke drills I could swim all crooked and not worry about hitting someone in the face!

Despite all this, I really need to get my training mojo back!

What I've done:

Sunday: 300m swim / 30 min spin
Monday: 1 hr kick-boxing
Tuesday: 1 hr swim training (Total distance covered: 2KM)

A Whole Bunch of Walks

2011-06-23T10:50:00.005+08:00

I haven't done much since the last post except walk a whole bunch.

I finally got to do the 7K Choo Choo trek with the local Y (and the company of Gracie, Ris and Adrian) and it was muddy. Fun, but muddy. I don't think they planned for 60 over people to rock up for the walk, but yup, that many people did and despite that the walk went pretty smoothly. So I'm glad I finally did this, although I don't think my helper was quite so pleased when I wandered home with muddy shoes! I did offer to clean them on my own, but I think she was worried I'd make a bigger mess of things!

I've also wanted to check out the trail from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to Mandai for ages and so I harassed R to join me for that walk on my birthday. (You can get away with anything on your birthday!) We forgot to make a turn somewhere in the middle of the route and ended up stuck on the wrong side of two highways. After wandering around in the desperate hope that we could somehow find a way to cross the highways (which didn't involve jumping into a taxi), we decided to call it a day. We continued on that walk (from the turning we should have taken) at Dairy Farm two days later and headed all the way to Mandai zoo.

In hindsight it was good that we had split the walk in two because the total distance covered was about 21K and I know at the end of either 'trek' I was pretty exhausted and over all the walking. The trails were pretty interesting and even though there was a bit where you're actually just walking parallel to the highway, you still kind of felt you were on a trail. Will post pictures soon!

Last week, Gina, Rachel and I finally got down to doing a walk from the North of Singpaore to the South of Singapore. I plotted this out on mapmyrun (and then I realised I could have just gone to googlemaps and got them to map that route out! Doh!) and sent it to Gina and Rach, who obviously trusted me so much they didn't look at the map. They were not too pleased when they realised we had to cut through the centre of town, sweaty and totally unglamorous! Whoops. The North to South walk started at Senoko Industrial Park (it cost all of us a bunch of money in cab fares to get there!) and ended off at Sentosa's Pallawan Beach where there was a little island connected to the beach with a sign on it saying 'The Southernmost Point of Continental Asia', that was good enough for us. Gina and I then met W at Vivo City (yes, I FINALLY stepped into Vivo City) for dinner and drinks. All in we completed 35K and my feet were sore. Strangely all of us ached in different places the next day - strange because when we did 40 over KM the last time we walked, we were fine and dandy the day after!

So in the last two weeks I've walked a marathon and more! Woohoo! Of course this pretty much means I've been neglecting everything to do with training. Not been running much, swimming much and I don't think I've been on my bike since Bintan. Ooopsies.

That being said, Gina and I did meet for a short 6K run yesterday and minus the crazy bag lady who spat on Gina, I enjoyed the run a lot. When I run by myself I tend to get bored and the only thing pushing me on really is my music, but the KMs just dropped away easily when running with Gina and although we weren't going very fast or very far, I count last night's run as a big fat success! I guess it's the good company!

What I've done since ages ago that I remember:

4th June:
Choo Choo Trek 7K

10th June:
1st part of Bkt Timah - Mandai trek (Bkt Timah Nature Reserve - Woodlands Road) 10k
Bukit Timah - Mandai (Almost) by rich.ayres at Garmin Connect - Details

12th June:
2nd part of Bkt Timah - Mandai trek (Dairy Farm - Mandai Zoo) 10.96K
Dairy Farm to Mandai by rich.ayres at Garmin Connect - Details
1.5hr Rockclimbing

14th June:
300m swim

18th June:
North-South of Singapore walk 35k

21st June:
600m swim

22nd June:
6.6K run

I've Grown Up!

2011-06-02T15:28:00.002+08:00

Sorta. I decided not to go for swim training on Tuesday. I had been for personal training on Monday and my shoulders and arms and abs and thighs were just aching. Okay, I could have been just plain lazy as well, but I'm going with sensible. I know I really really wanted to go for the swim, but I figured better to miss a session than to wind up sick...again!

So didn't swim on Tuesday, but I did do a 5k run on Wednesday. Pretty speedy 5k (again, my standard of 'speedy') run too, might I add! Going for swim training tonight because a friend bailed on dinner. Hopefully that'll help me sleep well tonight! I've been having such weird sleep patterns lately. Either I'll wake up at 3am for no rhyme or reason or I'll have very odd dreams and not end up sleeping very well. Fingers crossed for tonight's sleep!

What I did:
Monday - 1hr personal training
Wednesday - 5k run in 32mins 58secs

A Bunch of Weird-Ass Race Photos

2011-06-01T17:53:00.012+08:00

Race Report in pictures

Pre-race fiddling

Why? Why do I make faces when I get out of the water?

Lumbering back to the transition point. No hurry, no rush...you can tell I'm totally out to break a record for how much I can take it easy at a race.

My stretch of shame where I got off my bike and pushed it up the hill.

This is near the start of the race and the chick on the right overtakes me not long after this photo. As does everyone behind me in that photo.

I run weird. Although I also look like I float on air, which is pretty cool if it were true.

An actual proper picture of me - As I ran in the emcee shouted "smile" and instinctively I smiled. So I actually look like this run was a total breeze. Don't be fooled.

I also stop running funny, almost like I'm doing a jig...

So here's a picture of me opening my mouth post-race. No idea why the photographers thought they should upload a whole bunch of weird photos of me. But then I went and paid money to download them. What does that say about me?

Post-Bintan and a Pub Quiz

2011-05-30T11:52:00.006+08:00

As always, my post-race rest lasts waaaaay too long. I did nothing (except for winning a bottle of wine at a pub quiz! More on that later) all the way till Saturday when I finally decided that it was high time I got my flabbier-by-the-day ass (isn't that a real pretty picture?) doing something.

I got up at 8.45am on Saturday and made it late for swim training. Frankly the session was probably my worst session ever. I was groggy, the water was cold and my brain was hardly functioning. And to make things a whole lot worse, as I was doing my laps, the smell of fresh waffles with maple syrup floated down over the pool from the club cafe and just hovered over it. I consequently got hungrier and more grumpy.

I went back to the club again in the evening to play a game of tennis with my childhood friend, HQ and we're not great, but I feel we're improving. I mean we started off barely able to have a rally and now we can have a half decent one. Of course we had to get the court next to four tennis whizzes having a super competitive doubles match. They made us look real bad.

I was supposed to go for a bike clinic on Sunday, but I woke up at 6 and saw that G had dropped me a text saying she was lazy, so I got lazy and headed back to bed. For a change I actually felt guilty enough when I woke up, so I thought I'd head out for a run in the rain. It was nice, I took the hillier route so I was pretty much wiped out after 1.2k (yes, yes, I know it's sad and pathetic) so I continued on with a half arsed walk-run all the way back home. And the good ole stitch was there to take me the rest of that journey home.

Anyway, enough of the sports stuff - Rich, Shaz Mataz, David and I took part in a pub quiz on Wednesday and won us a bottle of wine! Woo hoo! We were completely uncreative and I nicked Steve's (from Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!) team name as ours. Steve and his team mate (the original Team Happy Pants) lately just won a duathlon and he'd put it up on his blog and I just happened to read about that in the afternoon of the pub quiz. So being ever so imaginative, when it came to team names I was like 'Team Happy Pants' - I did give credit to the original team for the name. Next pub quiz we'll think up a real good name! Anyhoooo, we won us a bottle of vino at the Games We Played When We Were Young. Mind you, we did so-so (by we I mean David and I - Sharon and Rich were both really into it and shushing us for giving stupid answers!) for the other more intelligent categories, which goes to show where our forte is. Sad, but true. Next time they'd better have a celebrity category, I think I'd do well there! Still, we came out of the quiz with a bottle of wine, so I don't think anyone's complaining! Except maybe David, since he doesn't drink any wine!

What I've Done:
Saturday
- 1 hr swim training: I didn't finish all the drills because I was lazy
- 1/2 hr tennis and 1/2 hr core workout

Sunday
- 2.5k run with lots of walking in the middle

Race Report #2: Bintan Triathlon - Sprint Distance

2011-05-23T14:33:00.008+08:00

My first Sprint Triathlon! In hindsight it was probably unwise to go to Bintan to do my first ever Sprint, but well, I finished it nonetheless and despite finishing seventh from the bottom in my category, I actually feel really ...what's the word now...fulfilled? Satisfied?

I got to Bintan on Friday and missed my race pack collection. No idea why I thought I would have plenty of time after I got off the ferry, but well...evidently not. The organisers were nice enough to let me collect it first thing in the morning though. A part of me was disappointed. I really really didn't want to race.

So here's the back story. I signed up for the Bintan Triathlon for the heck of it. I knew nothing about it and I thought - well, I've never been to Bintan, might be interesting to do a sprint triathlon there. A couple of weeks after I signed up I bumped into a friend at church who, in his words, said 'Good luck with that. There are loads of hills in Bintan.' Yeah...that I didn't know. Which pretty much explains why despite everything being booked and all my shit being loaded from Singapore (Big thanks to R for helping me lug all my crap from Singapore!), I was still apprehensive (read: completely freaked out) about the triathlon, namely the bike leg.

I got to the race super early because I had to pick up my race kit. It's not really fun being alone and half asleep before a race in some foreign country. I half heartedly did some warm-up in the sea. Aside - Oh what a lovely change it is to swim in waters where you don't have a plastic bag hanging off your foot or a used condom floating in front of you - Yes, welcome to Singapore waters. It started drizzling 15 minutes from the start of the race and I prayed hard a storm would come at that moment. This was the general thought in my mind the whole start - First I hoped they wouldn't give me the race pack, then I hoped they'd call off the race on account of bad weather, then I hoped I'd be stung by a jelly fish or fall off my bike at the start so I wouldn't have to finish the race.

At the race start they asked if all of us girls were ready for the 750m swim. Wait? What? 750 metres? Yup, I assumed it was a 500m swim and was so darn proud of myself for swimming 600m the week before in the pool, 100m extra than I thought I had to swim. Only now at the race start, literally 2 minutes before I was going to jump into the sea, I realised I hadn't actually swum enough. Ah well, the aim for this race was just not to die. I didn't really care how I did, so I figured I'd just start at the back and take it easy.

Of course when the whistle went off I realised what a stupid idea that was. I was right smack in breast stroke territory. And being the lone front crawler, I took a lot of hits...or rather kicks. I got kicked a couple of times in the head and took one solid foot in the chest that really winded me. Finally I pulled away from the pack of breast-strokers and tucked myself behind some chick. Since I wasn't going to go mad at the swim leg, I figured I'd just follow behind someone. This way I didn't have to keep sighting where I was going (and winding up with a neck ache) and instead I could just follow the bubbles in front of me. In all I finished the swim leg comfortably and not all that worn out.

Now the bike leg, that's a whole other ball game. So in all the mini triathlons I've done in Singapore, there have been no hills. In fact most of Singapore is flat. So having to be on my bike and face a huge slope at the beginning of a leg that I was worst at was really daunting. So when I saw a girl in front hop off her bike and push it up the slope, I figured that gave me leeway to do the same. Yes, that was shameful. I decided not to do that for any other slopes and that was when the nightmare started.

Everyone overtook me on the bike leg. Okay I exaggerate, but I know for a fact at least 10 people must have overtaken me. I've always been a bit of a chicken shit, which meant I used to brake a lot going downhill on my bike...well, that all changed in Bintan. As I went downhill I was trying to get enough speed and momentum on the bike to go up the next hill - no brakes there! I just wished I had more gears to get through because halfway through the ride the gears on my chainwheel (haha, impressed that I know that? I just had to google 'what the hell are the gears on the left handlebar called?') stopped working. Still with sheer grit...or more likely the huge huge need and desire for all the torture to be over...I made it to the end (without pushing my bike up any hills...although I did come close to wanting to a few times).

The run leg, or walk leg for me, was pretty uneventful. I couldn't even get off my bike properly, much less run. I stumbled out from the transition area and then began a slow 5k run-walk. The run leg was pretty nice. I ran by a bunch of villas where people were cheering me on, and then there was a nice long stretch of a nature trail. And then back past another bunch of villas and then the home stretch and I was done!

I never felt as if I earned my finisher's medal as much as I did this one. I've always been rather unimpressed with finisher's medals...okay I've finished a race, big deal, we don't have to make a song and dance about it and frankly it feels like a bit of a joke with the whole 'okay so you didn't win, but here wear this medal as a consolation'. But this time around although I came in pretty much at the tail end of a race, had time to have long conversations with myself whilst cycling and running, I also made it to the end...without dying! And the thing about being one of the last few is that people are so nice! All the time I was running, people were yelling 'good work! keep going! keep it up!' and the sap in me really wanted to burst into tears because everyone was being so nice.

In all, I had good fun. Yes the hills were insane biking on and I don't really want to see a damn hill for another month, but people were nice and I actually enjoyed having 'long' (it's all relative) stretches cycling with nary a soul in sight. I realised I was a pretty damn good cheerleader for myself and I learnt that sometimes winning a race isn't everything (okay, I've never won a race, so I don't really have experience in that field). I learnt to hold back and take it easy...yes people kept overtaking me, but this was a race with myself and all my self-doubts rather than anything else.

I'd definitely come back for this. In fact, I've just signed up for next year's race. That's a whole year to ride up and down slopes in preparation!

Results: 2 hr 6 mins
Swim leg (750m): 21 mins 58 sec (27th of 37)
T1: 2mins 22 sec
Bike leg (20k): 1 hr 2 min (32nd)
T2: 53 sec
Run leg (5k): 39 mins 8 sec (34th)

Race Report #1: Tri-Factor Swim 500m Race Report

2011-05-23T11:58:00.003+08:00

After being sick and then well and then sick again, I barely had time to do any training to defend my sad little 2nd place from last year, so needless to say I didn't get 2nd again this year! But before I go on on my rant, here's the race report:

The day started off pretty well. G and I managed to wake up early and got to Sentosa an hour before the race started, which is pretty rare for us. G had a wedding dinner the night before as well, so good on her for making it down with so little sleep! Warming up wasn't a whole bunch of fun because after about 5 minutes of mucking around in the sea, G and I came out covered with sea bug bites and it hurt to swim. Imagine swimming and feeling like you're getting a million little buggers stinging you all over. Not fun.

After taking part in a couple of these mini triathlons and races and seeing some of the same faces again, there comes a point where you realise you've actually made a couple of friends and that's really rather nice. It's like joining a support group of sorts for people who're not super competitive athletes, but just normal people who want to push themselves a bit more and a bit further (and sometimes being a bit lazy with training). You can't really talk to a lot of people about this without someone coming up and telling you you're nuts, but with this little new group of friends, we all kind of 'get' each other. And it's always fun yakking up a storm before race start! G and I also made new friends with two new girls who just got into the whole triathlon thing so they were doing their first sea swim race ever. Welcome to the club Andrea and Rachel!

The swim race itself went pretty well, considering the lack of laps I put in the pool. I did have to stop for a breather about 3 times over - I figured I didn't need to kill myself after just recovering from the nasty flu - and at one point I came out of the water, hit the ropes and knocked my goggles askew (which is the kind of idiotic thing I do). I was glad that G and I, in a last bid attempt to make up for not training at all, had gone down to Sentosa the week before and did a full length of the beach, it definitely helped psychologically at the race.

On an aside, it was supposedly jellyfish season and a bunch of people got stung. Not me, thank goodness. Although I did swim over one and I instinctively kicked harder and faster away from the dang thing.

It was all in a rather uneventful race. This year they decided to end the race with a strange 100m dash to the finish line. Because our wave was one of the last we knew we had to stop off at a distance and run towards the line, but I think a couple of the earlier guys swam straight to the end point and got waved back to where they were supposed to swim to before the short run. The run bit was a bit odd and I say that only because I hate running on the beach. There is this constant paranoia that I will end up tripping over something and face planting.

So I didn't get to defend my 2nd place. I also swam a whole minute slower. That said, even if I swam a whole minute faster I wouldn't have been anywhere close to the 2nd position. There were a whole bunch of speedy swimmers this year and instead of having 5 sad little people in my category, there were 17 this year. Talk about competition!

Still, G and I finished it with what little training we had done, so we felt pretty damn good (and not at all guilty) about treating ourselves to an awesome champagne brunch buffet at the Ritz where I stuffed my face with oysters and mojitos...ahhhhh the life.

Race Results: 13mins 26 sec (5th this year...ah, what a difference a year makes)

What I did before:

The Saturday before(8th May): 20 minutes at Sentosa with G

Thursday: 1 hr Swim Training

I think I did other stuff, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were

You've Gotta Be %@& Kidding Me

2011-04-27T11:25:00.003+08:00

I'm sick again. Yes a week and a half after I got better, here I am down with a massive flu. Over my long Easter weekend, no less. I am NOT pleased. Not one bit.

What I've done since the last entry:

Ran 6.5k in 51 mins (every light turned red when I got to it!)

The Half Shower

2011-04-20T18:18:00.003+08:00

Well lookie here, two entries in a day...

I'm supposed to meet a friend and I was thinking of running down to the sports arena near the restaurant and shower there. OBVIOUSLY I would forget to bring my towel. Which meant I had to go nip by the Adidas store and pick up a tiny towel there. This also gave my friend the opportunity to inform me that the towel was probably lying on the floor and it was disgusting that I was going to use it. Pretty picture, thanks Mun.

So now because all I have is a potentially filthy towel, I have to resort to the half-shower. Which essentially is the shower you take to get the sweat (hopefully the smell as well) off you and then look semi-presentable at your appointment. Ever since I've started doing some gym sessions during lunch I've developed the half shower - you kind of half-soap and half-shampoo...some but not too much...ideally of course the half shower would just be to run water over your head and hope that the sweat gets washed away (that I do when I'm being truly disgusting). The rationale for the half shower is that I'd probably go off and do a run or swim at night. Which means showering again. And frankly, showering 3 times in a day (I need my morning wake-up shower) can't be all that great for the skin. Hence, the half-shower. I'd love to go on more about the half-shower, but I really have to go for my run and do a half-shower after. Till then, cheerio!

Game On!

2011-04-20T15:21:00.002+08:00

...well....ish. I've been lazy. There. No excuses for not doing a lot of things I should be doing. Instead I'm just whinging about how freaked out I am about the Sprint Triathlon next month. Boo f-ing hoo, right?

Anyhoooo I went for swim training yesterday. I don't think I was swimming particularly fast or far, or even putting in all that much effort to begin with. But my arms ache today. The good 'I-had-a-workout' ache though so I'm not complaining. And they're not aching enough to get in the way of my drum class today, so all is well. Thing is though, I realise I am just so much better at the kick drills at training than I am at the pull drills. Somehow when I put the kicks and pulls altogether I become kind of blah. All the same I'm hoping all this gets worked out before my 5-participant swim race next month! Hope I can hold on to my second place title! Somehow I wish I was crap now, just so I wouldn't have any expectations (my own!) to meet! I will be so bummed if I finish last this time!

Jo will be happy to note that I'm probably going to try putting in a solid 2 hours of windsurfing this week. I'm back to rentals since I've chucked my super crappy sail. Actually rather enjoying using rentals, minus the size and weight of the damn rental boards, because it gives me some focus. I remember telling myself long time ago that I'd never become one of those guys who went down to the club to drink and not go out at all...needless to say, I became one of those guys. Then of course I stopped windsurfing altogether. Now my (the new me) aim is to do a couple of Ks on the bike and then haul the rentals off for 2 hours. Even if there's no wind, the arm workout is probably better than lifting up pint after pint of beer (in my case JD Cokes). And I'll alternate this weekly with rockclimbing! I know this now because I tried to do the 2 in a weekend and almost died!

What I've done:

Last Thursday: 3k run on treadmill and a bunch of sit-ups/crunches

Sunday:
300m swim and 2k run
1.5hr rockclimbing

Tuesday:
1hr Swim training (Total: 1.8k covered)

Road to Recovery

2011-04-14T14:20:00.003+08:00

Well, I didn't complete my challenge because I fell ill. Of course that WOULD happen the moment I sign up for a challenge (as well as my first Sprint triathlon! Gaaaah!). Nonetheless, after 2 weeks of feeling crappy and then a week of being lazy I'm back on the saddle again. Albeit a bit slower and carrying a bit more weight.

What I've done:
Last Monday: 1hr Personal Training

Last Thursday: Swim training

Saturday: 20k easy bike ride + 1.5hr windsurfing

Sunday: 1hr rock climbing

Tuesday: 30 mins spin + 40 sit-ups

Morning Exercise

2011-03-16T10:10:00.004+08:00

and I don't really get along. I tried an early morning run on Tuesday and felt like throwing up after not going very far. I think it's something to do with gastric juices bouncing around....or I'm just not used to running that early and maybe if I did it more often, my stomach would get used to the motion.

Meanwhile, my heart goes out to the Japanese and the people in Japan. I've been both saddened and also uplifted that in the face of all this sadness, there have been stories of selflessness and courage. I'll be keeping them in my prayers! I just want something to go right for Japan! They've had no good news at all in the last 6 days.

What I've done:

Last Thursday - 1hr Personal Training (mainly TRX)

Sunday
- Cycled less than 10k and got completely rained on
- Swam 1.2k

Monday
- 2k Run in 13:37 mins
- 1hr Personal Training (mainly circuit training)

Quick Updates

2011-03-10T18:13:00.005+08:00

Sorry, I have been lazy I know. But here are some quick-ish updates!

1. I did the Tri-Bob Aquathlon and I did not rock at it. In fact I sucked pretty bad. I was heading the wrong way constantly and by the time I was done with my swim I was out. Then I ran out and forgot my race-bib and had to run back in. Had a stitch a third way into my run, so walked the rest of it. It was torture. I would write more, but I’m really just too bummed with my crappy result. Nonetheless, I finished in 32:31 minutes. My swim leg took me 8:10 minutes (9th for my category) and my run leg took me 22:35 (a very sorry 30th for my category).

2. I also finished the 40k “challenge” (they claim not RACE even though they have prizes for winners) at the OCBC Cycle in 1 hr 51 minutes. It’s a crap time, but I freak easily and there were so many people so I just thought I’d toddle along at my own sad pace. I finished the “challenge” not crashing, so that’s an accomplishment for me.

3. I’ve started running again. Not my 2.5k runs which I convince myself are good enough, but real runs. I know I grumble about it all the time, but running really is like a friend I have this love-hate relationship with. And I’ve missed it a bit. So last week I decided to bite the bullet and run home. I also compiled an awesome playlist (I realize Blondie and Queen songs feature highly in that list), so the run home was a bit painful, but not all too bad. I got 8k (in 1 hr 12 mins) in before I bailed and took the bus home smelly and all. Last night I got 12k (1hr 30 mins) in and I felt pretty darn good after. My knee’s a little sore today, but it’ll go away I think.

4. I’ve signed up for a challenge (real challenge this time) with mapmyrun.com and I’m supposed to run 30 miles in 30 days. All this sounded rather easy – I mean, a mile a day, how hard is that? Until I realized it all added up when I took a few days off. So yesterday I had to make up for all the days I was lazing – hence the 12k run. I'm all caught up for now.

5. I’ve started drum classes again with my good friend and other than the fact that I realize again I’m completely uncoordinated, I am enjoying the lessons. I think it’s largely the company as well!

Back from the Cold!!!!

2011-02-15T17:22:00.009+08:00

And I kind of miss it. I mean in Singapore all you get is freezing cold air-conditioning and bleeding hot temperatures outside. Not that I hate that or anything, but I do wish we had a couple of slopes nearby so I could go riding every other weekend. Ah, to have your cake and eat it!

I was up in San Francisco to see my bestie, Jenny and go snowboarding with her in Tahoe - our first trip ever together! It was a pain trying to book train tickets and shuttle bus stuff because US is so public-transport-unfriendly, but we made it up in one piece on the Amtrek in the end.

So the first two days on the slopes really sucked. I think I'm just naturally a whiner and I just want perfect snow. If I've travelled halfway across the world to ride the slopes (well to visit my bestie first and to ride second) it'd be nice if it had awesome snow, but no. It was icy and just not a whole lot of fun falling. Although I did pick up a bunch of really awesome bruises.

Here's how the streets of Squaw looked like - snowless and all (I shamelessly stole Jenny's photo):

After a lot of whinging (and I mean A LOT) we woke up the last day to a bee-yoo-tee-foo snowy morning! And of course Jenny and I are jumping around like mad fools because I mean, it's a snowboarding holiday for crying out loud! However, Squaw more than made up for it on our last day! Soft soft powder snow and a whole bunch of it!

See what a difference a day makes?

And what a wonderful wonderful ride it was. Okay, the green slopes were kind of crap and we ended up having unstrapping and walking with our boards, but that kind of gave us the courage to hit the blues and we did real good! Jenny in particular did fantastically. I was being all chicken-shit and going heel side down when the slope scared me, but Jenny was a hero trying her turns on every slope!

Proof that Jenny can link turns and check out the awesome snow!

In all, I heart Tahoe. And I think a lot of it was just because it snowed on the last day, but parts of it that helped a lot was the quaint little lodge we stayed at, the amazing food at the lodge restaurant, the delicious crepes we had for breakfast, the new friends we made....and for me most of all the company of my bestie!

After Tahoe, Jenny and I headed back to the Bay Area and I dragged my aching self out the morning after we got back to go for a bike tour of San Francisco. I think I'd have loved it a wee bit more if I wasn't so sleepy, cold and achy, but even then, I really enjoyed the tour and I think I'd like to do it properly the next time! Post-bike tour I walked and walked and walked. I wanted to get some ski pants for my sister at REI which was not convenient if you were car-less. Then I kept getting lost. When I finally made it back to Jenny's place, I was too pooped to go out again so Jenny and I had a nice good catch-up over dinner at hers.

After SF, it was off to the land of the rising sun to meet my folks for Chinese New Year. First stop Tokyo! We were there for a night and then the family trooped off to Nagano the next day. I thought Nagano was fantastic. We stayed in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Shibu Onsen which is a half hour bus ride to the Shiga Kogen ski slopes. The ryokan we stayed in was called Kokuya and it was 400 years old. It had 8 baths and orgasmic kaiseki sets (Japanese degustation menu). Big stamp of approval from me and the rest of the family!

My sister and I only had a day to hit the mountains and by the time we got down to figuring out where to go and what we had to do (with a lot of sign language and gesticulation) half the day had gone by and we were tired of not being able to speak Japanese. I think if it hadn't snowed the last day at Squaw, I might have liked Shiga Kogen a lot more. But because the memory or powder snow was still fresh in my memory, the snow at Shiga Kogen was kind of blah. Not lousy, but not great either. Plus the huge language gap got a bit frustrating after a while. I'd go back again to Nagano, just because Shibu Onsen was really nice but it definitely is a better ride on Niseko than Shiga Kogen. That being said, Shiga Kogen is a whole lot more convenient to get to than Niseko, so I guess that will always be an option!

We were back in Tokyo after and I got a chance to meet up with a couple of my friends - Fumiko and Danielle who I haven't seen in ages! Had a great catch-up and I got to meet Danielle's sweet little lady. Tokyo food was...well....you can never get enough of the food in Tokyo. I love love love Japanese food! Just in case none of you already know that.

So now I'm back and missing the slopes and my friends. One more year of thumb twiddling till I get back on the slopes again!

What I've done since I've been back:

last Wednesday: Ran 2k, 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups

last Thursday: Swim Training

last Friday: 1hr Personal Training

Saturday: 20k bike ride

Tuesday: Swim Training

SAFRA AvVentura 2011 Race Report

2011-01-24T14:46:00.005+08:00

We finished this year! We also cheated by doing the Sprint category so instead of a 50 over km adventure race, this year it was a more 'manageable' 35km. We still had our asses kicked despite that.

5am in the morning, I was awake and raring to go. Picked Rich up and raced down to SAFRA Yishun to make the 6.30am registration deadline. Of course the recommended car park is completely packed and after circling it twice we decided to park slightly further out and leg it to the registration desk.

After registration, I spent the next hour before the actual race start peeing a lot. Just because I had absolutely no intention of having to find a spot in the jungle to 'go'. Some half-hearted stretches and then a lot of sitting around. I have no idea why I thought that just because I signed up for the Sprint that it'd be a piece of cake and I'd breeze through it. Famous last words they were.

So the race starts off with us running off. I don't like running that much, but same as last year, running with a backpack stuffed with your harness, a bunch of slings, carabiners, a figure of 8 and 2 litres of water is very much worse. The water sloshing around in the bladder and just the sheer weight of the entire backpack just slows you down so much. Not that I was all that speedy to begin with.

The run surprisingly didn't last as long as I expected it to be and pretty soon we were on our bikes. Correction, one of us was on a bike and the other would be on foot. Of all the things I can't stand, I would say the team biathlon is the most annoying. That being said, Rich and I were better at it than we were last year, considering I did all the biking and he did all the running last year (poor thing!). This year at least Rich had some time on his bike.

So the bulk of the race was a biathlon. The other bulk was just cycling around from one checkpoint to another. The 'mystery' test in between involved getting 2 chopsticks into a mineral water bottle - we got one chopstick in each, thank you very much. Somewhere mid-way Rich and I lost our way and had to back track. I want to say that's why we didn't win, but really I think we sucked because we were so darn unfit.

There was a lot of lugging the mountain bike up and down slippery slopes and after falling into mud, slipping and sliding into streams, I was just covered in mud and looked like a walking disaster. Side note - I've no idea how I always end up being the dirtiest person in a race. Rich claims it's because everyone gets dirty up to their knees, but because I'm a shortie, I'm pretty much covered everywhere else. Geeez, thanks. Can't say too many bad things about Rich though because he was a real sweetie and did a lot of the bike hoisting for moi. I always think I'm a bit hard, but really, I'm just weak when it comes to bikes and slippery slopes. I can only deal with one at a time!

Whilst we were in the army camp (these adventure races organised by SAFRA usually take place within an army camp) the water skills leg was donning a life vest and swimming in the sea. Rich was not pleased although he did pretty well for someone who really didn't like swimming. I was fine with the swimming, only I'd have preferred doing it without a life vest and without all my clothes and shoes on! The good part about this was I looked considerably cleaner after the swim. The bad was the squidgy-wet-shoe feeling and the knowledge that I'd have to spend the rest of the race with these shoes on.

After cycling around for a bit, by which point I was pretty much over the whole race, we dumped our bikes and it was time to run back to SAFRA Yishun for the climb skills leg. Because Rich is essentially twice my weight, there was no way I was every going to belay him, which meant I had to do everything. First I climbed the wall, which wasn't too bad except for some guy who decided to climb out of his lane into mine and seemed to be aiming to stick his head up my ass (pleasant picture, huh?); and the wall having some overhang. Not some massive overhang, but enough to cause that burn in my forearms. Which is all fine and grand if that was the only 'test' in the climb skills but no, the sadists followed that up with a 25m rope ladder climb from hell. So first off I've never climbed a rope ladder so I was at a loss to start. Finally, after I got started I realised it was just going to go downhill from then on. My arms by then were burning up about a tenth way through and I just wanted the race to end. After what felt like a never-ending climb (I did beat a guy who started before me - woo hoo, small victories!), I was done.

Somehow Rich decided it was a good idea to finish strong and run to the end, which I quite stubbornly refused. Not because I didn't want to, but because my legs had by then just stopped working. So we finished the race strong-ish, me with some weird half-run/walk and Rich running through.

After washing the mud off me yesterday I realised that I have more bruises that I've ever had in my life and strange scratches all down my leg. Sexy. Everything that could ache, aches and I think my feet are just swollen from all the mucking around. I am, however, happy that we finished! 3rd last and all!

There is the Plan

2011-01-20T11:57:00.005+08:00

And there is actually doing it.

I tend to fall short on the delivery mostly. Always always there is the 'plan' - be it the plan to run, to go for swim training, to attend spin classes so on and so forth. If anything I'm dedicated to the very hard task of planning and boy am I skilled at that. I am, however, very unrealistic mostly and never factor in laziness and aching muscles.

This week was supposed to be the last week where I crammed all the last minute training for the adventure race into 7 days. That was the plan. Yesterday was when it fell apart. I was supposed to go for spin classes but after my personal training on Tuesday I was aching and I was just feeling lazy. So about halfway through my short walk to the gym, I turned back and walked to the office. A day of nothing. This is all followed of course by a company dinner and drinkies till 2am. Which makes today another big fat nothing although I've convinced myself that because I'm still aching from my personal training on Tuesday I need time to rest up further.

Of course all this means that I'm likely to die at the adventure race this Sunday.

What I've done:

Last Tuesday - Swim training

Last Friday - 15 minutes on the treadmill and some bunch of sit-ups before rushing off to catch the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Last Saturday - 1.5 hrs Rockclimbing

Last Sunday - Cycled 16K

Monday - Ran 4k in 27 mins

Tuesday - 1 hr Personal Training

Rain 1 Tennis 0

2011-01-11T15:07:00.002+08:00

Once again, my tennis plans have been thwarted by the rain. It's just been raining so dang much. Of course a lot of it is just also my plain bad luck - it'd be bright and sunny all day till the time my courts are booked. Bah.

I've been on a mission to get to bed early and get out of it just as early. Over the weekend, I managed an early climb on Saturday and an early bike ride on Sunday. By early I mean my standards of early - pretty much anything before noon! The climb on Saturday wasn't great because I'd gone out for drinks with Merle the night before and I was so completely dehydrated after the climb that my pee was neon yellow. Probably not good for the poor kidneys.

My bike ride was a bit of a disaster as well. I pumped up the tyres before I left home, but thanks to what must have been a slow puncture, when I was 7km into the ride and finding it harder and harder to cycle, I looked down and saw my flat tyres. Had to turn back and ride my baby all the way back to the car. Not very fun.

Swim training starts tonight again!

What I've done:
Saturday - 2hr climbing
Sunday - 14k bike ride and 6 sets of 10 crunches
Yesterday - 1hr personal training

A Week into 2011

2011-01-07T15:02:00.003+08:00

What I've Done:

1st Jan (Saturday) - Climbed 2 hours
4th Jan (Tuesday) - 3.5k run
5th Jan (Wednesday) - 1 hr Personal Training
6th Jan (Thursday) - 600m swim

So far....so good...probably need to ramp up the distance on the runs!

My 2010 recap

2011-01-02T23:18:00.004+08:00

The Good:

1. I did my first triathlon ever and then some - even if they were only minis
2. Got 2nd in a swim race - yes, out of 5 but well I'll take anything
3. Met up with some awesome friends and my cousins I haven't seen in ages!
4. Got me a sweet Bike who as yet remains nameless
5. Went on a bunch of holidays with awesome travel buddies
6. My foot didn't give me that much problems - could be because I hardly ran
7. Read some really really good books - If This Were a Man, Anne Frank, The Cider House Rules to name a few
8. Got re-inspired (though short-lived, laziness trumped inspiration) by the Youth Olympics and Steve Stenzel
9. Made some really good friends (at a bar, no less)
10. Started playing a wee bit of tennis again
11. FINALLY lost all the beer weight - beer is bad, kids!

The Bad:
1. Talked more (about training) than actually doing any
2. Pretty much wussed out of all my running races
3. Stopped muay thai and windsurfing because I just got lazy
4. Had a whole bunch of pooping related issues which someday I shall regale the world with someday
5. Found out my bike needed to be treated like a lady instead of being the hard core macho bike I thought it was
6. Spent too much time focusing on lame issues and neglecting the important stuff
7. Wasted much too much time feeling sorry for myself
8. Jenny, my bestie, went overseas for a whole year!

And how was YOUR 2010? Happy New Year guys!

It's Been A While

2010-12-22T16:58:00.003+08:00

And since then I've been on a build with Habitat for Humanity. Or shall we call it a full day workout? I was aching more than a real workout at the gym, what with hauling around buckets of cement, straightening wires...but all for a good cause, so it's all good!

Despite waking up with my trepezius (I only know this because my personal trainer felt the need to enlighten me as I kept calling them 'wings' which of course is totally wrong) and biceps aching, I hauled my ass out for a short 2.5k run in the evening followed by a bunch of crunches before meeting the two sisters who introduced me to alcohol back in the days of university. Obviously we met for vino and obviously we hung out till 2am despite it being a school day the next day. Somehow I got through Monday without feeling like I needed to die. I even managed to go for personal training! Even if no one is impressed with this, I am pretty much impressed with myself!

Following that I've done a big fat nothing. I've made plans to wake up at 6am every morning to hit the pool but I don't even know why I bother. To date I've succeeded only as far as waking up to turn off the alarm. Still I always believe in living in hope...someday, somehow I will wake up and feel bright and chirpy and head off for an early morning swim!

What I've done:
Sunday: 2.5k run + a bunch of crunches
Monday: 1 hr Personal Training

Updates

2010-12-15T17:28:00.002+08:00

I haven't really done much since last week. Thursday was spent sleepy, but I still felt the need to go out and play with Rich till way too late. It started off sensible (as it always does) with a pantomime - Cinderel-lah - and ended off at my new favourite bar, Sabroso, with more or less 2 bottles of vino between us.

I felt lousy on Friday but because it was my friend Ed's 40th and we felt we should do something for him, we ended up at Ink Bar for the jazz where I took it easy and had only 2 Jim Beam cokes (with a lot of coke). Then I went home to crash. I was in bed by 11pm on a Friday night. That's how tired I was that day.

Soooo, the weekend wasn't a total blow-out because I got enough sleep for it. Of course I ruined it all by meeting Rai for dinner on Sunday and then going for 'one drink'. Obviously I only left when Rai'd finished all his 3 sets and by then I had ingested close to 4 glasses of wine. Lovely.

What I did:

Saturday:

Ran 1.2k, walked 1.2k in the AM (yeah, apparently I hadn't fully recovered from Thursday's madness)

Climbed for 2 hours in the PM

Sunday:
Cycled on the spinner at home for 3 x 15min sets because it was just too boring (and tiring...mainly tiring) to go for any longer

Monday:
Personal Training x 1hr

Tuesday:
Dinner + Drinks with Rich before his flight back to UK

Back in Singapore

2010-12-09T11:36:00.002+08:00

And lazy as hell! Just canceled my Personal Training session today because I was just feeling tired and well....lazy. Tomorrow...tomorrow I shall run. It shall all start again tomorrow.

What I did:

Sunday - 15min run, 45 mins arm and core work
Monday - Swam 20 laps
Tuesday - 2.5k run, 30 lunges and squats and a bunch of core work

And nothing since!

Hong Kong Update

2010-12-05T02:19:00.004+08:00

I got to Hong Kong yesterday, well technically the day before since it's 2am on a Sunday. So far I've managed a swim in the bleeding cold...well, cold by Singapore standards. It took me 5 minutes standing waist deep in the pool before I got the nerve to start swimming. Back home, I used to think swimming in the rain in Singapore was pretty hard core, but I've realized now, that's nothing! All the same, I did 10 laps in a 10m pool (I think it was 10m at least) and the did another 5 laps 'fartlek' (ie 5 lengths mad swim with a length easy swim in between). I also felt like dying at the end, but that's pretty normal. Of course I managed to negate all this work-out with a very filling lunch and a dinner with 3 very unhealthy, but yummy hairy crabs. Aiming for a gym session at the hotel tomorrow, but it's almost 3 now and I'm probably going to be uber sleepy in the morning.

What I've done:

Thursday - 1hr personal training which is why my back and arms hurt now

Saturday - (assuming the pool's 10m in length) 10 laps easy, 5 laps 'fartlek'

My Middle Name is 'Bruise'

2010-11-29T13:54:00.004+08:00

This weekend was not spent as fruitfully as I would have liked it to be. Saturday was pretty much a lost cause since I spent almost all of it feeling crazy tired and slightly hungover from playing till too late on Friday. Sunday was my saving grace because I hauled my aching ass and legs (from my PT class on Friday) over to East Coast (by that I mean, I drove down there) and did a short bike ride. All of 14km (ooooh!). Met some of the windsurfing folk, who gave me a hard time for giving up the sport...which I haven't! I just hate my sail. And now I've gotten rid of that, I might just go back to renting equipment...but that's another story.

Now after my crazy night on Friday, I found a nice big bump on my shin. Probably from kicking myself unknowingly or something. I tend to do that after having some vino...I suspect I have some masochistic streak in me! Then I found 4 more shiners this morning after my bike ride. I have no idea how I'm riding the darn bike that I would get 4 weird bruises in completely random places. I don't think I've ever been bruise-free in my life, come to think of it! Firstly I bruise easily and secondly I'm clumsy as hell. It'd actually be amazing if I were ever bruise-free!

What I did:

Friday: 1 hr of leg/core work - torture getting in and out of my chair now!

Sunday: 14k bike ride in I don't know how long, but my legs were jelly after. Weak, I know!

Friends Once More

2010-11-26T12:56:00.004+08:00

Rain and I kissed and made up last night, and I had one of my most enjoyable runs in a long time. The light drizzle coupled by the coolness (which in Singapore is very, very, very rare!) made everything so comfortable and well...pleasant. I had a bit of a stitch, but the weather was just too good to stop. It was just one of those nights where everything in the run fit from the moment I stepped out of the house till the moment I got back in.

And Jim Croce - you're my man. I tend to run listening to this upbeat playlist of random songs I like, but last night I took a break from that and put on the Jim-man. And he did a good...no great job. Like I said, everything fit last night and I can say (at least, just for last night) I do actually love running!

Rain + Gerry + running = BFFs

What I did
Ran 3K

Rain Makes Me Fat

2010-11-25T17:16:00.002+08:00

Sharon and I had a tennis session all set up yesterday and (story of my life) it starts pissing down - the heavy, I'm-not-going-to-let-up kind of rain. Darn. So we decided to meet for drinks instead. We're just terrible influence on each other. I, however, felt bad enough that I did a 600m swim before. Ooof, having not put in any swimming in the past weeks, my arms were ready to pop out of their sockets after the swim! Then I met Sharon for dinner and vino. Lots of vino! My left deltoid aches today! Poor weak arm!

What I did last night:
Swam 10 x 60m

A Date with the Sports Doctor

2010-11-23T13:41:00.006+08:00

So early this year at the adventure race I fell and hurt my little toe. After a couple of months of it hurting I went to see the sports doctor about it and on doing an ultrasound on the toe to check that no tendons(?) were torn, established there was nothing wrong it. Still it continued to hurt if I put any weight on it.

Early this month, being the total klutz that I am, when I entered CMPB to get a couple of drinks I tripped over a step and made a very unglamorous entrance. And OBVIOUSLY I would land on the very same toe that has been hurting all this while. So after a couple of weeks, and in the course of them I've squeezed my toe into heels twice (I had to attend fancy dinners! They required heels!), my toe still ached if I moved it back which meant another trip back to the sports doctor. I'm not complaining, the guy's great eye-candy so I'm happy to stare at him all day; but I felt so stupid. It's the last toe, and really in my day-to-day activities, it hardly affects my life, but it's still annoying and I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac - so really, half of me wants to get something sorted and the other half is just going 'this is sooooo lame!'

After looking at the X-ray of my toe and finding out nothing was wrong again, he said the joint might be a bit sore and if it was really troubling me, I could get a cortisone jab. Now I have no problem with taking jabs, but frankly if it's not absolutely compulsory I have one, then I'd rather just lay off the jab. So the plan B is icing the crap out of my toe and going on a week of anti-inflammatories. Hopefully that'll wipe out all the pain on the toe and I can go back to....well, it's not like I stopped my life because of the toe! I guess the upside of all this is I got another look at the doctor, I just wish I didn't come across like a complete klutz!

Another Weekend Another Run

2010-11-22T15:43:00.002+08:00

Well, a teeny tiny run. A little 2.5k run. A run up and down a 'hill'...or rather a bunch of slopes. That makes it a 10k run, no?

Ever since my training session last Thursday (and that includes today even), I've been aching madly. Deciding to do the run on that 'hilly' (I'm going to keep using 'hilly' because it makes me sound hard-core) road was probably not the brightest idea since I haven't run in ages and since I was already aching. Obviously Sunday wasn't so great for me. Oh hang on, I forgot to add that after my run, I went off to meet Merle and Sam in the evening for drinks and Rai for further drinks at stupid-o-clock. Very very stupid. I actually managed to get a headache mid-way through drinks with Rai and I woke up the next day aching even more than ever. Way to rest up those muscles.

My dad decided he wanted to do a walk on Sunday, so that meant dragging my poor achy legs to Botanic Gardens with both my dad and mum doing a fast-paced walk for a good 1/2 hour. My butt ached after. Well to be specific my right butt cheek ached after. I'm not sure why but I'm putting it down to just pure unfitness.

Today it was back to the gym with my sadist of a trainer again. I said my arms ached, so we did boxing. Make sense to you? Sure didn't to me. I essentially spent an hour whining away to him. I also convinced him to get me on core work. And of course I proceeded to regret that since my core is the only part not aching. I guess....achy abs tomorrow then! Gah....can't feel my arms now!

What I've done:

Saturday - 2.5k at grandma speed
Sunday - 1/2 hour walk

Today - Personal Training: 1/2 hour boxing, 1/2 hour core work

Tired!!!!!

Yowza!

2010-11-19T14:40:00.002+08:00

After taking all the time off the past weeks and doing nothing very much but put my liver to the test, my trainer finally bugged me enough for me to show up for training yesterday. He said it'd be an easy session. He lied. Did a whole bunch of inner thigh/outer thigh, shoulder blades, back, arm work etc etc etc. Guess who's aching today. Well, aching and sleepy...namely because I played till 4am last night. And I wonder why I fall sick so easily! Must be ALL that sleep and rest I'm getting!

Hopefully, this training session kicks me back to a more normal human sleep cycle, or at least one where I get a nice 7 hours of sleep. I was supposed to go for the Choo Choo Trek tomorrow, but it got canceled, so I may at least be able to sleep in! Maybe I'll be able to fit in a bike ride/rock climbing/swimming/golf over the weekend! Although it seems highly likely I may just wind up doing nothing in the end.

What I did yesterday:
1 hr personal training

Sleepy but Happy

2010-11-16T14:08:00.003+08:00

Because I'm still not fully well, my solution has been to hang out with friends till late lately. It's been really good fun in a whole chill-out, no-fuss way. Minus the complete lack of sleep because we're yabbering till early morn, I actually love the camaraderie, the vino and the mad conversations. To all my friends out there I love, here's sending good thoughts your ways! I'm really glad I've got you all!

Yes and all these emotional flighty updates are purely because I haven't done much training....hang on...I actually do have something more meaty to put in here...

So I met Sharon at a bar. As one does when they want to make new friends - they go to a bar and pick up random strangers (kidding!). Anyway, Sharon and I realised we were super alike and somehow became really good friends...at least I take her as my really good friend, she may not....Last week Sharon and I decided to be good and do some sport so I had my first game of tennis in ages! And we went for a walk over the weekend. It was a load of laughs...and chatter. This weekend, I join the British Club for their Choo Choo Trek. I shall see if I can get some pictures of that trek!

What I did last week:
Wednesday - Tennis (1 hour)
Saturday
- Walked (Jln Kampong Chantek - Bkt Timah Nature Reserve - Rifle Range Road: 2 hours)

Crosswords, Vino, an Old Friend and the Arts

2010-11-02T15:12:00.006+08:00

**Warning!!! slightly emo post!!**

Since I've been unable to do anything too strenuous lately and since I've had my heartbreak a couple of months ago, I've been trying to fill my time with things I've always wanted to do but didn't because I had no one to go with me or because I was too busy training (or at least thinking about training, not doing it and then feeling guilty about it). So in a whole bid to seek this independence that I seem to have lost over the years, I went off and got myself a ticket for Jeremy Monteiro (one of Singapore's more famous local Jazz talents) to see his solo piano recital. Right after I did that though, a friend, Ed, and his wife decided to join me - okay, so I didn't go solo in the end, but the thought was there! The three of us also got tickets to watch Natalie Cole at the Sun Festival and did that just last Sunday.

I have to say, I've really been enjoying these recitals/concerts . Previously I would kind of wait around for my man (now, ex) before I could do anything...not because I really needed to have him around, but just as a whole 'if I enjoyed the moment, I would really want to share that moment with the person I loved'. So I would always wait for my man to be free and he wasn't free a lot for me somehow, which meant I didn't end up doing a lot of things I wanted to. I guess it is a blessing in disguise that I now have the opportunity to do all these things now. I've been reading a lot, going for blue-sky holidays and attending more jazz concerts - things I could never seem to make time for. Also tonight I'm off to watch Jose Carreras in concert - I'm not sure I'll fully enjoy it, but who knows? Mainly I'm once more starting to get out there and be curious about the world again.

Along with this life change, an old friend has also reappeared in my life. A very good friend and a friend who I've shared certain important moments in my life with. It's been weird because in the last week I've seen more of him than I have in the last 2 years. For 2 years, we've had, at most, a handful of half-hearted calls; if we met up, it was because we ran into each other and nothing more - then all of a sudden he rings up one day, we meet up and magically we're the best of friends again. And it is nice. And I realise I do actually miss our little chats and that bizarre chemistry we share as friends. We've met up about a good 4 times last week - as if to cram in 2 years worth of yapping - and we'll play crosswords over a glass/bottle of vino till late into the night. Did I mention I've become a huge crossword buff as well lately? Really really love doing them! So, a good friend, some vino and crosswords - what more could one ask for?

Side note - I've not been doing much by way of exercise. I did 10 lunges on each side on Sunday and my hamstrings were aching the next day (I'm totally in fighting shape). Also did a 3k walk with my folks and a bunch of crunches. I think I need to watch an episode of Tomb Raider for inspiration again!

Story of My Life

2010-10-26T14:03:00.003+08:00

On Saturday I made big plans to go for a walk. Mind you, I've been sick for what feels like ages now, so I wanted to get out and do something. I even asked my colleague along since I figured I'd do the good Singaporean thing and introduce the Englishman to Singapore and to take him on the Tree-Top Walk.

I'm all excited, packed my backpack, picked Al up, drove down to MacRitchie Reservoir and start our hike. About 45 minutes into the walk, lightning flashes, thunder claps and it starts pissing down. Not the 'passing rain cloud' kind of rain, but the I'm-here-for-the-next-2-hours-rain. It doesn't rain for a week, but obviously when I decide to go on a walk and I'm stuck in the middle of a rainforest the sky takes it on itself to just burst open. So we took shelter for a while before deciding it probably wasn't going to let up anytime soon and continued on our merry way before we hit the carpark at the Singapore Island Country Club where I proceeded to beg one of the guards to help us call a cab to send us back to where I had parked my car. Such is my luck.

What I did
Saturday: Walked 45mins - not very fast or very far
Sunday: Did 2 reps of 50 crunches / 40 arm work and 10 squats and lunges

The Only Real Medal I'm Ever Going to Get

2010-10-25T11:11:00.011+08:00

Second for my sea swim that I took part in ages and ages ago, but only just got the medal for!...okay there were only 5 people which is why I got 2nd.

Meanwhile, more evidence of mud!

Big thanks to Rich for being so sweet to come down to share this moment with me and be my designated photographer!

Sick....again

2010-10-20T15:34:00.003+08:00

Bah, I am so sick of being sick. Seriously. Been down with bronchitis since last Thursday and all I'm doing is hacking up yellow phlegm (I'm sure no one needed to know that but well...), blowing my nose constantly and just feeling so darn tired. I'm on the 3rd round of antibiotics (the first for the infected toe, the second for this bronchitis thing) and I am so over taking medicine. I finish my last round of antibiotics tomorrow and, fingers crossed, I shall be magically better and I'll be able to go for a nice 1/2 hour or so walk on Saturday. I'm going to be realistic and assume that I'll be in no shape to run or do anything too tiring.

In any case, somewhere in the last week (before I got hit by this darn bronchitis), I think it was Tuesday, I did a 2.5k run. I had to walk off my stitch midway through. Not that that is particularly surprising.

After a Short Hiatus

2010-10-08T14:52:00.008+08:00

Yesterday night after going stir crazy from doing nothing very much since the race, I went for a swim in the pool. A nice, easy comfortable 600m. I've an infected toe from the gross mess at the race, so running's been put on hold!

What I did yesterday:
Swam 600m

Incidentally, I went for what has to be the best massage ever the day after the race. My shoulder blades were aching and my neck was stiff, but after this amazing rub-down they were all gone...and remained all gone! Two thumbs up for the guy who gave me my massage at Ashi!

Meanwhile, pics from the race, courtesy of R. Thankeeee!

Gross mud slush at transition as I was 'running' out to bike leg!

Tri-Factor Series: HP Freshmen Triathlon Race Report

2010-10-04T16:31:00.004+08:00

I woke up at 4am to some crazy ass storm going on and first thought was 'you gotta be kidding me...after all my training, the race is going to be cancelled?!?!?' Well, it didn't but it sure made for a very muddy race.

So thanks to the storm, everything got pushed about 20 minutes back, which meant, the banana I ate on the cab ride to the race had pretty much digested itself when the race started. Note to self: Eat slightly nearer to race as opposed to 2 hours before!

Essentially, the condition of the race area sucked through no fault of the organisers. The rain had just pissed down and made the entire field just one gross mess. I got to a stage where I just gave up with the flip flops because they just kept getting stuck in the mud and wound up walking around the muddy field barefoot. Not that that was any more pleasant. Mud stuck between toes...yech!

After setting up, and trust me it wasn't easy with all the crap I was stuck in, I bumped into Gina and we both started doing our warm-ups. Not good, crap loads of swells! And after we finished, we realised our wave was going to start later. By the time the wave started we had taken to sitting around somewhere and wasting all the 'warm-up' we'd done before.

The swim leg was...well...crap. I think in all the sea races I've done, I've never been kicked and hit so much. I know I whine about this every time and say that 'this is the most I've been kicked!' each time, but I swear that it does get more and more painful each race I'm doing. I've the bruises to show for it, if anything. So essentially when I got into the sea and started my swim, I got stuck in breast-stroker's hell. Every dang person around me was doing breast-stroke and it was just impossible to make any progress. I was doing too much and not getting anywhere. I decided to slow down, because even before I got to the first turn, I was pretty wrecked. My brain then kicked in and I thought I'd go out of the mass of breast-strokers and swim on the outside bit. Then my brain stopped working and somehow I ended up going the wrong way. Yes and I did that twice. Real bright. Near the end of the leg, I couldn't feel my arms and I was pretty out of it. Baaaaad start to the race, especially since the swim leg is my best leg and if I screwed that up, I pretty much can kiss good-bye to even completing the rest of it.

Transition was just a mess. I tried to run carrying out my bike but almost lost my shoes in the sticky mud and was just short of falling flat on my face. Plus after the gruelling sea swim, thinking I could 'run' whilst hoisting my bike on my shoulder was pretty far-fetched.

Bike leg was okay. I was panting like a dog and I guess my heart rate was all over the place. I tried to pedal as fast as my little legs could go but kept tiring and slowing down. Also to all those asses out there yelling and screaming at me...argh! Ugly ugly sports people, you bunch are! I was supposed to turn right at the 5k loop and you guys were in MY way! Plus it really isn't my fault that they set up the race in THAT way. Gah. Asses.

My run went rather dismally. I blame my mud-caked shoes which felt like I was running with weights on my feet. Well, I guess at least I didn't walk the whole while, but I did stop to trot every 5 minutes or so. I did make a friend whilst strolling and met another chica I'd talked to previously at another race, so the race did get a little more fun. After all that walking, running slowly and talking, I finally mustered up what little energy left to stick myself behind some chick's ass and used her as a pacer. Did some desperate dash (used fast and loose here) in the last 100m and pretty much died!

Overall I thought I had a lousy race yesterday. I was disappointed in my swim most and just the muddiness that was yesterday was just well...gross. I went to collect my medal for my swim race from ages ago. R was super nice and came down to watch the race as well to stand around and be my camera-man during the awards ceremony. Pictures to follow when I get less lazy.

Today though, the provisional results are out and what a difference a day makes! After spending the whole of yesterday feeling lousy, I realise I didn't suck that much! I finished 17th of 55 people - placed 8th for the swim leg, 18th for the bike leg and (a rather embarrassing) 30th for the run leg. So to all my friends who always believed in me, more than I believed in myself (and trust me, I have a pretty big head) - I love you all! Thanks for the encouragement and good thoughts sent my way!

Provisional race results:
Swim leg (200m) - 05:06 mins (vs 08:20 mins at OSIM)
Bike leg (10k) - 25:57 mins (vs 33:18 mins at OSIM)
Run leg (2.4k)- 16:13 mins (vs 15:38 mins at OSIM for 2k)
Overall - 47:16 mins

I kicked my OSIM triathlon self's ass! - Yes I know the sentence just doesn't seem like a very grammatically correct one...

Rolling Over

2010-09-29T11:43:00.002+08:00

Pretty much what I had to do to get out of bed yesterday. My poor stomach muscles...I can't even clear my throat without them acting out in pain. Ah well. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, no? So I'll be waaaay stronger soon!

On another note, I've found a spin class I enjoy in the gym. Had an enjoyable session at spin class yesterday - no one yelled at us, no one sang constantly to the music - and it was so so tough! As usual I was dripping when I got out. There was a class before us and the guy sitting on the bike in front of mine actually managed to accumulate a pool of water under his bike. Needless to say, I did not use THAT bike!

I'm supposed to do a run today, but already I can sense myself getting lazy!

What I did yesterday:
45 minute spin class

The Countdown Begins!

2010-09-27T14:49:00.003+08:00

6 more days to the Tri-Factor Triathlon and I still feel rather unprepared. On one hand, I feel like I haven't quite run far enough, swam long enough and biked often enough. But on the other, I have tried biking and running after (which I didn't do at the OSIM triathlon) and I think in that sense, I am more prepared for the burn!

**Rant alert**
I don't understand what it is with people going on about how short the distances are for this triathlon and laughing about how I'm doing a lame triathlon when they're the same people who sit on their asses all day doing nothing. Bah!

What I've done:

Last Tuesday
- 45 minute core yoga class
- Swim training

I still dislike yoga immensely. I dislike the lady with the stupid zen voice and I dislike how it's just such a static sport.

Last Friday
- 45 minute Spin Class

Which I think I will never ever turn up for again. I think there are two kinds of people in the world - one who require people screaming at them to get anything done and the other who needs to be encouraged/persuaded to get something done. I belong to the latter group of people. I don't see why I should go for a class to be screamed at. I'm not a pro-athlete and frankly I need someone to push me a little bit more, not someone to insist that her way is the right way and me wind up with a knee ache the next day.

Saturday
- 1 hr Pilates

Because of knee ache, I just didn't get as much out of it as I would like to have.

Sunday
- 30 minute bike ride + 2.5k run in 17 minutes

I bought myself a trainer because I realise that it's easy to justify not biking when I have the excuse of how it is a real hassle hauling my bike to and fro from East Coast. So no excuses now, if I'm too lazy to drive down to East Coast, I just set my bike up and spin away. Cons: It is soooooo dull and warm biking on a trainer!

Today
- 45 minute TRX session with my personal trainer

I expect my abs won't be too happy tomorrow seeing how I whooped its ass today!

I've Been Lazy

2010-09-20T11:48:00.003+08:00

And I haven't updated much. Then I went off and got my phone broken, so I don't actually remember what I've done in the past couple of weeks. Anyhoooo here is the stuff I've done or what I remember of them:

5th Sept: Biked 27k

Whilst on holiday at Ko Lanta - more on that when I find the motivation to upload photos:
10th Sept: Swam and Core Work
11th Sept: Swam and Core Work

Last Thursday: 1hr Swim Training
Saturday: 1hr Pilates

Yesterday (my glory day!):

23k Bike ride in the morning

240m swim followed by 2.5K run - Don't know how long I took with the swim, but run took me 17:17 mins...which is half decent considering I've been lazy.

Crazy Long Walk Repeated

2010-08-29T10:15:00.002+08:00

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

One Step Forward, One Step Back

2010-08-27T17:37:00.002+08:00

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

Zero Exercise and A Bunch of Junk Food Later

2010-08-26T16:37:00.002+08:00

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!

More Update on My Bowel Movements

2010-08-25T14:24:00.002+08:00

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!

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

2010-08-24T15:49:00.007+08:00

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

Long Swim

2010-08-19T11:09:00.002+08:00

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

Running and the Aftermath

2010-08-18T11:11:00.005+08:00

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)

Happy Birthday Singapore

2010-08-10T12:49:00.003+08:00

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

Hello Muay Thai My Old Friend

2010-08-02T16:35:00.002+08:00

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

Back to Normality

2010-07-30T10:50:00.003+08:00

Finally finally finally! After more or less going stark raving mad from all the inactivity, I got back started on swim training. I did my first one in ages last week and my arms were aching so much after! Over the weekend I did a 2k walk...yes yes, pathetic...and got a bike ride in on Sunday...and although it was a rather lame distance, it was better than nothing.

Yesterday I went back for swim training again. This time I did the whole chunk of drills and stuff set out for the day and boy oh boy does my back ache! But there is this amazing sense of satisfaction that I really can't get from doing anything else. The feeling of completing 2k over in swim drills and living to do it one more time. Granted I wasn't the speediest and most of the time I felt like dying, but I wouldn't trade last night's training for a night of drinks. Not that I'm an alcoholic!

I am glad I'm back. It's been a rough couple of weeks/months that went by. On a personal level front there's been so much going on - big decisions to make involving tears, grinding of teeth and a whole lot of moping. That I couldn't even find an outlet for all that pent up frustration was a complete nightmare. Sometimes I realise I'd just drive myself crazy if I didn't do anything....which I pretty much almost did this time around!...all the same, I'm back now! Muay Thai tonight!

What I've done since I've last updated (excluding the biking we did at Langkawi):

Thursday before last: 30 minutes swim training
Last Friday: 600m swim
Saturday: Walked 2k
Sunday: Cycled 10k (possibly less)
Thursday: Swim training (2.25k in all)

My First Attempt at Getting Back into Things

2010-07-07T15:18:00.004+08:00

Total FAIL. So I still have that nagging little cough that absolutely refuses to disappear. It's not even a real cough, just like this little cough that comes up every couple of hours. Bah.

On Sunday I decided enough was enough. When I was doing stuff, at least if I had a bad day, I'd take a swim or a run (well, rarely now), now at one of the more drama moments in my life I have no outlet to release all this pent-up angst. I've tried talking about things over many many glasses of wine. But frankly, I'm tired of the wine, tired of the talking and all I really want to do is go out and do something!

So Sunday I decided I needed to get a bike ride in. I took my poor neglected bike out and realised my tyres were kind of flat. No problem I thought, there was a bike shop by the main road, so all I had to do was cycle out and get the tyres all pumped up and then I could head to East Coast Park and get a 20k bike ride in. The shop was shut. Well, I wasn't going to throw a tantrum just yet! There were at least 4 bike shops all the way from Second Avenue to Sixth Avenue and that was just a short cab ride away.

However, after getting turned down by 4 cabbies - because I had a bike and they couldn't be arsed to open their boots...and I couldn't be bothered to argue with them about how I knew my bike would fit in because I've popped it in the boot numerous times - I was getting kind of at the end of my patience. Thankfully a very nice and kind taxi stopped and helped me load my bike and we were on our way!

Judging by how I'm the official jinx of this year's World Cup (every single team I've supported has been kicked out), I wasn't too successful with my bid to get my tyres pumped. All the shops were shut. Every.Single.One. Siiiiiiigh.....

What was my solution? I dragged my bike over to my neighbourhood bar and got me beer. A nice cold beer because the day was just becoming a huge fail. A nice cold beer because I just needed to accomplish something for the day and if drinking was it, I could make do.

So my exercise for the day - I rode my bike to the overhead bridge, lugged it over my shoulder and crossed the bridge, then rode it back home. A grand total of 2 kilometres logged. Woo hoo. Guess who woke up the next morning an aching right arm and sore thigh muscles? I really don't know if I should laugh or cry that I've become this pathetic.

First attempt at getting back into things - FAIL

I'm off to Langkawi on Friday. Hopefully I can get a bike ride in, some climbing in and kayaking....or it could rain all weekend and I'll come back feeling unaccomplished again.

Bailed Out

2010-06-25T13:32:00.001+08:00

It has officially be ages since I did any exercise and my cough still refuses to go away. What could I be doing wrong?!?! Sigh....

Needless to say I didn't go for my 40k bike race.

Random Points on my Life

2010-06-11T12:26:00.004+08:00

1) I have done no sport for a long long time. I am also restless as hell. Sometime in the next couple of years I hope I stop being sick. Sighhhhh....

2) Although I did go for a birthday walk with R on the Woodcutter's Trail yesterday. We did also get lost - well, that or the instructions I downloaded were kind of crap. Not that I could get any better instructions. The problem with Singapore is that there just aren't enough people doing treks.

3) I am now 30. Well, at least I was 30 since yesterday. I don't really feel 30 and I'm not really sure how someone who's 30 is supposed to feel. More mature maybe? I hardly feel that though.

4) I have a 40k bike race in 9 days and have not touched my bike in a long long time. Plus point 1) also states I've not been doing any sport, so basically, I'm going to die a sad, miserable death. Great.

5) Off to Hong Kong today. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a hike whilst there.

Nothing

2010-05-20T11:01:00.000+08:00

Yeah, I've been doing nothing. But I've been sick. So there!

Tri-Factor Series: Tri-Swim 500m Race Report

2010-05-11T16:41:00.003+08:00

So for some reason before this race I was lazy. Granted I did turn up for both swim training days on Tuesday and Thursday...and I did have a personal training session on Wednesday....okay, I wasn't THAT lazy then....All the same, I can't say I felt all that confident on race day. I had trouble sleeping the whole night because for some reason, my stomach was just in knots.

Race day I woke up sleepy. Helped I couldn't get to bed, so read a book till 2am (yes, I'm not the brightest bulb in the room!). I arrived at Sentosa about 30 minutes before the start, which probably was a bit on the late side. Proceeded to get body-marked and then did a little warm-up in the sea. I realise I don't actually know how to warm-up before a swim race. I go through the motion of swimming ie I do a few lame strokes and then float around trying to figure out how strong the current is. It wasn't very strong, so just as well.

My wave was assembled earlier than stated and I actually think Tri-Factor is pretty well-organised when it comes to their races. That being said, I had about 20 people in my wave and they were a mix of men, women and children. Yes, very weird.

Some dood standing in front of me was wearing a full swim suit - the kind in Olympic swim meets - and I thought 'maaaaan, some people are real hard-core'. There was another old dood who was wearing Ironman (the Triathlon not the comic) compression tights which once again rendered a whole 'show-off' scream in my head. I actually am pretty bitchy when I put my mind to it. So there I was standing at the start line, looking around me and having a wee bitching session in my head whilst wondering who I could beat. From the tiny number of people, it didn't seem like I'd do all that well.

Once the horn went off and everyone went running and diving into the sea, it was just mad swimming all the way. I say that but about halfway through the swim I got tired. Really really tired. My heart was pounding, my arms were aching and the turn-around point just seemed too far. So I slowed down. I figured if I went on the speed I was going, I was just going to die and it wasn't something I was looking forward to.

After that little break I took I picked up speed again and found myself behind Ironman Tights. And it was a real bitch trying to overtake him. It wasn't as if he were particularly speedy, because if that was the case, I'd be perfectly happy drafting behind him. But no! He'd be breast-stroking, then when I swam left to overtake he'd go left freestyle. I'd cut back and he'd go back to breast-stroke. So I tried cutting right and the same thing would happening. It was really really frustrating. Finally I managed to squeeze between him and the ropes and with all that was left I kicked through and put some distance between us. It was bloody tiring.

That basically was the highlight of the swim. After I left Ironman Tights in the dust, I reached the turn-around point and managed a smooth (albeit uneventful) swim to the end - where I have ran and half stumbled to the finish point.

I bumped into a friend as I was leaving who had brought his dog down for a swim in the beach and he informed me that some ass had let their dog take a dump in the same damn lagoon I was swimming in! Dang! I went home to brush my teeth and gargled some Listerine. Dog poop waters. Not pleasant.

So, I found out yesterday, I got 2nd! Well, out of 5 people in my category. Which kind of sucks. I can't feel proud of myself because 2 out of 5 just isn't something worth getting all excited over. Darn....

Time: 12min 34sec

Pics from the Osim Triathlon

2010-05-11T12:29:00.005+08:00

I got caught on film strolling! Darn!

Bitchin' Achin'

2010-05-06T12:14:00.003+08:00

After doing nothing last week, my foray back into exercise has been tough. Went for swim training on Tuesday and suffered through that. Then PT class yesterday and I can't walk properly now. I also can't get out of my chair, can't walk down stairs, and numerous other things....

Swim training again tonight. Hopefully all goes well! Load up the Deep Heat!

What I've done:
Tuesday: Swim training 1 hr
Wednesday: Personal training 1 hr

Tri-Bob Sprint Series: Mini Triathlon Race Report

2010-05-03T11:43:00.001+08:00

I swam 150m and I got stung by a jellyfish. And that was the extent of my race. Bummed!!!!

Pics from the Tri-Bob Duathlon

2010-04-30T15:00:00.005+08:00

I only put them in because I look cool in them. Well, at least I think so if anything!

Still No Running

2010-04-19T16:05:00.003+08:00

I need to change that little thing I wrote at the top of this blog about running and how I enjoy it since I haven't actually done any running at all (races aside - even then 'running' is used fast and loose) in the last few months. This weekend was no different.

I started the weekend having real grandiose plans - Saturday I'd wake up early for swim training and then pilates after and Sunday I'd go cycling in the morning and climbing in the afternoon. Surprise surprise I only accomplished 50% of that.

Saturday

Swim training kind of fell off the radar when I got to bed mad late on Friday after a night of the wines with my sister at the Club. I managed to drag myself out of bed for a much missed Pilates session with Karrie and felt better for it. Although, as always, Karrie decided on giving us a real killer session and my left tricep (yes, only the left one) is aching. The rest of the day was spent at my alumni's AGM where a rather tragic number of people turned up.

Headed to church after. I'm not a regular attendee of the Saturday service, but I had big plans to do a lot of things on Sunday, so I thought I'd leave my Sunday morning open to accomplishing that. My good ole buddy dropped me off at home and ogled my bike after, so it ended up being a pretty neat day.

Sunday

In spite of all my 'get up early to bike' plans, I did not get up early and I did not bike in the morning. Instead I lounged around reading my book. Then I went for an early lunch - still had plans of going biking - and cancelled my climb class. After lunch I went for a couple of cocktails with my sister. In the middle of the day. By this time, I had pretty much counted the day as lost. BUT I still made it out biking! I dragged my sister along with me and went for a 2 hr ride at East Coast, sweated out the alcohol (frankly my cocktails tasted pretty much like fruit punches) and worked off the cocktail calories.

So overall it wasn't that bad a weekend. Granted I didn't actually do everything I planned to do, but I did finish my book ('Evidence' by Jonathan Kellerman - did I ever mention I was a big psychological thriller/murder mystery fan?!?) and I did get some exercise in. And the AGM wasn't overly dramatic, so life was all good!

What I did:
Last Wednesday: 1 hr Personal Training
Saturday: 1 hr Pilates
Sunday: 2 hr Bike ride (approx 26k covered...t'was a slow ride admittedly)

OSIM Singapore International Triathlon - Mini Category Race Report

2010-04-15T16:41:00.002+08:00

Firstly I'm really proud of myself for showing up. I had been starting to develop this bad habit of not showing up for races when I did them alone so the fact that I was even at the start point was, to me, a pretty big deal!

For a first (albeit the wimpy category) triathlon, the weather couldn't be better. It was overcast the throughout the entire race and didn't start raining till I was done. Okay, it probably wasn't so great for the guys in the sprint category, but...er...frankly I don't really care. Hah!

I got to East Coast about an hour early to set up shop in the transition area (TA). Hunted around for a bag drop, and realised my little allocated space in the TA was pretty much my bag drop/swim transition/run transition/etc etc (talk about multi-purpose!). After organising everything nicely, I had a pee in what had to be the filthiest portaloos and I was ready to warm up and go!

Swim Leg

I started somewhere in the front. I've learnt that starting behind really really sucks because I just keep getting kicked in the face by all these breast-strokers. As it was, even though I started near the front, I still had someone swim over me (very weird moment!), had someone slap my hand a few times and someone kick me somewhere.

Truth is, I don't think I felt much during the swim because I was all pumped up with adrenalin. I did find a couple of scratches here and there when I was showering, but well. And I guess I can't complain all too much about the kicking because I know I did give someone a kick in the face. I also stopped and apologised. Which makes me rock, because no one else actually stopped to apologise and I did! All the same, this 200m swim was way longer than the 200m swim at the Tri-bob Aquathlon, and we were swimming against a pretty fierce current, so that took quite a bit out of you.

I think I could have afforded to put a bit more into the swim, but I kept thinking I still had a bike ride and a run to go, so I held back on power Gerry! I did pretty okay though, came in 11th out of 120 peeps so I'm not complaining!

Time: 08:20 minutes

Bike Leg

This was a pretty bad moment for me. I thought I was going pretty damn fast but tons and tons of mountain bikes were overtaking me. It was just demoralising after a while. I tried to go a bit faster, but then my brain kept constantly reminding me I still had a run to do. After my speedy swim, this was really nothing to scream about. In fact it was kind of blah. By the time I was done and got to the TA, I was pretty tired. I guess I haven't really been doing as much cycling training as I thought I did. My legs were wobbly and I just couldn't run in with my bike. Well, I tried and I ran into my bike wheel, so I opted for strolling in with my bike. Came in 55th for this leg - not cool

Time: 33:18mins

Run Leg

Not my proudest moment. It was a 2k run, the weather was great for a run and what did I do? I strolled. I ambled along slowly. I wasn't even brisk walking. Of course I had a stitch. I hadn't done any running the past goodness-knows-how-long, what else did I expect. So this leg proved (doh!) to be my downfall. I don't even have anything to say about it because nothing happened. Had (a very humiliating) 101st slowest time for this leg needless to say.

Time: 15:38mins

Overall Time: 57:44 (Ranked 55th)

Humpy Grumpy Camel

2010-04-09T15:57:00.003+08:00

I'm in a mood today. A rather grouchy one. Maybe it's a lack of sleep. Maybe it's just that I find boys have double standards and won't ever admit it (plus they're every bit as self-absorbed as they think we are!). Maybe it's because I'm aching from swim training. Maybe it's just that I woke up on the wrong side of bed. Maybe it's all of the above. I really just want to go to a corner and cry like a baby. Aaaaaargh! This sucks ass.

Getting Lazy

2010-04-06T14:48:00.004+08:00

Since the last entry, I've made numerous plans to run and have in reality achieved a big fat ZERO in mileage. It's weird, I've just managed to just turn off running. I've also not been swimming as much, ignored text messages from my trainer to go for PT classes this week and only did 1 bike ride this weekend. Of course I would choose to get lazy just before my first ever mini tri! I am by far one of the greatest underperformers of all time.

What I've done:
Thursday - 1 hr Swim training
Friday - Biked 26k
Saturday - 2hr Climbing

Post-Race

2010-03-29T15:03:00.003+08:00

What have I done since my race? The answer - Picked up one nasty stomach upset that pretty much put every exercise-related activity on the backseat and any toilet-related one right up front. It's been a pretty miserable last week. But I did manage to squeeze in a short short swim the weekend before last before being a pathetic mess for the next few days.

Last Friday I thought the worst was over and went out for food with two of my best girls for dinner....and drinks. Bad idea. Well, the drinks, not the company. Obviously we played till too late, which meant everything I planned to do Saturday morning went to the dogs. I did climb in the afternoon, but then my tummy acted up again.

I didn't learn my lesson and went out again on Saturday night for Mongolian food and more drink. Now my stomach is just all messed up and I'm not a happy bunny. That said, I did manage a 24k bike ride from the windsurfing club to SAF Ferry Terminal! Okay, it's not THAT far but what the hell, I'm happy with it and that's all that matters.

Meanwhile, I'm taking a break from alcohol, oily food, dairy products and anything that could potentially send me rushing to the toilet again! And this mission starts after I finish my last latte for a while...sigh.....

What I've done:
Saturday:1.5hr Rockclimbing
Sunday: 24k Bike ride

Tri-bob Singapore Sprint Series: Mini Duathlon Race Report

2010-03-16T15:49:00.003+08:00

G bailed on me for this race. Boo to her. Technically it wasn't really her fault since her bike couldn't fit into the cab and she couldn't get to the race...BUT seeing as I was all by my miserable self in Seng Kang while she got back into bed and probably had a good day's sleep, I don't feel particularly sympathetic!

The race started at 9.30am and it was already bleeding hot then. *If you realise that I keep complaining about the weather, it's really because it is so darn hot in Singapore!* I started off slowly for the 1.5k run leg (I mentioned before that G and I decided to go the wimp way and signing up for only mini categories in the Sprint Series this year) but people started dropping in the heat so I overtook a number of people here and there. I tried to pace myself knowing I still had to do a 12k bike ride followed by another 1.5k run after.

I was slow in transition. Kind of forgot where I put my bike so had to backtrack and find it. Then I slowly wheeled it out of the transition area. I think the heat had gotten to me by then.

The bike leg was...well...okay. I don't think I was super speedy, but I don't think I was THAT slow either. There were times when I was tired and there were times I got my second wind. I really don't think I thought much about it either way actually!

The next transition was when it really really started sucking. I got off my bike and wheeled it back into transition and realised my legs were as heavy as stone. That wasn't too good seeing as I was going to start my run soon. Anyhow, chucked the bike back, tried to shake off the lactic acid and started on the last run leg.

The last 1.5k was a nightmare. My brain was screaming at my legs and my legs just had a life of their own. Or rather they didn't. I couldn't move them as fast as I was pumping my arms...which of course made me look completely stupid. So I stopped and walked. And walked. And walked. I tried to trot a little, but ended up walking to the water stop. I just had nothing left in me. Grabbed an isotonic drink and thought I'd run the last 200m. Yes it's sad, that's all the distance I ran in the final 1.5k run leg.

So I checked my average time and it was (surprise surprise) below average. Overall I finished 25th out of 47 people in the category.

Race Results:
1.5k Run: 09:01mins (15th in category)
12k Bike: 32:18mins (22nd in category)
1.5k Run: 13:33mins (37th in category)
Total: 57:39mins

After the race, I went down to the windsurfing club and met up with the rest of the gang and had a couple of wines before Merle and I decided to go for a bike ride. I walked with her to bike rentals to get a bike and then both of us did a comfortable 20k ride in our flip flops.

So now my ankles hurt and I'm pretty sure that it's from doing 20k in flip flops. But it could well be that I'm so damn unfit a small little mini duathlon just floored me.

What I've done:
Last Tuesday: 1hr Spin then ran 800m on treadmill
Last Wednesday: 1hr PT class
Sunday: 20k bike ride

A Half Eventful Weekend

2010-03-08T16:29:00.003+08:00

Essentially Saturday was good and Sunday was bad.

Saturday:
Woke up early after a good night's sleep and brought my new bike down to East Coast Park for a ride. Didn't know how to take the front wheel off in the morning so loaded it into the cab precariously. Got it to East Coast all the same and did a nice 20 over KM ride from the windsurfing club to Changi Beach and back. I managed to get a couple of the windsurfing guys to teach me what to do with my wheels so managed to get the front wheel off the bike on the cab ride home. Legs ached but it was all good. I then rushed for my best gal's birthday party and proceeded to stuff my face. Fantastic party in a really rustic restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Happy Birthday Jenny!

Then it all turned pear-shape. I met a friend who was leaving Singapore for her farewell around 5.30pm. And that was also when I started the drinkies. I finished the drinkies at 1am. Not good.

Sunday:
Struggled to get up for church. Went to church massively hungover and sleepy and (sorry God!) found it really difficult following the sermon. In fact, I don't any part of the sermon except that it was about the gift of prophesy. Headed off to visit an aunt we hadn't seen in a while - also as a sort of very very late Chinese New Year visiting...I stuffed my face (for the second time in two days) and then made it for what was probably the most pointless rockclimbing session I've ever had. I achieved absolutely nothing with that class. I was tired, my arms/legs weren't listening to my brain, my brain was fried....it was just so very very pointless. I feel bad even getting my instructor to go down to give me such a lame lesson since I was pretty hopeless.

So there you are. A half eventful weekend. One day packed and the other wasted. Moral of the story: STAY OFF THE DRINKIES!...or just not drink for as long as I did. To the next weekend then!

What I did:
Saturday - 20k cycling
Sunday - 1.5hr of "rockclimbing"

On a last note, I need a name for my new bike! It's not been christianed yet!

Bad Swimming Day

2010-03-05T17:48:00.002+08:00

So I figure if I get bad days at running, I probably should get bad days at swimming and last night was it for me. To begin with my muscles were pretty much shot even before swim training. And then the coach had some crazy ass plan scheduled out which involved a lot of finning and paddle work (I HATE paddle work!). The thing is, when I do the pull drills, instinctively I start kicking like a crazy person. It could just be me just not being comfortable breathing on my left pulls. But it made me pretty damn tired kicking with legs that could barely work. It was a sluggish session and I felt like I was doing everything wrong. Obviously I couldn't finish the entire session because I was taking so long doing the drills. Ah well. Just a bad day, I guess. My consolation though is a bad swimming day is still much better than a bad running day. Those are the worst!

What I did yesterday:
1hr swim training

Schleeepy and Achy

2010-03-03T16:46:00.002+08:00

I haven't been sleeping well lately. My body clock's been all over the place since the race and has been exacerbated by the fact I had to wake up at some godforsaken hour on Monday to get to the office early and finish some work (my own fault for procrastinating).

I think the alcohol nights since Saturday haven't helped too. On Saturday (yes, that's the night before my race - in hindsight it probably wasn't the brightest idea) I had wines at Caitriona's. On Sunday...on Sunday I actually didn't drink much because I was so wiped out. Monday was drinks with Chereen after Ling Long's birthday and yesterday R and I polished off a bottle of wine between us two. Tonight might actually turn out to be an exception drinks-wise and I might just go back home in an alcohol-free state.

So I'm sleepy now especially since I've just had a very tough PT session and I can barely feel my arms/legs/stomach. Hopefully this carries on till tonight and I'll sleep like a baby!

What I've done:
Yesterday - Spin class for 1hr
Today - 1hr PT class

Tri-bob Singapore Sprint Series: Mini Aquathlon Race Report

2010-03-02T12:16:00.003+08:00

I came in 9th in my category for the swim leg! How awesome am I! Of course I failed at my run and managed a very sad 32nd place. I finished 21st overall which meant that at least 12 people overtook me in the run!

The swim leg this year started in the middle of nowhere. Unlike last year, the event was moved to Siloso beach this year and the start point was shifted to the middle of the lagoon. So essentially you crossed a bridge to a little beach where you had to swim to the start point and tread water till the race actually starts. I'm sure someone thought it was a splendid idea. They were wrong. I'm pretty alright with treading water and swimming in the sea, but it just wasn't fair to other people who didn't feel as comfortable drifting around. Maybe that's why I got 9th! (I feel this need to constantly bring this up somehow!)

There was a pretty strong current in our favour when we started and I really didn't feel like I expended much energy in the entire swim leg. Somehow the 250m didn't feel any bit like 250m. And I really don't think it's because I've trained a lot in the past month and was so well-prepared that 250m felt like nothing. I think they measured wrong.

The run leg was a nightmare. The first 100m went well. I was pretty darn proud of myself. I was giving myself mental back pats, gloating in the fact that I was near the front end of a race for a change. It very rapidly went downhill after. I had a stitch on one side. So I tried breathing different. Then I had a stitch on the other side as well. I thought I'd run a little slower, but my legs stopped listening to me and happily ran their own merry way until I had to come to a complete stop. Drank some water. Waved at G as she was heading to her run. Trotted slowly to water stop. Got told off by a volunteer that I wasn't taking the race seriously (What was it to him anyway how I was taking the race). Near the end I figured I should dig in my heels and run madly to the finish line. So that's what I did. And I overtook 1 person. Woo hoo.

I wanted to throw up after the entire experience. I knew my swim went well, but the run just took everything out of me. Especially since I've been avoiding running training in the past few weeks/months. It's 2 days after the race and my legs are still a bit sore. Boohoo.

Race results:
Swim leg: 200m in 2min 46s (I think the distance/time is wrong, there's no way I swam that fast)
Transition: 1min 11s
Run leg: 2.5k in 16min 15s
Total: 20min 14s

Incidentally what I have since the last post:
Wednesday: Swam 300m
Thursday: Swim training 1 hr
Saturday: Pilates 1 hr

My post-snowboarding endeavours

2010-02-22T17:54:00.002+08:00

After my blissful time in Hokkaido snowboarding, I decided that I really needed to get back to doing my non-running sports so last weekend I went rockclimbing and windsurfing the next day. The rockclimbing turned out alright, not many aches and pains after, which led me to foolishly think I was uber fit. I have come to the conclusion that it was only because I was sharing my lesson with a good friend, so I climbed for half the time, hence hot and sweaty, but without the aching muscles.

How did I find out? I went windsurfing on Sunday and it was brutal. In essence, I sucked. BIG TIME. I guess it part it was just complete lack of practice. All the bad habits I managed to erase are all back. Which means I'm hardly sailing and I'm just dropping my sail, uphauling it, dropping it, uphauling it....you get the picture. It was very very depressing. All the muscle aches and nothing to show for it. I barely sailed yesterday. Instead half the time was spent hauling my board back to shore to rest because it was so dang tiring! Round 2 next week. Fingers crossed I'll do some sailing!

What I did:
Friday: Ran 3.5k
Saturday: Rockclimbing 2hr (or rather 1hr)
Sunday: Windsurfing

Snowboarding in Hokkaido

2010-02-19T12:06:00.004+08:00

I just got back yesterday from Japan and I'm sooooo sad! After 4 straight days of snowboarding in Hokkaido (waaaay too short), I was depressed when we had to pack up and leave for Tokyo. The parents were probably bored out of their mind, since mostly everything about Niseko (or any other ski resort) is just ski ski ski or snowboard snowboard snowboard...Since they did neither of both, they just walked around the village a lot. But the snow...oh the snow in Niseko was heaven. Pure powder. The best day we had was when my sis and I got up for our respective classes at 8.30 in the morning and it was just beautiful, fresh snow. And we were knee-deep in it. It was probably one of the best moments of my life. Or maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was pretty close to being one of the best moments in any case.

After 4 days of sweet snow, we headed to Tokyo and I was pretty bummed. For one, I was used to waking up and doing something for a whole day, but now I was stuck waking up early and going for a short swim then walking around aimlessly in the city. The main problem is, I'm a bad shopper. I don't really go out and buy something unless I need something (okay, there are some days I go a bit mad and just buy random crap) so to be 'shopping' everyday was kind of dull. The food was fantastic though, but you generally expect nothing less from Tokyo. I didn't have a chance to hit any jazz bars (which was my original plan) because I was just too tired at nights. My sister and her bf would generally head back to the room past 1am every night and whilst trying to be as quiet as they could, somehow managed to make just enough noise to wake me. I guess Tokyo would have been great if it came before Hokkaido. Because it was after, it basically just succeeded in being rather dull. I did swim about 3 times there and did a very short run as well, so it wasn't like I just ate and sat on my fat ass!

No pictures. I'm terrible at taking pictures and even more terrible at uploading them. This time around it was too cold for me to want to take my hands out of my gloves to snap a shot, although I am pleased to say that the camera survived the bitter cold that is Hokkaido and is back in Singapore in one piece.

What I did
Mon (8th Feb) - Thurs (11th Feb): Snowboarding
Saturday (13th): 500m Swim
Monday (14th): 45 minutes in the gym
Tuesday (15th): 375m Swim
Wednesday (16th): 375m Swim

Back to the Groove

2010-02-05T09:58:00.002+08:00

I've let myself get really lazy towards the end of last year and this year I've made my mind up to change that. I've gone for spin classes and I've been turning up for swim training. The problem is though, a part of me is worried that I'm being a bit over-enthusiastic about all this, which will inevitably lead to a burn-out. I know, I know, I don't really train hard enough to even have 'burn-out' as a word in my dictionary, but if I look back on last year, a certain pattern emerges. I started the year off on a bang and was training regularly or somewhat so. I ended the year on a limp and a huge gut. Why? Because I just got bored. My short attention span kicked in and I just couldn't be bothered anymore.

So I'm going to try to tweak my training this year. Instead of planning a run or two every month, I'm going to have a big run that I look to and then take a rest after. Also, I think I'm going to lay off the half marathons until I feel comfortable with the 10k runs. Maybe another adventure race in the middle of the year and then work towards doing sprint distance in a triathlon. That's the aim. Although I'm well aware I might get distracted/bored at the end of the day. We'll see.

Meanwhile, what I've done this week so far:
Tuesday: Swim training for 1 hr
Wednesday: Personal training
Thursday: Swim training for 45 minutes

Going for a short short run today. First in ages. Wish me luck!

Safra AvVentura 2010 Race Report

2010-01-25T16:52:00.005+08:00

My first race of the year and (I suspect) the hardest race of the year too! I am now typing with a strained wrist, a sprained toe (I think), an aching body and numerous numerous bruises! R's actually worse off than me because during the team biathlon bit he was nice enough to offer to do the running bit whilst I peddled away on the bike. So I got away relatively easy.

The race started a bit on the late side, which meant a lot of it was done under the bleeding hot sun. Actually I think it was all of it. Which explains my red nose and the sunburnt back of my hands. Two areas I stupidly forgot to put sunscreen on. You'd think it'd be easy enough to remember to apply sunscreen on your nose, when it's right in front of you. But no. I have proven that I'm not that bright.

After not running in...days and days and days, the run at the start just winded me. I don't even know how far I ran, but it felt way too far. And I was trotting most of the time. Again, R was an angel and stuck around and trotted with me...and egging me on to run a little. So...bad start to the race. And it didn't get much better.

When I had done more running than I've done in ages, we jumped on the bikes and thought 'Phew! It's gonna be easier now!'. Obviously I was wrong. In fairness though, it was pretty nice cycling around at first in some army camp and then past some path where there was a reservoir on one end and the sea on the other....all that was picturesque...but I'm skipping ahead of the bit that I was actually good at...the one sad bit. At checkpoint 3 we had to stop to do a wordsearch. Now I'm a big Scramble fan on Facebook and I am proud to say that I found 9 out of 10 words! Give me a FB game and I'm ace at it - anything else, I'll settle for bottom place.

So I was at how picturesque and blue and green everything was. Which it was. And it was nice. There were a bunch of checkpoints after that we just had to cycle by, but the one that cost us was the bit where there was another challenge. We had to deflate our tyres completely. That was it. Of course with our crappy rental bikes, after deflating our tyres, we couldn't pump it back up. I'd try to explain how we eventually did it (we had to ask a lot of people!) but I really don't know bike parts and I'd just end up confusing everyone. Long story short, we were at the checkpoint a long long time.

More cycling and on to the nightmare checkpoint that is Checkpoint 7. Which is a lie. Because Checkpoint 7 is made out of Checkpoint 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D and (the mystery) 7E. That's 6 checkpoints (including Checkpoint 7 itself) and we had to go to Checkpoint 7 three times! Checkpoint 7 (and all the rest of the sub-7 checkpoints) was a biathlon segment. As I mentioned before, R was very nice about it and offered to do the running whilst I biked (or he recognised that I was probably not going to run at all and me biking would be a wee bit faster). I think this was the 'orienteering' part of the race and I really really wanted to use my compass (generously loaned to me from C), but really, we didn't need it. (In fact, we didn't need any of the rope stuff that we lugged along the whole way because we didn't even get to that bit of the race!). So after running from 7A to 7D, we got back to Checkpoint 7 to get our second map for Checkpoint 7E. By this time, R and I are more or less sick of everything linked with Checkpoint 7 but it's not like we had anywhere better to go, so Checkpoin 7E it was.

Kayaking at 7E. We thought we'd get to rest our legs. I thought I'd get to rest my poor aching back. I was lugging a bunch of crap around and 2litres of water and my back was really starting to ache immensely. After dragging a canoe to the water and hopping into it, I tossed my (by now, much hated) backpack to my feet and R told me to put it back on my back on the offchance we capsized. Bah!!!!! So on went the dreaded backpack again. Kayaking was approximately 5k of paddling to nowhere in particular. R thought it was dull. I thought my arms would fall off. Poor R had to do most of the paddling because I was pretty hopeless. I did the best I could, but I suspect my best was pretty darn pathetic. Bringing the kayak back to shore was a real pain in the ass. Well bringing it into sea was already a pain, but after kayaking for ages and having pretty much no feeling left in your arms, bringing it back pretty much sucked. And I got my foot caught in some weeds and fell, hence the sprained toe. And bruised ego. But mainly what broke us was after lugging the kayak back, they made us move it further up a couple more meters. It sounds like nothing. But when you're dead tired and sunburnt and aching, it really is the last thing you want to do.

So after all that, we had to get back to Checkpoint 7 (again!) and R collected his bike. Which, considering how unlucky we were the whole day, had now been completely deflated thanks to a puncture. Of course, the tyre tube didn't work on his bike. And secretly I was hoping that our race would end there and then. But no, we found someone who could swap tyres with us and about a half hour to 45 mins later, we had our asses back on our bikes and were on the way to Checkpoint 8.

And we made it to Checkpoint 8 after the cut-off time. So essentially that was the end of our race. We were sunburnt, miserable and very very tired. The race wasn't so bad in all. And I know I pushed my lazy untrained self harder than I have in a long long time, thanks a great deal to R. Overall, I had a great partner and a bitter-sweet takeaway from the race!

Physical Training

2010-01-18T19:43:00.003+08:00

So when I renewed my membership with my gym, I got offered 2 PT classes and 5 Bikram yoga sessions along with the new membership. Today I went for my first one. I was overrating my own abilities by planning a 5k run in the evening after the class. Hah. Riiiiiight....like THAT was going to happen....

Today's class was a toughie. Partly because, as I've mentioned a zillion times, I now have mush in place of muscle and also because I've just gotten used to not pushing myself. The last time I pushed myself was at the rope skills test yesterday which really only lasted probably 30 minutes in full and which, at no point of time, did I ever feel in control. But today's session was kind of good. He made me do a bunch of running around with weights, jumping around with weights etc etc. It was hard. But it felt good too. It's been a while since I've really been pushed. Generally I get tired nowadays or a little breathless and quit (Yes motivation levels on my part have been almost negligible). But I got through the whole 1 hour class - kind of had no choice in the matter - and now am almost definitely going to skip my run tonight. Ah well. Spin tomorrow and an early morning run on Wednesday it is then!

What I did today:
Personal training: 1 hr

Swim Training et al

2010-01-18T10:48:00.002+08:00

I went back swim training last Thursday after about a month or so of 'rest' (read laziness) and it was hard work. After ending the year in a crawl last year somehow I've managed to lose the ability to do any kind of rough work. My arms don't work quite as well and they tire really easily. What used to be somewhat okay work ( I won't say easy because sport has never really been 'easy' for me) has become gruelling and rather discouraging. It's as if I were now back at square one, not that I moved very far from it at any point.

In any case with all these other stuff I've been doing, I haven't really been as disciplined as I'd like to be with respect to running. In fact I haven't been disciplined at all. I haven't run since...well I can't remember when and I really need to get at least a short run in tonight.

What I've done:
Thursday: 1hr Swim training
Saturday: 1 hr Pilates
Sunday: Rope Skills test (result of which is two big bruises on my shin, blisters on my hands and a very nice burn on my chest from where I leaned into my abseil device)

Lookback on 2009

2010-01-13T17:03:00.003+08:00

22 Feb
Tri-bob Singapore Sprint Series:
Sprint Aquathlon
58:29 mins

15 Mar
Suburban Run
5k Individual
38:36 mins

30 May
Tri Factor Series-Swim:
Women’s 1k Open
28:30 mins

16 Jun
Mizuno Mt Faber 2009:
Women’s 10k Open
1 hr 22 mins

30 Aug
RunNUS
Women’s 10k Open
Cancelled

6 Sep
Yellow Ribbon Prison Run
10k Individual
1 hr 3 mins

13 Sep
Mizuno Wave Run
Women’s Open (10 miles)
2 hr 26 mins

3 Oct
Pink Ribbon
Women’s 5k Competitive Run
30:28 mins

17 Oct
Salomon X-Trail Run 2009
Women’s Open (10k) DNS

17 Oct
PoW Tinny Run 3
Women’s 3.4k DNF

1 Nov
Nike+ Human Race
Women’s Open (10k)
1hr 22mins

1 Nov
Great Eastern Women 10k
Women’s Open 10km
1hr 24mins

8 Nov
New Balance Real Run
Women’s Open 15k DNS

22 Nov
Run for Hope
4k Run DNS

6 Dec
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon
Half Marathon DNS

19 Dec
Let’s Take a Walk
50k Walk - Finished approx 45k

Might do a photo recap for the year soon...if I actually get down to downloading pics off my camera!

Full Steam Ahead

2010-01-13T16:35:00.002+08:00

So it's been a relatively more fruitful start to the year compared to the lazy way I ended last year. R and I are taking part in an adventure race on 24 Jan and I'm starting to get a wee bit freaked. I've done a couple of bike rides, but on the road and nothing close to mountain biking; I've climbed once; done 2 very very pathetically short runs in the past few weeks...and I don't feel prepared at all.

I'm still aching from windsurfing on Sunday. Yes, it's 3 days later and my back and arms STILL ache. Then again, I did spend 10 minutes shooting out from the bay and another hour 20 minutes trying to get back. And failing. In summary I spent a lot of time freaking out at sea, having a long conversation with myself and hoping in desperation someone would pick me up, before the rescue boat spotted me trying to swim back (and Tim, who was manning the boat, commented that I was too far to swim back anyway). After a year's sabbatical from windsurfing, my foray back was just...well...a very trying experience.

I went back for spin classes yesterday as well. As you can see, I'm on a whole 'let's do things I haven't done in ages' phase. But also, I needed to get more bike training in. After my sad little 1 and a half hours windsurfing, I was made very aware of the fact that I've just become a lot weaker (and lazier!) so I didn't expect to last the whole class. But I did! And it was completely exhausting! Also the sweat monster came out and I was dripping all over the floor.

Good news though, other than the same old crotch ache, my legs seem pretty good. So good that I'm going to do a sad little 3-4k run tonight. I know it's not far, but it'll do.

Updates Updates!

2009-12-29T10:14:00.009+08:00

I've been busy as a bee the past couple of weeks...not actually doing anything by way of exercise, but just running around like a headless chicken - meeting up with people from out-of-town, attending end-of-year work events (well, that was just one actually) so on and so forth.

In the midst of all the festivities, I managed to squeeze in a 25K bike ride with R on Sunday after eating waaaay too much and drinking even more over the Christmas period. I'd previously checked out Kit Runners at East Coast (everyone keeps recommending it and I can see why!) and found their bikes well-maintained and for just 20 bucks, I can get a pretty decent bike. I know at some point of time I really should get my act together and go out and buy myself a bike, but I'm still not a hundred percent sure I'm going to be that BIG on cycling and a bike is a pretty big investment...bigger than my windsurfing gear which is now collecting dust in storage!

Also, just a quick update on the 50K walk. From the estimated distances put out, it was more 55K than 50K. But whatever the case, we didn't finish it. It was 10.30pm, we had walked close to 45k and I was starting to limp whilst Gina was taking baby steps. Rach, the hero of us 3 (and a living example of why wearing high heels and standing for long hours in them actually builds hardy walking muscles), was the only one still standing and walking normally at the end. I threw in the towel there and then. It's one thing to be tired and walking another 10K...a whole other thing to know that at the speed you're walking (limping/crawling) at, 10k would take another 4 hours if you're lucky....So we all bailed and jumped into a cab home and G and I couldn't walk properly for 2 days after. But my memory for pain, I've since discovered, is really short and I really want to try this again sometime. My dad and R go on about how in theory we all failed because we didn't go the full way, but I'm pretty damn proud of us girls for doing what we did. Let the boys say what they want, they didn't do the walk!

PS: R got me a Garmin Forerunner 405 for Christmas! Here's to super accurate distance tracking in future!

Let's Take a Walk

2009-12-18T16:30:00.003+08:00

Pray for us! Gina, Rachel and I are going to walk the big 5-0 tomorrow. I'll let you know if we're all still friends if we haven't killed each other after more than 12 hours together!

http://www.letstakeawalk.sg/

F1 Sports EQ Nature Run 2010 - F1 Sports Equipment

2009-12-16T12:33:00.001+08:00

F1 Sports EQ Nature Run 2010 - F1 Sports Equipment

Looks interesting enough...save the earth whilst running...woot!

I Wussed Out of My Half Marathon

2009-12-07T11:59:00.003+08:00

and I don't even feel all that bad. R tried to give me grief, but I wasn't even looking forward to the race so his grief-giving failed! Hah!

I'm really proud of him for finishing the full marathon with zero training for the past couple of weeks and whilst nursing a injured calf. If anything could make me feel a teeny tiny bit bad, it'd be the fact that R ran a distance longer than I was supposed to run injured and completed the whole darn thing. He's a rockstar!

I'm Tired

2009-12-04T11:10:00.003+08:00

I've spent a lot of the past 2 weeks freaking out about the half marathon and as if to subconsciously get it out of my mind I've gone off and substituted tennis for running. Real genius huh? So essentially the half mary's in less than 48 hours time and I am completely unprepared. I have been doing a lot of thinking about training if that amounts to anything, but actually getting my act together and going out and running has not materialised so much. I did, however manage to squeeze in a run yesterday night...and it was torture....and that run wasn't even 21k! It was just half of that and I felt like lying down and dying when I was done.

Lately I just feel unsettled. I'm all over the place and I've no idea why. I think I just need a couple of 'me days'. I know it sounds lame, but all the thinking about running constantly takes a toll on you. Especially since I just spend half the time feeling guilty because my flesh often times trumps my spirit and my flesh is very very weak. I keep making plans and then not following through on them and if my running training is an indication on how things are in my life (and trust me, it's a pretty good indication), it just shows how bleak things are. Things just seem to be happening with me being completely taken unaware and I just don't feel like I have any control over my life anymore!

I think what I really really need is just one day for me. Just to hang out by myself with a good book and cheeky glass of vino and not have any plans to meet anyone or do anything. I'm just mentally and emotionally weary now and having one day to myself to gather all my thoughts and plans seems like a beautiful beautiful idea. I'm planning to do that very very soon. Maybe after this Sunday's half marathon and the wedding I've to go for after.