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
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
The Only Real Medal I'm Ever Going to Get
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Sick....again
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.
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.
Friday, October 8, 2010
After a Short Hiatus
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!
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!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tri-Factor Series: HP Freshmen Triathlon Race Report
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...
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...
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