Where Goes My Mojo?

So I did a big fat zero by way of training last week. I did a lot of “I’ll do such and such tomorrow” but actual physical exertion? Zip, zilch, nada. And nothing helped to make me feel bad enough to lift a finger. I went to youtube and watched people running, swimming or biking; read countless sporty blogs and still I couldn’t find my mojo.

In all, I feel a little bad. And I couldn’t even enjoy my short little break because I just spent everyday feeling just that little twinge of guilt that wasn’t big enough to make me move but wasn’t quite small enough that I was going to bed feeling quite at peace with myself (or more the way my so-called ‘training’ was going). More than that twinge of guilt thought, is the growing fear that with the Bintan sprint triathlon looming closer and closer, I’m wasting precious time lazing instead of putting in bike hours. And mainly, I just really don't want to push my bike up at the beginning of the bike leg like I did last year.

I moved a bit on the weekend, just to make myself feel somewhat better. I was supposed to do a 5k fun run on Saturday, but it got rained out and after sitting around waiting for the rain to stop, I decided about a half hour before the postponed flag-off to go off for breakfast (and convinced my friend to come along as well). Which meant my forced exercise that weekend was blown. I went for a pathetic excuse of a swim instead. 2 x 300m in all. It wasn’t anything to cry about. Pfffft.

On Sunday, Rich and I cycled from his place (via park connectors and sidewalks) to Robertson Quay and got lunch before cycling back. It came up to 10k. And mostly I held him back because I was the biggest wuss and was terrified of narrow pathways. This is what happens when you don’t ride regularly – every damn thing makes you freaked out that you’d fall off your bike. I think I need a good fall to get over this. Nonetheless, we made it through without a scrap (but with a lot of ‘oh crap!’ and ‘woah!’ shouts along the way) and I quite enjoyed it. We did learn from this slow, not-so-long ride though that firstly we probably should have started earlier than noon; and secondly we should probably have sloshed on some sunblock! I have the weirdest tan lines on my back and Rich is just…well…red in various places. All fun and games.

What I did:
Last Monday to Friday – Absolutely nothing
Saturday – 2 x 300m swim
Sunday – 2 x 5k bike (and lunch in between – green curry, yum yum!)
Yesterday – 1 hr personal training (aching so much now!)

Countdown to the OSIM Mini Tri

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)

Post-Bintan and a Pub Quiz

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

There is the Plan

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

Zero Exercise and A Bunch of Junk Food Later

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

Getting Lazy

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

Wasted Weekend

And a very colossal waste it was. I had friends from out of town down in Singapore so I spent Friday to Sunday entertaining. I ate way too much rich food, drank way too much beers and did absolutely zero running. I did, however, plan numerous times to go running only to lame out. The body no longer recovers as quickly after a mad night out. Ah...a clear sign the big 3-0 is on its way!

Very Lazy

I had a 5k charity run on Sunday and I didn't go for that. Somehow I've managed to fall into this rut of laziness...or I've just gotten used to not turning up for races. Sigh....

That aside, last Thursday I went for my first swim training at the British Club and it was tough. Good tough. The coach (whose name I really don't recall!) looked at my swim stroke and I'm proud to say that my right arm stroke (what on earth do you call it?) was very very good. But he also said that my left arm stroke was really really crap. I could be a brilliant swimmer, but for my left arm! Damn left arm! The last bit about the 'brilliant swimmer' was my own swim analysis, don't think the coach said anything close to me being brilliant.

I did a crappy 2.4k fartlek run on Friday and drank too much wine after, which meant my Saturday was more or less a lost cause. My grand plan to do muay thai in the afternoon, became an afternoon of hitting the beers. Gah.

And to round up my already lazy weekend, I didn't turn up for my 5k run. Terrible terrible. I did go to the gym for some core training though, so that made me feel a little better. All the calories that might have burnt were put back at dinner. On a whim, I decided to make Beer Butt Chicken (I basically took a bunch of recipes and came up with something) and a very sinful apple crumble. Guess this week'll be spent working off all those added calories!

What I've done:
Wednesday: Ran 7.23k in 58:40 mins
Thursday:45 minute swim training
Friday: Ran 2.4k in 16:49 mins

New Cammie

I got me a new camera....well, actually R got me a kick-ass camera for my birthday, which is waterproof, shockproof, freeze proof, crush proof...Everything a clumsy person like me needs. So here's to a whole bunch of underwater shots in the pool and at windsurfing, and a whole bunch of rockclimbing shots!

I took a half day yesterday to lunch with R and go present hunting after. *I've got my eye on a bike, so I'm contemplating getting it at some point in time.* Massage after and a big BBQ with the folks at night. How was yesterday? Really really fun...

I'm probably going to have to do a run soon to work off those extra calories.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday and I'm going to have a day of pigging out! Now if only the aches from Muay Thai would just go away!

Fat Post

My flu, my work trip to Shanghai (where every meal came in the form of 1000 courses...okay, I exaggerate), my foray into the world of beer guzzling (yes, I moved away from the bourbon cokes assuming I'd have more self-control with the beers, but...), and just general laziness has made me into a blob. I've spent my whole life trying not to get a beer belly and now I feel I'm just slowly building up a nice little layer of blubber to get me through the days when famine hits Singapore (if ever!). Soooo, tonight I'm going back to pilates. I'm not quite a hundred percent yet, so pilates will be a nice easy step back into exercise once more. I've got the Mount Faber 10k race coming up in less than two weeks as well, and I know if I don't do anything these next 10 days, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble come 14th June. Fingers crossed my flu magically disappears tomorrow! Pray hard everyone!

Back to Inertia

So the problem with doing a dress rehearsal and doing it semi-decently is that you wind up being too cocky and doing absolutely nothing by way of preparation after. Since my swim and climb on Saturday I have only managed one miserable little run on the treadmill on Tuesday. Every day I've made plans to wake up at stupid o'clock in the morning and every day I've not met those plans. And I know at the back of my head it's because there's a little voice there saying 'you don't have to do anything, you've already practiced and you were fine'...oh the laziness!

Why I Haven't Been Updating

It's a very simple reason actually, namely I just haven't been doing much exercise at all. I haven't been windsurfing, climbing...I haven't been running much, I haven't gone near a pool since the biathlon...And sure enough, because of all the playing till late, lack of sleep and booze filled nights, I'm down with an annoying cough again. Nonetheless, I did a 4k run on Tuesday and I have big plans to do a 6k run tonight. Or I might just do a 4k and leave the longer run till the weekend. Ah lazy lazy.

What I have done since my race:
Tuesday: Ran 4.2k in 30:33mins

A Wasted Weekend

I was very lazy this weekend. I find it funny that the closer I get to the biathlon, the less motivated I am to move a muscle. I was pretty good last week, did a miserable stitch-filled 4k run on Wednesday followed by a morning swim on Thursday. And then I did nothing for two days. Friday was my rest day, so I didn't feel too bad sitting around staring at the TV, but when that dragged on to Saturday, my conscience started acting up a little. But still not enough to get me to move my sorry ass. In spite of the slight pangs of guilt, I managed to spend a lovely night with R. He whipped up a kickass curry and we headed out to watch a hilarious play 'What the Butler Saw'. Then it was off to the Dubliner to catch the rugby with a bunch of the work doods. All in all, it was a nice chilled out Saturday (I convinced myself at the end that watching a sport I didn't really enjoy was more or less equivalent to doing a lot of sport).

I think I somewhat redeemed myself on Sunday though. After sleeping in and waking up in time for lunch, finishing lunch and heading back to sleep again, I hauled myself over to the pool to do 15 laps (ended up being 16 laps somehow) and then a 5k run. I felt like dying at the end of it. But at least I did it all (and a little bit more considering the extra lap I swam)!

What I've done:
Last Wednesday - Ran 4k in 33:35mins (had a stitch halfway and had to walk...what's new)
Last Thursday - Did 10 laps in what I considered a relatively fast pace

Sunday
- Swam 960m in 26:05mins
- Ran 5k in 33:06 min

Misadventures in the Gym

On Saturday, I did my 'circuit training'* again and don't ask me how but I managed to pull my left quadricep(s?) stretching. So much for my lunges this week, I had to settle for squats and they hurt because my thigh was sore (I'm using that as my excuse as to why I didn't do my long run yesterday as well).

As usual ("usual" being all of two times) I did the "tens" (7:26 minutes - I remembered to time myself!) but this time I cheated. I started the first 9 push-ups doing proper pushups, but then the rest of the push-ups that followed were girly pushups, on my knees. Somehow despite cheating, I managed to hurt my left wrist. Don't ask me how I did that, I have no idea. In fact I don't even know whether I hurt it doing pushups or I hurt it when I was fiddling with the weights. Aaargh, clumsy clumsy clumsy.

So as I said earlier, I didn't run on Sunday because my thigh was sore, but more because I was just too darn lazy. And 'Zohan' was calling to me from my DVD player.

What I did over the weekend:

Saturday
- Circuit training (approx 45 minutes)
- Swam 15 laps (25:36 minutes)

Sunday
- Went shopping with my good mate (that's like cardio exercise!) who's back in town

*I really have no idea what to call what I do in the gym, so I'm just going to keep calling it 'circuit training'.

Okay, I Feel REAALLLY Bad

I do, I do. I've been so utterly lazy the past two weeks and I am wrecked with guilt. But apparently not enough for me to do any real exercise. Sigh.

What I did over the weekend:
Saturday: Windsurfed for 2 hours (had a backache for 2 days as a result)
Sunday: Rockclimbed for 1 hour

Found out on Friday that one of my old school/classmates was a victim of the Indian tragedies. My prayers go out to her husband and family at this point in time. Terrorists suck.

Back to Being Lazy

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

One Giant Wasted Weekend

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

What I did the entire weekend:

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

Post Race

I have done nothing. And would you believe I feel so guilty for that. I should be enjoying my week of absolute nothing, but all I'm feeling is strange and uncomfortable, as if I should be doing something, but I'm not.

Since Sunday I've been feeling a certain sense of loss. Which is odd, because before the race I couldn't wait for it to be over and now that it's over, I actually miss having something to look toward or just having a reason to run. I know there are people out there who love to run just because, I'm not one of those people. I need to have a reason to run otherwise it's just waaaaay too much pain, misery and effort. Of course I could stop running altogether, but I guess there's a sick side of me that kind of enjoys the suffering I feel I'm putting myself through.

G and I have decided to take part in a bunch of runs next year. I want to be able to do a 10k run comfortably (maybe even get to the stage where I don't have to stop for water!) and do a few 5k runs and work on my speed there. She also wants to do a mini Aquathlon in February next year. Well, we'll see how all that goes...

In the meantime, I've got my last session with my trainer this afternoon, I'm planning an nice short run on Friday morning and I've got big plans to get back to spin classes and pilates.

2 More Days

and I'm freaking out...well sort of. Somehow a part of me has acknowledged I'm probably not going to make the run in less than an hour. I've been drinking too much and just lazing around waaaay to much to be able to feel like I'm at a 100 per cent fitness level....more like 50 per cent if I'm truly honest with myself.

I'm off to do my last run this evening. Going to go just the 2km today because despite lazing (although I prefer to refer to these past few weeks as 'tapering') all this while, I don't think I should kill myself today and try a run on Sunday with achy leggies! Soooooo, 2k today, a swim tomorrow, maybe the driving range tomorrow evening, and conquer the world on Sunday!