More Update on My Bowel Movements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What I did over the weekend:

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

Sunday:
26k bike ride

Long Swim

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

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

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

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

Running and the Aftermath

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

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

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

Happy Birthday Singapore

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

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

Last Saturday: Pilates 1 hr

Hello Muay Thai My Old Friend

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

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

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

Back to Normality

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I got caught on film strolling! Darn!

Bitchin' Achin'

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

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

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

Still No Running

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

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

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

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