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!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Day #7: Gym time at the Venetian Gym
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!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Day #6: Swim
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
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Day #5: 20 minutes at the gym
10 minutes on the gym bike and well 10 minutes messing about with some half hearted crunches.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Day #4: Run 4k
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!!!
What I did yesterday:
Ran 4k in 27:58 mins
Off to Hong Kong!!!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Day #3: 5 Crunches
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!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Day #2: Personal Training - TRX
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
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
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day #1: 600m Swim
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
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
Monday, August 1, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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)
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)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A Whole Bunch of Walks
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 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
Thursday, June 2, 2011
I've Grown Up!
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
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
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
A Bunch of Weird-Ass Race Photos
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?
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?
Monday, May 30, 2011
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
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
Monday, May 23, 2011
Race Report #2: Bintan Triathlon - Sprint Distance
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)
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
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
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
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
You've Gotta Be *%@&* Kidding Me
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!)
What I've done since the last entry:
Ran 6.5k in 51 mins (every light turned red when I got to it!)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Half Shower
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!
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!
...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)
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)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Road to Recovery
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
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
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