Team with No Name

'Let's Take A Walk' is back! I've only ever done this with them once because the year after they did a night walk and I'm not too keen on walking 50km when I should be fast asleep. Gina, Rach and I were the Manchester Uni Aunties. We didn't quite manage to finish the whole 50k then though and decided to throw in the towel about 45k. With Gina in Melbourne this year it almost looked like this was a no go, which was a shame, because they took a one year sabbatical and I'd been looking forward to them coming back!

Mel stepped up to the plate first, he was an old friend and I bumped into him the last (and only) time we did this and figured he was a good person to rope in. After him I just needed 1 more to make the minimum of 3 to start a team and I threw it out to Facebook. Voila, we now have a team of 4, we have a plan to do this in 15 minute run-walk intervals and hopefully we'll all be fast friends (and not total enemies) after the whole thing! So behold the Team With No Name - Mel, Chris, Shah and I!

All this means is I need to start training for this. Not really sure where the heck to start. It's not hard walking, it's just hard walking for ages and ages on end. And short of me training by doing 12 hour walks every weekend, I'm not entirely sure I know quite where to start. If anyone has any idea, help me out here!

In the meantime, I've done a run with my new runners and they gave me a blister. The ankle collar may have been a bit high or my socks were too low or I didn't have my usual insoles in there so it all rubbed wrongly. The toe bit feels a bit funny too...more cushioned? I guess it just takes getting used to. I do love me some Asics. Tonight I'll try another run this time with the right insoles and a higher pair of socks. Maybe with all these variables tweaked I'll grow into it! As for the run, if you've been following this, I've been doing my previous few runs blind. Well insofar as I didn't bother bringing out my footpod (my Garmin is now permanently residing in Rich's place because I'm absolutely useless with technology) and so hadn't a clue how far I had run. I dug out my footpod for the last run and realise I hadn't been running all that far all this while, which is a bit of a bummer. I logged 5.5k in 37 minutes and there I was thinking I had become such a speedster because my 30 minute runs had seemed far! Tis always nicer living in ignorance.

What I've done:
Monday: 5.5k run in 37:16 mins
Tuesday: 30 min spin followed by a sad amount of crunches and lots of stretching.

Questions Answered

First off, a big WOW and congratulations are due to my friends who completed the Melbourne Marathon - Chris and Gina. I knew they were both going to do a Full and a Half respectively, but it only occurred to me the day before the actual race that they might actually be doing the same race albeit different distances. Doh! All the same, Chris ran sub-4 (better than Paul Ryan!) and Gina ran sub-3 which is pretty awesome considering the only time I did a halfie, I took ages and ages. So well done, you awesome running people!

Other than that, the weekend was pretty much a blow-out. Hardly did anything because I was so dang tired. I managed to make it down for pilates on Saturday and then did a quick walk up the Nature Reserve with Rich on Sunday. Did a short run on Friday which turned out fine minus the return of my all-too-familiar stitch...Didn't go too far because well...erm....I was just plain lazy. Because I knew I wasn't going to go too far, I tried to run a bit harder...which maybe explains the stitch. So that didn't last very long either.

Whilst mid-run, I thought about my podiatrist and I realised that I'm kind of glad I went to see him. Rich says I walk like a cowboy sometimes and I never really understood what he meant, but it's the whole flicking outwards that my foot makes when it leaves the ground. I know it's to compensate for something, but I forget now. Then there's been that annoying pain on my little toe that never really quite went away and the foot aches that cause a whole bunch of hobbling around. In all, it's nice to know that there's a reason for all of this. Makes me feel that I'm not actually that much of a freak and that maybe I can run (not that I'd choose it as my first sport of choice) a little more pain-free once I get all that fixed up.

I've finally got myself a new pair of runners. I decided to go cheap and headed to Queensway (sports gear mecca!) over the weekend and got me a sweet new pair of Asics Gel-Nimbus 13s for $70 less than the usual specialist running store I go to! I did miss having someone there who said 'yes, you should wear this shoe and in this size' though because I'm terrible at making a decision. Even something as simple as 'do I want this in a size 6 or a size 6.5?' I spent a good half hour deciding that. This despite the fact that I brought my old shoes along and it clearly showed 6.5. I ended up buying a size 6 and then going home rummaging through all my old shoes (all size 6.5 as expected) and heading back the next day to change it. Maybe that's what the $70 gives me - extra time and peace of mind. Plus Queensway is like a zoo in the weekends, way too many people! Meanwhile I just hope I got the right pair of shoes.

What I've done:
Friday - Ran 20 minutes
Saturday - 45 mins Pilates
Sunday - Walked Bkt Timah Nature Reserve

The Foot Report

I went to see the podiatrist today and have learned that I have one foot a wee bit shorter than the other, and that I walk funny and have been walking/running funny for a while. That's the short story. The long story involves a lot of walking around, reaching for my toes and standing around while my little toes and big toes were moved around.

Bottom line is, I need custom-made orthotics because I am over-compensating for my feet by walking funny and over-working muscles (or something like that). I also need to stretch my calves and hamstrings twice a day, do an ice bottle massage after each run and I need to either get regular sports massages on my calves or do it myself with the foam roller. Oh joy.

Plus I've got to change my running shoes (which I kind of knew, but didn't think I ran enough lately to justify getting a spanking new pair of runners) which means a trip down to Queensway tomorrow to find a new pair, which he kindly recommended a few.

The good thing that came out of all this is that I've been given a free pass to skip the halfie I signed up for. Woohoo! I can sleep in and not feel bad that I'm being lazy! He did say thought that I should shoot for the trail race later in the month I also signed up for. Which is fine, I like that race anyway.

So now my foot is taped up and he says to run tonight with the tape on. So far I've walked with the tape on and it's dang uncomfortable, and for some reason my heel is starting to ache a little. Not sure how my run is going to go.

All in all, I quite like this guy, aside from being rather good eye-candy, he seems to know his feet. He's the 3rd podiatrist I've seen ever and I felt more informed coming out of the appointment. It could well be that he spins a good tale, but hell if I'm paying that much, at least spin a good tale!

The Fine Line

Yesterday I went on my run hungry. I'd eaten an early lunch and all I had for tea was a quinoa cookie, so before I started my run my stomach was growling. I figured if I just drank a whole bunch of water it'd help that. Well boys and girls, it doesn't. My original plan to run from the train station all the way home got halved and I had to get on a bus to go the rest of the way. Talk about humiliating.

It was insanely hot yesterday as well which didn't help at all. About 1.5k into the run I was dripping sweat and feeling exceedingly hungry. I stopped at one of the traffic lights and when I started again, my legs just felt like lead and I just couldn't find any energy to drag them along. I think I struggled through maybe another 2k before I called it a night.

The thing that went through my head throughout the run was why running was just such a miserable sport. Granted there are days where I love the run and all that, but then there are so many more days where I just want it all to be over very early in the run. I don't get that swimming. Other than when the coach makes us do ridiculous interval sets, I rarely ever am in the pool thinking 'oh my gawd, when is this going to end?' And just the number of parts that ache when I run is ridiculous. People ask me 'why do you run if you don't enjoy it?' and really I think there are only 2 reasons - 1. I wouldn't enjoy stopping as much as I do if I never ran and 2. every time I see some guy/girl running and how they make it look effortless, I forget how much I ache and feel like crap half the time and wish I were running with them. I'm calling it running amnesia. That'd be the only way to explain why instead of looking at someone running and going 'thank goodness that's not me', more often than not, I'm thinking 'I wish I were running'. Weird, but true.

Maybe I'm just in a slump and need to find a way to get out of this. I also need to find that fine line where I'm not overly hungry or completely stuffed before I do my next run.

What I've done:
Tuesday - 1hr swim training (covered 2k)
Yesterday - 30 minute run

To Run or Not to Run

Last week I did a 40 minute run and for 3 days my legs ached and my left foot started acting up in protest at the work I put it through. It got so bad I actually had to hobble out of bed the past few mornings because it just hurt so much. 40 minutes - that's it. Not like I ran 40km. In fact I doubt I even did 7k. It is all very demoralising. So a part of me is seriously considering the fact that I may never do a marathon because my poor feet just can't take all that pounding. I may actually just have to admit that running may not be quite my thang!

I'm not going to give it up just yet though, drama-queen rant aside. I'm going to try a run again tomorrow and see how that goes. Then I've made an appointment to see a podiatrist on Thursday because the internet is spitting out way too much possible feet problems I might have and much as I love this chinese dood I go to to 'fix' my foot, I'm starting to feel that he seems to be treating the symptom rather than solving the actual underlying problem. Damn left foot!

The annoying part about all this is that my run on Friday was actually pretty awesome. I ran stitch-less and nothing ached too much. I saw some pretty odd people (one woman was carrying a sort of handbag while running...why???) and I ran a bit further than I usually do! So it really is a real bummer that it all fell apart over the weekend.

On a random aside, I went to the Nature Reserve on the weekend to do a quick walk and as I was coming down from the top, I saw a family and their maid. And then I realised the maid was carrying all the snacks and water for them. It didn't look like all that was very heavy, but it was ridiculous! What took the cake was the fact that the father was wearing a '42k finisher' T-shirt. Woohoo, he can finish a marathon but can't carry a few bottles of water? Seriously? I was not impressed with that.

Also, if you ever decide to go to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, go early. The early morning crowd up there are a lot nicer than the folks who rock up at 9am. No one said 'hello' and when I greeted people sometimes I barely got a reply. They just didn't seem happy which is a real shame.

What I did:

Friday: 40 min run
Saturday: 45 min pilates
Sunday: 40 min walk up and down Bukit Timah Hill

Recovery Be Damned

I signed up for a halfie in November. I was won over by the whole 'women's only half marathon' and thought 'ooh that'd be fun!' Only, after getting myself registered, I suddenly recalled that I didn't half like running all that far and I found out that it started at 5.30am. Oh joy.

So my post-race, laze-around-and-be-a-couch-potato plans got thwarted by my over enthusiasm at this whole 'all women half marathon' and all I had is a good 2 days to pig out and do squat. Yesterday I got back to some semblance of 'training' if you might call it that - only I didn't do any running. The sky's been a bit crap lately. Thanks to the lovely folk over in Indonesia (Sumatra to be exact) and deforestation by slash and burn, the air this way has been pretty hazy. I could run on the yawn-mill, but let's be serious...that really isn't likely to happen. So in training for my halfie all I've done so far (and that was all done yesterday) was to go for a spin class and a 1/2 hour session in the pool where I think I managed only 1.25k in distance....ah well, we'll write them off as recovery work-outs.

I was going to run tonight but my good friend Jeanne just rang to say she was in town for a layover for a couple more hours. Talk about last minute notice! No running tonight, instead I shall be knocking them beers back and catching up with an old friend I haven't seen in ages now! Come on, surely that's a better way to spend a Wednesday night than doing a 5k run. I'm not even going to bother to pretend that I'll wake up super early to do my run tomorrow. Ain't happening.

What I've done
Yesterday:
45 min spin
1/2 hr swim training

Team Small Dragon Baskets

Post race photo of Small Dragon Baskets! Rich looks like the only one who did anything!

Cold Storage Triathlon Race Report

It's been a while and I have a confession to make. I don't report on some races namely races I feel embarrassed to talk about. For example the latest Tri-Factor Sprint Triathlon I did. I sucked giant ass and well...what can I say, I was lazy, I didn't train quite as hard as I should have and I just plain didn't take the damn thing seriously. The only thing on my mind was finishing it up early enough to make it for champagne brunch. Sooo....no race report on that unfortunately...I've said too much as it is!

Anyway, on to a race report on the Cold Storage Triathlon. Technically just a race report on the swim leg of the Cold Storage Tri since that's all I did...and pretty damn slowly, might I add. Our team consisted of Mun, Rich and I. Rich was dragged along for the ride essentially since Mun and I had discussed doing a tri relay and were looking for a runner. Poor Rich - thanks to the weird time schedule, Rich pretty much had to run in the mid-day sun.

My wave started at 9.50am which is pretty late considering some people were actually doing the full triathlon on their own...I would NOT like to be starting my 10k run at noon! Since there were that few relay people, we had to start with the age 50 and over individual men's wave.There were a crap load of men - I spotted maybe 5 girls tops. When the whistle blew I pretty much let the wave of men fight their way in before I strolled into the waters. Surprisingly there weren't any breast-strokers with this lot. I guess men think it's not macho enough to start of breast-stroking? Who knows.

All was going sort of fine-ish I suppose. I didn't swim like a snake, I sighted every 6 strokes (except when I forgot, then I did some weird trying to catch the buoy at the corner of my eye whilst trying to breathe and glide and remember a whole bunch of things I was supposed to do), I didn't get kicked in the ribs...it was all good!

Then I spotted some chick hanging off the ropes. I think it might have been her first time in the sea but she'd pretty much freaked out. So I stopped. I can imagine how scary it can be swimming in open waters. I'm not that freaked by it since when I was windsurfing I got pretty used to being thrown off and floating around (even then I had my board to hang on to!) but I know sometimes when I go to Sentosa (a grand total of maybe 5 times) to do laps at the lagoon I sometimes think 'If I just had a cramp here or if there was some undercurrent that dragged me out, no one would spot me and that really wouldn't be a fun way of dying'. I told the chick I'd swim with her for a bit. So she went a bit and stopped and hung off the ropes again. I checked to see if she was fine and we swam for a bit again before she had to stop. We did this for maybe 100-150m. Then she tried to go it back stroke and went the completely wrong direction. So we stopped again. By this time she had got herself pretty winded and was pretty much over it. We shouted over for the canoe and I think that was it for her. Fair play to her for trying though. I'd have given up and called it quits much much earlier on.

The race of the swim was pretty uneventful other than a damn stitch and the weird fact that there was no where to grab a cup of water when we got out of the sea to do our 2nd lap. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that you do a full 1.5k (instead of two 750m laps) in the sea without coming out in other triathlons, so they're trying to mimic that? I was freakin' thirsty at the end of those 2 laps. After I got out of the sea, still no water in sight. And then they made us run. There were plenty of cuss words in my head at this point of time, the sanitised version pretty much read 'why the beep do I have to run? I'm the beeping swimmer and they make me run? Where the beep is the beeping transition point? And why isn't there no beeping water in sight!?!?' The run bit sucked ass. We had to run over some overhead bridge thing (lower than the ones you get on the street) but what a pain in the proverbial ass that was.

I was so happy when I shoved my sandy, salt-watery timing chip to Mun and could finally grab some water...from the water bottle that Rich passed to me. Mind you there was still no water point in sight. I think they just hate the swimmers. That has to be it.

I sat around with Rich waiting for Mun who nailed his bike leg (6th out of 15th! - 40k in 1:17hrs) and then caught some breakfast with Mun whilst waiting for Rich who despite having done zero training did pretty well (11th out of 15th - 10k in 1:07hrs). We finished up 12th overall thanks to me. I let down the team! I did, however, beat my PB 1.5k timing and finished my swim in 39:06mins. Yay to me! And yay to Small Dragon Baskets! We didn't finish last - which really was the goal of this race.

Race Report by the cyclist in the team - http://tourdejapan.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/cold-storage-tri-29-09-12/


Timings:
Swim (1.5k) - 39:06 mins
Bike (40k) - 1:17:52  hrs
Run (10k) - 1:07:41 hrs
Overall - 3:04:38 hrs

Sickies

Be warned, this is going to be a 'poor me' rant. I promise to keep it short though!

And I was doing so well! I think I got through almost half a year without falling ill. Then again, I was following a better schedule than I was the last week. I just rediscovered Touched By an Angel and I've been keeping stupid hours. Urgh, going to load up on the Vitamin C, Echinacea, and garlic...ain't no Vampires hanging out with me for the next couple of days!

I've also gone off and injured my right shoulder, so I've been told to lay off the front crawl for a week at least. Which makes swim training a little bit lame. Plus I've to do a whole bunch of strengthening exercises to get my shoulder blade to stop shifting so much and screwing up my tendon again. Not fun. To top that off, my right toe was hurting too and I went for a run (yes yes, I thought I'd run off the pain) and aggravated it, so was told to lay off running for at least a week too. So essentially all I can do by way of training is cycle...Blech.

When it rains, it really pours.

Okay, rant over!


What I've Done:

Saturday - Swim training (2.1K)

Monday - Ran 4k in 28 mins

Tuesday - Swim training (kicks and breast stroke only - 800m)

Here's What's Dumb

What's dumb? Having a 2hr rock climbing class right after swim training. It basically made the session kind of pointless since my arms starting trembling pretty much 1/3 way into the session. Which made for a rather short climb session. Ah well, you learn from your stupidity eh?

I overdid Saturday. I wanted to swim, climb, get some of my assignment (I'm taking some graduate diploma in compliance) done, head to church and do all that before my grandmother's 80th birthday dinner. When I got to dinner I was exhausted. But it was good fun meeting with the extended family and catching up.

What I did:

Saturday
- 1hr swim training (Total: 2.3k)

- 1.5hr rock climbing

Sunday
- 40 min trek @ Bkt Timah Nature Reserve

Personal Trainer-less

Ever since I quit my personal trainer, I haven't been doing any weights at all. Zip, nada, zilch. I remember vaguely justifying why I didn't need personal training classes with 'I can go down to the gym to use the weights any time. I don't need to pay someone $100 bucks to tell me how to use weights!' Obviously after I quit my trainer, I also quit going to the gym do anything other than spin classes or shower. It seems if I don't feel $100 poorer, there isn't much motivation to weight train.

After weeks and weeks of telling myself I had to fit a strength training session somewhere in the week and procrastinating; on Wednesday I had the choice of either doing a 5k run or doing calisthenics at home. Neither was very appealing. That probably explained me finding everything under the sun to do before actually deciding that I'd rather just do something in the comfort of air conditioning.

I did a quick 5 minute warm-up on the elliptical then proceeded to do a kind of circuit training of sorts. 10 crunches, 10 side-crunches, 10 girly push-ups, 10 lunges, 10 squats, 10 dips...then I pushed it to 15 on the next set and stayed at 15 for the 3rd set. I was sweating like a pig at the end of it. It wasn't even as if I was doing all this with weights strapped to my arms even, but I was just knackered at the end. And this was barely even a 30 minute work-out in all!

Two days later I still have to lower myself carefully into my seat because my thighs are aching. Actually, everything that could ache is aching. And after swim training last night, everything is aching more than it was yesterday. That being said I haven't ached in a long time, so this actually feels pretty good!

On a side note, a good friend of mine is now cycling Japan. He's putting me to such shame. I want to say I'll do the same someday, but I really doubt it. Everyone makes cycling look easy. It sure as hell doesn't feel that way when I'm in the saddle. And I'm talking flat roads here. He's going up and down mountains and still going on. Nutter!

What I've done:
Tuesday: Swim training
Wednesday: 30 minutes calisthenics
Thursday: Swim training (2.2k total)

My Short Break

So there has been no update for the past couple of weeks (months, even?) because I've just been lazy. I got a bit of swimming in here and there but nothing much else. Since my mum insisted I had to attend my Grandmother's 80th birthday instead of doing a halfie, I quite happily acquiesced and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing.

In some other news, G has moved to Melbourne, which means my only training buddy is now an expensive text message away. It's going to be a lot harder (and more expensive) to text her incessantly on how proud I am of my running/swimming/jumping achievements. Boo hoo. Good news is she'll be back next month for a wedding and to take part in the Tri-Factor Sprint Tri with me. That actually kind of reads as bad news as well since it pretty much means I have to actually get my act together and get my ass back on the saddle again.

Meanwhile I leave you with some pretty hideous pictures from the Bintan Triathlon

"Running" out from the swim leg

There are actually shots of me smiling on the bike leg. I've no idea why. I look a bit deranged smiling to myself though!

My new found friend...whose name I didn't know. We walked a good 1k together and here we were trying to look like we were "running" it. Good work on her though, she did the entire race (that's 20k on the bike saddle) in her swim suit!




Tearing my way back...that chick in pink behind me (part of some relay team, which explains her energy!) overtook me just before the finish line...Beeeee-yatttchhhh!

If anyone could look more constipated on finishing a race it'd be me.

Slow Step Back to the Grind

After Bintan I was so happy. I could drink freely, do something other than swimming every other day and stop freaking out about cycling. Then I remembered I signed up for a halfie in July. Which means it's back to my runs again.

However, since I only have to train up my running, I now have time to go back on my walks! On Sunday, I went off to do Dairy Farm-Mandai with C, an awesome American chica. We started off around the same time as some bikers and they caught up with us about mid-way through. Actually, I think they may have lapped us and gone on their second round, but we like to think we were really legging it. Which would explain my aching calf muscle on Monday.

Anyhoooo, yesterday I officially started my halfie training with a 5k run. About 3k through I had a stitch but struggled through with Adele, Bruno Mars and Tina Turner. I dread to think of the 11k I'm supposed to be doing this week. Maybe I should move it to next week instead.

What I did:
Sunday: 2hr walk
Yesterday: 5k in 35 mins

Bintan Sprint Triathlon Race Report

You would think that having gone through the Bintan Sprint Tri last year I would be a little bit more prepared or at least less freaked out. I was neither. Despite having a whole year to ‘ride up and down hills’ in training (as I said in last year’s entry on the Bintan Tri), the only time I did something close to a ‘hill’ was when I did my sad little 5k at Rifle Range and gave up because it was too tiring. I had been going for spin classes once a week though, so I guess I wasn’t being TOO lazy, but really I could have done with more hours on the saddle.

Pre-Race

After mucking up my race pack collection last year, this year I got smart and went straight to collect my swag right after I got off the ferry at Bintan. Not bad, I thought, at least I figured this whole thing out after last year’s fiasco. I spoke too soon. Obviously I wouldn’t make the same mistakes as I did. I’d make fresh new ones.

Instead of picking up my bike at the hotel’s bike depot, giving instructions to get the bike sent to the race venue in the morning and collecting some special tag, I thought the hotel would automatically send my bike to the race venue in the morning – you know, because everyone should know I was doing a race and all. So I was sat happily on the shuttle waiting to head off (and thank God they did this check) before one of the hotel guys realized that I wasn’t holding on to some special tag and so my bike was still sitting in the hotel’s bike depot. I may have come off sounding a bit pissed off when I went, ‘So this means I should just get off and not do the race?’ but once again (as it was last year) I was really hoping he would tell me, ‘Yeah, too bad. Sorry about that.’ But he was nice and in no time at all my bike and I were on a mini van to the race venue. Dammit.

Warm-Up

Clear waters. Loads of jellyfish. Which made warming up a bit freaky since you could actually see the dang jellyfish. Got bitten all over by sea bugs as well. Hoped for rain. Hoped to get stung by a jellyfish. None of those came through. I was destined to do the race.

Swim Leg

Because this was half the distance of what I’d done the previous week, I wasn’t too fussed about the swim. I was dreading the thought of potentially doing a snake swim again, but then I figured it’d be at least for a shorter distance. (Side note: The one thing that freaks me out about the Bintan Sprint Tri is the fact that everyone there just looks so fit. I mean I just wanted one unfit looking person…just so I was assured I wouldn’t come in dead last!)

The first half of the swim went pretty well. I found a girl doing the front crawl going at a good pace and I followed bubbles all the way to the turn. Then I lost her in the pile-up. Which really sucked because right after I turned around and had no one to follow I was back to my snake swim. After an eternity of swimming, seemingly getting no where and feeling that familiar panic that I wasn’t getting anywhere (you’ll be amazed at how quickly you freak out in open waters), I changed to breast-stroke. Yes, I who go on about breast-strokers became one. I needed to know that I was at least swimming straight and I really needed to just calm the hell down. Once I got my bearings sorted, I reverted back to the front crawl and managed to get back on shore.

Bike Leg

To the guy who stood by the start of the bike leg and told me to get as quickly as I could to my small chain, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! This year I didn’t push my bike up the hill (woohoo!), I actually made it all the way to the top and then remembered how much the bike leg sucked last year. Once again, every man and his dog overtook me on the bike leg. I think I muttered ‘the people who designed this course are sadists’ about a million times.

Overall, I coped better this time than I did last year. For one all my gears worked so I was pretty much on my small chain the entire ride. I overtook people on the hills (weird) but then got overtaken on the flats. I bitched and moaned at the last bit where the sadists decided to round up 20k of riding by putting in a hill. And I also nearly fell on my face when running (read: stumbling) back to the transition.

Run Leg

I started this leg walking. Well before that I headed out the wrong way at the transition and then had to turn back. I made friends with a chick who was also walking and then eventually ditched her around the 1.5k mark to attempt a run. I’m not sure if I was fitter or more prepared this time around, but I actually managed to finish the rest of the leg running (albeit at a very slow pace).

I mentioned last year that I actually do like this race a lot because of the camaraderie and just the good fun. Families head to Bintan for the weekend to support Dad or Mum or whoever is taking part in the triathlon and there is a general air of happiness all around. At one point in the run where we ran by some of the villas, a bunch of kids were congregating with their little pails of water asking us if we wanted water and then emptying water on us. It was nice (although I did end up doing the rest of the run with soggy shoes), we got to cool down, the kids got to have fun – everyone was happy.

Results

Overall – 1 hr 57 mins

Swim leg - 16 mins 20 sec (18^th of 37)

T1 – 1 min 56 sec

Bike leg – 59 mins 14 sec (24^th)

T2 – 1 min 19 sec

Run leg – 38 mins 49 sec (28^th)

All my times improved, with a good 5 minutes sliced off my swim!

Tri-Factor 1.5k Swim Race Report

Urgh, I've not been very good at updating my race reports, so this is about 2 weeks late.

Before the Race

Anyway, the Tri-Factor Swim Race took place the Sunday before last and I signed up to swim 1.5km. I've basically spent the better part of the last month and a half training for that (and the Bintan triathlon). I actually was pretty diligent, heading to swim training 3 times a week. I gave up my Friday nights because swim training started was at 8am on Saturday and essentially didn't have much of a life. Well, I'm exaggerating. I did manage a trip to Bangkok and Phuket in May...and I did watch a ton of plays, musicals, concerts and even managed to squeeze in a comedic ballet.

Race Day

G had signed up for the 500m so her wave started earlier than mine. So while I was warming up and trying to look out for her (and somehow managed to miss her wave start), I was also freaking myself out with how darn long the 750m course looked. And I had to do 2 laps of that! Somehow doing 30 lengths in a 25m pool seems fine. Putting those 30 lengths into one long course is a whole other ball game.

Warm-up

Nothing to shout about. I didn't get bitten by sea bugs, but it could well be that the sea bugs had stuffed their faces on the 3k swimmers and the 500m swimmers nice sweet blood and were just flat-out full when I got in the water.

I did a few lame strokes. Kicked for a while. I'm not sure why I can never figure out the whole warm-up drill. Coach Alain told me before that I should do a 300m warm-up before the race. Which is all fine and good in the pool, but I had absolutely no idea how to measure 300m in the sea.

Race

What a nightmare it was. I started off fine. The usual everyone swimming over everyone else and all. Then the huge pack broke. I broke away from some people and then I became the swimmer everyone hates. I was the swimming equivalent of the annoying driver that weaves in and out of traffic. No matter how much I tried swimming straight, I kept swimming like a snake. So I was either so dang near to the ropes I crashed into it and knocked my googles off or I was swimming away from the ropes to oblivion. I knocked my goggles off a grand total of 3 times and hit the ropes God only knows how many times. If there was a way to swim inefficiently, I was acing it. In hindsight, I probably should have sighted more often.

Needless to say I was pretty much over all the swimming at the last 200m or so. I struggled to kick hard and push past this one breast-stroker (who might I add I am thoroughly impressed by!) but each time I slowed she caught up again. I was going to put down that she was where the adage 'slow and steady wins the race' came from, but then I remembered she was anything but slow. Hats off to her, whoever she is. I am happy to have been beaten by someone so worthy. Well played, breast-stroker.

Last note, the race once again ended with a 30m (I really am plucking arbitrary distances here...it seemed like 30m to me, but it could easily have been 5m) dash on my much dreaded sand. By this time I was biting breast-stroker's dust, so I just gave up and strolled the remaining stretch of the beach.

Results

Coach Alain had targeted a 40min finish. I targeted a more realistic 45min finish. In the end, I finished in 40:44mins. And I should be happy and all that I beat my target, but I'm just a little bit annoyed that I couldn't break the 40min target set for me. Dang snake swim.

15th of 33 - 40:44mins (breast-stroker made 40:17mins, I think)

First lap (750m) - 19:27mins

Second lap (750m)- 21:16mins

So much for negative splits.

All in all, I’ve never had anything bad to say about Tri-Factor’s races. They’ve all been well organized and good fun!

Bintan race report tomorrow!

A Snake and A Cramp

I've been a little bit better and a little bit less lazy last week. I did a 4k run the day after my first spin class in ages last week and did that in fairly alright considering the state my legs were in! Lately I've taken to running close to the office after work and just showering at my gym (Have to make full use of my 60 buck gym fees every month!). It's been a nice change and running up and down the bridge on Nicoll Highway provides that nice change in er...altitude(?!). The leg back is along the sea so it's all very pretty - insofar as you can call the waters around Singapore being pretty. All the same, I saw my first snake whilst running last week! And it scared me every bit as much as I scared it. But it was black and long and I may never take that short cut again.

Other than that run and the Nike run on Saturday, the only thing I've been doing more of these days is swimming. I did a sad 1/2 hour session last week before the Comedy show at the Club last week and then dragged myself out of bed on Saturday for the morning training.

Yesterday I went for spin again and my legs don't ache as much as they did last week! Woohoo! I also went for swim training in the evening and boy was it tough! Essentially my instructor has decided that Bernie, this nice Irish lady at training, and I match each other pace-wise. So when it came to the intervals he paired us both up. Which sucks. Because I couldn't slack off at all! It's not even as if I felt I had to beat her. I just felt that even if I lost to her I couldn't lose by too much. I think there was a point where I was thinking 'damn you Bernie, let up already! I can't slow down until you slow down!' Well, she didn't slow down. I didn't slow down. And we both wound up knackered at the end of training. We were also the last ones in the pool. I also had my first ever cramp in my foot! And right after I cooled down with a slow 50m swim. Which goes to show that my body is allergic to too much exercise!

What I did:
Last Wednesday - 4k run
Last Thursday - 30 mins swim training

Saturday
- 1 hr swim training
- Nike run

Yesterday
- 45 mins spin
- 1 hr swim training

Nike Goddess 5k Race Report

Well considering how the last race that I convinced the girls to run got rained out, we were all raring to go for the Nike run. Either C,G,or I are jinxed, and once again before the rain started there was a massive storm. Thunder, lightning...the works. Now what was actually nice about this race was that they gave us text updates on whether the race would start on time or not. Which was a pretty nice touch.

In the end the rain stopped before the race start, but somehow it still started late. Which made a bunch of people mad (judging from the angry comments on facebook). We had good company, had a nice little chit chat whilst waiting so it was all good.

The thing is this race touted itself as a BFF run so I guess I didn't really take it very seriously. To me it was just going to be a leisurely 5k that I was going to run with G and catch up on life and all that, especially since she's been so crazily busy lately! That probably wasn't so good for anyone else who was running for time. Because the race was in Sentosa (which I really liked because at least for once the race route was somewhere other than East Coast or the F1 pit stands!) there were areas where the road narrowed a little and obvious bottlenecks formed. G and I just walked those times. C and her running buddy had by this time shot ahead of us and we didn't see them till the end.

I've nothing to complain about the run itself. I liked how it was a different route for a change, I liked that it was nice and overcast and drizzly (not really something the race organisers can take credit for), I liked that it was in the afternoon and I didn't have to drag myself out at stupid o'clock and I liked the text updates.

Now post-run was a different story. It had started to rain then so having a bottleneck going from the end of the race to bag collection was expected to some extent. They could have widened the walkway, but I still wasn't that fussed over it. The main thing was waiting to collect my bags. Have a system for crying out loud! It is a total no-no having to wait longer for my bag than it is to actually run the race! It is an even bigger no-no when the wait is 2, if not 3, times longer than my run time! I didn't have time to have any beers after and I was late meeting my friend for dinner. Pffffft. And we weren't even the worst. The queues were so long, people actually ended up standing in the sea (bag collection was on the beach). I'm just glad it wasn't us!

Time taken: 45:27 mins (wow, G and I had a 45 minute conversation!)

Back to Spin

Yesterday was my first time back to spin in forever. I knew it was going to be tough. But I didn't know it was going to be THAT tough! I think I spent half the class looking at the clock hoping that by staring at it long enough I would magically move time faster with my sheer will. The other half of the class I spent debating with myself whether I should just hobble out of the class in shame.

Every time we were made to stand up and pedal, I died a little. Plus, each time the instructor made us do that it seemed like forever before we actually got back on the saddle. It was miserable and sweaty. Oh so sweaty. I also cheated a little (confession time!) by having tons and tons of ‘water breaks’ and ‘brow wiping’ just so I could seat my sorry little ass back down, if even for 2 seconds.

My personal instructor had warned me that the afternoon spin classes weren’t very good and that they’d be boring. Pah! If only I had time to be bored! My brain was on overdrive (screaming not-so-nice words, incidentally) the entire while.

The class was, however, dismally small. There were only 3 crazy people bobbing up and down their stationary bikes and my only bone to pick with the instructor was I never really knew what he was saying. But (and big BUT here) at least the guy was on his bike the whole while suffering every bit as much as we were. And because misery craves company, it made me feel a little bit better that at least he was feeling the burn. Ages ago I went for the evening class where the instructor talked a lot and walked around the class singing to his own songs. Maybe some people find those classes more fun, but it just always pisses me off when I’m suffering and the source of my pain isn’t suffering along with me!

Today I’m slated for a run but my thighs ache so much. I guess I’ll still run (or at least stumble around) because I feel a wee bit bad that I skipped out on swim training yesterday. Which brings me to the conclusion that I’d rather do 1 hr of swim training over a 45 minute spin class any day!

What I did:
45 min spin

Better but Barely

I've been swimming more than I've been on my bike. I think it's the curse of the Bintan Triathlon - I just can't seem to bring myself to get on my bike!

What I've done:

Last Tuesday - 1hr Swim Training
Last Thursday - Ran 4k
Last Friday - Does spending a whole day on my feet at Universal Studios count?
Last Saturday - 1hr Swim Training

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!)