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)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Morning Exercise
and I don't really get along. I tried an early morning run on Tuesday and felt like throwing up after not going very far. I think it's something to do with gastric juices bouncing around....or I'm just not used to running that early and maybe if I did it more often, my stomach would get used to the motion.
Meanwhile, my heart goes out to the Japanese and the people in Japan. I've been both saddened and also uplifted that in the face of all this sadness, there have been stories of selflessness and courage. I'll be keeping them in my prayers! I just want something to go right for Japan! They've had no good news at all in the last 6 days.
What I've done:
Last Thursday - 1hr Personal Training (mainly TRX)
Sunday
- Cycled less than 10k and got completely rained on
- Swam 1.2k
Monday
- 2k Run in 13:37 mins
- 1hr Personal Training (mainly circuit training)
Meanwhile, my heart goes out to the Japanese and the people in Japan. I've been both saddened and also uplifted that in the face of all this sadness, there have been stories of selflessness and courage. I'll be keeping them in my prayers! I just want something to go right for Japan! They've had no good news at all in the last 6 days.
What I've done:
Last Thursday - 1hr Personal Training (mainly TRX)
Sunday
- Cycled less than 10k and got completely rained on
- Swam 1.2k
Monday
- 2k Run in 13:37 mins
- 1hr Personal Training (mainly circuit training)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Quick Updates
Sorry, I have been lazy I know. But here are some quick-ish updates!
1. I did the Tri-Bob Aquathlon and I did not rock at it. In fact I sucked pretty bad. I was heading the wrong way constantly and by the time I was done with my swim I was out. Then I ran out and forgot my race-bib and had to run back in. Had a stitch a third way into my run, so walked the rest of it. It was torture. I would write more, but I’m really just too bummed with my crappy result. Nonetheless, I finished in 32:31 minutes. My swim leg took me 8:10 minutes (9th for my category) and my run leg took me 22:35 (a very sorry 30th for my category).
2. I also finished the 40k “challenge” (they claim not RACE even though they have prizes for winners) at the OCBC Cycle in 1 hr 51 minutes. It’s a crap time, but I freak easily and there were so many people so I just thought I’d toddle along at my own sad pace. I finished the “challenge” not crashing, so that’s an accomplishment for me.
3. I’ve started running again. Not my 2.5k runs which I convince myself are good enough, but real runs. I know I grumble about it all the time, but running really is like a friend I have this love-hate relationship with. And I’ve missed it a bit. So last week I decided to bite the bullet and run home. I also compiled an awesome playlist (I realize Blondie and Queen songs feature highly in that list), so the run home was a bit painful, but not all too bad. I got 8k (in 1 hr 12 mins) in before I bailed and took the bus home smelly and all. Last night I got 12k (1hr 30 mins) in and I felt pretty darn good after. My knee’s a little sore today, but it’ll go away I think.
4. I’ve signed up for a challenge (real challenge this time) with mapmyrun.com and I’m supposed to run 30 miles in 30 days. All this sounded rather easy – I mean, a mile a day, how hard is that? Until I realized it all added up when I took a few days off. So yesterday I had to make up for all the days I was lazing – hence the 12k run. I'm all caught up for now.
5. I’ve started drum classes again with my good friend and other than the fact that I realize again I’m completely uncoordinated, I am enjoying the lessons. I think it’s largely the company as well!
1. I did the Tri-Bob Aquathlon and I did not rock at it. In fact I sucked pretty bad. I was heading the wrong way constantly and by the time I was done with my swim I was out. Then I ran out and forgot my race-bib and had to run back in. Had a stitch a third way into my run, so walked the rest of it. It was torture. I would write more, but I’m really just too bummed with my crappy result. Nonetheless, I finished in 32:31 minutes. My swim leg took me 8:10 minutes (9th for my category) and my run leg took me 22:35 (a very sorry 30th for my category).
2. I also finished the 40k “challenge” (they claim not RACE even though they have prizes for winners) at the OCBC Cycle in 1 hr 51 minutes. It’s a crap time, but I freak easily and there were so many people so I just thought I’d toddle along at my own sad pace. I finished the “challenge” not crashing, so that’s an accomplishment for me.
3. I’ve started running again. Not my 2.5k runs which I convince myself are good enough, but real runs. I know I grumble about it all the time, but running really is like a friend I have this love-hate relationship with. And I’ve missed it a bit. So last week I decided to bite the bullet and run home. I also compiled an awesome playlist (I realize Blondie and Queen songs feature highly in that list), so the run home was a bit painful, but not all too bad. I got 8k (in 1 hr 12 mins) in before I bailed and took the bus home smelly and all. Last night I got 12k (1hr 30 mins) in and I felt pretty darn good after. My knee’s a little sore today, but it’ll go away I think.
4. I’ve signed up for a challenge (real challenge this time) with mapmyrun.com and I’m supposed to run 30 miles in 30 days. All this sounded rather easy – I mean, a mile a day, how hard is that? Until I realized it all added up when I took a few days off. So yesterday I had to make up for all the days I was lazing – hence the 12k run. I'm all caught up for now.
5. I’ve started drum classes again with my good friend and other than the fact that I realize again I’m completely uncoordinated, I am enjoying the lessons. I think it’s largely the company as well!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Back from the Cold!!!!
And I kind of miss it. I mean in Singapore all you get is freezing cold air-conditioning and bleeding hot temperatures outside. Not that I hate that or anything, but I do wish we had a couple of slopes nearby so I could go riding every other weekend. Ah, to have your cake and eat it!
I was up in San Francisco to see my bestie, Jenny and go snowboarding with her in Tahoe - our first trip ever together! It was a pain trying to book train tickets and shuttle bus stuff because US is so public-transport-unfriendly, but we made it up in one piece on the Amtrek in the end.
So the first two days on the slopes really sucked. I think I'm just naturally a whiner and I just want perfect snow. If I've travelled halfway across the world to ride the slopes (well to visit my bestie first and to ride second) it'd be nice if it had awesome snow, but no. It was icy and just not a whole lot of fun falling. Although I did pick up a bunch of really awesome bruises.
Here's how the streets of Squaw looked like - snowless and all (I shamelessly stole Jenny's photo):
After a lot of whinging (and I mean A LOT) we woke up the last day to a bee-yoo-tee-foo snowy morning! And of course Jenny and I are jumping around like mad fools because I mean, it's a snowboarding holiday for crying out loud! However, Squaw more than made up for it on our last day! Soft soft powder snow and a whole bunch of it!
See what a difference a day makes?
And what a wonderful wonderful ride it was. Okay, the green slopes were kind of crap and we ended up having unstrapping and walking with our boards, but that kind of gave us the courage to hit the blues and we did real good! Jenny in particular did fantastically. I was being all chicken-shit and going heel side down when the slope scared me, but Jenny was a hero trying her turns on every slope!
Proof that Jenny can link turns and check out the awesome snow!
In all, I heart Tahoe. And I think a lot of it was just because it snowed on the last day, but parts of it that helped a lot was the quaint little lodge we stayed at, the amazing food at the lodge restaurant, the delicious crepes we had for breakfast, the new friends we made....and for me most of all the company of my bestie!
After Tahoe, Jenny and I headed back to the Bay Area and I dragged my aching self out the morning after we got back to go for a bike tour of San Francisco. I think I'd have loved it a wee bit more if I wasn't so sleepy, cold and achy, but even then, I really enjoyed the tour and I think I'd like to do it properly the next time! Post-bike tour I walked and walked and walked. I wanted to get some ski pants for my sister at REI which was not convenient if you were car-less. Then I kept getting lost. When I finally made it back to Jenny's place, I was too pooped to go out again so Jenny and I had a nice good catch-up over dinner at hers.
After SF, it was off to the land of the rising sun to meet my folks for Chinese New Year. First stop Tokyo! We were there for a night and then the family trooped off to Nagano the next day. I thought Nagano was fantastic. We stayed in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Shibu Onsen which is a half hour bus ride to the Shiga Kogen ski slopes. The ryokan we stayed in was called Kokuya and it was 400 years old. It had 8 baths and orgasmic kaiseki sets (Japanese degustation menu). Big stamp of approval from me and the rest of the family!
My sister and I only had a day to hit the mountains and by the time we got down to figuring out where to go and what we had to do (with a lot of sign language and gesticulation) half the day had gone by and we were tired of not being able to speak Japanese. I think if it hadn't snowed the last day at Squaw, I might have liked Shiga Kogen a lot more. But because the memory or powder snow was still fresh in my memory, the snow at Shiga Kogen was kind of blah. Not lousy, but not great either. Plus the huge language gap got a bit frustrating after a while. I'd go back again to Nagano, just because Shibu Onsen was really nice but it definitely is a better ride on Niseko than Shiga Kogen. That being said, Shiga Kogen is a whole lot more convenient to get to than Niseko, so I guess that will always be an option!
We were back in Tokyo after and I got a chance to meet up with a couple of my friends - Fumiko and Danielle who I haven't seen in ages! Had a great catch-up and I got to meet Danielle's sweet little lady. Tokyo food was...well....you can never get enough of the food in Tokyo. I love love love Japanese food! Just in case none of you already know that.
So now I'm back and missing the slopes and my friends. One more year of thumb twiddling till I get back on the slopes again!
What I've done since I've been back:
last Wednesday: Ran 2k, 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups
last Thursday: Swim Training
last Friday: 1hr Personal Training
Saturday: 20k bike ride
Tuesday: Swim Training
I was up in San Francisco to see my bestie, Jenny and go snowboarding with her in Tahoe - our first trip ever together! It was a pain trying to book train tickets and shuttle bus stuff because US is so public-transport-unfriendly, but we made it up in one piece on the Amtrek in the end.
So the first two days on the slopes really sucked. I think I'm just naturally a whiner and I just want perfect snow. If I've travelled halfway across the world to ride the slopes (well to visit my bestie first and to ride second) it'd be nice if it had awesome snow, but no. It was icy and just not a whole lot of fun falling. Although I did pick up a bunch of really awesome bruises.
Here's how the streets of Squaw looked like - snowless and all (I shamelessly stole Jenny's photo):
After a lot of whinging (and I mean A LOT) we woke up the last day to a bee-yoo-tee-foo snowy morning! And of course Jenny and I are jumping around like mad fools because I mean, it's a snowboarding holiday for crying out loud! However, Squaw more than made up for it on our last day! Soft soft powder snow and a whole bunch of it!
See what a difference a day makes?
And what a wonderful wonderful ride it was. Okay, the green slopes were kind of crap and we ended up having unstrapping and walking with our boards, but that kind of gave us the courage to hit the blues and we did real good! Jenny in particular did fantastically. I was being all chicken-shit and going heel side down when the slope scared me, but Jenny was a hero trying her turns on every slope!
Proof that Jenny can link turns and check out the awesome snow!
In all, I heart Tahoe. And I think a lot of it was just because it snowed on the last day, but parts of it that helped a lot was the quaint little lodge we stayed at, the amazing food at the lodge restaurant, the delicious crepes we had for breakfast, the new friends we made....and for me most of all the company of my bestie!
After Tahoe, Jenny and I headed back to the Bay Area and I dragged my aching self out the morning after we got back to go for a bike tour of San Francisco. I think I'd have loved it a wee bit more if I wasn't so sleepy, cold and achy, but even then, I really enjoyed the tour and I think I'd like to do it properly the next time! Post-bike tour I walked and walked and walked. I wanted to get some ski pants for my sister at REI which was not convenient if you were car-less. Then I kept getting lost. When I finally made it back to Jenny's place, I was too pooped to go out again so Jenny and I had a nice good catch-up over dinner at hers.
After SF, it was off to the land of the rising sun to meet my folks for Chinese New Year. First stop Tokyo! We were there for a night and then the family trooped off to Nagano the next day. I thought Nagano was fantastic. We stayed in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Shibu Onsen which is a half hour bus ride to the Shiga Kogen ski slopes. The ryokan we stayed in was called Kokuya and it was 400 years old. It had 8 baths and orgasmic kaiseki sets (Japanese degustation menu). Big stamp of approval from me and the rest of the family!
My sister and I only had a day to hit the mountains and by the time we got down to figuring out where to go and what we had to do (with a lot of sign language and gesticulation) half the day had gone by and we were tired of not being able to speak Japanese. I think if it hadn't snowed the last day at Squaw, I might have liked Shiga Kogen a lot more. But because the memory or powder snow was still fresh in my memory, the snow at Shiga Kogen was kind of blah. Not lousy, but not great either. Plus the huge language gap got a bit frustrating after a while. I'd go back again to Nagano, just because Shibu Onsen was really nice but it definitely is a better ride on Niseko than Shiga Kogen. That being said, Shiga Kogen is a whole lot more convenient to get to than Niseko, so I guess that will always be an option!
We were back in Tokyo after and I got a chance to meet up with a couple of my friends - Fumiko and Danielle who I haven't seen in ages! Had a great catch-up and I got to meet Danielle's sweet little lady. Tokyo food was...well....you can never get enough of the food in Tokyo. I love love love Japanese food! Just in case none of you already know that.
So now I'm back and missing the slopes and my friends. One more year of thumb twiddling till I get back on the slopes again!
What I've done since I've been back:
last Wednesday: Ran 2k, 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups
last Thursday: Swim Training
last Friday: 1hr Personal Training
Saturday: 20k bike ride
Tuesday: Swim Training
Monday, January 24, 2011
SAFRA AvVentura 2011 Race Report
We finished this year! We also cheated by doing the Sprint category so instead of a 50 over km adventure race, this year it was a more 'manageable' 35km. We still had our asses kicked despite that.
5am in the morning, I was awake and raring to go. Picked Rich up and raced down to SAFRA Yishun to make the 6.30am registration deadline. Of course the recommended car park is completely packed and after circling it twice we decided to park slightly further out and leg it to the registration desk.
After registration, I spent the next hour before the actual race start peeing a lot. Just because I had absolutely no intention of having to find a spot in the jungle to 'go'. Some half-hearted stretches and then a lot of sitting around. I have no idea why I thought that just because I signed up for the Sprint that it'd be a piece of cake and I'd breeze through it. Famous last words they were.
So the race starts off with us running off. I don't like running that much, but same as last year, running with a backpack stuffed with your harness, a bunch of slings, carabiners, a figure of 8 and 2 litres of water is very much worse. The water sloshing around in the bladder and just the sheer weight of the entire backpack just slows you down so much. Not that I was all that speedy to begin with.
The run surprisingly didn't last as long as I expected it to be and pretty soon we were on our bikes. Correction, one of us was on a bike and the other would be on foot. Of all the things I can't stand, I would say the team biathlon is the most annoying. That being said, Rich and I were better at it than we were last year, considering I did all the biking and he did all the running last year (poor thing!). This year at least Rich had some time on his bike.
So the bulk of the race was a biathlon. The other bulk was just cycling around from one checkpoint to another. The 'mystery' test in between involved getting 2 chopsticks into a mineral water bottle - we got one chopstick in each, thank you very much. Somewhere mid-way Rich and I lost our way and had to back track. I want to say that's why we didn't win, but really I think we sucked because we were so darn unfit.
There was a lot of lugging the mountain bike up and down slippery slopes and after falling into mud, slipping and sliding into streams, I was just covered in mud and looked like a walking disaster. Side note - I've no idea how I always end up being the dirtiest person in a race. Rich claims it's because everyone gets dirty up to their knees, but because I'm a shortie, I'm pretty much covered everywhere else. Geeez, thanks. Can't say too many bad things about Rich though because he was a real sweetie and did a lot of the bike hoisting for moi. I always think I'm a bit hard, but really, I'm just weak when it comes to bikes and slippery slopes. I can only deal with one at a time!
Whilst we were in the army camp (these adventure races organised by SAFRA usually take place within an army camp) the water skills leg was donning a life vest and swimming in the sea. Rich was not pleased although he did pretty well for someone who really didn't like swimming. I was fine with the swimming, only I'd have preferred doing it without a life vest and without all my clothes and shoes on! The good part about this was I looked considerably cleaner after the swim. The bad was the squidgy-wet-shoe feeling and the knowledge that I'd have to spend the rest of the race with these shoes on.
After cycling around for a bit, by which point I was pretty much over the whole race, we dumped our bikes and it was time to run back to SAFRA Yishun for the climb skills leg. Because Rich is essentially twice my weight, there was no way I was every going to belay him, which meant I had to do everything. First I climbed the wall, which wasn't too bad except for some guy who decided to climb out of his lane into mine and seemed to be aiming to stick his head up my ass (pleasant picture, huh?); and the wall having some overhang. Not some massive overhang, but enough to cause that burn in my forearms. Which is all fine and grand if that was the only 'test' in the climb skills but no, the sadists followed that up with a 25m rope ladder climb from hell. So first off I've never climbed a rope ladder so I was at a loss to start. Finally, after I got started I realised it was just going to go downhill from then on. My arms by then were burning up about a tenth way through and I just wanted the race to end. After what felt like a never-ending climb (I did beat a guy who started before me - woo hoo, small victories!), I was done.
Somehow Rich decided it was a good idea to finish strong and run to the end, which I quite stubbornly refused. Not because I didn't want to, but because my legs had by then just stopped working. So we finished the race strong-ish, me with some weird half-run/walk and Rich running through.
After washing the mud off me yesterday I realised that I have more bruises that I've ever had in my life and strange scratches all down my leg. Sexy. Everything that could ache, aches and I think my feet are just swollen from all the mucking around. I am, however, happy that we finished! 3rd last and all!
5am in the morning, I was awake and raring to go. Picked Rich up and raced down to SAFRA Yishun to make the 6.30am registration deadline. Of course the recommended car park is completely packed and after circling it twice we decided to park slightly further out and leg it to the registration desk.
After registration, I spent the next hour before the actual race start peeing a lot. Just because I had absolutely no intention of having to find a spot in the jungle to 'go'. Some half-hearted stretches and then a lot of sitting around. I have no idea why I thought that just because I signed up for the Sprint that it'd be a piece of cake and I'd breeze through it. Famous last words they were.
So the race starts off with us running off. I don't like running that much, but same as last year, running with a backpack stuffed with your harness, a bunch of slings, carabiners, a figure of 8 and 2 litres of water is very much worse. The water sloshing around in the bladder and just the sheer weight of the entire backpack just slows you down so much. Not that I was all that speedy to begin with.
The run surprisingly didn't last as long as I expected it to be and pretty soon we were on our bikes. Correction, one of us was on a bike and the other would be on foot. Of all the things I can't stand, I would say the team biathlon is the most annoying. That being said, Rich and I were better at it than we were last year, considering I did all the biking and he did all the running last year (poor thing!). This year at least Rich had some time on his bike.
So the bulk of the race was a biathlon. The other bulk was just cycling around from one checkpoint to another. The 'mystery' test in between involved getting 2 chopsticks into a mineral water bottle - we got one chopstick in each, thank you very much. Somewhere mid-way Rich and I lost our way and had to back track. I want to say that's why we didn't win, but really I think we sucked because we were so darn unfit.
There was a lot of lugging the mountain bike up and down slippery slopes and after falling into mud, slipping and sliding into streams, I was just covered in mud and looked like a walking disaster. Side note - I've no idea how I always end up being the dirtiest person in a race. Rich claims it's because everyone gets dirty up to their knees, but because I'm a shortie, I'm pretty much covered everywhere else. Geeez, thanks. Can't say too many bad things about Rich though because he was a real sweetie and did a lot of the bike hoisting for moi. I always think I'm a bit hard, but really, I'm just weak when it comes to bikes and slippery slopes. I can only deal with one at a time!
Whilst we were in the army camp (these adventure races organised by SAFRA usually take place within an army camp) the water skills leg was donning a life vest and swimming in the sea. Rich was not pleased although he did pretty well for someone who really didn't like swimming. I was fine with the swimming, only I'd have preferred doing it without a life vest and without all my clothes and shoes on! The good part about this was I looked considerably cleaner after the swim. The bad was the squidgy-wet-shoe feeling and the knowledge that I'd have to spend the rest of the race with these shoes on.
After cycling around for a bit, by which point I was pretty much over the whole race, we dumped our bikes and it was time to run back to SAFRA Yishun for the climb skills leg. Because Rich is essentially twice my weight, there was no way I was every going to belay him, which meant I had to do everything. First I climbed the wall, which wasn't too bad except for some guy who decided to climb out of his lane into mine and seemed to be aiming to stick his head up my ass (pleasant picture, huh?); and the wall having some overhang. Not some massive overhang, but enough to cause that burn in my forearms. Which is all fine and grand if that was the only 'test' in the climb skills but no, the sadists followed that up with a 25m rope ladder climb from hell. So first off I've never climbed a rope ladder so I was at a loss to start. Finally, after I got started I realised it was just going to go downhill from then on. My arms by then were burning up about a tenth way through and I just wanted the race to end. After what felt like a never-ending climb (I did beat a guy who started before me - woo hoo, small victories!), I was done.
Somehow Rich decided it was a good idea to finish strong and run to the end, which I quite stubbornly refused. Not because I didn't want to, but because my legs had by then just stopped working. So we finished the race strong-ish, me with some weird half-run/walk and Rich running through.
After washing the mud off me yesterday I realised that I have more bruises that I've ever had in my life and strange scratches all down my leg. Sexy. Everything that could ache, aches and I think my feet are just swollen from all the mucking around. I am, however, happy that we finished! 3rd last and all!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
There is the Plan
And there is actually doing it.
I tend to fall short on the delivery mostly. Always always there is the 'plan' - be it the plan to run, to go for swim training, to attend spin classes so on and so forth. If anything I'm dedicated to the very hard task of planning and boy am I skilled at that. I am, however, very unrealistic mostly and never factor in laziness and aching muscles.
This week was supposed to be the last week where I crammed all the last minute training for the adventure race into 7 days. That was the plan. Yesterday was when it fell apart. I was supposed to go for spin classes but after my personal training on Tuesday I was aching and I was just feeling lazy. So about halfway through my short walk to the gym, I turned back and walked to the office. A day of nothing. This is all followed of course by a company dinner and drinkies till 2am. Which makes today another big fat nothing although I've convinced myself that because I'm still aching from my personal training on Tuesday I need time to rest up further.
Of course all this means that I'm likely to die at the adventure race this Sunday.
What I've done:
Last Tuesday - Swim training
Last Friday - 15 minutes on the treadmill and some bunch of sit-ups before rushing off to catch the Rocky Horror Picture Show
Last Saturday - 1.5 hrs Rockclimbing
Last Sunday - Cycled 16K
Monday - Ran 4k in 27 mins
Tuesday - 1 hr Personal Training
I tend to fall short on the delivery mostly. Always always there is the 'plan' - be it the plan to run, to go for swim training, to attend spin classes so on and so forth. If anything I'm dedicated to the very hard task of planning and boy am I skilled at that. I am, however, very unrealistic mostly and never factor in laziness and aching muscles.
This week was supposed to be the last week where I crammed all the last minute training for the adventure race into 7 days. That was the plan. Yesterday was when it fell apart. I was supposed to go for spin classes but after my personal training on Tuesday I was aching and I was just feeling lazy. So about halfway through my short walk to the gym, I turned back and walked to the office. A day of nothing. This is all followed of course by a company dinner and drinkies till 2am. Which makes today another big fat nothing although I've convinced myself that because I'm still aching from my personal training on Tuesday I need time to rest up further.
Of course all this means that I'm likely to die at the adventure race this Sunday.
What I've done:
Last Tuesday - Swim training
Last Friday - 15 minutes on the treadmill and some bunch of sit-ups before rushing off to catch the Rocky Horror Picture Show
Last Saturday - 1.5 hrs Rockclimbing
Last Sunday - Cycled 16K
Monday - Ran 4k in 27 mins
Tuesday - 1 hr Personal Training
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Rain 1 Tennis 0
Once again, my tennis plans have been thwarted by the rain. It's just been raining so dang much. Of course a lot of it is just also my plain bad luck - it'd be bright and sunny all day till the time my courts are booked. Bah.
I've been on a mission to get to bed early and get out of it just as early. Over the weekend, I managed an early climb on Saturday and an early bike ride on Sunday. By early I mean my standards of early - pretty much anything before noon! The climb on Saturday wasn't great because I'd gone out for drinks with Merle the night before and I was so completely dehydrated after the climb that my pee was neon yellow. Probably not good for the poor kidneys.
My bike ride was a bit of a disaster as well. I pumped up the tyres before I left home, but thanks to what must have been a slow puncture, when I was 7km into the ride and finding it harder and harder to cycle, I looked down and saw my flat tyres. Had to turn back and ride my baby all the way back to the car. Not very fun.
Swim training starts tonight again!
What I've done:
Saturday - 2hr climbing
Sunday - 14k bike ride and 6 sets of 10 crunches
Yesterday - 1hr personal training
I've been on a mission to get to bed early and get out of it just as early. Over the weekend, I managed an early climb on Saturday and an early bike ride on Sunday. By early I mean my standards of early - pretty much anything before noon! The climb on Saturday wasn't great because I'd gone out for drinks with Merle the night before and I was so completely dehydrated after the climb that my pee was neon yellow. Probably not good for the poor kidneys.
My bike ride was a bit of a disaster as well. I pumped up the tyres before I left home, but thanks to what must have been a slow puncture, when I was 7km into the ride and finding it harder and harder to cycle, I looked down and saw my flat tyres. Had to turn back and ride my baby all the way back to the car. Not very fun.
Swim training starts tonight again!
What I've done:
Saturday - 2hr climbing
Sunday - 14k bike ride and 6 sets of 10 crunches
Yesterday - 1hr personal training
Friday, January 7, 2011
A Week into 2011
What I've Done:
1st Jan (Saturday) - Climbed 2 hours
4th Jan (Tuesday) - 3.5k run
5th Jan (Wednesday) - 1 hr Personal Training
6th Jan (Thursday) - 600m swim
So far....so good...probably need to ramp up the distance on the runs!
1st Jan (Saturday) - Climbed 2 hours
4th Jan (Tuesday) - 3.5k run
5th Jan (Wednesday) - 1 hr Personal Training
6th Jan (Thursday) - 600m swim
So far....so good...probably need to ramp up the distance on the runs!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
My 2010 recap
The Good:
1. I did my first triathlon ever and then some - even if they were only minis
2. Got 2nd in a swim race - yes, out of 5 but well I'll take anything
3. Met up with some awesome friends and my cousins I haven't seen in ages!
4. Got me a sweet Bike who as yet remains nameless
5. Went on a bunch of holidays with awesome travel buddies
6. My foot didn't give me that much problems - could be because I hardly ran
7. Read some really really good books - If This Were a Man, Anne Frank, The Cider House Rules to name a few
8. Got re-inspired (though short-lived, laziness trumped inspiration) by the Youth Olympics and Steve Stenzel
9. Made some really good friends (at a bar, no less)
10. Started playing a wee bit of tennis again
11. FINALLY lost all the beer weight - beer is bad, kids!
The Bad:
1. Talked more (about training) than actually doing any
2. Pretty much wussed out of all my running races
3. Stopped muay thai and windsurfing because I just got lazy
4. Had a whole bunch of pooping related issues which someday I shall regale the world with someday
5. Found out my bike needed to be treated like a lady instead of being the hard core macho bike I thought it was
6. Spent too much time focusing on lame issues and neglecting the important stuff
7. Wasted much too much time feeling sorry for myself
8. Jenny, my bestie, went overseas for a whole year!
And how was YOUR 2010? Happy New Year guys!
1. I did my first triathlon ever and then some - even if they were only minis
2. Got 2nd in a swim race - yes, out of 5 but well I'll take anything
3. Met up with some awesome friends and my cousins I haven't seen in ages!
4. Got me a sweet Bike who as yet remains nameless
5. Went on a bunch of holidays with awesome travel buddies
6. My foot didn't give me that much problems - could be because I hardly ran
7. Read some really really good books - If This Were a Man, Anne Frank, The Cider House Rules to name a few
8. Got re-inspired (though short-lived, laziness trumped inspiration) by the Youth Olympics and Steve Stenzel
9. Made some really good friends (at a bar, no less)
10. Started playing a wee bit of tennis again
11. FINALLY lost all the beer weight - beer is bad, kids!
The Bad:
1. Talked more (about training) than actually doing any
2. Pretty much wussed out of all my running races
3. Stopped muay thai and windsurfing because I just got lazy
4. Had a whole bunch of pooping related issues which someday I shall regale the world with someday
5. Found out my bike needed to be treated like a lady instead of being the hard core macho bike I thought it was
6. Spent too much time focusing on lame issues and neglecting the important stuff
7. Wasted much too much time feeling sorry for myself
8. Jenny, my bestie, went overseas for a whole year!
And how was YOUR 2010? Happy New Year guys!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
It's Been A While
And since then I've been on a build with Habitat for Humanity. Or shall we call it a full day workout? I was aching more than a real workout at the gym, what with hauling around buckets of cement, straightening wires...but all for a good cause, so it's all good!
Despite waking up with my trepezius (I only know this because my personal trainer felt the need to enlighten me as I kept calling them 'wings' which of course is totally wrong) and biceps aching, I hauled my ass out for a short 2.5k run in the evening followed by a bunch of crunches before meeting the two sisters who introduced me to alcohol back in the days of university. Obviously we met for vino and obviously we hung out till 2am despite it being a school day the next day. Somehow I got through Monday without feeling like I needed to die. I even managed to go for personal training! Even if no one is impressed with this, I am pretty much impressed with myself!
Following that I've done a big fat nothing. I've made plans to wake up at 6am every morning to hit the pool but I don't even know why I bother. To date I've succeeded only as far as waking up to turn off the alarm. Still I always believe in living in hope...someday, somehow I will wake up and feel bright and chirpy and head off for an early morning swim!
What I've done:
Sunday: 2.5k run + a bunch of crunches
Monday: 1 hr Personal Training
Despite waking up with my trepezius (I only know this because my personal trainer felt the need to enlighten me as I kept calling them 'wings' which of course is totally wrong) and biceps aching, I hauled my ass out for a short 2.5k run in the evening followed by a bunch of crunches before meeting the two sisters who introduced me to alcohol back in the days of university. Obviously we met for vino and obviously we hung out till 2am despite it being a school day the next day. Somehow I got through Monday without feeling like I needed to die. I even managed to go for personal training! Even if no one is impressed with this, I am pretty much impressed with myself!
Following that I've done a big fat nothing. I've made plans to wake up at 6am every morning to hit the pool but I don't even know why I bother. To date I've succeeded only as far as waking up to turn off the alarm. Still I always believe in living in hope...someday, somehow I will wake up and feel bright and chirpy and head off for an early morning swim!
What I've done:
Sunday: 2.5k run + a bunch of crunches
Monday: 1 hr Personal Training
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