1. I’m glad that I’m only doing the halfie and not a full marathon because I’ve pretty much run out of detours to make to get home. Also, I realise my ‘ultimate running playlist’ doesn’t last for all that long. Plus, around the 16k mark is when my bag’s jostling against my neck starts becoming unbearable.
2. Having a filling sushi meal before a long run gives you fishy burps and it lasts the entire run. And it isn’t pleasant. The thing is I actually know all this because I’ve stupidly done it before, but apparently I’m not smart enough to learn from my mistakes.
3. I sing when I run. Well mostly I mouth out words of songs, but if ever I’m feeling out of it and there’s no one around I sometimes belt out the chorus of a song. Obviously I run out of breath really quickly and then regret doing that. I also regret it when sometimes I don’t do a good enough check and realise there are actually people near me. There actually is a good reason why I sing/mouth words whilst running: I find it helps me run through a stitch. I wish there was some scientific way to explain this, but there isn’t. It just works for me. So if someday you’re in a car and you drive by a crazy person running and looking like she’s talking to herself. It is likely to be me trying to get rid of a stitch. Sometimes I do a little jig too but that has nothing to do with side stitches and more to do with me being a little too into my music.
4. My brain stops working when I run. When I was running back last week I spotted someone I thought was an old friend of mine. I yelled his name as I ran past. The guy stopped and looked quizzically at me, which should have been my first clue. Instead of running on, I stopped, looked at the guy, pointed at him and said ‘SR?’ Doh, obviously it wasn’t him and obviously I looked like a complete fool. I refused to take that route when I did my long run this week lest I meet the guy.
5. On top of achy legs, my stomach muscles ache after a long run. I’m not sure why, but today it feels like I did a bunch of crunches yesterday night!
6. Not really running related but I take back what I said about good yoga schools. I realise I meant good yoga teachers. I went back for a yoga class on Monday this week and had a very blah class. The instructor was nice, but it just felt like a whole bunch of stretching. And it was hardly challenging. And there was a lot of sitting around cleansing your mind of this or that. Yawn.
What I did this week:
Monday: 1hr yoga
Yesterday: 16k run in 1hr 57mins (The last time, and only other time, I did a 16k run I did it in 2hr 26mins, so even if this is the slowest a human being could run, I’m not complaining!)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Training Updates
Last Monday: 1hr Personal Training
Last Thursday: 14K run
It was long and painful. I was pretty much over it by about 10k but I pushed through (woohoo!) and made it all the way without stopping to trot...well at least not till the last 1k. Point to note, overhead bridges are the enemy 13k into a run!
Saturday: Woodcutter's Trail/Butterfly Trail in 3.5hrs
It took that long not because the walk was particularly long but there was just so much stopping and waiting around for people. We did this with the local Y and there were a lot of people. While I think there are overseas treks that I might do with the Y, the local ones just have a lot of slow people. I'm not particularly fast, but these guys are sloooow.
And while I think it's great that the Y organises walks like these because it gets people (who might ordinarily be inert) out and moving as well as raising awareness on the presence of this ("natural") side of Singapore, but short of there being another local trail I need directions through, I'd probably be a bit reluctant to join them. Sorry Gracie!
Sunday: Salomon X-Trail Race - See below.
On a side note, since Jo asked - I wasn't actually doing real yoga yet. It was a beginner class to prep your body for yoga (or something like that) and it involved doing a lot of squats. I think when I progress further I'd be learning Ashtanga yoga?
Last Thursday: 14K run
It was long and painful. I was pretty much over it by about 10k but I pushed through (woohoo!) and made it all the way without stopping to trot...well at least not till the last 1k. Point to note, overhead bridges are the enemy 13k into a run!
Saturday: Woodcutter's Trail/Butterfly Trail in 3.5hrs
It took that long not because the walk was particularly long but there was just so much stopping and waiting around for people. We did this with the local Y and there were a lot of people. While I think there are overseas treks that I might do with the Y, the local ones just have a lot of slow people. I'm not particularly fast, but these guys are sloooow.
And while I think it's great that the Y organises walks like these because it gets people (who might ordinarily be inert) out and moving as well as raising awareness on the presence of this ("natural") side of Singapore, but short of there being another local trail I need directions through, I'd probably be a bit reluctant to join them. Sorry Gracie!
Sunday: Salomon X-Trail Race - See below.
On a side note, since Jo asked - I wasn't actually doing real yoga yet. It was a beginner class to prep your body for yoga (or something like that) and it involved doing a lot of squats. I think when I progress further I'd be learning Ashtanga yoga?
2011 Salomon X-Trail 10k Race Report
Despite signing up for a ton of races this year, this is the first running race I've turned up for in ages and my legs are feeling 'achy' today.
Overall I like the Salomon X-Trail. When I'm mentally prepared to get muddy and gross then sloshing around in mud is actually pretty fun. More fun is running right through mud puddles and getting mud on the nancies who were tip-toeing around the puddles. It's a trail race and you're already half covered in mud, might as well enjoy it!
The morning started off well weather-wise. Clear skies and all that. I was sleepy. Very very sleepy. I think I probably was half asleep at the start line. By the time my legs started working, Rich was already off like a shot while I mucked around at the back trying to get into a rhythm.
As Rich describes it, the trail route basically looked like someone took a pen and just scribbled all over a map.
Although it's not completely obvious, the course isn't on a huge area, but somehow it never really felt boring. Well actually there was a lot of scrambling up and down hills as well as overtaking walkers on narrow trails, so there wasn't much time to get bored. And there was never really much of a bottle-neck situation...yes there were bits where I had to slow to a trot but frankly I was just pleased to have an excuse to rest my tired legs.
When we met up after the run, Rich and I agreed that the Salomon X-Trail is one of the more fun races. Hills, mud and lovely trails...what's not to love about it? And a special shout-out to the volunteers at this race who are one of the best race cheerleaders!
Time: 1:20:24 (86th out of 254 women! woohoo!)
Overall I like the Salomon X-Trail. When I'm mentally prepared to get muddy and gross then sloshing around in mud is actually pretty fun. More fun is running right through mud puddles and getting mud on the nancies who were tip-toeing around the puddles. It's a trail race and you're already half covered in mud, might as well enjoy it!
The morning started off well weather-wise. Clear skies and all that. I was sleepy. Very very sleepy. I think I probably was half asleep at the start line. By the time my legs started working, Rich was already off like a shot while I mucked around at the back trying to get into a rhythm.
As Rich describes it, the trail route basically looked like someone took a pen and just scribbled all over a map.
Although it's not completely obvious, the course isn't on a huge area, but somehow it never really felt boring. Well actually there was a lot of scrambling up and down hills as well as overtaking walkers on narrow trails, so there wasn't much time to get bored. And there was never really much of a bottle-neck situation...yes there were bits where I had to slow to a trot but frankly I was just pleased to have an excuse to rest my tired legs.
When we met up after the run, Rich and I agreed that the Salomon X-Trail is one of the more fun races. Hills, mud and lovely trails...what's not to love about it? And a special shout-out to the volunteers at this race who are one of the best race cheerleaders!
Time: 1:20:24 (86th out of 254 women! woohoo!)
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Unlucky 13 and an Eventful Weekend
13 isn't my lucky number it would seem. I've got to 13k on my training schedule but it's been a hard to actually run it. The first time I managed only 10k (and this involved a lot of stopping, wheezing and walking), the second only 4k-5k (?) because my watch/foot-pod bailed on me and I had a bad stomachache (which resulted in more stopping, wheezing and walking) and the third I have no idea how far I ran because (11k-12k maybe?) the same watch/foot-pod was still spoilt despite sending it to get fixed. So no idea if I've done 13k yet but I did feel completely wrecked after my 1hr 41 min run on Friday and there was a lot of walking, hobbling and near-crawling at the end of it. I also felt like throwing up after which I'm not sure was really a great achievement.
Anyway, I just got back from Hong Kong last week and wound up with a massive stomachache for a week. I supposedly had an acidic stomach (whatever that means) so was put on meds for a week, which is my justification for being a bit lazy last week. All I did were the two runs (the 4k-5k and the 11-12k one)!
I felt a bit better over the weekend and went for a 2.5hr trek on Saturday(I always feel a bit stupid using 'trek' in the Singapore context since trails here are hardly challenging!) and then yoga and rock-climbing on Sunday. I was supposed to meet Karrie for a drink somewhere in the weekend but my stomach was still a bit iffy and I didn't want to risk aggravating it.
Incidentally I tried yoga again (see above) and went to a proper yoga studio this time. It was so difficult! And we're talking just the beginner lesson, not even a real yoga class. At first I wanted to laugh because he made us sway to and fro and for some reason seeing everyone do that seemed hilarious to me. But as he made us do squats combined with some complex arms above head moving at your waist thing, I wasn't laughing and was just desperately hoping the class would end. So I sweated it out like a pig and today I ache so bad. But a good ache. They did all the 'close your eyes, cleanse your mind' thing at the end, but that gave me time to just lie down and die a little, so I was cool with it. Bottom line, I'm glad I gave yoga another shot and the yoga at True Fitness is kind of crap.
What I've done (at least what I remember I've done)
3rd Nov: 10k run
Wednesday: Ran 4k-5k
Friday: Ran 11k-12k
Saturday: 2.5hr trek from Rifle Range to Mandai
Sunday: 1hr yoga and 1hr rock-climbing
In Hong Kong-
5th Nov: 4k run and 20 minutes weights
6th Nov: 2hr hike @ Dragon's Back
Anyway, I just got back from Hong Kong last week and wound up with a massive stomachache for a week. I supposedly had an acidic stomach (whatever that means) so was put on meds for a week, which is my justification for being a bit lazy last week. All I did were the two runs (the 4k-5k and the 11-12k one)!
I felt a bit better over the weekend and went for a 2.5hr trek on Saturday(I always feel a bit stupid using 'trek' in the Singapore context since trails here are hardly challenging!) and then yoga and rock-climbing on Sunday. I was supposed to meet Karrie for a drink somewhere in the weekend but my stomach was still a bit iffy and I didn't want to risk aggravating it.
Incidentally I tried yoga again (see above) and went to a proper yoga studio this time. It was so difficult! And we're talking just the beginner lesson, not even a real yoga class. At first I wanted to laugh because he made us sway to and fro and for some reason seeing everyone do that seemed hilarious to me. But as he made us do squats combined with some complex arms above head moving at your waist thing, I wasn't laughing and was just desperately hoping the class would end. So I sweated it out like a pig and today I ache so bad. But a good ache. They did all the 'close your eyes, cleanse your mind' thing at the end, but that gave me time to just lie down and die a little, so I was cool with it. Bottom line, I'm glad I gave yoga another shot and the yoga at True Fitness is kind of crap.
What I've done (at least what I remember I've done)
3rd Nov: 10k run
Wednesday: Ran 4k-5k
Friday: Ran 11k-12k
Saturday: 2.5hr trek from Rifle Range to Mandai
Sunday: 1hr yoga and 1hr rock-climbing
In Hong Kong-
5th Nov: 4k run and 20 minutes weights
6th Nov: 2hr hike @ Dragon's Back
Thursday, October 27, 2011
So Far So Good
Not sick so far and keeping my fingers firmly crossed.
In the meantime I've managed to fit in a walk/trek at Bukit Timah Hill with friends twice and I've done a bunch of runs. Bukit Timah Hill is really challenging. I keep forgetting that somehow and every time I go back it hits me really quickly how much the uphill stair climb is just sheer torture. I do like though that, in my head, it somehow translates to a great ass workout!
Oh on a side note, R and I went to Macritchie to do a trail run (although half of that run was on a boardwalk, so not really trail) yesterday and I have to say, the people at the Nature Reserve just seem a lot friendlier than the Macritchie crowd. I mean it's nice when people say a cheery 'good morning' every now and then. I think I said 'Good Morning!' to only one person yesterday...or rather I greeted a few people but got ignored. People need to be nicer in our world!
What I've done since my last update a gazillion years ago:
14th Oct: Ran 5k in 35:09 mins
15th Oct: 1hr walk with B at Bkt Timah Hill
16th Oct: 600m swim
17th Oct: 1hr personal training
20th Oct: Ran 8k in 58:16 mins
22nd Oct: Cross-trainer 10 mins and some number of crunches
23rd Oct: 2hr walk with D at Kampong Trail/Bkt Timah Hill
24th Oct: Ran 5k in 34:24 mins
26th Oct: Ran 4k at Macritchie in 29:29 mins
In the meantime I've managed to fit in a walk/trek at Bukit Timah Hill with friends twice and I've done a bunch of runs. Bukit Timah Hill is really challenging. I keep forgetting that somehow and every time I go back it hits me really quickly how much the uphill stair climb is just sheer torture. I do like though that, in my head, it somehow translates to a great ass workout!
Oh on a side note, R and I went to Macritchie to do a trail run (although half of that run was on a boardwalk, so not really trail) yesterday and I have to say, the people at the Nature Reserve just seem a lot friendlier than the Macritchie crowd. I mean it's nice when people say a cheery 'good morning' every now and then. I think I said 'Good Morning!' to only one person yesterday...or rather I greeted a few people but got ignored. People need to be nicer in our world!
What I've done since my last update a gazillion years ago:
14th Oct: Ran 5k in 35:09 mins
15th Oct: 1hr walk with B at Bkt Timah Hill
16th Oct: 600m swim
17th Oct: 1hr personal training
20th Oct: Ran 8k in 58:16 mins
22nd Oct: Cross-trainer 10 mins and some number of crunches
23rd Oct: 2hr walk with D at Kampong Trail/Bkt Timah Hill
24th Oct: Ran 5k in 34:24 mins
26th Oct: Ran 4k at Macritchie in 29:29 mins
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tonight I Run
It's been a real pain. Every time I get back on the training schedule, I fall ill. I don't even know how many times I've been ill this year. Sucks. Basically I've been sick the last week. I got back from Samui/Phangan with a flu then pretty much ended any hope I had of doing the Nike Run. So while R and G had a guilt-free champagne brunch buffet after to celebrate, I just stuffed my face in celebration of well...being ill. And I just felt a bit left out when everyone was talking about how the race went.
Yesterday I went back for Personal Training and did some weights. I'm still a bit coughy, but going to head for a 5k run tonight and get an early night. Hopefully this doesn't mean I get ill tomorrow because I would really like to get to where I can run 10k at one go and not get sick the next day!
What I've done:
1hr personal training
Yesterday I went back for Personal Training and did some weights. I'm still a bit coughy, but going to head for a 5k run tonight and get an early night. Hopefully this doesn't mean I get ill tomorrow because I would really like to get to where I can run 10k at one go and not get sick the next day!
What I've done:
1hr personal training
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
One Weekend, Two Runs
And I even squeezed in a swim in between. Okay, the runs were pretty lame distances, but well....baby steps.
I did a miserable 4k run on Saturday before my power boat practical class and I started way too late on in the day. Despite the fact that 9.30am to me is pretty damn early, it is just too darn hot to run any distance. I was supposed to do 6k and at 3k I pretty much slowed down to a trot and called it a day after taking the short cut home. Then I did a few crunches to make myself feel better about life and my fitness level. It is actually rather sad that I constantly feel this need to justify my laziness to myself.
I spend Sunday eating way too much and lazing all afternoon. I did get some reading done ('One Hundred Years of Solitude' has to be one of the most confusing books I've ever read - every next person is called Aureliano or Jose Arcadio!) at Starbucks and was going to nap at home when I finally decided to just get my act together and just do a swim or a run or anything. I ended up putting in 360m in the pool and another 2.5k on the road. It was a lot less miserable. Which brings me to the conclusion that I can't do sport in the morning. I will still struggle to try and wake up early enough, but frankly it ain't happening for me!
What I did
Saturday: 4k run in 30:04 mins
Sunday:
360m swim
2.5k run in 16:31 mins
I did a miserable 4k run on Saturday before my power boat practical class and I started way too late on in the day. Despite the fact that 9.30am to me is pretty damn early, it is just too darn hot to run any distance. I was supposed to do 6k and at 3k I pretty much slowed down to a trot and called it a day after taking the short cut home. Then I did a few crunches to make myself feel better about life and my fitness level. It is actually rather sad that I constantly feel this need to justify my laziness to myself.
I spend Sunday eating way too much and lazing all afternoon. I did get some reading done ('One Hundred Years of Solitude' has to be one of the most confusing books I've ever read - every next person is called Aureliano or Jose Arcadio!) at Starbucks and was going to nap at home when I finally decided to just get my act together and just do a swim or a run or anything. I ended up putting in 360m in the pool and another 2.5k on the road. It was a lot less miserable. Which brings me to the conclusion that I can't do sport in the morning. I will still struggle to try and wake up early enough, but frankly it ain't happening for me!
What I did
Saturday: 4k run in 30:04 mins
Sunday:
360m swim
2.5k run in 16:31 mins
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Old Bag of Bones
Yesterday was the start of my 12-week training for the half marathon I'm doing at the end of the year.
It did not go well. I was tired, my legs felt wonky and my system was all "what the hell do you think you're doing?!?!" It wasn't very fun. Only thing going for me were some awesome songs that I've not been listening to while on my running hiatus.
Today, my poor right knee is aching and my thighs are shot. My ankle hurts too. Everything starts falling apart in your 30s and I can finally acknowledge I'm no spring chicken!
What I did:
Ran 5km in 35:44mins
It did not go well. I was tired, my legs felt wonky and my system was all "what the hell do you think you're doing?!?!" It wasn't very fun. Only thing going for me were some awesome songs that I've not been listening to while on my running hiatus.
Today, my poor right knee is aching and my thighs are shot. My ankle hurts too. Everything starts falling apart in your 30s and I can finally acknowledge I'm no spring chicken!
What I did:
Ran 5km in 35:44mins
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Mega Tri Race Report
Well, technically it's just a race report on the swim leg since I did this as a relay with two other speedy girls. (Go Team Short Fart!)
I thought it was a good race - well organised and all. But really I was in it for all of half an hour and I was pretty much limited to the sea where I couldn't really have a conversation with any volunteer or race organiser, so what do I know!
I did like that it was at Changi Beach and not East Coast Park. I actually am getting tired of everything being at East Coast Park. I get that we're a small country, but it's so darn boring having every other race - triathlon or running - start there.
Anyway, I digress. I had packed all my stuff the night before, so when I woke up at 5.30am, I could hit the snooze button on the alarm and be in half-slumber for a while. I was out the door by 6.15am with my bike strapped onto the car. I figured parking was going to be a pain, so I had the bright plan of parking a ways down and cycling to the race start. Of course once I got there, I had to beg the guys at the bag drop to treat my bike as a bag and let me store it with them. And to their credit, they actually allowed me to do that!
It was one of those drizzly mornings, which meant the sea was getting choppier. As I was there a good hour before my wave, I had to kill a lot of time by wandering around the area. Had my banana, drank some water and then warmed up with 20 minutes to go.
The swim itself went pretty well. My swim coach (Coach Alain) told me to flank the swimmers instead of ending up right smack in the middle and getting a foot in my face, so I did. I think if I hadn't been sick and started training a lot earlier I would have felt better about the race, but as it turns out, it wasn't altogether a bad race. I was comfortable mostly, although panicked a bit half way (I only panicked because I couldn't see anyone in front of me for miles so I thought I was dead dead last). I want to work on the gliding technique Coach Alain taught me because I found that that helped sometimes. And obviously his 'four strokes between breaths' advice flew out the window pretty much 30 seconds into the swim. I kind of expected that.
When I finished off, I had to trudge through the shallow end of the beach and some guy overtook me (I maintain I swam faster still) and clocked in a split second better than me...dammit. I overtook him when he went he was strolling to the relay area with his cup of water (how weak!) and ran past him towards speedy Nat who was doing the bike leg to pass her the timing chip. Then, and only then, did I get my drink. I was pretty pooped by then, so I flaked out on the rest of my team by hopping on my bike, cycling back to the car and then driving home to sleep.
Results: 1km in 23:23mins
Turns out I actually did better than expected. I'd been steadily getting about 29-30 mins or so for my swims at the pool so I would have been satisfied finishing in 25 minutes. I'm not complaining about my time, but dang there are some fishes out there. The fastest swimmer in the relay category did 1k in 17:07 mins! That's insane!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Back in the Pool
Here's what's happened since my last post:
1. I did a walk with a friend, B. Same route Rich and I took the last time, but it was nice introducing it to someone else.
2. Went to Hua Hin for the Jazz Festival and it was pretty good fun. Not as many international acts as I had expected, but my favourite bit of the Festival was this awesome ‘face-off’ improv bit between the bassist and the drummer. Very good. Also somehow for a free concert, I thought it was better run than many of Singapore’s outdoor concerts. A lot less contrived somehow. But mainly Hua Hin is my new favourite place and I got to meet up with my good friend, T, in Bangkok as well!
3. Singapore has a new President (not so new now, since this is 5 days after the event)!
4. I went to Universal Studios in Singapore finally! I think the one in LA is better, but this is much, much better than Hong Kong Disney! And I might have rediscovered my love for roller-coasters. Well, maybe not ‘love’, but somewhere in that region. I stuffed my face with all sorts of junk food, which really what going to an amusement park is all about. Not too smart before you take a roller-coaster that constantly spins you around though!
5. I finally got into the pool again. I swam 600m on Tuesday and 1k 20m (sorry 30m pool so distances are weird). I ache now. Swim training tonight. I’ll probably ache more tomorrow. See what happens when you leave everything to the last minute?
1. I did a walk with a friend, B. Same route Rich and I took the last time, but it was nice introducing it to someone else.
2. Went to Hua Hin for the Jazz Festival and it was pretty good fun. Not as many international acts as I had expected, but my favourite bit of the Festival was this awesome ‘face-off’ improv bit between the bassist and the drummer. Very good. Also somehow for a free concert, I thought it was better run than many of Singapore’s outdoor concerts. A lot less contrived somehow. But mainly Hua Hin is my new favourite place and I got to meet up with my good friend, T, in Bangkok as well!
3. Singapore has a new President (not so new now, since this is 5 days after the event)!
4. I went to Universal Studios in Singapore finally! I think the one in LA is better, but this is much, much better than Hong Kong Disney! And I might have rediscovered my love for roller-coasters. Well, maybe not ‘love’, but somewhere in that region. I stuffed my face with all sorts of junk food, which really what going to an amusement park is all about. Not too smart before you take a roller-coaster that constantly spins you around though!
5. I finally got into the pool again. I swam 600m on Tuesday and 1k 20m (sorry 30m pool so distances are weird). I ache now. Swim training tonight. I’ll probably ache more tomorrow. See what happens when you leave everything to the last minute?
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sick! Again!
Good grief, this is the most times I've been sick in a year. Yet another half-arsed flu.
Oh and yeah, so much for 21 days of habit building. I guess you pretty much guessed when I stopped updating!
Oh and yeah, so much for 21 days of habit building. I guess you pretty much guessed when I stopped updating!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Day #7: Gym time at the Venetian Gym
No not the city, the hotel... Did 3K in the gym, cut down from 5K because I got so darn bored. I tried distracting myself, but somehow that didn't quit pan out, so 3K was all I managed, did about 60 crunches, 20 sit-ups and a bunch of other random stuff. I wish there was a system to how I work out at the gym and in my head, there kind of is, but somehow, put down on paper it always looks so darn haphazard!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Day #6: Swim
No idea how far I swam, but I do know now that swimming in a heated pool in an even hotter Macau is just not a whole lot of fun. Plus whilst swimming I could make out strands of hair in the pool. Can you say gross loudly enough??? So I guess the pools in a casino-hotel aren't made for swim training....I got tired of meandering around families or children and couples making out in the pool, so basically called it a day after less than 20 minutes. Real yucky swim....blech
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Day #5: 20 minutes at the gym
10 minutes on the gym bike and well 10 minutes messing about with some half hearted crunches.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Day #4: Run 4k
This actually started off pretty well. I was running with a lilt in my step and going at a pretty decent pace thinking to myself 'now why did I ever think running was all that hard?' Now obviously that barely lasted till 2k before it finally dawned on my thick skull that I was going a tad too fast and I probably couldn't sustain the pace. So I dropped the pace...and then I dropped it some more....but by then I pretty much had a stitch that wasn't going to go away. All in a planned 5k run became a 4k run which I wound up struggling through.
What I did yesterday:
Ran 4k in 27:58 mins
Off to Hong Kong!!!
What I did yesterday:
Ran 4k in 27:58 mins
Off to Hong Kong!!!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Day #3: 5 Crunches
Yes you read right. I did a grand total of 5 crunches yesterday. I was really tired and was pretty happy to hop into the shower and go to bed. But in the whole doing something by way of sport for 21 days thing, there you go. 5 crunches!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Day #2: Personal Training - TRX
Who knew TRX could be so tiring?
I need to start getting my gym bag sorted before I wake up in the morning because I inevitably forget something when I pack and dash. Yesterday I forgot my sports bra. Which pretty much meant I had to do personal training in my regular one and then beg the instructor not to have a sweaty session because I'd have nothing to change into! It's amazing how much I ache today despite the non-sweatiness of my workout!
Meanwhile today (Day #3 of my 21 days of doing something) is going to be a bit of a struggle since I'm feeling super sleepy. I'll probably have to fit in some time on the elliptical or do a short swim after my trip to the manicurist!
What I did yesterday:
1hr personal training
I need to start getting my gym bag sorted before I wake up in the morning because I inevitably forget something when I pack and dash. Yesterday I forgot my sports bra. Which pretty much meant I had to do personal training in my regular one and then beg the instructor not to have a sweaty session because I'd have nothing to change into! It's amazing how much I ache today despite the non-sweatiness of my workout!
Meanwhile today (Day #3 of my 21 days of doing something) is going to be a bit of a struggle since I'm feeling super sleepy. I'll probably have to fit in some time on the elliptical or do a short swim after my trip to the manicurist!
What I did yesterday:
1hr personal training
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day #1: 600m Swim
I've decided to take inspiration from Jess and her 21 Day Habit and try to get back into the groove of things by just training (read: struggling through some activity) for 21 days (it takes 21 days to form a habit and all). I'm in a slump right now and really need a big kick in the back side.
So to start off, I did 600m in the pool last night. I planned it such that I'd be at the pool at a time when the annoying little brats were back home having dinner, but evidently I'm not that great a planner. A huge group of kids decided to play ball in the middle of the pool. You'd think their parents would tell them to be nice to the swimmer who's meandering around them and stick to one corner instead of using the entire pool, but no such luck. The parents joined in (of course they would!). After getting kicked in the head once and having a kid swim over me, I was resigned to the fact that they were likely to be there throughout my swim and convinced myself that at least I was having some real race simulation kicks and all! Can't beat that!
Nat, Small Addie and I are taking part as a team in the Mega Tri (or most crazy expensive race in the world - 400 SGD!!!) in September and it should be fun. I think I have the best deal because I pretty much just have to finish a 1k swim, while Nat has to clock 65k on her bike and Small Addie has a whole 18k to run! Hats off to the girls who have a much harder race than me! It'd be fun taking part in a triathlon as a team and I can hardly wait (also I can't bail out of it). So keep your prayers and best wishes for Team Short Fart - the shortest (literally!) team in the race!
What I've done
Yesterday: 600m @ 16:02 mins
So to start off, I did 600m in the pool last night. I planned it such that I'd be at the pool at a time when the annoying little brats were back home having dinner, but evidently I'm not that great a planner. A huge group of kids decided to play ball in the middle of the pool. You'd think their parents would tell them to be nice to the swimmer who's meandering around them and stick to one corner instead of using the entire pool, but no such luck. The parents joined in (of course they would!). After getting kicked in the head once and having a kid swim over me, I was resigned to the fact that they were likely to be there throughout my swim and convinced myself that at least I was having some real race simulation kicks and all! Can't beat that!
Nat, Small Addie and I are taking part as a team in the Mega Tri (or most crazy expensive race in the world - 400 SGD!!!) in September and it should be fun. I think I have the best deal because I pretty much just have to finish a 1k swim, while Nat has to clock 65k on her bike and Small Addie has a whole 18k to run! Hats off to the girls who have a much harder race than me! It'd be fun taking part in a triathlon as a team and I can hardly wait (also I can't bail out of it). So keep your prayers and best wishes for Team Short Fart - the shortest (literally!) team in the race!
What I've done
Yesterday: 600m @ 16:02 mins
Monday, August 1, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Countdown to the OSIM Mini Tri
Yeah, fat load of training I'm doing coming up to it. I was supposed to have a whole bunch of races this month, but somehow between sore throats and stomach flues, I've succeeded in missing all of them.
I've also succeeded in not training, which meant as of last weekend a part of me started freaking out a little. Not enough it seems, because although I made a bunch of big plans for Saturday, I ended up lazing around instead. So Sunday was when the big catch-up training session started and I managed a swim-bike brick. I was supposed to head to East Coast early in the morning to do a proper bike ride, but ended up sleeping in and then popping my bike on the spinner.
Personal training on Monday and guess who forgot to bring her shoes? Ended up having a kick-boxing session instead, which was pretty fun. I did realise that I'm having a bit of a dodgy left ankle when I kicked the bag with my left foot and got hit by a shot of pain. Need to go get that sorted soon.
Swim training yesterday and it was so so so tiring. Also it was weird, there were only 4 people who showed up and I was the only girl. Great to have a whole lane to myself so when I did the backstroke drills I could swim all crooked and not worry about hitting someone in the face!
Despite all this, I really need to get my training mojo back!
What I've done:
Sunday: 300m swim / 30 min spin
Monday: 1 hr kick-boxing
Tuesday: 1 hr swim training (Total distance covered: 2KM)
I've also succeeded in not training, which meant as of last weekend a part of me started freaking out a little. Not enough it seems, because although I made a bunch of big plans for Saturday, I ended up lazing around instead. So Sunday was when the big catch-up training session started and I managed a swim-bike brick. I was supposed to head to East Coast early in the morning to do a proper bike ride, but ended up sleeping in and then popping my bike on the spinner.
Personal training on Monday and guess who forgot to bring her shoes? Ended up having a kick-boxing session instead, which was pretty fun. I did realise that I'm having a bit of a dodgy left ankle when I kicked the bag with my left foot and got hit by a shot of pain. Need to go get that sorted soon.
Swim training yesterday and it was so so so tiring. Also it was weird, there were only 4 people who showed up and I was the only girl. Great to have a whole lane to myself so when I did the backstroke drills I could swim all crooked and not worry about hitting someone in the face!
Despite all this, I really need to get my training mojo back!
What I've done:
Sunday: 300m swim / 30 min spin
Monday: 1 hr kick-boxing
Tuesday: 1 hr swim training (Total distance covered: 2KM)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A Whole Bunch of Walks
I haven't done much since the last post except walk a whole bunch.
I finally got to do the 7K Choo Choo trek with the local Y (and the company of Gracie, Ris and Adrian) and it was muddy. Fun, but muddy. I don't think they planned for 60 over people to rock up for the walk, but yup, that many people did and despite that the walk went pretty smoothly. So I'm glad I finally did this, although I don't think my helper was quite so pleased when I wandered home with muddy shoes! I did offer to clean them on my own, but I think she was worried I'd make a bigger mess of things!
I've also wanted to check out the trail from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to Mandai for ages and so I harassed R to join me for that walk on my birthday. (You can get away with anything on your birthday!) We forgot to make a turn somewhere in the middle of the route and ended up stuck on the wrong side of two highways. After wandering around in the desperate hope that we could somehow find a way to cross the highways (which didn't involve jumping into a taxi), we decided to call it a day. We continued on that walk (from the turning we should have taken) at Dairy Farm two days later and headed all the way to Mandai zoo.
In hindsight it was good that we had split the walk in two because the total distance covered was about 21K and I know at the end of either 'trek' I was pretty exhausted and over all the walking. The trails were pretty interesting and even though there was a bit where you're actually just walking parallel to the highway, you still kind of felt you were on a trail. Will post pictures soon!
Last week, Gina, Rachel and I finally got down to doing a walk from the North of Singpaore to the South of Singapore. I plotted this out on mapmyrun (and then I realised I could have just gone to googlemaps and got them to map that route out! Doh!) and sent it to Gina and Rach, who obviously trusted me so much they didn't look at the map. They were not too pleased when they realised we had to cut through the centre of town, sweaty and totally unglamorous! Whoops. The North to South walk started at Senoko Industrial Park (it cost all of us a bunch of money in cab fares to get there!) and ended off at Sentosa's Pallawan Beach where there was a little island connected to the beach with a sign on it saying 'The Southernmost Point of Continental Asia', that was good enough for us. Gina and I then met W at Vivo City (yes, I FINALLY stepped into Vivo City) for dinner and drinks. All in we completed 35K and my feet were sore. Strangely all of us ached in different places the next day - strange because when we did 40 over KM the last time we walked, we were fine and dandy the day after!
So in the last two weeks I've walked a marathon and more! Woohoo! Of course this pretty much means I've been neglecting everything to do with training. Not been running much, swimming much and I don't think I've been on my bike since Bintan. Ooopsies.
That being said, Gina and I did meet for a short 6K run yesterday and minus the crazy bag lady who spat on Gina, I enjoyed the run a lot. When I run by myself I tend to get bored and the only thing pushing me on really is my music, but the KMs just dropped away easily when running with Gina and although we weren't going very fast or very far, I count last night's run as a big fat success! I guess it's the good company!
What I've done since ages ago that I remember:
4th June:
Choo Choo Trek 7K
10th June:
1st part of Bkt Timah - Mandai trek (Bkt Timah Nature Reserve - Woodlands Road) 10k
Bukit Timah - Mandai (Almost) by rich.ayres at Garmin Connect - Details
12th June:
2nd part of Bkt Timah - Mandai trek (Dairy Farm - Mandai Zoo) 10.96K
Dairy Farm to Mandai by rich.ayres at Garmin Connect - Details
1.5hr Rockclimbing
14th June:
300m swim
18th June:
North-South of Singapore walk 35k
21st June:
600m swim
22nd June:
6.6K run
I finally got to do the 7K Choo Choo trek with the local Y (and the company of Gracie, Ris and Adrian) and it was muddy. Fun, but muddy. I don't think they planned for 60 over people to rock up for the walk, but yup, that many people did and despite that the walk went pretty smoothly. So I'm glad I finally did this, although I don't think my helper was quite so pleased when I wandered home with muddy shoes! I did offer to clean them on my own, but I think she was worried I'd make a bigger mess of things!
I've also wanted to check out the trail from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to Mandai for ages and so I harassed R to join me for that walk on my birthday. (You can get away with anything on your birthday!) We forgot to make a turn somewhere in the middle of the route and ended up stuck on the wrong side of two highways. After wandering around in the desperate hope that we could somehow find a way to cross the highways (which didn't involve jumping into a taxi), we decided to call it a day. We continued on that walk (from the turning we should have taken) at Dairy Farm two days later and headed all the way to Mandai zoo.
In hindsight it was good that we had split the walk in two because the total distance covered was about 21K and I know at the end of either 'trek' I was pretty exhausted and over all the walking. The trails were pretty interesting and even though there was a bit where you're actually just walking parallel to the highway, you still kind of felt you were on a trail. Will post pictures soon!
Last week, Gina, Rachel and I finally got down to doing a walk from the North of Singpaore to the South of Singapore. I plotted this out on mapmyrun (and then I realised I could have just gone to googlemaps and got them to map that route out! Doh!) and sent it to Gina and Rach, who obviously trusted me so much they didn't look at the map. They were not too pleased when they realised we had to cut through the centre of town, sweaty and totally unglamorous! Whoops. The North to South walk started at Senoko Industrial Park (it cost all of us a bunch of money in cab fares to get there!) and ended off at Sentosa's Pallawan Beach where there was a little island connected to the beach with a sign on it saying 'The Southernmost Point of Continental Asia', that was good enough for us. Gina and I then met W at Vivo City (yes, I FINALLY stepped into Vivo City) for dinner and drinks. All in we completed 35K and my feet were sore. Strangely all of us ached in different places the next day - strange because when we did 40 over KM the last time we walked, we were fine and dandy the day after!
So in the last two weeks I've walked a marathon and more! Woohoo! Of course this pretty much means I've been neglecting everything to do with training. Not been running much, swimming much and I don't think I've been on my bike since Bintan. Ooopsies.
That being said, Gina and I did meet for a short 6K run yesterday and minus the crazy bag lady who spat on Gina, I enjoyed the run a lot. When I run by myself I tend to get bored and the only thing pushing me on really is my music, but the KMs just dropped away easily when running with Gina and although we weren't going very fast or very far, I count last night's run as a big fat success! I guess it's the good company!
What I've done since ages ago that I remember:
4th June:
Choo Choo Trek 7K
10th June:
1st part of Bkt Timah - Mandai trek (Bkt Timah Nature Reserve - Woodlands Road) 10k
Bukit Timah - Mandai (Almost) by rich.ayres at Garmin Connect - Details
12th June:
2nd part of Bkt Timah - Mandai trek (Dairy Farm - Mandai Zoo) 10.96K
Dairy Farm to Mandai by rich.ayres at Garmin Connect - Details
1.5hr Rockclimbing
14th June:
300m swim
18th June:
North-South of Singapore walk 35k
21st June:
600m swim
22nd June:
6.6K run
Thursday, June 2, 2011
I've Grown Up!
Sorta. I decided not to go for swim training on Tuesday. I had been for personal training on Monday and my shoulders and arms and abs and thighs were just aching. Okay, I could have been just plain lazy as well, but I'm going with sensible. I know I really really wanted to go for the swim, but I figured better to miss a session than to wind up sick...again!
So didn't swim on Tuesday, but I did do a 5k run on Wednesday. Pretty speedy 5k (again, my standard of 'speedy') run too, might I add! Going for swim training tonight because a friend bailed on dinner. Hopefully that'll help me sleep well tonight! I've been having such weird sleep patterns lately. Either I'll wake up at 3am for no rhyme or reason or I'll have very odd dreams and not end up sleeping very well. Fingers crossed for tonight's sleep!
What I did:
Monday - 1hr personal training
Wednesday - 5k run in 32mins 58secs
So didn't swim on Tuesday, but I did do a 5k run on Wednesday. Pretty speedy 5k (again, my standard of 'speedy') run too, might I add! Going for swim training tonight because a friend bailed on dinner. Hopefully that'll help me sleep well tonight! I've been having such weird sleep patterns lately. Either I'll wake up at 3am for no rhyme or reason or I'll have very odd dreams and not end up sleeping very well. Fingers crossed for tonight's sleep!
What I did:
Monday - 1hr personal training
Wednesday - 5k run in 32mins 58secs
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
A Bunch of Weird-Ass Race Photos
Race Report in pictures
Pre-race fiddling
Why? Why do I make faces when I get out of the water?
Lumbering back to the transition point. No hurry, no rush...you can tell I'm totally out to break a record for how much I can take it easy at a race.
My stretch of shame where I got off my bike and pushed it up the hill.
This is near the start of the race and the chick on the right overtakes me not long after this photo. As does everyone behind me in that photo.
I run weird. Although I also look like I float on air, which is pretty cool if it were true.
An actual proper picture of me - As I ran in the emcee shouted "smile" and instinctively I smiled. So I actually look like this run was a total breeze. Don't be fooled.
I also stop running funny, almost like I'm doing a jig...
So here's a picture of me opening my mouth post-race. No idea why the photographers thought they should upload a whole bunch of weird photos of me. But then I went and paid money to download them. What does that say about me?
Pre-race fiddling
Why? Why do I make faces when I get out of the water?
Lumbering back to the transition point. No hurry, no rush...you can tell I'm totally out to break a record for how much I can take it easy at a race.
My stretch of shame where I got off my bike and pushed it up the hill.
This is near the start of the race and the chick on the right overtakes me not long after this photo. As does everyone behind me in that photo.
I run weird. Although I also look like I float on air, which is pretty cool if it were true.
An actual proper picture of me - As I ran in the emcee shouted "smile" and instinctively I smiled. So I actually look like this run was a total breeze. Don't be fooled.
I also stop running funny, almost like I'm doing a jig...
So here's a picture of me opening my mouth post-race. No idea why the photographers thought they should upload a whole bunch of weird photos of me. But then I went and paid money to download them. What does that say about me?
Monday, May 30, 2011
Post-Bintan and a Pub Quiz
As always, my post-race rest lasts waaaaay too long. I did nothing (except for winning a bottle of wine at a pub quiz! More on that later) all the way till Saturday when I finally decided that it was high time I got my flabbier-by-the-day ass (isn't that a real pretty picture?) doing something.
I got up at 8.45am on Saturday and made it late for swim training. Frankly the session was probably my worst session ever. I was groggy, the water was cold and my brain was hardly functioning. And to make things a whole lot worse, as I was doing my laps, the smell of fresh waffles with maple syrup floated down over the pool from the club cafe and just hovered over it. I consequently got hungrier and more grumpy.
I went back to the club again in the evening to play a game of tennis with my childhood friend, HQ and we're not great, but I feel we're improving. I mean we started off barely able to have a rally and now we can have a half decent one. Of course we had to get the court next to four tennis whizzes having a super competitive doubles match. They made us look real bad.
I was supposed to go for a bike clinic on Sunday, but I woke up at 6 and saw that G had dropped me a text saying she was lazy, so I got lazy and headed back to bed. For a change I actually felt guilty enough when I woke up, so I thought I'd head out for a run in the rain. It was nice, I took the hillier route so I was pretty much wiped out after 1.2k (yes, yes, I know it's sad and pathetic) so I continued on with a half arsed walk-run all the way back home. And the good ole stitch was there to take me the rest of that journey home.
Anyway, enough of the sports stuff - Rich, Shaz Mataz, David and I took part in a pub quiz on Wednesday and won us a bottle of wine! Woo hoo! We were completely uncreative and I nicked Steve's (from Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!) team name as ours. Steve and his team mate (the original Team Happy Pants) lately just won a duathlon and he'd put it up on his blog and I just happened to read about that in the afternoon of the pub quiz. So being ever so imaginative, when it came to team names I was like 'Team Happy Pants' - I did give credit to the original team for the name. Next pub quiz we'll think up a real good name! Anyhoooo, we won us a bottle of vino at the Games We Played When We Were Young. Mind you, we did so-so (by we I mean David and I - Sharon and Rich were both really into it and shushing us for giving stupid answers!) for the other more intelligent categories, which goes to show where our forte is. Sad, but true. Next time they'd better have a celebrity category, I think I'd do well there! Still, we came out of the quiz with a bottle of wine, so I don't think anyone's complaining! Except maybe David, since he doesn't drink any wine!
What I've Done:
Saturday
- 1 hr swim training: I didn't finish all the drills because I was lazy
- 1/2 hr tennis and 1/2 hr core workout
Sunday
- 2.5k run with lots of walking in the middle
I got up at 8.45am on Saturday and made it late for swim training. Frankly the session was probably my worst session ever. I was groggy, the water was cold and my brain was hardly functioning. And to make things a whole lot worse, as I was doing my laps, the smell of fresh waffles with maple syrup floated down over the pool from the club cafe and just hovered over it. I consequently got hungrier and more grumpy.
I went back to the club again in the evening to play a game of tennis with my childhood friend, HQ and we're not great, but I feel we're improving. I mean we started off barely able to have a rally and now we can have a half decent one. Of course we had to get the court next to four tennis whizzes having a super competitive doubles match. They made us look real bad.
I was supposed to go for a bike clinic on Sunday, but I woke up at 6 and saw that G had dropped me a text saying she was lazy, so I got lazy and headed back to bed. For a change I actually felt guilty enough when I woke up, so I thought I'd head out for a run in the rain. It was nice, I took the hillier route so I was pretty much wiped out after 1.2k (yes, yes, I know it's sad and pathetic) so I continued on with a half arsed walk-run all the way back home. And the good ole stitch was there to take me the rest of that journey home.
Anyway, enough of the sports stuff - Rich, Shaz Mataz, David and I took part in a pub quiz on Wednesday and won us a bottle of wine! Woo hoo! We were completely uncreative and I nicked Steve's (from Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!) team name as ours. Steve and his team mate (the original Team Happy Pants) lately just won a duathlon and he'd put it up on his blog and I just happened to read about that in the afternoon of the pub quiz. So being ever so imaginative, when it came to team names I was like 'Team Happy Pants' - I did give credit to the original team for the name. Next pub quiz we'll think up a real good name! Anyhoooo, we won us a bottle of vino at the Games We Played When We Were Young. Mind you, we did so-so (by we I mean David and I - Sharon and Rich were both really into it and shushing us for giving stupid answers!) for the other more intelligent categories, which goes to show where our forte is. Sad, but true. Next time they'd better have a celebrity category, I think I'd do well there! Still, we came out of the quiz with a bottle of wine, so I don't think anyone's complaining! Except maybe David, since he doesn't drink any wine!
What I've Done:
Saturday
- 1 hr swim training: I didn't finish all the drills because I was lazy
- 1/2 hr tennis and 1/2 hr core workout
Sunday
- 2.5k run with lots of walking in the middle
Monday, May 23, 2011
Race Report #2: Bintan Triathlon - Sprint Distance
My first Sprint Triathlon! In hindsight it was probably unwise to go to Bintan to do my first ever Sprint, but well, I finished it nonetheless and despite finishing seventh from the bottom in my category, I actually feel really ...what's the word now...fulfilled? Satisfied?
I got to Bintan on Friday and missed my race pack collection. No idea why I thought I would have plenty of time after I got off the ferry, but well...evidently not. The organisers were nice enough to let me collect it first thing in the morning though. A part of me was disappointed. I really really didn't want to race.
So here's the back story. I signed up for the Bintan Triathlon for the heck of it. I knew nothing about it and I thought - well, I've never been to Bintan, might be interesting to do a sprint triathlon there. A couple of weeks after I signed up I bumped into a friend at church who, in his words, said 'Good luck with that. There are loads of hills in Bintan.' Yeah...that I didn't know. Which pretty much explains why despite everything being booked and all my shit being loaded from Singapore (Big thanks to R for helping me lug all my crap from Singapore!), I was still apprehensive (read: completely freaked out) about the triathlon, namely the bike leg.
I got to the race super early because I had to pick up my race kit. It's not really fun being alone and half asleep before a race in some foreign country. I half heartedly did some warm-up in the sea. Aside - Oh what a lovely change it is to swim in waters where you don't have a plastic bag hanging off your foot or a used condom floating in front of you - Yes, welcome to Singapore waters. It started drizzling 15 minutes from the start of the race and I prayed hard a storm would come at that moment. This was the general thought in my mind the whole start - First I hoped they wouldn't give me the race pack, then I hoped they'd call off the race on account of bad weather, then I hoped I'd be stung by a jelly fish or fall off my bike at the start so I wouldn't have to finish the race.
At the race start they asked if all of us girls were ready for the 750m swim. Wait? What? 750 metres? Yup, I assumed it was a 500m swim and was so darn proud of myself for swimming 600m the week before in the pool, 100m extra than I thought I had to swim. Only now at the race start, literally 2 minutes before I was going to jump into the sea, I realised I hadn't actually swum enough. Ah well, the aim for this race was just not to die. I didn't really care how I did, so I figured I'd just start at the back and take it easy.
Of course when the whistle went off I realised what a stupid idea that was. I was right smack in breast stroke territory. And being the lone front crawler, I took a lot of hits...or rather kicks. I got kicked a couple of times in the head and took one solid foot in the chest that really winded me. Finally I pulled away from the pack of breast-strokers and tucked myself behind some chick. Since I wasn't going to go mad at the swim leg, I figured I'd just follow behind someone. This way I didn't have to keep sighting where I was going (and winding up with a neck ache) and instead I could just follow the bubbles in front of me. In all I finished the swim leg comfortably and not all that worn out.
Now the bike leg, that's a whole other ball game. So in all the mini triathlons I've done in Singapore, there have been no hills. In fact most of Singapore is flat. So having to be on my bike and face a huge slope at the beginning of a leg that I was worst at was really daunting. So when I saw a girl in front hop off her bike and push it up the slope, I figured that gave me leeway to do the same. Yes, that was shameful. I decided not to do that for any other slopes and that was when the nightmare started.
Everyone overtook me on the bike leg. Okay I exaggerate, but I know for a fact at least 10 people must have overtaken me. I've always been a bit of a chicken shit, which meant I used to brake a lot going downhill on my bike...well, that all changed in Bintan. As I went downhill I was trying to get enough speed and momentum on the bike to go up the next hill - no brakes there! I just wished I had more gears to get through because halfway through the ride the gears on my chainwheel (haha, impressed that I know that? I just had to google 'what the hell are the gears on the left handlebar called?') stopped working. Still with sheer grit...or more likely the huge huge need and desire for all the torture to be over...I made it to the end (without pushing my bike up any hills...although I did come close to wanting to a few times).
The run leg, or walk leg for me, was pretty uneventful. I couldn't even get off my bike properly, much less run. I stumbled out from the transition area and then began a slow 5k run-walk. The run leg was pretty nice. I ran by a bunch of villas where people were cheering me on, and then there was a nice long stretch of a nature trail. And then back past another bunch of villas and then the home stretch and I was done!
I never felt as if I earned my finisher's medal as much as I did this one. I've always been rather unimpressed with finisher's medals...okay I've finished a race, big deal, we don't have to make a song and dance about it and frankly it feels like a bit of a joke with the whole 'okay so you didn't win, but here wear this medal as a consolation'. But this time around although I came in pretty much at the tail end of a race, had time to have long conversations with myself whilst cycling and running, I also made it to the end...without dying! And the thing about being one of the last few is that people are so nice! All the time I was running, people were yelling 'good work! keep going! keep it up!' and the sap in me really wanted to burst into tears because everyone was being so nice.
In all, I had good fun. Yes the hills were insane biking on and I don't really want to see a damn hill for another month, but people were nice and I actually enjoyed having 'long' (it's all relative) stretches cycling with nary a soul in sight. I realised I was a pretty damn good cheerleader for myself and I learnt that sometimes winning a race isn't everything (okay, I've never won a race, so I don't really have experience in that field). I learnt to hold back and take it easy...yes people kept overtaking me, but this was a race with myself and all my self-doubts rather than anything else.
I'd definitely come back for this. In fact, I've just signed up for next year's race. That's a whole year to ride up and down slopes in preparation!
Results: 2 hr 6 mins
Swim leg (750m): 21 mins 58 sec (27th of 37)
T1: 2mins 22 sec
Bike leg (20k): 1 hr 2 min (32nd)
T2: 53 sec
Run leg (5k): 39 mins 8 sec (34th)
I got to Bintan on Friday and missed my race pack collection. No idea why I thought I would have plenty of time after I got off the ferry, but well...evidently not. The organisers were nice enough to let me collect it first thing in the morning though. A part of me was disappointed. I really really didn't want to race.
So here's the back story. I signed up for the Bintan Triathlon for the heck of it. I knew nothing about it and I thought - well, I've never been to Bintan, might be interesting to do a sprint triathlon there. A couple of weeks after I signed up I bumped into a friend at church who, in his words, said 'Good luck with that. There are loads of hills in Bintan.' Yeah...that I didn't know. Which pretty much explains why despite everything being booked and all my shit being loaded from Singapore (Big thanks to R for helping me lug all my crap from Singapore!), I was still apprehensive (read: completely freaked out) about the triathlon, namely the bike leg.
I got to the race super early because I had to pick up my race kit. It's not really fun being alone and half asleep before a race in some foreign country. I half heartedly did some warm-up in the sea. Aside - Oh what a lovely change it is to swim in waters where you don't have a plastic bag hanging off your foot or a used condom floating in front of you - Yes, welcome to Singapore waters. It started drizzling 15 minutes from the start of the race and I prayed hard a storm would come at that moment. This was the general thought in my mind the whole start - First I hoped they wouldn't give me the race pack, then I hoped they'd call off the race on account of bad weather, then I hoped I'd be stung by a jelly fish or fall off my bike at the start so I wouldn't have to finish the race.
At the race start they asked if all of us girls were ready for the 750m swim. Wait? What? 750 metres? Yup, I assumed it was a 500m swim and was so darn proud of myself for swimming 600m the week before in the pool, 100m extra than I thought I had to swim. Only now at the race start, literally 2 minutes before I was going to jump into the sea, I realised I hadn't actually swum enough. Ah well, the aim for this race was just not to die. I didn't really care how I did, so I figured I'd just start at the back and take it easy.
Of course when the whistle went off I realised what a stupid idea that was. I was right smack in breast stroke territory. And being the lone front crawler, I took a lot of hits...or rather kicks. I got kicked a couple of times in the head and took one solid foot in the chest that really winded me. Finally I pulled away from the pack of breast-strokers and tucked myself behind some chick. Since I wasn't going to go mad at the swim leg, I figured I'd just follow behind someone. This way I didn't have to keep sighting where I was going (and winding up with a neck ache) and instead I could just follow the bubbles in front of me. In all I finished the swim leg comfortably and not all that worn out.
Now the bike leg, that's a whole other ball game. So in all the mini triathlons I've done in Singapore, there have been no hills. In fact most of Singapore is flat. So having to be on my bike and face a huge slope at the beginning of a leg that I was worst at was really daunting. So when I saw a girl in front hop off her bike and push it up the slope, I figured that gave me leeway to do the same. Yes, that was shameful. I decided not to do that for any other slopes and that was when the nightmare started.
Everyone overtook me on the bike leg. Okay I exaggerate, but I know for a fact at least 10 people must have overtaken me. I've always been a bit of a chicken shit, which meant I used to brake a lot going downhill on my bike...well, that all changed in Bintan. As I went downhill I was trying to get enough speed and momentum on the bike to go up the next hill - no brakes there! I just wished I had more gears to get through because halfway through the ride the gears on my chainwheel (haha, impressed that I know that? I just had to google 'what the hell are the gears on the left handlebar called?') stopped working. Still with sheer grit...or more likely the huge huge need and desire for all the torture to be over...I made it to the end (without pushing my bike up any hills...although I did come close to wanting to a few times).
The run leg, or walk leg for me, was pretty uneventful. I couldn't even get off my bike properly, much less run. I stumbled out from the transition area and then began a slow 5k run-walk. The run leg was pretty nice. I ran by a bunch of villas where people were cheering me on, and then there was a nice long stretch of a nature trail. And then back past another bunch of villas and then the home stretch and I was done!
I never felt as if I earned my finisher's medal as much as I did this one. I've always been rather unimpressed with finisher's medals...okay I've finished a race, big deal, we don't have to make a song and dance about it and frankly it feels like a bit of a joke with the whole 'okay so you didn't win, but here wear this medal as a consolation'. But this time around although I came in pretty much at the tail end of a race, had time to have long conversations with myself whilst cycling and running, I also made it to the end...without dying! And the thing about being one of the last few is that people are so nice! All the time I was running, people were yelling 'good work! keep going! keep it up!' and the sap in me really wanted to burst into tears because everyone was being so nice.
In all, I had good fun. Yes the hills were insane biking on and I don't really want to see a damn hill for another month, but people were nice and I actually enjoyed having 'long' (it's all relative) stretches cycling with nary a soul in sight. I realised I was a pretty damn good cheerleader for myself and I learnt that sometimes winning a race isn't everything (okay, I've never won a race, so I don't really have experience in that field). I learnt to hold back and take it easy...yes people kept overtaking me, but this was a race with myself and all my self-doubts rather than anything else.
I'd definitely come back for this. In fact, I've just signed up for next year's race. That's a whole year to ride up and down slopes in preparation!
Results: 2 hr 6 mins
Swim leg (750m): 21 mins 58 sec (27th of 37)
T1: 2mins 22 sec
Bike leg (20k): 1 hr 2 min (32nd)
T2: 53 sec
Run leg (5k): 39 mins 8 sec (34th)
Race Report #1: Tri-Factor Swim 500m Race Report
After being sick and then well and then sick again, I barely had time to do any training to defend my sad little 2nd place from last year, so needless to say I didn't get 2nd again this year! But before I go on on my rant, here's the race report:
The day started off pretty well. G and I managed to wake up early and got to Sentosa an hour before the race started, which is pretty rare for us. G had a wedding dinner the night before as well, so good on her for making it down with so little sleep! Warming up wasn't a whole bunch of fun because after about 5 minutes of mucking around in the sea, G and I came out covered with sea bug bites and it hurt to swim. Imagine swimming and feeling like you're getting a million little buggers stinging you all over. Not fun.
After taking part in a couple of these mini triathlons and races and seeing some of the same faces again, there comes a point where you realise you've actually made a couple of friends and that's really rather nice. It's like joining a support group of sorts for people who're not super competitive athletes, but just normal people who want to push themselves a bit more and a bit further (and sometimes being a bit lazy with training). You can't really talk to a lot of people about this without someone coming up and telling you you're nuts, but with this little new group of friends, we all kind of 'get' each other. And it's always fun yakking up a storm before race start! G and I also made new friends with two new girls who just got into the whole triathlon thing so they were doing their first sea swim race ever. Welcome to the club Andrea and Rachel!
The swim race itself went pretty well, considering the lack of laps I put in the pool. I did have to stop for a breather about 3 times over - I figured I didn't need to kill myself after just recovering from the nasty flu - and at one point I came out of the water, hit the ropes and knocked my goggles askew (which is the kind of idiotic thing I do). I was glad that G and I, in a last bid attempt to make up for not training at all, had gone down to Sentosa the week before and did a full length of the beach, it definitely helped psychologically at the race.
On an aside, it was supposedly jellyfish season and a bunch of people got stung. Not me, thank goodness. Although I did swim over one and I instinctively kicked harder and faster away from the dang thing.
It was all in a rather uneventful race. This year they decided to end the race with a strange 100m dash to the finish line. Because our wave was one of the last we knew we had to stop off at a distance and run towards the line, but I think a couple of the earlier guys swam straight to the end point and got waved back to where they were supposed to swim to before the short run. The run bit was a bit odd and I say that only because I hate running on the beach. There is this constant paranoia that I will end up tripping over something and face planting.
So I didn't get to defend my 2nd place. I also swam a whole minute slower. That said, even if I swam a whole minute faster I wouldn't have been anywhere close to the 2nd position. There were a whole bunch of speedy swimmers this year and instead of having 5 sad little people in my category, there were 17 this year. Talk about competition!
Still, G and I finished it with what little training we had done, so we felt pretty damn good (and not at all guilty) about treating ourselves to an awesome champagne brunch buffet at the Ritz where I stuffed my face with oysters and mojitos...ahhhhh the life.
Race Results: 13mins 26 sec (5th this year...ah, what a difference a year makes)
What I did before:
The Saturday before(8th May): 20 minutes at Sentosa with G
Thursday: 1 hr Swim Training
I think I did other stuff, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were
The day started off pretty well. G and I managed to wake up early and got to Sentosa an hour before the race started, which is pretty rare for us. G had a wedding dinner the night before as well, so good on her for making it down with so little sleep! Warming up wasn't a whole bunch of fun because after about 5 minutes of mucking around in the sea, G and I came out covered with sea bug bites and it hurt to swim. Imagine swimming and feeling like you're getting a million little buggers stinging you all over. Not fun.
After taking part in a couple of these mini triathlons and races and seeing some of the same faces again, there comes a point where you realise you've actually made a couple of friends and that's really rather nice. It's like joining a support group of sorts for people who're not super competitive athletes, but just normal people who want to push themselves a bit more and a bit further (and sometimes being a bit lazy with training). You can't really talk to a lot of people about this without someone coming up and telling you you're nuts, but with this little new group of friends, we all kind of 'get' each other. And it's always fun yakking up a storm before race start! G and I also made new friends with two new girls who just got into the whole triathlon thing so they were doing their first sea swim race ever. Welcome to the club Andrea and Rachel!
The swim race itself went pretty well, considering the lack of laps I put in the pool. I did have to stop for a breather about 3 times over - I figured I didn't need to kill myself after just recovering from the nasty flu - and at one point I came out of the water, hit the ropes and knocked my goggles askew (which is the kind of idiotic thing I do). I was glad that G and I, in a last bid attempt to make up for not training at all, had gone down to Sentosa the week before and did a full length of the beach, it definitely helped psychologically at the race.
On an aside, it was supposedly jellyfish season and a bunch of people got stung. Not me, thank goodness. Although I did swim over one and I instinctively kicked harder and faster away from the dang thing.
It was all in a rather uneventful race. This year they decided to end the race with a strange 100m dash to the finish line. Because our wave was one of the last we knew we had to stop off at a distance and run towards the line, but I think a couple of the earlier guys swam straight to the end point and got waved back to where they were supposed to swim to before the short run. The run bit was a bit odd and I say that only because I hate running on the beach. There is this constant paranoia that I will end up tripping over something and face planting.
So I didn't get to defend my 2nd place. I also swam a whole minute slower. That said, even if I swam a whole minute faster I wouldn't have been anywhere close to the 2nd position. There were a whole bunch of speedy swimmers this year and instead of having 5 sad little people in my category, there were 17 this year. Talk about competition!
Still, G and I finished it with what little training we had done, so we felt pretty damn good (and not at all guilty) about treating ourselves to an awesome champagne brunch buffet at the Ritz where I stuffed my face with oysters and mojitos...ahhhhh the life.
Race Results: 13mins 26 sec (5th this year...ah, what a difference a year makes)
What I did before:
The Saturday before(8th May): 20 minutes at Sentosa with G
Thursday: 1 hr Swim Training
I think I did other stuff, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
You've Gotta Be *%@&* Kidding Me
I'm sick again. Yes a week and a half after I got better, here I am down with a massive flu. Over my long Easter weekend, no less. I am NOT pleased. Not one bit.
What I've done since the last entry:
Ran 6.5k in 51 mins (every light turned red when I got to it!)
What I've done since the last entry:
Ran 6.5k in 51 mins (every light turned red when I got to it!)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Half Shower
Well lookie here, two entries in a day...
I'm supposed to meet a friend and I was thinking of running down to the sports arena near the restaurant and shower there. OBVIOUSLY I would forget to bring my towel. Which meant I had to go nip by the Adidas store and pick up a tiny towel there. This also gave my friend the opportunity to inform me that the towel was probably lying on the floor and it was disgusting that I was going to use it. Pretty picture, thanks Mun.
So now because all I have is a potentially filthy towel, I have to resort to the half-shower. Which essentially is the shower you take to get the sweat (hopefully the smell as well) off you and then look semi-presentable at your appointment. Ever since I've started doing some gym sessions during lunch I've developed the half shower - you kind of half-soap and half-shampoo...some but not too much...ideally of course the half shower would just be to run water over your head and hope that the sweat gets washed away (that I do when I'm being truly disgusting). The rationale for the half shower is that I'd probably go off and do a run or swim at night. Which means showering again. And frankly, showering 3 times in a day (I need my morning wake-up shower) can't be all that great for the skin. Hence, the half-shower. I'd love to go on more about the half-shower, but I really have to go for my run and do a half-shower after. Till then, cheerio!
I'm supposed to meet a friend and I was thinking of running down to the sports arena near the restaurant and shower there. OBVIOUSLY I would forget to bring my towel. Which meant I had to go nip by the Adidas store and pick up a tiny towel there. This also gave my friend the opportunity to inform me that the towel was probably lying on the floor and it was disgusting that I was going to use it. Pretty picture, thanks Mun.
So now because all I have is a potentially filthy towel, I have to resort to the half-shower. Which essentially is the shower you take to get the sweat (hopefully the smell as well) off you and then look semi-presentable at your appointment. Ever since I've started doing some gym sessions during lunch I've developed the half shower - you kind of half-soap and half-shampoo...some but not too much...ideally of course the half shower would just be to run water over your head and hope that the sweat gets washed away (that I do when I'm being truly disgusting). The rationale for the half shower is that I'd probably go off and do a run or swim at night. Which means showering again. And frankly, showering 3 times in a day (I need my morning wake-up shower) can't be all that great for the skin. Hence, the half-shower. I'd love to go on more about the half-shower, but I really have to go for my run and do a half-shower after. Till then, cheerio!
Game On!
...well....ish. I've been lazy. There. No excuses for not doing a lot of things I should be doing. Instead I'm just whinging about how freaked out I am about the Sprint Triathlon next month. Boo f-ing hoo, right?
Anyhoooo I went for swim training yesterday. I don't think I was swimming particularly fast or far, or even putting in all that much effort to begin with. But my arms ache today. The good 'I-had-a-workout' ache though so I'm not complaining. And they're not aching enough to get in the way of my drum class today, so all is well. Thing is though, I realise I am just so much better at the kick drills at training than I am at the pull drills. Somehow when I put the kicks and pulls altogether I become kind of blah. All the same I'm hoping all this gets worked out before my 5-participant swim race next month! Hope I can hold on to my second place title! Somehow I wish I was crap now, just so I wouldn't have any expectations (my own!) to meet! I will be so bummed if I finish last this time!
Jo will be happy to note that I'm probably going to try putting in a solid 2 hours of windsurfing this week. I'm back to rentals since I've chucked my super crappy sail. Actually rather enjoying using rentals, minus the size and weight of the damn rental boards, because it gives me some focus. I remember telling myself long time ago that I'd never become one of those guys who went down to the club to drink and not go out at all...needless to say, I became one of those guys. Then of course I stopped windsurfing altogether. Now my (the new me) aim is to do a couple of Ks on the bike and then haul the rentals off for 2 hours. Even if there's no wind, the arm workout is probably better than lifting up pint after pint of beer (in my case JD Cokes). And I'll alternate this weekly with rockclimbing! I know this now because I tried to do the 2 in a weekend and almost died!
What I've done:
Last Thursday: 3k run on treadmill and a bunch of sit-ups/crunches
Sunday:
300m swim and 2k run
1.5hr rockclimbing
Tuesday:
1hr Swim training (Total: 1.8k covered)
Anyhoooo I went for swim training yesterday. I don't think I was swimming particularly fast or far, or even putting in all that much effort to begin with. But my arms ache today. The good 'I-had-a-workout' ache though so I'm not complaining. And they're not aching enough to get in the way of my drum class today, so all is well. Thing is though, I realise I am just so much better at the kick drills at training than I am at the pull drills. Somehow when I put the kicks and pulls altogether I become kind of blah. All the same I'm hoping all this gets worked out before my 5-participant swim race next month! Hope I can hold on to my second place title! Somehow I wish I was crap now, just so I wouldn't have any expectations (my own!) to meet! I will be so bummed if I finish last this time!
Jo will be happy to note that I'm probably going to try putting in a solid 2 hours of windsurfing this week. I'm back to rentals since I've chucked my super crappy sail. Actually rather enjoying using rentals, minus the size and weight of the damn rental boards, because it gives me some focus. I remember telling myself long time ago that I'd never become one of those guys who went down to the club to drink and not go out at all...needless to say, I became one of those guys. Then of course I stopped windsurfing altogether. Now my (the new me) aim is to do a couple of Ks on the bike and then haul the rentals off for 2 hours. Even if there's no wind, the arm workout is probably better than lifting up pint after pint of beer (in my case JD Cokes). And I'll alternate this weekly with rockclimbing! I know this now because I tried to do the 2 in a weekend and almost died!
What I've done:
Last Thursday: 3k run on treadmill and a bunch of sit-ups/crunches
Sunday:
300m swim and 2k run
1.5hr rockclimbing
Tuesday:
1hr Swim training (Total: 1.8k covered)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Road to Recovery
Well, I didn't complete my challenge because I fell ill. Of course that WOULD happen the moment I sign up for a challenge (as well as my first Sprint triathlon! Gaaaah!). Nonetheless, after 2 weeks of feeling crappy and then a week of being lazy I'm back on the saddle again. Albeit a bit slower and carrying a bit more weight.
What I've done:
Last Monday: 1hr Personal Training
Last Thursday: Swim training
Saturday: 20k easy bike ride + 1.5hr windsurfing
Sunday: 1hr rock climbing
Tuesday: 30 mins spin + 40 sit-ups
What I've done:
Last Monday: 1hr Personal Training
Last Thursday: Swim training
Saturday: 20k easy bike ride + 1.5hr windsurfing
Sunday: 1hr rock climbing
Tuesday: 30 mins spin + 40 sit-ups
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!
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