| 3 June 2004. Thursday. |
| HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO from Kunming, China! Man, it's been a tiring first five days here. We've been training twice everyday, cept today, we got the day off. So I'm here, in the dusty little town of Cheng Gong, in this super duper cheap (20 cents/hr) internet joint having the afternoon off. All of us in the team have been dying to use the 'net. Isn't it amazing how reliant we are on technology these days? Anyway, training's been tough, and the high altitude and cold weather isn't making things easier. I've been following the guy's program (i wonder why the coach makes me do so..). So I've been working extra hard just to keep up with the dudes. And the coach says that since i'm racing in taiwan next week i've gotta do more than others. WHATEVER! Yeah anyway so everyday we bike round this horse racing track (the paved area), which is so super duper bumpy we've all got saddle sore. One loop is one km, so we go round and round and round. Today we biked 50k and ran 5k. It's tough on your mind I tell you. Plus my ass hurts like hell. Argh. It sure doesn't sound like a lot of mileage but it's hard up here. Well, we're gonna be going up to 100k rides next week so this is just the beginning. Enough about this place, how are all you guys doing? I don't know when the next time I get to use the 'net will be, but just drop me a mail if you like. Alrighty, I'm off now. Seeya! |
| 7 June 2004. Monday. |
| It's our 9th day here in kunming, and i'm dying!! i'm soooo tired. we ran in the morn today and swam this afternoon. tomorrow and the next we die, and then i fly back on thursday to catch my flight to taiwan on friday. will be racing at tainan, taiwan on the 13th of june, so i hope i don't fall sick! had diarrhoea this morning, probably due to the food here. it's been raining here lots and we've been super duper freezin our arses off. im at an internet cafe now and the shift key isn't working too well, along with the WHOLE FRIGGIN KEYBOARD so i can't type properly. i'm just hanging in here........ can't wait to get home. well spain's drawing closer and i'm gearing up for the race... and also planning a week's holiday after that. will probably be crashing ben pulham's place.... and have a look see around germany... so that's pretty cool. well i think i better get back to camp now, ciao! take care! |
| 15 June 2004. Tuesday. |
| I'M BACK after spending more than two weeks abroad. Yep, finally. I raced in Taiwan over the weekend, and I tell ya, it was one tiring week. After having super tough training in China, I flew back on thursday, 10th june, and left the next day for taiwan. it was an afternoon flight to kaoshiung, followed by a 2h bus ride to our hotel in the mountains. we arrived at the hotel at 9pm... and while lugging our luggage to our room, the organiser told us, "please have breakfast at 6am, the bus leaves here at 7am tomorrow." and i was like, "what for?" and he was like, "The race. you mean you don't know the race is tomorrow?" you can just imagine my expression after that. what?! i hadn't even fixed up my bike, had my dinner, and i was so tired after a spending so much time on the plane. AND I WAS RACING TOMORROW?! jeez. no race briefing, no race kit... man was i in a big mess. i wasn't ready to race at all... this was going to be the biggest test i've faced in my triathlon career, probably. (and the biggest screw up). anyway, what was set was set, and we couldn't change it. so we chowed down our dinner and fixed the bike. went down to buy water... my bike was shifting so well, but after wasting half an hour trying to fix it i gave up and just decided i'll ride it anyway. i believe everything happens for a reason, and the why all these things were happening all at once.. well.. haven't figured out yet, but it has happened so i better live with it. anyway, managed to sleep at about 11.30pm, enough to sneak in about 6h sleep to wake up at 5.30am. hardly adequate if you ask me, but there was no choice. so i woke up the next day, feeling a bit better but still not feeling how i should feel before a race. well soon it was 7am and we loaded our bikes onto the coach to take us to the race site which was 20 minutes away. the race was smack in the middle of some mountains so you can expect how hilly the course was. plus it was friggin hot, hotter than in singapore. it was gonna be a long day. after many MANY speeches by god knows how many officials, we finally started the race. the swim was in a lake and we did one loop. i didn't feel so good cos we hadn't done loads of swimmin in china, so i just gave it all i got. out of the swim i jumped onto the bike for 40k of rolling hills... i had some catching up to do, as always, after the swim. the bike was 2 t-shaped loops, and by about 8k i had caught up with one competitor from Hong Kong, so i drafted her. The group expanded with a few taiwanese men and as we progressed to our 2nd lap we picked up two malaysians and... guess what, my teammate zhichun. he was in the 2nd cycling pack when he made a wrong turn, so he decided to wait for me. so he joined my pack from the 2nd and last loop and before i knew it we were headed for home. i guess i had a pretty good bike, but my legs were a bit wobbly from all the climbing, so i really had to dig deep for the run. and BOY did i have to dig a 10 foot man hole, because the run wasn't really a run, IT WAS A FRIGGIN TRUDGE UP A MOUNTAIN. i came in after the bike placed overall 3rd with two other women, and after a pretty quick transition we headed out onto the run. boy oh boy was i dead. i can't begin to describe how steep the hills are... but well they were long and steep and even running down was scary. it was a one loop run, with badly placed water stations providing warm water. i have no idea what the organisers were thinking, or maybe they weren't thinking, but with such a bloody tough course and soaring temperatures with no shade, you'd think they'd know better to provide ice cold water. anyway, enough about brainless idiots, i walked/ran the whole damn 10k, and FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY i reached the end, and it was such a relief. i was just glad to have finished in one piece, cos 2 koreans and 1 taiwanese had been sent to the hospital for heatstroke. i had fainted two times before so i knew if i overdid it this time i would be out for a couple of weeks. and with spain coming up it wasn't a wise choice. anyway, turns out i finished 5th woman overal, 2nd elite u23, and 35th among all the competitors in the race. well, it was a long day, and i was glad it was over. i'm never going back there. anyway after such a long long race report, what's next? back to some recovery training this week, then one week of solid training before i leave for spain on the 28th. oh, and did i mention back to work tomorrow? damn! |
| 18 June 2004. Friday. |
| It's been a pretty good week so far. Since I came back on tuesday, i've been bogged down with loads of work in the office. Training's been pretty ok, I did an easy 5k run in the morning in Taiwan and a main set of 4x800m in the pool on tuesday night when i got back to Singapore. Wednesday was an easy 12k run in the evening. Thursday I did an easy 25k spin in the morning and a main set of 100-200-300-400-400-300-200-100 in the pool in the evening. And this morning I did a fast 25k with the guys in preparation for the team time trial next week. I still bit tired from China, and I'm still trying very hard to get back my swimming form (we hardly swam in China, plus being exhausted now doesn't help). Tonight I'll probably fit in an easy 8k with some stretch cords, cos tomorrow we'll be working more on the team time trial and it's going to be a pretty hard 40k. This morning we pushed a 39-42km/h pace with max speed recorded at 44.7km/h. I felt great! So that's good news. Hopefully we can pull off a win next week. Check back wit ya soon! |
| 23 June 2004. Wednesday. |
| It's been a fantastic week. I've begun my taper for this coming three weekends of raicng, and i'm feeling really good. On Sunday I went down to Runway Cycling for my first time. For all those who don't know what that is, it's when they open up the runways at this airport in Singapore for skaters and cyclists to have a leisure ride/skate. I was there with my teammates from cycling team Mobile Edge, and we let some skaters draft us. I tell you it was amazing; it was like art in motion. I felt hypnotized just watching the smooth, synchronised movements of skaters in a line. Among them was Christoph, a top german skater who's here in Singapore for two months. Amazing i tell you, he was drafting a bike going at 40km/h... geez!!! Well seems my cycling teammates have taken up skating too, so later that Sunday after a 3k swim i joined them for some leisure skating. Was fun to strap on my skates again after a year! My triathlon teammates are back from the China training camp and training's getting more fun now, it's been a lonely couple of weeks. Although four are leaving for Korea tomorrow for the Seorak ITU race, and I'm leaving on Monday for SPAIN! woohoo! I race next weeked at Mallorca and then the folowingl weekend I race in Luxembourg. Can't wait! It's my last week at MTV also so I'm finishing up... it's been a good week. I've been thinking about my Final Year Project (FYP) also, and I was thinking of doing something to the tune of "Passion and the City" - Looking for passion in Singapore. You know, I wanna do a Michael-Moorish documentary where i explore passion in Singapore, who some of these people are, what drives them to do what they do... is there enough passion in Singapore? How to cultivate more of this in Singapore? Is it possible to? I don't know, if you guys have any suggestions, do let me know. Oh yes, I'm also looking for freelance crew, hahahaha. Alrighty, update you guys soon. Ciao! |
| 27 June 2004. Sunday. |
| Boy we kicked some butt today at the Team Time Trial. Being a mixed team (3 guys and a girl), I had the privilege of sitting at the back and simply drafting off the guys. Denison, Yongquan, and Mike did a fantastic job in the front, and I was actually having an extremely good time during the race - so much so I actually felt bad. Is that what Lance Armstrong felt like? The domestiques who cover him out in front do all the work and he enjoys at the back and wins the races and becomes famous and gets Sheryl Crow? Well, this race wasn't mine - it was the guys - and they deserve a HUGE pat on their backs. The race was a great lead-up to next week's race. I know I'm in good form and i'm looking for a good result there. Tomorrow we catch the flight at 9pm and we arrive the next day in Mallorca. Hopefully I can get online when I'm there and I'll keep you updated! What else has been happening... I'm no longer working at MTV, I've been skating a bit, I've bought a new handphone, I've... yes, life is good. Oh, and I'm an official Sex and the City addict! I bought the DVDs of all the 6 seasons and I've been watching so much of it - plus i think Mr. Big is SOOO HOT. Ooh yeah baby. Girls, if you're not watching Sex and the City, you better get yer paws on it NOW!!!!! |