| November 29, 2007. Thursday |
I'm not going to waste my time to think of a creative way to start this entry so I shall just go straight into what I want to say. Today's a.m. track work at nyp: 2,000m warm up, 3x50m strides, 3x1,200m
on 400m walk rest, 1,200m cool down The last time we did 1,200m reps was about five weeks ago (see earlier entries). It was 6x1,200m but after three I died so I stopped training and went into the shade to cry. My timings then were 4.46, 4.51, 4.58. What a difference persistence and hard work make. After a bite of two eggs' whites, one cup of teh and one slice of watermelon with the bunch, I headed to the neighbouring Yio Chu Kang swimming complex for an easy 2km swim with Julz. Did 500m easy, 10x(50m moderate, 50m easy), 5x(50m kick, 50m pull). Nothing hard, just big, free, relaxed strokes and easy breathing. Then came lunch...
As you can see I polished off the miso soup and most of the main dish 'cept for about a third of the rice to leave space for -- as Julz can't stop raving about -- the awesome waffles. Had mine with maple syrup only, no butter... and had to doggy bag half of the waffle in the end cos I was stuffed. (Once again, one of those instances where I wish I could eat more.)
Well, dinner was the remaining half waffle and a slice of wholemeal bread with a couple of thin strips of smoked salmon. Eight days to go. Sounds like it's time to start FREAKING OUT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.........!!!!!!! Ok, need sleep.
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| November 28, 2007. Wednesday |
Mm... I am so not feeling it today. Not feeling like training or doing anything. Just feeling like lying in bed, nestled under the covers and falling into a deep sleep... But I know I have to train. It's bike ride day. So I've hatched a plan: no time, no target. Just ride. Ride easy, but sprint between lamp posts or from Big Splash to MacDonalds.. take it easy, free my mind... and sprint again when I feel like it. Don't think, don't care, just ride. I wish it rained too.. I love riding in the rain. So it's 10.30am now and I'm supposed to be out by now but I'm still in bed... so I will go soon. Of course I'm not just riding to nowhere -- I have to get to somewhere at Kampong Bahru Road to get my SEA Games outfit made. They've been bugging me with calls so I better haul my ass down there. Kill two birds with one stone. Check back later with my ride report.... Ah, sweet. Thank God I didn't be lazy and sleep in. So I did ride, and it was a pretty good one. Went down Changi Coast Road, ECP to Nicoll Highway through the CBD and then through Cantonment to the tailor at Kampong Bahru Road. After spinning the first 20mins or so I did 3x1min sprints, high cadence, holding between 42km/h to 44km/h. Rest in between was about three minutes, but really was just when I felt like going again. By then I had reached the end of Changi Coast Road and got onto the ECP Service Road, then I decided to do some longer intervals. Did 4x3min a bit higher than moderate, about 33km/h to 35km/h, with about 4min rest in between. Again, it was really going when I felt like going again. The whole idea was not to finish the intervals feeling smashed, but fresh. And I was. By then I had hit the CBD, which, if you've cycled through before heading towards Keppel Road, is quite a twilight zone. With little effort, you can hit high speeds. I guess it's a slight downhill plus the draft from the buses and cars also help. So, before I knew it I was at the tailor's in about 1h 15min (39km). Tried on the red bomber jacket and khaki pants for size, and will have to return next Monday to collect it (they ran out of the small sizes). So, it was time to head home. Took the same way back, spinning first then throwing in 4x3min heaviest gear, with 3min rest. By then it was the end of ECP Service Road, and I was getting hungry. So I turned left onto Xilin Ave instead of going back by Changi Coast Road, and cut through Tampines to me home. Just spun really easy all the way back... and the meter read 67km by the time I stepped into the cool of me home.
Treated myself to a tall glass of ice cold chocolate milk. It's really about three heaped teaspoons of that wonderful Waitrose drinking chocolate mix (from Cold Storage at Kallang for about $8) with skimmed milk and loads of ice. Heavenly. Oh, guess what? It's raining now. It's time for lunch, a nap, then an easy run.
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| November 27, 2007. Tuesday |
I never thought finding a track to do a workout would be that hard. This morning, I got up nice and early to do my track workout alone. Took the short drive to Tampines Safra thinking there was a track there. Perfect also because then I could just go for a post-workout swim in the pool after. But, no, parked my car, walked over to the place where I thought the track was, and it was just a football pitch. So, I decided to drop all my belongings but my water bottle and run over to Temasek Poly to use that track. Got there and the damn field was under construction! Resurfacing with artificial turf. So there were huge rolls of carpet grass waiting to be laid out lining the first two lanes of the track between the 200m to 300m marks. And at the 200m mark all the lanes were completely blocked by water barriers.... so came decision time. Should I run at the track or go over to Bedok Reservoir instead? I ran a couple more laps of the track as warmup and thought about it... then decided to shift one of the barriers slightly and clear some debris from the ground to make a little path for me. But that meant I would have to step off the track onto the field and then get back on the track (crossing over the short metal barrier that surrounds the circumference of the field), about a 10m distance. But that distance plus the need to dodge the upcoming rolls of carpet grass meant I would expand more energy (and probably time) overcoming the obstacles. Then, I thought, what the heck, aye? Throw in the extra challenge. Try to meet my targetted times. The workout was just 4x600m, so I'd have to get through the obstacles four times only. No big deal.... So I ran. It certainly did take more out of me trying to avoid the obstacles lest I suffer an injury, but I made it. The timings: 2.10, 2.09, 2.11, 2.09. If it was a clear track I'm sure I'd be at least one to two seconds faster. Jogged back to Safra and did a 1,500m easy swim. I guess sometimes when we think we can't, we really can. I can do this. I can get through this. Thanks Dan, Randall, Jules, Zhan and Jeremy for your messages today. With friends like that, I know I will get through this.
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| November 26, 2007. Monday |
For everything there is a season, Everything has a season and everything happens for a reason. But, right now, I don't know the reason and truthfully, a really bad season for something bad to be happening. I hope I get through this in time for next Saturday's big race, but I doubt I can... but I must try, as though this were the race itself. The race to forget, the race to move on, the race to leave behind... good friends have been there for me for the past few days, and I will try to list them here: Marclim, Tvoon, Sacha, Alan, Timmy, Yusoff and Fai... and of course my kor kor, who lovingly washed my car, and mom... Thank you all for being a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. I know this is all part of a plan, a great plan that is supposed to only mean well for me,... but right now I don't understand. And this could go two ways: affect me negatively, or be my fuel. I'll try my hardest. Today, I'm too affected and tired to train. But I'm hoping to turn all this anger, hurt and sadness into something positive... into an energy that will carry me strong past the finish line... hopefully with a prize in the end. To all those in a relationship -- be true to your partner. Don't lie, don't cheat, don't hurt. To all those single souls out there -- you've got a new member in me. Will I survive this test?... I hope so. He wasn't worth it anyway. "Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived." Meet Joe Black? Yes please.
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| November 22, 2007. Thursday |
The two ice cubes are meant to be flashing blue ah-beng techno lights though, but it wasn't captured in the photograph. The cubes are, uh, damn cool... they have three different styles of blinking, just like my bicycle lights. The tree changes colour too! From red to blue to green to.... I forgot. Anyway, nifty x'mas gift sent to me by Velocity@Novena Square as part of a little media kit on their upcoming December happenings... I think they're going to have snowball fights. Quite innovative if you ask me. Beats all the boring ol' press releases.... Picked up the gift while making a trip back to the office on Tuesday (and again today) because my office laptop kinda died and almost went to heaven. But they changed the motherboard and thus resuscitated it and returned it to me today. So this morning was yet another killer session to follow up Tuesday's big track sesh. We met at Peirce and did a 1km warm up, followed by 3x of an undulating 5km loop that involved three hills, on 5min rest. Ouch! My left thigh muscle has been going through some inflammation since last Friday, and it was burning halfway through the second set even though my breathing was hardly laboured. So my times got progressively slower as my thigh got progressively more painful... from 22:30 to 22:51 to 23:55.... oh well that just means one thing -- no using my legs tomorrow!
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| November 21, 2007. Wednesday |
Today will be my fifth day using the AltO2lab altitude simulator. The past few days I've been feeling a tad lethargic every morning, not sure if it's due to the altitude training or just purely psychological. But, this morning, I went out for a bike-run brick amidst cool post-overnight-rain weather and a moderate crosswind blowing at Changi Coast Road. Dreading the ride before I headed out, I surprisingly soon found my rhythm and was cruising and tackling the crosswinds pretty alright. Heart rate was nice and controlled. Just over two hours and 65km later, I reached home, dropped my bike and headed out for a 5km loop round my area. Well, I think a little short of 5km but about there. Anyway, I felt good on the run and finished it in about 22min. So, the whole point of this is to say I think the AltO2lab thingerie is working. Of course, it could purely just be a placebo, or maybe it was that excellent leg massage I got yesterday... And speaking about lethargy and yesterday, yesterday morning's track workout was killer. I have never done so much for a track workout before -- 5x(2,000m hard, 400m walk). Ouch! Didn't help that Coach Ghana couldn't make training so he left it to us to complete. HQ had to go to school at 10am and couldn't make the trip to NYP so I decided to meet her at ITE East instead. Felt like I had lactic acid in my legs even before I started!!! Ouch. Anyway, the timings were 8.36, 8.41, 8.42, 8.43, 8.47. The last one I was on track for a sub-8.40 but I ran the first three rounds too fast and suffered in the end. Ouch!! Anyway was just happy to complete it and reward myself with two cups of teh-ping and two eggs' whites. 17 days and counting (down)...
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| November 19, 2007. Monday |
...if I were really there up on some mountain. But, eh, this is my cosy room and that is me using the AltO2lab altitude simulator. If you look at the picture at the top left corner, I shall try to describe to you the funny contraption that makes me look like an anteater-cum-tapir-cum-elephant. First the blue-green thing is a nose clip, to ensure that I breathe in and out through my mouth only. In contact with my mouth is the mouthpiece, which attaches to a bacteria filter, which attaches to a long tube, which attaches to the AltoLid, which attaches to the -- drumroll -- hypoxic silo, which attaches to two AltoMixers (the hypoxic silo and AltoMixer stack up into three black canister looking things, as seen in the top right photo). Clipped onto my finger is the spO2, which uses an infrared beam through the finger to measure the oxygen concentration in my blood (the figure above) and heartrate (the figure below). The what you say? Okay, I shall attempt to explain... The hypoxic silo, which is filled with little white balls that look much like those minimelts ice cream balls but smaller, absorbs oxygen from the air (and turns purple thereafter). The AltoMixers are really just each filled with two sponges, much like that you bathe with or wash your plates with. Two AltoMixers give you 5,000feet altitude. So, as the 15-day programme goes on, you add more AltoMixers to simulate a higher altitude. By breathing in and out only through the tube, you effectively breathe in oxygen-depleted air as though you were in the mountains. Each night before I sleep I use the AltO2lab for an hour, comprising of 6x(6min on, 4min off). During those four minutes of rest I take off the nose clip and put down the contraption and just breathe normally. The reading on the spO2 will then go up to about 98-99 per cent oxygen concentration. During the six minutes on, the reading should drop to between 89-91 per cent for the first two days of the program. Subsequently it will gradually drop to reach below 80 per cent by the 15th day, by which time I should be breathing through it like I'm hyperventilating. Yeah, it becomes hard work. Think of it like blowing up balloons for a party... uh huh, that winded feeling, you know? But after the 15-day program, you should be able to see a 3-5 per cent increase in performance, which will last for about 15 days. Friends I've spoken to who have used it prior to races all showed improvements in their timings. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Went by SSC this morning to do the mandatory health screening for SEA Games athletes. Took height (162.5cm), weight (49.7kg with clothes on), eyesight (perfect), blood (normal), ECG (larger than normal heart). WHAT!? Yeah. I have a large heart (which could explain my generosity and propensity to love deeply), according to the Doc, due to my training, which has developed thick muscles at the wall of the heart. I don't know if I'm saying this right, but anyway because of the ECG reading, I've been sent to do an Echogram next week to make sure my heart is ok. I hope I will be ok. Anyway, popped by the supermarket after that to get my grub for the week. Cream cheese, ham, cheese, milk, eggs, veggies, bread and...
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| November 18, 2007. Sunday |
The Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore event video is finally on the telly on AXN (cable channel 19, I think, I'm not a telly person). Recorded it and watched it in the arvo after getting home nicely tired from this morning's TTT (that story follows below...). Guess I wasn't as grossed out with seeing myself on the telly as I thought I would be. After all, it does add ten pounds, doesn't it?
Ok, back to this morning's TTT at Changi Coast Road. It was a two-lapper, I think about 24km. Raced with Poh Lin, Jessica and (special guest) Ingrid for the Cycleworx team in the women's category. There were three teams, and we started two minutes apart of each other. Our team started last... and caught the team that started ahead of us on the first lap, and closed the gap on the first team to about a minute. So, if you've done the math by now, we won by about three minutes. Went for a 40min easy run straight after, while the other Cycleworx teams did their stuff and took almost all the titles on offer! Woohoo! Yesterday I started on the AltO2lab altitude simultar 15-day program. Breathe in, breathe out, and voila! You're fitter and faster. Well that is what I hope to be when it's all over. Did a VO2max test and 3,000m run at SSC on Friday, and will be doing them again on Dec 3 before I head to the SEA Games.
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| November 15, 2007. Thursday |
A package arrived yesterday and it was love at first sight...
Can't wait to slip them on for next Tuesday's track sesh. Or maybe I could just use them tomorrow during testing at SSC. As I mentioned before, I'm being a lab rabbit of sorts for the AltO2lab altitude simulator. So prior to embarking on a 15-day program on Saturday, I will have to get tested tomorrow -- a VO2max test on the treadmill, followed by 3,000m on the track. Maybe these new kicks will make me fly! Well, certainly felt absolutely wonderful during training today. Coach Ghana was really nice and had training at 4pm for Kenneth and I first, before training the others at 6pm. Thanks Coach! We met at Peirce then jogged to Bishan Park, where I did 5km easy, 10x(400m hard, 400m jog), 3.5km easy. The first couple of reps felt really hard to get moving, and I clocked in at about 88s. Coach Ghana told me to slow down and keep it at 90s or I wouldn't be able to complete the reps. So, on the next couple of reps I told myself to slow down -- and I thought I did -- but I started clocking 86s, then 85s. The penultimate rep was 84s, while the final one took me 81s. Certainly surprised Coach and myself! Yesterday I biked 70km in the late morning then ran 6km in the evening. Both sessions were pretty nice and easy. Things are mos def looking up, but I keep telling myself not to get too excited. Pace myself. Try to maintain this feeling of looking forward to training. There's still 24 days to go...
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| November 13, 2007. Tuesday |
I was too lazy and tired to whip up noodles for lunch so I settled for a ham and cheese sandwich and a tall glass of ice cold chocolate milk. Am too lazy and tired to write a long entry so I will keep this short. Training was excellent today, even though I felt like I didn't push that hard. Breathing only got out of control on the last 300m of the last 1,200m rep. Other than that, I felt really good. Maybe cos the rest was plenty. The pyramid set: Headed for an easy 2k swim at Tampines after. Then came home, felt lazy and tired, and have just chowed down my ham and cheese sandwich. Yum. Edit: okay, have gotten over my laziness and tiredness and decided to add to this post. Popped by SSC just now to meet Adrian and Rashid to get our AltO2lab altitude simulator thingerie going. Sweet! Have a set of it now and will be starting on our 15-day program on Saturday. Can't wait. Watched Meet Joe Black on HBO after dinner. Ah, Brad. Well, Brad was my favourite looker but Hopkins delivered my favourite line: "Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived." Thank you for the advice, Mr Hopkins.
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| November 12, 2007. Monday |
Yesterday I raced Powerman Malaysia in Seri Manjung, Perak, my last hit out before the South-east Asia Games duathlon on Dec 8. The non-drafting race was an 11km run (2-lap, flat), 64km bike (2-lap, generally flat with a couple of short climbs), 10km run (2-lap, flat). A good practice and slightly over-distance for the SEA Games' 10-40-5 format. Some of my rivals from Malaysia and the Philippines were also present in the Elite field, so it was a good time to size them up. My plan was to just treat it as a training race and not to smash myself up, so that I didn't have to take a few days off just to recover from the race. The last duathlon I did, the SEA Games trials, and the one before that, the Oakley City Duathlon, were thorough flops where I struggled to find my legs right from the get-go. I was certain to make sure I didn't feel the same for this race. Obviously, the past few weeks of training with Coach Ghana has paid off. I felt light and fresh for the race, and the first 11km was a breeze. As I headed into transition my watch read 49ish minutes, my breathing was hardly laboured and I hopped onto my bike without any fuss. Legs felt great from the first pedal stroke and my breathing was completely under control, as I spun the first 10mins of the bike ride on a light gear. About 5km into the ride I changed to the big chain ring, but making sure to keep the cadence high and breathing in check. The sun crept out slowly but surely as the bike ride progressed on and I made sure I consumed enough fluids and salt so that I wouldn't suffer on the final run. Spun out the last couple of Ks of the bike ride, slipped on my shoes and felt fresh going out on the run. Found my legs within the first few hundred metres and got into a good rhythm, holding one packet of gel in hand for later (the drink stops only provided water, no electrolyte). The first lap passed really quickly and I was feeling strong, but I started feeling the heat and slowing down towards the last 2.5km, especially since I hadn't had any electrolyte since the start of the run. But it was all good and I hung on for a 3h 42min finish and seventh in the Elite Woman category. Officials results and splits not out yet. No doubt behind nearly all of my SEA Games rivals, but there is nothing more unpressurizing than being the underdog! I have 26 days to go to put myself into medal contention. The race was also a time to figure out if I should wear socks during the race or not.
(All blisters on left foot. Clockwise from top left: 1. On middle toe from last week's Corporate Tri. 2. Ankle and shin got bruised from lousy M'sian timing chip strap. 3. Little toe has a blister that has yet to pop. And 4. The worst of all and a relapse from the Desaru Half in August -- near the arc of my foot.) I'm gonna be wearing a thin pair of socks. Legs felt fresh as hell today and I went for an easy 30min run before dinner, after lazing around the house for the whole day. Sweet... all set for tomorrow's trackwork.
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| November 6, 2007. Tuesday |
No matter how much I train, I find that I still eat less than a regularly active person or even sedentary person would. Which is a bloody pity, when you actually have good food perched in front of you waiting to be devoured. Which doesn't happen very often for me, but, still... Even after a hard workout, I find myself eating amounts that just doesn't justify the effort I put into all the hard training. The flipside of it, well, imagine if I did eat like a normal dudette. Gee, I'd be one fat chick fer sure. There was a power outtage at home when I got back from this morning's training, so I put my culinary skills to rest today and walked across the street to White Sands for sushi.
...plus a couple of soft shell crab maki. And that was it. That was all my stomach could, well, stomach, after this morning's training. And, might I add, training was quality stuff today. Woke at 6.30am, ate two slices of PB&J on the way to NYP, where I did a 2,000m warm up, followed by some 50m strides, then 5x(300m hard, 100m walk, 400m hard, 100m walk), 1,000m cool down -- in the pouring rain. Ahh, loved it. Splish splash splish splash! Anyway, when I did this workout four weeks ago, we did only four sets and by the third set I was on my knees (see previous month's diary). Today, despite one set more than before, I maintained 60 to 64s for the 300s and 82 to 84s for the 400s. Even my slowest time today was faster than my fastest time four weeks back. And I finished strong, feeling like I could do another set or two. Ok, I think I deserve a pat on me back. Coach Ghana, Dierdre, HQ and I went for some toast, eggs and hot tea after the sesh. I had two eggs' whites and a cup of teh-c. Then somehow the cool weather made me feel up for a nice recovery swim, so I took a slight detour on the way home to Tampines, where I swam 1,500m easy, 5x(50m kick, 50m pull). Actually felt refreshed after that... like I could train more. But then, I gave way to my growling tummy. Which brings me back to the top... how I only consumed four pieces of sushi, two pieces of tofu and a plate of peas for the morning's effort. Dammit! Well, the positive of this is I save shitloads of money on food. At the weekend I raced the Corporate Triathlon and came in second behind Vicky. I actually felt really strong on the run, but when the timing came out, I was waaaay slow. I felt and looked fast, though, and even managed to close the gap on Vicky at the run turnaround, so I'm hoping it was a timing mistake... but then again, maybe I really was that slow... Anyway, E.Rod sent this photo, claiming he had "an eye for photography" that I never knew he had. Um, you decide.
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| November 2, 2007. Friday |
As you might know by now, I have a 1990 BMW 316iA... an E30. It's pretty much in its original state -- silver paint job that has lost its shine, interior roof that has funky brown stains on it, stuttering engine, Blaupunkt radio and casette deck... and so on. So, when I took a ride in Zhan's souped up Swift Sport a couple of weeks back, I was like a kid in a candy store, a triathlete in Kona, a...a... an owner of a classic car.
After dinner at Thai Express at Thomson Plaza, we took a drive to nowhere. With the windows down and music blasting. From Donovan Frankenreiter to Jack Johnson to songs you wouldn't admit to listening to... like "New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits / Chinese food makes me sick / And I think it's fly when girls stop by for the summer, for the summer / I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch / I'd take her if I had one wish / But she's been gone since that summer, since that summer". For the uninitiated, that's LFO (aka Lyte Funky Ones) with Summer Girls. But, well, for the retro-head that is me... I doubt I'll be splashing over a grand for that entertainment system. It was totally cool though... And on the subject of old and new, spotted at Cycleworx...
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| November 1, 2007. Thursday |
NOT! Today's lunch menu, cooked by yours truly, was an explosion of taste and gastronomic genius ready in six minutes. Springy noodles doused in black pepper seasoning and sprinkled with shallots, accompanied by fresh chinese cabbage, silky smooth egg tofu coins and melt-in-your-mouth plump cod fish. What can I say? I'm Michelin four-star. Well, at least it tasted bloody good (to me). Bought the cod at a bargain yesterday... was going for buy two get one free at Carrefour. So took two packs of cod and one pack of salmon. Mm mm mm. Then again, maybe it was my louder-than-tiger-growl stomach growl after this morning's hill sesh that made the food taste so good. Dragged myself out of bed at 6.30am, heart rate slightly above normal. Met coach Ghana and Kenneth at Peirce Reservoir, where we would run 2.5km warm up, do 10x300m of a gradual slope with 300m jog rest back to the start, and a 2.5km cool down. Managed between 61 to 63 secs for each rep, save for a 64 on rep seven or eight. Nicely tired now... off for a swim later. Holy smokes. It's November.
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