Today, my bed and I were one. I lay in bed almost the whole day, falling into a deep sleep and out of it, then falling back in again. Accumulated fatigue is dangerous, I tell you. Decided to drag myself out of bed at 4pm, watched some telly, then headed out for a run. A planned hour-long run became an hour and a half. But I was going easy and felt good. Went to Tampines Mall after that for dinner, and bought three pretty dresses and a blouse at Mango.

What a perfect day. Back to work tomorrow :(

I had the privilege of meeting Pele, the great Brazilian footballer, today. He's here for Eighth Wonder, one of those companies bidding for the IR project. They intend to build a Pele stadium and start a Pele football academy on their resort. The hotel rooms will encapsulate two-thirds of the stadium, so that guests will have their very own box seats to sports/music events taking place in the stadium. Anyway, that aside, Pele is a truly humble and friendly guy. They organised a tour of the Singapore Sports School for him and held a press conference after that. He was sitting down signing autographs, and when it came to my turn (I was getting an autograph for "Cassian" under orders from my editor Wilfred) he obliged politely. Then I offered a handshake, and he stood up from his chair just to shake my hand. After that he joked with the media, and when he left he patted me on my shoulder. It is amazing how the greatest athletes are usually the most humble ones. I aspire to be like them.

Yesterday I watched the Singapore Cup final at the National Stadium. It was truly a bore, honestly, until Thai team Chonburi FC scored two goals in two minutes in the 74th and 76th minutes to go 2-0 up on Tampines Rovers that the match came to live. And just when I thought it was over, Aliff Shafaein scored to make it 2-1. But then, I still thought it was over, so I packed up my computer ready to leave the press box and head down to the pitch. And then it happened. Santi scored in the 91st minute to send the match into extra-time. Dang, another late night! Anyway, as it goes in fairy tales, Tampines scored in the 120th minute through Aliff again, the last minute of action before the game would go to penalties, and they won. By the time I filed my story and came home it was 1:45am. By the time I got to bed it was 3:30am (I couldn't sleep).

This morning I woke up, got ready to go to work... and received a call at 9:30am to make my way down to the Sports School for the Pele thing. I was so tired, slept all the way on the MRT. After the Pele press con, I headed to Changi Airport T1 for the arrival of the Young Lions from Doha. By the time I got back to the office it was 4pm, I hadn't trained yet, and I was dead tired. Finished up my stories by 7pm and decided it was time for a run at the gym.

I was thinking of what I read on Harn Wei's blog, about how he trained after a long day at work, which further intensified his training and simulated race-day conditions at the Deca-Iron, where his body would perpetually be in a state of fatigue. That inspired me, and I ended up running 1h 35min on the treadmill. Not what I targetted in the first place (2h), but decent enough. Now, I'm really in a state of fatigue.

Thank God I'm off tomorrow.

Went down to the marathon expo today to collect my bib and kit. #714. Weird, I don't recall signing up that early. The PR agency who did it for me must've reserved some slots early on... hmm..! Well, hung out at Adrian's Athlete's Circle booths... it's so great to see his business growing. I wish I could do something like that too... maybe in the future. Bumped into loads of people today. Tobias (also went to Kona this year, 10:09), Simon, the Polar dudes -- Jeff, Ben, Fiona, Adrian, Jerry, .. etc etc etc, and made a few new friends too. There was this dude who was signing up for the Singapore Ironman 70.3, Shem. I happened to be sitting next to him at the booth. He congratulated me for my performance at Kona. I'm flattered.

Being at the expo and meeting all those people just made me feel lucky and honoured to be part of the triathlon community. It's great meeting like-minded, hardcore, fit and healthy athletes who share the same passion. And it's a wonderful bunch of people to be around. Generally humble, friendly, chatty... people who have a life outside the crazy rat race that is work. I could never understand how people can survive their routine life: eat, work, eat, work, eat, sleep, maybe go to a party and have a few drinks or catch a movie or hit orchard road, eat some more.... BORING!!!!! I'd much rather be swimming, riding or running to any of those activities. Oh well, I guess to each his own.

This morning I rode 135km again, the same route as last Saturday. Just that this time the pace was so much faster. I was dying at the end but managed to cling on to Yusoff's wheel.. going 36, 37km/h at the end... which isn't that fast really, but after 110km of lung-bursting effort, it is. So happy to be back home, but tired, so had to give Wearn Haw's sailing sesh a miss.

Am contemplating what I should do tomorrow. Run? Swim? Both? Ride?
Oh, the decisions i have to make!

I used to be unable to take the heat. I have blacked-out before in two races a number of years back, on one of those occasions I was even put on the drip. Not a good feeling. Anyway, I think after all these years I've finally learnt how to stay cool... or at least tell my mind to. I guess the experience at Jeju and Kona helped, because now if I feel like I'm scorching, I just recall the crazy temperatures at those two races and I feel so much better. And you think of the pain you went through then... and suddenly it's 24 degrees (when it's really 34). Been running at lunchtime for the past two days at MacRitchie Reservoir.. running down from me office at Toa Payoh, doing the northern route and then running back. A 73 minute run at an easy pace, about 14-15km. Amazingly I feel very comfortable under the midday sun (and I mean, 12 noon), even without a water stop the whole way. So really, I figured, what it all boils down to is RELATIVITY. You know, it's about conquering bigger things, setting the bar higher each time, so that challenges of the past seem miniscule to what you just achieved. It weird. A 100km bike now is short, so is a 20km run. Perspective is blown out of proportion after all those long hours training for an Ironman. But I guess after a while you'll get used to the reduced distances, and when a 100km ride starts to feel long... you know you're slacking!!

Anyway.. so I biked 135km on Saturday and did the Swissotel-The Stamford Vertical Marathon on Sunday. Possibly a mistake, but too late for that now. I managed a third place finish at the Vertical in 10:12. Not too happy with the placing but happy with the timing. Although I think it could be way better. Australian Suzanne Walsham, the Commonwealth Games 1500m 6th placed finisher in Melbourne this year, won in a blazing, untouchable time of 8 minutes-ish. Have fun in New York, Suzy! (And hopefully I'll beat you next year, heehee, right, I can dream on!). Anyway, I have great respect for Suzanne, so losing to her is definitely an honour. Well, if it's any consolation I was the fastest local woman.

Eating lunch at the Food Barn tomorrow, can't wait! I love them panini turkey sandwiches, or whatever they're called...

I interviewed Paula Creamer today on the phone. She's ranked seventh in the world right now for women's golf, has won almost US 2.5 million dollars in prize money alone (not including sponsorship deals and what have you), and she's only 20! Gee, what was I doing when I was 20? Ah. I went to Canada for six months on an exchange program. Had the time of my life there and backpacked down the US West Coast alone after the semester was over. So might not have been earning big bucks but still, it was a huge experience for me that really altered the way I viewed and lived my life.

So, anyway, that's Paula for you. She's coming down to Singapore next month for the second Lexus Cup at Tanah Merah Country Club's Garden Course. Go get yer tix and cheer for the Asian chix!!!!

This week has flown by.. just like every other week of the year has. I can't believe it's going to be December. Every year, something pops up that surprises the hell out of me. This year has been full of surprises -- good and bad -- and hopefully something good will spring up before the year's end... hopefully.

As for training, just been running lots because I have had no time to go to the swimming pool or get on the bike. Monday I ran 65min on the treadmill mixin' it up with some speedwork, Tuesday I swam 3.8km mixin' it with speedwork too, Wednesday I ran 55min at Macritchie easy, and today I ran 70min with speedwork on the treadmill. I tell ya, runnin on the treadmill's no use unless you do some speed intervals. I find it really teaches you to maintain a smooth, high cadence. Of course you don't get a tan, but you don't get the haze too!

I'm getting very excited about this Sunday's vertical marathon. I have a gut feelin i'm gonna do pretty well.....

Oh well, I could be very wrong. Anyway we will see.

It's been exactly three weeks since Kona. Somehow, after the high of such a big event, everything seems to pale in comparison now. The week I returned from Kona I was back in training. That Saturday I did my virgin Kulai ride and got dropped terribly... I guess riding 125km six days after an Ironman is quite a stupid thing to do. Which I realised. So the following I took it relatively easy, doing short (an hour or less) workouts, incoporating some speedwork just to tune-up for the Corporate Triathlon that weekend. Got third in that race, after a crap swim, ok bike and good run, won a uZap (like any triathlete needs that device!). (If I ever put that thing around my waist, you'll be sure that's the closest I'll ever look like Fiona). Anyway, all that happened last week.

This week was a pretty good run week, much better than I thought it would turn out, espcially because for some reason, I've been staying in the office till pretty late... On Monday I was off, so I headed to Macritchie for a 15k run. Tuesday I was intending to rest, but I swam during my lunch break, ableit only 3k. Wednesday I got to work early as usual, but instead of the treadmill I ran from the office to Macritchie, did the guys route, and ran back. Felt crap that morning, but I usually do on my morning runs. Something about the morning. Anyway, on Thursday I met Paul 'poo-poo' Sng for a lunchtime run at Macritchie. (yes, the reservoir again, but that was not the last of it...). I did the Northern Route plus girls route, although I had to leave Paul halfway as the man had a corn on his sixth toe and he was in pain!!!! So he walked, I ran. Sorry Paul. Friday! I rested. Because I had to rush a story, which, by the way, got heldover in the end. Saturday I woke up late and missed the Kulai gang, so I biked alone. A little less than 100k and ended up at the office (the first time I biked there). Yes, had to work on a Saturday. Till 11pm.

And so we come to today, Sunday. I told myself that do-or-die I will wake up for the Nike Runaholics 20km thingerie at Macritchie... so, as I've been doing every morning since Kona, I set my alarm at 5am but then, thanks to the great invention of the snooze button, it's 8am the next time I open my eyes. Ok well today it was 645am when I re-opened my eyes. So out flew the plan of taking public transport to Macritchie. I cleaned up, threw on my running gear, packed a peanut butter sandwich,.... went downstairs and hailed a cab. Yeah, that's how determined I was to run. So, got to Macritchie at like, 7:26am. By then, everyone was set for the 7:30am start. Obviously I missed the briefing and the flag-off... but I made up the time by the time I reached the entrance to the jungle.... two rounds of the Northern Route (first round got lost so ran longer, second round kenna knockout punch by a tree branch so stalled for awhile).... back at the finish line. Was an easy relaxed run.. and I must say I felt really good at the end! Chatted with some runners... then headed to church. After church ate lunch with me bro and his gf at this pretty chill cafe at UE Square. Had a $12 sandwich called "Aubergine", which really was brinjal, sundried tomatoes and leafy greens sandwiched between two slices of toast. Thanks to the super delicious balsamic dressing, lunch was extremely satisfying. Washed it down with an iced latte. Mmm... next, with the tum tum happy, I headed across the street for my weekly massage. Ahh... just what I had been waiting for for the whole week.... as always, Kuan did a great job. Tummy happy, muscles happy... I headed to Farrer Park to watch the women's national rugby 15s team in traning. Yes, I worked on my off day. I am nuts. By the time I left the grounds it was 5:40pm... took a stroll to Bugis (it's not that far really), on the way picking up toiletries at Tekka. Cheap, I must add. Had Yong Tau Foo for dinner at Bugis and bought some black peppered turkey ham at Cold Storage, then took the train home.

Well, as I mentioned above, everything seems to be a few notches below the excitement level I had before Kona. So, I am planning my next big race. Ironman Langkawi on Feb 24, 2007. In the meantime, I have next Sunday's Swissotel-The Stamford Vertical Marathon and next month's Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon to keep myself busy.

I just can't wait till I qualify for Kona again.... that's when I'll be on a high again...