wang writes

So I’ve finally come back up for air. It took about a month to get into the groove of new things, sort out my daily routine, find time to do something other than swim, bike, run, work, eat or sleep. Through this period of silence I’ve neglected not only this blog, but also other ex-weekly rituals like baking, cooking, washing my car, plucking my eyebrows, replying emails, doing CycleWorx rides, visiting CycleWorx… and so on.

And so today, let me attempt to summarise the past month. Going backwards, that is. Much easier that way.

Wed, Oct 7: I cooked dinner tonight, the first time in quite a while. Put it this way: I can’t remember the last time I cooked. I have to say, dinner was simple but delish. All you need to do is to marinate some strips of skinless chicken breast for an hour in 80ml soy sauce, 2 tablespoons mirin, 2 teaspoons grated ginger, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon caster sugar, 3 cloves crushed garlic. Dump that in the fridge (and I did a 60m spin on the trainer as I waited). Then heat some oil a wok, fry 1 onion (sliced) till nearly tender. Add baby carrots and the chicken (drain it but keep marinade) till meat looks cooked all around. Add marinade and a mixture of your favourite veggies (I chose broccoli, celery, mushrooms). Add about 1 1/2 cups of water. Cover and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add about 600g of fresh udon, swirl it around and cover again for about 2 minutes. Serve in bowls. Enjoy. Feeds four (or a hungry couple plus one serving leftover for tomorrow’s dinner).

I felt like chicken tonight

Wed, Oct 7 (still): After a pre-noon run at Seletar, which included 3 times of a hilly 3k loop and 5 times of a steep long hill, at headed to CycleWorx to get Damo’s Prince changed into a Dog. We’re talking Pinarello’s here.

Damo's new dog

Tues, Oct 6: Damo also felt like chicken yesterday night. Chicken casserole with brown rice. Heavenly. You got to get the recipe from him.

Damo's delish dish

Sun, Oct 4: Popped by the National Road Race Cycling Championships at the Kaki Bukit viaduct. Like the few hundred other people there, I was bloody impressed by Singapore’s new champion, Low Ji Wen. Man, how far he’s come since that first article a couple of years back… and great job too for Kee Meng, who showed that fat boys can fly. Singapore’s No. 2 doesn’t sound bad at all.

Ji Wen

Kee Meng

campione

I’ve actually lost track now of what I did in between coming back from Portland (Sept 6) till last Sunday. I know I trained nearly everyday, some days twice. I did the North Face 100 30km progressive run on Sept 26 in preparation for the Oct 24 race. I did a couple of other long-ish runs (two hours or longer) but I’ve really shifted my focus to doing more intervals to work on my speed, an area which I think I’m lacking. Mileage is pretty much in my legs anyway, so I just have to teach it now to move faster. Lots of short, sharp intervals, lung-busting workouts in these past few weeks.

I’ve also been biking nearly everyday to work, so much so that if I don’t bike to work and take the car instead I feel kinda uncomfortable now. The scary thing, though, is riding home after work, and so I’ve made sure I’m lit up brighter than Orchard Road at Christmas time to ensure I’m seen by motorists.

I played netball for the first time in a few years last Saturday, in our company’s inter-division tournament. Five 15min matches later and we ended up with the bronze. Not bad for a team that didn’t touch the ball till the first match and only got together earlier in the week. Oh, that and we had a handful of players who had never even played netbal before and had to get a crash course in the rules just minutes before our first match. What can I say, we’re pretty damn good… hahah.

Right. I can’t remember what else I’ve done. So let me end here with some Portland snapshots.

Velo City

Rose Garden

i'm not a flower person... but they were amazing

my idea of being a tourist -- running the Wildwood Trail

over 40 miles of trails at Forest Park

absolutely stunning... i couldn't stop running

a treat at over 1,000 feet -- Pittock Mansion

the air up there