not blogging much nowadays. training and mugging (ok, not so much) is taking up most of my time.
training is as training will be (trying to sound chim) swim sessions are hard, each one im having to go into that dark little place in my mind to try and get through the sets. IVP didnt seem so hard.
doing alot of bricks nowadays. im hitting the bike quite hard every session so my legs are pretty spent. my horrible lack of run training shows and it kinda depressing as comparing to last season. o well. gotta make do with what i have.
first race of the sesason coming up. waikiki organised by smu. we'll see how it goes.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
160
had a super long ride with JJ and amos yesterday. not to mention eventful.
we rode up to JB via the causeway. the traffic in the city was crazy. frankly i was super scared. i hope u guys can understand. my history in cycling ain't exactly a pretty one.
JJ had a flat in the city, so we stopped for about 30 mins or so to fix it back. after that it was on the way to highway 92, where we would ride to desaru, then to the town of ringit, before ending at the pengerang ferry terminal.
along the way, we encountered a brief shower(thank God it was brief and light), and a dog which ran out to chase us (i never accelerated faster).
then amos had a flat. spent about another half an hour to fix it. it wasn't able to fully inflate, but we carried on.
pretty soon it was obvious that amos would not be able to continue. the half inflated tyre was slowing him alot, before it finally blew too. without anymore spare tubes to replace his 650c tyre, we had to flag a taxi along the highway to bring him back to the ferry terminal to head back home first.
after that, JJ and i went kinda crazy. we just pushed for the rest of the ride on a route full of rolling hills. we would come down for a hill at 40 to 50 kph, then start going up the next one at 40, until near the top where we (or rather, I) was pushing to go at 20+. there was some good scenery along the way which was quite pretty and made me lament the fact that i wasn't confident ennough to bring a camera along to take photos while riding. maybe some day.
this went on for quite a long time until my back cramped up after 120km. stopped for a while to stretch before getting back on the saddle to hammer it out till we reached ringit.
took a much needed water break at the wanton mee stall where we just kept downing liquids, before finishin the last 17km easy to the ferry terminal. by the time we reached i could not feel the numb-ed part of my body where the sun has never shone.
ride back was so-so. with our fellow passenger being very annoying. shall not explain.
eventually, we landed back in SG, and took a slow commute back home. total mileage for the day was 160km (i rolled the wheel a bit to round it up) Thanks JJ for the great training session!
we rode up to JB via the causeway. the traffic in the city was crazy. frankly i was super scared. i hope u guys can understand. my history in cycling ain't exactly a pretty one.
JJ had a flat in the city, so we stopped for about 30 mins or so to fix it back. after that it was on the way to highway 92, where we would ride to desaru, then to the town of ringit, before ending at the pengerang ferry terminal.
along the way, we encountered a brief shower(thank God it was brief and light), and a dog which ran out to chase us (i never accelerated faster).
then amos had a flat. spent about another half an hour to fix it. it wasn't able to fully inflate, but we carried on.
pretty soon it was obvious that amos would not be able to continue. the half inflated tyre was slowing him alot, before it finally blew too. without anymore spare tubes to replace his 650c tyre, we had to flag a taxi along the highway to bring him back to the ferry terminal to head back home first.
after that, JJ and i went kinda crazy. we just pushed for the rest of the ride on a route full of rolling hills. we would come down for a hill at 40 to 50 kph, then start going up the next one at 40, until near the top where we (or rather, I) was pushing to go at 20+. there was some good scenery along the way which was quite pretty and made me lament the fact that i wasn't confident ennough to bring a camera along to take photos while riding. maybe some day.
this went on for quite a long time until my back cramped up after 120km. stopped for a while to stretch before getting back on the saddle to hammer it out till we reached ringit.
took a much needed water break at the wanton mee stall where we just kept downing liquids, before finishin the last 17km easy to the ferry terminal. by the time we reached i could not feel the numb-ed part of my body where the sun has never shone.
ride back was so-so. with our fellow passenger being very annoying. shall not explain.
eventually, we landed back in SG, and took a slow commute back home. total mileage for the day was 160km (i rolled the wheel a bit to round it up) Thanks JJ for the great training session!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
how fitting
From Theodore Roosevelt:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Dream as if we'll live forever, Live as if we'll die tomorrow.
on my way to a sub-5hr finish for Desaru Long D tri. hope that i can repeat it for aviva.
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Dream as if we'll live forever, Live as if we'll die tomorrow.
on my way to a sub-5hr finish for Desaru Long D tri. hope that i can repeat it for aviva.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
one of those days, in one of those places
i went into today's swim training feeling quite tired. i had not been getting enough sleep the past week (no thanks to a very disciplined 7am+ body clock and my recent penchant for sleeping past 12)
warm up was ok, though i could tell that i was not in a good shape. then came the pulling set, 8 x 200m. i did the first set with a rpetty good timing, and i thought it was gonna be one of those days where i just have to power my way through it.
i was wrong.
by the 4th set my mind was feeling so heavy and a bit delirious. i was just pulling brainlessly and my eyes were so heavy. so halfway through the 5th set i stopped. i had to do something about it.
so i ran off to buy a can of coffee. it was my first coffee in over a year, and i hoped that the sudden caffeine rush would wake me up.
and ta-dah! it did work. my mind was a bit more awake, and i resumed training with a good 400m kicking set.
next up were 4 sets of 6 x 50m. got through it with relative ease as compared to the pulling set earlier on. i could feel my body waking up.
last set was 5 x 100m "goal" set (just a different name from target set) goal was PB + 5s. for me that meant 1:15. (holy shit)
first 100m was a disaster. 1:19. baaaaaad. told myself i really have to push myself to not waste this training.
second 100m 1:15! obviously i was happy, and now i had a feel of what this time felt like, i knew how hard i had to work to hit the time again.
third 100m 1:16. not bad. and this time i really had to push my tired mind and body through it.
fourth 100m 1:17. uh oh, starting to drop time!
last 100m 1:16. whew! good end to the training.
what was more remarkable about the goal set today was those second 50m of the swim. with my head still feeling kinda heavy from the lack of sleep, i had to push my swimming muscles to keep pulling and stretching out to maintain the stroke, despite how useless they felt. i was in that part of the mind where i was fighting the body's urges to stop. physically and timing-wise this was definitely not my best. BUT mentall, it was a triumph today, when you tell yourself to push through that second half of a 100m, to keep stretching out the arm and pulling no matter how tired you felt.
i guess this is what makes triathlon, or endurance sport so addictive. as much as there are team mates and supporters cheering you on when you race, you have to reach deep down into yourself, and find out whether you are a fighter or a quitter, to whether you can push yourself to reach something somewhere that you once thought was impossible (or more often the case, unwilling) to go to. and when you get there, you come out of it more than satisfied, and hopefully, wanting more.
warm up was ok, though i could tell that i was not in a good shape. then came the pulling set, 8 x 200m. i did the first set with a rpetty good timing, and i thought it was gonna be one of those days where i just have to power my way through it.
i was wrong.
by the 4th set my mind was feeling so heavy and a bit delirious. i was just pulling brainlessly and my eyes were so heavy. so halfway through the 5th set i stopped. i had to do something about it.
so i ran off to buy a can of coffee. it was my first coffee in over a year, and i hoped that the sudden caffeine rush would wake me up.
and ta-dah! it did work. my mind was a bit more awake, and i resumed training with a good 400m kicking set.
next up were 4 sets of 6 x 50m. got through it with relative ease as compared to the pulling set earlier on. i could feel my body waking up.
last set was 5 x 100m "goal" set (just a different name from target set) goal was PB + 5s. for me that meant 1:15. (holy shit)
first 100m was a disaster. 1:19. baaaaaad. told myself i really have to push myself to not waste this training.
second 100m 1:15! obviously i was happy, and now i had a feel of what this time felt like, i knew how hard i had to work to hit the time again.
third 100m 1:16. not bad. and this time i really had to push my tired mind and body through it.
fourth 100m 1:17. uh oh, starting to drop time!
last 100m 1:16. whew! good end to the training.
what was more remarkable about the goal set today was those second 50m of the swim. with my head still feeling kinda heavy from the lack of sleep, i had to push my swimming muscles to keep pulling and stretching out to maintain the stroke, despite how useless they felt. i was in that part of the mind where i was fighting the body's urges to stop. physically and timing-wise this was definitely not my best. BUT mentall, it was a triumph today, when you tell yourself to push through that second half of a 100m, to keep stretching out the arm and pulling no matter how tired you felt.
i guess this is what makes triathlon, or endurance sport so addictive. as much as there are team mates and supporters cheering you on when you race, you have to reach deep down into yourself, and find out whether you are a fighter or a quitter, to whether you can push yourself to reach something somewhere that you once thought was impossible (or more often the case, unwilling) to go to. and when you get there, you come out of it more than satisfied, and hopefully, wanting more.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
SBS strikes again
this is kinda late, but i think it is blog worthy material.
so on tuesday i went to mount faber to do some hillwork on the bike. it was my first time there since crashing there last sem.
i was pretty happy after 8 loops and felt that it was a good session done, so i headed back to NUS for my 10am tutorial.
that was then it happened.
a bus had spilled oil all over lane 3 along pasir panang road, the right side of the road where i tend to keep to while cycling. i could not move right into another lane as there was the morning traffic rush of cars zooming down the second lane, and i was forced to stay in lane 3. the oil was black, and on the black road surface, indistinguishable. as a result, i slipped and slidded in the oil. the bus had broken down in front, and my bike went off to one side of the bus, while my head smashed into the bottom right hand side of the bus. literally, my helmet saved my life.
the bus driver was very nice and helped me up, then called an ambulance for me. i had 3 patches of abrasion along my left leg, one of which had torn a hole in my tights and near my butt. scdf arrived soon at the scene to apply soap and wash off the oil. one of them used his hose to help me wash my wounds.
the ambulance arrived and here was something kinda ridiculous. they said they were not allowed to put my bike in the ambulance, and one of the medics asked whether i could lock my bike at the bus stop while they sent me to the hospital. i gave him a look which i hoped made him feel damn stupid over that ridiculous comment. in the end the issue was resolved when i offered the solution of me taking a cab back to hall to put my bike down before heading to the hospital. they actually needed an accident victim to come up with a solution for them.
to cut the long story short, i suffered abrasions on the left leg, a sprained wrist, and a bump on the head (could have been more than a bump of not for my helmet) i got backt o hall and have to thank iajie for alot of the help he gave me. went to nuh and got cleared and missed my tutorial. my bike got a couple of scratches, and i put it at ah boon for them to help me check it out and write an evaluation for the damage done so that i can submit to sbs for compensation.
as it turned out, another cyclist crashed due to the oil spill too. he broke a rear wheel. sbs is in trouble now.
as per what always happens after a crash, im a bit sick of the bike at the moment, though with season coming soon, i will have to get back into training soon.
good new at the end of the week. my bone scan showed that i didnt have any stress fracture, though the inflammation is there. will have to take my run slowly now to prevent it from getting any worse, and really train very sensibly to get my run fitness back in time for season.
so on tuesday i went to mount faber to do some hillwork on the bike. it was my first time there since crashing there last sem.
i was pretty happy after 8 loops and felt that it was a good session done, so i headed back to NUS for my 10am tutorial.
that was then it happened.
a bus had spilled oil all over lane 3 along pasir panang road, the right side of the road where i tend to keep to while cycling. i could not move right into another lane as there was the morning traffic rush of cars zooming down the second lane, and i was forced to stay in lane 3. the oil was black, and on the black road surface, indistinguishable. as a result, i slipped and slidded in the oil. the bus had broken down in front, and my bike went off to one side of the bus, while my head smashed into the bottom right hand side of the bus. literally, my helmet saved my life.
the bus driver was very nice and helped me up, then called an ambulance for me. i had 3 patches of abrasion along my left leg, one of which had torn a hole in my tights and near my butt. scdf arrived soon at the scene to apply soap and wash off the oil. one of them used his hose to help me wash my wounds.
the ambulance arrived and here was something kinda ridiculous. they said they were not allowed to put my bike in the ambulance, and one of the medics asked whether i could lock my bike at the bus stop while they sent me to the hospital. i gave him a look which i hoped made him feel damn stupid over that ridiculous comment. in the end the issue was resolved when i offered the solution of me taking a cab back to hall to put my bike down before heading to the hospital. they actually needed an accident victim to come up with a solution for them.
to cut the long story short, i suffered abrasions on the left leg, a sprained wrist, and a bump on the head (could have been more than a bump of not for my helmet) i got backt o hall and have to thank iajie for alot of the help he gave me. went to nuh and got cleared and missed my tutorial. my bike got a couple of scratches, and i put it at ah boon for them to help me check it out and write an evaluation for the damage done so that i can submit to sbs for compensation.
as it turned out, another cyclist crashed due to the oil spill too. he broke a rear wheel. sbs is in trouble now.
as per what always happens after a crash, im a bit sick of the bike at the moment, though with season coming soon, i will have to get back into training soon.
good new at the end of the week. my bone scan showed that i didnt have any stress fracture, though the inflammation is there. will have to take my run slowly now to prevent it from getting any worse, and really train very sensibly to get my run fitness back in time for season.
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