GOAL Langkawi 2010

"If you have to ask 'Why?', you'll never understand."

I have begun training for Ironman Langkawi on 27 February 2010. This will be my third time doing Langkawi, having done it in 2000 and 2007. Langkawi is my choice race because it is close to Singapore, hence logistically and cost-wise, it is definitely easier and cheaper; I get to pay less for airfare, accomodation and food, dun need to buy a wet suit, and it takes slightly less than an hour to get there. I have been granted two days leave so I can hop over on a Thursday, do my race and be back in class come Monday. However, Langkawi is one of the hottest races on the Ironman calendar; not really ideal for someone like me who has got a high sweat rate and very prone to cramps.

The main goal of an Ironman is always to finish. Really, it is quite daunting just thinking about the 226km that I have to cover. Anything can happen during the race that can derail my chances of finishing it; getting stung by jellyfish in the swim, a bike crash, or just a broken bike part. These are really things that are not within my control, and I just have to hope and pray that all will be fine on race day. The thing that I can control is how I prepare myself physically and mentally so that I can best tackle the distance.

I have written a training plan for myself. This is the first time in years I am drawing up a plan for my training. Training has been quite haphazard for many years now. If I feel like training, I train. If I feel like 'whacking', I 'whack':) As a result, for the past two years, I have had one injury after another. My performance has also plateaued. I knew the importance of having a plan in my training but there were times I tried to draw up a plan and follow it, but due to stress from work and so on, it always got derailed.

This time round, I am determined to follow closely through with the plan that I have set for myself. I have found the plan useful as it follows me to have a big picture of what my training for this event is going to be like. It allows me to plan my training progressively, factoring in periods of build and rest, so that my body is able to best absorb the training load. Already, I am feeling stronger and able to cover longer distances in my training. It also allows me to see each training session in relation to the rest of the workouts in the week, and helps me to apportion my effort accordingly.

Though the main goal is always to finish, I have set a goal of 1:12 swim, 5:25 bike (including 2 transitions) and 4:00 run. I believe that these are times that I am capable of. If you add these times up, they equate to roughly a 10:37 timing. Hey Lawrence! Are you ok? That is almost an hour off your fastest time in Langkawi!! I know. But honestly, when I look at the targets, I just feel that they are very doable, and if I train properly, it will be possible.

Why do I want to push myself in an Ironman? I just want to be the best in something that I absolutely love doing. It is also to qualify for Hawaii again. But I am not going to kid myself. The slowest qualifying time for my age-group in Langkawi is in the low 10s. So even if I am going to have the dream day that I hope to have, it will require all those ahead of me to be down with diarrhorea before I am going to even have a chance of qualifying!:)

So far, I am coping well with the training. This is my fifth week doing the training and my body is adjusting well to the training load. I train with the hrm all the time, and almost all the training is done at an aerobic pace; I try to keep heart rate below 145 for the run and 140 for the bike. My longest run have been up to 19k, longest bike around 150k, longest swim around 2.8k. There is still a long way to go.

Right now, I am hitting my targets for training. But that's probably because I am having my holidays and I have plenty of time to train and rest. I really do not know what my time table is going to be like next year and how it is going to impact training. I just have to be flexible and reshuffle the workout or even reduce the training load if the need arises! I also need to be more disciplined and stop surfing bike porn at night!:)

The beauty of the Ironman:)

Powerman 2009

Last weekend, I was in Perak to compete in the Powerman Duathlon, a 11k run, 64k bike and 10k run race. It is my first time doing it, and I am very happy to be able to complete it! This is the first LD race that I have finished since the Singapore 70.3 in 2007!!

I have just been bogged down with so many injuries over the last few years that it has taken me a long time to be healthy and strong enough to attempt a race like this! This year, I have been bogged down by a few calf injuries. I would be running along, and then I would feel a sudden sharp pain on my medial calf muscle, which will reduce me to limping home. And this happened like 4 times this year!! Twice on each leg! I was supposed to take part in my school's road race on 31 August and I was looking forward to it as I hoped to inspire my students with my running, but 2 weeks before the race, I injured my calf again, and no matter how much I stretched and massaged it, it still remained sore. I had no choice but to sit out the race lest I injure myself further. That was probably the lowest point of the year for me. First, I did not finish Desaru, then I could not even run in the school's road race. The thought of giving up really crept into my head.

I tried to stay positive by focussing on what I could do. I just biked and swam more, and also strech more diligently. I used the triggerpoint roller on my calves and Emily used her hands when the roller was inneffective. Thankfully, after like one week, I was able to run slowly again. From that point onwards, my running just got better. I was able to do a few 12k runs on my own and a 15k with Emily.....the longest run in more than a year!! I even joined Des on a group run and was pleasantly surprised that I could still at least keep up.

Going into the race, I knew it would definitely be a hard day, and I was worried the race would be too hard on my legs; aggravate some existing injury or even cause some new ones! Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened. I was able to have a good first run and was picking off people on the bike. Previously, my aerobars angled downwards a bit, but recently I adjusted it so that it is now perfectly horizontal. This change, though slight, has allowed me to feel more powerful in the aero position.

The bike course was a 2 loop out and back affair. I was going pretty hard the first loop cos I wanted to catc up with the faster runners. But there were the sprint athletes on the course as well and it was pretty confusing who was in which race. I finally settled myself in a group that had an athlete in the australian racing uniform.....probably some elite age-grouper who I could key off I thought. But the pace of the group slowed during the second loop. So I put in a brief spurt just before the road climbed up a long bridge. When I hit the bridge, I wanted to stand and climb, but that sudden motion caused my right hamstring to want to cramp. I had to immediately stop and ease my legs a little before it got worse. Though it was just a 30 second stop and go, the group that I was with was long gone when I got back on my saddle. I pushed hard and was able to rejoin the group on the return trip.

My race just fell apart from the onset of the run. My left hamstring cramped up the moment I unclipped my pedal and touched the ground :) I was stuck at the bike dismount line not able to move as the hamstring went into spasm. It must have been quite a sight!:) It took a short while, but it subsided and I was able to walk gently to put down the bike and change into running shoes. It was the longest transition I have ever done! The first few steps of the run was very painful. My vastus medialis felt so very tight every time my foot landed. And I was just shuffling....not running!! I was never able to run more than 200m at a stretch throughout the entire second run! I would run a bit and then walk, and then force myself to run again. It brought back memories of how it was like in the last part of the ironman run. The heat was unbearable too! The lack of race and run fitness was really evident here. I was just surviving, not racing!

Given where I was in August, I am just glad I was able to finish. Looking at the results and on hindsight, I should have raced a bit more conservatively in the first run. There are a couple of guys in front of me who had a much slower first run than me, yet finished much faster than me at the end. God willing, if I am injury free and healthy, I will definitely want to go back next year and do much better :)

Buzzy Boy

Buzz has been staying with us for the last 2 months while his owner shifts to her new house. I think it will be at least another month before he goes home. Emily and myself really enjoy his company. In fact, we are so used to him being around that we let him sleep with us at night.....in between the both of us.....like our baby:) I think he has gotten used to us as well. He also knows how to control himself and not pee in the house when we leave him alone at home. He is also used to me kissing him on his head and when I bring my face close to his and say "kiss", he will give it a good lick:)

Hawaii Ironman 2009

My favourite National Day video:)

Solo Adventure:)

Last Friday, I drove up to Desaru for the half ironman race. I had to do the trip solo as Emily had to run in the inter-constituency race on Saturday. I was really excited about the trip up as it was the first time I was driving for such a long distance, and in unfamiliar territory, and alone!! Well, I tried to prepare as best as I could for the trip; reading up driver comments on the route on the forums, going through my route on google maps, making sure that my spare tyre was pumped up, and keying some emergency roadside assistance numbers into my hp just in case I met with some trouble.

I have to say that I really enjoyed my first "long" drive up to Malaysia, though it took just a 2 hr journey to reach Desaru from my house. I felt a sense of freedom and adventure very much like the first time I hopped onto my road bike. Reading those newspaper reports of Singaporeans dying in car crashes in Malaysia made me drive cautiously and alert for any road hazards. But once the traffic thinned out after I left JB, I just could not resist going faster:)

The drive there was pretty straight-forward; just had to make sure that I was in the lane after I came out of the checkpoint. That led me onto a busy road with many intersections, but I just had to keep driving straight till the turn-off to Desaru. It was very easy! Just follow the street signs!

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I had been planning to do the Desaru half ironman since the beginning of the year. In fact, this was supposed to be the last tri race of the season - the culmination of half a year's of training and preparation. I had high hopes for this race; I had fantasized about myself putting in a solid swim, bike and run and finishing high in the placings. This was to be a good build-up to next year's Langkawi. But all these were not meant to be. After a controlled swim, I was having a relatively good bike ride, just focussing on myself and not getting caught up with some guys speeding away from me. I told myself I had to be patient, and that those guys would come back to me. I had done some decent bike rides recently and I knew that everything was in control.

But coming off a long downhill about 20k into the first bike loop, I suddenly heard a "piang!" coming from the rear. The guy behind me told me that I had a flat. I stopped immediately and felt for the rear tyre......it was still rock hard!......no flat! Then I saw that broken spoke on the drive side of the wheel. I knew my race was over. There was no way I was going to ride the remaining 70k on that wheel. There really was nothing I could do. If it was a flat, I could change out the tube, but what can I do with a broken spoke?? The rim was rubbing against the brakes even when I opened up the brakes to the fullest. Then I thought that maybe if I released the brakes completely - no brakes, I might still be able to roll a bit. So I managed to wave down a passing Ang Moh rider and he was kind enough to slow down, back track and lent me his allen tool. After I released the bike cable totally, the rim was only rubbing slightly, but I realised that the tyre was also rubbing against the inner stays. Moreover, I tried to wrap the dangling piece of broken spoke around another good one, but it still hit against the stays. I did not want to risk damaging the frame and made the decision to stop completely :(

Now, I needed to get myself back to the transition area. A race marshall came by on a motorbike and I told him I had to pull out. He asked me to hop on!........with my bike! So there I was, sitting pillion behind him with my bike carried over my right shoulder. It was ok when the motorbike was moving off slowly, but once it gained speed, I was having trouble holding on to my bike as it caught a lot of wind resistance. Finally, after something like 500m, I asked him to stop cos I could not take it anymore......any further and I will drop my bike! Thankfully, the recovery vehicle popped by and I managed to get a ride to the transition area and I gathered all my things quickly and left......too embarassed that I had to DNF.

Though this is not the first time I had to DNF, it is the first time it had to happen due to a mechanical.....and that is most frustrating. I really wanted to use this race as a morale booster and a build-up to next year's Langkawi.

Up to now, I am still a bit upset that the spoke broke. These are top of the line alloy wheels from Easton. I had only bought them last November, and have probably only ridden on them not more than 10 times.........they are my race wheels! Maybe the roads were a little rough, but it shouldn't break so easily.

If you look at the pics of the spoke below, you can see that it did not happen in the usual location, which is at the head of the spoke. Rather, it is further away, near the transition point from tubular to bladed surface. It was as though it was so brittle that it just snapped off! :( Maybe mine was a defective spoke from the manufacturer. There would be no way to know this unless a break took place. I dun think I will ever ride this wheel again. Though it may be an isolated incident, I just won't know if it might happen again. I will probably get the spoke replaced and sell it off cheap. Maybe it's time to get the Mavic Carbones that I have been eyeing:)
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Well, shit happens......but it always happens for a reason right? Emily helped me to gain a different perspective on my misfortune. She said that maybe God was trying to protect me from something.....perhaps He let the spoke break now that it would save me from further heartbreak down the road.....can you imagine what it would be like if this happened in a big race like the ironman? Or perhaps He knows that my legs are still pretty weak for running and by ending my race early......injury will be kept at bay. I really dun know but life still goes on, and I will live to fight another day :)

GO LANCE!!!!

I was a bit disappointed after I watched the live coverage of the TdF last night. My hero, Lance Armstrong, could not respond when his team mate Alberto Contador attacked 6km away from the summit finish.

Today, everyone is saying that Lance's bid for an 8th crown at arguably the toughest endurance race in the world is over. In my heart, I am secretly hoping that is not true and that he will perform some miracle in the next few days, like how he did many times in the past; conquering cancer, winning his first in 1999, winning in 2003 despite trailing behind Ulrich for a long time, surpassing Eddy Merckx record of six wins, and finally winning 7th.

Really, he has proven again and again that anything is possible. It's all up to him now. GO LANCE!!!!

keepthosestreetsburning

Yep, "keep those streets burning", that's what it says on the inner side of the chain stays of my new road bike bike , the BMC Streetfire :) Well, it is not completely new; other than the frame, crank, chain and seatpost, all the rest of stuff are from another bike. It was bike lust more than anything that prompted me to buy this frame. I saw some guy riding it on one of the Anza rides and so went to check it out the web, and the next thing I knew, I was ordering it as it was on closeout sale!

And as usual, I built the bike up myself....really good practice for me! I spent the whole of Friday night trying to figure out how the integrated headset works. The headset came in a small box, with no diagram showing how they are supposed to come together. I was really stressed up assembling and disassembling the entire thing cos it just did not feel right! It was only the next day that I realised that maybe not all the parts there are for the headset! One of which might be the fork crown race for the fork!! Now, the last time I built the Planet X, the fork crown race had a split in the middle. This one did not have that! That's why I could not recognize it!

Lesson No.1 - Some fork crown races come in one solid piece!

Lesson No.2- The fork crown race that comes with the headset is not interchangeable with another headset, especially if they are from different brands. This is due to the angle of contact!

Next I tried to fit the crown race on the fork. I did not have the tools for this, but I have read on the web that it is possible to use a PVC pipe to hammer it in. So I bought a 30cm piece of pipe and did exactly that. But I still couldn't get it in! By then, I was getting a bit frustrated......I was tired, slept late, missed my Saturday ride, have not trained for 2 days......I really felt like pulling the plug, save the trouble and just bring all the stuff to Ah Wee and get him to fix up the whole bike for me. But I decided to give it one last shot. I brought only the fork and the crown race to Ah Wee. He was kind enough to use the special tool that he had and with a few hard slams, got the crown race in in less than a minute! :)

Lesson No.3 - If I dun have the tool for the job, just bring it to the bike shop!

Once that was settled, the rest was very easy:) It was a matter of putting the rest of the parts together. But I got freaked out one more time when I was setting up the rear brake. I realised that the frame was missing one set of brake cable guides on the top tube!!! On no!! I will have to strip everything and send the frame back! Maybe that's why they are on sale! Luckily, I calmed myself down and searched on the internet for pics of this bike and I was totally surprised by my discovery! There is actually a small hole in that CNC junction for some plastic guide for the brake cable to pass through!! So that is what the plastic guide is for! I had seen it while unpacking the frame but din know what it was. Luckily, I did not throw it away!

I am using a SRAM Rival crankset and bb for this build, while the rest of the parts are 7 year Campy record. I did not want to try removing the old carnk and bb from my old bike because it is already 7 years old, and I have never diassembled it once in those 7 years....I am sure it is all corroded and yucky in there! The chain is a SRAM as well. The width is almost the same as a Campy one so should not be a problem. I was able to get some practice in joining the chain together using a Powerlink; just snap and go! The FD from my old bike is a braze-on, and because there is no braze-on mount on my bike, I bought an adapter that converted it into a clamp-on. The adjustment of the derailleurs was a bit tedious as I had to read the campy manual to figure which screw is for high/low limit, but once that was done, everything was good to go! :)

Impressions from first ride this morning....

I felt comfortable the moment I sat on the saddle! :) The shifting was good; chain din fall off, gears did not ghost shift, every shift to a bigger gear was met by a reassuring "thunk!". However, the braking of the rear brake is a bit mushy; perhaps due to the plastic cable guide. There was also a bit of chain rubbing on the FD where it is on the big chainring, big rear sprocket combo...but that is expected.

Now, the ride..... I am just amazed by how the bike feels. Although it is an aluminium bike, and I am using the same wheels as I do on my regular carbon road bike......it is very comfortable and only feels a tad harsher! Maybe this is due to the long exposed section of the carbon seatpost, the full carbon fork and the carbon handlebars. In fact, though this is only my first ride, I did not feel any discomfort at all! Perhaps that is why Phonak chose to use the Streetfire, instead of their carbon SLC for the Paris-Roubaix-known for its many cobblestone sections.

The frame is really value for money. I honestly do not think that another frame costing 5 or 6 times of this will ride 5 to 6 times better. Plus, I really like the paint scheme on the bike. Looking at it just make me happy! Hopefully, this will spur me to ride more!

Go Lance!

All the best for your TdF this weekend!:)

Counting my blessings

I have just finished reading a series of articles on Slowtwitch that chronicles Jamie Whitmore's ongoing fight with cancer. Jamie Whitmore is the most successful Xterra racer of all time. But in 2oo8, she was diagnosed with a severe form of cancer that ended her triathlon career at age 31 at the top of her game.
Jamie1, Jamie2, Jamie3, Jamie4
It was heart wrenching reading about how she was in pain all the time, the numerous visits to the doctors and the many operations she has had, how she lost the use of her foot and that her left glute had to be removed, and she will probably never run another step in her life. The activities that have given her much joy in the past have been taken away from her. Yet in spite of all these, she has not lost hope in herself, nor the will to fight and carry on living as best as she can. I was really choking up when she said this in the last instalment
"Whenever you have hope, it keeps you moving forward. I realize many eyes are on me to see how I handle my situation and overcome. If I don’t give up, other people who may be tempted to give up won’t. They will have to keep trying because I am living proof of unwillingness to give up."
Even in her most difficult times, she wants to be a light for others!

This makes me very ashamed of myself.....cos I have become some sort of a whiner the last few months:( If I think I am having it hard, there are many others who are having it worse than me. I really need to count my blessings and be thankful for I have, rather than mope over what I don't! It is going to be difficult, but if Jamie does not give up, I will also not!

Thank you Jamie Whitmore, you are my hero!!

A breather....finally!!

I found this photo while looking for my educational certs recently. Can't believe how fast time has passed......it's been 17 years since this was taken!!! Shown here are me and my buddies from the graduating batch of VS Arrow Scout Troop 1992 on an outing to Sentosa. Seems like back then, I had quite a lot more hair than now!! :) This photo definitely brought back a lot of happy memories of my time in VS!

I am now finally enjoying my long deserved June holiday break. It has been a tough slog since April...setting exam papers and then marking them. My workload is definitely much heavier this year, and I am sad to say that at times, I have been going about my work with the least positive of attitudes!:( I also have this tendency to want to compare myself with others, and when I see others doing less than me, it makes me even more depressed. I really need to get myself out of this rut and just focus on doing the best I can in the circumstances that I am in. I think that the illustration that was in my earlier post was a good reminder for me; that no matter whatever hardship I find myself in, God has a purpose for putting me in that situation. And honestly, when I look back at the most challenging times of my life, I can now understand a bit why God put me through them.

And as usual, holidays is a time for me to train a lot!!:) I think I rode like 270k, ran 30k and swam 6k this week!! Now that is about 14 to 15 hrs this week!......something I have not done for a long, long time! I am pretty inspired by my buddy who is going to do Ironman Japan next week.......seeing him get all fit and ready for the race has re-ignited the fire within me to want to do another ironman again! Plus, I have signed up Port Dickson tri and Desaru half. If I dun want to turn my races, especially the one in Desaru, into a suffer fest, then I better do the training and get myself into some decent shape!

He has a reason for everything:)

got this through a friend.......simple illustration........yet the message is so clear!!! have a great week ahead!!:)

The Crosswalk

Awesome!! We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot.

Whatever your cross,

whatever your pain,

there will always be sunshine, after the rain....

Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;

But God's always ready, to answer your call....

He knows every heartache, sees every tear,

a word from His lips, can calm every fear...

Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,

But suddenly vanish, by dawn's early light...

The Savior is waiting, somewhere above,

to give you His grace, and send you His love..

Poetry in Motion

2 weekends of fun!:)

Pics were from last week's Trifam race. Hey! I think I am getting fat!! :( Must cut down on my yogurt drinks!! Anyway, the race was just plain suffering all the way.......I was not able to catch a draft on the swim:(, and as usual, I got out of the water feeling breathless! I got on the bike and just could not redline the way I want it to. This was the first time I was doing a tri on the Planet X and I was feeling really uncomfortable where my "crown jewels" are! I could not sit on the tip of the saddle like I normally do. I look really horrible in the bike pics:( Run was ok....at least the knee did not bother me. :)

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I am happy with my racing at the Tribob sprint today :) The water at Changi was nice and relatively clear. I had a good swim ....at least I didn't end up in no man's land swimming by myself...... was able to catch a draft the whole way, and that helped save some energy for the bike and run.

After last week's race, I adjusted my bike position a little; lowered the seat lower by 2mm, and the bars by 5mm. But I have come to the realization that I cannot ride in too low aero a position cos I become very uncomfortable; neck and shoulder gets strained. So after yesterday's ride, I swapped back to the original bar position. I also decided to race in swim trunks instead and put on my de soto seat cover to provide some cushioning for my "crown jewels". All those changes helped tremendously because I felt really good and comfortable in the aero position today!!:)

I got off the bike in a good position and was running steady. In fact, I was even trying to close the gap with the group in front of me! But into the last km, I felt a pain in my left calf. It was really painful everytime I tried to push off, so I had to really slow it down all the way to the finish.

Other than that mishap at the end of the run, I really enjoyed myself at the race today. Next up.......Bintan Tri! :)