the funnest 600 calories you ever burnt!

soon end of 2007 will come around.. and 2008 will be begin.

to mark the begining of a new year, and accelerate our year end goal of losing weight (who in the developed and parts of developing world is not actively or hoping to lose weight) i am organising a fun but calorie burning event.

29th dec 5pm
botanic gardens

one of my fav run

transition... post race... looking ahead

this is the end of season for me...
what does one do when there is nothing to look forward or train for?

1. sign up for another race! especially if the last big race was a disappointment.
2. review the past performance and evaluate the long term goals and plan how to get there. goals like racing till you are 70 needs more long term perspective.
3. do all the things that you never get to do when training, meet up with loved ones, sleep in a little, read more, clean up your house or workstation that you have be procasinating not to!
4. eat!!! all the junk food that you have promnised to reward yourself with. (in which you might regret later ;( )

there are many things to do.. and you might want to do many other things like even trying a new sport but the most important thing to remember is that you should plan and plan with achievable goals.
if your long term goal is to run till 70 then you might want to plan strengthening exercises for the coming season or this transtion period instead of being the best frisbee player for the coming season.

things to think about;
1. what are your long term goals
2. what would you have done differently for this season that you could do for this coming season
3. what are your areas of weakness, strength and interest? and areas of personal growth, can this plan accomodate or take note of all of these
4. do you have the resources to achieve them for the coming season or in the next few years
5. are you having fun or should you do something really different or have a more fun goal

just some thoughts ....

Taper week for 70.3 or any other big races

This is really a time of anxiety and rest.
You are supposed to rest and allow your body to recharge and be ready for the big day.

Yet

You feel so anxious about it, and you start to worry about things especially training that you could have done and started to wonder whether you can sneak in the one last training that will help your big day.

What should you do?
1. Reduce distance in your training. It is really tough as your body is so used to training, the reduced stress seems surreal and unfilled. You can do more but you need to hold back! Depending on the distance of the event, you should reduce 50% or more from the usual workload. BUT maintain intensity, in another word, do the reduced distance at race pace. You want your body to get use the pace and not slack.
2. Do not eat too much! Most of us tend to overeat in anticipation of the big day. Your body can only process so much. With the reduced workload, the extra that you stored from eating will just be converted to fats. And this is the least preferred fuel that your body would like to use for race day.
3. Write up your race plan. You should always have a plan or strategy on how you want to race the course. If there are hills, what sort of gear ratio you would be using or how would you be running it etc. include in your plan; pre-race meals, warm up, hydration and nutrition strategy, pace that you would want to do and even cool down. Have a plan when things don’t go the way you planned, what adjustments would you be making for it.
4. Check and tune up your equipment. Never use anything on race day that you have used before; bike, goggles and attire. Clean your bike and if you have the time and money, send to bike shop for tuning before the race. The bike needs more love and care before it. You want to be sure of your equipment and DNF (did not finish) because of some mechanical fault that could be prevented.
5. Stretch and do all you can to prevent injuries just before race. You won’t want to toe on the starting line knowing that you have pain or nor there. Use heat and ice treatment. See a therapist or go for a relaxing massage. You can even beg your team mates or friends to give you one. But do it 3 days before the race to allow your body enough time to recover from all the kneading of your sore muscles.
6. Check out the race course. Visualize and make the changes you need for your race like a longer run from the swim to T1 or transition 1 area. Check all the drinks points and what they serving and make sure you have no problem with them. It would be imperative that you go for race briefing especially for the races that you have not taken part in before.
7. make plans for post race like transport etc. you won’t want your experience to be marred by being miserable and tired at the finishing line waiting to get home to wash up and refuel.
8. Thank all who have helped you to come this far! They deserve it!

osim tri last weekend.. another way to look at it ...

Last weekend was the Osim International Triathlon race.

It was raining cats and dogs for the 2 days but at least the sat’s race went on smoothly except for the rain started at the tail end of the bike segment.

Sunday’s race was a wash out for the age groupers as all of them did not get to do the whole distance of the race (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run)

The organizers had to stopped the race midway due to thunder and lighting. The race was then modified to a dualthlon of bike and run after the weather has cleared.

It was a heart breaking moments for a lot of the first timers and also for many who has trained hard for the race.

Next time then…

But this is not the first time that a race has been cancelled or changed due to weather.

Last year’s ironman in New Zealand and Korea has to be modified to a shorten bike and run of 90km bike and 21km run instead of the 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run. It was really frustrating for many who had trained and spent all these money to do the race (US$300 at least for entry fees and excluding all the travel expensese and accomodation) and yet unable to call themselves ironman despite of all that they have done.

Well, this is life.

There are things you can prepared and there are things that we can’t.

But we certainly can change the way we see it.

For some of my students, they were happy to have it shorten so that they can race it a lot harder.

For some of them, it was like a second chance that they can train harder to do a better one next year with their own bike rather than borrowed equipement.

And some, it was just great that it was not hot!

there is a bright spot to all things but the question is can you see it?

it is fun as long as you do all you can to prepare for it

The Port Dickson triathlon race 2007 was marred by a very sad incident. It was reported that there was a 55 year-old cyclist from KL who drowned during the race on Sunday 22nd july. It is just one accident too many. The sea was calm and it was just before the rain. He was at the last wave of the start where there will be no one swimming over him if he has started from the end of the pack.

I saying this especially from the position as a coach; in the sea when you render unconscious, the chances of survive is 1:1, on land your chances go up to 100:1. you need to and have to do all you can to prepare you to swim in the sea. The confidence to be splashing around with 500 other anxious athletes pumped full of anxious energy at the start, the ability not to panic when the sea is choppy and after a few mouthful of sea water and technical ability to swim straight and read the waves. In the bike leg, the most that could have happened to you is to accident, and the run leg, dehydration.

I would like for everyone who wants to swim in open sea for whatever reasons, to do all that they can before they do it in race or alone.

You can be gung-ho for bike leg, at most you get into situations and come out with some scrapes and bruises. worse case hit by vehicle.

Or run with some leg injury and long term damage to your body.

But swim, it is matter of minutes when you drink too much and started to struggle and sink. when you start to sink and stop breathing, you could be unconscious and all maybe over.

Triathlon is very safe and fun, like diving, you just need to be prepared and trained for it.

please take lessons, swim in pairs or groups, have an experienced coach or mentor to work with you. if there is any money or time you should invest into triathlon, it is safety and comfort.

see you at the next race!

Not all massages are beneficial

When was the last time you feel tired and achy?
And what came into your mind?
Maybe a massage can help to rejuvenate those tired achy muscles?

I was thinking along those lines too.
Has been increasing my intensity and volume in my training in preparation for 70.3 Half ironman race in September.
And my body was protesting a little.
So I booked for a massage to accelerate recovery.

The massage was a basic deep tissue whole body massage.
The session was ok but at the end of the session I felt slight headache coming on.
For the next 1 hour it just got worse!
My head was tightening and tightening. It makes walking around uncomfortable.
Tried to remedy the situation with some hot honey ginger tea but to no avail.

Had to go home on my off day and cancelled my swim coaching.
Slopped in front of the television but even watching telly was a pain.
Had a simple dinner of soup and bread but a cocktail of vitamins and garlic pill before I went to bed at 8pm.

The headache did not let up and tossed around like salad before falling asleep.

Got up at 8am and felt great!

I think the flu virus was incubating in me for a while (hope I did not get it from anyone …) and the massage just created a super highway for them to travel to the rest of my body. The virus that will take a few days to act it, did it in an hour.

So the moral of the story, if you are feeling under the weather, rest but no massge!

establishing your pace for training for the dwim discipline

when you are driving on the expressway, you drive just below or just above the speed limit of 80km/hr or 90km/hr.
when you are driving around the car park looking for a parking lot, you drive at snail pace of 20km/hr or less to avoid hitting anyone walking around the car park.

when you are out running with your friends socially around the park, you run at an easy pace to chat.
when you are running in a race, you run till you feel like throwing up.

you drive at different pace for different reasons, and you run at different pace for different reasons.

unlike the car, apart for purpose, your ability to run at different pace is dependent on your physical ability and limitations.
to run as fast as possible for any distance you need to train for that distance.
but there is a magic pace that you have now that you can vary your training for any distance from that. it is the latact threshold we are looking at.

for swim
3x300m at maximun effort with 30 secs or less rest in between. there should not be more than 15 secs difference from the 1st set to the 3rd set.

for bike
2x5km at maximun effort with 30secs rest. note the temperature, wind condition and terrain for testing.

for run
2.4km as fast as you can.
note conditions

will use these values to give you your pace for training for sprint, OD, half ironman triathlon training.

advantage of being in a team with a coach

when i started doing triathlon, there is no triathlon team nor coach. all i did was to train with people who are better in the different disciplines. i will try to swim with the swimmers, run with the runners and bike with the cyclists.
i will read all about triathlon from the one and only triathlete magazine, read Dave Scott training bible and just talk to people. anyone who has something to tell me about triathlon i will listen.

and i did this in the midst of my university education while working part time as home tutor for my allowance.

it was 20 years ago.

in the school that i coached, we persuade athletes to come for training, we provide coaching, training program beyond the training sessions, run camp and give talks on areas concerning the sports like nutrition and injury. we try to be comprehensive and encouraging.
even managed to get school to sponsor entry fees for races and attire.

most people will complained that motivation is the reason why they are not training...

there is a team who will train with you regularly that you need not travel afar for, just walk down to the pool or track in school.
and there is a coach who will correct your techique that you did not spend money for. most private sessions are $80 - $120 for techique correction.

but there are still others who complained that they can't do the sports because they have no time nor money for the expensive cool gear. can you give up some social life for training or use functional but not too cool gear?

granted you might not be interested, then there is no point is trying.
but if you are keen, what is the real reason for not benefitting from the training?

are we making things more complicated or it is really advancement

Last month I bought a pair of running socks for $15. I remember the first pair of $1.50 socks I ran with was some white thin cotton stuff that I wore with my white canvas school shoes. It was really thin and with nothing fancy. I wear the same socks for everything including a kick around with my plastic soccer ball on the void deck.

20 years later, I have socks for cycling, walking, being comfortable with my street shoes and of course running.

And some of those socks were meant for flatter racing shoes, to the thicker ones for my more cushioned shoes. there are those with left and right differeniated cutting, and those with more material to creat a soft landing in the forefoot and heel. and even those who gives support to the arch.

and some with funky design and match your personality (i have a pair with shark motif)

Have we made our live more complicated or it is really advancement?

But I feel that there is really an improvement in comfortable, even though even so slightly…

you can read a runing shoes only review at
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-320--11862-0,00.html?cm_mmc=Extra%20NL-_-2007_05_22-_-training-_-REVIEW%3a%20Best%20Socks%20for%20Every%20Occasion

BTW i bought the nike one in the review :)

top 10 excuses

everytime i have a session, my clients, students or friends will come up with some genuine reasons, excuses for not being able to perform well at training or simply can't do all the sets.

but i must give it to them that they show and they are trying at times i wish they will try a little more...

top 10 excuses
1. hormonal imbalance so i can't run
(i dont know men can have hormonal imbalance like women pre menstral)

2. she needs me to keep her company so i am not going to do your training set
(i think she is emo and want to run alone and maybe she does not even want your company?)

3. i ran yesterday so today i am walking
(wow counting the number of steps you are running? maybe should think about burning more with extra workout?)

4. i ate less than 30min before workout as i have no time for lunch.
(humm you forgot that there is training in 30mins? and you have time to sms me and msn but no time to eat?)

5. my shoes are old, i can't run in them
(should be have bought new ones 1 month ago, the excuse is getting too used)

6. i feel sick today, i cant do the hard sets hard but i can do everything else.
(you must be quite well to do all the workouts, what is increased of 10% effort? or maybe you are so sick like having viral fever that you should stay home and rest and not come to infect all of us!)

7. my goldfish died, i am sad
(so you cant run?)

8. i got to reserve energy to eat at the buffet later
(you should workout harder to eat more later!)

9. too much school work to do so very tired
(think exercise can energise you, try it)

10. i just dont feel like working out
(amazing that you come, then you are really trying.. just try?)

how much do you really lose during a workout?

the TP performed below expectation for their IVP (inter varisty poly) race in late march due to dehydration. everyone complained that it was way too hot during the run.

heat and humidity is a very real problem in our climate. the langkawi ironman race that was completed recently seen more than 25% dropout, which is very high for an ironman race as most of the athletes came very prepared and most of them are suckers for pain. even they admit defeat in the face of 39 degrees heat and almost 100% humidity.

for the team who race under 1 hour, dehydration is not such a big problem yet as the chances of them getting heat stroke and other heat related conditions are low. but their performance can be severely compromised.
a loss of 3% of body weight can impaired performance of up to 10%.

as a test and preparation for the april national school events that will be held at 2pm, we conducted a almost mid day workout to monitor the amount of water lose and plan hydration and nutrition strategy accordingly.

in teh 5km or 30min run on the track at 11am, all the athletes lose 500g to 4kg of body weight. all the athletes go to toilet before they weigh themselves in the gym, and fill up their water bottle with knowledge of how much they drink during the run. after the run, they did not change out of their wet sweaty clothing (that may account for the little difference in the body as we did not account for the the heavier soiled gear we are in) and weigh themselves again on the same scale.

the difference in weight + water consumed = total water loss

some of the athlets lose only 500g or less, some lose 4kg but most lost more than 2% of body weight. taking into consideration that this test only account for 30mins of heavy workout and some may not workout as hard, the loss in 1 hour would be around 2 times or more what we witness.

all of us are individual and our body respond differently but one thing for sure, all of us drink way too little before, during or after. and we dont replenish enough electroyles or suitable carolies for our training and racing needs.

do you know how much you hydration and nutrition you actually need?

birthday surprise from TP team...

| View Show | Create Your Own

surprise birthday celebration by TP team. with the most embrassing singing of birthday song in our regular dinner joint at some coffee shop, the cannot blow off candle and the biggest birthday card that is a challenge for me to bring home on my bike...

but thanks!
it was a surprise!!!

next time do remember to take pictures with me...

one of my many housewarming

| View Show | Create Your Own | Playlist

post cny special at Botanic Gardens

it was great to see Eric the Viking, Mrs Subaru Leong, wan wan and in pain Fata for the first post cny special at Botanic Gardens on the bright but not too hot Saturday morning.

it was an easy walk with some short hills sprints session.

Great time for the gang to catch up and make a dent in the calorie inflation over cny. even though it might only be a dent i am sure it is only the start of the multi dimension attack of the love handles and journey towards good health.

it was a good 1hr 10min of walk with spurts of sprints and finished off with some drills.

Nothing too strenuous.

i think some were motivated by the shocking sight of their reflection in the mirror after the expected raise of the bak kwa, pineapple tarts index rather than the prospect of walking in the only other rain forest in Singapore.

Hope to see all of you soon again for more calorie burning and bonding workouts.

my journey of healing

it really be frustrating to wait it out.
to rest and do all that you can to recover from an injury that do not essentially stop you from doing what you want but just not at 100% condition.

part of my regime in my road of recovery for the next 2 weeks;
beside asbtaining from running and biking is to take anti - inflammantory even when i experience no pain just to make sure that the deep muscle are completely healed.
see my therapist twice a week for deep tissue massage.

i hate the pain from the massage.

what is the point of suffering all these pain during massage, aren't massage suppose to make you feel good?
not this type of massage...
deep issue massage aimed to break down the scars in the muscle. these scares are not the superficial ones that you sustain after you trip but rather it your tissue that harden after injury or during healing like a hamstring strain. it is inelastic and will decrease the flexibility of your muscle.
the breaking down of the scars will cause new scars to form. this is when you must make sure you stretch and increase the elasticity of the muscle so that the new scares will become 'better' scars. inflammation may occurred during the process.

the repeat action hopefully will help your muscle to regain its former ability.

all the best to me for the next 4 sessions...

my journey to recovery...

i am injured.
this is not news but for the first time i am going to work at it systematically.

with the amount of abuse my body has been subjected in the last 20+ years with all my races and lack of rest, it is now screaming for attention.

my hamstring strain that i sustained when i was 15 is still haunting me this very day. due to the reduce muscle flexibility there, my right has been compensating. it has overworked and now it is protesting. my gluteus medius (the top bits of my butt that joined the lower back) is tight and and my lliopsoas muscle in front of my hips and at the groin area is under a lot of strain to level my hips. unsure whether this or it is the symptoms of the tightness in my trapezius muscle (upper back).

long story short, i need to undo all these tightness especially for my back and strengthen my stability muscle.
that i will need time, help from physio therapist, sports doctor, money and discipline to do it.

will update on my progress.

for now, no running and biking for the next 2 weeks.
stretch and use heat pack daily.
see my therapist twice for trigger point release of the painful knots.

and swim.

i hope to be be ready for strengthening by mid Feb!