When I first started training for triathlons, I devoured some books on the subject and thought I could do decently just going to the pool and do the laps and then watch youtube videos to try and perfect my swim strokes. I had come off a running background and gone into multi-sports for variation, to break the monotony of pounding on the streets and mainly because I had started to get niggling knee and back pain and I was losing a lot of weight. Triathlon training would put a bit of upper body muscle from swimming and cycling would build leg strength and endurance and all the while, cardio workouts will not be compromised.
I had experienced improvements in my riding since training with the FOTR riders and picked up a lot of valuable tips from the gang. Sometime after the Aviva 70.3 where i clocked a dismal 50 minute swim, I thought I would benefit from proper swim classes. I was focused on stroke correction and wanted to get out of the water feeling better than more rested than all the races I had been in.
A colleague introduced me to YF. Mind you, i had started with another group but motivation was a real problem. I ended up going only for had of my signed up classes last year. Well, YF classes last 1 hour 45 minutes and it was heart poundingly tough. I learnt certainly more than stroke correction. I learnt that training at a consistently higher intensity was something I never did. Pushing the limits constantly was tough for me and I was literally panting after each set. Mind you I am still the slowest in the class but I have increased my distance and have gone faster( albiet only slightly). Above all it has made me fresher when i come out of the water and can get in some decent bike and run splits. Oh, and it has done wonders for my running as well
Monday, August 2, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Port Dickson International Triathlon 2010
Well the PD race has come and gone. It was a fabulous weekend. Rain threatened to ruin the race. when we convoyed up to PD on saturday, it had drizzled and at some point threatened to deteriorate into a formal tropical storm. The clouds were low and heavy with rain and we drove slowly; mh with daddy and mummy( the 3 bears minus goldilocks), cs and family and hp with me. We drove at a leisurely pace and were at PD by 12 where we had a relaxed lunch. Place reminds me of radiator springs from movie "Cars" where Lightning McQueen found his true love. In fact we joked over lunch that the place is so laid back and sleepy as a town that when you got in, your resting heart rate automatically would have dropped to 33/minute like Alberto Contador's!
We got up really early and checked in our bikes after a quick breakfast at 5 am; then settled down to enjoy the atmosphere. It was high tide at 2.1 meters so we didn't have to duck dive or do any other fancy stuff. We just had to dive into the water on the gun. It was to be a one loop L shape swim out into the open sea before making a left into the marina where the waters would be as calm as a swimming pool, cs assured us.
From the beach start, i tried to get in with a faster swim cadence and then started to draft as much as I could. I was a bit worried about swimming the full 1.5 without touching dry land as i have never done that before. Even at the Aviva 70.3 race, it was 2 loops of 900 m so this was going to be a first for me. I was getting comfortable and was swimming well although i had the occasional kick and the usual prat who held on to my feet. Got out of the water at 35 minutes on my watch and then made the slow run on sand to the T1 where i took about 3 minutes thereabouts to get out on the bike.
It was to be a fabulous ride. I had to stop to retrieve my profile design aero bottle when it fell out of the harness. I could ill afford to lose a bottle, particularly one that would set me back $60! haha so i back tracked slightly and grabbed it; with the excitement, I noted with amazement that i had a tremor that made it difficult to fasten it into the contraption. Thank God I don't get this on my day job! I was careful to look for potholes and the fact that it was draft legal made it risky for me to get onto my aero bars for fear of ending up in one of them particularly when u have riders on both sides of you! After 3 to 4 km on the hoghway, we banked a hard right and that was when the rolling hills began.I was using my Orbea and i dropped 2 gears to help me climb the first hill. Felt good and strong when i started to catch a few guys. Then it was a long downhill run and i got down into an aero position and felt my speedo go up to 50 km/hour; By that time, my Garmin started going wonky and i realised i had run out of memory. There were a few more hills and by the 4th, I was slowing a lot because I was pushing pretty hard. I relaxed a little and thought i should keep at a steady pace of 30 to 32 km/hour( by feel i must add!). There was traffic and one needed to stay alert. I was so alert i started to notice fallen hand pumps, CO2 gas canisters , Bidon's, gels and was tempted many times to stop and pick up stuff. After Bintan where Literally drop everything from my Bike, I thought it should be time to recoup some of my monetary losses from repeated purchases of all these supposed essential stuff. I was moderately grateful that the back spasm that plagued me at Bintan did not rear its ugly head.
I got into T2 and then got out pretty quickly i think. I was halfway out when i realised I forgot my sunnies and had half a mind to turn back. By this time, I had actually no idea what was my bike split timing but resolve to put in a solid run. I got off at a decent pace and felt strong. I remembered Lloyds words the day before to keep my cadence high and steps short and felt like had a lot in my tank. we turned left and I remembered the run course would be hilly and would take us through at least 5 hills. I thought I should count it. Another game I played was to see how many people I can pass and i concentrated on passing as many people as i can. on home leg I counted I caught 89 people on the run. I probably pushed a fair bit but was pretty fresh when I finished the race> i glanced down at my Garmin stopped it and the time was 2:50:56. I was incredulous, a pb certainly for me.
Official Time: 2:50:56
Swim 38:18
Bike 1:19:26
Run 52:02( !!) course must be shorter than 10 km! haha
a PB for me!
next question: can I do better?? should aim for 2:45 for next OD( haha! my memory for pain is certainly short!)
We got up really early and checked in our bikes after a quick breakfast at 5 am; then settled down to enjoy the atmosphere. It was high tide at 2.1 meters so we didn't have to duck dive or do any other fancy stuff. We just had to dive into the water on the gun. It was to be a one loop L shape swim out into the open sea before making a left into the marina where the waters would be as calm as a swimming pool, cs assured us.
From the beach start, i tried to get in with a faster swim cadence and then started to draft as much as I could. I was a bit worried about swimming the full 1.5 without touching dry land as i have never done that before. Even at the Aviva 70.3 race, it was 2 loops of 900 m so this was going to be a first for me. I was getting comfortable and was swimming well although i had the occasional kick and the usual prat who held on to my feet. Got out of the water at 35 minutes on my watch and then made the slow run on sand to the T1 where i took about 3 minutes thereabouts to get out on the bike.
It was to be a fabulous ride. I had to stop to retrieve my profile design aero bottle when it fell out of the harness. I could ill afford to lose a bottle, particularly one that would set me back $60! haha so i back tracked slightly and grabbed it; with the excitement, I noted with amazement that i had a tremor that made it difficult to fasten it into the contraption. Thank God I don't get this on my day job! I was careful to look for potholes and the fact that it was draft legal made it risky for me to get onto my aero bars for fear of ending up in one of them particularly when u have riders on both sides of you! After 3 to 4 km on the hoghway, we banked a hard right and that was when the rolling hills began.I was using my Orbea and i dropped 2 gears to help me climb the first hill. Felt good and strong when i started to catch a few guys. Then it was a long downhill run and i got down into an aero position and felt my speedo go up to 50 km/hour; By that time, my Garmin started going wonky and i realised i had run out of memory. There were a few more hills and by the 4th, I was slowing a lot because I was pushing pretty hard. I relaxed a little and thought i should keep at a steady pace of 30 to 32 km/hour( by feel i must add!). There was traffic and one needed to stay alert. I was so alert i started to notice fallen hand pumps, CO2 gas canisters , Bidon's, gels and was tempted many times to stop and pick up stuff. After Bintan where Literally drop everything from my Bike, I thought it should be time to recoup some of my monetary losses from repeated purchases of all these supposed essential stuff. I was moderately grateful that the back spasm that plagued me at Bintan did not rear its ugly head.
I got into T2 and then got out pretty quickly i think. I was halfway out when i realised I forgot my sunnies and had half a mind to turn back. By this time, I had actually no idea what was my bike split timing but resolve to put in a solid run. I got off at a decent pace and felt strong. I remembered Lloyds words the day before to keep my cadence high and steps short and felt like had a lot in my tank. we turned left and I remembered the run course would be hilly and would take us through at least 5 hills. I thought I should count it. Another game I played was to see how many people I can pass and i concentrated on passing as many people as i can. on home leg I counted I caught 89 people on the run. I probably pushed a fair bit but was pretty fresh when I finished the race> i glanced down at my Garmin stopped it and the time was 2:50:56. I was incredulous, a pb certainly for me.
Official Time: 2:50:56
Swim 38:18
Bike 1:19:26
Run 52:02( !!) course must be shorter than 10 km! haha
a PB for me!
next question: can I do better?? should aim for 2:45 for next OD( haha! my memory for pain is certainly short!)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The week before the Port Dickson Race
Well its not quite the eve. there are some more days to go. Its not a race that is quite on my personal A list but its there to spice up the racing calender of the year for me. I was pretty miffed with the weather in Munich. Was to have done 2 glorious days of cycling with Nils but we were rained out. Throughout the week I was there, it rained trhoughout and I was left wondering if I was truly experiencing summer in Germany. Well at least there was the World Cup and I spent the afternoons and nights watching footbal.. Managed to clock 40 km during my stay there which was small consolationfor not being able to cycle.
It has since been a fruitful month; and this week because of unforseen work committments decided to join YF's monday's class. Swam 3.2 km; twas hard but great sense of satisfaction. WOke up this morning same ol same old and did a bike/run/bike/run which feltgood. Legs were not too heavy and managed a decent 5:20 pace at heart rate of 140/min.
Suppose will do another ride tmrw( God willing) and possibly a swim if i have the time and do another run on thursday before heading up to PD on Saturday; but not before a night of gastronomic fellowship with sake and japanese-chinese fusion at xi-yan!
It has since been a fruitful month; and this week because of unforseen work committments decided to join YF's monday's class. Swam 3.2 km; twas hard but great sense of satisfaction. WOke up this morning same ol same old and did a bike/run/bike/run which feltgood. Legs were not too heavy and managed a decent 5:20 pace at heart rate of 140/min.
Suppose will do another ride tmrw( God willing) and possibly a swim if i have the time and do another run on thursday before heading up to PD on Saturday; but not before a night of gastronomic fellowship with sake and japanese-chinese fusion at xi-yan!
Friday, June 11, 2010
4 Days in Taiwan
The last time I was in Taiwan was a mere 6 months away when i attended the National meeting in Kaoshiung and I am really glad to be here again at the kind invitation the taiwanese neurosurgeons again. Te flight into Taoyuan was good. Managed to watch "Ghost writer" which I thought was a decent movie with Ewan Macgregor. I thought he aged a bit but who hasn't right? The drive to Taichung was painful and took an hour more than usual because of the jams at the gihway. The sky was grey and it was drizzling but I didn't mind that as it kept the weather cool. When i reached the hotel, any hopes of running on the streets were dashed. It was just not too conducive and I thought I would do some gym work except my legs had gone to sleep after all the hours in the plane and car. I spend the rest of theday in my room catching up on paperwork and preparing my presentation for the next 2 days.
This morning it was another hour to Chang Gung Memorial Chia-Yi hospital to meet and run a mini-symposium on intra-operative imaging. It was a new hospital in the middle of nowhere but the size of SGH(!) with a well thought out layout. I spent 2 hours hanging out there doing a short presentation and going through some of the nuances of using the system and how to modify workflow to accomodate this new technique in surgery.
The highway stops for meals and rest have changed so drastically since the last time I had the chance to stop by which was during my army days. I tried to remember why I hadn't had the chance to view the new changes and realised I had either flown or taken the train, not ideal ways to see the country. We had an uber( with umlaut) fabulous meal of beef noodles before making my way here.
I plan to do some catch up reading for a bit and then possibly hit the gym today before attending the dreaded booze filled dinner which I can't sneak out of. As is typical of taiwanese banquets, everybody carries a glass topped with booze( you name it!) and will walk around to toast each other. As a guest and invited speaker, you get your fair share of "bottoms- up" so the trick is to not touch a drop will this activity starts. Feels like when i do a tri race; i try to conserve energy by doing absolutely bugger-all till the gun sounds! haha.
I can't say i enjoy travelling as much as I have before but I suppose some invitations are hard to turn down. I had already turned down 80% of invitations this year because I would rather stay at home. So this year, for conferences, I have only accepted Seoul( which i have done), Taiwan( 2 down!), Munich( next week, aargh!), Ho Chi Minh, Tubingen and Bali and hopefully there wouldn't be anymore. Then I can have a more ordered life!
This morning it was another hour to Chang Gung Memorial Chia-Yi hospital to meet and run a mini-symposium on intra-operative imaging. It was a new hospital in the middle of nowhere but the size of SGH(!) with a well thought out layout. I spent 2 hours hanging out there doing a short presentation and going through some of the nuances of using the system and how to modify workflow to accomodate this new technique in surgery.
The highway stops for meals and rest have changed so drastically since the last time I had the chance to stop by which was during my army days. I tried to remember why I hadn't had the chance to view the new changes and realised I had either flown or taken the train, not ideal ways to see the country. We had an uber( with umlaut) fabulous meal of beef noodles before making my way here.
I plan to do some catch up reading for a bit and then possibly hit the gym today before attending the dreaded booze filled dinner which I can't sneak out of. As is typical of taiwanese banquets, everybody carries a glass topped with booze( you name it!) and will walk around to toast each other. As a guest and invited speaker, you get your fair share of "bottoms- up" so the trick is to not touch a drop will this activity starts. Feels like when i do a tri race; i try to conserve energy by doing absolutely bugger-all till the gun sounds! haha.
I can't say i enjoy travelling as much as I have before but I suppose some invitations are hard to turn down. I had already turned down 80% of invitations this year because I would rather stay at home. So this year, for conferences, I have only accepted Seoul( which i have done), Taiwan( 2 down!), Munich( next week, aargh!), Ho Chi Minh, Tubingen and Bali and hopefully there wouldn't be anymore. Then I can have a more ordered life!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A Week of Sloth followed by a return of the old routine
Last week, I stayed 5 days in Seoul and what was supposed to be a relaxed trip turned hectic. The journeys to the hospital from the hotel was an hour every morning. I stayed till 5 pm and then made the ardous journey back before preparing for dinner. Seoul is crowded and I mean really crowded and I am not one for crowds. Give me a quiet place anytime. The long and short of it was that i brought my shoes and exercise gear and all but did not venture out once. Must be the long days and the night filled with sohchu and Calbee beef. So I was certainly glad to be back. Did 2 short sessions in the 25 m pool focusing on my kicking . Rode with Cheks and the turbo but today's workout was memorable. Took my bike out to RRR and did 3 loops and stopped only to rest at Mayfair park. kept a measured pace when climbing and stayed seated. I kept on big chain ring although the gears used were rather big but focused on trying to keep cadence and in aerobic range. Overall I was pleased with my effort.
Kept the session short as tomorrow as I have a sufferfest of a swim session with YF.
Kept the session short as tomorrow as I have a sufferfest of a swim session with YF.
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