Has been a while...

Well its been awhile since my last entry. Major things to report? have managed to encourage 3 of my frens to do a mini-sprint. hooray! even did a mini- training session at sentosa to help out. The fledging triathletes look great.

Then after much procrastination i i signed up with yellowfish for formal swim lessons. He video taped my swim and the description wasn't pretty! i was described as a Longkang swimmer much like how a dog might swim! I watched the video and winced; well at least it can only get better from there! my head was bobing up and down, i did not pull fully, my kicking would not have dislodged my grandmother from her sofa. to add salt to wound, i developed cramps in the latter part of the session, an ignominuos first for me.

somebody asked me again why i choose to escalate the level of distance( i.e sprint to od to 70.3 to ironman) and not focus on one distance and excel in it? well i suppose i could but hey, isn"t life's challenges about facing your fears and doing what can't be done( at least to you?0 . if i can do a sprint, then my personal progressed must be measured according to what distances i can now complete that i could not previously do right? what is the point of finishing a previously distance i had previously finished except to do it faster? okay okay it shows you have improved but personally what cuts for me is facing my fears. why did i sign up for the phuket 70.3? i would think it would be the hills. my personal resolution would be to train and ensure i will not push my bike up those steep hills but to grind my way to the top. its not about a personal pb, its about facing your fears( in this case of hills) and conquering them. to do what i i thought i could not previously do; that is what its all about isn't it?

I really must be getting old...

after the last post, expounding bravado and testosterone,  i literally in the last 2 days. It was hectic. by late wednesday, I was feeling the effect of having workouts for 7 days straight. As luck would have it, my patient deteriorated in the early hours of thursday morning and i had to scrap myself out of bed to operate at 4am in the morning instead of cycling. Took me 3 hours and a lifetime to stop bleeding. I left the operating theatre drained and hunted down a coffee dispensing machine to give me a much needed caffeine boost before dashing to do a round at ttsh and then saw 2 patients in the clinic before dashing back to sgh to start my elective operating. Hey if i thought the ironman was insurmountable maybe today would test my inner resolve again. I went straight into action and resected a brain tumour in double quick time in a lady with a solitary metastasis from breast cancer, then rushed to the Novalis suite to plan treatment for a guy with recurrent brain mets from a lung cancer. Then its back to the operating theatre for the mother of all skull base tumours  which took all my energy. the tumour was so darned difficult I did not have lunch or did i stop for a toilet break. Twas 10 pm when i finished. So today was a bit of a wash out and after another brain tumour to remove, i didn't feel much like going to the pool for a swim. most likely it will be a early night where i will sleep well and hopefully dream of a good weekend to get in some quality workouts.

Back to the Usual Routine

Post Aviva 70.3, there has been a bit of distraction that has taken me away from the usual physical workouts. I have been pre-occupied with operating and work; i bought a new bike adn spend hours tinkering with it and countless more hours dreaming about it. I was mulling over what races i should be doing. Last week though, i got some training albiet low volume.

Did 2 short tempo runs( 2.5 km and 5 km) keeping my pace about 5:30/km and lower adn both of which came out of bike workouts. I went to the RTC 's 25 m pool to practice bilateral breathing and kicking. Will need many more hours to streamline my swim and make it look like i am drowning. Did an OWS at Siloso and swam about 1.5 km and got stung by jellyfish twice which prematurely ended the endeavour.

All in all, an easy pace 8 hours 15 min last week.

I plan to crank it up a gear and for start my preparations for the Tribob's sprint and OD events in May. A bit more tempo runs and speed training would be in order; i have negelcted running of late because i am obsessed about right swim strokes and cycling speed and spend the lions share of my workouts on these but in rality, I make most progress in any race in my runs so it would make sense to keep my running fitness and catch and move up the ladder on the runs

So i have planned 4 runs this week. I have done one 4 km tempo run at 5:10 on monday after the swim. I plan to do a 10 km race pace run today; a 20 km long run on saturday( since FOTR is not riding) and a speed session on sunday.

In the meantime, I shall continue to mull about the Phuket 70.3!

Cycling is all about lungs and legs, not gear...

Isn't that obvious,speed on the bicycle no matter how sophisticated when distilled to its basic elements, is all about lungs and leg strength. The exercise scientist quanitfy that by measuring VO2 max, an index that measures the efficiency of gaseous exchange and utilization.YEt, as cyclist, the proverbial " bad cook always blames its utensil" instinct in us laments about our lack of aerodynamic insufficiency, unwanted weight etc as explanations for our inadequacy on the bike> Logically speaking all of us should just by mid level bikes spec"ed to its onto basic components based on what we know in our heart right?

Of course not. There is always a better groupset, set of wheels, stiffer frameset, more comfortable seat, stiffer shoes to set our pulses racing. We indulge in these because we want it for aesthetics, its "cool factor", the way it makes us feel on the bike.

Just got a road bike yesterday. some of it was part reason, part want more than need. The Wilier Cento Uno Di2 with ritchley front stem and Zipp 1080's. Took it for a spin this morning, felt like I was riding like the wind and marveled at the way it handled( certainly much better than a TT bike); the Di2 shifted gears like a charm. The electronic" whirring " sounding futuristic as the gears moves silently in place. I could keep up with a couple of guys on the Dogmas on the Mandai climb; wow that was a first.

I got back and wanted to look at my average speed. I supposed I should be a lot faster than previous outings. WHen the data churning was done and presented I looked at it eagerly,anxious. Well you guessed it, speed improved by only 1 km/h.

Do I Need a Coach?

Well the 70.3 has come and gone and it was personally a major milestone for me and I had completed it; oh ok i completed with barely 10 minutes to spare. Now for another mountain to climb. I am still deciding if I should be doing the IMWA. It may be a real tall order as it stands; but its either that or try to do another 70.3  race or 2 right?

I have been mulling over the need to get a coach to help me. Well SH needed it and it really helped him. He did a 6:06 and scores of other chaps have it. I have always baulked at   having structured training but I do acknowledge that:

1. it provides motivation
2. the other chaps in the class will spur you on
3. you meet like minded chaps who can be friends for which you can enjoy the races together.

The problem is the job i have does not make for organised training. A single case lasting 12 hours will put my training plans awry. Painful as it is, I am afraid I will waste money getting into a program i can't keep up with. Also I always thought and prided in myself the ability to push myself through barriers and self motivattion has never been a problem. I could no doubt still complete and train for an IM event by following programs in books/ websites but what if i could increase satisfaction by not finishing in the top half of my age group?

So the last 2 days I have been trawling Shem leong's and yellowfish and Tribob"s website deciding and I am still doing so.