And Counting 61 days to Langkawi Ironman

Wow, splendid week this was. To begin with, it was bonus time, more $$$ means more goodies!!!.

Took 2 days off during the week to do up my little girl's room. Had a deal with the wife that if all was completed by Friday, then saturday would be my time for a long ride. Achieved!!

Saturday morning 22 Dec, 2007, seven of us set off for Pengrang- Desaru ride. First time ride into malaysia. The roads so unpleaseant with portholes at the start. But as we moved along, the roads got smoother but the ride got harder. Why, it was because of the winds that was coming from almost all directions except the rear.

At the halfway point, I was like doing 19km to 21km on the climbs and managing 25km on the downhill. It was really punishing, but a good start to understand the conditions of riding in malaysia.

Thanks to the support car from Gordon, that helped to shealth off certain sections of the windy ride.

The return leg from Desaru to Pengarang was superb, with tail wind, we were hitting speeds of up to 45km on the climbs and along the flats with slight cross winds, up tp 35km/hrs for the entire 40km.

Completed the 103km in 3hr 41mins, not really to my expectations, but considering the wind factor, it was a good ride and great company with Encik, Kevin, Frankie, Dennis, Ryan and Kai Ming.

Did a run o Sunday morning of 7km, more of a slow recovery for the muscles. Planning to do 2 loops of costal on 25 Dec followed by a short run.

In all, the mileages are coming up to speed and should be clocking 180km rides by mid Jan 08 and 42km runs by end Jan 08.

Till my next entry, ride safe and train safe. Cheers

Entry 05 Dec, 2007 - 79 Days to Ironman Langkawi

It has been a while since I last updated.

So what has happened since the last entry?

Well for start, I got injured again. But this time was during a business trip walking down the hotel steps. Missed a step and badly twisted my ankle. This happened on 31st Oct.

So for the next 10 days after, I was only swimming and doing light spinning on the bike.

I have not clocked enough mileage yet to be confident that I would finish Langkawi in the target of under 13hours.

So far, I have only ran 12km runs with times of 1hr 5mins. Did short loops around costal and selarang climbs.

I need to up the tempo for the next 8 weeks if i want to survive Langkawi and meet my target.

In my plans, i target to do at atleast 8 long rides up to 190km, runs up to 40km and swim up to 3.5km for the next 2 months.

Knowing that December will be a wet month, hopefully mother nature would be kind to drop rain only in the night.

Another kind of interesting thing is I am comtemplating on doing XC riding during the off-season. But now I am not sure as to which bike I should get, an XC hardtail or 700C Cross bike.

Technically speaking a cross bike suits me fine as the geometry really does not need me to adjust much. And I have more comfort in riding a road geometry frame than a MTB.

Well let's see in the coming weeks, which bike I would choose as my off-season ride.

Till my next post, ride safe and stay healthy.

Counting the Days to Ironman Langkawi

After last Saturday's crash, i have taken it easy. Did mostly slow runs and long swims.

Clocked up from last Tuesday to Sunday the following

Tuesday - 2km swim
Wednesday - 8km run
Friday - 2km swim
Saturay - 10km run
Sunday - 85km ride (loops around coastal)

The back injury is still hurting, but slowly recovering.
Will be planning a brisk this saturday, 3 loops around coastal- SG Expo, and run at Bedok Reservoir.

Hopefully the weather will be good.

Just counting the days to Langkawi, another 122 days remaining.

Till the next entry, train safely.

Week ending Oct 14, 2007

I have just finshed watching the Ford Ironman 2007 live on webcast. I am so impressed with all those that finished the event and especially the last finishers as they pushed themselves to the finish line with minutes to the cut-off time.

Now back to my own training week. Did not do any swim this week, but did alot of running and riding.

Here's the training for the week

Tuesday - Ride 40km.
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday morning - Run 7km
Friday Evening - Rest
Saturday morning - Ride 92km
Sunday morning- run 10km

However the saturday ride was not so pleasant as I crashed on my final km as I was negotiating the trafiic light at Tampines ave 10 and old tampines road. I flipped over my bike and landed on my back. Got a swollen lower back now and a few bruises from the crash.

But this should stop my training as I count down the days to Langkawi with 132 days remaining. Till my next entry, train safe.....

Counting the Days to Ironman Langkawi

I am back again. We are almost to the weekend and the days seem so fast passing us. A galnce at my watch and it is remaining 135 days to my first Ironman race.

This week has so far been good, did a 40km fast ride on Tuesday with ENR and Cotes ride group. As usual, I was late for ENR, played catch up for almost 2km before seeing the sweepers of ENR. Caught up with the front group after the turn at SATS and continued to ride with Edkor until the end of the first loop. Stopped and checked my wheels which was giving some noise.

Took a short break until Cotes riders came and along them to pass a good 3 minutes before I caught up with the front guys. Lead the group from SATS turn until the Tanah merah ferry terminal.

Today morning, went for a short 5km run before work. Tomorrow morning will be doing my morning swim at 7am. Hope to complete 30laps.

The highlight for the weekend will be my plan long ride on Saturday morning and long run on Sunday. Hope that my muscles will hold well for the ride and run.

Stay tune for updates on Sunday.

Week ending Oct 07, 2007

It was a hectic week with deadlines on work assignments and limited time available for training.

Started my training week on tuesday evening with the ENR ride x 2 loops coastal, followed up with a 1 loop of coastal with Cotes. Worked out all the lactic acid and had my pulse racing to 210beats /mins for a while during the ride.

Finished the evening with a drink at the usual place for Cotes.

Wednesday and Thursday were non training days due to assignments.

Friday, went for a run in the evening, did a short 5km loop around my home.

Saturday morning, made an agreement with my daughter that I would run while she cycled to Bedok Reservoir. We did the inner track of Bedok Reservoir and made our way back home.
Covered 8km for the run.

I am still not getting enough mileages for my run. Must fit in a long run on next saturday morning, should at least do 3 loops of reservoir and back to home which should be 16KM.

This morning, did the BSKL reload ride with the ENR group. Cycled from east coast F2 to Tuas and back. We did a detour to marina south and on the way to tuas, used the flyover that stretched from Telok Blangah to Pasir Panjang. The ride on the flyover on the way back was a fast one at speeds not less than 39km for the entire stretch of the flyover. This was due to the back tailwind and drafts from the big container trucks. The total distances covered to and back was 77km with a reasonable good time of 2hr23mins.

Felt really tired after the ride, but still continued the outing with the family.

The week ahead looks better with alot of outsanding assignments completed. Hopefully I can put in a swim on Wednesday morning and Friday morning. A run on Thursday night and a long run on Saturday.

Sunday would probably be loops around the coastal road x 4 sets to try and hit the century distances.

I am also counting down the days to Langkawi with 138 days remaining. Stay tune for more updates next week.

Cheers

Summarising the week's training for Sept 07.

It has been a good last week of september. On Tuesday, did a fast 2 lap ride with the Cotes riding buddies.

On Thursday, ran a good 8km from my place to bedok reservoir and back home.

On Friday mornng, had a good swim after 2 weeks.

On Saturday moring, did a 6km run around Tampines.

Today morning, did a 70km loop of coastal and 1 climb of selarang. Met with Enrico, had a brief chat, saw the BSKL reload group riding in a close pack on the flats.

In short, I had a good week of training. Next week will be increasing the distance for my runs, ride and swim.

I should be doing a good 30% increase for all discipline by the end of the week. I am also counting down the days remaining to Langkawi Ironman, 145days left.

If my plans goes right, i should be doing a 150km ride by end this month, 2.4km swim and a half marathon.

Stay tune for more of my updates end this week. Cheers

An Early Morning Swim

It is a friday morning, 28 Sept 2007. Got up at 6.30am, told myself that I have to swim today as it has been 2 weeks since I last swam.

Struggle out of bed, into the shower and let the cold water run onto me, wow that was a shocker cold shower in the morning. Woke me up straight away.

Took a good 10 mins walk to the pool, by the time I arrived, there was also a crowd that probably started their early swim at 6.45am.

Did a slow 2 lap warm up and off I went on my 20lap count. Initially had planned to do 30laps, but due to time constraint, settled for 20laps.

The swim went well although the pool was with quite afew swimmers. As everyone was doing laps, we were considerate to use 1 lane to 2 persons to avoid unnecessary stops.

Did a 26min for 20 laps, was all the way using breast-stroke. I felt really good after the swim, arms were a little tired, but I was feeling good.

Went back home, had a good warm shower and left for work.

Tomorrow morning, I will do my long run of 1 hrs to see how far I can get with that time.

Sunday morning will be the long coastal ride with the ENR guys.

Till my next entry, cheers

First Brisk Trg After Aviva 70.3

Got up early this morning to a perfect weather for riding. Set off at 6.30 am with my ride buddy Frankie and headed down to Coastal road.

The light breeze was very refreshing as we cycled along coastal road at a good pace of 35km/hr. Occasionally we had the sound of aeroplanes roaring as they took off from the runway that was just 500m away from the road.

We did a coastal -selarang climb and loop back to coastal. By the first loop of 30km, the traffic along selarang and the cargo complex began to built up. So instead of doing a second loop, we made 2 loops of coastal and completed my first long ride of 60km after 2 weeks of rest. I must say it was a good ride and we completed the loops in 1hr 40mins.

Back home, I took a half a power bar, Apple and Cinnamon flavour. I must say that when I first tried this stuff, it tasted like crab stuff to me. But having used it during Aviva 70.3 on the bike and run, I got to admit that it really helped me alot and now I am like dying to chew on these power bars whenever there is an opportunity.

Back to where I was, had a mix of Gatorade lime, put on my new NikeAir-zoom Skylon and off I went for a short 5Km run. During my run, I bumped into one of my fellow triathele whom I met during the Osim Sprint event. Stopped for a brief conversation and share our next events, he was preparing for the Stand Chart Marathon. I told him that I was in the midst of preparing for Langkawi Ironman. We wish each other the best and off we continued with our run.

Completed my run in 25mins and off I went to the food court to search for breakfast as by now I had already burnt 1600 calories and I was humgry for food.

Found my favourite dry mee-pok with fishball. Ordered 2 packets, one for the mother as my wife skips her breakfast everyday.

Wow, have to admit that the noodles was so good which puts an end to another good traning day for me. Going to skip training tomorrow as my sister-in law is getting married.

Cheers

Tuesday ENR Ride

Finally the weather was kind enough to allow a Tuesday evening ride. As usual, I bike out to coastal road earlier than the ENR group to do the loops on my own.

I had a good ride for 3 loops of coastal, met up with the rest of the ENR gang after the ride at our usual meeting point before safra country club. Today, I surprised all of them by finally joining the group for night supper at lagoon hawker centre.

Finally got the chance to the taste the so called famous wonton mee. Not so good after all, as Edkor, CEO for ENR told me earlier so as to lower my expectations.

Junior, our joker of the group and crash test dummie, bought drinks for all as a repayment for saving him during his recent accident with Inda, and also offering advise for his ITB problem. Don't know if the solutions really helped.

Tomorrow Wednesday, have to test out my new running shoes from Nike, Air Zoom Skylon. Hopefully my CEO doesn't complain again about me being away from home in the evening. Well she did nag alittle that I came home late after ENR, guess she has resign to the fact that I am serious about Tri, and that's just about the only hobby I have other than work.

Well got to now........ stay tune for more updates.

Just another rainy day -16 sept 07

Got up as planned at 6.15am this morning for my ride. Looked out of the window and saw the little rain drops on my roof just below my room.

Okay it is raining, so the bike ride is not possible as I don't intend to ride in the rain.

Let's see if the mother nature has a change in hearts later this evening, so for now I will just rest and look forward to a day's outing with the family later.

The Journey Begins

It has been 2 weeks now after I completed my first attempt of a long distance tri, the Aviva 70.3 has brought much intense desire to try for a full Ironman. It all began in 2006 with the Osim mini which I completed with pain and sweat. Now after almost 14 months and many hours of training, all the lonely runs in the early hours of the morning, night swims and countless times of being dropped during rides and upgrading of equipment, loss of almost 11 kg in weight since Jul,06, I muscled the courage in 2007 to go OSIM sprint and following that the Aviva 70.3.

Completing the 70.3 in a time of 6hr 25mins was an accomplishment that I never though was possible. I must say that family support from my wife and daughter on this journey has made the training less painful and I muts be thankful for the good health that I am blessed with. Now with this new confidences that I have gained from the 70.3, I have commenced to embark on my Ironman journey to 2008 Langkawi Ironman.

Today I begin my training with my first swim after 2 weeks, it sure feels good to clock the distance of 20laps. As I am writing now, I am also planning the route that I should take for tomorrow morning's ride. Got to go now as I need to be up by 6.15 am for my long ride.