Frustrating!!!

After noticing that my headlight is getting dim, I took out the battery and replace it with a new one.
Guess what? The 6-month old Cateye Uno died on me.

Year on year, I have tried to curtail my spendings on Sports.
I have categorised them into Race Costs and Shopping Lists.
Without fail, both categories will run into the thousand(s).
Doing sports is really expensive.

Buying sporting equipment is always like playing roulette.
Buy a popular model and you risk it
1) being stolen. (Cateye Strada Wireless(es))
2) being disappointing, cos it does not suit your needs. (Polar CS100 CAD)

I find it ridiculous to pay $90 for a small gadget aka Garmin GSC-10, thus it did not appear in my radar earlier.
Instead I opt for Polar CS100 CAD which costs double the price but come with a Cyclometer, a separate speed and cadence sensors.

What Garmin had failed to tell me is that good things can comes in small packages.
Garmin GSC-10 has an integrated Speed-Cadence Sensor!

For headlights and tail lights, I chose Cateye cos they are the most popular, and to most riders the most reliable.
Somehow Cateye does not live to it promises.
I am into my second sets of headlights and tail lights.
Tried out Knog Frog and Gekko, but due to Cerv-One aero seatpost and my rear hydration system, mounting it proves to be a challenge.

As careful as you tried to be with your purchases, it always prove to be futile.
Either you love it or loathe it.
Will be good if we have a trial period for our purchases. =p

The saddest part of the entire experience is that all the failed purchases does not come cheap... =(

Cycling 28th June 2010

After a 3 months break from training rides, I got an invitation to do a group ride with FOTR.
It was too good an invitation to refuse, so I was out of the house by 5am.

Judging by my Saturday morning ride on the trainer, I was not sure how I will fare on the ride.
On the trainer, 5km in 12mins is all I can conjured.

During the first 2km, I am feeling good. The cadence is great.
I am thinking that I will make it through the ride.

As usual, words are better left unspoken.
Tiredness started to envelope me.
The weariness has better wear off soon, else I will be in BIG trouble.
Luckily, the body din shock me anymore after the initial scare.

Manage to reach the RV point at 5:50am.
While waiting for the group to appear, I text BFG to inform him that the sky are lighting up. Definitely not a good sign.

The train arrive with BFG and Ivan taking the lead.
Once regrouped, we are off!
Up Kaki Bukit Viaduct (KBV) we went. An unexplored route finally travelled. =)
I am beginning to enjoy the ride with Zeros. =)
Much comfy-ier than my good old Shimanos.

Onto Tampines Ave 10 and it is back onto familiar territory. =)
While we were coming down KBV, I had the intention to ride onto the island when BFG mentioned "Single Lane Road".
I was still riding beside him, till he called out "Single file!"
Opps... =p

Onto Pasir Ris, Loyang we went.
The test came.
Going up Loyang wasn't easy, but I truly believes that Zeros took some of the punishment.
I am pleasantly surprised that I made it this fast without feeling fatigued.

Going down Loyang, I went ahead, wanting to prove that my past experience wasn't a fluke.
That I can travel down Loyang at 70kmh.
Sadly, that was not the case. Max speed? 49kmh.
So I was wrong. Parallax error previously, perhaps.

While riding towards Changi Village, the group felt that we are still early, so up Hendon Road we went.

I did not know Hendon Slope existed till I saw it.
Oh boy, my legs are shaking...
Up Hendon we went and I got easily overtaken by the other riders.
Near the end of the slope (Which I was not aware, since this is the first time I am climbing this slope), I am ready to throw in the towel (dismount and push), but I endure and I am glad I did. =D
I reached the top with my pride intact. =D
We waited for a short while and Wee Ping appear.
Kudos to Wee Ping for conquering the slope.

Going downslope is a hairy affair.
The slope open up to the Cranwell Road where cars love to speed past.
I am riding down with my buttocks off my saddle with only 1 leg clipped in and brakes fully engaged.
Probably wore out my brakes at alarming rate, but better the brakes than me.

Once onto Netheravon Road, it is time to chase.
Caught up with the group before they turn off onto Telok Paku Road.
Once onto Nicoll Drive, it was drafting time. =)
BFG took the lead and peel off after a few kilometers, allowing Ivan to pull.
Next up is <...> followed by me.
Jimmy is the last on the menu.
Both Jimmy and I faded away after we pulled the group. =p
Jimmy managed to stay near the trio while I am left to roll alone. =p
Tally-ho at NSRCC before proceeding to BFG's place for brekkie.

While sitting down for brekkie, the storm came.
The house was filled with laughter while everyone waited for the rain to stop.

BFG gave Wee Ping and I a lift home when the rain subsides.
Thanks for the ride and lift, BFG!
Truly appreciate it.

...

What sucks more than not exercising is to pick up a non-sports related injury

*-*-*-*

I believe I won't say the above sentence before 2007.
I would gladly stay at home and "nua" if I can. =D

But things have changed now.
Although I have not exercise much for the last few months, the passion is burning within.
Give me a race and I can go and complete it.
Or at least I try to complete it. =p

Even though I won't be exercising even with a good ankle, it just feels lousy to be down with a swollen ankle.
Had never felt this lousy even when I had a bad back eons ago.

But I am glad that things are getting back to normal even though the ankle still feels weird.
I can apply pressure on my left foot without feeling much pain.

Let's hope that I will eventually find my way to exercising.

I am gaining weight at an unprecedented pace.
Wifee has always complained commented that I do not control my food intake.
Hmm, it is prudent to say that I have not control my food intake for the past few years.
I just exercise to keep everything in check. =p

Time to burn some calories!

Lone Ironman

Being the only triathlete in the company, I gave up explaining to my colleagues the difference between an Ironman and a Half-Ironman.

To them, a Half-Ironman is as good as an Ironman.
They won't even be half crazy to attempt a Half-Ironman in their lifetime.

Many times, I got asked why 70.3?
70.3 is refering to the actual distance travelled during the race.
70.3 miles.
Miles, cos the race originated from the US of A.
70.3 miles translate to 113.2km.

Colleague(s) : "113.2km? You are crazy!"
JD : "Haha, I was crazy twice! =D"
Colleague(s) : "How far is 113.2km huh?"
JD : PIE is approximately 42km long. So imagine a half-Ironman covering almost 3 times the length of PIE.
Colleague(s) : "Siao! Driving from Tuas to Changi Airport is already so tiring."

A dinner conversation with a vendor got even more interesting.
We were talking about Navy Open House when the vendor asked me if I were from NDU.

JD: "Did you see the physique of the Naval Divers?"
Vendor : "If you can do an Ironman, I am ready to believe anything."
JD : O_o

I wonder what will they think if they know what kind of races Professor Kua Harn Wei signed up for. =)

Note : In case you guys wonder how my colleagues know I did the Half-Ironman. Cos I left my Aviva Ironman 70.3 wrist tag laying inconspicuously on my work table. =P

猪脚

Had my left ankle sprained pretty badly on Tuesday afternoon.
Was walking back to office after lunch when I slipped on a newly painted drain cover.
Had thought nothing of the sprain cos I have sprained both my ankles multiple times, till I have declared both my ankles un-sprainable.

Sat down to rub the ankles and insisted that I can walk back to office.
My nice colleagues had already flagged down a cab and insisted that we take the cab back to office.

The taxi uncle make the initial assessment.
"Sorry for being frank, but you are too fat. It is easy to get sprains when you are fat."

My colleague CS mentioned "But he is an Ironman".

Taxi Driver : "铁也会生疏.铁也会断." O_o
Of course, it prompted a good laugh from all my colleagues. =D

Second assessment came from my manager.
"You are too fat lah!"

Gosh... things are usually fine until you get injured. =/

Right now my ankle is swollen to about one-third larger.
This is still better than my previous major sprain.
The last time I got it, it was during a military exercise.
The swell was so bad that once I took my boot off, I could not put it back.
The leg was twice its normal size. I have to sleep with my leg hanging off the edge of the bed.
It put me out of action for a full month.

Ironman

I will never get tired of watching videos of the Ironman.

Here comes the question?
Why do I wanna do the Ironman...
It is a million dollar question that I have yet to find the answer.

I have struggled through 2 Half-Ironmans, which teaches me a lot.

1) One can NEVER do an Ironman without training.
2) Even if one trains hard, equipment used and attitude towards the race helps plenty.
3) One can never extrapolate the race timing for shorter distances to an Ironman timing. Sorry, mathematics does not work here.

Buds who want me to join them for IMWA 2011, I think I will have to disppoint them.
I will have to get my marathon time below 7hrs before I will even consider.

Let just say that I do not have a concrete plan on when I wanna do an IM.

PC Show 2010

Have not gone to a IT Show for quite a number of years.

Made an impromptu visit on the last day of the recently concluded PC Show.

Got myself a Garmin GSC-10.

Now comes the question. Why took so long to get something so valuable for training.

After losing two Cat Eye cyclometers earlier last year, I survived without a cyclometer for months till it got a Polar CS-100 with cadence sensor.

The frustration started right from installation.
I could not get the CS-100 and my speed sensor connected.
Solution came by means of an old Cateye magnet.

Biking distances proved inaccurate as the CS-100 will stop for periods during rides.
Notably if a car, bus or another cyclist rode past.
Must have something on these vehicles to disrupt the signals.

Even then the CS-100 battery won't last more than 3 months.
Within a span of 5 months, I had changed my battery 3 times.
The last straw was when the CS-100 stop detecting my cadence sensor!!!
I decided to leave without a cyclometer once again when the CS-100 died for fourth time.
CS-100 cannot even track half the functions that my old Cateye Strada Wireless does, so I was not even sad to see it die.

Spotted my colleague using a Cateye Strada Double Wireless.
So when I saw Garmin GSC-10 at the Garmin booth, it is like 'Eureka' time!
I found my perfect solution.

I can get my speed and cadence measured and stored for analysis.
Moreover, I won't have to worry about my cyclometer stolen ever again.
Why? Cos I am wearing my part-time cyclometer on my wrist. =D
With GSC-10, I can even track my distane if I were to train indoors.

Pre-Race Jitters

Went to Novena Velocity to collect my Tri-Factor Tri-Bike Race Pack this morning.

Was browsing through the Event Handbook and my heart skip a beat when I saw the Race Map.

I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I am feeling very kan cheong looking at the distance "15km".

Is that what an idyllic life does to a cyclist?

Reality Check

Fact : Jodan is Human =D

After completing 42.195km on 30th May 2010 and had only 1 day of suffering, anyone would have thought that I am abnormal.

Went for a 5km run today (5th June) and oh boy, it sucks.

The knee pain started almost immediately.

After the run, I can feel the strain behind the left knee...
Everything that should have hit me on the marathon took a week to surface.
Hmmm... if I din go for this run, I wonder if I would have gotten the pain at all?

My soles have been aching after the run.
2 days later (7th June), it is still giving me trouble when I walk barefoot. Oh NO!!!

Serves me right for not training for the marathon.

During the run, I noticed that if I just distract myself, I can run non-stop for quite a distance.
But if my mind is blank, I will start feeling my heart rate, the pain and all the negative thoughts will surface.
How do runners run for long distances on a daily basis?

The more I run, the more discouraged I become.
Ironman is like a Dream... A Dream that I can never fulfill... =(

The more I swim, the more I hate the chlorine, the salt water.

I am starting to like my idyllic life. I am starting to hate the smell of perspiration....

OMG... What is happening to me...

That Sinking Feeling

Just 3 months of not practising my swim drills and I feel like a whale.

In the pool, I tried to swim as if I have my swim buoy.
This will slow you down a lot and you will not be able to hold on to this pace for long.
The longer I swim, the lower my legs sink...
Gosh, I have forgotten Master's teaching...

Trying hard to recall, I just could not get the strokes right and ended up doing more laps of BreastStroke than FreeStyle.

Coach is just meters away, but he din scold me cos I am not in his class today. =D
But I do feel a bit "pai say". Sorry Coach.

Went to kaypoh on how Kia Liang is doing @ Coach's class.

KL has the right posture and his strokes were very efficient.
He completed a lap using fewer strokes as compared to all the other Lane 3 swimmers.
Had his cyclic rate been faster, he would easily have beaten the rest of the swimmers. =)

Having said that, I think all of us can make improvements in our individual disciplines. Be it Swim, Bike or Run.

But the most important factor of all is TRAINING.
Without training, no matter how good you are, once you dun practice for a while, you start to lose a bit of efficiency.

Vibram Five Fingers Speed

Again, got to know about this VFF laced shoes from T@z blog.
Nice. =D
So retro. =D

Why I Run?

Inspired by Kayano's post in the SGRunners Sundown Marathon thread.

Francis brought out the essence of the marathon.
One step at a time, we will make it to the Finish Line.

Oh boy, I truly missed the good old SGRunners forum that I had joined...
A forum that used to inspire and help runners, not flame fellow runners and run them down to the dirt.

If you look at my previous post, it is about Matt Hoover.
Matt Hoover is the winner of the inaugural Biggest Loser competition.
I must admit that I had a tainted dislike for him, because I feel that he cheated to win the competition.
As an ex-athlete and an ex-wrestler no less, he could easily pile on the kilograms and lose them just as quickly.
A strategy he used to great effect to win the Biggest Loser competition.

Matt gained my respect by completing Ironman Kona.
Yes, he missed the cut-off time by 3 minutes.
But what is important is that he crosses the Finish Line.
Matt never quit. Even when the sweeper threatens to pull him off the course, he persisted.
He got flamed by an Ironman Finisher "iamanironman2004" , whom I think is the real loser.
So far I have never seen a triathlete flamed another triathlete.
Probably "iamanironman2004" never noticed that it is clearly stated that Matt completed the Ironman, not finished the Ironman.
Matt is not an Ironman Finisher, but he completed the Ironman.
Kudos to Matt.

When you are counting down the miles, when you are counting down the hours, minutes and seconds to the cut-off time, I have to admit it sucks.
It sucks BIG TIME. I have been there many times.

But I guess none of us take part in a race to fail.
All of us wanna cross that Finish Line, irregardless of the time.

A Marathon is never easy. I respect every single runner who attempted the marathon, even if he did not cross the Finish Line.
Why? Cos he tried, cos he dare to stand at the Start Line and try to do a marathon.

Rewind....

SCSM 2006 10km... I pumped my fist when I was standing with the crowd at Esplanade Drive. It was a major victory for me. I have signed up for many races prior to this and I have DNF-ed the bulk of them. A little sniff, a little knee pain, a little backache, I decided that it is too painful to go for the race.

Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore 2009... It took me months to sign up for the race. Yes, months... The uncertainty, the apprehension, the anxiety.
Sought advice from friends who has done it and friends who has signed up for the race.
When a simple word of advice "Just Do It", just ain't enough to get rid of the cobwebs to click that "Register" button.

******

I am surprised I never wrote this entry earlier.

Weight : 108kg
Category : Morbid Obese
Advice by Sports Doctor : Do not Run. Just Swim.

Wearing my socks and shoes is a daily chore.
Simple task for most, difficult for me.
The tummy is always in the way.
How bad was it?

Imagine having to wears socks before your pants.
Imagine having to use a shoe horn to put on your shoes.

I have run/walk quite a few Sheares Bridge Run 6km.
I marvelled at the 10km and half-marathoners running up the Sheares Bridge and hope that one day that I can pick up the courage to do a 10km run.

After the Runners High during SCSM 2006, I started to run about twice weekly.
Perspiring had never felt so good.

The weight started to drop. 3-8kg.
My weight hover around 100-105kg for most part of the last 3 years.
But I had never gone back to size 38 pants since then.
I can only deduced that the fats has been converted to muscles.

I must admit that the first year was the most discouraging.
You have done so much running, yet the weight failed to dropped beyond 98kg.

Made a huge change during end of 2007.
No rice, just noodles or western food for lunch.
No coffee for any meals.
My weight dropped to 95kg.
I was happy that I lost weight, but I felt that I lost a part of my life too.
Eating is an indulgence, more so in Singapore.
To control my food intake is unbearable.
I went back to my old eating habits and my weight ballooned to 100kg.
But I am happy.
I am happy to maintain my lifestyle and keeping fit at the same time.

I know that by being fit, I can give my family a better life in more ways than one.
They do not have to worry about my well being.
By keeping fit, I am keeping most health-related problems at bay.
By keeping fit, I have more energy to play with my kids, something that was not possible before I started running, as I tend to be out of breath easily.

By taking part in group rides and races, I meet new friends.
Friends who do not see me as a 胖子, but as a fellow competitor. =)

Post Sundown Marathon Thoughts

Keke, I do look better in black apparels, right?
It hide all the bulge from the cameras. =D

All it took is one Sunday and I am back to my old self on Monday.
Incredibly refreshing, considering that I have just run-walked through 42km.

What worked?

2XU Running Tee was a good bet.
It did not retain much water.
Even when I poured over my head, it just flow onto the tee and stopped there.

Booster Calf Guards under my 2XU Long Compression Tights.
2XU Long Compression Tights has proven its worth many times over, both in races and recovery.
What I wanted and needed is the additional insurance.
And when Booster proves its worth after my quads started aching, I start to wonder why no one ever sells compression guards for thighs.
With Booster, I never felt any ache from the calves during or after the race.

My Biggest Gamble?... Newton Trainers

Newtons is lightweight and open mesh, as opposed to Asics Kayanos which are heavier and retain water when wet.
Advantage will be to use Newtons for the race, but common sense is the order of the day, so the D-tag was clipped onto the Kayanos.

Only when rain threathened to ruin the night, did I decide to take the huge gamble and switch to Newtons.
My precious Newtons may be crushed once the race is over.

Had some pain on the small toes, till I am quite certain that my small toenails are bleeding, but everything turns alright.

Even my socks, which usually get worn out after each marathon are spared!

At the end of the night, I am quite assured that it is the lightweight Newtons that had saved the race for me.

Surprisingly, the wear and tear on both the sole and heel of my Newtons are what I usually encountered during a run.

What din work?

The Newton race belt.
Before the start of the race, I dropped 2 gels just by rotating the belt from back to front.
I dropped another gel about 5km into the run.
Luckily I managed to retrieve all 3 gels.
Gels are my life-saver, won't know what I will do with 3 lesser gels.
After the 5km encounter, I keep check on my gels every few hundred meters.

Later into the night, the clip keep coming apart.
After some tug at the plastic, it managed to stay in place till the end of the race.

Thoughts during the race?

I am not going to do an Ironman.
A marathon after 3.8km Swim and 180km Bike is just unthinkable.
Ironman is probably just not for me.

That's it, guys.
Another marathon completed.
One day, I may just do a sub-8 or a sub-7.
One day....