Marathon Week - June 2012

Monday

Get to gym as usual before work. An hour on the stationary bike to kick start the week ahead.

Legs are a bit tired. Most probably the peak run 8 days back has not recover yet. Well, my peak is either 2 or 3 weeks before marathon day.

It has been a long time since I gearing up for the event that is why the body reacting and I need time to remember and adjust to the demand.

Going to ease down and get myself to the start line healthy.

Another week closer

Last week LSD is 35km. Am i ready? It could have been better.

It has been so long ago since the last marathon. Body has been in decline mode for many moons. Don't know if it will works when called upon.

Looking ahead at the events that are line up. This is going to be a good challenge to push up the bar. Hopefully i can gain back my fitness to prepare myself for bigger "fish" next year.

The though of a new working environment doesn't go well with what i have planned for my fitness.

Anyway, let see what is in store for me in the future.

Trying

I am trying to restart the habit on writing. Its not getting easier over the years.

Many things happen over the past 6 months. Too many of them.

Workload has increase tremendously and I am drowning. Despite cry father and mother for additional support for months, nothing has come out of it. When the support does eventually arrived(there are no way it won't). My feel is that it is too late. At least for me, the hurt from the organisation that it is best to separate. I have been in this for more than 11 years and go separate will be good for myself and the organisation.

Workouts have been hit and miss all these months. I can see that the weight has decrease, stamina has picked up. Trying to push further, body is not responding. It is gonna be a long road back.

I have no idea why i agree to climb up Mount Kinabalu. It was fun to say the least. It also show how unfit i am. Climbation is a history.

Relationship is an interested matter. Managing expectation will leads to a long and successful relationship. Sometime you treat someone nice, but the person find you a nuisance. Well, that is fated. Opportunity given, chances taken, if it does not click, it won't. 

Watching the rain can be emotional draining if you let your mind wander aimlessly.

What don't kills will make you stronger.

21st - Finally

We take things for granted. It is only when we lost the opportunity, then we rue the missed. It is too late. Yes, most of the time it does.

The last attempt is 3 years back. I am left with no choice but to live with the situation.

I procrastinate over many things. When i can take it any longer, i have to do something.

Fortunately the issued is resolved in August this year. Which is unexpected! One thing leads to another, i am back in the clinic and have my 21st poked yesterday.

It is a long journey. I cherished the experience and content with what is blessed upon me.

Slow Moving

On 10 August, i went for another session of ablation. It was successful according to the report.

A 3 years in the waiting. I should be rejoice that it isn't a lifetime of waiting. I should be satisfied.

I need to slowly trying to gain back the fitness.

It has been 2 weeks since the Ops and i am still not 100% sure i am fully ready to charge up the "hills.

I have to put in extra effort and carefully moving forward. My toes nails has been very "clean" for quite a while now(just realise yesterday). I don't think it will stay that way.

Target is still to keep the event max out at 21km this year, while i build up the based slowly.

Missing Days

I am BACK.

It was somewhere in May 2008 that i went for the surgery. Yesterday i had another Go.

It has been 3 years of sliding since, hopefully the additional weight gained will disappear over the next 12 months.

Target 2013.

Sleepy - 28 June

Still feeling sleepy throughout the day. Guess age catching up for this "overnight stun" over the weekend.

Staring in front is a large crowd of runner enthusiasts waiting to embark in a ultra long distance event. Looking down on the feet, the excitement or the magnitude of the event suddenly engulf onself, why we are putting ourself to the challenge.

Many times i tell myself, take things easily. A step at a time, target my first objective and slowly grows from there and surely over the course of hours/mins/seconds, eventually will reached the end.

Some times, i felt fresh. At times horrible. When i look back on the past events, i just wonder how do i manage to do it. There is no mountain that is too high to climb, or a distance that is too far to cover, or the water is too far to reach.

Fate has a way to dealt with thing. Good or bad, eventually life still goes on.

Sleepy...27 June 2011

Felt rather sleepy for the the last couple of days. After getting the sleep "clock" move, naturally there is an effect.

Head to the gym as expected. An hour on the bike to start the week, which is rather cool. But somehow tiredness is not able to spurn me up.

10th August, gonna take another plunge under the "knife". It has been a long time since, just need another opinion. Not putting too much hope, as most probably the result will be the same.

Let see how it goes.

40

What is life @40?

My weight has reached record high. Isn't that mid age problem?

High BP, record weight and in bad shape?

There is no difference between what is yesterday compare to what is today.

Life still goes on, though a bit slower(older).

First Marathon

It is always nice to witness someone complete the First Marathon.

Last weekend, 1 colleague and 1 colleague daughter finished their first during Sundown event. Guess the first marathon is always memorable.

I have mine long time back, and wonder do i still have a marathon left.

Given the fitness, or rather the lack of it. I doubt it. Maybe i should just throw caution to the wind and just do one for "kick". I should be still capable to do a decent long "walk" in decent pace when required. Without putting it to a test, i won't be able to know whether i can still do it!

Even there is one, it will be a short notice. Let see...

Borneo Trip

I miss the last Borneo Marathon. This time round, have to nail it. :p

Manage to jio quite a few for the trip to Kota Kinabalu as well.

This will be my forth trip to KK. Each trip the feeling is different, similarly this time round is no difference.

Reached KK on Friday evening(29 April). Almost didn't make it when the taxi booked didn't turn up! Have to drive to airport in my own vehicle after picking up Bing from her home.

Rest a night in KK before we head out for Pedas(White Water Rafting) aka "milo drink". There is no white water, but brown in colour instead in KK. :p

Our stay in KK(MYNE) is okay. Just that there is no lift on the ground, have to walk 1/2 a storey for the nearest lift. :(

Booked and paid a deposit for the Pedas event and almost didn't materialise. Tour agent forget to book the tour for us! Fortunately within an hour, we manage to hope up a bus towards Tenom.

I guess i have food poison in Tenom and have a hard time enduring during the water rafting. Damn! It keep remind me of Penang Marathon. It was fun though, the highlight of the trip!

We are fortunate to reach hotel around 7:30pm. Have our dinner and off to bed.

Though continue to not feeling well, head for the race with Francis. The rest which did 42km, left earlier with the shutter bus.

Borneo Marathon is a small time event. We have an easy ride to the stadium(6km away). Very quiet. Too Quiet IMO, that we are not use to.

Race started at 5:30am sharp. A humid day ahead. We ran together, slow and easy pace. Guess around 4-5km, Wei Ming has overtaken us(he did 42km). He must be flying at a fast pace(He finished 3:45hr).

Sun starts to rise and it is getting hot as we move along. 2km at a time targeting the next water points. Many familiar roads as we passed it yesterday.

By the time we reached 16km, i am just a few meters in front of Francis and feeling tired. HR is slowly raising over the run and i felt like throwing out. Damn! Something is not right. I resort to walk trying to calm myself down.

I was targeting 2:30hr, but given the circumstance. Finish first. Slow and surely over time, i manage to complete the run in 2:34hr. Phew! A little bit of stretch, but still doable.

Quick line up for water, return of chip. Hope up the returning shutter and off we go. "Short and Sharp", the army will term this. Cool!

Wash up and head for a quick nap before heading out for lunch, shopping and massage! Wahaha...

Night time, have an "expensive" seafood dinner before heading for Karaoke at Lisa's company club. It has been a long time since i get to sing. For those that are fortunately to heard me singing..must remember to buy 4D!

A good few days getaway. It was fun and i hope everyone does as well. Look forward to next one. :p

1 step at a time

It has been slow.

Life is slow moving, that i have to pull out the hairs from time to time. I getting botak soon.

Workout still continues, but i am struggle most of the time. Fitness is getting decline at a steady rate, which is predictable.

I have sign up for a swim event. Unfinished business, so just have to do it then. Sometime just to push over the edge to see how far i can go. :)

Still moving along....1 step at a time

Back to Reality 21-26 March

I had stop my workouts during shanghai trip. OUT OF SHAPE! Taking it easy and slowly struggling along the entire week with workouts! Wahaha.... Apart from Tuesday morning, the rest of the weekdays i am out at the gym for a bike riding session. Tuesday evening and Saturday morning ran a bit. 7km on Tuesday and 10km on Saturday. Can feel the strain over the lack of activities during Shanghai vacation period.

Shanghai Trip

From 12-20 March, i was out for vacation in Shanghai. It was a trip to fulfil a statement sweetheart make few years back. After alot of deliberations, we decide this will be a good time to travel over to visit Shanghai. Heard so much about it. How modern it is compare to SIN. Couple with the few trips to China experience, we embarked on our 5 hr+ journey. We arrived in the afternoon. Cool weather(mid 10). We stay at our friend apartment in Pudong. She stays at a prime spot in Shanghai CBD area. After the first couple of days, roaming around i realised that Shanghai is very different from the rest of China i have visited. It is much better organise and definitely on par with SIN in many areas. 14 March, we head out for a 4 days tour to Hangzhou, Suzhou and Huangshan. Wow, another experience on how China does their tour business. There is no right or wrong, just different culture different practise. Hangzhou xihu is nice. A bit too short IMO. Suzhou is fine as well. Luckily no need to visit too many of these ancient place, or else sure bored. Huangshan is beautiful. We are humble by the undulating climbs. We are not prepared for the terrain. There is patches of snow left over from the snow a few days back and Enver get to play with it on his 2nd birthday. :p We are back in Shanghai for the remaining days of the trip. We head to the bund, museum, and a couple of flee markets. It is definitely a good trip to Shanghai. Not a bad place to live and work, if you compare it to SIN. I won't mind going back again. :p

Out for a change

A weight session on Wednesday. This time round, making it tougher so that it aches the next day onwards. :p Ok, it does has a difference compares to last two weight sessions. It aches.

Thursay has a good bike session. Friday likewise, but on a different theme.

Saturday morning has to do a short, early run as i have a flight to catch. Thanks to Terence, i had a 16km run before leaving for a week holiday in China(Shanghai).

Currently i am in Shanghai. Blogging is not allowed, likewise to many apps....including Tap Zoo! Damn!

Moving On....

Wow, it has been a week. Time really flies. In a few days time, i will be heading out for vacation.

Weight session on Wednesday, bike on Thursday and Friday. A typical week day workouts.

Saturday at ECP for a 20k run. Felt strange again shortly after the run start. Felt running is hard. Garmin show high HR, MIO shows norm. Felt uncomfortable to run.

Walk abit, before continue tht run again with Francis and Terence. Thanks for waiting for me.

Slow and steady reached NSRCC u-turn point. Before that saw Wee, which is out for a recovery run after last weekend Death March in Philippines(100miles).

He gives us alot of snapshots of the event and his experience. Seems like fun..but too long for my fancy....*no evil thoughts*!

Struggle at the end, but manage to finish the run in 2:35hr for a 20km run.

Rest on Sunday.

Monday and Tuesday continue another bike session(simple) to keep the legs moving.

Another easy few days

A relax 60mins bike session on 25th to keep the leg fresh for the weekend.

Saturday(26th) is the first of the series of run for TNF. I was there to kpo around. Quite a group. I started off in the middle pack and slowly drifting down till the end.

It wasn't that well guided as expected since this is the first time for most of us.

The front pace is good, behind is rather slow. Too short the distance for the run, estimate 8km. Fortunately we ran from Ngee Ann which extend abit longer. Still way too short for a saturday run.

Sunday is a rest day.

28th(Monday), another new week. Started off with a relax 60mins bike. I should have push it, but lazy i guess. Just a slight longer rest required.

1st March. Wow...March already....60mins bike in the morning, follow by CBD run in the evening to MF. Heart felt a bit strange while running there, take it easy, U-turn early and enjoy a slow stroll back to TP.

24th - Bike

Either i haven't put enough effort or the body needs longer time to get the effect from the weights session yesterday, i am feeling rather fine today when i hit the gym.

Had a 60mins bike session, though a bit lethargy, still manage to pull through it.

A wet session to start a day. :p

Updated - 23 Feb 2011

IT has been some time since the last updated.

Just me being lazy....

Workouts still continues during these period of time almost every weekdays. Weekend just a run on Saturday and rest day on Sunday.

On 12 Feb, did a 18km run from Queenstown, NUS, Kent Ridge, Labrador Park area. Follow that with a 500meter swim. Nice way to finish the weekend run.

On 19 Feb, did a 20km run from ECPF2 to NSRCC and back. Nice to keep the legs warm up and have a nice traditional kaya toast with coffee to start the weekend. Cool.

After both days, the legs and upper torso are sore. Rather bad indications that the body is out of shape. Sigh.

Runs on Tuesday has been struggling for the past 3 session.

Wednesday weights session is pretty good so far.

The pant seems to be getting tighter...as usual...Sigh...

Circle of Life

It is nice to be back at work and start a refresh approach.

I am glad to be back in the gym and restart the routine.

60mins on the stationary bike to kick start (after a long weekend break).

It has come a few cycles, should i do this, nope i shouldn't kind of internal fighting going on within myself.

2 years back(Jan 2009), i ran my last marathon and went into "retirement". I have not done another marathon since.

It was a long wait(struggle), before i decide to give it another try and ran MR ultra(Dec 2009). It was part of a bigger plan(IM) in March 2010.

Follow by GE30km in KL(2010) that put me on schedule for showdown for IMA2010. It took alot out of myself during that race. Together with shingles, hamper with PF and lack of fitness, i did the long march for Sundown2010(May10). It is silly of me, but i did it anyway. I don't want to give myself another opportunity to come back again.

Continue to rest and slowly pushing forward, i successfully completed TNF2010. The body finally break down and i couldn't make it for SCSM10 and MR Ultra(2010).

Now the legs feel much better, but fitness is having its up/down for the past few weeks.

Learning from past experience, i will be going to take another long break(2011).

Apart from a couple of unfinished business, i should have no major event waiting for me in 2011.

A circle of life.