Taiwan trip!

Will be bringing Ryan and Dear to Taiwan for a 1 week holiday in about 10 hours time.
Been waiting for this trip for a long long time.
First time on a full holiday with the family (previous trip to BKK doesn't count, I was spending too much time working)

Hopefully Ryan will enjoy it.
I know dear will.


As for the HIM, I have probably done whatever is possible to prepare for it within this month.
It is the first time since I had bought my RCX5 training watch, that I see so many red blots on my training calendar in one single month. (each red blot represents training done on that day)
There were a few mid distance trainings that were not captured as the watch battery went flat.

Nutrition and replenishment will be a key factor for this race.
First time that I had bought so many gels, bars and trying the recommended salt stick.

Since I was going to use the rental tri bike, I thought my luggage will not be too big. I'm sorely wrong...
My regular clothes will just take up a small part. The race equipment that I'm bringing along forced me to change to a much larger suitcase so that I can bring everything necessary.

Probably need to look into more effective travel packing plans if I'm ever going to do overseas races again.

2 weeks to TwHIM

Time passes so quickly when you are not looking.
It seems like only yesterday when I registered for the TwHIM with plenty of time to train.
In the blink of an eye, and I'm now 16  days away from the most challenging race to date in my life.

Been doing a lot of last minute training for the last 2 weeks, trying to avoid all unnecessary biz trips during this period, even forgoing the training opportunities to Korea and France. Well, part of it is really to spend more time with family. It really feels so blissful to see Ryan and Dear everyday.

Anyway, setting my targets for the TwHIM as below:

Stretch Target: 7:00h
Achievable Target: 7:15h
Low Target: Just complete within 8:15h

Based on the Stretch Goal, the timing to beat for each leg will be as below:
Swim: 0:50
T1: 0:05
Bike: 3:30
T2: 0.05
Run: 2:30

If the swim goes smoothly, 50 mins should be achievable.
Bike will determine if I can reach the stretch target. It will be tough, especially since the route changed to incorporate 2 steep climbs up the hill. Still not sure if I will be able to manage the bike well. Gotta train more in this 2 weeks.
Provided that I don't blow up on the bike, a patient slow run should be on my cards, and 2:30 should be achievable even when fatigued.

Whatever the results of the race, the key objective is just to enjoy the experience (and pain) of the long race, and not be too bothered by the timing.

Milestone achieved for BabyRyan!

Brought Ryan along to Liang wei's shop last saturday when both me and dear were going to have new glasses made.
Ryan was pleasantly amused by the swiveling bar stools and promptly started to play around with them, and started to unknowingly take more and more unassisted steps (he could only manage 2 or 3 steps previously).
By the time he realised what he was doing, he started to get more adventurous and tried to walk around without going after the bar stools. Ryan was learning fast!

And he achieved a greater achievement last night. 23 unassisted steps in the playground!
So he was learning quickly now, and tries to walk unassisted at any opportunity that he could get.

Today was a bit of a painful learning day for him.
Saw red twice.

The first case happened at mum's place, when he slipped together with the bath tub during bath time with mum, and cut his lips. Feels so painful to see my precious baby in pain and bleeding.

2nd case was during his unassisted walk at the playground. Probably he has walked a bit too much for the day and got tired so he did not manage to put out his hands on time to break a forward fall, and ended up with a face plant onto the concrete floor as we were walking home. Some cuts on his nose and a small cut to his finger.

Daddy so 心疼可怜的宝宝。。。
But this is part and parcel of growing up, so BabyRyan gotta be strong and grow stronger!