Jan -
Feb - Family Retreat at Hong Kong
Mar - Completed 2XU 42km run
Apr - Completed Putra Jaya 70.3
May -
Jun -
Jul - IPPT gold again!
Aug - Visited Yosemite
Sep - Completed TriFactor OD. Started Stock class and swim class
Oct - Holiday @ Bali with Dear & Ryan
Nov - Done SwimExpoAsia (not considered as completed due to a DNF in 1 race)
Dec - Completed 13th installation of SCMS and crossing the finish line in hand with Weicheng for the 1st time
As I get more experienced in Triathlon, I get more selective of the races that I join.
Racing for race experience isn't necessary for me anymore.
How did I fare on my 2014 To Do List:
Clock 2 x 70.3 Races - Only managed to do 1 this year. Wanted to do a 2nd one but have to put it off till next year as Lishan was pregnant and it won't be feasible to have a Race Holiday.
Test a proper business idea
Plucked up the courage to approach a couple of vendors for product distributorship.
The initial business plan was good, but couldn't reach a mutual agreement on pricing so I decided to drop the idea.
On hindsight, it was good that I didn't forcibly enter a bad business, as it wouldn't be sustainable at the prices that I was given. No point jumping in when the conditions ain't right. Especially after seeing my BIL sports venture fall through after 1 year of effort.
1 Full overseas trip with Dear and Ryan
Bali!
Expand portfolio by 75%
The initial goal was pretty random when I first decided on 75%.
I'm glad that I went in the other direction of going for proper classes and learning more rather than just going after illusion of having a bigger portfolio = a bigger safety blanket
Bigger portfolio of bad stocks will just push me further away from my goal.
Pick up martial arts
This was replaced by my swim and stock classes.
The original motivation for martial arts was to keep things fresh and to keep learning new stuff. Martial arts definitely is still on my list as one of the to do items, but choosing the correct skill to learn at the correct time, and with time-skill compounding (it works like interest compounding), it is a correct choice to pick up trading and swimming first than martial arts.
Learning to trade properly earlier means I got more time for compounding effects.
Learning good swim techniques means I get more focused on what I should be doing in my Ironman trainings rather than just going after aerobic & anaerobic gains which come and goes.
Clock 3 interviews
Now this is something which I should have really done much better.
I'm definitely too far into my comfort zone that even though I kept saying that I want to look for new jobs but didn't even bother to find the time to update my resume and send it out, much less spend time looking for openings.
However, the good thing is that some of the extra stuff which I did, beyond my scope of work, has unexpectedly opened new horizons for me, as it lead me to new roles and even possibly new business that I can operate.
On the 3x interviews target that I had set, I had only managed to do 1x.
And it was an internal interview, which went pretty well.
Hopefully I will get some good news within the next 2 weeks.
Time to write 2015 goals!
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Thursday, October 02, 2014
Final 70.3 challenge before the ultimate upsize to full Ironman
Signed up for this yesterday when registration opened and *BOOMZ* all slots were grabbed up within 3 hours.
Typically I will race a fixed distance for a minimum of 3 times to gain enough experience before deciding to upgrade to the next longer distance.
So this will be my third and last 70.3 test before I deem myself ready to move up to a full Ironman race.
Doesn't mean that I'll not do 70.3 in the future anymore though. Taiwan still remains as an unfinished challenge without completing the swim. I feel that the timing of Taiwan 70.3 is in the wrong season, so the weather is unstable and the odds of swim cancellation again is on the high side. Will need to check this year's edition to see if it will be worth the trouble to do Taiwan 70.3 again.
My #2 baby will be 6 months old by then.
Not sure if it will be a good idea to bring #2 along for the race, or just leave her in SG and bring Ryan along.
Good to get a defined sporting goal to work towards again.
I'll probably clock another couple of ODs next year before Cebu 70.3
Full Ironman will most probably happen in 2016
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Shifting priorities
Plans to do another 70.3 has been shelved, so my remaining races for the year will be TriFactor OD next month and StanChart 42k in Dec.
I had never worried excessively about my finances until Ryan was born.
Becoming a dad and husband means the extra responsibility of making sure that I provide enough for my family, which will become increasingly challenging as the kids grow up.
Though I have started to invest a bit in the last 2 years, but it has been more of simple buying for dividend payouts rather than fully understanding what I invested it. To put it in simple terms, it is almost equivalent to gambling but on a much lesser level.
Attended a short free class a couple of weeks ago, and decided to invest in getting myself educated and signed up for a short course to learn how to trade and invest better. It may save me lots of headache and heartache that may result from bad investments in the future.
Learning to better manage my finances will be important.
Apart from trying to increase my income, the other aspect of controlling expenses and money outflow will be critical.
After exhausting the child tax relief within 2 years and racking up high income tax again, I have started to take tax reduction planning more seriously.
Been reading up a bit on voluntary contributions to CPF and depositing into SRS, which are good means to reduce/defer taxation.
Despite the fact that I may not fully support or agree with some of the CPF policies, there is no escaping from the fact that everyone has to meet the Minimum Sum. So instead of grousing against the policy, it will be better to make it work for me.
CPF SA cash contribution
Benefits:
Coming to think of it, this is a really good scheme for retirement planning.
Now I kick myself for not looking into this years ago when I broke the higher income tax bracket and paid so much tax to the gov for a "Thank you for your contribution towards Nation building"
I'll make sure that I won't make the same mistake again this year come Dec when it is time to make the final changes towards my income tax relief.
CPF SRS
Benefits:
A combination of these 2 will be able to help to substantially reduce the tax that I have to pay every year.
At least the money is still mine even though I can't touch it for the next 30 years.
Better than letting the government squander it away on Brompton bikes (that is more expensive than my racing bike!)
Instead of hoarding lots of cash through worrying about not having enough capital on hand when I eventually start my own business, it will be better to put these cash to good use instead of just wasting them away in cash savings accounts with extremely poor returns.
My 2014 To Do list included 2 sets of 70.3 races.
Since I'm not going to do another 70.3 this year, learning to better manage my finances will be a good replacement.
Anyway it is best to start proper finance management and investments early, so that compounding over time will works it's magic.
I had been procrastinating for years on better managing my finances. It is high time I look seriously into this.
Another good case of facing up to my fears (or rather short-comings in this case) rather than just running away or pretending not to see them :)
I had never worried excessively about my finances until Ryan was born.
Becoming a dad and husband means the extra responsibility of making sure that I provide enough for my family, which will become increasingly challenging as the kids grow up.
Though I have started to invest a bit in the last 2 years, but it has been more of simple buying for dividend payouts rather than fully understanding what I invested it. To put it in simple terms, it is almost equivalent to gambling but on a much lesser level.
Attended a short free class a couple of weeks ago, and decided to invest in getting myself educated and signed up for a short course to learn how to trade and invest better. It may save me lots of headache and heartache that may result from bad investments in the future.
Learning to better manage my finances will be important.
Apart from trying to increase my income, the other aspect of controlling expenses and money outflow will be critical.
After exhausting the child tax relief within 2 years and racking up high income tax again, I have started to take tax reduction planning more seriously.
Been reading up a bit on voluntary contributions to CPF and depositing into SRS, which are good means to reduce/defer taxation.
Despite the fact that I may not fully support or agree with some of the CPF policies, there is no escaping from the fact that everyone has to meet the Minimum Sum. So instead of grousing against the policy, it will be better to make it work for me.
CPF SA cash contribution
Benefits:
- Up to $7000 tax relief can be derived from cash contribution
- Good 5% interest rate on the first $40,000 in SA, and 4% for sums above $40,000
- Counts towards Minimum Sum
Disadvantages:
Locked up till retirement and become annuity (uncontrollable factor so no point fighting against this)
Coming to think of it, this is a really good scheme for retirement planning.
Now I kick myself for not looking into this years ago when I broke the higher income tax bracket and paid so much tax to the gov for a "Thank you for your contribution towards Nation building"
I'll make sure that I won't make the same mistake again this year come Dec when it is time to make the final changes towards my income tax relief.
CPF SRS
Benefits:
- Tax deferment up to $12750 per year
- Can be used for investment purposes (except for property)
- Only 50% is taxable on withdrawal
- Enforced savings in a sense since I won't be able to spend this pool of money
- Flexible contribution compared to an endowment fund where I have to contribute at a fixed rate
Disadvantages:
- Early withdrawal penalty of 5% (except Death, Medical or bankruptcy issues)
- Locked in till retirement
- Possibly of higher taxation rates if my income falls in a higher tax bracket (not a big issue since I don't expect to work forever so my active income at 62 is probably much lower than compared to my prime)
- Possibility of higher tax rates than current levels when I'm 62 (uncontrollable factor and there is no certainty that this will happen so no point worrying about this)
- Investing is necessary. Cash deposit interest rate at 0.05% PA is horrendous and one will just be losing money to inflation this way.
A combination of these 2 will be able to help to substantially reduce the tax that I have to pay every year.
At least the money is still mine even though I can't touch it for the next 30 years.
Better than letting the government squander it away on Brompton bikes (that is more expensive than my racing bike!)
Instead of hoarding lots of cash through worrying about not having enough capital on hand when I eventually start my own business, it will be better to put these cash to good use instead of just wasting them away in cash savings accounts with extremely poor returns.
My 2014 To Do list included 2 sets of 70.3 races.
Since I'm not going to do another 70.3 this year, learning to better manage my finances will be a good replacement.
Anyway it is best to start proper finance management and investments early, so that compounding over time will works it's magic.
I had been procrastinating for years on better managing my finances. It is high time I look seriously into this.
Another good case of facing up to my fears (or rather short-comings in this case) rather than just running away or pretending not to see them :)
Friday, July 04, 2014
Score IPPT Gold if I want to do another 70.3 this year
This will be a challenge for myself.
I still have one month to clear my IPPT for this window.
If I manage to score IPPT Gold again, I'll go for another 70.3 within the year
If I can't get my Gold, no 70.3 for me.
A Half-Ironman should be scoring Gold for IPPT!
I still have one month to clear my IPPT for this window.
If I manage to score IPPT Gold again, I'll go for another 70.3 within the year
If I can't get my Gold, no 70.3 for me.
A Half-Ironman should be scoring Gold for IPPT!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Training for IPPT
When I was much younger, IPPT was an annual $400 affair without much fuss.
I was young, fit, and much lighter at around 62kg then.
I'm now much older, at 70kg
Though the requirements for IPPT was gradually reduced as one gets older, the dynamics of the body aging and fitness decling faster than the IPPT standards meant that it will get tougher to score gold as one ages.
There was a period when my fitness had dropped below the Gold standards for a good few years
I always had the assumption that I was fit and could finish full marathons, so it is a taken that I should score Gold for my IPPTs.
Well, this did work all the way till 2009, and was eventually broken in 2010.
When I met my first Silver, I was in a state of denial.
"Perhaps it's just a bad day. I can still finish 42km runs"
My 2nd Silver in 2011 was due to me putting on too much weight, and I could not finish the 9th chin up for the Gold standard. Subsequently didn't put in too much effort to clock <10:14 br="" nbsp="">
The 3rd Silver in 2012 was a rude wake up call.
My 2.4km run is now officially non-Gold standard after 3 tries in 3 years.
"A bad day in office" is no longer a valid reason for not scoring Gold anymore.
2013 was a good year.
I started challenging for the half Ironman in late 2012, and had to take the IPPT during my ICT. Did surprisingly well and managed to clock 9:47 for the run, and regained the Gold standard.
Now, the window for clearing my IPPT for 2014 is almost over, and I have to face the challenge of trying for the $400 in Gold.
Facing my fears
I had always avoided facing my fears for training specifically for the 2.4km IPPT run.
Speedwork training run has always extremely uncomfortable.
Doing the Long Slow Distance (LSD) run is a much easier training in comparison, and incidentally, I always chose to do the LSD for most of my trainings to avoid doing Speedwork.
This, in fact, is me running away from the reality that I needed to do Speedwork to properly train for a Gold 2.4km run.
The way that I trained in the past, is to keep clocking LSD runs, and pray hard that I can accidentally do a Gold 2.4km run during the test.
WRONG METHODOLOGY!!!
Training for specific requirements means a proper training has to be adopted.
I was young, fit, and much lighter at around 62kg then.
I'm now much older, at 70kg
Though the requirements for IPPT was gradually reduced as one gets older, the dynamics of the body aging and fitness decling faster than the IPPT standards meant that it will get tougher to score gold as one ages.
There was a period when my fitness had dropped below the Gold standards for a good few years
I always had the assumption that I was fit and could finish full marathons, so it is a taken that I should score Gold for my IPPTs.
Well, this did work all the way till 2009, and was eventually broken in 2010.
When I met my first Silver, I was in a state of denial.
"Perhaps it's just a bad day. I can still finish 42km runs"
My 2nd Silver in 2011 was due to me putting on too much weight, and I could not finish the 9th chin up for the Gold standard. Subsequently didn't put in too much effort to clock <10:14 br="" nbsp="">
The 3rd Silver in 2012 was a rude wake up call.
My 2.4km run is now officially non-Gold standard after 3 tries in 3 years.
"A bad day in office" is no longer a valid reason for not scoring Gold anymore.
2013 was a good year.
I started challenging for the half Ironman in late 2012, and had to take the IPPT during my ICT. Did surprisingly well and managed to clock 9:47 for the run, and regained the Gold standard.
Now, the window for clearing my IPPT for 2014 is almost over, and I have to face the challenge of trying for the $400 in Gold.
Facing my fears
I had always avoided facing my fears for training specifically for the 2.4km IPPT run.
Speedwork training run has always extremely uncomfortable.
Doing the Long Slow Distance (LSD) run is a much easier training in comparison, and incidentally, I always chose to do the LSD for most of my trainings to avoid doing Speedwork.
This, in fact, is me running away from the reality that I needed to do Speedwork to properly train for a Gold 2.4km run.
The way that I trained in the past, is to keep clocking LSD runs, and pray hard that I can accidentally do a Gold 2.4km run during the test.
WRONG METHODOLOGY!!!
Training for specific requirements means a proper training has to be adopted.
Training for 2.4km by using the training plan for a 42km race is not the correct way to prepare.
This is especially pronounced as I got older, and it gets tougher to translate one class of physical fitness into another class.
Drawing on confidence
Things changed for me when I started participating in Triathlons.
It gave me a different challenge and impetus to change my overly simplistic training methods which I had been using for years for marathon trainings, which is just simply "No pain No gain, run more gain more"
This may have been working for me in my younger years, but my physique changes as I age so and I have to adapt.
What gave me really good confidence was from my swim.
Before I started doing Tris, I could barely swim 100m in freestyle without busting my lungs, so swimming was the discipline which I feared the most then.
Taking on my fears, putting in the efforts, has enabled me to improve my swim tremendously, to the point that today I'm equally confident in my swim and run.
If I can do it for my swim, where freestyle sprints are still lung bursting but already accepted as a norm in my trainings, I should be able do it for my sprint runs as well.
The mantra of "No pain No gain, run more gain more" still holds true, but now I will have to add a "Train smart Train right" to complete the mantra.
I have managed to clock a 10:07 in my own 2.4km test run this week, so putting in more sessions should place me in good stead to score Gold again this year.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya Race Report
Finally managed to finish a complete 70.3 race (Taiwan wasn't a complete race since the swim was replaced by run)
It was extremely hot, probably around 34 degrees at its peak, and with minimal vegetation cover and no cloud cover.
It made me appreciate how the rain helped during TW 703
Every part of the race was better than my earlier benchmark except for the run, but I'm contented with the results given the extremely hot conditions.
Learnt some new tricks during this trip
Day - 2
Reached Putrajaya 2 days earlier to avoid the same rush during the TW 703. It was more relaxing to just stay around and explore the place a little bit, spend some time going through the merchandise at the expo (which were damned $$$) and generally lazing around.
Day - 1
Joined the morning trial swim organized by the 703 organizers. Good to have a feel of the water before the race. The water was murky with zero visibility with some dead leaves floating at dead corners. Good thing was that the water was warm with no undercurrents, plenty of buildings around for easy sighting, and it is not salty!
Went for bike racking around 4pm (1 hour to TA closure), then back to the mall for dinner.
Poor choice of dinner location at Dome cafe, with extremely slow service and poor availability of pasta that we needed.
Another group of Ang Mohs even brought their own pasta and sauce and passed it to the kitchen to cook when the kitchen ran out of it. One of them even volunteered to cook in the kitchen when the pasta took too long to be served.
Amazingly I managed to clear my bowels 4x in one day. Not Diarrhea. Maybe my body automatically cleanses itself in preparation for important races without deliberate changes in my diet.
Went to sleep around 10pm
RACE DAY
H-2
Woke up at 0445 for breakfast
Surprised that the hotel breakfast started at 5, so I skipped my own prepared bread/bananas/Milo for a proper breakfast
2 x hardboiled eggs, 4 x sliced bread as the minimum intake.
Skipped powerbar to avoid stomach upset, but on hindsight, I should have ate the powerbar since I had already broken in.
Slathered on the sunscreen.
Cleared the bowels 1 last time.
H-1
Arrived at TA 45 mins before closure to allow ample time for setup
Swim
Deep water start with close to 60 pax.
Not a good idea to go into the water too early and get surrounded by other people. Wasting energy and quite dangerous when there isn't ample space to tread water and start kicking each other.
Surprisingly the swim off was pretty smooth. Not that much of jostling like what we have in SG races. And I managed to kick into a comfortable pace that I stuck with for the whole race.
Completed the swim at 49.04
Not too bad.
T1
Managed to keep my composure and ran to my bike without any hiccups.
Helmet on, gloves on, shades on, shoes on.
Clocked 3.44
Good
Bike
Waited till I was on the bike before I turned on the GPS, which meant I could have missed a few hundred metres to a few km on the GPS but it doesn't really matter too much. Data is just data and I mostly use it for post analysis. Immediate data which was more important was on the bike computer.
Oh wait, I forgot to reset the computer before the race, so the Distance travelled could be wrong...
Oh well, just read the speedometer and go by feel.
First 2km into the ride and I started to feel my quads. Not a good thing.
I probably went too aggressive on my kicks during the swim and my quads were a bit fatigued.
Took the gels and salt and started to feel better to start pedaling at my normal speeds.
The course was more hilly than expected and my climbs were gradually reduced to turtle speeds as my quads tired through the 2nd lap. Had to rely on my superior handing skills to catch up on the speed on the downhills. The numerous spin training sessions I had imposed on myself in the aero position helped, and my handling in the aero position on the descents improved greatly. No more wobbling and top speed increased to around 50kmh with less energy expended. Still, my quads were tired so I had to rely more on strategy than endurance to finish the bike leg and not completely screw up my run later.
Clocked 3.25.40
Not too bad
T2
Dismounted the bike on bare foot and ran into TA.
Not sure if it was a good idea but the tarmac was blazing hot so it was really a fast run to the rack and a quick jump into the running shoes without sitting down.
Clocked 3.24
Good
Run
Immediately after I ran out of TA, I started to feel my quads again, and could only manage to do an extremely slow jog pace at around 8.30min/km while I took gels and salts to sort out the quads. Pressed on with slow pace and gradually started to pick up a bit of speed after a few more km.
It was getting really hot and cramps were about to set in.
I realized that my cramps will not go away if I continued with my usual mid foot strike and that will draw power from my quads. Decided to ditch the mid foot and ran with heel strikes (since my shoes was able to support it) to place the stress more on the calves than the quads. It worked nicely!
My quads were tiring and showing signs of impending muscle cramps (shutdowns) early in the run.
Experience and a good understanding of how my body will react was essential, as I had to adjust my running form to achieve the fastest possible pace that I could manage, while keeping the quads working marginally below before the muscle shutdown level.
It worked nicely and I managed to run continuously (less ~100m walk at every water station) till around 14km where the water station ran out of water and it was getting too hot to run without water to cool off. I was getting a bit dizzy when I ran without the water.
Decided that it was not worthwhile to risk a heat stroke on the run so I reverted back to brisk walking for the rest of the run.
Subsequent water stations were stocked with water but the shut down had occurred once I started walking.
Salt stick consumption is to be capped at 8 pcs per day, and I couldn't remember how many I had took so I just dropped the idea of taking the salt stick to clear the cramp and restart the run. Better to finish safe.
Clocked 2.43.40
Bad by my usual running standards, but I'll not risk health for results, so ultimately this is still acceptable.
Timing Breakdown:
Swim: 49:04
T1: 3:44
Bike: 3:25:40
T2: 3:24
Run: 2:43:40
Total Chip Time: 7:05:32
Post Race
Steamboat dinner coupled with a power packed fruit slushie for good recovery.
Stayed for 1 more night before driving back to SG on Monday morning.
Take it easy. Remember that it is a holiday trip for the family too.
The Good
New Tricks
It was extremely hot, probably around 34 degrees at its peak, and with minimal vegetation cover and no cloud cover.
It made me appreciate how the rain helped during TW 703
Every part of the race was better than my earlier benchmark except for the run, but I'm contented with the results given the extremely hot conditions.
Learnt some new tricks during this trip
Day - 2
Reached Putrajaya 2 days earlier to avoid the same rush during the TW 703. It was more relaxing to just stay around and explore the place a little bit, spend some time going through the merchandise at the expo (which were damned $$$) and generally lazing around.
Day - 1
Joined the morning trial swim organized by the 703 organizers. Good to have a feel of the water before the race. The water was murky with zero visibility with some dead leaves floating at dead corners. Good thing was that the water was warm with no undercurrents, plenty of buildings around for easy sighting, and it is not salty!
Went for bike racking around 4pm (1 hour to TA closure), then back to the mall for dinner.
Poor choice of dinner location at Dome cafe, with extremely slow service and poor availability of pasta that we needed.
Another group of Ang Mohs even brought their own pasta and sauce and passed it to the kitchen to cook when the kitchen ran out of it. One of them even volunteered to cook in the kitchen when the pasta took too long to be served.
Amazingly I managed to clear my bowels 4x in one day. Not Diarrhea. Maybe my body automatically cleanses itself in preparation for important races without deliberate changes in my diet.
Went to sleep around 10pm
RACE DAY
H-2
Woke up at 0445 for breakfast
Surprised that the hotel breakfast started at 5, so I skipped my own prepared bread/bananas/Milo for a proper breakfast
2 x hardboiled eggs, 4 x sliced bread as the minimum intake.
Skipped powerbar to avoid stomach upset, but on hindsight, I should have ate the powerbar since I had already broken in.
Slathered on the sunscreen.
Cleared the bowels 1 last time.
H-1
Arrived at TA 45 mins before closure to allow ample time for setup
Swim
Deep water start with close to 60 pax.
Not a good idea to go into the water too early and get surrounded by other people. Wasting energy and quite dangerous when there isn't ample space to tread water and start kicking each other.
Surprisingly the swim off was pretty smooth. Not that much of jostling like what we have in SG races. And I managed to kick into a comfortable pace that I stuck with for the whole race.
Completed the swim at 49.04
Not too bad.
T1
Managed to keep my composure and ran to my bike without any hiccups.
Helmet on, gloves on, shades on, shoes on.
Clocked 3.44
Good
Bike
Waited till I was on the bike before I turned on the GPS, which meant I could have missed a few hundred metres to a few km on the GPS but it doesn't really matter too much. Data is just data and I mostly use it for post analysis. Immediate data which was more important was on the bike computer.
Oh wait, I forgot to reset the computer before the race, so the Distance travelled could be wrong...
Oh well, just read the speedometer and go by feel.
First 2km into the ride and I started to feel my quads. Not a good thing.
I probably went too aggressive on my kicks during the swim and my quads were a bit fatigued.
Took the gels and salt and started to feel better to start pedaling at my normal speeds.
The course was more hilly than expected and my climbs were gradually reduced to turtle speeds as my quads tired through the 2nd lap. Had to rely on my superior handing skills to catch up on the speed on the downhills. The numerous spin training sessions I had imposed on myself in the aero position helped, and my handling in the aero position on the descents improved greatly. No more wobbling and top speed increased to around 50kmh with less energy expended. Still, my quads were tired so I had to rely more on strategy than endurance to finish the bike leg and not completely screw up my run later.
Clocked 3.25.40
Not too bad
T2
Dismounted the bike on bare foot and ran into TA.
Not sure if it was a good idea but the tarmac was blazing hot so it was really a fast run to the rack and a quick jump into the running shoes without sitting down.
Clocked 3.24
Good
Run
Immediately after I ran out of TA, I started to feel my quads again, and could only manage to do an extremely slow jog pace at around 8.30min/km while I took gels and salts to sort out the quads. Pressed on with slow pace and gradually started to pick up a bit of speed after a few more km.
It was getting really hot and cramps were about to set in.
I realized that my cramps will not go away if I continued with my usual mid foot strike and that will draw power from my quads. Decided to ditch the mid foot and ran with heel strikes (since my shoes was able to support it) to place the stress more on the calves than the quads. It worked nicely!
My quads were tiring and showing signs of impending muscle cramps (shutdowns) early in the run.
Experience and a good understanding of how my body will react was essential, as I had to adjust my running form to achieve the fastest possible pace that I could manage, while keeping the quads working marginally below before the muscle shutdown level.
It worked nicely and I managed to run continuously (less ~100m walk at every water station) till around 14km where the water station ran out of water and it was getting too hot to run without water to cool off. I was getting a bit dizzy when I ran without the water.
Decided that it was not worthwhile to risk a heat stroke on the run so I reverted back to brisk walking for the rest of the run.
Subsequent water stations were stocked with water but the shut down had occurred once I started walking.
Salt stick consumption is to be capped at 8 pcs per day, and I couldn't remember how many I had took so I just dropped the idea of taking the salt stick to clear the cramp and restart the run. Better to finish safe.
Clocked 2.43.40
Bad by my usual running standards, but I'll not risk health for results, so ultimately this is still acceptable.
Timing Breakdown:
Swim: 49:04
T1: 3:44
Bike: 3:25:40
T2: 3:24
Run: 2:43:40
Total Chip Time: 7:05:32
Post Race
Steamboat dinner coupled with a power packed fruit slushie for good recovery.
Stayed for 1 more night before driving back to SG on Monday morning.
Take it easy. Remember that it is a holiday trip for the family too.
The Good
- Bring along bike covers and masking tapes to cover the bike for overnight racking in case of rain (which in our case, it really rained)
- Use unique landmarks or lamp posts to recall where my bike is racked instead of relying on number checks during Transitions which may get confusing
- Extra plastic bags and packing bike and run gears into 2 separate packs. Gear will remain dry in case of rain, and I'll not miss any gear during transition
- Wore slippers to TA and kept it inside for immediate wear on bike check out
- Sighting at around every 10 strokes to ensure correct direction. Maintained focus on correct technique to minimize drag (always missed this in previous races). Sighting improved along the swim and buoy turns executed smoothly with double one sided strokes.
- Running cap is a live-saver. Must bring it for every 70.3 race. Saw many runners with visors putting a towel under their visors to avoid the heat. They might as well get a proper cap
- Disposable water bottle is a live-saver. Must bring it for every 70.3 race.
- Safety issues for deep water start. Be the last to enter and move to the side/rear for safety
- Numbness during bike leg - the saddle must be changed
- Trusting the water stations. Throwing the water bottle away after taking confidence in the water points to have sufficient supply after lap 1 is stupid. I could have ran the full 21km and clocked at least 10 minutes faster if I had enough water to continue the run.
Perhaps
- Skip the long Q at the loo before the race. Just pee in the water :p
- Keep a Stage 3 power bar with Dear for immediate post race recovery meal. Maybe keep it in the fridge-to-go to prevent it from melting.
New Tricks
- Rack the bike on the gear shifters rather than on the saddle. Better stability in case of strong winds toppling the bikes.
- Bring along our own pasta and sauce and cook in hotel for carbo-loading dinner. (and order room service dinner for supporters) - learnt from the Ang Mohs at the dinner place!
Friday, April 04, 2014
Doing relatively ok in training so far
Runs have been relatively easy since I did the 42k last month so I didn't really have to clock a lot of distance for this race, just a simple maintenance routine run once every few days is good enough
Clocked my long swim earlier this week. 2km in about 46 minutes.
Comparing that to my prep for Tw 70.3 which I clocked around 50 mins, it is a good improvement.
Been spending a lot more time on the bike trainer compared to my preparations for the TW 70.3
Setting up the training system into a much more easily accessible configuration really contributed to me spending more time on the trainer.
Now I even manage to read while I spin on the trainer. Good use of time
And added an extra simple weights training after the spin session since I will have warmed up and sweating like hell by the end of the spin session. Really killing 2 birds with 1 stone since I had always been too lazy to maintain a proper weights routine as I had never liked to finish exercise sessions with my shirt still dry. It just feels weird to me.
Comparing this to my previous concern about carrying the trainer out to the corridor to train and then back into the apartment again after use, and a 100% clean up on the bike after every single session, which made me lazy for spin sessions.
I guess being "lazy" in another way by forgoing the 100% clean up on the bike really helped :p
Invested in a stationary swimming gear which I could use for long swim training sessions in small hotel pools when I go on business trips. No more excuses to skip training sessions when I travel.
Apart from swims, I've started to clock at least 30 min spin sessions in the hotel gyms so that I can refine my technique and build up better cycling endurance.
Going by my current condition, my targets for the KL 70.3 will be:
Benchmark (I shouldn't be slower than this)
Swim - 50 mins
T1 - 5 mins
Bike - 3h 30 mins
T2 - 5 mins
Run - 2h 30mins
Total: 7 hours
Stretch Goal
Swim - 48 mins
T1 - 4 mins
Bike - 3h 20 mins
T2 - 3 mins
Run - 2h 15mins
Total: 6h 30 min
Clocked my long swim earlier this week. 2km in about 46 minutes.
Comparing that to my prep for Tw 70.3 which I clocked around 50 mins, it is a good improvement.
Been spending a lot more time on the bike trainer compared to my preparations for the TW 70.3
Setting up the training system into a much more easily accessible configuration really contributed to me spending more time on the trainer.
Now I even manage to read while I spin on the trainer. Good use of time
And added an extra simple weights training after the spin session since I will have warmed up and sweating like hell by the end of the spin session. Really killing 2 birds with 1 stone since I had always been too lazy to maintain a proper weights routine as I had never liked to finish exercise sessions with my shirt still dry. It just feels weird to me.
Comparing this to my previous concern about carrying the trainer out to the corridor to train and then back into the apartment again after use, and a 100% clean up on the bike after every single session, which made me lazy for spin sessions.
I guess being "lazy" in another way by forgoing the 100% clean up on the bike really helped :p
Invested in a stationary swimming gear which I could use for long swim training sessions in small hotel pools when I go on business trips. No more excuses to skip training sessions when I travel.
Apart from swims, I've started to clock at least 30 min spin sessions in the hotel gyms so that I can refine my technique and build up better cycling endurance.
Going by my current condition, my targets for the KL 70.3 will be:
Benchmark (I shouldn't be slower than this)
Swim - 50 mins
T1 - 5 mins
Bike - 3h 30 mins
T2 - 5 mins
Run - 2h 30mins
Total: 7 hours
Stretch Goal
Swim - 48 mins
T1 - 4 mins
Bike - 3h 20 mins
T2 - 3 mins
Run - 2h 15mins
Total: 6h 30 min
I'll be very happy if I can come near to this, but this is really a long shot with my current level. I can hit the targets for each leg in separate sessions but stringing them together in 1 sitting is a different story, that's the beauty of Triathlons!
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
It has been a long time since I was last this excited over something
Received an email on Tuesday morning which I was only half expecting.
This really got me very excited over the possibility of running one of my projects that I'm really passionate about.
I can't remember when was the last time that I got so excited over something, that still keeps me fully awake at 2.18am after working straight for the last 5 hours.
Hopefully this will lead to a great adventure :)
This really got me very excited over the possibility of running one of my projects that I'm really passionate about.
I can't remember when was the last time that I got so excited over something, that still keeps me fully awake at 2.18am after working straight for the last 5 hours.
Hopefully this will lead to a great adventure :)
Thursday, March 13, 2014
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