OMG....

Taiwan Ironman-70.3

This is sooooo OMG

Was searching for the Bintan Half Iron Man race then I realized that it was on 31 August, when I'd most probably be in USA again for training, so I probably won't be able to join it even if I wanted to.

Then I came across this gem......

Taiwan Kenting

2 November 2013

70.3 - Half Iron Man

It will be epic if I could join this... 

I can even give up StanChart Marathon for this

But the chances of joining this race is close to 0.

1st, It is a grave sin to go TW without vacationing. It is not possible to do vacationing before or after 70.3 since it will probably put me in bed for a few days after the event. It is also not feasible to lug the bike around TW.  (unless it is a bike-around taiwan holiday; this is even more ridiculous even though I'd absolutely love to do it if I have a chance, but it is not possible to combine this with a race of this magnitude)

2nd, annual leave is precious. It should be spent with family rather than burning calories and rubber. Bringing family out for a vacation is ok. Leaving family at home while I'm out enjoying myself alone - NOT OK.

3rd, $$$$$

4th, Triathlon is just a hobby. I shouldn't be overly investing too much time, energy and money into it. There are other more important things in life that I have to take care of, and are more deserving of my resources and attention.

Too bad *shrugs*

Andy Lau's song comes into mind: 

我和我追逐的梦，擦肩而过，永远也不能重逢。

我和我追逐的梦，已在错过，只留下我，独自寂寞。却不敢回首

(this is overly dramatic though)

Damned. I should go karaoke again soon.

Aquathlon

Completed the Aquathlon today with a satisfactory timing of 45:15.
A rather significant improvement to last year's 51:20

Swim: 18:27 (750m)
T1:   2:12
Run: 24:35 (5km)


Did a pretty relaxed swim, focusing more on gliding through the water instead of bashing through with hurried strokes. Maintained at a "1 breath to hyperventilation stage" speed which worked quite alright.
Quite happy to be able to overtake a few guys with a higher stroke turnover just by simply gliding pass them. Gotta focus more on improving stroke efficiency in the water rather than just pure stamina/strength.
My sighting skills have improved significantly compared to last year.
Still not too keen to jostle too much with other swimmers but perhaps I can try to move to the mid of the pack during the start to avoid being blocked by other slower swimmers.

Transition was ok as usual but could still probably improve with faster shoe slip-on.
Maybe I should try running without socks? Bare foot is still no no at this stage..

Managed to do a negative split again for the run :)
Ran a consistent 5min/km pace for the 1st 2km.
Slowed down a bit till 3km at about 5:20min/km to stabilize the heartrate.
Walked for about 5 secs to finish off a drink at about 3km.
Managed to kick into a higher gear for the last 2km at probably about 4.40min/km.
Still had enough in the tank to sprint for the last 200m to the end point.
Took a gamble on 5km run being too short for conserving energy, so I went all out with gun blazing and it paid off.

The tempo runs that I had been doing for the last month has shown results.
I ought to do more tempo runs during the ramp up phase rather than just focus purely on LSD runs to build stamina all the time.
Need to find a good balance.

Going back to reservist tomorrow!
Maybe I'll need to take the ippt in camp this time.
Maybe I'll regain my Gold again...

Mish mash of thoughts

1st ever CNY celebrations for Ryan and time just passed quickly and we are back in the usual rat race.

After 外婆 has left us, now the only place to visit during 初一 is at Ah Mah's place.
Glad to see Ah Mah is still relatively strong for a almost-centenarian.
Her eyes and ears aren't really clear, but she still speaks with strength so it's always good to hear her talk.

Bro is going to move back to SG for good.
I'm glad that he is coming back to spend more time with the family and probably settle down.
Kept psycho-ing him that he should not miss out this best part of the kids growing up phase, for it will never return.

Going for the MetaSprint Aquathlon in 8 hours time.
I'll probably skip the MetaSprint series sub events next year and just focus on full Tri events.
I won't be able to participate in every single event. Gotta pick and choose my battles.


Watched Ah Boys to Men II on Friday.
Quite strangely, apart from the usual army stuff, the stuff that resonated with me was on the father and son relationship.
Though it is still a long long way to go before Ryan grows up and enters the army, somehow the part where the father was so immensely proud of his son showing signs of maturing, standing up for his own believes, that really touched me.

As I watch Ryan growing up bit by bit everyday, sometimes I'd secretly tear with joy at simple stuff like seeing him laugh, feeding him, watching him learn new stuff, playing with him, giving him a bath, changing his diapers, patting him to sleep, bringing him out for walks.
There are so many things that I'll want to show and teach Ryan
天下父母心，我终于明了

Nothing much ado

Empty mind begets rust and tardiness in mental prowess.

Nah

Just read an article that showcased 3 relatively successful entrepreneurs, out of which, 2 are at 32 years old this year. Coincidentally same as me.

What am I doing now? Where am I going? Where will I be in 10 years time?

Has all the daily hustle bustle blurred my eyes?

Too preoccupied with dribbling the ball, but not looking up at where I'm going or where tackles are flying in from?

Think think think

Take some time out to do some self reflection. Plot the charts. Where I want to go, What I want to do.
Of course now the situation is different.
Ryan and dear will be the most important consideration.

Packed weekend

Pretty jam packed weekend.

Baby Ryan and Daddy got their new ride on Saturday morning
A Fisher Price Jumperoo for the young boy and a Toyota ISIS for the old man.
Point in common? Both are 2nd hand.

Ryan has been jumping around quite a lot, and he seems to like the jumperoo on his first try.
Hopefully this will be a fun respite for him when he is at Grandma's place. Otherwise he will be lying there watching TV with Grandma... No good for the eyes or his development.
Bought this 2nd hand at $80.
Buying brand new unit locally would had knocked us back by over $200.
Shipping new unit from Amazon will cost at least $180.
This will probably turn out to be a good buy, with good resale value.

Got my 2nd hand Toyota ISIS after picking up the jumperoo.
Cerato has been serving me well for the last 5 years, but it wasn't big enough to accommodate Ryan and Lishan comfortably.
With recent record breaking COE price of 92k for CAT A and 96k for CAT B, it doesn't seem that the prices will abate even in 2015/16.
There is too much pent up demand for cars, even the ramp up in car deregistration will probably not see the prices fall by too much.
If it does fall in 2015/16, then maybe I can consider changing to another new ride again then.
At least this new ride will give me plenty of time till 2019 to see whether I can get another ride when the time is right.
Bottomline is that mummy and baby can ride on the car comfortably, and that's pretty much all that matters.

MegaTri Olympic Distance
Did my 2nd ever OD race on Sunday morning.
Wasn't really in the best condition to race since I had not been clocking enough mileage on the swim and bike.
The rainy weather for the weekend made it a freaking cold start, but ultimately it turned out to be much easier since it drizzled throughout the event, so temperature was never an issue.

Swim: 42m13s
Bike: 1h26m
Run: 1h5m

Swim was pretty much expected. Did not really do too well or too badly. Held on to a relatively ok speed without hyperventilating. Just need to improve on my sighting skills.
Goggles needs to go. Keep getting seawater seeping in, causing multiple stops to clear the goggles.

Bike was pretty bad. Tried to keep a constant pace at 30km/h, but the first loop was at 28.5km/h, second loop 27.4km/h, and I dropped to about 26km/h for the last loop.
I couldn't summon enough energy to spin any faster for the last loop.
Probably bad stamina for long flat straight roads. Need more training for constant exertion over long period of time.
Consider investing in a Bike Trainer.

Run
Not sure if my watch data is correct, but I will have to take the nearest approximate.
Had very bad stitches between 2km - 3km mark and dropped to 7.12min/km.
The usual quad muscle strain set in, but with the new found confidence in holding off the wall from the recent SCMS, I managed to hold off the cramps all the way till the finish line.

This is the first time that I managed to do a negative split in a race.
It was strange, but somehow keeping a constant pounding between 6m15s to 6m30s pace between 4km to 7km mark had actually allowed me to run even faster towards the end of the run.

Taking away the bad stitch at the start, I'm actually quite happy with the run especially with the strong finish.

1km: 6m49s
2km: 6m51s
3km: 7m12s
4km: 6m21s
5km: 6m33s
6km: 6m32s
7km: 6m18s
8km: 5m58s
9km: 6m2s
10km: 5m34s

I should

5th year since Ah Di left us

Ah Di has left us exactly 5 years ago on this day.

I still vividly remember how excited he was when he saw me at the Animal hospital the day before, getting worked up from a lethargic stage and frantically wagging his tail at me, saying his final good bye to me before finally leaving for a better place the following morning.

I still miss him lots and still carry his tag with me wherever I go.

Best. Dog. Ever

Pray thee be watching over your little master Ryan from above.
Love you lots.

Another year passed

2012 just passed so quickly.

Quick recap of notable events in 2012:
Jan - 1st Sprint Tri with TriFam
Feb - Aquathlon (MetaSprint)
Apr - Duathlon (MetaSprint), Beijing Trip with the Unkers
May - Sprint Tri (MetaSprint), 3km OW Swim (TriFactor)
June - Bangkok holiday with Dear
Jul - 30km Run (TriFactor). ARRIVAL OF BABY RYAN!
Aug - OD Tri (TriFactor)
Nov - Staycation (Equarius Hotel, RWS, Sentosa)
Dec - 42km (SCMS)

Now with Baby Ryan still so young, it will be quite some time before dear and I will have the chance to do some vacation traveling. So I guess my 2013 will probably look similar to 2012, packed full of sport races.

Well, the races are fun and it gives me good motivation to have constant training. I ain't in the best of shape, but it could have been worse without the races.

Maybe 2013 will be the year that I'll improve on my sporting endeavors.
I still hold the hope of going for a half iron man some time later in the year just for the kick of it.

= = = = =
Day 1 for the family:
Me
Had been dropping off the pace for the last quarter, mainly due to me choosing to spend more time at home with Ryan and dear, and not pro actively chasing for numbers.
Now I'll be back to work with full focus, it will be plenty of biz trips again to the usual places. At least before CNY. I need the moola...
Dear
Been on maternity/childcare/annual leave/time off for the last 5.5 months. First day back at work and she is now down with flu
Ryan
First full day at Grandma Infantcare.
We had to wake him up at 6.50 am to bring him to grandma's place. It was quite sad to wake him up when he is sleeping so soundly, and to leave him with grandma for the day, then pick him up at 5+. 舍不得...
Gotta figure out a more time friendly routine that isn't so taxing on Ryan and gives him more time to sleep.
Really gonna miss the good times of waking up to Ryan's sunshine smile.