Targets for 2017

Physical 
One more Asian 70.3 race
Achieve and maintain target weight at 68kg (2kg to go from now)
IPPT Gold
Break 28 minutes for 1500m (pool) swim.
Stanchart Marathon 42km (as usual)

Emotional
Impart the joy of hand-making handicraft to Ryan
Teach Ryan how to cycle confidently 
Teach Rainie to speak in complete sentences
Toilet-train Rainie
Bring the family for a vacation to either Japan or Korea.
Get Dear to take up a recreational course of her choice

Professional
Complete an Executive learning course
Conduct a motivational training talk to large audience (>30pax)
Guide the Swim school to a more professional setup - with a regular and accurate sales forecast + clearly defined expansion plans. Target to beat 2.5x Revenue made in 2016

Spiritual

Attending training classes

Attended a 2 day training class together with my business partners last week, and I'm truly impressed with the amount of new knowledge that I had learned over the 2 days.

The training is primarily focused on business owners and gave lots of practical knowledge and examples that can be applied in reality. And for myself, the benefit is doubled as it is applicable to both my full time job and the swim business.

During the course itself, there was one particular exercise which validated a concept which I had previously written a paper (not published yet), on the various different methods of effective communications, which I subsequently coached my business partners about as well. I'll probably polish up the paper a little more and post it on my LinkedIn profile at a later time.

I'll probably spend more time poring through the training materials during the upcoming ICT.

Still lots of stuff that I have yet to follow up with.
Really have to start carving out some time to quickly list down my 2017 objectives - almost half the month has past by in a flash...


Rainie turned 2 on Sunday!
1 small celebration in school on Friday, and another mini celebration with the immediate family on Sunday. Time really flies.
I can still vividly remember the day that she was born, how I held her in my arms, and how Ryan was introduced to meimei.
High time to print new photos to hang up at home

2016 Review

Jan - Conducted first L1 solo class in Malaysia
Feb -
Mar - First Partner conference in Greater China. Conducted my first sales training in Mandarin
Apr - Port Dickson Swimathon. First time getting stung by Jellyfish. Perth holiday with the kids
May - Busselton 703 + Taiwan family retreat
Jun -
Jul - First Business trip to Seoul. Conducted 1st FMB in Penang.
Aug - Inaugural Partner Training in Japan
Sep - First business trip to Manila
Oct - Conducted first L1 class in Penang
Nov - Completed Swim Expo Asia 8.35km for the 2nd time. Conducted first internal sales training to the swim coach team. 2nd business trip to Seoul
Dec - Completed 15th StanChart Marathon

Low Lights of 2016

• MIL having a mild stroke in Nov
• Called off the Osaka holiday which was supposed to be a well deserved break for Lishan
• Scored Silver for IPPT instead of Gold - dumb decision in losing my cool against the arsehole PTI that kept writing off my push-ups. 
• Getting stung by Jellyfish during the Port Dickson Swimathon, and not recovering properly from the injury

High Lights for 2016

• Managed to break the combo and celebrated my birthday at home with Lishan and the kids
• Personal Best at Busselton 703 and numerous break throughs
• Completing the 15th StanChart Marathon and crossing the finish line together with Weicheng
• Memorable but super tiring Perth holiday with Lishan and kids
• Fun Taiwan family retreat - though I could have planned it better
• 1st & 2nd business trip to Seoul - I love the Gigantic LINE shops there!
• Getting my first direct report - finally becoming a real manager that manages people instead of just managing accounts or partners

Key Events for 2017

• House hunting - Ryan will be going to Pri school in another 2 years time. And with MIL not in good health, it will be ideal to move nearer to MIL by end of 2017
• Busan 703 - targeted next race for 2017. Registration not open yet. Time to repair the bike! Don't think I'll be tackling the full IM any time soon. Simply don't have the time to commit to a full IM training schedule. Maybe ticking off all Asian 703 will be possible...
• Another family retreat before Bro moves back to the US
• Career development for promotion to the next level
• Expansion of the Malaysian swimming business - target at 4x growth of 2016 revenue

StanChart 42km Race Report
Another new break through - not on the high side but the low.

Overslept for the race and woke up just 1 hour before the supposed start time for the race - luckily weicheng's calls woke me up.
Drove to WC's office and parked the car there (instead of the usual Raffles City) and had a long hard time trying to hail a cab off the streets, when throngs of party-goers were vying for taxis at the same time.
Ended up taking a Grab and while we were enroute to the starting point, we saw runners passing through the 2km mark, and I was mentally prepared to see an empty Orchard road start line, and start at the very rear of the entire race pack (just like what happened at Sundown many years ago)
To my surprise, my pen was still waiting for flag off even though I was late for 1 hour. And we waited for another 45min to start.
Originally thought that the event organization was going to be better this year since the event was bought over by Ironman, but it proved to be otherwise - with the insanely long wait for the flag off, as well as the non-operation of SMRT on race day. Well, given that this is their first time organizing SCMS, I should have lowered expectations as Ironman had overlooked multiple intricate logistical arrangements which were taken for granted.

Nothing much to yell about on my performance for this race.
Extremely bad preparations in terms of training, sleep, and I didn't even manage to take any breakfast this time. Couldn't find my usual salt stick container and had to use Rainie's cough syrup bottle to double up as a last minute solution.

Managed to jog till 21km, where both of us just agreed to walk for the rest of the race - even though we could have continued jogging. Minor cramps and aches came in, but nothing unexpected after 14x experience in this event. I had some chest pains from time to time, so we chose not to push ourselves either, since we were no longer concerned about the race time.

Finished the race probably around the 5h 50min mark.
Not too shabby for walking half the race at relaxed pace (not my usual insane race walking pace)
All these with no breakfast & 2 power gels only - I avoided bananas on empty stomach, and no point taking power gels as I had more than enough energy to last the walk.

What has been going on recently

Been traveling pretty extensively over the last few months, and plenty of them back-to-back.
The cities that I had covered in July & Aug so far:
Taipei, Seoul, Delhi, Phuket, Melbourne for work (and Penang for swim coaching)
Next week will be Tokyo again

Glad that things are now slowly getting back to normal, with my trips getting interspersed with longer stays at home rather than constantly on the road.

Well, things have been going on pretty well.
Notable events:

• Rainie started school on 1st August - she cried and rolled on the floor on the first day of school when she realized that it's no longer just sending big brother to school, but herself had to go in too. Progressed pretty well over the last couple of weeks, even though she still cries every morning at the school entrance just "for show", and would stop immediately after passing the gate
• Ryan being able to contribute more in his art and craft homework, and showing more interest in crafts and writing as well. I should spend more time teaching him how to write, and create more fun craft projects to do with him. Next up - 3D solar system model for Ryan
• First time doing swim coaching in Penang - new place new students. In using the open air pool, under the blazing hot Penang Sun, I was sunburnt in no time. However, it seems that the 3 basics classes were pretty well received, and we should expect to have a full sized Level 1 class to run in October.
• Paid in full on the VC investment with Bro. This had been bothering me for a good half of the year as it impacts my short term cash flow on full investment. However everything has been done and dusted so it's time to see my bank account start to get healthier again.
• On Swim coaching again - saw the newly released videos by the esteemed World Class Japanese Master Coach, which detailed the exact same materials that I had created on my own, and had been using in my classes in Malaysia since earlier this year. Finally vindicated my belief that the materials that I had created based on extremely strong fundamental understanding are 100% spot on. I'd have to say that having a Engineer mindset + Sales Professional Experience + A Grade in Physics really helps to grasp the swimming concepts very quickly and conceptualize them into logical work flow, processes and most importantly, in an easy to understand format. I should probably start writing a book on swimming...
• Just completed my work performance review with boss earlier today, and was glad to receive the highest compliments for the work that I had done in the year. Top performer in our group! And to hear from boss that "I know that you have plenty of career opportunities outside given your capabilities and brightness. I want you to know that I want to keep you in my team". That is good enough motivation for me to stay and get more experience. Still in Grow mode here.

Oh well, should really start to craft my training classes for both swimming and channel management training soon, otherwise i might just lose the structure of thought that I have came up with

1 full month on the road

Last month had been extremely exhausting with the back to back travels, which is still coupled with my regular Sunday swim classes whenever I was back in SG over the weekend

28/4 to 7/5 in Australia for 703 + Family holiday
9/5 to 13/5 in China for work
16/5 to 21/5 in Japan for work
22/5 to 28/5 in Taiwan for holiday
4/6 to 5/6 in Malaysia for swim coaching

Even though the holidays were very much enjoyable, placing them back to back with work trips and coaching duties without any rest, is really tiring. Especially when the kids are getting more n more difficult to control.

The Taiwan trip, in particular, was the most draining trip.
Even though I had planned for hugely streamlined travel itinerary (by my standards), it was still too taxing for the entire family.
Future family trips should go at a much slower pace so that everyone will get to enjoy the holiday better.

Looking back at the last 12 months of travel, it turns out that Ryan has become a frequent flyer kid.
5 trips in the span of 12 months. Pretty awesome for a 3.5 year old boy.

Aug 2015 - Cebu, Philippines
Oct 2015 - Sydney, Australia
Dec 2015 - Tokyo, Japan
April 2016 - Perth, Australia
May 2016 - Taiwan

True answers from Ryan when Dear asked these questions:

Dear: What is your favourite activity?
Ryan: Take aeroplane

Dear: What is Mummy's favourite activity?
Ryan: Take aeroplane with Ryan

Dear: What is Daddy's favourite activity?
Ryan: Take aeroplane with Ryan

I'm just glad that "playing with phone" and "working" did not pop up :)

Sweet Sweet Ryan

Happened on Sunday night.

Ryan wanted me to accompany him for his pre-sleep activities.
Asked me to read him his favourite book, and deliberately took his time and made me slow down the reading speed by asking a lot of questions so that we could spend more time together

After finishing the book, he requested for multiple piggy back rides, and didn't want to get off

When it was finally time for bed, he wanted me to promise to sleep next to him.

Can tell that he really miss spending quality time with me, that I had been spending too much time away from home, be it for business travels or swim coaching.

My sweet boy is growing up :)

2016 Busselton 703 Race report

Definitely my most enjoyable 703 race so far.
Perfect weather, perfect conditions, imperfect preparations but still yielding relatively good results.

Managed to beat all of my original targets
Swim: 42:00
T1: 5:30
Bike: 3:27:58
T2: 3:18
Run: 2:23:15
TOTAL: 6h 42m

1KM Open Water Swim on Saturday (1 day before race day)
Joining the 1km Open Water Swim on the race ground was EXTREMELY important in acclimatizing to the cold water and wetsuit. I didn't get much of the cold water shock during the first warm up on Saturday, however the constricting nature of the wetsuit actually made me dizzy even though I swam less than 100m in the warm up. Decided to go conservative on the 1km swim and swam with a super slow tempo, just focusing on keeping my breathing steady and slow. The other problem was the buoyancy of the wetsuit putting my legs in an unfamiliar overly high position, resulting in me kicking the air instead of water half of the time. Had to adjust my body position and strokes to let my legs sink a lot more than usual to maintain a more efficient kick. Got more used to the conditions during the 2nd half of the swim and managed to bring my tempo back to a higher tempo to better utilize the buoyancy advantage offered by wearing the wetsuit.

Lessons Learnt:

Swim:

1. Pre-race familiarization swim - super important, especially for wetsuit swims
2. Warm up for swim 20 mins before race starts - super important. Get used to the cold water first to avoid shocks. And allow/pour more water into the wetsuit. Makes wearing more comfortable and less constricting.
3. Acclimatizing to the cold weather days before the race - wearing shorts and short sleeved tees, exposing myself to the cold as much as possible (without overexposure to wind)
4. The usual sting from the initial contact with cold water is actually bearable. Just keep immersed for more than 10secs and I'll get used to the cold.
5. Lube up my legs and back of neck before putting on the wetsuit. Makes taking off much much easier

T1:

1. Never really thought about why I used to care so much about doing a fast transition, until the moment of realization when Wee How pointed out that we have all the timing for Swim, Bike, Run, and how fast/slow we transition doesn't really matter since we are not going for podium. Well, I guess it used to be a ego-booster that my T1 and T2 was fast, to sorta make up for the slow SBR timing. But come to think about it, it was actually quite silly. So I really took my time with T1 and T2 this time.
2. With enough lube on the legs, it was much easier to take off the wetsuit than my first 2 encounters with the wetsuit.
3. Chose to wear my bike shoes properly first, and took my time to walk the bike out of TA, prioritising comfort, rather than doing all the flashy stuff that I used to do in the past - flying mount, shoes on bike

 Bike:

1. Strategy was to hold my speed between 25-27km/h throughout the 90km and I should be safe to complete the 90km in 3h30min
2. My concern on the cold wind adversely affecting me was valid - originally planned to wear the windbreaker for the first half of the bike, but ended up just wearing the arm sleeves instead - still a bit worried about taking too long in the T1, as well as windbreaker creating too much drag for the ride. Ended up the arm sleeves were good enough since I was sufficiently warmed up from the swim and the weather was starting to warm up too.
3. Followed the strategy perfectly - much due to the acknowledgement that I didn't prepare well for the bike, so it will be better to be more conservative and save my legs for the run, rather than going all out on the bike in glory and suffer later - not that I can keep up with the field anyway...
4. Much as I had told myself and Dear - Yes, my bike is horribly underwhelming and heavy, and is a major reason why my cycling sucks. This time even to the point that I didn't repair the broken gear shifter cables before going for the race - my front deraileurs didn't work. Not that it's a big problem for this race though since the course was totally flat, so it didn't affect much.

T2:

1. Good strategy to leave the Honey Stinger waffle in T2, as I was starting to get hungry on the bike.
2. Took my time to chomp down the waffle and salt stick, and wash everything down with Endura and water, before slowing running out of the TA

Run:

1. Best.Run.of.my.Life 
2. First time completing a 21km run with no sweat! The weather was dry, so basically all the sweat evaporated during the run, instead of dripping down to my shoes in all of my races in the past. 
3. It was a full 100% run - no walking (less water breaks) - something that I had never been able to achieve in all of my Triathlon races in the past.
4. Even though the run was dry, I'm keenly aware that I'm still losing water during the run, especially when the salt deposits on my trisuit started to build up. Maintaining discipline on rehydrating at every single water aid station was important.
5. Toilet break - I had actually endured this for half of the bike, and lasted all the way till around 16km mark before taking that single toilet break - much of it due to the toilets always being occupied when I ran past them. The other reason was to maintain that slight pain and urgency in the system so that I don't slow down to walk. The pain was starting to get a bit more unbearable at 16km, so it was good timing to visit the loo then. And instead of taking off the trisuit from top down to pee (and get a cramp in the shoulder), I chose to pull the trisuit up and just pass the urine out from below - works better and faster.
6. First 4km of the run was painful as expected, as I tried to run off the cramps which was caused by lactic acid build up during the bike. Maintaining the run cadence at around 175 helped to keep my discipline and true to my strategy, it worked well and I managed to speed up to a 6:30 pace and kept at it throughout the rest of the race without getting into cramps again.

One Major Rookie mistake:

• I joined the wrong wave start - so my wave actually swam off 48 minutes before I started. Should have double triple quadruple checked my wave details instead of assuming.
• What actually happened - I remember registering myself as 34 years old as the website stated that our age should be taken as of the day of the race (since I have not passed my birthday, I shouldn't be in the 35-39 old man group!)
• So I was waiting to start in the 30-34 group instead of 35-39 group.
• My friends were all in the 45-49 group so they just swam off in the wave before the 30-34 group
• Moment of realization came when I saw the entire group of 30-34 going into the swim start pen with pink swim caps (whereas I was wearing a yellow one).
• So I just went into the pen, and checked with the race officials that my wave had left long time ago, and I could leave anytime I was ready.
• Then I just unceremoniously walked the walk of shame and jumped into the water with the entire group of 30-34 watching on curiously at this dumbo.
• Point to self - Never ever assume again!!
• However, this experience has confirmed one thing - that the timing starts after checking-in on the swim start timing mat. It doesn't start with your wave. So I ended up with an official timing that was 6 minutes faster than my actual timing, as I checked in together with the 30-34 wave, which started 6 minutes after my walk of shame. - Myth busted!

 

Well, looking at the registration details shown on the official race results - it's really confusing isn't it? Age 34 but Division 35-39....

Target setting for 703 Busselton 2016

The Jellyfish wounds have healed probably 80%, still smarting every now and then whenever I make a large arm movement which will tear the wound open again.

Borrowed a wetsuit from my friend, and tried fitting into it on Sunday after my class ended. Boy, it was an eye-opening experience. Insanely difficult to even put my leg through the pants, and trying to pull it all the way up was just energy sapping. The age-old plastic bag trick really helps though.
Trying to swim in the wet suit felt strange as well, as it changes my balance quite a fair bit, and the part of the suit being pretty constricting as well worries me a little. Bad experience from the last wetsuit swim race that I did not finish. Hopefully this time I'll fare better

The longest bike training that I had clocked this season is probably 50km - roughly half the distance of what is needed in the 703 bike leg

Been desperately trying to clock up a bit of mileage for my run over the last 2 weeks, but I'm keenly aware that my body has not been properly tuned up from my runs.

Well, I will just have to survive this race, and make it back before the cut off time.
Being the last wave to start doesn't really help...

Course cut off time is 7.5 hours.

Let's take a look at my own race time estimates:

• SWIM: Within 45 mins
• T1: 8 mins - taking off the wetsuit will take a bit of time
• BIKE: 3h 30min - and this is being optimistic
• T2: 5 mins - shouldn't have issues here, except that I may take the usual toilet break
• RUN: 3h - just survive. Even if I walk the entire course it shouldn't take me longer than what happened at Cebu or Taiwan to finish the 21km.

Targeted race time: 7h 28min
Dangerously close to the cut off time, but there is nothing much that I can do now except to accept the fact that I had screwed up the race prep with the bad injury and I'll just have to go out and enjoy the race instead of worrying about how slow I'll go.

My just survive race strategy:

• SWIM: Keep it slow and steady. Prepared the sea sickness pills and lots of body glide to minimize chaffing. Don't get short of breath or sea sick, as it will be impossible to recover with the super constricting wetsuit. Let my technique shine and forget about keeping pace with the sprinters
• BIKE: Maintain steady state effort and stay in aero position as far as possible. Keep spinning at the appropriate RPM with steady state effort. Do not attempt to surge/ keep pace/ overtake others. Maintain mid to low effort and save the legs for the run.
• RUN: No brick training done means my legs will be bricked after T2. Just maintain short stride lengths with high cadence at recovery pace to allow the legs to recover and flush out the lactic acid build up, so that I can quickly return to the normal steady state run form.

Most importantly - Do not make the same mistake at the aid stations during the Bike leg. Safety first.