Monday, May 05, 2008

Summary for the week of 28 Apr - 4 May 08

Picking up the pace.

Monday, 28 Apr: Swim lessons.
Tuesday, 29 Apr: No training.
Wednesday, 30 Apr: No training.
Thursday, 1 May: Bintan on Bike.
Friday, 2 May: No training.
Saturday, 3 May: No training. Sent bike to Rodalink for half-yearly servicing and repair of rear wheel.
Sunday, 4 May: Singapore Sprint Series Duathlon.

Tribob Singapore Sprint Series Duathlon - 4 May 08

Second race of the year and the second race in the Sprint Series. Got to race site early, thanks to my aunt's Lancer. Ed was there to cheer me on and provide logistical assistance. My black Scott AFD was at the Rodalink workshop so i had to use Ed's Helios 500.

Collected race chip and set up transition consisting of 2XU visor and drinks. The weather was very hot and i was gulping down lots of fluid. Wearing my 2XU red tri-thights and Adidas white vest, i did some stretching and warm ups before meeting up with Burnz, Aerosolcan, Jodan, Sanjeev and Daniel Gan.

The race started and everybody went off sprinting, everybody except for me. I did a consistent run and completed the segment in 16:33mins, not exactly race speed. Got to my bike, threw the visor down and put on LAS helmet before unhooking the bike for the slow jog to the mounting line.

Mounted and spinned on the lightest gear to acclimatise the legs. The ride section consisted of 3 loops of undulating 5kms at Old and new Mandai Rd. The route was pretty narrow so overtaking needed a lot of certainty. Completed the 3 loops in 33:02mins. Dismounted and slow jogged to the transition slot.

Hooked the bike, dropped the helmet and put on the visor. A gulp of water and i was off running, slowly to prevent cramps. Heard a lot of horror stories regarding cramps during duathlon. Eventually i fell victim to a kind circa 1.5km and had to slow down, real slow. After the waterpoint, i continued running and finished the run in 20:20mins for an overall race time of 1:13hrs.

Good race, good route, weather was extremely hot.

Distance:
Run1: 3km
Bike:15km
Run2:3km
Time: 1:13hrs

Bintan on Bike: Bintan Tri Recce Ride - 1 May 08

It's May Day, a much needed public holiday, not for resting, but for last minute training for Bintan Tri. Organised a recce ride in Bintan for my friends, Eliza, Little Firefly, Yuki and Babumouse. Met some other riders from Yellowfish swim class.

Did the whole cycling route, all 40km or so, except that we started at Wisma BRC instead of Nirwana Beach Club. Compared to the race at BLR previous years, this route seems more technical. There are lesser high slopes but more lower, steep slopes, especially at Ria Bintan.

After a drink break to hide from the extreme hot weather, Eliza, Babu and i did another ride to Nirwana and back, just to make the trip worth.

When i got home, i realised there was something wrong with my rear wheel. Hhmm.... an excuse for an upgrade??

Distance: 60km

Summary for the week of 21 - 27 Apr 08

Swim and ride.

Monday, 21 Apr: Re-started my swim lesson. SeaMonster commented that i can float and swim better now cos of my aero-haircut. Received bad news when i got to work. Days are numbered, i don't belong there anymore. Time to start thinking for myself.
Tuesday, 22 Apr: No training.
Wednesday, 23 Apr: L&T ride.
Thursday, 24 Apr: No training.
Friday, 25 Apr: L&T ride.
Saturday, 26 Apr: No training. Too bonked from the long ride.
Sunday, 27 Apr: Rest.

L & T rides

Have been doing lots of cycling now since Lala pulled me into L&T. Can't remember my last quality long run.

Did 2 middle distance rides this week:

23 Apr: 46km from home-L&T-ECP-Guillemard-Nicoll Highway-Shenton Way-pitstop at Keppel Railway Station-Robinson Rd-Nicoll Highway-Geylang Rd-Sim Avenue-Bedok-home.

25 Apr: 81km from home-TP-Paya Lebar-Airport Rd-Bartley Rd-Braddel Rd-Thomson Longhouse-Sembawang Rd-Mandai Rd-Woodlands Rd-Bukit Timah Rd-Dunearn Rd-pitstop at Newton Circus-Novena-Lavendar St-Kallang Rd-Guillemard Rd-Fort Rd-ECP-Xi Lin-L&T-home

Good thing: mileage covered.
Not very good thing: pit stops too many and too long. But i can't remember complaining about this during the stops.

Summary for week of 14 - 20 Apr 08

First event for the year!!

Monday, 14Apr: In Bintan, no training.
Tuesday, 15 Apr: In Jakarta for meeting on school.
Wednesday, 16 Apr: Still in Jakarta. Hotel had a good gym and pool. Didn't bring sports attire though.
Thursday, 17 Apr: Returned to SG too late for any training.
Friday, 18 Apr: No training.
Saturday, 19 Apr: Spent S$225 on a new 2XU tritop and tights from Kobe at Queensway. Still didn't understand why i decided to buy.
Sunday, 20 Apr: Singapore Sprint Series Biathlon.

Tribob Singapore Sprint Series Duathlon - 20 Apr 08

After a week of relatively no exercise, i finally did my first event for the year. Registered for the 3 Singapore Sprint Series event and the first was the Sprint Biathlon.

Left home circa 615am and took the train to Harbourfront before hopping into the monorail to Sentosa, the race site. There was a long queue for the timing chip and i finally got mine with about 20 mins for warm up before race starts.

Put on my newly acquired 2XU red tritop and tights, swim cap and googles, arranged the transition stuff consisting of NB735 Red, socks, 2XU visor and Adidas shades before joining Burnz at the beach for warm up. Met Sanjeev and Daniel Gan.

The race started and i tried crawling forward but the current kept pushing me to the swim ropes. Switched to froggy and reached the u-turn point realising that i was second last. The ladies wave started later and the faster swimmers were already overtaking me by the time i swam past the 600m mark. Finally completed the swim in 29:41mins.

Ran up to transition to probably consolation applause of the spectators before EsKimo told me to hurry up. Threw swim cap and googles on the floor and put on socks, NB735, visor and shades before running out for the 5km run. As usual, took a while before my legs felt like running. Caught sight of Sanjeev and levelled up with him before overtaking, only to stop at a toilet for pee-break.

Had to overtake Sanjeev again before finishing the run in 35:32mins, with an overall race time of 1:06hrs. First event done, hope this sets me up for more.

Distance:
Swim: 750m
Run: 5km
Time: 1:06hrs
Shoe: NB735

Summary for week of 7 - 13 Apr 08

ICT week.

Monday, 7 Apr: First day of ICT.
Tuesday, 8 Apr: IPPT. Managed to do 5 chin ups... enough for a S$100 incentive.
Wednesday, 9 Apr: Had a terrible time at the range. Enough said.
Thursday, 10 Apr: Standby day. Expected to spend 2 hours max at the office, ended up staying till 8pm.
Friday, 11 Apr: Ops day. Classified.
Saturday, 12 Apr: Another standby day. Hospitality institute agreement signed. Milestone for me.
Sunday, 13 Apr: In Bintan to follow up on the agreement signed. Did a 40km ride from Tampines-Pasir Ris-Changi-Tanah Merah-Simpang Bedok-Tampines with Ed on her new Helios 500.

ICT Year 9 - NSKU AK04

Final year of ICT for me. Troop 2 shrunk to 13 troopers. Usual stuff, weapons training, IPPT, shooting. Did well for IPPT but can't say the same for shooting. Obviously something was wrong with the rifle when you have to zero it 7 times. The sight was still not straight and the trainers attributed it to fatique on my part. Anyhow, after 5 years of marksmanship, well... let's just say that i had to re-shoot... which i did pretty well.

Gonna miss the guys.

Summary for week of 31 Mar to 6 Apr 08

Monday, 31 Mar: No training. Ed was sick.
Tuesday, 1 Apr: No training. IPPT in a week time and i was so unfit.
Wednesday, 2 Apr: No training.
Thursday, 3 Apr: No training.
Friday, 4 Apr: Wanted to do a slow and short run at stadium so that i can be fresh for Saturday's sea swim at Sentosa with Stazla and gang but L & T ride was too tempting to resist. Thought ride was only for 60km but ended doing 99km instead. Route taken was Tampines Ave 9, Ave 10, Old Tampines Rd, Upper Serangoon Rod, Hougang Aves 2 and 6, Compassvale, Anchorvale, FernVale, Jalan Kayu, Seletar estate, Seletar Dam, Yishun, Admiralty, Woodlands, Upper Bukit Timah rd, Dunearn Rd, Lavender Street, Kallang Rd, Guillemard Rd, ECP, Coastal Rd, Loyang Way, Tampines. Too bonked out when reached home at 3am.
Saturday, 5 Apr: Got up too late to join Stazla swim session. Spent the day slacking in front of the TV and packing for ICT instead.
Sunday, 6 Apr: Slacked all day. No training.

Summary for week of 24 - 30 Mar 08

Monday, 24 Mar: No training
Tuesday, 25 Mar: No training.
Wednesday, 26 Mar: Short run + swim + run session.
Thursday, 27 Mar: No training
Friday, 28 Mar: No training, in Bintan.
Saturday, 29 Mar: No training
Sunday, 30 Mar: No training