Smello sambal stingray

Felt like eating fish and made my way to Giant Tampines. They normally have a good spread of fresh fishes but the trays on display were rather sparcely filled with not very appetising fishes. Anyhow, saw a couple of stingray steaks and immediately thought of BBQ sambal stingray. Got a 3 serving size steak and headed home with a bottle of chincalok.

Cleaned the stingray before panfrying it. I then packed it in aluminium foil and banana leaf, with a few strings of onions and many dollops of sambal. It was then sent in to the oven for 30mins of grilling.

The stingray turned out fine, except for a strong pungent smell, sort of dried fishy, thai fish sauce kind. I then thought maybe i missed a process, a cleansing kind. Vaguely remembered my late granny soaking fishes in a mixture tamarind juice and salt. Wonder if that is the solution.

By the way, i guess Ed enjoyed the fish, served with short grain brown rice and stirfried baby kailan, with chincalok at the side.

Update... hopefully a sustainable restart to my active and healthy lifestyle

Since the post below (aka A Farmosa Sprint Triathlon 2008), my sports activities has been pretty much... inactive. I've gained lots of weight, indulged in what my father remarked as.... expensive food... and memorises the programme schedule on Starhub cable TV.

1) Ok, events/race wise, i've done:

• A Farmosa Triathlon 2008 Olympic Distance: Came out of water 2nd last and was comfortable on the bike leg, only to get a puncture of rear tyre at KM17. Tough luck. This was the only ride where i did not equipped myself with a spare tube and pump.
• New Balance Pacesetters 2008 in KL, Malaysia: I decided to go to KL for the food, rather than the race. Completed the run anyway, so slow that i managed a nice pose for IMD the cameraman at the finishing line.
• Bintan Triathlon 2008 Olympic Distance: Woohoo... completed my maiden OD in 3:45. I was again.. 2nd last out of water with the whole senior management of Bintan Resorts and Nirwana waiting by the beach (i hope not for me) but managed to overtake many (about 20) racers during bike and run leg.
• Powerman Duathlon Malaysia 2008 in Lumut, Perak: Thanks to Alvin, managed to get seats on bus and hotel for this race. Tough as hell (maybe) but completed in 5:30. Had an excuse though; Scotty's rear D jammed up leaving me with 2 speeds to play with for the 64km ride.
• Bintan Triathlon 2009 Sprint Race: Played coach to the company's ladies relay team. Was slow but not strolling and completed the race in 2:15. Then visited the medic station for a bad case of cramp.
• Tons of DNS since. 2009 was the year of DNS for me. So my KPI for 2010 is... no DNS.
  

2) Life and material wealth:

• Followed the average married man's route towards inactivity, tummy growing and weekend slacking.
• Based in Bintan, food and training opportunities are very different from Singapore. No more of post 7pm/pre 7am runs/rides, and the food.... don't get me started.... too good. Limited to 5 to 10km of climbs on the Fire station/pump station/Utilities office route, gym work and once-in-a-blue-moon 50km rides on weekends.
  
• Having a car and a vespa means less familiarity with public transport and even lesser walking. Looking for parking lots is the sport i'm better at now.
  
• Ed gave up her Helios 500. I took over and swapped the Ultegra gruppos and Aksium wheels from Scotty, who i gave to Ed's brother.
• Got a Cannondale F5 for my 32nd hatchday. Though under-riden, i have clocked some quality KMs of offroad dirt on it so far.

Now the rot stops here. It will be slightly more than 2 weeks til Pacesetters 15km run. I hope with the old practice of recording my training in this blog will 2010 not be another year of DNS.

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.

Retreat and re-strategise - Part 2

So i've laid out what i intend to do and what i don't. Now the difficult part; training.

I've been doing jumpstart training for sometime now. Jumpstart training means starting at a level that is not the lowest, after being away from the sport through injury, busy working schedule or like me, sheer lazyness.

I know that my threshold level for a run is between 27-35km, depending on how far back the last race was. In addition, at my peak, circa June-Sep 06, i trained 5 times a week, on running. So the jumpstart training that i have been doing since February, after having been slacking for about 2 months after SCSM 07, was forcing myself to run distances like 13-22km at one go and having 4-5 workout sessions a week, sometimes at levels and pace i have never ventured before. The results: i find myself feeling depressed, having slow muscle recovery and prone to sickness like flu and fever, eventhough i take Esther-C every night.

Having acknowledged that this method of training does not seemed to be working well, i have decided to go back to basics, which is a very difficult thing to do.

Talked to one of my running sifus, Taz who is actually doing the same thing while recovering from an injury of sorts, and he shared with me his training regime. Run short distances; 4km, 6km 9.89km etc at slow, moderate, tempo and fartlek paces, increase distance gradually, once i feel comfortable.

Good advice. I shall go read up for a training regime for my fitness level. May be a little dificult with all the races coming up, mainly in May. But it shall be done. Short distance runs, long distance cycling and practice and practice on forward crawl swimming.

Retreat and re-strategise - Part 1

Its late March and i have yet to compete in any event. Not in good shape to do so anyway. Took time off, thought about the events and made some decisions:

Not doing:

• Kuala Lumpur International Marathon: Not many people knew i was going for this run. Have registered, reserved hotel room and bought bus tickets home. But surely not in any mental shape to attempt this. I have every confidence of finishing the run, but not hyped up to make my way up to KL for this. Choosing round the island ride instead of the SGRunners' Prata run last weekend was probably the clearest indication of where my priorities lie nowadays.
• Sundown Ultramarathon: Probably registered for this event in a haste, peer pressure the main reason. No doubt i have the confidence to finish this run, all 84km of it, and as i write this, am still not too late to build up enough mileage and practice run to ensure i run with comfort on race day. Then again, just like KLIM, i am not over the moon with enthusiasm to attempt this. So i'll lose 50% of the registration fee, or i can just downgrade to the 42km run. No clear decisions on that yet. I just know that i have no interest to attempt the 84km run.
• Singapore Ironman 70.3: Major disappointment. Kak J aka Harmoni pointed out that this event will be held on the 5 day of Ramadan. What a major screw up! How can they miss that fact out? Anyhow, guess i'll take it as S$335 saved instead.

Doing (I think so):

• Tribob Singapore Sprint Series: All 3 events, for now. Biathlon in April, Duathlon in May and Triathlon in June
• Bidor Half Marathon: Did this in 2006, event came early this year. Looking forward to the cold Red Bull at the finishing point, plus the sumptous food served while waiting for prize presentation.
• A Farmosa Triathlon: Read about this in the Trifam forum. Heard so much about the swim in Milo water. Hope i will be able to make it for this!
• Bintan Triathlon: Guess this is the event i have been basing my training upon. Home territory away from home. Did the run leg last year. Just need to tell myself that there is no pressure on me, no pressure.
• OSIM Singapore Triathlon: Volunteered during the OD Race last year. The bike route seemed rather dangerous. Hope they make some changes this year!
• Port Dickson Triathlon: Excellent event last year. Felt safe swimming. Must try the ayam percik at the pasar tani.
• Tasik Kenyir Triathlon: Heard a lot about Tasik Kenyir, since my gung-ho days in SIM's ODAC. But the long travel will be a major minus point.
• Desaru Long Distance Triathlon: Having decided to give up on SG 70.3, guess there is no way in heaven or hell i am not taking part in this. Will be good if i can drive there, giving more options when comes to meals.
• Singapore Marathon: 3rd year attempting. Probably the only marathon i'll be doing this year.
• MR25 Ultramarathon: Not really interested in doing, but need to keep in shape for the turn of the year.

Let's just hope there are no drastic changes to my life.

A wedding in Shah Alam - 15 and 16 Mar 08

Decided to go for this as i will not be able to make it for the celebrations in Singapore come end of March. So Ed, Has' bro Sab and I took the late Friday night bus and headed to Shah Alam. The only thing i knew about Shah Alam prior to this trip was the Stadium that looked like Huddersfield Football Club's stadium. I also knew that Shah Alam has the biggest mosque in Malaysia and a velodrome.

So after close to 8 hours on the bus, including 2hours at Tuas checkpoint thanks to tri_mas, we finally reached Shah Alam bus terminal at Section 17. Took a cab to Quality Hotel and rested until lunch with Stan.

Fast forward to evening. I contributed my 2 cents worth of thinking into the planning for this wedding, all because i don't like the idea of travelling all the way there just to be a free-riding guest. Therefore, my job was to remind Has and Sab, all the small little things about the ceremony, things that people tends to forget; like arrangement of transport, copies of prayers etc.

We left the hotel just after 7 and headed to a surau near the bride's place. After Maghrib, we slowly walked to the house, with gifts in hand. The kadi arrived soon after and relatives were all excited. A microphone was placed where Has was supposed to be seated. Don't remember that being around for me. Anyhow, everything went well, groom looked calm and oath was clear.

Everything else was just like any other typical Malay wedding. A little variation from the ones in Singapore here and there but everything else was similar.

Next day, Sunday, was the "sanding" day. This is where the groom appears at the bride's place to take her back to his. I checked to ensure that Sab had the toll money (commonly used to gain passage to the stage, where the bride normally wait at). No toll was present however, probably because the bride waited and joined the groom outside the ceremony, another variation from that in Singapore. As the ceremony went into full flow, Ed and i sat around watching, making funny faces at Has everytime he looked at our direction.

Good experience this trip. The thing that impressed me most about the event, was the camaraderie of the neighbours. The bride's place was a semi-detached house, and the recemony area was on the road in front of the house. This meant that the road needed to be closed. Stations for other essentials like drinks counter, dishes washing area, music booth were also set up in the neighbours' varandah. Honestly, no way will you get that in Singapore, no way at all.

Ed and i took the late night bus back to Singapore, as neither of us took leave from work on Monday.

Congrats to Has and Yati!!

Man down

Have not been feeling too good for a while now. Last Monday after swim class, i was really hurting. Sore muscles, fever, flu and cough. Thought i could fight it off with vitamin C and cough syrup but guess i lost that fight.

After 10 days of trying, i gave up. Took piriton for the flu. Adding that to the cough syrup, vitamin C, glucosamine and anti-histamines i have been taking regularly, and i can probably start my own pharmacy.

What went wrong? Did i over-exerted myself? Going to the doc tomorrow. Hope i can sleep tonite.

Raining cats, dogs, elephants and buffalos

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Rainy season started rather late this year. It has been raining cats, dog and everything that comes in between for the last 2 weeks, disrupting my training schedule.

Tuesday, 11 Mar

Was contemplating between CBD Run, yoga with the BRF gang, ENR ride or a ninja run after sending my bike to Rodalink for servicing. After much ding-dongs here and there, which i can't seem to recall much about, i decided to go with ENR.

Sky started to clear by 6pm at Beach Rd but someone posted in the Trifam forum that there was a storm at Tampines. So ride was off. No training again. Should have just gone for the Yoga.

Wednesday, 12 Mar

Took pm off. Initial plan was to get home, and bring the bike out to Rodalink, collect Ed's new Helios 500 and go for a practice ride at ECP. SKy disagreed so we collected the bike, took a taxi home and watched CSI and WWE Raw on tv instead.

Badly in need of training now, but feeling very much under the weather.

Slacking or resting??

Been doing jumpstart training for a few weeks now. I must say that i'm starting to feel a wee bit strained. Erratic behaviour, mood swings, sore muscles..... what am i training for? I dunno.....


28 Feb 08
Didn't swim today, though i got back early after work. Missed the days when i would just spend hours after hours watching TV, without a care, except for next programme on show. I tried that but even with cable TV, what good programmes can possibly be shown at 7pm?


29 Feb 08
Rest day. Had a craving for cheese on toast, good goat's cheese i mean. *slurp*

Inspiration.... leading to depression??

I saw 2 things that inspired me. Unfortunately these two things led me to a reflection, which could possible contribute to me feeling a little down these few days.

Observation 1:

During the 2.4km IPPT Training, AM told me about the le tour de langkawi telecast on tv. I have never found joy watching cycling races on tv but decided to give this a chance. What i saw truely inspired me. The race was from Temerloh in Pahang to Fraser's Hill. Just a few weeks a go i had a hard time driving up that hill. And the bikers seems to ease their way up, rather effortlessly. Which led me to think: What kind of training is required for a rider to do that? Should the triathlon or duathlon races be that slopy or hilly, what will be required of me to make my way to the finish line? Can i do that? Right now, no way? Not even close.....

Observation 2:

Got to Bishan pool early on Monday. None of my classmates were around so i decided to take a dip in the pool, watching some small kids swim. There was this one kid, swimming very close to me. He effortlessly glided his way in water, and breaststroked in a way i've never seen before. There was i, been swimming breaststroke for a long time, very badly i must add, but effectively nonetheless. And i see this kid swimming, i feel inspired, even tried his strokes, and realised that, even will all the survival test i've been put through, the sprint multi-sport races i've completed, i've been a crappy swimmer all these time.

Sucks.........

Wedding and Marriage - 19 and 20 Jan 08

After 10 years of courtship, we finally got married. Check-out this website for more info: http://mywedding.com/edianandraihan . Pictures will be uploaded soon.

What 2008 should be.....

2008 should be..... the year i.....

1. get married
2. do at least 2 full marathons (KL and Singapore??)
3. learn to swim front crawl
4. do at least 2 OD Triathlons (Bintan and Port Dickson??)
5. conquer either Singapore 70.3 Ironman or Desaru Long Distance Triathlon
6. do Powerman Malaysia Duathlon
7. cover at least 65km for the Sundown Double Marathon

2007 Reflections, reasons and excuses - where did i go wrong

Ok.. here goes... where did i go wrong.

Let's look back, way back to KL Marathon. I completed GE30km in January and must have slacked until early March. Then again, i did 2 half-marathon training runs and another 27km a week before the race. In addition, i failed to get PB for KL because of cramps circa 35km.

I did PD half Marathon early April and then did shorter distance trainings for the double half marathons at Kedah and Perak in early May. After that was ICT, where i must have slacked. Then again, i struggled at Bintan Triathlon 10km running leg because of the short, steep and undulating slopes and not because of lack of training.

I did slacked in June, where i truly suffered during the Penang Marathon. My longest run in preparation for that race was the World Harmony run. Triathlon fever set in as i started cycling.

I guess my slack period started in July, when i had to cover CD Manager's position for 3 months. Missed CBD runs as i had to be in Bintan mainly Tuesdays to Thursdays. At Bintan, i merely do gym work whenever coach Suhaimi was on duty. I managed to do 2 sprint triathlons though, Trifam sprint trial and PD Sprint Tri.

August was an equally slack month though i completed Adidas King of the Road and Desaru LD Tri cycle and sprint race. A rash attack and i had to miss AHM.

Handed over CD Manager position when James took over in Sept. Then again, didn't train when the fasting month sets in. Instead, Ed and I started eating more.

Renovation work started early October and the contractor i engaged didn't do Phua Chu Kang any justice. Checks on the house every evening left me too frustrated to train. This carried on until early December, when i finally moved in.

December came and i completed the SCSM. In addition to the medal and finisher tee, i also attained a personal worst marathon timing and a sore upper right quad muscle. Not sure if the injury is ITB but it sure does hurt everytime i lift up my leg. In addition, preparations for the wedding left me with much to think about. Its amazing how much things you need to think about for a wedding: politics, tradition etc, when most of these have no bearing on the marriage.

I think i'll just rest and ease my way back to fitness, gradually. I am reluctantly giving up MR Ultramarathon to rest. Let's see what 2008 brings!!

OSIM Singapore Triathlon: Manual Timekeeping volunteers required

Asked Harmoni if she needs help for the event and she said "yes, i need 20 volunteers to be manual timekeeper on 29July. You will be given a tee-shirt, 2 meals and some $$. The only problem is you'll have to report at 5am. Interested? Can you get me about 20 people?"

I've found 4.... so far.

I got posted out

Got a call.... "Can you come to the meeting room, now?"

I knew what the issue was about. Someone left, job still needed to be done, so a replacement is required. My first question was, "temporary rite?" The answer was "yes", meaning "until we find the right person, when we find the right person."

My answer... "no problem boss. I'll take the job."

So from 1 July onwards, I'll be spending 3 days a week in Bintan. I'll take it as a weekly 3day 2 nights tour. Lets just see how things go.

The bike that i bought

After the 2 laps at Coastal Road on Sunday, i felt the need to get a roadbike. Furthermore, Sassyrunner mentioned about heading to Port Dickson for the Triathlon in mid July. I was at PD in April and truly enjoyed the half marathon, even though we were soaked to the skin with rain water.

I asked Ed and she gave me the greenlight to go. Then again, i don't have a road bike of my own and cycling 20km in my dad's city bike doesn't look too appetising. So i glanced through the pages of togoparts.com, searching for a bike worth within my meagre S$1200 budget. Few unsuccessful attempts before i found one posted by Jason, who was selling his full Shimano-parts Scott aluminium bike. Got Coach Suhaimi to check though the specifications before agreeing to take a look at the bike at Bedok.

The bike came with bull-horn handle and aerobars, which seemed too garang for my liking. Nevertheless, i told myself that i'll just get this bike for a start. Though Jason requested for S$1400, we managed to agree on S$1200. An hour later, the bike was on its way home, my home.

In-Camp Training 14 - 21 May 07

Under-went my 8th year KINS training. It was a 5 day residential. The last time we had to stay in was in year 4. I was happy to see my fellow troopers; Malik, Reuben, Sharil, Jufri, Risal, Mohsiadi, Chua, Nasir, Yaakob, Jason, Baker, Chan, Wong, Bryan, Neo, Kevin, Tang, Lau, Allen, Zul and Martin. Was rather sad that others were not around; Cikgu, Eric, Ansouri, Dicky etc.

Anyway, not much difference this training as compared to the previous in-camps. Weapon training, IPPT, Range shoot, Fibua etc. Managed to clear my IPPT: 50 sit ups, 0:00:10:04 for shuttle run, 224cm for standing broadjump, 4 chin ups and 0:11:53 for 2.4km. No $$ reward though. I did receive $$ reward for shooting, managed to gun down 29 targets out of 30, same score as last year. Wonder where the other round went to.

1 more in-camp to go before i ORNS, provided no policy change by the government.

Hahahaha........

Had a drink at Compasspoint Starbuck's a few days ago and i saw this:

Crazy or what???

Kak J called me up... "Eh Shut... a group of us going to Alor Setar in May... u wanna go?". My first reaction was... where is Alor Setar. Scanning my brain, i realised that Alor Setar is in Kedah, the second-most northern state in Peninsular Malaysia. Kak J then continued "the run will be on road for the first 3km... then we run at the padi fields..." . I started to laugh, not just because i've started to get interested, but also because i imagined myself being cramped up in a bus, sitting for 12hrs, dying to reach Kedah. But the ultimate laughter came when Kak J said "after the run we'll go down to Ipoh and run in the Centennial run the next day".

I was in 2 minds about saying yes. Firstly, i will need to take leave on Friday since we'll be leaving on a Thursday night. Secondly, 12hr journey by bus is no joke. And no toilets? Lastly, it would mean another weekend away from Ed.

Thinking about running through padi fields, i asked Ed what she thought and surprisingly she replied, "i think you should go for it." What more can i say......

Checked my leave when i got back to office on Monday and saw that i have a meeting the Friday, when i would probably be in Alor Setar. Checked with BG Lim and he said... "go lah, go lah, just change the meeting, what's the big deal?".

So, i am going to Alor Setar and Ipoh. The Alor Setar run is on the Saturday and the Ipoh one is the day after, both are 21km. Can i do it?? Doesn't matter.....

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Why do we have difficulty saying "sorry"? It is that hard........??

Was in JB last Saturday.... at a shopping mall... and a woman knocked her trolley into me, hitting my right thigh. I called her a woman and not a lady because of her reaction...... though i honestly think that the incident was truely an accident, the woman was... not woman enough to simply apologise. Instead she immediately said.... "not my fault... he cut into my lane".... Humans.....