Gloomy City

I did not go for a run at all, even though I packed my running shoes (or to be more accurate, fingers). But I did see a lot of runners around me that I thought somebody was trying to set me up or something. After the countless of runner passed me by, I stopped caring. I forgot about the fact that I too, used to run. I never thought that letting go is an easy business.

I found one awesome pair of shoes that I am considering to use as my main running shoe. I have been running with my five fingers for so long that normal, thick running shoes don't even do it for me anymore, but at the same time, the fivefingers give me bad blisters after 10k. this pair looks like a lightweight trainer than a running shoe, which closely resembles the feel of fivefingers. but im broke.

we will see won't we.

Beautiful Rush

Did a very very short stint of cardio today. There is no time for me to fit in most everything, but I take what I can get.

Woke up early, got dressed, and got going. The roads were amazingly clear, with only a smattering of cars here and there, and the sun was just about up. It was the kind of morning you would envision if the town is attacked by zombies. I love the combination of public holidays and lazy Malaysians. Malaysia rules!!!

The rush of trying out a new route. I was smiling.

Too short, I arrived at boyfriend's house. Wasn't even pounding. wasn't even sweaty. Still it was worth it, that physical body movement. being at one again with the roads. Feeling the sun on my skin.

I get a little too poetic and dramatic sometimes, but really, there is an absolute beauty in speed and adrenaline.

Off to London for 10 days. Damnit. I'll miss my sun and humidity.

Active Rest

I like the concept of active rest. Especially when you make it subjective.

 I was off for a week because my ankle and knees hurt even when I'm just standing brushing my teeth. My shoulder seemed to be okay but I did not want to force the training just yet. But I get so bored and restless not doing anything that I decided to make use of the 'active rest' term and use my weekends for sports.

 The last 2 weekends were good. I had awesome workouts. I knew I was improving, and that I am getting better. Training in a group pushes me more than anything. At one point, I was breathing so hard and I could feel the pulses pounding at the side of my neck. I wanted to stop, but I was working hard I couldn't even strangle out the words. I wanted to cry Uncle! but I told myself to bear through the pain. And at the end of it, I felt proud I survived the worst, and held on. I LOVE working out... I mean, active rest.

  The best thing is that when I do the Vinyasa yoga, I didn't really get tired. I think my fitness, although not at its best form, is at least, maintained. 

 I pushed myself so hard, that I am nursing from a fever and flu :( I think squeezing all 4 sports in one weekend is sorta masochistic. I'm taking Monday off and starting again tomorrow. I can't wait!!

 Anyway, here's a favorite quote I want to share with all of you:

"Anytime you add that structure to something, for me, it kills it. Think about the word 'amateur': It has its root in the Latin word 'amare', which means 'to love'--you do it for the love of the sport."

--Charles Carlson, Bicycling June 2008

I totally love it. It outlines what I've been saying all along - the pleasure to do your sports just because beats out anything else. I've been doing karate for 6 years, and I am still wearing a white belt. I have yet to go for a single belt test and yet I am doing their brown belt work. I never liked the stress and pressure of sports. I just love getting sweaty and the challenges of pushing yourself. The same thing goes to all the sports I do. 

 I chatted with an Ironman who entered the competition with his brother. He told me that his brother completed the Ironman in 13 (or was it 12) hours and totally suffered through it, whereas he completed his in 17 hours but took the time to totally enjoy the race. He freely admitted that he wasn't a fast anything - not in running, not in swimming, and also cycling. He said that he had paid a hefty fee and wanted to make his maiden Ironman (and the exorbitant price) worthwhile by cheering on others, taking pictures, instead of being pressured to finish it fast. 

 Not many people would agree with this. To some, the hours of training will definitely go to waste if they can't see results. Why bother suffering through the training if it weren't for getting an amazing time? I understand their reasoning and I am proud to see anyone of my friends who completes any race in good timing. You worked hard for it! 

But my school of thought lies with the 17-hours finisher. Not all of us are meant to be a fast finisher. Might as well enjoy every single second. I am happy to be an amateur.

 Starting again tomorrow!

 

Of Waterproof Music and De-Stressing Month

I'm moving back and forth the past few days between feeling extremely frustrated and relieved.

 Some days, after waking up every morning at 530am feeling tired from last night's hard workout, it is a relief to be freshly awake due to a completely rested nighttime of watching downloaded movies and a lot of icing on ankles, etc. Some days, when I try to do a light jog or yoga poses, they're frustrating when I could feel the ache in my knees and at my shoulders. My body is simply not co-operating with me and I'm exhausted of the word 'recovery' and wondering when I could be free of the aches and pains. 

 But also at the same I tell myself that I should be grateful. Grateful that I still have legs to walk, arms to type on keyboards and flip magazine pages, ankles I could flex and somewhat write alphabets in the air with. I try not to be too consumed by my training thoughts that I couldn't see what I still have as opposed to what I don't have currently. The point of training is to get better and I have to know that it's okay to lose a lot of my fitness and strength - what I have worked for the past months. The whole challenge is to start over again, right?

 Anyway, found this gem when I was surfing the internet. This is called Xtrea MP3, and it's a swimmers dream. MP3 player for doing laps. I don't listen to music when I run or swim or anything, but I know a lot of people do, and this is a great gadget to give to a swimmer in your life:

"Take your music anywhere with the durable and completely submergible XtreaMP3 player. The shockresistant and skip-free MP3 player plays up to 240 songs (1GB memory) in high-quality surround sound. The small XtreaMP3 player attaches to a comfortable neoprene arm strap, allowing you to enjoy your favorite music hands free. Specialized waterproof earbuds secure tightly, making for clear listening in any extreme environment. The player is USB compatible and completely waterproof up to depths of 15 feet (4.5m)."

What have I been doing? I have been resting - no running, a lot of yoga, but also some cardio as well. I can't help it, but it might have cost me a longer recovery time for my ankle and shoulder. I know I have to come at a complete standstill but seeing the hot sunny evenings with my old pair of skates I feel a dying urge to break a sweat. Well, can't do anything about it.

 I have a slew of races coming up and paid for... waiting patiently to start running again.

Total Rest

My left ankle is still swollen after 3 days.

My shoulder is happy with her tendonitis.

My knees are not ready to be on their own without medication just yet. Still need some mollycodlling.

 I am left thinking, can't run, can't swim, can't karate, can't inline-skate, can't ride.

 But it's ok. There are worst things in the world. I'm going to take a good rest and read books and cuddle cats and do yoga until I'm bend over backwards like a pretzel.

 Don't worry guys I'm still going to run run run!

Look Ma, I'm Not Tired! (and zipping through trees)

I've been having a good month so far since December working out a sweat. At first the daily ritual of waking up early during weekends to play sports were a bit torturous since I wake up at 530 am for work and I always love to sleep but after about 2 weeks I find it easier.

There are a lot of benefits of working out. And since we are all runners I don't really have do much convincing about it. I only know that my sleep patterns are much more on track now, and instead of getting tired easily I always wake up refreshed. The most obvious would be my eating habits. I seem to be eating good food continously these days. I had the worst dietary habit ever for years thanks to being a stressed out engineering student on scholarship wrath. Sometimes I forget to eat my meals and always had crackers or maggi noodles endlessly to fill up. But since I've been playing sports I keep wanting to eat, and I find myself reaching for 'good' food. Raisins, oatmeal, bananas, cereal, nuts, milk, veggies, etc. They're filling, not heavy and gives me energy for evening's workouts. Plus the healthier you are the more aware of what you put in your body. It doesn't make sense to sabotage your good efforts.

Last Monday I took a break from all my sports to join my friends for this thing called the SkyTrek Adventure. If you haven't heard of it, it's in Bukit Cerakah, Shah Alam, and it would have you strapped in a harness, 22 feet above ground, zipping from tree to tree either by doing flying foxes, or going through the obstacles. The obstacles vary; you had to walk across a tightrope, or through loops, or 'charlie chaplin' style (refer pics), etc. There's a platform on each tree and only 3 people are allowed on it. Most of these obstacles were challenging in a way that you have to be mentally ready to attempt them with the ground way below you, plus without any support underneath they require you to use your muscles to balance yourself when you wobble on them (and you will wobble and jiggle and hobble, I tell you). All in all it took us about 3 hours to complete I think about 11 obstacles.

The Skytrek offers variety of packages but we took the Extreme one. It is RM 45 each, but since we booked for a large group - 14 pax - we got a discount (rm40.50 each).


That is me climbing the first step to the first challenge. It's really high! I thought I would be ok, but halfway up I started to get nervous and was thisclose to give up - on the first challenge!

First flying fox... well technically it's not really a flying fox since you don't zip across a river but it was a rush nevertheless! Beware of reaching to the platform too fast, most of my friends with a larger mass tend to hit the tree with a thud!

Another flying fox challenge. Could you see the small platform at the end?

One of the obstacles. This was hard cause the tubes move back and forth like crazy! You need strong core muscles and quads+hams to stable yourself!

Charlie Chaplin as modeled by my friend. heheh.

One of the many flying foxes stations. I enjoyed this.

Everybody was exhausted either in the middle of doing the obstacles or slumped on the platform. I found myself still steady and active and I totally owed it to the fact that I exercise everyday. The scorching sun didn't really bother me, plus lack of water didn't really foil my mood, and I even closed the day with a nice in-line skate session at night! Working out gives you tons of energy ok. Why don't more people do this?

All in all, it was a good overall body workout. Not only you have to use strength (to lift yourself up on the stairs and platforms) you have to use your balance, co-ordination, and mental power to conquer this challenge. We all sweated buckets, even my boyfriend, who is having his off season for football, was panting a little bit. Well, he was deathly afraid of heights and had worn himself out during the first climb heheheh.

And plus after this Skytrek, one could always go for a run or rent a bike and cycle up the hills and peaks for a nice exercise. They have good supply of snacks and refreshment stands spread around the park too, so you're never deprived of fuel.

10 more days until I start running!! Wowwwwieee Junior Juice! I'm so nervous and excited it felt like the night before I went to Disneyland at age 13. hahaha.

Pokhara, Nepal

I am writing from Pokhara, nepal, a cowboy town where most treks (basically being annapurna) start and end. I just finished my 10 days of trekking yesterday, and for the time being I am GLAD that it's over. My knees hurt beyond oblivion, my thighs are sore to a point where it hurts to even touch them and forget about my feet, they look like blisters have migrated and dominated the region. Yesterday was the last part of our trek, and it was one of the worst days ever basically because I am mentally and physically tired already after walking straight for 10 days. Not just walking... but climbing uphill and running downhill for the most part... all while carrying a 9.5 kg bag.

Yesterday trek was supposedly easy; just a long descent to Birenthanti, where it's another 45 minutes walk to Naya Pul to get a taxi and head back to town. But I have discovered earlier on in the trek that I'm better at going uphill than downhill; I prefer uphill more actually. The downhill trekking did awful things to my knees, at nights in the cold (temperature goes down until 1 celcius which is horribly bad for a malaysian girl!) I can't hardly move them at all because they get so stiff and tight. Even now as I write this down they still hurt.

I thought that the descent to Birenthanti will take only 2 hours or 3 hours max. But I was waay wrong. We started at 830 am, and only stopped walking at 130pm. It was a steady and sometimes steep downhill on stone stairs and sandy trails, and I made the mistake of only having hot chocolate for breakfast. We stopped only for minutes on end because all of us were eager to reach the destination. On the way to Birenthanti, after walking for 4 straight hours, I actually passed out for a while... or maybe passed out was too dramatic, I only just fell to my knees. I just wanted to stop walking!

Anyway, I will write a proper entry on this some other time, as I'm going to see the doctor because my knees are seriously hurting. Yesterday I rewarded myself with a hearty meal of sweet and sour fish with rice and I shoveled it up in minutes... considering to order second. We ate only noodle soup up there with the occasional splurge of cheese pizza, and it was so cold I felt hungry most of the times. But I enjoyed the camarederie of all the trekkers we met in the lodges and during the trek, particularly this amazing couple from Chile who were infectiously happy and friendly. Not to mention a cute, smart-assed and intelligent little 6 year old Ashaw from England that I befriended on the trip.

Been reading all of your updates just now and I am itching to start running again!!

Oh, have any of you heard of this guy Pedro from Portugal? I sat next to him on the bus to Pokkhara and he's into triathlons and he knows a couple of malaysian tri athletes (always asking me whether I know a Dino from Malaysia or Singappore) whose names are beyond my knowledge. I think he was placed 5th in the climb-a-thon or towerthon last February or something... I can't remember facts straight because I'm on medication right now!

Hiatus

I forgot all about it.

But tomorrow I will go on a 16 day trip to Nepal scaling one of the Annapurna routes (ABC to be exact). I've bought a pair of awesome shoe that could double up as a trail running shoe (good investment). I have yet to buy a sleeping bag. I wish we'd bought the pee funnel because woo hoo it's going to get coldddddd in the middle of the night to wake up and pee.

My running routine will go out of the window I guess. Nevermind. I'll start again from scratch. Nothing like a good challenge.

Can't wait to see the awesome mountain views.

Be good fellow runners! Looking forward to read all about your progress :)