Recovery

Last week was the second week where my workouts have been pretty solid, after the long lay off due to my fever and many pesky injuries. I think I probably did too much too fast, either that, or I did not have enough recovery.

Recovery is important, period. Especially sleep, which I have trouble adhering to the schedule. And that left me feeling very lethargic last Saturday which lead me to have a total bonkfest during my morning workout. The 57km which was supposedly easy for me over the months, felt like torture. I canceled my karate drills class afterwards and slept like a log. There is no way I'm going to endure another 2 hours of hard cardio afer that.

The same thing goes for Sunday. Woke up still feeling very sluggish for a long run, so opted for a slow easy workout. But the whole thing was eventful from the start; someone was late, then another someone got lost, and got mechanical problems, the sun was already hot it burned the front of our tshirt and warmed the just bought bottles of Gatorade in minutes. We scrapped our initial plan to go far and did a u-turn instead. I think in total I downed 3 Gatorades, 2 100+, 1 watermelon juice and 2 Ice Milos. Not to mention countless of water bottles.

And then, for no real reason other than I felt like I wanted to, I did a 10km run in the evening. Usually would complain about the lack of hot sun when I run, but this time I kind of welcome the cool change. I was still thirsty from the hard morning workout so the cool weather was a nice one for me to complete the 10k. It was a simple loop of 2.5km complete with little hills and false flats, and I did 4 boring rounds of it. Still it was a nice run, especially when the little dogs and cats were there at their same place to cheer at me (or bark) every time I pass them by. One of the dogs stopped barking on my third round and just stared at me, head cocked to the side. So cute! One cat maintained her downright relaxed pose the whole 4 times I passed her by. Our eyes met and she was like, "Yo, more power to you."

So Sunday was a great, tiring day. I went to bed real early, and today I shall be resting.

Brick la sgt.

Today I had an offshore training, which started at 12 noon for registration, and had me going Yabedabedu nuggets! in the office yesterday when I found out. Ever since I decided I'm going to try to do a triathlon, my mind is working 24/7 trying to find time into an already packed day. I once wrote a lengthy piece about completely re-setting the concept of time - wouldn't it be great if a day consists of 48 hours and nighttime is only for 12 hours?

Anyway I woke up early today to go for the pool. I arrived just ten minutes after the opening hour - and walking towards the pool I was deliriously happy. An empty pool, just to myself! But when I walked in I saw there were about 3-4 swimmers, but they were doing laps themselves. My swimming goal this morning was to either swim for 1 hour or do 1.7km, whichever come first. Of course I was hoping to do 2km but I do not want to overwork myself.

Warm up: 2x50m
Set: 3x100m, 1x800m, 1x200m
Cool Down: 1x200m

Total distance and time: 1.5km, 60 minutes.

My right shoulder has this recurring - but not all the time - pain when I swim. It feels like a jolt, or a stab of pain, and I was super paranoid. I DO NOT want to get injured - a swimmer's shoulder on top of my runner's knees. What's next - a biker's thigh? At the rate I am going, collecting injury after injury, the next thing I know I'm reduced to no exercise and gorging my heart out and with my injury prone self I might get Foodie's Stomach. Haha not funny I know.

So I restrained myself from going further and settled on a one-hour swim. To shake things up a little bit I made myself breathe after 7 strokes, which had me gasping a little bit but I managed nevertheless.

Evening, I decided to take my bike out for a ride. We're still strangers, and to be honest I am actually... scared of my bike. It's funny -I've jumped off a suspended platform and went cave spelunking but show me my yellow bike and I tremble at the sight of it. Riding with my boyfriend proved to be no good either. He barks instruction and I could feel him snicker inside whenever I nearly topple off the bike. He is amazed at how wimpy I was the first time I tried out my bike.

I think the issue was pure intimidation. You were supposed to enjoy biking enough to buy one but I did it the other way around; buy a bike first, figure out the bike later. In result, the mechanics of the bike intimidate me - fork, tyres, gears, shifters, etc. Then taking out and putting the tires back in. I still have a hard time putting back the rear tire I was sweating like a good aerobic workout by the time I'm done. Man, that was tiring! Oh wait, what? I have to ride on it?!

I haven't been riding a bicycle for quite some time - that is, riding on a road shared with cars and motorcycles and sometimes moving lorries. And seriously, I thought the function of a bicycle is that you have to pedal them, but apparently not for my bike. It goes on Faassst.. so fasstt... exactly HOW FAST is a normal road bike supposed to go? I tried downshifting (or maybe it was upshifting - never really got the hang of the jargon) to no avail. I ended up half of the ride crouching down and squeezing the brakes. My palms ache in the most horrible way ever. People complain about sore butts when going cycling the first time but for me it was sore palms.

So the whole 30 minutes of riding was spent like this: pedal for 5 seconds, crouch, brake, brake, brake, release brakes, BRAAAKEEE, cruise, brake. I did ride up one uphill which had me going all perky for a while but it ended way too soon and I would want to do it again, except that I had to go downhill first to go uphill and that would mean... more braking. No thanks.

I think I also have to get myself gloves.

Oh well, my foray into this scary multisport ensues...

First Ramadhan Run

My first Ramadhan run went ok. Actually it went good.

I took it slow, and the route I took was a simple 3.23km around my neighbourhood with some uphills. The sun was blisteringly hot, the weather you would expect at the beachside with clear blue skies. The first few cars looked at me like I was crazy. Nobody runs under the sweltering hot sun at 530 in the evening! But to be honest I like running when the sun is shining. I sweat more and I like it because it's something I'm used to. Heat is something I grew up with, therefore I find nothing wrong with a drenching workout. I hate running when the weather is cold or windy and the sun is hidden by the clouds. Sometimes when I have a late start, at 630pm and the sky was cloudy or overcast I feel a little bit sad. I like to have the sun shining on my face and warming my back as I run.

Trying to run again today. But careful not to hurt my left knee. Yesterday at the end of the run it hurt quite a bit that I had to hobble.

I bought another running shoe yesterday. When I first started I had only one: a New Balance 408. And then I left it at my parent's house so I had to buy a cheap pair - Reebok Premier Pheonix. Yesterday I left that pair in the car that my sister was using so I bought another cheap pair - Reebok Premier Smoothfit Cushion. Personally, I like the third one. It's very cushiony and just snug - doesn't bite into my toes like my New Balance does. The guys in the store were trying to make me buy an Asics but I prefer to take my time when it comes to buying a seriously expensive shoes. I plan to get a good running shoe when I go to Singapore as they have a better, greater selection. But for the time being I think these 3 pairs are enough. I have one at my parent's home, one in the car (mobile), and one at home.

Everybody's Sick

in the office today. Myself included. I'm having a mild sore throat which I bet was transferred from my boyfriend as he was coughing last night when we were in the cinema. We watched G.I. Joe which was great. Later that night he followed my running route just to gauge the distance... and it was a disappointing 4.6km.

This morning I went and used google map to map my route and measure the distance. My Monday route was a dismal 4.6km, but yesterday's route was surprisingly longer = 5.2km. The route felt shorter but definitely harder. I enjoyed thinking about it now, but yesterday I nearly fainted with the effort. There are some hilly parts in my neighborhood! But it was a good run because I was fighting with myself and to me suceeding to ignore and fight my inner running wimp is way better than winning anything. I always feel good after challenging myself.

My knees are hurting on a regular basis now. They hurt even when I was static... more so. I think I better start drinking Anlene or something. And wear those knee wraps my dad wears after a run. He says they work wonders.

Talking about my dad, I am dying to run with him in one race. But I am afraid that he'll overexert himself and get a heart attack or something. My dad is a typical Lelaki Melayu Gagah a.k.a Ego. Having run as just a hobby (like I was until this year), obviously he was more concerned with how fast he is than the others and not how good the running is. I was like that too. I always mentally judge or compare other runners. But when I started 'training' I told mysef that I will take my time and take it real slow, no matter what other people think.

I used to like running with my dad but not anymore since our priorities are different. Before, we would just run for the heck of it. We would race each other and stuff. But last 2 weeks when we ran together, he was running at a faster pace than I was and when it was obvious that I could go longer and he couldn't (after 5km), he wouldn't want to stop. He would push himself just so that I don't beat him. What a runner's ego! I am WORRIED that he'll just get a heart attack or collapse. I mean, he's 57 and smokes like a chimney. Plus all he cares about is beating me since there's no specific goals for him to achieve (like, increase speed slowly over one month period, etc etc).

I've managed to persuade him to join the Mizuno Wave Run but now I'm not so sure about it. The other senior runners have been running for years and know how to pace themselves. My dad is a typical male who wants to run AND win. I'm just afraid he'll push himself too far. When I told him that simply finishing a race is amazing enough he eeked me and said that there's nothing more embarassing than having others waving you on. I told you he's a typical Gold, Silver, Bronze sports person.

Today is running! I hope the traffic at the lake is clear or else I'll have to settle with my neighborhood.