Week 8 of 26

Had a pretty big week and I'm glad that finished it standing on my two feet. Monday was Victoria Day public holiday. This is a different date from the Queen's birthday in Perth, which is again different from the other parts of Australia. I found this rather amusing actually, given that they relate to the same queen... but anyway, I digress.

Coach Sheri had her Megaday planned in Port Stanley. One of my training mates, Matt was kind enough to pick me up early so we did about 40 minutes ride before we met up with the group. It was a nice ride through some hills to Port Burwell. We had a pretty strong headwind on the return lap. Kudos to Sheri's husband, Bruce for sticking with us for most of the ride. Pretty impressive for someone who rarely rides and keeping up with 2 other guys about 20 years younger, both who are training for Ironman! We clocked close to 125km that day. Matt and I did a 6km run after, with the tailwind and downhill slope on the return lap, it as a negative split by a huge margin - even clocked 3:44 pace for the last descending bit!

Tuesday was a rest day, which was much needed. Wednesday I had a workshop at Western campus which ended early. So I was able to squeeze in both a run and a swim - the good thing about bringing all your gear with you. Did a 75 minute run - two laps of the campus to downtown route and it was pretty humid. The swim after was refreshing - 400m swim, 400m pull buoy, 6 x 50m, 5 x 100m, 4 x 200m, 5 x 100m, 6 x 50m. With those two sessions in the bag, I slept in the next day and did not have to worry about a morning swim session :)

Thursday was the usual 90km ride to Lakeside and back in the evening. It was pretty windy but mostly cross wind and it felt like the direction was a bit more favourable on the way back. Friday morning, I woke up early for some long swim sets and was pretty happy with the times - 400m warm up. 2000m swim (34:01). 1000m pull buoy/paddles (16:22). In the afternoon, I did an hour's run in Springbank. There were no intervals in the program but I felt good and just focused on quick leg turnover - gave a bit of kick to clock 14km.

Saturday was a nice ride with Peter, Greg and Clare. We rode from Lambeth to Port Stanley and return via Melbourne. The guys haven't been doing too many long rides and were kind enough to let me do most of the pulling, but I'm glad to do it. Keeps me honest for my Ironman preparation. Another close to 125km in the bag.

Sunday I woke up early to watch the live streaming of Thomas Cup badminton finals - Malaysia vs Japan. Both teams were underdogs with the Japanese ranked better on paper. The Malaysian team came agonizingly close to win back the cup after a drought of 22 years. They deserve a pat on the back. I hope now the national federation would ride on this momentum and bring Malaysia back to when it was a badminton powerhouse decades ago.

I did my long run just before 4pm. It was really sunny outside but not that humid. I had 1 hour 50 minutes on the program. Pretty surprised at how good my legs felt and I kept it mostly consistent throughout. Really glad to maintain a sub 4:30 per km average with just over 24.5km clocked.

Pretty happy with how my training has been progressing lately. Next week is looking a tad bit lighter, as there is no public holiday.

Week 8 of 26 statistics:

Swim - 6.8km (2 hours 1 minute)
Bike - 338.8km (12 hours 23 minutes)
Run - 61.4km (4 hours 31 minutes)

Total - 407.0km (17 hours 55 minutes)

Week 7 of 26

So the big weeks of this first build are slowly creeping up. Started the week with a swim on Monday afternoon. 400m warm up, 1000m swim, 400m drills - 50m swim/25m L sidekick/25 R sidekick, 1000m pull buoy, 400m pull buoy and finishing up with 200m kick.

Tuesday morning, I did another swim set. My first early morning swim in a while actually. 100m swim, 100m back/breaststroke, 200m swim, 400m fast swim, 4 x 200m swim, 400m fast swim, 4 x 200m pull buoy, 400m fast swim. Was meant to ride in the afternoon but the weather gods had something else in mind. A big thunderstorm hit that evening so decided to swap my sessions around.

Luckily the storm cleared on Wednesday morning. I managed to fit in a 75 minute run before work. The set was 3 x 5 min fast/5 min easy, 2 x 6 min fast/4 min easy, 1 x 7 min fast/3 min easy. There were lots of snails on the paths from the rain the day before. I tried my best to avoid most of them, but I think I stepped on a couple! :( In the afternoon the weather held, so I managed to get my ride in. I rode to Lakeside but took a different turn on the way back, luckily I didn't get lost! It was nice to have a tailwind on the return lap for a change. Distance was 82.7kms.

Thursday the weather wasn't too promising but I managed to get another run done in the afternoon in Springbank. Just an hour's run and there were no intervals in the program, just focusing on quick pick-ups.

Friday morning, I did another early morning swim. Had some longer sets - 400m warm up, 1000m (200m steady/50m fast), 1000m (200m steady/50m big kicks), 1000m pull buoy. It was in a 50m pool and I was pretty happy with the times for the longer 1km sets - 16:56, 17:09 and 17:50 respectively. In the evening, I did another ride. Forecasted weather had some strong winds. But during the ride, it was weird and I didn't feel I was particularly hampered or assisted by the wind in a specific direction. Rode to Lakeside and back with a total distance of 75km.

Saturday morning, it was glorious outside. A bit cold and some light winds. I rode to Southwold and had 120km on the plan. I didn't feel particularly strong, could have been still tired from the ride the evening before. On the way back, the winds picked up a bit - not overly strong, but constantly blowing and enough to sap the energy out of my legs, which I didn't have much left anyway. I soft pedalled all the way back, my average speed dropped tremendously. Took me 4 hours 22 minutes for the whole ride. In the evening, I had to attend a run review with Coach Sheri. So I didn't have much rest after either. It's always interesting to see yourself running in video and there is always things to improve on.

Sunday I was being lazy the whole day and procrastinated on my long run until about 4pm. I had a nice nap before too. My legs felt strong and the weather was an overcast which helped. Ran for 1 hour 45 minutes and held just under 4:30 per km average for 23.4kms, so I was very pleased.

I thought I had a big week this week but as tomorrow is Victoria Day public holiday, another big session is planned. But I have a rest day after that, so it's all good.

Week 7 of 26 statistics:

Swim - 10.2km (3 hours 3 minutes)
Bike - 277.8km (9 hours 30 minutes)
Run - 54.0km (4 hours 0 minutes)

Total - 342.1km (16 hours 33 minutes)

Week 6 of 26

The week started with a rest day on Monday. Sort of like a reset after the below par performance the week before. Tuesday I did my first morning swim in months. Didn't wake up especially early though, as I had a 9 am appointment, so I told the office I was going to be in late anyway. Had a main set of 5 x 100m, 200m, 5 x 100m pull buoy, 200m, 5 x 100m pull buoy/paddles, 200m, 5 x 100m, 200m. In the afternoon, I rode for 3 hours to Lakeside and back. Weather was nice but I think the wind changed directions partway through and it felt like I had some headwinds in both directions. Not particularly strong winds, but enough to affect my speed.

Wednesday I ran at Springbank for 75 minutes. After a 15 minute warm up, the program was 2 sets of 20 minutes tempo/10 minutes steady. Clocked just over 17km and a tad bit faster than last week. Thursday, I did another swim session with some longer sets. 200m swim, 200m pull buoy, 8 x 50m swim, 1500m swim and 1000m pull buoy. Pretty happy with my times for the 1500m (24:25) and 1000m pull (17:17). But I need to remind myself that it was a 25m pool, so I have to see how much slower I would be in a 50m long course pool.

Friday I had another 75 minutes run in the program. I didn't want to run at Springbank, so I decided to park at Western campus and do the route that I used run last year when I was working in campus. I started from campus and headed down Western road to downtown, turning left at Oxford Street and back up again at Richmond Street. Did two loops and it showered every now and then. Pretty humid day.

Saturday was cycling day and we had a group ride organized. When I say group, I actually meant two other guys hahaha. I had 4 hours on the program, so I rode down to Lambeth to meet up with the others. We rode to Komoka and Delaware. It was such a windy day but nice and sunny. After I left the group to ride home, I was pretty relieved that the last 13kms had a tailwind. Total distance was 134km and about 38 minutes longer than my program but that's okay.

Sunday, after speaking to my parents on Skype, I felt a bit lazy and couldn't bring myself out for a long run. So I went to the gym instead. It has been almost 4 weeks since I've last hit the gym and being the body conscious triathlete I am, my reflection on the mirror tells me that it's about time I pumped some iron! Did an hour's session of alternating between arms, legs and core - 30 reps each.

I napped most of the afternoon and only started my long run at 4.30pm. The temperature was about 20 degrees and it was sunny. I had 1 hour 45 minutes on the program. The program had me doing 3 sets of 10 minutes tempo/20 minutes steady. My legs felt a bit tired but I managed to maintain a pretty consistent split for each 30 minute sets. Happy to clock just over 23km which was how I planned it originally.

Week 6 of 26 statistics:

Swim - 6.7km (1 hour 57 minutes)
Bike - 224.8km (7 hours 37 minutes)
Run - 56.9km (4 hours 15 minutes)
Gym - 1 hour

Total - 288.5km (14 hours 49 minutes)

Two bulls

I'm going to be lazy here... and do a combined blog post dedicated to my two siblings' birthdays. My lil' brother Keith celebrated his 20th... (yes, I can't believe it myself, he's no longer in his teens!) birthday couple of days ago. And my sis, Karen will be having her... well, let's just say she's a few years shy of turning 30 in a couple of days hahaha.

Being both born in the early days of May, they are both Taureans. Karen, as most of us know, has always been headstrong and wants to do things HER OWN way. Her favourite words when she was little were "I like, I like lah!" While myself, being the by-the-rule-book older brother had always disapproved of her ways. But it is with these qualities and by taking the path less travelled, that she now successfully manages her own fast growing fitness enterprise and most importantly, doing what she loves... doing it her way. I can't say enough, how proud I am of her.

Keith, on the other hand is a bit more passive. But don't let that fool you. Having left for Australia while Keith was only 8 years old, I have missed out on most of Keith's growing up years. I cannot make up for those years but in this age of social media, I get to see what he's up to on Facebook and Twitter (whether it is to his liking or not, is another story!). And he has indeed grown up to be a young man with his strong opinions on current issues. He is no longer our little Keith Boy. Keith now studies in Wollongong, Australia and I wish him the very best, cherish this memorable experience of being abroad and make the most out of it.

As the eldest sibling, I often play the authoritarian role and tend to be naggy and bossy at times. I only want the best for both of you but I can get carried away sometimes. Do forgive your kor kor for this. Wishing both of you very happy birthdays! Missing both of you lots and hope that I would be able to celebrate your birthdays in person in the near future soon.

Week 5 of 26

This is my first week under Coach Sheri Fraser's plan. It started with a swim session on Monday to recover from the Forest City half marathon the day before. The sets were 400m warm up, 400m - 75 swim/25 finger tip drag, 1000m, 4000m - 25 swim/25 right arm/25 swim/25 left arm, 1000m, 200m kickboard. Felt a bit tired and was swimming a bit slower than usual but that's okay.

It rained for most of the week, I was meant to ride on Tuesday but I swapped the ride for the next day's run session instead. Ran for 75 minutes in Springbank with some intervals - 4 minutes fast/1 minute easy/6 minutes fast/1 min easy/8 minutes fast/1 minute easy, and repeat one more time through. Was surprised how good my legs felt and clocked 17km in that duration.

Wednesday evening it was gloomy but it was dry when I started my ride. How wrong I was! It started raining few minutes in... and didn't stop! With the wind blowing, very soon it got too cold and I was shivering until I could not continue. Called Li-Ann to pick me up. Only 43kms clocked.

Thursday I did a shorter run at Springbank and my legs felt good again. Did a fast 13.8km in an hour. Friday was another swim set - 400m, 800m, 800m with pull buoy, 800m, 400m.

Saturday the roads were wet from the rain the night before. The skies were dark but the forecast says it should be clear of rain for a few hours. So I took the gamble and went out for a ride. Did 3 hours without getting too wet, apart from feet, from the water splashing off the ground. I saw a huge brown dog just meters away as I was riding in country roads. Later I thought, it could have been a coyote! The bike was very dirty after the ride and it took me a while to get it cleaned.

In the afternoon, I ran for 90 minutes and surprisingly felt great. Just over 20kms clocked despite it being so windy.

As I did not ride for most of the week, I pushed most of my cycling workouts to the weekend. So I was out riding again on Sunday. The plan was to ride for 4 hours. It was nice and sunny. But I had nothing left in my legs. It didn't help that the winds started picking up. I was rolling around at 20kph and I decided to call it quits and gave Li-Ann a call... again! 95km clocked in a very slow 3 hours 41 minutes.

I still had another swim session to make up for in the afternoon but I figured I needed the rest. Cramming two big rides in two days wasn't the wisest choice. And it is obvious my body is not ready to log in the big Ironman miles... not yet, anyway. Incidentally, I have a lighter load this coming week and the weather forecast looks favourable, so I wouldn't need to swap any sessions around.

Week 5 of 26 stats:

Swim 6.8km (1 hour 59 minutes)
Bike 228.8km (8 hours 23 minutes)
Run 51.1km (3 hours 45 minutes)

Total 286.7km (14 hours 7 minutes)

Forest City Road Races - Half Marathon

The last time I did a standalone half marathon was in August 2012 (race report here) back in Perth. I don't usually sign up for run races simply because I try to limit my spending on race entry fees and typically I could do a 21km run on my own in training. But as the triathlon racing season here starts pretty late - around late May/early June, I thought why not give it go. At least, I have something to train for over the long winter months. It would be awesome to run a new personal best, last clocked in July 2011 (race report here) in Perth as well, but given a different course and not being able to run outdoors much in winter, I was just going to give my best and see how the day unfolds.

The day before the race... weather wasn't very good. It was gloomy and really windy. Even when we went to collect my race pack at Victoria Park, we were running for shelter from the strong winds and impending rain. We had lunch at Angelo's and it was our first time there. We had a pasta to share and ordered a huge serving of breakfast waffles with gelato. We had a coupon that gave a complimentary scoop of gelato with my pasta, so two scoops of ice cream - makes a very indulgent lunch! I think we just found our new favourite place! For dinner, Li-Ann cooked pasta too, so you can say, I was well carbed up for the race!

Race morning came. I had a good night's sleep and was up at 5.45am. Went through the usual routine - put on contact lenses, breakfast, some stretching and mandatory toilet sit-down hahaha. The weather changed for the better... much better. It was near perfect actually, a bit cold... at 3 degrees Celcius but sunny skies and light winds. We were worried of the road closures and not being able to find a parking spot, but there were no problems at all and we arrived at Victoria Park at 7.15am. I guess it was due to the different start times for the half marathon (8am), 10km (10am) and 5km (8.30am). And the roads were only partially closed.

We met up with Tom - London Tri Club president and helped him set up the tent. I was able to leave my bag there rather than with the masses at the event bag tent. Li-Ann was a volunteer race marshal that morning. Her station was about 30 minute walk from the race start it felt a bit odd that our roles were somewhat reversed, and she was leaving to get ready earlier than I was. I was still feeling full from breakfast so I didn't eat the energy bar I brought along. I chatted a bit more with Tom and waited until about 15 minutes before the race start before I did some warm up jogs.

One last visit to the portaloo and it was time to go. Luckily I checked the venue map just before, otherwise I wouldn't have known where I would need to go for the start as the different events started in different sides of the park and Victoria Park is not a small park either. I strategically positioned myself near the front women. I should have started my Garmin signal earlier, had a bit of a panic attack when the Canadian national anthem was almost finishing and my watch was still searching for it's signal! But it activated just in the nick of time and off we went!

With a turnout of about 500 runners for the half marathon, it is a bit smaller than the running events I used to do in Perth. I started off pretty quickly and was surprised that there were only a group of 10+ runners with me and the gap was getting bigger - the faster ones are speeding ahead, but I seem to be running away from the group behind too. The early pace was probably a bit too quick - 3:50 per km I did! I was only able to hold on to the top women for a while but after that, they started pulling away. A couple more guys overtook me as I settled into a more steady pace of about 4:15 per km.

The course goes through Western University and has some gentle rollers with a couple of short, steep climbs as we come out of Western at the 8 to 9km mark. I managed to overtake a person in front after the first climb. Shortly after, I met up with Li-Ann marshalling at the 10km mark. She commented that I looked a bit warm in my long compression top and bottoms. She was probably right. Usually I can run through a half marathon without having a drink but I decided take one at the next station.

I found that that each km marker was about 100-200m after each time my watch beeps. I had to keep that in mind to forecast my finishing time. We ran through Western again after the 15km mark. I was able to overtake a couple more guys. That was good for morale and I found myself going a bit quicker after. Although a PB was no more on the cards, I was close to running a sub 1:29 if I could maintain the pace. But the final km was a steady climb which put me back another 10 seconds. And as I got back to Victoria Park, my watch beeped for the final 21km and it seemed like I had another 3 corners of the park to run around.

I finally crossed the line in 1:29:17, my 3rd best half marathon time. I was 14th overall and surprisingly got myself 2nd place in my Male 30-34 age group. Looking at the results, the 13th person (also 3rd place overall female, gosh these girls are fast!) was a good 3.5 minutes ahead and the 1st person in my age group was 10 minute ahead, so even clocking a PB would not have changed my position at all. Full results here.

Here are my km splits:

1km - 3:50

2km - 4:01

3km - 4:16

4km - 4:16

5km - 4:13

6km - 4:14

7km - 4:06

8km - 4:09

9km - 4:21

10km - 4:15

11km - 4:16

12km - 4:14

13km - 4:16

14km - 4:13

15km - 4:11

16km - 4:12

17km - 4:11

18km - 4:12

19km - 4:17

20km - 4:19

21km - 4:10

21.3km (based on my Garmin) - 1:10 

I wasn't expecting a prize for my 2nd in age group placing, but I heard an announcement to that up to top 3 in age group prizes were given at the registration tent. So I went to check and got myself a small prize of $10 gift card at Runners' Choice store. Hey, better than nothing, right?

Overall, I'm pleased with the result. Would have preferred to have ran a bit quicker but without any specific speed training, I can't complain. It's pretty good way to start the racing season! My training program under Coach Sheri Fraser (or as she calls it herself, the Sheri Torture!) started this week and I look forward to what this season brings.

Race pictures courtesy of Zoomphoto.ca

Week 4 of 26

I have conveniently made this week a recovery week after the past 3 weeks build. Ending it with the half marathon race at Forest City Road Races.

Monday, as usual, was a rest day. Originally I planned to cycle on Tuesday but the weather looked gloomy with some strong winds, so I ran 12km at Springbank instead. Still ran it pretty hard, clocking the same time as last week.

Wednesday, I rode to Southwold. The plan was to do 75kms. Temperatures were about just under 10 degrees Celcius but with the strong winds, the chill felt closer to freezing point. I was shivering pretty badly and was cycling way below par. About 50kms into the ride, I decided to call it quits and gave Li-Ann an SOS call to pick me up. I rolled for about another 7km, so that I was a bit nearer for her to get me.

Thursday, the temperature rose a bit. I rode to Thorndale this time. It was still windy, but not half as bad as the day before. Clocked 75km as planned. Friday, I did the only swim session for the week, main set of 1000m, 10 x 100m on 1:45, 1000m. My swimming has stagnated and maybe even deteriorated a little lately. Could be the additional training hours, so I feel a bit more tired. What used to around 15+ minutes for a 1km swim, I'll now be happy to clock anything under 17 minutes. Still, I'm not too worried as I think my open water skills would improve with the weekly Splash N' Dash sessions in Lake Whittaker when summer comes.

Saturday was another rest day, or rather, pigging out day! We had pasta for lunch at Angelo's and ordered a huge serving of breakfast waffles with gelato ice cream. I had a coupon for another scoop of gelato that came with my pasta, so yes we did indulge a bit! For dinner, Li-Ann cooked pasta too, so you can say, I was all carbed up for the race the next day.

Sunday, ran the half marathon at Forest City Road Races. It was pretty chilly at the start with 3 degrees Celcius but other than that, a perfect day. Sunny skies and as I was dressed in long compression top and bottoms, I did feel a bit warm midway through the run. I ran my 3rd best time - 1:29:17 and was 14th overall. Scored a surprise 2nd place in my Male 30-34 age group and won a small gift of $10 gift card at Runners' Choice shop. Race report to come soon.

Week 4 of 26 stats:

Swim 3.5km (1 hour 2 minutes)
Bike 132.5km (4 hours 34 minutes)
Run 33.1km (2 hours 21 minutes)

Total 169.1km (7 hours 56 minutes)