Spring Queen

It is the long weekend... Queen's birthday, which somehow is coincidentally the AFL Grand Final weekend. After 6 years of being here in Australia, I STILL do not understand, let alone follow this game.

Yes, yes... I know we only get ONE day, while those back home in Malaysia get the WHOLE WEEK off! Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends and happy holidays to the non-Muslim ones!

It was also the last few days for spring wildflowers to bloom (spring wildflowers only, spring itself ends by end of October). Now after 6 years of being here in Perth, this is my FIRST time seeing the wildflowers in Kings Park and going on the suspension bridge, despite it being only 5kms away from my house.

On the Ironman training note... I did 80.90km in 2:47.54 today... average 28.91kph - my fastest training speed ever! But I have to work on improving on my running legs after doing a bike ride... clocked 26:47 for 6km (average 4:28 per km), have to reduce it to below 26:30 (average 4:25 per km)!

A friendly reminder...

Good thing the drivers here are pretty courteous to cyclists. Although, occasionally we do get some nutcases behind the wheel.

*****

I'm bidding farewell to my car, which has served me reliably for over 3 years now. Was only thinking of getting a new car next year... but Eric and Renee gave me an offer on their car which I couldn't resist!

So here's an ad of my own...

1996 Ford Festiva 1.3L Auto FOR SALE AUD 2,450 O.N.O.
(or nearest offer)

Very fuel economical - Under AUD 40 for full tank!

Good condition - recently serviced!

Rego until October 2009!

Car located near UWA Nedlands campus.

Contact Kevin 0412178619 or kskh@hotmail.com

A trip to the podiatrist

Yes, I've FINALLY visited a podiatrist yesterday. With my PANCAKE flat feet, one can only wonder what sort of severe damage all my running (or even walking) have done to my ankles, shins, knees, hips, posture etc. without any orthotics or shoe insoles.

My appointment was with Vivian Oldfield at Peak Podiatry. The guy (yes, he ACTUALLY IS a guy!) is very knowledgeable... I was lucky that he deals a lot with a triathletes (perhaps a triathlete himself? I should have asked)...

He did a video assessment of my gait. I was placed on a treadmill, running at 9kph for just over 2 minutes, with a video camera each on my front, back and side.

He was pretty amazed that although with my flat feet, I don't pronate that much and I actually land almost perfectly straight. However, the lower half of my legs swing inwardly, causing a bit of a strain on my gluts and hips. He reckons is because my gluts lack strength (haiya, need to pad up my butt more!)... could be due to training too much in aero position during my bike rides. As the aero position is meant to conserve energy for the run, so if I keep on training in that position, those muscles are not worked as much. MAKES SO MUCH SENSE! How do you like that? A podiatrist who gives you triathlon training tips...

I wished I could get a copy of the video assessment, but he was pretty reluctant. Maybe due to copyright issues.

I was told to change a pair of shoes every 600 to 800kms (with my weekly average running of 30km, that's only about 25 weeks!) I'm so glad he didn't prescribe me any heavyweight motion control shoes. Just as long as they have dual density. Good thing the Saucony shoes I'm looking for have those.

I got my feet taped again, to give them an artificial arch for me to try out. The results were AWESOME! I was pretty tired during my run yesterday evening, so I slowed down my pace quite significantly... but was still able to clock some good times! So this is how people with NORMAL arches feel like... I'll definitely consider getting custom made orthotics... something worth investing in!

Take a BRICK

The last time I did a BRICK session was before the Busselton Half Ironman. Thought I should also try doing it with the Orca tri suit, as the two times that I raced in this suit, I had cramps in the run leg.

The bike ride was pretty good... 80.67km in 2:50.30 (average 28.39kph), slightly slower than the ride I did two weeks ago but the head winds were stronger today.

When it came to the run, it was about 11.15am... the sun was out, getting pretty hot. I thought I could do the 6km in 26.5 minutes (average 4:25 per km) but fatigue got to me and I could only manage 27 minutes (average 4:30 per km). Oh well, need more BRICK practising then...

Somehow I STILL felt the tightness around my quads when I ran. Maybe I should stop wearing this tri suit. But that would be so wasteful...

*****

On a different note, Li-Ann and myself had afternoon tea at this wonderful cake shop in Subiaco called Sonny's. It has been a while since just the two of us spend some time together and do something apart from grocery shopping (although we did go to Subi to do our groceries).

The cakes were really attractive... and the honeycomb bee sting we ordered tasted as good as as it looked. The service was very fast. My only critique was presentation of the cake when it was brought to our table. It looked so good behind the counter, but it was placed lopsided on our plate. Yes, I'm spoilt... I'm used to having my cake served standing high with whipped cream or ice cream :)

Independent humans

While many others back home were doing the Nike Human Race 10km along with several other countries in the world, or some who were enjoying our Malaysia independence day festivities, I was down to do the City to Surf 12km run, from Perth City to City Beach.

Although this was not at all associated to the Nike Human Race, with over 36,000 participants, exceeding last year's turnout by more than 6 thousand, I think this could very well be called a HUMAN race too.

Last year's timing was 53:26 (average 4:27 per km) with heavy showers and strong winds. I aimed to clock at least under 52 minutes this year (average 4:20 per km), considering the weather was much better... slight winds with clouds, not too hot.

Li-Ann dropped me off at the city at 7.15am. Darling, you aren't missing out again next year! The half marathon runners were just about to start. I don't like the route for the half marathon as it goes through the trails of Kings Park.

I ate an expired Powerbar (sis, they are ALL expired now. Hope they don't cause me any stomach problems in my races hehheh) with Powerade drink. Did about 12 minutes of warm up jogs around the Central Park foyer at my office tower.

Went upstairs to my floor to use the bathroom before I head out to the starting line. Met Jiun, Susan and Vicky from my division. Jiun has been getting himself psyched up for this run since the beginning of this year. He didn't compete last year due to sore shins. Peter and Alex from main audit came to have a chat. I haven't seen them run before, so this would be interesting.

8am line-up... I gave my bag to the clothing bus. It was a lot more organized this year, where they had different buses for different categories. 8.15am was the start... Olympic gold medalist Cathy Freeman were among us, doing a celebrity appearance. I doubt she was lining up at the front though.

I was meant to start in the B Category - 48 to 58 minutes, but I found many others (i.e. C Category - over 58 minutes) in the A Category - under 48 minutes compound, so I followed suit. Less traffic to get through at the start.

True enough, I clocked the first km in 4:25, still required a bit of crisscrossing between the crowd, but much better than last year. Right after the first km, we had to climb a hill at Edward Street, but surprisingly I was still able to clock a fast 2nd km in 4:12. I overtook Jiun at this point, and passed Peter shortly after.

My legs felt like ironed pistons as I somehow powered through the next few kms. 3rd, 4th and 5th kms were done in 4:02, 4:03, 4:02 respectively. I told myself not to get too excited as the hills were just about to come. I clocked the 6th km in 4:27. We haven't come to the hill yet, so I thought maybe the first 5 markers were under distanced.

Then, we came to the FAMOUS Underwood Avenue hill right before the 7th km mark. I looked downwards at my feet, just watching them go, distracting myself from the steep slope up ahead. I clocked 4:26 for the 7th km, giving 29:37 so far, still under 4:15 per km average pace.

We passed by the 4km runners at this point, they have yet to start. They cheered us as we passed. 8th and 9th km were back on FAST and FLAT ground, so back to the usual pace, 4:07 and 4:10 respectively.

Up until now, I haven't marked any runner as my pacer. I guess I'm a type of runner who runs very much on my own, by my watch. There was a steady built up of slope after this. I clocked the 10th km 4:15, giving 42:09 so far. I did a mental calculation, that in order for me to go under 51 minutes (and hence, surpassing my target by a WHOLE minute), I have to clock at least 4:25 per km for the next 2 kms.

The uphill seemed to go on forever. My 11th km was 4:28. I thought my chances of breaking 51 minutes were slim... BUT right after that, it was down slope all the way! I opened my strides, still can't sprint very fast though... endurance runner mah... clocked the final km in 3:48 - my FASTEST 1KM SPLIT EVER, giving total time of 50:25 (average 4:12 per km), whole 3 minutes faster than last year... I WAS STOKED!

I met Alex right after that, he didn't time himself but I think we finished about the same time. Went to collect my bag at the clothing bus drop off, was delighted to find it with ease and not take 30 minutes like last year!

Few other work people I met after that - Peter, Joe who arrived late and had to catch his breathe for 10 minutes before starting, Jiun who wasn't too happy with his time (hope this spurs you on harder for next year, mate!). I also met Jordan, whom I used to swim with and is now working with WHK Horwarth... Natasha who improved by nearly an hour compared to last year's walk, well done!

There were many corporate marquees set up... BHP Billiton, Royal Perth Hospital, Western Power... Come on, KPMG! Could have at least organized a team with T-shirts and all! Even middle tier accounting firms like WHK Horwath and BDO Kendalls had their own team AND paid for their members' entry fees!

I finally caught up with Jasmine, Michael, Bernice, Su Yen and Cheryl at the UWA meeting area. We stayed a while for the prize presentation... the men's winner finished in 35 minutes (under 3 minute per km!) and the women's winner finished in 42 minutes (3.5 minutes per km!). Cathy Freeman lined up in the walking category but her competitive spirit made her run until about 4kms to go, where she legs started to hurt. She finished in about 80 minutes.

And then, John picked us up, all squeezed into Su Yen's car, with Li-Ann joining us for lunch at Taka's in the city later. Thanks guys, for the transportation, really appreciate it!

Overall, I really enjoyed this year's run. The organizing was much better... perhaps the fine weather helped too. So... sub 50 minutes next year?

On track

I apologize that lately my posts have been nothing but my triathlon training progress, but with only just over 6 months from Langkawi, I can't help it!

I've finally lowered my 10km run to 42:40 (average 4:16 per km), my fastest so far since recovering from the marathon.

And this morning's bike ride... I knew I was doing a good ride, the weather was fine, not too windy... I was aiming to improve on last week's training PB of 27.8kph average to clock somewhere above 28kph average... BUT I was ecstatic when I did 80.84km in 2:50.08 (28.5kph average)!

Although, I am noticing more and more mysterious scratch marks appearing on Ah Rui's body. Could be due to the stones hitting it as I ride past. Sigh... can't be helped...

Somehow, the pain in my left achilles has shifted to my right one. My physio highly recommends that I see a podiatrist for my VERY flat feet (or in his words, PANCAKE feet). I have been putting off seeing a podiatrist for very long now. Didn't want to incur the costs, also didn't want to add extra weight from the orthotics to my running shoes.

But I think I really should get my feet checked... if I really want to be doing triathlons for the rest of my life. Maybe I would just use the orthotics for my training shoes, and not have them in my racing shoes.

Okay, I'll set an appointment with Peak Podiatry in the coming weekends.

Bittersweet

The Olympics swimming had come to an end. Michael Phelps got his 8 gold medals. There were a few upsets in the Aussie camp with favourites, Liesel Jones, Jessica Schipper, Eamon Sullivan, Grant Hackett failing to finish tops. But there were a few pleasant surprises as well, coming from breaststroke specialist Brenton Rickard and backstroke young gun Hayden Stockel. A 19 year old world record, Janet Evan's 800m freestyle finally came down, and it was broken by fellow Britain, Rebecca Adlington who became the first female swimmer to win an Olympic medal since 1960, by winning the 400m freestyle earlier.

And for another week of the games, I will be less glued to the TV but there seems to be plenty of action in other events as well...

Usain Bolt, became the world's fastest man on two feet yesterday, and he broke the world record even by celebrating playfully towards the last 10 metres! UNBELIEVABLE!

Thanks to brother Eric who gave me his TV. The one I bought from KMart two weeks ago was making high pitch noises. Good thing I was able to return it.

Look, it's a SONY TRINITRON! And it's so much clearer than the previous one!

I too, did my best cycling average in training this morning. 81.07km in 2:55.00 (27.8kph average). But it wasn't without any hiccups. I stopped at a junction while waiting for a car to pass by, but wasn't able to unclip my pedals in time... so I tumbled down...

I'm alright... only a slightly bruised left palm, but look at what happened to Ah Rui...

But actually I fell on my left, how come my rear derailleur got scratched? Hmm... weird.

I had some soreness at my achilles tendon. Went to see a physio and got my feet taped, to hold them more rigidly. My flat feet are causing some tension on the achilles due to too much rolling inwards and outwards.

But the tape came off during my swim the day after. My achilles are feeling much better now though. I was told to do heel drops on the steps, 60 times a day. That has been helping a lot.