Week 11 of 26

So I had quite a big week. My legs felt like they've been ran over by a bus!

Monday was an evening 3.8km swim. Lots of drills and finishing up with 400m of freestyle kick. My legs cramped a few times, I had to stop in the middle of the pool to stretch! Must have been a combination of the cold water and the long run the day before. Tuesday was a 90km ride to Lakeside and back. It was windy but it was nice to have it blowing on my back on the return - I was clocking over 40kph!

Wednesday is Splash N Dash day. I swam for about 30 minutes before the start. No idea how far I swam as the buoys weren't put up yet but I'm assuming it's the same distance as the course. One of the buoy markers were blown away so the swim was modified to 3 loops instead of the usual 2. Still, the distance was pretty similar and Greg recorded 1650m for the 3 loops. I let the first few faster swimmers go off on their own and stuck to my own pack. Had a quick transition and felt great on the run. Matt was behind me today and there was only Greg and Cynthia in front. So I gave chase and managed to overtake them after the 1st lap and put on cruise control to the finish. Overall time was 47:56 - 26:59 for the swim and 20:57 for the 5km run. About 2 minutes quicker than last week!

Thursday was a 75km ride to Thorndale and then to Vanneck and back. The wind was coming from the south so it didn't really affect either direction. I felt great and rode over 32kph average. Friday I was meant to be up for a morning swim but I didn't have a good night's sleep and re-scheduled the swim to the evening. This meant pushing the evening run to another day. Main sets were 1200m swim (20:08), 1000m pull buoy (17:23), 1000m pull buoy/paddles (16:16). Pretty happy with the times considering the lack of sleep I had.

Slept early Friday night and woke up fresh on Saturday morning for my long ride. The weather was overcast and it was actually pretty chilly, I had to put on two layers of long sleeves. Rode to Southwold and back, surprised that I felt great despite a pretty windy day. Must be the wonders of the 8.5 hours sleep!  Rode over 136kms with just over 30kph average. A quick 30 minute brick run after, legs felt a bit heavy at first but settled into rhythm very quickly, 6.7km clocked. I rested a bit in the afternoon and felt good enough to make up for Friday's missed run. Ran for 1 hour 20 minutes, wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised I kept it under 4:30 per km average.

Sunday, as usual I delayed my long run to the evening. With good excuse this time, I think my legs needed the rest after the big day before. Started at 5pm and it was very sunny outside. I had 2 hours 15 minutes in the program. I knew it was a big ask to try for 4:30 per km average again, so I kept my expectations realistic and aimed for at least 29km. The legs felt heavy after about 75 minutes but thankfully my pace didn't drop too much. Clocked just over 29.2km with an average pace of 4:37 per km.

Li-Ann comes back on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing her. I've taken it for granted how my meals are all prepared after my long workouts. Of course she is much more than that. We are often pre-occupied with our own interests, but I do miss her presence and being close to her. While she was not around, I visited our local tri store Multisport Zone, which is unfortunately closing down end of this month. They were selling everything at 50% off! The temptation was great, I bought myself a pair of Louis Garneau Tri X Lite shoes and a pair of bib shorts, both for only C$157.

Great temptation + wife not around + weak heart = unnecessary purchases!

Looking forward to the lighter load next week, finishing it with the Guelph Lake Olympic distance triathlon, my first tri race of the year. See you then!

Week 11 of 26 statistics:

Swim 10.9km (3 hours 17 minutes)
Bike 302.4km (9 hours 46 minutes)
Run 58.8km (4 hours 26 minutes)

Total 372.2km (17 hours 29 minutes)

Week 10 of 26

I thought I had an easier week this week. Technically, it was but it sure didn't feel like it.

I had a rest day on Monday and decided to make an appointment after work to donate blood. I've been putting this off for a while, being pre-occupied with my own training. But with recent happenings of accidents involving cyclists, people whom I know personally, I decided that this could no longer wait. After the appointment, I had the London Tri Club committee meeting. Typically this is the last meeting to wrap up some loose ends before the triathlon season starts.

Tuesday morning I had a swim session. I was a bit worried that I would faint in the pool after the blood donation the night before! But I felt alright - no dizziness or anything like that. 400m warm up, 400m pull buoy, 800m - 75m swim/25m 6 kicks-3 strokes, 400m pull buoy/paddles, 800m pull buoy, 400m swim. In the evening I rode for 75km. Tried something different and split my ride into a bit of west and east. Rode to Thorndale and back, and went all to way to Vanneck and return home. It was very, very windy! And the strong gusts! I was almost blown off my bike... a few times!

Wednesday was the first Splash N Dash for the season, held in Lake Whittaker. I went early and did an hour's easy run with Laura and Christian. We had a huge turnout this year, plenty of new faces, including Mike, who I have been corresponding a bit through Dailymile. The swim was made a tad bit longer to 850m per loop, so 1700m for the two loops. The run remained the same as 5.2km. When we started, I tried keeping up with Matt and Greg but they were going too quick, so I let them go. I settled into my own pace and on the 2nd loop of the swim, I was slowly gaining back on the front swimmers. Came out about 30 seconds behind and most of us were within striking distance as we started the run. I managed to overtake Greg about 1km into the run but I just didn't have the speed to reel Matt in. He got further and further. Still, I finished in 49:58 - swim was 27:33, run was 22:25 including transition. The first one is always going to hurt, so I'm glad to get that over and done with. Looking forward to going faster in the upcoming ones.

Thursday evening I did a 90km ride to Lakeside and back. It was also pretty windy but luckily it was more favourable on the way back. Friday morning I swam with some long sets. Main sets were 2000m swim (33:16) and 1000 pull buoy/paddles (16:12). I was surprised with how good I felt, even had doubts whether the pool was shorter that morning! In the evening, I did a weights/core session in the gym. Alternating between arms, legs and core with 30 repetitions at each station. Haven't been to the gym for nearly 4 weeks and muscles were feeling the burn!

Saturday's long ride came but my program had it shorter to 3.5 hours this week. I rode southbound through Vanneck. Once I got to Westdel Bourne, there were cars lining up, some really fancy ones, there must be an event going on. Which I later found out was the Fleetwood Car show. I rode on through Carriage Road and Mill Road, and when I returned, the line of cars were still there! This side of the road was more narrow and there was a point I had to get off my bike and walk it for a few hundred meters. That sort of ruined my momentum and the continuously blowing wind didn't help after. It wasn't very strong but it was constant and energy sapping. I took 15 minutes longer than expected to complete my 105km ride. Got changed and had a quick bite and went out for a 10km run. But felt just as mediocre as before. The run took me about two minutes longer than usual. But hey, these things happen sometimes so I'll just put them behind me and move on to the next session.

Sunday as usual, I delayed my run up until late afternoon. It was overcast whole day with a bit of rain just after midday. I watched the Lego movie, some pretty lame comedy but still pretty entertaining. I started my 2 hour run at 4.30pm. It was still overcast but the sun came up about 30 minutes after. I didn't have any intervals in the program but was keen to maintain the same average as last week - 4:30 per km pace. I missed out on my water stop and decided to keep going rather than turn back. So yeah, I ran for 2 hours without water! I was beginning to fatigue in my last few kms, so I was glad when it was all over. Again, 26.7km with a sub 4:30 average, so really happy! Next week's long run is 2 hours 15 minutes, so we'll see how I go.

I've signed up for my first triathlon of the season - Guelph Lake Olympic Distance in two weeks time! After last year's sub par performance in crappy weather, I'm looking forward to redeem myself!

Week 10 of 26 statistics

Swim - 8.7km (2 hours 30 minutes)
Bike - 272.1km (9 hours 12 minutes)
Run - 52.8km (4 hours 9 minutes)
Gym - 1 hour

Total - 333.6km (16 hours 49 minutes)

Week 9 of 26

I originally had a swim set on Monday but with the big week before, I decided to give myself a full day's rest and push the swim to Tuesday morning. Had some long sets - 400m warm up, 1000m - 200m swim/50m fists (16:30), 400m - 25m scull/75m swim, 400m pull buoy/paddles, 1000m pull buoy (17:30), 300m kickboard. In the evening, I ran at Springbank for an hour. Legs felt a bit sluggish and it was pretty humid.

Li-Ann was going away for 3 weeks. A week in France for a conference and then 2 weeks in Malaysia to visit her family. She left on Wednesday. She's such a wonderful wife and cooked up as much as she could, which lasted for all my meals for the remainder of the week. I did a bike ride on Wednesday evening to Lakeside and back. The winds were gusty but luckily it was a tailwind on the way back.

Thursday I did the same ride. The winds were not as strong but somehow it felt like it was blowing in both directions, hence slowing my ride by a few minutes. Friday morning I swam. A simple main set of 6 x 500m - alternating between swim and with pull buoy. The swims I clocked around 8:45 and the pull buoys around 9:00. In the afternoon, I ran at Springbank for 80 minutes. The main set was 2 x 20 minutes fast/10 minutes steady. I had some good legs and managed to clock 18.4km with an average pace of 4:20 per km.

Saturday was a long ride of 4 hours or so. We had a big group of 6 and met up in the north side of London. Although I already did two rides to Lakeside this week, it seemed to be the most convenient route. But we took a different way - through Eight Mile Road and Plover Mills Road, so it was a nice change. There was a nice tailwind on the way back. Just over 125kms total distance and I did a 30 minute brick run. Legs didn't feel particularly heavy, 6.7km clocked.

Sunday, I was being my usual lazy self in the morning. Watched the movie Frozen - very entertaining but also very typical Disney, hahaha! I started my 2 hour long run at 5pm. It was still pretty sunny and it stayed that way until the end of my run. I felt a bit sluggish to start but with the intervals, I managed to quicken my overall pace. The set was 5 minutes fast/5 minutes steady/10 fast/10 steady/15 fast/15 steady/10 fast/10 steady/5 fast/5 steady. Managed to clock 26.7km with surprisingly another sub 4:30 per km overall average pace. Not sure how long more I can keep this up but will keep on trying! :)

Another pretty big week and next week looks sort of like a recovery week... I'm not complaining! We were meant to have the weekly Splash N' Dash this week but it was pushed back a week to allow the water in Lake Whittaker to warm up. So I'm looking forward to the first Splash next week!

Week 9 of 26 statistics

Swim - 7.0km (2 hours 8 minutes)
Bike - 275.4km (9 hours 12 minutes)
Run - 65.5km (4 hours 50 minutes)

Total - 348km (16 hours 10 minutes)

A little plea... from another road user

Just last week, a teammate of ours here in Canada was hit by vehicle while out cycling. And about 24 hours ago, back home in Malaysia, national athlete Kimbeley Yap was hit during her ride (news report here). As far as I know, Kimbeley is the only Malaysian athlete who has participated in the South East Asian games in three separate sports - swimming, cycling and triathlon with the highlight being two gold medals in triathlon, one in 2005 and another in 2007. I have them both in my prayers and wishing them both a speedy recovery.

News of cyclists being hit are unfortunately, very common. And these two recent cases pinches me a bit closer to home, hence this blog post. I'm not going to waste my time on those who speak or type through their butt holes with insensitive comments such as it was partly the cyclist's fault or the cyclist asked for it. Let me get this straight. NO ONE ASKS TO BE HIT. Even if it was partly the cyclist's fault, the consequences for the cyclist are a lot more significant - broken bones, long term to permanent injury and even, death! Than say, compared to... a dented bumper! Thankfully, both Kimbeley and my teammate are in stable conditions and are recovering, slowly but surely.

There are some common responses though, are well meaning, I would like to touch on.

Always be careful while cycling
My apologies for being overly sensitive but I think this implies that the cyclist who was hit was not careful in the first place. Yes, I cannot deny that there are cyclists who ride recklessly and blatantly flout traffic rules. These are dickheads and give cyclists, in general, a bad reputation. Most cyclists are law abiding. We try to minimize risks - wear bright colours, pick less busy roads, have lights on when it's dark, indicate when we are going to turn, stop at red traffic lights, ride as close as possible to the edge of the road without risking a puncture from debris or falling over cracks. I do not have the specific details of the two incidents above, but I'm sure, being seasoned cyclists, they would both have exercised as much as caution as possible.

Pick another sport
Not all sports are done in the safety of the gym or the badminton court. Most, if not all sports have their inherent risks. Of course, some more risky than others. A downhill skier has a higher risk than a lawn bowler. For cyclists, apart from being exposed to other fast moving vehicles on the road, we also face the risk of falling in challenging terrains with fast corners and downhill sections. Although we chose this sport knowing these risks, a little awareness from other users on the road goes a long way. Ironically, I have a permanent scar on my right shin, due to a fall I had not while cycling, but when I tripped over a rowing machine in the gym a few years ago.

Cycle in groups
Safety in numbers, I won't disagree with this one. With a bigger group, hopefully we would be more visible to motorists and there is a lower probability of getting hit. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Most of us who do this sport have full time jobs and other commitments. Getting a group of people with similar abilities to ride together, can be difficult at times. And an accident like this can still happen while cycling in a group if motorists are not aware. Just last year, another Malaysian national cyclist was killed while cycling in a group training ride.

Stay off the big roads
I quote Ng Yong Li, Malaysian national cyclist, The road is my office. Like it or not, I have to be at my office. I'm far from being an elite or a national athlete but I am competitive in my own right, always pushing myself to enhance my performance. My performance would be very limited if I restricted my cycling to doing rounds in the park or in my neighbourhood paths. Cycling in these places are not necessarily safer either with children playing, pedestrians walking or running and vehicles reversing out of their driveways with many blind spots. Cyclists are not foolish. Whenever possible, we pick roads that we believe are less busy. Unfortunately, you would also find that vehicles tend to overspeed in roads with less traffic.

This is not a finger pointing post. But more to create awareness. I know the above responses all mean well but it still shows, in my opinion, a lack of awareness. To make all roads cycle friendly requires planning, infrastructure and funding. This takes a while. However, if motorists are more aware, the risk of an accident involving a cyclist would be reduced.

When you walk through a narrow corridor and if there is someone walking at a slower pace in front of you, won't you slow down as you pass that person? Similarly on the road, won't you slow down and check to see if the lane next to you is clear before you overtake a slower vehicle in front? Why should this be any different if you are overtaking a cyclist? I've lost count the number of times a vehicle has zoomed past me with less than a meter clearance from my shoulder. No matter whose fault it is, a cyclist always loses in a collision.

I'm a cyclist but I'm also a road user. More importantly, I'm a husband, a son, a brother and god willing, someday, a father too. My life is no less valuable than a motorist just because I cycle on the road. So when you're driving, remove all distractions - no texting, reading or eating. If you have a cyclist blocking your way, give a friendly honk and we'll be more than happy to move aside and let you pass. It'll only take a few seconds. Let's all be courteous and share the road.

With that, I end this post with this video clip (not mine, so full credit to the owner).

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)