Saturday, October 27, 2007

5000m track race (in desert like conditions)!

Took a train to Newport with Sophie, Iylia, Tom and Alison. Very weird location for a track--100m from the coast, next to an industrial factory with a tall chimney...just a track in the middle of a grass field, with fence surrounding it. No spectators stand or anything. just pitch a tent or bring out a rug and picnic on the grass next to the track.

Conditions were tough. It was hot (31deg, tho it feels much hotter in direct sunlight), but that's fine with me. The headwind was really gusty and strong and it was incredibly dry! Runners were coughing and choking after the 1500m race!

Anyway, the program got delayed so the 5000m started at abt 4pm. Not ideal since I was hanging around in the sun for almost 3 hrs.

Everyone started the 5000m together, lasses and lads. After just 3 laps, I needed water! My throat was really dry so breathing was difficult. I was just hanging in there. I didn't feel strong or that I could push it. I was merely hanging in there and holding out till the end! Could be the lingering effects of ATB as well. Towards the end I was coughing and my throat really hurt. Finished in 21.14, more than a minute off my target time! But a HUGE PB nonetheless! In Dec last year, I did a 5km time trial at Bishan track with TAS and ran a 22.45, a PB then. haha!

But that's ok I guess--good training in tough conditions. Bring on the heat and humidity, winds and all! Nothing scares me now. haha...the gd thing about humid conditions is that breathing is easier because your throat won't hurt even in a 10k race without water.

For a lil insight into what the terrible conditions can do--Liam ran 2mins off his PB (he ran 16.24, and he usually runs 14+min--yes he an amazing runner). David P ran almost 2mins off his PB too (altho he ran a lap less due to confusion abt no. of laps left).

I hope I'll get to do another 5000m track race here before I head back to S'pore. Hopefully conditions will be better so I can run another smashing PB! heh!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Horror of horrors! My hunch that intense, prolonged heartache strains the heart, is in fact backed by scientific evidence!

Just now, while flipping through the lastest issue of Runner's World at Borders, I came across an article which said that "severe emotional stress may have dangerous, even deadly consequences according to the American Journal of Applied Psychology. The effects include IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT, restriction of coronary blood flow (something like that) and left ventricular dysfuction."

Therefore, I can conclude with reasonable evidence that...I'm on my way to becoming a psychologist. hahaha.

Rolled outta bed this morn for swim squad at 6.30am. As usual, I was inappropriately dressed. I stepped outta the house in sweat pants, tee, hoodie, winter overcoat, scarf, socks and Crocs to find that there were people walking around in tee shirt and jeans! After 10min of brisk walking to the pool, I was kinda sweating. haha.

It wasn't actually warm, just not cold enough to warrant Eskimo-style fashion. Summer has suddenly disappeared this week. Temperatures went up to the 30s on Sunday, then dipped to 10-15deg this week with dark clouds and rain! But, it's supposed to rise to the 30s again tmr.

The start of the swim session felt terrible! I was feeling sleepy, stiff and sluggish, and hadn't eaten brekky. But I felt better as the session progressed. We finished with a 400m time trial. Surprise! I swam a PB of 5.39. haha! I probably can manage a faster time but it was wayy better than my my target time of 5.50! Oh oh, the water temperature was 29.1deg, 2-3deg warmer than usual, and some of the guys were complaining. But not me, I love heat. I can't stand the cold these days--gimme 30deg days!

Anyway, I treated myself to 2 muffins and a tall skinny chai latte (like I do most mornings), followed by a nice long nap! haha. Woke up, chatted with Clem online =) then worked on my assignment.

Went for a 40min recovery jog in the evening followed by some hardcore stretching. Prepping my legs for tomorrow's 5000m track race. OOOHHH I'm excited! haha I've never run a 5000m track race before. I've done a couple of 5k time trials on the track and that's it.

Ok back to studying.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A few days ago, I noticed my wallet has a hole when coins kept falling around me whenever I paid for sth. To get around that problem, I've stuck blue electrical tape on my black wallet. Perfect.

Just now, I noticed my supermarket plastic bag had a hole when my bottle of pasta sauce crashed to the ground and smashed the moment I picked it up from the counter. Perfect. Good thing the cashier told me to go grab another bottle for free.

Keeping in line with my highly observant self off-late, I noticed that my heartbeat has been peculiar. Occassionally my heart feels weird - no, I don't mean the heartache. I feel like my heart is beating v slowly and labourously. Usually, my resting heartrate would be just below 60 when I wake up on a normal day, and about 70 when I'm sitting down. The past few days, my heartrate suddenly dropped to about 50 suddenly when I'm seated.

Today during lecture, as I was counting my heartbeat when I felt that same sensation. I noticed my heart was beating IRREGULARLY!! It was like 5 beats at 1 beat per second, then 3 beats at 1 beat per 2 seconds. During the slow beats I feel very uncomfortable.

I've felt like this before but just recently these sensations have been much more frequent. Maybe it's just the exhaustion or recovery. Or perhaps prolonged, intense heartache is weighing my heart down, such that mere beating is strenuous, and possibly, less meaningful.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

210km Around the Bay in a Day!

ATB is a must-do mega bike event in Victoria. It is part of the Melbourne Cycling Festival, which includes the last 2 stages of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Yest was the individual TT, today was the criterium. This year, about 14 000 people participated in the ATB.


There are 5 options: 50km, 100km, 210km (with ferry), 210km (w/o ferry) and 250km. I took part in the 210km with ferry, from Melb to Queenscliff (Geelong), taking a 40min ferry ride to Sorrento then ride past Mornington Peninsular, Frankston and back to the city. This is the most popular Classic ride, and all 4000 slots were sold out.

Woke up at 4.45am this morn to eat and prep for the ATB ride. Met Iylia and Jeff and rode down to the start point at Alexander Gardens. We were early, so we spent our time checking out other people's bikes--almost every brand (heard of and unheard of) were seen. There were all types of bikes--steel ones, full carbon roadies, mountain bikes, cross bikes, even 2-man-bikes!

Melb-Queenscliff (115km) was relatively flat with a few significant climbs. Most of the way we tagged onto large packs so it was good. At one point, after a pit-stop in the bushes, we had to catch back to the pack--hard work in the headwind! The first 90 or so km felt easy, but the last 25km was getting tough. It was really warm! 30-35deg! The only thing on my mind was LUNCH!!! and a break.

We were handed our lunch of: 1 chicken sandwich, 1 small piece ofchoc cake, 1 banana, 1 packet of dried fruit and nuts, 1 powerbar, 1 powergel and 1 bottle of powerade.


Queuing for the ferry--in the hot sun, harrassed by flies.


sitting on the top deck of the ferry

The ferry ride was relaxing. we managed to get onto the large ferry, so we had space to sit n stretch. I felt a lil uncomfortable tho, seasick i think (altho it was extremely stable). I was glad for that almost 2 hr break--not sure how i was gonna survive another 100km! hilly and windy too!

But all along the course, there were supporters. Some drove down and stopped at various locations to cheer loved ones and friends on, some took out deck chairs and sat by the roads watching cyclists ride past. Road marshalls gave encouragement, even drivers along the roads shouted encouragement while they drove past!

Once we started at Sorrento, the headwind was friggin strong! I dropped back from a pack to pull Iylia and Jeff, who were tired. Hats off to them for completing the ATB! Iylia hadn't trained for a month coz of Ramadan, and Jeff only picked up cycling this year (with absolutely no sporting background).

We hit a hilly section, with several wicked climbs. For some unknown reason (prob too much sugar), I was high. When Iylia was warning me about an approaching killer climb, he suddenly said "Why are you smiling, Elaine?! Why are you smiling?!" I had a psychotic smile on my face and started attacking those killer hills--with success! Haha, but my legs were burning with lactic, some leftover from yest's run intervals. I felt strong.

But suddenly at Frankston, I was suffering! Headwind was damn strong (whoever told me the winds would change?!), temperatures searing...oh, and I found out that I got shitted on--there was bird shit on my jersey! Stupid birds.

By the time we hit Mordi (30km to go), I had gone crazy. There was no pain in the legs. The only thing on my mind was "home...I wanna go home, I wanna go home NOW!". So I cycled hard despite the discomfort and pain!!!! I ran out of water as well, which sucked.

Towards the end, we were going through small streets, getting caught at the lights...and I got really frustrated--why didn't we take the shortest, most straight forward route back to Alexander Gardens?! ARGH. I crossed the finish line feeling extremely angry--worst shit ever, stupid ATB!

haha, but now, I'm really glad I completed it. It was a real challenge, and good training too, esp with the type of terrain, heat and headwind...The longest ride I'd done b4 ATB was 120km in a day, and I hadnt ridden more than 105km at a go for the past few months, so this was tough!

Slumped on the grass at Alexander Gardens for a long time before finally GETTING BACK ON THE BIKE to ride another 5km home.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's off day and massage!

I'll post more photos when Iylia sends them to me =)

Friday, October 19, 2007

Jayco Herald Sun Tour Stage 6 - Individual TT

Grabbed a mango smoothie and a pide and went to Alexander Gardens to watch the 8.6km Individual TT penultimate stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Also, to check out the GO Bike Expo to exchange the jersey for Clem--but alas! I could not find the BV tent!

Anyway, it was cool, like the TdF except fewer people n media. Mainly Aust teams, tho there was one Japanese team. Team Astana was there too. I thought they'd shut down. Anyway, I got to watch Stuart O'Grady ride to a 2nd best time of the day. Amazing considering how badly injured he was at the TdF just 3 months ago.
A team's base under a tree--mechanic performing a bike check.

Team Astana rider in the starting chute

The beep goes off!

The finish line

The GO Bike Expo didn't feature too many bikes, it was more like a cycling accessory garage sale. They sold 2nd hand items like gloves, arm warmers, jersys and even skins. There were new stuff as well, sold cheap. The booths were set up by the different teams.

Unfortunately I had to leave early no thanks to a bad bout of diarrhea since yesterday. I have no idea why. Oh on top of tt, the skin on my feet is dry, flaky and peeling! Disastrous, had to vacuum the carpet yesterday.

Weather today is warm! mid to high 20s (hellooo flies!). Tmr, when I'm riding the 210km Around the Bay in a Day, it would be 31deg!!! Oh wells, I'm not complaining, i prefer the heat to the cold.

Fabulous week of training again, several solid run sessions. Managed to improve on previous times, especially on Wed's hills where I slashed 4s off each rep from last week. Did a hard 50km bike ride on Thurs down Canterbury Rd towards Mt D. Super hilly and super strong gusts of wind.

I was really struggling through this morn's interval session, but Tony said I coped well despite 3 big weeks of training, which would end with a 220+km ride tmr. I was in pain and pushing it right from the first 400m rep, but still managed to hold decent times. Had brekky at Thresho's with Sophie and Bry after training, which was very enjoyable.

unbreak my heart

Sunday, October 14, 2007

GUESS WHO I BUMPED INTO TODAY?!?!

YUHUI! My best friend in primary school! I bumped into her outside Safeway supermarket. I was on a mission to grab dinner at 5.30pm, after leaving Borders (near Safeway). Then i walked passed someone whom I thought was Yuhui. But i shrugged it off. 2 seconds later, she tapped my shoulder. HA! impossible!

She's been studying Performing Arts at Monash for 2 years now. We didn't get to chat much as she was on her way to the supermarket with a friend. Apparantly she just told her friend she hasn't kept in contact with val or me. I got her number tho, we have to catch up! It's been so many years since we last met, usually at inter-school events. I still have a small photo of us displayed in my room in S'pore, taken at the playground near her house where we used to play after exams.

On top of that little surprise, Clem msged me today, and I called him later in the arvo. Things are looking good, the way I like it =)

And on top of that, I had a pretty good tough ride down to Frankston this morn. 95km. For some reason (probably coz John wasn't around), the pack started hammering it on the way to Mordi. My fatigued legs were struggling on each uphill! haha. Most of them turned at Mordi (coz John wasn't around), while 5 of us continued on to Frankston.

The way back was tough. I'm not sure if it was the unrelenting 50km of headwind or my million layers of clothing on a warm 24deg day or the lack of ingested calories or yesterday's intervals, but I was feeling the pain. haha ok, it wasn't that bad.

Rushed home to check the results of the Kona Ironman World Champs. It was really weird. Many of the pre-race favourites DNF! Including Norman Stadler, Michellie Jones, Natascha Badmann. Macca won--it's high time you won, after all that arrongant shit you've been sprouting the past many years. Craig Alexander, my race favourite came in 2nd! Yay! In the female's race, some unknown Great Britan girl won--Chrissie Wellington. Sam McGlone came in 2nd--her first ever ironman!

Short course athletes with the speed and intensity do amazingly well in long course, often beating the veteran and long-course-only athletes. Don't you just hate their talent! haha. I noticed many of the pro Ironman athetes are in their late 30s into their 40s!


There's an article entitled "The Perfect Pair" in Nov's Triathlete Magazine. It's about Emma Snowsill and her partner Craig Walton. It is very similar to Clem and me! Except the triple world champion part, and the Commonwealth Games gold medalist bit, and the Olympian part, and the "most revered non drafting athlete of the past decade" bit.

Other than those bits...

"At a glance they pose a striking couple" (Yes) "He is thoughtful and intense (?) while she is a petite blonde (Asian) with a penchant for mischievous fun" (Yes) "And this glamorous couple (definately) forms the perfect partnership" (Of coz)

"We try to do as many sessions as we can together and fit our programs in as much as we can, even if we just start and finish together and do our own efforts individually." (Yes!)

haha ok enough nonsense.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

most improved female athlete

Another fantastic week of trg! I'm pleasantly surprised and very happy with my run times! haha. we ran 1000 reps on Wednesday, and I ran consistent times averaging 3.52 each. Ran 400 reps this morn, and I had to double check my watch times--consistent 85s each?! And i was feeling strong! Fabulous fabulous, and the weather's getting warmer, 20+deg days. Love it, tho I would like it even warmer, like 20-30deg! I can't stand the cold these days, not even mild cold and chilly breezes.

Today we, the melb uni athletics club, had our "End of cross-country start of track season bbq". It was good fun looking at photos, eating n chatting. I won the "most improved female athlete" award, one of the 4 serious awards. To be fair, if you were as slow as me to begin with, there's certainly lots of room to improve. haha. But that is definately good encouragement. The other serious awards were "Performance of the season", "Best fresher" and the most prestigious "Golden shoe award" (for accumulating the most points at winter series races).

I also won the "Flavour Flav prize for biggest watch relative to hand size" and "Hidden Triathlon Superstar". haha. Other crazy awards were like "Al Smith perpetual throphy for loudest cheering", "Brown bear prize for hibernating over winter", "William Webb Ellis prize for the only person still interested in the Rugby World Cup", "Maxwell smart prize for secret training that never stays secret", "Dave Ulbrick shield for not doing anything embarrassing", "The Tony Brain Prize for regularly embarrassing himself" and "The Hamburgular Award for best grimace at the end of a race". haha! and lots of other customised silly awards for everyone!

Iylia is really nice, he called me just now at dinner time n asked if he could come up to my place. He said he got me something to cheer me up--a tub of cookies and cream ice cream!! Which we ate 1/2 of, straight outta the tub. I told him this arvo about the past few days, how I've been oscillating between feeling numb and devastated, and unable to eat, so he decided to bring me some comfort food. That's really sweet, thanks Iylia!

Things seem better now, but it's all so uncertain. I feel detached and confused.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

I've been back in Melb for a week now, and suddenly, it's warmer (10-22deg) and daylight is long! Sun rises before 6am and sets abt 6.30pm. Fabulous! Everything's so much easier when there's sunlight, and when it's warm. I'm looking forward to 20+deg temperatures!

Trg has been going great. Stepped up the training load and intensity to build-peak for SEA Games on 9 December. It's all going fabulous, and I'm tired but coping well with the training.

This morn I went for a long ride with the melb uni group. Rode 105km to Whittlesea and then up Humevale and back. The journey was undulating with several tough climbs on the way to the Mount (kinda like to Mt. Dandenong). The Mount/Kinglake climb was a beautiful 7km uphill climb, with a consistent gradient and terrible road conditions. Very scenic and very good training.

Another 6 weeks of the tough 7-week block of training before I head home and acclimatise/taper for the SEA Games.

Oh I got my exam timetable, and it sucks! I've got 2 assignments due 1 and 6 Nov, and 2 exams on 6 and 20 Nov. Was kinda hoping the first paper wld be later, so I can race Noosa. Anyway the good thing is, the 2 weeks in btw the papers will give me some time to study, settle my housing, pack up and race the first sprint race of the Gatorade triathlon series. Sounds good actually.

Only another 3 weeks of sch to go!

Monday, October 01, 2007

2007 OSIM Hong Kong Triathlon ITU Asian Cup

I was in HK from fri 21st Sept to Tue 25th Sept. It was fabulous. Jie came along to support me. thanks Jie! And we did lots of shopping after the race.

The HK Triathlon went well despite horrific conditions. Pre-race, I was really worried about the swim after sighting 2 big brown jellyfish near the swim course during race recee on Friday. Also, the race route was changed from previous years. The bike course was particularly hilly. 4 loops of 10km. On each loop, there is a steep 400m climb, then a long 1.5km climb just before the 5km turnaround. The 10km turn around was at the foot of the steep 400m hill. Insane, I was braking like crazy but still going down was scary. The run course was 4 loops of 2.5km, plus a 1km extra bit before the finish line.

Race morn was bad. Typhoon warning level 1. It was raining and very windy. Setting up transition, my bike hanging on the bike rack was flapping like a leaf. The wet roads made the bike course very dangerous. Many people fell. Strong crosswinds as well.


setting up transition and preparing for a warm up jog.

The swim course was definately long, and I didn't go out too hard since I was scared to swim alone, so I just swam near jina. The bike was alright, I survived the hills. haha. Kinda think I cld've rode harder tho, but I was quite worried about the wet roads. No point taking unnecessary risks.

Thanks for the very enthusiastic cheering Jie! She was standing near the peak of the 400m hill and would take photos, shout n jump/run ard whenever I rode past. I actually felt like laughing, but going at about 9kmh, I might fall off if i laughed...if I still had the energy to laugh. Yup, and Uncle Brian would say "okok I got a photo/shot of you" everytime i rode past. haha.
going up the steep 400m hill.

Thanks everyone for the cheering and support! Definately helped in the rather spectator-unfriendly course.

The run was fabulous!! Fantastic! I was not sure how i'd feel coming off the hilly bike, kinda expecting my legs to feel heavy, but no. Not at all! I felt super fresh and fast. I was pacing an Aust athlete, White, on the first 5km of my run. she was on her last 5km. haha. But i managed to keep her within sight. I started feeling it on the last 2km of the run, legs were kinda tired. And there was an enormous blister on the sole of my right foot, which affected my running a lil.

Nonetheless it was a blazing 44.04min 10km! WHEEEEE...

Somehow I was not totally wrecked after the race, could probably have run faster but there was no competition (the elite field was huge, but they were out of my league)! The girl ahead of me, a China athlete, was 10min ahead, and the Thai athlete behind me was a further 15-20min behind.

anyhow, my new adidas Chiba Pro shoes were great, save for that one big blister and a few small cuts. Markedly better than all my previous racing shoes.

Jie took many cool shots of my race, including those above, but i don't have all the pictures with me now. check out her blog for some photos!

Post race was fabulous. Dim sum, wanton mee, street snacks, roasted pigeon and goose, etc. Good (and quite cheap) food and good shopping.

Mad shopping actually. Our motto was: don't think, just buy. haha. we had so many things to buy for Dad, Mum, Val, Bern, Rong, Bae, Clem, ZW, snacks for family, Tony (my Aust coach) and ourselves. We had several great buys at Esprit.

I think HK is similar to S'pore in many ways. Transport, housing, economy...

HK, like S'pore, is famous for its shopping and food. Tho i'd say HK is WAYYY better--you get street market, imitation goods and mega malls of high end brands...and good fashion sense/clothes. Altho I wld consider Jie having good dress sense, she made us the objects of many stares because of her fabulous idea to wear ponchos and walk around Tsim Sar Tsui. It was practical actually, considering how we were relatively dry in the typhoon.

Also, HK doesnt have many of its own attractions, it's more like a gateway to China, Macau, just as S'pore is the gateway to South East Asia's attractions. But i must say, S'pore is more liveable. Some parts of HK were just too old! Like near Mong Kok area. The buildings are so old! It is really a concrete jungle, scarily congested and crowded. Shopping on Mon and Tues was worse than weekends in Orchard in S'pore.

HK was rather heavily Jap inspired. They had alot of those kawaii stuff. Cutesy trinkets and clothes. Actually, it was like a East meets West. Lots of Western fashion and brands as well. And they had alot of snacks/food from Taiwan and China...like S'pore, not too much of its own products, things unique to HK.

HK has a very unique skyline tho. Uber tall apartment blocks (which look identical), skyscrapers and multiple flyovers against a back drop of mountains. Weird.

FYI, HK has 2 beaches on the south of HK island. One is a small public beach and the other is where the rich and famous congregate.

HK was fun yet tiring. Shopping and walking from morn to night. haha. just like the HK tourism ad "mai dong xi, chi dong xi, x5" I feel that HK is not very liveable and suddenly feel Singapore is liveable. I can't understand why 7 million ppl want, or live in HK. perhaps coz the salary is higher? haha.