Comeback 1.0

About 13 days to go before the end of A Levels, and the 12 years of formal education before I enter a new phase in life. It's pretty exciting to think about the prospects of life after school, with about 5 months of free time to do ANYTHING I WANT. ANYTHING!

I've already set my sights on the Singapore Duathlon National Championships 2012, on 25th February. Once again, to quote the great Macca, I'm Here to Win. But the journey from now to then will be arduous, considering I have not trained much ever since OSIM, about 4 months in total. And I only have 14 weeks to train.

But as I said, I can do anything I want. And I choose to return, even if for a short 5 months (probably) before I enlist. Thus begins Comeback 1.0

Less is Less: the Myth of More Recovery

From Slowtwitch.com (the best online triathlon resource ever!)

From all-you-can-eat buffets to credit card debt, it seems that as long as it's couched in the guise of "more," human beings want more of it. I think that it's very possibly related to our internal hardwiring for loss aversion. Loss aversion is commonly demonstrated by two games with equivalent odds but a difference in perception. In game one, a donut (or some other desirable object, like a piece of bacon) is placed in front of you and, based off of a coin-toss, you either get a second donut (or piece of bacon) or just the original solitary donut; in game two, two donuts are placed in front of you and, based off of a coin toss, either one of those donuts is taken away or nothing happens. In both cases, the odds are exactly the same. In 50% of the cases, you get two donuts, and in 50%, you get one. But human beings (and, incidentally, Capuchan monkeys) demonstrate a very strong preference for game #1. The idea is that we much prefer the idea of maybe getting more, which is how we perceive game #1, than we like the idea of maybe getting less, which is how we perceive game #2. With regards to triathlon, the latest phenomenon sweeping our sport (and others) along these lines is the idea of getting faster as a result of, more recovery. But recovery is really the lack of activity (at least on a macro scale; there's plenty of "activity" on a micro scale when your body is recovering); it's not something you can "do" or something you can have "more of." In practice, learning this truth may not in any way change how you choose to implement certain changes to your life. As in the two games mentioned above, in practice, the odds are often the same. The idea of "more recovery" often effects the exact same changes that one would implement even if you correctly understood what was going on.

The human body (and even, it appears, the human brain) function as what we can call an impulse-response model; we apply a load to the body, and the body responds in a way that is a commensurate with the load applied. In actuality, the body over-responds in what's known as supercompensation. The idea being that some "margin of error" is important, and so if you are going to apply a load to the body, the body would like to be able to handle more than that load. This how we get fitter/faster/bigger/stronger. Sometimes, the load is too much – such as when you break a bone - and you can't supercompensate, and that's when you get injured/sick/broken-down. Things are further complicated when you consider that "load" is generally interpreted by your body as all one thing. Your body doesn't really, on a macro scale, distinguish between a really stressful day at work and a really hard training session. We distinguish between the two semantically - "unproductive" load we call "stress" and "productive" load we call "training." But, as anyone who's tried to do a hard workout and failed after a rough day at the office knows, the body considers all stress to be pretty much the same thing. But where the body differs is how it responds to each. The principle of specificity means that your body reacts in very precise ways, which is why if you want to get better at swimming, biking, and running, you need to train by swimming, biking, and running. (Though, with all three being "aerobic" or "endurance" sports, there is indeed some crossover benefit from "general fitness.")

Many disciples of the school of "more recovery" will tell you that you can get faster if you put more focus on recovery into your schedule. A common example is, "take one day a week to focus on recovery." Here's what actually happening when you do that - you are training less. You aren't recovering more. You are simply training less. The easiest way to demonstrate this is that if, for example, you spend that one day a week installing hardwood floors, you will probably not see much of an improvement. Why is that? Well, because installing hardwood floors is a form of load. It's just not productive load unless you want to get better at installing hardwood. Very often - but not always - what "more recovery" really means is less training. But those two things are not really the same thing. Let's look at another impulse-response model - how your body heals if you break a bone. Ideally, we'd like our bones to get back to being as strong as they were before the accident, and maybe stronger, but as anyone who's been to the orthopedist knows, mostly that involves two things - waiting, primarily, and a very long list of stuff we are not allowed to do.

There are, of course, numerous ways that you can influence recovery, many of which are illegal precisely because they enhance your body's recovery mechanisms. Anabolic steroids would be the most obvious example. There are some legal things that influence recovery, but the net effects are much less clear, which is probably a large part of why they are legal. Ice baths would be a common example. Ice baths definitely reduce the level of inflammation - part of the body's stress response - that you experience after training. The problem seems to be (according to research on the topic) that in reducing that inflammation, ice baths also reduce the degree to which your body overcompensates. The nerdy explanation is that ice attenuates the anabolic response. This same logic - and research - is being applied to all manner of recovery "aids," including things like anti-oxidants. The idea being that if you remove the stress, well then your body is simply going to compensate less.

There is one thing that is an "activity" which boosts recovery and has (sort of) no real downsides and a lot of upside, and that is sleep. The more you sleep, the more your body recovers, mostly because you can't do anything else when you are sleeping, so your body can go about the business of repairing itself without interruption. Unfortunately, for many people, training and sleep are inversely proportional. It'd be nice if we got to sleep more whenever we trained more, but that's very often not reality. And even if it was possible, it's not like sleep and training directly correlate. You can't simply ride twice as long and balance it out by sleeping twice as much. But sleep is certainly a very good thing. And so is its close cousin, commonly referred to as "doing nothing." Most triathletes, in general, seem to prefer "doing something" to "doing nothing." Sometimes that "something" is your job. Sometimes, however, it's just "stuff." But doing something requires energy, which means that energy is not going into repairing your body. Now, of course, some people would tremendously unhappy just sitting on the couch "relaxing" whenever they weren't training. And being unhappy has a physical cost as well. That's where the balance comes in, and it's different for everyone. This is really where you can make the most progress by "focusing on recovery." Not by doing anything, but by doing nothing. It's really what you are not doing which is important.

If you want to improve, you need to train (meaning that you apply a specific and productive load to your system). If you want to improve as much as possible, you need to train as much as possible. Whether you are a triathlete or a chess player, the more you train, the better you will get, unless… Unless what? That, "…as much as possible" part was important too. With chess, it's easy to just play more chess. But with endurance training, it's much more nebulous. Can you run for two hours? Can you run "well" for two hours without your form breaking down? Most often, you don't actually find out what was "too much" until you are injured or sick or really depressed, which inconveniently happens quite a bit after the fact. There are tools that can help - experience is the best one - and a good coach is an invaluable asset, but there isn't a simple answer to, "how much is possible?" Typically, it's something you learn by trial (and error). And you learn by changing how much you train. And by changing how much you rest. And by changing how much other stuff you do (or don't do). And this is where understanding what is going on becomes important. Because when you plateau - as every one does, whether it's in your Scrabble playing ability or your triathlon training - if you don't understand that it's training - and only training - that makes you improve, then you'll be stuck. If you plateau, and your first instinct is too look for, "more recovery" instead of "more training," then you aren't going to make any progress.

Less is never more. Less is always less. Now, that doesn't mean that less is bad. Sometimes less is good. Sometimes less (than what you were doing) is actually the right amount. But that doesn't make it "more;" that only makes it "appropriate." If you want to improve as much as possible, then you need to train as much as possible. Now, sometimes, that means being honest about what "…as much as possible" actually means, and realizing that you may have been doing more than what was possible, for you, at this particular time. In that case, what you need is to do less. You don't need, "more recovery." You might need less training, and that's fine. But it's not because less makes you better. It's because too much is, quite simply, too much.

So you can put away your divining rods. There is no such thing as "more recovery." There's only more - or less - stress. And more - or less - productive stress. And more - or less - unproductive stress. Less is always less. More is always more. Except if you are talking about "more recovery," in which case, it's just more hot air…

Officially 1st!

TAS finally decided to update the results! Next thing to come will be the trophy, which would take a while :(

Based on my results, and my expectations, I have a lot of work to do on my swim. After my exams or when I start doing triathlons again, swim classes will be No. 1 on the list.

My bike is right where I expected/wanted them to be. The weather certainly played a part in the slower than expected run, but I'll take that timing nonetheless.

Overall, even though I didn't meet my A goals for all the disciplines, I met my A goal for the whole race, so all is well!

Right now training is taking many steps back, but I will still do the occasional run/bike like my century ride yesterday simply because it's fun! As for this blog, it will remain here until training picks up again, doubt I will have time or anything to update about.

Till then, ciao!

After the race…

Appeal results are out and they told me that I’m first! Still waiting for the official results on the website to be released and for it too be 100% confirmed.

Don’t understand why they took so long to post the results though, and trying to search for myself on www.sportsphotox.com is just ridiculously impossible, even harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

Watch this space! Will post a picture of the results once they release it, and also the trophy when I get it (which they say will take about a month; I’m assuming they gave the other one to the “1st” place guy)

OSIT 2011 Race Report

The day finally arrived! After 13 weeks of preparation since my previous race, and 104+ hours of training, my A race of the year came! With a 10.45am flagoff for my wave (M18-19, 20-24 AG), I didn't have to wake up at ungodly times and crept out of bed at a more humanly 7.40am. Ate my breakfast, packed my everything and made sure I didn't miss out anything essential.

We reached the race venue (boring East Coast Park) at around 935, giving me just enough time to set up my transition area and swim a few strokes. The waves were incredibly choppy and I knew the swim wouldn't go well. What an understatement.

At approximately 1045am I found myself at the start line of a multisport race for the 3rd time this year, hungry for another podium spot.

The last photo of the CC...

When the horn went off, everyone rushed in and it was chaos all the way until the first buoy. People were climbing over me, kicking me, groping me...I tried my best not to do the same to others, tried being the keyword.

Just after the first buoy, some hand grabbed my left ankle and the next thing I knew my ankle felt a little empty. The worst thing had happened - my Championchip (the thing which records your timings as you cross the electronic mats and makes sure you actually complete the required number of laps) had come off. Immediately I was faced with a decision to make; try to find my ChampionChip amidst the murky waters of ECP with tons of other swimmers who would try to swim over me, or just swim on, do my best and not worry about it for now. Within that split second I decided the sensible thing would be to swim on because I didn't even know if the ChampionChip would float or sink. With hopes of podium slipping away from the first 5 minutes of my race, I wasn't really happy with how things were turning out at that moment...

From the start till the second buoy we were swimming against the current, which was really difficult and the choppy seas made it worse. I came out of the first lap feeling fine physically but mentally I was in quite bad shape. As I came to the first buoy of the second lap I contemplated asking the people on kayak if they had seen my ChampionChip, but decided that it would probably be futile. This lap was much worse and my lack of swim training showed. After the first buoy my left foot started cramping a little and I had to swim breaststroke once in a while so as to not aggravate the cramp. I was really afraid it would explode into a full blast cramp which would end my race before I even got to the bike, but thankfully the foot held up and I completed the swim, albeit very slowly and with a stomach full of sea water.

I ran into T1 and my dad signalled to me that I was about 5 minutes down on the first person in my age group. I found my bike in the transition area pretty easily, and ran about 200m to the mounting line. I hammered hard on the bike to make up time on my competitors and caught quite a few of them on the first lap of the bike. I was going at around 37+kmh, which was in line with what I wanted before the race. My stomach didn't feel that great probably because of the sea water, and the extremely strong sun made me sweat buckets. I was thirsty but couldn't drink too much 'cos my stomach might not be able to take it.

Notice the missing CC :(

While the bike course wasn't ideal, it also wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There was enough space to pass people, and there was only 1 sharp turn at the turnaround point per lap. Throughout most of the bike I was passing people and few were passing me, none of them with bib numbers starting with a 6. Starting the last lap, I passed another guy in my age group (bib 6010 if I remember correctly) who I think was the leader up till that point, which meant that I was leading! Coming into T2 I didn't see any other bikes racked at my row, but I can't be 100% sure when there's so much adrenaline in me and the heat just makes everything fuzzy. But I was pretty damn excited to see so few bikes!

Bike time (according to cycling computer): 1h08min. Amazing!

The run didn't feel that fast, and I walked quite a bit to drink/dump water on myself to cool off. The heat was really terrible and I think everyone suffered quite a bit. I was a bit conservative because my stomach still wasn't feeling that great and my suit was too tight which hampered my breathing. I reached the 2.5km mark at around 11 minutes or so, which meant that I was still on pace for a sub 45. I think I must have slowed quite a bit coming back because I only completed my first 5k in around 23min. My dad told me that I was still in the lead, and I certainly didn't see anyone in my age group anywhere near me while running. The second lap didn't go as well as the first. I was a little dehydrated because of the excessive sweat loss, but couldn't drink much if not I would vomit. I felt like barfing a couple of times on the second lap and had to walk to make sure that didn't happen. I don't think anyone would like to see my race nutrition by the side of the running pathway.

Just starting on the second loop

With about 1.5km to go, I sped up slightly and still didn't see anyone from my AG ahead of me, so I was pretty sure I had this race in the bag (disregarding the CC issue). I completed the 10k in around 46:50, which was a decent timing considering the terrible heat.

Volunteers also need to makan...and sms

After rehydrating, I went over to enquire about my situation and whether there was anything that could be done. Along the bike and the run there were volunteers who were recording the bib number of participants as they went by, so there was a little bit of hope for me. Thankfully they have manual timing, so I appealed for them to check that (deposit of $50 which will be forfeited if appeal unsuccessful). I'm still waiting for the results of the appeal which would take a couple of days, but I know that I finished in around 2h30min.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Analysis of training

Here are some interesting data from my training from Sprint Series Triathlon till now (a total of 13 weeks)

Overview
Average number of activities/week: 7
Max number of activities: 12
Min number of activities (exclude taper week): 5

Average time spent/week: 8h14min
Most time spent: 12h28min
Least time spent (exclude taper): 5h10min

Running
Average time/week: 3h24min
Most time: 2h30min
Least time: 5h16min

Average distance/week: 38.3km
Furthest distance: 54km
Shortest distance: 27.5km

Average pace/week: 5:21min/km

Total number of speed workouts in 13 weeks: 8

Cycling
Average time/week: 4h22min
Most time: 6h57min
Least time: 1h39min

Average distance/week: 146km
Furthest distance: 228km
Shortest distance: 56km

Average speed/week: 33.1km/h

Swimming
Total time in the pool in 13 weeks: 9h40min

Goals for Osim Tri

With 3 days to go to OSIT2011, it's time for me to review my goals for this race and my race plan. Best case scenario would be A and I would be super happy for the next 1 week. Next best is B where I would be pleased with how well I did but secretly pissed that I couldn't get A. If I get C I wouldn't be too happy but still accept it. If D...haven't thought of how I would feel and I hope I don't have to feel it anyway.

Overall goals:

A) Top in age group (18-19 yo)

B) Finish in 2:25

C) Finish in 2:30

D) Cross the finish line in one piece

Swim:

A) <30:00

B) 30:01-31:00

C) 31:01-32:00

D) >35:00

Bike (excluding T1):

A) <1h:05min (36.9kmh)

B) 1:05-1:07 (35.8kmh)

C) 1:07-1:10 (34.2kmh)

D) >1:15 (32.0kmh)

Run (excluding T2):

A) <44:00

B) 44:01-45:00

C) 45:01-47:00

D) >50:00

As for race plan, I plan to take it easy during the swim and not push myself unnecessarily because I know I am undertrained for it and don't want to risk the rest of my race for a few seconds that I can easily gain back elsewhere.

I plan to start pretty easily on the bike, maybe around 35kmh and start pushing the pace after the first lap (total of 4). I will also take a gel (which will be taped to the top tube) at the start of the bike. Hopefully there will be people for me to pace off (not draft off!), but seeing as how my wave is one of the last (last before the elite wave actually) I think I will spend most of the time avoiding people from the earlier waves. Add to that the narrow bike course and I predict that it certainly wouldn't be an ideal bike ride. On the start of the last lap I will take another gel depending on how my stomach feels at that point in time. Note to self: don't take in too much fluid in the last 5-10km or else the same thing would happen as in the Singapore Sprint Series.

Once off the bike I hope to be able to go straight to ~4:30 pace. For the first 5km, unless I am feeling superb and high on drugs, the goal pace is 4:30. Then from there its all out until I cross the finish line.

One important thing I must remember to do: Cross the finish line with a nice pose! Zip up my suit, make sure the race belt is at an appropriate level (if you get the drift), and smile for the cameras!

All the best to everyone racing this weekend, and let's pray for good weather :)

Weekly Consolidation: 12/13 weeks

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Run - 3x2km

Wednesday: Cycle -41km easy

Thursday: Run - 16km long run
Friday: Swim - 1 hr

Saturday: Brick (Cycle - 93km solo, Run - 5km)
Sunday: Cycle - 80km group

The start of the taper. Not too many hard workouts, and had a good confidence booster with the brick on Saturday.

Tuesday's track session went really well. Completed the sets in 8:18, 8:14 and 8:05, which was equivalent to 4:09, 4:07 and 4:02 pace. I was pretty surprised with the time that I put in for the last set.

Thursday's long run was a little slower than I expected at a 4:54 pace, but still good nonetheless to have put in the miles alone. I negative splitted the run (8km out and back route) as I wanted to train my legs to run fast even when they are tired.

At first I didn't have anything planned for Saturday and during my swim on Friday I just decided to do a long ride and a fast brick run to see how fast I could go off a ride. Instead of riding really hard I just replaced it with distance, hoping to mimic the fatigue I would feel on race day. The 90km went pretty easily, and I put in a solid pace of 34.1kmh with no breaks or draft. My "transition" took a little more than 5 minutes or so, so not really ideal. For the run I just focused on going out as fast as I could especially in the opening km because during the race I did not want to have to "warm up" for the first half of it. Rather I wanted to be ready to go fast right off the bike.

I was rather surprised to be doing ~4:15 pace, and when I finished in 21:02 I couldn't believe that I had almost set a 5k PB on a pretty tough route after a 90km bike. With this performance I'm quite sure that a 45 minute 10k is certainly possible, and I may even break 20min in an open 5k (or at the MR25 TT!)

Ideally I would have loved to do 1 more swim this week, but it was not to be. I have reduced my expectations of the swim to within 35 minutes, which should be possible. If I go below 30 it would be a pleasant surprise. No expectations at all for the swim, just hoping to come out of the water alive and ready to own the other 2 disciplines.

On Saturday I also collected my race pack. Bib number 6004. All those whose bib number starts with 6, watch out cos I will be looking out for you! There are about 35 competitors in my age group; a little more than I thought there would be, but I still remain optimistic about my chances!

Weekly Consolidation: 11/13 weeks

Monday:
AM: Run - 12km trail

PM: Swim - 45min

Tuesday: Run - 10x400m
Wednesday: Cycle - 55km easy

Thursday: Run - 17km long run

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Brick (Cycle - 58k TT, Run - 9.6km)
Sunday:

AM: Cycle - 76km solo

PM: Swim - 1 hour

Even with a rest day, I managed 11 hrs this week. Legs were starting to feel tired and could not hit paces as easily, so decided to take a day off before any injury came about.

The track workout on Tuesday was pretty tough, and I was struggling quite a bit to complete the sets. Still managed to hit the timings though, but no improvements from the last time. Long run on Thursday went pretty well after last week's failed long run, and the 6km of tempo with all out effort at the end really helps.

Also took a break from intervals for cycling this week because it was just too boring and I decided to cut myself some slack. But the ride this morning was tough because I was trying to chase down the Joyriders 640 train but could not do so. In the process I set my fastest ever average speed for a ride at 34.8kmh. Along the way I was going at >38kmh without much effort, so I guess I must be doing something right in my cycling training!

The brick on Saturday felt awesome. The weather was superb and I cruised through the run, completing 6km in the middle in 4:29 pace. If the weather is like this on race day, I may just be able to run a sub 45 10k.

My speed for swimming is pretty much about the same since the start of the year, but I'm quite worried about my endurance. Have not really been doing any long sets, so I'm not sure if I will be able to maintain the same pace for the whole 1.5km. Another thing I worry about is my sighting, which usually isn't very good and I end up swimming more than I have to.

With 2 weeks to go, there's not much I can do that will help with my performance, but a lot that I can do to screw it up. The next 2 weeks will be slightly easier, and volume will also cut back. I will probably do more race/distance specific workout, and practice transitions. I still haven't really gotten used to running fast right off the bike, so a few more brick sessions are needed where the rest time is minimal.

Weekly Consolidation: 10/13 weeks

Monday:

AM: Brick (Cycle - 5x5min interval, Run - 2.3km)

PM: Swim - 1 hr

Tuesday: Run - 5x800m
Wednesday:

AM: Run - 4km easy

PM: Cycle - 2x20min
Thursday: Run - 14km run
Friday: Swim - 1hr

Saturday:

AM: Brick (Cycle - 40k TT, Run - 5.3km)

PM: Run - 8km easy

Sunday: Cycle - 77km group ride

Biggest training week this year! Total of 12h, although the workouts weren't exactly the best. The Mercury also got a nice service, and hopefully will remain clean and quiet until after the race.

The main highlight was the 40k Time Trial on Saturday, which I completed in 1:05, which meant an average of 36.8kmh. I did not have any expectations at all, and just went into it hoping to hold 36kmh and above. I think I gave it almost everything I had. Considering the fact that this was done on a loop without stops, and OSIM bike course is really technical, I'll be really surprised if I can beat this timing. I would be happy with anything <1:10 come race day.

The track workout on Tuesday felt harder than it should be. I came within the same timings as the previous time I did 800m intervals, but felt much more laboured and had to push much harder than before. This didn't really help my confidence much, but it was probably because of the fatigue from the hard efforts.

The long run also did not go as well as I had hoped. Without a running partner this week, trying to hold the same pace became impossible. Halfway through the run it also poured, which was probably the first time I got totally drenched (from rain, not sweat) during a run.

The 2 brick runs went pretty decently. Pace was quick (4:37 for the 5k run) although I find that off the bike even though my cadence is high, my stride length is pretty short. Hopefully a few more brick sessions will help with that, and I can get into 4:30 pace quickly enough.

Swimming has been, surprisingly, going well! Somehow I feel that I have better hip rotation now, and comparing the times I'm doing in my pool with those in April, there certainly is improvement! This is a real shocker because the number of hours I spend in the pool every month can be counted with my hands.

With 3 weeks to go to race day, and 1 week of taper, that leaves me with 2 weeks of workouts left. I need to plan my quality workouts properly and space them out evenly. These will probably include one brick session of ~50km ride and 10km run, a 1.5km swim time trial, and a couple of longer track sessions.

Can't wait for race day to come!

Weekly Consolidation: 9/13

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Run - 17km long run
Friday:
AM: Cycle - 2x20min intervals followed by a short swim
PM: Run - 3x2k intervals
Saturday: Cycle - 92km long ride
Sunday: Run - 10k time trial

First few days of the week was off because of school exams. Not ideal considering the race is in 4 weeks, but studies come first.

Running wise I am still improving. The long run on Thursday was much better than last week's, as my left calf stopped hurting while running now. I attribute it to lots of rolling with the tennis ball which really helps a lot. My pace for the long run was 4:43, which meant that I unofficially had a new 10k pb.
Friday I decided to do some longer intervals at goal 10k pace, which was 4:30 and a 45min 10k. The sets went well considering the ride earlier that day and the long run the day before, and I went comfortably under 4:30 pace.
Sunday was the 10k TT and went perfectly. If you haven't done so you can read about it here.

The past couple of weeks I haven't been cycling much because of holiday and exams, so this week I didn't want to waste any sessions. Jumped right into a 2x20min set which, according to the folks at Slowtwitch, is one of the better workouts. Saturday was a long ride to get some saddle time, but it didn't go that well and I almost bonked around the 60km mark. It was probably because of the hard workouts the past few days that was taking its toll on my legs. But no worries because I managed to refuel in time and completed the ride, averaging 32.6kmh which still isn't too shabby. But compared to the long ride I did in May averaging 34.9...

Swimming has once again been neglected. I know I should spend more time in the pool with the race coming up real soon, but I keep prioritising cycling and running over swimming. Just hope I don't pay too badly for this during the race.

The next weekend I may do a 40k TT with aero helmet just to get used to the feeling and set a benchmark for myself to beat. Not really looking forward to doing 13 loops or so, but once its done and out of the way I will feel much better. Just like the 10k time trial.

There will also be more bricks to get my legs used to the jelly feeling. Hopefully with so many training sessions packed so closely together my legs are already used to feeling tired and running off the bike won't seem that tough.

10K Time Trial

Since this month there isn't a MR25 5k TT, I decided to do a 10k time trial just to see where my fitness is at and also set a new PB for a 10k. The last official open 10k I did was also my first, which was in 2008. My time was around 1h1min. Earlier this year in the Singapore Biathlon I ran about 49:08 for the 10k after a 1.5km swim. And earlier this week my long run pace was enough for a 47~ 10k. Hence I was pretty curious to see what I could do, and also set a benchmark for my race (in 4 weeks!)

I ran relatively late in the morning and the sun was already up. The stadium did not have much cover from the sun, so all 25 laps were done in the open. After a short jog to the stadium and 1 lap of strides, I was off in my 1 man race. My plan was just to break 45 minutes, so that meant 1:48 per round.

The first km, as always, started off too quickly. Actually it wasn't so much the first km, but rather the first lap. Think I covered it in about 1:40, which was 8 seconds faster than what I wanted. I passed the 2.5 lap mark in 4:22 and still felt quite good at this point. The next 2 km I made an effort to stick closer to my goal pace even though I could go faster because I didn't want to pay for it in the final few km. KM 2 and 3 both passed in 4:28, which was slightly faster than what I wanted but I was fine with it.

The next few km got really tough, mainly because the thought of running for another 7km around a 400m loop got to my head, and the sun didn't really help things. I tried not to focus on how many laps were left but rather how many km I had left. After all 6km sounds much less than 15 rounds. I was also checking my splits every 200m to ensure that I was on the right pace, so much so that now I remember what timings I should be going through every 200m in (:54, 1:48, 2:42, 3:36, 4:30).

KM 4, 5 and 6 all went by in 4:27. I would say that's near perfect pacing :) However I was really starting to suffer already, and started to doubt if I could keep at this pace or even finish the time trial. I thought of bailing out after 5km, but decided to HTFU and get on with it.

KM 7 was my slowest one, in 4:29. I decided to slow down just slightly to ensure I wouldn't die later on. From then on it was more mind over matter. I was thinking to myself its just another 7 laps to go, very soon it will all be over. KM 8 and 9 went by in 4:28. At this point I was pretty sure I could go under 45 min even if I slowed down quite a bit at the last km because of the "buffer" time I had accumulated over the last 9km. Now the question was how much below 45min I could go.

Usually at the last km of a race we push the most because after that it will be over, but this time I really couldn't do it as much as I tried. I finished with a 4:24 final km, and a total time of 44:31. The feeling I had when I crossed the line was indescribable. I was SOOO glad it was over because I doubt I could have lasted even 1 more round, and also really happy that I managed to hit my goal. After a quick drink, I sat down on the track and just let the sweat drip for a good 5 minute. Think I left quite a big puddle there.

In about 3 years, I managed to improve my 10k timing by 16 minutes. Not a lot, but also not a shabby amount. Hopefully some day I will see my PB start with a 3, but for now I'll gladly take a 44:31. I probably could have gone sub 43 if I ran in nicer weather and did a proper taper, but my race will take place in the late morning and by the time I start running my 10k it will be around 12pm. Not ideal, but what can I do except train in hot weather as well?

Comparison between exams and races

The past few weeks I have been studying pretty hard for the exams, I at one point I was thinking that actually training for a race and studying for an exam is pretty similar!

1. Both require months of preparation. More so for major exams than the minor ones.

2. Both require consistent work and are consolidation of the preparation. If in school you miss one or two lessons its fine, but if that happens every week then it won't reflect well on your grade. Similarly for triathlons. If you miss one workout its fine and there won't be an adverse effect on your overall fitness, but if every week you miss your long run then it becomes a problem come race day.

3. Training for both requires periodization. In triathlon, many people train in segments or periods relative to when the racing season is. It always starts with base building which are easy workouts that are designed to get your base up. Then as the race approaches the intensity and distances of workout changes to suit the race. I think if we were to study in the same way, it would produce pretty good results. For example between exams would be base building time where we just read our notes to understand the subject. When the exams near its time to apply those knowledge, or the base, to answering questions and to practice more.

4. "Race day" execution is extremely important. Just because your training has been going well does not mean every thing will go well come race day. Similarly, studying intensely for an exam does not guarantee an A grade. You need to race smart and do an exam with smart techniques/tricks. And when things don't go according to plan, don't panic and try to salvage what you can.

I'm hoping to apply these to my next exam especially point 3, which means I should be studying right about now to build my base. However, there is one key key difference between the two. In races, you taper to ensure that you are in the best shape come race day. In exams, if you do that, good luck to you!

Weekly Consolidation: 8/13

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Run - 8km easy
Thursday:

AM: Swim - 40 min

PM: Run - 17km
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cycle - 57km easy
Sunday: Run - 8km

An easy week last week. First few days were off because I was somewhere over at Kota Kinabalu.

Main workout was the long run on Thursday. It was both long and fast, with an average pace of 5:06 for the whole 17km. However, my left calf finally gave in after the run and I couldn't walk properly after the run. With a bit of rolling using the tennis ball, it became much better but still hurt slightly. Hence the rest of the week I took it a bit easy, plus with exams coming up I couldn't devote that much time to training.

This was posted about 5 days late because of exams as well. As of now, the race is in 30 days! That's just slightly more than 4 weeks. Things have been going well training wise, despite 2 very short weeks. Still keeping my hopes of a podium spot in the age group!

Training, alone or with company?

Last Thursday I ran with a friend for about 8km during my 17k long run. On my normal runs I would not be able to sustain the pace we ran at for a long time, yet it seemed pretty easy that day. It got me thinking about training alone and with others.

I often find myself training alone, almost all the time when swimming and running, and majority of the time when cycling. Triathlon is an individual sport; just you versus the clock. Thus is there any benefit to training with others?

One major reason I train alone is not because I want to, but because its just so much more convenient. I can decide to go for a run 5 minutes before I head out of the door, whereas if I have an appointment my schedule is kind of fixed already. I can also decide the pace, speed, duration etc depending on how I feel.

Training solo also has a psychological effect. In a group its much easier to ride hard (other than the drafting effect) but in a race how often can you find someone who is exactly your pace? I find that training alone conditions the mind to go hard and stay at that effort. Also in longer races like HIM or IM, you need to get used to being all alone for extended periods of time.

But sometimes I do have the urge to train with others. Other than the obvious benefit of having someone to talk to, there are actually other reasons why group training may be better than individual training.

As contradicting as this may be to the earlier paragraph, group trainings force you to go hard. Of course this is assuming you train with people of your standard or better. In a group ride, either you keep up or get dropped. In a club swim if you don't keep within in interval time you get left behind. And you can't give excuses or reasons to stop and rest.

If people expect you to turn up, its also much harder for you not to. You don't have to debate with yourself whether or not you should wake up at 5am on a Sunday morning; you just do it. It would require quite a lot of mental strength for me to go out for 17k hard on a Thursday evening alone, but this particular Thursday it didn't even cross my mind to not go out for my run.

And there's also the safety aspect. If anything were to happen, someone would know about it and your family/loved ones would know if there's any accident.

That being said, I still value training solo simply because it gives me time alone with no one else. Every day we are interacting with others and sometimes we need a bit of alone time to sort out our thoughts or just to block out everything else.

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Weekly Consolidation: 7/13 weeks

Monday:
AM: Cycle - 20km TT
PM: Run - 10k trail
Tuesday:
AM: Swim - 1 hr
PM: Run - 3x 1.6km
Wednesday:
AM: Cycle - 77km solo
PM: Run - 8km easy
Thursday:
AM: Swim - 40min easy
PM: Run - 14km long run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

I'll post early because I doubt there would be any training done over Friday and the weekends. Even with only 4 days, this week was pretty huge. 2 sessions every day with plenty of studying in between for exams in 2 weeks time. My main concern was getting an injury, but somehow it worked out. Maybe the higher mileage over the past few weeks, along with all the trail, have made my legs slightly stronger.

The week started off with the monthly 20k time trial. Last month I did it in 32:16, which was a 37.1kmh average. This week I slashed off 30s to come in at 31:46, which was 37.7kmh. I managed to negative split it too (16:00, 15:46), which is always a good thing. Pretty happy with an improvement, even if it isn't by a huge amount.

Got in quite a bit of swimming the past few days. Right now its still easy swimming to get used to the water and for the swimming muscle to warm up again. I'm not sure how much I have deproved but it doesn't seem to be that bad.

This week I decided to do a different speed workout from the 400m and 800m mostly because I was bored of those distances. Opted for 3 x mile instead. It went pretty well and I hit my goal times and wasn't super spent after that either.

The past few weeks my running has been going superbly well. My guess is that it has to do with a combination of factors namely the weekly track session, higher mileage overall, as well as the trail runs. Now I'm also finding running much more enjoyable, mostly because I see the gains I am making and also because I am (mostly) injury free. I may consider signing up for an open 10k race after the triathlon just to see how fast I can go, and in future when I'm old and slow I can say at least I've ran XX:XX before.

Weekly Consolidation: 6/13 weeks

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Run - 9.5km
Wednesday:
AM: Cycle - 56km
PM: Run - 5x800m interval
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday:
AM: Swim - 1 hr
PM: Run - 8km easy

A really short week with only 5 hours of training due to other commitments.

Only managed to get in 1 quality workout which was the 800m intervals on Wednesday. It was a fantastic run with great timings and I felt great throughout the sets. Running has been steadily improving and I really hope I won't get injured from now until the race. If all goes well, I will be gunning for a sub 45 10k.

The plan was to do a 20k TT on Sunday but was too tired from Saturday and decided to do the TT tomorrow. Not too sure how I will fare but hoping for an improvement at least.

And I finally got a swim in! Just wanted to get back my feel for the water and warm up those shoulders/triceps again after about 5 weeks off. Swimming fitness has definitely deproved but I'm certain it will come back quickly. I should be swimming more in the coming weeks.

Next week will be a little short too because I'll be going on a holiday. But I'll try to squeeze in my workouts before I fly off on Friday.

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How courses are measured

One of the stuff that I read about is how race courses are measured, and I find that really interesting as well. What was the exact route that was measured, and how much longer am I really running? How can some races be sooo far off?

Well here are a few links that answered some of these questions and are very interesting read.

First would be the Jones Counter

Then something from DCRainmaker (awesome blogger btw)

And something slightly related is the accuracy of GPS watches, and once again I point you to DCRainmaker.

Anyway go check out his blog for tons of awesome information about sports technology. And food/travel if you are interested in that.

MR25 TT Updates!

The results are out! Looks like I'm a horse, I'll aim to be a hare in the August TT.

Position Name Timing Sex
Hare (19:00 – 19:59)
1 Wong Ken Mun 19:05 M
2 James Merrey 19:22 M
3 Neil Anderson 19:37 M
Horse (20:00 – 20:59)
4 Alvin Sia 20;48 M
5 Keith Scofield 20;49 M
6 Glen Copsey 20;55 M
7 Kenneth Kuan 20;58 M
8 Harris Andrew 20;58 M
GreyHound (21:00 – 21:59)
9 Staller 21:07 M
10 Kevin Rubotton 21:48 M
Deer (22:00 – 22:59)
11 Everest Yeow 22:02 M
12 Yeow chan Harn 22:24 M
13 Gemma Glynn 22:29 F Did Mens Route
14 Dana Fritz 22:40 F
15 Nena Fritz 22:58 F
Tortise (23:00 – 23:59)
16 Milan Sadek 23:04 M
17 Chris Darby 23:17 M
18 Paul Comerford 23:49 M
Snail (24:00 – 24:59)
19 Malcolm Tan 24:13 M
20 Tom Hegarty 24:20 M
21 Jonathan Perelra 24:42 M
Above 25:00 (YOU CAN MAKE IT!)
22 Martinellia 25:04 M
23 Aarow Simmons 25:11 M
24 Teo Hung Song 26:02 M
25 Lisa Kilday 26:26 F Did Mens Route
26 Catalina Yew 27:28 M
27 Esther 27:35 F
28 Toh Jian Hui 31:00 M
29 Heba 33:40 F
30 Amid Sabra 35:31 M

MR25 5k Time Trial

Went for my second ever MR25 5k TT. The first time I went was last December and I managed 21:38 for it. That was before my injury and few months off of running. My main goal was to PR in this, and also to see where my fitness is relative to December.

The day didn't start well, with heavy rains starting from 6am and even though it eased off around noon, there was still slight drizzle here and there. This was bad as it meant that the course was going to be mean and muddy.

Did a slow jog to the start point from school, and got myself registered with bib number 130. There was quite a big turnout in spite of the rain. Did a bit of warmup and mentally prep-ed myself for 20 odd minutes of pure torture.

At around 5am the horn went off and the front runners took off. I knew the start was going to be fast, so I made a mental note to go slow and not let my ego ruin the race. Tons of people overtook me within the first 10s, but I didn't let it bother me and just ran my own race. The first few 100m were still on concrete, and we reached the fitness station and the terrain turned into loose gravel. Someone stepped right on a puddle and made everyone around him wet, including me. However that was just a teaser for whats to come. After that, we turned off into the trail and the madness begun.

Another guy and I was pacing off some guy who's singlet said Keith, so I suppose he is Keith. The trail was muddy and there was small puddles here and there. After the first somewhat big puddle, I decided it was pointless to avoid them and just embraced the water in my shoes. The route was pretty undulating, and Keith stormed on the downhill. With our constant and quick pace we slowly overtook runners who were too ambitious at the start. About 1.8km in, we came across this huuuuge puddle that was ankle deep, and all 3 of us ran right into it like real men. After a few more puddles and mud, we reached the female turnaround point. The men continued on left, and after 100m was our turnaround point.

As we ran around some guy who was literally the turnaround point, he asked Keith what the time was, who replied something like "10:30, shit." I knew if I could keep up the pace, I was going to PR and possibly even sub 21. At this point I still felt quite good and was not struggling much.

We continued on at around the same pace, and was still overtaking people, but more slowly this time. After a while my lower left calf felt a bit tight, and the uphills became a bit of a struggle. I still managed to stay with Keith although he upped the pace a little.

Soon we came back to the huge puddle and everyone's shoe got soaked again. The wet shoes made it a bit hard to run fast. I was almost reaching my limits, but told myself to just stay with Keith no matter what. We ran out of the trail, which meant that there was only a short distance more to the end point. At the fitness station, Keith and I caught up with 2 other runners and it was going to be down to a sprint finish. Keith accelerated and no one could stay with him. One of the other guys couldn't keep up with me and the other guy and dropped back. With 50m to go we sprinted and I edged him out by just a little, crossing the line in 20:58.

I was so glad that the race was over, as were my legs. I think I paced the run perfectly, and couldn't thank Keith enough for it. The 40s improvement over December's race was a great confidence booster, considering proper run training only began 2 months ago or so. The course also wasn't ideal, meaning I could probably have shaved off another 5-10s. A 20:58 on trail without proper taper would likely mean that I can run a sub 20 5k.

Although the next TT is after my race, I will probably still go for it and try to break 20 the next time.

Weekly Consolidation: 5/13 weeks

8 weeks to race day!

Monday: Run - 11km trail
Tuesday:
AM: Cycle - 78km group ride
PM: Run - 7km easy
Wednesday: Run - 10x400m intervals
Thursday: Cycle - 5x5min intervals
Friday: Run - 16.5km long run
Saturday: Cycle - 72km solo
Sunday: Run - 5km race

A solid 10hr week! By far the best training week I've had in a while. Got in most of my key workouts, highest weekly mileage of 54km for running, and PRed in a race.

Did not feel very strong this week cycling wise, but I'll only know where I am compared to last month next week when I do a 20km solo TT. Didn't feel very nice to get dropped on the 5am Tuesday ride, but at least I know I can ride strong and far alone.

This was a huge week for running. The intervals went great, long run didn't even feel that long, and the MR25 5k TT was a great confidence booster. Currently I am probably around a 43-44min 10k, hopefully I will be able to run that during the race if the training in the next 8 weeks go well. I'm feeling really pumped for running right now!

I'm also looking to get a new pair of shoes. My Zoot has around 1000km now, and Asics around 500km. Although I don't really need another pair because both are still in good condition, I want one :) I've been looking around, but can't find the right shoes for me yet. I also want to get some sort of fuel belt for my longer runs, as I MAY sign up for a full marathon at the end of the year :)

Types of Workouts

Although my training looks pretty unstructured and random, there's actually order within the chaos. Every week, I have a few quality workouts that I hope to complete and as long as those are done, I'm pretty happy.

Disclaimer: Everything posted here is based on the hours of reading I've done whenever I feel lazy to go for a run. If there's anything that is inaccurate, don't blame me for it!

For running, I try to have one longish run (anything 10k and above for now counts), a track session of intervals, and a tempo run.
The long run is quite short now, especially since the run for the Olympic distance (or standard distance) is 10k. But it will slowly go up, and probably capped at around 15km. Not because I don't need anything longer, but rather because it gets a bit too time consuming and very boring to run for 1.5hr alone.
The track workout involves me going to the-you guessed it right-track. I find that a few fast intervals of 400m-1.6km is good to get you used to the goal pace and to work on leg turnover/strength. Without these sessions, I will probably never run below a 4:00min/km pace. I also tend to run slower outdoors, so these workouts are reserved for the track. I tend to enjoy the thought of running these at such fast paces, but once I'm at the track the only thing I enjoy about it is...well there's nothing.
Tempo workouts are sort of intermediates between track workouts and a normal run. The distances I run vary between 3km to 6km of tempo (excluding warmup/cooldown), and the pace is usually around 4:30ish for me. These runs are haaaard. At least for track workouts I know there's a rest I can look forward to after just a couple of minutes. But for tempo runs the only rest comes a long time later. However some people think this is one of the best types of run for mid distances.

As for cycling, I also have 3 workouts I try to do each week.
1. VO2 max intervals. For me these mean any intervals of less than 7 minutes, pushing a really hard speed throughout the whole thing. The cycling equivelant of track workouts I guess.
2. Lactate Threshold intervals. The only one that I do/know of is the 2x20min workout. This raises your LT and I find it teaches me how to pace myself properly. Tough tough workout because 20min is a really long time, but I feel very satisfied whenever I do one of these because of many anecdotes of how useful these workouts are.
3. Solo long ride. So far I've only done 1 of this, and it was very satisfying to know that I can achieve a 35kmh average on my own (just a bit of drafting) for 90km. Only thing is, well, its super boring to ride for 3hr alone. But it has some sort of therapeutic effect too.
One problem with the the first and second type of workout is that you need a place where you can ride for the desired time undisturbed. In Singapore it's impossible to find a stretch of road to cycle for 20min straight, so what I do is cycle around a loop of roughly 3.5km. For now this loop is still quite undiscovered, which is a good thing :)

A good week is one where I managed to do all 6 workouts according to plan. I try to space these out as much as possible to give myself time to rest so I can perform my best, but with 6 workouts and only 7 days a week it gets a bit difficult. So there you go, a bit of order within the chaos of my training week.

Weekly Consolidation: 4/13 weeks

Monday: Cycle - 5x5min intervals
Tuesday: Run - 5.3km
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday:
AM: Run - 8km easy
PM: Run - 800m intervals avg 3:07
Friday: Cycle - 2x20min intervals
Saturday: Run - long 13km
Sunday:
AM: Cycle - 78km 35.2kmh
PM: Run - 8km with 3km tempo

Once again another week with no swimming. I'm starting to get a little worried now. Wanted to squeeze in a swim somewhere but just couldn't find a nice time where the pool is empty.

Running mileage is increasing a bit, from 29.3km last week to 41.4 this week. The shin pain seems to be going away so that's a good thing, but not the big toe pain which has been with me since almost a year ago. The pain there is bearable, just irritating.
The 800m intervals almost killed me. I didn't have any goals for it, and wanted to see what I could do. Around last November I was running 3:11, and now I was running 3:01 - 3:05. I pushed too much on the first 4 sets and almost fainted/puked after the 4th one. So for the last interval I ran really easy, too easy probably, and ended with a less than optimal 3:15.

For cycling I managed to do a VO2max workout, LT workout as well as a longish ride. However the first 2 rides my timings/speed weren't great, not too sure what's happening there because the past few weeks I've been doing quite a bit of quality cycling and was hoping for some improvements.
However the 640 ride on Sunday was a confidence booster, with a new highest average of 35.2kmh. The pace was fast and furious almost the whole ride, and at Kranji I *almost* got dropped. We also got a free massage from the rain along Keppel Flyover which made everyone slightly nervous because a fall there wouldn't be nice.

The school holidays have started, so that means more time for training and studying (ironically). Hopefully I can do 4 10hr weeks and by the end come out much stronger. And next Sunday there's the 5km MR25 TT which I'll be going for. I previously ran it in December in 21:38, so we shall see where I stand compared to last December before my injury and hiatus.

This week my Zoot will pass the 1000km mark! It still looks pretty good though, and can probably last me another...300-400k?

Weekly Consolidation: 3/13 weeks

Monday: Run - 9km trail
Tuesday: Cycle - long ride 108km, 34kmh average
Wednesday: Run - 10x400m intervals on 1 min rest (avg 1:28)
Thursday: Run - 10km slow run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cycle - solo long ride 92km,
34.9kmh average
Sunday: Rest

This week's training went fairly well, except for the two unplanned rest days due to unforeseen circumstances.

Went for the Joyriders ride on Vesak Day. After last Saturday's failed round island ride, I wanted to go for a slightly longer ride to clock some saddle time. The ride took us from Longhouse, past Mandai, Kranji, LCK, Tuas, Keppel and ended at Amoy street. The pace was very fast for most of the ride, going >38 on the flats all the time. Reaching Longhouse, my average hit an all time high of 35kmh. This ride was a good confidence booster after getting dropped on Saturday.

Solo 90k ride on Saturday also went very well. The pace was fast enough for me to feel pretty beaten by the end, yet slow enough that I could finish the ride strong.

Wednesday brought another good training day, although I was struggling to get out of the house at first. The 10x400 intervals in 1:30 with only 1 min rest seemed impossible at first, but somehow I got through all the sets under goal time. According to Macmillan, this is a pace a 20:00 5k person should be doing, so maybe I'm pretty close to that now.

Even though the week brought a few quality workouts, it also brought along a few nagging pains to my leg. Maybe I'll cut back running a little next week to prevent any injury which I seem prone to getting.

As for swimming, still haven't gone for one since around 2 weeks ago. Hopefully I am making the right decision.

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Staying motivated

Everyone has days when you have to wake up early yet once the alarm clock rings you happily snooze it until you are late. For triathletes this seem to happen more often than not, simple because early mornings are the norm and one can hardly remember the last time one woke up at 9am. Other than the early mornings, I also struggle to get out of the door for a run some days, such as yesterday and the day before. Only after a lot of self persuasion and mental hardening did I finally drag myself out and get my workout done.

The key to getting past these days where you just don't feel like doing your prescribed workout, I feel, is to have a target in mind and to remind yourself that if you slack now, it gets much harder to hit that target. For me, the long term target is to place in my AG for the next race, and a more short term target is to clock 40km of running this week. The goal should be something manageable and something you really wish to achieve for it to be useful.

Just having a target is seldom enough. It helps to train with a partner such that you are "obliged" to turn up for the workout. Of course that person must care. More often than not once you have an appointment you seldom
will want to sleep in.

For me, I usually just tell myself to suck it up and just do it. Once the workout is done I usually feel much better and accomplished. Remember that while you can snooze the alarm clock, you can't snooze your race!

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Weekly Consolidation: 2/13 weeks

Monday: Cycle - 20k TT plus some VO2 max intervals
Tuesday:
AM: Run - 6.2km
PM: Run - 8km hills
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday:
AM: Run - 8km
PM: Cycle - 2x20min intervals
Friday: Run - 9km at MacRitchie
Saturday: Cycle - 75km constant fast ride, 33.4kmh average
Sunday:
AM: Cycle - 60km with hills and some VO2 max intervals
PM: Run - 7km with 4km tempo (4:30/km pace)

Quite a huge training week, over 10 hours with 4 bike rides (228km) and 5 runs (38.2km). Weather wasn't very kind at the start of the week, but eased up when the rain came.

Time trial on Monday went well, managed 37.1kmh for 20km. I am planning to do this time trial once every month to monitor my progress. Eventually the goal would be 40kmh for 20km, and then for 40km :)
All the rides were pretty good, with some hard honest effort in there.
Got dropped on the group ride on Saturday. The original plan was to go for the 6am round island ride with Joyriders, but the group was just too fast for me. Looks like I still have some ways to go.

Running wise I'm still building up mileage. Few fast workouts for fear of injury, and can already feel my left shin feeling weird. Still managed to do a 4km tempo just now in 18 flat.

As for swimming, maybe I'll do 1 swim every 2 weeks ;)

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Weekly Consolidation: 1/13 weeks

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Run - 6.3km in the morning
Wednesday: Run - 8km
Thursday: Swim – 30min easy
Friday: Run – 10km total with 5km tempo in 22:02
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Cycle - 81km with Joyriders 6.20 group

Quite a scaled back week, eased back into training after the race. Run mileage was lower than I liked, but it may be a good thing not to jump right back into it, least I get some running related injury again.

The 5k run on Friday went amazingly well. It was a much needed confidence booster after the dismal run during the race.

The Mercury was given some TLC at Bikelabz for a full service, and only came back to me on Saturday. I had wanted to go for the 6am ride which was longer, but too few people turned up. 620 ride was at quite a slow pace, but added in some training value by surging along Mandai, LCK and Keppel Viaduct.

Polling Day was pretty exciting, and I appeared on TV :) Hopefully my family won't have to repent for 5 years

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Weekly Consolidation: 0/13 Weeks to OSIM Triathlon

Monday: Run – easy 5.3km in 27:16 before school
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Cycle – 40min with 3x5min intervals, stopped early due to rain
Thursday: Swim – 50min, practiced sighting and drilled high elbow catch
Friday: Run – 7.2km in 33:58 (4:43/km) Charity run (Operation Smile Run) organised by school. 1 round - $1 for cleft lip patient. Max rounds in 36 minutes.
Saturday: Rest (practiced transition)
Sunday: Singapore Sprint Series Race

This week was much lower in volume and intensity to taper for the race. Original plan was to run around 6.4km in 36 minutes for the charity run, but I really wanted to raise money for the patients…actually it was more like my ego couldn’t take it going so slowly and getting passed by so many people, so I ran slightly harder. I doubt it actually affected my race on Sunday, so that was a good thing.

The race went well in the sense that I got 2nd in my Age Group, but bad in the sense that my run totally fell apart. Based on this race, my focus in the coming weeks would be on my run. Higher mileage, slightly higher intensity. I will probably go for the MR25 5k TT in June to see where my run fitness is then. I will try to remain my cycling intensity and probably put more structure in my rides rather than just to clock the mileage. Thinking of adding a 20k TT at the Fernvale loop every 2nd Sat/Sun of the month.

As for swimming…I haven’t seen much improvement in my times despite the trainings. It may be a chicken and egg thing: I swim less because I don’t see the improvements, but I don’t see the improvements because I swim too little. But even if I up my swim and my timings drop, I’m quite certain if I spend that time on running I will see more gains. Hopefully I am right about that!

Tribob Sprint Series Triathlon Race Report

The day started at 540, and drank some coffee to boost the system and some ham and cheese bread. By 630 I was out of the house and on the way to Changi Beach Park, with my parents sending me there and to support me.
 

The Mercury all ready to rock and roll!

Reached the race venue around 7am, and went to the transition area to set up my area. Chose quite a prime spot in the transition area, and one point race directors can improve on is to make the transition area more fair, and the position of bike racking wouldn't make any difference.

 

Met Ben Khoo, who got the best spot in transition. He was in the elite wave, and ready to own the race.

At 740, half an hour before my wave start, I went to do my swim warm up and get used to the salt water. Water was murky as usual, but thankfully there was no sea bugs who would give me hell for 1 whole week and make me look like a chicken pox victim.

At 8am the elite wave was flagged off, and next would be my wave. 10 minutes later, my first proper triathlon started!

 

You can just spot me at the right side of the picture

The Swim:
I ran into the water, and scrambled for position for about 100m or so. After that I settled into my rhythm and focused on a high elbow catch and high cadence. However my sighting was quite off and I was swimming quite far off from the line. The course was 1 triangle loop and the sea was very calm. Thanks to the small wave start, my body did not face much abuse from the foot of other swimmers.

After around 15 minutes (which I found out about after the race) I emerged from the water. Saw my dad and smiled for the camera.

 

Took off my cap and goggles while running to transition. Entered T1 and did not have a problem finding my spot. Put on my race belt, aero helmet, unracked my bike and off I went. The run to the mount line was a good 100m away, and I was so thankful to not be running in my cycling shoe.

The Bike:
The bike course was 2 loops of Changi Coast Road, pancake flat. This was my first time cycling after a swim, and thankfully there was not much difference. Was going at speeds faster than 37kmh pretty easily, although there was not too many people to overtake on the 1st round. Compared to races at East Coast Park, this bike course was much much better. Roads are much wider and there was nothing to focus on but to keep my speed above 37. I was taking in quite a lot of sports drink on the bike, which on hindsight was not a good thing to do.

Clearly my cornering skills needed more work.

At the halfway point, the distance was around 12km (!). Lost some time whenever there was a turn, but overtook quite a lot of people on the whole. Nearing T2 I slipped out of my cycling shoe and my practice paid off.

Dismounted at the line and ran past the crowd into T2. Racked my bike, took off the Specialised TT2 helmet, slipped on my Zoot and zoomed straight out for the run.

The Run:
Starting the run my abdominal area started hurting, and I knew things wouldn't be good. The trisuit was too tight around my torso area, plus the whole bottle of Gatorade slushing in my stomach didn't help things. The stitch was getting quite bad and after the 1st km which I ran in around 4:15, I had to stop and walk for a bit. After around 30s I felt much better and could continue my run, but I knew trying to achieve a 5k PB was not going to happen today.

I took the second km quite easily to ease off the pain, and was not that surprised to see 5:15 on my watch. The 3rd km went by much better, although breathing was still hard due to the tight suit. And my race tag kept slipping to the back and I had to keep adjusting to keep it in front.

The 4th km was pretty slow and I just couldn't push hard even though my legs weren't feeling tired. Somehow
managed to up the amp in the last km, and ran down the finishing chute with a 4 min flat last km.

 

Final race results:

Swim (750m) - 14:46 (5/18)

T1 - 1:20 (3/18)

Bike (25km) - 42:19 (4/18)

T2 – 1:06 (2/18)

Run (5km) - 22:46 (5/18)

Overall - 1:22:19 (2/18)

Went to check my results on the computer right after the race, and couldn't believe it when I saw "2" under Category position! Lost out to Ben Khoo by a good 7 minutes, who had a blistering fast race. Stayed around the race venue until 11.30 for the prize presentation. It was only when my name was called out before I believed that I got 2nd with my mediocre timing.

 

First time on the podium (or stage in this case)!

Overall the race was pretty well organised, with a great race course. However, there was one major problem: the bike course was 5km longer than supposed to be! Thats 25% more and clearly not accidental. Also, the transition area could have been set such that it would be more fair, and the mount/dismount line could be closer to the transition area.

It was my first proper triathlon, and I'm stoked to place 2nd in my AG, even if my timing wasn't excellent. I could have pushed much harder on the bike and run. And I learnt that I should not drink too much before the run, but rather just rinse my mouth and spit out the water.

I already can't wait for my next race!

Review of past years

Everything started around the time I was about 6 years old, when I took swimming lessons. Nothing competitive about it, just those lessons that was supposed to get you comfortable with the water. The only problem was that one of my instructor enjoyed forcing our heads into the water, and that didn't help much with water confidence. Stopped taking lessons soon after when I roughly knew enough to survive in the water.

Fast forward to 2008. Motivated by my father to run regularly. At that time running once every 2 weeks was the norm. Gradually it progressed to twice and 3 times a week. Took part in my first race, Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 10k. After 61 minutes of pavement pounding around the city area, I crossed the finish line, tired but thrilled. Back then I wasn't yet a racer, more of a finisher.

The focus from then till 2009 was to see how far I could go. Took part in Passion Run 09, and completed the 15km in 1h24min. September 09 saw me taking part in SBR&AHM again, this time in the half marathon category. Crossing the line in 2:04, while 4 minutes shy of my original goal, made me feel accomplised and in control of my body.

It was also in early 2009 when I got my first proper bike, the cheapest road bike one could ever find. At that time I wasn't set on taking part in triathlons, just wanted to a bicycle I could call my own. The brand of my ride was Raleigh, and my first impressions were that the bike looked race ready (all road bikes look the same, right?) and it was super hard to control! Spent the rest of the year mostly learning about cycling and improving my handling skills, as well as seeing marked improvements in the average speed from ride to ride.

I also decided to take part in triathlons in the later part of 2009, and swimming became regular once again. I signed up for the 2010 OSIM Triathlon, sprint category and eagerly anticipated its arrival.

2010 arrived and along with it was a new Scott road bike. With some sort of structured training, I managed to survive the sprint tri (although the swim was cancelled due to bad weather) and placed 9th in the 16-19 AG. I got hooked, and really wanted to improve my timings as well as placing. Took training much more seriously, with plenty of reading on all things triathlon related. I also joined a few Joyriders ride, and my ego got beat up pretty bad every time I got dropped by the supposedly slow pack.

Run training was pretty inconsistent, due to the random injuries that propped up from time to time. However, I was able to run a 22:30 5k in the OSIM Triathlon, and did 21:38 in the MR25 December 5k TT. In December a "fall" on the bike caused an injury which affected my right ankle and disrupted my training for a good 4 weeks. Even after that, the ankle is still not fully healed and seems like it will never be.

At the end of 2010 I was in pretty good shape; swim was mediocre, bike was steadily improving, and running was going well (until the injury, of course).

This year, 2011, the Scott went away and a Argon 18 Mercury took its place. I figured since triathlons were the focus, why not just get a tri bike? There are 3 main races on my calendar. First was the Singapore Biathlon in February, where I posted a 29:XX 1.5k swim and a 49:XX 10k run. Considering the lack of run training, I was fairly surprised with my run time. However, the swim was quite disappointing as the trainings did not seem to have any significant impact.

The next race will be happening in 2 days time, the Singapore Sprint Series triathlon. Following that would be the OSIM Tri in late July, where I have "upgraded" to the olympic distance since last year.

So that's the gist of my triathlon training thus far!

New beginnings

This blog is to track my training for triathlons. The next race is in 3 days, and the next A race would be an Olympic Distance triathlon in late July.

Some background:
Picked up running in 2008, and cycling in 2009. Been swimming since young but only on and off. Started taking training more seriously in 2010, and hoping for a podium spot this year!

What's going to happen after July? I'm not too sure too, but the real As will be happening in November and study will take priority for sure! After As? We'll see!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]