Triathlon day

WAH LAO.. i realise i really got no life after taking up triathlon. everything i say, talk and blog is about tri... hahaa.. guess that's me! don't like.. then don't read lo!! hahaa

firstly, i'm so glad that we set up a team. we = most of us at Running Lab plus some ex staff plus some friends =) it is something we wanted to set up long ago and finally it came true. we had an inaugural 35km run. 1st of the many track training by our Team Runfanatics coach Sham aka Black baby. he put in a lot to plan our training and is doing his best to cater to the needs of every single one of us in the team. CHEERIOS BRO!! thanks.. in case u dunno, he used to run 1 hr 18 min for a half marathon (21km). how fast that is? u go punch the calculator ok.. hahaha

MORE TO COME for Team Runfanatics. We are printing our very own Tees and Singlets for training purpose. Brain child behind the design is ME and Evan aka Fatboy and the chief(and only!! haha) designer is none other than Weeling. the design is very nice! i am really proud of her.Good job!! will update again with photos and the designs. DON'T let u all see first. hahaha!

ok.. i wanna talk about my whole schedule today.

Early morning, wake up at 6.15am. wash up and had a light breakfast of bread and water. went down to take a bus to CGH for my Vo2 max test which i booked about a month ago (now got discount.. $80 only.. quite good deal to know exactly what kind of fitness level u are at and to know how to plan ur own trg programme better by understanding ur own body).

There wasn't any queue. it was quite efficent. a doctor asked me some questions.. like it was damn routine.. he came in bla bla "do u have this..bla bla".. ok we are done. then the nurse took over.. i just -_-

after that, i got changed. got brought up to the "lab". gosh i feel like a lab rate. i had ecg lead all over my chest and a gas mask so tight that i almost suffocate when the oxygen is off. good thing is two nurses/lab tech helped me. gosh, i'm half naked with two girls with me inside a room behind closed door. JUST imagine that without the me being stick up with ecg leads and mask k. hahaha =P

then on the treadmill... run..run...

wah.. not only the speed increase, the incline also increase by .5 every stage. i just see the speed going for 0.7 and up up till 12.6.. with incline from .5 to 8.5. THEN the most unfortunate thing happened!!!!!

my feet accidentally knocked the front of the threadmill and god knows there is a sensor there and upon the "knock", the system assumed that i FAINTED or almost fall and STOP!!! down straight to 0.. yes.. ZERO.. gosh

i admit it was rather tough at that stage but i feel that i can at least go 1 or 2 stage higher to reach my max. DAMN.. then also cannot restart..won't be accurate anyway.. wah lao.. sian diao!!

reviewing my results

1) Anerobic Threshold (AT) aka Lactate threshold

Definition:
the point where lactate (lactic acid) begins to accumulate in the bloodstream. we all know that beyond a certain point of exercising in the high intensity zone, your body will reach a point when the production of lactate is faster than its removal.

Me:
AT is at 187 Beats per minute (BPM of Heart rate). which is around 94% of my max HR. The analysist told me that's the point when my body switch from aerobic to anerobic. and she told me it's a good figure.. ok then! i take it. haha. she also say i should try to push this point further upon further training

2) Vo2 Max

Definition:
VO2 max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake or aerobic capacity) is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and utilize oxygen during incremental exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual. This figure is often use to gauge the cardiovascular fitness of most endurance athletes. for Top elite athletes, figures usually reach around 70 and higher. 3 times Tour De France champion cyclist, Greg LeMond is said to have a vo2 max of 92.5 at his peak. and Lance Armstrong around 86. All out of the charts!!

Me:

48.0mL/kg/Min.

Relatively good for an Asian. (yup u got it. Asian's figures are usually lower than the ang moh's!) categorised under the "well-conditioned" section. one step below elite athlete. haha! but it can be improve upon better training. i'm still young! long way to go! come on Eugene!!

haha. nothing much after that. just a bit sore about the stupid knocking accident. who knows if i can continue, i may be able to reach higher figures!! ARGH~! well no worries, i will be back in 6 mths before the Standard Chartered Marathon to gauge my fitness level again. woohoo! train harder!

ok.. i'm pretty high now. haha

After that, i went to meet with Evan and Sham to go to Oakley. Evan need to get his nose piece and Sham his ear sock. First time there and the displays were not bad. They had a Mac on display for customization of Oakley shades. Service was quite good. quick and efficient. We were out in less than 15 minutes. =)

After that, it's bike shopping time for Sham. went to Swissvalley in River Valley road. heard of a promotion for the BMC TT03 going for 2.8k. BUT it was not on display. the mechanic has to fix up the bike before Sham can test it. DAMN.. guess we have to come back another day. But the mechanic was nice enough to show us all the parts la. spectacular black and red. pretty cool. end up, Evan bought bike shoes and i bought bottle cage -_-

haha. next we head to Taka to actually look for Sham's figurines. YUP. he collects these figurines and i tell u, he's mad about them. Everytime during break, he will disappear and reappear in 1 hr's time with a bag full of them. The longer we stayed at the toys' section, the more he is going to buy. so we quickly pull him to the cashier and to prevent the scenario of his wife making him sleep outside the house. haha

Evan went to Oakley counter and tried on the Radar. He wanted to buy M-frames but upon trying Radar, he kinds of like it too. Figure out what u want dude!! haha. meanwhile i psycho him to get Radar then we can exchange lenses. haha

We trek down to TREK. haha. the bikes there are definitely out of the question. see see look look only. there is this Trek bike with Lance Armstrong's signature on it and it's a limited edition (no. 221 out of 600), selling at $17000. wahahaha. even the helmet is Lance Armstrong edition. i like Armstrong.. but not $17000 worth yet. haha

Next is Tay Junction just next door. They sell Specialized and Giant. We were looking at some Specialized bikes and they look pretty good. but those with the right looks and price has no size for Sham. and those which has the right size does not have the right colour. fancy a bike with red white chrome? yukes. haha the salesgirls were pretty fun though. Like what Evan said, they looked pretty pissed when we first walked in. i think too exhausted by work. haha. after that, we talk to them, made them laugh a bit and left. Sham gave them our namecard (i ran out of RL cards so gave them NorthFace one) and asked them to give him a call if they need anything. HEY BRO! u are married ah. give this to me or evan la. wah lao!

it's little things like this, such as cheering some's day, that makes a difference in us. i always like to do so. life is short. so smile, laugh, enjoy and live with no regrets!

After that, Evan have to go Westmall to get new phone and Sham to class at MDIS. time was still too early for me so i went to Borders instead to read some books. in the end, i bought a book call "No Shortcuts to The Top". It's a book about this guy who climbed 14 of the World's tallest peak without supplementary oxygen. CRAZY shit. so i bought it. haha. to give me more inspiration. i know eventually i will go into adventure racing. love the sport. but for now, i will stick to road racing first. for the high speed adrendaline =)

After that, it was time for swim class by Yellowfish. His class is really no joke eh. damn fierce. i even got chilled for swimming too slow ( actually i was having a "cramping-up" left arm). haha.

let me show u what was on his fish's menu last week and tonite:

8th May

- 4x400 time trial
- 3x(200+100)
- 6 x 100 (Front crawl + breast stroke)

15th may

- 6x50 Pull
- 6x50 catch up
- 4x25 Side kick
- 2x50 5Fr 2 fly
- 2x25 Fly
- 2x (3x200) @ 430
- 1x100 slow swim
- 2x50 BR swim
- 6x50 @ 115

haha. dig that!! and he wanna transfer me to his Tuesday class. i got a mixed feeling about it la.

it's something good because it's like a promotion because Tuesday class is full of all the SUPER DUPER fast swimmers like Adrian Mok (10hr + Ironman finisher, owner of Polar Singapore and Hivelocity), Victoria Campbell ( One of Singapore's fastest triathlete, Nike sponsored athlete) and Dr Siong (dunno how many times Ironman) and MORE. i would probably stay the last swimmer for the slowest lane for many months to come. haha. it's good challenge and benchmark for me so as to constantly improve myself. i heard they can swim 50m in 30 sec. gosh. i can do the same distance in... 47sec? gosh. i have much to cover people. wish me luck. and i heard that class is like... swim swim and swim. i will update u peeps on how "dropped" i am in the class. Coach say.. after Sundown.. that's two weeks from now... haha.. excited plus scared

alright. that's about all for my "exciting" day. told u no life alr. everything.. and i mean every single thing is about sports. but i love it! =) cheerios folks!

Go Team Runfanatics! training on Sat and Mon ah. rem! -from self proclaimed Team manager