4th Sept

Sat, 4th Sept 2008

Went to Macritchie to support friends at the North Face 50km...
it was great fun! seeing so many runners preparing to run the 50km. I guess giving up the 50km run and focussing on my next race was a much better move though!

took some pictures:)
after they were flagged off, Yao Chung sent me to East COast park. I was SUPPOSED to do my 10km fast paced run and then meet Brian after that...

walking at east coast myself and had a simple breakfast at MAC...

So it went. I ran from C2 to F1 and met a friend there. He mentioned he din wanted to wait till 3pm to swim. so... i replaced him.. out of no where... 3km swim.. haha lucky it was only a charity swim, not a running race or swimming race either..

and so, i was in... for 3km of swim against big and huge waves which made a lot of swimmers gave up and withdrew...

With Christel..Singapore National Swimmer..who did the 5km...
and my fav white bag..n brian...met up for lunch before he goes overseas for like 1 month!

Friday is a lonely day...
PSLE started...
GOOD luck to all my students:) love them all

** picked me up for Lunch from school today again:)
thanks man! we had great lunch at West Mall Pasta Mania... he is trying to get me fat! He is running the North Face 50km tomorrow and I am going down to support all the hard core running friends! yeah man... way to go!

went to NTU to meet YaoXiang at the pool. Did my usual 40 laps swims and drills. Breaststroke 10 laps, 15 laps of free plus backstroke. 10 laps of sculling and then 6 laps of butterfly:)

went back to Hall 3 to eat:)
anyway din manage to take his photo:)
here is one that we took almost 2 years ago.. when he said that i was a plump plump girl:)
spoke abt sch work and the stress level. Guess his training at National Waterpolo and mine were almost alike when we had to travel from the West at NTU to the North for training almost 3-4 days a week when we are in NIE.

well but life is like this. We choose our own route and walk it ourselves.
Next week meet up will prob be me coaching him running or he coaching me swimming! My gosh... hope i dun get scolded by this Secondary school teachers... or else he will get nagged by me the primary school teacher!

oh nonononono way man!!! i think i gained back my usual weight these days ... got to lose back fast!

happy children's day to all my students!!!

love them all:)

taught Vincent how to thread water as he is trying for SOF at end of NOV. was interesting to have a lesson learning all the techniques all over again for myself too.

Threading of water has several techniques and obviously i was teaching the figure of 8 technique. It is much better than the vertical breaststroke kick technique which requires more energy.

At night went to swim at Clementi Swim pool with Kaiming - 20 laps. Did some drills and gliding actions.
then hop onto his bike... wow comfortable bike..always enjoy the feeling of the cold air blowing on my skin.
Dinner was great Hongkong cafe food:) and we found this weird looking BANANA KEEPER from DAISO... should be used to keep triathletes' food-banana during a race:_

And he kindly passed me the driving theory book! Woowoo...
now thinking i should learn car or motor now since i am going to Aussie soon:)
cannot imagine motorbiking in cold weather man!

Time to lose weight!

30th October 2008

Just back home :1.45a.m.
Training today:

6 loops of Mount Faber of 1.6km each
the hills were relatively ok to run with. However, the down hill part was a little aching on the knee. Had to use lighter and more cushioning foot steps while landing.

Lucky I had my NIKE Lunar Trainer as my saviour! haha...

wanted to do 7 loops but I missed one loop because AYE had a massive jam! Reached there late.
the uphills were not that steep round 30 degrees but it was long. The oncoming traffic was one thing that i was afraid of. When the vehicles approach, they come in fast speeds and they turn, probably can't see much of us. There was one point when I had to walk up the plants placed at the side to avoid the bus from hitting into me.

However, it was great because the team unity was there and we waited for each other to finish the 7 loops before walking back together.

Alan asked me to join the elite team for training on Tues and Thurs. Yeah i think i could try till dec when i get back into training. I need some form of motivation for training now...

2 songs Sent to me by a friend who had lunch with me today:) made my day thanks **

"You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" by Josh Groban

Don't give up
It's just the weight of the world
When your heart's heavy
I...I will lift it for you

Don't give up
Because you want to be heard
If silence keeps you
I...I will break it for you

Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved

Don't give up
It's just the hurt that you hide
When you're lost inside
I...I will be there to find you

Don't give up
Because you want to burn bright
If darkness blinds you
I...I will shine to guide you

Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
Don't give up
Because you are loved

You are loved
Don't give up
It's just the weight of the world
Don't give up
Every one needs to be heard
You are loved

and....

"Little Wonders" By Rob Thomas

Let it go
Let it roll right off your shoulder
Don't you know
The hardest part is over
Let it in
Let your clarity define you
In the end
You will only just remember how it feels

Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours
These small hours
Still remain

Let it slide
Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine,
Till you feel it all around you
And I don't mind
If it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by
It's the heart that really matters in the end

Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These small hours
Still remain

All of my regret
Will wash away somehow
But I cannot forget
the way I feel right now

In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists and turns of fate
Yeah, these twisted turns of fate
Time falls away
Yeah, but these small hours,
These small hours
Still remain

Yeah, oh they still remain
These little wonders
All these twists and turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These little wonders
Still remain

27th and 28th Sept

Sat:

Ran with SG runners.
Planned to run 18km but then because we could not find a waterpoint to fill the water, we had to proceed further forward to reach the toilet.
Started at Changi Carpark 2... ran till east coast.
total distance :24km

Thanks to KK for his kindness.. fetch me to and fro.
it was a great run and a great day.
went swimming 40 laps at Clementi Swimming pool after that.

Felt so lonely after that met up with Shu at Dempsy Hill for some chill out session.

Sun:

Ran 16km with Vivian and Joe at East Coast.messy hair after shower

went home to sleep.
Met coaching and then met up with Sunny at Suntec.

Went to meet a friend after that:) went to West Coast Park .

that was my day.

and so it goes on....

training starting soon:)

went to support my bro's running comp today = Safsa cross country:) it was a surprise to him ha! he was still talking about runners having gfs and wifes there to support them.. and the next thing he knew, he saw 2 familiar figures standing near the start line ... well he ran a splendid race.. basically he did not train for years.. if i could remember correctly, the last time he really ran seriously for a race was erm... 2 years ago? he used to be a biathlete, a waterpolo player in national youth teAM.. NOW a hip hop dancer...well he is an overachiever.. always doing well in what he aims to do.. even without training, he could come in top 10 in the Navy Biathlon men's closed cat:) today was a good race for him after his win at the RSN track meet at 5km:)

the black one nearest to us is my bromy sister took these when we were waiting

he is sooo going to kill me for the photo below.. so ugly:(my me and bro:)bro playing with my hp chain:)

sisters and broand with Jickson:) my good brother from NDUand and junko: the cam whore queenand then with dexter and my bro

oh i need to thank XXXX XXXX for the sunglasses:) forgot to bring mine and had to use the one in my bag:) thanks! protected my eyes!

but the eyebags are really really huge.. if not the photo would look soo good. got to sleep more!

yest training at Mount Faber Safra..

could not wake up in time after my short nap.. hence went to training late..
supposed to run with Safra running team for 14km.. in the end reached 10 minutes late.

searched for them by running out safra and up and down the usual routes.. cant find. in the end, I ran myself... Safra to Portsdown road and back... total about 1 hr 15minutes:)
during the run, looked at my tummy and my hands.. they have become so flat and lean.

but i like the new me... the more lean me:)

met Alber and Alvin for dinner after that. Felt so sleepy...

sleeping time:)

look forward to more training.

KPE RUN

KPE run:)
Met up with Joe and Marcus . Reached tampines at 645am. took the first bus.
Luckily, weren't many people at the first bus:)

It was in interesting event where we saw many pple going to help and break the guiness World Records of having the largest number of people holding a lantern in a tunnel:)
aahah

the start point - 10km was in front of 5km.
however, we had limited space to warm up. Had to warm up at the side. The below photo is taken after the race.into the race:

The first 2km, i started to perspire, not due to the speed that i was running at. But it was stuffy, difficult to breathe and a little suffering.

the 5.5km U-turn mark, spot the first water station. But they serve recycled water in bottles. Was not cold, took a sip and threw the bottle away.

Spotted Sunny at around the 6km mark. Was surprised. He said he did not want to torture himself racing as he could not breathe properly and so he slowed down to wait for me.

He ran with me. (heh he is also a competitor!)
all the way to the end point. Thankful he was there for me all the way... just like a brother who is always there for me all this while! thanks bro.

managed to emerge 2nd. Overtook some Nepal lady runner .

First - Cheong Tsui Ying (expected!) - 44min 29seconds
Second - Sumiko Tan - 45min 01seconds
Third - La Thapa - 47 mins plus i think

and the prizes were quite good:)
i won 300 cash (which was only allowed to be taken after 29th sept!)
and a medal
:)

overall the race was well run. Beside the fact that a photographer dressed in jeans actually collapsed and had to be resuscitated...
we were all worried whether any runner will collapse
the air ventilation was really bad and almost all the runners wee suffering:(

however, good attempt! i like the disco part of the tunnel:)
photos after the race...with Joe who got 9th and Marcus who got 11th. great job guys!
nurulwith Tsui Ying, the lady winner...
melvin, his bro and his wife:)Since it was a launch of the tunnel, there was a sports car show!and some trishaw challenge:)and Joe receiving prize... (nobody took my stage photo because i was holding on to the camera!)
like to thank Joe who picked me up at 545am and his dad for helping us to carry our stuff!!!
my 6th race of the month-done and done.
rest till great eastern women ten km:)
anyway running with long hair is troublesome! i dunno how long i can endure this till!

coaching freelance now.
not under SWim lab already:)

so anyone who wants to learn swimming, let me know:)
can help me recommend too:)

especially the learn to swim. those children that are starting to learn to swim
i love kids:)

11th Sept training

training at CCAB - Thursday

recovery short workout
instead of the 1200m x 8 times

coach gave me
1200m - 5min
1000m - 4min 10secs
800m - 3min 20secs
400m - 1min 40secs

this is the set pace and i successfully managed to hit on target every set:) coach was with smiles at the end of the day

preparing for next Thursday's time trial - 1.6km x 4sets with 90seconds rest
to predict my current 5km timing...

Lyrics from Shu:

"The heart is stronger than you think ,
It’s like it can go through anything.
And even when you think it can’t find a way to still push on through,
Sometimes you want to run away,
Ain’t got the patience for the pain
And if you don’t believe it look into, your heart the beat goes on
I’m tellin’ you that,
Things get better, Through whatever
If you fall, dust it off, don’t let up
Don’t you know you can go be your own miracle
You need to know
If the mind keeps thinking you’ve had enough, But the heart keeps telling you don’t give up
Who are we to be..questioning, wondering what is what Don’t give up…THROUGH IT ALL, JUST STAND UP!
It’s like we all have better days
Problems getting all up in your face
Just because you go through it
Don’t mean it got to take control, no
You ain’t gotta find no hiding place
Because the heart can beat the hate
Don’t wanna let your mind keep playin’ you
And sayin’ you can’t go on
I’m tellin’ you that
Things get better Through whatever
If you fall
Dust if off, don’t let up
Don’t you know
you can go
Be your own Miracle
You need to know
You don’t gotta be a prisoner in your mind
If you fall, dust it off
You can live your life
Yeah
Let your heart be your guide
Yeah yeah yeah
And you will know that you’re good if you trust in the good
Everything will be alright,
yeah Light up the dark,
if you follow your heart
And it will get better
Through whatever
You got it in you,
find it within You got in now,
find it within now You got in you,
find it within You got in now,
find it within now You got in you,
find it within Find it within you, find it within
THROUGH IT ALL, JUST STAND UP!"

new hair done:)
At city plaza..
angels level 2 unit 36")

thanks 2 besties

I was disappointed throughout the past few days... Due to some stuff.
Thanks to Sunny who was there for the listening year. His words cheered me up a lot "Yes, its tough. You know i am here for you if you need anything."
thanks bro.. when i read this msg.. my tears rolled... was so touched

thanks to Shu too for msging me and keeping me going:)

ironman 70.3

the race:

reached race place at 530am. brought along 2 bags - transition and gear bags. deposited the gear bag at the deposit booth. But i found it weird because they provided us with a big sticker written gear bag and out number tag printed on it to be pasted onto the bag. When i reached the booth, they gave us another wrist tag and asked us to wear it for the race. I was rather surprised, even more stunned when the helper said i could not collect my bag if i had not had the tag. I asked what was the use of the sticker then. She answered she does not know. weird though.

Did not wear the wrist tag, threw it right into my transition bag, praying hard that i do not lose it if not i can't collect my gear bag after the race! i can still remember what the helper said, " if you dun have the wrist tag we give u, you cannot collect the gear bag even though your arm has the number print similar to your gear bag.." ...wondering what happened to the organisation...

at the race transition area, i started to panic. After 6 months of minimal swim and ride.
With only less than 10 times of swim in the pool (apart from coaching small adorable children)... and only 2 times of cycling, clocking about 70km in total for the 6 months... would i still be able to do it... finish the 90km of bike

JD was rather worried for me because I had never ride more than 40km at all... he strongly that i wear a pair of gloves for my ride and a vicer for my run. and yes, i did it all..

at the swim start,panicking... whether i should stand right in front or should i stay put in the middle of the crowd. In the end, i did the former choice...the first lap of the swim was easy. i made my way out without any fighting in the water. It was easy to swim. Did not feel exhausted at all. There were a handful of girls right in front. I told myself that I just wanted to feel good and easy...tried to do a handful or long strokes and eased my way through the ladies water crowd. Soon, I was reaching the beach and I got up, ran to the other side, dived into the water again. As i dived in, had to take some time before I could catch my breathe..out of the water .and then headed to the transition area to welcome my worst leg of the race - cycling. was really bad. we had to loop three rounds from east coast to shears bridge then to alexandra and west coast road. make a u turn and back to east coast into the cheers of our supporters.

As i took my time in my transition area, my first time wearing gloves. took my time with my shoes and then took my time with my ride! I remember sunny telling me "we were all wondering what happened to u in the transition area. you looked like you were taking a lot of time!" oh yes, i normally take less than a minute to do the transition. this time round i took more than 2 mins !

as i rode out.... i was praying hard on 2 things
1) legs dun cramp
2) Bikes dun puncture

as i expected. many ladies overtook me on the bike. I was rather demoralised. But I told myself this " never mind, i will see you all in the run very soon" hahaha.... but what can a marathon runner doing a triathlon tell herself to motivate herself.. i guess this is one of the good phrase to use!

the third lap: feeling stressed on the back and on the hstrings...relaxed a little...you could see frm my body posture that I was really tired already...

and yes, i took 3 hr 17min for my bike, 8th position out of 9 girls in my age category... really bad!

and now at last my favourite part. Was wondering how well I could do the run because this is my 5th race of the month. Have been physically and mentally drained by all the racing. but as i saw JD in front, I caught up with him and smiled... a gesture of love for him:)

and then waved my way through the crowd. i ran quite slow for the first lap... relaxing the muscles and ensuring that they do not cramp ...
after the first lap, i felt rather strong... picked up the pace a little and headed off the aim for ladies in front of me... My NIKE lunar racer helped me a great deal as it was absolutely so LIGHT !

and i realised I was really quite far behind the ladies after the bike... well that did not put me down. I ran hard. though it was painful and exhausting...i continued...saw alvin, eddie, david from yellowfish, JD, alber, Jeanette, Ling Er, Grace, Esther and Elvia on the run... and many more friends too:)

the lanes were rather narrow. when i wanted to overtake, i had to make a rather rude move y turning my shoulder to the athlete in front and tried to squeeze past him or her. I did not want to spend time saying"excuse me" all the way because i was already very tired! Hence, i would squeeze thru every single space i see:)

haha in the end, i ended the race .. surprised to hear that I got third... in age category...
was a good swim, bad bike and a not too bad run...

but i decided... prob wun take the whole half ironman next year.. perhaps..
maybe do just the swim or run...
with esther and grace:)
overall the race was pretty well organised except for the lack of water and sponges during the run route. however, it made it more easy as the run route was relatively flat and easy to run. the supporters at east coast also made our run easier by cheering for us!

the bike route was tough for me as it had several sloped to climb. but it was not for some riders who has been training real hard. (this goes to show how much training u put in determines how much u get out of it!)

the swim was alright but not pleasant during the second loop where we had to ensure with breaststroke kicks from the swimmers of the waves behind us as they were going for their first loop. it was not really nice as my momentum was paused several times.

I still love the atmosphere of the race because we could see fellow athletes racing with their passion and love for the sport.

a few photos of pple who have been in the scene for long:)
esther tantan yew chung... supposed to train under him for this race in the bike, however due to his commitments as the head coach for the commando team for AHM, we missed out trainings...and thats about all:)
race ended with a blast and we headed for buffet dinner at calton hotel .Did not stay for the awards ceremony though. it was too late. missed a chance to go onto stage to receive the award, but nevertheless, i enjoyed the race.

it was already an achievement having to finish the race with no training. love it:)

thank you some supporters:
1) Pat from NIKE singapore
2) Vivian Tang
3) SG runners
4) Fab
5) Rachel from redsxtreme
6) Peishan
7) Karen for preparing the sumptous bread for me after the race
8) People who have kindly taken photos of us all:)

everyone who has supported us in a way or another
kudos to everyone!

Ironman 70.3

All Age Group 18-24 Female Athletes

ATHLETE RANK AGE/ DIV SWIM BIKE RUN TOTAL





1 GORDON, Elizabeth 5/9/5 23/18 to 24 00:34:35 02:48:08 01:51:36 05:18:37



2 CHOO, Ling Er 21/25/15 21/18 to 24 00:44:05 02:58:36 01:58:01 05:44:27



3 TAN, Sok Hue Sumiko 7/44/21 23/18 to 24 00:38:18 03:17:10 01:50:33 05:50:59



4 STEPHENSON, Lauren 11/38/37 20/18 to 24 00:40:31 03:09:41 02:24:05 06:17:31



5 HUNGERBUEHLER, Patricia 9/37/42 22/18 to 24 00:38:56 03:09:42 02:31:5 06:25:16



6 MOK, Juliana 34/40/46 24/18 to 24 00:47:59 03:03:50 02:28:36 06:30:02



7 TAN, Vanessa Yuzhen 37/45/54 24/18 to 24 00:48:21 03:06:58 02:33:02 06:41:28



8 CHOU, Maria 28/46/59 19/18 to 24 00:46:04 03:10:49 02:53:56 06:57:22



9 LAW, Hannah 48/65/65 24/18 to 24 00:49:23 03:32:14 03:09:54 07:42:20





results shown above have shown one thing:


My legs and arms are meant for swimming and running. Not meant for cycling.





Well short-cut: I din train for this race. I cycled 2 times out of 6 times and most of the time my bike was at home resting and trapping dust. hence, suffering on the bike for this race was well deserved suffering for me. I had been too lazy to train for the race.





Well the good thing is : My run had been good and i felt really strong in the run. next is, my swim is rather maintaining at the usual speed though I had been in and out of the water coaching only and not training.





The race was good. In fact, I felt it was quite well organised.





Friday: Race expo. Went to race expo to collect race pack and headed down to East coast for the race briefing and dinner:) Met YC, my ex cycling coach:)

the carbo loading dinner was not that tasteful. It was really practically carbo loading. Filled with sphagetti, bee Hoon, rice, one meat and one vege dish... stomach Din feel quite satisfied after that.. but obviously meeting with friends have filled my mood of racing to a higher level:)

opps...now going meeting continue later:)

Training on Monday:

graveyard run 45mins
Was feeling really scared throughout the run. The guys and gals were doing their interval training and I had to do a recovery run myself. the whole place was filled with incense paper, food which was served during the closure of the ghost festival and candles which had melted. I was running alone and at times, i can't see an of them in front! So was rather scary though!

Training on Tuesday:
Recovery swim - 40 laps
Mountbatten Swimming Pool

Training on Wednesday:
50mins run
East Coast Park
Recovery run with JD after the race. Halfway, it started to pour! we had to wait till the rain stopped before we could get our things from the car! Bad weather, but good run

Training on Thursday:
6 x 800m speed workout
Supposed to go at 3.16min per set

in the end, i hit 3.11, 3.13, 3.11, 3.14, 3.12 and 3.13
not a very good workout. Knew i would be reprimanded when coach gets back! oh no!

after that, went to a friend's dad funeral. sad.

met Sunny after that. He passed me the X lab wheels and i gave him his long due birthday present. A pair of ASICs racer. he always needed a pair of racer:)

Friday: coaching and coaching.
going to collect race pack for aviva 70.3 and also race briefing in the evening plus carbo loading dinner:)

I dunno how i am going to survive the half ironamn this Sunday because I have not been biking. I hope I can just finish it!

NIKE HUMAN RACE

Sunday NIKE human race
Great event with lots of people wearing red NIKE shirt.
It was an eye opener event with everybody around the world coming together to run a similar race.

saw Vivian, Dinah, Mok, Huiqin, Ben Pulman, Jon Fong and some NIKE people right in front at the seeded line:)

I was 4 rows behind them.

the race started off with Joanne Peh, Jessica Tan and a young boy with cancer giving a short but yet sweet speech. Perseverence is the word.



There were several turns. We started at the Esplanade Bridge, headed to Lau Pat Sah, then towards Marina and then headed to Clarke Quay made a whole round around there and back to the Padang to end our race there.

In the mids of the race, I was rather very happy. Every other km i ran, i hear friends shouting and cheering for me. It was a very nice moment , though I could not see their faces in the opposite direction. However, I knew that out there, my friends are running and I love to see friends exercising. Till now, i also wonder who are the friends who has been calling my name!
thanks to all friends though:)

ran my 4th race of the month. 10km. NIKE human race. Din regret it. Did not do a very good PB. though it was 44min 28 seconds.. i was wondering whether it was a good timing.

It was my first time doing a 10km race after soooo long.
However, it din matter when all the work has been worth it.
Managed to get a 2nd position in the race for the under-25 category.
yeah i am lucky.

prizes were fabulous.
A NIKE Ipod, sportsband, and $300 NIKE voucher.

The stage performance were amazing. it's the first time i ever see any stage performance that i really enjoyed after a race. It was really grand. I wished I had my camera with me after the race. But i was enjoying myself at the NIKE lounge!

yes, there was a lounge. Vivian and me were talking and laughing there, enjoying each other's company. We also took free polariods photos!

She ran great! 1st in women's open category. great job!

overall, i highly recommend this race. It keep so many people talking about it even after the race has ended:)
i love this pair of shoes! NIKE lunar racer