uLtRa^GaL

2012 first post

2012-01-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

2 weeks into my 2012 season. have not skipped a session yet.
more to come!!!

2012 plan

2011-12-16T07:04:00.000-08:00

Alright guys, i had already registered for 2 races on the first half of 2012. Aviva singapore 70.3 on march and challenge 140.6 cairns on june. On season training will start after the new year weekend as i will be heading to Phuket for my long new year weekend for a small holiday. :)

Here i wish all my blog readers, a merry christmas and a happy new year.

cheers

ling aka ultra^gal

base trainings 16km run...

2011-12-05T19:31:00.000-08:00

this was done in 1.25hours. not a good base training example as i went into zone 5 effort for 6 mins.

this morning i had a better base training run with twice 1 min water point. 1.30hours for 16km. :)

journey to my world championship part 3

2011-11-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

Race day is here

8th of October is my calling. The most anticipated day in the whole year for me.

Woke up at 0400hrs and munched on my cereal. Taste was bland and the restless night of tossing and turning didn’t help to the start of my day.

I was really lucky to have found a parking lot close to the race site despite all the hectic of a World Championship.
Got all my equipment’s out of my red truck and set off to the transition area.
Tires checked, chain checked, bike checked, swim and running gears checked. Last but not least, body marking checked. I am looking good so far.

Checked in my baggage at 0615hrs and it was a long wait up to 0635hrs before I was permitted to head into the water along Kailua Pier for my warm-up.
The swim start of the Ironman World Championships is like a bike washing machine. Nervous, intense and physical made me feel as if the clock has come to a standstill and that the moment would never pass.
Than it came, the traditional ‘boom’ from the cannon sounds off the start of the swim start.

It was chaotic during the initial swim, I felt it was only sensible for me to find a decent pack and follow them throughout the swim rather than risking myself out at the front and tiring myself out in such conditions.
It was really physical; up to a point where I did not dare to look up for sightings and just follow the pack to the PowerBar buoy, which signals the u turning point.
The u-turn was just as hectic as GSS when there is a 70%off sign. Pushing and pulling were all part and parcel. Nobody wanted to waste energy taking a larger turn around the buoy, thus creating a rubber band effect.
I’m lucky enough to spot another swimmer in a full skin-fit suit among all the chaos and tagged on to him for the remaining of the swim. We distanced ourselves from the initial pack and haul ourselves back to shore. I came out of the water with a timing of 1.13hrs.

Being the youngest age group, our transition area was furthest away from the bike out area. That would also mean that we would have to run the furthest within the transition area.

T1 went smoothly and it was time for the bike leg.
The first 10km was really harsh on my body. I was trying to ride into a rhythm with my legs and my lungs having to adapt to the sudden change of breathing.
It was all thanks to the wonderful volunteers and fans along the Alii drive that created such a great race atmosphere and ambience to get me through the 10km.

There was a slight incline before the Queen K highway but that didn’t deter me. I was soon riding into a good rhythm and was flying. Nutrition and hydration was good. The road conditions were relatively flat apart from the occasional gust of wind. The 50km of riding felt really good. This was one of those special moments where I couldn’t believe I was riding alongside of the famous lava field.
My special moments were however, short-lived.
The kilometer after the 50km mark could not be described better than the word unrelenting.
Wind conditions were erratic and coming at me fast and hard. Wind coming from all direction but never from my personal favorite, the tailwind. It was just crazy to be riding in such a condition.
The single file pace line that we had form cycling was now oscillated across the very wide and vast road here in Kona, Hawaii.
Having come across a near fatal accident in my life, I was more concern about crashing down on the road than finishing the race at the point of time. All I could recall was gripping as hard as I could on my aerobars and prayed for the best.

As if Mother Nature was playing a trick on me, she decided to bring the wind conditions a couple notch higher for the next 16km, on a slight incline and just before the U-turn point.
Going at 19km/h, there weren’t any riders passing me. It somehow actually seems normal to be riding like this.
I told myself that such difficult wind conditions would not last and was sure that after the u-turning point there would be tailwind for me. Sounds very logical if you are someone who has spent countless hours out on the road riding and understand how wind conditions will help you save energy.
I was wrong.
There was no slightest change in the wind conditions at all. Not even on the downhill stretch. It was relentless.

It was only around the 120km mark when I returned back onto the Queen K highway did the wind subsided barely.
Up to this point, there were damages done to my body to a certain extent.
As I was not able at any point of time during those insane windy moments lift my hands off my aerobars, my hydration and nutrition plan was ruin. My initial goal of clocking a sub 6hrs ride was now seems not achievable.
It was damage control from now on. I need to make some changes to my game plan.
I pressed on hard for the next 50km before easing off on the last 10km stretch of the bike leg to save some juice for my run.

I completed the bike leg in 6hrs 3mins. 3mins off my initial target.
The wind conditions really took a lot out of my body. I was aching all over. I was really caught off guard by such conditions, as I never once knew.

I calmed myself down at T2. Took my time to get my gears in place and told myself to get over what I just went through and focus on what is ahead and coming for me.
I needed to prioritize finishing the race with a respectable timing over my personal ambition of setting a PB this time round. The race is very spiritual to the locals here and I too had the same believes as them. The race must be respected.

The initial 8km on the run was just as difficult for me during the first 10km on the bike. Having a nutrition plan that didn’t really worked out as a plan, didn’t help the situation.
All I could do was to take in as much hydration and nutrition that I brought along without over-doing it. And hope for the best.

Feeling better, I set myself a steady pace to make up for lost time.
After 10km of nice steady tempo, and approximately 2 stations before the turn into the infamous Energy Lab, my left leg began to crack under pressure.
I was in pain at the area of my broken femur and I had to stop and stretch just for it to ease off to a point where my legs could be walk-able.
What started off as a brisk walk within 1mins had slowly evolved into a jog and by the 20km mark I was back into a running rhythm.

A left turn, on the road and I was ready to tackle the infamous stretch along the Energy Lab. It was really hot and gruesome to be running in such conditions.
It was a low point for me in my run and if it was not for the motivational points and markers, my morale would sure to have been low.

Nothing felt more comforting and assuring than seeing your special needs tent, after having gone through what I had covered over the last 9hours or so.
I was so looking forward since the start of my run to my bag of gummy bears.
I could not take in any more gels at this stage of my race, as I have grown so sick of the taste. I was solely depending on coke as my primary source of fuel.

If some were to say I am stubborn with my approach to racing, so were my left leg injuries.
My legs felt worst after the energy lab.
I followed the formula, which worked very well previously that is to stretch, walk, and jog and than finally breaking into a run.

I managed to get into a tempo race pace and found myself running along with a group of 4 other runners.

We weren’t talking to each other about how our race has been so far.
It was the synergy and energy that we all felt bonded and obliged to make it to the finish line. We all worked well together pacing and having each other company up to the 40km mark.
I was feeling much better and decided to pull myself away from the group on the last 2km. I somehow felt a certain familiar pain creeping up into my body soon enough.
The final 1km was like liberation for all the pain that I have gone through and put up with. Those pains that I have grown so accustomed and familiar to during this race were just of non-existence now. It was a feeling of ten thousand volts of electricity flowing through your veins. Pride, fulfillment and the world greatest sense of accomplishment were just some of the emotions. I simply felt out of this world.

I reached out for my country’s flag, which I have been carrying all this while in my Spi-belt, and crossed the finish line in rapture. The feeing was insanely out of this world.

I was greeted and ushered by two volunteers, and was awarded with my extremely oversized and hard earned finisher medal. It was really the size of pancake!

The experience at the Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii was just simple breath taking and out of this world. Every single finisher is treated just as if they were a World Champion themselves. Simply awesome.

Knowing I have just made history and broken a National Record in Singapore. I am in a world of my own.
Weeks after the World Championships, looking back at all experiences that I have gone through and put up with. All the wonderful people whom I have met. People who have help or advised me to be a better athlete myself. The strict discipline I had to go through. The bare minimum of social life that I had to limit myself to. The no-late night life-style that friends around my age are all living in. The sacrifices that I had to make. The insanely limited 24hours in a day that I have to work around my schedule. The constipating weather that I sometimes have to put up with during training sessions. Everything that I may or have given up and to put up with all the pain and suffering that lasted the 11hrs and 40mins.
It is not something that in the public eyes, normal people deemed as normal. Having broke your leg in a near fatal accident. Coming back to win races again and qualify for the World Championships.
It is with all this difficult time comes these opportunities for me to come back stronger and better.
Everything happens for a reason.

I would like to give a tribute to the people who have made all this possible for me. If it was not for them, my Ironman dream will still be just a dream.

My Family- For always believing in me and supporting in what I myself believed in. And never giving up on me, ever. Thank you all very much.

My Boss Adrian Mok, Lady Boss and my Colleagues- For being flexible and putting up with absence when I am away for races. For being each of your wacky self that helps me drifts away from my training cap. Thank you for filling work with so much color. Also to Alan who is always keeping my bike in tip top condition every week. Giving me lots of advise on my cycling trainings.

My BFF’s- You girls have been fantastic. You girls being in heels and me in sports shoes, I bet you probably understand only half the stuff I share and rant to you about but yet you never fail to spare a listening ear. It does help me think out of the box sometimes. Thank you so very much for sticking around.

My training buddies- For putting up with my erratic schedule and demanding training sessions at time. I am just glad I have all your company to pull me through each and everyone of those sessions. It makes training a breeze with you guys.

Entro Cycles- For choosing and believing in me to use your brand, Argon18. And for the flawless FFWD F6R wheelset that has travelled with me through hell and back on the bike. Thank you so much for your support and faith in me.

Key Power International- For having me as your Newton running shoes and 2XU triathlon series ambassador. Always accommodating to my last minutes changes and request. Thank you so very much for facilitating all my gears.

All the friends I have come to know in my life. The kind words and great support from all of you, and believing in me. Your beliefs acted as prayers to me, to move another inch further during my stint, racing in Kona. Thank you all so very much.

journey to my world championship part 2

2011-11-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

My season for 2011 started January after the New Year celebration. I signed up for china ironman and Aviva 70.3. My main goal was to try to qualify for Kona world championship before I go into the next age group, 25-29. I drew out my training plans and followed according to it. I had no coach. Just simple routines everyday and progressively increasing my mileage for the endurance weekends.

12 weeks into training, it was Aviva already. I’m already clocking 120km on bike, running 25km and swimming up to 3.5km on most weekends. Aviva was schedule as a time trial towards my china ironman. Turned out, not only did I shaved off 15mins from my 70.3 PB, I was ranked 1st as local female overall. Sweet victory!!! The finishing line was awesome, i was greeted by a few of my best buddies who had been there for me during the recovery of my accident. This meant so much for us and i did it for the team A few weeks after aviva, china ironman got cancelled and I was given Korean ironman slot which was 4 weeks later of china ironman date. I managed to schedule an OD distance on the date for china ironman for a time trial to peak my training. It was fun to do some short distance again. I came in 1st overall and got myself a getaway weekend in malaysia. :) After the OD weekend, I had 2 weeks of good training and 2 weeks of tapering. I am super nervous and excited in becoming an ironman finisher. FINALLY!!! With a couple of my training buddies, we headed to Korea.

The race week was crazy. It was raining a lot in jeju. i only managed to go for a easy ride, run and swim on the race course 2 days before the race. I remembered i only managed to sleep 4 hours the night before the race. @@ Stress!!!

On the race day, lucky things turned out fine. I was able to race hard for that day. I have not run any marathon for the past 3 years, was actually very nervous about the run. In the end, I managed to win my age group and ran a 4.07 marathon. Total time11.25hours!!!
With that, I won a slot to KONA world championship 2011… :)I had a week holiday in Korea, Seoul, after the ironman race. It was a well deserved break after 7 months of hard training for my first ironman. Back in Singapore, I took an extra break of 2 weeks before going in my Kona training.

Here we go again!!!

To be continue...

journey to my world championship part 1

2011-10-27T01:21:00.000-07:00

2 years ago, just 3 weeks away from 70.3 world champion, I got hit by a car while cycling alone. I broke my left femur bone, right ankle, tore ligament on my right knee, fracture my tail bone and because of my helmet, I managed to only have a small blood clot in my brain. Initially, I was totally demoralized. Doctors telling me there’s no way I can run with the damaged ankle and knee I got. I had the hardest 3 months of my life.

I remembered on the 3 months review, the doctor gave me a green light to start swimming. So I started swimming 6 days a week while I’m still on crutches. I actually signed up for kapas swimathon just 6 weeks into coming back of swimming. I trained very hard for it. I can’t bike or run, so I just swam everyday.

There comes the 6 month review and the doctor allowed me to start walking again. That was a week before I headed up to kapas for the swimathon. So I was pretty glad I did not need to bring my crutches along for the competition. I did very well and came back 10th in position. I was so proud myself.

The moment I got back to Singapore, I signed up for Philippines 70.3. I had 4 months to train for the 70.3 and I actually only just started to walk. Deep down, the 70.3 world championship is still an unfinished business for me. For the start, I did a lot of cycling and swimming. Most of my cycling sessions was done at home. All I did was just easy spinning, progressively to make my body use to long distance cycling again. There wasn’t any running for the first 6 weeks.

But the time when I was back 3 weeks cycling on the road, I started jogging again. Very short sessions like 3x10mins and slowly going up into 45mins run. I only managed to do till 16km just before the Philippines 70.3. I was going into Philippines not knowing whether I would be able to finish it.

Thank god, the swim and bike turned out well and I jogged my way to the finish line. Finishing at a time of 5.40hours and winning my group age. Well, it was a very hot day and the girls in my age group were walking. I managed to secure a slot to the 70.3 world championship which I'm supposed to go a year ago.

I went on and completed the race in 5.20hours. In the end, it took me an extra year to complete this race. it was the best experience of my life racing in the world championship. I took a break of 6 weeks after the world championship and started my 2011 season on an ironman mission.

To be continue…

2011 races

2011-10-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

Kona ironman 2011

I had never regretted going into triathlon. It had given me so much. Being a better person, getting to know more people and of course staying healthy. This is the sport that actually make me realized there is so much more inside me. It’s incredible how humans can be. I never knew that I am so strong, coming back from a horrible accident, standing on the start lines of many great races alone and finishing every races I started. Myself amaze me!

I’m lucky enough to have very supportive family members, friends and workmates. If you have a dream, go for it 100%. Every effort you put in will come back to you every bit. I promise!!!

I challenge anyone to start triathlon today. Get your friends, families and everyone to start it too. It will just make you a better person. J

Cheers

Ultra^gal

i am an ironman

2011-10-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

so glad that kona ironman is done... trained the whole year for this race and be a world champion finisher... :)

now some holiday for myself at hawaii... :)

kona day 2 n 3

2011-10-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

90mins ride in the queen k highway yesterday morning. damn!!! it is really windy. some potion, if i don't hold on tight enough, i could have be blown away from my aerobars. :X

in the afternoon after registration, we had a 3 hrs shopping session at the huge expo. there's a total of 3 expo. each in different location and a lot triathlon gears i have never seen before. :)
we did a short run in the evening and joined the nation of parade last min. didn't managed to get hold of singapore flag. pretty sad but never mind, enjoyed myself.

this morning, i headed down to Kailua Pier for a swim. just 1 km out, i realized a cute sea turtle is swimming at the sea bed along with me. its so amazing!!!! i'm so excited i stopped and stared at it till it swam away. that's the coolest thing... :)
followed by a 40 mins run along ali drive in the hot 10am sun. lots of sports drink brands tents along the way. we do not need to worry about dehydrating in the hot sun. got myself a clif bar t shirt too... BEST!!!!

i'm so happy that i'm here right now. its the best place for all triathlete in the world right now.
gonna enjoy every moment of it. :)

1st day kona

2011-10-04T01:48:00.000-07:00

its been a while since i last blog. time for me to do it this week since i will have a lot of time tapering for this sat ford ironman world champion. :)

well, it's not always i got a chance to be here to experience the kona week. so i'm making sure that all my friends get to know whats going on here.

yesterday morning, i travelled 3 hrs to manila, 10.30hrs to honolulu and 45mins to kona. finally i arrived on the big island on 3rd oct 2011 330pm. we rented a car. NO! a huge SUV!!! It's a JEEP... wooot!!! i'm so excited. yes!!! the left hand drive is driving me nuts. arghhhh!!! but i'm getting a hang of it after driving half a day... hope so... :P

nothing much today. drove passed kona village, there's a lot of ironman brands banners. the entire whole street. it's gonna be so exciting tomorrow when the race expo is open. managed to see a couple of pros today riding along queen k highway. i gonna do that tomorrow morning and test out my bike. had it fixed after dinner and ready to rock and roll. so that's the plan for tomorrow, 90mins ride in the morning and 45mins run in the 430pm sun.

time to catch a 9hrs slp... body pretty screwed up during flight and the time different here to singapore.

more to come guys...

electrolyte

2011-09-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

It’s so much easier for the body to adsorb electrolyte when you dissolve them in water rather then taking them as pills.

For me I use NUUN tablets:
Great Tasting Active Hydration – zero sugar, important electrolyte, less than 8 calories, easy to use which quickly dissolve in water.

Tips:
Do not restrict yourself by dropping a tab into 500ml of water only.
I drop up to 3 tabs to a 500ml bottle for races so I do not need to carry tabs around me for races. By the time I finish a bottle on the bike, I already have consume 3 tab of nuun. With 4 to 6 tabs on the bike, it will last me through a marathon without any cramps. :)

2XU mega tri

2011-09-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

2XU Mega Tri

Long course

2km swim, 105km bike, 27km run

Total time - 6.03hrs

Swim

Perfect!!! Best swim I ever done so far. 1st overall female out of the water apart from a couple of relay teams who started in the same wave as the long course ladies. I was just following 2 relay swimmers through out the whole swim. Since there's only around 30 people in my wave, I told myself to sprint into the water and head out with the relay teams swimmers. Great my plan works! :)

Bike

Always my strongest leg. That's when I always try to pull away from the field and gain some time for myself before I headed into my weakest leg. Well, turned out I did make a big lead but suffered alot. Half way through, there's rain and head wind along coastal road. I had to dig deep to push through with a good speed. It's pretty mental too doing 6 laps of that boring long and flat coastal. Glad I managed to finish it and still in the lead. :)

Run

Well, it's 27km and there's alot of strong runners in the field on that day. The moment I got off the bike, I was just running in a moderate hard effort. A speed that i know had lasted me through 21km and 42km for all my 70.3 and ironman. So I was super confident I will be able to take and went ahead with it. But on the last lap back, i slowed down the last 5km because I knew the next female was 4km away from me. I've done alot on that day and I really need to reserve some for kona. I crossed the finishing line happy and still able to drive myself home. :)

Overall, it's was a great race. I managed to make alot of new friends and spent the Sunday doing a real good brick training.

4 weeks to kona... It's 1 more weekend of good training before I start tapering...

Cheers

Ling

4 days block training and the birthday weekend.

2011-08-30T20:01:00.001-07:00

i did it. 5 weeks to KONA and i did a real hard 4 days training block this weekend. on top of that, 4 birthday dinners to end each day... :X

sat - 4hrs trainer
3km swim
sun - 3hrs run
2x1.5km swim
mon - 1.30hr run
3km swim
tue - 5hrs ride
5x500m swim

easy day for me today... big weekend coming up again. can't wait!!! :)
cheers
ultragal

birthday present

2011-08-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

got myself a present for my 24th birthday. been a hardworking kid working towards my dreams, qualifying 70.3 world champ and now kona world champ. :)

new form

2011-08-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

i'm not talented, i just got to be hardworking.
i struggled starting out swimming, biking and running. took a few years and with lots of patients and positive attitute i got where i am now.

i train long and easy most of the time. its so much easy to maintain correct form while going at a comfortable pace and after that i go long to get my body use to the form. speaking about form, my running form sucks. after that accident, i limp alot while walking or running. there's alot of difference between the strength of both legs. there's no way i can use a normal person running form on myself. so i came out with my own running form through trial and errors. now, i can easier limp running at a good pace without injuring myself. its just a matter of getting use to it. :)

there's no boundaries in swim bike run.
sometimes we just got to be creative.
its no wrong to come up with my limp running form right? :)
have a great weekend guys.
cheers

Week's mileage

2011-08-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

11km swim
230km bike
52km run

My mileage for this week... Feeling pretty good... :)

4hrs ride

2011-08-12T21:04:00.001-07:00

7 weeks to Kona!!!

AC training squad *NEW

2011-08-09T17:16:00.000-07:00

hey guys,

great news. i'm currently coaching in AC training squad. it's a triathlon training school with 3 swim and 1 run sessions every week. using adrian's and my method of triathlon training, we came up with lots of interesting workout plans for our athletes. do drop me a mail for a free trial session. :)
*i bet we will have lots of tips for your first triathlon or ironman.
or even qualifying KONA!!! hehe...

phase 1

2011-07-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

3 weeks already, since i finished my first IRONMAN. i was actually pretty much recovered a week ago, but was back into post IM state after i finshed the century ride last sunday. but it was worth it, i had so much fun with the op smile guys on the road trip up ipoh. love it! :)

I'm actually very puzzled, i believed every ironman finisher will be in my state a few weeks after they finished their first IM. i really don't know how the hell i finished the marathon after 180km bike. i got sweaty palms thinking about it every now and then. scary!!!

But i do realised one thing that is true, which i always strongly believe in. whatever time n effect you put inon your trainings, it will return back. every single bit to you. you just need to keep doing n trust the whole process.

Something to share
2010 Philippines 70.3 - skipped 3 to 5 trainings in 3 months
2010 florida 70.3 - skipped 2 trainings in 3 months
2011 aviva 70.3 - skipped 1 trainings in 3 months
2011 Korea ironman - skipped zero trainings in 4 months

I'm glad I got used to the work loads... :)

Cheers
Ling

korean IM

2011-07-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

toughest and longest race i ever did. it was crazy. till now i'm still so happy with what i had done so far. the 6months journey for this ironman was the best experience i ever had and i really got to know myself so much better. :)

it all started the first week of this year. i signed up for my 1st ever IM race, china. mission is to get this IM thingy cleared before i go into my 25 to 29 age group. yes and also more chances for me to qualify KONA. i went ahead to sign up for Aviva too as a build up race for the IM on may.

2 weeks before the china IM i was informed that the race is cancelled and we will be given slots to complete in other IM. so i went ahead to grab korea IM since its the only asia IM now and asia IM i got more chance to qualify for the world championship. so i pre-long my peaking for 4 more weeks and went korea for my IM.

on 3rd july 7am, my 1st IM was flagged off. mass swim start... i started in the middle as i knew i'm not a very good swimmer or a very weak swimmer. so grab a spot around the average swimmers. jumped in and did a 1.07hr swim. i was glad with my swim timing. was aiming a 1.15hr. :)

so the bike started. i'm mentally prepared for a hilly course. did a few hills during the test ride. it was crazy... the course was hilly, humid and windy... i suffered... from 120km onwards. my climbs speed was dropping every time i came into one. never ending. there's part i felt like getting down and push my bike up. my legs were so sore and my back was aching so much. the 3km long climb around 135km was the worse climb i ever did... i was just looking at the road and pedal hard upwards. arghhhh!!! man it was a hard 180km. i done it in 5.58hrs... just under 6 hrs which i was aiming for. so glad to be out of my bike. woot!!

now came the run. my weakest leg. i was training so hard for my run the past 6 months. i know my run wasn't the same since the accident so i had to train my run badly till i over used my left broken femur. just 3 weeks before the race, i was lumping so much. i had to consult my doctor again and realized my left thigh is reacting to all my long long runs. the thigh area was so stiff, it was growing a lot of new muscle and scar tissue. i wasn't able to bend it sometime and it was affecting a few of my training runs. i was disappointed. i came into the run part being doubtful with it and hope i finish it and no walking at all.

i headed out strong. no cramps from the bike and lucky the soreness i got from bike wasn't needed for the run. so it was alright. anyway, i was 4 mins down on an american in my age group. so the first 10.5km i ran strong. my usual HALF ironman pace. i got into the u turn point and realized i'm a min behind her now. so i was closing in. she saw me. so on the way back, she up her pace and i couldn't get any closer. so we did our u turn for 21km and went ahead for our 2nd lap. my friends shouted and cheered hard at the 22km mark to chase her down. couldn't disappoint them. i up my pace and for another 24mins i passed her on the 26km water point. i went harder at that time hoping she doesn't react to my action. the moment i passed her, a korean guy ran with me side by side. we were running fast. strides and breathing the same. hills after hills, we passed a lot of people. i had not looked back at all, and when we reached the 31.5km u turn point, i was 5 mins ahead of the american. i was still running with the korean guy till 36km mark. i couldn't follow him anymore when he tried to up the pace down a slope. i was adjusting my strides to prevent a cramp which was coming into my inner thighs. got better and carry on the last 7km myself. the last 3km was insane. 5 steep slopes before we head downhill for 800m to the finish line. everyone was walking at the 5 hills. steep, long and hot. i had already done 39km of run. i was suffering. using my shoulders and arms power to swing myself up all the hills step by step. i caught my breathe on the last hill for 100m and turned almost 5 times back to check my competitor. no sight of her. i zoom down the last 500m couldn't believed what i had done for the day. it was amazing. i ran like a crazy women and it was my first marathon after my comeback. i doubted myself for the run and tuned out i did the best on the run leg instead. more importantly, i'm going to Kona. 4.07hrs for my run.

crossing the finish line with both hands in the air. a lot went through my mind. the past 6 months was worth it after all. 5am mornings for trainings everyday. heading out for my run after whole day at work. spending my weekends afternoon at home to sleep cause i had 4 training sessions for the 2 days. finally it's over. so happy for myself. :) 11.25hrs!!!

thank you everyone who had been there for me along this journey.
my family members, sorry for spending most of my time working and training.
my training buddies, seeyong and qiwen. i wasn't patient most of the time with my training progress and they believed in me and had to take my crazy attitude sometimes. thank guys. you guys were great so far. :)
my working partners, alan, kitty, ee wen, bear bay, jessie, adrian, polar uncles, kim guan and jane. thanks for covering me when i head out for my evening trainings and sat long rides and alan for all the bike supports and advise that i had from you. i enjoyed so much working with you guys. :)
my girlfriends who i had known for more then 10 years. gina, yi juan and jess. thanks for the encouragement.
other training groups which i had been training with. mac runners, op smile cycling team and wed ironguides track. Shem, thanks for the advises for training and tapering weeks. :)

my sponsors, transview for the amazing SKINS suit. KPI for the light and awesome newtons. Entro for the wheels, helmet and the bike. from athlete's circle, powerbar, they gels and bars hit me fast and refuel me like no other any race food. :)

whoever i had missed out, i'm sorry but thank you so much guys.
never could had done it myself. i'm glad i had you guys around me. :)

cheers
LIng

time for party!!!

My 1st ironman journey

2011-06-26T18:28:00.001-07:00

Omg!!! I'm leaving for Korea tml... 6 mths of training for this... I'm so excited!!!

Trainings had been clocked... I guess there's no turning back!!! Facing the starting line on 3rd July strong n fighting till I finish... Gonna be a long lonely battle...

It up to me now... Trust n believe what I've been training... I know I've done enough... Let it be smooth n right...

Wish me luck guys... :)

2weeks left

2011-06-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

Have a great week ahead guys...
I'm enjoy the 45-60mins workouts per session only week.
Hehe!!!

Korea IM

2011-06-17T19:56:00.002-07:00

2 more weekends before i'm flying off to jeju island. Planned to do a 4 hrs ride today. But it was raining thunderstorm when I got up. Spent 3.30hrs on trainer indoors. Boring!!!! Shit it's been raining every sat since 3 weeks ago.

Taper 20% start this week... After next weekend, it's just rest rest n rest. :)

Rain rain go away

2011-06-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

Been in the rain for a few weeks already. Its irritating nowadays, the weather is really crazy. There's time when it just suddenly rain on a hot day. Or it just rain for the whole day. Arghhhh!!!

I rode 5.15hrs today and the last hr in the rain. Lucky it came late so it kind of let me spin off the last hr. Managed to get home safe in the heavy rain. But my wheels slipped off when I took a last turn in my carpark. Fell hard on the ground on my left side. Shit! My left side. My broken femur side, how more worse can it go on. Now my left hip, knee n elbow is badly bruise. Haiz!!!! Super careless of me.

3 weeks to jeju!!!
All out training for a week more before I slowly taper.

Train safe guys and don't be like me.

Tim O'Donnell

2011-06-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

i dont know. but i had been following him since last year on twitter and i really feel his one of the best new young athlete in the scene compared to luke mckenzie, terrenzo and luke bell. haha! very strong runner. can't wait to see him in kona soon. :)

Melaka triathlon

2011-05-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Was in melaka the weekend. Only decided to go for this roadtrip a week ago. But it was fun.

I done my only OD 3 years ago at A famosa. This the 2nd one. Not a speed person but decided prob it's something I need to do as my training for jeju ironman. Glad I went ahead with the guys n did it. :)

Alright, full focus for this 3 weeks of block training before I taper.
Wish me luck...

Believe

China to Korea ironman

2011-05-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm official registered for Korea jeju ironman. Heading full force out to get the travelling done. ASAP!!!

At least my past 5mths training doesn't go into the drain. Just got to extend another 4weeks... :)

Alright, I've been thinking and planning of china after the race. I really got no idea what to do in Korea. A week to kill over there after the race. Erm...... I had never tot I will be heading to Korea at all. :x

Anyway, time to train hard for Another 4 weeks... :)

china ironman

2011-05-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

well... the swim is cancelled for the race... 3 weeks left for the race and they informed us its a bike and run event... its really a JOKE!!!

crap... will bike n run... no more swimming for 2 weeks...

easter day weekend...

2011-04-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

ouch!!! yes... i got tangled up into a huge jellyfish on sat morning swim at sentosa tanjong beach...
damn painfully!!! burning me for 20mins before i reached the palawan beach lifesaver guard hse to do the vinegar and hot water treatment... spent half an hr doing it and before we managed to get the swelling off... haiz!!! damn unlucky!!!

ok happy easter day... how's the easter egg day going on?

5hrs ride check n 3 hrs run check... weee!!! doing this for another 2 times for 2 weekends...
getting super boring... :(

IM

2011-04-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

Train, eat, work n slp...........

IM2

2011-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Opps... Didn't update my blog for more den a week... Very very busy as usual... Managed to pulled tru a progressive endrance weekend again... 140km ride, 25km run and 3km swim... Got a slight flu mid last week... Didn't go fast or push on the weekend coz still feeling abit sick... So I just well easy n clock the miles... At least I got up Monday feeling good again... :)

when workplace got stressed up.. Everything got affected... Slping less den I usually do... Very tired but couldn't slp well... Hopefully
Tonight after track able to have a good night rest for tml swim... I do get 7 to 8hrs of slp everyday before aviva... Now with longer trainer hrs... Turned out slping lesser... Very irritating!!! Arghhhh

I'm a walking zombie since last week... :(
Prob my body still getting use to the change of my training distance...

Er

2011-04-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

There goes another weekend... Shit!! Time is flying... I'm left with 7 weekends to tapering week for IM... Stress!!
Training so far??? Good... This week 11 training sessions... Weekend did my 140km ride in the rain, 22km run n a 3km swim...

During the mid week, it was crazy!!! Wed 90mins spin in the morning... Track evening did some warm up 800s n 10x400m all out... I did under 1.35mins for all... I had never run so fast since my comeback... Was TOUGH!!! The following day had my usual Ironguides thurs swim training, I did 22x100m with hand paddles... All under 1.40mins.. I can't really feel my arms the whole day after that... Scary!!! :x

Anyway, have a great week ahead guys...
Train safe n have fun
Cheers
Ling

Im

2011-03-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

8 more weekends to china ironman... I'm counting down!!! :)

Last weekend was perfect... Recovered from aviva over the weekdays n I went ahead to start my ironman training sat... Den 121km ride to start off... Sunday ran 20km in 1.49hrs, I was feeling good n pushed it.. Evening swim did my usual endurance swim sets... I slp like a baby last night... Head to bed at 830pm... I needed this 10 hrs slp so badly... :)

New week... Let's get the trainings going n enjoy this two months process... So much to do in two months... :x

I'm officially supported by Entro cycle for my bike gears... Pretty excited to be on board the team since I'm using argon 18...

Thank you

2011-03-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

As a sport person, I always wanted to be a motivation n inspiration sportsman to people. I earned mine the harder way n I was given a chance to share that story to everyone on last Sunday's newpaper.

It was a tough journey and I'm glad I never gave up. 5.08hrs!!! Omg!! I'm still smiling thinking abt it. I'm so so happy... I almost cried when I crossed the finishing line. I wanted to prove everyone n everything that I carry on doing this sports not just to complete, but to achieve even better then what I used to be. And now I'm happy to say that I have done it... :)

Really! Whatever you put in, it will pay back one day. All of it. I gave 100% in my trainings n I got what I wanted. Fastest local female finisher... That's what I'm aiming. :)

Thank you thank you thank you everyone who have been there for me.

My family, my training partners(see Yong n qiwen), athlete circle team(Adrian, Jessie, Shem, kitty, Alan, bear, polar uncles), my girlfriends(yi Juan, Gina n jessica), tri21 peeps n mac runners.

I'm a happy triathlete!
Cheers everyone
Ling aka ultra^gal

the newpaper

2011-03-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

aviva 2011

2011-03-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

i'm gonna start my race weekend today... :)
im ending work at 530 n heading to the race expo for my goodie bag collection, race briefing n carbo loading dinner... tml will be bike check in and resting for the rest of the day... so damn excited for this sunday...
come on!!!

good luck to whoever is racing.
have lots of fun.
whatever happens, smile and be happy...
:)
cya guys on the race site this sunday!!!

Swim bike n run

2011-03-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ever since with ironguides, I had pretty much got used to the shut up n train session agn... Haven been doing interval sets since I got back from the broken leg... It's tough but all worth it... :)

It's the tapering week for aviva... But didn't really taper last weekend... Did an endurance ride, endurance run n 2 swim session... Oh n got my bike serviced n done up well for the race... Well I only planned to taper for 5days coz it's suppose to be a progressive trial for my full ironman... But I will still do my best n hopefully get a PB for my HIM... :)

I only managed to book my china ironman hotel Monday night... Crazy... Within 10mins, the nearer hotel to the race site twin bedroom is fully booked... Lucky I managed to grab 1 n 1 king bedroom... So happy... I'm staying 600m from the start line... :)

Ok happy mid week guys...
Be happy for the taper week!
I loving it...
Cheers
Ling

March already

2011-03-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Been awhile since I last blog... Really really busy... Ocbc roadshow up n aviva roadshow is up in 2 weeks time... Which means, my first race of this year is here... :)

Last week was just training n working for 10hrs to prepare for the roadshow... Was waking up 4am to do my workouts... Ohh n I took a ironguides run class on wed... Coaching n training at the same time... Pretty nice!! :)

Coz of the roadshow, I couldn't do my usual endurance weekend workouts... So I spread them out each in 3 days... Friday 20km run , sat 100km bike n Sunday 3.8km swim... It was easy to manage but felt so slpy for the rest of the day working... Haha!! But it's all over now... Back to normal routine...

Brand new week, I started off with a 45mins spin session... Off for a 12km run tonight after work... I'm planning to start tapering next Monday since aviva is gonna be a step up to my china ironman... N only gona ease off 2 days before I start my full ironman training... It's all gonna more exciting...great!!!

Have a great week ahead guys
Cheers
Ling

A step further

2011-02-25T23:03:00.000-08:00

Today had my 130km ride... :)
Ave speed 32.6km/hr...
I'm a step closer to doing my 180km rides...
Feeling so good for myself!!!

Have a great weekend guys...
Time to chill out For the rest of the sat... :)

New gears

2011-02-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

Hectic week... Clocked 8 training sessions... Gonna do 3 more in the weekend... Peak training for 2 weeks before I taper for aviva...
So fast.. I tot I just celebrated New year n now it's aviva already.. In no time it's will be china ironman... Arghhhhhhhhh!!!

Got free k Swiss shoes for trial and got myself a new newton racer for my race session... It's race time!!!
Today I just got a pair of new bv sports booster... Not a fan of compressions during sports... I like it light and free... But will try during tapering week... :)

Weekend stuff been planned... It's crazy!!!
Have fun guys... :)

Do not disturb

2011-02-19T22:43:00.001-08:00

Life the same.
Ironman trainings in process...

Cheers
Ling

Do

2011-02-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

Life the same.
Ironman trainings in process...

Cheers
Ling

PASSION

2011-02-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

it's hard waking up 5plus am everyday.
lazy to head out for a workout after long day at work.
having to hang out with frenz only weekends.
slping 1030pm everyday so i can wake up early.
riding on the road after a big fall on it.

it's the passion that keep me going.

with determination, focus and decided goals.
everything is possible.
never say never.

what i've come so far is what i believed in.
you just have to believe in urself. :)

never give up!!!

have a great week ahead guys.

its 5 weeks to aviva 70.3...
thats so much more for me to show n prove.
gonna do my best for it...

CNY run and the other crazy stuffs

2011-02-06T16:58:00.001-08:00

Nailed in some pretty good training sessions for the last 5days of Chinese new year...
Refuel was crazy too... CNY goodies, steamboat n BBQ... Woot!!!

Visiting is only 2 hrs for the 4days of cny... I spent the rest of the time training, slping, eating n slping... Zzzzzz
This is how it Should be right? Spending time at home during cny, but slping... :)

New tri carbon shoe

2011-01-30T04:48:00.000-08:00

how's the weekend? It's so fast!! Tml Monday already... Sianz!

This coming week gonna be so busy... CNY week... Pretty excited... Can train, slp, eat n take ang Bao on the whole long weekend... :)
Btw check out my new tri cycling shoe... Sponsored by entro cycle... It's really light... :)

how's life???

2011-01-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

seriously I'm just doing the same things week by week.
its really boring.

but i get really good training partners to keep it interesting for me.
and motivated... :)

life is so good.
another week of solid training nailed...
woot...

I'm on the moon!!!

2011-01-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

what the hell

2011-01-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

do go check out avril new song "what the hell"
the tune is very catchy... :)

so its another week agn. did lots of trainings this week. check out my routine for the week.

monday - morning 45 mins recovery run
an hour spin in the evening
tue - 2.5 km swim interval in the morning
wed - 60km ride in the early morning
10km run in the night after work
thurs - 3km swim in the morning
45mins easy run in the evening
an hr interval spinning at night after work
friday - an hr tempo run and lots of strengthening sets in the morning
sat - 95km ride in the morning

woot... so who's ready for aviva???
:)

race for the first half of the year

2011-01-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

alright... its done...
i have officially signed up for aviva 70.3 and china ironman...

SHIT!!!
i have an ironman to train for now...
have a good weekend guys...
:)

2011

2011-01-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

Hows the new year celebration guys?? Been a crazy weekend for me... Mine was great... Train n party hard at the same time... Haha... It's on season for me... Gonna do my routine again and train for aviva on march... N I realised china ironman is opening this Friday... Gonna grab the slot before it's gone... Not even sure will it be all filled up but just get it done cause I have been waiting for a mth and I will Be super disappointed if i can't do it... Arghhhh!!!

Photo taken after I finished my usual sunday swim at cdans... I spent 3 mths training in the pool for swimathon last year... I love swimming there!!! :)

Believe

2010-12-27T08:09:00.001-08:00

the year is going to end... That's freaking fast... Seems like 2010 just zoom past me...

I'm too lazy now blogging while on my way to work... A sum up of the week till Thursday...

40mins run and 45 mins spin on mon
2.5km swim and 45mins run on tue
60km ride and 45mins run on wed
2km interval swim on Thursday and heading for a easy 30mins run later..

Pretty good sessions to get my body away from the off season mood...
I'm so ready for 2011 aviva trainings from next week onwards!!! :)

alright have a great new year celebration guys...

Cheers

Usual weekdays 530am ride

2010-12-23T05:25:00.001-08:00

I have really good base training sessions this week... :)
another easy trainings for a week and I will be starting my usual routine on Jan 2011... It's time to party!!!

Merry christmas and happy new year everyone...
Don't drink and drive!

Train safe
cheers

Weekend at MBS

2010-12-20T04:41:00.001-08:00

what can I say? superb weekend... Stayed at MBS and went to sun tan at skypark pool... A 150m long pool... Totally enjoyed the view 200m above ground... Especially after spending the whole morning doing MTBing at ubin... It's Holiday season... Best to spent it with families n friends... Nothing like the same anymore, I'm without crutches this year... :)

Christmas present???

2010-12-16T04:14:00.001-08:00

I love this sport!!!

2010-12-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

my first SCM 21km

2010-12-06T08:11:00.001-08:00

its the first SCM 21km for me. i have been doing the 42km for the past 3 years. actually twice cause i signed up last year but couldn't do it. I'm really very excited to do the half, we're running in universal studio Singapore. a loop around the universal studio, its gonna be so fun! :)

on the race day i woke up 430am. had my usual cereal and milk for breakfast. do a final check of my gears and headed out to the race site. my dad agreed to fetch me down cause this year we starts at sentosa bridge and ends at padang. its gonna be troublesome after the race if i park the car at vivo. so i just gonna go home myself after the race to make thing simple. :)

my dad dropped me off at the bag deposit area. its only around 545am. i changed out from my track suit and went ahead to deposit my bag which was later sent to the F1 pit for collection after the race. i'm abit worried about the bags transport system. but i realized they dropped our bags straight into the trucks in each station, i felt so much relieved. pretty well organized. alright time to look for a toilet. lucky for us half marathoners, the toilets at vivo and harbour front were open for us to use. i heard from the full marathoners that the orchard malls toilet were all closed and the portable toilets on the race site were too little for that many runners. i managed to get some extra weight off my body system and do a short warm up jog to the starting line. :)

i was at the starting line around 615am. by that time there's alot of ppl. got myself up to around 30sec away from the starting line, there's really alot of half marathoners. at 6.30am the race was flagged off. took me 50 sec to cross the timing mat after the race was flagged off. we started the route by heading to the sentosa beach and run the whole stretch to siloso beach. after that was a few climbs and a round about to the casino hotel. its my first time seeing the resorts, normally i'll take the train in straight to the beach and out. there's more climbs after the casino towards universal studio. when i'm around 300m away from the entrance, i saw the top few men runners who already finished a loop of the universal studio. i planned to keep a steady pace for the 10km as i haven been running after my world champs and i don't wanna screw up my race. so i went ahead and did the universal loop, managed to hi five kongfu panda and waved to the penguins who's welcoming and cheering the runners. haha! damn refreshing for me.

after the universal loop, its time to get out of sentosa and on to the keppel flyover. after a steep climb up to the keppel flyover, its a flat long 6km run to the shear bridge. during the 6km run, i felt strong and stayed on to a better pace compared to my first 10km. i ran up the shear bridge steadily and try not to push too hard as i knew i still have 4km to last. i passed the esplanade and started to run a faster pace with 2km to go. before reaching the last straight of 150m road at padang, i told a 21km runner who's walking to run along with me. its the final stretch already. but i guess he was walking for quite awhile and could only jog across the last 150m so i went ahead to cross the finishing line alone. :)

i finished the race with a timing off 1.55hr. improved by 28 mins from army half. my goal was to do a under 2hrs for the SCM and i did it. i was so happy. i even lifted my arms in the air during the finishing. i really enjoyed and had so much fun for the first time for SCM even though i'm running alone. can't wait for more to come every year end. :)

national stadium demolition photos

2010-12-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=national+stadium+demolition+singapore

Safety message

2010-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

The Highway Code stipulates that drivers should keep a safe distance of at least 1.5m when passing cyclists, but some motorists ignore this rule. The three-week-long Safe Cycling Campaign aims to remind drivers and cyclists of this safety measure. -- ST PHOTO: RAJ NADARAJAN
IT IS a rule all drivers should know: Motorists must keep a safe distance of at least 1.5m when passing cyclists.
Yet the rule - spelt out in the Highway Code - is rarely observed when drivers hit the road.
And as cycling becomes more popular in Singapore, clashes between cyclists and motorists have become more common.
To drive home the importance of keeping a safe distance, OCBC Cycle Singapore - the largest mass cycling event here - launched a campaign yesterday to remind motorists and cyclists of the 1.5m rule.
The Safe Cycling Campaign comes at a time when more people here are cycling for recreation, exercise or as a means of transport.
As cycling gains popularity, the safety issue has attracted more attention.
Seven cyclists were killed in the first five months of this year - up from three in the same period last year.
In the whole of last year, 17 cyclists involved in accidents were killed, compared with 22 in the previous year.
As part of the three-week-long safety campaign, 50,000 car decals bearing the '1.5m matters. Share the road' slogan will be distributed mainly at Caltex petrol stations.
Radio 91.3 will run a contest and drivers of cars spotted with the decal stand to win Caltex vouchers.
About 2,000 cycling jerseys with the same message will also be distributed. Cyclists are encouraged to wear them on the designated Safe Cycling Day on Dec 18.
Mr Chris Robb, managing director of Spectrum Worldwide, one of the campaign organisers, said it is hard to change driving habits and mindsets overnight, but it is still important to kick-start the process.
'It is definitely a challenge, but it's about creating awareness and highlighting a part of the Highway Code that most motorists have forgotten about.'
Mr Daniel Loy, general manager of the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association, believes the campaign will be effective in improving the relationship between motorists and cyclists.
'Drivers are generally more accommodating now compared to three years ago, but if we really observe the 1.5m rule, cyclists will feel much safer while riding,' he said.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said: 'The safety distance is a good guide on a Sunday morning along less crowded roads.
'But motorists will find it hard to adhere to it during peak hours with congested roads. That's when common sense must prevail.'

70.3 world champ, clearwater

2010-11-19T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hey guys... i'm back from the 2 weeks florida trip... totally enjoyed myself so much during the race week and post race universal studio... Superb...

Unbelievable race!!! believe it a not, 5.24hrs for 70.3 is my PB... i did clocked a 5.14hr for desaru but that wasn't a official 70.3, its a long distance triathlon... so 5.24hr is my timing now...

It's my first wetsuit race, its really very cold... i can take heat like malaysia or philippines races... but cold, i dunnoe abt that.. the cold really made me so nervous... i warmed up for 15mins in the water before the race start... but no help at all, i waited 10mins for the race start and i got so cold again by waiting along the sand... lucky when the wave start, the moment everyone jump in the sea, the water wasn't much cold...

I headed out the water 36.57mins... struggled at the u turn point as i felt the wetsuit abrasion along the back of my neck... the rest of the swim i just tried to reduce the neck movements... the moment i'm out of the water, off the sand area, its the wetsuit remove area already... i just need to lay down on the carpet, the volunteer will pull the wetsuit off my legs... its so fast... after tat its off to grab the bike bag n into the changing tent... i had my cycling shoes n race bib in my bike bag, so it only took me less than a min to be out of the tent and to grab my bike... total T1 timing ard 3.30mins...

The first 5km of the bike i was struggling to keep at 32km/hr... Managed to get the cadance up to 90 and kept a speed of 37 to 40km/hr... I did the rest 70km in that speed on the flat n windy course... But after ard 75km, i found myself on this long flat bridge which was so windy... I struggled to keep at 32km/hr speed... My ave speed dropped from 36.4 to 35.6 after the whole bridge... I'm off my target already... Wanted to do under 2.30... But did a 2.33hr instead... Came back to T2 with 3 mins off my goal bike spilt... Had 3 gels and 4 bottles of water... 20km, 50km n 75km mark...

Once I got off my bike at T2, the volunteers took my bike away for me... I wanted to head to my bike rack... But this volunteer shouted at me to head to the changing tent... That was when I rmb my run gear bag wasn't at my bike rack... Haha! I went to grab my run gear bag n into the changing tent... Put on my running shoes, got my gels and I headed straight to run out... My total time for T2 was ard 3mins too... :)

The run route is a fast course... Just a climb on the main clearwater beach flyover and the rest is flat... So we just need to do 4 climbs of ard 300m and the rest is flat already... I did the first mile pretty slow cause my no tag came off from my race belt and it took me quite a while to adjust it while running... After the climb, I managed to get a good pace for the rest of the first lap... Had a gel on 3km n got myself well hydrated... But after the 1st mile on the 2nd lap, I wasn't feeling quite well... I'm suppose to eat a pack of gel on ard 12km mark but I couldn't... I can't drink down any power drink too... Instead I had water only for the rest of the 2nd lap.. My left legs was giving me alot of problem too on the 2nd lap... I couldn't balance well running and got to use alot of my right leg to push off... Limping alot but I don't wanna walk so I did the 2nd lap going back running in a funny form... I hate this so much!!!

I crossed the line with a timing of 2.07 hr for my 21km run and total 5.24 hrs for the 70.3... I made it... Completed the world champ 70.3... Was so happy... But the organizer got my name wrong and everyone is making fun of me after that... 'Choo Choo'... WTH!!!

Anyway, im glad I actually made the world champs in a year after the stupid accident.. It was really a great experience to be racing with the world standard... But i still wouldnt have done it with all the help and support i got from everyone ard me... Wanna thank everyone that help me along for my recovery and coming back to win Philippines and to go world champs... my sponsors too... Powerbar for my nutrition, entro cycle for my wheels, transview for my trisuit, Outdoor venture for my socks and race bibs and also AC for the great support I have from them... Thanks you so much !!!

It's off season for me till Jan 2011...
:) :) :)

Cheers
Ling

PACKING!!!

2010-11-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

serviced and all cleaned up... i just need to pack it tml... :)

my tapering weekend

2010-11-04T02:43:00.000-07:00

i'm starting my tapering this long weekend. been training twice a day almost everyday for the past 2 weeks to get myself up for race day. so for the next 8 days, gonna taper to let my body recover from the crazy 2 weeks of trainings. :)

oh man, i'm so excited. can't wait to go over clearwater, do the world champ and go for my 1 week holiday at orlando. florida waited a year for me. :)

happy deepavali guys
cheers
ling

more more n more...

2010-10-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

2 weeks done and now i'm left with 5 more days of hard trainings. just got to follow the plans for the last 5 days and i can start tapering for my world champs. i actually clocked a total of 60km run last week. was tough on my leg. i struggled to walk properly on monday. i'm doing too much on my weak left leg. so this week i dropped the mileage and added 2 spinning session extra. i really like doing this multisport thingy. i dont need to keep running even if my legs are sore or keep swimming even if my arms were aching. haha! thats the best part of the sports. :)

cheers
ling

one year

2010-10-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

its the same day i had my accident a year ago. so fast. i can't believe i came so far already. did a swimathon, 15km run race last weekend, a 21km run race and a half ironman ever since i can walk again 6 mths ago. tough journey, but with determination, everything is possible. i was heading to the direction of coming back and doing the things i like. didn't realized that i can do so much in a short time. thumbs up for myself... hehehehe!!!

my life got paused for 6 mths after the accident. i was focusing of getting my life back normal the other 6 mths. its pretty much done. but i still wanna relax a little more cause i had suffered so much the past 1 year. prob will decide what to do again next march. life is too short. haha! enjoy... will keep training to get better, i still have a lot to work on... :)

anyway have a great day guys...
train safe n have fun!
cheers
ling

very long sunday

2010-10-18T01:03:00.000-07:00

did the nb real run 15km ytd. a mixtue of road, off road and beach run. very fun and tough on my legs too. haha! but i really enjoyed myself. :)

total timing was 1.27hrs... its a pace of under 2hrs for 21km... great!!! its a alright timing for alot of ppl but very fast pacing for the state i am now. haha but anyway, i improved... it means all the running drills and strengthenings are working to balance out my legs strength... i still have a long way to go. prob another 3 to 5 mths of work... one step at a time. two more races this year. hopefully i'm under 2hrs for scm 21km.

happy monday guys...

sat ride

2010-10-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

today's 95km ride ave speed was 32.2km/hr. pretty upset with my rear d shifting. super unsmooth and i couldn't use my 25, 23 n 21 cassette. kept jumping wen i tried to use any1 of them. arghhhhh. irritating.

tml gonna do 15km nb real run. i dunnoe y i signed up for that race. anyway its free so just go for it... haha!

have a great weekend guys... :)

Planning ahead

2010-10-13T06:24:00.001-07:00

The kona world champ just happened last weekend... I woke up Sunday morning to watch the finishing while spinning on my bike... Congrats macca for his 2nd world title n Mirinda Carfrae for her 1st world title... :)

To be a ironman finisher is my dream... My plan got delay for a year and I'm working towards it agn from the start... I'm halfway tru the 70.3... Did one and heading to the world champ in a mth time... After that, I'll focus on my training for a full ironman race during mid of next year... When I told this ppl ard me... Everyone keep asking me is it too fast??? Saying the way I'm progressing is too rush... Tell me to slow down n wait longer... But for me, I realised if u wan to do something, go ahead n do it... I'm using 6 to 7mths time after a 70.3 to train for a ironman... I don't think it's too rush... I see ppl signing up for ironman n training for the last 3 mths towards the race... 7mths is good enuff for me to go finish my first ironman.. I'm not expecting much... It's always good to enjoy the whole process of the first one... N I'm ready to be tortured too... Haha!!!

Mid of the week already. Have a great weekend guys...
Gonna clock good milage n I'm feeling really good this few days trainings...

:) :) :)

Just get me to Florida!!!

2010-10-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week... So many things happened.. I've learnt so many lessons this week... So many things in life that we not supposed to take for granted... Be truthful ppl...

A month more to Florida world champ... I fell from my bike wed this week... Skip some training sessions cause I landed on my left leg when I fall... Haiz!!! Bad luck... After 2 days rest, hopefully this weekend can clock some good bike n swim milage... Monday gonna run 22km to work agn.. Just me n my music!!! I love it... :)

4 more weeks! Gonna train safe n make it to the race...

Not fine

2010-09-30T17:50:00.001-07:00

Ling have to stop thinking how she used to run before n focusing on how to improve her running form in her current state... So depressing!!!

Not fine

2010-09-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ling have to stop thinking how she used to run before n focusing on how to improve her running form in her current state... So depressing!!!

boring monday

2010-09-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

its Monday again... so fast...

Shack

2010-09-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

This week was torturing... Struggling to woke up most of the morning... Feeling really tired most of the time... After this morning run session, I decided to ease off this weekend to recover and get myself back training next week agn... Will do alone riding sat at base training pace instead of joining the group ride...

My whole body is aching so much...
Arghhhhh!!!
But I'm still glad I did all the trainings this week...

No monday bluezzzzzzz

2010-09-20T07:03:00.001-07:00

Did some pretty good training sessions over the weekend... 110km ride on sat... Run intervals on Sunday morning and swim intervals on Sunday evening... Always enjoy my Monday after a complete weekend training... :)

Counting down 7more weeks to my world champ!!!!

running!!!

2010-09-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

been awhile since i last blog. very busy nowadays working 10 to 8 on weekdays and sleeping at 10pm almost every night cause i'm doing my trainings early mornings. i'm trying to be a good kid here. :)

this morning did the AHM 21km. last year i did a 1.42hrs and this year i did a 2.21hr... its sucks... running had always been the strongest leg for me during triathlon. but now its the hardest to comeback cause of the impact. my left leg is still so weak. lost a ton of strength during the operation and during the 4 mths on crutches. haiz! that's still so much work to do for my left leg before i can be running like what i use to be. how i wish all this can be over soon. :(

one step at a time...

philippines 70.3

2010-08-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

after 10mths i came back and did the Philippines cobra 70.3... it was crazy, but i want to do it... so earlier april i signed up and started preparing for my comeback 70.3... :)

the race day morning, i woke up 4am... went for the hotel breakfast downstairs... i had 4 slices of bread with jam n butter n I had my first cup of coffee for the trip... was keeping the caffeine for the race day itself since 4 days before the race... after breakfast, headed back to my room to change up n get my swim gears... the bike n run gear bags already been checked in with my bike the day before... :P

5.15am sharp, the shuttle bus from my hotel headed out to the race site CWC... it took abt 15mins to reach... when arrived, i headed straight to my transition area to set up my bike... did the usual set up n checking for my bike... there wasn't much to do compared to aviva 70.3 as my bike n run gear bags will be passed to me during the race... after a final check, i headed for my body marking... by that time, most of the ppl already done with the body marking already so there wasn't any queue... saw terrenzo at the body marking area too... he just finished his warm up n ready to go to the swim start for the pro start which is 630am... my wave was flagged off 6.42am, behind all the male age groupers... the first 1.4km swim was in a big lake where the cable ski is... the first 700m was pretty easy and calm till we reached the u turn pt... we caught up with the slow swimmers of the male age groupers and i had to struggle abit to complete the u turn with the guys ard... i got out the 1st loop ard 25mins... ran up the slope and dived straight in for my small loop in the other smaller cable ski lake... I got out of the water 36.47mins... Faster den my aviva swim by 6mins... :)

My swim-bike transition took abt 3mins... It was a long transition which reached almost 800m... Haha! Tiring... I Jumped onto my bike n headed out strong.. The bike course was flat... Very fast course... I planned to power out the bike leg coz I'm still really in a bad shape for my run... So I was hammering it tru out keeping 33 to 36km/hr... I had gels on the 15km, 45km and 75km pt for the bike... Drank 3 bottles of water n a bottle of power endurance drink... I got off the bike feeling strong with a timing of 2.36hrs... Cut off 18mins from my aviva timing... :)

Now it's the stress part of the race... My run!!! I started running only like 2 to 3 mths before the race n I wasnt getting any back near to my old form at all... I wasn't expecting much anyway for my run but I told myself I'll never walk for the 21km... Just 3 to 4km out in the run, I felt the achness on my left leg... Really damn weak... I couldn't balance myself well at all n I was struggling to maintain a gd pace... At ard 8km, I decided to slow down n just jog tru out the whole race... It's a comeback race n I dun wanna injured my legs... So I just kept jogging the whole race... On the 2nd loop back with 7km more, I realised the other gals from my age group were walking under the very hot sun... I really tot they will catch up with me the moment I started jogging but didn't... I got abit excited n still carry on doing my jogging even with all the pain and achness for the next 7km... I crossed the finishing line with a run of 2.23hrs... My personal worse for 21km so far... Haha! But I was so so happy to cross the finishing line agn... Alot actually went tru my mind during the last 1km... The past 10mths was a tough journey for me... I came so far n suffered so much to be able to be a ironman finisher agn... Ya half ionman... Haha! I did almost got abit emotional thinking abt all that... It's was all worth it... :)

Finally a taste of crossing the finishing line n podium agn... I was dreaming n thinking abt it for the past 10mths... I was so so happy for myself... N I'm going Florida world champ... :) :) :) I can't believe it man!!!

Cheers
I'm a ultragal agn! :x
Ling

tapering week

2010-08-14T02:15:00.001-07:00

yes its the tapering week already for my philippines 70.3... this morning did a steady 80km ride... tml gonna do a easy 16km... after that it will be light n short workouts before i flying off on thursday... :)

been 5 mths since i started training for the 70.3... but for running, its 3 mths... hopefully i survive the run part... :X

anyway today got some nutrition sponsor from power... :)

the day i stood up agn

2010-08-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

its was the 4th day after my operation after the accident... i had spent the past 3 days lying on the bed facing up with my left leg hanging up... its was terrible... my back n shoulders were so sore... the bedsheets were hurting my skin... been lying in the same position for a long time and my fractured tail bone was killing me... ouch!!!

that Friday morning, i was handed my air cast for my right ankle so i can use it to stand up... i'm supposed to use it for at least 2 mths till my right ankle recovers... i can only use my right leg, no weight bearing for my left leg till its 75% recovered, so its the aircast and walker for the next 2 mths...

couple of my friends came during the visiting hrs... just half an hr tru some chatting, the physio therapist came with her assistant... she told me she gonna get me seated up and stand on my right leg... FINALLY!!! but how??? i knew its gonna be painfully, but i need to seat up... so slowly, they unhooked my left leg from this huge hanger that's been holding my leg for the past 4 days... PAIN... they slowly pulled my upper body up so i can get seated up on the position... the headaches started kicking in agn... damn it, i felt like vomiting agn and everything was spinning... arghhhh!!! i needed to get out of the position no matter what... so i got them to carry on to move me to the edge of the bed so that i'm in the seated position ready to stand anytime... after like 5mins of slowly lifted my legs and body, i'm finally seated on the side on my bed... legs hanging down ready to feel the ground and stand up... i felt the cold wind on my back agn... it's so refreshing... at least something to break out from... by that time, i rmb i was almost covered with sweat...

almost 5 mins up, they said they need to start getting me to stand on my right leg... i tot its time too... the therapist and her assistant were both on my side getting ready to help me up... i pushed my air cast onto the ground... ard 70% pressure, i felt alot of pain on my ankle... i gave up and more sweat started breaking out as i waited in pain for the hurting ankle to ease down... so i tried agn and agn and agn... i couldn't do it... on my 5th try, i just seat down and starting crying... by the time 3ppl were helping me to stand up but i couldn't... its was the first time in my life i felt so useless... 5 days ago, i was still in mac running 25km in 5mins/km pace... the next thing u know, i'm struggling to seat up on my bed and stand agn... my body its totally useless...

after abt half an hr and the help of 3ppl, i got up on my right leg... but its doesn't last long... it was only abt 15sec when my ankle started hurting agn... but its was taking alot out of me so they decided to call it a day... i spent the whole afternoon n evening settling my emotion... i was really glad my few best friends were there to company me tru the process... i dont think i'll able to go tru the rest of the afternoon alone after the physio session...

cheers
train hard and safe guys
ling :)

mid week so soon

2010-07-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ahhh!!! the week like just started and tml is the mid week already... less den 4 weeks to my Philippines 70.3... arghhhhh!!!

finally its my 2 off days after like 5 days...
but still i went down to my mum stall and help her after my swim training... she normally needs help during the lunch time... yawnzzz!!! the weekend was great... 95km ride with the go green guys on sat and a 16km run at mac on Sunday... my longest run for the year... gonna keep doing 16km for the next 3 Sundays before my Philippines 70.3... its so much shorter den what i usually clock before a 70.3... but i'm going Philippines this time to race as a comeback using my past 4 half ironman experience before the accident... haha! hopefully i survive a sub 6 hrs... to qualify for Florida will be even a better bonus for me... day dreaming... :)

ohhh... managed to do my 3km swim this morning under an hr... i've never done a 3km swim under an hr, 59.25... normally swim 2.05min/100m for my 3 to 4km swim... but today i decided to push abit and turn out it wasn't so hard to swim a pace of 1.59min/100m... my swim target is to do a 1.15hr for my 3.8km swim... i will be very happy if i can do that timing on a ironman race...

alright have a good mid week guys...
3 more days to weekend... :P

I love the weather today!!!

2010-07-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

After a day rest cause of the wet weather, I decided to do a good 2km swim this morning before work... I was feeling fresh this morning after a day rest and a 7hrs slp... :)

Did a 200m warm up... Clocked a 38.19mins for 2km... So far my fastest timing for 2km... I was surprised by my swim timing nowadays... Yup! Ended off with a 200m easy cool down and hit the shower to rush to work...

What a Friday morning!!!
Can't wait for my long ride n run this weekend...
Have a great Friday guys, it's the weekend already! Woot!!!! :)

150km ride

2010-07-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

headed up malaysia to ride today... :)
met my friend, Jonathan, 545am at ten mile junction... we cycled up to causeway custom to enter JB... my first time cycling tru the causeway... pretty exciting... haha!!! there wasn't not much cars... a few motorbikes as most ppl entering in sg to work instead of going in JB... :)

we cleared malaysia side ard 630am and started cycling straight up to kota tingi... ard 51km we hit kota tingi town which is ard 8am... the first 45 mins of the route was crazy... the main town of JB... the trucks and cars going past me were all very fast, pulling me along and it was pretty easy going at above 35km/hr and also very dangerous... we stopped for some drinks at the town after 1.30hrs ride and jon had his breakfast... i had my big cereal breakfast earlier already... after a 30mins stop, we headed straight up to a petronas which is 6km away from desaru... its abt 44km away from the town... lots of hill... but the roads were safer then the road earlier... lesser cars as we were outside the main JB area... ard 10am we reached the petronas station... refilled our bottles and i got myself a 80cents ringit chocolate bun... damn cheap... haha!!!

jon decided to head up to lotus hotel at desaru to book hotel for his training camp and desaru long distance triathlon trip... so we spent like 1hr ard desaru... by the time we started riding to the ferry point, i needed to start warm up agn... 38km to the village... i travelled ard the same speed as i did earlier... but when i passed by the village, i was very shack already... the weather damn hot... i went slower ard 28km/hr for the last 17km to the ferry point... woot!!! saddle sore... haven cycled more den 120km ever since i came back cycling... after the 133km mark i pretty much so damn tired and struggled the last 17km... :X

i reached the ferry point ard 1pm... booked two seats for the bumboat and waited till 3pm den the ferry leave... the uncle wanna wait for more ppl but in the end after 2 hrs, there's no one... we spent like 2 hrs there stretching, drinking milo and doing nth... damn boring... anyway, i got back home ard 430pm, had a good meal and slept for 3 hrs before i wash my super dirty bike...

felt so good, a great training ride/trip today... :)
gonna put in some light trainings this two days to recover for the weekends long trainings... and i'm working for the next 5 days... :(

My weak leg

2010-07-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

its monday again... 5 weeks down to philippines 70.3... oh man!!! its getting nearer...

managed to do some good training sessions last week with the very hot weekdays and wet weekends...
It's really very hard to train well n make sure I don't stress my legs too much... It's still very weak... I mean the unbalance strength between the two legs... Haiz... :(

have a great week guys...

The Night I Spent With Craig “Crowie” Alexander

2010-07-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

lucky girl but a good blog post... :)

by: Sarah lavender smith

I’m phobic about flying and didn’t want to be squeezed between strangers on the 14-hour flight from Sydney to LAX, so I chose a seat in the rear of the Qantas 747 where I’d have only one person at my side. Whose elbows would I bump as we ate over our trays, whose knees would I climb over to get from my window seat to the aisle? From seat 70K, I guardedly watched the flow of humanity funnel through the Economy section. Would it be Mr. No-Neck with the upper body spilling out of a tank top that pictured an airbrushed Harley, or the gray-haired lady wearing an inflatable pillow like a neck brace and dangling shopping bags like ornaments? Please no, please no, I silently prayed.

And then I saw him standing patiently behind a turban-wearing man and sari-wearing woman who were taking an inordinately long time to stuff the overhead bin. I blinked, and there he was: a perfect specimen, thirtysomething, with dark hair, chiseled cheekbones and a tight black polo shirt that revealed sculpted arms. He looked unperturbed by the people blocking his way and seemed unaware that he turned heads like Heidi Klum in a hardware store.

He looked at the empty seat next to me, then right at me, and then smiled. Yes, thank you, thank you, I silently prayed again.

He slid into 70J and said a polite hello. I did not recognize him. At first I thought he might be a model, but then I noticed the muscles and veins on his tanned forearms and hands — puffed-up veins under the skin that signal extreme cardiovascular fitness — and I doubted a model would be so healthy. I put my nose back in my book to give him his space. He thumbed through the in-flight magazine. We sat in silence until at about the same time we put down our reading, turned to one another and made small talk.

“What do you do?” I asked him.

“I’m a professional athlete,” he said in a lilting Aussie accent, as unassuming as if he had said, “I work in an ice cream shop.” I prodded further about his sport and he said, “I do triathlons.”

I told him I’m a runner and he smiled politely, the way Lance Armstrong might smile at someone who says she likes to bike, and the subject changed to family and travel. I told him I was sad to be traveling without my husband and two kids. His face lit up — two kids? He told me he has two, too, a boy and a girl who are younger than mine but the same age spread. He had a rough night’s sleep due to his 9-month-old, and I could relate. Then we talked about my travel, and he could relate, and as our conversation rolled amicably along, I realized with a mixture of disappointment and relief that there was not a scintilla of flirtatiousness between us. Someone could have labeled us Frumpy Older Sister and Cute Younger Brother.

I still didn’t know who he was.

Only gradually did I learn that luck had seated me — the amateur runner who treasures her small collection of trophies from local races, the 40-year-old who wonders if she’s too old to make dreams of going faster and longer come true — next to a world champion endurance athlete with legions of fans and a long list of sponsors. It took about 12 hours of talking off and on, of sleeping side by side, for me to catch his name: Craig Alexander, the guy known to triathletes everywhere as “Crowie.”

I learned little things about Craig early on in the flight: he eats with his left hand but writes with his right; he prefers tea to coffee; he likes to play guitar but never has enough time; his favorite cocktail is a margarita. But I had no inkling of his athletic prowess until he revealed that Competitor Magazine was flying him to California to attend the Endurance Sports Awards ceremony. He wasn’t sure what award he was going to get. (It turned out to be Triathlete of the Year.) I gently prodded further about his training and racing. He said he does a lot of shorter distances and builds up to the Ironman championship in Kona, Hawaii, in October.

“So,” I asked casually, “how’d you do in Kona?”

Little did I know that’s sort of like asking Michael Phelps, So, how’d it go for you in Beijing?

“I won the last two years,” he said.

Holy cow. I inwardly winced and then laughed at my cluelessness. I also laughed at how my negative stereotype of triathletes — that they’re egomaniacs prone to divorce and obsessive behavior — had been upended by this unpretentious gentleman next to me. And I laughed because I was punchy from the double whammy of a sleeping pill and an anti-anxiety pill I had taken to help me get through the bumpy flight (did I mention I hate to fly?).

When we both decided it was time to sleep in the dimmed cabin, I asked him if I could interview him after we woke up. Of course, he said graciously, and then he dozed off. I reclined next to him, my nose two inches from his prize-winning shoulder, and for once I slept soundly on a plane.

The cabin lights came back on several hours later, the captain’s voice informed us that LA was about an hour away, and I said good morning to Craig. I hoped he didn’t notice the dried drool in the corners of my mouth.

He didn’t mind me asking questions and taking notes on his answers. He began by describing the season ahead, when he’ll start with a couple of tris in Australia, do one in Singapore in March, and then live with his family in Boulder to train and race in the States from April through October. “The hope is just to have a consistent season,” he said. “Hawaii is my main race, so the season will be built up to that.”

Are you looking forward to it, or is it a huge amount of pressure, or both? “It is a lot of pressure; it’s a lot of pressure on my time — I’ll have a lot more media to do and sponsorship commitments. But as far as the race the goes, I’ll just try and do what I always do, which is control what I can control — my training — and I think a lot of the fun is just getting in great shape.”

I laughed, “Like you’re not now?”

“I’m in good shape now, but I’ll be in my best shape in October.” He described his peak training blocks, which occur three times a year (January, March, August) with three-week periods of about 40 hours of training per week. Those weeks feature about 12 to 15 miles of swimming, 400 to 500 miles on the bike and about 60 to 70 miles of running.

I had noticed he ate the gloopy beef dish that the airline served for dinner. Did he have any special diet requirements, or does he eat pretty much whatever is placed in front of him? “I just eat a normal diet, nothing crazy,” he said. “That’s the thing about traveling, too — you can’t be too particular.” What about alcohol? “Leading up to Kona I usually have a beer or two at dinner, mainly to keep the calories coming in because I’m training so hard.”

I was curious to know what it’s like being a pro and having to make a living at his sport, which he’s been doing for 11 seasons. The question seemed to open a valve that let out some steam. “The downside is the mental pressure of knowing that, first of all, you have no excuses — it’s not like you can say your job got in the way, because that is your job,” he said. “And I think there’s the pressure of wanting to vindicate your decision” to be pro and devote your life to it.

He talked about how he got a degree in physiotherapy from Sydney University but never practiced; instead, he plunged into training and racing full time. “There comes a time when you realize it has to be viable financially. It’s great to chase a dream, but you also have to live.”

Then I asked if he can ever let himself relax a bit and more fully enjoy the swimming, cycling and running. “I am now, but it’s taken a fair while to develop it,” he said, referring to the ability to relax and truly take pleasure in his chosen profession. “It’s almost like it’s come full circle: you start off in this sport because you love it, then it becomes your profession and there’s a lot of pressure associated with it, and it does feel like a job some days — the fun gets diluted when you get injured or ‘I need to get back and make money,’ and there’s the pressure to perform — but if you’re lucky enough to have success, then you get back to the part where it’s fun again.”

So, I noted, it sounds like his stress level is lower, but his expectations are as high as ever. “For me, my own expectation is greater than anyone else’s,” he said.

When he’s not training, what does he do for fun? “Just be a dad, that’s it,” he said. “I really like to spend most of the time with the family. I used to surf a lot, and I play golf every now and then.”

Alluding to my love of trail running, I asked if he ever gets off road. “I love to run off road,” he said, lighting up again and smiling. “As far as biking goes, I don’t do much off road, but I will when I retire.”

Retire? When? Why? “At this stage I’ll just take it one year at a time. I’m 36 years old, and from a performance standpoint I think I’m still improving, but I think the decision to retire will be based more on other things.” Like what? Like where his head and heart are. “Mentally when you’re not prepared to do the work required to be competitive at this level, that’ll be the deciding factor, because I think physically I’ll be capable at this level for years to come.”

I asked him about burnout — has he battled it yet? “Not really, no, I still really enjoy it. The fun and challenge are all sort of linked for me — the challenging aspect is what’s fun.”

It was almost time to land, almost time to say goodbye. I asked him one of the most clichéd but irresistible questions: How does it feel to finish first at the Ironman World Championships in Kona?

“There are a lot of emotions,” he said. “You’re totally spent, so there’s a lot of relief you finally made it. You’re relieved it’s all going to be finished. There’s a lot of pride, too, that you’ve lived up to your own expectation.” He paused and looked pensive. “It’s kind of dream-like because I’ve visualized the race a lot and train on the course a lot, so there’s an aspect of, ‘Am I just thinking about it again or is it real?’”

“Kind of dream-like” — that pretty well describes my flight.

running

2010-07-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

tue i just did the fastest run ever since after the accident... 10km for ard 56mins... starting was feeling abit tough... but i got used to it and felt pretty good at the end part... haha! its abt time i start getting alittle faster... :)

i'm gonna run agn tml... rested from running for 2 days... ever since i come back, been swimming n cycling alot instead... used to run alot... but i figured out, its not abt the no of runs training i do a week, but its how good effort i put in each run... quality... so i decided to do 2 to 3 runs a week... but putting in more effort in each of them... so its less stress on my legs... :)

alright... one more day to the weekend... that's when i enjoyed the most doing long rides... :)
train hard n safe guys!!!

cheers
ling

my monday after a packed weekend

2010-07-05T02:02:00.000-07:00

woke up at 9am this morning... its off day for me... did an hr spin while watching GLEE... haha! i'm on eps 12 already... gonna finish the season soon with a few more spinning at home on weekdays... :X

made myself brunch and headed to sp for my 4km swim... its really boring swimming long distance on a weekday afternoon, there's not much ppl in the pool too... but i felt so good after the swim... so worth it... ave per 100m is 2.05mins... :)

ard 7 weeks more to my philippines 70.3...
haha! can't believe i'm starting all over agn from half ironman after doing 5 already...
i got hit back to ground one 8 mths ago... but i'm not dishearted... i know after this race, i'm gonna be more closer to my full ironman dream... yay!!!

happy monday guys...
train hard n safe!
cheers

desaru

2010-07-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

ytd headed to desaru... i took the photo on purpose on my argon 18... its the same spot i took on my kouta almost 2 years ago... :)

was pretty tired after the 110km ride... sat ride I'm almost dead...
got home before the thunder storm in the west... shit... still got lots to do today before the guys coming over to crash the night at my place for TDF prologue live...
weeeeeee! :)

ride safe n have a nice weekend...

Fatboy time

2010-06-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

It's was a fun, sweet n great 6mths for her... But not the last 2 mths... Guess it was a bad choice to get it started... Prob leaving it n let it fade off would have been better... But who knows what will happen? So there's nth to blame and move on... She believed everything happened for a reason... Just have to wait n see...

The months spent was pretty short n nice... Alot happened, alot of time spent doing stuffs together, Aiming for goals n making decisions... Long hrs chat, movies, gatherings, swimming n she realised everything that she do now can somehow link to what happened during tat period... The best part prob the planning of leaving for the happy island... N able to be there.. The memory there will definitely be worth keeping it... :)

Anyway she knows this is only a small part of her life and lifes still go on... But the only thing that she worrying abt is leaving it alone... She cant stop thinking who will it watch Movies with? N sat afternoons spending with who? Erm.. Just hope that it knows how to Take Care itself... (u_u)

Black bunny : fatboy
The journey doesn't always stop as it is...
Enjoy the song she given u...

Wed

2010-06-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

I finally joined the wed ride agn after 8mths... Was pretty cool today... Long house 5am... Took me sometime to warm up riding down... Lucky the group speed was still manageable for me... :x This week so far I completed a 8km run on Monday... A 3km swim tue n a 60km ride this morning... Gonna do a run agn ltr in the evening... :)

Ytd while working, I can't help but keep staring at this ang mo legs... My supervisior is serving him and he's asking for compressions... He sat at the sofa in the shop... He's leg muscles were pretty lean but they seems weird... The bones shape were really weird... When he finally left, I asked my supervisior n she told me he's a pro skater boy... Cool!!! But had lots of fractures n dislocation before... Yucks... I can really see his patella shifted to the side of the knee already... Tat was gross... But it reminds me abt PASSION... He's crazy enuff n I'm crazy enuff to do things that we want even when it hurts us alot... Haha!!!

So guys it not so bad after all to go after something u really believe in... Coz everyone is doing it... And one day u will find one even more crazy den u... :)

what a week...

2010-06-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

did 3 runs... total run mileage ard 30km this week... :)

wed i was totally knocked off... i did 45mins spin in the morning... headed for my 3km swim and went straight to work 7 hrs... got home 8plus... and i slept like a baby for straight 9 hrs... haha!!! damn tired... i also dunnoe why...

friday training was good... 2km swim - 39.09 mins... i was feeling good... :)
headed for a run after that...

yup... i'm able to do some good trainings this week... after wearing my new zoot compressRx to slp every night... haha! waking up having fresh legs is good...

My new compressions

2010-06-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

I'm too lazy to spin for an hr today at 630am... Did only 40mins... Well, I'm pretty excited to do my 2km swim ltr and a run in the evening... :)

Today just got my zoot long tights compression... Can't wait to try it on tonight after my run... Was previously using 2xu... But the material is thinner... And I had been using it for 6 mths already... Earlier this year using it to reduce the swelling on my legs cause by the operation on my broken femur... It kind of got loose already and doesn't feel the compression anymore... Now it's Time to get a better and more expensive compression tights... :)

I'm Think I'll be able to put in more training sessions with my new compression tights... Recovery rate will definitely improve alot...

motivation video

2010-06-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

hey guys,

check this video out...

http://www.ribbonhead.com/DIRREEL/Quicktimes/Decide_final.mov

my run

2010-06-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

i'm left with 2 mths n a week to philippines half ironman...
i need to train up to 21km for my run by den...

did twice 7km run this week... ard 6 mins/km pace...
tml gonna do one more...
hopefully by end of this mth i'll clock 10km...

wish me luck... :)

Perfect weather!!!

2010-06-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

90km - 2.52hr...

Yesh! Damn shiok....
Total ride 97km... Warm up n cool down alittle...
But overall it was a great ride!!! :)

k swiss

2010-06-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Check out Luke McKenzie’s winning race report from Ironman Brazil. 2nd Ironman win for the year and 5th Ironman title of his career.

Wow ... what a day! As an athlete you are constantly in search of that perfect race. I am a firm believer that no race will ever go perfectly but yesterday I felt like I almost got it.

Ironman Brazil is a mass start and we were told we would have a 10m gap between the professionals and the amateurs but by the time the horn sounded it was pure mayhem. I got off to a good start and hit the lead straight away. Swimming a little off course on the return to the beach the first time I exited the water with two other swimmers right on my heels but as we ran the 100m beach section to begin lap two I was alone again in the lead and I began to pull away.

I was first out the water in 42.27 with a handy 3 minute lead on the group behind including Reinaldo Colucci, Eduardo Sturla, Oscar Galindez and Ezequiel Morales. I rode at a good pace over the first 40km and saw that the group hadn't eaten much into my lead so I kept my head down and worked on staying ahead. At the 90km turn-a-round Sturla was lead the group and they had my lead down to about 2 minutes but I was still determined to push on solo and make them work to catch me. On the second lap the group behind me began to split which work to my advantage and now only Sturla and Galindez were within striking distance. I actually gained some time in the last 40km and finished the bike with a 4 minute gap. My bike split was a career best for me in 4 hrs 26 mins 50 seconds.

Now the real race would begin. I knew both Sturla and Galindez are good runners and I had to nail one of my best marathons to ensure I held them off if I wanted to win. Galindez charged at me hard in the first 10km and at one stage he was about one minute behind me but after the one tough hilly section of the course I was able to stretch it back to 2 minutes. From that point I continued to build my lead on my pursuers having a good 7 minute lead at 30km. The order behind me had changed somewhat and now Ezequiel Morales who is a phenomenal runner was beginning to gain on me. With 5km to go I could see he was at about 6 minutes back and I knew I had the win.

At the 3km to go marker my Brazilian friend Rodriego came up to me on a bike and told me to keep pushing because I was on pace to break the 8 year old course record of 8.11. The last 2 km was lined with crazy spectators and the adrenaline kicked in and I pushed hard to the finish line. I broke the course record and clocked a career best time of 8 hrs 7 minutes 39 seconds.

It was seriously the best experience of my life. I have won races all around the world but yesterdays race was something I will treasure forever. The Brazilian people are amazing spectators and made the win even more special. Thanks Florianopolis and thank you Brazil!

I am looking forward to a week off training and some fun in Rio before we head to Europe for next weeks training camp in Sardinia. I have made the decision to make some slight changes to my racing schedule leading into Hawaii. I am now purely focusing on a top result there so the plan will be to select a few Ironman 70.3's and Olympic distance races in July and August in the USA and save the Ironman legs for October.

Veja mais fotos e vídeos de esportes >>

Ironman Brasil Florianopolis
Florianopolis, Brazil / May 30, 2010

1. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:07:39
2. Ezequiel Morales (ARG) 8:12:44
3. Asenco Santiago (BRA) 8:18:33
4. Eduardo Sturla (ARG) 8:20:25
5. Oscar Galindez (BRA) 8:33:00
6. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:36:16
7. Guilherme Manocchio (BRA) 8:39:12
8. Florian Greckl (GER) 8:40:01
9. Gabriel Raff (ARG) 8:40:27
10. Ivan Junior (BRA) 8:54:06

Luke McKenzie
Professional Triathlete
Australia
4 x IRONMAN CHAMPION

Another rainy day

2010-06-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

I didn't woke up for a ride today... Decided to spin at home for an hr... So I woke up 730 instead of 345am... At least I feel so much better waking up 730, spin n go work today... Anyway tml gonna have some good trainings... Off day!!! :)

Have a great day guys...
Train safe n keep injuries away!!!

Marathon race

2010-06-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

Marathon preparation time

Complete beginner - 12mths
Intermediate runner - 6-9mths
Experience runner - 4-6mths

Good luck to those who signed up for the full marathon for SCM... Treat the marathon with respect... Plan ahead and give urself more time than u ever think u might need...

I'm doing a 21km this year... Cause I know I'll only be capable to do a half from the accident... :)

HIM swim

2010-06-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

Not bad for my swim today... 85% heart rate swim improved by 40sec... 2km - 39.53mins...
I usually swim ard 80 to 85% for a triathlon race... Hopefully I can maintain this standard till august or maybe improve it... :)

Cold weather n time for me to work...
Have a great week guys...

a better ride

2010-06-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

clock 95km today... was doing very well... the first 40km i was trying to up my ave speed to 30km/hr to do a under 3hrs for 90km... by 60km i was on the targeted ave speed... but when i hit west coast highway, it started raining heavily... 73km only... arghhhh!!! it seriously heavy la... couldn't really see much also... so decided to slow down, safety first... in the end my 90km was 3.03hr...

but nvm... next sat shall try agn!!!

the battle of the phone

2010-06-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

its crazy... today my sis and a friend got 9700 blackberry... now in my family its 4 iphone and 2 blackberry...

ohh... the battle of the phonesssss...

holiday ride

2010-05-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

last weekend, i did the west route on sat and a easy 60km ride on sunday... the whole west route will be ard 98km when i get home... had a really good tt training... was on my aerobars most of the time... but my shoulders was aching ard the tuas loop... guess i got to do a few more weekend rides to get use to it...

as for today i did my first holiday ride for the year... really miss doing holiday ride... roads clear and everyone available to ride... :)

today did the usual west route with 4 other guys... long house, mandai, LCK, tuas loop and end west coast mac... i managed to pull the almost the whole route and get more training for my aerobars... but the weather really burning hot today... woot!!! sunday will be doing another 80 to 90km ride since tml i'm resting from riding... :)

recovery its part of triathlete training...

2010-05-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

i rmb writing this abt a year ago... wanna share this with everyone who's training regularly like me... its told by my coach robin tan... :)

let me explain....

N is the amount of energy that every1 has....
so after every training, we will use up our energy and in the end our energy left with Y...

If we recover well, our energy will go up back to N and eventually improve above N which maybe landing ard X because our fitness improved along during training... and the next time u start training, your energy level will start at X and after training, you will be left with N energy which will feel like before... this will just keep going up with the correct rest and training intensity...

but, if after training, we do not rest well and still carry on training... or training too high intensity like going too fast of what coach asked and having to used too much energy... our energy level will just keep going down like the down arrow... if we recover, we will only recover till back to N energy... in the end, the trainings will just be wasted... long period, you might suffer from injuries or break down...

End of formula

train smart everyone... :)

cheers

ling

i'm crazy!!!

2010-05-19T05:34:00.000-07:00

been a stressful week for me so far... lots of things doesn't seems to be going smoothly lately... mentally i'm been effected badly... coz i seriously want to put the past behind and get my life back to normal... but it seems so hard...

after the crazy mileage from cycling the weekend... i realized I'm limping here n there this week... the muscle is really very sore... haiz! a lesson for not doing my training progressively... decided to do a group ride on sat and a easy ride on sunday... instead of doing 100km for both days with group where they push the ride here n there sometimes... its crazy for a just recovered broken leg...

did one easy ride with a couple of friends on the weekdays... i'm gonna spend very little time cycling on road on weekdays... it scary how the traffic is nowadays... no point risking my life... spinning at home as good as road training too... :)

sometimes when u tot u know this person well enuff
everything change and u realized u dunnoe the person anymore