Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Slippery When Wet

That is the name of the music album (with hits such as Livin’ On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name, Wanted Dead Or Alive) by Bon Jovi, and road conditions when it rains.
This morning, I decided to take a late-morning ride after sleeping in. As this was a public holiday – Diwali or the Indian ‘Festival of Lights’ – sleeping in was good news for my body. I recovered well after the Monday Tri Swim hour-long session; the pomegranate juice I have been drinking seems to have helped in easing any potential muscular soreness. Additional sleep and rest days have been factored into my training schedule for Ironman New Zealand 2012. I have also benefitted from training less, and getting fitter and stronger. I am considering raising funds again for Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand, like I did in 2010 (we collected about $2,000 due to generous and gracious well-wishers) as part of my 10th Ironman triathlon attempt; it was a race I completed a month after being hit by a taxi while riding home.
I saw at least a dozen riders on the road bordering the international airport; most of them were preparing for Ironman Western Australia on 4 December (same day as the Singapore Marathon). I saw friends like swim-coach Alex ‘Sea Monsta’ Tung and his crew of swim students, Kelvin, his uncle Tham, and James (who, like me, owns an Elite bicycle). I recognized a few immediately because they were wearing the same bike-attire as I was – Elite by Panache. You could say we had panache while we rode!

As it was my first long ride (75K) after Mega-Tri long-course triathlon (102K cycling leg) on 11 September, I focused on high-cadence, light-gear, spinning. I also tossed in a few short bursts of 30-60 seconds on each of the 15K loop. I feel that intervals will add another dimension to my riding abilities, and intend to build on the duration of my ‘pulls’ and improve my power within the next 16 weeks. I also tested out the Maxifuel Viperactive (with caffeine) and ViperBoost gels during my ride: nice, natural tastes; easy to down as it is less viscous (not sticky) as it is more solution-like (similar to SIS); and the packing is easy to fold and dispose of later. It has been raining non-stop since I was caught in the rain on today’s ride – once during my loops and then on my way home (heavy downpour). The slippery roads and impaired visibility led to more cautious riding; I had to remove my shades to see clearly. The dedicated Ironman neophytes were still cranking their pedals, with an hour or two more to go. Well, it is going to be a cool night to sleep, rest, and recover.

Leadership Lessons: How often do you institute changes into your schedule? How soon do you change when you detect routine in your work and life? When was a time, where you stuck to routine knowing that you could have explored new territories and opportunities? How do you navigate around things that may dampen your enthusiasm?

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