A Bike Frame In Time

My new frame arrived today!

Thanks to my crash warranty from Elite Custom Singapore (and master-bike fitter, David Greenfield), I had my order of my customized Elite Razor triathlon frame expedited – in time for Ironman New Zealand. It is unpainted, as I will have to race on it on 3 March, then retro-paint it. This will give me time to ponder on my colour choice and design.

Old versus new bike-frame: painted versus untainted surface. 

A careless moment while riding caused me to crash into the back of a stationary truck. Although I escaped relatively uninjured, my bike suffered severe physical impact. I am nursing a suspected hairline fracture on one or two ribs, and my chest has eased in its pain.

On Friday, I will get refitted on my new bike (save for salvaged parts like my Edge carbon wheels, crank-set, Profile aero-bars, and cockpit). I am thankful and hopeful about my performance on this new iron horse. I feel more reassured instead of anxious without my trusty tri-bike and reliable measurements. A trial ride on Saturday, and then I will pack my bike for Monday’s trip to Middle Earth.

Monday’s Musings

I was watching an episode of the original 1970’s (actually 1968-1980) series of ‘Hawaii Five-O’ where Steve McGarett utters, ‘Every man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind.’ The late-Jack Lord was the leader of the police squad on the Big Island, home of the Ironman World Championships for the last 30 years. The Kona Lottery closes on 28 February.

Onboard the Airport Express service en-route to my hotel: Wearing my Ironman NZ team t-shirt, I am reminded of a need to taper correctly. Coach sent me my second-last weekly program which involves less mileage, however with just as much intensity to keep my system alert for next weekend’s race.

David Chambers rode 200K a few ago, and faced one of the many unpredictable and prevalent sandstorms. Even Tom Cruise had to endure this as part of his filming challenges on Mission Impossible.

All the best to Team IM Melbourne in the inaugural race in late-March! It will be a busy month of the new year with the 226K triathlon challenge. Have a great week, all!

Peaking, Puking & Poking Holes

With 3 more weeks to go to my 12^th Ironman, I feel I am beginning to gain momentum in my progress. The grind through the long sessions was particularly hard on both my body and mind. My upper body strength during my swim sessions is improving. My riding speed is holding steady, especially with a road-bike and narrow-rimmed wheels. My run off the ride is more certain, sure and studied. My running cadence is nearing 90rpm consistently, with the heightened possibility of a negative split (I hope). These remaining weeks will be crucial, for I have a disruptive professional work schedule.

Holding back at times can be hard, especially when you are in the ‘zone’. Once warmed up, or when you experience your ‘second wind’ it can be tempting to push harder. Experiencing nausea, gastrointestinal (GI) distress and vomiting means the body is not coping with the pace and intensity of effort. To use a superhero analogy, one would do better to not express one’s powers fully until the right time. It is okay to experience fear, if fear keeps you alert to danger.

With my track record with pre-race injury, I need to be mindful and not just cautious. Any residual injury can usurp my position for optimal performance. If I have to dig deep with sub-optimal conditions, it may be pushing myself too hard. This may have implications on my 13^th race in Switzerland in July. My strategy is to recover completely and plunge into more race-specific fitness focused on key areas where I can gain more speed and sustainability. I seem to be healing from my recent injuries and this evening's 2-hour strength ride with two sets of 30-minute time trials was promising. I held a 30kph pace, against persistent headwinds whilst on my road-bike setup. I am optimistic about my performance once I switch to aero-wheels.

Leadership Lessons: How often do you poke holes in your plan? How critical are you about inefficiency (including wastage)? How hard do you push yourself without devouring your reserves? How well do you monitor your performance? When do you know to throttle down your ambition?

Switching Gears: My Second Meso-Cycle

I am sore in my arms; a result of a fairly intense swim squad session. This evening’s Monday Night Swim session with 22 members, including recent Ironman finishers was my first serious session after a long season of racing in marathons. Tonight spells exactly one week after my post-flu, Singapore Marathon completion. It is timely to switch gears and shift from pure distance-running to triathlon-specific race training.

I have 11 more weeks to go before Ironman New Zealand. Coach has prescribed my first week of conditioning and it includes no rest, but active recovery. My schedule for the second week of my second meso-cycle (4 week-block) looks daunting, partly because I will be focused on more mileage and power-specific intervals. As I will be on two weeks of vacation, I will be able to train more diligently and enjoy more sleep. Of course, Fox has been kind to suggest some degree of flexibility for a time-crunched athlete. Olympian and veteran coach, Chris Carmichael also wrote a book to address the serious triathlete who is tight for time, yet wants to excel based on the ‘quality time’ approach.

This phase of my training that will run through the end of the year is about engaging adaptation. Apply new stress on the body gradually, and it will adapt by becoming stronger, faster and fitter. Deprive it of much needed rest and nutrition, and it may not recover well and may weaken. The axiom is: Train, recover, and race. Repeat. The delicate line of consideration is: stress the body exceedingly and briefly, but not excessively and prolonged. One hard week is followed by one easier week. Active recovery and rest is an integral part of athletic improvement and progression.

I look forward to this phase of my triathlon training as, after withdrawing from IM Canada this year, I was eager to race again. After a hectic season of running-based races, I ready to race an Ironman. Perhaps, my first 226K-race will be my opportunity to do a personal record (PR) I was denied last year. I suffered a bad crash when a taxi knocked me down while I was cycling one month before IM New Zealand. I eventually raced, although not at my best and posted a 13-plus hour completion. I was disallowed any swimming as my fractured cheek would have risked infection of my sinus.

I also signed up for Ironman Switzerland on 15 July. I chose it as the Australian M-Dot branded races were all sold out. IM Western Australia 2012 sold out in just 69 minutes, as the wave of fervent interest for the 226K-triathlon format increases. All Asian Ironman races have been discontinued, with the other Kona slots distributed over the new Australian M-Dot races.

Leadership Lessons: How do you cope with physical and mental changes? What is your coping mechanism for crisis and emergencies? How open are you to changes? How do you cope with changes in the marketplace? How do you stay relevant and contemporary? How much time do you factor in for rest and recovery?

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 10^th 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?

Re-Calibration & Measuring Up

'To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.' - Steve Prefontaine


As a society, we are fond of measuring ourselves: body weight, status, salary, achievements, number of friends, goals and performance. Many of us allow ourselves to be possessed and obsessed with scientific measures. We live with weighing-scales, heart-rate monitors, bodyfat measures, cholesterol and triglycerides levels, measuring tapes and stop-watches.

What we measure determines our future direction. When we have not reached our desired targets, we tend to explore ways of reaching them, or make compromises. It is so easy to make excuses, when it is more useful to attribute reasons to our shortcomings. Measurements help us reconcile our perceived gap of ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’. Working with coaches, we also accommodate verbal feedback – analysed from our measured performance.

I missed my Boston Marathon entry by 73 seconds. It was a case of ‘made it however it was not good enough’. That being the case, I will now focus my energies and strategies on my next Boston Qualifier, aiming to smash my current personal best time by a larger margin. As of 2013, my age group BQ will be 3:25:00 with no allowance for a second more from this cutoff time. As such, I am determined to crack this new ceiling, and by a memorable margin of at least 5 minutes. I hope to do a 3:20-3:25 at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon in Singapore – a humid and hot course.

I have my work cut out for me, yet that does not deter me from reaching my potential. Based on current performance, I am on-track for a sub-3:30 timing. My 1:33 at the SBR/AHM 21K about three weeks ago, gave me some confidence for doing a 3:20 in about eight weeks’ time. I just need to inject more strength and speed workouts to achieve this new formidable, but possible, target.

I am looking forward to my new achievements. It is useless to focus on my disappointment as it is a thing of my past. There are always new hurdles to surmount, and new mental mountains to climb. We can work with results, as they are outcome-based. There are not foregone conclusions.

I also look forward to Ironman New Zealand 2012, where my psychological and physical limits will be challenged. I intend to earn my all-time best performance, where I arrive in my best physical fitness, and highest health. The last three outings on the 226K were made on nominal fitness and accident-based injuries. In 2010, I suffered fractures (car accident) and sprains yet raced and completed all my ventures. My adventures were my accomplishments and milestones in my, otherwise, challenged and challenging year.

I am patient still, and will bide my time as I anticipate a better competitive year, filled with promise and premise. I will give my best and race with my heart.


Photo-credit: Yellow Ribbon Project 

Roundup of A Good Week

I attended my first F1 race - the Singtel F1 Singapore Night Race - last night. Actually, I was there to watch the hour-long Charice concert that was good. Her muscular vocals were, unarguably, credible in a live situation. After her ‘standing-room-only’ concert we proceeded to watch the ‘dry-runs’ by all the racers. As we did not bring along earplugs, the high-decibel, high-frequency, roar by hyper-horsepower race-carts made it harsh on our hearing.

I am enjoying my reading of a few books; I reviewed Neil Gaiman’s ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ early this week. I bought about five books, mainly biographies at 70 percent discount at the Borders’ Clearance Sale. They were not the latest books, as some dated back a few years. Nevertheless, the ailing store achieved its goal of cleaning up a significant fraction of its backlog of unsold books.

I delivered two short sharing sessions, and I enjoyed the experiences. Working within an hour’s limit can be challenging as it encourages you to dive deep into your resourcefulness. Sometimes, we can enjoy gratefully creative linkages of ideas. They flow gracefully, like water on polished pebbles, creating a liveliness that animates the surrounding. Fresh ideas and perspectives can exorcise the demons of doubt and suspicion.

This morning, six of us headed for our fortnightly lagoon swim. A few will don their wetsuits, in preparation for Ironman Western Australia; others will begin their preparation for IM New Zealand. We swam between four to six laps, with the usual transitional break between laps. In the afternoon, Richard Leong (who helped us design our blog and twitter masthead/covers) and I went over to Singapore-based Elite Custom to chat with its US representative, Jason Schiers and distributors of ENVE Composites (pronounced as ‘envy’ or ‘NV’) – manufacturers of carbon wheels and tubes for custom-crafted bicycles from Parlee and Elite. They recently worked with hard-hitters of XTerra including Tim DeBoom - winner of Norseman 2011. The Utah, Salt Lake City based company of carbon-based bike-forms is ubiquitous with off-road and on-road. This weekend, Lance Armstrong will compete  (his first triathlon in 23 years) in the ENVE city to compete in the Snowbasin XTerra.

All the best to those doing the long course triathlon in Desaru! I give a huge shout out to Melvin How, Reeves Lim, Kevin Siah, and the Triathlon Family.

Wrestling With Wicked Weekends

Since last week, every weekend will involve a race; beginning 28 August and ending 18 September, I will have three runs and one long-distance triathlon. This was deliberately decided since I withdrew from Ironman Canada. I intend to put my focus on Ironman New Zealand next year and score the PB that eluded me last year. In February 2010, a taxi knocked me down during my ride, one month before my 226K-race in the beautiful Maori country. So, I have some unfinished business with myself.

Tomorrow, at 5.15am all those doing the Army Half-Marathon will be flagged off. Most of my sleep would have been invested two nights before; anyway, I race better with less sleep and it keeps me edgy (in a good way). I hope all goes well, and I aim to maintain a consistent pace throughout the race.

For most people, weekends mean a time to enjoy purposeful rest. Instead, for endurance athletes, weekends are opportunities to partake in races and competitive racing. It may sound ironical that we subject our bodies to physical assault, and derive some pleasure from it. Mass sports leverage on weekends to draw the numbers, thus the large congregation of participants and congested roads. We are much maligned by motorists on weekends because of our occasional priorities to own the roads and route for a few precious hours. Thus, clearance for new race routes that intersect major thoroughfares and roads take a long time. The new Mega-Tri long-distance triathlon will take place next week at reduced and diminished road circuits, therefore six loops of riding was designed, plus three loops of the 9K run route.

I was tickled by Matt’s post about triathletes. Enjoy the perspectives. To wit, I add the following to the ‘list’: 

1)    I walk slower behind my partner when I am not training.

2)    I worry about the ’30-minute window’ after training where I must get quality nutrition instead of taking a much-needed shower.

3)    I am more concerned that my Garmin watch collected my training data than it telling time.

4)    I get excited being tagged by somebody on Facebook about a racing photograph I appeared in.

5)    I get self-conscious when wearing my finisher ‘M-Dot’ t-shirts in public, wondering what messages it conveys.

Have a great weekend all!