Re-Setting The Clock

Upon touchdown on the tarmac, I sense a re-calibration of my sense of time. After 36 hours of enhanced tranquility on the island resort of paradise, Bali I was ready to immerse myself into the perceived helter-skelter of urban life. Having worked the entire of yesterday, I was still ‘working mode’ and envied those who were there on vacation.

As I ran yesterday evening, on the shores of the Jimbaran locality, I sensed that my metronome was oscillating a little too fast. My need for speediness contrasted significantly against the serendipity and sensuousness of the island. Most tourists were strolling slowly, albeit awkwardly whereas the local boys were kicking their footballs with the ferocity of goal-driven soccer players. The difference between the locals and the visitors was one group was having fun, while he other was trying to have fun.

Given time, nervous energy can be dissipated easily through activity. On Sunday morning, both participants of the Ironman Western Australia and Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon will be clocking their physical performance. As the day progresses, each of them will find their own timing and pace. The endurance race does not go to the stronger or the fastest, but the most patient…and patience is about bidding your own time.

My metaphor for life is that we are all in a queue within a larger queue. What we do in the queue determines how much we move ahead. There will be those who may cut the queue, and there are consequences when they are detected. For the rest of us, we can make the best use of our time and experience standing in line or shifting the line.

All the best to the runners and triathletes for 4 December! May you make full recovery and fulfill your personal destiny.

Leadership Lesson: How often do you reset your body clock? How often do you shift your internal metronome? When you go on vacation, are you able to relinquish your reliance on technology for a short duration? Do you bring your work home? How do you make the most of your time in the queue?

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?

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.

Pre-Race, Stress-Free, Thoughts

Pete Jacobs tweeted this a few days ago: Good 23k run. 21k under 4min pace. Am running faster than before Hawaii, but is the endurance going to be there for ironman WA?

For a sub-1:24 for the 21K during training, Jacobs will be a force to be reckoned with; he will be racing at IMWA this Sunday. He is an excellent swimmer and very strong runner. If the recent wins by Crowie, Macca and Rinnie are an indication the Australian professionals seem to be dominating the marathon and swims at Kona, Hawaii.

I was fortunate to have attended running and swim session with Jacobs. He taught me to lean more forward and run on my forefoot, to which I have enhanced my cadence and speed.

Massimo Cygana and Belinda Granger won the 2010 Laguna Phuket Tri Championships yesterday! There will be the 70.3 format this coming weekend in Phuket, as there will be the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I wish my friends a good race on Sunday morning!

Thank you to those who send me tweets, text messages and e-mails to wish me well for Ironman Western Australia. I appreciate them very much.

Here, courtesy of John Cooke of Perth, an article on tapering by the irreverent but relevant Chucky V. I enjoyed reading John’s weekly blogs on his journey leading up to IMWA. If you would like to start a blog, consider this article.

Meanwhile, taper well, and have a great week ahead. 

******

The article on peeing on the ride and run generated significant comments, including from seasoned racers. It is interesting that on this side of the pond, that minimizing down time in the most natural and uncomplicated way can be viewed as unpleasant. I merely shared my experience, and reiterated this practice with Chrissy Wellington’s latest blog post. It was not meant to repulse. Necessity dictates creating options. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Onward!

Pre-Race Premonition & Preparation

Four weeks more till Ironman Western Australia. Hopefully, the reports of shark sightings and shark attacks will not deter the participants from procuring thicker neoprene wetsuits. Some writers joke that it may motivate swimmers to swim faster and emerge from the waves and wake of Geographe Bay sooner. I hope to be one of them registering a PB, out of necessity and need.

For neophytes to the Ironman distance, here are additional suggestions (on essentials to bring along) from seasoned finishers of the 226K races:

1)    Have your bike serviced at least two weeks before as your bike-shop might be plagued by other desperate, last-minute requests (test-drive your bike after servicing, then degrease it before you pack before your trip)

2)    Bring as much tested-in-training nutrition as you will need for the race and before (Gatorade is the official drink, sports gels, energy bars, electrolyte tablets, instant noodles – comfort food after the race)

3)    Your racing clothes (2 X goggles, seasoned wetsuit, 2 X tri-suit, head-gear, eye-shades, helmet, running shoes, bike-shoes/cleats, socks, contact lenses or race-spectacles)

4)    Ward off wind-chill with warm clothing on race day (it gets cold at the T1 area when you set up; and you need dry clothes immediately after the race as it gets windy)

5)    Avoid buying from race-fair, except for gas canisters (bring your own inflator/adaptor, spare tubes/tyres, speedometer, duct-tape, Ziploc bags, Bento-Box, elastic bands, safety-light)

6)    Exchange currency into Australian Dollars; credit card (for post-race, Finisher merchandise purchase)

7)    Clean rags for cleaning your bike before and after the race (used socks are very useful)

8)    A mid-sized hand-pump (a Joe-Blow pump can be shared with close buddies if they carry some other stuff for you)

9)    Above all, zip up your tri-suit and remove all Spartan-shoulder pads (okay, stale sponges) before you leap, roll or dash through the Finish Line!