New Goals, New Strategies and New Commitments

I have seriously reviewed my endurance training system while evaluating my fluctuating racing results over the past year, and decided to realistically go back to fundamentals. Parallel to this, I have evaluated and reviewed my current training and racing strategies.

Fundamentals include the basics. These are foundational knowledge and applications that can help enhance our capabilities. If we stick to them, we seldom go wrong. Despite calling them the basics, we still need to get them right and execute them correctly. For instance, develop proper technique before speed and be injury-free before performance.

I have worked on recovering from minor injuries due to overuse and weak core muscles. My (first-ever case of) plantar fasciitis is clearing up with my diligence and discipline doing core stability workouts, circuit training and kettle-bell workouts for strength building. I have resumed running on Vibrams Five Fingers (VFF) to strengthen my ankles and soles although I read that Barefoot Ken still thinks that any footwear (however minimalist in properties) is still supported, as your feet do not have a complete feel of the ground. I am still experimenting with his approach of: ‘Start barefoot, then transition into shoes.’

My running is coming on strong, however I have reduced it to allow my riding and swimming fitness to be brought up to speed. My new schedule for this racing season include:

1)    Three rides a week (comprising two higher intensity rides, and one long ride).

2)    Focus on swim-specific drills, mainly on exact form especially flotation, gliding, breathing and sighting.

3)    Include one or two, twice-daily, split sessions for one of the three disciplines.

4)    Observe better nutrition of a natural diet, supplemented with protein shakes and antioxidants.

5)    Train with a fast group or squad once a week (for all three disciplines).

6)    Sleep at least 6-8 hours a day, and earlier.

7)    Race selectively, and select my A-races with more discernment (Bay Run 2011; Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2011; Ironman New Zealand 2012; Boston Marathon 2012?).

How do you put your expensive wetsuit on correctly? Carelessness and ignorance can cost you when you damage it with improper suiting up methods. You may even reduce your cost of using additional accessories just to slip into something ‘more comfortable’.

This is a very good blog by M. Rameshon, Singapore’s current record-holder for the full marathon. You get scientific insights with tacit wisdom and experiences of a seasoned, and still very active and capable competitive runner. He is the coach of some of our fastest age-groupers in the marathon.

Have a good week!

Expertly Evaluating Our Opinions

The study of knowledge is known as epistemology. Certainly, a larger body of study about the knowledge about knowledge itself has been established – however, it is a ‘meta-‘ description it. Knowledge can be out-dated, so we need to up-date it. Applied knowledge works better when our information is current and timely. Failure to act on timely information can lead to disastrous implications, whereas a stitch in time saves nine.

Facts can be corrected; people will correct your facts. Even indisputable laws of physics are only facts, until proven otherwise (as outliers, aberrations and abnormalities are wont to do). Once a wrong assumption has been made, it triggers off a spate of false logic that consumes knowledge to back it up. You may have heard of anecdotal evidence about researchers changing their data to fit their hypotheses. Factual inaccuracies are poor sources of facts. Thus, journalism serves to seek out the truth without impinging on privacy like hacking into private phone conversations and text messages. Another corollary could be the direction that Wiki-Leaks took. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction – or more.

With the operative language of distortion, deletion and generalisation in communication, how much of the news can we trust without being cynical or paranoid?

When you evaluate a process or appraise a staff’s performance, do you do it as a pre-mortem or post-mortem? It is so easy to criticize without adequate facts, and more so when the person does not have a chance to defend their case. Be cautious and mindful when you use Social Media as a platform to air your grievances, air dirty laundry and articulate your thoughts. Some thoughts and opinions are best left to our own privacy. Digital imprints of our ‘verbal sharing’ during our emotional highs and lows can be traced back, and used as weapons of mass manipulation by others.

Instead, be thankful for small mercies. Give feedback and assert your influence when it falls on deaf ears. Catch people doing right, instead of merely ‘in the wrong’!

Your public persona and personality is also measured by how you evaluate others. Are you a fair manager? Do you treat others fairly? How impartial are you when you facilitate conflict at your workplace? Jumping the gun, or making a premature judgement reflects on your lack of observation, interpretation and prejudices.

Mind your head, heart and hands!

Leadership Lessons: When was the last time that you audited your knowledge? How often do you admit it when you are proven wrong? How do you respond to feedback that your facts are wrong?

*****

Congratulations to all the runners who completed the 10K and 21K races of the Marina21K Run! I hoped that you enjoyed your first experience at completing such a distance. I was pleased to see participants at our run clinic show up and run the race. I look forward to seeing you in-person again at other races. Continue to race, when you can and feel you want to, and enjoy this lifestyle that you have designed for yourself!

I enjoyed my stint as a volunteer, mainly escorting the Guest-of-Honour and flagging off the runners. I coordinated the release and withdrawal of the start-off banner, which was a new experience for me – seven times. It was particularly more stressful during the first wave of the half-marathon when the professional runners were inches away from the banner, raring to go. Several Kenyan runners were standing alongside Singapore’s top 5,000m runner and SEA Games 2007 gold-medalist in triathlon, Mok Ying Ren. Even though the prize purse was small for a pro, the air of competition was so thick that you could cleave it with a butter knife. One of these Kenyan pro-runners was interviewed at the start-line by charismatic emcee, Ross who asked him his timing for the 21K. His reply of ‘1:02!’ led to a short burst of awed silence before a resounding and appreciative applause. Somebody uttered in shock: ‘That’s how long it take for me to complete 12K!’ Well put – I concur.

Dennis Quek - my swim-buddy with an infectious positive attitude towards life..

A big shout out to runners from Team Fatbird, Boston Uncle Kor, and friends from Triathlon Family and our armed forces for your positive energy and participation. Tribes and sneezers of the world unite.

Clever wordsmith and endurance buddy, Munn (a few hours fresh from his vacation)

Photo-credits: Marathon Mohan (over-130 marathons completed!) & KK Chin - both from Team Fatbird

Calibrating Your Performance

I finally got my timing for the Newton 30K Run held on 10/10/10. This time, the results were sorted according to actual timing. I made the top-6 percent cut in the 30K Men’s Challenge category at 79^th position within a field of 1376 finishers. If I include the highly commendable performance of the women (which numbered another 304), I would have been promoted higher. I had a reasonable timing of 2:35:17 while recovering from a marathon.

Comparing how I felt, I believe that it would take less than a month to fully recover from a marathon. I am of the opinion that we can benefit from the secondary gain of a post-marathon peak. You can still register PBs for shorter distances which was what I was attempting during my month-long, evaluation process.

We evaluate and calibrate our performance with others and ourselves. In performance appraisals, both Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Key Results Areas (KRA) are used to measure our performance. In industries, we call this benchmarking. You can compare your performance with previous results, or contrast it with others. You either measure for similarity or differences. Consider how you integrate your abilities, capabilities, skills, relationships, attitude and mindset into your total value and performance.

As an athlete, you can also calibrate your performance progress through your training. Each training session gives us a sense of how we feel at a certain intensity of effort. Certainly, there are low days as there are highs. It is difficult to stay at the top of the totem pole for a long time.

How are you calibrating your performance?