MY TAKE ON LONGEVITY IN ENDURANCE-SPORTS (Anecdotally-Scientific) Part 2

Ironman 70.3 Philippines 2017: Thankfully, did not walk except between aid-stations

This concludes a two-part series of my tacit experiences and wisdom gleaned from racing in endurance sports for 14 years.

11) Stretch whenever you can, systematically would be best. However, in its absence a sports massage, or self-massage (with a trigger ball or roller) helps in promoting recovery. Learn to knead, jostle, press and pummel sore muscles.
12) Water-based activities like swimming or water-jogging, reduces undue impact from land-based activities like running. Use aquatic activities to release the body from gravity-based sports-induced stress. Also, cross-train by including other activities (swim, ride and run are examples).
13) I never had a major spate of injuries, save for one case of a hairline fracture on my toe (2 months NO running), mild plantar fasciitis, and being hit by a taxi while riding (beyond my control) where I sustained a cheek fracture in 2010. Staying injury-free means being disease-free. Move from dis-ease to ease!
14) Increase your intake of antioxidants, and choose those that suit your body (natural and packaged). Include tonics made from herbal remedies and concoctions. Bone-broth or soups are very useful.
15) Seek the help of physiotherapists, chiropractors, bodycare specialist, nutritionists, massage therapists, and the like - they help remind us to stay mobile, nimble and functional.
16) Include High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions, occasionally. 1-2 such sessions awakes the body to new-found activation and, perhaps, speed. Use strength-based , gym sessions to supplement your development of musculature.
17) Seek a coach to help you with plateaus and form/gait correction. Seek a coach if you wish to be competitive and improve on your personal best (PB) timings.
18) If you are racing, then train to race. You cannot work beyond your trained threshold of intensity.
19) Seek your motivation: If you train with a team, it has its inherent 'push and pull' factors. If you prefer the occasional solitude, then do your long sessions alone. If you are uncomfortable with toxic members, steer away from them. Mix with those who help you achieve your Best Version of Yourself.
20) It is a life-long journey towards personal excellence, so there is still much to learn, educate and glean from personal experience.

MY TAKE ON LONGEVITY IN ENDURANCE-SPORTS (Anecdotally-Scientific)

After being in the endurance game since 2002, I wanted to share my mild wisdom sustaining my performance over 4 competitive age-groups.
1) Have more than 6 hours of sleep each night. Get a comfortable mattress, curtains drawn, and away from electronic devices (if possible).
2) Skip a day of exercise, if you feel like it. It is, after all, an extreme sport. You need not be extreme about life, in general.
3) Nutrition is one of the keys to recovery: Eat sensibly, guided by what is healthy for you.
4) Reduce your intake of refined sugar and refined grains. Whole-foods, relatively-unprocessed, home-cooked, allows control in this option. Pack your home-cooked food to work.
5) You need not live a monastic life: Exercise may be part of your lifestyle, and may not be your only life. Exercise is a form of self-expression.
6) Race occasionally to test yourself, however each race is an intense workout that requires full recovery. Our races validates our hard and consistent training.
7) Focus on good sources of fats: coconut oil, olive oil (EVOO and normal), butter, eggs, and animal fat. Figure this one out on your own as it is very subjective based on beliefs and practice. Reduce the GMO-versions (corn & soya), when possible.
8) Have 'easy' days intersperse 'hard' workout days. Off-Season, focus on Low Heart-Rate, Distance-Training.
9) 80:20 Rule when it comes to eating. Use your intuition and tastebuds as your guides.
10) Check for food allergies. Once identified, reduce or eliminate that food type.
*This was first posted on my Facebook page.*

Service Over!

When was the last time you experienced excellent service? Seriously. What has the last two decades yielded with the plethora of service training opportunities? We talk about service standards, moments of truth, customer satisfaction and excellence, yet we experience more disappointments than fulfillment.

Can you be excellent in service if you don’t excel in it? To excel in something is to want to be better at what you are good at. How many of our staff enjoy serving the customers? How good are they?

If staff disliked customers, how can they truly serve the customers? It would be hypocritical. It would be tantamount to giving lip, in lip service. Service should include values – both personal and professional; these are you personal touches, useful touches, and significant touches. Otherwise, the attempts to raise service levels become flaccid, confusing and lacklustre. Training harder does not make you a better runner if you lack the talent and the heart. It is about finding your forte and passion, and then running away with it.

Consider this: Instead of service excellence, focus on getting things right, and then doing the right things. Be effective before being efficient. Notch your service levels. Exceed yourself. Raise the bar of your competence. Create relationships of worth with your customers. Give them pleasant experiences they will remember fondly. Build on your capabilities. Create a sense of delivery. Create a sense of occasion.

How would you serve another? How would leaders serve their team? Which disservice would you eliminate from your approach?


On another note, here is my wish-list for sports-event organisers:
1) Ensure champion-chips/timing devices work as not getting a timing is a major disappointment.
2) Provide adequate nutrition at aid-stations; never run out of water and sports-drink.
3) Charge participants reasonably, if the race-kit is minimal; seek sponsors to defray your operating costs.
4) Provide reassurance that our sports equipment is well looked after.
5) A race t-shirt would make the event memorable. If you charge us for it, ensure that you have a wide variety of sizes.
6) Respect your sponsors and participants: We are an influential tribe.

The Value of Applied Discipline

I learnt much about the practice of discipline in the military reserves. I appreciated the relevance of sticking to standard operating procedures (SOP), standards of performance, and sticking the plan. Later in my careers, I discovered that discipline involves meeting exhausting deadlines, streamlining work processes, and delivering follow up/follow through in sales and service.

In recent years, my sense of discipline extended to writing everyday, following a training regime for Ironman triathlons, working in close collaboration with strategic partners, and auditing my business processes and proposals.

Discipline involves waking up early to train when others are resting soundly at home. It includes making decisions that may be uncomfortable and unpleasant at times, however will reap a sense of achievement and accomplishment after doing it. 

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I can finally rest, or rather, train and rest adequately after four days of continuous training workshops; my voice was somewhat strained after all that teaching facilitation. I found today to be especially memorable, facilitating a workshop on core values. We focused on excellence, a value that is associated with performance and quality.

Tomorrow morning, as the tide is highest at about 8.00am, I will swim about 6-8 laps with the TriFam squad in the lagoon. We will then follow this 2.2-3K swim up with a fast 4.5K run as a brick session. I am definitely looking forward to the workout and pleasant company. Sunday will be a long ride, so that will be the first long one after IMWA. My first duathlon will be a week from Sunday; it will be a good test of my fitness for 2011. I will run the Hong Kong Marathon in a month’s time, so smart training will be my specific focus of the next 30 days.

Nine Ways to Increase your Value as Employee 2.0

Employee 2.0 is the revised, reviewed and reloaded version of staff in this decade. This is the staff that detests coercive power, and leadership by fear. He/she is of Generation Y: highly mobile, very technology-minded, highly sociable, and focused on their future needs, and current lifestyle.

Employee 2.0 focuses on being employable. They are mindful about the parameters of being valued and valuable. They navigate from being worthy to worthwhile to creating worthiness. They continue to reinvent themselves to stay fresh and attractive to their organisations.

Here are ways to consider how to enhance your value:

1. Learn new skills

2. Apply existing skills and aim for excellence

3. Ensure that you have unique, potable, and marketable skills

4. Actively network across different industries

5. Use social media tools to stay informed and in-touch with the world

6. Focus on Personal Branding 2.0

7. Focus on Personal Leadership 2.0

8. Take up leadership positions

9. Be an expert in your field