Your Highness!

Last weekend, I watched ‘Your Highness’ and I enjoyed it for the wrong reason: unbridled, crass, scathing, humour. It is always a treat to watch serious actors not take themselves too seriously in films with simple plotlines. Academy-Award winner, Natalie Portman and Academy-Award nominee James Franco ham it up to the hilt in this farcical play. It is sure to be a classic, as it is a hit with nerds and geeks. Not everyone's cup of tea, especially if you are Java kind of kind. Leave your inhibitions at the door and just immerse in the comedy!

Good news: we will interview multi-disciplined athlete extant, Sheila Taormina soon. She has participated over three disciplines (modern pentathlon, swimming and triathlon) over three Olympic Games. She won a gold medal in the 4X200m swim relay in 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and placed high in the triathlon. She is now a motivational speaker, author and swim coach: three solid disciplines in life after competitive international sports.

Tomorrow, we fly off to Brisbane then head straight by train to the Gold Coast. It will be a short vacation, with it epicenter at the Gold Coast Marathon. I had a deep tissue massage at Core Concepts by Danny yesterday, and am still slightly sore. It could have been due to my last 21K run on Monday evening.

I enjoyed this evening’s ‘live’ concert: Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite Tour. The sets were amazing, with high-resolution graphics and videos. Dancers and trapeze dancers accompanied her; it felt like a Cirque Du Soleil performance, albeit with live singing from Minogue and her two back-up singers. We were on our feet most of the time as the audience felt compelled to stand up and dance, so a bit dodging of the traffic, so to speak. What a prelude before my Big Dance in Australia, from this petite Aussie Diva with the ability to hit the high notes. Dance on!

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!