Countdown to the Big Climb

I have not been a big fan of hilly courses, although the former-Ironman Malaysia was a varied one with nice hills thrown in like the idiomatic ‘spanner’.

I have been studying the profile on the ride course of Ironman Switzerland. Three names come to mind, and finishers of the Ironman course in Zurich have uttered their names with respect. They are: Egg, Heartbreak Hill, and The Beast. As poignantly as these sections of the course are christened, those who survived have told the traditional tale of pain and heartbreak.

Having done what was considered one of the more challenging Ironman bike courses in Europe – Ironman Spain a.k.a. Ironman Lanzarote (Canary Islands) – twice, I have grown to respect foreign soil and my own fear. When confronting hills and harsh climbs, it is akin to facing your fears. Interestingly, our fears may reveal little more than anxiety, natural nerves, and an apparent lack of practice and training. In hill-scarce, Singapore sans mountains we can only ride on heavy-gears, up a relatively, pancake-flat island. Our only choices are to take a getaway trip to Desaru or Phuket or Bintan Island, to experience the frustrations and physical challenges of hilly terrain. Until you bravely train on rolling terrain and climb steep hills, then your riding skills and strength is limited only to superbly speedy (and often-times, stupidly fast) time-trials on flat roads. Or else, you can afford time on a Compu-Trainer, or crank it out on a turbo-trainer, indoors on high-gears, at specific heart-rates.

I haven’t done enough time on the hilly terrain of Malaysia or Indonesia, so can only courageously meet with my fate on Sunday with a sane (?) mind and my sound body. I have 16 hours to complete the task, and I await with bated breath my rundown into the finishers' chute.

Pedantic & Purposeful Preparation for Switzerland

I use Social Media 2.0 in a variety of active ways. My preferred applications include Twitter, Facebook and Blogspot. I use these tools for learning, sharing and building online and face-to-face relationships. I gratefully appreciate the opportunity to sense and recognize different perspectives from the experiences of others. Seek and ye may find. Ask and you may learn. Apply and you will realize through your experiencing, reflection, genuflection and insights.

In recent weeks, I have interviewed my Ironman friends (Reeves Lim, Neil Franks, Walter Strach III) who completed Ironman Switzerland since 2007. I have learnt that the bike course used to be three loops, and it will be done twice this year. The run course is relatively flat around Lake Zurich.

Most of my questions revolved around the ride, including two climbs known as ‘The Beast’ and ‘Heartbreak Hill’. As such, I have focused on building my riding strength, so as to ensure more resilience during my marathon. To earn my sub-4-hour marathon, I would have to not only improve my run but also to ride strong and not be fatigued. I recall the challenging times and experiences climbing in Ironman Lanzarote in 2008 and 2010. My lack of training and experience riding hills, led me to my longest race rides and a compromised marathon time. I took 4:44 to complete my marathon last year on the Canary Islands.

Running my ass off, for the final sprint into the finisher's chute. A tactical race (and tempo-training run), I had to start near the line and complete first. In terms of nett timings, honorable participant 5240 ran slightly faster than I. However, I placed a position ahead of him. Congratulations, mate! That's the way races go.

The past two weeks, I have earned my personal bests in training and racing. All my races are strategically arranged to allow me to peak on-time, and develop my sense of competition. My A-race is Ironman Switzerland (15 July), and so I need to be in my A-Game, with my A-races supporting my preparation. All the racing and [mostly] solo training will, hopefully, converge to a surprising finish, with memorable milestones throughout the race period. My friend, Dex Tai will be doing three back-to-back Ironmans beginning next weekend. It is part of his Cause and charity of choice, while I will be using my race to promote my Causes. I am grateful for my current fitness, supportive community, and dedicated family for allowing to achieve my performance best.

Another training run, a month ago. I used this race to assess my relative fitness for the 21K. A marathon would have affected my recovery and recuperation. I was pleased for holding this pace and still earn a sub-1:40 finish. My ranking was still top 1-percent of the field!

Leadership Lessons: Do your homework. Research thoroughly, interview comprehensively, and study the course assiduously. Mental rehearsals can help you create a sense of familiarity and déjà vu. Training is the ‘done that’ while your attempt is the ‘been there’. Create simulations to achieve a ‘been there, done that’ sensation. Make your training sessions tough enough without scaring yourself. Enjoy the process/journey.
Photo-credit: Running Kaki

Five Weeks Out & Sticking To The Plan

It is less than five weeks to Ironman Zurich – my next A-race in my endurance assessment. I have decided to aim for better times, and the results of this 226K triathlon will be a useful assessment of my overall multi-disciplinary fitness.

This evening, while running on my minimalist Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) with my friend Kenneth Tan, we chatted about the Masters-category athletes (since we fall within this bandwidth). I was glad that despite our deliberate, slower pace (Ken was apologetic about his relative lack of speed of 6 min/K), we did achieve 11.5K (in an easy 75 minutes). It was my longest ‘barefoot’ road-run, although I have done barefoot pool-running for up to 75 minutes. I am pleased to announce that after running a total of 2X21K runs (at 1:54 & 1:48 respectively on Tuesday and Thursday) within 48 hours, this completes my 53 hours of consecutive runs within a week. For my body, this mileage is adequate as I can focus on a weekend of consecutive rides and swims.

Tomorrow, I will do a moderate-distance ride (lactate-threshold, aerobic session) and on I will do a 60K cycling race on Sunday morning (an anaerobic/strength session). What I am mindful is I have to complete my longest sessions for ride and run, as the main deal-breaker for an overall PB time are the last two disciplines. I have a 10K hilly run next Sunday, and a 21K run race a week before Zurich, so these will useful tuners for my racing mindset. So far, all is well and intend to maintain my slow but sure progress. I am getting enough quality sleep, and amplified my protein intake (including high-quality whey protein), essential fatty acids (krill oil), and antioxidants (plant-based, and the algae asthaxantin). My body fat is dropping, muscle tone is enhanced, and core strength is still reliable.