Going For Gargantuan Goals

Work At Home Joe suggested that we write down, each day, our 3-5 important accomplishments to stay focused on them. For me, today they were:

1)    Swim drills at noon (despite the drizzle)

2)    Get fitted for my new bike

3)    Decide on components for my new, permanent bike

4)    Ask questions of experts (Coach Wilson, a 3-time finisher for X-Terra, Ironman/70.3 World Championships; bike-fitters Daphne Wee and Adeline Khoo)

5)    Test-drive my new stead

All five goals were completed. This was for Tuesday. Having incurred a wrist injury yesterday while riding, I will make new goals with healing as my priority. I was amazed I endured another two hours on my bike – the customized fitting allowed me to do it – before I headed home. Two brushes with rain was enough simulation for race-day exigencies.

Here is a good interview of M Rameshon – undisputedly, Singapore’s fastest marathoner – with Ashley Liew, an elite triathlete and marathoner who intends to crack the 2:40 mark for the 42.195K. Enjoy!

Finding Fast Lanes & Faster Manes

This is a slight departure from our leadership lessons. Later this afternoon, I will ride 120K with my buddy. I will explore the potential of both my fitness and my new bike. This is another viewpoint of my brand-new iron-horse.

My New ELITE Bike Arrives Today!

I will be getting my Elite Bicycles Razor Carbon frame set up to my needs this afternoon. Since I like familiarity, I will attempt to get similar components. As one friend described it, it is my 'hybrid triathlon bike'. For the merely curious and pedestrian, pictures of my new carbon stead will be posted this evening. I feel like an expectant father. Meanwhile, I made plans to ride and run tomorrow and Thursday. It won't be a pretty deal: 120K ride/10K run - bricks before the race. Should be fast and furious. Stay tuned!
*****

It was a quiet ride with Eastern Night Riders (ENR), all five of us with two new riders Peter (friend of ENR co-founder Edward Kor) and Andy (new expatriate on the block). I caught up with the rest, eventually, when I arrived to find the car-park deserted. Thankfully, I joined up with Caroline, Ed, Tee, and the two new friends. My new ride was initiated by a trial-by-fire moderate-paced ride of 30K (excluding to/fro time from home - about another 14K). Here she is, in all her splendour. My name and surname is on each side of the front forks, for easy identification during Transition. Handcrafted by David Greenfield of ELITE Bicycles of Philadelphia, USA it was specially painted to my request by Keith Hatton, ELITE's Art Director. Maroon happens to be my company's corporate colours.

There are additional parts not featured yet, like the Edge Composite 1.45 wheel-set. These are similar to the ZIPPS 404s I used before. It arrives tomorrow, so I can ride it out on a 120K route. Well, that's the plan. My body will have to adjust to my new mount, although it has been custom-fitted to my body. Glad to know from bike fitter/director, Daphne Wee (who spent the afternoon tweaking the bike with me) that there was not much variation from my original measurements. Perhaps, my body has learnt new good habits since my first fitting months ago. Looking forward to tomorrow's ride with IMWA participant, Hui Koon. 

Monday’s Value = Collaboration

Values have value, be they Core values, Personal values or Professional values. Values support beliefs. Beliefs drive behaviors. Our substance and character are built on values.

When leadership fails, you can attribute it to a difference, and even clash of values. It eludes me how industries and companies reward selfish leadership. Perhaps the western model of leadership is to be studied closely for its insouciant ways when we approvingly applaud mavericks, dropouts, iconoclasts and oddballs. Leadership charisma can easily overlook the lack of leadership effectiveness and integrity.

Collaboration seems like a good start to enhancing teams. It involves the sharing of cooperation and equity (from Gary Yardley & Sally Rundle). Our intention include:

Together, we share so that we all participate in success.

Together, we work so that we find new ways to operate.

Rapper, Jay-Z and rock-band Linkin Park collaborated on their 2004 album, Collision Course. Far from colliding into conflict, their creative efforts bore fruit for an experimental studio work that yielded several hits – a mish mash of their own songs. In the feature documentary on the accompanying DVD, you are treated to vignettes of how artistes work together with the purpose of artistic and creative output. Instead of prima donnas butting heads, they blended their talents and ideas to form a musically, complementary collaboration. Cirque Du Soleil is more than a circus; it is an energetic collaboration of acrobats, dancers and musicians.

Lead with your values!

Here are two splendid (read: add value) articles by my fellow Leadership bloggers (Michael Hyatt, and Linked2Leadership) on Guy Kawasaki’s ALLTOP portal:

http://michaelhyatt.com/my-take-on-the-vibram-fivefingers-running-shoes.html

http://linked2leadership.com/2009/09/02/leadership-lessons-from-comedy/

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!

So Much For Big-Man Plans

Today, I dropped out of my 200K ride at the 135K-mark; I was annoyed that I had to bail out on Hui Koon who’s headed to IMWA. He managed 195K, which was pretty near what I covered last weekend when he blew his tyre out. I completed just under-150K, or five hours worth of pedaling. The road was busy with groups of roadies, Ironman-in-training and familiar faces (Nicholas, Ai Ling, and Robert Choy of T3 Bicycle Gears). As the morning grew into afternoon, the cyclists gradually made an exodus for cooler pastures.

I was struggling with a persistent spasm on my upper right trapezius muscles and middle back. Essentially, the entire right scapula was tight when I was in the aero-position. Sitting upright did me no good, as the wind resistance created in the totem position only served to slow me down.

I dialed up an appointment at the massage centre at Parkway Parade and secured a 20-minute session. The masseur requested that I let him know if his pressure was too hard, but I let him have a good go at it. It stung when he hit the epicenter of the muscle spasm. A muscle spasm can only be released by going at it deep. It certainly hurts. However, if you work at it hard and long enough, the tensed muscles will relent, and relax. Sore as I was after the massage, the pain was reduced and I have more mobility in the troubled area.

Monday’s 90-minute session at Core Concepts with my sports masseur should reveal and release all accumulated spasms. My legs are battlefields of tightness, like a large pincushion of alert pressure points. For the last two weeks I have been doing at least 15-17 hours total training time. This has been the most intense fortnight of my Ironman training ever. I used to get by with 10-12 hours per week, but that was enough to ensure I completed in decent times. To earn a PB in any of the three disciplines, I would have to work longer and with more intensity.

This coming week, I will be working just as hard before I taper off. So, I have more – shorter but intense - workouts to do. So, more drills and distance to cover; but additional sleep will be a bonus I shall relish.

Lessons from The Three Little Pigs and Their Architecture

I like the fairy tale of the Three Little Pigs. Each of the swine built a house of specific resilience and integrity. So, when the Big Bad Wolf ‘huffed and puffed and blew the house’, he was testing the substance of each domicile and how well it met the criteria of testing. As we all know by now, the house made of bricks withstood the attempts of the hyperventilating canine. The brick and mortar house was more solid than the virtual houses made of straw and sticks.

The aforementioned fairy tale is analogous to endurance training. The house of bricks refers to building a strong foundation of base distance (lots of kilometres in the off-season). Long distance training helps build endurance, which is relevant when stepping up the intensity in later phases of pre-competition preparation. It is part of one’s periodisation which is critical for peaking on race-day.

Dropped like a brick is a term that means ‘to be overtaken and left in the wake’. Speed-demons delight in demoralizing lesser riders by first tagging along, and then breaking away from the pack. This is analogous to being dropped like a hot potato, where a girl ignores a guy after leading him on. However, I digress.

A training brick is a combination of two or more disciplines performed consecutively – with minimal rest. Thus, you do a swim/ride, swim/run and ride/run bricks. Hui Koon and I did a ride/run brick yesterday and scored a PB in training. He describes it clearly on his blog. Congrats on your PB, mate!

At the end of my brick session, I pedaled off to the lagoon food-centre for my usual nutritional punch of coconut juice – this is the official drink of marooned members of the television series Survivor. In the past, Asians believe that coconut juice and water convolvulus (kangkung) may lead to weakened legs. Perhaps this is an Old Wives’ Tale, as sports nutritionists amplify the relevance of coconut juice as having loads of water and electrolytes including potassium, sodium  and some magnesium (thus, used as an emergency intravenous fluid). So far, my personal experiment with the coconut (not a true nut) had not compromised my heavily used legs. My biking legs are building up well. My new Elite Razor Tri frame will arrive early next week, and I am now designing the configuration of my final racehorse. Stay tuned!

Photo-credit: http://www.indrani.net/

Training for a Deca-Ironman

About five months ago, just after Deca-Ironman Dr Kua Harn Wei got injured from a road accident I met him with John Cooke (based in Perth). We asked Harn Wei how he would train for a 10 X Ironman triathlons.

His response was: Swim 3.8K daily, ten days in a row. Rest a week. Bike 180K daily for 10 consecutive days (indoor-trainer also counts). Rest a week. Run a marathon daily, 10 days in a row. Rest - then prepare for the 10 back-to-back Ironman races. The new format is to complete 38K swim, then mount the bike for 1,800K of riding, and then 420K of running. You strategise and execute your nutrition, recuperation, and rest plans throughout the mega-event.

Tobias Frenz, who was interviewed last year on this blog, did a single Ironman on day one, and a double-Ironman on day 2. He won – both!

An international double-Ironman is being planned here in Singapore, to test the limits of human endurance. Sounds grueling, but possible. I hope that it will materialize, as I am sure there will be a few serious takers.

Motivation by Inspirational Quotes

I have recently connected, on Tweeter, compilers of inspirational quotes. They research and source extensively for quotes by famous people. I get to enjoy quotations from celebrities and famous people from history. Get on Tweeter and choose to be a follower of some of these tweeters. I can log on, and appreciate a quote within two pages.

I love reading quotations. In each of these bite-size orations, I get a glimpse of the speaker’s wisdom’ wisdom that is drawn from tacit experience and tacit wisdom. Most of these are more than mere observations. Most are insightful, and if you are creative enough, you can draw upon some useful strategies (techniques) for being more effective in your personal leadership.

Some of the quotes make me smile. I love funny, one-liners, uttered by comedians. As a presenter, I am constantly on the lookout for clever lines that my audiences may resonate with.

Bunjying Between Blogs

Do you think this kicks ass, or what? My new speed weapon I hope to launch in Busselton, Perth on 5 December. Custom-made, proudly in Philly, by David Greenfield and the Elite Bicycles Team. What do you think it is made of?