A gymbunny, I will be

Well hello. The deal is sealed. For real. Once you pick up your race pack, you are competing. OSIM 2010 is a fine tuned machine, lots of years of experience, everything down to a T.

Step 1: You sign up, pay and receive an email confirmation as well as notice information on when to expect to pick up your race pack

Step 2: You receive an email which gives you two days from 11am till 9pm to pick up your race pack

Step 3: You arrive, you are immediately greeted at the door and directed to the right queue.

Step 4: You collect your race pack, everything packed neatly and you can change the size of the dri-fit even.

A lot of volunteers to pick up on so much as a doubtful glance. Very encouraging to not feel lost. I'll review the race and post-race after this weekend.

Oh. The purpose of this post:

My take on it is this. Imagine running at 9.30 in the blooming morning, insanely hungry and you run behind this girl with "cupcake" as her tag. You would totally be lusting after a cupcake, get distracted and perhaps even DNF (did not finish) just so you can satisfy that craving. Don't underestimate the power of suggestion. That, and I really love cupcakes and didn't have the chutzpah to put down "gymbunny"

< 5 days to my first triathlon, and I am absolutely worried to the core. I have not run enough, I have not done bricks, effectively "I have nots" are piling up. CP's last advice to me was that I should lay off all activities by Thursday which leaves me Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday to run and cycle (I'm going to wing swimming).

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do – Epictetus

I will finish the OSIM tri in under 50mins. thegymbunny.com has just been renewed for another year, this journey has been so amazing and encouraging with my gymbunnies behind me (all two of you!)  It has been absolutely key in my success and will be crucial for my progress.

For all your aspiring tri bunnies, I've made a list which I will expand after I complete/kick ass at the OSIM Triathlon 2010

Image courtesy of Matt Coats (Flickr)

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Drafted out my training schedule over the weekend and it looks pretty brutal. It involves me working out x6 days a week, that's a new level of commitment. Especially for me. I cannot afford to work out every day after work, I own a very needy dog named Chutney who whinges to the high heavens if he hasn't seen me enough. Which brings me to working out before work. So out goes sleeping after 10.30pm.

Wasn't familiar with the running routes within my estate so I drove the car out to Bedok Reservoir which has a running route of 4.5KM which is just 0.5KM of my running plan. I have known for awhile that running on a threadmill and running on pavement brings out relatively different results with the latter being that much more difficult.

Set my iPhone on the C25K app and off I went. For once, my blasted Nike+ decided to work and, it tracked my distance and speed. With running, alot of it is a mental game, it is pushing yourself when you want to stop or slow down. I recall being able to run 5KM effortlessly at some point of my life, and I had nary a gadget. I determined how hard I worked out on how wet my t-shirt was and, stopped only when I had a stitch. That was caveman goal setting 101, make a goal based on lamp posts. Now, I listen to some stranger telling me how well I'm doing and I'm somewhat on the fence as to if it is indeed better.

CP made a comment about not having music while I run which apart from security reasons, had practical and psychological reasons too. I did not have to lug equipment along, I could just run and, running lets you clear your mind. The last 1.5K was done without music and it was tougher not to have something to pound the gravel to, but I see his point. It does let you unclutter your mind which is key if you've had a glimpse in mine.

Suppose it is a matter of getting used to. 1 down, 5 to go! :) Have a productive Monday!

On CP's advice, I decided to log my training for the tri. It makes natural sense, to track progress and the likes. So, the training plan is to do a tri activity at least twice a week on top of what I'm doing for gym which honestly sounds like more than I chew off but, I need to make a schedule to make this work.

Wednesday

200m swim – 7mins 10 seconds

I wasn't really pushing myself, my elbow hurts when I stretch and was feeling sorta of punched out.

Needing the desperate push back into my exercise routine after two months (or more, actually) of unhealthy seasonal eating and the lack of any mobility save for raising a wine glass (or two, or three, actually four on average) to my mouth, I did the unthink-able. Well, the unthinkable for me that is. I considered signing up for the OSIM Triathlon 2010 (Mini). Motivated by the desire to be alive, I decided to try the segments individually to see how I’d fare.

200m swim, 10k cycle and 2k run in its exact sequence is what I’d have to pull off.

The first few days of January saw the beginning of my Couch to 5K running programme, a week into it, I averaged 25mins for 3km which is not great but it’s not horrible either. The swimming segment of 200m took less than 10mins in the pool. I might end up swimming breast stroke to keep the feet out of my face, we’ll see. The cycling route I have yet to attempt, it’d be this weekend. Given the two decent timings in swimming and running, I decided to leap into signing up.

There is no business like show business right? At worst, I’ll have to fake it till I actually make it. My target is to complete under 50 mins which I am well aware is INSANE for a first timer like me. To break it down, I have 8mins for the swim route which is first, 24mins for the cycling and 18 mins for the run. You best believe that I’m going to make it!

Three years ago when I was at my wits end, I had signed up for a shiny new gym membership at popular downtown gym. As part of the rehauling package, I purchased the Nike+ as inspiration to begin running. Almost two years later, I have run less than five measly times before boredom took rein. The downtown gym membership is now used for its showering facilities and has about 5 out of the original 36 months left. I must say, it’s a pretty expensive shower option. (more…)

I had wanted to start this earlier in the year but, somehow could not get my will together. Christmas weekend is the realisation I needed for me to get this off the ground. Well informed of the inefficiencies of running as a method of cardio for weight loss, I still want to do this running programme because, I want to sign up, complete a 5K run before my 31st and kick ass while I am at it. Never been much of a sports person (shell shocking, I know!) Wally told me about the Couch to 5K running program which she started out with when she wanted to start training for the LA Marathon, and my aspirations are much lower. All I want to do is complete the 5K with a respectable time and without injury (which if you look at my running form, might be quite a challenge) I am a lazy runner which is compounded by the fact that I like to dream when I run and, I lose concentration of form, occasionally fall off the treadmill even or just trip on a rock.

Being the tech geek – I searched for an iPhone app which would help me with my goal. It comes with stretches to follow, you start your playlist, run the app and off you go! I brought along the Nike+ device because, I wanted to see if I can record the running information (stride, distance, speed) but of course, it didn’t work after lying dormant for abit and I was too sleepy to troubleshoot at 7.30am. Back to the C25K app, it runs for 9 weeks and by the end of 9 weeks, you should be able to run 30mins without stopping and effectively 5K. Sounds good to me!

Come Jan, I will be doing this and my regular "mad" gym with EJ. Interested in finding out the progress? Stay tuned!

W1D1 of C25K – It was easier than I had anticipated which amazes me because, I have come so far after working out for 6-7 months (I haven’t been to the gym in more than a month but I will be back in a couple days!) i remember doing a running programme similar to this, it was painful almost. At the end of 30mins with 10mins warm up/cooldown, I did 3K which is um, not great but not horrible either.

Talk is cheap. Isn’t it? I have been yammering about wanting to start a running programme and, doing zilcho about it. Decided to haul ass to my favourite running track with the cutest companion – Chutney, my 2 year old silky + jack russell terrier mix. I forgot to bring my Nike+ though so I couldn’t track how fast I was running or how much. Well,  I still had fun heading out though. Plus, it was my first time running with Chutney on an actual trail so, I spent most of the run trying to stop him from running into people. I never knew how many people are actually afraid of dogs. Irrationally afraid. Chutney is a squirt and yet, I found myself more than once holding myself back when they literally cower in fear. I mean, seriously. Do they see how small he is?

I wanted to do the entire stretch of the track but, I started late and I was afraid that it would get dark before I reached the end so I went half way and turned back. Now, I want to actually start my C25K programme.

It begun as a challenge. Deep in my eating disorder, I subsisted on an apple, or a carrot a day along with a dinner of a steamed fish. Understandably, I found myself gasping for a breath a mere 5mins. Two months into running, the 5.30pm runs had become routine and I started eating normally again.

Breezing through 4.8km, six days a week with ease, I remember being in a zone. Step after step into the gravel path and before I knew it, I was at the end of the running route. The evening begun no special than the one before, I hid my water bottle deep in scrubs and away from the lifting legs of the dogs that walked the route. I ran.

Close to the end, I noticed an elderly couple sitting on one of the benches that lined the trail. Thinking nothing of them, I made my way past them. As I jogged past them, I heard the man exclaim loudly in mandarin "Look at her legs, they are so UGLY! All the scars!"  In a second, I realised that he was talking about me. At the tender age of 16, I also had atopic ezema which flared up in the humid Singapore heat, being allegic to grass exacerbated the skin condition.

I remember my tears falling down my cheeks uncontrollably as I ran past them pretending that I did not understand a word of what they said. It is one thing to have an insecurity, it is another to have it pointed out to you in full view of everyone and their grandmother. I went home that evening and sobbed my eyes out. Sadly, all it took was one comment from an (im)perfect stranger for me to fall deeper into my condition and away from the one thing that kept me healthy.

I do not recall running outdoors ever since.

14 years later, here I am recounting this because, I need to get to the bottom of why running or any sort of race/outdoor activity scares me so much. It is amazing how powerful the mind is and what it can do.