somethin...

success is the promise for those who stand true to their ideas

i got that quote from a preaching of a pastor in the church. in many ways, it is related with so many things in my life. it related with work, with training, with races, with relationship, with friendship, etc.

as for training, i had gone thru quite a bit with the team. training had been good, but yet, sometimes, i am still not sure in terms of my rest time. i felt that it had not been optimal. then again, if u work about 14 days straight including weekends with all the training that i was doing, not sure how i would manage my rest anyways......but thank GOD for always reminding me of HIM. for keeping me grounded, for always and constantly letting me know that HE is indeed in control.

during that time, i also did not got a chance to see my close friend. Or, even for that matter, not much of hangin' out with friends.

as for the actual training part, it had been going pretty well surprisingly. it already started to feel like spring and already, i had a chance to bike on the road a couple of times. i felt stronger and faster in all three discipline, but now, here comes the part that always makes me wonder; how well would i b during the actual race?

that is always the big question.

i always have ideas to be able to perform well during races. beating certain time limit, beating certain people, be at certain position in age group, and all that. but am i really going 2 b able to do that? and that seems to always be the measurement that i used to see whether i was successful or not in certain time and/or situation.

jst like the quote above. it is indeed the promise to those that stay true to their own ideas. as much training as i had done, it is probably the only thing that i can stay true to in order for me to be able to be success in races.

as i embark on the journey to do my very first iron-distance race. it always feels scary to even try to think abt it. then again, for now, i can only stay true to my training and we'll see what happen in the fall.

God bless....

focus

why in the world do we have this many focus training? ironman, oh yeach....i'm doing a full-ironman distance. yeach.....the tri training had gone on 2 different focus training. i was done with the run focus training and i thought it was pretty good and succesful, then it was the swim focus, which was alwmost done. and now, it is abt to move on to the bike focus. weather, so far hadot been very helpful in terms of doing training outside. it's been cold, snowy, and even temperature in the rigid teens, and sometimes even lower in the single digit.

what had i learn so far?

keeping the blood flow in your body throughout by increasing heart rate. especially on the bike, i guess i had not been doing hard training on the bike. then again, the bike focus is not here yet either.

the beard that i had grown so far, had definitely slow me down in the pool. so, racing with beard is definitely not for me. yes, i had grown some beard for a couple of weeks. not sure why. i think it started jst as a trial to following the trend in the office and some of my teammate, to finally, i actually felt the drag in the water while i was swimming. it felty like i needed extra effort in doing the stroke in the water that i actually was even much more tired after the swim than b4. then again, could it be caused by the amount of time i used throughout the day and nite for work, training and other stuffs that i had not take the time to actually really really rest?

we'll see.

today, i was able to take the time to get away from everything. from work, training, everything to actually just rest, relax. don't think i had this kind of time since the beginning of the year.

ultra 50k

well....here we go, first big event of the year....organized by the team, well, more by teammates......thanx butter, mike, and erin.....the event consist of 10mile run, then 35min bike on the trainer, another 10mile run, another 35min bike and then another 10mile run.
as always for me, i didn't sleep well enough the nite before. not sure whether i was jst excited, or what; something to solve b4 the ironman race....
i woke up around 4.30am, got ready and head over to the 'gym'. got there and got things ready, especially the bike. try to relax a bit. talked with some teammates, ppl, and brothers that i hd not seen for a while...
i started running with the first group jst b4 7am. a bit dark, cold, temp was @the 20s, but not too bad. i ran with mike, dan, nev, and nancy....thanx group.......stop by around mile5, by nev's place. first loop done, it was fine, even tho there were some areas with smooth pavement and others with bunches of snow all over the place that made it hard to plant the feet. got back to the transition in abt 1hr46min. and, i thought to myself, nice, good pace. then, i got ready for the bike. rika put down my starting time on the board to mark the start and end of the first bike leg....thanx rika.....along the bike, i ate powerbar, banana, took my energy drink, and some gel. tlaked some other teammates that i had not talked beforehand. then i got ready for the second loop of the run. i used abt the same wardrobe as i used for the first loop. not sure whether it was a good idea, or not. i waited a bit for some teammates, since we were to run in 'buddy' system, which i thought it was a great idea, and it was....
on the second loop, i started running with mike and j. this time, we stopped in nev's place........thanx nev........i hd 2 'go' and i thought it was a good time to fuel up a bit. then, as we got to around mile7/8, when jeremy pull up with the car.....thanx jeremy.......i started to pull back, not sure whether i was not able to keep going, or i was jst feeling the cold and tiredness, but then from my last experience of marathon that i did before, this was abt the time where i usually slow down. then again, i just realized, maybe i shld'v change my clothes, oh well.....too late now....
i got back to the transition in abt 1hr51min. 6min slower, so i thought to myself...all rite....so far so good....then off to the second leg of the bike. this time, rebekkah put my time on and off the bike on the board.....thanx rebekkah.....as i pedaled for the second 35min, i pondered to myself....i would like to do the third loop, but not sure whether i could. a couple of my teammates encouraged me....thanx bob and storr.....so.....i decided to go for the third loop. this time, i changed all my clothing to dry ones.
by this time, there were five of us left to do the third loop. well.....basically, i jst realized i went from 3? to let's go....i started with mike, j, erin and butter.....we were accompanied by stephan....
in the beginning, i already pulling back. i really really did not want to go as fast as my teammates on this third loop, but then, mike started to run with me and paced me. at that time, i knew i hd 2 push myself. then again, it was good tho. if it weren't for running with him, i would b in the way back and well.....u never know, i could quit.....but i didn't.....i started talking with mike abt what's up with my body during that run. i told him i hd a knee pain, so he gv the little pink pill.....not sure what it was, then again, i took them and mike was telling me to shortcut the course, then i went to nev's place again........thanx again, nev........and again i had to 'go'. as soon as i got out of nev's place, i felt so good that i missed the turn on the course.....at that time, i realized and decided that i was going to finish this third loop without shortcutting the course. as i got close to mile4, rebekkah and rika came by in a car to check on the runners.........thanx, rika and rebekkah........4 the encouragement along the way.........that was really really helpful......
as i got closer to mile 5, not sure where he came from, mike caught up to me.....so, we started to run together for the next 3miles until he gave me another little pink pill......then i ran along all the way back to the 'gym'.....as some teammates ware waiting.......thanx, kerry, storrs, rebekkah,, and rika......and this time, the time was 1hr54min.....and i thought to myself......what was i thinking of doing the third loop....? oh well......
overall...........it was a great experience. this event actually taught me to push myself even more. it helped me to understand my limit even more. it made me to know and understand what i shld/shld not do in certain circumstances. it made me realized more abt myself......all in all.....for me, in my opinion, it was a success.....not jst success for me, but for the event, the organizers, the coaches (thanx mike and j), the training plan (thanx j) that lead to this event, the support, the course, everything......from beginning to the end......thank u all of my teammates in humanpoweredracing that made this a great experience.......God bless......all......

quotes for the year....for me....at least...

here are some quotes that i found from the book i read. i think i'll b using these quotes for my mental preparation thruout the year....


no food without blood and sweat

in winter, the lazy man freezes to death

if a man works hard, the land will not be lazy

no one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich

yeach, 2010....

well, happy new year everyone, here we are in 2010.

this morning, me and a couple teamates had some morning bike/run training session to kick off the new year. it was great. especially, being able to c the teamates that are committed to the team and the training. that was nice. being able to c them; trainin', jokin' around, n havin' a good time. for some, it seemed it was jst a beginning for them, for others, it was adjustment; but for me, it was proly the in between time. not really in between beginning and the middle, but it was more of in between excited and a little not sure. the team will b doin' another event next week, and yes, off course, i will dfntly take part. this will b the 2nd event in the season that we as a team are doing something and i'll b takin' part.

i will b participating in the 1st ever hpr team ultra event. what is it really? it will b a run/bike event as a conclusion of the run base training that had been done. it consist of 10-mile run, 40-min bike, 10-mile run, 40-min bike, yes, u read it rite; it is repeated, then as for me, i could b doin' another 10-mile run, after all that.

so, this morning training session was a preview and discussion of things that we shld plan for next week.

after hearing the discussion n thinking abt what i had done, that is why i felt i am in between. not too worry, jst anxious, excited, n a little scared. oh well....then again, i really think it will b good 4 me, especially relating to the goal that i have of what i wanted to achieve in 2010. all rite, i'll stop talkin' now, i'll dfntly talk abt the race l8r on. God bless....