I Hate Exams

By the time most Malaysians were enjoying the fireworks show in their neighbourhood, I was cracking my head to answer test questions in the classroom. They have finished teaching us everything they planned to, and now it’s time for test, and test, and test.

We started with 1st test in the morning at around 9am. The question was pretty simple, 1 question consisting of 12 sub-questions. Midway doing it, I found out that some of the sub-questions were starting to get crooked. Weird numbers and answers started to came to surface. After a good 20 minutes putting all the drawing, numbers, calculations and answers in 3 sheets of paper, I was done. The others were still struggling. I handed in my answers to the tutor.

From far, I could see the tutor was cursing when he looked at my answers. He flipped through my answers, and then he looked at the question paper. His face showed that he really stressed up. After a while, more students handed in their answers to the tutor. And I saw his face was like he totally lost his mind.

At 10am, when almost everybody finished with the 1st test, the tutor asked everybody to hand in whatever they have in hand, complete or not.

Then he said, “Ok guys, let’s forget about the first test. Because the question was wrong, non-logical and you won’t get any good and sensible answers from it. I didn’t realised that the question was f***ed up, my apologies. Anyway, let’s just forget about it, I will throw everything away.”

“What?” The students went upside down. “So we don’t have to do anymore test, sir?”

Then the tutor said, “Ok, the last question was useless. Sorry, it was my bad. So, I have come up with a good question and let us all do Test 2.”

“What the …?”

The second question was same like the first, only that some numbers in the question were changed to make it more logical. But this time, instead of 12 sub-questions, we got 13 sub-questions.

You see, that’s why I hate exams.

p/s: As I’m writing this entry, I was just done with my second test. Waiting for lunch time now. And after lunch, I’ll be having big exam part 1. Big exam part 2 will be tomorrow morning.

Happy Merdeka Day!

Few days ago, I got this email from my HR manager in Malaysia.

"Hi all,

Pleased be informed that 31st Aug 2007 Friday is a gazetted public holiday in conjunction with Malaysia National Day.

Happy National Day and happy holiday to all of you.

p/s: Employees who are in overseas on this date will observe local public holiday instead."

Did you noticed what she mentioned in the p/s? Uwaaaa, I cannot celebrate Merdeka holiday because im at oversea now. Even worse, I will be having final exam for my training on Aug 31st.

I'm soooooooo stressed up!!! Dah la harini homework banyak.

Tapi takpe, Sept 3rd nanti aku cuti, sempena Labor Day in America!

And starting next week, it's about time for me to resume my fitness training. I got two weeks before Ramadhan. Many things to do in very limited time. I mean, lots of fats to get rid off my six-minus-five pack tummy. Time to start some "secret trainings".

Happy Merdeka Day to all Malaysians!

I'm in love...

Last Friday was great, I had the class until lunch time then we had to sit for one small test after lunch break. Time allocated for the test was 2 hours, but I finished that single question in almost 1 hour. Then, I was free to go home at 2.30pm. Plus, the instructor didn’t give any homework for the whole weekend. Yabudubudu, boleh joli katak! Balik rumah terus gedebush atas katil… tidur macam beruang!

I was thinking to go watch movie on Friday night when I realised there weren’t good movie worth spending the money and time to watch. So, I just watch whatever being displayed on the 21” TV at my apartment.

On Saturday, we (my housemate and I) went to Oklahoma City for shopping (which at the end turned out to be just window shopping). I went to three bicycle shops over there and I fell in love with both of these. I don't know which one to choose to be my new awek.

This is Giant OCR 2. Nice, but slightly over my budget.

Trek has already came out with Pilot 1.2 model year 2008. Not as nice as Giant OCR 2, but my wallet won't be crying too loud if I buy this one.

Senangnya dalam hati, kalau ber-awek dua,
Seakan dunia, analah yang punyaaaaaaaaa....
Lalalalalalalalalaaaa

Writing Without Idea

Let see, what shall I write today? I totally have no specific idea or subject on what to write. Some of them said that triathlon competition season for 2007 have ended. No more races. And in about 3 weeks from now it will be Ramadhan.

When I was working with my previous company, I used to join them play badminton at night. 2 hours per session, 3 sessions per week. There were about 6 to 10 people who normally turned out to play. But when Ramadhan came, we stopped playing. It took pretty long to resume the session after Hari Raya, normally after Syawal finished only they restart.

What am I trying to say? Honestly, I don’t know. Just ignore it, don’t bother to guess what I was thinking. It was totally crap. I think this is my worst blog entry so far.

Maybe my brain is already dead tired after whole day doing calculations at the classroom. Plus, I just finished doing my homework. Same as yesterday, today we get total of 3 questions and my answers turned out to be in 9 pages. Lots of calculations. My hand and calculator almost get cramped, haha. But, I noticed my speed of doing homework has increased. Yesterday I completed homework in 4 hours time but today I did it in sub 3.5hrs.

Aiseyman, buat homework pun nak kena tengok speed jugak ke? Ni yang susah kalau kepala otak asyik dok fikir pasal triathlon je ni.

Sebenarnya tengah tak senang duduk ni. Kaki dah gatal nak start running balik, tapi masa dan keadaan sekarang amat tidak mengizinkan. Homework hari-hari kena buat. Tambahan pulak, menu makan malam makin hari makin sedap. Takkan nak let-go kot, tak patut la kan…hehehe.

Sneak Preview

Due to pure boringness and laziness and tiredness, I don't have any good articles to come up for today's update. Just to give you some sneak preview of what I was doing most of the time tonight. Same situation was for yesterday, and will be going to be the same for another 1.5 weeks time.

Eh, sapa pulak ambik gambar orang tengah buat homework ni. Kacau konsentrasi betul la.

Homework for today: 3 soalan aje. Tapi jawapan dia boleh cecah 9 muka surat woo. Kalau macam ni hari-hari, cukup dua minggu dah boleh buat mini-thesis dah ni.

Now, after looking at me having to spend 4 hours of my night time after the daily working hours, laying on my bed doing this tedious and difficult homework, anybody still feel interested to follow my footsteps?

P/s: Menjadi jugak lakonan aku buat muka poyo kononnya tengah struggle buat homework. Padahal time ambik gambar ni homework dah siap dah. Hehehee...

Another Plan Ruined

I was hoping that once I start my 2 weeks class I will get more free times in the evenings for my fitness training. But looking at how they’ve arranged for the first class today, I know I will have to postpone my running training for another 2 weeks at least. Boy, oh boy. Long break like this is doing no good to my muscles and fitness level. Will be tough to recover it later, it’ll be like starting all over again.

The class I am having now consists of full time 8am to 5pm, 5 days per week for two weeks. Not only we have to stay focus and alert with the lecturer teaching all the theories, calculations and formulas and what not, plus we also have to do homework at home – everyday! That is really %$#^@!!

Habis, tercemar kesucian blog aku.

Ok stop, I don’t want to spread negative things inside my blog, or start cursing for nothing. This blog should be portraying only good and positive and inspiring thoughts or activities.

Apart from that, we are served with free breakfast, lunch and dinner. The foods are superb, really high class, like eating at a hotel (they serve halal food too). But the thing is, dinner is only served from 5.30pm onwards which is normally when I start my fitness training. And by the time I finished taking my dinner it’s already 6.15pm, and I don’t think I will be able to run with full stomach. It’s too dangerous and unhealthy. So, I had to make a big decision whether to skip the marvellous meals and go for my routine exercise, or go for exercise and have to spend another hour to cook my own dinner at home.

Aah, exercise bila-bila boleh buat, tapi makan sedap yang free ni bukan selalu boleh dapat woo…!!!

Lagipun orang kata "makan untuk hidup & hidup untuk makan". Takde pun perkataan "eksesais" kat situ. Hehehehe.

So, you surely know what happened after I said that.

Shall I start putting updates on what I eat everyday? Hahahaha.

I Did It!!!

As promised, here I am again with the first update of the blog after one week of berpura-pura kerja keras nak mampus study macam budak nak ambik SPM. All praise to Allah, alhamdulillah. I’ve passed the exam!

Yahhuuuu, yabedabeduuu, mari kita makan buduuuuu…!!!

I did it!

I felt so relieved. Though the exam was not as difficult as doing a PhD, but being able to pass an exam is such a big achievement for me. Why? Because, I hate exams.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to learn especially learning about new things. But if I have to sit for any kind of exams, that’s where I start to get the knee-shaking. I just don’t like to be tested. And that’s the reason why I do not further my study after having a degree. I had a bad experience when I took my final year exams. Not going to tell you about that.

So, I will be starting a 2 weeks lesson (lecture) from tomorrow onwards, learning more advance knowledge regarding my job. Hopefully there’ll be no exam at the end of the day.

Same goes to my training, I plan to resume with some running again tomorrow. I don’t want to expect much from my one-week-rested-legs, I just want to run.

Forced to Rest

Dear respected readers,

I’m sorry to inform that this blog will not be updated for this whole week due to the fact that the author has gone slightly mad and partially crazy with the desperation to complete his self-study and successfully pass an exam at the end of this week. Exam is coming on this Friday. Oh my God! Nervous break down, nervous break down...

Kalau tak pass exam kali ni maka ia akan memberi imej yang buruk terhadap rakyat Malaysia yang bekerja di luar negara. Bagi memartabatkan maruah bangsa dan negara maka penulis terpaksa berhenti (buat sementara) menulis blog dan menggunakan segala masa yang ada untuk pulun study bagai nak rak supaya masa exam nanti tak payah tengok jawapan kat belakang buku teks.

Yang lebih menyedihkan, aktiviti-aktiviti bersukan juga terpaksa dihentikan buat seketika. Sebab kalau dah terlebih penat bersukan time petang macamana nak study di waktu malam. Pastu nak kena masak lagi, makan lagi, pastu nak tengok tv kejap, nak update blog lagi, pastu nak layan tengok blog kawan-kawan lagi. Mana cukup masa nak study? Kat ofis dah sibuk dengan keje. Kalau boleh study dalam mimpi senang la sikit.

Anyway, please do come and visit this blog again next week, okay.
Thanks.

Next week kita belasaaahhhh… !!!

Yours truly,
..::EnAikAY::..

Very Contemplating

Should I buy a road bike here or wait and buy it in Malaysia next year?

If I buy it here, I have to also buy a bike carrier to fit into flight cargo when I bring it back to Malaysia. Though, I think the bike itself is slightly cheaper over here.

If I buy it in Malaysia, the price will be slightly expensive, but no hassle with the bike carrier thingy which will only be used once.

So, to buy here or to buy in Malaysia?

At this moment I’m targeting a Trek 1000 road bike. I’m still a beginner maa. Kalau beli Cervelo kang, ada “orang” kat Malaysia upah kidnapper culik beskal aku lak.

Fuh, buat keje kat ofis lagi senang daripada nak fikir pasal beli basikal ni.

Should I buy, or should I wait?
Should I, or shouldn’t I?

It’s already past my bedtime now, but I can't sleep.
Should I sleep, or should I buy bicycle??

Tido malam ni sah mimpi kayuh beskal.

Orang kata, "Dreams may come true". So I should start dreaming lah nampaknya...

Swim – Day 2

It has been about 10 days since I did my first swim. Yesterday was my second day. I went to the gym at around 6pm with the hope that there will be not so many people in the pool. I thought wrong. They only opened 3 swimming lanes, and there were three people including me in my swimming lane. At the other two lanes, two people at each lane. Kacau daun sungguh. If I am a good swimmer ok la jugak, I can think of it as triathlon simulation ke apa ke.

By the way, my arms were not feeling so strong for the swim. I could only do freestyle for 200m, and the rest just do the normal breaststroke. My triceps and shoulders were very the weak. Looks like I did not do balance workout between upper and lower body. Kesian saya.

Or maybe because I didn’t have sufficient energy for the swim since I only had a bowl of cereal + milk for lunch. Breakfast was unintentionally skipped. You know what I mean, hehehe. Lepas swimming balik rumah belasah makan spaghetti with chicken cooked in alfredo sauce. Superb!

Result of Swim Day 2 (Saturday)
Distance: 500m
Time: 12min 44sec

At night after dinner I went out with my housemate to watch Rush Hour 3. I like Jackie Chan’s movie, so this one is not to be missed. The movie was awesome, lots of fights and tricky moves from Jackie, and many jokes too. He is really flexible, tough and fast. More than half of the movie was shot in Paris with the beautiful scenic at the Eiffel Tower. Macam biasalah, at last hero yang menang.

It reminds me a lot when I went to Paris in 1997. Some of the university students arranged a trip to Disneyland Paris, so we joined them. We took a bus from Leicester to Dover, and then crossed the English Channel with ferry to Calais, France. From there, continued our journey with bus to Disneyland Paris. I had lots of fun there. I rode almost all of the roller coasters. But, not so many photos due to the fact I was walking alone most of the times. The other friends of mine were not so keen to do all the rides, they preferred the slow walk jalan-jalan makan angin at the park. It was fun.

We went out from Disneyland at around 6pm if I’m not mistaken. The ferry from Calais back to Dover was scheduled at 1am the next morning. So, they decided to let us lepak at Eiffel Tower until midnight. I couldn’t believe myself that I was standing right underneath the huge steel tower. It was an amazing experience, being in such a romantic city at one of the most famous place in the world. But too bad, I had no girlfriend at that time to share the wonderful moments in life.

Opocot, ter-emotional la pulak. I better stop now. Hehehe.

Run – Day 6

Everybody knows that today is Friday. But nobody knows how lazy I felt the whole day today, I mean lazy to do some training. In fact, after returning from work I was already on the bed ready to have a good evening nap, when suddenly the feeling of guilt for not doing any training came hardly knocking my head. Furthermore, yesterday I didn’t do any training.

So, I woke up with the laziest feeling ever, changed to my laziest running gear, lazily drove to the gym, lazily walked to the running track, and started to run lazy-mazy-ly.

But to my surprise, today I ran non-stop for 1.5miles (2.4km) in roughly 13minutes. Still slow, but never mind. Actually I had no plan whatsoever of how far I wanted to run, I just ran because I was lazy. Boleh percaya tak?

Not enough with that laziness on the running track, I went for a good 15minutes spinning. And since I was still feeling lazy and there was nothing much to do other than paddling, I started to count how many sweat droplets fell off from my chin, nose, temple and both arms. It was pretty fun to count the sweat drops. Haha, gilo apo? One, two, three… ninety, ninety one, ninety two.. and suddenly one old man walked in front of me and he being polite greeted me with a smile, “Hi, how are you doing today?”. After replying to his greeting, I lost my sweat droplet counts. Gosh, next time I should bring a calculator.

I should have gone home after doing the spinning, but for no reason I went back to the running track and ran again for another 0.5miles when at last I had to stop due to the side stitch.

Result of Run Day 6 (Friday)
Distance: 3.2km (2miles)
Time: 17min 58sec

Somehow I feel it takes longer for me to improve my running endurance and timing compared to cycling. My stopwatch rosak kot, itu pasal timing jadi slow.

Muka orang malas spinning tengah buat-buat terkejut ada candid camera

Run – Day 5

I have two sets of good and bad news today.

The first set:
Good news: I’ve completed one of the self-study courses, passed the exam with flying colours.
Bad news: There’s another self-study course I have to do within 1.5 weeks time, and this one has more syllabus than the former. Ayoyo…

The second set:
Good news: I managed to run a bit further than yesterday, 1.5miles.
Bad news: The time I clocked for today’s run was terribly slow. Ayoyo…

Result of Run Day 5 (Wednesday)
Distance: 2.4km (1.5miles)
Time: 13min 27sec

I’m so disappointed.

The Fear of Sinking

I’ve been reading some blogs of friends who are training hard to become or compete in triathlon. There are three compulsory disciplines, the swim, the bike and the run.

Some may say “running is easy”, others may also say “cycling is fun”. But, there are few people out there who don’t know how to or afraid to swim. Remember the two key words: DON'T KNOW & AFRAID.

To be able to swim, one must get over these two basic obstacles.

I never went for any official swimming lessons in my life, never. Me being the most adventurous son (read: naughty) in the family and growing up in the east cost state where floods occurred almost every monsoon season, I can’t resist my self but to join the other kids swim in the flood. In front of my house, the water levels were only knee high or waist high. But, nearby the river the water levels might be as high as 2 to 4 metres above tarmac. And the currents were normally fast too. But, the kids never say the water is deep, they would only say “ala, paras dada itik je”.

This was when I first started observing how other people swim. And this was the time when I knew I could swim, with the asal-tak-tenggelam-I style. In flood water, I normally swam following the currents direction and I never swam at an area where water is above my neck level. Wherever I swim I must make sure my legs can touch the land easily so that I can stop swimming anytime I want to. So, there was no fear of sinking yet. At that time I still didn’t know how to stay afloat in deeper water. Same thing when I swim at the seaside or at swimming pool, I never swam where the water is deeper than my height.

In late 2005, I started to swim as part of my exercise. No more playing and splashing water like kanak-kanak riang. I went to a 50m long swimming pool with the deeper side being 2.5m and shallow side being 1.3m deep. Gosh, how can I swim in this very deep pool? I cannot float, and I definitely do not want to sink. I get the “fear of sinking” feeling whenever I look at the 2.5m signage by the pool side.

At the beginning, I would only swim by the edge of the pool and trying hard to complete that single 50m length with my asal-tak-tenggelam-II style. By the way, professionals call it breast stroke. I was always scared when I get to the deeper side of the pool. Somehow I have to get rid of the fear.

While resting at the deeper side, I would hold my breath and dive for few seconds to observe how other people swim and how they float. I noticed everybody has their own different styles to swim and to float. So I guess I should start creating my own style then.

I choose a calmer area by the pool side, and slowly started to teach myself how to float. First few tries were unsuccessful, my head sank few times. I kept on trying and finally I believed I can float. Next step was to float away from the pool side where I have nothing to grab to stay afloat. I have to depend only on my own confidence of floating. After few times practicing I was proud that I no longer have the fear of sinking.

Soon after that there was one occasion where two people came to me and asked me how I float. I told them I learnt by observing other people and still not so good at it. They were in the swimming lesson and the training menu for that day was to float and they are afraid to do so, plus they don’t know how to float yet. They asked me to teach them. Knowledge comes with responsibility, huh?

First thing I remember I told them not to be scared of sinking. If they are scared of sinking, they will easily turn to panic mode. I told them to control the breathing and hold the breath whenever they sank, then kick the legs or swing the arms in a proper manner until the head come out from the water again, and hold breath again if they sank. Once or twice they still sank down slightly under water.

Secondly, I told them to understand the effects of legs kicking and swinging the arms inside water while floating. It’s important to understand what happens if you swing like this or if you kick like that. Provided with these two humble advices and some hantam sajalah demonstration from me, I could see that they are starting to be able to float. They just need more practice.

The next time they met me, they said “Thanks so much for teaching us that day. Now we know how to float and we are very happy about it”. Well, I was happy for them too. To be frank I never thought I could teach other people something that I’m not good at.

And now I’m still struggling to keep up with my freestyle. Something is still wrong somewhere. Or, should I eat more fish?

Run – Day 4

After having the super-delicious nasi beriani kambing last weekend, makes me realised that I have to work out more to get rid of the massive saturated fat I’ve swallowed. Yesterday has gone without me doing any training. First reason, I was so hungry that I couldn’t think of anything else other than to cook and eat my dinner. Secondly, I was reserving my energy for some self-study at night, hehehe. Have to maa. (Alasan, alasan…)

I was thinking to make some kind of revenge today, to pay back what I’ve missed yesterday. Target: 3miles run. The run started quite well. Well enough that I managed to run continuously for 1 mile non-stop. On previous runs, I had to run-walk-run to complete 1 mile. “Hmm, such an improvement. Must keep it up”, I told to myself. But, as soon as I had that positive thought in my mind, side stitch attacked my right side. Gosh! Potong stim betul.

Looks like the 3 miles run target has to be postponed to a latter day, hopefully anytime within this week.

1 mile run was not enough. So I headed to the spinning machine and continued with high cadence training for about 15minutes. At least the side stitch disappeared. And I was sweating like err... sweating like myself la. Kalau peluh tu boleh jual 50sen setitik kat pasar malam, kayo pakcik, kayo!!

Result of Run Day 4 (Tuesday)
Distance: 1.6km (1mile)
Time: 8min 40sec

Have to stop now, need to continue my self-study. Stress betul, hari-hari kena study.

Bike - Day 14 (My first 100km)

When I went to the gym last Thursday for my running, I bumped into a group of cyclist who were preparing for their routine ride. One of them already knew me during the Dehydrator fun ride. She then invited me to join them for a 100miles ride on Saturday for which I said “OK, I will join you guys on Saturday”. What was I thinking??? Mau bunuh diri ka?

I was planning to do some swimming on last Friday, but upon returning from work on Friday I fell asleep almost immediately. Woke up at 7.45pm and it was already too late to go for a swim. “Well, let’s just call it a rest day”, I told myself.

Saturday morning came where I woke up at 6am, took shower, had a tuna sandwich and loaded up my cycling gear into the car. Not to forget some PowerBars and 2 bottles of Gatorades. I was a bit nervous with the distance. 100miles = 160km. Gulp! The furthest distance I’ve done so far was the 43km ride which I did a week before.

I arrived at the gym 10minutes before 7am. There were Linda, Mark, Susan, Mary, Danny, Pagon and me. Once everybody was ready, they discussed about which route to take and by 7.05am, off we went. I had no idea what so ever of where they were going to go, but I know it will be a very long ride. Mark was the leader, he was at the front.

I cycled side by side with Mark for the first 25km (I think). It was fun to be at the front with him, furthermore the route was pretty flat with only some small hills and we were cycling at a moderate speed of 25km/h average. Mark works as a pilot, so I talked a lot with him about his career, his experience. I told him how much I wanted to become a pilot when I was small, and all other stuffs about flying and piloting. He told me that if he got the chance he would bring me flying with him on his friend’s light aircraft. I hope it will come true one day.

We made our first break stop at a convenient store at 27km mark (I guess). The sun started to show it’s fierce. I refuelled myself with my second PowerBar and some Gatorade. No nasi lemak or roti canai as what those friends of mine were normally having during their long distance rides back in home country. After the break, we went off towards a big lake. There is a dam at the lake, and to get there we had to do some long climbing. This was where I started to be at the back of the pack. I hate to be at the back because somehow I know I have to chase them back later. We crossed the dam. Left and right sides of the long flat road are surrounded with lake water and the wind was blowing quite hard. The view was amazing but unfortunately I didn’t snatch any photos.

We made another short break stop just after crossing the lake. The ladies had to visit the restroom. I took this chance to lepak under the shade of a tree while refuelling myself with more Gatorade.

The next stop we made was at a gasoline station. It was already 10.30am if I’m not mistaken and it was so hot. We went inside the air-conditioned convenient store at the gas station. It felt great to be inside that cool store. I bought a bottle of Gatorade, filled up my bottles and started to drink a lot until my belly became boroi. Ah, boroi pun boroi lah, janji hilang dahaga. Anyway, the guys are also boroi, so ok la tu kan.

During the break, Mark told us that he couldn’t do 100miles ride since he had to rush back home to do something. I was the first person to say “Mark, I will escort you back home”. Hahaha. But at last everybody agreed to replace the 100miles ride with 63miles ride and follow Mark back home. Phew, lega siot!

The remaining route from that stop to home was 28miles. I think Mark was really in a hurry because after that stop he really went berserk and cycled very fast on the flat highway. I was able to ride side by side with him with a steady speed of 38 - 40km/h for at least 15 minutes. When it came to some climbing I had to surrender and joined the other two guys at the back. By this time the ladies were at front with Mark and we get separated by quite a distance. The heat from the sun was really draining my energy out. I cycled slower with the two guys at a moderate speed of 30 – 33km/h.

After about 18miles high speed cycling I told them I had to stop to cool down my body. I felt very hot. So we stopped again at a convenient store, resting under a fan. There was no sign of Mark and the ladies, maybe they didn’t stop at all. Power gile!

With a good 15minutes cooling the body under the fan, we continued our journey home. I saw one mileage sign which showed “Duncan 8mi”. Another 8 miles? Oh no. My speedometer at that time was showing 87km++. I was having doubt whether I can do the final 8 miles (12.8km). It was already 11.45am and the heat from the sun really affected my strength.

Nonetheless I continued cycling in the hot sun. There were salt crystals on my face and arms due to evaporation of the sweat. Luckily I was wearing long sleeve tight shirt underneath my cycling jersey. The last few km were the toughest I guess, felt like no more energy to paddle. Luckily the other two guys were kind enough to accompany me at the back pack.

Finally I reached the car park where we started our ride. Mark waited for us at the car park just to congratulate me and to see how we were doing. I thanked them all for the good long ride. They were a good bunch of cyclists, very supportive, friendly and sporting indeed. I could never do that long ride without them. My speedometer was showing a good 101.55km.

Result of Day 14 (Saturday)
Distance: 101.6km
Time: 4hr 4min (not including break times)
V Max.: 45.8km/h
V Ave.: 24.9km/h

Will I do the long ride again? I don’t know.

After the ride I went back home, took shower and went off to Oklahoma City with my housemate to buy some chicken and beef. That’s the nearest halal butcher I can find. It took me 1.5hrs to drive there. There’s an Arab shop nearby there too where we bought kebab for lunch. Then, we ordered our chicken and mutton at a Bangladeshi shop, and I tapau two nasi beriani kambing for myself that will give me a free-cooking weekend. Lazy to cook.

I was struggling to keep awake on the way back. The combination of driving with full kebab-filled-stomach under a hot sun at 4pm was not fun at all. I kept on yawning all the way back home. My friend was already kong in the passenger seat. Luckily the car has auto-cruise so that I could sleep while the car drove itself. Hahaha.

Today is Sunday, and I have to spend it for some self-studying. Hopefully I won't fall asleep halfway through.

Run - Day 3

For no reason, I’m totally out of idea of what to write. OK, let’s try to make it as simple as possible.

Today I went for running at the gym, then I went back home feeling tired and pain on my left thigh.

Result of Run Day 3 (Thursday)
Distance: 3.2km (2miles)
Time: 17min 23sec

Bila la nak boleh lari laju macam superman ni…

DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

Now I know what really caused what I used to call “lactic acid effect”. Mr. Wiki told me that the soreness or pain in the muscle after excessive physical activities is not mainly caused by lactic acid, but it is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, DOMS.

Read more about it here.

Knowledge is power, indeed.

Encik DOMS, sayonara!

Swim – Day 1

Do you notice the title for today’s entry? You might be thinking that a “Run – Day 3” title may appear up there, right? I wanted it to appear too, but with both thighs still experiencing the bad lactic acid effect, I had to cancel my running plan. Let the legs have a rest for one day.

Instead, I went for swimming. At first I just wanted to have some relaxing swim-like-a-frog kind of thing, but once I dipped myself into the pool I had a second thought. Let’s try to swim for 500m and see how I perform for my first “official” swimming training.

Set my watch for chronograph mode (i.e. stopwatch mode) and gedebushhh. I started splashing water to the front, left, right and back while struggling myself with the unperfected freestyle to move forward. Pool length is 25m. After the first 50m I felt a bit out of breath and arms felt slightly tight. Took a short 1 or 2 minutes break by the pool, recovering my heart rate and catching up with breathing rhythm. Then I proceeded with the next 50m. After freestyling for 350m I couldn’t do any freestyle anymore. I was totally out of breath and my arms muscles get very tightened. I think my freestyle strokes need more correction and improvement. Anybody wants to volunteer to be my swimming coach, anybody?

I’ve got another 150m to do if I were to achieve 500m. Fikir punya fikir, at last I decided to finish the swim with whatever stroke or swimming style that I used to acquire. Luckily not so many people were around to look at me doing the asal-aku-tak-tenggelam-style or else they would ask me to be their swim guru. Hahahaa.

But hey! I managed to do 500m today. How fast did I go? Don’t bother to ask (or calculate), because I think I swam slower than a fish that swims backwards.

Result of Swim Day 1 (Wednesday)
Distance: 500m
Time: 12min 34sec

I need to get a pair of new goggles, this one is getting blurry. Diorang ada buat goggles brand Discovery Channel tak? Hik hik hik…

Run - Day 2

I didn’t run fast or far today since both my thighs were still in pain due to lactic acid effect from yesterday’s run. So, I just jogged macam si pakwe mengejar si makwe berlari-lari di tepi pantai for about 1.5miles. I really went slow and steady. My plan is to build up the endurance first then only speed. At least today I didn’t feel the blood rushing up to my head and no side stitch either. Good indication so far.

Result of Day 2 (Tuesday)
Distance: 1.5miles (2.4km)
Time: 12min 50sec (very the slow)

I was a bit stressed today since I haven’t started any self-studying for my job training yet. The clock is ticking. I can’t study at the office because there’re jobs to do. So I talked to my friend, just to release some tense. Here’s a portion of our dialogue.

Me: I’m stressed la, asal nak start study je mata jadi ngantuk. Pantang study sikit, mula teringat kat bantal & tilam. How to do?
Friend: Pegi la study kat tepi jalan raya, tak pun pegi study kat atas beskal. Kat situ takde bantal.
Me: Err..

Therefore, there’ll be no long entry for today. I have to start studying!

Enjoy the song.