Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mixed Emotions...

The last time I cycled was at night with the Johor gang, doing 4 loops of 6km (3km flat + 3km climbing). I guess it was on last week Wednesday.

I think I improved a bit on the cycling, but still not yet up to the standard of these Johorians. Apa taknya, only on the first loop I managed to be in the peloton of 14 cyclists, averaging about 38km/h on the flat and roughly 25km/h while climbing. And then, as they started going into the second loop, masing-masing bukak enjin turbo. Zuuusssss… makan asap aku dibuatnya. So, starting from there, aku kayuh la sorang-sorang sambil berangan.

Punyalah boring bila kena tinggal dan terpaksa kayuh sorang-sorang di waktu malam. Sambil aku kayuh, mata asyik dok tengok kat speedometer je. Just to make sure how’s my performance. From second loop to third loop, my average speed was dropping. By the fourth loop, both of my legs started to get cramped.

After I finished with the-very-seciput-4 loops of cycling with slightly cramped legs, I joined one on the guy doing another 3km loop – this time, running! As soon as 100m, I got serious cramps. I was thinking to stop running and turned back to my car. But the guy asked me to run a bit slower. So I told him to keep up his own pace and keep on running, no need to wait for me. I don’t want him to sacrifice his training plan by slowing down his run because he’ll be joining the A’Famosa tri race that weekend. At the end, I did manage to finish the 3km run, alone of course. Rasa puas dapat habiskan 3km run tu, walaupun kaki dah sakit.

In my mind, rasa dah nak give up from these cycling or triathlon activities. I was thinking I won’t ever be stong like them and the others. I don’t see myself joining any triathlon race anywhere soon. I have not even built my main muscles yet. That was my emotion at that time – demotivated, down, disappointed with myself. But, the least I get from doing these sports is stress release. Keje kat ofis terlalu banyak and stressful. By doing some sports, at least kepala takdelah 24/7 fikir pasal kerja je.

On the other hand, there was A’Famosa triathlon race last weekend. As frequent blog reader myself, I would go and read those local triathlete’s blogs. Bila dah baca masing-masing punya cerita pasal race triathlon yang diorang sertai, naik pulak semangat nak start balik sukan-sukan endurance ni.

I really had mixed emotions. At first, rasa tak confidence untuk teruskan endurance sport ni. But now, rasa macam naik semangat pulak untuk ikut jejak langkah diorang. Entahlah, kita sama-sama tunggu dan lihat.

1 comment:

bola2api said...

aku pun biasa kena tinggal.. even now.. but that is a challenge for us, right?

do it at your own pace. jgn asik nak kejar org.. diorang tu dah bertahun2 train. kau baru start. give yourself some credit.

at least u r much better than those who choose to sit on the couch :)