Astalavista 2011

We just had our annual performance review for 2011 yesterday, portraying to everybody in the company what have I achieved (read: contributed) for the past twelve months in terms of profit margins.

Continuing the same spirit, but diverting the attention to my current passion which is endurance sports, allow me to present you my glorious track record for 2011.

I gloriously spent EIGHT freaking months resting. Hahaha..
Satu contoh teladan yang tak wajar diikuti sama sekali.

To put things in bullet points...

1) I only ran in four events this year. Yes, FOUR only. And they were all short distance runs. Pirated two of them (Men’s Health & KOTR). The final two events were Nike KL 10k Run and Malakoff 12km.

2) My only medal of the year is the one that I get during Malakoff 12km run. Seketul aje dong!

3) No multi-sport events at all. No duathlon, no triathlon. I only participated in the jealous-thlon events when I saw my friends updated their stories on FB.

4) No marathon event at all. Makanthon event je yang selalu buat, almost every month.

5) Eventhough it has given me some degree of sun tan, I never consider golf as an endurance sport. It was purely for work/business, although it feels good when I started to see some improvement in my consistency of hitting those tiny little white balls.

6) Gosh, I miss my tangan-dan-kaki-belang-belang-hitam-putih due to sun tan caused by running or cycling.

7) For some reason, I’m quite surprised that this blog still exists until today.

To be honest, I do wish to make a come back in 2012. How, or what, or in what magnitude it will be is still in the planning process. Whether the plans will really come true, is nothing that I can promise either.

One thing I find out though, is that, indulging in your passion (like sports or anything else) is a good way to balance up your life, even though it is often not easy to find the right balance to do it. Just saying…

Astalavista 2011!!!

Pantun Penutup Tahun

Ucapan salam pembuka kata,
Pemanis mulut senyuman diserta,
Blog sendiri dah lama tak buka,
Asyik ber-FB dan Dailymile saja.

Ikan siakap ikan kerapu,
Dimasak sweet sour enak juga,
Sekian lama aku tak merapu,
Rasa dah macam tak pandai pula.

Blog tak update sekian lama,
Rasa rindu terkadang menerpa,
Mood dah hilang entah ke mana,
Idea dan ilham tak kunjung tiba.

Sepanjang 2011 banyak berehat,
Event dan races semua tak hirau,
Seluar dah rasa semakin ketat,
Perut dah buncit jiwa dah kacau.

Bila dah makan terlebih kenyang,
Butang seluar hampir tertanggal,
Nak lari semula bukannya senang,
Penyakit malas sangatlah tebal.

Perlahan-lahan mengorak langkah,
Berlari anak terkinja-kinja,
Baru nak lari memanglah mengah,
Kalau nak terer sangatlah seksa.

Berminggu-minggu berbulan-bulan,
Mileage ditambah hari ke hari,
Letih dan penat tetap ku tahan,
Asal terasa puas di hati.

Bila fitness dah makin meningkat,
Terasa diri semakin semangat,
Kekadang enjin ter-over hangat,
Kaki dah lembik jantung dah penat.

Tahun baru bakal menjelma,
Banyak rancangan banyak acara,
Nak masuk yang mana tak tau nak kata,
Poket dan wallet harus ditanya.

Tahun yang baru lagi seminggu,
Terasa nak buat lah azam baru,
Nak update blog lebih selalu,
Berjaya ke tidak belum ku tahu.

Kepada rakan dan juga kawan,
Yang jauh dikenang yang dekat tak lupa,
Happy New Year saya ucapkan,
Semoga terus gembira hendaknya.

Birthday Run Done!

Planned to do a 33km run on my birthday (in conjunction with my age), it ended up being 34km. Terbabas daa...

Tiada kata yang dapat digambarkan.... P.E.N.A.T..G.I.L.E!

Special thanks to Shanaz and Jaja who turned up to accompany me for the run this morning. You both rawks!

Demi Kerja

Demi tugas dan demi kerja,
Panas dan hujan ku harung jua,
Kalau dulu berlari sahaja,
Sekarang terjebak dengan golf pula.

Ku hayun hayun ku pukul pukul,
Si bola kecil berwarna putih,
Bukannya senang nak straight betul,
Banyak melencong itu yang letih.

Kalau 9 holes kena dua jam,
Kalau 18 holes minima empat jam,
Di bawah mentari terasa nak pitam,
Kulit dah makin hitam al-legam.

Makinlah susah nak balance training,
Family, kerja dan juga sukan,
Makin lama hai makin pening,
Silap strategi ada chance pengsan.

Amacam, berapa bintang nak bagi markah untuk gaya ni?
Hehehehee...

Ragu-Ragu Tapi Mahu

I posted up this message below on my Dailymile account about three weeks ago, with a wishful thinking that I would be able to 'up' my fitness from almost zero (ehem ehem, drama sikit), to a level that I can pull off a 33km run without causing any injuries.

Started to have this crazy idea to run 33km on my 33rd birthday.... just for fun.
From Kiara Park, through Matrade/Solaris, up to Bukit Aman for the turnaround, then back to Kiara Park.
It's a public holiday anyway.

I've been clocking some serious mileage in the recent weeks, in the nature of rush to get ready for this self-generated konon-nak-jadi-hero dream.

On the other hand, I'm also starting to have some self doubts about it, reflecting on how bad my body responded to the mileage I've been forcing it to get used to. Aduhai...

So there you have it. A part of me who is wishfully wanting to experience something special on his birthday in his own way. And another part of me who says I won't be able to do it - purely due to lack of preparation other than anything else.

Well, I guess we'll see how it goes...

It's just for fun anyway.

Runners Are Weird

Runners are weird, when they say “Never again!”, or “This is so going to be my last race E-V-E-R!!” after finishing a very challenging run race, they will end up registering for another race almost immediately after they reach home.

Runners are weird, they know all of the running shoe models (including the color variations, model year, price) in the market. Don’t be surprise, they might not know how many model of Proton cars are on the road currently. For them, cars are all same. But not running shoes, each of them are different.

Runners are weird, they can memorize other runners from the type or model of shoes they are wearing. Statements like ”Eh, do you know Mr. X? Alaaa… the guy yang pakai kasut Nike Free kaler merah tuuu…”.

Runners are weird, when other people collect fridge magnets or key chains, they collect running vests and medals (and some of them even collect running bibs!). Running shoes are already a collection item by default laa, no doubt about it.

Runners are weird, they have more running shoes than their work shoes. And they wish their work shirts or uniforms are made out of dri-fit material.

Runners are weird, they don’t mind if they get stuck in a traffic jam for an hour. But it will drive them crazy if there are too many runners starting up in a 10km race as that will slow them 3 to 4 minutes for having to maneuver in between them.

Runners are weird, they have this amazing ability to wake up at 5am (or earlier) on weekend mornings. However, they find it difficult to wake up before 7.30am on any other working days.

Runners are weird, some of them may appear quiet or serious. But once you tell them something like “I’m planning to start running…”, you’ll see how talkative they can be. You’ll fall sick listening to their non-stop dramatic stories.

Some runners are weird, when they feel they are not good at running fast or far anymore.. they switch to playing golf.

Eh wait, that sounds very much like me...

A Quote

- Fran Lebowitz -

Very True.
I Like!

10 Perkara Dulu Dan Kini

Masa tengah fit dulu…

1) Training hari-hari pun tak kisah. Infact, lagi banyak training lagi terasa ‘high’.

2) Hujan ke, panas ke, tak menjadi faktor penghalang. Kalau hujan boleh training dalam gym. Kalau panas di siang hari, boleh training di waktu malam.

3) Waktu bangun pagi di hari minggu adalah lebih awal daripada waktu bangun pagi di hari kerja. Semata-mata sebab nak keluar awal untuk pergi long rides or long runs.

4) Adakalanya sanggup makan nasi putih dengan ayam rebus je, demi nak dapatkan low fat percentage supaya bertambah fit dan lean.

5) Merata alam sanggup ku jejaki untuk pergi race events.

6) Pilihan makanan dan kuantiti makanan adalah untuk replenish tenaga yang telah diguna semasa training. Sangat berdisiplin.

7) Setiap kali nak masuk race, mesti training betul-betul supaya boleh buat PB baru.

8) Kalau kena muscle cramp semasa race masih boleh senyum sambil berkata, “Aaah.. biasa la tu. Orang kata no pain no gain kan”.

9) Tiap-tiap kali timbang berat badan, tersenyum bangga dengan pencapaian diri sendiri me-maintain berat badan.

10) Orang kata, badan sihat otak cerdas. Nak blogging pun terasa happy, idea flowing like water fall bak kata orang putih.

Bila dah tak fit dan bergelumang dengan virus MALAS…

1) Kalau boleh hari-hari tak nak training. Buat apa nak training kalau tak masuk race, kan?

2) Eish… orang kata tak elok dok kat luar time jerebu ni.. tak gitu?

3) Pagi hari minggu la yang paling tak senonoh. Kalau bukan nyaris-nyaris nak jadi subuh gajah, subuh dinasour la jawabnya… ish ish ish. Teruk betul.

4) Makan ayam rebus? Buang tebiat ke apa? KFC kan ada…

5) Merata alam sanggup ku jejaki bila ada orang ajak makan…

6) I can’t think of any other reason… semua orang makan sebab nak kenyang… kan kan kan? Mana ada sebab lain...

7) Langsung tak tau apa race event minggu depan dan minggu-minggu yang akan datang. Majlis open house raya ada la...

8) Jangankan muscle cramp, baru kena gigit nyamuk pun dah menyumpah seranah tujuh keturunan. Kesian nyamuk tu...

9) Tiap-tiap kali timbang berat badan, terasa makin menyampah.

10) Orang kata, badan pun lesu lidah pun kelu. Dah lapan kali terasa macam nak tutup terus je blog ni.

Drama betul budak EnAikAY sorang ni... kan?

Entahlah Belalang

Dahulu asalnya nak rehat sehari
Konon nak rest kaki dan sendi
Sebelum badan terkena injury
Juga nak focus pada family

Semakin lama semakin menjadi
Dulu sehari sekarang dah banyak hari
Berehat terasa hai senang hati
Perut pun mula menambah inci

Kawan-kawan tegar berlari
Menambah mileage setiap hari
Diri sendiri terasa envy
Tetapi malas membukit tinggi

Bila nak re-start susah sekali
Memberi alasan tak henti-henti
Meeting dan travel ke sana ke sini
Hujan, jerebu dan juga busy

Sedar tak sedar badan dah berisi
Lemak dah mula menonjol diri
Masih rasa tak sedar diri
Hari ni pun rasa nak rehat lagi

Marilah berehat lagi sehari
Cuaca pun mendung nak hujan lagi
Terpaksa cari alasan begini
Supaya tak rasa bersalah sendiri

Bergelak ketawa bergeli hati
Sambil tangan menepuk dahi
Sampai bila nak jadi macam ni
Daku bertanya diri sendiri

Entahlah belalang…

Slim La Sangat

I was chatting with a runner friend, when suddenly we changed topic and started talking about weights and metabolic rate and about me losing 3kg during the fasting month without any exercise. Here goes some of the excerpts... (of course modified, for better dramatization effect).

Me: I langsung tak run sejak start puasa. The last one I ran was at Putrajaya yang time malam Men's Health run tu je. Shockingly, I reduced about 3kg by the end of Ramadhan. Langsung takde run the whole month. Within 1 week of Raya je I dah easily gained back 1.5kg or so... and the number is terrifyingly increasing day by day.
Perut sudah bolaatt...

Friend: Wahhh so good ar turun 3kg. hehe. I think I gained back 1kg ni balik...
Metabolic rate you tinggi ok la. If you lose weight just like that meaning senang for you to control your weight...

Me: The truth is, bukan senang nak tahan nafas lama-lama di depan korang supaya kelihatan slim tau... especially bila ada photographer. Hehehe.

Moral of the story:
Training-training jugak, makan-makan jugak. Tapi jangan lupa training tahan nafas supaya nampak slim ye.

Ngeh ngeh ngeh...

Kot Ye Pun

Kot ye pun kalau nak perli aku, janganlah sampai hantar kad ucapan raya yang sebegini rupa bro.... bergenang air mata woooo...

Bergenang air mata sebab lupa bawak ironing board balik kampung.. huhuhuu

Hahahahaa... don't worry bro (identiti sebenar pengutus kad ucapan ni terpaksa dirahsiakan). I like this very much. Honestly speaking. Tergelak aku sorang-sorang bila bukak email pagi tadi.

Inilah kad raya virtual yang paling sempoi aku pernah dapat sepanjang berkecimpung dalam arena endurance sports ni.

Thank you my friend. Nanti kita training sama-sama lagi.. tengok sapa yang lebih terer iron seluar 2XU...

Not to forget to my dearest readers:

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

Pirate Out Of Shape

During one of the weekdays where I did my run at KLCC park last week, being entertained by the group of people doing poco-robics (as of poco-poco + aerobics) at each loop I ran, I was being told by some running buddies that there will be Shape run at Putrajaya on the weekend (last weekend that is).

In my schedule I would have a ‘free’ Saturday evening to go for the run. I never run in this event before, maybe that’s why I didn’t register for it either this year. A very typical me I guess.

In the morning, I had a round of 18 holes golf in Bangi with my clients. I scored my first “birdie” ever! So, that was good enough to keep my jovial spirit high throughout that very tiring day (since I’ve been having some sleep deprivation during the week).

After the golf and lunch, I rushed to Shah Alam for some errands, then back to in-law’s place with only 10 minutes time to spare for a nap, before driving myself down to Putrajaya – the night where I turned into a pirate again.

Ala, bukannya selalu sangat pun aku jadi pirate ni… kan?

So, I get to the race site with no specific target other than just to enjoy the run (and hopefully cure my legs-itchiness-to-race disease I’ve been suffering lately), and hopefully cross the finish line lah. Managed to meet some friends from running and triathlon groups at the back of the crowd, hoo-haa-hoo-haa a little bit before bumping into some familiar faces of KLCC park runners, namely Shanaz and Marlin. With that, I ‘locked’ my pacing targets for that 12.3km run, because I know they will be aiming for the limited edition medals.

With Nik Raiha and Yusran – triathlete buddies.

With Ironman cum Ultramarathoner cum Bomoh hantu, Zul-Kelakar-Hassan.

My pacing targets for the night – KLCC park runners
Shanaz and Marlin.

At 2020hrs sharp, the gun was fired. From the mid-back of the crowd we made our ways slowly and carefully in between the other runners. At some point it was so difficult to wade our way out that we had to run on the pavement for the first couple of clicks. Although at first my plan was just to follow Shanaz and Marlin’s pace, it turned out to be the other way round.

This was how far behind I started the race from…

… and this is those runners behind me. Ramai banget dong!

I thought I was not able to keep a sub 6mins/km pace due to the tiredness (and plus I don’t normally run that fast), but surprise surprise my legs and breathing felt normal. It is very seldom for me to do a short run race like this (anything around 10km distance) because I know I’m never a fast runner for short distance. My normal speed is always spelled as S.L.O.W. But I gave a second thought on that and just try to see if I can shift into my overdrive mode for that night.

And because I did not pay to run in this event, I didn’t stop at the water stations. Baik gile kan? Thanks to my fuel belt filled with Gatorade sponsored by myself. Lagi best! I just slowed down to wait for Shanaz who had to stop for hydration. Marlin was following by not so far behind.

What a statement!

The pace felt good, and all body system was showing a tip top condition. During the run I was thinking of how good if I can maintain this pace during triathlons or marathons, because normally my energy died quite fast especially when it is hot.

Oh yeah, talking about hot. Many runners were saying they don’t like night run because it’s humid. I think I should be grateful that humidity doesn’t effect me much. Yeah I was sweating buckets, but the night winds kept me cooler and fresher. But when it comes to daylight race time when the scorching sun is blasting its ray, itu jam kalu, saya punya enjin cepat kaput lah. Mandi air 100+ pun tak leh nak recover the heat..

Inilah rupa hantu-hantu yang lari lintang pukang setelah dihalau oleh Bomoh ZulKelakarHassan. Dua-dua hantu dapat medal, tapi bomoh tak dapat medal (I think). Kesian sungguh.

For people like me who seldom go to Putrajaya at night, I find it entertaining to see the views of lighted bridges like this one here.

Anyway, back to the pirating business. At some points after the half way through, my running buddy for the night was showing a little depreciation in her speed and started to give some warnings that her gastronomical contents were trying to escape upwards-ly (in laymen term, muntah). I let her take the lead with whatever pace that suited her current condition and told her that she has secured a place for the medal (based on the numbers of female runners we’ve passed and the timing we’ve taken so far).

Finally, we get to the finish line and dashed our way through the gate clocking a time of 1hr 9mins.

”Lanun sila ke tepi, jangan lalu finisher chute!!!”, kata pegawai larian yang bertugas pada malam tersebut dengan suara yang serak-serak basah tapi tegas.

But this pirate made stupid face and just walked through the chute with a pair of hidung kembang sebab dia perasan dia lari laju gile (padahal geng-geng dia yang lain seperti SyahSully, Diket Menchanak dan lain-lain lari lagi laju dari dia).

Sebuah adegan drama Jayaputra yang berjaya dirakam…
Karen: “Abang, kan saya dah kata jangan pakai kain pelekat hijau tu. Saya tak basuh lagi yang tu.”
Yim: ”Alaa, yang awak pegi pakai mini-skirt saya yang merah putih tu kenapa?”

Among the 200 fastest male runners of the night.

I love the sensation after a good race like this, where I know I came prepared and was able to push hard until the finish line, and seeing sweat drops falling from my chin, knowing I’ve done my best – the feeling of glory, my own way.

Tak dapat medal pun takpe.

Ye laa, saya sedar saya hanya seorang lanun….

Photographers are like a magnet to the runners. They never miss the chance, especially if the photographer is no other than Tey himself.

Night Time Mumbling

Last year when I was still working in JB, I was targeting to participate in many running and triathlon races, with an ultimate dream of finishing an Ironman triathlon one day. My typical weekly schedule was roughly like this:

Monday: Gym session + Swim
Tuesday: Run + Swim
Wednesday: Bike + Run
Thursday: Run
Friday to Sunday: Switch to my ‘weekend husband/daddy’ role in KL, while squeezing at least one long run (LSD) during the weekend. Or perhaps a back-to-back session if I feel a little bit desperate to ‘up’ my fitness level.

Starting this year when I switched my career and return to KL where my family is, my weekly schedule turned out awesomely not-as-what-I-wish kind of thing:

Monday: Lucky enough if I can run in the evening. Or else I’ll be stuck in the office doing some paper work when a submission is about to due.
Tuesday: I might need to go home early to pick up my kids, it depends.
Wednesday: I may set this day as my ‘off day’ without being obliged to justify any reason for it.
Thursday: High possibility for a round of 9 holes golf session with a client.
Friday: Again, high chance that what happened on Thursday might be repeated, although with another group of clients.
Saturday: A very ‘tough’ 10km run, which feels more like a 25km. (“tough” here doesn’t mean the running route is difficult. It simply means I FEEL IT IS DIFFICULT to finish this distance)
Sunday: It is the only day when I turn into an iron man (unless if one day I decided to start seeking some help from a third party, also famously known as ‘The Laundry Shop’.)

Tak dapat jadi Ironman triathlete, dapat jadi iron-man kat rumah pun jadi lah...

So you can see now why I haven’t done any single race this year, despite of already being in KL where races are abundant and just a few minutes driving away from home.

Am I whining?

Am I blaming?

Am I being hard to myself?

The answer to these are a strict and clear-cut NO.

No, no and no.

So, why do I bring up this issue?

It’s is to show how important someone has to prepare before attempting such an enormous endurance event in the like of marathon or triathlon. The higher the mileage of the race events, or the better Speedy Gonzales you are trying to be, the bottom line depends almost entirely on how much you prepare for it.

It is also to show that if you see your friends crossed the finishing line of a triathlon or climbathon or swimathon or marathon or makanthon or whatever which you thought you could never ever ever ever do the same, then you should think again.

It is really not a matter of who you are or how your body size is. Sports background or not, fat or not, busy or not. It is a matter of whether you set your mind to do it or not. What should appropriately come next to that is your proper preparation for it. Follow that through with smart execution, and put gazillions of patience while doing it. Never rush for a result.

At the end of the day, you’ll be crossing the same finishing line as your friends did.

Amboi amboi, pandainya aku ceramah. Macamla aku ni terer sangat.

Ngeh ngeh ngeh…

But the real fact is... I miss racing...

Pantun Side Stitch

Di pagi Jumaat nan indah berseri,
Cuaca mendung nyaman terasa,
Hormon pantunku tetiba tinggi,
Mari tengok apa hasilnya.

Anak haruan anak keli,
Berenang bersama bersuka ria,
Akibat dah lama sangat tak lari,
Maka side stitch datang menjelma.

Nasi lemak ayam berempah,
Dimakan bersama sambal berlada,
Pabila side stitch dah makin parah,
Mula lah gelabah tak tentu hala.

Mata terpejam mulut ternganga,
Melayan cerita movie yang horror,
Stretching dah buat tak hilang juga,
Nampak sangat aku tak terer.

Poco-poco ramai yang tengok,
Di KLCC Park they “move-it move-it”,
Bila dah side stitch lari pun tak syok,
Muka pun kelat menahan sakit.

Selalu bersukan banyak faedahnya,
Badan pun sihat otak pun cerdas,
Nak hilangkan side stitch senang caranya,
Traininglah selalu janganlah malas (macam saya!).

Ikan siakap goreng bercili,
Tomyam udang ‘terbaek’ juga,
Cukuplah dulu sampai di sini,
Hormon dah turun ke paras biasa.

Dengan kata lain… dah takde idea nak pantun la ni.

Have a nice weekend y’all!!

It Is Now Four

Today, four years ago was the first day EnAikAY blogspot came as part of my life. It started of when I was in the States having my job training, and I had plenty of spare times to blog about my sports activities.

And that's how I started doing endurance sports, in conjunction with blogging.

I did the runs, the swims, the cyclings, the races... partly because I want to have something to blog about. And I think that's pretty much what I always blog about, which unfortunately makes some people feel fed up. Well, as a matter of fact I cannot please everybody. Heck, I can't even please my own self all the times.

So, coming to the beginning of 2011 when I moved back to KL for a job change, a lot of things have changed. And with the appearance of my second child, that too has shifted my focus in life, for the time being at least.

Combination of both, I know I had to re-balance my focus and I made the decision to keep it low and slow this year.

I'm taking this opportunity to celebrate my fourth year of blogging by re-starting my writings. I hope it continues for a much longer period. It's been a fun journey and though I sometimes fall into trouble when some of the readers get the wrong perception or understanding of what is being posted here, I guess that's part of the package. I'll take it as positively as possible for what I believe, nobody is perfect. Myself included.

So with that, happy fourth year birthday to my blog!

May EnAikAY keeps moving forward.
"To be, or not to be."

Good Day, Bad Day

On a good day, I am able to dip into the swimming pool and swim 2.5km in one shot, albeit being slow at it. It happened two weeks ago when I joined some friends at the Shah Alam aquatic center. Knowing some of them were there to train for the upcoming swimathon, I knew the distance to swim that day will surely be more than 1.5km. I was doubtful to be able to complete that pre-requisite distance since I’ve not been swimming for quite a while. Fortunately my energy level was there and every part of my body behaved well. So I just swam and swam and swam, and stopped once completed a total of 2500m with some extra energy to go further if I wanted to.

Well, that was on a good day.

On a bad day, I can’t even swim 200m without stopping in between. Just like what happened last Saturday morning at Bukit Jalil National aquatic center. I arrived at the pool with an ambition to hit 3000m, but nothing worked in sync with the goal. Not even close. Heck, I think I swam less than 1000m. However, the presence of some well-known-funny guys made it a day nonetheless.

After the swim, with Syah, Saiful and Shakhir (wow.. 3S gitu).
Sesi menggosip diri sendiri. Itu pasal gelak sakan tu.

I managed to convince Shakhir to join me for the swim, knowing that he had some obligation with his kids making him unable to hit the tarmac with his two-wheelers as he usually does. Syah, Ian, Saiful and Azmar also came. Once we hit the water, the fun began. The focus of attention went to Shakhir, as it was the first time we met for a swim training. He was determined to be better at swimming so we showered him with loads of tips and corrections of his current swimming style. And being joker ourselves, every little points shared became a reason to laugh more and more.

On a separate note, I now know where Syah’s turbo button is hidden. I was swimming behind him, following closely behind the smooth bubble trail he left behind his feet. Then, I purposely tickled his feet as a sign that I’m following him. Out of surprised, that triggered his turbo engine and instantly he changed into a speedboat and all I could see was bubbles and bubbles. Ini orang sangat marabahaya woo. Mengalahkan dugong.

Anyway, about swimming, I acquired the skill and knowledge the hard way, and the long way. I remembered the times where I was so envious to see swimmers doing laps upon laps when I can’t even swim half the pool. I even found it weird that people can float in the water just by doing some kicking and waving actions.

Back then I was a shy guy who was afraid to ask people to teach me how to swim (now I’m still a shy guy... percayalah. hehe). So, I spent lots of time observing how other people swim. Then I mimic them. I spend a good 3 months or more just to be able to swim front crawl (a.k.a. free-style) for 25m without panting or drowning. Another couple of months to observe and learn how to thread water (i.e. floating). It was a long process indeed.

The reason for not taking a swimming coach is that I’m not a patience kind of guy (albeit being a shy guy). I don’t have the patience to be repetitively asked by the coach to do something that I am not good at doing. You know, in swimming there are lots of individual drills you have to master before combining everything and form a front crawl, or breast stroke. There’s the kicking drill, the one arm stroke drill, the body balancing drill, the single and bilateral breathing drill, and many more. And the stamina for long distance swimming does not come that easily as well.

Either way, with coach or without coach, the moral of the story (fullamak!!) is that, if you put your effort into it and stay focus to get what you want, you will get what you want even though you initially think you can’t do it.

So, with a Saturday well spent in the pool laughing more than swimming, I made a plan to go for a long run on Sunday morning. That didn’t happen either as I was feeling lazy to drive 40km all the way just to run. So, with the leftover mood of swimming from the day before, I made myself a coach for my little prince for his first swim training. His first lesson was backstroke.

And I am assisted by my little assistant coach.

Yet to Decide

Every time my right brain wants to write something for this blog, my left brain will start to dysfunction. At the end, nothing came up. The idea to write just flew through my head without being jotted down. Time availability, a.k.a. the “line-not-clear” factor also contributes to the lack of blogability I’m experiencing nowadays. For that reasons, this blog is going to:

a) Be closed forever and ever. Sayonara.
b) Be re-activated, but with more nonsense and crappy entries which have nothing much to do with endurance sports
c) Be continually ignored, as it is for the past couple of months until Blogspot deletes it automatically
d) Be sub-contracted to another blog writer (anyone interested?)

I am yet to decide actually.

The truth is, I find it fun to blog. I find it fun to share something which might be beneficial for others in endurance sports specifically, rather than just being a plain bed time reading material. And it is fun (for me at least) to be virtually socializing through words left by readers on the comment box. I have a mix feeling between pitiful and happy when I see the statistics of visitors. Happy that there are still some of you out there who come and visit this blog albeit it being inactive. Pitiful because I can feel their disappointment when seeing nothing new is being put up.

I am yet to find the key to unlock this mental blocks inside my head.

Until then, let’s just hope there will be another blog entry after this one.
Ngeh ngeh ngeh.

New Prince of EnAikAY

Introducing, the new prince of EnAikAY
NIK ABDUL AZIZ

Once upon a time, there was a friend who told me that there are four significant phases of life which will somehow change our character in a way or another.

The first phase is when you start a job/career.

The second phase is when you get married.

The third phase is when you get your first child.

The fourth and last phase is when you get your second child.

I'm not so sure what was his source, and I'm not sure whether he said this based on his own experience. Anyway, if the above is somehow true, I'm now passing through my fourth phase of life. And if by any means my character is going to change, I hope the changes will be in the good direction lah.

Goodbye JB, Hello KL!

Finally, after being ‘stucked’ in JB for more than 3 years, I am now making a new career move which brings me back to the capital of this beautiful country we call home. Today is my last day at work here in JB, and in a few hours time I’ll be driving back to KL for good. Alhamdulillah.

It is such a relief, to me and to my family more importantly. Having done a long distance relationship all this while, I can now tell you that it is tough, and sometimes risky. Lots of sacrifices, lots of tears, lots of anxieties and agonies were involved. Not to forget the loads of hours spent on the seat of the express bus when I have to travel back and forth on every weekends.

Now, a new chapter of life has begun. Getting into a new career which is so much different from what I am currently doing is surely going to be a great challenge. With the new lifecycle, it’s time to refine my priority-balancing skills. To be honest, I have no clue of how it is going to be. But, I’ll work hard to make sure I survive.

Whether or not I’ll be able to join running or triathlon races this year, that’s not the main issue at this moment. And although I’ve been missing weeks upon weeks of daily runs due to work commitments, I’ve started to clock some long distance runs during the weekends. Sometimes when the itchiness was too much to handle, I did back-to-back runs. However possible, I’ll always make healthy living as part of my lifestyle.

I’m surely going to miss JB and the bunch of good athlete buddies I’ve called friends. I hope I’ll meet them again at race events. So, farewell JB.

Meanwhile, "Hello KL!!!"