Appreciate Happiness

[Got this from a friend, via email]

Jadi Ironman lagi happy woo. Boleh terbang-terbang...

Eh, what date is today eh?

Chink In Somebody’s Armor

Back in 2007, I first hit three digits on my cycling mileage on a single outing (going over 100km). And while doing so, I got my first experience of being torched by the sun. Literally speaking.

And every time when we do long distance ride, seldom we can escape from it. The sun light at noon gives the perfect condition for outdoor photography, but not for any other activities unless you are under the shades.

That’s why cyclists easily get tan lines. And quite rare we find pure runners having them for a simple logic that cyclists normally spend 2 or 3 more times under the blazing hot sun as compared to runners.

Last weekend, I didn’t do any long ride, not even a long run or swim. I had some plans for a long run on Saturday morning but there’s a little voice in me that told me to get back to sleep. The same voice appeared once again on Sunday morning. So, blame the voice (and the blanket).

However, my wife’s family put on an ad-hoc picnic plan on mid morning Sunday, at Sg. Pangsoon. It was nearby Gunung Nuang’s entrance, in Hulu Langat. At the time where I was supposed (read: I wanted) to hit the tarmac on Sunday early morning, I was helping them in the kitchen to prepare the tidbits we wanted to bring along for the picnic.

And while everyone else was busy packing their extra clothes and towels and foods into the car, I silently clutched my running gear. I had my own ‘ad-hoc’ plan of the day.

We arrived at Sg. Pangsoon around 11.30am. If I was not wearing any watch, I’d say the sun at that time would have implied that it was 1pm or 2pm. It was blazing and sweltering hot. After done with offloading the picnic stuffs, I told my wife that I had ‘something’ to do.

Drying up my feet before putting on my Avia Avi-Bolt.

To run under the sizzling heat, and see what happens to me, was that ‘something’.

Running cap and shades on, I braved the searing tarmac at 12:15pm. The last time when I ran at this time was during Desaru Long Distance triathlon – a 21km run after a torturous 90km cycling, back in 2009. And since this time it was only an experiment, I didn’t anticipate for a long run. I headed towards the entrance of Gunung Nuang, but didn’t really manage to reach the car park even after 15minutes out. My energy level was shattered and drained much faster that I thought it would, so I quickly make a turnaround and ended the run in 31minutes, slightly torched.

I totally dipped myself into this cool flowing river after the run.
Peace!

Despite of the short timing and distance, the heat really gets into me. I wanted to do more, but I just couldn’t. The rate at which my energy level dropped was beyond expectation. Somehow I knew this would happen, and this little experiment just proved to me that I need to work harder to adapt my body more into it if I want to become stronger in this climate we are in.

Ask any Ironman triathletes about the hardest thing they have to fight during their entire race. I’m pretty sure they’ll say something in the line of – “It’s the heat”.

There’s no short cut in this game we are in.

To be, or not to be. Period.

I Don’t Think So Dude

On one fine evening while I was resting by the pool wall after repeating laps after laps of swim, a guy I haven’t seen before came near me. He’s in his 20’s, spending more time in the water doing nothing much other than, erm, not swimming. With no offence to anyone reading this, this guy is a bit big sized laterally, having a slight beer belly on his waist.

Him: “Bro, are you an athlete?”

Me: “Ehm, no. Not really.”

Him: “But you have the stamina to keep on swimming for long time. Are you not tired?”

Me: “Of course I’m tired, but this is part of the game lah, bro.”

We continued a little bit more of chat while I wait for my heart rate to stabilize. He then asked me how to get a lean body, and how to remove the excess of fat, especially on the tummy.

Me: “Go and run lah”.

I told him that with good cardiac exercise that one can get from doing stuffs like running, eventually the metabolism rate will slowly increase until one point where the excess fat will be easily burned for the fuel bla, bla, bla.. I was giving him some tips from the top of my head.

He was not so convinced, and asked me whether he can get the same result from swimming. He really wanted to know if there’s any short cut to reduce his belly size.

Me: “Yeah sure, you can also swim. But you need to spend plenty of time doing it to start trigger the ‘endurance’ which will then start burning the fat.”

Him: “Oh, I see. I have also started doing some weight lifting in the gym. Will that work?”

Me: “Yup, it will. But it takes longer time because that is an anaerobic exercise. It’s different from aerobic exercises. The discipline in body building sports is different from running or cycling or even swimming.”

I’m not sure how much he understood me or what I was trying to convey to him. Neither that he agreed, nor nodded his head to my statements.

Me: “Basically speaking, there’s no short cut into getting a flat abs.”

Him: “But my friends said ah, I need to lose the fats in my legs and thighs first, then the fat on my tummy will automatically goes down there to replace the ‘empty’ space. Gravity kan ada".

Upon hearing this, my eyes almost popped out in disbelief. I knew it would be rude to laugh at this point.

Me: “Really ah? I don’t think so lah dude.”

I didn’t want to say anything much, so I just continued on with my swims.

For me, this is scary.

Defibrillized

You all know what do the doctors do in the emergency room when one’s heart has stopped, right? They use the defibrillators to send some electrical shock signals to some sort of “re-starting” the heart.

When the ‘heart’ of my legs stopped for three weeks, it has gone into a serious state that my endurance and stamina dropped so drastically since I didn’t even do any maintenance fitness activities during the days where I got stuck in the office up till almost midnight. I almost call my insurance company for a review, in case anything bad happens to me due to this effect. Not wanting for it to get any worse, this whole week I went to the ‘emergency room’ to get myself defibrillated (I’m not sure if there’s such a word). I need a drastic ‘re-start’ shock.

Monday, I got a very small dose of a 30 minutes cycling session on trainer. Just to test the water. Takut terlebih bagi shock kang terus kojol on the spot tak sempat mengucap.

Tuesday, managed to increase the defibrillation factor with an hour of run at the garden, followed by a 50 minutes swim session. System was showing a good sign of being re-energized.

Wednesday, I got myself the biggest voltage shock! Started with a 1.2km swim, 6km run and a 30km cycling sessions. A big plate of nasi goreng kampung with telur mata goyang served as a perfect bonus to end the day.

Thursday, I was planning for another hour of run to which shall be followed by another hour of swim session. However, the thunder-stomerly-weather in the evening forced me to swap the plan with a 1.5 hours cycling session on the trainer at home. My new phylosophy for the day was, "better than nothing, and much better than staying in the office".

I'm defibrillized!

So now, I’m out of the emergency room. Next, I can’t wait for Ironman 2 the movie to hit the big screen. Seeing the ads on TV last night when it shows the screening date will be on April 30, I can use the remaining of my annual leave I guess. No harm, right?

Did I tell you before that when I grow up I want to become like this guy?

7 Days Ago

7 days ago, I was awaken by a phone call from my wife at 1am that came with a very shockingly sad news.

7 days ago, I drove up from JB to KL (actually to Bukit Mahkota, nearby Bangi/Nilai) with my trusty seasoned car at 2am. The journey that normally took slightly more than 3 hours, was done this time with a personal best of 2hrs 40mins.

7 days ago, as I stepped into my parents in law’s house, for the first time I saw my mother-in-law lying on the floor, motionless.

7 days ago, for the first time I saw my whole in-law family members were in sober and shedding tears at the same time. I was not excluded.

7 days ago, many of my wife’s family members came all the way from near and far, to pay a last visit to my mother-in-law.

7 days ago, I was standing inside the grave during the noon, lowering down my mother-in-law into her final resting place before she wakes up again in the after life to meet Allah The Almighty.

7 days ago, I lost my mother-in-law. I have known her for more than 9 years now. And now I know how sadden it is to lose someone dear to your heart.

It was a sober moment to me and to the whole family. Her departure was really unexpected. For as much as we do not want this to happen yet, deep down inside we know Allah loves her more.

We only have one mum and one dad in this world. One of the three things that will definitely follow and help them in their next lives is, the prayers from their obedient children.

“Semoga Allah mengampuni segala dosa-dosa mak, dan semoga Allah merahmati dan mengurniakan Syurga yang kekal abadi kepada mak. Amin ya rabbal ‘alamin.”

Out Of The Blue

For those who have been recently following my blog, you should still remember that I went to Langkawi last February to witness and support the triathletes. If you've missed it, I wrote about it here. Well, it’s been two months now since I came back from that wonderful experience and out of the blue, today I received an email from an Ironman from Singapore which I’d like to share it with you all.

From: Lucius ***** (lucius.*****@gmail.com)
To: nikfahusnaza@gmail.com
Date: Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Subject: Hi...

Hello,

My name is Lucius from Singapore and I took part in IM Langkawi. I was Googling thru a friend's blog and you came up. I remember you very clearly as the supporter at the end of the run u-turn cheering everyone even tho it was very late in the race. I wanted to thank you dearly for your support and your endless cheering which was wonderful during the trying times where everything was low but seeing you really made me push on thru my first IM. Thank you again for the experience and you really made a difference for me. Cheers bro!!!

And here’s my reply to Lucius:

Hello there Lucius!

Wow, what a surprise to be getting an email from an Ironman! Thanks a lot.

I'm so honored, and I am so surprised that you can remember me where I was only a "nobody-cares" supporter standing there in the darkness at the end of the road. I was having fun though, cheering for all the triathletes during their final hours on the toughest race on earth, regardless whether I know them or not.

I am passionate about triathlon and I am aiming to do the IM, one day hopefully (if i can commit to the training in my ‘getting-busier’ worklife schedule). The chances for me to doing it in 2011 is however getting pretty low now due to the upcoming work commitment, but we never know, right.

Thanks so much for dropping by on my blog. Hope you enjoy it, even for a very little amount. If you also happen to have a blog, hope you don't mind sharing it with me. You can also add me on Facebook (though i'm not an active Facebook-er). Search me under the name Nik Fahusnaza and I’ll be your new friend.

All the best in your future triathlon adventures!

Cheers!

With this, if it happens that I cannot take part in Ironman Langkawi next year, I’ll try my best to be there once again, as a supporter at the end of the road, under the hot sun or inside the darkness.

Because, it’s fun!

Liking It No More

It has been weeks since my last workout. Busy work life that buzzed me has taken away my interest in writing too. I easily lost focus, enthusiasm, motivation and spirit, unlike before. Even to come up with this entry, I need a motivation booster in a form of a new blog layout.

I used to love being a workaholic. But now, I can proudly say I dislike it. Very much.

My new liking nowadays is to see sweats dropping off from my face, after I’m done with some hard workouts. The more I sweat, the more satisfied I feel. I simply love the feeling. Such a strong addictive pulling factor in my own little world of living a healthy lifestyle. It’s been weeks since my last workout where I sweat buckets. I'm missing it so badly and I hope I can make a return soon.

When a 40 minutes run felt as hard as running a half marathon, I know I need to double or triple my effort to regain my fitness level. I can feel that it's going to be a little bit painful too. With more than 3 weeks of hiatus from any fitness activities, the things I gained the most are, body weight and laziness!

Now I wonder why my jeans suddenly shrink.