Long Deserved Kick Start

I did bring back both my trail and road running shoes when going back hometown during Raya last week. And I did have some plans for running during the holidays. So, for the sake of sharing how did I spend the last eight days, shall best be summarized chronologically.

1st day Raya, Friday
The plan for the day was a NO RUN day! Both my girls flew back to hometown and I did a solo 500km drive from KL to KB after Friday prayer. I was glad the traffic was very smooth all the way.

I took the opportunity to stop by Ian's house for Raya, and had a chance for a personal tour at his private studio. Awesome.

2nd day Raya, Saturday
I managed to spoil my running plan with the excuse that I was still tired from the previous day driving. Furthermore, who's gonna finish up the delicious mutton briyani which my mother cooked, right? Tak baik membazir, kan?

3rd day Raya, Sunday
I forgot what was the excuse, but I didn't run on this day either. I then made a plan to run to PCB (Pantai Cahaya Bulan), which is 10km away from my house. A very ambitious plan that I set for the next day. Konon-konon nak revenge la ni.

4th day Raya, Monday
Finally, I managed to go to PCB. Not by running though, but with the car. Yes, I drove. I brought my wife and daughter to the beach in the evening to enjoy the sea breeze. The thought of running 20km scared me, somehow. No kidding.

5th day Raya, Tuesday
I lost the battle with the blanket, again. What can I say?

6th day Raya, Wednesday
Okay, since it's the day I should drive back to KL, I shouldn't get too crazy and hit the tarmac in the morning, should I? So, as nice as I unloaded my trail and road running shoes from the car when I first arrived hometown, I re-loaded them back into the car trunk with the same manner. They never see any sunshine.

7th day Raya, Thursday
I re-used the “tired from driving” excuse to justify to Syah why I couldn't be at Nuang for the trail run I initially planned to join. So, the day was made full use for laundry-ing and some housekeeping. I took the 11pm bus service back to JB for work.

8th day Raya, Friday
I had to work as I do not have much annual leave left to spend. Although my wife has recommended for me to take a medical leave, I acted like a workaholic and decided to turn up for work. Arrived JB at 3.30am, continued my sleep a little bit and by 8.30am, after finishing downloading all the 250 work emails, I felt like going to a psychiatrist to get a medical leave (but I didn't). After work, I took the 6pm bus to get back to KL to spend the weekend.

After a long lost battle with no one else other than my own self during the recent holidays, I made another plan for a run today morning. Other than the reason to prepare for the upcoming Newton 25km hilly run, I felt I lack the motivation to beat the comfy bed. I almost lost it again, seriously. But I thought I better just put on my running shoes and grab my camera along. This time, I also took the mini tripod.

I forgot how nice it feels to be able to wake up and run in the morning.

I went out pretty late, roughly at 7.30am. If I'm not mistaken, my last longest run before this was during PD triathlon, which was back in July. So, I didn't set any big ambition today. I just wanted to go out and run, and sweat, and take some photos (so that I have something to help decorate this blog).

It was a slow run, baby steps alike. I didn't dare to push hard on a come-back attempt like this. An hour on the foot should be good enough. And if I can do anything further, bonus.

Taking it slow and steady. The shady morning weather was such a bless.

Everything felt good on the first half an hour of the run (obviously, because I was running very slowly). It was only my second time running on this route nearby my in-law's place. The last time I ran here was probably last year. There's basically no other runners, and I don't think the route is shared among cyclists either. Some areas are pretty secluded and there were a few stray dogs scattered around here and there at few locations.

As I hit one hour, fatigue started to creep in slowly. After a quick stop at gas station for refueling, I cut short my plan. Instead of pursuing into another housing area for another hour of run supposedly, I diverted my route back to base. Total running time was slightly over 1.5 hours, and I can't be happier than that, at this moment. Hopefully there will be some reserve energy for another long run on Sunday.

I hope this is going to be a new long-deserved kick-start.

Be Prepared For Raya

One of my favorite. The pineapple tarts.
My wife's family makes this every year.

Raya is coming soon. It is just around the corner. During the whole fasting month, we’ve faced lots of challenges. With the always changing rain-then-hot-then-rain-again weather, the flu outbreaks (at some places), never ending work at the office, this and that. So, it is just normal for us to celebrate the Raya to the fullest, with the long holidays that come together with it (which also leaves you with lesser annual leave in stock, if you are somebody like me).

And for some of those who have to miss few hardcore fitness training sessions because they can’t afford to do them during fasting (if you are people who are good at giving lame excuses, like me!), Raya is the time to put in some revenge and reset our body for more training sessions. Many big races are also in few weeks time after Raya.

Be careful though. Raya celebration/holiday may not mingle well with your fitness training. The loads of special delicacies served, the new dresses, the relatives and friends, the travelling and the atmosphere itself, may wrongly tune your brain away from what you used to have before.

LSD may bring a meaning of Lemang, Satay, and Damn-there’s-more-to-eat! So, don’t be surprised if you can do five or seven LSD sessions per day and still not feeling tired yet.

TOF which originally means Time-On-Foot training, might be misunderstood as Time-On-FOOD. Yes, this is very normal.

For all you know, there might be a kuih raya named Fartlek, among others like Almond London or Famous Amos. So, you can put a FB status update such as “I just finished five Fartleks this afternoon”, and your running friends will be in jaw-dropping-awe mode thinking that you've done the interval-like training under the hot sun.

This is not kuih Fartlek. You have to work on your own imagination for it.

When you put a status update on your FB like “25K done!”, your friends may be thinking that you just had 25 ketul ketupat. Or, maybe they’ll think that you just drove your car 25km away to meet your relatives. Do you really think they will fall to believe that you’ve ran that long during Raya? Oh come on, keep dreaming!

If you DNF (Did Not Finish) all the satay at the third house you visit during first day of Raya, it’s ok. Don’t be sad. Leave some of the satay for others too ok.

And if you think you DNS (Did Not Start) eating the third plate of rendang and lemang at your favorite uncle’s house, you are loosing a big time man. Raya only comes once a year which means your auntie only cook that special rendang during Raya, if you forget that fact. Dua pinggan mana cukup!

Please, please, please. Do not expect there will be Gatorade or cold 100Plus at the houses you visit. The most you’ll get might be F&N Mirinda strawberry flavor that will leave your tongue red, and makes you burp every 45 seconds. And if you fancy something weirder than that, try those carbonated grape drinks and you’ll end up with purple tongue.

Or if you dare, carry along your Fuel Belt or Camelbak over your Baju Melayu or Baju Kurung. Then you can have your endurance drink with you wherever you go. In case you suddenly lost the endurance to visit the 15th house of the day.

Oh ya, kids won’t be impressed if you wear your triathlon or marathon finishers’ tee shirts. For all you need to know, kids will only like you if you give them RM10, and they might fall in love with you if you can give them RM20. If you really, really want to impress the kids, put RM50 in the ang-pows (money envelopes). The kids will instantly be jumping in joy and not long after, you'll notice somebody come over and ask you, "Are you crying?"

Three more days for me to spend this week before I can finally put up the Out-Of-Office autoreply message on my work email. My body may still be here physically in the office, but I’m sure my brain is already at my hometown, since last Friday.. hehehe.

Another long driving journey awaits...

The 15 Truth Of My Silence

1. Since the start of Ramadhan, I’ve lost much interest and passion in writing, or sharing stuffs on my blog. I still blog hop almost everyday though, including hopping on my own blog.

2. On many occasions (when they happen), I thought of writing it up on my blog. But, once I sat in front of the laptop, I can’t even complete the first sentence. So, I blog hop some more.

3. To ease myself from guilt feeling, I excused myself with these three words, “I am busy”.

4. I’m ok with buying food at Pasar Ramadhan, for as long as we don’t buy more than what we can eat. But, I can’t fathom those who spend RM50++ or RM80++ just to fill the belly at the many Ramadhan buffets served here and there. Don’t they know that one of the reason or teaching behind fasting is that we humble ourselves with food? The real celebration of fasting in Ramadhan should be on Hari Raya itself, when it is the sunnah to cook more food and invite people to come over and enjoy the feast. Our Ramadhan “culture” needs to be corrected lah I guess.

5. The first 5 days of Ramadhan, totally no workout or exercise for me. I almost forgot what LSD stands for. Does it stand for Let’s Sleep & Dream?

6. From 6th days of Ramadhan onwards, I began a conquest of revenge. I hooked up my bike on the trainer, filled my ear lobes with headphones which were connected to a laptop that plays DVD movies, and punished my legs by forcing them to keep the cadence at 90rpm and above, on various gears. Each sessions would last for 30min to 60min, depending on how interesting the movies are.

7. I normally start the sessions after terawikh. The most I could do was during last week. Total of 4 nights, with each session lasted 45mins ~ 60mins. Seeing the sweats dropped off from my chin was a little bonus. Seeing the increasing average speeds as they progressed day after day, was double the bonus.

8. For the 1 hour time I spent per week at the gym doing upper body workout, I get 48 hours of muscle soreness then after. The good thing is, the gym is not crowded before iftar. I hope to clock another 1 hour gym session next week.

9. I did not do any fitness workout during the weekends, other than to carry my daughter when she’s tired of walking while following her mom doing the shopping.

10. I only ran twice during Ramadhan so far. One was two weeks ago, which was only an embarrassing 36mins of super slow run after work. And another one was on yesterday’s hot evening, which was truly a self humiliation. I started a series of walk breaks from the 7th minutes onwards. It was a total 40 minutes of self humiliation. I felt crappy, I felt unfit, I felt awful, and I’m not proud of it at all even though some non-Muslim runners said it was awesome that I still managed to run while fasting.

11. After the run and breaking fast, I went into the pool for the first time in Ramadhan for a slow swim session. All this while I was a single sided breather (taking air on right side only, per stroke), and a friend told me that this technique disrupts the momentum, hence relegating the speed. So I slowly tried double sided breathing. It’s still difficult for me to break the current habit of single sided breathing, and my stomach was filled with pool water as much as what I had for iftar whenever I took the air from the left side. But, I promised myself to train more on double sided breathing or at least, single sided breathing for every two strokes. Yes, I’m hunger for speed.

12. I’m still having the doubt whether I can finish the 25km distance for Newton hilly run on September 26th. Big workout plans (mainly consisting of more running and lower body workouts) have been set for launch after Raya. I just need to buck up on my discipline and not fall over with a bulging tummy filled with rendang, ketupat, satay and many other Aidilfitri delicacies (oh gosh, it’s gonna be tough to resist).

13. Out of all, there’s only another guy or two from JB that I know who are going to do the long distance triathlon in Desaru this coming October. So far, looks like my training is almost at par with what they are doing (maybe a little bit less). But I still don’t think I can fully prepare for the race. And I really don’t like to race with unprepared fitness. It’s not fun. Anyway, the registration is open until Sept. 18, and who knows my mind may turn 180 degrees. Sometimes, I don’t know myself, especially if the race course is only a 1.5 hours drive away from where I work now.

14. I’m not buying new Baju Melayu for this time as my previous ones are still in perfect conditions. I haven’t thought much of what else to pack for balik kampung next week, but one thing for sure my Avia Bolt running shoes will follow me.

15. I actually miss blogging. It is not that I love to write. Plus, I’m not good at writing and I tend to spend lots of time whenever I write something. But sometimes (actually, most of the times) I don’t have anything of a good quality to be jotted down here. After all, it’s difficult to be a perfectionist I guess. In that case, the “I am busy” excuse is always the best way to disguise my silence-ness in the blogging world.

My routine, twice a week.

FB In Animal Kingdom

Some of us spend a lot of time updating our status on FB. And some of us spend more time to check and comment on their friends’ status updates. But, have you ever thought how would it be if animals also have FB?

Cicak: Tuan rumah baru beli reket elektrik. Kenduri nyamuk panggang la aku malam nih... yes!!

Nyamuk: Baru habis ronda rumah Ajoi... kenyang. Burp, Alhamdulillah.

Ayam: Tidaaaaaaaaaaaak! Besok majikan gua nak buat kenduri kesyukuran besar-besaran. Confirm gua kena sembelih ni. Mana aku nak lari ni?

Cicak: Isteriku tersepit pintu. Tak sempat mengucap. Aku kena tukar status jadi “single” lah kalau macam ni.

Kucing Betina: Anak I yang ke-5 baru tanya siapa bapaknya. I bingung nak jawab apa. I sendiri lupa bapaknya siapa.

Ayam: Kawan-kawan...kalau esok aku tak update FB...bererti aku dah kena goreng....I luv u all... jangan lupa buat kenduri arwah untuk aku...

Nyamuk: Siot, sekali drug addict yang gua hantam daaaa. Gua dah positif HIV AIDS ni... uwaaaaaaa. Jatuh la saham gua.

Cicak: Ekor aku putus lagi. Siot punya kucing. Sempat lagi main sergah-sergah belakang pintu. Terkejut beruk aku. Nasib baik tak koma.

Kucing: Baru je add awek sebelah umah... keturunan PARSI beb! Seksi wa cakap lu…

Tikus: Operasi malam ni... selongkar kitchen kabinet... sape nak ikut?

Katak: Malam ni nak buat konsert akustik unplugged lah.. Dah lama hujan tak turun ni.. Hangat oii..

Ular: Rasa mcm nk makan lauk tikus putih la malam ni..mana nk cari ek?

Anjing: Aku tension bila ada mat rempit berkumpul tepi rumah aku tiap-tiap malam. Nak tido pun tak senang. Hanjeng punya orang.

Kuda: Terseliuh kaki depan. Rider aku bangang salah timing bila nak lompat pagar. Sekarang rehat kat kandang. Recovery. Bulan depan ada race kat Balakong.

Kura-kura: Aku sakit hati bila bini aku berjalan. Lembab macam siput babi

Siput babi: Aku sakit hati bila laki aku bergerak. Lembab mcm kura-kura

Gagak: Tadi jumpa ayam KFC kat belakang kedai. Jangan jeles

Burung Kakak Tua: Penat betul nak ubah stigma masyarakat. Walaupun aku Burung Kakak Tua, tapi aku burung jantan dan aku masih muda remaja laa!!!

Babi hutan: Susah betul nak cari makanan halal sekarang ni.

Kera: Semalam GF aku bagi bunga. Sedap jugak kunyah.

Tikus: Aku tengah makan mee goreng mamak kat Al Naz Maju @Precint 9 ni. Meh la join sekali. [Mobile upload].

Lalat: Asyik hurung bangkai je. Alhamdulillah hari ni jumpa nasi bungkus.

Sotong: Aku bengang bila tapak sulaiman ejek aku si lembut.

Kucing : Petang karang tepat jam 5.00pm, aku nak buat cubaan kedua pegi curi ikan bawal kat pasar. Cubaan pagi tadi dah kantoi. Sia-sia kena terajang.

Itik serati: Hahahhaa. Lawak la ayam serama tu, ade hati jalan tersengguk-sengguk. ...nak tiru gaya aku jalan le tu.. LOL....

Ikan laga: Boring sey, duduk sorang-sorang dalam tangki ni. Dah la broadband lembab.

Ikan parang: Kurang asam punya manusia. Ada ke patut letak gambar profile aku kat depan bekas keropok diorang?

Ikan Jerung: Kenapa takde sorang pun nak add/approve/tag aku ni? :-(

Ikan Sepat: Terkenang jiran sebelah yang dah dijadikan ikan pekasam. Rindu la kat dia.

Ikan Bilis: Wah ramainya kawan kita. Tahniah Remy, kau kawan aku yang ke 500,000.

Ikan Arowana: Cantik tak sisik I ni? Cantik kan? Baru buat re-bonding tadi tau.

Ikan Mas Koki:Macam mana la nak kurus nie?

Don't you think this is true?

Something To Learn From Wildlife

[I received this via email from a friend]

The law of the wild says kill only when you are hungry!!!

Photographer Michel  Denis-Huot, who captured these amazing pictures on safari in Kenya 's Masai Mara in October last year, said he was astounded by what he saw:

"These three cheetah brothers have been living together since they left their mother at about 18 months old,' he said.

'On the morning we saw them, they seemed not to be hungry, walking quickly but stopping sometimes to play together. 'At one point, they met a group of impala who ran away. But one youngster was not quick enough and the brothers caught it easily'".

These extraordinary scenes followed.

Ahaaa Gotcha!

Now we know, that one of our friends has been doing some secret training. Who would have thought...

No no no, that's not my baby.
It's Pa&Ma August 2010 edition.

Yup, no matter what, we should involve ourselves in some sort of healthy living lifestyle.

Eh, do you see what I see?

Ahaa.. Gotcha!
Tengah buat secret training poco-poco ke tu??

My Other Hobby

Some of you may have noticed, that other than doing sports, I also love taking pictures.

For that reason, you may be familiar looking at me carrying my little compact camera when I run. However, it is pretty rare for you to see me holding a camera when I’m not in my ‘fitness suite’ (read: running gears, dri-fit shirts and seluar ketat). And I’m also sure it is even rarer for you to see me snapping pictures with a DSLR (digital SLR).

But not on one fine and beautiful Saturday morning in Port Dickson, where I got a Nikon D90 camera hanging from my neck, with me wearing a normal dri-fit t-shirt (yes I love dri-fit stuffs) and a pair of jeans. It was a day before my OD triathlon in PD, which was during the sprint and kids category.

Thanks to Snap-Attack!

It all started with a conversation to secure an accommodation for my PD triathlon race with the Snap-Attack crew, where finally I volunteered myself to capture some moments during the kids triathlon events on behalf of Snap-Attack. They can’t be in PD as they had to cover MUDS UPNM on the same day and time.

So, on the Friday night before the race, I met up with Shazly. Get hold of the Nikon D-90 basic kit (with 15mm lens if I’m not mistaken), get myself a quick DSLR photography 101 crash course with him and discussed on how and where to take the shots.

Standing by for the swimmers to reach the shore.
King Jelir was nervous waiting for his son.

Amacam, ada gaya macam orang sembelit photographer tak?

I positioned myself right at the swim exit to get the best coverage. this was during the sprint category.

It was a fun experience for me. It was my first time using DSLR, and it was my first time doing proper sports photography (which was indeed tough to get spanking great shots). Despite of only using the non-telescopic lens, I managed to grab these shots below. There are many more photos which I took during the kids triathlon and Snap-Attack hosts the other photos on their websites. Feel free to browse through Snap-Attack.

With Snap-Attack's permission, here are some of those that I managed to capture. In total, I snapped almost 700 photos on that day, of which only about 500 were considered as 'acceptable'.

A mixture of nervousness and bravery.

Attaaaaackkkk!!!!!

The junior triathletes. Super fast and furious.

The most difficult moment to capture was during the cycling leg.
I would say, 40% of the photos I took during cycling leg were all out of focus.

I love taking shots at the kids running. I just needed to squat by the race route, and wait for them to enter the frame, and then snap!
They were all full of emotions.

Time for a celebration!

Too bad, I'm too old for them.
They naturally smiled at the camera for my best shot of the day.