Perthy 3-4-5-6

- Wednesday
Another morning swim at 5:30am in Claremont Pool. 

Endurance and some efforts this time, with a total of 5k bagged in the warm pool. We had a bigger squad this time, and it was lovely to meet some new people, and also learn that one of the swimmers knew a friend of mine back in KL. It's a small world after all…

Had a great long nap in the afternoon, which I surely must've needed, and then headed off for a good hard run with a great bunch at the Challenge Sports Complex.

4x 2km effort, 1/3 at 10k pace and 2/4 at 5k pace, with about 2min rest intervals. It was showering, whichI would say was a perfect running condition! The grass was amazing

6:46/6:36/6:48/6:44

In the evening we had an amazing dinner with a huge cut of tea-infused smoked salmon cook deliciously by Sam, for Jane's birthday. Cheers man! W all had a great time.

- Thursday
The cold rain showered down early that morning with gusts that shook up waters at Swan River, Claremont. We waited in the warmth off the car and as soon as the rain died down, we got straight into the rough waters for a good swim. I sat on Paul's feet as we swam along the shore of the 1km stretch and then drafted off his side on the way back, switching from left to right at the 500m marker (which was a boat!). Out again, sitting on the feet, and back, this time hammering it on the last 500m.
It felt like we were flying on the way out, as if sat on a light stream. However, coming back was like swimming into series of brick walls and hurdles. It was a long long stretch of fighting through the water! It was a "proper" rough swim and we only managed 1:30 per 100m pace!


Friday
A short, hard threshold swim took place back in the pool again at 5:30am, with main sets: 6x100 on 1:30, 2x200 on 3min and repeated twice, with the second one using beepers.
I then went for my run straight after along the coast of Cottesloe beach and admiring the waves and scenic… Well scenic everything.

I can't deny however, that the best part was after-sun, when Sam took me out into the city for some pretty awesome drinks at hipster bars (that you will almost certainly never get in KL). We also went into "Pleased to Meet You" which had the best oysters and roast chicken. They were cooked to such perfection.


Saturday
I cycled over to The Running Centre at 6:30am where I met up with Raf's running group and we headed off for a 5k warm up into beautiful King's Park. After a series of drills and strides, we set off for our solid session of 2x 5km at half marathon pace. The loop started off mainly downhill, with some small hills, before hitting a long hill towards the end. One of those routes that can gradually put the pain in, especially towards the end!
We then headed to Jugglers cafe which made amazing long macs, bacon wraps and chico-crossaints. Yep, I had them all and loved every bit.
After a good chat I had a long 30min cycle back, had a quick nap and whizzed off for an open water skilled swim at 1pm at the pool. I was pretty chuffed with my swim for 2x 500, swimming good times.

I definitely want to go back to Kings Park, whether for a run or passing by on the bike, and possibly head into that sweet cafe again!

Perthy

The first 2 days spent in Perth have been absolutely wonderful.

First swim session took place in Claremont Pool (which by the way, is superb) at 7am on Monday. Nothing too taxing with a technique session, but I guess I should be surprised that I felt a little "not 100%" after the past few weeks of travelling, which I'm still not quite used to yet. Still got through alright and enjoyed the swim, getting to meet wonderful people like Guy Crawford, Kate, and of course, Paul Newsome. 

After the first session with the swim squad, I stayed back for a 121 session with Paul. Some interesting gadgets and toys were revealed from his big square on wheels, and I was put into the water again but this time only swimming 200m with a camera following me.

It was then replayed on a computer screen with Paul explaining everything going on with my swim.

As it turned out, everything I thought I was doing right or wrong actually showed the complete opposite! It all seemed so simple, yet I would never have noticed it or been able to point anything out. One of the biggest shocker was the constant feeling of always having sinking legs, only to learn the body position is actually dead-flat, and the fact that the legs are actually having the opposite problem-kicking to high up!

Things were even more exaggerated with the wetsuit on too..

A couple of drills were done to help get a better feel of what to do and to correct things, using fins and some interesting, special paddles. I also had a headset attached underneath my cap so Paul could personally communicate to me through a radio while I swam.. Nifty!

Some free afternoon meant travelling about, seeing the area, having some good coffee (which I'll miss when I go back home). It was real nice of Jane and Sam take me around town.

Day 2: More swims

T'was a 5:30am 6k swim this time and included a good amount of warm up, drills, 400TT/200TT swims, 10x100m, 2x500 etc.. Just kept focusing on the techniques pick up the day before, but I guess it's a little harder to hold on the hard swims, at least for the moment!

I went out with Sam and Matt for a motor-pacing session on the bike in the afternoon, after stopping at a cafe for The most delicious coffee I've ever had. By motor-pacing I meant hanging on for dear life for a couple of minutes, only to get thrashed with Sam's monstrous hill climb and then just getting lapped on the 5k loop, over and over again. I just felt so flat that it forced me to fall back to having a steady ride instead. I was really squeezing the last drop out of myself sitting behind the wheel of Matt's scooter, it really wasn't my day on the road.. Cheers Matt for putting up with such slow pace back! 

...Well, it's still a ride done.

New year, old goals

Here's my first post of 2014…

Ok, so it's actually almost mid-year but it counts as something right?

I'll just jump right into and play this through at 4x speed:

Winter training went well until my peroneal tendon (a tended that pulls the foot outwards at the ankle) on my right leg gave way after I stumbled on the wrong part of the uneven surface during a run. It took me off my running shoes for 3 weeks but I managed.

Metasprint Aquathlon (750m/5km) in February was first up and I finished in 2nd place, after a cock-up and running off course. Should've studied the race course a little more! I also started working for Xterra Malaysia as an intern, helping to liaise with the competing pro's and all their logistics. 

The following month,  Metasprint Duathlon was scheduled up next but a last minute call up by ASTC rescheduled me and I hopped on a flight to Chiangmai together with Tyler and Jia Wen (Team TIME youth team members) for an ASTC Development camp. Taipei, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia came for this camp with a head count of 11 athletes. We were all closely monitored and coached by Luc Morin as well as Mr. Ki during or 5-day camp, and learned plentiful! I was pretty chuffed as well to have managed a 1500m run PB by about 20secs, and a 3000m run PB by 7secs despite little experience with pacing (in other words, I'm basically saying I'm pretty confident I could have gone a whole lot quicker!).

March is where things started piling up, so the pace slows here; I raced in the Metasprint Triathlon (April 16) to finish 3rd with 2nd place in Overall Series. the following weekend (April 23) was a long 5hr drive up to Kapas, Terengganu for a 6.5km island-to-land Swimathon which I finished 2nd place in. I was surprised I even finished it! Not scrappy for a first-timer eh?

On Wednesday the same week (April 26), Barry, Kim & I took a flight up to Shanghai and arrived at 1am. A little delay dragged us on and we only got to bed at 3am, staying the night at a hotel nearby the airport. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and lunch at the hotel, relaxed a bit in between and then hopped on the bus for a 5hr trip to Zhenjiang. Can't say it wasn't exhausting! We finally arrived at 10pm and had our bikes sorted before going to bed at 11ish..

The next day was very relaxed, with only swim/bike/run race course familiarisation all done before noon, and lots of sleeping!

Race day on Saturday morning went… Well, underachieved? They water was chilly but nothing uncomfortable, but I had a poor swim, which wasn't ideal in a field of only 30 fast guys (well it's not ideal in any situation anyway!), and ended up coming out of the 2x750m swim in the backend with only a Serbian to ride with. Needless to say, we got lapped on the 5th loop of 6x6.6km bike and the day came to a quick and gutting end. Putting a paperclip on that note…

Returning back to KL, I was planned for yet another busy weekend.. that makes 4 weeks of long travels back to back! Not a big deal for some but sure is for me…

I had a great swim for a relay with an amazing group of people- Tri-ing to Help Cerebral Palsy (please to check out their Facebook page and "like" them!! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tri-ing-To-Help-Cerebral-Palsy/1458736217676678?ref=br_tf) as an effort to raise funds for this cause.

I swam 18min, which I still don't believe despite others claiming it was accurate, and gave a great lead out for our team. Lloyd had a great ride and Jason finished off the run to claim us a 3rd place! Hats down to the team, both the relay and individuals. Amazing effort guys and privileged to be part of it!

I mentioned earlier that I worked with the pro's and was glad to finally meet them and had good chats. Great experience in both the work side of it as well as getting to know the pro's. Many thanks to Dave Spence for arranging everything from assigning me into this relay team to making Xterra Malaysia such an amazing event.

There very next morning, I boarded a plane for Perth, and now I am sat at the house of the Davis as I speak! Basically, I'm hear on a 10-day swim camp to work on my swim with a close guidance by Paul Newsome and his team that is the well renowned SwimSmooth. I am certain they will be able to fix my No.1 problem which has always been my swim, especially in open water. Of course, I'll also be riding, running, and enjoying myself in this beautiful country. As usual, goals are to be a better swimmer, a better, biker, a better runner and a better triathlete..

Everything start tomorrow. How exciting!!