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Wiped out November 20, 2005

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I slept in until 12:30 this morning? noon…I ate some ramen and headed for the bike store although the weather wasn't looking so good. If I miss today, I won't be able to go for a hill climb or a short bike ride tomorrow and the bike store isn't open on Sundays. I had a 16km? run after I came back home.

Ride to the bike store: It's just about 20km to the bike store. The wind was an unbelivably strong crosswind and my bike was whistling when the strong winds hit. I learned some useful tips of how to maintenance my bike and the ride home was tough. For some reason, it was a headwind this time, plus it was a slight hill the whole way…The big hill came at the end of the ride, good thing I did some muscle training…

The run: Now this was tough. I had to stop at 5km because I had a bad feeling that I might get one of those hunger knock stuff. I just had to eat something so I went back home, ate dinner, and got back to running 30min after later. My lap times, 1st 10:33, 2nd 10:26, 3rd 9:56, 4th 10:16, 5th 10:39, 6th 11:48 plus 1km? I didn't time it because I didn't even know how long I ran. So that's a total of 1:03:40(hr:min:sec) plus 4or5 minutes. It was a tough run but I finished it!!!

Tomorrow: I'm thinking of a hill climb but not really sure if the weather's gonna be on my side…Then, I'll have another 16km run. I'm soooo happy to get my bike fixed:-) The bike store owner's a really nice guy, taught me how to maintenance my bike and then, he set my derailleurs in the right position and he didn't even charge any!!!

Comfy tiredness November 19, 2005

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Wasn't able to go to the bike store today again but here's what I came up with, if the weather looks nice, I'll go. So I was holding myself tight not to go for a run, as Libor says, the rest is very important. I guess I could learn how to control the amount of training I do? I need to get back on the bike…I think I'll go for a hill climb on Sunday if everything goes right, which is pretty hopeless looking at the weather right now…

The swim: It was an easy swim but I guess the Mcdonals food got me good. I wasn't feeling so well for the first half of the swim, luckily, it was easy. No butterflies, yay!!! Had a 50m*8, 1min40sec cycle interval which was a bit tough because I gave it my best shot on every single 50m. My lap times were, 1st 49, 2nd 48, 3rd 47, 4th 48, 5th 49, 6th 50, 7th 52 8th 52. I meant my best including the Mcdonalds food, extra weight…I think 47 is pretty good having the Mcdonalds food and all. Swam 1200m in all, 6km mtb. Right now, I have that comfy tiredness/ sleepiness…yawn:-)

Things I want: I want a HRM from Polar, RS200sd…and a cheap computer for my mtb. The HRM shows speed, distance, heart rate and lap splits…Just don't know how much it costs:-(

Tomorrow: I'll have a 16km run and maybe a ride to the bike store depending on the weather. After that, I'll come home, do some muscle training and then focus on studying. I'll do Modern Literature and Japanese history.

What is it with the weather? November 18, 2005

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This morning, I woke up and looked outside…The sky was blue, hardly any clouds in sight. I thought I'll be able to go to the bike shop but nope, I guess not. I came home and by the time I started getting ready, it was kinda stormy outside. The winds were strong, it was so damn cold and it obviously was gonna rain at any moment. I thought about still going, decided to go, thought twice, stopped myself. Although I have a swim tomorrow, I'll still go to the bike store if the weather looks fine.

Thoughts: I can't resist resting…I have to go with the ultramarathon schedule and today is a rest day, can't stand resting…Somehow, I was able to stop myself from running by focusing on studies. Then I read some triathlon/ running magazines a bit and bookmarked the stuff I felt like reading again. I think I made a wrong decision, shouldn't have read it…It just made me wanna run even more:-( but I did learn a little so I guess it's okay…

Tomorrow: If the weather is nice, BIKE STORE!!!! The reason why I don't wanna go on a rainy day is because there's a whole BUNCH of traffic over there because it's the capital city of the island and I don't feel like riding 20km, hit some rain and ride back 20km. I will have a swim though…

Busy day November 17, 2005

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Today was a nice day, not the weather though…I went for my second workout, another 10km run. We've had a huge drop in the temp so the run felt sooo easy;-) Yesterday, it was about 26C and today's high was 23C. Guess what? I was shivering a bit…hehe, can't live in Canada or any place else where it snows. My lap times were 1st 10:26, 2nd 10:38, 3rd 10:31, 4th 10:03, total of 41:40.05, I think it was pretty good. Also had a 10min cool down on the aerobike after that. When I got back home, I had some fun with the yoga ball(muscle training), did the dishes and rushed to the swimming pool on my mtb. Swam about 1200m? and then had an easy ride back home. So today was like a short triathlon…felt nice:-)

Tomorrow: I'm planning to go to the bike shop if the weather looks nice. Unfortunately, the weather forecast says it's gonna be cloudy, which most likely means that it's gonna rain. But can't really trust them, they always get it wrong. 1 out of 3, just wonder how they could miss everything.

Too much rest November 16, 2005

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No workouts today because it's rest day and the swimming pool is closed. I planned to study today but just couldn't resist not sleeping. I was gonna sleep earlier than usual but not this early…I need to study more. Thought about going to the bike store but unfortunately, bad weather again. It's about time I focus more on studying so I might skip a few workouts, it's necessary.

Tomorrow: I'm thinking of switching my Thursday run to tomorrow because I feel like going to the bike store on Thursday. It's my front derailleur that's irritating me…Really need to learn how to do this by myself. After the run, I'll go to the swimming pool.

Something good that I've noticed November 15, 2005

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What is it that I noticed? It's about December, I'm gonna have a tough one. Why is it good when it's gonna be tough? I have this one thought in my mind for triathlon training, "tough=good". That's not the whole story though…I started the ultramarathon schedule and most likely, I'll be drowning or doing my best to make it through the athlete course everyday. In fact, I talked to my coach about it and he said he'll talk to another coach about me…oooo, spooky…I'm planning some long rides on my road bike to get some endurance and work on speed right after the marathon. Will I be able to run 200km, swim 50km and bike 1000km? Very interesting….

The first workout: I ran 10km and 22min on the aerobike for warm up and cool down. My lap times are 1st 10:19, 2nd 11:06, 3rd 10:52, 4th 10:33, total of 42:53.00. I kinda took it too hard on the first lap which ruined my second lap but I was able to recover. I brought my pace up on the last lap, trying to do better than the first but had a little bit of trouble, I almost got a cramp. Actually, I did. The left part of my stomach…I tried to cover it by using my calf but when my stomach got a little better, I nearly got a cramp on my calf. I gave it my best shot.

The swim: Probably swam about 1100m. It was another one of those crazy medley intervals. This time, I was able to hang on better and it didn't feel as hard as last week (YES!!!!). Got a fairly nice time on my 100m freestyle, 1:45. Still slow but I'll climb my way up in the athlete course:-) Also had a 6km bike ride as usual.

Tomorrow: I'll go to the doctor to see what's going on with my nose. It get's runny all the time, hope it's nothing bad. Not really thinking of any workouts but even if I have one, it'll be easy.

It starts tomorrow and ends a little early November 14, 2005

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I decided to start with the ultramarathon schedule tomorrow, ofcourse with some arrangements. I take a look at the schedule and it says REST on Monday. The problem is that I wanna get my bike checked on Tuesday which is the first workout day but I wouldn't have enough time if I go. So the first workout is gonna be tomorrow. I'm thinking of mixing a different plan that I read on a magazine. I'll only follow this ultramarathon schedule until the end of January, it sounds like I'm chickening out but I know I'll have to start getting ready for my first triathlon. I'm pretty sure I'll skip some workouts to study for the test coming up in 2weeks. Bike training will start right when I get my bike fixed. After my first triathlon, I'll still train but I won't be able to put in as much workouts as I am right now because…I've gotta study for college. If I'm one of the luckiest guys on earth, I'll be able to pass the test around October and maybe have a chance to run a marathon or something but if that doesn't happen, it's time to study…

Today's workouts: One of the most unique but valuable workouts that I've ever had. The good part is that I found a way to use my aerobike that I haven't been using in a while. I rode my aerobike for 10min warmup then went for a 5km run, came back home, rode it again for 32min and then went for another 5km run, came home and had another 10min ride cool down. I figured that being able to switch my leg's "mood" will be a key point in a triathlon. After riding a bike, my legs get a little stiff and it'll take a little time to switch to running. In my opinion, no matter how fast one runs, he/she will absolutely have a bit of a hard time for the first 1km or so running after getting off the bike. Please correct me if I'm off the track, this idea came from a large amount of imagination and only a little amount of experience…My lap times 1st 10:16, 2nd 10:24, 3rd 11:18, 4th 10:49. My idea was to make the first 5km a steady pace run and the next 5km a "bringing up the pace" run. I guess it worked okay but I'll work on speed maybe around the end of January.

Tomorrow: I'll wake up early, study and after I get back home, run 10km, study and then go for a nice swim. It'll probably look awful because the "Monday" coach really likes to make people train hard but doesn't like making himself train hard…hehe. Most likely, it's gonna be interval training medley practice. The craziest part is the breast stroke…I kinda drowned last week.

Another lazy Saturday November 13, 2005

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I woke up at 9:30am and by the time I finished my breakfast, it was like 11am. No morning run but I did have a run in the afternoon. The problem is that I didn't touch my mtb at all, I guess I'll have to do it tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it's a really big day for roadies in Okinawa because the biggest road race event in Okinawa, "Tour de Okinawa" is starting. Well, to be accurate, the cycling events start today but the racing events start tomorrow. The owner of Bicycle kids (the store that I bought my bike) is gonna race, I've never really talked to him though…hope he does well anyway.

The run: I only went for 7.5km, easy, more like a jog but it felt fine. I need to get my body used to hydrating every 5km now because the next marathon has an aid station every 5km…The last one had it every 2.5km. So I tried it, 5km, piece of cake!!! If I tried this in September, I'd be dead…(hotness, inexperienced runner, etc) My lap times were, 1st 12:10, 2nd 12:10, 3rd 12:07, total of 36:27. To be honest, I was gonna go for atleast 10km but I was hungry and I had an emergency call from the nature god…hehe, by the way, I could come up with many more excuses.

Tomorrow: I really wanna get my mtb fixed…and I also want a cheap wireless computer for it, just so I could find a new running/biking course. If the weather looks ok, I'm thinking of going to a bike store nearby to let them check it, maybe ask them how to set my derailleurs.

Was yesterday a reality? November 12, 2005

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The weather's been giving me headaches for the past 5days or something but today was different. It was one of those summer days…Felt like 30C or something. I was looking forward for a run until I decided to stay at school and play some Japanese chess. Well, I didn't really play at all, I was watching the "smart" guys play. I went for a swim and had my mtb ride to the swimming pool.

The swim: It was the usual medley practice for the first 30min and then intervals the next 30min. I had a fairly nice swim other than the 4th 25m butterfly that I swam, now that almost knocked me out….The intervals were at a slow 1min45sec/50m cycle*8, why is it always slow? I guess I should go to the athlete course? hehe. My times were…1st 50sec, 2nd 50sec, 3rd 49sec, 4th 49sec, 5th 49sec, 6th 50sec, 7th 49sec, 8th 49sec. So I guess it was normal.

Tomorrow: I'm thinking of running in the morning and then fix/ clean my mtb. After that, I'll clean my room and take my cat to the veterinarian because he hasn't been eating much nowadays. Oh yeah, I changed some plans for the ultra marathon schedule, I'm gonna mix it up a little with another plan that I found on a magazine.

The race is gonna be… November 11, 2005

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My first triathlon race is gonna be on April 16th, 2006!!! And I'm gonna train hard!!! For the swim, I'm sure that if I get in the athlete course, the coach will give me a lot of heart breaking workouts that hopefully will make me swim faster. For the run, I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to renew my PR a few times but for the bike, I have no idea what to do. Well, I gotta learn how to set it first…I wanna be able to ride 40km in 1hr20min or so…maybe faster. Any advice? I'm really craving for advice on quality training programs for the bike. Is biking all about form just like the swim? I'm really new to this thing. For some reason, I love climbing the uphills more than speeding down…

Tomorrow: I'll have my swim and not really sure about having a run or not. My ultramarathon schedule will start next week and will be rearranged due to tests and stuff like that. I have one coming up in less than 3weeks!!! Dammit!! Why does it have to be this often? and why so hard….? I've already started with math and classic literature, the two that I most dislike.