{Short} Update on the Weekend

It was a 3-day weekend and I spent most of it veggie-ing out in front of this

Attempted to put some runs after last week’s mishap and the outcome was a 50:50, maybe 30:70 if we count this morning’s. It’s still a long way away from recovery and fingers crossed, we’re working towards it. Let’s see…the aggressive interventionist approach (i.e. the feet got whacked left, right, center, front, back etc by Mr Soon on an almost daily basis) yielded these results:

Saturday: painful first half of the 6km Taman Desa route but after it “warmed up”, things got “better”. Heel was throbbing up to lunch but rest seemed to help.

Sunday: pain-free but tightening heel during the Oren Sport Royal Klang Town Run 2012; again, it “warmed up” after the first km. Oh yeah, I put myself dead right on the last row, so I was surprised to come away with this. Right, maybe not so surprising since I sped up after the first km after I got the “go ahead” from the heel. {repeat last sentence from above}

Tuesday: another slow jog around the neighbourhood to baby the foot and I’m happy to report that the heel held up well. {repeat last sentence from first day}

Yesterday was a double session – Back & Lats followed by foam rolling. Boy, you guys should tell me how to get through the latter! Some of those moves were downright painful!

Single sets of:

a) Free-standing pull-ups (I “volunteered” to start with this on the basis of “let’s just do the ones I hate most and get it over and done with”)

b) LF cable lat pull-down (iron bar; mid grip)

c) LF cable low row

d) Precor T-bar

e) BB deadlifts (ouch…lower back…now I really need to foam roll this today!)

f) LF cable back pressdown with rope

g) Leg raises

Nonetheless to say, my lats, dorsi something something, arms etc are deadweight today. Why thank you Michael!

Five Things Friday

1. The day way too early at 5 today, so I needed this

2. Not that it helped much because in celebration of “No Panty Day”, I so conveniently forgot to pack my underwear in the gym bag. I’m that awesome.

3. I’m giving up this

to catch up with an old friend later this evening. Totally worth it. And if anyone wants front row seats to the only production in South East Asia, buzz me. First come, first serve. Pic credits to Yvents!

4. Bento Box Lunch: Nicely plated overnight oats and Nestum with 3 measly remaining baby tomatoes

5. Chest & Pec day although I had the option of Shoulders. Well at least it wasn’t legs!

Single sets of:

a) Smith machine bench chest press (drop sets; can someone tell me why the second feels so much “easier” compared to the first even though Michael loaded up?)

b) Smith machine incline chest press (and that drop set is not a drop set when only 1 plate weight is removed!)

c) DB bench chest press (repeat observation from (a); thank you very much)

Supersets of: (and the fun starts here!)

d) Technogym chest fly

e) Wide arm stance push-ups on elevated DB (I tell you folks…you can’t get any better and most “fun” than this!)

Supersets of:

f) BB bicep curl (and that can’t-lift-your-arms feeling from Monday’s workout – it’s a secondary muscle from Michael’s perspective because it surely didn’t feel that way on Tuesday and Wednesday. Summary: no escaping the bicep curl this morning)

g) Abs crunches on fit ball

h) Planks

Yesterday’s Operation Roll-the-Heck-out-of-the-Calf turned into Operation Diagnosed-as-Swollen-Calf-and-Pressure-Point-Massage. I was (and still am!) terrified when Michael said the calf/tendon/ligament whatever is swollen when he started poking and applying pressure on the various spots/muscle on the calf. That’s not even the best bit… - his shocked face when I told him that it has been going on since Tuesday. I’m deducing that any muscle soreness and aches typically disappears in 2-3 days?

Five Things Friday

1. Received this from a client earlier this week – handmade choc from Delicious. And it’s definitely party mood in the office now…and will continue through to the New Year. Yay baby!

2. Planning on an easy relaxing weekend catching up with everyone over Xmas mealS. This is probably the first weekend since August that I’m not racing or running an event. Definitely going to make the most out of it with family and friends. What’s planned for your weekend?

3. Also hoping to catch this at some point.

4. Decided to pop by KLCC Park yesterday evening for the adiNation Training Run. It was a short easy chit chat session with Fong who just returned from conquering MR25.

Attendees:

a) “Boss” and Group Lead Ronnie

b) Bee Hoon (who gave everyone 2012 table calendars after the run)

c) Yung Hui

d) Ming Hui

e) Khairul

f) Fong

g) Melvin

h) Tay PC (on his own)

i) Weng Woo (on his own)

j) A few more who came later and ran on their own

Route: KLCC Park

Distance: 1.3km * 3 laps = 3.9km (Garmin: 3.76km; Fong’s Garmin: 3.8km)

Timing: 20:12 for 5:22 min/km pace

Lap 1

Easy warm up lap while catching up with Fong on his MR25 exploits. The race leaders a.k.a Boss and Yung Hui sped off when Boss called out “Start”. Bee Hoon, Melvin and Khairul trailed them.

Lap 2

Still chit chatting but we went at a faster pace. I was conscious of not pushing the pace since part of the track were tiled and not “rubberized” and Kei Ming had warned me the previous day that it could be slippery after a rain. [Yup, it drizzled at the start.]

Lap 3

Upped the pace and we saw Ming Hui and asked him to follow us.

I enjoyed the session because it gave me the chance to catch up with Fong and Yung Hui and the KLCC gang. Plus it was a nice easy session to shake out the tension/stress after a day in the office (or the traffic nightmare getting into town!).

5. Michael was late this morning and I ended up having breakfast at Toastbox before the session. Nope, didn’t puke (sorry TMI!) – probably coz it was light (a piece of toast with peanut butter) and I gave it a wide time allowance to settle. Here’s the leg-and-shoulders combo. Our last workout before hols.

4 Single set of:

a) Cybex hack squat (600lbs this morning and it didn’t feel like death…at that point. Keep a watch out for my DOMS* whine this weekend though.)

Supersets of:

b) Cybex plate loaded leg squat press (400lbs, no way we could have done more after the earlier thrashing)

c) Cybex seated calf raises

Supersets of:

d) Technogym leg extension

e) DB Walking lunges (and the DB came from the free weights section, so it was “loaded”. DOMS nummer zwei coming up!)

Single sets of:

f) Freemotion cable seated overhead shoulder press (hey left shoulder…you need to stop failing me!!!)

g) Seated DB lateral raise

h) BB upright row (40lbs! Are you kidding me????!!!!)

i) Reverse abs crunches

Done. Done. Done. Looking forward to the extended weekend.

Xmas Countdown: 1 Day

* DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Weekend Recap

Warning: this is a long post, so bring up the coffee mug and sit back.

Friday

The weekend started with dinner at Wasabi Bistro

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

We both had the Tenzaru Udon (mine was veg tempura naturally) and polished off the meal with ice cream and sorbet

and followed by this

Oh, and ignore the massive F***-up traffic that were on the roads of KL…even at 11pm.

Saturday’s Hill Training

Route: 2 laps around Taman Seputeh Desa

Distance: 8.02km

Timing: 44:30 for 5:32 min/km pace

The planned LSD turned into 2 loops around Taman Seputeh Desa when the drizzle turned into rain and when the rain returned to drizzle, my screaming shins. Le sigh. At least I had Sunday to make up for it. Kenny decided to race the hills and my shins were having none of those; hence the half-baked LSD. It was probably for the better since I had plans to do this later in the evening.

Larian Perpaduan Little India Klang 2011

Distance: 6.01km

Timing: 28:43 for 4:46 min/km pace

Race recap to come soon but here are my short notes:

a) Yay! I placed 4th in the WV category – there were some stiff competition for this event despite it being a small local race.

b) Completely drenched from the downpour that started at km3 and never let up until the last km.

c) It was good to catch up with everyone.

Sunday’s LSD

Route: BA>Hartamas>BA

Distance: 19.04km

Timing: 1:45:44 for 5:33 min/km pace

a) Recovery run of shorts. Yeah, I can’t believe I actually went out for this after the previous day’s mega runs (mega to me but probably puny to most of you marathoners out there).

b) Paced with Adam and the splits were about even – I only upped the pace in the last 2-3km of each section.

c) There were lots of runners out there probably due to Pacesetters setting up 2 hydration stations along the route. They were god send since the Petronas gas station is under renovation.

d) Overall, an enjoyable Sunday morning.

Of course, this meant I was comatose for the rest of Sunday but not that long since SW enticed me to this

Dinner at Ben’s and Dessert at Snowflakes

SW's chicken sandwich and my chunky mushroom soup - so good!

Snowflakes!

Monday’s Back-and-Chest combo

4 Supersets of:

a) Bench chest press

b) LF cable low row (wide grip)

4 Supersets of:

c) Bench incline chest press

d) LF lat pull down (close grip)

Supersets of:

e) LF cable bench chest fly

f) Precor T-bar row

Supersets of:

g) DB pullover

h) DB bendover back row

i) Push-ups

Single set of:

j) Precor Abcrunch

that was followed by a good stretch at Richard’s.

Tuesday’s Recovery Run (Not!)

Route: LG>Planetarium>National Mosque and 1 lap around the lake

Distance: 10.15km

Timing: 44:07 for 5:19 min/km pace

Le sigh…I can’t just go out and run at a slower pace. Every planned recovery run has turned into a tempo run. I guess I take after the Boss. I need training partners to slow me down. Hands up anyone who trains in the mornings? I’m serious here people!

Five Things Friday

1. I’m on leave this afternoon! *Breaks into happy dance* I’ve some errands which hopefully I can get done by 3pm and then it’ll be chilling out till this.

2. It’s also a public holiday here on Monday. It can’t get any better than this, right?

3. Sam buzzed me yesterday about this workshop happening tomorrow – should I do it? Discussions on Pose and Chi Running has always piqued me but I’ve never had the “courage” to sign up. With Sam already signed up, I would have company. I’m probably closer to a fore-to-midfoot strike and Pose with the VFFs and it’ll be good to refine my running gait. I think. I’m guessing. I could be completely off tangent here. I’m just worried that the workshop may leave me with sore calves especially since I’m planning on doing this later in the day. If I don’t get lost getting there.

4. Oh, I received the one-bite fruit tablet yesterday morning and will spend the extended weekend setting it up. Pics to come this weekend!

5. I was listless when I got into the gym and had a sinking feeling that I may funk out this morning’s session but like Wern Tian said “the show has to go on”. Back-and-shoulders combo:

4 Supersets of:

a) LF cable overhead shoulder press with iron bar

b) LF cable low row

Supersets of:

c) Precor T-bar row

d) DB lateral raise

Supersets of:

e) Technogym cable criss-cross rear delt

f) DB frontal raise

Supersets of:

g) Technogym cable criss-cross lat pulldown

h) Technogym cable upright row

Single sets of:

i) Leg raises

Five Things Friday

1. It is Good Friday and Easter Sunday is coming up. Rejoice. PTL. It is relatively quiet in the office since a lot of people are on leave, even the roads were clear this morning. Let’s hope it stays that way in the evening but going by precedence, it has never been so (or so I recall).

2. It will be a jam-packed weekend with errands to run: get the car serviced, change some currencies, buy the May edition of Runner’s World (even though I am still half way through April’s edition), grocery shopping, get together for a catch up session with SW & HTN/pass them the 2XU swag, meet up with Vinz (fingers crossed) etc. Golly, I am already tired just typing this!

3. Looks like Energizer Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Energizer) has taken hold of the reins from Expose Media (Andy was guffaw-ing about their name; in his words: “name already so jialat!”) for the weekend fiasco. The press statement issued yesterday mentioned refunds and swag, nothing about the prizes. Toby and I agreed that it is probably best not to award anyone because the results are so messed up, even those time-chipped. E.g. Susan Khoo’s timing for the 21km was 1:07 hours – not belittling her achievement and I am sure she did win, just not in that time; even Mok Ying Ren’s personal best is 1:08 clocked at Bareno Run 2011 and he’s Singapore’s national runner. Awarding prizes would make it seem like they are validating the results and unfortunately, they are caught in a situation of “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” (pardon the French). It is a pity that Energizer was sucked into this mess and became collateral damage due to a very screwed up organizer; after all generally (and I use this loosely), title sponsors are just supposed to fork out a specific sum for an event. It will take months, if not years, to rebuild the brand and image from this E.P.I.C. public relations fallout.

4. There was or will be a couple of concerts happening in town, none of which I am that interested or keen or rather while I like their music, I am not too enthusiastic about cramming myself in the mosh pit: Justin Bieber (alst night), Michael Learns to Rock (MLTR) (this Sunday) and Maroon5 (next weekend). We are eagerly anticipating Kok Loon’s report on MLTR! LOL!

5. It was a total body workout this morning since we missed Wednesday’s session. It took me a while to warm up on the elliptical despite the 4 rounds of sun salutations I did before leaving the house (two each of Hatha 101/runner’s stretch and sun salutations B).

Supersets of:

a) Smith machine incline chest press

b) BB standing overhead shoulder press

c) Cybex plate loaded squat press

d) DB bend over back row

Supersets of:

e) DB incline chest fly

f) DB lateral raise

g) Plate weight raised toe single leg static lunges

h) LF cable low row

Supersets of:

i) BB skullcrusher / French press

j) Leg raises

k) Medicine ball bicep curl

Five Things Friday

1. Just one more day… to the weekend! Yippee waa waa! Here is to hoping for an end to the nightmarish week. What are everyone’s plans? I have meet ups with Sharon and Shearley tomorrow and then the rest of the weekend to myself. Kei Ming, KK and Fong did asked me to join them for the Jungle Trail Run with the Orang Asli but muddy fields, springs and rivers ain’t my cup of tea…for the moment. Recall the FTAAA Cross Country Run 2011?

2. It has been about 2 weeks since I started my mornings with sun salutations – either A or B or both. Depending on how much time I have between finishing my Buteyko and leaving the house, I can fit in as little as 3 sun salutations B or 5 sun salutations A + 2 sun salutations B. I am using these to stretch my muscles before my run/workout rather than as a cardio session, so the pace is uber slow.

3. I was ravenous for most of yesterday which I’m attributing to Wednesday’s run. This was odd since this does not usually happen on shorter runs (anything below 15K), at least for me. It could be the combination of running on consecutive days. Oh well, I tried refueling as best as I could and will continue today. Speaking of which, I had a chat with Oceanos yesterday afternoon and he recommended I add milk and a banana to my protein shakes. Nothing wrong with that…except I will not be able to finish the concoction – too filling for moi!

4. The client is so “cute”! KL was telling me (over bazillions of email exchanges!) yesterday that they would like to offer us tickets to Maroon5’s concert in place of an advert in The Edge or The Star! The tix cost about RM500 a piece but they or one of their sister companies are able to get them at a discount. It is either this or Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR). I was talking to Michael this morning and he thinks MLTR would be a better option – older, more established band – but we did agree on one point: we are all for music but standing or squeezing during a concert is not that “hot”. Oh well, I may be able to escape since the Maroon5 concert is scheduled for the long Labour Day weekend. Oh yeah, can you guys imagine Uncle Kwan gyrating during a Maroon5 concert? LOL!

5. Functional Friday at the gym today:

Supersets of:

a) TRX back pull-ups

b) TRX chest press (although Michael calls it push-ups)

c) DB chest fly

d) Kettle bell L-shape back row

Supersets of:

e) Combo of BB squats, walking lunges + knee high, overhead shoulder press

f) Alternate jumping lunges

g) Jumping jacks/squats

Supersets of:

h) Standing BB bicep curl

i) Technogym cable tricep pressdown

j) Abs crunches on fit ball