.... the jackal rides and run....

Trying to put back more cycling into my exercise regime. Its tough since we have only so many days and so many hours in that day to fill. Anyway, its a good time to increase cycling for now as my legs are STILL recovering from the previous trail run. I'm experiencing the same discomfort on my right leg (knee area) that got me to stop running months back. Did a 10km run which felt ok on Wednesday but I think I should rest a bit more. The trail run probably did more 'damage' that I had hoped. Should have stuck to my old running shoes instead! Cycled with Ryo on Tuesday and Thursday, same route (ECP-Coastal-Loyang-Siglap). The first time round we did it with ave of 30km/h but we were needlessly attacking each other a bit along the way thus the not too optimal time. I remarked that we did this route much faster on Nov 2010 (32.2km/h) which prompted Ryo to raise the challenge for Thursday to ensure that we beat this time by cooperating. Well, cooperate we did. Started out at t...

I did basically some sort of exercise everyday. On weekdays alternated between 5km runs and 30+ km east coast rides. Did quite ok for the 5km runs....28mins for 5km and getting better; with the exception of an afternoon run (about 2pm) on Sunday where I was totally OFF. The body wasn't quite in exercising mode. On Friday, intended to do a 100+km ride with Ryo. Started off rather well albeit a bit slowly as we were chatting and got caught at LCK in the rain. Stopped for a while at a bust stop as the rain got heavier and heavier....I think we must have waited about 30mins. Seeing the rain did not let up, we continued but at a cautious pace. At some point, we decided to cut the ride short and opted to return via Jalan Kayu. It was a working day so traffic was murder. Cars and buses were out to kill anything not on fours. Stick to Coastal rides for weekdays! On Saturday, managed to get JM out for an introductory ride around West Hills. He cycled all of 15km from his place to mine...

This is the first day after a ciggy-less year. It has been a tough while especially in the first few hours, days, weeks, months but I'm really proud of myself over this one for having pull through for a year! Now the second goal is to remain smoke free for another year, and another, and another. To be real honest, I still do dream of smoking once in a while. In those dreams, I light and puff on a cigarette and then always after that, I feel guilty about it, even in the dream! Amazing. Sometimes it was a nightmare as I thought I had failed....until I woke up, of course. I guess this is the part and parcel of dealing with post-nicotine-addiction. Ok, todays ride; on my single speed did the ECP - Siglap speed challenge. Did average of 31.6km/h, very decent considering my personal solo best on the Z3 was 32.1km/h. Average HR, indicative of effort is about the same and as far as I could remember, the wind conditions are quite similar as well. So, there is a 0.5km/h delta (faster) on my ...

What a great weekend with the 2 monkeys back in Ipoh (for Ching Ming). Had my healthy dose of fried noodles, roti goyang and whole bunch of performance defeating but soul enhancing food! The kids loved it there....from the visits to the ancestor burial sites (always an adventure in Malaysia as it entails some minor walking and visiting to outskirts of Ipoh.....to eating and helping out my parents at home. It was quite a challenge to bring them over and back in the bus but after Genting, these are peanut affairs. Ok was trying to first restart my engine on Tuesday morning for a run. Didn't feel 100%....sporting a slight fever and sore throat (not surprising with only 4hrs of sleep in the bus and working the whole day after that) but the first half was actually pretty good but after the 2.5km point....wow....everything started to go downhill. The legs were the first to go but surprisingly breathing (cardio) was ok. Only managed to complete the 5km in 30 minutes flat....the worse time...