Dilemma

What am I suppose to do? What am I suppose to say?

Another "out of the Blue" order came through. I am to commence following the BMI training in Lumut. Talk about being shocked. That makes my daily routine to be as below.

0730 BMI Training
0900 prepare to go to Penanjong
1030 arrive in penanjong
1400 POC/PTI AARM Training
1730 finished

If talking about the amount of training, I am quite nervous as to whether my body can take it or not. As for logistics, I seriously doubt that I will be able to cope the commute, even if I were to stay in Lumut.

My family will now take the luggage compartment in the boot (not even the backseat), as the administration seem more screwed than ever.

On the brighter side, I will definitely lose weight (that is what they want). It is like back to recruit training, but in two, very far apart training areas.

Makes me go back to the thoughts of whether I should even stay in the army or not.

The only things keeping me here are my wife and soon to be born child. Too much to think now...

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Sport: Swim

Having my skimpy lunch after a midday swim training. Today was mainly drills, so I was focusing more on my swimming technique.

I started with a warm up of 4 widths. Then proceeded with my training.

15 bubbles.
2 widths kicking (I really suck at this)
Rest.
6 width pull float. 10 bubbles in between.
10 widths paddle assisted. 15 bubbles in between (exhausted!).
4x 25m sprint. 10 second float in between.
4 width cool down.

It seems that I have not improved at all from the previous week. I hope I can remedy this in the following weeks. It is an uphill challenge that I must succeed come July.


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Location:Swimming Pool, Penanjong

Turn of Events

I sit here, thinking about the past couple of hours.

This turn of events puts me at an unsteady place. I had just recently finished a course in Penanjong, and was ready to get back to my daily work routine. A certain event had recently transpired (sounds posh), where Kurt had been selected to go to IMT. Why is this important?

He left the AARM Team, and left an opening for a Team Captain. I was not expecting that I would be chosen, but I received the news last night from Tn Zul. I was to report to the Shooting Ranges at 0730 in the morning.

I got to the shooting range and mindlessly did not know what to do.

Come Midday, Tn G Yu and Tn Khairil mentioned that there should be a change in the appointments, considering that everyone of the Team Captains were new. So, after the afternoon briefing, there was an appointment change. I was not too fussed as I have yet to settle in.

It turns out that I am chosen to be the Rifle Team Captain, and so I will start training with the men tomorrow.

What will happen with my daily routine? How will I cope? Is this a blessing in disguise? Or is this the bitterness at the end of the lollipop? Only time will tell.

I can not think too much apart from the need to perform in the taskings that have been passed out. As the saying goes, "You can only work the cards with the hand that you have been dealt with"

I need to sit on this one. And I know that I need to really think about this...

"carpe diem"


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Location:Penanjong

Review: Thor

Thor: The Movie. An excellent movie. It has all the necessary details that make it the Marvel Legend it is. The movie itself was straight-forward and keeps itself open for future "add-ons".

There was a continuity with the other Marvel superheroes, when SHIELD was included, Clint Barton (Hawkeye) took a supporting appearance as well as mention of Stark (Ironman).

I like the fact that they kept the story simple, because of the many different possible ways for Thor to learn, this was the most simple albeit easiest for him to basically grow up.

For me, I rate it 4/5. :)

Wishlist 001

Man, I have a wishlist. Like almost everyone else. It is getting shorter, but I will be very content if I could get these things.

1. Cervelo P2 Ultegra
2. Zipp 404 clincher
3. Garmin 310xt
4. Mavic Cosmic SR
5. Asics race 8
6. Lifetime supply of Powerbar, Powergel n the sorts.
7. A fitter body...

If only it were to come true... :)


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Location:In my head n heart

Sport: Swim

Just finished my slow n easy swim sesh with Tn Zul. It was not the best of training, and I ended up simply swimming 300 lengths (meters - correction). Tn Zul did a whopping 2k into the swim... Now that is something... Oh well... it is motivation for me to keep pushing...

That seems too short. I need to put more determination into my training. Tomorrow there is a planned group cycle, we will see my performance then...


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Location:National Stadium Swimming Pool

Sport: Run

Afternoon run today, to end my course in Penanjong. What a sad end to the course. Three weeks in Penanjong and I only managed to train (kinda) once with Tn Fakhrul. It was a swim training.

So I had the idea to run the Sg Buaya route, but running without a partner I eventually turned back at Gren2 entrance. I wanted to keep a steady pace, but it seems Tn Fakhrul is right, I am having a sort of depressing week in my training, with everything seems to be on the low end of training. From my swims, my runs and my cycle rides. Everything seems to be dropping below expectations. I hope that this is only momentary and I will improve the coming weeks to come.

On to the stats shall we?

Run: 06 May 2011

Start Time: 1650 hrs (4:50 pm)

Run Distance: 5.46km

Run Time: 30mins 02secs

Average Run Pace: 5mins 30secs per km

Calories burnt: 492 cal

Seems okay, but I felt like I was breathing out of another hole. Hah! Exhausted. Moderate effort, still a long way before I could "complete" an olympic distance triathlon. We will have to see in the following days.

Rant: Upcoming Events

So, here I was, preparing to go back to my daily routine and training. I got word that I am going to have to put that on hold.

I have 3 events that I am looking forward to.

1. ABDB Olympic Triathlon - To be held on 01 July

2. Panaga 34th Triathlon - To be held 30 October (not confirmed)

3. TDDB Time Trial - To be held in November (to be confirmed)

Thinking about these events, and the amount of training to be done, I get disheartened everytime something gets in the way. Now, who would not be? It has been a long time since I was fully interested in training.

I always wonder how the others do it. In the end, it seems that I need to keep my mouth shut and just do it.

Several upcoming events that may hinder my training would be the major events in the army calender. Yet, I do not see that as a problem, as everyone is supposed to be involved. Maybe it is just me taking things too seriously. And I should take things seriously, like my fitness, weight and family.

Too many thoughts will lead to a depressed man. I need to stop for a while... Let us see where this will end up.

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Panaga: Results

Here are the results of the Panaga Triathlon. I agree with Tn Fakhrul, it is to complete rather than compete.

Pics: Panaga Triathlon

Here are several pictures of the recent Panaga Triathlon. Quite unpleased as I only have 1 picture among the hundred pictures... and its a wide shot as well... must get into the spot light next time... Haha... The Full album can be found here.

As you can see, it is a wide shot... of me taking off my shoes prior entering T2. Hmph... No other pictures as of yet... :S

Sport: Run

Closing training for today, I finalized on going for a run. It was a tough choice between cycling and running. I really wanted to go cycling but there was no one around to bring along.

My run started from the back entrance of the Officer's Mess. Slowly working my way around the front of IL HQ, MRS and headed towards the primary school. Feeling winded, I slowed down to catch my breath. Then, it was a return trip back to the mess.

I ran an approximate distance of 5.02k, at an average pace of 5'30". Calories burnt at 452.

My run training is in a phase where I try to keep my cadence up for a longer distance. Once I can achieve a high cadence run of a minimum 8k, I will move on to the striding and endurance phase.

My stride is awful. I can not produce a nice lengthy stride. Probably due to flexibility issues. Hope to remedy it soon. I have less than two months now.

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Location:All around Penanjong

Sport: Training

Went for my first swim after the Panaga Mini Tri, in fact, it is my first training session after the tri.

Tn Fakhrul invited me for a swim at 1230-ish, but had to cancel due to work commitments. So I went by myself. I consider todays swim to be short. Well, I felt damn tired after the swim and I did not do my usual lengths.

Here is a break down of my training today:

Started with 15 bubbles,

2 widths free style,

10 bubbles,

5 lengths unassisted with 7-8 bubbles between each length,

2 lengths with paddles,

15 bubbles (exhausted!),

4x25m sprint (deep end to middle of the pool) with 30-45sec floating in between.

As I said, not my usual lengths, but I hope to increase my sprints to atleast 20 or better 40 half-lengths. That is what Tn Moza (Pak Richard) taught me...

Looking forward to my afternoon session.

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Location:Swimming Pool, Penanjong

Sport: Panaga

Could not get my mind off the event this morning so I will relive it in words, starting with when I arrived at Panaga Recreational Club.

I met Tn Farhan and he was talking about how modest he was in attempting the triathlon. I received a phone call from Tn Fakhrul, wondering whether I was awake or not. I mentioned that I was at Panaga already and he told me that they (Tn Fakhrul, Tn Masmun, Tn Amirul, Tn Airul) were on the way there. I went into the clubhouse and asked where to register. The organizer said that it would be another 10 minutes, so I went and set up my bike and transition area.

Almost finished setting up, I met several army boys (god, how I wish I could remember their names) and we talked about the event. After a little bantering, I went and registered. I got my right arm written 64 and proceeded with putting the race numbers on my shirt. I saw the Sirs arriving and greeted them. Well, Tn Airul was the first to greet me, but I greeted them generally. Haha.

We went in and waited for our turn to get in the pool. Tn Amirul was going on about whether I could beat another contestant. Boy, was I nervous. I seriously do not know how I will perform in the water. I saw Tn Fakhrul started off, quite strongly I might add. Then, Tn Masmun. In the midst of it all, I could not help but smile at the effort given by the participants. My number was mentioned and I went into the pool. I started with freestyle but on my second length I could feel that I was losing it. Halfway through length three or four, I was mixing and matching several strokes. I ended up with breast stroke for the rest of my swim. How humiliating. :S

I got out of the pool, and somebody congratulated me. being slightly disoriented, I just smiled, high fived and started running to the transition area. Got on my towel, cracked open a waterbottle, proceeded to rinse my feet and put on my socks, then shoes. Here came the slowest part of the transition. My shirt. I did not dry my body off well, so My shirt was stuck halfway up my back. This is the time I realize that I should probably get a tri-top. Put of my sunglasses, gloves, lastly helmet. During that time, I noticed Tn Fakhrul was in the transition area as well. He started cycling a good 6 seconds ahead of me, and I know that I will not be able to catch to him on the cycle.

I started spinning out of Panaga and turned right. I looked down to my down-tube and was horrified, I did not have a bottle. Stupid! I was going to try and finish my cycle leg with out fluids. Hmmm... so I ended up spinning at 28 to 31 km/hr. My thighs felt like lead at that time. I had a good 3 people overtaking me on the cycle. An italian dude, a female participant and a full triathlon participant (I knew that because he had 14 on his arm). I got into the transition area and turned around, and saw participant number 51. Female participant, vaguely familiar but I could not place her face at that time. So we started the run, and I kept thinking to myself, keep the normal pace, breathe normally, come what may... haha... sadly, by the time I got to the beach part of the run, I was seriously tired. I did not have my heart monitor with me so it was difficult to calculate my heart rate. deciding that not pushing it is better, I walked to catch my breath. Bad choice, because once you stop, there is a tendency to stop again. I saw the white tents and trudged along in a slow jog.

The triathlon is done with, now I want to know how well I did. hmmm....

Post Mortem: Panaga Triathlon

Having done my first triathlon, albeit the mini triathlon, I have a good grasp of what had gone wrong and where I am weak in. Swim, cycle and run. Three disciplines. Interconnecting.

I woke up at 0500 in the morning and went to Panaga to register. I set up my bike and kit for transition as I wait for the officials to get ready. I participated in the Mini Triathlon, while Tn Fakhrul participated in the Sprint (Full) Triathlon. Team Cocodile was there as well, consisting of Tn Amirul, Tn Masmun and Tn Airul.

I was registered to no 64 and had to wait for my turn to swim. Once I got into the pool, I was extremely nervous. This was because I could not imagine how far or fast I could swim. My fear turned true and I could not maintain a freestyle stroke for the whole 300m. Embarrassing as it was, I had a mixture of strokes during the swim.

Next came the cycle. I had a 3 to 4 minutes transition, where I was struggling with my top. I guess I will need to get a tri top. The miniature fatigue in my body caused me to be unable to push my cadence to its peak performance. I ended up with spinning on 28 to 30km/hr.

Completing my cycle, I went into T2 and got to my run in under 1 minute. I did the run. It was horrendous. I could not maintain my running pace and felt horrible. I knew it was almost over and I needed to push on. Once finished, I could not help but smile with my achievement.

Then came the lucky draw and the prize presentation. See what I won. :)

I need to focus on training now. I have 2 months to work my way up to ABDB Triathlon... I hope I will be ready for that... :)

Updates: Telbru Cycling Expedition & Race

It is time for my post-mortem report on the recent cycle expedition that I had participated in. The Telbru Race 2011. I participated in the 51k expedition with several of my senior officers and it was quite fun to participate.

We started of at Telbru HQ in Old Airport, moving through the Tungku Link road. We turned towards Muara and had u turned right after the SVNR. Then we headed back to the Telbru.

There we waited for the "Lucky draw" event. I did not seem to have enough luck though, and did not get anything.

The ride was fun and I would not mind doing it again. Haha :)

Rant: My Objective

Some would say it is a new year's resolution. Some would say it is turning over a new leaf. I can not regard what I am currently undertaking as anything that I have just typed out. I am currently into my regime of fitness training started on 1 January 2011, and hopefully will be on-going for quite some time.

Why I placed this post under a rant, is probably the fact that I need to have a place to keep my objectives seen. So I will not forget the reason of WHY I am doing these things.

The year 2010 was a very sad year for myself. I was unfit and more often than not, in a bad situation with my career. I was going no where.

I believe that I have Ashady to thank for the "shove" in the right direction. We had a cycling expedition on 1 January 2011. It was from Tutong Camp to Serasa Watermanship. I seriously doubted my ability in being able to cycle that far a distance. I proved myself wrong and it was amazing.

Cycling was my introduction back into the world of getting fit and healthy. I was bitten by the cycling bug, bitten bad. I started to cycle almost everyday and I found that one and a half months later, I was showing progress in losing kilos off my weight.

Another person I would like to thank would be The Boss. With every time we would have a ride, the encouragement to keep going and excel in my fitness training was excellent. I enjoy fitness, a surprise to who I was the previous year.

My cycling improved, and I thought I might even give triathlon a try. Here comes several influential people into the foray. First and foremost would be my wife. Her undivided support for my training is something I could never repay. I love her to bits. Then are the training group. This consist of Tn Fakhrul, Tn Amirul, Tn Alimin, Iron Coach Jay, Tn Pak Richard, and several others. It is an overwhelming feeling when you have the unlimited support from people.

So I started to train my swimming. It was awful. I can swim, but I am barely able to swim freestyle for a short distance. I believe the following person has been a great impact on my life as well. Tn Zul is definitely someone I look up to. He has been swimming for some time now, and has been getting me to go to the pool to swim as well as getting me to accompany him on runs.

I doubt that I am any faster than I used to be, but that is not my main aim. My aim is Operation Sven T-5. If read, I guess the meaning explains itself. I aim to be 75 kilos by the end of the year. With that goal I hope to be a fitter person than I was the same time last year or two years ago.

The only hurdle in my training is dieting. I have a huge problem because I can be considered as a semi-glutton. Food in Brunei is extremely delicious and I seem to be having problems in staying away from it. Haha. I guess I need more self control soon.

I am putting words here, so I can remind myself. I hope this post will help me further in the days ahead. :)

Sport: Run

I did a spontaneous run this afternoon. K named it spontaneous due to the fact that I was planning to go cycling. Never the less, I ended up running for a bit, and the feeling was great.

I went for the usual spin of a 9k run, running at an average pace of 5'35" per km. I finished my run a little over 53 minutes with a calorie burn of 857 calories. The weather was dreary with rain drizzling in the late afternoon. It felt great to run in such conditions as the air smelled fresh.

The only bad effect (if I were to even call it a bad effect) is that I feel sleepy. Piling on from yesterdays training session, I know that I am heading down the one way street towards total body exhaustion. It does not really matter, as I have a target to achieve. I might have been wayward in the past couple of days, but no more. I will achieve what I have set out to do. :)

Post-mortem: MIPR Charity Ride

I participated in the MIPR "Kayuhan Takziah" Charity Ride last Sunday. It was a 20k cycle around bandar. Here is a break down of what I did for the event.

I started my ride from my parent's home in Lambak and cycled to the start point. The start point was located in the parking area of MIPR. The ride started at around 0730 in the morning. The average speed of the ride was around 15k/hr. It was a pace that I did not truly appreciate but considering that some of the people participating were new riders, kids, mtbs, aged and women, I think it would be a correct pace. Once finishing the ride, I cycled back home. All in all, I did a 30 k ride on that day.

I witnessed a bike crash on the ride back to MIPR. The bike got caught in a hole and its rims was bent awkwardly. A rider behind him crashed into him. It was really horrific, but luckily we were only going 13k/hr at that time. That means that the riders sustained light injuries.

I am quite glad that I used my Tricon rims for this ride. I love riding for charity. It keeps in line that we try to stay healthy while donating for a good cause.

Sometimes we need to slow down and think of the hardships that other people are going through, and I certainly had time to think while on the expedition.

Not really a thorough report, but I think that should be enough to give the readers a good idea of what happened during the ride.

Sports: Full Day

I had a full day of slow intensity training today. What I meant with low intensity is that eventhough I pushed myself on each training session, I did not push to my limits. I made sure to "reserve" enough energy to be used for the next training.

Early in the morning, I went for a run. I felt like I wanted to go for a 5 k run but I told myself that I wanted to do swimming and cycling later, so I ended up running 2.66 k. I burnt roughly 300 calories and paced well to be within my training range. My average pace is still 5'30" ish. I feel that should be a good wake up for this week. I will work on going further (endurance) then work on the speed (speed endurance).

Midday, Tn Zul invited me for a swim. I had already planned to swim that noon, so I went. Tn Zul went for his usual 20 lap swim while I trained to be able to swim further. I am to the point that I can safely swim 150m with slight effort. I am having the trouble in the last 30 m where I seem to be sinking further from the surface of the water each time I take a breath. I wonder what is wrong with my technique? After swimming for an hour or so, it was time to get back to work.

After the afternoon meeting, I looked at the watch and felt that I had enough time to spin around Lumut. When I typed "spin", I really meant that I went spinning. I did not attempt to push myself to see if I can increase my speed endurance, but rather, I went for the weight-loss routine. I can still recall Iron Coach Jay once said that "If you are aiming to lose weight, spinning is best, just go for an average of 25k/hr but stay on your bike for at least an hour". Not that I could stay 25 k/hr if I wanted to, my legs seem to be programmed differently, so eventually I ended up spinning a 23km route with an average of 28k/hr. My average cadence during this ride was 110 cycles. This was because I had to free-wheel at some point due to my speed going into the "speed training" zone.

Overall, today was a good day of training for me. I am going to work on my self discipline and not let all that training go to waste. In other words, I will try not to have a heavy dinner tonight. Even now I feel tired and seems like I will fall asleep early tonight.

Just as a reminder for myself, I will write a post-mortem report on the "Kayuhan Takziah" Charity Ride hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) later. Just a reminder.

Updates: HSBC Charity Ride

I am late at promoting this, but I believe that I should put this event on the blog. Here are the following requirements that they stated in their brochure.

General Rules and Regulations

1. Participants must confirm their participation by returning the donation collection card and donations collected to any HSBC Branch in the week between 09 May 2011 and 14 May 2011. Only confirmed participants are eligible for the lucky draw.

2. The event may be cancelled, rerouted or stopped due to bad weather or safety reasons. The final decision will be made by the event organizer.

3. Entry fees which are 100% donated to Pusat Ehsan, KACA and SMARTER are not refundable or transferable.

4. Participants must follow road rules as well as the direction of police, traffic management and event officials during the course of the event. The organiser reserves the right to remove any participants who refuse to adhere to the safety guideline or instructions.

5. It is the responsibility of every participant to ensure that they are fit and healthy enough to participate in the event.

6. Participants participate at his / her own risk and accept that the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Brunei and its employees / sponsors / partners will not be liable for any loss, damage, action, claim, costs or expenses, which may arise in consequences of their participation in the event.

7. Participant also permits the organiser to use his /her name, quotes and photographic likeness for marketing and promotional purposes.

8. Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by their parent or legal guardian.

Additional Rules and Regulations for the 45km route

1. All participants in the 45 km cycling route must be aged at least on 22 May 2010. Participants under the age of 16 are not allowed on the 45 km route.

2. Unicycles, tandem bicycles are strictly forbidden.

3. Cycle safety helmets must be worn at all times during the event.

4. Every participant must ensure that their bike is roadworthy prior to the start.

5. Children will not be permitted to ride in a child seat or trail bike with their parent or guardian in the event.

6. Participant are expected to be capable of maintaining an average speed of 25 km/hr. Slow riders will be stopped and request to board the support vehicle. This is for the safety of all riders.

7. Participants are required to remain behind the lead vehicle and in front of the support vehicles, at the very rear.

Sport: Training so far

Been focusing too much on swimming lately, and losing my cycling finesse. Not that I mind much, but I guess I need to go back to cycling. This is because I need to get back to weight loss training.

I have come to facts that I lose more weight through cycling compared to the other sports that I am pursuing. My weight has been static since I halted my cycling training. I know this is true. Therefore, I need to work on it.

Here is new information. With the upcoming 50 year anniversary of ABDB, we will be organizing and participating in a triathlon. This triathlon is based on the olympic distance triathlon. This would be 1.5k swim, 40k cycle and 10k run. Date of event is on 01 july 2011. Long road ahead...


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Sport: Swim

Went for swim training in the morning. I realize it now. I have to keep training and maintain a good eating habit in order for my main aim to be accomplished. I set a goal to lose 10 kilos in the first half of the year, and atleast another 5 to 8 kilos by the end of this year.

Swimming. I know how to swim, but I do not know how to swim efficiently or go for a distance. The stroke in mention is the freestyle. *sigh* Sometimes, it needs effort and practice to something that we want to achieve. As i said in a previous post, I am able to swim 100 meters safely now.

I do not think I want to mix and match freestyle and breast stroke for a triathlon, and I do think that doing so will only burn me out sooner than later.

Keeping in mind with my aims. Lose around 15 to 18 kilos this year, and be able to participate in a triathlon. Seems realistic does it not? Well, we will have to see soon enough. :)

Updates: Last week of March

Okay, it is the last week of march and the beginning of April. What did I do for this week? Pretty much had several sporting activities, said goodbye to something and now preparing for Standby month.

Sporting activities. It's quite difficult to explain in more detail (since i missed out in putting them in the blog). I am focusing more on my swimming this week rather than the other aspects (i.e. running and cycling). I am quite happy that I can now safe say that I am able to swim 100m freestyle. A lot more effort needs to be placed in my swimming sessions in order for me to be able to reach the benchmark of 1000 meters.

What else am I to jot down? I need some time to think... I will be filling out another post after this... maybe. :)

Bike: Charity Expedition and Challenge

To share some information with you guys. There are several cycling expeditions in the next couple of weeks. First of all, there is the Japan Charity Bicycle expedition that is organized by MIPR. This is going to be held on the 10 April 2011.

The second expedition is the Telbru Expedition and Race 2011. It is going to be held on the 17 April 2011. There are several categories, including a race and an expedition.

Any comments please post them up, thanks.

Sport: Triathlon Logo

What do you think? Cool eh? Should I put this up as a display picture on Facebook? Probably not...

Sport: Jog in the Afternoon

Not to be outdone, I needed to carefully strategies my training schedule. Since today is a running day, I decided to fend off swimming (ohh, the gravity of this situation) and go jogging in the afternoon.

I did a short 5.33k jog in 29 minutes 42 seconds. My average pace was at 5 minutes 34 seconds a kilometer. 481 calories burnt, and feeling fatigued after the jog. My leg muscles were scrunched up like as if on the verge of a major cramp, and my lower right chest felt like it was going to burst. Not a good sign eh?

As you probably know by now, I am logging my runs on Nike+ and this recent run made me wonder. I had a stable jog, but the last 100 meters or so my pace drop drastically. I wonder why.

It does not matter much, as long as my running mileage increases and I get comfortable with running. With the expected comfort, I hope to go further and faster in the near future... :)

Sport: Run

I had a run this morning, having finally learning how to set up the nike sports band. It was not that great but it is a means to the end. To me it is not about one end result but to progressively move towards a greater end than I can ever imagine.

Back to the topic, I had a 9.18k run, done in 53 minutes 14 seconds. The pace that I did that in was a 5 minute 48 second pace, calorie burn of 828 calories.

Not a bad run, but could be improved. As I finally found out (with a good blow to my ego), swimming is the worst of the three disciplines in a triathlon. This is closely matched with running and then cycling. I would not say that I am good at cycling, I am just saying that I am better at it.

Having done all three disciplines this week, I can now safely say that I will not be doing any brick training any time soon. More effort is needed to improve on my disciplines, and it is a long mountainous road in front of me. But, then again, I remember the saying "Only one man, bleary eyed, will pick himself up and plow forward"

I am not doing this because I am competitive, hell no. I am not doing this because some one told me so, definitely not. I am doing this to prove to myself that I can do this, and I will.

Rush to Wait...

... Wait to Rush. I do not like waiting. Well, For a long time.


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Rest Day

Today is a rest day for me. This meant that I did not do any form of sporting activity what so ever today.

So, what did I do today? Well, I accompanied my wife for her ante-natal appointment. She is five months pregnant and today is the day we hoped to see the baby's gender. Turns out that the baby is shy and did not show much. Haha. That is fine, as long as I know that he or she is fine and healthy.

In the afternoon, I tried to settle up what seems to be a problem with the rugby players. Being the adhoc manager of the rugby team and all, I needed to sort out some problems. even now, there are some problems that seem to be slightly difficult to handle.

Eventually, I need to sort everything out. As for sports, I hope tomorrow would be a good day. Planning to go for a swim in the morning and a cycle in the afternoon, what do you guys think?

Updates: Aviva IronMan 70.3 Singapore 2011

I would like to congratulate Team IronMan (Code name forever will be) on achieving something us mere mortals will always strive to become. Maybe one day I will also have the same pride when passing through the finish line. Maybe.

I know it is a little late to say congrats and all, but I would like to immortalize that moment on my blog. You guys are no longer mere half crazy dudes chasing a dream, but demi gods who have proven that with willpower, sweat and effort will make the most profound dreams into a reality. To the other Bruneians who were in the Aviva IronMan 70.3 Singapore 2011, I say "WOW!" You guys should earn a "Dato" title like they give to Malaysians who did something.

I am envious, in a way, and I use this as a target for myself. I aim to attempt the same feat. May it be in two or three years. The respect I have for you guys is immense and everything is now a strive to catch up. Thanks for showing us that even we, Bruneians, can do what others are afraid to do. :)

Tn Pg Azizul's Time sheet

Tn Sharif's Time sheet

JJ's Time sheet

Sport: Run in the Morning...

... and a sprint ride in the afternoon. That is how I could sum up the day.

I woke up pretty early today. Probably due to the fact that I had to get to Lumut before morning parade, which is at 0700, and the fact that I could not be in Lumut last night due to bad weather.

Once parade was over, I felt it would do disservice if I were to do egyptian pt instead of exercizing. So I went to the track and started ru-err.. jogging. I am quite amazed with the endurance that has built up in me and I went for the full 3.2k. I did not really time myself but I am just as pleased with my conditioning.

First, I lost 8 kilos in 3 months, now I can run further. This is a good start to my year. Sadly, I am not happy with the exhaustion that came after my run. Where was the Runner's High that everyone was talking about? I have tasted and now crave for the Cycler's High, and soon I would like to taste the Runner's High as well as the Swimmer's Rush.

To cut my day short, I was stuck in a meeting until 1740, and I knew that I would not be able to take a proper ride today. I figured that I should just go to the gym and do some muscle endurance training, especially for my triceps (stronger triceps will help in swimming).

Just then, Faizin called me and planned a ride. Since the sky was grey and we did not have a lot of light to ride with, we went for a sprint. Pleased with my speed and tenacity. I remember Tn Moza once said, "getting up to and above 35km/hr is easy, maintaining it is a b*tch" Word. I agree with him entirely, my legs felt like they were going to fall off, and this was me riding at 38 km/hr for 6 mins. Oh well, I will definitely improve. no, correction. I MUST improve... Hehe

To end it in a jiff, I would like to point out that I am extremely happy with my fitness currently. A 3 month old cyclist with my level of ride... I just need to pedal more and chase after the benchmark. What benchmark? The benchmark that was set by my friend, JJ Samid.

Sport: Cycling

Had a ride in the morning. This morning ride covered a distance of 31.1 k and the average speed of the ride was 29.5 km/hr. That is quite good considering that I spent quite a bit of time waiting for the other riders to catch up.

People who were part of the ride were Tn Amirul, Tn Gaz, Faiq, Faizin, Rushdi and myself. Simple route actually... JP -Tutong Muara Highway - Rimba - Muara Tutong Highway - JP

Bike: Brake Cable

Note to self: Once brakes feel stiff, get the brake cables checked.

Price of cables: $8

Every 800 to 1000 kilometers, check and/or change the chain.

Price of 105 chain: $58
Price of Ultegra chain: $79
Price of Dura-Ace chain: $89

It is going to burn a hole in my pocket. Haha.


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Location:Triple Star, Kiulap

Medical Check-up

I had my Cardiology appointment yesterday, and it was to determine whether I was healthy enough to resume my duties. It seems that I was not. All I could make out from the medical gibberish were to put me on the Heart Failure Team. What does that mean? I do not think my heart is failing, I guess. My wife has different opinions, mostly about atypical heart diseases. I guess I will have to follow through on this.

On a different note, I had my weight taken. This would be a medical scale that is proven to be as accurate as any scales go. So, what has cycling done for me since I started two and a half months ago? I emptied my pockets and stepped up to the scale. Lo and behold, I weighed in at 87.7 kg. That is and approximate drop of 8 kilos (7.3 actually) from my first weigh in at 95 kilos in the late week of December last year. I am hoping the rate I am losing weight will continue progressively and consistently. 2 kilos a month is my target and anything more is a bonus. All I wanted was to lose 12 kilos by June (when MRS weighs me in again) and be at my ideal weight of 70 kilos by my birthday. Hope it comes true.

I have several more doctor's appointments in April, will see what happens then...

Sport: Cycling

Just finished a night ride with the CLF (The Boss). People involved were CLF, IU LF, Tn Gaz, Tn Erawan, Tn Pg Zaid and yours truly. Distance covered was 45 k, done in 1hr 47mins. I forgot to used my Heart Rate Monitor band and so I just went with my gut instincts... and usually it is not that far off.

Night ride, with rain. Those are new things for me. Even with those conditions, it was an excellent ride. I am having a problem with my rear braking system (the right shifter). It is feeling too stiff. I may need to bring the bike to the shop. *sigh* I just hope that it would not be much of a problem. Next to get would be some aero bars... but that can come later when I get the other two regimes up to date. My aero position is getting better, -ish. Haha, but we will have to see in the months to come. :)

Definitely a ride to test out the rims. Uphill, Downhill and Flats, it was superb. The only thing that caused hindrance to it was actually me. Seems like I need to train more.

Overall, the ride was great. Sara Lee was awesome.

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Location:Tutong to Berakas

Sport: Cycling

JJ found out about my upgrades and I seriously do not know how he is reacting. Well, I would like to say good luck to the three of them for participating in the AVIVA 70.3k IronMan in Singapore.

About the ride. I named it as a sprint Time Attack due to the shortness of the route. We covered a distance of 25 k. Time taken was 47mins. Average speed at 29.7km/hr. The route of choice was Berakas Light Industry - Muara Tutong Highway - ITB junction - Rimba Junction - Rimba Airbase - Terunjing Link Road - Lambak Main Road - Berakas Light Industry. Plenty of undulating hills and plains to try out my near gear.

Talking about my gear, People said that it needs to be at 35km/hr to start performing, but it seems that for me, it started performing once I spinned over 30km/hr. Cool. The effort was halved and the distance was good. Sadly, I think I over-exerted myself, with a one time light-headedness close to blacking out. But then again, it was all good. Let's see if I can put up a google map on the route later. Haha.

Here's a picture of those following the ride. From the left: Yours truly, Tn Ghazali, Tn Erawan and Faiq.

Sport: Cycling and a Jog

Had a ride this afternoon. Participants of the ride was Tn Ghazali, Tn Erawan and myself. The route of choice was Light Industry Berakas - Tutong Muara Highway - Muara Beach - Muara Tutong Highway - Light Industry Berakas. Distance of 34.33 Kilometers on an average speed of 29 km/hr. Eversince I got the V3, I have been constantly looking at my heart rate and keeping in within the fat-burn range, quite difficult when you have that gut feeling that keeps on yelling, "GO FASTER!"

Average cadence was fine, at around 97 cycles, and average heart rate was at 150 bpm.

We had a slight pit stop at Muara Beach and met Tn Moza, Tn Hafiz and a couple of the SF guys. Once we finished our ride I went for a short jog, covering 1 kilometer only. Felt like a big effort in doing so, which shows that I am still not ready to handle a triathlon.

Oh yeah, Faiq came along riding on his new ride. It is a Giant TCR Advanced 2 year 2010. Looked good and he claimed that it is considerably lighter than his previous ride. I said to him "Giant is different, you don't want to stop". Haha, as the cliche goes, once you go Giant, it is hard to go back. Point of fact, when he got his Giant, it came with a reflector, pictures as shown below.

Giant Blue with its reflector... ;)

The Two Giants

Car: Rain

There goes 5 dollars out the window... :(


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Location:Sg Liang

Car: Wash

Here I am waiting for my car to be washed. Talking about which, it can be seen as a form of maintenance. More often than not, I hear people saying the interior and exterior whatnots of a car reflects the person. Haha, what a load of bull. It is like claiming, if you do not wash your car, you do not take a shower yourself.

To me, time and situation dictates everything. We live in a fluid time space. Things change in a matter of moments. Not that I dislike seeing my car squeeky clean, but the weather is unpredictable and i can not invest a great deal of time and effort on menial things.

Seems like i view my car as a menial thing. Well, it is a form of transport to get me from point A to point B. Simple enough is it not?

Hmm, watching them try to wipe away the dirt on my car makes me realize something. Life is all about oppurtunity costs. We do something in the sake of foregoing another. Trying to rationalize which is better. In the end, we live our lives with the decisions we make now (or in the past for that matter).

My car looks good now. Another decision that I might regret soon, with thixk clouds starting to loom overhead. Haha, it is all good. A good decision to get the interior cleaned as well...

It is all done now and onto the next of my itinerary for today. :)

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Sport: Cycling

Having a ceremonial roti after an easy ride with the guys. A distance of 30.7 kilometers covered, with an average of 25.5 km/hr. Heart Rate was in the fat burning zone at an average of 134 beats per minute.

This is a fun ride for me. I enjoyed it very much. The route that we rode was from JP - Tutong Muara Highway - Tungkulink Road - Rimba Airbase - Muara Tutong Highway (Lambak Kiri Exit) - JP. We started at around 0740 in the morning and finished a little over 0900. As I said, a fun ride it was, with abit of a hiccup here and there.

An incident occured with Faizin getting scraped after taking a spill. His bike is fine with a bent left shifter. He claimed that he was fine with no injury to his ego. Haha, no harm Izin... The story went like this, on the return route back (on the Muara Tutong Highway) Faizin had sprinted forward ahead of the group, and knowing that we need to keep an eye out for each other, I tried to catch up with him. On the smaller bridge at Jerudong (the on with pipelines underneath), his bike got caught and he fell. Amazingly, he was fine with some scrapes. As the saying goes, any ride that you can walk away from is a good one.

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Location:Simpang 153,Rancangan Perumahan Negara Lambak Kanan,Brunei Darussalam

Sport: Cycling

I just came back from a cycling session with CLF. A distance of 49 kilometers was covered. My average speed on my cycling computer was 28.6km/hr. My average cadence was at 89 oscillations, and my average heart rate was at 155 beats per minute...

That was a tiring ride. I placed alot of effort and burnt out on the ride back. The last 10 click was horrendous. My body ached and all that... But never the less, I love the cyclist high that came after the ride. Splendid!

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Location:Lambak Kanan Residence

Sport: Giant's new accessories

I got a new accessory for my bike. I consider it as an upgrade from my old wireless computer, which is the echowell bri-12w wireless computer.

Now why did I go and get something new for my bike? Well, apart from I needed something to upgrade my bike, I also felt that I needed to start train more efficiently. It is not just about getting on a bike and riding around anymore. I need to work on my fitness and shave those annoying Kilos that I gained over the years.

I am also considering to start swimming, I bought a pair of goggles and have yet to find the suitable time to actually start going to the swimming pool. I have done a bit of running but like always, running is not strong in my blood. I may need to remedy that. But this is a long term goal, and I have set targets that I MUST attain. Hehe, so serious.

Eventually it goes back to determination and commitment. Seeing myself saying this, I may well be a different person from yester-year. It is 2011 anyway, in another year or so, god-willing, I will be in the next decade of my life. Hmmm, that is so depressing the way I think about that.

This post is turning more into a rant, so I guess it would be safe to stop it here. :)

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Location:Triple Star, Seri Kenangan Complex, Kiulap

Rant: Recruitment and Retention

A study was done on these two topics.these two work well hand in hand, but through unknown circumstances, everything is in a sorry state.

Recruitment. It is the process of acquiring a size of work force that will enable us to work progressively.

Retention. It is the process of keeping the existing workforce to stay in employment as long as possible.

The study works mostly on the HRM, the Human Resource Mangement. They acknowledge the fact that the number of entrees is not sustainable against the number of retirees. In this form of acknowledgement, they attempted to address the issue.

What do I think of this? I think we need to think of the action that we have done in the past and try implement measures to "cure" and prevent a detrimental pattern to form up... :)

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Location:Jalan Kumbang Pasang,Bandar Seri Begawan,Brunei Darussalam

Rant: Traffic Jams

"why do they name the period of time with minimal vehicular movement as rush hour?"

This is probably due to the fact that it is the time that everyone gets up and goes to work (in the morning) or home (in the afternoon). In some instances, there are places that have no movement for a long time. It is not that I am not grateful for living in Brunei, where the traffic is not that extreme. But I feel that a traffic jam is frustrating, just as well.

Coming onto the topic, traffic jams are not just caused by the sudden mass urge to pack up and go home, but even becoming a bystander can cause traffic jams. Yes, I meant the events of an accident. More often than not, the accident has been moved off the road pretty quickly. What happens after that is catastrophic. People in Brunei are extremely curious people. They love to get information, regardless whether the information is useful or not. So when an accident occurs, it is like they must memorize the cars involved, who hit who, licence plate numbers, male or female driver, etsetera...

I am not saying that I am not curious myself, but a quick glance would suffice my thirst for knowledge. There would even be people who would gawk at the scene. Making their own critique on how the accident occured and whether which is the guilty party.

Moving on from accidents, we come to another behaviour of Bruneians that I am not so proud of. The feeling that we are the only ones in a hurry. I am not sure how others see themselves in a traffic jam situation, but I would often see people with ugly behavioural patterns during traffic jams. Overtaking using the road shoulder and forcing their way onto the other lane.

I guess that is enough of my ranting for the time being. Until I get another idea on what to criticize, this is my rant.

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Start: A New Beginning

I am rethinking about my blog. It seems that i have moved on from what I see myself. So I am going to do something different and re-invent myself so to speak.

Starting with this blog and moving onto the other aspects of my internet life. I suppose some people just do not keep updated with who I am. But to those who are following me and keeping up to date with my life through this blog, I hope that I can keep you guys entertained.

What I can foresee the things filled into this new iteration of my blog are things that I find interesting and probably my own rantings in this thing that we call life.

This is a new start, it is a new beginning.

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Location:Jalan Kumbang Pasang,Bandar Seri Begawan,Brunei Darussalam