work

Working life for me has been great. the best thing i've done so far is to switch job. i love what i do now.

congratulations to SEDA Malaysia for their launching today. SEDA is an agency to administer the feed-in tariff. www.seda.gov.my

put up your solar panels today.

reconnect

Malaysia won yesterday. I haven't posted in a while. Might as well start again.

after reading older posts i think it is worth the time to jot down some important notes with rgards to life, triathlon, people, arsenal etc.

some older post does look stupid .. but unlike photos, jotting down means i can remember my state of mind during that particular time. .. .. even if it does look stupid...

experience .. is felt and memorized by the brain... worth more than any good picture...

2011

updating my blog.

better with pictures but too lazy to put them in.

a lot of updates but too lazy to update.

how do people do this everyday ..?

try it ... try triathlon ...

"...i think for the start of 2010 i was suppose to blog something about what i wanted to do and how i never managed to do it .. how i wanted to do stuff for 2010 which will only be hot air come 2011 ..."

better late than never ...

my new found interest in triathlon

triathlon is just like travelling ... msut have distance .... stamina ...

output ?

whole lotta fun ... personally ... experiencing something new is the only reason i think makes people grow ... just like babies ... every day is a new sensation .. new experience .. first steps ... first everything ... and that's why babies i guess .. is always smiling ...i have a lot of routines in my life ... but when it comes to races .. i alwasy feel fresh ... always something new to learn ..to experience ...maybe i'm an adrenaline junkie ...maybe ..

distance for me doesn't necessarily mean the race distance .. of course to some it's overwhelming .. but it can't be done .. with my head firmly gripping to that principal ... i'm going to prove to myself that it can be done ...the distance is also the years/journey it takes to finally land me at Langkawi for a full ironman ...

and stamina .. is to finish it off ..not to blow up half way ... give up half way ... but to arrive to that destination ,....where you see yourself when you started .. begin with the end in mind ...


starting it?

I must thanks Fox Mulder for me being in triathlon ... he introduced me into this business ...he was wearing this really cool timex watch with the "indiglo" feature on x-files... and i really wanted this watch because i wanted to be cool like fox mulder ...and i finally got a timex (years later and a current model).. and it has this little ironman logo on it (under the timex wording)... timex is the offical timekeeper for IM....

fig1: my wife bought me this watch .. life changer ...thanks dear ..

With that watch ... i was obssesed about chrono-ing evertyhing ... how much time i spent from home to the office ..how long do i have to shit before i'm late to work ... how long for a person to order mcdonalds ... and of course how fast i can finish the serdang course which was only 6 km - my longest running distance then ...unfortunately ..the watch is currently under repair .. (never ask a watchshop that doesn;t sell timex to change you the battery .. the next thing you know .. your watch is filled with water .. idiot!)

after that .. i have purpose to running ... i wanted to a) run non-stop b) maintain or break my personal best .. before i know it ... 6 km became fun .. running thru sri serdang . .watching kids coming back from school ... thru the pasar malam ... watching factory workers coming off work ... bangla's and people watching me like i'm running away from something .. the UPM chicks ...but honestly serdang is a great course to run.. a lot of things to see ...and the time keeps getting better ... so gradually i increased the distance .. but the course have to be interesting .. luckily my new housing area has scenic routes also ...

now ... i manage to finish 20k non-stop (almost half-marathon) ... and it felt good .... to be able to finish something i thought would be impossible ...

but i didn;t want to just be a runner ... i wanted to do triathlon ...

fig 2: my first 10 k ... felt good afterwards .. and automatically hooked on running races...

then come the swim ...

swimming is the discipline i enjoy the most .. training or racing .. it's basically swimming man .. it by default fun ... but triathlon swimming is difficult ... 3.8km ... open water ....i know doing 1 hour per week in the pool would not cut it .. so i decided to step it up ... but how .. efficient swimming requires technique ... who is going to teach me that ..?

answer: dave scott .. with good clips on you tube .. has a lot of tips and drills to perfect the art of triathlon swimming ... for the first 3 months i became obssesed with swimming ... hitting the pool averaging 4 times per week ... spending around 6 hours per week correcting my techniques... and at home .. i watched re-runs of countless swimming tips downloaded from you tube and practice in front of the mirror where and there were time i have to convince my wife i'm not nuts ..i'm just looking at my stroke baby...without a proper teacher to guide and correct my faults... i have only myself to count on ... i also spend a lot of time at the pool watching proper swimmer doing their stuff and learning fthru that as well ...

and now i manage to swim 2k non-stop ...practice does makes perfect ...

fig 3: body marking prior to my first open water swim at desaru (500 m) .. survived ..

2 out of 3 ... i told my self if i can swim up to 1 km .. i would buy i bike .. because i can compete in a sprint triathlon consisting of 500m swim ... 20k bike .. and 5 km run ... and after i completed my first 1 km at the pool .. i called up kadir and alin .. for some bike tips .. which bike to buy with my limited budget ... and i bouth a merida 901 .... around RM2k ... it's ok i guess ... it got me through races ...

i still don;t feel physically comfortable compared to running/swimming when training on the bike .. until now ... for me .. the bike portion of the triathlon is the time to fuel up for the run ... but 180 km man .. i really can't just ride through that distance .. i must practice so i would not struggle as much or even worse drop out... so that's what i'm gonna do ... after the DPA 6 months .. gonna get me an aerobar ... upgrade a few components ... and ask dave scott for some bike tips ... via you tube of course ...

and with help from some interseting routes suggested by kadir .. i can hopefully enjoy cycling ...

fig 4: cycling at powerman 09... that smile says it all "40 km ...i'm screwed dawg"

with that .. i can conclude that ... triathlon serves up my hormones quite well ...

it has the adrenanline factor, distances, challenges ... and most importantly it provides me with new experiences and a whole lotta FUN ...

and all the things that people say about how practice makes perfect ... to be patient .. basically work to get what you want...

.... it is true

... i mean ... of course it's true la.... but to literally realizing those captions .. it's an awesome mind boggling feeling.... i figured if i incorporate it in whatever i do and keep the faith ....with time.. it will come to me ...

annex1 : results 2009 - personal best

1. 1ok run - 50 minutes - top 100 out of 400 runners
2. 20k run - 1 hour 50 minutes - top 50 out of 400 runners
3. powerman 09 sprint- top 20 out of 200 participants
4. triathlon 09 sprint - top 20 out of 40 participants

annex2 : targets 2010 (conservative) - you will do this .. i hope

1. 30 k / half marathon (marathon - unlikely due to DPA)
2. olympic distance triathlon
3. half-ironman
4. be able to ride for >120km (bagan lalang or PD)
5. be able to ride to pedas
6. 4 km swim .. pool pun ok la ..
7. wife to join in some fun run races

DPA

I'm off to INTAN mont kiara this monday for 7 months for what should be .. based on those who previously underwent the course ... annoying. But there would be some fun modules sandwiched between the 7 months. The duration was suppose to be for 6 months but due to ramadhan they extended it to 7 months ... hari raya man .. must go back ...

That's why i'm at the office on my day off ... packing up some stuff ... just to check if i left anything behind. .... the thing that i'm glad to leave behind is work of course :)

Obviously i'm gonna miss my little unit ... hadzim faeiq and my wife .. hadzim faeiq for sure ... but my wife so much so because to be honest i'm heavily dependent on her .. she prepares most of my stuff . .arranges a lot of stuff ... important to little things ... and not to have that would be a great adjustment ... either i'm too lazy or she's just good at taking care of me ... the latter would make me look better ...

well ... i guess ... that's life ... my life ...

milestones

i'm fully satisfied to have completed the sprint tri at desaru. I probably could have finished the long distance event but i think i'll save that for next year. Anyway, i don't want to finish all out flat. I want to finish the race like it is a race. Not just finishing it since i think anyone can finish a triathlon. Its just a matter of time.

My target was simple. non-stop & finish. My calf kind of starting to turn against me during the run but 200 meters along the way it wears off. Later on, i found my rhythm and finished. completed the race in 1 hour. The first guy completed it in 39 minutes i think. Still a long way to go for me to get close to that time.


went to watch the long distance event on saturday. took off from senai at 7:30 am and arrived 8:55 am. The first thing i wanted to do was take a look at the sea. I've heard many people mentioned that the waves are vicious. indeed they are. But it's just for the 100 meters. Then it looks ok. Saw hundreds of people starting the swim and i wished i was one of them. But its not my time yet.

The bike portion of the race was pretty cool. Saw lotsa cool tri bikes ranges from expensive cervelo bikes to merida 901 (my road bike). Exactly the same. Learned some stuff on transition. I got bored waiting for them to finish 80 km so i took off and went back home.

i wanted to download few more pics but since the internet is so fucking slow and i'm fed up so i'll just post.

this is my home town

Race Date:
19th July 2009 (SUNDAY)
Race Start / Finish:
Pusat Sukan Parking lot, University Putra Malaysia
Race Start Time:
7.30am - Bike / Gear Check In9.00am - Race Start
Race Kit Collection:(collection of race numbers)
Saturday, 18th July 2009Pusat SukanUniversity Putra Malaysia10.00am to 2.00pm
Race Briefing /Clinic:
Saturday, 18th July 2009Dewan Serbaguna, Pusat SukanUniversity Putra Malaysia12.00pm
Categories:
• Men's University• Women's University• Men's Open• Women's Open• Men's Team• Mixed Team• Media
Prizes:
Top 5 winners in the Individual category will receive placing medals.Top 3 winners in the Team and Media category will receive placing medals.
Closing Date for Entries:
12th July 2009

VISIT : http://www.duathlonseries.com.my/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46:upm&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=54

COME ON GUYS.

THIS IS UPM.

THIS IS MY HOMETOWN!

seat height

seat height need to be higher, not utilizing the right muscle groups. Anyway last night went on a 20 k ride. and i thought 13 k was easy but trying to do it the time trial way is pretty tiring. I was just makan angin last time. so must put some effort la. be faster. cadence training when longer la. shorter route i should do time trial.

going to adjust the height some more.