Stuck in a Rut

Thanks again to PT for inviting me to a run last night! PT is the lightning fast gal who ran the New Balance Real Run (and kicked my ass) on Sunday. I have been a bit of a rut when it comes to training and Intentional Discipleships - getting lazy, missing training sessions and QT - and the run with PT was probably just what the doctor Lord ordered. :)

We ran a brisk 6km or so, but what's great about it was PT's running commentary (literally) on breathing and running techniques. I felt a bit like the young David Carradine in the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" getting a lesson from his wise old master... "Grasshopper, you have much to learn...". It was great being able to practice breath control and uphill/downhill running techniques. I had a great time, Praise God for bringing me a running guru, perhaps I can do this running thing afterall! :D

While we are on the subject of being in a rut, this is what happened to me yesterday...The fan belt on my trusty ol' Subaru Forrester broke and I had to be towed to the workshop. A few hours and $150 later, I finally got home, feeling thankful that

1. This happened in Singapore and not 2 weeks later when I intend to drive to Malaysia for a holiday.
2. This happened while I was driving and not Mrs Nitrox (a fantastic driver but she probably would have been a bit nervous - 1st sign of fan belt failure is power steering failure)
3. Somehow when I rolled gently to a stop, I was right below the shade of a nice tree. The shade kept me nice and cool while I waited for the tow truck.

PRAISE GOD! Train safe and God Speed everyone. This weekend, I get out of the rut and start getting serious about training and Intentional Discipleship (again).

Race Report: New Balance Real Run 2006

Despite the rather "agressive" graphics used in by the event organisers, the run (in Sentosa - an island linked by a road bridge to Singapore) was really mainly paved roads. The website says ROAD 6KM, SAND 1.6KM, TRAIL 2.5KM, but the TRAIL is really just a tree covered concrete pavement. So don't worry, nature lovers, I am pretty sure no butterfles were trampled in the race. :)

Results
I might as well start by telling you that I took 68+mins to finish the 10km. :( This is 3 mins SLOWER than the practice run 3 weeks ago on the exact same route. More on the reasons why later, but just about every one I spoke to had a worse timing than the practice run. The only exceptions seem to be my two buddies - PT and N - who actually finished even FASTER than the practice run. Sigh... Is there any reason why slow runners seem to always have fast runner friends?!?!

Pre-Race
The night before the race, the usual pre-race tension set in and I did not sleep well despite good intentions to go to bed a little earlier. Wonder if it was the nap I took in the afternoon that made it harder to fall asleep at night? Finally feel asleep when I forced myself to mentally sing some worship songs to calm my nerves and remind myself Who's really in charge here.

5:45am - Got up before the alarm went off, and I am not even a morning person. Praise God! Drank 1L of water, followed by breakfast - PBJ and warm milk. Drank more water, forgot to eat the two beautiful bananas that Mrs Nitrox hung out for me, and bolted out of the door to meet my chauffer buddy N, a.k.a "Greased Lightning".

7:00am - Turned off the exit on the highway, right smack into a traffic jam on a Sunday morning! Took a close look around and just about every car had at least one very nervous looking guy/gal in running gear. Seems every man and his dog has decided to join this race and everyone's driving. :( We are still about 2kms from the bridge to Sentosa. Looks bad...

7:30am - Still in the middle of the huge jam - made about 100m in the last 30 mins. N starts putting on his race bib and asks me to help lace in his race chip to his (thankfully) rather clean shoe. PT calls, sounds worried, she is a few cars behind us. Given that the race starts in 15 minutes, everyone is getting nervous. I call another two friends, all are stuck in traffic. Taxis are pulling out of the queues as the runners bolt out and start running towards the island.

7:45am (official race start time) - Finally, we are on the bridge linking to Sentosa and making some headway. N and I are amused to find that the two lane bridge has been reduced to one on the Sentosa end due to some road works. Not exactly brilliant planning by the Sentosa chaps then.

7:55am - Marshalls direct us to a parking spot 3km from the start line. Seems the race start has been delayed. The huge car park that was used in the practice run has been converted to a huge event area. Can't understand the logic of removing the largest carpark near the race start when thousands of cars are expected... Having sat in traffic for such a long time, I desperately need to go, so I bid adieu to N, who starts jogging optimistically towards the race start. I managed to locate a toilet just as I see runners filing past - seems the 10km race has just started. :( Fighting the urge to join the race halfway, I quickly off-loaded the excess fluids and start a slow jog to the start line.

The Race
When I finally get to the race start line, it's almost empty. Late-comers like myself are still trickling in. Dutifully chipped in at the start line and off I went...

• ROAD 6km - Not sure if it was the nerves, or the 3km jog to the start line, or the heat :o) but the hills seemed a little more steep than the practice run. Not a good start then... Tried to settle into some sort of rhythm, but it quickly got frustrating trying to weave my way between the back-markers. Can't believe how many people are walking the 10km RUN - some couples really looked like they were out for their usual Sunday stroll! The worst of the lot is probably those who decide to walk side by side and take up the entire lane. Felt like I has stopping and starting half the time. Mental note to self: Come earlier next year!
• SAND 1.6km - Somewhere in the middle of the 10km, I hit the beach. Given that the bulk of the participants had already run through it meant that it has been churned into soft powdery stuff that would have been perfect for a building sand castles but terrible to run on. I think this is one of them artificially created beaches, which means that it is a rather narrow and hence steep incline to the sea, which kinda makes things worse. It seemed just about anyone who was not already walking decided to walk at this stage, so weaving became even more of a challenge. Let's just say that at some point, I actually ran right into the water - someone had told me that the sand near the water's edge is firmer, and being the novice beach runner that I am, I couldn't stop my side ways momentum down slope and ended up IN the water. Must be pretty amusing to the other participants, but it meant running with wet shoes/socks for the next 5km. :( Oh, and to add insult to injury, PT, who started after me, overtook me in the middle of the beach run - so it seems NOT EVERYONE was walking afterall. She was nice enough not to let me know that she was blowing by me (or was she too embarassed to acknowledge that she knows this slow runner), so at least it did not let the air out of my sails until I met her after the run. :o)
• TRAIL 2.4km - As mentioned earlier, this was actually a concrete "trail" under the shady canopy of trees. I knew I should be pushing it once I hit the trail as it is the final 2.4km, but this is a real case of "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". After the sand, me legs felt like jelly, and it was all I could do to keep running and not walk. The trail is mostly uphill, and at this stage I was pretty much oblivious to what/who is around, gaze fixed on the ground and just wanting to get it over with. A few climbs later, I see the 1km mark and I tell myself to PUSH. I seem to have forgotten that the last 1km is all uphill and after what felt like 1km of pushing, I see a marshall telling us encouragingly "last 500m!". Thankfully it was all downhill and I struggled across the line about 68 minutes after I chipped in at the start line.
  

Post-Race
N made it in a blistering 56 minutes! PT is not sure of her time, but given that she started after me and passed me mid-point, I would say that she probably did in below 60 minutes. I was so knackered after the run that enroute walking back to the car I managed to trip and sprain my right ankle somehow. :(
I am more than a lil disappointed at my results but more post race reflections next time...


Train Safe boys and gals, and God Speed!

Adventures of the Intrepid Economy Class Traveller...

[Sorry, have to make a post-publish edit as I forgot to update on the Intentional Discipleship front.]

Some of you may remember that I sometimes joking call myself the travelling salesman. Well the truth of the matter is that it's much worse than that. I am actually the travelling sales SUPPORT man (a.k.a. egghead) so aptly represented by Dilbert in the cartoon above. :D

Sorry for being away from the blogsphere for so long - both posting and reading/commenting. I have been on the road again the last 3 weeks in Indonesia and Japan, where I found this curious contraption in the hotel bathroom. Sorry that the picture is not very clear, but the item I circled is actually a REMOTE CONTROL for the toilet! The Japanese sure take their toilets very seriously, and I seem to have the "deluxe" model which comes with a heated seat and the remote control - makes my home toilet seem rudimentary by comparision! :D

Just in case you are curious about the functions of the toilet, here is a close up of the remote. Can't vouch for all the functions, except that the heated seat is fabulous early in the morning in an air-conditioned hotel room. :)

On the training front, I am getting very nervous that the New Balance Real Run is this coming Sunday. Have not trained much at all in the last 3 weeks thanks to my cattle class travels and a sniffling cold/cough thingy - just one of those things that parents pick up from their kids from time to time. When I did the practice run 3 weeks ago, I found the 1.6km beach run smack in the middle of the 10km run to be a real energy sapper. The usual hot and humid conditions in Singapore did not help either. Here's hoping that I will improve on my practice run time of 65mins.

Until the race report, take care, train safe, and God Bless!

P.S. (Sorry about the post-publish edit!)
On the Intentional Discipleship front, I have a confession to make. I have been meaning to put onto the blog my QT Scripture Readings and prayer items alongside my training log (side bar), but I have been so inconsistent lately with QT that I am now too embarassed to do that. Please pray for me - that I will be dilligent in my daily QT because I really cannot afford to continue missing them!
This month, I am taking on the lively topic of "Pre-Tribulation Rapture - What does the Bible say?" in my Care Group meetings. Pre-Tribulation Rapture is the belief that Jesus will take the Church up to heaven with Him before all the bad stuff starts in the 7 year Tribulation period (described in the book of Revelations). I must admit that I am still sitting on the fence on this one, but if anyone is interested in a set of SIMPLE (and I stress SIMPLE) notes on the subject, please email me and I will be more than happy to share our findings.

Day by Day

I was reading the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1-4) again the other day . This is a familiar prayer to many, and so is the verse "Give us each day our daily bread" (Luke 11:3, NIV). This time I was using the New Living Translation (NLT), which translates this verse as "Give us our food day by day", which I thought gave a better perspective to the term "daily bread". Then later in Luke 12:22-34, I read that when Jesus was teaching about the futility of being anxious about our daily needs/wants, He assured us that He will give us all we need "from day to day" (Luke 12:31, NLT).

There may be an important clue here to help us to better understand our Father and His will for us. I remember reading that when Jesus sent out the twelve Apostles, He gave pretty specific instructions to "Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town." (Luke 9:3-4, NIV) Later, when He sent out the 72 disciples, again He said "Do not take a purse or bag or sandals" (Luke 10:4, NIV), he again told them not to "move around from house to house" (Luke 10:7, NIV). Why travel and minister under such "deprived" conditions? I believe it is God's will that we are given what we need day by day, so that we will continue to lean on Him day by day.

Perhaps this is also why in Luke 11:9 (NLT), Jesus instructed us to "keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened." This is the essence of Intentional Discipleship - that Christianity is a intentional process where we grow day by day by praying and seeking Him day by day. It is not about a sudden enlightenment or enpowerment that comes from above, neither is it about a single act of salvation/redemption, but a day by day process of learning, growing, and even receiving His loving grace day by day to cleanse us from our sinful nature.

Guess what? This is such a strong parallel to training for a Triathlon/Marathon/Half-Marathon /Century ride, etc... It is an intentional process of training and growing stronger and faster day by day. It is also a day by day dependence on the Lord to heal our aches and pains, injuries, colds/flus, whatever gets between us and training. There are simply no short-cuts! :) So now, I am somewhat content to grow a little faster and stronger day by day. It is the process that matters, perhaps even more than the end result!

On the training end, my ego took a big beating in the New Balance practice run last Sunday. I did 10km in 65mins despite running my guts out (I felt like puking when I finished). :( It was rather hilly and the beach run in the middle was pure torture. To add insult to injury, my two buddies (let's call them NL and PT), who both claim to be not quite up to their usual racing form, totally kicked my butt without really trying. Sigh... Looks like it will be plenty of running day by day before I can get any where near being a credible runner. ;) Been feeling a bit "off" after the run - the usual runny nose, itchy throat feeling - so I guess this will continue to be a rest week. :(

Before I sign off, I was pleasantly surprised by the interest in the Black Chicken Soup in my last post so I scrounged around in the Internet and found this recipe for the adventurous. :) The noodles I used were just rice noodles which I guess can be substituted for any noodles. They are cooked seperately and added only after the soup is done to avoid clouding the soup. I have been told that if you cannot find black chicken, you can substitue with free ranging chicken and it would taste just as good. But really, Cliff got it spot on when he said "What does it taste like? It tastes like chicken." :D

Train safe brothers & sisters, and God Bless!

Black Chicken Noodle Soup

Yup, my friends, this is one of the best kept secrets in Oriental recovery food - the double boiled black chicken soup (noodles optional). :) The infamous black chicken is double boiled with a whole black chicken (more on that later) and other goodies like wolfberries and ginseng, and it is reknown among the Chinese and Korean for its "healing" properties. In fact, it is common for ladies to consume a lot of this in the 3 months after delivering a baby as part of the recovery process. Personally, I can't confirm either way about the "healing" properties, but it sure is a tasty and healthy way to get a whole lot of good carbohydrates and protein. :)

So what is a black chicken anyway? If you have not seen one, they usually come with white feathers, but the skin, fleah and bones look like they have been dyed black. When cooked, it looks like boiled chicken that has been dyed black - not the most apetizing of sights. :) But I find black chicken to be usually more lean and thus has better texture and taste than the normal variety. Oh, and they usually cost quite a bit more too.

The funny thing about them is that they seem to all have white feathers. Go figure!

On the training side, I have been taking it easy this week for three reasons:

1. Work has been very stressful and as such training time is scarse.
2. I am doing the practice run for the New Balance Real Run tomorrow (Sunday, 10km) so I did not want to push too hard in the week. The organisers of the run (i.e., New Balance) are nice enough to conduct practice runs in the actual route every Sunday for a few weeks prior to the actual run on 20 Aug. To further sweeten the deal, we get to try out their latest models on the practice runs, so my buddies and I are going to check it out tomorrow.
3. I managed to pick up an ear infection somehow, so no swimming for me for a few days. :( Been feeling a bit tired after the increasing training volume for the last 3 weeks so I guess I will call this week an inpromptu recovery week. :)
   

On the Intentional Discipleship side, no earthshaking revelations (although I did experience a small earthquake while in Jakarta - but that's another story), just quiet reassurance that if I focus on doing the right thing, I will emerge victorious from the tricky situation at work. PRAISE GOD!

Until next time, train safe and God Speed!

The Perfect Tri-Blogger Wife

1. Would allow her hubby to head straight for a run after getting off the plane, even though he has been away for a week, with absolutely no complaints.
2. Would prepare double boiled herbal chicken noodle soup for her hubby so that he gets the protein and nutrients to sustain his work and training life. She would even re-heat the soup three times on three different days, just to make sure that forgetful hubby eats it, never once getting mad with her disorganised hubby for skipping meals or just forgetting.
3. Would encourage hubby to go for a bike ride even though it means she will be stuck with the kids again. Would even wave and be proud of her hubby when he gets home from the two hour bike ride, just to head straight out for a run to complete the inpromptu brick.
4. Would take the kids swimming with her because her hubby is too busy doing swim drills to watch the kids, even though he is in the same pool.
   
5. Would not complain about her hubby travelling 3 weeks in a roll on business, only coming back for the weekends. In fact she would even plan ahead and volunteer to take the kids to church on Sunday early on Sunday so her hubby can go for his practice run with his mates when he is back in town.
6. Would get her sister to get Staminade from Australia for her hubby (because there ain't any in Singapore).
7. Skimp and save on her clothes/accessories while her hubby splurges on tri clothes, running shoes, races, etc...
   

"Does such a perfect woman really exist?!?!" You ask. Yes, she does and she is my sweet wife. :) I am truly blessed. Praise God!

Been quite tied up with work lately, but will try to post some Intentional Discipleship/training updates soon. Meanwhile, train safe and God Speed!

P.S. Sorry but I have had to re-enable "Word Verification" - too many henious attacks by some anonymous comment posting bot. :(

T-Rex

Everyone, meet T-Rex. T-Rex almost became road kill when Mrs Nitrox found him in the middle of the road many months back - he must have either escaped from his tank or was abandoned. T-Rex seems to be a Amazom Green Turtle a.k.a. Red Eared Slider - these grow from just about the size of a dollar coin to about 1 foot across (the shell), and some live as long as 75 years if cared for properly - T-Rex is about 7" across the shell currently. We are pretty sure T-Rex is a "he" becoz he has long front claws and a long tail, and he is so named for the viciousness with which he attacks the worms we used to feed him.

Well, since finding T-Rex, we have been keeping him in a plastic container, but he has out-grown that, and we have been stressing out about where to keep him, especially given that we did not plan to have a turtle to begin with. :) This weekend we finally have some time to take over a old fish tank from my parents, and thanks to some scrounging around, managed to make T-Rex a comfy new home. Total cost? Absolutely nuthing! That makes Cheapo Nitrox happy and I must say T-Rex looks mighty pleased with his new home too! :)


I'm also pretty pleased that I managed to clean up the bike drive train. No fancy stuff - WD-40 is relatively cheap in Singapore, so I just spray it on the chain as a de-greaser to remove the gunk, wipe off the excess with an old rag, and leave it to air dry - all that while leaving the chain on the bike. A lot of bike gurus would not touch WD-40 as it strips grease, heavy oils and drys up the drive train, but that's exactly what I want. After a couple of days, I will add a proper bike chain oil for lubrication purposes - again spray on and wipe off excess. See how my drive train is shining! ;)

On the training front, I managed to get in a 53km ride and 1.5km of swim drills this weekend - I'm starting to miss the hand paddles, so hopefully I will find a good set soon.

On the Intentional Discipleship front, something embarassing to share. My sister is a Christian but she has not been keen to go to church with us in the past, and over time, I just stopped inviting her. Sunday morning, for some reason, I thought I would send her a text message invitation and amazingly, she accepted! :) Later, she shared that she was thinking about attending church more regularly on Sat night, but did not think much about it since I stopped inviting her. The very next morning, she got my SMS inviting her to church! Best of all, she enjoyed the service and wants to attend regularly now. Yay! Praise God! Lesson learnt here is that persistance pays - it's embarassing that I gave up inviting her, when God clearly hasn't. Not an example of Intentional Discipleship at it's best then. :"( I am calling this incident a divine intercession by the Holy Spirit and it is giving me renewed faith that my parents will be saved yet! PRAISE GOD!

So all in all, a great weekend of training, catching up with some chores and a humbling lesson from the Lord. Tomorrow I travel to Indonesia, so I am hoping to get in a run today before I have to live out of a suitcase again... Train safe and God Speed!