Ramblings of a finisher

Ouch..!

They say that with every step you take while you run you are exerting four times your body weight on your legs. At least that’s what the New Balance ad said on their website. Either way, it doesn’t sound good, especially for a 120(ish) kg guy like me. I barely have enough leg strength to support my own body weight, much less the three others piled on top. But they say, if there is a will than there surely be a way!

One hell of a way that is! 42km is more then just a 'way'.. its a road leading to injury if done without proper training, mentally and physically. I may not have enough hours on the tarmac (more like none) but i believe i had done my bit mentally.. haha by being MENTAL to take part!

Ugh.

On the day, my hamstring feels like a rubber band being pulled by two freight trains. Maybe I should do more strength training in the gym. And when I say more training, I mean more than nothing, which is about what I’m doing now.

Oof.

At that point, It seems to tighten even more with every stride. At any moment its going to snap in half, I think to myself. A quiet little “dink!” that’ll instantly send an atom bombed ripple of pain surging through the nerve receptacles of my body. From my hamstring to my hip, scrambling towards my spine, streaming up my back and neck, all the while building speed and momentum in a mammoth-like snowball effect that would make Calvin and Hobbes proud. Suddenly it will slam into the pain receptors of my brain like a speeding bullet brutally stopped by a metal wall. It will hurt. A lot. I will double over in pain, crying and wriggling on the ground, praying for somebody to put me out of my misery. The horse (or elephant) with the broken leg. Just shoot me.

I slow to a stop, which is not that much of a change at this pace. I hobble over to the edge of the sidewalk and begin stretching out my hamstring. To the passers-by it looks like I’m just standing up straight, leaning on the sidewalk. But, trust me, I’m stretching and it hurts.

After five minutes I shake out the legs and get ready to go. With a hesitant push, I begin my shuffle once more.. this time all the way to the finishing line. Im actually saving everyone the trouble to go thru all the drama that i went thru the entire 7hour journey.. Yeah you can take a cab all the way to Kuantan and do the whole Xterra route and im still not done with my 42km yet.. haha!

Nevertheless, i made it in one piece and that is all that mattered. At some point during the run ( more like crawl) i thought i should kill one of the organizer for trying to kill me and letting me dehydrate under the unforgiving KL heat, but being a good sport i am, killing was reduced to some healthy barrage of words, rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication with some officials at the finishing line.

42km done!

Most of the time these days, my running feels like crap.. Simply because it is none. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but it seems to be fading with every passing day. I can’t go on like this. I suppose I should train some more. And when I say more, I mean more than never, which is just about the amount of training I’m doing these days.

- I'm survivor-

Im good at that. But I have serious doubts about whether i’d even get to the starting line in one piece – or even two, as the case may be.

No thank you.

So i decided to make a difference and take note and hopefully take part in the IM next year. It took me the whole week to be genuinely interested and convinced that i will SURVIVE. That saddens me. It’s the right decision – the smart decision – but it saddens me anyway.. Dont ask me why. Im just sad because my wife and my family gave me their blessing and thats one excuse not to do GONE! LOL

I don’t even want to talk about it now. Maybe I’ll tell you more later in my future ramblings..

Ouch! (in advance for the upcoming weeks of dedication and loneliness and the heartaches and the backaches of a trypetidae wanting to be a triathlete)

As you probably know by now, I haven't exercised much in the past.. Thanks to the sickness that doesn't want to let go, the malays call it 'penyakit-M', I've been feeling very run down and not overly excited to strain my immunity system with some over-exertion.. apart from the odd 42k drama around town.

Throughout the past week I tried a couple of rides on my 8yr old MTB. On both ride, I did about 30 minutes of incredibly light pedaling at which point I felt so feverish that I decided to just do a little stretching and call it quits. But last Saturday i went a bit further then 50km mark with a bunch of guys on the effing MTB! I decided not to humiliate my trusted cervelo and took the heavy 'LeRun' metal block for a ride instead. Should i stress on the word heavy?

Honestly, at this point I feel like my form is worse than it was before I started my journey to IM2008 many moons ago. I'm flailing in the water, I am hopelessly feverish on the bike and without a doubt, im snailing on the run.

for god sakes, I just want to slim down!!