I am really new to this blog site and since I just started this month, I haven't have much input to this page yet. Saying that, I have blogged a lot on Facebook. I decided to have this blog page purely just for my Triathlon and multi sport passion which then maybe linking to other topics that related to these sports. This page isn't about wanting to inspire others but just purely for me to inspire myself and having myself to tell that I can do it, I can fail, I can pick myself up from any hurdles, I can motivate myself, I can be scared to do something outside my comfort zone (that will be friggin' clip on shoes! Dam stuff, scare the shit out of me every time I put them on!), I can reach my goals and all the things that I think I can't. The main thing is I want to see myself grow from this journey of mine getting to know this crazy sport.
I only started to know about Triathlon last year when I started to swim weekly from early 2008 as part of my pregnancy weight lost journey. I will go swimming every Thursday night and do at least 50 length of the pool or more. I also walks with my daughter (she's under 2 at the time) 3 times a week totalling about 20km walks per week at least. I noticed I lost heaps of weight and my body changes is just amazing. I even took lots of photos between myself and my hubby (he lost nearly 40kg in 1 year!) to see the progress ourselves and since last year, we have been motivating each other very well. I was from size 14 down to size 10 within 6 months of eating well and doing these small exercises. I also started to bike about 20km per week since September last year when my daughter is at daycare twice a week and had enjoyed it really well. I think the key here is consistency and it doesn't has to be any 'hardcore' exercise to lose weight that much within that set of time.
I really enjoys my weekly ride on my Mountain Bike and one day when I saw SUB North Shore event for women only, I thought why not take part. I can do this. Instead of signing up for a longer bike ride, I decided to try just 20km bike ride (short one) for this year. I don't want to start hard and didn't enjoy my first sport event.
Below is the previous blog that I wrote about my first ever sport event experience and how I first get to know who is Sarah Ulmer......
I just can't help myself but wanting to share this special moment in few words (more like a War and Peace hey?) and pictographic evident of my first ever bike ride event that I took part yesterday and what an awesome feeling it was when I was at the finishing line telling myself that I have did it and I made myself very proud. I was very nervous the night before and went to bed very early in hope that I will have all the energy the night before (damn, there was no sex that night!) I got up at 6.30am and by 8am we already at the Stadium. I saw lots of girls with their super duper bling bling bike and gears and can't help of feeling a little challenged already even before the event started. I still feel very nervous and with Yasmin's happy running around this massive stadium made me forgotten about my nerve a little bit. She has been nothing but very good to daddy waiting for her mummy to finish. What a lucky parents we are. The briefing for each event are quite close to each other where the long bike 70km gone out first at 8.45am, mid cycle, 35km at 8am and short cycle, 20km (my event) at 8.15am. So by now I have memorised the briefing already by heart. That's how nervous I was! When the race about to begin, I was at the front row and really pumped up to cycle and can't wait to start. When the hoot blown, I went for it and was the leader until the first couple of hills. I am so amazed the amount of people that haven't got a clue where to route is and just depend solely on the Marshall in the van! I was also amazed with the amount of people that went pass me after the first few hills and started flying passed! It was a bit frustrating as I think I put as much effort as they are!!!! My mountain bike didn't take long proving its downside on the first few hills when the chain came off as Sarah Ulmer was cheering some girls that went pass her for some moral support on this steep hill and when it was my turn passing her, the chain gone kaput! Arghhhh, sods law! I kept changing the gear in hope it will pick it back up again but failed. She ditch her bike on the side of the road, came to me and asked me to get off my bike. She then changed the gear, lifted up my back tyre to get the pedal going and chain back to the ring and it got sorted. Sarah asked me to get on my bike as quick as I can and give me a push to get my momentum going and I just couldn't believe what just had happened to me. A gold medalist in New Zealand just touched my backside and helped me! What an awesome feeling that was. Sarah kept on shouting at me as I started cycling that I am doing fine and to keep going, it really boost me up as I was feeling the strain of it already when the chain came off. At couple of the very steep hills (as it was classified on the local bike route map - very steep and not just steep!) I was overtaken by few girls and I can't help of thinking this is the time that I should use all the knowledge of the route as I have done the trial on it 2 weeks earlier and to use the technique on my gears well as Karen told me what I need to practise on the week before was using the right gears at the right time and hills which may help me being a bit fast then my trial time. So I gather all my energy and thoughts and started to cycle the hills effectively. At the end of the hills I managed to overtook all the girls that overtook me earlier and I know the route well so I started to attack and pedal harder as its going to be all downhill and very fast not far from now. I think knowing the route and doing it before the event has helped me a bit with my time as people might not know what's coming and they might storing their energy by cycling at their comfortable pace thinking that there are more hills to come. At the last road (SH17) where its all downhill I was doing up to 56km per hour and the feeling was awesome. It was scary but I know if I duck down a bit I might be a bit faster and just be very cautious with the traffic next to me. All the girls that was overtaking me earlier is no where to be found behind me and I am not sure if they didn't realised this is all downhill from now on or just not sure with the fast speed but anyhow, I am taking all the advantage that I can from this on. I cycled really hard on the last few turn back to the stadium and I am pleased when I reached the end line, I shouted so hard in disbelief that I have done it and I broke down and cry. This event meant so much to me personally as I am trying to prove to myself that I am a strong person and if I set my mind to do something I can do it no matter what the obstacles are. Although I feel slightly disappointed with my result as I completed the ride in 1:03:55 where my target is to complete it just under 1 hour, I am very pleased that I have done it, I completed the race and I am without a doubt very proud of myself. I think its in my blood to be competitive but I am not hugely disappointed, I just don't want to be comfortable with the result and later I won't push myself a bit more for future training and event. I do think without the help of my friends that never stop encouraging me with their kind words and some who take it upon themselves in personal interest by doing the ride with me (that's my neighbour Karen!) I have nothing but huge appreciation and very grateful to have friends like you. To some this 20km bike ride event might be minute compare to what other's has done but to me this is huge. I managed to completed one of my 10 new year resolution already and we just came to the 2nd month of 2009. Not bad I think. To make matter worst, I got another 21 days to do another event with my neighbour Karen in Takapuna which is a triathlon series consist of 300m swim, 9km bike ride and 3km run. I hope this will push me a bit more to do better next time. 21 days is not long and not enough also to train if I have too much rest. So I am getting back to training starting from tomorrow when Yasmin is at daycare. I want to focus more on running as I can't run for my life!
I only started to know about Triathlon last year when I started to swim weekly from early 2008 as part of my pregnancy weight lost journey. I will go swimming every Thursday night and do at least 50 length of the pool or more. I also walks with my daughter (she's under 2 at the time) 3 times a week totalling about 20km walks per week at least. I noticed I lost heaps of weight and my body changes is just amazing. I even took lots of photos between myself and my hubby (he lost nearly 40kg in 1 year!) to see the progress ourselves and since last year, we have been motivating each other very well. I was from size 14 down to size 10 within 6 months of eating well and doing these small exercises. I also started to bike about 20km per week since September last year when my daughter is at daycare twice a week and had enjoyed it really well. I think the key here is consistency and it doesn't has to be any 'hardcore' exercise to lose weight that much within that set of time.
I really enjoys my weekly ride on my Mountain Bike and one day when I saw SUB North Shore event for women only, I thought why not take part. I can do this. Instead of signing up for a longer bike ride, I decided to try just 20km bike ride (short one) for this year. I don't want to start hard and didn't enjoy my first sport event.
Below is the previous blog that I wrote about my first ever sport event experience and how I first get to know who is Sarah Ulmer......
I just can't help myself but wanting to share this special moment in few words (more like a War and Peace hey?) and pictographic evident of my first ever bike ride event that I took part yesterday and what an awesome feeling it was when I was at the finishing line telling myself that I have did it and I made myself very proud. I was very nervous the night before and went to bed very early in hope that I will have all the energy the night before (damn, there was no sex that night!) I got up at 6.30am and by 8am we already at the Stadium. I saw lots of girls with their super duper bling bling bike and gears and can't help of feeling a little challenged already even before the event started. I still feel very nervous and with Yasmin's happy running around this massive stadium made me forgotten about my nerve a little bit. She has been nothing but very good to daddy waiting for her mummy to finish. What a lucky parents we are. The briefing for each event are quite close to each other where the long bike 70km gone out first at 8.45am, mid cycle, 35km at 8am and short cycle, 20km (my event) at 8.15am. So by now I have memorised the briefing already by heart. That's how nervous I was! When the race about to begin, I was at the front row and really pumped up to cycle and can't wait to start. When the hoot blown, I went for it and was the leader until the first couple of hills. I am so amazed the amount of people that haven't got a clue where to route is and just depend solely on the Marshall in the van! I was also amazed with the amount of people that went pass me after the first few hills and started flying passed! It was a bit frustrating as I think I put as much effort as they are!!!! My mountain bike didn't take long proving its downside on the first few hills when the chain came off as Sarah Ulmer was cheering some girls that went pass her for some moral support on this steep hill and when it was my turn passing her, the chain gone kaput! Arghhhh, sods law! I kept changing the gear in hope it will pick it back up again but failed. She ditch her bike on the side of the road, came to me and asked me to get off my bike. She then changed the gear, lifted up my back tyre to get the pedal going and chain back to the ring and it got sorted. Sarah asked me to get on my bike as quick as I can and give me a push to get my momentum going and I just couldn't believe what just had happened to me. A gold medalist in New Zealand just touched my backside and helped me! What an awesome feeling that was. Sarah kept on shouting at me as I started cycling that I am doing fine and to keep going, it really boost me up as I was feeling the strain of it already when the chain came off. At couple of the very steep hills (as it was classified on the local bike route map - very steep and not just steep!) I was overtaken by few girls and I can't help of thinking this is the time that I should use all the knowledge of the route as I have done the trial on it 2 weeks earlier and to use the technique on my gears well as Karen told me what I need to practise on the week before was using the right gears at the right time and hills which may help me being a bit fast then my trial time. So I gather all my energy and thoughts and started to cycle the hills effectively. At the end of the hills I managed to overtook all the girls that overtook me earlier and I know the route well so I started to attack and pedal harder as its going to be all downhill and very fast not far from now. I think knowing the route and doing it before the event has helped me a bit with my time as people might not know what's coming and they might storing their energy by cycling at their comfortable pace thinking that there are more hills to come. At the last road (SH17) where its all downhill I was doing up to 56km per hour and the feeling was awesome. It was scary but I know if I duck down a bit I might be a bit faster and just be very cautious with the traffic next to me. All the girls that was overtaking me earlier is no where to be found behind me and I am not sure if they didn't realised this is all downhill from now on or just not sure with the fast speed but anyhow, I am taking all the advantage that I can from this on. I cycled really hard on the last few turn back to the stadium and I am pleased when I reached the end line, I shouted so hard in disbelief that I have done it and I broke down and cry. This event meant so much to me personally as I am trying to prove to myself that I am a strong person and if I set my mind to do something I can do it no matter what the obstacles are. Although I feel slightly disappointed with my result as I completed the ride in 1:03:55 where my target is to complete it just under 1 hour, I am very pleased that I have done it, I completed the race and I am without a doubt very proud of myself. I think its in my blood to be competitive but I am not hugely disappointed, I just don't want to be comfortable with the result and later I won't push myself a bit more for future training and event. I do think without the help of my friends that never stop encouraging me with their kind words and some who take it upon themselves in personal interest by doing the ride with me (that's my neighbour Karen!) I have nothing but huge appreciation and very grateful to have friends like you. To some this 20km bike ride event might be minute compare to what other's has done but to me this is huge. I managed to completed one of my 10 new year resolution already and we just came to the 2nd month of 2009. Not bad I think. To make matter worst, I got another 21 days to do another event with my neighbour Karen in Takapuna which is a triathlon series consist of 300m swim, 9km bike ride and 3km run. I hope this will push me a bit more to do better next time. 21 days is not long and not enough also to train if I have too much rest. So I am getting back to training starting from tomorrow when Yasmin is at daycare. I want to focus more on running as I can't run for my life!
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