Monday, April 17, 2006

One year older..not necessarily wiser..

Today is actually my b-day :). The past weekend I had done some normal stuff which in training we don't usually enjoy:

- hanging with the boys on thurs night having beer n wings
- dinner with friends after fellowship
- eating dark chocolate which my mom got from Hong Kong (good stuff)

I am going to keep this short as my right eye is hurting quite a bit. It is all red and I see a little white dot on the pupil. There is a story that some ppl got blind b/c of a contact lens cleaner (check it out here). I don't want to be paranoid but i will keep an eye on my eye. If it get worst, time to see my eye doctor. My eye sometimes get red and hurts before. But it passes away a day or so later. Well..it is better be safe than sorry right?

Here are some things that have happened lately:

- a brother from my Fellowship got Baptised yesterday. It was really great to hear his testimonial. It reminded of my Baptism last year. His story is really amazing. He came to Canda by himself and don't even know a word of English. An elderly couple brought him to Church and took care of him. The couple was there yesterday as well. There were other getting Baptised and I really felt their faith in God.

- yesterday was a gorgeous day. I really want to ride some more. But no. Need to clean room. I added some shelves, clean some junk in the basement. I want to clean up before I go into another training phase.

I still feel my aerobic base is not well establish yet (despite my bike ride on Sat). I want to build up my second run so it becomes a long run as well. I also need to work on my technical skills (bike handling, turning, aerobars, running cadence, right form, strides, swim techniques etc.).

I might do a semi-Base (Base 4?) phase with focus on building technique (which should require not a lot of physical energy, keeping me fresh) and at the same time work on building the aerobic base (especially the run). Lastly, I will slowly get my body use to hill climbing (which will help me run/bike faster) by adding one run hill session and one bike hill session. That should ease me into a Build Phase. This might be a bit too much. If that's the case..perhaps I will focus on getting my fundamentals, aerobic base and technical skills, develop instead.

Then I do a 2 week Build phase, taper for a week and do the Muskoka Long Course.

This race I ain't going all out. It is for my body and mind use to longer distance course (nutrition, hydration, focus on actual race day). Right...who doesn't go all out on race. Well i intend to keep discipline and go easy on the swim and bike leg.

The strategy is pretty much save my legs for the run. Especially the last half of the run. Gordo or Joe did mentioned that there is no racing on Ironman for beginners. The only time you race is when you are in the run.

After Muskoka, I will re-evaluate where I do well and do poorly. My guess is that my bike hill climbing skills and swimming is weak.

I thought this is a short post..I guess not. This week I need to get back into the pool. I haven't swim since last Wed. I might lose some technique. I hope I lost the bad techniques instead.....:)

Before I head out..I had a good conversation with my sis on Sat...

Me - How come I don't get a cake for my b-day..where is my cake? I want a cake
Sis - All you getting for your b-day is a tofu...
Me - What...
Sis - Yeah, you are on a diet. No cake for you. All you get is a tufo..


It's nice to know that your family supports you in your training :). Seriously though...I have 10 weeks to my first race. Diet is going back up and so is training. Last week recovery week was good. The next few months will be even better :).

49 comments:

Spandex King said...

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Nancy Toby said...

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLIFF!

Eric said...

Happy Birthday Cliff. Nothing wrong with tofu is you prepare it tastily.

Enjoy the day.

psbowe said...

Happy Birthday!

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Happy Birthday! You know, they say tofu can be made to taste like anything... maybe like cake?

William said...

Happy Birthday Cliff. How old are you now? 18?

With all that riding, you could have had at least one piece of cake.

Holly said...

Happy B-Day Cliff!!!! Enjoy the tofu .. it kind of looks like cake ... if you squint at it!

Cycling Under The Influence said...

Happy Birthday! I'm glad to hear about the wings and brew!

Oldman said...

happy birhtday...happy resurrection day!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a great one.

Carrie said...

Happy Birthday! Go out and get yourself an ooey-gooey piece of chocolate cake. Give the tofu to Homer.

Hilda said...

Cleaning is a nice way to reorder your mind, you'll be like new!

A tofu cake, well sounds well for an athlete like you!

Sometimes I complain but this time i'd prefer that my family weren't so supportive!

Lora said...

One piece!! One lousy piece!! Cmon!! It's your birthday!!!!!

Have a great one!!!!!

Bolder said...

happy b-day cliff!

listen to chef eric.

Anonymous said...

Hey! Today is my 21.75 day! So I'll be turning 22.0 very soon.

Anyway, Happy Birthday! If I was your sister, I'd be extra creative and make a cake out of the tofu!

Dawn - Pink Chick Tris said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

MB said...

happy birthday Cliffh!

Anonymous said...

Hope you had a great birthday Cliff. Good to hear about your friend.

Rachel said...

Happy Birthday! I hate when it's nice out and you're stuck inside with chores! Eat cake (not one made of tofu, either)!

WildWill said...

Happy Birthday

Rae said...

Happy Birthday!!! I hope this next year is your best ever!

Kewl Nitrox said...

Happy Birthday Cliff!

Now for the serious stuff: Take this from an old man - be VERY careful with your eyes. Yes, there has been cases of bacterial infection due to contact lens cleaner (specifically in Singapore there was a huge rise in infections from users of Bausch & Lomb ReNu, the product was actually pulled from the shelves here, which is very rare in Singapore). These infections are very costly to treat. To prevent that, avoid using B&L ReNu for now, ALWAYS wash your hands with soap before you touch your eyes or contact lens, and don't rub your eyes, don't sleep with your contact lenses on. Sorry for sounding like a nagging old man, but eyes are SO important.

When I was younger, I felt a "sandy" feeling in my eye, and there was a white spot. Turns out it was just a fungal growth, which is easily dealt with by a eye doctor (he literally used a Q swap to remove it). :)

Pray about it (I will too). And if you are not 100% ok by the time you read this, go see a eye doctor.

Kewl Nitrox said...

And don't even THINK about removing the white spot yourself with a Q tip. ;)

Chris said...

Happy Birthday! People with April birthdays are awesome! ;)

qcmier said...

Happy Birthday!!!

TriZilla said...

Happy Belated Birthday!

No Cake? Wow, tough sis you have there! I hope you wrangled some out of her later!

Fe-lady said...

Happy Birthday Cliff (somewhat belated!) Sorry...I am BAD about keeping up with other's sites!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

EWWWW....TOFUUU

Anonymous said...

P.S. Those are some crazy looking rollers in the pics below, we don't have anything like those in my area. They look like fun.

Thomas said...

Happy Birthday Cliff. Have you celebrated with a 15 mile run yet? ;-)

Thanks a lot for your very generous offer. My shoe size is inded 9.5 (American size, 8.5 UK, 43 Europe). Let's wait a bit and see if I like the shoes first though. It's great of you to offer it though, thanks a million!

Nic said...

Happy Birthday! You can do a lot with tofu - stir fry it up with some peanut sauce for the big day!

Comm's said...

happy belated.

Steven said...

Happy birthday, Cliff!

nickt said...

Happy Birthday! Enjoy the great weather.

anners said...

Happy birthday, old man ;)

Habeela said...

Am I the only one who reads diet to mean everything under the sun in moderation?! You need a cake for your birthday! Happy birthday!

Lucky number 7 said...

Yummy...birthday tofu, ummmm does this come with icing on it??? Happy Birthday!!

Mike said...

Cliff,
Happy Bday!! Sounds like you had all the bases covered: beer & wings, friends, and chocolate! ;-)

Go for the extra base- the ability of your body to experience gains in that area are HUGE- Go Long! ;-)

Darren said...

Happy belated birthday Cliffy! Hmm.. only 5 more comments and you'll hit the big 5-0!
Cheers!

Darren said...

Oops.. I mean 5 more comments... starting now!

Note to self.. learn to count..

Robin said...

Happy Belated Birthday Cliff. Was busy running on your big day ;)

Hope it was happy! And go find homey; I think he has that chocolate cake hiding somewhere...maybe there is some left!

BuckeyeRunner said...

Happy Birthday, Cliff!!

Bolder said...

i don't think i really said Happy Birthday quite adequately enough the first time.

Happy Birthday!

Bolder said...

nope, still didn't feel sincere.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLIF!

Bolder said...

nope, didn't seem adequate, maybe it's a language issue, now that i'm almost american... how 'bout this:

Afrikaans Gelukkige verjaarsdag!
Albanian Gëzuar ditëlindjen!
Amharic Melkame yetewlede kene! Melekam ledet!
Arabic Eeid milad sa'aeed
Armenian Shenorhavor Dzenentyan Or!
Asturian ¡Bon nataliegu!
Azerbaijani - Ad Gününüz mübaræk!
Basque Zorionak!
Bengali Shuvo Zanmo din!
Bosnian Sretan Rodjendan!
Breton Deiz ha Bloaz Laouen!
Bulgarian Chestit Rojden Den! (= ChRD!)
Cantonese saang yat faai lok!
Catalan Feliç aniversari!
Chipewyan Neh dzeeneh kk-eh nehbah soo ghwah nehs-then
Cornish Pennbloedh Lowen!
Creole Kontan ou pa-w jou nesans!
Croatian Sretan rodyendan!
Czech S^t^astné narozeniny!
Dagaare Né fo dO!góó dááré yááné !
Danish Tillykke med fødselsdagen!
Dutch Gefeliciteerd!
English Happy Birthday!
Esperanto Feli^can datrevenon! Feli^can naski^gtago!
Estonian Palju õnne sünnipäevaks!
Eurish Dio natana beatea !
Farsi Ta'va'lo'dat Mo'ba'rak
Finnish Hyvää syntymäpäivää!
French Joyeux anniversaire!
Frisian Fan herten lokwinske mei dyn jierdei!
Galician Feliz Aniversário!
Georgian gilotsavt dabadebis dghes!
German Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Greek Hro'nia Polla'
Gujarati hApi barthde! janmadin ni vadhaaee!
Hawaiian Hau`oli lá hánau!
Hebrew Yom huledet same'ach!
Hindi janmadina mubaarak ho
Holooe Sen-jít khoài-lók
Hungarian Boldog születésnapot!
Icelandic Til hamingju með afmælið!
Ido Bona/felica nasko-dio!
Indonesian Selamat ulang tahun!
Interlingua Felice anniversario!
Irish breith lá sona duit
Italian Buon compleanno!
Japanese Tanjoubi omedetou!
Korean Seng-il-ul Chuk-ha-ham-ni-da
Latin Beatum Diem Natalem (tibi precor/exopto)
Latvian Daudz laimes dzimsvanas diena-!
Lithuanian Sveikinu gimtadienio proga!
Luganda [Happy Birthday!]
Malaysian selamat harijadi
Mandarin sheng- rì kuài lè!
Marshallese Jeramon ilo rainin am!
Mazahua mitshíngh!
Norwegian Gratulerer med dagen!
Occitan bon aniversari!
Polish Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin!
Portuguese Feliz Aniversário! Parabéns!
Brazilian Portuguese Feliz Aniversário!
Quechua ??
Romanian La mult'i ani!
Russian S dnem rozhdeniya!
Serbian Srecyan rodyendan!
Sesotho Ke ho lakaletsa letsatsi le monate la tswalo!
Sinhala Shubha. Upan Dhina.yak !
Slovak Vs^etko najleps^ie (k narodeninám)!
Slovenian Vse najboljsxe za rojstni dan!
Spanish Feliz cumpleaños!
Swahili Hongera!
Swedish Grattis på födelsedagen!
Tagalog Maligayang kaarawan!
Thai sook-san-wan-kert!
Tswana Ogole!
Turkish Do-gum günün kutlu olsun!
Ukrainian z dnem urodyn! z dnem narodzhenya!
Vietnamese Chúc mù*ng sinh nhâ.t !
Welsh Penblwydd Hapus i chwi!
Wolof [Happy] besi judu
Xhosa Imini yokuzalwa emnandi!
Yiddish mazl-tov
Zulu sikufisela inhlanhla elangeni lakho lokuzalwa

Bolder said...

yah, that did it.

;o)

E-Speed said...

Tofu for your birthday? Uggh!

Happy Belated Birthday!

Hope your eye is better!

Anonymous said...

Nice colors. Keep up the good work. thnx!
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