of family matters and DNS

If you think that adventure racing is simply bulldozing into nature, you are absolutely right wrong. An adventure racer must prepare a whole lot of equipment prior to the race. Yesterday was the Skill Test and Equipment Check, where all the racers must complete all the required race skills testing plus ensure that all the equipment is as per requirement. It is meant for the racers to demonstrate to the race organizers that we have the skills to keep ourself (and other people) safe on the technical sections of the race. Failing to do so, the team will not be allowed onto the race course.

These are the things that are COMPULSORY Equipment per Participant of Eco X-Capade Team Category:

• Climbing harness with CE or UIAA certification (certified for rock climbing purposes).
• Two locking carabiners (May be autolock or screw gate)
• One abseil device: Figure of eight or Omega Pacific SBG II. No ATC or Petzl Huit allowed.
• Two slings (minimum 60cm long)
• Water container good to contain minimum 2 liters of hydration liquid.
• One (1) Mountain Bicycle in good condition. Road bikes, time trial bikes, cyclo-cross and tandem bikes are not permitted
• One (1) Biking or climbing Helmet per participant
• One (1) Headlamp or torch per participant.
• One (1) pair of full-fingered Gloves suitable for abseiling
• Footwear – running shoes/ cross trainer/ trail shoes (toe revealing shoes are not permitted)
• Waterproof map case for race passport and instructions

 

Well, in trying to live up to the name of “macambagus” (no lah, actually cheramiche’s sons are not well), we arrived at the skill test session VERY late where the race briefing was already on-going and the skill testing stations were already closed. Gulped!!

Organisers were kind enough to open up the skill tests for macambagus and one other team. There were 4 testing stations altogether;

• Mandatory and First aid equipment
• Kayak skills – ability to recover from a capsized kayak and climb back into the boat
• Abseil station  – show ability to abseil with usage of prussic.
• Rock Climbing and Belaying

Since it was already late, we completed the abseil station only. I was having problem the first round, but passed the second attempt. It was really CRUCIAL  for us to know how to do it  confidently, as part of the race course would bring us to a 30m abseil at Damai!

So, how did we DNS (Did Not Start)? By the time we reached home, wifey, being at 37 weeks pregnant was already experiencing  pain, in fact, she’s already on MC for past one week (although doc’s anticipated her due date as 23 July). I also received a text mesage from Cheramiche that his sons are still not well, and needs him to be around. In fact, he just texted me and said that he was up all nite to take care of his youngest son. As the race could be a whole day affair, plus we could be in deep woods where there’s no coverage, we decided to pull out, for the love and care of a family is life’s greatest blessing. It can be the greatest adventure of a life too.

FAMILY FIRST …. (although deep down, I wanted to do it so much …).

I think we have made the right choice Have a great Sunday, folks!!

racing against the ‘book’

I didn’t turn up for the LSD training organised by CAR last Saturday. I really wanted to (see footnote why I wanted to do it so much), but this book project is taking up my weekends nowadays. In fact, it wasn’t my intention to take up this book project. Frankly, it never crossed my mind that I would end-up becoming a Fitness Chef - a certification that I took just to enrich my knowledge in preparing healthy food.  At that time, I thought why not as that would complement the Personal Fitness Training programs that I am running. In fact, who would have thought that I was introduced as Fitness Chef (prior to these, I was introduced as Fitness Trainer) in my last two appearances on Astro - I even  showed people how to cook live on tv …. even my mom was shocked. I was shocked too. Berta Harian even came up with a 2-page article on my nutritional advice. I thought, well, this is new.

A publisher ‘caught’ my potential last November (thanks to my cousin Kak Yona for arranging my meeting with the publisher … I owe her alot)  and offered me to write a book on food, fitness food per se. The deal is that I write everything but leave it to the publisher  to well … publish it. All at their own expense. In return, I’ll get royalty out of the book-selling. After much discussion, I grabbed the opportunity (well, these opportunities rarely pops up in our lives) and since then, I saw myself busy storming up the kitchen, experimenting recipes after recipes. It is my 3rd month now and I have few more weeks to go before the dateline comes in -   offering enough time to edit, proof-read and print it before launching ’em at the Book Fest International at PWTC in March. Well, that’s what the publisher’s plan looks like for now, and my team is here just to make sure that we deliver it within time.  We are half way through, and hopefully it is going to end soon.

On the opposite end, it also means that it doesn’t leave much time for my training nowadays. So far, I’m not making too much excuses. I grab whatever bits of time left (without compromising my roles as an employee, husband and father) to get myself ’sufficiently’ prepared for my races. I do split trainings whenever possible – before work and during lunch breaks. Will I be able to juggle life’s hectic schedule and races? I have no idea. As long as I will not forget to have ‘fun’ in whatever life challenges thrown at me, I think I should be okay. In fact, it’s not the medals and finishers’ tee that I am aiming for, but more of the satisfaction that races bring. Like what Kash mentioned in her blog when she read on an article in January’s issue of Runner’s World “Success is measured by finishing each run in an upright position, with a smile on your face, wanting to do it again.” And that is exactly what I’m eyeing for! With that, my target for upcoming Putrajaya Night Marathon is sub-5 (although deep down I want to do it at sub 4.30 …)  and I am going to sign-up for Energizer Night Run as well. Have you?

p/s Me with my busy schedule thought that the PNM is this weekend  .. and past weekend’s LSD was my last one before the marathon, only to find out later that I have 2 more weeks to train ….. hehhe.

Are you a Corporate Athlete?

I bumped into many people that are inquisitive about Corporate Athletes – a name that I gave to my Personal Training (PT) company. Well, I don’t really have a scripted definition for it yet but basically, a Corporate Athlete is someone who is just like me. A ‘human being’ who has loads of ‘normal’ commitments like a 9-5 job, a family, hobbies, friends, but at the same time, try to lead a healthy and fitful life. Most of the time, he  trains hard to compete in sporting events and competitions.

Basically, a Corporate Athlete is a person who has a strong passion to live life to the fullest.

Having that as a reason, this weblog was born a year back. It’s a great medium for me to share in living The Life of a Corporate Athlete.  Just like some other Corporate Athletes out there (well, I know who you are, I read your blogs too … hehehe), these are simple things that I really enjoy doing; family, adventure sports, personal training, swimming, racing, travelling, gardening, entertaining, food, reading, cooking, socialising etc.

I really hope that by sharing some of the life experiences, either through PT or blogging, it can at least give some ‘light’ to those who wants to lead a healthy and fitful life.

Forget about being glued to the chair in this concrete jungle, we are in control of our own lives. Life is short, live hard!

So, are you a Corporate Athlete?

p/s – I’m planning to start the interviews on some of other Corporate Athletes after raya. It’s a fun project, and can’t wait to get my pens down on these people who truly inspire me.

Grow Bubbles

Got this ‘how-to’ thingy from Wikihow. For the non-divers, probably this will convince you to become one … hehheh.  Divers can actually blow bubbles that grow as they go up, to end in an elegant swirl. With ’safe’ practice, you’ll produce a series of rings, receiving silent but enthusiastic applause, or probably ‘diving’ ovation  from spectators underwater or on the surface.

1. Lie still on your back on a sandy bottom with the depth varying from 2 to 6 meters. If you go deeper than 6 meters, this trick becomes more difficult.
2. Take a normal breath from your regulator (for Scuba divers lahh) and tip your head a bit back so your mouth is parallel to the surface. (It is not recommended that you try this trick without a regulator unless you are an expert freediver.)
3. Start with a closed mouth. Make a short and decisive airburst, coming from your swollen cheeks (not from your lungs as with cigarette smoke rings), opening your mouth with round lips. To give you an idea, try to say the word “PUH” with swollen cheeks. Do NOT do anything with your tongue. The amount of air is of less importance. Using less air makes the rings thinner.
4. Watch the bubbles and adjust your technique. At the beginning you’ll see normal bubbles coming out of your mouth. Some will start to form a ring of small bubbles and that means you’re on the right track. Soon you’ll create your first intact ring!

p/s-can’t wait for the dive season to open & try out these beautiful bubbles

Muaythai International Superfights 2008

I was given a free VVIP ticket by one of my PT clients to watch the MuayThai Int’l Superfights, complimentary of GNC. Nothing could have been better than securing a rinkside seat. Next to my seat were Jehan Miskin & the leading actor of latest malay movie ‘Sepi’ (sorry, I don’t know his name….sigh!). The last time I watched Muaythai fights was at Lumphini Boxing Stadium in Bangkok few years back. I had to pay Baht800 for a seat that was hard for me to even see the fighters’ noses! So, to get a rinkside seat was a bless. The fighters were from all over the world; Brazil, Iran, South Africa, Sweden, Singapore, and of course, Malaysia. If you are a big fan of Astro’s Contender Asia (Season 1) like me, you got the chance to see Singaporean Kim Khan Zaki, Swiss Zidov ‘Akuma’ Dominik, Arabian Dzhabar ‘Genghis Khan’ Askerov and also the Contender Asia champion; Siamese Yodsaenklai. In fact, the latter was the trainer for our Malaysian fighter; Bernard ‘Headhunter’ who got lost to another Malaysia fighter; Tengku Sharizal.

There were even lady muaythai fighters (one from South Africa and the other from Australia) fighting to get the Intercontinental Female Title bout – the result: an Australian ex-army, Tiana ‘Tiger’ Caverley won. Her opponent, who happened to be a part-time model from South Africa bled profusely and had a huge cut and later turned into a gigantic swell over at her forehead!  What suprised me most was the announcement made when we first witnessed the bleed…. it went like this " Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the first blood for the night, lets give them a good round of applause"… I was like .."Whhhatttt?…."…..:)…..

Well, I didn’t wait and watch until the end as I had to go to bed early that night to rest-well for my Siemens’ Run the next morning. With only a 30min training a day before, I think I did okay considering I clocked in at 53rd minute for a 10km run….hehheh….