⇒ breaking through!

found surprising amount of focus during my run today--all the way to a new record!
here's the breakdown:
1.60 km in 10'00" onto
2.50 km in 15'15" (?) onto
2.80 km in 17'17" (?) onto
3.00 km in 19'15" onto
3.23 km in 20'00" (continuous!) and 250+KCALs onto
4.00 km in 26'01" and ~300 KCALs

10x60, 16x40, 8x40 = 1560

visits since 04th jan '09: 33
#visits per mth: 14 | 10 | 9
3 mth ave: 11
ave cost per visit: $4.85

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⇒ conquering goals

so after all the hubbub from yesterday's 'mistake', the boss has gone back to ignoring me...suits me fine. Just leave me alone for 12 more days...

that said, a horrible day at work yielded an excellent gym session:
new record!
2.8km in 17'15" (at least 16'15" continuous @ 9.9km/hr)
onto 4.0 in 26'40"
and 311 KCALs
13x60 = 780
visits since 04th jan '09: 23
#visits per mth: 14 | 9
3 mth ave: 7.66
ave cost per visit: $6.96

this is my fastest time ever to achieve 4.0km and fastest time ever to reach 311 KCALs.
new continuous distance record too.

The run felt great...there were moments where I questioned myself, but ultimately, i ran better than ever before. It hurt, but not enough to stop me.

raindrops fallin on my head...

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⇒ saturday

wasted 4 hours doing car sh!t in the morning...ya gotta do what ya gotta do...I'm not pissed that I was doing car stuff, but rather I'm doing car stuff yet I won't be the one who ends up getting to enjoy it! same with filling up the tank. I filled it right up, real expensive fuel too, then day after, I have to surrender the keys because someone else 'needs it more'...

that's me: trapped by overwhelming guilt or overwhelming anger...i just can't win.

ran patchy...sometimes good, sometimes crampy...overall new record:
4.0KM in 28'48"
301 KCALs
8x60, 18x40 = 1200
visits since 04th jan '09: 20
#visits per mth: 14 | 6
3 mth ave: 6.66
ave cost per visit: $8.00

later tho, something really took it out of me that day tho, cause I slept for 15 hours in a row, completely missing dinner...I've got no idea how that happened...it was 730-ish, i felt drowsy, so I went to lie down...when I finally got out of bed again, it was 1030 next morning!

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⇒ 3 new records

best run in a while:
15'00" consecutive @ 9.9km/h
totalling 2.44 KM
finished: 3.11KM in 20'00" and 240+ KCALs
new consecutive record (time)
new consecutive record (distance)
new overall record (KCALs)
the 2.0KM in 12'00" still stands.

matched bench record: 6x70
so sweaty because it's freakin' hot today

visits since 04th jan '09: 11
#visits per mth: 11
3 mth ave: 3.66
ave cost per visit: $14.55

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⇒ matched records?

matched previous running bests today...might've had something to do with my competitive streak: 2 other ppl were running as well. They started roughly when I did and were keeping similar pace with me, so I wanted to outlast them.

Notched up 1.0 KM in 7'00",
onto 1.6 KM in 10'00",
onto 2.0 KM in 13'30",
onto 2.9 KM in 19'00",
onto 3.2 KM in 21'00".
total of 248 KCALs

Ran for 18 of those 21 minutes. There was a 2' ease-off around the 10'00" mark and a 1'00" cooldown at 20'00". I feel pretty good about that...it's on par with 2003 running performance (which is great, for me, a lazy desk jockey).

Benched 12x60 = 720, which is also a new best.
I didn't intend to exercise much due to cold-ish, rainy, overcast weather - think of the injuries!

visits since 21st sept '08: 37
#visits per mth: 14 | 12 | 11
3 mth ave: 12.33
ave cost per visit: $4.86

gym membership days remaining: 9
year 2008 days remaining: 18
days til christmas: 12

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⇒ sunday 07 dec 2008

been keeping myself busy these weekends, running around to inspections.

Squeezed in a merciless gym sess, cause i know i wont make it on mon and tues (got after-work appointments)

5.0km in 34'50" (4.0km in under 28'00 = NEW RECORD!)
380 KCALs
20x50

visits since 21st sept '08: 36
#visits per mth: 14 | 12 | 10
3 mth ave: 12
ave cost per visit: $5.00

all right, enough! this is eating away at me and pissing me off! you wanna know something about your 'employee of the year'? the reasons he stays back are because he's consistently late AND because he's working on non-company projects during company time, hence he takes longer to do things. There I said it. Eat shit and die, dumb m#thaf#ckas.

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⇒ do nothing

I almost didn't go running today--the weather was overcast, it's late in the day, my legs hurt...blah blah blah...I didn't put up with my bullsh!t, went an ran to a new personal best:
2.0km in 11'50" (new record) ave. 10.2km/h
2.1km in 13' total (168 KCALs)

cut the duration short because I thought I was short on time!
visits since 21st sept '08: 25
#visits per mth: 14 | 11
3 mth ave: 8.33
ave cost per visit: $7.20

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⇒ the rule, not the exception

gymmed wednesday (did the upgrade tuesday, but didn't post about it till now), yesterday and today. Not too bad, but I think 3 days in a row is too much for me--at least right now, anyways.

Weds: 2.0km in 12' continuous again--matched my previous best
Thurs: 10' continuous--still not bad. Got off work late = late train = late bus = late gym start = very short session. Spent less than an hour in the gym.
Fri: 5' continuous--legs were giving me feedback of the quitting-kind. Another short session due to dumb late-finising-workplace ethics...Assholes.

visits since 21st sept '08: 5
mth ave: 5
3 mth ave: 1.66
ave cost per visit: $32

the only way to live in this world is without rules

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⇒ new os, challenges met

after much blood, sweat and (mostly) tears, I rose to the hardware challenge:
1. open Apple laptop
2. remove internal hard drive
3. install new internal hard drive
4. reseal laptop
5. install new RAM
6. install new OS
7. restore all settings and preferences

It was a long night! Installing the OS, waiting, hoping...praying. In the end, everything went right from the get-go.
Vuze | Coda | Handbrake 0.9.2 | DivX | Xvid | Perian | El iPodo | MozoDojo | MacOSaiX | TextWrangler | VLC 0.8.6i | Diablo II patch

Today, ran pretty well. I'm beginning to figure out my running speed (optimal balance of air intake vs. expenditure). It's roughly 10.5km/h. Made 2.0km in 12' again! Before that, I did 1.6km in 9'33" which is better, but not great. Went on to run 2.9km in 20' and use about 200KCALs.

No gym girl + grandparents visiting + sushi at home = short gym sess. Did bench 50 x 16 just for the heck of it.

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⇒ long weekend day 2:winter fit

i thought about my overall gym going purpose before i went today. I don't remember the why of it anymore. It's not for

• marathon--4+ hours of running seems ridiculous
• vanity--adonis complex has faded, I don't care for it
• strength & fitness--I'm a computer jockey
• and weight loss--I've been trying for 3-4 months but the weight ain't coming off...

anyhoo, had a serious physical breakthrough today...the recent runs have been improving--I've paced myself better and gotten progressively more and more patient. I ran my first full 2.0km today! Did it in 12', which is another first for me. I went on to reach 4.0km in just under 30' (another best) and finish in 34'53" (beat the old record by 3 minutes?!?!?).

I dunno. I had a bowl and a half of chips w/ gravy and ketchup last nite...and a black russian...not too much hydration either...I just switched on today...I was smiling through the run! I was on track to finish in less time but I got excited/greedy and faded...but still very good today. Also consider I ran 5.0km yesterday too!

2.0km continuous in 12'07" (both new bests)
388KCALs over 5.0km, 395KCALs total (new bests)
34'53" total 5.0km time (new best)

bench:
8*60, 12*50, 12*50, 12*50,
other weights, stretch. No swim, no bike (pretty bad weather)

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⇒ highpoint

good week at work, good things happening overall, dull moments steadily declining.
I think this is the high I've been waiting for/deserved. Try to stay focused and fly higher.

gym summary:
5km run in 37'45" (new record)
20' ride
totalled 504 KCALs (380 run, 124 ride)
btw, ran so hard I almost threw up after. I'm on track for a 7' per km average (it's about 7'45" right now).

did about 10 sets of weights
stretch
swim

Vo's law of health and success still holds true: the healthier I am, the more successful I become.

24 visits left

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⇒ sh!tty weather

not even intermittent, micro-mist, regular, irregular, angled, banked, spray, cold, warm rain can dampen my spirits this week!

too good! progress in general: on the job learning is going well; got about 5 big name corporate entities interested in sitting me down for a chat; I'm in good health; feeling good; I'm mostly happy =)

Before, I was listless, now, I'm on the rise.

y-yae!

BTW, happy bday mum

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⇒ gym update

looking back at an older post, i just realized i broke the 5k record today!

funny that...I didnt feel like i was running at full capacity.
so the new 5k pb: 39'45" (bests the old record of 39'56" set about 2 weeks ago)

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⇒ run like crazy

went to gym today. Ran 5k and did good! Firstly, the weather was something like 32 deg C, so it was hot to begin with. Secondly, consider that on Friday and Saturday (the two preceding days), I ran 5km on both days too. That means I've run 15km in three days, my new best(?)

Having said that, I broke several personal bests and set an all new personal 5km record! I did it in under 40' (about 39'56"). I went crazy and planned it out beforehand, guesstimating about 8' per km or about 3 laps every 8'. That plan sort of worked. My legs hurt from the very first step, but I really really pushed myself today.

I ran the entire first km non-stop (time was about 7'). I was actually on track to run the 5k in about 35' but the pain in my legs and adjustment to the new plan took some getting used to and required slowing down, add to that my profuse sweating and need to rehydrate. Totaled about 370 KCALs and average of 7.3 km/h (up from yesterday's 7.2). Still very happy about that progress. (My legs are killing me!)

Further to that, I stretched before and after the run, did 3 sets of bench, 3 of chest fly and 2 inclined bench. All followed up with a swim.

Slimming down is progressing slowly, but I guess that's expected considering I had an 11 month layoff. Damn, 11 months of damage (excessive salty foods, little exercise, high stress) takes a long time to undo...

I got 6 visits left...

side note: all-time personal best for 20' on treadmill: 3.2km (circa 2003 or 2004) which equals an average of 9.6 km/h

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⇒ gym and golf

5k in 42'15" = new all-time personal best!!!

my legs REALLY hurt

light upper body exercises today
bench
shoulders
back
total of 8 sets
stretch

swim a bit...

went to driving range (Moore Park)--it's way expensive.
Really bad at hitting the ball now, which is pretty much my whole game.
It's been over a year since I've been to the driving range and I'm really rusty now. I tried improving my swing--the whole left arm straight thing and by the end of the day I got some improvement, i think. But the whole time (85 balls) I never managed more than 100m with either driver or iron (3-iron). I'm accustomed to hitting close to 200 with the driver, so that's a bummer.

Then had Lansdowne for dinner. Chicken burger as usual...not too bad...not the best ever but still pretty good.

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