Conquering Mt.Faber

It has been close to 2 weeks with not much physical activities due to my recent business trip, followed by Dad and mum in town. I can feel that I'm starting to feel lethargic again. I need to get my butt up and start working out.

After 1.5 weeks, I finally put on my running shoe again and went for a short 45mins warmout around PR neighbourhood. It's a total failure. No stamina, no endurance, no strength. Feeling a bit disappointed, I make another attempt again on Monday. This time on a threadmill with some speed as well as hill run. Not too bad....getting back in form.

Tuesday - the usual CBD run but this time round, tigger decided to add some spice into it. We will be conquering up to Mt.Faber thru Kg.Bahru Road. I've been hearing a lot a lot abt this route. How tough, how hilly, how it 'kills' runners. I wanted to give it a try. I wanted to experience how tough it really is. We started off a pretty easy one from Tanjong pagar. The chiongster is all way ahead after the 1st km. I was somewhere in the middle with a couple more behind. Soon...the chiongster is no where within my sight. I looked at my back... there's no one behind either...Oops!!! Siao liao...did I go the wrong way?? I slowed down, looking around and I think I spotted one of them like 200m ahead of me. Off I go until I reached the foot of MF. Approx 3km from starting point.

The faster one have already started to chiong up the hill when I reach the foot. Tigger waited for me and soon was joined by Jodan. I started to conquer the hill, warned by tigger to look out for a 4m height barrier which is where the killer is. He chiong his way and I slow down my pace to prepare for that 'slope'. Jodan ask me to go ahead as he is slowing down his pace too. It was still alright for the 1km..the slope is pretty mild until I spotted the 4m barrier. Wah seh...... I can clearly see what is ahead of me. Start to change my strategy, small stride and medium pace. Soon...I reach this slope which looks like a 45 degree to me. It's killing my calves. I have to stop...to walk.... Buay tahan... I rotate between jogging and walking all the way up until the slope is over!!! Yea.... I'm happy that I get to experience the toughness of running that slope.... Reached the Jewel box, waited for Jodan and off we go on the same way back to TP. Approx 9.5km. Good one :)

Now that I know how bad that slope is, "someone" actually did 6 loops on that same route, 10km per loop, totalling to 60km in his Safra Ultramarathon challenge last Sunday. Under hot sun some more!!! Wah piang.... I'll either faint or attack by heat stroke. I now gave him a new nick - "Super Extreme Ultra Marathon man".

After my last business trip back in Dec, I went for a second one two weeks ago. This time to Tokyo. It was purely for business really.... with not much personal time except for a couple of hours after work.

Depart on Sunday 9:45am, reached Tokyo at 5:15pm. Upon immigration clearance at 5:45pm, I rush straight to the limousine counter to get a coach ticket that bring me straight to the hotel. Cost me 3000 yen (S$36). You may have wonder....come on...it's business trip, just grab a cab. Well well.... it's a definte no...That will probably cost me like S$300!!! So there I go, head off to the bus stand to wait 20 mins for the coach. Almost the entire Sunday is gone. Tired, sleepy.... yet to endure for another 1.5 hours to get me to the hotel.

Reached the hotel approx 8pm. Weather is getting cold at night. Argh..... Cold + hungry + tired is the worst combination. Agree?? I have no idea where am I, nor do I wanted to go out recee the place and find food. Simply....too exhausted from the 7 hours flight. Head off to the room, order room service and Zzzzz.

I was demanded by colleague to buy 10 mascaras for them!! Very good woh.... Only japan can get it woh... So, that's my mission after work. To explore Shibuya and Shinjuku hunting for 10 sticks of mascara. Thank goodness I have Frank with me. To cut the story short.... I swept out all the stock from 3 drug store, just to add up the total of 10 mascara!!!! Urgh..ladies ladies.....haiz.... Other than that, no shopping, no sight seeing, no pictures.... :) chop chop 4D3N trip.

Boss was away for the last one week and will only be back by end of this week. I'm getting a bit sick tired mentally having to deal with part of her work in addition to mine. Can't wait to take at least a day break when she's back. To think about my business trip to Japan next week makes me even sicker!!! I'm starting to have a bad impression on Japanese culture. Well in a way, as what we always see, they are very well mannered, clean...etc. But when come to the corporate world and when you really have a colleague who is a Jap.....it's totally different!!! Trust me....untill you experienced it...you never know. Don't talk about the fun time exploring tokyo after work. It will be good enough if I don't get high blood pressure over there.

Wish me luck........

I was supposed to be on my way back from gym at this hour. But I'm happily enjoying a bowl of ABC soup,in the comfort of my room, blogging.

That is because, something terrible happen while I'm at the gym hours ago. Initial plan was to do some speed training on the treadmill. I did a warm up jog for 5 minutes and slow down, eventually stopped to tighten up my jogging pants. In that split of seconds, I had the worst ever feelings and it is just terrible.

I suddenly run out of breath, my vision is blur, my shoulder is aching, I felt like throwing out, my heart beat is increasing. I felt like I'm going to black out very soon. It was indeed a scary feeling I tell you. And it lasted pretty long. I was still standing on the threadmill trying to control my breathing but it's getting worst and worst. I was praying deep inside that I will not black out and collapse. The way that I perspire after just a 5 minutes warm up, it's really NOT me. It usually took me at least 15 mins to start persipring. Something is terribly wrong. I slowed down and stepped down from the treadmill, still trying to control my breathing and slowly walking towards the water cooler, still perspiring. My vision is still blur, I am seriously worried that I'll collapse. Continue praying..........

It lasted for 5-10 mins and the heart beat slowly resume back to normal. And for the next 10 mins, I was wondering what went wrong. Did I run too fast and stop immediately? Not at all, this is the not the first time I'm doing it. Did I ate too much? Not at all. I have no idea what causes that. Anyway, it was a bad experience. I do not want to push myself as I still have a little bit of nausea. I decided to take a shower and call it a day. It doesn't really matter to skip the workout for a day. It's more important to listen to the body...

So, in a way, I'm thankful that I can sit here, blogging this unique experience that I had and not ended up in hospital.......
I shall sleep well and rest well tonight.....Zzzzzzzzzz

Worth it, worth it not

Just when I was blogging about work satisfaction few days ago, I came across this article in asia1.com with a header - Dead after 8 hours on laptop.

Looking at the title, I'm pretty sure that this lady is dead due to overworked. Sure enough, it is. It was such a pity and there are indeed people out there, working day and night to climb the corporate ladder, only to realized that they have neglected their family, their health when it's too late.

Like what I told my sis the other day, enough to eat, enough to use and possibly enough to go holiday can already loh... Money is important but it's not everything. So, don't spent too much time trying to earn as much as you want, cuz it's never enough and you will probably end up being a slave to money. What's the point of earning so much, yet you loose something that is much valuable, something that money could not buy.

I am quiitteeee happy with my job lah

Are you?

http://www.blogthings.com/shouldyougetanewjobquiz

Hmm....The conclusion.....I shall be contented and look no further for the time being......