For real..?

I have been hibernating for a bit and focusing on other priorities. Started to get back in action to get some form n fitness back. I tell you, it’s not easy . But it wasn’t as hard as many months of holding back and telling myself that I have to be patient and keep focusing on what’s more important for me at that point of time. So if was the few short rides which I’ve benefited from so far. that few short rides of 20km at Putrajaya got some motivation going. the menu, 18-20km bike which I broke into 15mins easy cycling (small gear) to warm up. After that 15, stopped by the road side, to do some leg stretches for 5mins. And continue to the main set of 30-40mins of spinning, low(light gear), high cadence and maintain the seated position.

Did around four of these rides so far. Thank you to my friends who accompanied me. 🙂 For my Energizer Night Race,well, since I did not engage myself into any specific program, the cycling did contribute to my 2010 comeback run. For a person who’s laid off for quite a bit from any exercise and don’t remember when was the last time she ran a 10k competitively, I was quite surprised I did a 1:07 at the Energizer Run last weekend. The fact that the run was actually 9.2km ++ and on top of that, I was busy cheering everyone else, yelling at rude car drivers who decided to cut thru the lanes while the event was on going, supporting my 2 friends who joined me (Najwa and Nazmi) and also taking photos, I think I did pretty OK. 1:07? Im truly humbled by this. Me best 10k so far is 48mins. that’s 1:07 minus nearly 19mins.

The lesson that I conclude from here is that, if we are going to keep on ‘talking’ the walk, we’ll end up no where. But if u believe in yourself and stop giving excuses to yourself, I too believe in you, that you can. I started from nothing. my 1st half marathon was a 2:12. that was in 2005. came 2008, I manage to slash that time by 16 minutes. And looking forward to ‘slash’ some more. I did not take me some ultra machine or genes to do that. (but even by ultra machine/genes standard I’d still be slow lah).

So what was it? It was my need, passion and clarity of what I wanted. If we’re not clear of what we want, even a million bucks served to us as an external motivation won’t make any change. It is you. Its YOU that matters. As the Malay proverb goes, nak seribu daya. Tak nak seribu dalih. Kalau tak nak tuh, memang seribu dalih ; exactly what my friend Jason mentioned ; ‘Excuses shows incompetence’ to which I naturally agreed with.

Knowledge : Look it up, read up, Google it, YouTube it, compare training programs, preview,select, commit,execute. Race. then review again. To add more fun with this, compare how ur friends train. Pick up and learn from them too and see if it works for u. Training is about learning. A karat and outdated program is as good as no program at all..

Let’s zoom this out .. What are we talking about again…? oh yes, it’s YES, YOU CAN. Again, each individual is different. What i think that suits me may not apply to you. You can try by just proving to yourself, first.  That 13:42 IM stint in Langkawi was (1 reason being) was to prove to my own self that I am capable. I can. Besides, thats the next best things to do as I progressed into triathlon. Started of with the sprint, then OD,1/2 and then IM.  A very personal and emotional target that I set for myself that I did not even update my Ironman training on my blog. It was for myself .Not to fulfill others’ expectation or to prove it to anyone . To inspire, maybe. I am truly internally motivated but I don’t deny the external forces which have motivated me; my family and friends. *i luv u all*. THAT keeps me going. What keeps YOU going?

p.s. I was so comfortable typing this thru my Iphone n lying down on the couch n relaxing that it almost felt like I was writing to an old friend.

p.s. : don’t just talk the walk, or leave the talk here. Take it for walk. Do it. It’ll make more sense that way.