Handball 手球

SCMS 2011 full marathon - completed!

2011-12-04T22:29:00.001+11:00

Armed with my latest toy, named becky's xpod bcoz its an advanced X'mas present gifted to me exactly a month before Christmas Day :)

Clearly, the reason for the early gift is so that I would be equipped during my maiden full marathon!

This was my powersong!

With that spiritual and moral support, a wake up time at 245am and energy breakkie, a friend also gave physical support by waking up early as we arrived at Orchard Road by 430am; thanks to the overnight (24 hours) SMRT train services this year.

Bag deposit at the Angullia Park carpark behind Far East Shopping Center took an hour long, and by the time I jogged to the starting line outside The Heeren, it was 540am; 40 minutes later than scheduled flag off time. Yes, the pack has gone ahead, and there were still people queuing to deposit bags!

Thus begins the long day ahead, as I watch the skies brighten up after an hour or so, coming onto the main road on Nicoll Highway from Republic Boulevard around the 10km mark. I know ECP was around the corner.

Arriving into ECP, the leg muscles took its toll with the pace and I stopped occasionally to stretch and muscle rub, also taking my shot of energy gel, just so I could sustain more than half of the remaining race. This helped me to continue jogging till I arrive at the 21km U-turn mark, hungry for gel replenishment which I was certain is not there as indicated! This has taken me 3 hours, 15 mins ahead of my targeted 6h 30mins finishing time.

I took a 10mins break for muscle and feet rub, which I thought was gonna be provided as well! No, it was DIY with deep heat spray provided. There wasn't even a water point there; perhaps not to let everyone feel too comfortable? This proved to be the right theory as my muscles seemed to get stiffer with longer rest times, and had to stop and stretch several more times throughout ECP. I realized I could no longer jog for more than 3 continuous minutes as the soles of the feet were not able to take weight anymore.

I re-strategized to brisk walking, and really using my arms to keep the momentum higher than the normal walking pace, which also proved to tire and slow me even more significantly. I balanced the weight on the different groups of muscles, but somehow my right tibilai anterior muscle felt the most strain regarrdless of how much I tried to lean the weight onto the left side.

I was absolutely starving for 8 km till the only banana station was available at 29km; I had forgotten to keep a folded piece of cash in my running shorts, or I might have had a meal at the ECP food center =-=

It wasn't a surprise as I grabbed 2 bananas and ate as I walked; one of the fun things to do during a race is the legality of being able to throw litter without worries of getting fined!

However, the next 3 km took out all that was put in as the hottest stretch I could remember, passing by this service road which the future MCE (Marina Coastal Expressway) is being constructed; this was the desert where I took off my black singlet to avoid overheating my body, and got stared at (so what if i don't have abs?!)

It was a respite when some young trees provided the little amount of shade to cool, and more so along Marina Reservoir, before reaching Marina Barrage, where there were also benches that even provided the view overlooking the marina - MBS, Flyer, etc.

There was no stopping now with the last 5km to go, and it was past noon. Though the upslope along the ECP expressway was termed "Heartbreak Bridge" for making/breaking someone's race, it was of no difference in how my muscles felt by now; i kept up my brisk walking pace of 15mins/km - slope or not. In fact, it was the downhill that I had to be more careful about - not rolling over.

As we passed the F1 track again, another piece of barren open land darkly tarred, we can almost hear the finishing party going on from the Padang with 2 km to go. I was hoping I could be done in 7 hours, but it was unlikely with the pace i was at, so I aimed for 7:30.

Now back into the view of the public, I get exasperated when some members of the public clearly has no idea a race is going on here, with participants like us hoping that right of way would be given to us as a change in pace and direction can take us ounces of precious energy and given pain. I remember this official dressed in black top who was standing in the middle of the pavement just before the tunnel crossing from Esplanade to Connaught Dr. It was the last kilometer, he was there to give us high fives and encouragements, to every single person passing him. As I was saving energy in not removing my earphones, I lifted my pinkie and that signalled as my question if it was the last km, he nodded his head and we high-fived before I tried to run my way through the short upslope in the tunnel, only to feel defeated. haha

Nonetheless, walking was still better off for me. I was complaining to myself earlier during the desert stretch that there wasn't enough kilometre markers - think it was at every 3km or so, that felt like a long distance when you are struggling towards the end. But I was super excited and had newfound energy when I saw the blue signboards that read 150m, 100m and 50m! I sprinted the last 150m through, surprising myself that my muscles could still take me all the way to the finishing line.

After 7 hrs 39 mins, collecting my finisher's medal and t-shirt, then walking around looking for the promised post-race massage rub (already closed by the time i reached =-=), and baggage deposit collection point all the way at War Memorial Park - only to have to walk down and up stairs coz the escalator is out of order (how could they allow this to happen on marathon day!!), I was absolutely spent. But yeah, I could still walk, at least. There were people lying around on the floor under the trees, needing ambulances. I suppose I am lucky enough to be alive in one piece, and that is my objective - just to complete.

I'm placed 13,544th out of the 15,343 finishers in the full marathon.

And doesn't seem so bad to finish amongst the women category. Just good enough to have completed, as everyone says!

My prize? Finisher's medal and the one and only finisher's t-shirt for full marathoners.
Better yet, personal massages that have helped my muscles recover in 2 days :)
it's all worth it, but unlikely a repeat attempt until I am crazy enough.

SCMS 2011 - Full marathon route guide

2011-11-17T09:50:00.001+11:00

Watch "The Official SCMS 2011 Full Marathon Route Video" on YouTube

Countdown - 17 days to Race Day =-="""

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Belated better than none

2011-09-24T02:26:00.001+10:00

Arrived late at 0815hrs, 15 mins before flag off for 5K fun run
Took off with the 5K runners, and embarked on my 10K route - 30mins later than scheduled race
Road was clearly more empty; such easy pace instead of avoiding a stampede. I wasn't the only black sheep as there were a handful of other latecomers, and some public running the route
I asked the army boys at waterpoint if i could deposit my shoebag somewhere, as i didn't see any dropoff points at the starting line; i carried the bag throughout the 10K
Plenty of dodging after detouring around CBD and rejoined the 5K route nearing MBS, as the "fun" runners strolled with family and friends, taking photos in the middle of the road =-=
Past MBS entrance for my first time, as I onlooked some runners entering the airconditioned building ! Temptation number 1 to cut short my race
Then onto Helix bridge for yet another first time, went uphill slightly and the sun is now out at full force and still, trying to avoid the crowd through dodging and taking the "right" lane
Past The Flyer, Esplanade, City Hall, towards Fort Canning; finally leaving the 5K route behind but things get more lonely from here on
I took more breaks and walks, while still fighting off temptations to cut short the run whenever I passed areas with bus stops and nearing the MRT stations such as Dhoby Ghaut and Clarke Quay
For unusual reasons, I found the messy drumming cheerleaders at a certain bus stop near Clarke Quay quite encouraging despite their unsynchronized beats; encouragements do go a long way huh
The last lap always seem neverending as you hear the emcee and partying music not so far away now; I wasn't dying since taking it slow and steady has its rewards, but anticipation is not so obedient sometimes
Finally, the turn past Parliament House and the grand finale along Padang sees the Finishing Line
Oh yes, just to mark the formality of a proven completion - collecting the Finisher's medal from the army boys on duty
Then to free 100plus hydration, and enjoying the complimentary massage - like meat to be massaged during marination before a BBQ - under the 'sauna' tentages
All in all, a good race despite the lateness and week-long trainings

Hooray !

Countdown

2011-08-04T02:30:00.003+10:00

count·down [kount-doun]
noun
1.
the backward counting in fixed time units from the initiation of a project, as a rocket launching, with the moment of firing designated as zero.
2.
the final preparations made during this period.
3.
a period of increasing activity, tension, or anxiety, as before a deadline.

(source: Dictionary.com)

People count when they are up; people count when they are down;

people count the extremes.

I have 31 days to run 10km. Properly.

And the training clock is not yet counting

Ring at night

2011-07-06T02:42:00.004+10:00

1st night run within the estate in years; twas a air-crisp, breezy motivation. Maybe the short hair helped too.

1st lap round Woodlands Ring Road in 12mins, and 3 quarts of the 2nd lap completed in 7mins; think went too fast and ran out of breath; not that it was scarily dark or anything.

Runtastic activity report was disrupted in just the first few minutes; I attribute it to the low batt prompts from the phone causing the recording to pause. Anyway, app still to be tested out on its full utility and usefulness.

SCMS 2011: Run for a reason

2011-06-30T01:48:00.005+10:00

I had the initial plan of trying to dig the kiasuism out of me to qualify as the 1st 100 to sign up, with the promise of $800 worth of premium goodies bag, on event launch day on 23rd June.

But the Singapore spirit is too strong to be beaten, with the 1st 2 pax at location some 20 hours before official launch at 11am; yes, that's a day before, not merely a nightover. It was reported on FB (thanks to my SCMS supporter who kept me updated, since I still have no FB) that the 1st 100 had arrived and positioned by about 7pm. With that, I forego the thought to even qualify for the next 900 to receive $400 worth of premium goodies bag; as you would expect a stack of expiring, and some impractical, vouchers to be within.

For the first time at the SCMS, we are introducing an option whereby runners can raise funds for their preferred charities through GIVE.sg, the Official Charity Platform for the SCMS 2011.

While initially thinking that the run can be dedicated to charities at no obligations (though after thoughts of it having no realistic outcomes), to discovering some funny, some interestingly named local charities, and eventually wondering how many friends would chip in for my maiden attempt in the full marathon for a good cause; it made me realize that it might be a win-win situation for the charity of choice, and for the runner to be motivated on top of personal goal(s).

So if you are keen to chip in to any charity of choice, do drop me a message and we will see how to go from there.

Singapore Bay Run (SAFRA 10km Race)

2011-06-19T01:06:00.003+10:00

Participants will get to enjoy a unique route taking them over the new downtown around the Marina Bay area as well as pass historical places. Participants will also be entertained by the street side performances along the various running routes.

Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011
Venue: Flag-off at Esplanade Bridge

Time: 7.45am

Step Two

2011-06-12T19:27:00.007+10:00

14 mins + 7 mins

For some reason, the GPS signal did not capture the entire route, which is the mere opposite sides of the same road; first time use of the Runtastic app.

Followed by a walk for recovery, before 5 mins exploration of the PCN in the vicinity.

It is with hope that I will progressively venture further out in the months to come.

Eventually.

Step Out

2011-05-30T19:11:00.004+10:00

7 minutes was how long my lungs could take me in each of the 3 segments of the jog, which didn't happen in months.

Would I find the door after this downtime, or would it be too late?

the eleventh hour

2011-01-16T01:19:00.005+11:00

Without much planning, i've been briefly involved in the training of the KR girls' 2011 IHG campaign. It started as my first comeback training after the month break. That was when the left ankle took a twist and has since not fully recovered.

Looking back now, it has been almost a month; spending Christmas with Chevronites, New Year with QPS, and the big 3 with close friends.

It seems an eventful month, but things don't flash by; everyday crawls and there is only so much I am doing. It's not a fantastic feeling until your senses tell you that love is all around. Suppose placing self in the center may be an enlargement out of proportions; 人不为己，天诛地灭

As the IHG battles go on yearly, it never fails to amaze our current minds that we are still active in handball instead of other sports. Whilst the pioneers and elders build and strengthen, it appears that the young chargers are struggling to match up. Yet, we cannot possibly put ourselves in our shoes 10 years ago when we were them, for no one would be able to correctly make fair comparisons. I yearn to find videos from that era.

Although we should not compare performances, we still can, however, compare intensity and amount of passion. That should sum up why we are what we are, and that sets us different - at least until today.

Back to basics

2010-10-16T01:35:00.002+11:00

Footwork; foot and work - neither belonged with mi

Dodging - a thing of the past

Why am i still doing this all over again?

Remind mi that pain keeps mi alive; passion does not

Resurrected

2010-10-03T14:35:00.002+11:00

You wouldn't know how being alive feels like if you've not tasted the brink of losing it. And even though it may be painful, that reminds you reality still exists; life is a gift

I feel heavy, slow, numbed; signs of aging or loss of determination?

Yet there is an urgency striving to break free of these, uncertain of its purpose.

We'll likely see in time to come, where each step of the way will lead onto.

In the meantime, take it as it comes and the ship will find its harbour.

Somehow

Sunset runs

2010-09-20T00:46:00.002+10:00

10th Sept, 1909hrs

Breezy
14th Sept, 1747hrs

Stormy clouds

Wrong shoes

Surry Hills on bike

2010-08-01T17:27:00.039+10:00

Glorious winter Sunday; it felt like Spring

There are a few places on my list of places in Sydney to bike to/thru;

one of them is the suburb of Surry Hills, which is just a few zones away from where I live.

Love the Architecture

Love the Bike

Love the (reconstructed) Cycleway

I'd cycled along Bourke St and Crown St before today, and being a (smart and lazy) cyclist, it is important to know Crown St is downhill towards city and the parallel Bourke St is downhill towards my home!

But look how people still jaywalk across the cycleway as if they are pedestrian walkways despite the new coat of paint on the lanes.

Love the Dog

Love the Extraordinary

Love the Fun

(together we stand horizontally - under the sun)

(the pedestrians - who were waiting to cross Oxford St - love Bikey)

Love God

SCMS Full Marathon Race Pen selection

2010-07-21T17:28:00.000+10:00

SCMS Full Marathon Race Pens selection

Dear SCMS 2010 Full Marathon Runner,

As part of our endeavour to provide a world class running experience for all Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) 2010 runners, we will be implementing segregated Race Pens for the full marathon category.

The use of Race Pens is a norm by most world class marathons. By having segregated Race Pens, the SCMS 2010 Organising Committee will be able to avoid congestions and ensure a safe and smooth running race for everyone. Race Bibs (and the corresponding colors for the respective Race Pens) will be issued to all full marathon runners based on their estimated completion timing for the SCMS 2010.

If you have previously participated in a full marathon, please use the latest timing you have to assist you with choosing the completion timing for the SCMS 2010 full marathon.

If you have not run in any full marathons (42.195km), but have taken part in half marathon (21.1km) or in the 10km category, please use the latest timing that you have in the following manner, when selecting the estimated timing for your completion for the SCMS 2010 full marathon:

• Completed timing for half marathon x 2 = Estimated timing for completion of full marathon
• Completed timing for 10km x 4 = Estimated timing for completion of full marathon

Estimated Timing for Completion of SCMS 2010 Full Marathon

These are the available timing options for the completion of your full marathon.
3 – 4 hours
4 – 5 hours
5 – 6 hours
6 – 7 hours
7 – 8 hours
8 hours & above
Click here to submit your Race Pen timing.

Please note that for participants who did not indicate their estimated completion timing to the SCMS 2010 Organising Committee by Friday, 20 August 2010 will be placed in the Open Race Pens with corresponding Race Bibs.

By foot

2010-07-18T17:21:00.015+10:00

Destination: Moore Park

10am - 2 pieces of toast

1015 - warmup

1025 - run starts, with backpack containing wallet, water, mat, sunblock, pullover and book

1031 - retched by a tree

1035 - run stops; walk begins. pullover on

1115 - arrived at destination, scaled little molehill, laid on the grass and basked under the sun

1345 - leaves for walk to Surry Hills - time to look for food; parting gift was a sky-dropped golf ball. I'm lucky i wasn't hit in the head

1500 - lunch sighted on Oxford St

1530 - walk continues toward city - groceries shopping

1700 - bus home

Notes:

give at least 30mins food (if any) digestion time before run
next photowalk/bike - Surry Hills thoroughly
will definitely attempt to complete a run on this route again

le Tour de France

2010-07-03T22:56:00.002+10:00

Go! Team Radioshack

Specially featuring the 1st Chinese professional rider on the ProTour team: Li Fuyu

Inaugural Breakers Handball Invitational

2010-07-03T08:08:00.002+10:00

This is yet another step forward, toward, onward; kudos ladies.

Reading these, coupled with the potential resurrection of Chevron, really makes mi yearn to play after such a long break away from handball. Looking forward to being back, and part of the action again. It's been a whole 10 years since Day 1; i still want handball to be a part of my life, no doubt.

i wanna play!!!!!

Revamp in progress

2010-06-28T22:40:00.000+10:00

WATCH THIS SPACE

Maroubra, Mascot through Pagewood & Botany

2010-06-27T22:15:00.014+10:00

1000 hrs

4k from home to Maroubra Junction for Yum Cha

1230 hrs

1.5k to Maroubra beach for reading; wanted some sun but got wind chills instead with the clouds totally shielding the rays

1345 hrs

12k to Mascot;

all for trying to find a road that cuts thru - hating golf courses now;
and for avoiding Wentworth Ave (the big red X) - lest i become roadkill

1530 hrs

home

Quite surprised that i can still climb the slopes without too much difficulties;

the weather might have played its role in keeping my breathing well.

Loving every bit of what i have come to own

Add onto bikey's mileage, and discoveries of Sydney.. he'll be sold off soon

That should burn all i ate for the day

p/s: red circles symbolize pit stops; 3 pink circles symbolize dead ends met.

and yea, many little parks here and its nice really

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) 2010

2010-05-26T22:40:00.003+10:00

Full marathon runners will be in for a treat as they will be able to run down Orchard Road with the Christmas light-up in full operation after the flag-off near Ngee Ann City. Runners will be taken past iconic landmarks such as the colourful Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts building, followed by bustling Chinatown and the grand Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

A week of bat and racket

2010-05-15T02:38:00.001+10:00

Suppose having a Chinese compatriot will have some form of socializing and that started off as recreational pingpong on the Wednesday.

Due to long hard hours at work with one colleague away from office, I was grossly late for more than an hour, and ended up fooling around for only less than an hour. I forgot most of the skills i picked up when I was in Primary 5 - most notably the ability to screw the ball. The smacking didn't seem to have lost much punch though; the accuracy of course was not as good as it should be.

The round-robin competition was set up to introduce some form of ranking and handicap system in place; since i wasn't a participant (because i was late), i cannot share more on my games.

*

The week has been real nice sunny yet cool, so we decided to ride on the healthy lifestyle wave and organized an outdoor tennis session for 4 this morning. Finally, i thought i can put my racket to use after having brought it with mi more than a year ago to Sydney; alas, i actually forgot to bring the racket out with mi. Duh. Thankfully, we still have 2 rackets and about half a dozen balls to rotate around. We had the court for free usage and glad it wasn't a crowded morning so we hogged it for slightly more than an hour. All 4 players were also glad we only had 2 rackets so the other 2 can take turns to rest while being ball-pickers at the same time; if all 4 played, we would probably just be waiting around for a good serve or cross-court retrieve, or scrambling around to pick up wild shots.

The last 15 mins of the session concluded with group shots, pair shots, etc then escalated to silly fun actions that shall not be publicized here. Do hope this goes on more regularly despite the approaching winter - we just don't want the rain is all.

Laboured

2010-05-01T22:18:00.004+10:00

2km sub 15 mins

12x 15kg pull down front & back

12x 15kg leg extensions

12 x 15kg chest press

12 x 15kg pectoral fly/rear deltoid

20x crunches on inclined bench

12x 15kg pull down front & back

1km sub 7 mins

10x pushups

Riddance better be good

2010-04-11T16:10:00.001+10:00

1.44km in 11mins

2 sets x 12:

15kg leg extensions

15kg chest press

15kg pectoral fly/rear deltoid

crunches

shall attempt to do pushups and crunches at home everyday...
all in the bid to rid of that growing tummy!

Burn away

2010-04-05T21:45:00.002+10:00

The amount of calories put on the past Easter weekend was tremendous; from Yum Cha to fresh seafood, coffee to alcohol, homecooked food to restaurant meals... Wows.

Good thing i made myself jog twice within 4 days; i have to keep this up as the temps dip with the Southerly trough blowing into NSW. And before i know it, it'd be Winter and i'd be craving for spicy soups and lotsa comfort foods.

Stationary bike 11 mins 3 km

Treadmill sub 10 mins 1.2 km (i blame all the alcohol intake)

20x 15kg chest press

20x 15kg pectoral fly/rear deltoid

20x 15kg leg extensions

(the lat pulls cable broke so is out of use)

20x crunches

20x pushups

Consistency

2010-04-02T22:30:00.001+11:00

2km jog sub 15 mins

10x (20kg) leg curls

10x (10kg) leg curls

10x (20kg) pull down back

10x (10kg) pull down back

20x crunches

10x (20kg) pull down front

10x (10kg) pull down front

The plans fell

2010-03-09T22:51:00.002+11:00

Was planned to cycle to work and a short run after work today

But the aircon comfort of the car got the better VS the sunny warm weather; and i thought Tuesdays were the low-fuel-price day (heard this has changed to Thursdays now); besides, i was running a bit late to work already

The gym session turned to a perspiring 45mins in the sauna instead; maybe it was because i wanted to have an easier way to get rid of my fats - without having to work harder for it, or maybe because i was just hormonally tired

till tomorrow, perhaps

Returning

2010-03-06T11:23:00.006+11:00

I'd have lost track how long my break from exercise has been if not for this.
Strictly speaking, i guess it's been 3 months since the last entry when I had a casual handball session of some bit of running. But to be really accurate, 7 months seemed more appropriate here for my state of mind

I know I have to get started, and doing something - however small and trivial is better than nothing at all. Finally, i'm doing it now. Was I surprised that I still could do a decent run without panting badly for breath nor pulling calf cramps

I intend to do a full marathon this year, as another milestone in my life.

*
Biked 5 mins to colleague's Apt gym

Treadmill
2.4km
sub 22mins

x20 mini crunches on the 45deg inclined bench nearly killed my back

Biked 5 mins home

Hiatus

2009-10-25T16:02:00.003+11:00

this might have been the longest break from handball?
the longest period i might have ever had without exercise?
certainly not the best that i've felt since i can remember

to be exact, it's been more than 6 months since the last time i've picked up the ball,
more than 3 months since i've perspired,
and can conclude everything that was normal in my life have not been happening
thus the void of anything else going on right now

the muscle aches remind mi that i haven't used them muscles for a long time
the humidity reminds mi that it isn't so bad afterall
then i wonder just why we never seem to get used to it

the break, the gap, the missing part
will it come back?

Time for excuses

2009-10-08T18:44:00.002+11:00

Days and nights had been
winter cold, then springy sunny hot, lazy, stormy, dusty, rainy and hibernating, windy and cold

thus i've never made it out for a jog. in months

on some days, i feel flabby and fat
on good days, i eat well in moderation
on this day, i feel light

i still look forward to the day when i will train for marathons again
when the time comes

SHBCC Women's finals award ceremony

2009-08-26T01:08:00.004+10:00

never-change-in-10-years award : weilin

better defence team : NUS

passive play award : THAS

deterioration award : laoshi

underperformer award : Marie

keeper award : fish

maturity award : ail

miss of the match : THAS left wings

surprise of the match : grace

good job award : siew mai

truckie of the year : shin

shoes of the match : luan

domination award : TH

1-shot award : tittania

quite upset award : mi

don't think i saw any crosses, wonders where all the trainings went - down the drain?

i'll be back

2009-07-30T23:24:00.002+10:00

I wanna start running and regime again.

sadly, needs to start over; wonders if i lost much stamina and strength

2 weeks laterz

A new town

2009-07-12T21:27:00.010+10:00

Time start: 1130hrs

Bikey goes to Newtown again, but this time in bright daylight - well, there was the slight drizzle and very cloudy skies initially but God decided to give mi perfect weather for the rest of the day! Hallelujah

Took the usual route from home to Newtown via Huntley St/Sydney Park Rd/Princes Highway leading to King St. Had brunch at Chill Cafe, where it was cosily chilled enough as i sat by the small doorway - streamless flow of customers were going in and out despite the little space it offers. Food and coffee were not too bad.

Wanted to get a haircut, and thus stopped at this cafe coz situated opposite is Freaky Style; thought i could get my first haircut done by a non-Asian. Alas, it was a Men only salon. Boo.

I didn't find another hair salon for the day, but was happy to just walk the bike, and stopping occasionally for photoshoots; there are simply too many things, people and circumstances that make Newtown a lively place.

While on foot, i discovered a mini cafe tucked away behind the main street buzz; the smiling Mona Lisa (with eyebrows no less) painted wall is the landmark i will use in future to locate this cosy little place, although i didn't stop in as was already having my dose of Boost in hand.

It was also via this little corner at the traffic intersection where i incidentally discovered the suburb of Erkinesville; saw many cyclists heading down this street and decided i shall also explore since i had time to spare.

To my utmost delight and marvel - the ride was downhill, requiring little pedalling work through the sunny winter cool, while just letting gravity take bikey and i down the road; seemingly the best way i've found thus far taking in the many sights and (occasional) sounds of the world, of life. On this day, it was absolutely amazing. Perfect, if i could say so.

A rugby game was going on at the oval, the small crowds of families cheering on both teams;

a couple walking their golden retriever, which just got a fur-cut, hyperactively shaking the loose fur while the owner attempts to keep it still to brush off;

i sat at the bus stop bench, alone;

just breathing in the peaceful freshness, awesome beauty, all of simplicity.

All was good

The discovery led mi onto Mitchell Rd and this was a familiar street name. From there, getting to church at Waterloo was almost a linear distance away; McEvoy St did present an uphill steep slope which i'd failed to climb on bikey's first trip out - the challenge presented itself and i took it down! no stops, no pushing bike, not even using first gear. It is fantastic when you overcome your fears, and see sweet success

Total apprx mileage to & fro: 20 km

Time home: 1945hrs

perhaps due to long breaks in between, perhaps due to good weather and easy routes;

fatigue wasn't a factor or outcome at all.

how often do you get that

Be her weapon

2009-07-11T16:37:00.001+10:00

Handball journey in a nutshell - updated

2009-07-09T19:59:00.002+10:00

Now updated with some photos within accessible web file archives; more when i have time..

Maybe there will be Part Deux? we'll see

Tour de France 2009

2009-07-09T01:56:00.003+10:00

(click on map for video visualization of the route)

~~Running~~ Cycling from Saturday July 4th to Sunday July 26th 2009, the 96th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

10 flat stages
7 mountain stages
3 summit finishes
1 medium mountain stage
2 individual time-trial stages
1 team time-trial stage
2 journées de repos

Leaders’ jerseys and other classifications

Yellow Jersey for the general time classification
Green Jersey for the points classification
White and Red Polka-Dotted jersey for the best climber classification
White Jersey for the best young rider classification, for riders no more than 25 years old in the year of the race
Team time classification
Most aggressive rider classification

Prize money

A total of 3.2 million euros for the teams and the riders, including 450,000 euros for the winner of the overall general classification.

Read Race Preview 2009 on everything else u need to know abt the Tour classified and listed

i've only managed to catch Stage 4 on tv yesterday, but it must be one of the most spectacular and tactically-obvious stages - the team timetrial; lest to say, the remaining of the tour will draw even more attention to Lance Armstrong (he is the main reason i'm watching this) now that he's in a close position for the yellow jersey after a 3.5 years absence.

LIVESTRONG!

Bodypump

2009-07-06T21:53:00.006+10:00

Monday
1830hrs - 1915hrs
EG gym with the gym "buddies"

*

Following the Les Mills series of classes in the gym, BodyBalance, BodyCombat and now BodyPump as recommended by the gym buddies; i am convinced that i will get leaner and toner if this keeps up - even for just once a week, perhaps.

By staying conservatively on the safe side of things - avoiding bad body aches on work trip tomorrow, i only had max 2.25kg on each side of the bar :D

Upper limbs wise, i think that was good comfortable toning for mi;
the abdominals and butt muscles proved to be the most painful for mi; though the burning lactic acid of the biceps femoris and gluteus that swelled all the way up till the tip of the spine was sadistically satisfying, with the jelly sensations lasting temporarily as i float across the gym floor.

Later in the changing room, the 3 of us discussed how to achieve best results with squating in the right posture in working the right muscle group(s). We concluded i have pronounced biceps femoris. heh

Devotion

2009-07-06T05:04:00.003+10:00

Once in a while,
we get distracted from the main thing;
esp when time goes by quickly,
and we lose sight/track of the goal.

i haven't played ball for 3 months now,
but i don't itch to play;
if i were in a different place and time,
perhaps i will still be addicted.

i'd wanted to redesign this blog,
since it doesnt reflect much abt handball anymore;
maybe i should just wait a little while longer,
you'd never know for sure what's in the box of chocolates yet

Combatants

2009-06-30T20:43:00.007+10:00

The 90 million Lotto draw had everyone bought a chance at achieving their dreams; i didn't contribute to the pool of money that was expected to burst 100 million.

*

My only aim was to attend BodyCombat class at EG gym, after a toiling week in Wagga land; to release all stresses and fatigue, hopefully.

Compared to the first session of the Winter season, where there were more than 20, in which i had also attended; this one only had a total of 7 turned up, including 3 of us - the 2 mummies and i were secretly informed by the qualified personal trainer that if the turnout remains this cold, the class will be removed. Boo

Anyway, the session itself was so fast-paced this week; instructor see us very up, and introduced mostly 4 to 8 counts in one move (instead of the slow progressive 2 to 4 and minimal 8 counts moves). We could do quite well with most moves, but we look and feel uncoordinated with some moves. I feel like my punches lacked power, and my favourite kick-move wasn't in this week's program too.

*

i wondered if i can still shoot the handball as well

Toning

2009-06-22T21:48:00.006+10:00

Monday
1905hrs - 2045hrs
home to gym on bike in 5 mins [PB!]

*

Objective: shoulder & arms exercises, as per YW's program

5 sets x 20 of the following, usually with 1min recovery in between sets

shoulder press [10kg min] - the struggle seems better managed than the last time; max 17 consecutive reps
bicep concentration on the Preacher's Curl [10kg min] - still quite a struggle with 10 consecutive reps but completed nonetheless

(out of the program) i gave some recovery time for the arms, and did 1 set x15 for thighs, and calves
45 deg leg press [20kg per leg] - don't know which donkey placed 3x 20kg free-weights onto the machine and i had to unload them before i could start, ending up having to exert my arm muscles instead of recovering them. tsk
dips using horizontal bench [bodyweight] - better than expected, but feel strain on wrists; probably gotta correct use of muscle group
lateral raise with dumbells on each arm [1st set with 5kg, 4 sets with 2kg] - 2kg may seem really lightweight at first, but after 50 reps, the effects can be felt; i only want toned muscles
triceps extension with dumbell held by both arms [3kg] - easy peasy
front raise with dumbells alternate arms [2kg each] - i can feel the dangling muscles tightening!
bicep curl (standing) with dumbells alternate arms [2kg each] - pump it

(out of the program) for the abs!

*

gym to home on bike in 8mins;
if it were more than 15mins at the speed i was riding, my fingers would have grown numbed with the cold coz i'd forgotten my hoodie!

would be another week before i get to possibly hit the gym again; end of the month is always busy, but end of the financial year makes it worse!

Pumped

2009-06-21T15:43:00.005+10:00

Original plan:
Bike to church for 11am service, then gym before 1pm

Amended plan:
As service ended half past noon (I thought it was an hour service), I had brunch at Danks St Depot – not without a pit-stop at the Depot Gallery where I was introduced to the paintings of Chris Antico at the Promethean Days free exhibition thru the very approachable & graceful lady Marlene (Antico).

The afternoon was further made interesting with the encounter with the barista at Danks St Depot as I had my brunch over the bar counter. First I was busy making notes of the quick 20mins gallery visit, when he (I dunno his name) kept trying to get my attention even after I’d placed the order. Then when I was done with my note-taking, and the short while whilst waiting for the food to arrive, I was trying to sight him and continue our conversations on triathlons, swimming, bikes, church, Singapore etc amidst his coffee-making, serving coffee, etc.

The bigger plan:
At 2pm, as it evolved, with the skies turning grey as forecasted with chance of thunderstorm - 40% chance of precipitation, I changed my mind halfway enroute to Kensington bike shop for bikey’s (6-months) servicing; but it wasn’t the gloomy skies that turned mi away from my intended destination more than it was the nice drizzle that wasn’t cold with high winds, which caused mi to detour around East Lakes estate – reaching a dead end. Just as well as I wasn’t planning on going anywhere far today.

30 minutes later, I’m cruising at less than 10kph along the quiet and wide Birmingham St where I tilt my head up towards the skies and I can see the individual drizzling raindrops gently fall onto my face; that was a moment, as if the road was mine.

Since bikey didn’t get serviced, I thought a water-wash was befitting for the numerous rainy and stormy times he’s been through with mi on our trips. And there he is, re-pumped and spanking clean as new. Another 30 minutes after i reach home, the skies opened and rain poured. Look how God's plan is always the greater plan than what i think, i can't be more thankful to be blessed.

NSW handball competition fixtures

2009-06-16T17:53:00.002+10:00

Fry Day

2009-06-12T22:29:00.003+10:00

Friday
30mins walk from office

*

1850hrs to 1950hrs:

1.5k in 9mins 45s, till blanked out
2 sets x 20 crunches while reading papers
5k stationary cycle in 15 relaxing mins [min Level 5, max Level 10]
5 sets x seated row [2 sets 15kg, 3 sets 10kg]
5 sets x lateral (front) pulldown [1 set 25kg, 4 sets 20kg]

15mins walk home
not hungry but feel like puking

Albury women's handball tournament

2009-06-03T21:21:00.002+10:00

24-26th July

Hi All

Keep this weekend free. We are playing a handball tournament in Albury against teams from Melbourne. We are hoping to form 2 Sydney teams were mixed between SU, UTS and Harbouside.

This weekend is organised by players for players so the cost will be kept low. We will be driving down and staying in a caravan park in cabins and have a lot of fun. More info will follow.

Update (15th June):

Handball weekend coming up in Albury-Wodonga!!

The Border Challenge is a mainly Player Organised event that has been running for about 2-3 years now. Teams from Sydney, Melbourne and sometimes South Australia (or further...) get together and play a club championship of sorts. There are so few opportunities to play different teams so this is an exciting weekend.

It is also quite social and fun, with a chance to get to know better, our very small handball community off the courts...

ALBURY-WODONGA '09
Games will start on Friday the 24th July and finish on Sunday afternoon the 26th of
July so that everybody can make the long drive home.
Player entry fee is a non refundable $60, and needs to be collected ASAP. There will be lots of Games on the Fri, Sat and Sunday so well worth the money...
Teams need to be finalised and payed up by the end of June, to allow us to make up the schedule and organise the court hire.
Accommodation is organised by each individual coach. We generally stay in cabins at the nearby Caravan Park to make accommodation as affordable as possible for all our payers.
We all(NSW, VIC and SA) usually try and stay in the same place to make it as much of a social weekend as a Handball weekend.
In the past lots of Parents, partners and
friends have also been part of the experience, and we hope that this will continue
Dinners are usually all together at a local eatery and drinkery close by.

I really hope to see a strong Sydney team there this year as you have so many great players, I know would also give Melbourne teams a run for their Money!!

*

i'm still deciding... would be fun to drive up for the weekend to look.. but would it be a case of itching to play? i haven't trained in months now. we'll see

BodyCombat freak-out!

2009-06-02T21:58:00.007+10:00

Tuesday
1830 - 1930hrs
Eastgardens gym

*

BODYCOMBAT™ is the empowering cardio workout where you are totally unleashed. This fiercely energetic program is inspired by martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, boxing, Taekwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai. Supported by driving music and powerful role model instructors strike, punch, kick and kata your way through calories to superior cardio fitness.

It is addictive but don’t overdo it. For best results try and battle it out two or three times a week.

It is for everyone with moderate fitness levels and because the moves are simple you do not need to be especially well coordinated.

It is a non-contact fitness program, not a self-defence course. However fitness is beneficial in any situation.

*

My favourite move is the flying kick with one knee up and alternate foot in air, followed closely second is the frontal 2 steps punches, then dodging backwards on toes. Powerful! if i do this more often, i might really know how to kick an unarmed offender/attacker. So i hope the winter classes will include this program!

I also realized that i'm kinda built for rhythmic cardio workouts, now that my endurance is slightly improved after the marathon trainings, with good breathing techniques. Now, i just need to keep that up, and work on weights for some strength.

FIGHT! and the combo hits earn you bonus points and draws the blood of your opponents all at once :D

hail the rainbows & the whales!

2009-05-30T22:31:00.012+10:00

[L to R: Bikey @Cronulla,
@Cape Solander lookout (1st rainbow sighted upon arrival),

and up the 2.7km trail to 40m above sea level to get to Cape Solander]

Saturday 0900hrs,
the blessed bikey...

began the rainy Mascot morning to go down South to Cronulla on a train to find sun was shining kindly though windy - perfect for surfing the high waves,
followed the plan to Botany Bay NP (Kurnell) - Cape Solander in a bid to catch some whales in migration just past noon,
sadly sighted nothing of the big whale action (only a small blowhole from one whale some 2kilometres out; don't look no different from a small foamy wave if you don't have a pair of binoculars) after 3 hours of plain staring into the Tasman Sea, but there were sightings of rainbow followed by double rainbows, a full rainbow in the sea, then different rainbow "other than arch" types... until rainbows seemed so common in this weather i stopped taking pics of them all,

[Topdown: my finger pointing at end tip of rainbow in the sea,

the small Cape Solander lookout shelter,
my last ditch efforts in braving the cold - all for my first whale sighting!]

before heading back out in the rain showers (which fell intermittently every 30mins or so) just before the sun sets, i extended our intended departure time by 15mins; as the dark clouds cleared, hoping the happy whales will breach in front of mi right at the edge of the cliff
seeing the first hail stones in life at Kingsway (Caringbah, NSW), while taking shelter from the sudden thunderstorm, outside someone's front porch - unbearably cold and partially drenched (that's mi rescued by poncho for 20mins; bikey fully soaked till the brakes and seat kept shifting on their own under contraction movements every 20mins or so)

and finally coming home in a taxi, 15mins after pressing the doorbell at the front porch where hail fell, to ask for the street address

A summarized adventure with the limited (due limiting camera battery level and rain/moisture in wind conditions) pics, but thoroughly enjoyable trip despite the cold; now, we are both quite worn out with consecutive 2 days of full body workout, as well as some facial cold burns sustained.

Till next weekend! unless it's a thunderstorm, we will be out on the roads for more adventures, fun & play; gotta send bikey for servicing before the big trip

against all odds

2009-05-30T00:19:00.005+10:00

Friday with cold drizzle
1845hrs - 2000hrs

Objective: post-marathon 2.4km timing, and weights training

*

Met Andrew and Yahwen at the gym, was surprised to see them there at such a "late" hour. Was good timing, since i was planning to do some weights and was hoping to get opinions from the duty personal trainer in an almost vacant gym; in the end, i followed Yahwen on her Upper body exercises which Andrew planned for her post-maternity labour body toning.

I warmed up with a 2K run sub 13mins, she did cycling before we started the weights. I was hoping to do 2.4 but was running so fast that the legs were tired, and felt hungry.
Thereafter, the training plan starts with 15 mins self-paced rowing, an hour left to gym closing time. Lesiure rowing did 2km in that timing, while chatting with neighbouring Yahwen. Read the correct coordinated posture and best benefits compared to other full body exercises here.

To my horror, the training plan consists 5 sets of 20 reps (this is considered as a high count since the most i usually do is 12 - and usually max of 3 sets). But it was good and unsurprising to know i still had some parts of my muscles in place to lift properly. Basically, each set can be completed with a 1-2 minutes break interval, some stretching or simply slowing down the reps completion with support of a training partner.

Deltoids & shoulder machine - worst of my upper body muscle groups;
10kg was the minimum bar, struggle to complete 40. we both got discount and did only 50 instead of 100. And support was good on the last set as the muscles began to tremble.

Cable row - right muscles groups is around the shoulder blade at the tug-pull;
comfortable 3 sets at 15kg, and 2 sets at 20kg.

Lateral pull downs - front only, and lower to nose level;
20kg easily

Arms (share one) dumbbell raise - i know my left arm cannot make it, maybe one day i can do 2 dumbbells;
5kg is an improvement of my previous 3kg PB.

i owe 100 pushups to do at home due to time constraint (gym closing)

next up, exercises for abdominals and lower body for a full plan. I wanna be lean!

if weather permits

2009-05-29T15:34:00.006+10:00

Destination: Botany Bay National Park (Cape Solander) & perhaps Cronulla

Estimated mileage: 30km (single direction)

Expedition objectives:

Exercise (sort of)
Photoshoot along the way
Practice for longer expedition for next weekend
humpback whales migration sighting (without binoculars), perhaps

Pray for good weather tomorrow

Another direction perhaps

2009-05-27T21:05:00.002+10:00

Since i should be saving up my money for the ski trip late Winter, i decided i shan't rent a car and driveaway alone for the long weekend; what fun would that be. Instead, i had this sudden recall of the bike expeditions i'd wanted to do back during Summer.

I'll take the train out early and far, then cycle back; when worse comes to worst, there is always the train or cab back. Need the maps, the bag packed, maintain the bike (since it hasn't been touched in weeks), perhaps add a few accessories, and research on some sights to see along the way.

To begin this, shall do a shorter version trial this weekend. God bless mi

Live results out

2009-05-19T13:49:00.003+10:00

i'm in 8338th placing of all (> 8500) runners,
placed 3029th amongst all female runners,
and 674th place amongst my category (F25-29 y.o.)

and ya, many REBECCAs out there.... maybe i was one of the only Asian REBECCA

my handball journey in a nutshell

2009-05-18T07:50:00.027+10:00

i was recently asked where do i derive my passion for handball from. i guess no one really posed this question in this manner to prompt a proper reply from mi. Besides, now that i'm overseas away from home, friends and Singapore handball, it triggered a lot of thoughts in my head - it's like i have the answers just at my fingertips, yet i can't pinpoint the exact reasons or motivation factors. Good thing i have this blog since 2005 - when the post-NUS handball days begun after my return from Brisbane post-graduation trip.

let the story begin

Year 2000
i stayed in Kent Ridge (KR) Hall, NUS since my freshman year and was roped into NUS IVP handball, thereby increasing my frequency of playing/training with seniors more than 2 times a week. Being an active/sporty hostelite, i was largely involved in the Inter Hall Games (IHG) for handball (and a few other ball games) and due to my potential, i was appointed hall Captain in my first year. But i was still an ungroomed piece of material on court, only bursting with some powered shots and pretty good elevation and that was about it; the trick to putting in goals was not yet mastered for my position as a (right side) backcourt. KR was second-place that year, defeated by the mighty Temasek Hall, and i couldn't forget how we should have won because almost our entire 1st line-up was IVP-seeded (of course we couldn't field all at one time based on the rules) and how the final year seniors frowned upon themselves having lost to a team of basketballers.

Things got better after more practice and game experiences, and the keen interest to pick up new skills in 2001. One thing i couldn't understand my seniors were the fixed ways they were playing; that was good for beginners like mi to pick up what they were doing, but i suppose that is also our main weakness. The good part, however, was we had many various talents with different strengths in the team and we were managed by 2 outstanding guys in the hall almost full-time. I respected them hugely because of their academic/sporting achievements, and the fact that they were good guys who were not egoistic in their pursuits with us, ladies. I wasn't in the team the second year, though, as i left hall that year. The team got 2nd place, again, this time losing to a determined and brightly-orange-spirited Sheares Hall (SH) to penalties after extra time; the colour has since been closely associated with them as they fared well in the games that year. I remember that game played since sunset and lasted till midnight. wows.

Despite having left hall that year, i was still training regularly in the tiny IVP team. Talents abound but commitment was rare. Sometime during that phase, an Australian guy named David Vial appeared in the Singapore handball scene. He was teaching here as an expat and had experience coaching girls, we were blessed to have him guide us for a short time. He taught us the very basics, and we were doing the fortune-cat passes endlessly every training and almost saw no endpoint in what he was doing with us. But soon, amongst the handful of us, we soon reaped what was sowed and was also introduced to more skill sets on an indoor court - such as a diving shot, how to land properly after a fall/jump etc. It was also at this time that he fixed mi as a right winger with my ability to do nice pretzel shots (also largely because we had not left handers in the team who could be a winger).

Year 2002
Our trainings had a bigger purpose now as we got the invite to a University Open in HK, organized by HKUST. Our team was still lean, and we didn't get any funding from NUS apart from free use of the court, the equipment (namely goal posts and balls), and provision of jerseys as we were still representing NUS afterall. We did small-scale canvassing to help with the trip expenses; it wasn't much but it helped in small ways. The team took less than 10 people in total for that trip, with no coach/manager as David couldn't take leave from teaching to join us. The trip was a success in bonding the core of the team, but an absolute failure on court as we ran out of substitutes/goalkeepers at one point in time due to injuries and lack of sideline management. We applied 1st-aid on our own, did our own video-ing of games and planned our own training times and programmes. My best friend and my PTL were the co-captains for the team, but they seemed to have the least say on court.

(NUS IVP team - short of PTL - at HKUST, 2002)

i remember i had "stage-fright" during the first game, and i couldn't do the basic of what i always did. i was overwhelmed with the actual playing an official game on an indoor court (since we've always trained on outdoor hard courts) with referees, seeing Chinese teams with players of at least 1.8m tall, and all that lot. it took mi the next game to realize i had done nothing effective in that game at all. But the trip was exceedingly fun as we planned shopping and stuff on non-game days and we stayed in bunk beds of 2 per room when we were housed in the post-grad hostel at HKUST. We returned to Singapore with the Best Spirited team award (for having fought hard on court despite gotten the last placing. i think some of the non-gigantic teams with coaches and plentiful subs were likely very afraid that we might win with such a small contingent) with a very bonded and motivated team of 5 (maybe 6, the rest fell out). This core team went on to mentor the subsequent IVP (and of course their individual halls) freshmen, where we picked out more and more talents each year.

(HKUST tournament banner, 2002)

The sustenance of commitment to IVP has always been difficult as there was no competition to look forward to. After HKUST, there wasn't any more overseas (because there is no other institution who plays handball in Singapore) competitions as NUS IVP Handball was on the brink of shutting down. David was leaving Singapore as his stint was up, plus he wasn't getting paid for training us twice a week; it took on a toll. Additionally, the core team was graduating. At that point, the future seemed very bleak just as it probably had been for the seniors before us.

(NUS IVP team, NUS Open 2004)

Meantime, i returned to KR end 2002, in time for IHG 2003 the following month (i remember how i might have ended up in EH if i wasn't as loyal to KR, prompting a remark from PTL abt Kentridgeans setting fire to her room. haha). Now, the skills have bloomed well and i have a team of well-versed juniors alongside (come to think of it, i am the sole survivor of my batch from KR) to fight the battles ahead. We were still blessed to have the great vision and management of our 2 guy coaches Godwin & Weilun all these years. This time round, it was Gold or nothing. We eventually did it, defeating arch rival TH narrowly but only after intense extra time. Tears of joy amongst the team, and all around the sidelines of the court were hundreds of spectators chanting hall cheers or exclaiming a narrowly-missed goal, or a great keeper save, or the occasional illegal foul by a player. It was a titan match, and KR won the gold medal which was lost since back in 1999. The blue sea formed the victorious tunnel for the team to celebrate the win; the tunnel was endlessly long, i remember being so tired and also injured in many places after the long game but the winning sensation kept adrenaline going for weeks and numbed any minor useless injury.

(mi in KR blue jersey #8, 2004)

The subsequent year (2004), we defended our gold medal successfully with almost the same 1st line-up. Again, TH lost. It was my final year, so the win was sweet to keep. KR handball turned into heritage and KR became known for great handball.

(Kent Ridge Hall IHG team, 2004 champions)

Year 2005

A team was formed in the name of THAS (aka the wannabe-Singapore team); THAS had existed for many years before that, under the leadership of a few guys -NUS alumni, and mostly had their fair share of handball (in the IHG/IVP way) that most of the current Singapore handball adults went thru. It seemed like the natural path to take after graduation for the alumnis to get together and just play a game and do some drills every week. However, those past didn't garner as much response since it wasn't as well-publicized or planned out in scale.

(Team THAS at Milo Carnival in KL, 2005)

The inaugural Singapore Handball Open (SHO) was held in conjunction with the F1 powerboat race at Marina South (currently the IR construction site) under a temporary tentage setup - the court laid with velvet-kind material, which was stapled on and masking-taped over with all sorts of colours as we ran out of rolls of tapes every now and then, ended up looking like rainbow coloured derailed railway tracks after 2 days. We also had the junior players acting as ballpickers for the guys' game day in the muddy grass field on a rainy weekend. The games were played over 2 days for the Men and Women teams from Taiwan PE College, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Malaysia K.L. club.

(THAS & KL club - SHO 2005)

Alas, the THAS team didn't last as long as any of its predecessors; commitment seemed like a big problem for most working adults with priorities in life ever changing and always above that of handball. Perhaps this explains the lack of plentiful handball couples across the Men & Ladies teams; maybe female handballers are just too fiercesome for guys.. don't know. Anyhow, the "adult" team kinda dispersed into thin air, and my focus was on looking for a job as well as simply training with the girls in NUS again, preparing them for their next competition in HKUST and Shanghai. This gave some glimmer of hope of imparting knowledge (and showing off at the same time) to this bunch of passionate people who craved for anything handball. Of course, funding was always the other big problem in Singapore apart from the lack of professional technical coaching.

Perhaps that's how things really go sometimes, it all turned out so much better 6 months later as the junior team matured and proved to be thirsty for much more. It was also at this point that the THAS team established the first Singapore Handball League (SHL) in 2006 and gathered all young and old handballers to have weekly games (under the hot sun) in the far-west NTU NIE grounds. Thinking back now, if not for this event that went on for the next 3 years, handball in Singapore would have stayed at its original place forever, if not just mysteriously died off. And even though the game venue was below standard, the league had the best of its moments with THAS - producing the first local recognized referees in my best friend and I, thereafter producing her first handful of disciples whom have gone on to be the best at what they do now. Despite the numerous complaints from teams and players on various issues of SHL, as part of the THAS official team, i must say the THAS Exco earned my salute for trying year after year with minimal funds and external help.

Inaugural SHL in 2006, the still-feeling-united team of KR alumni formed the Chevron club (we had a very long meeting and discussion that spanned across a night to get our name right. as they say in Chinese, 好的开始是成功的一半). It was a continuation of friendship in playing handball post-IHG, or our talents would just go down the drain like that. We remained as a force to be reckoned with, as the juniors all knew us and our strengths. And as the aging team (compared to the kids still in Uni) won game after game, fitness and speed proved to be our only weakness; no doubt, we would have been outstanding if training was a bigger part of our lives. Thus, we always came close to the finals but never did top the league table. Still, we derived happiness from long debriefs, post-training/game binging session and lots of other entertaining items; that's what friends do. In a strange sort of way, the team may have stopped playing together, embarking on different paths of their lives; some of us still yearn for the day we would all step onto the court and we would somehow turn on our special powers and do what we do best - thrash the ball and shout at one another as our means of communication. I guess the constant thrills and spills outweigh the occasional winning sensation. And yes, make the process way better than the outcome.

(Chevron Handball Club full team 2007)

Meantime, BFF and I somehow continued our close-knit relationship with the NUS girls. Perhaps as we remained as the senior-most players in the scene, we expected ourselves to do better as well. We are working, just like any other adults but effort is at another level altogether i suppose. We found true meaning in what we do, we envision a future in handball that we refuse to give up no matter how hopeless it seems, and we worked towards it regardless how long it has taken; on some days, we are also demoralized, angry and wonder why we are still hanging on. There is something about this sport, about the people we've come to know and train, learn from. It's been 9 years and we will go on; no one will know how long more

(Team NUS at National Taiwan University, 2008)

We have a new fast-rising generation today, a direct result of the impending YOG 2010. Things are happening so much so soon, i wonder if all is under control. Or will it spin out of everyone's hands and slip us by for another decade before we can recover. Don't get burnt out, don't forget why you love handball, don't leave your friends behind. Most importantly, contribute and return what handball gave you.

(Team NUS with Shawn before Taiwan trip, 2008)

thanks for reading this long and winding post; it took mi a week to write. i hope it inspires you, fellow handballer. and dear teammates of mine, i hope you remember why you are still playing and giving your time to handball. See you all when i see y'all.

p/s: ~~i'll try to find some pics along the years....~~ photos updated 8th July

It is finished

2009-05-17T18:30:00.013+10:00

0620hrs: got out of the house to the bus stop, freezing cold as the sun has not risen. Had my banana & redbull breakfast
0635hrs: either the 0618hrs bus left or never did, nor will turn up until 0648hrs; walked to the train station
0650hrs: arrive at train station, just in time for train to City
0700hrs: arrive at St James Stn, start warmup run; it was a clear beautiful morning, and thankfully not too windy
0705hrs: reach Start line, joined in the back half of the crowd and began stretching

0710 - 0720hrs: runners squeezed themselves into the spaces amongst the people who had been standing at their spots for the last 10mins or so.
0725 - 0730hrs: Runners start stripping off their extra tops (maybe i should do this next time instead of feeling cold for the first half of the morning) and throwing them to the side of the road

0730hrs: the race began, as noted the rate was slow as everyone had to pass the timing mats at the Start line and there was no big rush

the sun didn't get onto the route until after Pitt St section and that was only when i had my shades on; so i took 12mins to break the first drop of perspiration.

i did run up the Argyle St slope but to avoid shin splints, i walked for the next minute

0805hrs: i reach the 5km mark along Hickson Rd, Gatorade awaits and the paper cups get strewn by the sides of the road in a seeming orderly manner

Didn't get to do much rhythmic running throughout the flat roads from Kent St to Hickson Rd since there were just too many people all around who were "changing lanes" or cutting in from the sides. Nonetheless, there were mini-entertainment in the form of some people from Vision Personal Training dressed in red super-hero costumes (full mask and cape) amusing the crowd and encouraging all on at the same time.

After the short slope near Pancakes on the Rocks, i nearly sprained my left ankle after it got caught in a mini pothole by the kerbside; mostly because i wasn't looking at the road but instead at the opposite side of the road where the first runner (probably from Kenya) emerged on his second lap, followed by a few Caucasians 50m behind; the runners alongside mi were cheering them on

On this return leg to Prince Albert Rd, i noticed more onlookers on the streets; some were family members of the runners, some simply stopping in their tracks to wherever they were going (maybe also because they couldn't cross the roads). This was the stretch that you'd try not to walk coz it might be too embarassing; besides, people were cheering you on, the least you could do was jog a little. heh

0820hrs: i arrive at the Art Gallery/Mrs Macquarie Rd section; i'd forgotten where the main kilometre marks were exactly but saw the first of the timing mats (for the opposite direction at the 10km mark). The Kenyan runner has lapped us here, with the police motorcycle clearing the right lane in front of him.

I shouldn't be too far away now; 25mins for my next 3 km perhaps. But all i can do now is look forward to reaching Mrs Macquarie's Chair for my boost of energy. I was looking out for the fruity flavours of the GU energy gel but was given the choices of Vanilla Bean or Expresso Love; Vanilla Bean tasted like milk, and sticky like honey. This stretch is actually quite comfortable to run along, but there was no time for comfort to qualify for the next half of the race. After walking a little bit after the Drinks Station, i picked up again.

0835hrs: i cross the timing mat at 10km. just have to keep up now to cross 11km nicely

i think i crossed the timing mat Start line again at 72mins, since i wasn't told to stop. I totally slowed my pace down after that to avoid exertion on my legs, just in case something happens and i cannot finish the race. I wouldnt want my first race to go to waste. Hence i didn't keep a close tab on time on the second lap, although i know i was beginning to fall back to the bottom percentile of the run as more runners overtake mi.

I took time to look at the sights and regulate my pace, using the knees, thighs and calves separately; i realized i didn't have to make long strides much and wondered for a split moment if that meant more exhaustion or better pacing. At one time though, i hated my NB shoes for it weighed so heavily. I kept thinking in my head that my physical pain was nothing compared to what cancer patients are going thru, and that kept mi going on and on

By the time i crossed 15km, the same road that was packed with humans is now clear. The mobile paramedic had to slow down and check if every one of us were doing ok. Hah. I was jogging so comfortably slow that i had time to pose a fingered-V to one of the cameramen along the way. It was also during this period of time when i was so slow that i discovered a layer of particles on my face; i think it was salt - evaporated from my perspiration. i'd think it was dust if not that they were all beneath my shades.

Abt 0915hrs : On the second time up Hunter St, there was no energy to jog but only walk; i was hungry. i was hoping to grab a gel at Hickson but there was only Gatorade, so it means i'll only get the next one at Mrs Macquarie's Chair.

Along Macquarie St, outside Sydney Hospital, there was a boy sitting on the street kerb with his parent. He had his little hand raised up for a high 5 which no one in front of mi returned. so i did, since it didn't take too much of mi to do that. Reaching the end of the street, the Finish line was in sight and hundreds of runners were approaching it; i wondered what would happen if i cheated and ran in the opposite direction instead. haha. i know that's not the point, still rational. The finishers were wearing their medals and walking home now... if there were truly 10,000 runners this morning, i must have been 9000-9500 (the other 500 dropped out on injuries or disqualified perhaps)

In hope of my next energy gel, i finally reached the Chair but to my dismay, there was only water offered. Well, i wasn't hungry anymore nor dying but i almost wanted to ask the medic station for some... i thought i could take a couple more this time round to bring home... oh wells.

i took my own sweet time to walk and jog along as i was feeling the aches on my outer thighs now. To think that, since the 15km mark, i'd been sighting these 2 other ladies (1 slim, 1 chubby) around mi who walked more than jogged in their intervals; whereas i'd been jogging consistently (slow) yet i've fallen behind them. Hmm... i can't think of a better reason for what i'm doing other than i'm doing my muscles better this way since i was once a walk-and-sprint kind of runner and i know what that did to my muscles.

2hrs 30mins now: the wave of supporters at Hyde Park were still cheering the leftover runners (mi) on, even though we were all unrelated. It would have been very encouraging for those dying but still running to finish; but mi, i was relaxed.. i even took time to take down my buff as headband and changed it to a bandanna since i could feel my hair was in a big mess by now. i wasnt feeling like in a "trance" state of mind or numbed like how i would have i'd given my all

into Hyde Park now, it was assuring to see the fountain. The Finish line just 50m away.. and this annoying woman came out from behind mi and cut into the Finishing mat in front of mi. Tsk, totally uncalled for. I hope my finishing shoot wasn't blocked by her.

2 hr 46mins at 1016hrs: Past the booth to collect the Finisher medal, greeted with well done from the event crew. Yay, i did it - my first (half) marathon

p/s: read about the champion finishers here and see if you can find mi in the sea of humans

D -1: Runner 8350

2009-05-16T11:54:00.002+10:00

*A record field of over 10,000 has entered the event, be sure you arrive early so that you are not rushed with dropping your bag, having a pre race drink of water/Gatorade and a last minute pit stop. Race starts at 7.30am

*Self seeding will occur at the start line, if you are a slower runner please consider positioning yourself in the back half of the crowd before the start. Preferred and seeded runners only will be allowed to warm up in front of the start area.

*If you find yourself being lapped by the lead competitors please remain on the left hand side of the course at all times, unless directed otherwise.

*Drink stations are located at

Start/finish
Hicksons Road near Pottinger Street (Old Finish Line)
Point of Mrs Macquaries Chair

*Gatorade, filtered water and GU energy gels will be available on-course. Please note it is advised that gels should only be consumed with water, not Gatorade. GU will only be available at the Mrs Macquaries chair drink station and Gatorade will be available at the Hickson Road drink station.

*Results will be published in The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, 18 May, 2009. Online results, as well as certificates, will be available from Tuesday, 19 May.

D -5: full dressed rehearsal

2009-05-13T21:47:00.005+10:00

Wednesday
1745hrs - 2000hrs (after 15mins slow cycling from office)

objective: 1 hr 45 mins
(in NB shoes)

*
didn't run this yesterday due to work so diedie today left work on time to get this run completed.
the sun hadn't set yet, maybe that's why i didn't feel that cold as in the morning. But maybe this led to the bad idea that my muscles didn't need as much warming; lesson learnt

started warmup run at 10-11 km/h and stopped in abt 5 mins coz calves were beginning to feel strain; bad signs. i didn't wanna get myself strained and have no time to recuperate before Sunday, and neither did i not want to run today.

lots of stretching later, i continued slowly on the run 5-6.6 km/h walking speed. the strain didn't go away, i was beginning to get worried and upset at the same time. but i pushed thru 2km in a slow 18mins, and i suppose the muscles really needed slow warming up on a cold day; lesson #2 learnt not to be repeated on actual day.

the calves still felt bit sore and tight after 2km, but it was bearable for the rest of the 9km in 80mins or so. Since the first 2km was slow, i didn't hit the 11km mark in 75mins. nonetheless, i learnt something out of the bad stuff that happened today; lesson #3 is to start slow, pick up pace after 1km (abt 5mins later depending on temperature) and continue that pace for the 5km. If all has gone well at the 5k mark, pick up more pace to hit 11k at target time; can relax a bit to give the muscles some prep for the next half of the race, with more slopes to conquer.

i also confirmed today, that the slower i run, the worse my body feels; it's weird. it's as if slowing down is only to help stretch the muscles the opposite way of how it pulls during running. of course, it doesn't meam i just keep running faster and faster; i do slow down to regulate my breathing which is getting so good now i think i can sing while i run. Also, i never really knew what to do with my hands/arms when solely running - since i don't usually run without a ball. but i figured a way to make them help with my run now.

in all, didn't hit 1hr 45mins to safeguard the legs for the next 5 days. ~~will be doing light hill runs next few days to see what the timing will be like.~~

Route recce

2009-05-11T10:08:00.025+10:00

The Route - reconnaissance

Start College St North approx 120 metres north of William St. heading north

Left into Prince Albert Road.

Right into Macquarie St.

Left into Hunter St.

Right into Pitt St.

Left into Alfred St.

Right into George St

Left into Argyle St.

Left into Kent St.

Right into Napoleon St.

Right into Hickson Rd

Continue into George St

Left into Alfred St

Right into Pitt St

Left into Hunter St

Right into Macquarie St

Left into Prince Albert Rd.

Follow Art Gallery Rd., then into Mrs Macquaries Rd, making the loop of Mrs Macquaries Chair and return to Prince Albert Rd

Left into College St

Turnaround (on College St close to William St)

Return to Prince Albert Rd

At completion of second lap, enter Hyde Park North at Macquarie St entrance

***

Did the photoshoot walk in 5hours, stopping into art galleries on the walk. I'm rather confident that i can finish the 21km route in less than 3 hours... if it wouldn't be so cold that it cramps my leg muscles or my brain; but now that i've got new skins to cover that, i'm less concerned than my ankles will be. I must say the stable NB running shoes are kinda cushioning after the impact sets in. Hmm..still contemplating to wear that or the Mizuno hardcourt shoes.

besides new skins, also bought a new buff; it's multi-functional! i'm so impressed. was looking for a headband but this is way cooler.

now, wish mi luck - no rainy Sunday morning please

Race preps

2009-05-09T19:56:00.003+10:00

Now that i'm 60% physically prepared for the race, i look for more info to fully equip myself. Although the race markers and all should be clear on race day, and i i have the route rough imagined in my head, i still want to go recce the route once by walking thru tomorrow.

When i first decided to sign up, i didn't exactly research on how to run a marathon. I thought my twice weekly handball trainings and some occasional jogs would do it. Of course, i also know my occasional jogs had to cover some mileage and gradually increase pace to meet the race requirement. The recommended Beginner training guide on SMH.

Your goal is to run 21.1km for the first time and it will be a huge achievement. Less emphasis will be placed on your finishing time. What you do have to take into consideration though, is that there is a cut off at the 10km mark. All runners must pass through 11k in 75min or under. Therefore your safest option is to aim to pass through 11km under 70min (6.20-6.25/KM) which continuing at a similar pace for the remainder of the race will enable you to cross the finish line (filled with tears of joy) under 2hrs 15min

i hope i can run the same, or better on race day, as my last run on the treadmill. although i know there are other factors (slopes, temperature, crowd etc) have not been taken into real consideration, it is all in the mind? at most, can't walk the next day; that's fine, i took leave already.

The Route

Start College St North approx 120 metres north of William St. heading north
Left into Prince Albert Road.
Right into Macquarie St.
Left into Hunter St.
Right into Pitt St.
Left into Alfred St.
Right into George St
Left into Argyle St.
Left into Kent St.
Right into Napoleon St.
Right into Hickson Rd
Continue into George St
Left into Alfred St
Right into Pitt St
Left into Hunter St
Right into Macquarie St
Left into Prince Albert Rd.
Follow Art Gallery Rd., then into Mrs Macquaries Rd, making the loop of Mrs Macquaries Chair and return to Prince Albert Rd
Left into College St
Turnaround (on College St close to William St)
Return to Prince Albert Rd
At completion of second lap, enter Hyde Park North at Macquarie St entrance

The major climbs in the course include the infamous Hunter Street Hill (500 metres, Pitt to Macquarie streets) as well as the two climbs at the turn around point of Mrs Macquaries chair. The First being a long gradual rise (approximately 250 metres) followed near after by a short hard climb (150 Metres) that trebles in length on the second lap.
The run up through the Argyle cutting is 500 metres and although not as steep as Hunter Street it is tough.There are plenty of spots for rhythm running; these include Hickson Road, Pitt Street, Macquarie Street and Kent Street.

Really some magnificent sights and architecture along this route. Pics after tomorrow's recce!

Endurance is tolerable

2009-05-08T22:04:00.005+10:00

Friday
1900 - 2000 hrs

Objective: 7km mileage
(in Mizuno shoes)

*

warmup abt 1K
10mins stretching (still not quite enough, i was quite eager to start running)
5K in 30mins
[2.4K in 14mins - i've never had this kind of timing ever since the after-days of my appendix removal. haha]
minimal walking, varied speeds to stimulate actual conditions.
mouthful of water every 2K or so
2mins slow jog
4K in another 30mins
(include final 10mins of cooling down and walking)
10mins stretch down
(would have liked it to be 15 but the gym staff looked impatient even though it was still 15 mins from closing time. tsk)

At this rate, i think i'm good to reach the 11K mark in 75mins. I still had reserves after an hour, and i surprise myself. *good job you*
i may have ran longer than that distance before, more mileage than that in a game of handball +PT + whatever that uses my muscles, but never just solely running. I'm looking forward to long distance running now.

*
maybe site recce tomorrow AM on bike, if my legs don't retard and die on mi overnight.

D -10 : Abstinence

2009-05-07T14:40:00.003+10:00

~~Plan: 7K tonight~~ Work got the better for the night

*

Diet abstinence

alcohol
spicy food
junk food that gives no known benefits
anything that will increase my body weight but not performance

it starts today!

I can make it

2009-05-05T23:09:00.003+10:00

Tuesday
1755hrs - 1830hrs

*
Finally ran. feels lighter, yet almost already forgotten the breathing technique in just a week.

1.2k sub 11mins (i figured i need at least 10mins of dynamic warmup)
stretching (another 10 to 15 mins)
2.4k sub 18mins (intermittent walking)

i can do this.

*
Would have ran a longer mileage at a slower pace, but have got a movie to catch!

CMI

2009-04-27T21:34:00.002+10:00

1.5k sub 12mins (9 to 10 kph)

cycling 7mins (max heart rate 167), average 17kph

Balancing

2009-04-25T18:47:00.003+10:00

sunny Saturday
0935hrs (5 mins bike ride from home)

Since i was early, i had a warmup 1.5k run in 11mins (speed 9.5 to 10 km/h) so i could see how the higher speed affects the amount of time before lactic acid sets in. I was delighted my legs could take mi further than i 'd expected; all the training, cycling and even the BodyBalance has not gone in vain. I think i can go faster and longer-D next week when i increase the mileage to be clocked.

it's BodyBalance class again. Always look forward to the stretching and relaxing hour session. Although i was using my new bright yoga mat, it was still slippery on the sweaty palms; i think need more time to season the mat. Otherwise, the session was essentially rough about the same as last week and I've learnt the moves rather well now and i've noticed that i can be flexible too (most noticeable at the hips), if i've warmed up properly. It is always good to work those minor and unknown muscles at the butts and rear thigh areas especially.

I shall use the wall for the finale relaxing 10mins in the next session; i think i can do half-handstands after a few more sessions when my arms can support my body weight; by then, i should have lost some weight (at least a kilo or 2) from the running. Yippee!

On my way out, discovered this tucked corner at the back alley. This Victorian (or some English-style) gate and the inviting water fountain within, with the leaves of this tree overhanging. Except that it looked out of bounds for now... i liked the appealing greeny leaves bcoz they look so much like succulent grapes that can be eaten! oh yea.. i was hungry for brunch.

don't hold your breath

2009-04-23T22:14:00.007+10:00

Thursday
1900hrs - 1945hrs (15mins bike ride from office)

warmup 1.2k sub 7 mins
4k in 27mins (speeds 8.5 to 9.5)

The only thing that keeps me going faster, or at least at the same speed (not any slower or walking) is this:

Competitors must reach the 11 kilometre point within 75 minutes or they will be asked to withdraw from the event

And besides, the slower i run, the heavier the strain i feel in my shins, knees and thighs - basically the entire leg. However, i have to learn to moderate the use of my energy very well; how to survive 11km at fast speed, and able to sustain after that. The more i run, the more i have come to realize that it ain't that i have got no stamina or fitness; one of the keys to long distance running is probably breathing technique and control. And i have always held my breath when large amounts of energy is required out of my body. This must explain why i tend to always run out of breath before my muscles can feel the aches. BodyBalance has made mi learnt how to exercise breath control, and this is in sync with my running regime.

Can't wait for the next run; i think i've never ran so much in my life - just running and running - without sighting a ball, which has always been my carrot.

Intro to Refereeing and Officiating Table Duty courses

2009-04-23T10:54:00.003+10:00

Hi everyone
A quick note to let everyone know we’re able to offer the Introduction to Refereeing and Introduction to Officials Duty courses as hoped for on Saturday May 2.

Team Entry forms this year will require your team to have nominated Table Duty and Referees and this is an opportunity for them to learn the basic/intermediate skills.

The course will be geared to our current competition and helping people feel comfortable and gaining experience here. More formal courses accredited will be offered at a later date. We are very lucky to have the fine assistance of Olympics’ experienced, Alex with the refereeing and Richard ably assisting, and also Olympics experienced Dorothy with the Official/Table and Timekeeping course, so do take advantage of this if you can.

May 2 session times:
Intro to Referring: 9am-12:30pm
Intro to Officiating/Table and Scoring: 1:30pm-5:00pm
Venue: Tasman Room at Sports House in Sydney Olympic Park

*
The best part? It's free

Good start, good breathing

2009-04-21T08:40:00.006+10:00

Monday
1835hrs - 1945hrs

the gym was quite packed; ALL the treadmills (abt x10 of them) were occupied, and so were most of the weight machines. But luckily, i didn't have to stand around waiting when someone was done and i got my warmup run

*

1.6K sub 11 mins (speed 9 to 10); at the refreshing rate i was feeling upon completion, i knew i could confidently hit my target run mileage of at least 3K today despite the insomnia.
Stretching at the staff counter coz there was just no space to stand anywhere in the exercise area
1 set (x12) of light weights:

Pull downs (front & back each x6) at 18kg
Deltoids & triceps machine at 10kg
Biceps machine at 10kg
Crunches on horizontal bench x20
Abdominal crunch machine
Dumb bells 3kg
- lateral side (R & L)
- triceps back of head (R & L)
- wrist strengthening (palm facing elbow) x20 (R & L)
- wrist strengthening (palm facing floor) x20 (R & L)
- 2 bells lateral side on both arms at same time
leg press (seated) 20kg
leg press (on back) 15 kg on each leg, total 30kg - for quadriceps & calves
leg curl (seated) 10kg
hips machine 20kg

3K sub 21mins (speed 8.5 to 9.5); felt really good to go slow, controlled breathing technique (BodyBalance class helps much! it's all in the breathing) and learning to put optimum weight on the ankles, heels and knees. i cannot remember having felt so relaxed and not panting after a 3K run. It was very shiok. At the same time, distracting the brain - by endless mental mathematical calculation of what should my timings be like for the actual half-marathon - from thinking about fatigue also helps go the extra mile :)
Cool down stretch

~~To Body Balance~~Raining tonight (And no car)! welcome abs!

Bikey & skins

2009-04-19T20:22:00.007+10:00

It's a cold day out, the showers come and go and blessed am i in averting all the periods of rain; not so lucky for Bikey. heh.

he got drenched while i was in church service, and hearing the heavy downpour falling over our heads. but the sun was out amidst the cloudy skies when service was over; regardless, i'd packed my poncho according to the weather forecast so if God really wanted mi to be drenched, so be it! Also, had bought my new skins wear yester so the cold was cooling and what is perspiration? No such thing!

went home for an intended snooze before handball training, which turned into house-cleaning for an hour or so. Then a phonecall home for the next, i was left with 30mins to rest. I eventually did catch a wink, and also managed to pull myself out of the house - very reluctantly. On the ride towards Moore Park, there wasn't a moment i didn't wanna turn back home to sleep; then hunger struck.. i still rode on for 4km... and actually got till the junction of Dacey Avenue & South Dowling St (less than 10mins away from training ground) when i justified that i was hungry & sleepy enough to skip training even though i did want to throw some balls. Besides, the workout, exercises and activities the past week should have done mi some good since my abs are feeling achy; they're growing! Turned to Lachlan St and was making my way home, but wondering where i should have dinner at the same time. Nothing along the way attracted my attention, so decided to head to Newtown - abt 4.5km away.

Settled down when i reached Dendy cinema, and one of the movie posters caught my eye. I was gonna be in time for the next show at 7pm, after a dessert/dinner at Cafe Cinque that seemed like they have nice cakes. So i ordered my blueberry cheesecake, while deciding to catch the movie, and the skies opened; the rain fell. Poor bikey drenched again, and this time, getting a thorough wash.
After i'd placed the order, i then remembered that i had no cash with mi. Luckily i asked before the food came, so i had to go to the ATM not too far away to get cash. On the way back, stopped over at Fish Records, a CD shop in the same Dendy complex, and bought a $10 CD compilation. As what their website said, i did both unknowingly:

buy your favourite soundtrack at Fish Records or have a bite to eat at Cafe Cinque

Tend not to carry Joel when out with Bikey, only had Ditzier for company and here are some pics.

As i sat by the window sill entrance of the cafe, hardly eating my cake, people-watching much as they gave mi strange stares (cyclists cannot eat?) back, i wondered if i will stop playing handball soon - sooner than i'd thought. Perhaps just like the conversation my housemate and i had just yesterday, it is the people and not the activity that keeps you going; perhaps.

The rain didn't stop for very long, but when i saw the clearer skies, done with my cake and decided on no movie tonight, i made my way home. But first, taking off my socks, putting on my poncho followed by the reflective vest. I think i would have looked rather uncool at stylish Newtown, but what to do... it's emergency... and it was super windy and cold even without the rain.

Can't say for sure if the skins helped to keep mi warm and muscles going, or it was a matter of being conditioned to the cold, 10mins into the journey back and i was feeling normal. In fact, the ride back seemed quicker somehow. Glad i didn't have to use my brakes much of the time coz the traction was quite bad. Bikey's having a fun day out, not as exciting as the other lightning-filled night but still very fun this Autumn.

Bikey v2

2009-04-18T07:34:00.008+10:00

i finally got Bikey's rim changed after the accident. The funny thing was, the new rim cost mi $59, which really made the 50-50 split to be $30 - the money i got from the car driver. The new rim is easy to fit on with the lever instead of the bolt & nut for the old rim.

(the new rim w lever)

The nearest bike shop i know of, Europa Cycles, is located at Kensington, opposite the Doncaster Hotel. They have a range of bikes in the shop, spares as well as accessories from bike seats, bike bags to safety lights etc at rather affordable prices, i think. I got my new rim changed here, the guy helped to transfer the rubber tube over since only the rim was damaged. Also bought a $5 small safety rear light; but having used it for abt a month now, i think i need something a lil' bigger and more secured as the gadget once came off the latch on the bumpy roads - esp for these colder months with early sunsets.

There is this other bike shop i recce-d, City Bike Depot, is more highly priced for most of its merchandise but they have really amazing and good bikes, and of course spares, there in the 2-storeys space. One thing about these bike shops is the service is superbly friendly and approachable. Perhaps it's the specialization of it all, or the bike culture here in Australia.

To prevent potential accidents, and knowing that i'll be using the bike more frequently to/fro training (and perhaps office), i booked out a reflective vest, which i should also actually put on when i'm at the hangars, from my workplace. Speaking of workplace, check out this article from the office's internal magazine on cyclists (not using bikers, as it might be sensitive) at work.

One of my colleagues got back from Singapore/Taiwan recently, and she bought us this little accessory. I got the blue 平安 sachet, that came with comic below

Since i don't like dangling stuff on my phone and keychain, i decided to hang it on Bikey; kill 2 birds w 1 stone. It shall bring mi safety on my cycling trips.

The next project to fix up the rack at the back for Bikey might be next month, or after Winter since i have no plans for expedition trips at the mo. For now, Bikey holds a legal parking lot, next to the fiery Celica, in the Apt basement carpark instead of having mi to climb 2.5 storeys of stairs up and down each time; i don't know why i never thought of it, the housemate put up the good suggestion there.

Regime starts

2009-04-16T15:19:00.014+10:00

Gym
Wednesday
1845hrs to 1945hrs

Plan for the day: Attempt to complete 2K run

*

1.6K in sub 11mins - speeds 8.5 to 9km/h

While observing the RPM (stationary cycling) class taking place, the entire gym was quite packed - mostly the guys lifting free weights at the corner, as well as staring at the TV, i completed the 4th lap with shins beginning to feel strained; wonder if the new shoes played a part. This run was meant as dynamic warmup, but I actually felt quite refreshed so i ran more laps.

Considering i spilled my drink at lunch, i wouldn't want weights going CLANK and whole gym staring at mi or falling onto my feet so i only did very light work.

Stretching

While stretching, i couldn't start with upper body weights as intended as the machines got occupied so i had to start with legwork first.

1 set x 12 of :

Leg Press 30kg
(seated) Leg (hamstring) extensions 20kg
Lateral pull downs (front & back) 18kg
More stretching at The Wall of Stretching postures Chart.

I couldn't lift the biceps at 15kg. No wonder my pushup standards have dropped so much, and i thought i was getting heavier. Time for more arm weights.
i discovered this machine (according to the link, it is also better for the lower back), which i've never used before for the lower abs. I was quite happy doing it though painfully hard on the abs - all for beautiful abs! It was actually easier to feel the whole abs crunch (compared to only upper abs during situps) as the entire body will be curled into almost half thru use of the limbs.
3kg bell:
- elbow straight, arm perpendicular to body x10 left & right
- elbow straight, arm perpendicular front to body x10 left & right
- wrist strengthening (flexing both directions) on bench x20 left & right
Crunches with situp at 5th multiple on inclined bench x20

Lateral pull downs (front & back) 20kg
(seated) Leg (hamstring) extensions 20kg

Easter training break

2009-04-14T21:41:00.003+10:00

Due to the long weekend from Good Friday to Easter Monday, the Friday & Sunday trgs were not held

But since i missed the last Sunday trg, and the next trg wouldn't be till this Sunday; effectively, i've not trained in 2 weeks.

Good thing the gym registration is finally done, no more reason to laze around with the half marathon in a month's time.

Abs, here i come

Sports council could take charge of athletes if NSAs are not capable

2009-04-10T22:56:00.000+10:00

the MCYS will announce plans next week to disburse more funds to NSAs preparing for the YOG.
All the NSAs in charge of the 26 sports involved in YOG will be allocated a separate budget to prepare for the games in August 2010

Pre-season trg #6

2009-04-03T21:32:00.001+11:00

Basket-handball warmup

Dribbling up down basketball court, change direction at whistle

70% speed, then full speed
look up

Suicides

2 sets x 4 folds
died after 1st set, but completed 2nd at jogging pace; beginning to think i can't breathe properly in that stuffy court

Passing,
Dummy moves (on own with ball, without defender)

Warmup Keeper

Positional shooting

x10 shots consecutively
shooter follows to become defender
the rest feed shooter, pick ball

Penalties

no goal out for situp and pushups till last shooter misses

NSW League

2009-04-03T09:35:00.003+11:00

The competition will start in May and go until Sep.
Games will be on Saturdays in the Olympic Park probably in the morning. The cost is $100 for the whole year or $70 for half a year and this includes insurance.
To be eligible for selection for the NSW senior state team you will have to have played at least 5 competition games during the year.

*

Target:
the senior state team, how cool would that be!

Half year refers to period till June 2009; full year till end of competition. I opted for Full, hopefully i get to play as long as i pay...

Pre-season trg #5 - fulfillingly achy

2009-03-30T08:40:00.005+11:00

Attendance: 15
Coach Janne.L

Biked to training from home via Rothschild, Joynton, O'dea Ave, South Dowling St, Cleveland.
[less bumpy but with some slopes]
Back via Cleveland St, Bourke St, Botany Rd
[dark & quiet along Bourke, road bumpy but pavement alright along Botany]

*

Basket-handball warmup game
7colours v 6reds. It was interesting to find out that Coach thought of mi as a (former) basketball player (that was when i knew Rachel is a basketball player), and had us both into 2 teams. I asked Coach how does she see that i play basketball, and she said based on the way my feet move. Hmm... ?? I took it as a sort of compliment.

"Catching"
Catcher at mid-court, the others try to sprint down the basketball court length. Runners who get tagged/caught joins the catcher, hold hands and catch the next. When the catcher line becomes more than 3, only the catchers at the either ends of the line can catch/tag. When the runners are left with 2, they are allowed to squeeze thru the middle of the catcher line.

I thought I would run less by getting caught first, so i sacrificed myself at the first run; only was i quite wrong as it seemed harder to catch with people who do not really communicate; i wonder if they do not understand my suggestions or... ?

2 sets x10 pushups, x10 situps, x10 half-squats

after this, and Coach still didn't say stretching, we knew we were up for a tough training today. She did mention to stretch our legs.. oh no....

Footwork around the D:
(x3 each direction)

shuffle around the D with ball held overhead without letting it down at any point (without ball) defence path up and down to shooting position (9m) with jump, and half-squat at defending position (6m)
(without ball) defence path up and down with jumps at both 6m and 9m

I wanted to stop before the 3rd part coz my thighs were taking mi to where i want them to move to, the recovery time from the first round to the 2nd went ahead of my muscles; i attribute part of it to the cycling all day. but i was glad i was egged on by Janne.H; she is just too arrogant for mi to prove wrong. Grrr...

Passing in 2s
I got more acquainted with Rachel - who is new to handball - from the basket-handball game. This was also when she asked mi abt my ankle braces; she has this cloth one that has torn. Anyway, i was quite tired and drained of energy by this time to do more passing than i'd like.

Agility and strength exercises in pairs

Hands on partner's shoulders and push each other [lower body muscles]; i suck
Hands grip partner's arms/wrist area and pull each other [upper body muscles]; i'm good
Half-squat with backs leaning on each other and push [body weight counts]; apparently i'm heavier than Rachel
Sit on floor with backs to each other and push [again, body weight i suppose]
Take turns to lie flat on stomach (and stick to floor) while the other tries to flip the body around [key is to locate the heavy joints + hips]; i told Rachel she probably hadn't handled drunk people before. haha. She was really light la, i flipped her over in a minute
Both in push-up positions and one tries to hit the other's either hand by not moving too much around
Standing with hands on shoulders and one tries to stamp on the other's either foot; Rachel cannot catch mi.... the trick is to use 1 foot to stamp, rather than using alternate feet.

3 sets x10 pushups, x15 situps

Warmup GK
New rules set to be followed today onwards; jump at 9m line and no run-up at the following areas to shoot

GK's face,
GK's feet/ankles

(half court) 7 on 7 game
(2 pivots Mia and Alline, then Andrea and Tonje, at either wing and not allowed to cross over areas)

realized the pivots actually get more chances to receive a pass from the outside shooters as it is almost an 1-up situation, the other pivot acting as a stationary screen at center area
Wingers don't get much work in defence until the pivot moves over to disturb, which was very rare (well, considering i had weak wing attackers - Tiffany and Lucy - opposing mi, i spent more time trying to intercept passes and covering for my back)
After some time, the attacking team wasn't drawing us out simply because they were not shooting from outside and therefore we didn't bother to move out to defend
In turn, i felt my team was stronger in attack, largely aided by Vic in Center and either drawing all the defenders or passing them all for a 6m shot.
I had Sabine and Denise as my left/right backs respectively, and found Denise a better feeder for mi probably coz she is right handed as rightback; always easier it seems. But i didn't get both my shots in goal - 1 went to Marie's feet as i tried to get the ball under through her legs, the other hit the crossbar on the far side. Close.
Because of the 2 pivots, i didn't run in as 2nd pivot; instead tried to screen for Denise but somehow she still chose to cut into the 2nd lane instead of the 1st lane at my position. Only if my winger defender gets out of my screen and drawn to her, will i get a possible pass off her.
Whenever we play half court, wingers seriously have nothing much to do; how to train fitness... no wonder they put all the inexperienced players as wingers - to sub and sub endlessly. Very bad, i must prove a point.

Penalties
i was out at 1st shot. Mia and Denise were last 2 standing, after 5 rounds or so, and Marie stopped both in that round. Marie is best.

quote from the Atmospherical Goddess

2009-03-28T01:52:00.002+11:00

when life gives you lemon,
you make lemonade out of it
(9th March 2009)

you're in my prayers
加油 ok

Friendly game VS SU

2009-03-27T22:52:00.011+11:00

6pm, Syd Uni
HK Ward Gymnasium

12 players, 1 keeper
Coach Janne.Lilleeng

We had this lady called Marie who trained with UTS several times before to referee the game for 1st half. Both coaches took each half of the 2nd; the guy coach was clearly biased in his calls, you could tell he gave his team more 9m and did not give us advantage play on many occasions. Nvm..

*

I arrived at 630pm, and they were already warming up for shooting. When i was done wearing my gear, it was team briefing. So while the game got started, i was warming up along the sidelines. Got the black UTS jersey #24 - according to shirt size, and not for keeps at the mo.

60mins of full court game, and i think i had about a total of 30mins playing time in both halves; played right wing.

Learnt some new tactical attack and defence strategies and saw them put to use. For the first time, i'm a bench player who observed and learnt things; a good change for a start. However, i felt also proud that coach put mi in as the 2nd right wing after Janne. Well, her other choice was Ms Tiffany Chen if you'd like to know. I realized that if my shots and passes become better and consistent (and i know this comes together with my fitness and strength level), i can also play back coz there wasn't any difficulties understanding the concepts nor the team's core players on court. I have to keep up with their height, size and strength, which i tink i'm doing decently well now.

*

(L to R: Marie Christensen, Tonje, Lucy and Tiffany)

Left wings had 3 choices including Vic playing it as her 2nd position. Wingers in this team (apart from Janne) look like dumping ground (Lucy and i-think-her-name-is-Andrea). i shall prove them that i am the secret weapon who will run fastbreaks, play 2nd pivot, do screening and score every wing shot. That is the plan forward.

Left backs had Vic, Marita and Rachel. Marita is excellent in strength and agility, she's got the good height at least 1.7m i think. She also plays Center

(Coach Janne talking to Sabine on attack)

Center backs were Sabine (tis' the German girl whom i've spoken to many times and forgot her name all along) and Marita - just excellent the both of them.

Right backs Denise (who called mi Tiffany; i nearly fainted and corrected her on the spot), tall Marie.Christensen, the i-think-her-name-is-Andrea reserve.

Right wings Janne (the stouter one compared to coach Janne), myself, and Tiffany.

Pivots played Alline (the very powerful model-looking girl) and Tonje (pronounced as Tanya).

Keeper the ever-magnificent Marie Louis, it seems we have no reserve keeper. Maybe i should train as one and learn the tricks of the trade :P

*

Not very sure if there was any specific plan Janne started for first half tactic since she had the core and last year's more familiar players as first team; i could only catch the 2nd part to just run our hearts out since we have many subs. Play without stress, and come off if you feel stressed. Initial suspicion of opposing players to watch were pivot, and the backs; the right wing and back were trueblue lefties.

The first team took some 10-15mins to get used to each other (i wonder to myself the likelihood of the teams i get into having this problem!). But the rhythm really worked out when the shots came from Marita and Alline. It became more stable when the guy coach from SU decided to make subs to put in his 2nd team (seems like it to mi), we thrashed them from hereon till halftime as their defence was sloppy (they had quite some inexperienced players, you could tell) so 2mins and yellow cards were aplenty for them.

(SU defence line + pivot Alline and left wing Lucy)

I didn't manage to get hold of the ball for any shots at all, thanks to my right back Denise who passed the ball to mi more than an arm length's away when i could have had the chance for a clear shot. Perhaps it is part my fault since i didn't had a good warmup since my body wasn't as agile and hyped as i should be. But got some easy sneak in-s as 2nd pivot as SU was playing pseudo 5-1 (1 played by Center - the girl who trained with UTS during the post-season; the one whom i bumped into when i bought Boost juice at Bondi); i am convinced by now that it distracts defenders to a small extent. I have been reminded to run along the D as 2nd pivot completely to the other wing, i just have this inclination to stop halfway coz the pivot will be in the same area and i always try to refrain from getting into a fellow teamamate's territory unless there was a good reason to. I shall try this in next training and see where i go with that.

Score 13 - 8.

Halftime brief were both attacking and defensive tactics as follow:

[Defence]
Mark out left wing and left back totally. this is not exactly man-marking because if the attackers change positions, the RW/RB defenders are supposed to count the players again accordingly. This is actually a loophole which is the solution to break thru the defence line. I suspect that 2 man-marking wasn't carried out due to average fitness levels of most players in my team, and probably also that the team has half a team of new players to make it really work well.

When this happens, the other 4 defenders will face the right wing + center + pivot. If the pivot doesn't go roaming outside or do screening, the half wing will keep passing and trying to break thru on half the court. I noticed that the attacking left wing & back were not helping in the play at all (the attacking left wing was perpetually trapped in the corner of the court by the defender who was standing right smack in front of her blocking her path of escape - unless she runs out of court lines, or run into the D and run back on playing area, which i think is not illegal if she does not receive a pass directly after she runs in. it'd take a sharp ref to catch that.). I do think SU knew what they were facing off with - which would mean that they are familiar in playing against such defence often. Interesting.

So the 3 (the pivot was semi-stuck at the 6m) on the right half wing were trying to make play and get past on a 1-on-1 kind of situation. They did in fact succeed on many occasions with the quick passing and good runs. Later, the pivot knew better and also the coach had his best leftback back in after her 2mins suspension to help the play; the pivot would come out and stand next to the left back. At this time, the defending rightback would be the only defender man-marking so there is a lapse on which defender to take on as the pivot runs back in parallel to the rightback who is penetrating the defence.

As you wonder how long the right attacking half wing can keep up with the passive play/in-out passing, the above is the effective help. the result is a direct shot at 7m resulting in a goal for either the running-in pivot or centerback who will be in the run for the next pass for the next chance to shoot.
[Attack]
Janne instructed wingers to sink to the corners and to participate in the wave (they actually only call this situation a wave; the usual passing between the backs, mostly with the wings only to touch ball and start the running for the back is not known as wave). The running paths for the backs are also different in a wave and their normal passing; ironic that the wave Singapore clubs practise is actually the normal thing to do. I hope whoever is reading this back home realizes that the "normal passing" was something that i'd been trying to inculcate in the teams - Chevron or THAS - i've trained with.
[Defence]
Same concept as above, but now mark out the right wing and back. The lack of area-defending for the 2 defenders off the line does help the other 4 defenders in lessening the load; in fact only the defending winger will be working harder than in a full normal defence line around the D as the pivot/center/leftback are only waiting for the attackers to move in to penetrate instead of having to shuffle left/right constantly. Frustrated attackers may attempt to shoot from outside but they'd have to beat our tall defenders followed by our strong and fast keeper. Some of these attempts met with blocks against the defence wall, or ended up comfortably in keeper's catch.

Perhaps this was an indirect attacking strategy to tire out the opponents' half wing and also keeping some of the reserves of our attacking in return. This was a good friendly game for mi to observe.

Forgot to ask about full time score but we did win overalls, although there was less scoring in the 2nd half due to the strategies fully executed as commanded; there was clearly problems for the core team to perform wave; i tink Singapore clubs can do wave better in some sense, provided they don't mispass first.

Joel was also there, so i shamelessly got everyone to have a photo taken, with everyone changed out of the jerseys, albeit bit late coz i was doing some shooting to cool down.

(From L to R, top row:
Lucy Louis, Marie Louis, Janne.Holte, Denise, Janne.Lilleeng, Marita, Marie.Christensen, i-think-her-name-is-Andrea, Sabine

bottom row:
Tiffany, mi, Tonje, Rachel, Victoria

The SMH Half Marathon

2009-03-26T02:23:00.006+11:00

Sunday 17 May 2009

730 a.m.

21.1km in Sydney CBD - Runners will start and finish the race at magnificent Hyde Park, passing through Sydney's most scenic and historic quarters while soaking up the harbourside views.

This year, as a tribute to the four-time champion athlete who lost her battle with cancer in December, the Half Marathon is honouring Kerryn by dedicating the race to her.

*

I'm in, or $77 is out.
(additional merchandise worth of $65 plus $10 shipping, and 1-year weekend subscription of SMH for just $24!)

now $176 poorer

From the UTS site

2009-03-26T01:54:00.005+11:00

Upcoming Event:

25 July, 2009 - A tournament for senior women in Albury/Woodonga. Teams from
NSW, South Australia and Victoria. Dates are still to be confirmed

I've can only remember 5 in this photo:
(From top to bottom, L to R)
Denise, dunno, Janne (the coach), dunno;
can't rem, Mia (also coach/capt), dunno, Jessica;
Marie the keeper

have you noticed that most of them are tall/big/round/unfit looking? they certainly are.

Pre-season trg #4 - mental

2009-03-23T23:18:00.002+11:00

skipped 2 trgs last week, effectively i had not trained for 2 weeks. i didn't make up my mind to attend trg until 1hr 10mins left to go. I suppose in the haste, it was how i forgot my house keys, wallet and handphone. not a single cent, nothing i carried that allowed mi to do anything effective; except a pair of legs that could walk and strange enough (coz i don't usually), i decided to wear my watch.

so i walked for an hour - Rothschild Ave, Joynton Ave, across Zetland, past Dacey Ave and finally across Moore Park to Cleveland St. Half the time, i wanted to just turn back; much of the time, i asked myself why this happened and what i am doing. Yet nearing the destination, esp at Moore Park on a sunny yet cool Sunday, i thought i would very much love to cycle and lie on the green park grass for a read, some music and perhaps a snooze - esp if i'm not carrying any valuables.

*

Miraculously, i reached Sydney Boys' High on time but my legs were kinda aching by now from walking on my cheap pair of thongs. Half heartedly, i put on my gear and deliberately miss out on the start of basket-handball warmup.

And when i joined in, my legs didn't run much and not to mention, i was defending the tallest and biggest person aka the coach and she had no e-brakes in her explosive action and banged face direct onto mi. Thank God my hands were up to knock off most of the impact.

Next drill was dribbling with alternate hands forward up and backwards down the basketball court length. i couldn't, didn't continue after maybe 4 runs. Something was wrong with my backwards movement/dribbling; could be the ball, could be my legs, could be my brain. i stopped halfway and claimed giddiness. It was very stuffy and the air smelled very bad after the Freezone volleyball guys left. i think i didn't wanna get injured since i wasn't focused.

I sat out on tramline passing in 3s, all passes in triangle which they went on doing for quite some time; while i got fresh air while watching the guys's drills, stoning and still wondering what i'm doing.

I came back, intending to help in defending/feeding where applicable. Warming up the keeper followed by 5 (4 + pivot) against 4 defenders (i defended coz i said it's best i don't run). Somehow, the attack combi couldn't break thru even with 1 up and defence wasnt particularly tight. Coach did some swop arounds etc, i stayed in defence.

Then 5 on 5 half court. I played left wing, favoured over Ms Tiffany who was banished to right wing (i actually asked coach if she wants mi to play right/left wing and she made the decision, i suspect the banish was due to her poor handling skills); there was zero connection possibility btwn the 2 wings given the 5-5 (occasional pivot according to players in team) situation and the strong back/centerbacks most of the time within the team structure.

attack/defence swop sides after 5 shots at goal.
i sneaked in as wing pivot most of the time, did some screens but never got utilized. i think the way they watch for screens is very different from the way i got used to in Singapore; a new lesson to improve on my pivot space. Yet at the same time, i realized that their way of going for shot on their own was due to the distracted defender split btwn my spot and the gap. Down to an individual's shot confidence/momentum and ability to make short pass to pivot.

got swopped to defend as back, and was again reminded in a 5-5 situation that i was too inclined to move out to meet my back at 9 (even when she has already the ball in her hands); this is 2-fold since this "reminder" came from a rather arrogant player whom i know, and that the attacking back wasn't very threatening in all instances at that mo. Again, one of the defence concept differences. Much to learn, Becky. glad coach remembers my name.

Friday friendly at SU, i'll be there.

*

I left at 1930hrs, walked to Kingsford via Anzac Pde and hoping to catch the 7pm dinner peeps so i didn't have to potentially wait aimlessly to get home. But the walk took mi longer than expected; i thought 30-45mins would suffice but it took 50mins. By then, my legs weren't feeling anymore and i just kept walking and thinking in my head of Johnnie Walker.

Half the time, i contemplated on hoping onto a crowded bus via the exit but wondered if the whole bus will condemn a cheapo Asian; then out of desperation, i thought perhaps i could tell the driver that i lost my wallet and ask for a free ride. Afterall, it was only less than 10 bus stops' worth of fare; the distance never seemed that long when i was on the bus on the same route. Landmarks never got within sight as soon as i'd liked. I stopped wearing my watch and would not have to look at time.

Eventually, it was another hour of walk home along Gardeners Road. The sun has long set, the air is breezy. I got to see clearly the sights which normally zoom past in a car/on bike. The blisters have developed under my feet, but i figured i could do this (what else could i have done anyway) since i can shop for 4 hours straight out. Just, the walk wasn't enjoyable when you have nothing. Pure nothingness but full of mental fatigue.

a "new" sport

2009-03-13T13:52:00.003+11:00

The youngsters may not be defeating the league teams, but they are not getting thrashed either

If only...

would it have been?

anyway, a proud moment for the deserving efforts from my best friend - for bringing out the handball passion from the girls

Inshape Alexandria Club

2009-03-11T16:23:00.005+11:00

Tour ~~this Friday~~ ~~Monday~~ dunno when

time to get my ass to the gym; make it smaller

maybe tennis if it isn't too cold on the rooftop, and maybe some interesting boxing/punching classes!

hope it wouldn't burn a hole in my pocket

just abt a 10mins run to/fro from home.

MSN group IVP Handball is deleted‏

2009-03-09T21:02:00.004+11:00

Dear Groups User,

Your MSN Group, IVP Handball, has had no activity in the last 90 days. As a convenience to our users, we periodically delete groups that have become dormant. We hope you'll consider coming back. It's not too late!

If your group remains inactive for another 14 days, we'll go ahead and delete it. If you would like to keep your group, simply click on the link below and follow the instructions on the web page.

I am 2 days late. Sigh. gone are the photos from the early 21st century era.

We had so many members, players, but it died anyway.

Does nothing last? And hardly anyone cares when they have new kids on the block.

I can't save it any longer, it seems.

Pre-season trg #3 - happy knowing u

2009-03-08T22:15:00.005+11:00

Attendance: 13 - 1 sick, 1 injured

I took a new route to trg ground - 1 bus + abt 15mins walk from Chalmers' St; instead of 2 buses with less walking. Total time taken would be about the same. Wanna have bikey back to life soon; i'll save $6 per trg (quick calculation would be $36 in a month - i can buy abt 2 weeks worth of rations with that money).

*

Training today was very fufilling for mi personally, even though it was a rainy evening and i'd only a 30mins nap just before that. Power naps are good. i love my good basics in defence, i love my basics in shooting, and now i love playing alongside players, who are so much better, whom will display their various skills and i'm learning so much just by training together. 遇强则强 is a true statement, if your mindset is right - in being modest and be a learner all the time, even if you're learning what not to do by watching others' weaknesses; i feel like i'm learning basics all over on some days here, seeing how the better players do not always have the upper hand.

But today, it was more than just basics for mi. Perhaps i now know most of the drills and the objectives of them; i have also become one of the proactive players who will volunteer to defend when required (thereafter of course we switch around); but if a (new) player is unsure of the drills, she is more likely to be absorbed into carrying out the drill objective before she can do another thing. I am able to perform both roles equally well now, and it seems I have unknowingly become a larger part of the club now, as i see more familiar nice faces.

*

There is this girl who is from Germany that i always watch her movements on court. She has been in Syd only in Jan, and will be going back in Aug. We were early today, and were conversing in the toilet while putting on shoes and we were going on about not able to know so many people from all over the world in the team. I was intro-ed to her the first time i met her, but i have forgotten now. i doubt i can remember all the names at one go, esp since some of them don't turn up at every training; so i had a quick plan today to rem just one person at a time - today was Tanya. Out of 13 today, i already know 8 (Mia, Marie the GK, also Marie the injured tall player who will do feeding for us, Victoria the Swedish girl who stays in the same building as tall Marie, Tanya the tall but gentle and friendly prettyface, Tiffany the-still-annoying Asian girl whom i siam-ed from partnering today, Klem - from i duno which country, Jessica from SU). Then there's Denise who wasn't at training today. Still recovering from injury Janne, and coach Janne as well. Lots of same names, and people from the same country in the team. I doubt i will forget if i see them constantly, so i hope i wouldn't have to resort to taking a picture of each person.

There is a BBQ this Sat at Bronte to welcome the new faces but i can't be there! argh. or maybe i should go then head to the steamboat dinner thereafter. Although i hadn't wanted to go for the BBQ as i'd found myself not able to make too much intelligent conversations with most of them due to accents. On court conversations are different, since everyone knows more or less what to do, communication can be minimal or thru actions/simple commands.
[P/S: BBQ lunch, so i'd probably go...]

*

Dynamic warmup basketball w handball game.

Stretching

Passing

Warming up the GK

Left/right backs shooting at 9m, with defender at 6

happy with my jumps today, i seem to have this innate ability to hang now (or that defenders weren't that tall nor did not jump to block my shot)
I scored my goals more on my fave corner from LB angle; not as good from RB angle - work on it

1 on 1 dummy shooting:

fake left, shoot right
fake right overarm shot, (dribble), shoot left
pretzel

2 (you and pivot) on 2 defenders, w 1 or 2 passer(s) at center/wing to faciliate backcourt's penetration

we only practised on the right wing/back angle and it went on for quite a long time
either Mia was trying to pick out who was better at back/wing or felt the pivots (Jessica and this tall blonde who has got a really quick turnaround but a lot of uncontrolled power in her shots; imagine shot went 1m wide of post when shooting from 6m. maybe her arm too long, and she is not raising her arm at the right angle to shoot. not sure, since i had better things to do)
other reason was probably coz the roof was dripping some rainwater onto the court at some spots in the center/left side of our half-court; i told Mia maybe we can pay the school lesser rental fees on rainy days
although i did good fakes on my own, and some good short passes to pivot (which they did not convert most of the time), i felt my distance from defender, as well as my drag distance after fake can still be better and shorter respectively. Because if the defenders were any better, i woudn't have been able to pass. nonetheless, it is all subjective to defenders' level of standards so i should also take note of that and push the limit.
I must really say i've picked up very good initial acceleration as a result of seeing how the better players do it. it's not very tiring if you're not constantly doing that until more than 4 or 5 times in and out to gain speed and space. i think i will play a better back than i used to.

Positional shooting with defender at 6m (LW to RW), then penalty w/o defender:

if shot on goal, advance to next position
if not scored aft 2 shots at each position, still advance + credit 10 pushups & 10 situps
i did well today, missing out at LW, RB and penalty. Got the RW shot on 2nd try, the rest on 1st try.

Full court game

i was put as RW; Mia commented my RW shots were not bad. wow, what a compliment. I think she looking mi quite up since i did a good job in defence today - quick footwork, good hands and reflexes.
i punctured after consecutive fastbreaks, and didn't score much at RW shots though plenty of quite clear chances; i think i need to be more mentally prepared to go for it, coz now i realized i wasn't looking at the post at all. Most shots were easy for the GK.
i did some good long passes to fastbreak for my LW - a guy though so he was way ahead of defender for mi to throw clear. but my outside passes to my RB Klem and CB Tanya were disappointing. Part of the reason was the sticky ball and sandy court - my right pinkie skin has come off after much abrasions. Time to buy white tape.
nothing much to do in defence coz my winger was Mia - not very fast. Only helped to cover for my RB Klem who had the very good LB - her movements are very swift and her shots are super accurate.
with that said, i gotta up my stamina by loads, as it becomes apparent that i'll end up either left or right wing; i haven't seen any left handers in the team yet, looks like the position is mine to take. hopefully at the same time, i can work on my RB shooting, although i do know my shots will not be as powerful as the taller girls. Height and build advantages cannot be helped overnight. i can only work on so much at one time

Looking forward to next training! seems long that it has to be next Sunday. it's PMS week. sian.

Happy International Women's Day, and Happy birthday to GK Marie - who was player of the year and club person of the year

Pre-season trg #2 - new faces

2009-03-06T22:20:00.005+11:00

Coach out of town - Captain Mia took training
Attendance: 11 people

I self-realized that "the 2nd Friday of the month" alternating training day thing meant fortnightly (except it applies in every month, not accumulatively); how confusing! ok, i think coz my off-court frequency with theirs is just very different.

There was this new face called Denise, but i think she is probly an old face coz she seems like the treasurer when she was asking for fees collection. $60 per capita for a year's court rental at Sydney Boys' high; i'd better turn up for trainings after i pay this Sunday. Denise is a friendly tall lady - duno from which country, working in Syd Uni for 4 years by now. I noticed she was wearing a Thailand related tee shirt but didn't look nor ask for more details.

Long personal debrief ahead, along with rant on one particular player (P/S: Tiffany) :

*

Warmup was touchdown handball - dribbling not allowed - instead of the usual basketball scoring way. It turned out to be like a fastbreak situation where height is not always an advantage; and it turns out my defences were better executed coz i couldn't sustain fitness-wise after a few consecutive runs up and down the basketball court. Attack should take turns in cases like these, coz my team appeared that they weren't very attacking oriented and needed a striker in front. I tried to step up, while i was trying to gasp for more air but it only seemed worse with the cold and dry air - natural aircon.

** Rant for next 2 paras **

There was this Asian person who appeared at training, not sure if she is a newcomer to the team; i can't rem her name (i'm not remembering all the others' names very well - esp those who aren't very friendly - simple logic of i don't call your name often, i tend to forget your name even tho i will rem your face. The accents don't always help the case either. Hope the mailing/contact list will be out soon). Anyway, this Asian person - look like adult but below average Asian build. Coz i wore the HFS top to training today, it was quite obvious i'm from Singapore.

Then i asked her back for courtesy's sake - "how about her, the same?" (since she look like she was staring at my top for quite a long time, as if she found familiarity) For some reasons, i felt her reaction was rather firmly defensive "No, Australia". Ok....maybe i assumed, whatever.

**

Passing - Mia supervised and rested - as always even when she wasn't coaching, i realized she has this tendency to only participate during games/shooting. Wonder which lower body part is injured? Or just plain lazy? hmm... ok, thou shall not judge. Somehow, the angmohs found themselves partners quickly and automatically. Oh wells.. Asian girl then approached mi, as i pretended to be dribbling and warming up with the ball on my own.

** Rant again **
Her wrist control quite bad, but still can make it inconsistently. I realized my passing has become a way of life now, even tho i don't practise regularly. That time went back SG also like that, so 2nd instance for mi to say that. So half the time, our ball interrupted our neighbours' passing. But even so, she wasn't humble or modest enough to apologize! nvm... maybe not necc, but coz she put a lot of glue on the ball, i had to flick my wrist more than usual to release the ball. Somehow judgmentally, i thought her reactive behaviour was to throw the ball even harder! hello, i'm not challenging you...warmup maybe.... Regardless, since she wasn't a very good player, i wasn't afraid to try out my left arm passing. Woah, today so sui, quite power also. She was quite impressed, but at the same time must have thought i was showing off even though i did say i wasn't very good at it. Oh oh...

**

Next was this passing game in pairs where you are to keep passing within a zone (about 1/3 basketball court) with your throwing partner, while at the same time trying to intercept another pair's ball. Upon interception, the pair who loses their ball sits out and do pushups/sit-ups. Idea is to also be mobile with your legs in the zone. My partner was more concerned about intercepting than looking at my pass... so many times, my pass went haywire.. and she didn't intercept much. Luckily, mispass got no penalty. To the next drill, i'd finally got rid of my throwing partner...

Shooting from left wing to right wing followed by the penalty spot (skip SG-style pivot shot); once a goal is scored, you advance to next position. if there are no goals after 3 shots at the same position, you still advance but you have credited 10 pushups/situps - this is to be totaled up and carried out after all positions completed. I missed at LW, LB, RB and RW, very bad. I realized my shots had no more power, or they were too predictable; not to mention we've got a really fantastic keeper to beat.

Crossing with 2 defenders on 6m - in 2 parts:
a stationary passer helps the passing to centerback - to left/rightback - back to centerback until centerback is ready to penetrate, then screen defender, before
1) passing off to leftback who will cross, has options to shoot/passback or continue play until shot
2) passing off to rightback who will cross, has options to shoot/passback or continue play until shot
Shots must be made within the zone of about 2m (center angle)

this other new face whom came up to mi and intro-ed herself as Victoria was quite nice, to offer mi tips on turning my body (when i'm the centerback) to pass instead of the no-look pass. She also said i could give her tips if i had any; this is called modesty! tsk. Plus she is quite zai. This is the type of player who will earn my respect on court. Anyway, i keep forgetting to screen - look what lack of practice did to mi. To think that I used to teach this drill... *ashamed of myself*. Nonetheless, habits die hard - my no-look pass had one good outcome. heh, but probly coz the defenders weren't very active on their feet or the pass would have probably been intercepted easily. Shall stick to the tip - i realized turning the body to pass does not slowdown any potential turnaround shot as a pivot; gotta be ready to turnaround, that's the trick i suppose.

Half-court 5 on 5, i played left wing, Vic was my leftback.
Our left wing plus centerback were our strongest side, the other team had a good (and friendly) leftback Kim but center Mia wasn't so keen on being a centerback more than being a pivot - which was what i did first to sneak in as pivot from wing.. else the play was very flat.

*

On the whole, I was disappointed with my shots this training but glad my feet and body could still execute most of the ideas in my head. It looks like i am still feeling this seemingly unfamiliar and apprehensive tension whenever i attend training; i tink there might be a certain faint sign of inferiority perhaps. Like i become this player who was unsure how the standard was like locally to this player who now isn't so sure where my standards lie.

I realized i am not that competitive anymore - or maybe not yet; perhaps it is the relativity of techniques level with the local players. I know for a fact that they are biologically stronger (and in most cases bigger and taller) than i am, and this is an inherent advantage for them. If i do want to be better, in a sense, it will be fitness and speed. Yet, i do not possess this determination and undefeated spirit now. I guess my focus and priorities in life have indeed changed.

I still do enjoy the moment i wear my gear, stepping on court. That feeling never seemed to fade after so many years - there will always be something for mi to learn on court.

League starts in May - dunno how i heard it as late March from the keeper from my last trg. And i think the games will be played at Olympic Park courts. Very far..

Every 2nd Friday

2009-03-05T22:09:00.002+11:00

From now on we only train every second Friday this means no training 27th Feb,
13th March, 27th March.

I still can't believe the level of English can be erroneously, non-understandably low; but at least know for sure there isn't a training tomorrow (i thought it is tomorrow which prompted mi to dig up the email notice from 9 days ago)

On the other hand, my brain power must have reduced by much, since i remembered the Friday thing as the 1st one of the month instead of the 2nd - which i now wonder what the rationale could be. So hard to remember!

work is driving mi incredibly mad; i only hope it will all be worthwhile.

National Youths' Handball Selection Trials

2009-03-03T23:10:00.003+11:00

Handball Federation (Singapore) will be holding the National Youths Handball Selection Trials on 16th, 18th and 20th March 2009 from 8am to 11.30am at Millennia Institute, Catholic High School and ITE College East respectively. We encourage all youths who are Singapore Citizens and are born between 1 Jan 1992 to 31 Dec 1993 to come for this selection trials.

The Training and Selection Committee will be conducting assesments to test their agility, spatial awareness and precisions in throwing. Talented youths will be informed and invited to join the National Youth Handball Trainings in preparation for Youth Olympic Games 2010.

Interested youths pls fill up the hball_folioform and bring it along during the selection trials.

For further enquires, please email Mr Kevin Teo at nationalmen@hfs.org.sg or Ms Su Peiluan at nationalwomen@hfs.org.sg.

10 minutes

2009-03-02T22:20:00.005+11:00

Wanted to feel a lil better since i skipped trg yesterday and got off work relatively early, plus i wasn't exactly hungry for dinner.

Slight chill at 23 - 25deg
it's turning to Autumn Intended destination: Kingsford in abt 2 Km (1 way)
Distance covered: abt 1 Km
Time stopped and sweat broke: 10 mins

Thought of U-turning, but saw some lights and thought i could get dinner. Walked Eastlakes grocery area - most shops closed. Entered Woolies, to biscuits and snacks rations, where i concluded to myself about ethnic races. Sorry, much statistics do not favour better conclusions.

Took 20mins to walk the reversed route back, stopping midway at Liquor shop and got my favourite BB Riesling, and picked up an empty (abandoned) milk crate. I'd always been on a bike or in a vehicle whenever i passed by this stretch of road so i never really got to see the shops in details. Interesting rundown and simple shopfronts, i wonder how they look in the day when they are alive with doors opened.

I realize i just didn't work hard enough; didn't want to.
tomorrow will be a better day

Pre-season trg #1

2009-02-22T21:35:00.004+11:00

Arrived early after grocery shopping, and saw 3 volleyball courts full of (mainly) guys. Most of them wore this SSO t-shirt, so i found this. It was very interesting to watch the gentle gays play competitively, yet exhibiting their feminine side when they fail to hit or receive a ball. The amount of support they had for each other was also very friendly than most others i've seen across the sports i've watched. I kinda concluded at that point after 30mins of pure observation that they were gays coz most of them wore either floral printed shorts or tight-fitting ones - too tight for proper sports. My baby had a damn good laugh from my SMS commentary.

*
Total attendance: 9 (including injured players)

My first trg since trainings resumed. Was a light training without much running, and was i glad that i touched ball plenty when back in SG. After training, i felt like i'm just not who i used to be like at trainings, but i was one of the more earnest ones with urgency; coach was needing to always urge them to recover from picking up ball more quickly and get to line since we didn't have a lot of numbers today. Maybe they aren't used to having small numbers unlike what i've been thru back home, or that they are just plain lazy - not here pain, then is there pain. Sigh. but i shouldn't complain since i get to play.

Dynamic warmup game on basketball court mixed w guys; didn't run up and down much partly coz i wanted to conserve more for the rest of the training, plus i was still coughing slightly. The courts smelled very bad with sweat stinks, so i didn't want to pant too badly and to have to breathe deep in.

Chaser catch player without ball game (player with ball to 'save' being chased player by passing ball quickly); trains hand-eye coordination. i think i was one of the more speedy players; i'm not the shortest BTW.

Dummy shooting

fake left
fake shot on right/dribble left/jump shot
fake right

i kinda lose touch with my footwork and explosive speed in cutting. hope it comes back after more practice (and weight loss).

Positional shooting
At left wing, coach commented that i have lot of 'jump' in my body, and that i turned my body to shoot before my jump is fully completed; so i should jump as high as possible, count for 3 seconds then shoot. Still getting used to the timing of jump and hang.

Different types of shots

Underarm shot
Overarm/head shot
Pretzal shot

My underarm shots are getting so much better, i wonder why. i can feel my control of my wrist better now. Pretzel shot remains more or less the same, i should try for opposite corner next time.

Penalties (2 rounds: 1 goal/1 missed)

***

Trainings now Sundays 6-8 pm and Fridays 6.30-8pm
(they just decided to make it only once a month on 2nd Friday)

The painful side of Handball

2009-02-22T14:30:00.002+11:00

(directed from SGhandball_ladies@yahoogroups.com)

Bikey's 1st accident

2009-02-20T12:51:00.005+11:00

Night ended this morning at 4plus after dinner and ktv with boss in town; i suppose sleep was sufficient but the mind wasn't that keen. Got out of bed and headed to work nonetheless, on bike - forgot helmet again today (and yesterday), and went about my usual route to office.

On most days, i am an abiding and pretty safe rider. I do take risks sometimes, but mostly calculated, or totally ignorant of them. I ride on the pedestrian walkway mostly, unless they're very bumpy or the road traffic is massive and i'd rather go slow on the walkways. This morning was a typical calculated risk situation, which on hindsight, i know could have gone very wrong if i hadn't slowed down.

(in red solid line): my typical route out of Apt to office
(in dashed red line): the continuation of the route
(pink spot): the point of collision with the car this morning
(cyan line): the direction the car was travelling in

The car had to stop to check for traffic onto the main Botany Road. I should also have stopped to watch for vehicles from his direction. There is a blindspot because of a building at the corner of that street. I slowed down, but i think the car came out a little too much as well and wasn't slowing down sufficiently. The point of collision was half of my bike on the street, the back end still on the walkway; while his car front was almost hitting the main road.

In any case, the driver got out of his car and asked me if i was ok; i consider that good for starters. Secondly, i was still sitting well positioned in my bike seat, hands still on my brakes and not off balance. What i could remember in that instant was only me being in standstill, probably because i don't know if i should/could move. In that instant, i hear a large metal piece fall onto the road surface;i thought my bike was dismembered from the collision. I was looking down onto the floor instead of straight staring at the driver or car or whatever.. i see the metal piece of rim, but it took me longer than usual to recognize that it belonged to the car, not my bike. My bike was still in one piece - only the front tyre rim was dented.

I dismounted from my bike and wheeled it onto the walkway, still not fully normal state and i only know that i was in an accident. I stared at the damage of my bike, but nothing else in my head as 2 Aussies walked past and passed some nonchalant remarks - as if i deserved it. The car driver parked his car to the side and walked to me then sort of apologized for not having saw me coming. I think he asked me if i saw him, i said i did slow down. Then we stood there for a minute and not much else was said. i was still staring at my bike. And i went "so what do you wanna do about it now?" He said he will give me some money for the bike, and i said ok, how much and told him it's a new bike. The compensation came up to $30, since it was only the rim that was damaged. I felt partly responsible although i didn't admit that to him. I suppose he could have killed me, so he was probably more relieved than anything else to just pay $30 - although he looked stingy to me at the point when he passed me the money; probably coz he asked for change to his $50 note. I should have said i don't have. I thought abt it then, but i didn't do that. Karma.

Post mortemly, i had to half-wheel the bike back home coz the front wasn't moving anymore. Thankfully, it wasn't that far from home. I considered parking it along the street where the collision occurred but the thought of me having to go back to fetch it for repair put me off. It was a sunny day, i was perspiring in my jeans and shirt a good 10mins later. Took a bus to work in sort of a half daze.

I thank God that i'm still alive, because it could have been really bad. I can imagine myself being knocked down and flung away from my bike - without my helmet. And i have no insurance coverage at this moment; i should just stay away from riding until next month. i think this was a warning of sorts. Time for me to get a new helmet, and bike lights as well. Savings for this cannot be undermined.

Bikey Beck

2009-02-19T13:23:00.002+11:00

Finally the sunshine is out and the rain is gone now! got to cycle once more, now that i'm not coughing as badly too.

The air was cool and the sun was bright this morning, but i coughed anyway; wonder if this means the air particles are not as clean as it feels at all..

But it was good riding again! more riding this weekend. oh, did i say that i'm on a diet regime now? healthy living... it's going on cool for a week plus now, so time to step up exercise now that my body has gotten rid of the germs and virus!

Handball, jogging, cycling, tanning... yay

not to be

2009-02-15T17:24:00.005+11:00

i would have biked to Sydney Boys' High for my 1st Syd handball trg in 2009 but alas, all is not looking good. in fact, i haven't biked since i got back this week coz:

i'm having a bad flu, with cough, doubt i will sustain training effectively
the weather is rainy and cold, although that shouldn't be a big prob if i weren't ill
it's the time of the month

instead, i'm chilling - literally - on my home sofa with nice mix on Nova. i'm weakened by several notches down in my immunity; happens once in more than a year kinda thing for mi - i suppose it's my body's way of detox. till next week, hopefully i'm better by then

PESS Carnival 2009

2009-02-12T01:34:00.009+11:00

NIE Multi Purpose Hall
8th Feb

Team PPK Vs HFS Youth
34 - 3

Team PPK Vs Ai Zai
22 - 5

Just realized i didn't take a team photo with PPK... darn.

Team PPK:
Liow Wanyu aka Fish, ever so serious
Marie Henry aka the 16th y.o. French girl
Brenda Er aka Bella who needs a haircut
Janice Tan aka still Jieming's gf
Wong Sze Lam aka laoshi the energy tank
Choe Yiying aka Bee Geok
Andrea Ng aka fast the breaker
Su Peiluan aka BFF
Rebecca Lin aka huh,what's Becky's real name?

Handball-ed

2009-02-04T21:44:00.005+11:00

29th Jan
- IHG finals TH v EH where TH final years wore boxers... glaringly outstanding.

30th Jan
- Recre game where i rolled about just like how i used to, so much fun!

31st Jan
- Youth trg where kids are fun yet a handful sometimes

1st Feb
- Adult trg where nothing much seemed to have changed

6th Feb
- Recre game

8th Feb
- PESS carnival

feeling healthy

2009-01-29T18:36:00.003+11:00

ECP
20mins jog

breezy; humidity didn't kill mi that much.
the fumes from the food cooking at Jumbo, the food center were very distracting; trying to be healthy, didn't have much lunch cannot run there next time!

Australian Open 2009

2009-01-21T23:12:00.004+11:00

Since i arrived in Winter, it was Footy/Rugby. Then the Olympics. Thereafter was the Cricket SA-Oz test series just last month. Now it is Tennis time; Australia - a truly sporting nation.

Into Day 4 now, but i haven't had much chance to check out the schedule and really sit still to watch a full game.

walked into the office pantry yesterday and there was the "new" wide screen HDD television set - transferred from Chairman's office, then he is getting a new one - and saw a superb blue colour. The tennis court is so nice!!! I'm sure the newbie players on the tour/championship for their first time would find it so great to play on. I miss my blue indoor handball court... and even the hard green outdoor one... i wonder if i can still shoot from all the angles i did...

Tennis - maybe i can pick it up where i am. Afterall, i can always choose to play it by myself against the wall if i have no one to practice games with. I will not succumb to Wii under any circumstances; that will only make mi grow fatter and become a no life-r! Will think through it again, just as all other things in life. Serious, detailed, researched thoughts and plans.

i hope handball will resume soon... till February...

Double cool circling 'round

2009-01-12T10:44:00.020+11:00

If i were to sketch a rough route of my entire journey today, i think a lot of lines will cross one another, and there would be one particular section where I would have been there at - at least 3 times.

Trip start time: 1155hrs
Intended destination: Bondi beach

Learning from the last trip, i've learnt to stick to main roads this time. The usual set-off:

Gardeners Rd/Anzac Pde
Moore Park Rd
The part that went wrong started here at the split along Oxford St
I didn't really notice if the clearway to Bondi Jct had a foot path, but i took left and went to the series of small streets (again - good for explorations, bad when there's lots of slopes)Downhill slopes are always fun, but at the back of my head, i will hope there is another way out of the place without going out by how i came from
Double Bay (count #1)

There wasn't much to see, and i'd just stopped there to tan but the beach smelt too salty and it was too small & dirty anyway

Then the painfully endless long upslope along Bellevue Rd on the way out; even walking the bike up was painful. I even saw a lady exercising by simply walking all the way up the winding road; the difference was she was having her ipod on, water bottle in hand while i was much slower because of my baggage - bikey & bag. I didn't even want to stop and take pictures of the hill, lest i roll down along with the bicycle. I knew i was finally on the right track when i saw the Bondi Westfield building - my landmark of the day.

And eventually, a familiar road name - Old South Head Rd.
Thank God for landmarks.

From here on, life was carefree along Bondi Road.

Whee! straight downhill all the way, but cannot really gain much speed because plenty of small traffic junctions. The earlier pain was all forgotten when the Ocean was in sight - the familiar beach, the crowd and the sun!

Timecheck: Apprx 1315hrs
Tanning begins, and quite baked today following last week's Coogee, coupled with the powerful cloudless Summer skies
Time end: Apprx 1545hrs

Having had enough of vitamin D, it was vitamin C craving - BOOST!
I actually saw this girl from the UTS Handball club who was working at the stall. Quite cool that she actually recognized mi despite i was wearing a cap and all.

More photos on foot, but no guts to walk/bike the coastal way back, nor going back the way i came from (imagine how shiok it was coming downhill, think backwards of going up!) so i took a small street instead and let the general sense of direction take mi, as always

The nightmarish upslopes begin. Mini series of slopes along the residential houses, where they weren't that elevated to view the beach, but enough to drain mi by the time Old South Head Rd was (again) sighted.

Deja vu, but this time it was half the length upslope of this road, i believe. Since i was in an automobil the first time (went to Watsons Bay on NYD) in the opposite direction... Of course, i knew what to expect at the end of this "Head" going tail-wards and i simply strived upwards - on foot nevertheless.

Hello Bondi Junction, once again.

* * *

(writer is too busy to type out the remaining of the journey, as it has not yet ended.)
To Be Continued in Part Deux

Preview :

Double Bay (count #2) ! down and back up (count #3)
Woollahra
Edgecliff
Kings Cross
Harry's Cafe de Wheels hotdog
Woolloomooloo Bay
Royal Botanical Gardens (where bikes are supposedly not allowed entry)
Hyde Park (where i expected Sydney Festival events but none)
Train home from St James Station

Bike's deserved shower at home, then it rains
Biker's plans of exploration along the entire Coast - South then North since it is cooler down South
and how biker's buttocks' development will be affected

2009 Men's World Championship

2009-01-11T00:02:00.003+11:00

Dear Handball Fans,

from January 16th to the February 1st 2009 the IHF MEN's HANDBALL WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP in Croatia brings you the best International Handball Teams of the
world. Enjoy Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Poland and the other teams
fighting for the title.
We would like to invite you to take part in this
event via the official Streaming service on www.handballworldcup.tv.

You receive this information because you registered for one of our
previous Handball Services and we thought that you might be interested in
getting this information. You can use your old login from one of the services
during the 2007 men's or women's championship. Do not reply to this email
address it is just used for sending out this news.

If you have questions related to the streaming service please go to http://www.handballworldcup.tv/.

For questions related to the IHF MEN's HANDBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2009
please go to http://www.croatia2009.com/.

The streaming service is not available in the following countries:
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Russia and Croatia

Your HANDBALLWORLDCUP.TV - Team

Expended Energy Expedition

2009-01-04T19:20:00.021+11:00

Trip start time: 1115hrs
Start point: Home
Trip initial destination #1: Bronte beach - Bondi beach
Trip #1 eventual route:

Rosebery/Gardeners Rd, Kensington/Anzac Pde
Randwick/Abbotford St
I didn't know at first but via High St was actually the shortest distance (apprx 6.5km) via Coogee Bay Rd to lead to Coogee Beach. Ironically, I veered off this road and the following sequence of events followed.
On bike, i tend to avoid roads with impossibly steep slopes, and without a planned map/route details, i went with a general sense of direction through a series of small streets and lanes, which i cannot recollect most of them now. Eventually, i found my way out of the confusion when i saw the now-familiar Centennial Park. hah.
Centennial Park/Darley Rd
So i followed the trail and found myself looking at signs leading to Bronte. Alright! it seems i'm still on track afterall. To avoid further detours, i stuck to the trail surrounding Centennial Park until the trail ended - where i had to make decisions.
Carrington Rd
From here on, I'd noticed highlands - beachhouses estates; these became my new compass. But at the same time, I had to avoid some slopes so it was a series of going thru streets again. It was somewhere during this period that i down-ed the steepest slope i'd ever gone through, and it was exhilarating even though i had both my brakes on, in case i became Superman. And turning head back to see the gradient was even better, and scarier.
I could faintly smell the ocean and hear the waves now. I've arrived! But I couldn't find any part of the place remotely resembling Bronte - the last i came. By now i realized that I'd gone a really big detour and actually bypassing Bronte. I was at Coogee beach.

Timecheck: 1220hrs
Alas, tanning can begin.

Bikey @ Coogee

Foot, Seagull, Bikey

Ended at apprx 1600hrs.

Then trail on foot begins, occasionally having to carry bike coz walking path too many humans and got few steps to climb too. Past Gordon's Bay - small bay with very clear water for snorkelling. Ended trail prematurely at Cliffbrook Pde; i might have saved more energy if i'd continued, because i ended up at Clovelly Bay via cycling on road anyway - via a small series of roads i don't rem. But i was having no water in my bottle now and i'd refused to buy any at Coogee, coz i thought i would get a drinking tap somewhere to refill.

Gordon's Bay

Cliffbrook Parade

Trip initial destination #2: Office

Trip #2 eventual route segment #1: Keith St - Burnie St- Arden St - Alison Rd - Botany St - Meeks St - Anzac Pde
By this time, my energy from the brunch, at home before trip started, and the redbull i had during tanning were almost expended; even if i still had that bit of energy left, my thighs weren't taking mi up the slopes anymore. I resorted to demouting from and pushing the bike at these impossible slopes.

Trip #2 segment #2 planned route: Gardeners Rd - Botany Rd - Baxter Rd (apprx 5km).
Decided that Gardeners Rd has been/is gonna be too frequently utilized, so wanted a change in scenery.

Trip #2 segment #2 altered route: Banks Ave - Wentworth Ave - Baxter Rd (apprx 6km).
Banks Ave is really pretty neat. There are a couple of parks, church, school, few houses along the long straight stretch of road - with cyclist lane somemore. I could use this route to Eastgardens, since i'd stumbled upon by accident now. Wentworth, like a highway, was too dangerous with high speed traffic.

Ugly helmet, turned out lil too big - gonna buy a new one

Bicycle lane along Banks Ave

Trip end time: apprx 1800hrs
End point: Office
End of day results: Some tan, not-so-achy butt, very achy thigh muscles are growing well

Cheers

2009-01-03T23:30:00.006+11:00

After ending 2008 with a gastronomical bang - often accompanied by alcohol as well of course - then watching fireworks display till 2009, it is finally time to start healthy living.

Diet-wise: chips quota will slash by more than 50%, less sugars and carbo too, more Boost.
Apart from the cycling routine, jogging regime will continue regularly. Hopefully, handball trainings will also resume soon. To avoid procrastination, I'd started right away this evening.

20 mins jog at 22 Deg Cel, followed by 2 sets of 1-min steps-work;
afterwhich i was almost depressed that i couldn't complete 10 crunches at one go, but forced myself to finish 20 at least.

Route map: O'riordan St - Doody St - Ralph St - Gillespie Ave - Botany Rd - Gardeners Rd - Middlemiss St - Tramway St (apprx 3km)

Much more than just staying healthy amidst the good & plus-sized food portions, it is also important to stay in the moderate BMI range or things can start to go really wrong; physical issues, joint pains for instance. Strained lower body joints will one day be unable to support the heavy body weight; typical Aussies look like that and i really don't want to look/be that way one day.

To maintain good health & looks in 2009, cheers.
(haha, the alcohol probably will not stop in a large way - too cheap here)

Days with Bikey

2008-12-28T23:06:00.006+11:00

Have been zooming around with bikey on short distances for a few occasions now - i'm loving it more & more! - of course minus the parts where i have to stopover to fix the damn gears.

What was intended as a mere exercise "routine" for a couple of hours turned into a destinated trip to Bondi for sunset (since i woke up way past 2pm for any proper tanning to get done on a finally sunny day after all the thunderstorms warnings with no storms at all - i'm disappointed; i'm a fan of storms).

Alas, 30mins into the ride, I arrived at Centennial Park and rode thru it - enroute to Bondi. I spent the next 30 mins riding through and deeper into the Park and i think eventually covered most of the tracks - albeit in the opposite direction and had all the (endless) cyclists and some motorists (fewer than there were cyclists; for that reason, i love Australian cyclist-friendly culture) looking strangely at mi; i doubt it was because i was Asian.

So when i finally got out of the park, my unconditioned thigh muscles were beginning to tire from climbing the slopes. Not helping, my handlebar bolt was coming loose and i had to use my fingers to twist them tight but only temporarily. Well, i could have continued riding on to Bondi but i was probably only gonna suffer on the way back with achy legs, sore butt and strained fingers with a loosened bike handle - with it potentially coming off altogether! Ok, these are mainly excuses because the main reason was that i was damn hungry since i hadn't eaten anything since i got up (rem, i got up past 2pm?).

So yea, i came home. but i finally rode continuously for 90mins and i love the feeling of perspiration! Not to forget the slight drizzle at one point in time. Nice parks with smooth tracks, and friendly roads with bicycle lanes!

First ride

2008-12-21T16:15:00.000+11:00

Bikey's first ride out on Sunday to the city - Carols in the Domain - via Surry Hills stretch of indian shops, past Oxford St, up & down the steepest slope i've ever ridden on a bike! then reaching the Domain still in 1 piece despite few attempts stopping to fix the damn gears which gives problems when changing up/down.

Carols weren't much fun since the whole Domain was alraedy filled up till the pavements of the huge park. Australians ain't any different when it comes to free admission - the emcee said some people camped overnight; i can see why the big families have all their camping chairs and mats laid out like a campfire... i left shortly after arriving coz the crowd was just too much for mi, plus bikey was a parking liability. The concert hadn't really begun with the skies still rather brightly lit, but even the birds were coming home.

Nonetheless, i learnt that the Domain is just behind Phillip St - CBD - and that right next to it is Sydney Hospital with its colonial architecture - very quaint - i wouldn't really wanna be discharged if i was hospitalized there... and right beside Sydney Hospital is the very magnificent St Mary's Cathedral. I was riding towards the train station, at the Hyde Park fountain, when i heard gunshots not far from where I was. Heart stopped, bicycle also stopped. Fireworks la...

I was in quite a good position where I stood, with St Mary's as part of the video, with the fireworks - not very fantastic, just simple ones - blasting for about a minute.

Since I have yet to get the lights for bikey, i decided to remain a saferider and take the train home - bikey's 1st train ride as dcoumented below; one of the things i love about this country and culture, also thankful the rest of the world were either partying somewhere or stuck in the Domain concert to be in the empty train. Bikey and i had lots of room to bond over photography. Heh. i'm loving my bike.