November Notables and the Laguna Phuket Triathlon 2011

So, the last time I blogged was 29 Oct, 5 days before Spencer arrived in Malaysia for our 1 month adventure. November was just a really great month! How to do you condense a month's worth of happenings into a short blog post? Answer: You Don't. Heheh. You have been warned, this is gonna be a long post but this is my blog and I'm allowed!

Dedication
I'd like to dedicate this blog post to all my friends and family... and Spencer. Thank you for always being there for me. Love you all.

Pre-LPT Secret Training ;)
Quite a bit of what we did in November was geared toward the Laguna Phuket Triathlon at the end of that month. Neither of us had done a long distance triathlon before. The LPT calls for a 1.8 km swim, 55 km bike and 12 km run. Spencer has done a few sprints these past few years, is good on the bike and is a strong swimmer, but not runner. I took part in a few sprints this year, but had never cycled more than 20 km (blame my bike phobia!). So we went running to get him used to the heat. In preparation for the purportedly crazy hills on the cycle leg of the LPT, we also got some rides in: 25 km bike ride halfway up Genting Sempah, 35 km at Putrajaya with Raymond and Mich (thanks for the tour!), and 58 km at Hulu Langat with Yip (to whom we are forever indebted for loaning us his babies for that month, Thanks Yip!). The Hulu Langat ride was a huge confidence booster for me, because after that, I knew what 55 km feels like. Even then, nothing would have prepared me for the Naithorn Hills in Phuket... (more on that later). While Spencer and I packed our days with activities, we were careful to keep me to my sleep and diet regimen. Throughout Nov, I continued weaning off the hydrocortisone with no relapse.

Putrajaya Night Marathon Make That Change Reality Show: My Thoughts

Summary of Post
What I think of this whole Reality Show Contest thing. My personal struggle deciding which entry to vote for ('what, you don't vote yourself ah?'). A voting strategy that I feel comfy with now. And a pledge, if by some miracle I win, half goes to my friend with SLE, and half goes to Jiana's friend with DLBCL Stage 4 cancer. Be warned, a rambling blog with no pics!


Back in July

I was approached by Anand of Hooha.Asia to be in a video promoting the PNM Make That Change Reality Show.

I didn’t hesitate to say ‘Yes, I want to help’. I have wanted to run for SLE for ages (but was held back by my own illness), so this was a great chance to help raise awareness of this killer disease. The result: Make That Change Promo Video.

In the video, I was the friend who wanted to help another friend, who suffers from a lifelong autoimmune illness called SLE (Lupus). Viewers were asked to think of people in their own lives who needed financial help and to submit a 90 sec home video highlighting their ‘cause’. The five best submissions would be interviewed and re-taped. Then the official videos would be open to public for voting. A RM6000 cash prize would be awarded to the person/cause voted by the public as most needing the money (read more HERE).

This promo video, and also another sample video were publicised on Hooha.Asia, emailed to everyone who signed up for the PNM and etc. I thought there are 10,000 runners in the PNM, if 1% answered the call to ‘Make that Change’ that would mean 100 entries!

For whatever reason, by the Sep 3 deadline, only 2 vids were received, including my video. I suggested that Anand extend by another week, to give more time to people to submit. After the extension there were 4 entries total. Hm…. I think a post-mortem is needed to find out why response was so poor. Was it insufficient publicity, or people were intimidated by having to put out a 90 sec vid, or apathy (‘tidak apa’)?

Fast forward three months

The public is now voting enthusiastically for the four video entries each featuring a different cause, all noble ones.  (View Vids HERE)

Teaser Update! Desaru 116 Triathlon, Singapore Total Immersion Swim Race, Putrajaya Night Marathon etc.

I'm baaaack! It's been a busy three weeks since my last post 'Why I Love Triathlon' and it's possibly gonna stay that way until December! Here's what (I hope!) will be a short recap of the past three weeks, and brief of what shenanigans Gracie will be up to in the next month or two. I will follow with detailed race/event reports some time in November when I have a chance to sit down for the full day it takes me to produce each of these things. Ya, I'm so pokey, but hey, it's worth the wait right? ;)

My health was generally ok this month, kidneys somewhat behaving, though joints hurt a bit. I put in decent effort training on my Pseudotrainer (elliptical machine = pretend bicycle since I still too chicken to cycle on road), some swimming and a good-ish running mileage. I probably spent 1 to 2 hours a day doing some exercise, i.e., 1 hr swim, bike or run, sometimes combined. All great fun!

Gracie in pretend aero position on Pseudotrainer

10 Sep: Port Dickson Open Water Swim, organized with the help of consultants Kash, Jaja and Dogpapi.

Why I Love Triathlon

It’s been a while since my last post where I posed the question ‘Why Do A Triathlon’ and received incredibly heartfelt and inspiring responses. Thank you so much. Your comments, and the events of the past two weeks have caused me to dig deep and truly examine my motivations for doing triathlons.

My motivations now are different from two years ago, when I loved the idea of Triathlon, but had not done one. Two years ago, I thought I was completely cured from the autoimmune illness that had put a serious damper on the previous 10 years of my life. I had been medication-free for over a year, and running 5 minute miles – feeling strong.  Triathlon sounded like an extreme physical challenge that would be my way of saying ‘Hey Life, I’m back!’. I imagined my healed, new body pushing through the limits of endurance, something my sick body could not do. I said to myself, ‘I will know without a doubt that I am strong and whole again when I finish my first triathlon’ (More background HERE).

Well, they don’t call Henoch Schonlein Purpura ‘chronic’ (lifelong, incurable) for no reason.

When I actually completed my first mini-triathlon ('Hoohathlon'), I was sick – in early stages of a relapse. During my first Sprint triathlon, and my first Olympic distance swim the following day, I had barely recovered from yet another relapse (Also read 'First do no harm').  Both at the Hoohathlon and Sprint triathlon, I was happy beyond words that I had crossed the Finish Line, but this happiness was tinged with a bit of sadness. This wasn’t how I imagined it would be.

I had imagined a ‘comeback Grace’ sending a powerful message to myself and others with chronic illnesses that ‘Yes, it is possible to take back your life!’.

Instead, here was a frail and still-sick middle-aged woman swimming, biking and running with the dream of one day being whole again.

I will be whole again!

Here’s why I love the sport of triathlon:

Trying to Run Away from Myself

Summary of Post

My first 10 km! Also my first 10K in Vibrams! Also my first 10K with kidneys on strike! Could be a depressing post, don’t know yet. You have been warned!

Gracie's Komodosport Vibram Five Fingers.
Best bday pressie ever! Thanks hubs!

Post Port Dickson Triathlon Sprint – Onward Ho!!! Not…

Right on the back of my first tri (wonderful, perfect, dream tri for this tri virgin hehe), and completing my first 1.5 km open water swim with Cynthia (Olympic Distance phwoaarrrr *happy*), I was on top of the world! Best of all, my kidneys were behaving nicely, and fingers crossed I set my sights on a Half-Ironman at Desaru International Triathlon September 24 & 25. I forked out US$30 for 6 months membership at BeginnerTriathlete.com, for access to their great training plans. I was a member 2 years ago before being sidelined by illness, so I know they are good. I figured if I am not ready for Half-Ironman closer to the registration deadline, I’ll just do the Sprint instead :).

Then, I got Food Poisoning. (Note to self: AVOID Jusco Aeon Sushi King!) Day Two of Food Poisoning, kidneys started to leak protein and blood in trace amounts. Day Three, food poisoning symptoms less, but too late, proteinuria already serious (3+). By that time I already upped my meds – those hated corticosteroids (e.g prednisone, but I use hydrocortisone). Today is Day Five, massive proteinuria. I can just hope it will come back down in the next few days. I don’t want to get any weaker. I can't afford to get any weaker! Please meds, please work!

Anyway, yesterday I managed to complete my Bronze Medallion life saving certification at the Titiwangsa Golf Club. Today my training plan called for a 1 hour easy run. Usually, when I am relapsing like this, I don’t exercise much (re: 'Exercising with illness: Can?'). At the most, I get on my Orbitrac for 10 minutes and just move a bit.

Today was different.

Today I felt really frustrated. I’m sick of being sick. I’m fed up of ‘babying’ this body. So today, I tried a different strategy. I love running. I was desperate to run. So I did.

The Run