The Rachel Carson Trail: Secret Treneng Files

The past two weeks I have been running every few days at the Harrison Hills Park. Nothing major, as I want to be careful to prevent Mr Plantar Fasciitis from rearing his ugly head. I've also been trigger-pointing myself throughout the day and that has effectively stopped my heel pain. (I promise I'll blog about my plantar fasciitis cure soon. Promise!)

Today I decided to try a section of the Rachel Carson Trail, which conveniently starts right next to our home. With the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge (34 miles) fresh in my mind, thanks to my ultra marathon buds Ben Brucker (who won first place - out of 582 participants - with a sub seven hour time), I now harbored some vague hope of attempting it next year :p

I'm going to call it the Rachel Carson Obstacle Course. In the short 5 km section of trail I went on, I had to climb over 6 fallen trees, ford two rivers, flee from a mob of feral horses, a rafter of turkeys, assorted deer, a rabid fox and other wildlife!!

Ok, well, I'm exaggerating just a bit, about the river crossings. They were just little streamlets. 

And ok, the horses weren't wild, they were just trying to be friendly. 

Just seconds later I was fleeing for my life as the horses started running towards me. Maybe they wanted a carrot.

But I had to cross an electric fence. For real.

Nathan Intensity Race Hydration Pack for Women: Buy or Not?

I'm *this close* to buying this pack. I'm finally (thanks be to God and to trigger point therapy) back on the trails pain-free again, and my existing packs (Camelbak Skeeter, Reebok, Salomon etc) ain't gonna cut it for my planned longer runs.

While there is the newer model (2.0) of the Nathan pack, this partickular one is on sale, and it receives glowing reviews from a bunch of satisfied reviewers. About 99% of the reviewers on REI use it for their ultramarathons. Maybe if I possess this pack, I could also somehow run an ultramarathon too! :p

Ok, gotta do some preventative plantar fasciitis triggerpoint therapy now.

xo Gracie

Shipping Service from USA to Singapore etc

Triathlon can be a very expensive pastime (or fulltime actually!) and I'm always looking for deals on tri suits, wetsuits, and other awesome tight-fitting neoprene thingies that if successful in squeezing a body into, can either make said body look hawt or like a papaya.

The other day Ironman and Coach, KS messaged me asking if I could help purchase some triathlon stuff for him from Bike Shop Liquidators. Apparently there is a Huge sale going on there right now. Apparently, there is Always a Sale going on there even. I like sales :p

My search of Google Shopping shows Bike Shop Liquidators as one of the cheapest for the 2012/13 Pearl Izumi P.R.O In-R-Cool Tri Shorts among all the online shopping sites. KS certainly did his homework on this one. It's a bonus that free shipping is offered to anywhere in the US for purchases above $99. The plan is for the goodies to be shipped to my address, then for me to forward them to KS halfway around the world. Unless I really like the stuff and wanna hang on to them.... just kidding! If it's to Australia, I'll use USPS First Class International Air Mail (cheapest option for anything under 13 oz / 370 g, 10-14 business days) or Priority International Air Mail (second cheapest option that also offers flat rate priced boxes, 6-10 business days). Priority is expensive, e.g., $47.95 USD for a medium flat rate box to Australia. You can check out the shipping rates at USPS.com. I'm not shipping to Malaysia unless you totally absolve me of all responsibility if your item gets stolen by the postman or confiscated by customs - I've had too many bad experiences shipping to Malaysia and don't want to risk it anymore. If you have friends in Singapore I could ship it to, that's better - you can pick up from them in person after I send to Singapore, k?

Feel free to email me if you have any questions, need or quotation, or want my help purchasing and/or forwarding stuff to you ya. For the time being, I'm doing it at no charge, since I am testing the waters to see if it's a feasible venture for me.

xo Gracie

100 km Hill Ride in Rural Pennsylvania: The Secret Training Files

These hills on which I currently undergo my secret treneng, are in the region of Pennsylvania that was the training ground and from whence were launched the careers of cyclists like Floyd Landis, who went on to win the Tour de France in 2006. That he was stripped of the title for doping does in no way take away from the hard fact that these hills are real. And to mere mortals (like me), these hills are painful, but in the nicest way possible.

Two weeks ago, chillaxin over dinner with Spencer, for no reason, a string of words flew out of my mouth that my brain didn't really authorize:

Grace: "Hey, can we go for a 100 k ride?"
Spencer: "Erm, ok......."
Grace: "Really?"
Spencer: "Ya"

Ohiopyle Odyssey: my longest ride to date

Today Spencer and I met with Jessica and Daniel at Ohiopyle for some bike riding. I didn't quite plan on it but it turned out to be the longest ride in my life so far!

We first hit the must see spots in Ohiopyle including cucumber falls, the natural slide, and the Ohiopyle Falls. Then all packed with food and drink we set off for Connelsville on the rails to trails. I think the stopped every 5 miles for food. It felt just like a trieathlon! If you haven't done this rails to trails route I highly recommend. It's very scenic, crossing the youghegheny a few times and going alongside itost of the way. A 20 mile ride out and back. Once again I overdressed but that's okay. The weather was lovely, starting out at 50°F and climbing to a high 65°F.

On the bridge just out of Ohiopyle town

Rails-to-Trails

Rode a great flattish section of the Rails-to-Trails yesterday with Spencer and Mark. Started at Freeport up till about Sarvee 7 1/2 miles then back. As usual I overdressed compared to everyone else but that's okay :). it was about 10°C outside. I had on longsleeve Pearl Izumi shirt, a Pearl Izumi vest, a Pearl Izumi thermal tights and was basically a cycling advertisement for Pearl Izumi. (Pearl Izumi please contact me to negotiate my very reasonable payments for promoting your products hehe).

I found out that it is 20 miles from Freeport to Butler. Would love to ride this sometime soon!

A click on any ad below this post will put a few cents in my pocket, from the advertisers. Thanks for supporting my blog!

xo Gracie

PD Swim-Bike-Run 2012, Instalment 1: The Swim

Folks! Here's the much anticipated report of the swim at the 1st PD Swim-Bike-Run held 28 Jan 2012. It's gonna have to be short this time.

If you recall, we were supposed to do loops of 500 m out and 500 m back. The plan was to have the anchor kayak paddle out 500 m and stay put while we swam to it. Thus we could do as many 1 km loops as we so desired. It's 'supposed' to look like Map 1 below...

Map 1: Grace & Kayak on 14 Jan 2012. 500 m out, 500 m back.

Why do I say 'supposed'? Because the Real Route the kayak took (Justin wore the Timex Global Trainer on his wrist) is Map 2 below:

KL-PD-KL Birthday Bike-Run-Swim Triathlon

I Kena Racun! Since I started getting better from chronic illness and more and more involved in triathlons, I've become addicted to any form of physical exertion. And the Ironman, Ultraman and Superman characters whom I hang out with (you know who you are) have further encouraged my current fitness craze. I actually now think that cycling 80 km to Port Dickson, then running and swimming for another hour each, is a GREAT idea! Especially for a birthday celebration!

So when Syerol invited me to this tri birthday bash for himself, Cynthia, Pui San and Rupert, I immediately said yes. Even though I didn't have a bike and therefore couldn't cycle. Nor should I be doing any running (thanks so much plantar fasciitis!). I figured even if I couldn't do it, I could tumpang gembira and cheer on my buddies, and make myself useful. Plus, I looked forward to the swim.

Multi Purpose Insurans Run 2012 Report

The MPIB run (or MPIR) held this morn 8 Jan 2012 was superbly organized, with plenty of water and 100+ stations, and a huge contingent of enthusiastic volunteers. These volunteers were constantly plying us with drinks, snapping photos like paparazzi (but nice paparazzis ya), and generally making sure all 3700 runners had the best race possible. The only thing they didn't do was help me to run this thing! (Read a volunteer supervisor Frank Chong's report HERE)

And oh my, the goodies - race kit had a whole box of Nestle Fitnesse Cereal (not those little dinky samples), good quality New Balance running tee, and 20&50% discount vouchers for New Balance and Sworke sunglasses (anyone want mine FOC?). Finishers race bag had High 5 sausage bun, water, banana and mandarin orange. We also had Nestle Tropicana Lime ice cream, and free flow of Milo, Nescafe, Fitnesse Cereal with milk, and 100+. The registration fee of RM48 (late bird) certainly got us a lot.

The 12 km race route included the 'Reverse Double Hills', which is supposedly 'easier' than the Double Hills. The route was extremely pleasant running, and throwing in the bonus hills makes it challenging and memorable. Now this is just a newbie's opinion (mine). I have taken part in only one running race here (the Putrajaya Night Marathon 2011), and was never much of an athlete back in school days, but I think it's fair to say the organizers put together a race that is going to be a staple 'must do' on the local runners' calendar in future years. Here's the route below:

Fun with Synthol: Come get your Fake Muscles Here!

I remember watching this video last year and was floored by it. This guy would be so funny to watch, if he weren't so sad. In this vid, he (purportedly) says he wants to share his workout tips with aspiring body builders out there so they can "get ripped like me and get respect from women". His muscles look strange because they're fake. Not from steroids, but from injecting Synthol. This stuff - comprising 85% oil, lidocain and alcohol - is injected directly into muscle tissue to make muscles look 'nicer'. You can buy it anywhere, and some bodybuilders use it.



Apparently using it can cause 'pulmonary embolisms, nerve damage, stroke, infections... " and also gross out unsuspecting folks like myself who watched this other video of Synthol being drained from a chap's infected bicep. WARNING: Don't watch this if you have a weak stomach or full stomach.