My New Toy

This is my new toy (the saddle) to make me feel faster this weekend! We (rather - Lucas) finally got paid for the Dutch Lady modelling so Mum & I pinched a bit of cash from him (management fee!?!?) to buy toys for us!

I've put the bike rack on the car, F1 parking sticker in the windscreen, packed...clean bike in the morning then off to A'Famosa!!! Hooray!! I can't wait to get in the water!! 3.5hours of madness on Sunday here we come!!

F1 Fever

I took Lucas out to the BMW Sauber F1 Team Pit Lane Park next to KLCC last night. Here he is - silly face as usual - posing in front of those two twin double tower-thingys...

This is the "pit lane" set up for the 4 nights of shows...pretty impressive marketing by the Bayern Motor Werks boys...


I like this photo...

We watched Chris Pfeiffer (must be Michelle's brother) doing his thang on his motorbike (lots of stunts etc...) - he can even do a no-handed circular wheelie! ..and he's damn good at endo's...


Helllooooooooo!!!!!...


Lucas told me he was going to say "Hello cool Mr. Motorbike man" to Chris - and that's exactly what he did!...


Then it was time to trash some BMW RC cars...I did a couple of spectacular "prangs"...Lucas did better than me!...


Makan (food) and ice-cream time afterwards. Ice cream makes Lucas very happy!...

Penalty?

HOW CAN THIS BE A PENALTY?!?!?!?! - my goalie got both hands to the ball!

surely ball then man = ok, man then ball = penalty?!?!?

Go Lewis!

When it comes to sport, I generally support underdogs. I see no attraction in supporting the best/fastest competitor, so I have never supported Valentino Rossi, Michael Shumacher, Chelsea or Man Utd., Tiger Woods, Roger Federer etc... I also believe in staying loyal - I have supported Tottenham Hotspur since I was young despite their never-ending mediocrity. So I am more of a Capirossi Button Tottenham Ivanisevic Montgomerie kind of guy.

This fits in nicely with most British sport as we seem to be very good at lots of sports but with relatively few No.1's or Champions. That is except the track cycling team who just hammered everyone else in the recent World Champs - in this case I of course support my home team - and they are the BEST.

Due to my preference for underdogs I think I am entitled to bend my loyalty rule now and again. And so I have in F1...I grew tired of supporting fellow-Scot Coulthard and my next favourite Button now seems to have dropped off the pace, so I hereby declare that Lewis Hamilton is my new F1 man. It helps that he drives for a British team.

So here's to young Lewis - as I type he's 4th fastest in first practice for Sunday's race, that I will view from a comfy grandstand seat for the first time - I will tie up my Union Jack flag especially for you at the front of Grandstand F1 on Sunday.

Naughty Jeremy!

Malaysia lambasts Top Gear host

Jeremy Clarkson thinks Perodua Kelisa sounds like a disease

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has come under attack in the Malaysian parliament for labelling one of the country's cars the worst in the world.

The BBC presenter has been filmed attacking the Perodua Kelisa with a sledgehammer before blowing it up.

But minister Abdul Raman Suliman defended the nation's car industry, saying Mr Clarkson was like a football commentator who cannot play football.

He told MPs, Perodua had not received a single complaint from British owners.

He added that the comments were made merely to boost sales of the Top Gear magazine.

'Soulless'

Mr Clarkson has voiced his frustrations with the small three-cylinder model in both magazine articles and on the Top Gear motoring show.

In one article, he said its name was like a disease and suggested it was built in jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes.

And on the show, he described it as "unimaginative junk, with no soul, no flair and no passion".

He then smashed it, hung it from a crane with a one-tonne weight attached, before blowing it up.

Perodua is Malaysia's second national carmaker and began producing small compact models in 1995.

Swim Training

Bukit Jalil, 6.15pm.
Peh not available, so solo swim.

Warm up 400m front crawl

25 sidekick L, 25 normal, repeat on left

2x (25m 6 sidekicks left 3 strokes 6 sidekicks right 3 strokes), 25 normal

25 right arm, 25 normal, repeat on left

2x 25 fist 25 normal

2x 25 scull 25 normal

2x 200m normal @30s rest

Total 1300m.

My 200m swims took 5m55s and 6m08s - very slow but before tonight I'd never swum more than 50m front crawl at any one time - ever!

Swim Training

Legs still suffering from 21k on Sunday so...

Mon pm 25mins recovery swim/stretching to get life back into legs. Also worked on s-shape arm movement. When I started learning this with Peh last Friday I really struggled to get my left arm to do this. I felt like a cripple. Tonight the movement is coming more naturally and more closely matches my right arm.

Tue pm same again. Left arm getting better now. Seem to be able to do 25m with little effort although technique is a bit sloppy. Must keep remembering to keep "T" down and rotate properly on left side. Breathing now seems to come less naturally on that side, but ok on right.

Tomorrow - going to join Peh's group at Bukit Jalil. Plan to do 1500m breaststroke on my own then a good few lengths of front crawl with the group. Start working on endurance.

PD Half "Swim"athon 2007 Race Report

Breakfast - 1 PowerBar Triple Threat at 4.30am
Race Start - 7.05am
Weather - constant rain, sometimes heavy. Windy.
Race nutrition - water @ 5, 10 & 15km, 1/2 PowerGel @ 10km and 1/2 2 or 3km later
Average HR - 158bpm (same as KLIM 21k 2 weeks ago).
Post-race weight - 78kg (after re-hydrating and food)

Thanks to Ronnie & gang for this photo taken before the start...


I finished in a suspiciously fast 2:01:09. That's over 13 mins faster that KLIM 2 weeks ago. Even if KLIM is 21.9km as reported by der pacemakers, it still would have taken me 2h9m for 21k. So todays run would still be an 8 minute or >1km improvement. I'll keep it as an unofficial record until I see what der pacemakers have to say about the route distance.

The entire run was done in rain, mostly heavy, with rivers of water in the road - hence "swimathon" post title. So I carried another 0.5kg of water with me, mainly in my shoes. Last 5km I had a bad non-muscular pain in the outside of my left knee. This left me limping a bit at the end, but fortunately the pain went completely after the run. Interestingly enough it actually disappeared in the last 100m of the run, which was on wet grass or sand, as opposed to the tarmac for the previous 20.9km.

Ronnie, Ah Fook, Nezz and Azman were there. I started seemingly slowly, as planned. I passed Nezz after 3km. There weren't too many runners so even after only a couple of km there was no pack - just individual runners now and again. This was very good for me as I tend to keep the same pace for entire races, meaning that I overtake lots of people and rarely get passed by anyone - this feels good! At the u-turn at about 7.5km Ah Fook was 2m10s ahead of me and my target was to catch him. For the next 8 or 9km I kept going, passing other runners every few minutes. At 16km I finally caught Ah Fook! Just after this my left knee began to hurt and my pace slowed. At 18 or 19km another carrot appeared before me - it was one of Pacesetters "cover girls", walking and running. She's normally faster than me so I was pleased to be in sight of her. I struggled on for the last 2km, limping a bit, but in the end the Finish line came quite soon and it was all over. Half-marathon #2 - been there done that!

I felt good throughout the whole race, even the usually difficult first 30mins. I think that the rain helped by keeping me cool. Also, I haven't run at all for the last 2 weeks so perhaps my running muscles were relatively fresh, but my fitness still kept in shape by cycling and swimming.

I spoke to Nezz after the race - first time I actually spoke to her for more than 30s, which was nice. Good luck at A'Famosa next weekend Nezz! I saw Azman finish towards the end of the prize-giving ceremony. I think that Azman deserves a bigger medal than everyone else for having the balls to do these 21k runs. Well done Azman! PB today??

Here's my cert. and particularly heavy medal! It's not often I get a medal so I'm well pleased with this one!


My travelling chums Wendy (in red) and Bee Hoon (yellow). They were 4th and 2nd respectively in their category of the 11km run.

More to come!

Meet The Robinson Boys

Lucas was feeling creative this morning (while I was feeling like having a lie-in) and insisted on painting part of his bedroom wall...

Lucas & Mihir hip-hoppin' on the way to the cinema...

F1 fever is here in KL! 8 days to go...


Posing with "Tiny"...

But first, ice cream and a driving lesson...


Who'd like to see Lucas' tonsils?...

Post-cinema lunchtime quiz...

Tasty fries and chicken...

Laughing about bums and willies! Not encouraged but unavoidable with 5-yr old boys...

A REAL Century Ride

I've just signed up for the Ipoh Century Ride, sacrificing the Bukit Merah Tri so that I can achieve another of my annual targets - a 100-mile bike ride.

If I stay at my Aunt's house and ride from their to and from the Century ride I might even beat the 179km barrier - my longest ever ride!

The Zax

I read this to Lucas now and again. It's a good kids story and teaches one the importance of compromise. This story always brings the Israel/Palestine situation to my mind...though I doubt if Lucas thinks of that as he nods off...

One day, making tracks
In the prairie of Prax,
Came a North-Going Zax

And a South-Going Zax.
And it happened that both of them came to a place
Where they bumped. There they stood.
Foot to foot. Face to face.

"Look here, now!" the North-Going Zax said, "I say!
You are blocking my path.  You are right in my way.
I'm a North-Going Zax and I always go north.
Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!"

"Who's in whose way?" snapped the South-Going Zax.
"I always go south, making south-going tracks.
So you're in MY way!  And I ask you to move
And let me go south in my south-going groove."

Then the North-Going Zax puffed his chest up with pride.
"I never," he said, "take a step to one side.
And I'll prove to you that I won't change my ways
If I have to keep standing here fifty-nine days!"

"And I'll prove to YOU," yelled the South-Going Zax,
"That I can stand here in the prairie of Prax
For fifty-nine years!  For I live by a rule
That I learned as a boy back in South-Going School.
Never budge!  That's my rule.  Never budge in the least!
Not an inch to the west!  Not an inch to the east!
I'll stay here, not budging!  I can and I will
If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still!"

Well...
Of course the world didn't stand still.  The world grew.
In a couple of years, the new highway came through
And they built it right over those two stubborn Zax
And left them there, standing un-budged in their tracks.

I thoroughly recommend Dr. Seuss stories to anyone, young or old. Lucas and I especially like The Sneetches, Horton Hears A Who (movie coming in 2008!), Cat In The Hat (thanks to little sis Vicky for the book) and What Was I Scared Of?

Most of them have quite serious underlying adult themes such as discrimination (Sneetches) and fear of the unknown (What Was I Scared Of?)

World Track Champs

Team GB are doing well after 1 day of the Champs. Womens Team Sprint winners Victoria Pendleton (right) (who was born in Stotfold, a village a few miles from where I lived in England) and Shanaze Reade (left)...

Bradley Wiggins caught his opponent in the 4km Individual Pursuit..well done Brad!

...and here's the Malaysian boys in the Team Sprint...

Hoi An Vietnam Triathlon

Check this out...!
Mmmm very tempting - never been to Vietnam!

The Pixies

My love of The Pixies is in the middle of a revival, with the best of their Doolittle and Surfer Rosa album tracks accompanying me on my journey home each day at very loud volume. My favourite tracks are..

There Goes My Gun
Broken Face
Crackity Jones
River Euphrates
No. 13 Baby
La La Love You
Dead
Wave Of Mutilation
Cactus
Mr Grieves
Where Is My Mind

The Pixies are an alternative rock band from Boston and heavily influenced by punk. I saw them live once on 8 June 1991 at Crystal Palace Bowl in London but didn't appreciate their greatness then. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said that he was basically trying to rip-off the Pixies when Nirvana did their Nevermind album.

Swim Training

Bukit Jalil
Wed. 6.15-7.15pm
Busy pool

1700m, mainly easy-going breaststroke but with increasing lengths of front crawl. No idea of timing as I forgot my HRM and there's no clocks visible from the pool! I managed several 30m lengths of crawl, and one full length (50m), with reasonable success with breathing and not being too out of breath. If I concentrate on the following I seem to do quite well.

Keep "T" low
Rotate properly to enable full inhalation
Don't forget to breathe out!
High elbows on pull greatly improves forward motion

Must try to find most comfortable breathing pattern (inhaling and exhaling) for long swims.

PCC Time Trial

No posts from me for the last few days as I was v busy organising the PCC 15km Time Trial last Sunday a.m. It was a great event with 62 riders. Everything went smoothly despite a bit more traffic than expected. Here's a few photos...

Reporting...


Fastest lady Wendy Wong with her stunning Cervelo P3 Carbon bike with Hed Jet wheels and Hed aero bars.
Danny Feng on his way to victory...


Danny gets his certificate from Seth while MC Adrian does the announcements...


Aini wins a prize!


All the photos can be found here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/7482384@N02/

KLIM Character

This is the guy running near me in the first 10k of the KLIM 21k...

He's obviously not one for wearing "proper" running gear - you should have seen his boots!

A'Famosa Triathlon

My target:

Swim (1.5km) 0:35:00
T1 01:00
Bike (40km) 1:35:00
T2 01:00
Run (10km) 1:15:00
TOTAL: 3:26:00

Post-resignation Syndrome

Post-resignation syndrome is a common medical condition only affecting employees who have resigned from their current position. Around 80% of all adults suffer from this condition.

The virus causing the condition develops quickly after the person has commenced full-time adult employment, through contact with other sufferers, but symptoms only appear after resignation.

Symptoms vary widely, but normally include headaches, stomach pains and other symptoms typical of the common cold. One interesting fact is that the symptoms usually appear for only 24 hours. The patient therfore only needs to be absent from work for one day.

The symptoms appear suddenly, most commonly in the evening of the penultimate day of the working week, or a Sunday - resulting in the sufferer being unable to work on Fridays, Saturdays or Mondays. Symptoms are rarely evident until the employee has left the office, and disapperance is sudden and complete. One unusual symptom is a sudden forgetfulness, or disrespect towards seniors, which explains why some sufferers do not report their illness.

It should also be noted that this illness only occurs in those who have missed less than 14 days of work through sickness in the previous year. Interestingly enough, 14 days is the number of days for which employees are entitled to paid sick leave.

For such persons, the symptoms of the illness only last until the 14-day mark has been reached. The medical world is still unable to explain this unusually strong (alomost total) correlation between the duration of symptoms, and the entitlement of the employee to paid sick leave. It could be some kind of 21st Century "Smart" virus.

Many thanks to Dr's Ive Resignedso, Imgoingto Makethemostof, Myentitlementto Paidsickleave, Eventhough Imnotsick, Andtheresnothingyou Candoaboutit and Sothere Hahhaha for the above report.

Swim Lesson #3

With Peh @ Chin Woo.

We worked on.....

1. Improving the push phase of the arm stroke i.e. as arm pushes back. Need to keep elbow high and wrist cocked-back to make path of hand as close to horizontal as possible while keeping the palm of the hand facing back as much as poss - thrust should be back not down. Drill = nose down, elbows at side, push back.
2. One-arm drill. Work on shoulder movement. Rotate bodyfrom shoulder/core not arm. Really reach forward with arm and rotate shoulder.
3. As arm pulls back the body should be rotated such that hip is almost out of the water. Hip should move here before arm passes. At end of stroke arm therefore moves sideways parallel to stomach and doesn't actually pass the side of hips.
4. Path of arms is s-shaped but combined with rotation is effectively in a straight line backwards.

Don't forget previous lessons - keep head/shoulders "T" low in the water. Ear against shoulder. Rotate body from core. Relaxed recovery with high elbow.