the ironman invasion begins
Friday, March 30, 2007
relief teaching back at dhs>
yeah! received a call today from dhs that i will be required to go back to do relief teaching while a physics teacher go on course. this means more income, but more importantly, some class teaching experience and getting to mingle around with my sec sch teachers!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
day 1 after surgery>
vision is near perfect. according to the doctor, it takes some time for the vision to heal. hmm. hope it all goes well. went back for my 1st check-up today and everything was fine. the only troublesome thing after the surgery is that you need to remember to drip the anti-inflammation eyedrops once every 4 hours and a lubricating eyedrops once every hour.
hope i get my perfect eyesight!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
lasik surgery>
to all wondering what lasik surgery is like, here's a rough recap:
upon reaching the clinic, the nurses will get you all scrubbed up with the traditional blue hospital gown. then after, you will proceed to the operating theatre. the theatre is simple. just big enough to accomodate a lasik machine, and a few other video equipments. you will then lie down on a seat, which is somewhat similar to the one that you find in those dental clinincs. soon, the nurses then applied numbing eyedrops onto your eyes. you can feel just a little bit of numbness. the doctor will then use an equipment to hold both your eyelids in place. after which, he will place a ring onto your pupils and apply suction. during this period, you will experience a temporary blackout period of approximately 10 seconds. the cornea flap will also be cut out simultaneously. note that there will be some slight painful sensation here. as soon as you regain your vision, the doctor will lift up the cornea flap. you can actually see him lifting up the flap. its like opening a window. you will then be asked to focus on a blinking red light. the doctor will activate the laser, which is somewhat similar to a machine gun cos you will here the 'ta. ta. ta.' sound during the period when the laser is shot. the whole process lasts for around 20 seconds. you will actually smell a burning smell as some of your cornea tissue is being burnt off by the laser. a clear contact lens will then be placed over the pupils to hold the cornea flap in place.
this process is repeated for the other eye. in about 20 minutes, your eyesight is nearly perfect and you are free to go! =)
Monday, March 26, 2007
>
yesterday was sunny. today was rainy for the whole morning. went out for a run and as i was almost about to complete my run, it poured. heavily. haha. luckily i was near my home and was able to quicky run home. afternoon was back to tuition. enjoyed it as compared to my previous work. cos now i am like my own boss, deciding when to give tuition, what rates to charge and etc. =). then i induged in mos burger for dinner. suddenly had a craving for it. think i did not have it for months already. haha. it was expensive as compared to macs or bk but the flavour is different! now, i'm going to do up a savings excel spreadsheet to monitor my income, expenditure and savings on a daily basis, and also a training log too! all computerised. so that its easier for me to access next time in uni when i'm carrying my laptop around.
so much for today. will have an early night before a long ride tomorrow and thenafter, my lasik.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
i love sunny days>
it never felt so good. sunny and hot. great for a real good workout. started at 6am in the morning with 65km of flat roads combined with 2 loops of 5 - 10 degree gradient climbs at selarang. meet up with some old cycling mates from enr whom i have not seen for a very long time... haha. next up, a short 1.5km swim under the hot sun. then its a real good wash and lubricating of my bike. now, slacking away.
life never felt so good. =)
Saturday, March 24, 2007
busy day>
supposed to have 4 students back to back, all the way from morning 10am till night 10pm... a gruelling 12 hours of tuition. but luckily my last student cancelled his lesson with me, so i got to get home early. a lost of income? does not matter to me now... haha... rest is more important... =)
as for the lasik surgery, finally decided on the wavefront version. got parents to sponsor $1500, so i just need to fork out the remaining approx $2500. do the best, and get the best result. surgery is on next tuesday, meaning one month of no swimming, one week of no running and cycling. so i'm going to do all 3 disciplines to my hearts content starting tomorrow till tuesday.
yeah. say goodbye to spectacles. hi to perfect eyesight.
Friday, March 23, 2007
lasik, lasik (b)>
the chat with the doctor was rather simple and short. asked him questions pertaining to my lifestyle, especially in sports. swimming is definitely a no no, but what about running and cycling, and if sweat gets into your eyes, will it matter?
sweat? sweat is a natural body fluid, so it does not matter if it gets into your eyes or not. just be sure not to rub your eyes so that the cornea flap will not be affected.
stndard or wavefront? wavefront is a more advanced version of lasik surgery. according to the doc, it could improve my astigmatism correction by 5 to 7%. yhe 5 - 7% will allow me to differetiate between alphabets/ numbers/ items which are very very similar, from afar, like 3 and 8. but the price will be an additional $500 w/o gst per eye. worth it or not? i am still considering.
lasik, lasik (a)>
went for the consultation today. chose The Lasik Surgery Clinic. not too bad. nice place with nice decor, staffed with an all ladies team... other than the doctors. the staff were kind and friendly... and hmmm.. even a few hot ones. =P. too bad did'nt get their number. anyway the consultation was long. started from 12pm all the way till 4.30pm. but majority of the time was spent waiting for my turn. like the ippt, consultation for lasik surgery has many stages.
stage 1: checking your eyesight using a computer system. fast and precise. then, proceed on to another machine where your eyes will be sprayed with a fine jet of air to measue your 'eye pressure'. had to do this quite a few times as i blinked when the jet was sprayed. lastly, they will do an eye scan to measure the curvature of your cornea. this is the toughest of all. think i took about 15mins for this. you will have to be able to open your eyes wide, really wide and then hold for 5 seconds. sound easy, but to me, its damn difficult, especially when you slept at midnight the day before and your eyes are all sleepy and dry.
stage 2: watch a video of your eye.
stage 3: manual measurement of your myopia and astigmatism.
stage 4: a nurse will then come to brief you on the procedure for lasik surgery, precautions and care for your eye after the surgery and the cost and types of lasik surgery for various people.
stage 5: had a chat with the doctor.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
lasik surgery - should i?>
going for lasik surgery is expensive, at $2750 for consultation, the surgery itself and the post sugery check-up. but the results - priceless. the convenience of not having to wear spectacles again is simply too alluring. after some discussion with my parents, the agreed to let me go for the surgery, and even sponsoring me $1000 of the fees. how nice. i have narrowed down my choice of surgery location to The Lasik Surgery Clinic, and Excellence Healthcare. both offer the same services and realatively competetive pricing, so do not really know which to choose. but the thing about doing lasik is that i have to rest for a month before continuing with any physical acivities... so no training for me... but think the results will be worth it afterall given that i will attain perfect eyesight...
Saturday, March 17, 2007
d&d photos - nba night>
Friday, March 16, 2007
nba night - adidas d&d>
dinner and dance. my fifth time attending such an event since 1 year old =). 1st was Dunman High School, then Temasek JC, after which was OCS Delta Wing followed by School of Logistcs and now, adidas. dinner and dance, as easy as it might sound, is always a troublesome affair. more so for the girls. and the issue that everyone attending a d&d has to tackle with, is clothing. what to wear, what make up to put on, what hairstyle and what accessories and the list goes on and on... haha... but at least for this time, i've decided that i will not spend any money on clothes since i rarely wear formal clothes out and its only a once off affair.
theme for this d&d was NBA night. so our store and cathay's was assigned the team of boston celtics and we had to dress in their team colours - green and white. to go all out to win, cathay store even appointed cedric as our mascot!!!
upon arrival, we were greeted by a row of office staff who scrutinized our appearance and gave us points accordingly. those dressed shabbily were stamped with the word 'rejected' on both cheeks. and our dear lai jin got it. but it was all for good fun. played some games outside before we enered into the dining area for the programmes and games hosted by the emcee. the games were crappy but fun, emcee was good as he engaged the crowd and the buffet spread was wonderful! the real lucky draw prizes were attractive too, although i was banned from the lucky draw cos i already resigned =(... there were some crappy prizes that were all out to make fun of the people, like 1. system 4 air conditioner, 2. cruise to nowhere and 3. foot massager. guess what... instead of getting these stuff, the winners got a 1. 4 bladed portable hanheld fan, 2. swim buoy and 3. a pair of those old auntie clogs =D=D.
**stay tuned for photos...
Thursday, March 15, 2007
more training=more satisfaction>
tuesday's brick session was good. the mandai rolling hills were much easier after attempting langkawi but the morning traffic was definitely bad... very bad. run was cool. cruising at an average pace of 5 min per km, for 6km.
today did barely anything. morning tuition. afternoon swam 1.5km. but somehow just could not feel the 'glide' when i was swimming. haha. probably the afternoon meal made me a little heavy and thats why it was harder for me to glide. =) then went to scout around for the new oakley radr. sad to say the sg dealers have not brought it in yet, or else i would have bought it today. supposed to have another tuition now while i am typing this entry... but the kid forgot all about this session and went to play tennis... sigh... lost another income =(
haha. thats all for today. just slacking and lazing around. relaxing and getting ready for another round of hard training. maybe this saturday ba. bike and run again..
Sunday, March 11, 2007
fiercer and faster.>
new tires, new gadgets. this will definitely be a faster ride =)
Friday, March 09, 2007
>
finally broke the 1.5km freestyle 40 min barrier =)
39 min 42 sec
Thursday, March 08, 2007
ironman - you will do this>
Monday, March 05, 2007
nus biathlon.>
short as it may seem, but all events must not be taken lightly. i had not put in any prep for this event, as it was just one week after my ironman last saturday and was still recovering from the muscle cramps in my legs. hence, this was just a simple relaxation recovery workout for me...
nus biathlon is definitely getting better. more sponsors, more participants. but today the atmosphere did not seem to be as great as the tri-s. there wer music and the deejays were trying hard to inject some fun and excitement into the atmosphere but the crowd was just quiet.
swim 1.5km. back to the singapore seas. choppy and salty. definitely not like that in langkawi. also, had some trouble getting used to biathlon swimmers. they just ran into the sea and kicked everywhere! i got kicked and of course retaliated. slowed down to give way to those faster people but those slower than me did not seem to do the same thing to me =(. 43 mins.
run 10km. run was easy. cruising at an average of 5:20 min/km. the run route was relatively shady with some sunny portions. accidentally almost tripped an ang moh while trying to overtake him... =P cut into his lane too early le.... haha... 54 mins.
next up. osim triathlon 07.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
the day i almost became an ironman - part 3>
... the cramps never healed... but the race had to continue. so the marathon had to be tackled with a brisk walk instead of a run. managed a 10.30 min per km walk... which was relatively ok... but soon, the night fell and a nauseous feeling set in. with 20 more km to go, i've decided that i should have a rest to get rid of that feeling before i continue... and hopefully i can run the remaining race. unfortunately, things started to became worse and servere cramps set in on both legs. this marked the end of my ironman dream as i had to be pulled out of the race into the medical tent where i was treated with massive amounts of ice cubes and a iv drip.
although i did not complete the race, i was satisfied with the ironman experience. will be training much harder for future events, probably Western Australia on 2nd Dec (if uni schedule permits) and definitely Langkawi IM 08. meanwhile, i will continue to achieve better race timings for the other triathlon and biathlon events coming up this year...
stay tuned for photos!!!
the day i almost became an ironman - part 2>
... and into the swim transition tent i went. for those who had not taken part in triathlon before, a transition tent is a sheltered place where you can change to your gear for the next leg of the race. for me, i was comfortable in my tri-suit and so i just put on my shoes, helmets and glasses and off i went... to the toilet 1st... then to my bike. surprisingly the bike transition area was already quite empty, with only around 20 plus bikes left... as i proceeded out, i could feel the adrenaline in my blood... i pushed myself hard on the 1st loop, tackling the undulating hills and the 10 degrees steep gradient slope with every strength that i had. of course, looking back now, i felt quite foolish as i should have saved that energy for the later part of the bike leg and the run. loop 1 finished without much of a problem, but by then, tireness and slight cramps started to set in and the hot weather and humidity started zapping me of my energy... and loops 2 and 3 were just pure torture, with constant cramps , there was nothing much i could do except to reduce my pedalling and apply deep heat to massage my muscles. speed was reduced tremendously... but luckily, i still managed to complete the bike leg in 7 hours 50 mins, 55 mins before the cut off time. but the timing was almost 2 hours off target... hmm...
the day i almost became an ironman - part 1>
24th february 2007.
signing up for an ironman is never an easy task. first you have got to have the guts to sign up for it. then comes the money and logistics woes. from finding a good budget hotel, to travelling to the race destination, transportation of your bike, servicing and all other miscellaneous stuff. all in all, the bill for me has came close to $1.5k. expensive it was... but all the money was well spent... its for the experience anyway.
then comes race day. having the guts to sign up for the event is just not enough. you've gotta have the strength and courage to drag yourself to the start line. the race began at the jetty of langkawi - a 3.8km swim on the warm, calm ocean waters off the coast of langkawi. swim was not much of a problem for me, as i had done that distance many times in the swimming pool already. tried front crawl for a few times initially but eventually realized that it was hard to keep the buoys in sight and therefore changed to breast stroke. emerged out of the water at 1hr 38mins, my fastest swim time ever...
