Day 10 : Pilates and yoga for cross training

This is the 3rd day of week 2. It's cross-training day too.

Since we are already putting a lot of strain on our knees, we decided that we will go for pilates and yoga for our cross-training session.

The first time that we did it, we just did a 30-minute workout as what was required. But we felt we could do more so this time, we went for an 18-minute workout and another 40 minute one.

This was the first one

And this was the second

Our legs were shaking and we were sweating like pigs after these.

Day 9

It's 4.8km day.

Sleepy from the previous night, I tried to take a nap upon reaching home.  It was drizzling outside so I could have had a convenient excuse for not running tonight.

But I couldnt sleep.  So I got up and went running instead.

I did the usual route and following the usual pace.  But when I was already close to the end of my route, I was still short by 1.8km so I turned left in one of the streets and found myself in an unfamiliar place.  It's good that Pacer had a map giving me a sense of perspective.

In the end, I finished 5.3km

This was also break-up day :(

Give back by supporting a UP scholar

Im a person with a lot of questions in life, in the world.

But I have a few fundamental beliefs.

The value of education is one of them. Being kind is another.  And so is giving back.

I think every UP graduate carries on his/her shoulder the responsibility to be an agent of change.  No one gets out of the university thinking that he/she lives only for him/herself.  In a lot of instances, graduates commit themselves to the traditional notion of public service - working for the government.  Others go for volunteer work.  Others help themselves first, so that they could help others more. But not to gloss over it, some tend to forget to give back.

But we are always reminded. 

This is one of them.

Give back by supporting a UP scholar

Since 2003, the UP Alumni Association Singapore (UPAAS) has paved the way for 5 UP scholars to don on their sablay and graduate.  Two more are in the process of completing their degrees. These are students who come from humble families, going into the University with nothing to hold on to but their dreams for a brighter future, and the luck to have had acquired a slighly higher than average IQ.  

UPAAS hopes to bring this number up with this initiative.   The funds raised through this crowdfunding will go towards supporting our scholars through a 4-year undergraduate course at any of the UP campuses. 

So come on, click the link above.  Give back. Share. You can give either $25 (the cost of one meal in a restaurant), $50 (the cost of a buffet), or $100 (the cost of a bag).  A small cost from you will make a big difference in the lives of our scholars :) 

Day 8

It's rest day today but since it's quite cool tonight, I walked for 2.4km on my way home.

Tomorrow is going to be more intense. 4.8km with strength training. We're levelling up!

Day 7

Today is 3.2km day.

We tried doing how easy run is supposed to be. Running at a pace when we could still talk comfortably and using the power of the legs.

It indeed helps in terms of endurance and keeping the pace consistent. From the start towards the end, we ran at a 0.5km/5min pace and we weren't tired after the 3.2 distance. Our lower legs did all the work.

If the run was held today, we would have finished it in 3.5 hours. 

Day 6

Saturday is supposed to be for a 4.8km run but it's the org's Christmas party so I skipped training again.

Day 5

Today is rest day :) So it's decor-making time.

I helped mostly with the snowflakes.  The small ones with their intricate details were a pain in the ass.    But once you get the hang of it, you cant stop.  It was 130am when I called it a day.

Day 4 (again)

Day 4 is another 3.2km of easy run.

I stayed quite a bit late in the office, trying to finish a portion of my report. So I got home after 8.

There's a buzz of activity also going on in the house because of christmas decor making for the org's party on Saturday.

It was so tempting to just stay and ditch the run.  But then again, I kept telling myself, it's just one round in the neighborhood, and that's gonna be fast.  So I went.

As with most endeavors, starting is difficult.  I realised, no  matter how short or long the distance is, when one is tempted by laziness, it's always difficult to get into your tempo.  But once you're there, it's peanuts.

So I went for my 3.2 run. I noticed that I ran faster in the first few hundreds of meters then reverted to my old pace.  But I always try to run faster again whenever I notice that Im becoming slower again.  Overall, I think I did better this time.

Day 3 (again)

Day is supposed to be 30 minutes of strength training.  But I stayed late in the office and met the boyfriend after.

So no strength training happened.  Although I still did more than 10k of my required steps. Hope that counts as strength training :)

Day 2 (again)

Today requires a 3.2 km walk/run.  So I just went around the neighborhood.

Day 6

Today was supposed to be another run day.  But I was tired and sleepy. So I ditched it.

I also looked at the schedule and realized we were not following it. So we're restarting instead.

Today is Day 1, week 1.  14 weeks before D-day.  And today, day 1, is rest day.

Day 5

Today was supposed to be rest day but I went for a run to compensate for the one I didnt do last night.

We were supposed to go at 630, to try how it is to run early in the morning.  My alarm went off at 615 but I snoozed it multiple times. I finally got up at 625.

Im not a morning person so it's a gruelling task to wake up that early.

The sun was already out but it was a bit cool. We still followed the canal but took a different from my place to get there.

Running early in the morning has it's own plus points. It's quiet.  Less cars. Less people.  But it's also hot.

We didnt eat anything before the run.  We also didnt drink enough water.  By the time we reached 4km, we were already very thirsty.  So we deviated from the route to find a store.

This time, we went past Kallang MRT and reached the other side of the river - close to the Stadium.  I did 6km in 55 mins. Time improved for a few seconds, probably because I had better shorts today :D

This was the view at the end of the trail.

we were very close to the city

On our way back, we passed by a community garden. An interesting one.

This is a garden maintained by the Waterways Watch Society

And there was a special entrance for otters :)

How to water your plants, gradually 

Day 4

Day 4 wasnt supposed to be rest day but it became one.

I was at the Zoo and River Safari for an event and came home late so I wasnt able to do my run.

This is what happened instead

Black day today

The endorphins were working after my run. But things happening back home are just unbelievable.  Marcos was buried at the LNMB at noon today.

Out of curiosity, I tried watching BBM's speech at his father's funeral. Having lost my father, I too was touched for a second seeing the sorrow in his face. But the more I listened to what he was saying, about their family having to wait for 27 years before they could bury him today, my thoughts go to the thousands of people whose loved ones died and never got the chance to say goodbye. It's painful to experience death in the family. But I couldnt imagine the pain of those who have waited for years not knowing what happened to their dear parents, siblings or friends. Even if they have to wait for 27 or maybe even 72 years more, they will never have the chance to see their loved ones again and will never get the justice that they deserve, all because of this person who is being buried at the LNMB today, with all the choppers, red carpet, military parade, and what have yous.

I stopped the video. Hindi ko kaya. F**k. I wish I was in Manila today. 

I copied this from my FB so that I wont forget.  Days like these shouldnt be forgotten. These events force us out of complacency.

Day 3

I knew today was gonna be difficult.  I was feeling sleepy since lunchtime because of the cough medicine that Im taking.  Plus Im training alone.  It was just so tempting to ditch it and sleep early.  But lo and behold, I managed to talk myself to run :)

The first five minutes of the run was funny and such a hassle.  My beltbag was slipping.  My hairband wasnt tight enough so my hair was slipping too.  My shorts were, again, slipping, but upwards :)

But anyway, I survived that.

The first km was difficult. And the next km.  I felt heavy but the upbeat track that I was listening to helped a bit.

Initially, I was thinking of just running within the neighborhood.  I only needed 4-5km today anyway.  But then again, Forrest Gump was kinda right, at some point, you just cant stop running.

When I reached Serangoon Road, I was ready to head back.  That was approx 3km so I could cover 6km if I run on my way home.  But curiosity got the best of me.  I was following the canal and when I got to the block after Serangoon Rd, my turning point last time because I thought the passage was blocked, I went and checked if there was a way to the canal.  And there was!

Thats the flyer right there

I was smiling when I got there.  When Pacer reminded me that I was already running for 30 mins I think with 3.9km and it looked like I was just at the beginning of the park connector, I was so happy because I know that I needed to get to the end of it before I could find my way home.  These things make me realize, I enjoy running better and cover more distance when I dont know where Im heading to.  If the route is familiar and I know that I am close to/far from home, I get bored or lazy.  The sense of proximity makes me slack (ugh, I couldnt think of that other word which is more appropriate in this context).  Unfamiliarity excites me and pushes me to just go and reach the end.

And I think running is a good way of knowing the inner parts of the city which one would never get to see if you're in a bus or an MRT.  One interesting sight that I saw on my way was this group of old men, chatting in the middle of an arched bridge.  They were there, the four of them, with their stools, right in the middle of the bridge, simply enjoying their own sweet, leisure time.

Urban centipede

Anyway, I ended up in Kallang MRT.  Pacer said that I ran 45 mins and covered 5km.  But I wanted to do 6km.  So I ran some more.  6km for 55 mins.  At this pace, I could finish 21km within the 4-hr cut-off time. Pwede na but I need to improve.

I walked the rest of the 2km home.

Day 2

I didnt have the time to write this on the day itself since I got home late.

I watched Fantastic Beasts! and got home at 1230.

But that doesnt mean that I didnt train! On the contrary, and I have to pat myself on the back because of this, I trained first before I went to see the movie.

Training today consisted of 30 minutes of cross-training.  We did yoga from a Youtube video.

Literally, I didnt sweat but I could feel my leg muscles being pulled and stretched. Aah, that painful but nice feeling you get from yoga.

Still on going green

This is not my food for today but I think it looks so pretty that it needs to be posted.

Vegetarian pasta with pesto.  Basically a combination of grilled tomatoes, eggplant, brocolli and tofu mixed with pesto and pasta.

Day 1

This started from a chat with a friend while resting after our dragonboat "competition" (yay, our boat won!).  The competition was in the afternoon and that morning, she even went for a half marathon.  We were all gushing at the amount of energy that she has when she casually mentioned, "oh, i just walked half of it". Apparently she ran the first 12k and walked the remaining 9k and still managed to finish 21k within the 4-hour cut-off time.

It was an inspiring moment for my friend M and I! There's no doubt that we could do 12k because we run that distance in McRitchie once in a while and walking the rest doesnt seem to be a bad idea.  I know we should set our goals high, I mean shoot for the stars and land on the moon, right?  But then again, there's also the Milo tagline which says, great things start from small beginnings :)

So the moment we got home, we registered for the half marathon category of the 2XU run in April 2017.

Today is Day 1 of training.  The goal is to do 3 runs in a week, 2 days of cross-training, and 2 rest days. This we have to do weekly, until the half marathon day.

Today we were supposed to do 3 miles, and without consulting Google, I thought that such would roughly translate to about 6k so we went for it. It turns out we only needed to do 4.8k.

The run was just for 6k and took me an hour :( The rest was because I forgot to switch off my app right after the run

It took me 60 minutes to finish 6k.  Pretty slow I think, considering that there was no uphill terrains. But I still have 19 weeks left.  Plenty of room for improvement.

Let's see how my muscles are tomorrow. And let's see how far I can go, not in terms of distance, but in terms of willpower and discipline.

Going Green

These past two weeks, my acid reflux has been acting up again so Im currenty under a deliberate attempt to eat more greens to reduce my acid.  A lot of websites and blogs are suggesting that eating raw vegetables and fruits, a lot of which are alkaline and alkaline forming, help the body get to its balanced state.

On ordinary days, I eat a lot of vegetables.  My friends from my previous work knew that if we're eating out and Im delegated to choose the dishes, there would always be vegetables in it.  But I also eat a lot of meat which, to someone with an acid reflux, is not helpful.  So eating my vegetables with less or, in some circumstances, no meat at all is a punishment.  Im not really the kind of person who deprives myself of food or meat.

But with the determination to get rid myself of this chronic cough from the reflux and for general wellness as well, I have been eating like a cow, with all my meals mainly green colored and healthy-looking.

Mixed greens and quinoa with grilled chicken breast and parsley dressing

Oven-baked kale and tofu with avocado

They're both easy to make. For the first one, just put salad greens together with cooked quinoa and top it with grilled chicken.  I marinated the chicken in lemon and olive oil before grilling which I regret because it left the chicken a bit dry.  Next time, I'll just rub salt and olive oil to the meat instead to maintain its juice.

The parsley dressing is surprisingly good.  It's a combination of parsley, mint, garlic, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and honey all blended together.

The second one is a no brainer.  Just tear the kale into bite sized pieces, sprinkle it with salt and olive oil and pop it into the oven until it wilts.  For the tofu, you can either fry it or pop it into the oven too.  Mix them together with diced avocado for a creamy taste and you'll have a filling lunch.

I wont lie, it takes some time to get used to 'clean' taste of healthy food.  But once you move past the grudge (haha) of eating non-sauteed food or non-stir-fried food with no sauce, your taste buds will adjust and slowly, you'll appreciate the taste of healthy food and tell yourself that 'hey, they're not so bad at all".