Sunday, October 30, 2005
Night Watch
| Since 2001, no adventure racer in Singapore has been subject to the combination of sleeplessness and furious pace that is 1-day adventure racing. I aim to be the next one this 2005. Expedition length racers in Singapore have had to race in sleep-deprived conditions before, but they always have had the chance to sleep. Which leads to the question: Who owns the night? The recent Ace Adventure 3 was a testament as to how limited opportunities exist for our local athletes to be conditioned to race fast and smart under cover of darkness in off-road conditions. In a race lasting 24-36 hours, competitive teams will get by on zero sleep. The demands of such a race necessitate a pace that is faster than that of expedition-length efforts, sometimes as fast as sprint-level events. The night element, according to latest technological developments, is to have the best and brightest lights to last one night, especially for speedy / technical mountain bike legs - HID systems have come to the fore in this area. Expedition-length lighting, on the other hand, requires due consideration for weight savings, with little or no chance of recharging in unsupported conditions. It would be hell to lug heavy batteries, only to find out that the team can only move 'so fast' due to the sheer fatigue build-up over the days of the event. Therefore, for expedition-length lighting, only 2 HID systems at the most need to be on the team during MTB legs, with the other 2 team members having high-output LED systems. DUring movement, the point person dons the HID (backed-up with his own AAA headlamp); while the second person (navigator) has the less powerful LED (he may not even need to turn it on on flat sections); 3rd person is the weakest biker in the team, donning a HID; and the rear person should be the strongest biker, or the most competent in technical off-road, and able to conduct repairs - with an LED. During flat sections, HIDs will be turned off, and all will run on headlamps (as required per the trekking sections), as required by the presence of ambient lighting. During full-on technical sections, HIDs will be turned on in addition to the headlamps of the 2nd and 4th persons, with the point man and navigator (1st and 2nd persons) making sure to call out obstacles... LED systems will be turned on if the going gets really hairy for the 2nd and 4th, who should be competent enough to tackle the problem bits under LED lighting. During trekking legs, everyone can survive on headlamps running on AAAs. My best bet would be the PT EOS... a nifty 1Watt-LED product that is compact, reasonably lightweight, gives good throw for an LED, and has variable settings from 2.2 to 60 hours - oh and it's highly water-resistent too! I've found a way to wrap it around the handlebar of my bike, so that it becomes the back-up light (aka 'easy-terrain' light) during biking legs. I find it sad when not enough thought is put into lighting requirements. Night movement has been the inevitable Achilles Heel of Singaporeans... a combination of lighting that is too weak, lack of run-time (necessitating frequent battery changes.... ergh!), and not enough conditioning in realistic settings. The results: drastically slowed-down speed at night, navigation errors, accidents, and walking the trekking or biking sections that could have otherwise been run or ridden fast on, respectively. We don't have good enough lighting systems available in Singapore, for one thing; and we have not had the chance to prove on our own soil what works in race conditions - in an ACTUAL NIGHT RACE, off-road!!! That sucks. |
I will put an end to the ignorance - soon, we will be racing as fast as we do in the daytime, as other athletes of other nationalities do!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Rising up, back on the streets...
| Yesterday: 2-hour endurance kayak with occasional bursting + 1hr 15min pack trail run. Today: Gym session, 1hr canoe polo, 1hr, 8km pack road run A few cock-ups already happening in the lead-up to the Red Yeti. 1st up, my hydration bladder smells like rubbish, literally. Don't ask me how it got so stinky... it involves some miscommunication, and three weeks worth of fermentation in the bottom of a kayak. I've tried all manner of cleaning, including baking soda + warm water, copious amounts of dish-washing detergent, and - my personal favourite - the washing machine. Latter idea seems to work. I pray that with a few more usages, the smell will disappear. Princeton Tec Aurora casing broke! Won't seal tight now without the help of some tape. Well, always an excuse to buy new gear... hehe! Got myself a Princeton Tec EOS in International Orange - one colour i'm sure they don't have in Singapore! Bloody bike is not ready yet... wrong cables put in! Well, i'll have to pic it up tomorrow then... Not sure if i can get in a night session on the bike tomorrow. OK, so the tentative plan is as follows: Friday - Hard day -> wake up and pack hike (10km return trip) to buy map and compass; phone calls later in the morning; train to town; cut hair and collect bike; bike to kayak club; 1.5hrs pack hill interval bike training; 1.5hrs interval kayak; bike home and prepare dinner; get in a night easy bike session Saturday - Hard day -> wake up and PT; train to Dandenong Ranges... pack trail run/hike for 3 hours minimum (test food and other equipment); take train come back; and kai kai with friends Sunday - Easy day -> easy bike-kayak-bike brick (emphasis on kayak endurance - 3hr... oh yeah, remember to take pictures!!); prepare dinner Monday - Moderate day -> Gym session; prepare lunch; evening/night hill run intervals 1hr (Test lights also please) with no load; night technical off-road bike handling 1.5hrs minimum Tuesday - rest day -> Melbourne Cup?? Charge batteries please!!!! Dinner as usual Wednesday -> Recovery day -> bike-trail run 45min (no load)-kayak 1hr-bike (easy all); dinner as usual Thursday - rest day -> Pack and leave for Adelaide Friday - Eve of D-Day -> Light run?? Probably too busy sorting shit out... Saturday 0000hrs - Sunday 1200hrs -> GAME ON!!! Please pray that is stick to it. Thanks.... Wooooooooo! |
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Game on!
From this day on, the countdown to XPD 2006 begins.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Sometimes you gotta let go
| Training volume has dropped down, right into the proverbial toilet bowl. I'm only doing training on alternate days now, and not more than 1.5 hours each time. I'll be back with a vengeance on Tuesday night, promise. |
Monday, October 17, 2005
Hello...?
| This is a good entry... just going crazy... never had to stall my training for so long... feeling strong, yet longing for some action...Arghhhh!!!! Counting down to the exams now, guys. After next week, Tuesday, you'll get the full details of my holiday plans. out for now, Wilson |
Friday, October 14, 2005
It just wastes you...
| OK, staying up to burn the midnight oil is not good. It just totally blows the training schedule for the nex couple of days clean out the windows. About the only benefit i can see is the training effect of sleep deprivation - getting to know yourself more i guess, and knowing what you tend to do when the sleepmonster hits (albeit in a static physical state). A good time to test out stimulants too!!! Gosh, i just walloped an entire 1.5l bottle of Pokka Green Tea over 4 hours. Gave me that buzz i needed to say awake, and i hit the loo on six occasions in those 4 hours. Well, last night was not a total waste in terms of conditioning. Other than the evening's yoga class, i later managed to join MBoC for a 1.5 hour session of canoe polo, at the Clayton campus swimming pool. It was my 1st time playing the game using specific equipment, and i enjoyed it tremendously. Oh yeah, brushed up on my roll too, which can't be a bad thing. Oh yes, about the yoga: it really works, as far as flexibility conditioning goes. Felt damn good immediately after it. I think it is a good counter to all the high-tension sports i'm used to training for. As of now, I've just woken up from another s*** experience - the vampyric lifestyle so common of my schoolmates. It's just about dinner time now, and i will get additional, FULL sleep tonight so tomorrow's training schedule maintains some semblence of periodization. |
This is my BLOG!
| I'm proud of this one. I just don't know why, but it is just so cool to be able to blog without inhibition. OK, back to the good stuff: Training for Red Yeti is picking up. I sure as h*** know that my teammates will be older and definitely more mature than myself. I got a lot to learn from them on this race. I'll take it as a learning experience, come what may! it's a substantial step-up... from sprints to 36-hours. OK, i could count the SAC 3-day stage race as a step up too, but really night racing is new to me. I'm damn keen to find out how it will be like getting the heebie jeebies of sleep deprivation. And those hallucinations, whoa! Gotta love 'em if i see 'em! |
