Archive for the ‘Fitness’ Category
30 Aug, 2008
Conquering King’s Park!
For the first time in almost four months, I managed a lap around King’s Park today!
I’ve been suffering from a knee injury for the past four months or so, possibly incurred after a round of football and probably made worse by me running through the pain days after that.
Well, though I cannot say that I’m 100% recovered, I think that I’m well on my way to a full recovery, and here’s the things that I’d say contributed to that recovery:
- Rest — On the recommendations of LiShya (and some helpful folks on the internet) I took about two months off running completely, hard as it was. Though it’s difficult to tell exactly how much it helped, I believe apart from consulting a medical professional it’s probably the next best thing.
- Consult a medical professional — As I was not in Singapore at the time of injury, and not comfortable with visiting one of the local doctors here (in Perth), I could only do so after about three months since the injury when I was back in Singapore. After some chiding from my doctor (I went to Jurong Polyclinic) about how I should have visited a doctor right after the injury for a proper diagnosis, I was given glucosamine (about a 1000mg dose per day). Glucosamine from the Polyclinic’s dirt cheap, even after taking into account the $12 consultation fee. If I’m not wrong, I paid $20+ for two month’s supply, about half the price of what you’d get at any outside pharmacy.
- Glucosamine — Again, though I can’t tell how much it helped, it’s about a month after being on this I’ve been feeling less pain in my knee, especially during exercise.
- A knee brace — I got a knee brace for running, and I think it’s helped me, even if not physically, at least psychologically. One problem with it is that it looks pretty uncool, and I wouldn’t wear running shorts with it.
- Fish oil — after consulting the internet on what’s the best thing to take for knee injuries, other than glucosamine, I found it was fish oil. Let’s put it this way: even if it doesn’t help you with your knee, the omega 3s in this baby will aid your heart and brain.
Of course, during those four months I wasn’t off exercising completely. I supplemented my lack of running with cycling, jumping rope (surprisingly it’s got less impact on the knee than running), and plain old push-ups and squats (and other forms of strength training, too).
These, if anything, help keep the itch in the legs at bay somewhat, and the body (and your partner) will thank you for it!
I hope this helps those who are injured and/or are wondering if they can do some exercises anyway.
5 Feb, 2008
Army Made Me Fat
I’ve just had my breakfast: a slice of bread with an application of Heinz Sandwich Spread. After I had finished that slice of bread, I put away the loaf of bread, and placed the butter knife into the sink.
Suddenly it dawned on me that compared to the time I was in the army, I am eating considerably less.
Back in the days of camouflaged attire, four pieces of bread were standard fare. For two years I’d eaten that, and as my stomach adjusted to that amount, anything fewer than four would never do.
Never mind the odd comment about the amount (”wow, four pieces?”), I just thought, “yeah, four pieces: a single serving.” Let’s just say I was young, and nutrition wasn’t my strong suit.
Just imagine how the army, with its emphasis on fitness and all that, would have impacted me. I never expected them to overfeed me, and actually believed that whatever was served was “the right amount”.
But in the army they serve you more than you need, and this is especially true during days of little or no physical training.
They serve you enough food for you to walk 20 kilometres with 20 kilograms worth of load on your back — everyday — whether or not you were going to walk 20 kilometres with 20 kilograms worth of load on your back or if you were going for a 20 minute walk with 20 grams worth of stationery that day.
During my days off, and the weekends, I would continue eating like I did when I was still in camp.
No wonder I wasn’t losing any weight despite running my ass off every week!
Exercise TOGETHER with proper nutrition are essential to weight- and fat-loss, just like how essential youtube is to a teenager (my 14-year-old brother can vouch for that).
And that’s how the army made me fat, and kept me that way: though they did occasionally give several useful training tips, education on nutrition was sorely lacking, and the things I thought I did learn (like four slices of bread equals one serving) were, well, wrong.
4 Dec, 2006
Running a Marathon
I ran the Singapore Marathon (also called the Standared Chartered Marathon, named after the organisers) last Sunday, and I have got to say it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in a long, long time. Like the NaNoWriMo, I had gone into this expecting something difficult, but not this difficult…
Bloody Early
The start time of the marathon was 6 am; organisers say this is due to the high daytime temperatures in Singapore which can hit 30 degrees Celsius and above. Any later, the majority of marathoners (who finish between four and six hours after the start) would have been caught in the midday sun.
This very early flag off time meant that if I wanted to have a decent breakfast and still start on time, I would have had to wake up around 4.30 am, which I did.
I met up with a couple of friends just before the start of the run. The three of us decided to run together; our pace for the 21km in August was quite similar, but this was the first time we actually sought to run together — we felt that since this was our virgin (I love this word) attempt, we’d just stick together and see how it goes.
We started off really slow, telling ourselves that we’d pick up the pace at the 10km mark. But by the time we reached 10km, we realised that if we were going to last the whole way, picking up the pace now would have been suicidal.
At the 28km mark, I noticed the first signs of cramping. A tightness in the calves made me pull over and stretch, but I knew this was only temporarily. Once cramps start, they don’t go away, and stretching only helps for a while.
By the time I hit the 33km mark, my cramps were getting very bad, so I told my friends to go on without me, as I needed to bring down the pace a notch.
But my friends, being the nice guys they were, pushed me on.
“Come on! We’ll take it one water point at a time,” one of them said.
“You guys go first, I feel the cramps coming, I can’t keep up. Go, go, just go,” I said.
“Just a little bit more, then we can stop and stretch,” he said, pointing to the sign tied to the lamppost that read “Drinks 150m”.
“Just go,” I said, with more than a little hint of annoyance. “I feel the cramps, and the pressure to keep up with you guys will just get me injured. If I don’t complete, I’m going to blame it on you guys.”
“Hey, you can’t do that.”
“Just go! I’ll meet you guys at the end.” And with this, they ran ahead.
Hitting the Wall
There is this saying that non-elite runners will hit a “wall”, some point in the race where their body feels absolutely depleted, normally around the 30km (20 miles) mark. For me, it started at the 28km, but fully set in at the 33rd.
My legs started cramping up with every attempt I made to run. Even walking was a problem, actually. And at one point as I stepped onto a pavement, both my calves pulled really tight, and I felt like they were imploding. I was literally immobile for a minute, before the tightness went away. I did some stretching, and continued on my way.
Before this race, I told myself, “I’m going to complete this, even if I had to crawl to the finish line.” But this was easier said than done. With 9km more to go, I wondered to myself how I was going to complete this.
A Road Marshal
When I passed by the 35km mark, I saw a person pulling up, apparently due to severe cramping. A young road marshal (he looked like he was in his teens) ran up to him and helped him. As I jogged past this fellow, I suddenly had severe cramping, so I pulled up too. This marshal had a friend as well, who was sitting down on the pavement when the other guy cramped up.
So as I cramped up, the other marshal who looked even younger, tried to look away. But I stared at him, wondering how he could be so apathetic. I was dying here! Finally, he looked at me, and asked, “are you okay?”
I waved him off and replied, “don’t worry, I don’t die,” at which he replied, “oh, okay,” and continued his stare into nowhere. I was rather amused by this, and walked on.
At the 37km mark, feeling bored out of my skull, and useless as a Frisbee, I needed someone with whom I could share my woes. An Indian man suddenly started walking beside me. I turned to him and said, “not easy, eh?”
He looked at me like I was a Frisbee hurtling toward him at 90km per hour. I continued, “heh, this is one experience I’ll never forget.”
“Ya, me too,” he said, and he started running again. It felt good to be able to motivate. But after walking a little bit more, I wanted to do more than motivate, I was desperate to move a little faster.
The Shuffle
So I did what I felt was a last resort: The Shuffle. The Shuffle is a hybrid of walking and jogging, a kind of dragging your feet, though without letting your feet touch the ground. Unable to run or jog, and desperate to move faster than walking, this was my only alternative.
What’s “The Shuffle?” I hear you ask. Well, I’ll explain it to you.
Sometimes in the park, you’ll see some people who look like they’re jogging, but at a curiously slower pace such that they’re not really jogging. They’re really doing The Shuffle. Some of these less experienced Shufflers actually move slower than walking speed.
Being a relatively fast runner, these are the people I walk past and think, “what the f*ck are they doing?”
This, ladies and gentlemen, is The Shuffle.
You can never pin-point what exactly these people are doing until you are exposed to the concept of Shuffling. Now when you see these, you can safely say to yourselves, “yes, that’s one of them; one of them Shufflers.”
The iPod Shuffle (so popular with runners and joggers) wasn’t so-called for nothing.
While shuffling my way to the finish line, I told myself, “never again!”
Never again will I submit myself to this torture. Never again will I allow myself to stoop so low as to even think about doing the Shuffle. Never again!
Next time, I’m training for this shit.
9 Apr, 2006
Fast Food Calories
I came across an article on the amount of calories certain foods of some popular fast food chains contained. It’s not the first, nor the most comprehensive, but it was quite enlightening anyway. You’ve probably come across something like this in some weight watcher’s magazine or school science textbook, but nonetheless, here’s the link:
Maybe it’d make you think twice before sinking your teeth into that Whopper.
22 Jan, 2006
Fitness
Anyone needing inspiration or just the knowledge of the possibility of losing weight or getting fit has to check out John Stone’s site. Just check out the pictures of him on his site.
This guy shows the possibilities of a focused fitness plan — a fitness lifestyle.