Postpartum fitness (first pregnancy) – Months 4-6… hit a slump then it’s time to take it to the next level!

Fitness, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

These few months really showed me what a roller coaster the postpartum fitness journey was! After seeing some improvements, especially with my run, I hit a wall and suddenly had a very tough workout. Even at my fittest, I could just have an off day – but it was still very frustrating. There were times where I felt like I was never going to be as fit again, but I knew that had to get out of that headspace and remind myself that I had setbacks during my Ironman training too. There were days where I felt like I was not improving at all, but of course all the training paid off in the end when I completed my Ironman and did it below my goal time! Some days may be tough, but I needed to always keep in mind that hard work and perseverance always win in the end.

During Christmas, I decided to take a week long break and indulge. Of course, there was nothing wrong with that but it also was a bit of a drag to get back to training. I was still working out at around the same frequency as the 2-4 months period but with a little bit more intensity. My birthday followed after Christmas and it was another few days of indulgent eating. After that, I decided it was time to take it up a notch. It has been 6 months since I gave birth. I felt like I had given myself ample time to recover and I could push myself a bit more now.

We had started to do family hikes on Sunday and were initially doing a gentle and flat hike. I decided that we were going to start doing the Twins every Sunday instead. For those not in Hong Kong, the Twins is a relatively tough hike with a lot of stairs. It is a great workout! The timing worked out perfectly with Lex’s growth because he was now able to hang out in the carrier for a longer period of time without getting fussy. Major shout out to my husband who carried this little 18 pound weight during the entire hike!

I also decided to increase my trainer rides from 30 minutes to an hour and to follow a training program. I did not do all the programs of the week because there were 3 and that was too much, but I did 2 of them per week. This was the same program that I used for my race trainings. It felt nice to follow a structured program and that I was dedicating more time to building my bike fitness again. Bike fitness was my toughest discipline during triathlon and it took me a while to develop my bike fitness. However, it was sometimes hard to do a full hour ride with an energetic baby around. Luckily we have a helper who is wonderful with Lex and he was starting to accept the bottle more.

Another fun workout that I started doing were couple run + HIIT circuits with Jerry! It’s not always easy to find time for one another so I decided to make one of our workouts into a “date” activity. We would run to the beach together and then do HIIT circuits such as squat jumps, mountain climbers, and lunges. It was so exciting to be able to do mountain climbers like my pre pregnancy self, when I could hardly do a few when I had just gotten back to working out postpartum!

We also continued to do fun and active family outings together. One activity was kayaking and swimming together! Jerry and I both love an active lifestyle and we hope that we can instill that love in Lex too. One highlight was participating in the our triathlon team’s swim/run event. Jerry and I participated together and even brought Lex! We did a relay so we passed Lex to each other when it was our turn to swim or run. It was such a fun event and also gave me back a taste of the exhilaration and joy of racing.

I also told my personal trainer my plans of leveling up my workouts and she was happy to oblige. We started increasing the weights and intensity and it was very motivating to feel myself get stronger and stronger!

I definitely felt a big difference after all the changes I made to my workout regime and it was incredibly motivating. Due to the pandemic, we were unable to travel for races. It is difficult to work up to race fitness without a race to train for, but I was happy to get myself back to my base fitness. The postpartum fitness journey was very humbling, it was definitely harder than I expected! I am very proud of myself for finding the balance between giving my body time and pushing myself.

Postpartum fitness journey (first pregnancy) – Months 0-4: slow but steady progress

Fitness, Motherhood, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

The postpartum fitness journey has been a roller coaster! There are days where I feel strong and like I am making great progress, then suddenly I feel unfit and weak again. I was very lucky to have a very smooth c-section recovery. I was able to move the next day and walk around. I hear from friends that some have intense pain and need to stay in bed so I was very grateful that I felt fine and was totally mobile. I did have to extra careful when I was getting up and to not strain my ab muscles. I hardly had any pain in my wound but the edges of the wound felt a little tender. My doctor gave me panadol and some stronger meds but I did not need to use the stronger meds at all and only a little bit of panadol. After I got home, I was able to hang and fold some laundry. In a week I was also able to cook again! I was able to hold and breastfeed Lex with zero problems. I went back to see my doctor 1 week post op to remove the plaster and 2 weeks post op to put on on a scar minimization bandaid. I really took it easy and did not do much until at least week 6 as recommended by my doctor.

During the months of 2-4, it was mostly quite positive and I felt like I was making good progress. However, I was also feeling stuck on whether I should be pushing myself harder or be taking things slower. I did not want to give myself too much pressure and to give my body some time, but I also like being challenged and enjoyed feeling fit and strong. I decided to create a fitness plan for myself but with some more flexibility to fit in my current fitness and lifestyle as a new mom. I also made sure to track my progress and to have a plan of how to continually improve and increase the intensity or duration of my workouts.

Back when I was training properly for triathlons, I was on a super strict workout regime and basically followed everything to a T. I hardly missed a workout and if I did I might move it to the next day to make up for it. With my postpartum workout plan, it was no longer possible to follow a strict daily workout and instead I made a workout plan that included ranges of what I wanted to achieve in a week such as “1-2 runs” or “1-2 Youtube workouts”. I also did not link each workout to a day because I never know whether that day I will be super busy with Lex or be exhausted after a tough night. I enjoyed having a loose guideline of what my workouts should look like so I had some sense of direction but it also did not restrict or stressed me out too much. My plan was to work out 5-6 times a week but I would not beat myself up if I sometimes only worked out 4 times a week.

By 9 weeks, I was moving into high intensity workouts such as HIIT (high intensity interval training). I was still doing some postpartum workouts but was slowly starting to do regular workouts also. By 10 weeks, I was no longer doing postpartum workouts and was also starting to do the advanced moves in the regular workouts (Bodyfit by Amy gives you lots of options for all fitness levels, I also tried out some fun dance fitness classes on Pop Sugar). I also started training with my postnatal trainer for personal training again at 10 weeks. Around this time of 2-3 months, I definitely saw improvement and noticed how I was able to do lunges for a longer time before getting tired and busting out high impact moves that would totally destroy me before.

Love that my pre/postnatal gym is super dog and baby friendly!

By around 3 months, I was ready to incorporate triathlon training back into my workout regime. The bike was always my weakest discipline and I was not looking forward to getting back on the trainer. Bike fitness takes a long time to build and I was feeling a little apprehensive to find out how much fitness I’ve lost. I started doing free rides on my bike on the trainer at first and did short rides of 20-30 minutes. After a few weeks of free riding, I signed up for TrainerRoad again to have more structured training rides. In terms of running, I was able to do two runs during the week, one interval run in my building’s gym and one longer run outside. I slowly built up the longer run to around 4 km and was feeling quite strong and that I was able to push my pace a bit on the uphills!

I still did not feel like I was back at my base fitness, but it was encouraging to see the improvements! It definitely is taking longer than I expected and I did not think I would ever feel this heavy or unfit, but what is most important is that I am getting the work in and slowly building my strength and fitness back!

Getting back to working out (the first two months)

Fitness, Motherhood

One of the main things that I was most excited about after giving birth was getting back to working out. While I was excited, I knew it would not be easy at all. Even though I stayed relatively active during my pregnancy, the exercise routine was nowhere compared to what I did before (which is ok!). I lost of lot of fitness and also was a lot heavier than I was pre-pregnancy. I knew this would be a long road, but I was also ready to face this challenge.

I was very lucky to experience a smooth recovery after my emergency c-section. My doctor was amazing and saw me 1 week and 2 weeks post-op (instead of the standard 6 weeks). After inspecting the wound and asking me a few questions, he told me that I could start gentle workouts at 4 weeks and that I would be basically back to normal by 6 weeks! Note: Please remember that every pregnancy and recovery is different. Please consult your doctor and get clearance before working out!

At 4 weeks, I decided to do a postpartum workout by Bodyfit by Amy, the same trainer whose prenatal workout’s I’ve been doing throughout my pregnancy. Her workouts are short and sweet and she’s also really motivating. She is going through postpartum herself in many of the videos so it is very relatable and encouraging. I did a few YouTube workouts here and there but it was not until 7 weeks that I finally got more serious about my routine.

By week 7, I decided that I had to make a workout plan for myself and that I should try to workout 5 times a week. I also went for my first run since getting pregnant! The run was TOUGH. I decided to do a short 1.6 km run with rolling hills. Once I started the run, I was panting instantly. I felt so heavy and my ankles were also hurting a bit. However, the c-section wound did not hurt at all and my newly huge breasts also felt ok! So that was a win. The run was difficult, but I know that I have to keep pushing so that I can get back to runs where I feel springy and powerful. I have always loved running so it was annoying to feel so heavy and unfit, the 1.6 km felt much longer than that! The hot weather and mask wearing law definitely did not make things easier. I decided that I should try to do 1-2 runs per week. It is very difficult to find time to run outside with a newborn. I need to sleep ok the night before and Lex needs to finish his feed before 8 am (the weather is deathly hot later and Lex is also more fussy in the evening), leaving me a small window to fit in the run.

Feeling so unfit and heavy was definitely humbling for me. In recent years, I have been very proud of my endurance and fitness. I must admit that there have been times where I was judgmental towards people who seemed unfit – I wrongly assumed they weren’t trying hard enough or were lazy. Now I know how difficult it is and that people who seem unfit may actually be trying harder than anyone and deserve praise and encouragement. We never know what they went through and what their journey is.

This postpartum journey has just begun, but I am both nervous and excited to see what I am capable of. While I have lost a lot of fitness and endurance, I have not lost my mental strength and tenacity. If anything, being this unfit has made me more determined than ever to push myself and become stronger and fitter than before!

Staying fit and inspired while embracing the new role as a mom – my own thoughts and role models I look up to

Fitness, Pregnancy

I often feel like there is this idea that once you become a mom, your life will be overwhelmed and you will only be defined by the care of your children. Don’t get me wrong, I think being a mother is amazing and one of the most important roles that I will take on in my life, but I also think that it is wrong to think that just because you become a mom, you cannot achieve new and exciting things. While I know that it will be crazy and busy and I won’t have the same amount of time and flexibility as before, I still have every intention to lead a life full of adventure and be fitter than ever before.

I think it is also frustrating when people say things like “oh that (achievement) is awesome, especially for a mom”. I think there is a fine line to recognize that as a mom, it takes a lot more dedication and planning to get certain things done, but don’t undermine the achievement by saying “it’s good for a mom”. Luckily, there are also more and more role models out there that prove you can be a mom and still do it all. I still have a ways to go before I have my baby and write about my own journey, but I thought it would be great to share with you some stories about supermoms that inspire me in this blog post!

One of them is Mirinda Carfrae, an Ironman superstar, multi-time Kona world champion, and reigning record holder of the Kona run leg. She took time off in 2017 to welcome a baby girl and was back at it in 2018 where she won two 70.3 titles and then also got 5th place at Kona World Championships. Balancing a baby and being a world class athlete isn’t easy, but she has embraced both roles with grace and vigor. Her husband is also a world class Ironman Athlete (2nd place at Kona 2019) and they have an awesome channel on YouTube documenting their life with training, races, and baby Isabelle. I used to watch it while I did my long trainer rides and always loved having an inside glimpse into their life.

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Another Ironman superstar/badass mom is Caroline Steffen (nickname Xena). She has won 23 70.3 Ironman titles and is also a multiple ITU long course world championship. She welcomed a baby boy and was at Ironman Western Australia, Busselton when I was there for my first Ironman! I went to an event hosted by Women Who Tri and she was one of the star guests. It was her first full distance race since Kona 2015 and many of the questions were about her pregnancy and how she felt getting back into racing after giving birth. It was amazing to hear from her first hand and even MORE amazing when I found out the next day that she had broken the course record! Here is a great interview she did regarding pregnancy and getting back to racing.

Image from Trizone

To read more about triathlete supermoms, check out this article. Here is another article about triathlete moms who are not professionals athletes. This website also focuses on lots of badass women in sports and adventure.

I know that returning to triathlon won’t be an easy process, but I hope that documenting my journey back to the starting line will be helpful for others!

One of my other heroes is Kimi Werner. She is a spearfishing champion and is dedicated to educating others about the importance of sustainability and environmental activism. She recently gave birth to an adorable baby and spoke candidly about her fears of having children and the effect it would have on her career and passion for free diving. She went to Jeju to meet the Haenyeo, the freediving women of Korean who bring food to their family’s table through hard work and dedication. The short film was very touching and is on Patagonia’s YouTube channel. Her instagram is one of my favorites.

Photo from: http://www.midweek.com/kimi-werner-freediver/

Another Instagram account that I love is Nataliya Moon @Rebornbyadventure. She and her husband lead an extraordinary life traveling through the world and currently have a 2 year old daughter. Her blog is an amazing resource regarding experiencing nature and adventure with a baby/young child.

Lastly, I also love this awesome fit mama Mona Jane. She has two young boys and lives in Hawaii, where they enjoy an active and nature filled lifestyle. She exudes positivity and I love how she includes her kids in many of her activities. Here is her Instagram account.

I hope that you guys enjoyed reading about these awesome kick-ass moms and also feel motivated that your life will only get better after kids! It won’t be easy and it is a balancing act, but it can be done. I am looking forward to the day I can share my own journey!

Ironman 70.3 Davao – March 24, 2019

Fitness, Races

After a relaxing off season, it was time to get back to it! After the first full, I had a pretty gentle off season with mostly yoga and weights but I quickly realized that this made it way harder to get back into training. Taitung (which is my first 70.3 a year ago!) was full already to my intense disappointment and the only other option was Davao in the Philippines. I really did not want to do a 70.3 in such a hot climate but I also wanted to sign up for something to kickstart my training. Jerry was also quite skeptical about going to Davao because he has suffered through some hot races (Danang!) but I ultimately decided to sign up.

One great thing about having the race in Davao was that Cathay recently introduced a direct flight! For those who have done a few races, you would know that a lot of locations are slightly difficult to get to (Taitung is plane then 3 hour bus, Busso was plane then 2-3 hour car ride), so this was definitely a perk! Our flight was delayed so we were unable to go to the Athlete Check-in as planned. We decided to just relax at the hotel and grab some food at the nearby mall.

This year was my first time being an AWA Athlete and participants were invited to a breakfast to hear from a veteran Ironman triathlete and an Ironman coach. I have been trying to be optimistic about the weather, but knew I was just in denial when they said “this will probably be one of the hottest runs you ever do”. The tips they gave were super helpful, especially the ones about how to survive the run in this weather. They also reminded us to think about our personal goals and why we are here when we are suffering and hurting, and how lucky we are to be able to participant in the first place. I think these thoughts really did help me when I was out there on the course the next day.

awa breakfast

I’ve been lucky where my recent races did not start super early and I had to wake up when it was still dark outside. Unfortunately, this race started at 6:20 and transition closed at 5:30… meaning an early pre-sunrise wake up time. I went to sleep around 9 and had my alarm set at 3:30. We had shuttles leaving from the hotel from 4 and 4:30 so I wanted to make sure I had enough time to eat and prep in the morning.

Race morning! Maybe it was the first race of the season but I definitely had those exciting jitters when I woke up. Jerry and I had forgotten to bring our pump but I was expecting lots of helpers (like Busso) to be standing around at transition. I had let out the air of my tires out so I definitely needed the pump! To my despair there were no mechanics or people standing around with pumps. Everyone was busy pumping their own bikes and when I finally was able to borrow a pump from a less than friendly neighbor, I realize her pump did not latch properly with my wheels. Getting a bit frantic, I luckily found another pump from a nice girl and me and another girl who needed a pump (SO MANY OF US) helped each other out.

Sunrise at swim start

With my cheerleader 🙂

After the stressful start, I hustled to the start into my swim group. I was wearing a swimskin for the first time and was quite excited to see how it would perform for the race. The swim course is a little tight but I thought it would be ok since it is a rolling start… I was wrong. The swim was a complete clusterfuck and men were crashing and swimming over me for a good 500-600 meters. This usually happens in the first bit of the race but this was completely ridiculous. It was frustrating because I actually felt quite good but was unable to really settle into a good rhythm as I was being constantly attacked. At the second turnaround point, the swimmers spread out A LOT and I think the buoy may have drifted because after the race I spoke to a friend and he also felt that he wasn’t able to sight or see where he was going around the same area. I was hoping to check my Garmin to see how much extra I swam but my GPS was also wonky and jumped everywhere.

swim

On to the bike! I turned on my bike computer, threw on my helmet and off I go…. then I realized I left my swim skin on!! I was already speeding down the road and contemplated stopping to take it off, but where would I put it?! I could try to shove it into my bottle where I have my spare inner tube and levers… but there’s hardly any space there. I certainly did not want to just toss it either, but with the hot weather I was getting worried that I would overheat. Another competitor rode behind me and told me I was still wearing it, and even offered to help me unzip it. Thanks but no thanks but great idea. I managed to unzip it while riding and that helped quite a bit because the swim skin is quite tight and this would also cool me down a little. Suddenly I hear a thud and realize my 2nd bottle of water fell off! I only had my front bottle and this bottle… so that was NOT GOOD. I have also never grabbed a bottle from aid stations and did not really want to try that now in case I wipe out. But with the heat I definitely need more than just my front bottle. As I approached the volunteer holding out the bottle, I tried my best to slow down and hold the bike steady…. GOT IT! I was super pleased with myself until I realized the bottle has a cap outside AND another stopper inside. Why would you give such a difficult bottle to a cyclist? Complaints aside I was able to grab 3 more bottles during the race (yay!). However, my list of misfortunes during my bike ride did not end there. The road was super bumpy and to my horror during a particularly bumpy section my handle bars suddenly dipped down! I have had that happen before while riding in the airport and it was absolutely terrifying. I wasn’t sure if I could stop because I have to lean on the handlebars to pop off my seat and if bars fell down I would also. I had specifically tightened it quite hard the night before but clearly it was not enough (or I may have crushed the carbon according to my bike shop guy later). I tried to twist the handlebar back up gently without moving it TOO much but it was pretty scary it shifted multiple times during the bike course.

Can you spot my swim skin!

Apart from all these problems, the bike course was AMAZING. The crowd was absolutely phenomenal and I have never been so invigorated by a local crowd. There were lots of children and locals out cheering and screaming for the athletes along the roads. I was super pleased to get a PB for my bike and was glad that I pulled through even with all the issues.

Now on to the run… my most dreaded part for this race. The bike did not feel too hot because there was a nice breeze but the heat definitely was no joke during the run. I did not do a lot of brick training before the race and it really showed. My legs felt like lead once I started and it took so much just to move them. There were aid stations at every 1 km with barrels of ice water and people were flocking to them like flies. Jerry gave me a great tip where I carried a small wet towel with me the entire time. It felt like a burden at first but soon became such a lifesaver. One of my major pet peeves are runners who run 200 meters… then walk… and then run again once you pass them. How about you man up and run the whole damn thing? There was one particular guy like that and I was struggling to shake him but I suddenly got a second wind and lost him for good! Crowds were also amazing during the run and I was so grateful to all the locals cheering for us and the armed militia protecting race participants in this heat! I felt amazing the last 3-4 km and powered through to the finish line!

run2

That little orange towel was essential!

Overall I was super happy with the race because the PB on the bike allowed me to achieve a PB for the overall race too! The run could definitely be better and I look forward to seeing my improvement in Korea in May. I really was blown away by how passionate the crowds were and it really made such a difference in my experience. It was a great start to the season but I don’t know if I would do another tropical hot race! One thing that I remember from the AWA breakfast was the coach telling us that our energy affects ourselves and others during the race. He mentioned a few professional athletes are known to smile and cheer on other people and the positive effects of this. This was something that stuck with me and I tried my best to smile when things were tough and it really did make a difference!

run

After race thoughts

Fitness, Races

I have done many things in my life that I am proud of, yet I might say completing the Ironman may be one of my top achievements. I have never been so dedicated and fully committed to one goal, I spent countless hours and poured literal blood, sweat, and tears into this journey. Even as I think back on it now, it still makes my heart flutter to think of the planning, training, and execution of this goal.

I came into Ironman knowing very little. One of the things that I love about this sport is how much I learn after each race. I would keep little notes after each race of things that I could improve on and what to look out for in the next race. I used to be petrified of U-turns and have slowly worked my way to feel more confident about them. I have also gotten better at remembering where my bike and transition bags were. For the full, I had to learn how to change my tires, something that I always hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with in my previous races. Nutrition and making sure I don’t cramp during the race was another huge issue for the full. I am so lucky to have seasoned teammates and Jerry who is my constant support and source of helpful information.

When I first started riding on the trainer, I could only last around 1 hour and I would be bored out of my mind and be dying to get off. As I started training more and finding ways to past the time (Harry Potter audio books and a LOT of Kona highlight videos), I was slowly starting to get to 4 hours… then ultimately 6 hours! If my previous self had heard this, I would have 100% not believe it. Many times while I rode and watched the uplifting (and brainwashing) Ironman videos, I would tear up and be filled with emotion. The videos are super hyped up and are made to tug at your heartstrings, but I agreed with every single word they said. Swimming was also something that I found myself enjoying more and more. I used to dread waking up so early to jump into a cold pool, but as I went to more and more squad sessions, I found myself looking forward to the feeling of gliding through the water (most of the time!). I was so happy with my progress and felt so empowered week by week. I was crushing workouts that I only dreamt about months ago.

Obviously there are some low points too. Sometimes I didn’t feel like I was as strong as I should be getting, that the progress was slow. Training for an Ironman is mentally taxing and sometimes you just have off days. In moments like these, it was so important to remind myself that I am sticking to my training plan and it’s ok to rest when your body really needs it. Once again having Jerry there was indispensable and he always encouraged me and gave me good feedback and examples from his own experience.

My #1 cheerleader

During the race, I was really lucky and I did not have any bike mechanical issues. My front water bottle was slipping off and my power meter did run out of battery (software issue) but luckily I did not have any flat tires or other major problems. I was also lucky that I did not have any cramps during the run. I always went into a race with a goal time. With an Ironman, it was a little more difficult since it is such a huge race with many opportunities for delay. During Jerry’s first full, he basically limped through half the 42 km with a painful cramp. Ultimately I settled for around 14 hours and sub 14 was something that I REALLY wanted but did not think was actually feasible.

During the race, I surprised myself by how powerful my body felt. Yes, there were some painful moments and I did have to remind myself of how much I had trained to get to this moment, but overall I was shocked by how my body carried itself after hours and hours of physical exertion. During the last 10 km, I was constantly reminding myself to not slow down and to push it as much as I could. I knew that if I allowed myself to slack off and then missed my goal, I would be so frustrated with myself. I will never forget the feeling of turning the corner into the carpeted finish line… the flashing lights, the cheering, and the drum like banging of hands against the railing… and realizing that I had finished in 13 hours and 37 minutes. This was a time that I was not expecting at all and at that moment I felt stronger, more powerful, and capable than ever.

Doing an Ironman has shown me that not only could I do anything I put my mind to, but that I could do it way better than I had imagined. It also showed me that I had the will power and dedication to prepare for something so taxing. Obviously this was my own choice, but when I look back on the months leading up to the race, I remember all the social events where I had to leave early or not attend at all to make sure I could wake up bright and early the next day to train. I’ve also been so blessed to be surrounded by supportive friends and loved ones (and also friendly strangers! I love the triathlon community) who were so excited for me to embark on this milestone and who celebrated and cheered (both in person and virtually!) as I charged towards that finish line. This journey is something I will never forget and was not SO traumatic that I will definitely be tackling another full soon!

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Final weeks slump

Fitness

After my peak month, I was looking forward to scaling down and feeling more energized and strong. However, I found myself more tired than ever and loosing motivation for the workouts. I was getting worried and was telling Jerry: “How could I be loosing motivation in the final stretch?!!”. I still got all my workouts in (except if I felt some pain or needed more rest, then I may shift the workout to the next day or skip it), but I just did not have that RAH RAH RAH feeling that I thought I would have. Luckily for me, I had a super supportive boyfriend and teammates who were seasoned Ironman athletes, they all reassured me that this feeling was normal. I have been training so hard for months, and now I just want to go and do this thing! My body has been through a lot and in these final weeks it may really feel the exhaustion but after proper tapering I will feel stronger and more ready than ever. It was super comforting to find out that this was normal and after take one extra day off, I promised myself that I would give it my best shot for tomorrow’s workout. I was dreading this painful interval session on my trainer and wanted to skip it so badly, but I knew that I had to do it. To my great surprise, I started getting more and more amped up during the ride and completely smashed it! The training program has really been so helpful and smart, the people who designed it clearly know what they are doing. There are sessions that I know I would definitely not been able to do a month back. There will definitely be off days, but I just need to remind myself that I am following my plan and have been working super hard… trust the process and listen to your body. After feeling bleh for a week or so, I AM BACK!

2 WEEKS UNTIL THE BIG DAY!

2 months until the race!

Fitness

Yikes I’ve been so bad at posting! It’s been over 3 weeks since coming back from South Africa and now in full blown training mode! September is the month where I am starting to amp up my training and October will be the peak training month. We got back on Sept 9th and then got back into training but it took a little bit of time to really get the intensity back up. I used to swim on Mondays and Fridays but now have moved to the longer Wednesday endurance swims instead of Monday. Monday swims were always really nice and focused more on technique, but I knew that I really needed to build up my endurance and get some longer distances in preparation for my full. I was unsure whether I could keep up with the Wednesday sessions but finally gave it a go. While I still have a ton of room for improvement, I realized that I am actually a lot faster than I expected! My pb for 100 m was 1’57 before and suddenly it was 1’37 at the last time trial! I was totally not expecting that at all and it was a really great surprise. It also goes to tell me that I should probably push it a little harder at training and not doubt myself! I’ve also started doing Sunday morning swim where we do open water swimming of around 3-4 km. I used to not want to do because I felt that I would not be able to keep up with everyone but after going a few times I realized that people will always wait for you and that there are often people of all speeds. I really need to stop letting these excuses stop me from trying new things. Waking at 6 am to swim is not always fun, but I always end up feeling super refreshed and happy after a swim!

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Always a great time with these guys!

As for biking, this is always my weakest discipline so I was determined to make some changes. Riding in Haeco is always a challenge for me and I get freaked out by the giant trucks ripping by. Luckily, I have found a new Trainer program that I love and now I am able to spend hours and hours on the trainer and not feel like death! I used to only be able to ride around 1.5 hours on the trainer but last week I banged out over 4 hours! I also purchased a power meter and bike computer to make the most out of my training stats. I am now following a 8 week program leading up to the Ironman and will also add in some extra rides if the program isn’t assigning enough riding time. Right now I am supposed to do two shorter rides doing the week (1-2 hours) and a long time of 5-6 hours for the weekend! In September, my long ride was 4-5 hours and I was just starting to get used to that and now its time to UP MY GAME AGAIN. Everyone is telling me how I need to do one 6 hour ride so it will definitely be coming up soon!

Bike and run done!

As for my run, I also do two short runs in the week and a long run in the weekend. I have also started doing a short run after my long ride to get my legs moving a little. The T2 transition is always rough and my legs feel like jello… and it will be extra hard after 180 km of riding in the race! In September I was running 14-16 km for my long run and now it will be 16+. I initially had it at 16-18 km but I think I will probably need to have some closer to 20 km for Oct. The weather is getting a bit more brisk which is lovely! It instantly makes me feel so much stronger and happier when I am running.

Runs are also more fun with you have a cute pup to run with!

As much as some of these trainings feel never-ending and grueling, the feeling of getting stronger and having the passion to drive myself to do these things is incredibly rewarding. Every time I am feeling tired on a run or suffering, I just think about how amazing it will be when I push myself to my limit and cross that finish line in December.

Below baseline

Fitness

If you read my race recap post about the 70.3 in Jeju, you would recall me lamenting about how I’ve lost a lot of fitness and felt fatigued all the time. I was traveling a lot, eating and drinking tons, and also trained at a very “comfortable” level. I still worked out basically everyday but did not push myself… and it showed. Runs were particularly painful and I found myself dreading them. This was frustrating. Distances that I used to power through felt long and tiring. My legs felt heavy and I wondered how I ever ran at paces that I had before! I started regretting how I slacked off before, but I could only whine and blame myself for so long. I am aware of how much fitness I’ve lost now, so what I should do is to use this as the trigger to train my butt off and to keep myself accountable. I also realized that while it is important to encourage myself to be better and work harder, I also should not be too hard on myself and know that it takes time to get the fitness back. I had a setback, but this reset also gave me new motivation and drive.

SUFFERING

After Jeju, I had two months until World Champs. Not a ton of time, but definitely enough time to see some improvements. We had another short trip to London but I made sure that I ran almost everyday at Hyde Park and also swam in the Serpentine. It can be hard to stay on track when you travel, but you just have to plan ahead and make it a priority! I also made a detailed training schedule for leading up to the full in December. I could manage a 70.3 even when I was not at my fittest, but the full is not something I can wing. I am going to make sure that I did everything in my power to prepare myself for the full. It’s a sucky feeling going into a race knowing you didn’t prepare enough and not feeling confident. It’s also a super sucky feeling feeling sluggish and weak! Having a good routine is so important, along with having a partner and friends who motivate you and give you pressure with their workouts (thanks Strava)!

My favorite workout buddy

We’re only human, and sometimes we fall off the wagon. Here are some tips to ensure you get back to it:

Admit that you have slacked off but don’t spend too much time being hard on yourself. You might be frustrated and feel like crap but you should use this as motivation to stop procrastinating and flip it around!
Make a detailed schedule or training plan. Apart from helping you get organized, planning my workouts get me really excited!
Identify what went wrong before and how you can mitigate that in the future. For me, that was traveling and and overall relaxed attitude.
Find a group of people to work out with. Your teammates and workout buddies will keep you motivated and also accountable! You don’t want to be the only person who did not do a long run after the Sunday swim.
Sign up for an event. This isn’t a MUST do, but I definitely think that it’s much more exciting when you have something you’re working towards. You obviously should be working out for general fitness and health, but its always a ton of fun to be preparing for an event.
Share your progress/goals on social media or with friends. I also think that this is a great way to hold yourself accountable. Instead of alway saying that you will do something and putting it on the back burner, this allows your friends to check in with you and the support of friends is always good!
Trust the process. It is not always going to be easy and you won’t bounce back instantly. But just know that soon you will feel stronger and faster than before! The first few weeks getting back will probably be painful, but that will also be a reminder to not let yourself lose so much fitness in the future.

Making sure I get my runs in during my London trip!

Since Jeju, I’ve been following the schedule and already feeling much stronger. There is still a long way to go, but I am excited to for the entire process and all the triumphant and painful (why the f did I do this) moments!

Why I started doing triathlons

Fitness

One day, my mom asked me why I suddenly became such a triathlon fanatic. She said that I was always quite sporty, but she’s never seen me be so dedicated to one specific sport. To be honest, I’m pretty surprised by how much I fell in love with triathlon as well! I think it all began with when I moved back from New York almost two years ago. I’ve always enjoyed being active and have dabbled in horseback riding, ice skating, soccer, and field hockey. I’ve also ran two marathons (Hong Kong Standard Charter and the New York Marathon), but was not obsessed with running. I loved racing and the feeling of accomplishment after, but I was never thinking of the next marathon to sign up for (except the Boston one which I would love to do!).

After running the Hong Kong Standard Marathon

I was pretty depressed when I first moved back to Hong Kong, I really wanted to stay in New York but things just didn’t work out. I moped around for a bit but then realize that there’s no point whining and being upset. I was in Hong Kong and that wasn’t going to change for at least a year so I might as well make the most out of it. Doing a triathlon was always something I toyed around with but never really took the plunge. I felt that the transitions were so confusing and was unsure of the general run down of the race. I also did not swim that much and only biked/danced on a stationary bike (Hello Soulcycle!).

One day in April, a couple of my friends mentioned signing up for an olympic distance triathlon in the Philippines for November. My interest was instantly piqued but I felt that that was way too far away because I wanted to do one earlier. I started doing some searching myself and found another olympic distance race in June. I signed up for that race and ever since then have been obsessed with triathlons! I will also write a race recap of my first race at some point.

It is funny to think that one of the reasons for my hesitancy before was the intimidation of transitions, because the excitement of transitioning is now one of my favorite aspects of triathlons. I love how you have three different sports involved in an triathlon and having to anticipate the next segment of the race. Not to mention the triathlon community is amazing! I have met so many great people from races and also from joining the Tritons Triathlon Club in Hong Kong. Everyone is so friendly and encouraging, going to a race is not only an athletic event but also a social one.

I wished that I had embarked on this triathlon journey earlier but there is no point being frustrated with past decisions. All I can do is use this experience to change how I approach situations in the future. While I am pretty adventurous, I have definitely let hesitation and procrastination hold me back from trying new things. If I had never signed up for that race, I would never have known how much triathlons would mean to me. I would not have all these new friends, not have seen the gorgeous rainbows and sunsets at race locations, not be with the most incredible boyfriend (not guaranteed when one does a triathlon), and not known how much stronger I could be.

If you are thinking about doing something but feel unsure… just take the risk and see where it takes you! What’s holding you back? Most of the time there’s more to lose if you let your insecurities and uncertainty take over.

I am so excited for what else is in store!