The 6th C

The loose catagorising of most most commoners aspire to possess are the 5 C's of : Cash, Car, Credit card, Condominium, and Club membership. Cash is subjective, even a penny is considered cash. Even a jalopy like a proton is a car. Club membership of course excludes those term health memberhips. Condominums are more difficult to come by thesedays in light of the rocketing property prices. Finally, most banks would love to deliver a credit card in hope of having the subscriber seeing even their soul to loans.


One last C which I would like to add is 'China girls'. I'm sure most would shudder or roll their eyes at this thought. Afterall haven't we all had enough or heard enough bad press. The fact is just that, 20% of the rotton eggs make up the basket. There's more than enough reports of guys getting hit or cheated to go around. But it takes two hands to clap. If you are robbed, don't blame the robber for lack of security measures taken.


So far, I have been vigilant, skilful or just plain lucky. Have you had your nails trimmed, by a female? Your mum's don't count. China girls just know how to make a guy feel like a real man. They are also better at maintaining a decent conversation. They are able to discuss topics on-the-fly. Singaporean girls would just bitch about their jobs, the weather or shopping. Of course there's a lot more.

In fact, I might even marry one today.

A new pair of shoes

Bought a new pair of running shoes, even owning 2 other pairs. But this is my first pair of Sauconys, having my last 4 pairs of Asics. The current 2 pairs of Asics are good shoes, but showing signs of poor durability. The Nimbus 7 is actually seperating at the midsole & the Speedstar is loosing its outsole despite only using it in 3 races & a handful of tempo runs after a few months.

I made my selection from the web & my foot type. It was the Sinister I wanted, a performance training shoe. My choices towards lightweight trainings are after deliberating that I'm a runner of average to lightweight. Over-built cushioning shoes like the Nimbus are going to be overkill. The difference between the Nimbus & Speedstar is 300g for the pair, which is substantial considering the rate of impact a foot sustains during a training run. Also if I were to wear the most protective shoe, what would overweight runners wear? Also, I love blue shoes.

I went to the Saucony agent at Kaki Bukit & spotted the Sinister for the 1st time in real life. The salesman mentioned that it's dubbed the WRX, with reference to the Subaru car. I could not

agree more, in terms of it's deep blue colour & type of running it was designed for. At the retail price of $189, I had a 40% off, paying $116. A bargain for a top of the range new release. It's also loaded with gadgets without being bogged down.

Can't wait to take it out for a spin.

What irritates me

Many things irritate me, if it's you, the coincidence is not intended.

I don't have to take the public transport to have their ringtomes pierce my ear. It's in fact more irritating in the office. Fellow officer workers, or even worse, cleaners with handphones blaring out tasteless chinese sing, baby's wails & some stupid jingle.

Stop it, please. Spare my ears & the traquility of the office working environment. It's as though the owner cannot tell when his/her own handphone ringing. Daft fucks.

Back to Basics

How often have you seen or even ourselves from putting in our physical utmost during exercise. In fact almost all believe it's the only way to train - the no pain no gain syndrome. We blast ourselves to our last ounce of breath to the finish line or in this case a training session.

One thing I have learnt from my supervisor - Back to Basics. Don't run if you can't walk & crawl if you have to.

Let's use jogging for example. Such training intensities are in face mediocre. At tempo pace (runner's jargon) it's too slow to be counted at interval, thus not enabling the athlete to reap the benefits of these sessions. On the other hand, such speeds are too strenuous to maintain for proper endurance distances. Training intensities that fall into 'No man's land," are either too easy or too hard to reap the benefits you want. As quoted from writer Jack Daniels; You are not, as may sometimes be assumed, achieving the purpose of training the two systems on either side of the chosen intensity. What you are doing might be termed, "Quality-junk" training. At the least, it is training aimed at accomplishing an unidentifiable purpose. Always have a purpose for every training session; ask yourself the following questions: "What system do I hope to improve by doing this workout,' and 'What am I really trying to accomplish?"

Let me share my development after smarter training. I was an above average runner compared to my teamates. After just three months are taking a step back, not literally, of training at lower intensities, to engage fat burning; I managed to feature a top 3 position in a race I was usually just scraping the top 10. I was able to hold onto the hard initial pace & still follow through & finish with a strong kick. There are only 2 speeds one should train at; so slow snails fall asleep and so fast your eyes bleed.

Am I afraid the reader would use this method to outrun me? I just hope to share what I have learnt & I'm not worried. Most of the others are too dim, stubborn or lazy to change their methods of training. Remember, the fastest in training may not be the fastest in the race.