Surviving Iron River

Welcome to the playground

2012-02-11T15:14:00.001+07:00

This is what we do during our tapering week. I was told that this mussels exist in our lake by Major Kalam. I saw shells in his garden, initially I thought he got it from Sabah. The team was very excited digging up Lokan from the mud, and more and more of them picked up the skill to catch Lokan. =) This unplanned activity indirectly strengthen the bond among team mates. Our training for the past few weeks has tensed them up, but I know what am I doing as the team leader. So now, we'll relax our mind and body during the tapering week.

need not to go waist deep to catch Lokan

Our fruitful catch wouldn't be meaningful without turning it into a super nice dish. So I went to Alya Catering Service which is our cafe now, and cooked the mussels like how I did in Sabah. My cooking tasted awful! I was a little downhearted because in my mind, Lokan has always been delicious. The next day, I've decided to let Syukri's aunty to cook it. She made a superb dish out of it. I didn't expect so many team members to turn out during the dinner, so 4 plates of Lokan was not enough. By the way, I didn't get the chance to take over the kitchen so easily=p I had to make a deal with the aunty, and I ended up revealing one of my top secrets! =p Normally when I need to organize functions, I'd prefer dealing with Aunty or Aidil...

This week is the time when all team members spend time joking and laughing at one another. In this team sport, mutual understanding and strong rapport is too important. The more quality time we spend together, the better our cooperation will be.

Yummy =)

kayaking session turned camouflage session. Aiman and Kicap dug out the water weeds, then decorated their kayak. Since the day we found Lokan, every kayaking session wouldn't complete without bringing back a big rug sack of Lokan. we even distributed it to our instructor =) Since Alya Catering gave us really good service, today's catch will be sent to them to cook =) Weeks ago I told my team no fried food till the race ended, that was to keep their body at maximum performance. BUT, I ordered chicken chop for tonight's function since they want it so badly. It's time to let go the string a little. Let them have some fun =)

Tomorrow morning a few more teams will arrive UPNM with their best 35 participants. After registration, we will know when will be our flag off time. Our team promise a tough competition to make the champion a worthy winner. This Eco Challenge will be the last one for most of the seniors, and I can guarantee they will race till drop dead to defend our pride as National Defence University which produces tough Officers and Gentlemen. we want this race to be remembered! Let's pray for the best.

Last but not least, welcome to the playground.

A playground where only tough kids can survive

How to hunt for mussels

2012-02-09T19:30:00.006+07:00

My previous post was about planting roses, now about hunting for mussels. Despite being brought up in the city, I love to be closely in touch with the nature. When my dad was posted to Sabah, I was introduced to this ugly looking but delicious tasting mussels. This is one of the famous food in Sabah, and it has become my all time favourite ever since. I learned how to catch them from the stalls by the road side selling Lokan. However, I've never tried those methods which I was taught. By the way, there're many names for these mussels. Some people call it Kepah, but most local call it Lokan.

Lokan are best served baked. In Sabah, they put it on a sheet metal and start baking with high flame until the shells open. Normally locals blend garlic, red chilli, onion and lime to make the sauce, then pour the sauce on the flesh. If u want it to be a little saltier, u can add soya sauce. I have yet to try the secret recipe taught by Michael when i was in Penang, the next time I cook mussels I'll add some plum sauce like what Michael did. =)

Now, how to hunt for mussels? The one I just caught is the freshwater type. The Sabahan taught me the poking method. Walk slowly in the water and observe bubbles, normally when these bubbles are air released when the mussels open up. then use a parang to poke into the lake bed and u will hear "tuk tuk" sound. It sounds like poking a coconut. But in muddy area, u observe bubbles, then put yr hands deep into the mud and start catching mussels. they normally live in a group, so u might be able to catch many at one spot.

I'm gonna share with u my way. Firstly, my movement will be against the current so that when I dig out the mussels, the current will wash the mud away and I can always have a clear view of my prey =p When u see shells opened up, that means the mussels are dead and a handful of mud will be trapped in between. Mussels normally bury themselves vertically. so u can see lips like opening from the water surface, as i mentioned before, at one spot u can catch many. If the mud blur yr vision, use yr hands to feel. The water level was knee deep only. I dare not go any deeper due to the dark history of our UPNM lake. By the way, I jumped into the lake right after I finished my 20km ride, and I was wearing a trisuit =p So i went back wet =p

This is so simple. My catch today worth RM30, need no tools, just use yr brain.

The mussels will be served later at 2130H, and I taught the cook how to cook it my way=p Oh gosh, they've never tried this amazing food before! Probably because it isn't that popular in Penisular malaysia.
To hunt for survival food is something that a boy should know. Don't wait until u need this survival knowledge then only u learn. I've been brought up in the city since little, and since then I've been hearing people saying city boys are flimsy and will die of hunger when come desperate situation. I'm a city boy and I can hunt for my survival food =) So, be a good survivor. U might need this valuable skills one day.

2012-02-07T17:16:00.001+07:00

Recently I just picked up a new hobby, the endurance gardening =p Friends know me as an endurance racer, soon they'll have a different perception of me being an endurance gardener. Every time I get home, I'll grab the rake and start to clean up the grassy area, pick up rocks and non biodegradable objects before start digging holes for new plants. I'm still very green in this aspect, but I'm gonna try if I have those magic green fingers =p I can spend hours clearing the garden or digging holes even when the sun is right above shining at my crew cut head, just like how I do Ironman.

there're so many things need to be done at the garden, so far I've dug out all the stones and cleaned it up for future use, and planted a few types of flowers. Leafy plants are beautiful in their own way, but I would prefer plants with flowers. It gives u the feeling of satisfaction when the flower blossom compare to the whole-year-green type of plants which is less exciting. This few days I went online surfing for gardening tips instead of swim-bike-run tips, its time for a change I guess. One thing for sure, my passion for endurance racing will never fade despite having this new hobby. I'm currently busy with Eco Challenge training, but my attention has been diverted to gardening because we've entered the tapering week already, there's not much we can do to improve our stamina.

After spending hours reading and asking around every single day, I've learned quite a handful of interesting tips. When come to sports, I'm obsessed with what I can eat to go fast. Similarly, I'm interested with what the plants wanna "eat" to grow fast =p

my next plan will be planting roses, in pots. Having roses freely bush on the ground can be beautiful, but it can be really troublesome to move it to another spot. Before that, I'll have to make sure the soil is fertile. As for now, I have vermicompost in mind. It wouldn't take long to prepare I guess.

Roses are just uniquely beautiful and is a truly elegant flower.

It's all up to u to see the flower blossom or the sharp thorn. Just like in life, every beautiful relationship has got its own painful story. I voiced out my plan to Aiman, then he told me his mum has got a pot of roses. He is willing to give me some stem to try. It was him who taught me that cutting stem method can be used. Immediately I went to goggle the cutting stem technique, according to what I just read, It isn't that hard. Let's see if I have green fingers =p

Now, back to this serious business. Eco challenge is 7 days away. I feel like doing it tmrw, don't wanna wait any longer. The game is fun in a super challenging way, but it's the responsibility on me leading the team that gives me a little annoying pressure.

this is one of the videos of our training sessions =) see this highly motivated girl doing monkey rack.

Wasp Stings Treatment

2012-02-06T11:06:00.003+07:00

As much as I love to be in touch with the nature, I must also pay extra attention to emergency plan for unexpected insects stings or animal bites. Almost every single day there will be someone coming to me saying "Sir, i got stung by a wasp". Either wasps or bees, the very first thing I'll ask them to do is to pull out the stinger. If possible, scrape it off with the card at the angle of 45 degree as squeezing the stinger will pump in more venom to your skin.

Even few seconds delay can lead to more venom being injected. One thing to be careful, when u remove the bee, they'll release a scent which will attract other bees. When u see a cloud of bees coming after u, at that time u will be shouting "Run Forest Run!" =p

The very famous traditional remedies suggests that applying urine can combat the venom. Also, pain and swelling can be reduced with a cold compress. Although the urine treatment isn't scientifically proven, many people claims that it really helps. Logically, the venom is injected under the skin layers which is hard for the urine to get there and neutralize the venom. Other than urine, vinegar can be another emergency alternatives. I have no idea how it works, I heard this from the old people. Baking soda can also be used for treatment.

But when u are in the jungle, where the hell to get baking soda?

I read from the net that normally insect stings in non-allergic people, will not cause any serious problem. Itchiness, immediate pain and redness are the common effect. However, multiple stings might result in serious complications such as muscles breakdown or kidney failure. The worst case, sting in the throat cause swelling and block the airway causing serious problem in breathing. When u have nausea, chest pain, or wheezing, go seek for medical assistance.

In Time

2012-02-05T23:36:00.001+07:00

Since morning I started counting down my time left at home. My leave pass expires at 2300H, all officer cadets know the consequences of coming back late. To have a better idea what will happen, just need a word to describe - DEAD. I recall the movie In Time, where human on earth were given 25 years of time, once u become 25 years old, time will start depleting till u have no more time and face death. All daily trading was based on time. u buy food with time, only with time u can buy car, time is really like gold in that movie. If u have a million years, then u make millionaire.

The same thing is happening to me, if I don't get back to UPNM before time ends, I will "die". In my case, I will never make millionaire even if I stay here forever. counting down to death time will be temporarily frozen if u get back in time.

Fighting Spirit

2012-02-04T21:17:00.003+07:00

This is my Team.

we train, we sweat, we suffer, all together.

The Intervarsity Eco Challenge is just one week away, everyone in the team is anxious to give our best on race day. As the platoon leader, I'm pressured by many superiors and officers. Many of the officers came to me telling me how high their hopes are on us, some came to me giving a stern face warning me never ever lose this game. I have a team of highly enthusiastic people who are willing to sacrifice their holidays, and give their very best shot for every single training session. We race to win! If we're fated to lose, make us a good loser.

The route is unforgiving. It's really cruel to the body.

As we push our body to the limit, then have a quality rest, our body gradually become stronger and the endurance improves. Hitting considerably high mileage is our main goal before entering the tapering week. The training program that I planned with my intake includes recovery sessions, strength training and endurance training. My way of leading this team is more of empowering them and listen to their ideas. I strongly believe by listening to my men, I'll be able to generate brilliant ideas. The whole race plan and strategy inclusive of combination of tactics from every single battalion. I will always ask for everyone's agreement before making any serious decision. Holding on to the motto Serve to Lead, I serve as their leader. Less regimental is implemented for every training sessions to cultivate better team chemistry.

we entered the jungle quite a number of time. the route will cover roads and trails, construction area and orchard. I've heard of stories regarding under trainees hysteria in this jungle. As a cadet who believes in God, I believe the existence of spirits and ghosts as well. People always say, when u are weak and low in confidence, the spirit will enter your body. Next u will be behaving like spirit and talk nonsense. So far, this has yet to be scientifically proven nor cured. Last week, the spirit took over my friend's body when we were jungle trekking. He was really weak and exhausted, and couldn't keep up with the pace. Soon he lost focus. The last time I saw him sober was when I shouted at him calling him to tail the group.

Not long after we moved, my last man Zaim overtook him. He was too slow. I've decided not to slow the team down waiting for him since we were very close to the finishing line, just 2 more kilometers. When we were cooling ourselves down, he walked to one corner and isolated himself. Hours after that, we saw all the nonsense comments and posts from him on facebook. It doesn't make sense at all! So I went to see him, he talked about all sorts of philosophy and theories, and he doesn't even remember what he just said. He shouts at people, scolded his dad on the phone and self talks all the time. The worst thing is he prays not according to the 5 praying period, he prays randomly. I spent an hour talking to him that night, and I can tell that that's really not him. When I was in National Service, I've seen cases like this. A girl can finish whole big packet of long gardenia bread, then dented the wardrobe by kicking it. She was speaking classic Malay with the instructors! Next case, a friend of mine planted her pad under a big tree during jungle training, without her knowing, she actually planted it at the "house" of the spirit. That spirit followed her all the way back to uni and finally took revenge. After this few incidents, I cannot deny the existence of spirits.

Having ladies is the team, has its Pros and Cons. Diversity and multicultural team members make this team unique. Ladies are the cheer leaders, they keep the guys motivated although they're physically less competent compare to guys. Whatever it is, we're lucky to have highly motivated ladies in the team, and they're the best in this brigade. I really like their fighting spirit =)

This lake has got its own story to be told.

I know the history, but I'd rather keep it away from my team mates for the time being. Just don't wanna create unnecessary havoc.

The will to win is nothing compared to the will of preparing to win.

I'm home now, finally I get to have a quality rest.

quitters never win

2012-01-31T06:27:00.001+07:00

28th January marked a new chapter in my comrades' life. Their life as an officer cadet has ended and now life as young officers just started. The commissioning parade was amazing! It was an outstanding performance by the young officers, I felt so proud to watch a flawless parade! Thousands of people came for the parade, and I've expected my ex will come. Actually, I've never ever mentioned her in my blog nor officially declare her as my gf when we were together. It was due to our difference in religion that we had to break up. Later, she got together with my best friend. A lot of things happened after that, and we were not in good term. I didn't even notice her sitting on the same block as me during the commissioning parade! I was so sure that she saw me as I was one of the few that wears blazer and distribute the booklets to the spectators. Our relationship didn't end well, so we became strangers after that. Suddenly when I saw her, My heart was beating so fast, and my mind was like very quickly flipping back the old chapters of my past. She was very nice to me, but I was the one who wanted to break up after 2.5 years because I don't wanna waste her time, we will not go one step further. Till today, the blame is on me. I took a final glimpse of her before she left, deep down inside I was saying "may u be well and happy Sal".

I strapped up my body with rocktape yesterday after suffering from neck pain. Now I'm feeling so much better. With the current training, 10 hours sleep is desperately needed! Tough week ahead and a few cadets broke down. When u are mentally tore apart, yr strong physique became useless.

The pain is nothing compared to how it feels like to quit. Quitters never win, winners never quit!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.3

Beautiful game

2012-01-27T21:14:00.001+07:00

The Intervarsity Eco challenge is just 2 weeks away and the our training has been intensified to face the extreme challenge. In this brigade's formation, only the very best will make it to the first team. The 12 obstacles has given me enough cuts and bruises. My backpack's load slows me down and I always come home with muscles soreness. I'm one of the tiniest team member, but it didn't stop me from surviving the challenge. I believe all 45 cadets in the team are the people I can count on during D day. The cadets are taking this game like a war, there's no second place in our mind. In war, there's no runner up, either u win the game or totally lose it. The winner will write history and the loser bare the humiliation. I pray for a beautiful ending for my very last Eco challenge in UPNM. I want this game, this team, to be legends who will be remembered every time when people talk about Eco challenge.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.3

2012-01-25T23:04:00.000+07:00

Chinese New Year Holiday was more of a house shifting period instead of Ang Pow collecting holiday. This year is the least Ang Pow I've ever collected in my life! As a grown up, I enjoy spending time with family, ang pow comes second. They're people who says I'm not very Chinese, but they don't know the super chinese side of me. For example, I arrange my room referring to Feng Shui. I do this annually without failed, hope to avoid misfortune and bring me more prosperity and good luck=) My grandma likes my room and she slept with me a night before I came back to UPNM. we had a quality chat before she dozed off...

common question she will ask "when are u gonna get girl friend?"

actually, to me liking someone should be something really special and if possible it happens only once. I wanna have a permanent, long lasting relationship. liking too many people at one time is just not me. As for now, personal growth and development come first. That's why I didn't bother getting myself Flower of Romance, I got myself five element pagoda with tree of life instead.

All my medals will be kept in a shoe bag. Medals should be my motivation to keep moving, not to show off. hopefully I'll brag less after this =p easier said than done.

everyone who came into my room were very impressed with our wardrobe =) this is how we're trained to fold our clothes in the camp. Done with my room, I went and made a bird nest. Even since small I've always liked outdoor activities, trap birds and catch insects. I'm gonna blog about my bird nest in my next post=)

Aiman, 2 other seniors and I went for supper after roll call. Aiman told me about his problem, and he said he feels like reporting to the special force to let go all stresses. I can't agree more! That's the main reason why I'm now in the Eco Challenge Team. When I face emotional pain, I will take up tasks and ranks. I rather be productive than grieving on the unchanged past. After Eco Challenge, I'll plan for something really extreme.

I won't stop when I'm tired, I'll stop when I'm done =)

this is one impressive video made by the Zulu cadets. watch this if u wanna know more about our military cadet trainings=)

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000+07:00

I'm moving into a new house this holiday as my father will be posted back to KL.

when my mum told me we'll have some space for BBQ, 6 rooms and 4 toilets, immediately i thought of throwing a party! our neighbours are all military family, so no screaming and shouting at home.

Today I spent whole day cleaning my room, wiping the wall and wardrobe. I even rearranged my room with the help of Jun Kwan. The excitement of moving into new house is felt by everyone in the family. The current apartment we're staying now is a little too small to keep our stuff. I've been sleeping with boxes in my room, so i'm not to be blamed for my small build, no space to grow=p My new room come with attached toilet and a queen size bed, it's really spacious.

from my room window=)

this new house is just 10mins away from KLCC, I can run to KLCC within 30 mins. There's a tree at the back compound of this house, suddenly I had the thought of making a tree house =p there're so much of plan for this new house, I'll start with my room first =)

This is one interesting interview by Taylor Swift! =)

sunshine

2012-01-20T01:43:00.001+07:00

Believing in karma is what makes me who I am today, it builds my character in a mysterious way. It's like the law of action and reaction, u do good and u get good. Every time I do bad things, right after that I'll be punished. So I strongly believe karma's existence. Since the day I joined RMC, I've been pushed to limit, put into lots of really desperate conditions where I feel hopeless and couldn't take control of what's happening to me. I hate being weak and the feeling of losing control, its like a chopper losing its tail, swaying in the air and finally crash on ground.

That's the time when I can only pray hard, very very hard hoping for miracle Since day one joining UPNM, my life has been a lot more stable compare to my years in RMC. I'm more experienced dealing with crisis, maturity and intuition decide which path I should go. Most of the time, I picked the right path. Last two months was really sucks, I felt like living in my own cave and so hopeless. Losing weight, getting gastric, and undetermined. I felt really hopeless. Although I was slapped so hard, I still tried to keep everything under control. A good leader shouldn't be affected by emotions when come decisions making. In military, too many serious decisions need to be made. The challenging part is yr decision will affect other people. So, I need to be clear and steady all the time.I was squeezing my brain thinking how can I cheer myself up. Being a triathlete, I know my brain can multitasking, my physical can handle stress. Rather than stay in my room and study for finals, I reported to Eco challenge team and now appointed as the team leader. Keeping myself busy will avoid lots of unwanted flashback of the past, ensuring me to keep moving forward. So I train for Eco challenge and sit for final exams at the same time. Morning study, evening run 6km, then study again. If u are in upnm u probably understand how crazy that is. Lucky enough, I've made another right move again. I'm finally feeling alive again. Who will ever thought I'll see the sunshine so quickly, I thought I'll demoralize till end of my stay here.

Recently I've been blessed with abundance of surprisingly great blessings! Karma really speaks for itself. U do good, u get good. I guess it was my promise to contribute to the endurance racing community that has given me such good return. I did help quite a number of athletes to start this sport and share some useful tips with my friends, intentionally. Everything happens this month has been super smooth sailing! I was given RM 200 book voucher, won the asics contest, got my claim for Powerman, combat boots will be subsidized by uni, appointed to be platoon leader for Eco challenge, got my pay early and many many more!!! OMG, I felt like crying. This morning, my supervisor asked me what happened during my final year presentation. I was a little worried when he asked me that way, as if my marks are really horrible. I told him I was fired by the panel, but I managed to defend my stand and answered their questions. He smiled and said "no wonder u scored so high". Immediately I felt relieved! The panel who fired me gave me high marks for the presentation. But till now he didn't tell me my marks, so I don't know what he meant by "high marks", so just pray for the best. When come to academics, I have slightly lower self esteem as I've never been the top student of any subject unlike how well I'm doing in sports. Not only that, after he left the class, I checked my presentation marks for capstone project, my group got highest. I was speechless and so touched that I felt like crying. I didn't expect all this! The other groups' projects were very promising, so I thought they will score better than us. It was such an awesome week! I'm feeling very very grateful.

Lately, I've become like a freedom fighter. I approached officers and asked for lots of things on behalf of my intake. Anything goes wrong or my intake not happy with, I'll go all out fight for them. I didn't confront officers though, I tried to be persuasive to convince them with our ideas. So far, everything turned out to be a great success. That indirectly grows my influence among my batch mates.

真的无话可说，谢天谢地。。。

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Dua Tiga Kucing Berlari

2012-01-16T20:09:00.000+07:00

Last week, we managed to hit very high mileage. To be very frank, I was shocked to see our training record.

I didn't really feel it. In fact, amirul also was surprised when I told him about our record. Previous Saturday, I led the team up to Bukit Besi. Those who have done this track before, definitely know what to expect. I'm very sure many of them got blisters and muscles pain after the training, but I constantly remind them that we are the best among the best, keep holding on! This Brigade formation is manned by all the best cadets of every battalion. We are extraordinary people, so we can take care of our own problems.

The training running up with Bukit Besi wearing FSMO has pushed them to the limit, a few couldn't keep up with the pace, some had minor injuries. But still, everyone made it=) This is a military sport, to be specific, it is an Army sport. Although I'm a Navy cadet, I was appointed to be the Platoon Leader, I'm really honoured.

Aiman Running down Bukit Besi

Tortoise Pace...

total distance covering more than 12km.

Now u see how crazy Bukit Besi is...

Today the instructor made us run 2 rounds carrying 10kg pack with the PALAPES, then I saw many angry faces among the cadets. One of them came to me and said "what the hell man? 2 rounds?". So I requested for another 2 loops. The moment my request was granted, everyone cheered so happily.

This team, is a crazy team, full of enthusiasm. We want challenge!

Clearing the cloud

2012-01-13T19:35:00.001+07:00

Days back I saw a post on the leadership qualities of the Muslim prophet, there was a very long list, but one that caught my attention was :

"he will talk only when needed, and will only explain to clear his name to stop rumours"

I believe all religions want to guide their devotees to the good path, so it doesn't harm me to know more about other religion. Today, I had a discussion which accidentally turned argument with a friend. what I did was to explain and hope the opposition can see things clearer. There's no point talking to an angry man though. The anger will cloud everything and soon will come out with all sorts of facts for defend purposes.

One of the argument was slightly related to my family. This friend (although he is hot tempered, i still treat him as a friend), mentioned that the 2nd time when we went for the naval training, I wasn't slapped by the officer because my father is a captain. which means my father's power indirectly secured me from that slap. That emotional outburst actually leaked all his hatred and anger he had with me all this time. Then I explained what other burdens and tortures that I had during the training just because my father is a captain. I've never ever asked for exemption from training using my father's power. In fact, they were invited on board my father's ship for a visit after me asking for them. I know not many will understand because they've never been a captain's son. I was manhandled because my father is a captain. what bullshit is that? One thing for sure, I pave my own way and I excel with my own style. I'm in the technical branch, unlike my father in the executive branch. If people still like to talk rubbish saying my success is all because of my father, I shall smile at them and pity their small mind.

Then the topic swayed to being appreciative. The point was I didn't appreciate the holiday I have with my family. Deep down my heart I pity this kind of thinking. I sacrificed my holiday many times throughout my years here, and my family has been really supportive. They hardly say no when I mention that I need to spend time training especially when come to sports. I'm surrounded by super productive and competitive family members, I've been brought up this way since small!

On your way pursuing your dreams, u might spend less time with your family. One thing for sure, your family members will not feel jealous of your achievement, it is something they can be proud of. I'm moving into a new house soon, I'm imagining a big wall of fame to hang all our paper cuttings on that wall. It's not easy to fill this wall. Slowly but surely, the wall will be covered with paper cuttings in no time.

Thinking of what my family have achieved, is really gratifying.

Ice Creamory

2012-01-11T20:34:00.003+07:00

This ice cream has got some sentimental value to me. The last time I had this Kit Kat ice cream was 5 years back. I bought 2 of this Ice cream after Kasturi tuition.

I checked my facebook after deleting a few unwanted friends. I just get annoyed every time looking at their rubbish posts. The only way not to live in hatred is by deleting them. Next I have 300 over friend request pending, most of them I haven't met before. I'm not gonna approve anyway, too many friends to handle in my account. what's the point of having hundreds of friends in the list but the real ones not even a dozen.

Today's training was average. Right after my Aircraft system and structure exam, I quickly get changed and present myself at the sports complex. Being the team leader, I must attend all training sessions. Today we did 4 loops, and all ladies finished strong. =) Get ready for greater training intensity next week!

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Losing steam

2012-01-09T09:52:00.000+07:00

I'm feeling tired and losing steam already, been getting lost of pressure and tasks from officers and instructors. The only thing that keep me going is the cadets in the team.

They're full of enthusiasm and highly spirited. This morning, a junior of mine requested to train with the team despite he will never make it to the D day. he just wanna follow the training.

43 cadets were short listed to be in the Eco Challenge Team, 8 more will be kicked out this evening if they fail to cross the monkey rack. Yesterday I went and tried the monkey rack with 10kg backpack, came back with blisters on my hand. As a leader, u do it first before yr man. This evening, their turn to do it.

imagine if u drop into this chest deep smelly water... yucks =p

decision making is just tough and cruel. that's the way life is.

Hard head

2012-01-07T09:26:00.000+07:00

Week one of January, I've completed a 25km Run, and now preparing myself for the inter varsity Eco Challenge. It's amazing that how I can complete so many tasks in a week even during exams season. I just wanna keep myself occupied and have an achievable goal to make my life more colourful.

90 Cadets registered for the Eco Challenge, and I'm appointed to be the team leader. Tell u what, most of them join this game for one reason - they think they're tough and now they wanna prove it to everyone. We did selection yesterday, and u can imagine how tough the competition was when Aiman, Amirul and I had a hard time getting ourselves at the front pack during the run. This team will consist of hard head cadets who are too reluctant to just stay in their room to study for final exams, they want extra challenges. When I saw the name list, I got scared. These are the legends of their Battalions, they did superb in the previous Eco Challenge. So now they wanna contribute to the University.

I'm a hard head person, leading a bunch of stubborn tough guys. I'm glad to see the level of commitment and zeal they put in to outshine others. Keep up the good work guys=)

I feel so proud to be in the team of people with undying fighting spirit. It is an honour for me.

UPNM Inter University Eco Challenge

2012-01-05T19:21:00.008+07:00

INTER UNIVERSITY ECO CHALLENGE

VENUE : UNIVERSITI PERTAHANAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA

DATE : 10 - 13 FEB (not confirm yet)

You are physically fit? Mentally tough? Need a platform to flaunt your toughness?

Eco Challenge is the right event for u!

INTRODUCTION

Eco Challenge is an annual event where all Battalions will send a platoon of their toughest cadets to compete, just to prove who is the best among the best. This event includes all elements of our weekly military training.It covers physical training, cross country, obstacles course and also some basic martial arts skills (to be used during the obstacles course).

Just so u know, each battalion will be given a month to prepare their cadets before putting them on the starting line. This event started 2 years ago, no matter how well we prepare, the unforgiving obstacles course and cross country track gets tougher each passing year, making this event super challenging and pushes all challengers to their limit. On this race course, there will be no less than 3 cadets collapse during the game every year.

CHALLENGES

Cross country route will cover approximately 10km in jungle area of Kem Perdana Sungai Besi. Participants will pass by our Survival Village, fishing pond, star fruit farm, orchard and also Bukit Besi. By the way, all participants will be wearing FSMO (Full Service Marching Order) with complete layout throughout the game. The backpack will be around 10kg, excluding pouches and braces. Normally we will carry gun with us and complete ration to simulate real life operation condition. After trail running for 5km, u will start panting and feel the soreness on your shoulder for carrying heavy load. If u come with winning thought, u will race with speed. And that is the main reason why many collapse because they couldn't keep up with their comrades' speed. In this critical time, your team cooperation will be tested because one man collapse will cause serious penalty.

No one will understand how fast this game is unless they've joined this gruelling event. Everyone is being pushed to the limit! On race day, not only the loads u need to carry is slowing u down, the heat and the slippery trail make things worse! I've joined this event every year, and this event is never easy for me.

high speed + heavy load = collapse
Only the strong survives

Each platoon manned by 30 male cadets and 4 lady cadets will also carry 2 land rover tyres, 2 logs, 2 magazine cases. Then, whole platoon will be tested on obstacles course which covers 8 infamous obstacles namely monkey rack, 6 feet wall, commando crawl, 12 feet wall, and so on. Then, all participants will proceed for kayaking. Not to worry, life jacket is provided. Lastly, the platoon will carry a 300kg assault boat all the way from Pusat Marin to the finishing line.

If u wanna experience the pain first hand, register for this event! Refer to your university's student affair. Invitation letter has been sent.

This year's event has been made more do-able and the intensity has been greatly decreased since this is the very first time we open to public. So, no shooting, reduction of distance, less obstacles and less load to carry. According to the person in charge, this event only open for PALAPES and SUKSIS, and they must clock minimum of 6 months cadet training before joining this event.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!

Are u tough enough? This is a race for bragging rights.

Hope to see u at my play ground =)

Eco Challenge

2012-01-04T18:05:00.001+07:00

This negative energy in me need to be channeled somewhere. Instead of letting this unsolved issues bothering me, I'm gonna report to the Eco challenge team. With my fitness and experience racing Eco challenge for 2 consecutive years, I believe I can contribute something to the team. Inter university Eco challenge, my next goal.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Multitasking

2012-01-04T14:01:00.001+07:00

Today's treat, vanilla drumstick with nuts. Also, a packet of potato chips. I'm feeding myself with lots of nice food during this exam period so that my body won't complaint :P I'm kinda good in multitasking, and my brain can think of a few things at a time. It's a bad thing in a way that even when I'm studying I'll suddenly grab my phone and go online to search some sports info, or worst still go read blogs. I'm so used to texting every single day, this "interesting" habit has stopped 2 months ago. 2 months feels like 2 years. I'll get back on my feet, I must! I need to counter the sudden struck of feeling of loneliness and sorrow. Racing and playing games are the best distractions to keep me away from my phone. Life will be more exciting to have short goals or races that make things more competitive and full of adrenaline rush. So, I'm gonna race more. I'm thinking of joining the inter University Eco Challenge, training will starts right after exams. At least my life has a purpose when I set many many short achievable goals.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Lika-Beli

2012-01-03T12:21:00.001+07:00

Last night I stayed up and forced my pathetic eyes to read through a thick 600 pages of boring text book. My brain was unwillingly packed with info and facts preparing for this morning's exam. I was so sleepy during the exams, and I was really very tired. My body is yelling at me urging me to rest! It will take a few days for me to fully recover from Newton 25km. After a stressful 2 hours in the exam hall, my gang and I went to the cafe had a very big meal as if there's no tomorrow:P not only that, we went and get ourselves ice cream to reward ourselves. It was really fun:) they always ask me out to go for food. Very often I have to reject unhealthy food, but not today. I've been craving for ice cream since Powerman. For the sake of improving my stamina, I refrained myself from eating ice cream.

It's time for a quality evening nap before torturing myself for the next paper ;) have a nice day guys.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Newton 25km New Year Challenge 2012 Race Report

2012-01-02T10:31:00.006+07:00

This is one of the few races where I race humbly. Recalling last year's painful memory and last week's injury has seriously thumbed down my confidence. I doubted myself even when I was standing at the starting line. The intention to pull out from this race was lingering in my mind, because I'm not sure if my ankle will give me problem running long distance. Furthermore, I'm super low in mileage. In a month, I hit only less than 50km.

Gun goes off and so many runners sprinted to position themselves at the front pack including Aiman. I will have to settle for stable pace, no sprinting because my ankle just recovered, that also i wasn't sure if I've fully recovered. As I passed by runners one by one, I was looking for Kevin. He is the fastest Malaysian Ironman for this year=) when u scored such great achievement, u gotta expect people to challenge u=p Then I saw a runner with a white visor, his running gait and arm swing similar to Andreas Raelert, must be Kevin. True enough, it was him. He told me to go with my pace, so I left him.

After some time, here comes Lionel Lee, another superb runner. He was the 3.30 pace setter for SCKLM, so I know I can pace him. I recognise him by his running gait too. How I wish I could run at stable pace like him, he ran the same speed despite uphill, downhill or flat! consistency is the key to success for long distance running. He did increase his pace a little when come the hill section, probably trying to drop me=p I was panting like hell when he ran faster at the hilly section, felt like giving up already. Then I looked back hoping to get another slower runner to pace, but the whole stretch of road was empty!

Next I was self scolding "F*ck u Chan Jun Shen! how can u let Lionel go away! U are the University Duathlete of The Year, this isn't that hard!"

I kept reminding myself that I can do this!

I dug myself so deep that I had to use all techniques that I've learned to match with Lionel's pace. The "uppercut" technique by Chi Running was my only effective method to match Lionel's cadence at the hilly section. Nutrition-wise, I calculated my calorie burn and I took a performance bar and a triple threat 2 hours before race hoping that I can digest both bars to avoid throwing up. I constantly refuelled myself with electrolytes every 20 minutes, don't wait until I cramp then only pump in electrolytes.

I ran passed the Power Bar water station and shouted at Abang Jasrul to ask him which one is plain water. He told me the last table is plain water. I grabbed 4 cups and poured on my forehead to cool down my overheating engine.

"Eh, how come the plain water tasted sweet and stciky?"

Then I heard evil laughter of volunteers including Abang Jasrul. Probably he gave me the wrong info. So I ran with sticky body. It didn't give me serious problem though, I was fine.

Looked at my watch and saw 1 hour 30 minutes has passed, my chances to be in top 10 was there! I ran passed the same route where I had to walked in pain due to ankle injury. It was like running down the bitter memory lane. This year I'm not gonna lose my chance again, I'm gonna give my all since my ankle is still okay. Lionel starts increasing his pace, that was the time when both of my calves seized up! Then I saw my mum at the very last water station cheering for me, I was too weak to respond though.

Another Chinese runner overtook me and Lionel, we were so close to finishing line that I could hear Razlan's voice. Final 500m, I couldn't do anything but to finish the race with my current pace.

Crossed the line 1 hour 45 mins 55 seconds =) Forgot to stop my watch. =p

Pace 4.14mins per kilometre.

Karen, Kevin and Dad. Athletic family, how nice is that =)

will be his last day in Malaysia.

Normally after race I don't stretch, but this time I stretch because I saw him stretching=p good influence.

Yim is an ultra runner, he was wearing a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers.

His opinion of running barefoot gave me a better understanding of why many long distance runners run barefooted including Mohan Marathon but finished without injuries unlike those with supported shoes=)

really nice talking to him =)

Uncle Oliver Ker.

He walks every time he races, the recent 12 hours run in Melaka, he covered 78km !

I wish I can still be as strong as him when I'm his age=) he could recognize me and he knows my mum! =) He told me that he couldn't run due to knee pain, so he walks.

he said "I don't join short course races like 10kms, because by the time i finished walking everyone will be going home already"

Mr Tey has been very supportive, he takes pictures for free and everyone can download from his Facebook.

After race, I had a short chat with my uncle Vincent Khor, and a few of my friends including Kelvin Yew=)

I love this endurance racing community. Catching up with them is something that I always look forward to after racing=)

Here comes the winners=)

Thank god my ankle didn't give me problem. I rewarded myself with this rock tape, hoping that it will improve my performance. Surprisingly, no ankle pain, very very minor body ache despite finishing the race at relatively high pace. I slept for hours after washing all my race gears, woke up and realized that I have final exams in 2 more days. I did foam roller exercises every time when I get bored studying. Final exams starts tomorrow, time to study=) what a tough and tiring life! I chose to live like this, I will never feel tired of doing endurance racing. It makes me feel alive.

New PB =)

During Recovery Period, I listen to soft love songs... and this one is feeding my ears right now.

Thousand Years by Christina Perri =)

Carbo Loading

2011-12-31T13:50:00.001+07:00

I'm a lazy bump endurance athlete who strives to improve timing but too lazy to increase my training load.

The laziest way to improve is by eating smart, have a brilliant nutrition plan on race day. So I'm gonna share mine here, if u have a better nutrition plan, hope u can share with me=)

According to my heart rate monitor, I burn around 500kcal for distance of 7km. Tomorrow I'll be running Newton 25km, so my calorie burn will be approximately :

500kcal x 3.5 = 1750kcal

1 performance Power Bar = 240kcal

1 Triple Threat Power Bar = 220kcal

1 packet of Sport Beans = 100kcal

1 packet of Gu Chomps = 180kcal

so, do your math. It's good enough if u can refuel 70% of your calorie burn during race.

1750kcal x 70% = 1225kcal.

My close friends will probably notice that when come race season, I avoid oily foods, cold drinks, and drinks with caffeine. A month before race day I'll start controlling my food intake. I never tolerate on endurance nutrition, my bento box on my bike is always filled with electrolytes during long distance cycling, my trishorts will be stuffed with gels if I run more than 15km. Active racer like me, almost one race every month, so throughout the year I have my diet under control. Once I get used to healthy eating, it has become a good habit=)

Those who love caffeine effects, please keep in mind that caffeine is diuretic, u gotta consider the side effects especially during long distance racing.

My pre race day food=)

Never ever underestimate this ugly looking banana. This is what I call "fast food" which will make me run fast tmrw. This is pisang berangan, besok boleh la aku berangan masa lari... Rich in potasium, cheapest way to refuel. By the way, it costs me only 1 ringgit. =p

Electrolytes. My fluid intake for today will be mainly electrolytes. drink consistently, not pour whole bottle and make your stomach bloat. while blogging, take a sip. when doing assignments, drink a bit. I filled my bottle with Power Bar recovery to speed up glycogen restoration and supports muscle recovery and repair.

Rehydrate is too important as tmrw I'll be losing volumes of sweat throughout the race.

My lunch and dinner. Moderate protein, high carbs.

Bought this from Sup Meletup Bandar Tasik Selatan. Yum Yum... =p

Salmon spread with bread will be my supper.

Tomorrow morning I have to present myself at Cadet's Mess at 0415H morning! to get enough sleep, I need to sleep around 9pm. so I'm not gonna nap. If I lie on my bed and nap, tonight I'll be rolling on my bed till next morning. Since exam is coming soon, I'll stay back to study instead of going home for overnight. Studying will surely make me sleep, which student likes to read books right?=p Before sleep, I will normally stretch a little, do foam roller exercises, and watch some inspirational videos to set my mind at the winning mode=)

As for tomorrow, completing the distance is a piece of cake, hopefully my left ankle doesn't give me problem.

To finish top 10, is a piece of shit=p I will have to dig deep and give my all to keep up with the fast runners.

I'm not in top form now, but i'll try my best =)

1st January 2012, new beginning of my life =)

start it with 25km Newton Run =) Good luck guys, see u tmrw=)

Bloggaholic

2011-12-30T01:51:00.001+07:00

2.30am in the morning, just completed my much hated control engineering assignments. Here am I again, to record the surprise party organized by Aiman, Ahmad and Amirul for me.:) It's a blessing for me to meet them. 4 of us have different character and the unique part is we get to complement one another coz either one of us will be good at the weakness of the other three.

This evening, I have decided to run 7km to test if I'm ready for newton. I'm still not giving up unless god forbid. It's just not me to lose hope that quickly without trying. I completed the 7km in 28mins 2 secs, more than a minute slower than my personal best. I wasn't breathing well and not in perfect shape to score another PB. I was paying all my attention to sense any feeling of irritation in my body especially the joints. By listening to my body, I can decide whether to do newton or not. Newton run is 25km, last year I completed the run with my ankle hurt, which was stubborn and stupid.

I need to learn to pull out and give up on races that I can't do well because of unexpected injuries. As for today, I felt alright. No ankle pain. I hope it isn't a mistake to do newton this Sunday.. just pray hard...

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Birthday Double Too

2011-12-27T20:26:00.004+07:00

I'm anticipating for a phone call, from an old friend. It's funny when u have a post paid smart phone, but dialling a mobile number can be such a challenging task. I'm hoping for a birthday wish. Tomorrow, I'll turn 22 and to be very frank, I'm feeling very very old. my 2 digits age with the initial 2, gives me the feeling like my character is too childish to be 22. I should be serious and talk like a real man from tomorrow onwards=p It feels like all of the sudden the time is accelerating. How come I turn old so fast?

I should stop making squeaky sounds when joking with friends...

I should laugh like "ho ho ho" instead of "hi hi hi"...

My smiles should look wicked instead of sweet.

22 years back. My brilliant parents gave me a super nice name.
my name JUN SHEN should describe my character.
军 pronounced as JUN, means Soldier.
胜 pronounced as SHEN, means Victory.
No wonder I'm so cocky=p always wanna win. parents to be blamed for giving me such name=p hahaha

Now, straight to the point. I wanna sum up what I've done throughout this year.

I bought my new bike Polygon 700.

I climbed Broga Hill with Aiman, Abg Alang, Amirul and Ahmad.

I lost the Pagoh orienteering for reading the map wrongly.

I did 1hour 29mins for Bareno run, first time into top 10.

Presented pantun during Dato Amir's farewell and received the greatest standing ovation in my life!

Penang Life

Did my industrial training in Prai Power Plant, subsidiary of Malakoff Corp Berhad, very well paid.

Had the greatest time of my life in Penang, first time I was so near and so close to Jamie after knowing her for years. I was blessed with a very kind landlord Alvin who treated me like his blood brother, I can never thank him enough for his very nice treatment. Both of us were caught by police for fishing at port area, that was one of the crazy experience that we had which I won't forget. His car is really impressive, I will always remember when he sped up batu feringghi, I felt like on a roller coaster ride=p Jamie and I gave him a surprise birthday cake, when we went in, he was half naked. I got to know his birthday from his saman! haha. I became a part time swim coach in Penang by coaching Ethan. Knowing Ethan, Michael, Jasmine and Josephine was interesting. U guys have no idea how much of attention I got from them throughout my stay in Penang, they care so much for me. They made me feel loved and I'm part of their family. I had dental treatment done by Jamie, and she was self talking for 42mins to entertain me while digging my mouth. In Penang, I experienced my very first earthquake. Thanks to Jaspreet for all her jokes to entertain everyone, I really enjoyed her company. I went through lots of ups and downs in Penang, had lots of issues as well. But still, I enjoyed every single minute of it, especially being a carefree civilian. The day i left Penang, was the day I stopped eating beef.

Back to Reality

July 24th I left Penang, I had an unexpected issues, I was hurt when I left Penang. However, a very important task awaiting me in UPNM. I need to defend my title as the University Duathlete of The Year, I need to be the overall champion again to bring back all 4 trophies for my team. Thanks to strong support from parents, team, university, and a few close friends, I did it again! two in a row! and to the reporter who wrote I failed to defend my title during the first leg, I hope my overall result can keep yr mouth shut. I'm still the champion.

August

I went to Kuala Selangor with my family, my first time there to watch fireflies. I sponsored my grandma her New balance running shoes which costs a quarter of my pay, she was very very happy and the whole taman knows that i bought her running shoes=) Next I bought myself 2 pairs of Asics running shoes, and I recalled the first time when I asked for Asics running shoes from my dad and he brought me to Bundle at Jalan TAR, that was many years back. I wanted an Asics so badly, but too bad it was too costly. Now I earn my own pay, I get to own what I couldn't afford to have.

September & October & November

I put on my rank as cadet sergeant.

Celebrated Jamie's birthday.

Good experience selling satay in my uni, wear long sleeve with slack some more. =p

Aiman and I ran around Pangkor, completed the 24km loop under hot sun. we swam across to the island opposite too! This is something worth bragging=p

I scored top 10 in Powerman, could have done better though.

I bet with Azrul Syaffiq that the guy who lost Powerman will have to take off his pants, and he still owes me that!

ko ingat aku lupa?=p

December

my final year project

was double promoted for self defence exam, I'm closer to my second black belt! =)

had some serious personal issues since months ago, ended up losing appetite, finally got gastric.

the most horrible farewell gift - gastric.

In 2 month's time, I lost 5 kgs. No matter how much of pain and stress I'm going through, I never let it affects my academics. I did well for today's presentation, the panel did mention that my presentation was good=) so all my hard work and sleepless night paid off. last week I sprained my ankle for fooling around while running, now I'm still in pain.

the best birthday present ever - ankle pain.

A very big congratulations to my youngest brother Jun KwanTamilnesan =p

the pain is very mild, but I don't wanna take the risk to run 25km Newton Run. I have another 3 more days to decide. I hope to recover fast, I'm so eager to run with Kevin Siah=p I wanna start my new year with this 25km run!

I feel grateful for meeting so many nice people along my way which gave me support especially at times when I need it the most. May I graduate on time, and maintain my 3 pointer academics result. I can't wait to leave Kem Sg Besi! =p Hope this will be my 2nd last birthday in this place. Gosh! next year I'll be here on my birthday before being commissioned in January! shit =p I REALLY HOPE that UPNM will allow me to actively race for my final year instead of tying me with the final year zulu regimental routine, i don't think it is possible though.

last but not least....

快要完了!

2011-12-27T10:05:00.001+07:00

四年来的知识与努力，就在今天的短短半小时的 presentation 被讲师 jugde whether am I a 没用的大苯蛋。刚 present 的朋友，已被骂到狗血淋头。但我，还在这儿blogging. My mandrin really sucks. Guess I'm gonna start blogging in mandrin soon. I used to write very good Chinese essays, due to environment which doesn't encourage me to practise mandrin, my mandrin has deteriorate. 哈哈。It took me like 15mins to write the words above.:P kinda fun though. One more hour I'll enter the presentation room, hopefully my lecturers won't fire me and make me their mortar proving ground:P my project is something I really proud of, I spend lots of time keep improving my project. I hope my effort will be fruitful, and I can proudly brag with this project. The first two words "armour piercing" of my project, sounds so powerful and strong, full of manly ego. Haha. I just love it when lecturers were stunned only my listening to my project title. Haha.:P hopefully I don't keep mum when they fire me for my presentation. I must defend my stand! 讲的好，做的到吗? 哈哈。

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Loading tummy

2011-12-25T09:42:00.001+07:00

This is my very healthy breakfast at Renaissance Hotel. After a hard torturing week sitting for exams and trying to gain my appetite, finally I get to rest a bit at home. Obviously, 3 days holiday is not enough for me to gain weight. Can't believe that gaining weight is so damn hard. Imagine during exams, I'm thinking of how to put on weight. While studying, I kept eating chocolates and bread. After all my hardwork eating, I gained as little as 1kg :P Newton 25km Run is just around the corner, 6 more days to test my fitness. That's why I love racing, I don't feel hopeless or useless during normal days, I have something that I'm looking forward to. Keeping myself occupied is the best way to stop this overly active brain from dreaming of the past.

I watched the Ironman 2011 world championship last night while doing my power point presentation, came to a few scenes, I was deeply touched and nearly teared. A 81 years old doctor, was really weak on the marathon after whole day of pushing the body to the limit. He fell many times, his knees and elbow was bleeding after falling. He got back up every time he collapsed. He was so close to cut off time, and I truly understand that the feeling of racing against time is worst that being chased by a stray dog. A stray dog feels tired after some time, but the clock never feels tired ticking every single second. This old man's fighting spirit is really impressive, and I'm sure he is a stubborn man as well. He stood firm with his decision to give his all to cross the finishing line despite being told to give up.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

cocky

2011-12-21T00:39:00.001+07:00

Sometimes my ego make me a cocky person. I'm not over confident all the time, I'm conscious of what I'm capable of. I guess that's the reason why God made me a slow learner, coz he knows that if I master everything easily, I'll be over confident. So today, I had a super hard day. everything I need to achieve, I face obstacles and bad luck. Every single hour, Yes Every Single Hour of 20th December I've been getting BAD news! The very last one came from my aunt during my supper. Hopefully no more. I was really down and dead, no appetite to eat. I went to the counter and asked for coke. Coke has always been my last resort for depression. My body is super sensitive to caffeine effect, so coke did make me feel fresher and alive. Now 2am in the morning, I'm doing my final year project. Before I sleep, no more bad news please

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Mental Breakdown

2011-12-20T19:34:00.002+07:00

An hour before, they announced our holiday.

The moment I heard 23-26th Dec, I immediately I had a serious mental breakdown. What the hell man! That's too short. I had my plan, I promised Ethan that I'll come up to Penang. Hell yeah, now everything got cancelled. For half an hour I started with cursing and screaming, then ended up grieving alone at one corner. I just recalled, I'm a soldier.

"Holiday is a privilege, it's not a necessity." this phrase from my instructor is enough to keep my mouth shut and keep up with the training. Actually, all I've ever wanted was having my own time with family and friends on my birthday. It has been 9 long years, the only birthday celebrated at home was 2 years back and I requested from my parents to go for 212km Broga ride instead of a buffet dinner. I just wanna have a day of freedom, do whatever I love doing. 9 times birthday in this camp:

2003 - Marching for Passing Out although I'm not in the parade

2004 - Marching for Passing Out but this time I'm in the contingent.

2005 - alone on Tunas Samudera's texting my friends

2006 - Passing Out & Graduation

2007 - In UPNM

2008 - If not mistaken, I was in UPNM

2009 - Broga Ride 212km

2010 - I was tied on a chair and splashed with dirty water by my comrades

2011 - Gonna Present my Final year project.

4 days of holidays, imagine those from Sabah & Sarawak, Kelantan & Terengganu or JB... this last minute announcement gave them enough trouble to get bus ticket in a rush. Whatever it is, I'm a soldier boy, my voice will not be heard. Our job, to preserve country's democracy, but not to practice it in the forces. I really gave my teenage, my life, my soul, my all to the service. I'm not expecting any changes on the holiday date, I just wanna let everything out to feel better, in this tiny space of mine. This feeling, only those who undergo Officer Under Training's routine for more than 5 years will understand.

when friends ask
"hey why can't u go out?"
"what for wakie early for morning parade?"
"shine shoes? nonsense"
"why roll call every weekend?"
"when can u freely eat at the cafe?"
"who do u report to every single day?"
"what's extra drill? what's forward roll? why have to carry logs? why during study week gotta be punished"

the best part
"why did u join UPNM?"

my answer:
"I wanna become an IRONMAN"
this routine have been pushing my patience and limit to extremities. everyday is like an Ironman's training.

Life like this, is like a monk's life. If I'm able to resist temptations, eat moderately and more compassionately, probably my life will be happier, calm and stable. I won't complaint when the food tastes horrible, I won't feel attached to anybody, there'll be nothing that i'm attracted to.

"siapa suruh masuk tentera... kalau tahu begini jadinya..." most cadets will start singing this song when we are under pressure. this is to remind us, that we've signed contract with the government and just go on with our lives as a soldier boy.

curiosity

2011-12-19T22:38:00.001+07:00

I went on the weighing machine just now, right after my supper. I'm now 53kg, another kg dropped. I'm losing weight every single week! Soon I'll be feather light and float in the sky. I've tried to eat more, been reminding myself to load more protein and carbs to gain more weight. Of course I won't pump in fats as I have upcoming races in 2 weeks' time.

I'm slowly gaining my appetite, this is a good sign;) I'll try to hit 7km everyday till end of this week. I desperately need mileage! Time to rest. Good night;)

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

I'm a Runner=) 張鈞甯，用跑步做自己

2011-12-17T23:56:00.001+07:00

I'm home, not doing my assignments. As usual, downloading videos=p

Don't u feel like running after watching this video?=)

Rebound

2011-12-16T22:51:00.001+07:00

chancellor of UPNM, our King.

After a gloomy moody day yesterday, I woke up fresh and energetic this morning. I have no idea what happened, PMS may be?:P I slept late last night, surprisingly I'm not sleepy this morning. But my brain is telling me that I need to take a nap, so I lied down on my bed to relax my mind after a stressful morning parade. Then I went to academic block to get lecturer's signature, I bumped into Colonel Mohammad. He called me into his room and had a short chat. Then I stepped out of his room, he called me back again, "Chan, I'm proud of u. U bring the good name of RMC. Keep it up and make the ex-boys proud!" I smiled and saluted him before I walked out.

Old Puteras (ex RMC) normally put on our school tie on Wednesday. For years in defence university, I hardly put my RMC tie on. My promise was, I will wear the tie only when I feel that RMC can be proud of my achievements. I'm proud of RMC, but can RMC be proud of me? I'm happy with my achievements at this moment, be it academics or sports or arts. Just so u know, I'm the university champion for Sayembara deklamasi puisi! That's my hidden talent discovered by Associate Prof Daruis Lidin during my foundation year :) That was my first time deklamasi sajak, and straight away I qualified for nationals. I represented institute of Higher Learning, competed with participants from all over Malaysia. Since then, occasionally I'll practice my pantun on Facebook. I love arguing in pantun, I feel content when somebody fails to reply my pantun:P

Seriously, glad that I'm feeling alright today. Not sure how long will this last. I'm extremely broke right now, looking forward for the Pay Day!!! This month I'll be getting bonus, though not much, but that's enough to make a student happy;)

Makan petai mulut berbau,

Apakan daya sudah mengidam,

Jawab ujian banyak tak tau,

Perah otak selama dua jam.

Jemputan pakai segak bergaya,

Ceria meriah seronok berdansa,

Habis kudrat Tidak berdaya,

Berat hati namun terpaksa.

Ada kawan seorang gadis,

Anggun paras cantik rupanya,

Namun liat tak habis-habis,

Kepala batu itu masalahnya.

Selak dompet tinggal hijau sekeping,

Dok Di bilik berpuasa sajalah,

Hilang selera kurus kering,

Aku lapar siapa nak blanja?

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Monotony

2011-12-16T00:44:00.003+07:00

Military life has always been dull and monotony. The fact that black and white is everything in the service, making this monotony routine less colourful. The way I describe military : perseverance, pain, toughness, bold. Freedom of speech isn't in the list. Even when u have yr very personal problems, u keep it to yourself and keep on moving. I've been lying low lately, not as productive as before. I had some very serious personal problem, it has been bothering me for quite a while. Although I try to keep myself occupied, from time to time when I think about it, it does stings me. Even busy with projects and exams, the flashback really hurts me. This is the cause of me losing appetite, and slowly lose weight. As for now, 4kgs dropped already.

At one point, I was self pitying and grieving, not wanting to move on, just wanna hide in my cocoon and cry out loud. I feel like my patience and mental toughness is being tested to the limit. I became a stalker instead of an active Blogger. But I don't like what I saw. Being too observant, I saw every single details. I was about to break, but I didn't. I never absent from military trainings, I proceed with my projects and resume my normal life. It takes all I have to look strong, portray myself as a tough cadet. The truth it, the crack in me is propagating. However hurt I am, I never quit. Every morning 1800 over cadets parading in front of mess cadets, all has got our own problems that bother our mind. But all appear to be tough and stand tall while singing the Armed Forces hymn out loud. Everyone is masquerading.

For months I dare not blog abt my feelings, right now I feel like letting everything out. Knowing that my readers are mostly people around me, I've been thinking a lot before writing. Can't believe that it takes great courage to voice out in my own space. This is my blog, to record my thoughts. That's the consequences of having a blog with high hits. Popularity does have it drawback.

Everything happens for a reason. And I'm the kind of person who is curious to know the reason for things to happen. I take charge of my life, I don't wait for things to happen. My survival experience in the military tell me to be competitive in order to survive. Many times, I don't follow what I feel. The heart has got no brain, no logic. The mind do the thinking, the heart will just reconfirm whether it is a good move. If I make a serious decision without serious considerations, I will have to bare full responsibility for my acts, and probably regret for the rest of my life. Decisions always come with impact and effect, be it the bright or the dark side of it. The dark side of my move has dragged me through the valley of pain. 2 months of hell made everything so clear and conscious. I know what I don't want in life. I feel down and upset for losing it, but I'm clear with my acts. Hope to crawl out of this dark tunnel of suffering soon, the sooner the better.

One thing for sure, I'm mature enough to think what's best for me. I'll be presenting my Final Year Project on my birthday. Hope to do well in it. It's gonna be the rebirth of Chan Jun Shen, stronger, bolder and tougher.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Ours

2011-12-11T13:44:00.000+07:00

Wow! an unexpected music video from Taylor!

I found this video from a strangers' blog, been stalking a few active blogger recently.

Taylor's lyrics are just simple and meaningful=)

Double Promoted in Self Defence Exam

2011-12-09T22:41:00.001+07:00

Pictures I snapped this evening. U need to feel the pain of being thrown and twisted, so that u know how to hurt yr enemies.

Friday evening is one day when most of the cadets will pray for rain during Friday prayers. Being seniors, we are extremely reluctant to put ourselves under the burning evening sun. However hard we pray, it hardly happens. It can be rainy for whole week, but Friday is just one odd day when the sky is so clear and no cloud! Guess the God don't wanna waste the tax payer's money, we are paid to train! Haha. Hmm I guess I'll just bare with it, one more year left in Kem Sg Besi. It has been 8 long years since the day I joined Royal Military College till today. Now in UPNM, martial arts is a must. To be very frank, I never take it very seriously, unlike how I pay my effort in sports.

Last week, I sat for self defense exam. Only 8 of us. All 8 of us went Melaka to check on some equipments to fabricate our projects when our batch sat for the exam. I was very very scared as I don't remember those taegeuk and patterns!! I really squeezed my brain and train very hard for the exam, because I know only 8 of us, and there'll be no peeping! Once u make mistakes, it'll be clearly seen and straight away points will be deducted. This is the very first time I spend so much time preparing for self defense.

As the saying goes, "u reap what u sow". Today when the instructor announced the result, I'm double promoted. That means I leap two ranks. Haha. I'm so thrilled. I hope I'll make good use of those lessons to protect people around me, I'm not being dramatic, I really hope I know how to react when bad things happen. No point being double promoted if I sucks in fighting right?

As for tonight, I got hell lots of work to do! I'm gonna eat powerbars and electrolytes to keep me awake. Tmrw morning I'll go military physical training. I believe I can do it! :) alright, time to study. Bubye;)

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

7km a day, keeps the doctor away.

2011-12-07T19:39:00.002+07:00

This week I've been hitting decent mileage and showing good progress to get back in shape. I dislike panting when I run, I don't like the feeling of struggling, and I just hate it when I can't run effortlessly. I just miss those days when I can easily clock 27mins for my 7km. My PB is 26, so 27mins is alright for me.

Monday I was running with old-man's stride and panting like a pondan running away from police. It sucks. Finishing the distance is just piece of cake, but to do it within time limit is a piece of shit. So Tuesday I went down on the road, willingly torture myself. I always tell myself, I rather torture myself than to let the race torture me. Haha. Sweat saves blood in battlefield, simple as that. The more pain and training u endure during normal days, it will save u from humiliating yrself on race days.

Another thing I seriously need to look into is the "face" training. As endurance racing becoming more and more popular among Malaysians, it attracts more and more photographers to capture actions and emotions on race day. I wanna look good in pictures, so I can't look stressful when I swim bike run, I wanna pretend to make it look easy.:P We all know that this sport isn't easy, or else everyone would have easily completed a triathlon or duathlon, and it will no longer be something worth bragging. Right? So just pose and smile for the camera! :)

Feeling so relax after completing another 7km today. As for this week, 25km in my record. I love running when I have unsolved problems. Before run I was watching Smallville, kinda emotionally affected seeing Lana being blind and naive. She's super hot anyway. Everyone faces problems in life, my way is to run long distance so that I can think while running. I'm not sure if u guys feel the same way, very often I feel burden off my shoulder, and very relaxed after long run. If the problem can't be solved and I have to face the fact that it'll be a permanent mark in my life, I'll do like half marathon, come back tired then doze off.

7km isn't enough to make me sleep. Too bad I don't have enough time for half marathon. One interesting fact abt myself, if I don't run for long period, I will SURELY fall sick. I don't like seeing doctors, so I gotta run 7km a day to keep the doctors away. Haha. Time to study, so now my piles of assignments are doing me instead of me doing them :P feel so lonely at this moment...

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Sleepy Head

2011-12-06T07:27:00.000+07:00

Proven that I'ma real soldier=p

I'm gonna present my Final Year Project on the 28th of December. WTF! =p

whatever it is, I'll just give my very best shot to present my project on my birthday =)

I already knew who are the examiners, and I spoke to them about my project before this, they were stunt even by listening to my project title=p haha.

Lie Low

2011-12-04T19:37:00.001+07:00

Losing 3kg in 2 months is no fun at all. It has been lots of ups and downs lately. Last month I had no appetite and ended up getting gastric, I'm recovering slowly though. I wanna get back on my feet and start my stable life.

I was standing shirtless in front of the mirror just now. My goodness, my chest is almost flat, and my rib bones are clearly seen. All my shirts look big and loose, pants also becoming loose. Sigh. Nevermind, I'll reschedule my training, gonna run more eat more to build back my muscles. I'm too skinny now.

Just got my fuel belt from my mum, she made it smaller to fit my tiny waist. Nowadays, to find girls who can cook, can sew, can do house chores is really hard. My mum can do it all. However, city girls excel in their career though, can ease the financial burden. Depends on which is yr priority.

I spent whole day doing my final year project, with few hours nap in between. Recently, my sleeping hours is more than my training period, becoming a lazy pig soon if I don't start exercise now. With newton just around the corner, and I'm low in mileage, I'm feeling nervous, really very scared. Anybody who reads this blog and feel like running in the evening, do ask me. I need to burn calories.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Distress

2011-12-02T11:17:00.001+07:00

I have always thought treating juniors in a gentle way, train them to be a gentleman, talk to them and set a win-win deal could be feasible. Let's look at the world's top military academy like west point and annapolis, a place where many of the US presidents were produced. Considering that their methods of training have produced volumes of successful leaders, I'm even more convinced that their way is effective. I actually tested their method in the Endurance Sports Club. Initially it shows positive results and I keep observing them. As long as the juniors understand the club's policy and don't cross the limit, they are allowed to have their freedom, be it freedom of speech or freedom of setting their own training. It's a win win situation, I demand their achievements in racing and they're happy to train hard.

However, they're individuals who aren't ready for the modern way of training. They've forgotten their roots where they were nobody before joining the club. They slowly develop with the help and advice from seniors, and now we have quite a number of fast athletes which made me more happy than ever. They're flying high, and soon, went over the limit. Being lenient, I always thought talking will solve the problem. As time goes by, things become worse, the worst I've seen throughout my years in UPNM where the juniors forgot that they have less stripes than the seniors.

Right now I'm feeling extremely upset when I don't see any other way than to pull back the string. It's sad that not everyone is ready for the modern way of gentleman treatment. May be family teachings is the main factor which created this serious problem. In a military organization, chain of command and seniority is the core. We work as a team, one for all and all for one. Though most people say it kills creativity and dampen performance, this is one of the fastest effective way to be productive.

It's time for a change. Military way of reinforcing rules is required. Get physical when u wanna initiate a change. Pray that I'm doing the right thing, terminate the root cause! Stop the crack from creeping before the structure collapse.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

only if the heart can see

2011-11-30T19:18:00.000+07:00

Block Pewira

what happen when 1800 over cadets wake up in the morning and realize that no water supply? we had only 20mins before the morning parade. Now, everyone realise how nice it is to have water supply all the time=p

Being an old timer in Kem Sg Besi, I know where to get water supply. I wore a towel and walked down to the pool, luckily my towel didn't fall=p A junior bumped into me informing that no power supply at the sports complex. I don't bother though, not that I'm afraid of ghost=p I showered alone, in the dark.

been really busy with my final year project and capstone project.

so many things going on, don't really have time to give myself a break. Next big game will be Newton Run 25km, hopefully my legs will be good and do well on race day=) I just got a really big news this evening, my heart was gonna popped. All of a sudden the adrenaline rush came to me again and till now my legs are feeling very warm. Hmm I just hope to keep myself occupied, don't think too much about the past.

everything is over. this isn't the first time I end my friendship, I hope I'm firm enough to do this. I don't know if I'm doing the things right, but I guess I'm doing the right thing.

Recovery Week

2011-11-29T19:00:00.000+07:00

a day after the Pangkor Training Camp, I'm getting the Post Marathon Syndrome again=p

my ass hurt, legs pain and back ache. I posted on facebook saying it's worst than giving birth and I've been getting response from a few lady runners=p haha. Hope to recover fast with the help of my new toy, FOAM ROLLER! I really enjoy rolling my back and legs on the roller. A day after 21km long run, I can already feel soreness in my legs greatly reduced. =)

Now at the library, doing my final year project.

This is my sketch for engineering drawing=)

Best Quotes=)

Pangkor Training Camp

2011-11-28T14:46:00.005+07:00

today was supposed to be my run-in-the-city training covering more than 20km.

However, Abang Alang poisoned my mind, and now here I am on Pangkor Island with 3 of them=)

From left : Aiman, Alang, Eriq, and I

we took a ferry from Lumut jetty to Pangkor Island, we passed by the Royal Malaysian Navy's fleet and I explained a bit to Aiman about ships =)

Pink Taxi

a taxi to coral beach cost us 15 bucks.

here is Pangkor Island's map. Abang Alang briefly explained to us about the geography of the island, and let us decide where to run. Aiman and I are both triathlete, we have decided to do a full Pangkor Loop as our training. Honestly, when we started running, I wasn't sure how far the distance was gonna be. Just in case we get extremely exhausted, we can still refuel ourselves at shops in the town before continuing our crazy mission.

18km of hilly routes. Aiman was very strong, he is really good running in heat and humidity. I wasn't feeling good today, so Aiman slowed down his pace to wait for me. The road was really narrow, we ran on the white line by the road side while enjoying the scene.

Motorbike is the most popular mean of transportation on the island. I saw lots of really hot chinese girls wearing hot pants riding on a motorbike without helmet=p I wonder if eating Pangkor anchovies everyday is their beauty secret.

Running towards Dutch Fort. Ducth Fort is at the very end of the road, in and out this track can easily get 4km, according to Henry. Full loop 18km + Dutch Fort 4km = 22km. Both Aiman and I didn't plan for this far. Lucky enough, our fuel belt saved the day=)

This guy is selling cream made of camel fats, and Dhob (biawak pasir).

Dried Dhob skin.

According to him, Dhob is good for men's health=p I was using a transparent bag to keep my phone and cash, he saw I brought only 20 bucks, that's why he didn't bother to promote his goods to me, coz a bottle of Dhob capsules costs more than 50 bucks. haha.

Ducth Fort.

we bumped into a couple riding Mountain Bikes when we were on our way here. somehow, we reached here faster than them. Iron legs run faster than MTB eh?=p

Our next stop, the hanging bridge.

this hanging bridge is similar to the one I went at Taman Negara. However, this bridge can only sustain 5 persons at a time. To reach here, another 1km of jungle trekking. Alvin called me when I was trekking, so I was on the phone all the way here.

guess I've mastered the skill to sms while jungle treking. when I went mount Tahan, I also sms while jungle trekking.

I wasn't ready for more than 15km distance run actually.

Running in the afternoon exposing ourselves to the island's heat and humidity made things worse. Every time I exhale I could feel hot air coming out from my nose. Obviously My engine was over heating. I'm an Ironman, I have very strong self belief. Despite my very slow pace, I know I will complete the loop.

Calorie burned of today, 2183kcal! total distance more than 21km. We started running from 11am till 2pm, so u know why we were BBQ-ed during the run.

Aiman did it!!

Giam Island opposite coral beach, lots of tourists went there for snorkelling. the water was cloudy though, not as clear as Perhentian Island.

Aiman and I swam across to the island without any escort! 200m before reaching the shore, i could feel very strong current pushing us away. Swimming along side Aiman, I kept motivating him, convincing him that we can surely make it! we had no escort, so either we touch the shore or we drown.

I have stopped my swim training for more than 4 months. this is my first long swim. I swam with cap, without goggles. Haha=p swimming in open sea is crazy. Both of us might get stung by jellyfish, or pushed away by the current, or banged by boat. Sometimes it's good to be overconfident, just do it and u might discover your new limit. Now we know we can swim open sea without training. Haha

when I was resting at the beach with Eriq, I saw 2 Arab girls in bikini swimming towards a boat anchored 200m away. One of them climbed on board, the other one tried many many times to get on the boat but failed. I saw them asking for help but many boats and jet skis passed by without offering them any help. Then, they started waving for help. I gave my phone and cap to Eriq, and swam to them. Being a triathlete, I know well how to navigate in cloudy water. every 10 strokes I'll peep to make sure I'm on the right course, and as long as I can see the girl in blue bikini, I'm on the right track. haha. when I reached them, a huge guy was swimming towards them as well. The girls thank me and said they're alright. That guy stared at me very fiercely. haha. Must be her boyfriend=p A guy should know how to swim, and must be able to ensure the safety of his girlfriend. The big Arab guy swims with tortoise pace, he was struggling when towing his gf back to shore=p I smiled at him when he reached the shore, but he showed me his shit face, super arrogant and annoying. whatever la, I was there to offer my help as a lifesaver, that's all.

I'm a lifesaver, the instructor who passed me told me, " if u don't offer help when somebody is drowning, don't go around and brag with your international license".

seafood dinner while enjoying sunset=)

what a tiring day. hey guys, thanks for the company=)

without Abang Alang, I wouldn't do all this crazy last minute planned vacation. haha.

I can't train in Kona, so I train in Pangkor, better than nothing=p

Best quotes=)

Reflection

2011-11-26T23:20:00.002+07:00

Amirul, Aiman, Ahmad and I have been friends for more than 4 years. They came to my house many many times, but today was the first time I visit Aiman's house. Aiman has got 13 siblings, as we both walked towards the entrance, his younger sister smiled so happily then ran into the house announcing the arrival of her eldest brother. So many cute little Aiman-look-alike kids running in the house. Ardi (one of the 13) caught my attention coz he looks exactly like Aiman, but miniature one=p he got tiny eyes, just like Aiman, and he smiles all the time when I was in the house.=)

I saw our batch picture on Aiman's house wall. This picture is so nostalgic as it was taken in 2007 when we had no stripes on our shoulders. I bet his family must be so proud of him being an Army cadet officer.

Then I asked myself "where is my batch picture? why don't I hang it at home? Am I not proud to be a military man?"

I've been brought up in a military family, we have lots of military souvenirs from all around the world and we really don't have space for any big pictures. Furthermore, almost every time family gathering, exchanging military stories has become a norm. having a father who is successful in his military career, I don't feel that I have anything to be proud of unless I can be more successful than him. Cadets came from all over malaysia, all different background, some have rich dad some have poor dad. For a civilian family, having a son serving the Armed Forces is a family's pride. It is something worth to be proud of, as it requires mental toughness and sacrifices to survive in the harsh military environment.

I bet Aiman's siblings must be going around to tell people that their eldest brother will be an Army Officer=)

All 4 of us are team mates in endurance racing. Being the pioneer in this sport, I'll normally lead them when come racing or decision making in the club. However, I learnt a lot about life from them, especially Amirul. He was brought up by a single mum. I once asked Amirul one very common questions which all soldier boys like to ask, "why u joined the military?". He told me his father passed away, being the eldest son in the family, he is taking the responsibility to lead his family. I was expecting some funny answer from him initially, but his answer just "slapped" me in the face. I realised that, not everyone is as lucky as me. many times when sports outlets having sales, I'll immediately inform him coz his room is very near to mine, he will get the news first. very often, he will tell me he has financial constraint, need to support family. No body will ever understand how humble I feel when he give me that kinda answer.

Today, Aiman, Abang Alang and I attended his sister's wedding.

His father was supposed to "give away" the daughter. But today, mature Amirul as the eldest son took the responsibility of a father in the ceremony. Its a great experience, for such a formal occasion, it takes great deal of courage to do it! He has become the figurehead of his family. I'm sure his father will be so proud of him.

supposed to be 7 of them.

He gave a speech of appreciation to all the guests for attending the wedding.

He once told me "u will never understand, I'm the brother, I'm the father".

yea I will never understand. One thing for sure, he gained my respect.

half day with Abang Alang and Aiman, as usual, getting very wise advice and life stories telling from Abang Alang. He is like a big bro to us. To all readers, he is still single and available=) with his height and strength, he can assure girls safety, and make girls laugh till stomach ache with his funny jokes=p

today is a day of reflection. Thanks guys, u guys taught me about life.

best quotes

Show your love, donate blood

2011-11-22T19:50:00.001+07:00

National Blood Bank (The Dracula) came to our Uni again this morning.

If I'm not wrong, they come every 3 months. Previous years, I've always wanted to donate, but the blood bank came at the wrong time. Very often they come 2 or 3 days before my big game. As for this time, I had ample rest post Powerman, and my next race is more than a month away, so it's time for me to show some love=)

I went there before having breakfasts, so I went to the counter and get myself some food as per instructed by the staff. when he checked my pulse, all I wanted to know was my heart rate at rest. The lower the better=p did my blood test, fill in forms, and check blood pressure.

Donating blood will make a difference for someone else who I might not even know, makes me feel good. Knowing that not many people willing to donate, and many cadets took the time to show up, says something about cadets' character. U know what, I gotta queue for the donation! I'm sure they were more than 200 cadets donated blood in a day's time. That's already 10% of UPNM's strength! If u refused to donate because afraid of needle, that's just another lame excuse.

I'm a Buddhist, though not a very good one, but still I have compassion for others, this is the least I could do.

Considering the individuals in the hospital urgently need blood transfusion, I promise to donate more in time to come. My body will produce new blood after all. Hope my Ironman's blood can save lives=) Friends were jokingly asked the nurse to transfer my blood to them to make them run faster. haha.

Jaja and Shafiq

I went there with them=) this semester I've been closely in touch with them, most of the time same class same group, have breakfasts together. Both of them donated blood. A young nurse attended me, I was thinking "oh shit, young nurses surely poke wrongly coz lack of experience=p". Luckily she did a great job. I felt dizzy and started sweating after she pulled out the needle. A nurse came and saw me pale and sweating, she elevated my chair and I spent 10 minutes resting. Before this, I had the same problem, so I was ready for it. The chair was super comfy anyway, so i don't mind to rest there longer=p

From Best Quotes again. =)

Video Tempur Tanpa Senjata - One Step Sparring

2011-11-21T20:39:00.001+07:00

this upcoming Friday will be our Military Self Defence grading.

too many patterns and steps to remember, so the best way to remember is to record it and then put it on Youtube=p Shafiq and I were partners for that last evening's training, and we both know that within few days our old man's brain will forget everything. We ran back to our room and made this video. =)

As u guys can see, my butt is dirty as we did our training on the football field. Hmm may be there're some mistakes and my stunt wasn't really perfect, my apology, do correct me=) I've forgotten most of the taegeuk, and I know I gotta buck up! This is my initiative to improve myself.

The Official Powerman Result is out.

with one guy got disqualified for drafting, I got one ranking up. I'm in the top 10!=)

if u notice, my time and ranking no 9 Paul Lim Su Siang is the same! in fact, my net time is faster than his. hmm doesn't really matter actually, I'm not getting any cash prize. I'm surprised with my performance, and I could have gone a lot faster. I'll correct my mistakes.

11km Run - 40mins 27 secs (really surprised me!)

64km Bike - 1Hour 41mins 59 secs (average 37km/h with maximum speed 55.5km/h)

10km Final Run - 1 Hour 04 mins 58 secs (my mistake=( lack of electrolytes)

I have 7 more years in this category. Given the chance to race again, I'll do better. =)

I've been telling people, I aimed to get top 10. but right now I'm officially top 10 finisher, I don't feel content. Racing is all about self satisfaction, its the way how u feel about your performance that counts. Being a student, cadet and Triathlete, I need good time management. I don't have much time for high mileage, so I came out with my cycling training plan. Riding average of 37km/h was crazy fast =p It was a flat fast course anyway. Athletes have been complaining about the heat, but I had no problem with hot race day. I have to thank Kak Julie for reminding me of the heat.

too hot ?

I race well in heat, I prefer hot course than chilly ones. Powerman can't be hotter than Ironman. I was ready for the heat, I cut my hair short and all my gears were picked to suit the heat.

Amran at the front. Amirul and Aiman have been telling me this guy is crazy fast.

His running pace was very high and his strength on the bike was simply amazing!

On sunday, we had a small gathering. Everyone knows that I don't sing, I only sing in toilet.

We went to Red Box, paid 30 bucks for food and 3 hours Karaoke. Eddy passed me the mic when they played Love Story by Taylor Swift! OMG! my close friend just betrayed me!=p how could he reveal my biggest secret!=p I sang 2 songs, both by Michael Wong. This 2 songs, Tong Hua and Yue Ding, mean a lot to me. A little sad when I sang. Anyway, that's the past. Both songs, Eddy knew that I listen to them. He must be stalking my blog all the time. =p

from Best Quotes=) one of my favourite page =)

Next event will be Newton 25km. I have aim for this event.

my juniors haven't register Newton Run for me! I'm gonna slaughter them!=p

Time for body to rest and let the brain work! =)

2011-11-18T10:07:00.000+07:00

From Best Quotes=)

My first marathon I did was during my very first Ironman.

I'll keep pushing myself to the limit. Human body can do wonders, it is always mind over matters=)

my upcoming race will be Newton 25km run, and I'm aiming good time to score my PB.

while waiting for my body to fully recover, I'll get my final year project done and settle my capstone fabrication process=) Let my body rest a bit, and time to workout my brain=) Hopefully by next week I can start to increase my mileage for the 25km run. I'm very eager to test my nutrition plan on race day.

unfair

2011-11-18T00:36:00.001+07:00

Life is full of unfairness. Why all the good people being treated so badly? I was browsing Facebook during aircraft system class, and I found out that a super nice senior of mine joined the commando and ended up in hospital, they suspected he couldn't take the pressure and went crazy. I nearly teared in class. He is a super nice guy, religious, active in sports, always guide the juniors when needed. I'm very sure his girl friend (same batch) will be very upset. Such a nice guy don't deserve to be treated this way!!! I can imagine how tough they tortured him till he has gone insane. Argh! Unfair! The bad guys should be tormented till half dead, why him?? At one point, I thought of replacing him and take all his pain away. I don't know how can his girl friend accept the fact that her boyfriend went insane because of military training. I felt heartache when thinking about the sweet couple. Both of them are so compatible and It's just the matter of time for them to tie the nuptial knot.

I always look up on commandos. They're elite soldiers, way more capable than ordinary soldiers. I used to think they're super stylo and macho. Till last week Lt Hisham told me " Macho tak dapat berikan kebahagiaan", I changed my mind. No matter how great u are, if u aren't happy with special forces' life, no point fighting to be part of them. I wanna be a family man, I rather spend more time with my kids than going for operations.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Post Race Syndrom

2011-11-17T09:30:00.004+07:00

finished in pain

My hamstring, my quads, my calves, all seized up and cramped.

The pain was really horrible, I couldn't go any faster. I had nothing left in tank.

If this is just a fun run, i would have pulled out long ago. This is the Powerman, one of the biggest event of the year, how can I take it lightly? My classmates saw this picture, they said I look very bulky compare to when I'm in uniform.

The crowd.

everybody come with high hope to score their personal best

I bumped into may friends and they can clearly see that I'm losing weight. =(

I race without any motivation, unlike my previous races. I was on the starting line because I registered.

Mr Moey and daughter, Gan and I

Mr Moey escorted his young daughter to complete sprint distance, very nice of him =)

It is an honour for me to run along side with the top runners in the field.

when I'm highly motivated, I'll be ready for fast pace and eager to stay at the front. As for this time, I race to release my stress, no high aim. That's why I was shocked to run with them. I changed my running form and cadence, and It works well for me. Either my new running form lower my effort to maintain high pace, or I've become stronger. I believe I have yet to hit my limit, I can go a lot faster than this. Earlier this month, I was trying to adapt to this new technique, but it was a little too late for me to race with it for MUDS. In Powerman, I scored good time for the first 11km run and I'm very happy about it.=)

Aero helmet in action for the very first time. Bought from Kevin Siah=)

I'm still trying to go as aggressive as possible for my aero position without compromising on power generation. 64km of really interesting ride, all the leaders was chased down one by one. At the early 10km, I was still maintaining my 4 bike length's distance from riders at the front. I started my bike early coz I did well on my first run. However, my lead didn't last long when the chase pack swallowed me. A few strong riders who did the pace setting were the one who caused drafting actually. They were really furious, they responded to every single attack and pull back all leaders. Yip and I were in the same group and we got confused with the move. All riders try to score good time, so we all push ourselves very hard. But u will face drafting problem when most riders in the peloton are about the same speed. Yip tried many times not to draft by moving to the side, attacked at the bridge, and tried escape from the group. I was in the group when Yip attacked, the front riders immediately increase the pace and hunt him down. But still, the gap was there to avoid riding in drafting zone.

The Elites

I rode with them in the same pack.

I really really gave my all. Can't finish in style=p

Those who saw me pathetically slow jogging towards the finishing line might understand better how hard it was for me. I learned a very good lesson this time, when u wanna go fast, bring more food in yr bento! I was not ready for fast pace. Pre race night, normally I will be triggered to score my best, but not this time. Never mind, it's all over. This weekend will be Penang Bridge International Marathon, is it possible to recover from Powerman in a week's time? This few days, most time spent doing assignments and sleeping. every time I wake up, my body feel fresher and stronger. Doing assignments, catching up on academics is my recovery training=p I wanna recover from gastric, muscles soreness, and get back to my normal life.

This 2 months has been a tough one for me.

Michael, Jasmine and Alvin contacted me asking how was my race. Usually I'll inform them about my race result and tell them how I performed, but this time I was really tired. Friends asked me about my result, the very first thing I tell them is Amirul beat me and got no 6. They were very impressed. Probably they made me as the bench mark, anybody who beat be will be considered as super fast. Amirul did great on race day, he maintained his pace and finished strong. Aiman did well too, finished not far behind me. All 3 of us finished fastest among the cadets, a good senior will always lead by example=) Despite racing far beyond my normal pace and took high risk on race day, I have no regrets. After all, experience is a painful teacher, we learn from mistakes.

Mum and dad were there to support me.

Hmm now that I have one less commitment, I'll register for more fun run. No more than 21km will be fun =) May be I can consider to bring camera while running, or carry extra gels to support other runners=)

"If u wanna win a race, run a mile. If u wanna experience life, run a marathon"

- Emil Zatopek 1952 Triple Olympic Gold Medalist

The past is meant to be buried, forgotten, and left behind. There's no turning back this time. New chapter of my life and I've decided to keep racing actively instead of fully focus on studies. I believe I can handle this.

Powerman Race Report

2011-11-13T12:35:00.001+07:00

My maiden Powerman. 3 days before game, I've been monitoring the Manjung weather especially temperature and wind direction. I wanna race smart, make good use of the wind, understand the race conditions. It has been changing every single day! Really give me headache.

Night before race, whole team was car pacing Lt Hisham's car to round Lumut town. Whole team had a great dinner together with Lt Singh and Lt Adi.

Race morning, I wasn't really nervous, and not very serious in preparing my gears. This is my first event and I have no idea what to expect. First 11km run, it was moderate pace for me and running in the same group with me was Allie Sabtu, Yip, Rahman, and Amran. They're all the top guys and super fast athletes. I was confused actually, am I supposed to be with them? I didn't wanna think too much, so I just pace them. My conscious mind is telling me, with my lack of mileage, I should hold back. But my ego after winning MUDS made me ran after them.

Come cycling. I was riding above 40km/h, after few minutes, a bunch of riders smoked me. So u can roughly estimate how fast they were riding. I chased after them, but keep the drafting gap far so that I don't get penalty. After some time, I saw my meter 46km/h and the bunch of riders formed a big peloton of around 20 riders. This is a non drafting game, so we just try our best to keep the gap. Come 2nd loop, I saw Sharom. I started cramping and ran out of electrolytes, both bottles empty. I missed all water stations as riders in front of me grabbed everything alreaDy, the volunteers didn't have enough time to get more electrolytes. I was struggling to survive the final loop. I saw Yip riding without water bottle, that's crazy. Riding at high pace without electrolytes was my stupid move, but I can't do anything abt it. I left nothing in my bento box! I even finished half portion of my electrolyte which was supposed to be taken during the run. Entering the transition area, both quadriceps seized up. I couldn't sit on my saddle.

For the very first time, I have to surrender. I walked in the transitions area. I came in first pack, But I can't do the final run, really. With the final ounce of fighting spirit, I walked to the water station and start refueling myself with gatorade. Taking too much liquid will bloat my stomach, but I had no choice! 5 cups in one station, just to settle my cramp. I cramped all the way till finishing. I did run walk run, and saw more and more racers overtook me. Amirul passed by and slowly I couldn't pace him anymore. I was in pain, and upset. My gap on the bike with Amirul was so damn far and he managed to catch me up, so u know how slow I did the final run. I was really dying. But u know, ironman never give up. I will make it to the finishing line somehow. Just that I won't achieve my goal. Soon, I saw the finishing arch. Crossing the line will end all my sufferings, I was so eager to end this race but I could only run with baby steps. Paul overtook me one meter before the line, he got into top 10 and I will have to settle for number 11.

I have to admit, ran out of electrolytes was a stupid mistake. I didn't expect I could ride that fast, so I brought only 2 gels. For the first time I race with strategy by understanding the wind, it was proven to be effective. But I made mistakes on my nutrition plan. Better luck next time. Last but not least, a very big TQ to my parents for coming to support me.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Powerman WIND and weather forecast

2011-11-11T18:09:00.007+07:00

As a rookie in Powerman, I need extra preparation to avoid mistakes which will spoil my mood on race day. Although I'm not in the best form right now, I'm doing my level best to reduce uncertainties. I wanna have every single details in my hand, if possible I wanna control the wind to push me from the back along the 64km bike leg=p I've made some simple analysis on race day, based on the weather forecast online. =)

*do let me know if I make any mistakes.*

Know yourself know your contender win a thousand war.

But for this case, even if I know what the Pro eat for the past one week also I wouldn't be able to beat them=p

Since Friday no rain, only sunshine. Needless to say, our race course has been heated since the pass 2 days. are u ready for the heat?=p without a single drop of rain, all race gears I choose must consider my comfort racing in the heat. That's why I already cut my hair short. I'll be using aero helmet, If I don't ride fast enough to make wind gush into helmet's ventilation, I will have a hard time throughout the ride.

wind forecast

For a newbie in Powerman like me, I estimate my bike average will be around 30km/h.

Race starts around 7.30am, let say I complete the first run in 50 minutes, so I'll do my bike leg around 8.30am after transitions. According to the wind forecast, wind will push riders from the East starting from 8am till 11am.

to have a clearer view, look at the map=)

Since we won't get much of a head wind, high profile wheels shouldn't be a problem. Most of the time riders will be getting cross winds, be sure to pick the right wheels thickness. As for me, I have only one set of wheels, so knowing the wind direction and speed wouldn't make any difference in my gears selection, just that I'm mentally prepared for the evil push=p wind speed of 7-13kph shouldn't be giving big resistant I guess, it improves ventilation and cool your body down on a hot sunny day. There're only two water stations, but we will be making 2 loops, that means 4 water stations along the course. Be sure to stay hydrated, take care of ourselves and save Melody, Adele and the gang from the trouble to rescue us=)

thanks to Kak Julie for warning me about the heat on race day. Because of her warning, I cut my hair short=p I visited her in Hospital Ampang Puteri just now, had a long chat with her=) Hope she recovers fast and get back to racing soon=)

please correct me if I'm wrong in any aspects. =)

hope to see u guys on race day, Race Smart=)

Powerman Strip Show. Azrul vs Chan

2011-11-10T22:34:00.004+07:00

Click on the picture of our conversation below=)

I wasn't trying to be cocky, just wanna have some fun. Azrul is my batchmate in RMC. when i first started Triathlon, I had no idea about road bikes. Zero knowledge. He was the one who brought me around and explained to me about bikes. He carried me on his mini BMX to move around, that was when we were form 4. But things changed over the years, I've gained more racing experience and actively racing for more than 4 years. As a friend, I offered my advice when he wanted to get a road bike. I shared some tips with him and he will share his knowledge with me as well=)

This Sunday, both of us will be racing our first Powerman. He just bought his new bike, so I challenged him.
The one who lost Powerman will have to strip off his pants=p
ahahaha! this bet is gonna be very very interesting. I publicly announced it on facebook, and he took the challenge. been getting lots of comments.

A man will give his all just to defend his pride, so he will surely do his best to fight with me=)

Lets see what will happen*grins* hehehe

The One That Got Away - Kate Perry

Powerman mini brick

2011-11-10T19:22:00.001+07:00

for years trying to discipline myself at home since the day joining military, but I've never succeeded. enjoying good nutritious meal and healthy home made recovery drink is all I ever wanted. Somehow, when I'm home, it never happened. I made my own recovery drink only once, it tasted awful. So I have an excuse to not make it again=p No roll call at home, I sleep late instead of maximizing my rest hours. Having all the time in the world is no good for me, I'm more productive during regimental routine. I can do my training and complete all my assignments in UPNM, but not at home. I feel like I have 28 hours in UPNM, but only 20 hours at home.

after days of forgiving myself for not training, finally my guilty feelings woke me up this morning.

I was self talking before getting ready for mini brick. I had both devil and angel in my inner voice.

Angel

"U are the University Duathlete of The Year, don't do nonsense in Powerman"

"get up and start running! u are lack of mileage!"

Devil

"Don't overtrained yourself. Sleep more and enjoy yr holiday..."

"who cares about Powerman? U don't have motivation anymore..."

I'm inspired by Kilian, that's why I'm wearing a trail running shoes. at the age of 24, he won the Skyrunner world champion for 3 times. Imagine when he reaches his peak performance, he will definitely racing comfortably without tough fight. Back to my story, I did a 3km run followed by 3km cycling then 1km run. Honestly, this lazy pig isn't in the mood to train.

my MTB left untouched at the balcony for months, I don't even remember when was the last time I touched my bike. I rode with slightly deflated tire, coz I don't have a pump at home and no money to buy. I've overspent this month, now extremely broke. with 2 digits left in my wallet, I will have to be a big fan of Mess Cadet's free food when holiday ends. Deflated tire, good for my training as I gotta pedal harder.

Ran up to the hill, very slow pace. I just wanna refresh my muscles memory and remind them how it is like running uphill and feel the soreness. =p

Spectacular view, the best thing to reward yourself after climbing hills.

I did my cooling down at Grandma's herbal garden.

Aloe Vera

Cili

Sabah Snake Grass

After training, both mum and I went for Thai massage. She promised to treat me with massage for winning the University Duathlete of The Year. Now is the perfect time to massage as Powerman is just around the corner, i really need some good massage to improve my blood circulation. No more fried food, cold drinks and all that enters my stomach should be healthy "fast food!". Done with mini brick of the day, I don't feel guilty any more. =p

Lack of mileage, not in the mode to compete, lazy. Lets see what happen on Sunday's Powerman.

Penang Trip - 最后一天

2011-11-08T21:47:00.006+07:00

My days in Penang was really too short. I was rushing all the time to catch up with as many friends as possible. I stayed in Alvin's house, but I spent only one day of quality time with him. what to do, I had 2 days only.

on my second day, we dressed up smart to attend Sister Grace's wedding.

Jasmine reminded me to wear smart, or else Ethan will be smarter than me. I felt challenged when she said that=p It'll be fun if both of us dress up smartly and compete who looks more handsome. *grins* so I brought my blazer all the way to Penang=)

I was at Jamie's house, helping her with her class' instrument list. this girl is so stubborn and she chose to make the list handwritten, it took me half an hour to convince her. probably I am not persuasive enough to make her listen to me. I had only 15 mins left to get ready before Michael and family depart for the wedding ceremony. As I told u before, my time in Penang is too limited.

Ironed my shirt, showered and ran 2 floors up to Ethan's house.

when I rang the bell, I could hear Ethan's footsteps running to open the door. He was so excited, kept smiling when he saw me. the very first thing he asked "u miss me or not?" He is very attached to me, right after I left Penang, he doesn't swim any more. The family is so sweet and nice to me, treating me like part of the family.

He dressed up smart with bow tie, getting ready to be the ring bearer for the wedding ceremony. while waiting for Michael, he lied on my chest and played with my ears. He loves to play with ears of people he is close to.

Jasmine, Ethan and Michael.

My stomach was hurting during the ceremony, gastric again. This church wedding, is my very first time entering church. Ethan was really attractive and outstanding, been getting lots of praises from friends.

Ring Bearers =)

Ethan and I.

A few times when he fell down or hurt, he will get up himself and proudly say "I'm Ironman!". That's what Jasmine told me. I believe I've inspired him to deny the impossibles and cultivated the Ironman's fighting spirit in his character. Strong qualities like that will get him ready to face life challenges in the future. Everybody knows that I'm Ethan's swim coach, and he will never fail to emphasize that I'm an Ironman.

Ivan and Grace=)

Since we both are good looking, I took pictures and posted on facebook asking my friends to vote who is more handsome. I got upset and depressed when all my friends voted for him=p He is such an eye candy, surely he will outshine me. =) As expected, he won=)

when cute little Ethan dresses up like a real gentleman, he looks handsome. But the boy in him couldn't keep quiet and kept running here and there. I have to constantly remind him,

"Hey Ethan... walk like a gentleman."

He dirtied his shoes

Ethan's and Mine.

of course mine is the clean and shiny one.

spent whole night with the family, Ethan didn't want to let me go home. We played Lassy till around 1am in the morning, I was thinking this boy surely cannot wakie the next day. Before he sleeps, I promised him I'll be in his house before he got up. I was really tired, very very tired. But I will keep my promise.

LAST DAY

Squared up my bed, packed my stuff and said goodbye to Alvin. met Jaspreet too for a short while before she left for class. then I went into Ethan's room, saw him sleeping. This sleeping cutie is so cute with his rosy cheeks. when he opened his eyes, he saw me and smiled. I was lying next to him. Anyway, Ethan was late for school. However, he is lucky to have a father as the school's director. Michael announced today will be his holiday so that he gets more time to spend with me=)

I wish my time in Penang could be longer. I care for friends more than food. That's why I will meet anybody who wants to see me, any time! Midnight also I wouldn't mind.

Ethan is influenced by me, all my acts and moves will be closely monitored by him. Being a swim coach of a little kid, is a great experience for me. I learned a lot from him as well. He loves to be competitive, very common character of successful athlete. When he feels lazy to do something, I will challenge him and start timing with my Timex HRM to see how fast he can complete the task. His laziness will immediately turn to excitement. His homework, normally takes hours to finish, was completed in 30mins with me sitting next to him.

Back in KL, back to reality. I'm putting all the important tasks aside. I need a break.

I've never been blind all this while. I know what am I doing.

No regrets for making the tough decision.

Penang Trip - 第一天

2011-11-06T15:24:00.008+07:00

when i was young, I hated travelling very much especially to the North.

some people say "one day u will love what u hate today".

So right now, I'm back to Penang again. Believe it or not, I love coming to Penang very much. I have lots of friends here, super nice ones. So I called up Alvin a day before my arrival, without hesitating he offered me his house. He even fetch me from the bus stop at 1am! from far I could recognize his volkswagen GTI, his front light was white and glaring, the one and only car with white light at the traffic light. Once I arrived, I contacted all people who care for me. It makes me feel loved and pampered when they're so concern about me.

even Ironman has his soft spot.

Alvin brought me for supper coz I told him my gastric is hurting me. I had very light meal, Kuew Teow Teng only. I miss spicy food very much, too bad I can't have it any more. My night ended a little late, 2.30am in the morning. However, I had a hard time trying to sleep. Probably I've set my mind that I don't come Penang to waste my time sleeping. I texted Gee Yang informing him about my arrival. He replied 3am in the morning and asked me to go running 8am next morning. That was like 5 hours later. I was thinking, this guy is a little crazy, but I like that craziness in him.

4am I was still awake. couldn't sleep well, and I thought of going swimming. 7am I woke up, then I shook Gee Yang up, asked him to go gym. Gradually increased my speed till I reached 16 before I start my cooling down. Next was him on the treadmill, he did very well and need very minor correction on his arm swing only. So I spent some time sharing some endurance nutrition tips with him, hoping that he can gain more endurance. I like sharing knowledge, will be better if I can learn something in return. Learning is lifelong, no ending.

Instead of taking the disgusting whey protein after our workout, we had the delicious Tau Fu Fa to rebuild muscles. Rich in protein, and tastes so good. 30 minutes after training is the best time to replenish our body with "fast food", food that will make you fast!

this tiny shop, u will surely miss it when u drive pass. It looks dark and gloomy, but when u enter u will see golden colour mouth watering Tau Sar Pia nicely displayed. Alvin has been a very good tour guide since I was here 4 months back. I introduced him to Gee Yang, and I always say he is my landlord. once a landlord, forever a landlord. haha.

Only Penang Kia can bring u to secluded place like this.

"Michael once asked me, will u still come Penang after this if u aren't happy?"

I've kept my promise, and I come back to Penang again and again to meet them=)

I've promised to tell the history of chopstick, supposed to be a bed time story.

Guess it has been forgotten already. So I'll just blog about it, just to keep my promise.

Once upon a time in China, a widower couldn't afford to buy rice and meat for his kids. This poor man wanted to educate his kids to eat politely despite living in poverty. He could neither afford to buy eating utensils nor supply them with 3 meals a day. He had the thought that his hungry kids will fight for food, so he went into the jungle and chopped bamboo to make chopsticks. with chopsticks, his kids eat politely and pick up very tiny piece of food every time. So, all of them get to taste the dish and enjoy the meal.

I know I suck in telling stories. =p

nice one=)

最美的回忆

2011-11-05T13:36:00.011+07:00

although 6 years back I didn't have a blog to record incidents, all the memories of the best period of my teenage is still well kept in my heart. here I am, after 6 years coming back at the place where I always hangout after tuition class-Petaling Street.

this place has never changed. I saw the same florist at the same spot, shoes and handbag stalls at the same old position, and chessnut seller at the same T junction. not forgetting the foreigners, they're everywhere! I've seen snatch theft, pick pocketing, police raid VCD stalls, and so on.

even this very famous mata kucing stall, also remains at the same spot.

Only I have changed, grown up few centimeters taller=p

I came here for tuition, every sunday. both my younger brothers came here too, and the best part is we were taught by the same teacher! every time talking about teachers in kasturi we will start teasing them with their bad habits.

Add math teacher cikgu ghazali never look at the students when he teaches, always blink his eyes and shout in class. Cikgu Lim has a girl's voice, and shakes his butt as he talks. Bio teacher got fair skin, he once brought glow-in-the-dark condoms to class to show, ended up he got back only one. the others, went missing. haha. Chemistry teacher Christina, always bring big 1.5L sprite bottle to class, well hydrated=p

I also won't forget when I was ignored for the entire 2 hours class by my friend for refusing to speak Cantonese.

I used to come here and pray. I remember a friend of mine told me to pray to the god at the right hand side after the entrance, for academic excellence. I enjoy walking with company, but today I'm all alone. So I walked back on the same road, visited all the places that I used to spend time at. Last time I was using a Nokia 2100 with no camera so cannot take picture of this place. The phone was my mum's 2nd hand phone, but I was really happy to own my first phone at the age of 16. As a Junior Under Officer in Royal Military College, having a hand phone was against the rule. Being a smart survivor, I was never caught.

Popular repositioned their racks and shelves. However, I always feel the same every time entering the door, very comfy.

I bet the boss of Popular bookstore must be a Chinese who strongly believes in Feng Shui. Look at the entrance, supposed to be one of the edge of building. They're trying to avoid entrance facing busy roads, it's a remedy for bad luck.

I was shocked, and sad seeing this. 6 years back it was a McD, the place where I learned my first lesson on how to be a gentleman. A girl was walking with me to McD, I pushed the door to let me in, then the door slammed at her=p So every time I see those auto close doors, I'll remember this lesson number one. I was a mean and cold military man even when i was 16. I looked at my old pictures, after joining RMC, I can hardly find any photos of me smiling. The worst part, I was REALLY harsh to girls. However, I was given the chance to change. =)

Last time here was a gift shop, its called Lychee. Lots of cute stuff inside, key chains, fluffy soft toys, fancy wrappers, and remote control cars etc. I got a Smiley key chain from here too, reminding me to smile always=)

at the wall next to this cyber cafe u can see all this graffiti, u will know who wrote all this nonsense when u see the initial SP. haha. I rather keep it to myself.

refreshing old memories and self talking, is what I normally do as an endurance athlete. I'll be talking to my bike during long rides, telling the roads my secret during marathon. that doesn't mean I live in the past and not moving on. I just love to keep sweet memories, hope it remains sweet forever. my phone isn't beeping, no message, zero call, that's why I'm blogging. Blog is my space express my thoughts and feelings, when no body is free to talk to me.

Ethan Matthew Michael

Monday I'll be attending a wedding. Ethan will dress up like a gentleman, and I'll challenge him. Let's see who is more handsome! that's why i brought me blazer along. So, any modeling companies interested to make him a model, do let me know. Sunday I'll hangout with alvin, dinner time with Jin Aik. Tuesday, it's time to go home. Get ready for Powerman!

my lecturer told me not to worry about fats of Penang food despite Powerman is just around the corner. she said

"the impact is pain but the memory is sweet"

漂亮的外貌或许是你年轻的本钱，宋高的智慧却是你一生人的本钱

Colours of Life

2011-10-31T18:45:00.004+07:00

Recently, I've personally encountered with numerous non military "crisis".

the world was about to tumble down last week and I have no idea how to handle it. with Powerman just 2 weeks away, I need to gain more mileage. I'm running out of time.

coz of depression and no appetite, i got gastric. now still in recovery process. I put all trainings on hold, right now I have no choice but to put Powerman aside. Initially I aimed to score my biggest game of the year. But now, the hope is fading. Been day dreaming in the class with piles of assignments undone. I'm in deep shit.

colours of life.

The worthy winner will wear the yellow.

Young and energetic Best Young Rider will put on white.

Best overall sprinter deserves the green.

The Pokka Dot is meant for the King of Mountain.

this morning I unintentionally clocked my personal best for 7km.

In the evening I accidentally hit the highest average ever.

It shows that there're still room for improvement and I'm not working hard enough.

I'm not in the mood right now. rather lie low...

current life is caused by the past karma.

military physical training

2011-10-29T10:12:00.002+07:00

It has been months since my last PT. weeks of racing and exempted from military trainings allow me to improve my performance to peak my performance at the right time. So this morning, I'm back to my officer cadet's life and follow military training. Being a duathlete, my imbalance strength of my upper and lower body made me hate push ups and love running. My lower body is anytime stronger than my arms. Friends especially those gym boys with giant biceps will laugh when they see me doing knuckles, after 30 reps I'll be struggling to continue. Similar situation happen when come running, I'll Sprint from the back and smack their asses when I overtake them.

I'll give u an idea how it feels like to do PT. The only time u get to rest is during the 5 minutes warming up. After stretching all major muscles groups, u will never get to rest till the one and a half hour session ends. Normally we will start with 30 push ups. Then instructor pointed at the rugby goal post and shouted "Go!!!". Then start counting. We will sprint like mad man and try our very best to get back to him as quick as possible. The more he counts, the more push ups u will do next. Good runners normally get to rest a little before the crowd gathers. But still, before heart beat reaches zone 3, u will be commencing another exercise.30 reps of jack knife is more than enough to make my stomach sore. What I had in mind this morning was "I'm being paid to do this, just do it." Then the instructor made us sprint again, and again. It is exactly like intervals, with exercises in between. No rest! Before u could catch your breath, u will be running another round, doing another exercise. Prepare for the worst! I rather do normal PT than carry logs or Eco challenge or obstacles course. So today, I feel very grateful. Despite the pain and challenges, no body dares to complaint. All of us serve the Malaysian armed forces, under the command of His Majesty. thumb print of 10 fingers on our agreement has changed military to become not just our career, but is a life we have to bare with. We dont practice democracy, we preserve it.

The first 15 minutes of PT is the toughest. I was still very sleepy, moody, totally unwelcome this morning torture. Later on when the body warms up, it'll become ego unleashing time. Ruggers doing perfect push ups while looking at their proud big biceps, rowers keep starring at their tan lines on their arm while doing sit ups, and the triathletes anxiously waiting for the run. The girls, will look like zombie, about to die already. In the military, all for one and one for all. Collective punishments is how they cultivate cooperation and comradeship. One man cock up, whole squad take the punishments.

It is the instructor's dirty jokes that keep us cheerful.=p we love to listen to their career experiences, very interesting. Furthermore, we get to rest a little while waiting for then to finish talking. One thing I always hold on to, which I always remind myself when I'm struggling, "I will not die. Human body can do more than this". At the end of the session, we all go home with muddy dirty camouflage uniform. This weekly military training is a big factor how we maintain our BMI and fitness. Tired, cuts and bruises are very normal.

It's not the end of our Saturday yet! Within 30 minutes we gotta change to camo uniform, clean one. Then present ourselves for the next military theory class till evening. Academic assignments, no excuse, still have to do. Who is willing to undergo this kind of life? No wonder board of engineers think we are superman.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Happy Birthday Jamie

2011-10-27T12:44:00.004+07:00

I'm writing this for my prettiest friend...

Dear Jamie Ng Pui Zjin,
For 6 years we have known each other but this is the very first time I get to celebrate your birthday with u. May all your wishes come true and a year older will make u wiser in making serious decisions.=) no more tossing coin okay? =) we had a great time yesterday, I enjoyed the Korean food and frozen yoghurt in midvalley. However, having u sitting next to me watching our 2nd movie the 3 musketeers was a big distraction. I don't even know what I was watching. Knowing u for 6 years but we watched only 2 movies? That's weird. We gotta watch more next time.=p we have gone through thick and thin along the way, arguments and period of not talking. whatever it is, thanks for everything, especially your moral support during MUDS 2011. U are part of my success.

I hope u will keep your promise to run with me wearing your new balance Barringer. I will always remember that. Walk your talk. Don't waste the birthday present, run with it on the treadmill and exercise more. We don't know what will happen in the future, right now u are one person I care very much and I really enjoy your company.

Last but not least, enjoy to the fullest while u can. I wanna see u happy! =)

Regards,
Jun Shen

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Keystone

2011-10-24T19:42:00.003+07:00

Keystone is the wedge-shaped piece of stone placed at the peak of an arch, which will be the very last piece to be placed during building process and will locks all stones into position making the arch incredibly strong.

how it works

very often, engineers will make the keystone as artistic as possible.

for me, keystone is my feelings and emotions. emotionally unstable, the structure will collapse.

evening run was nice and cooling. it was raining heavily after lunch and I was planning to ride on trainer if the rain doesn't stop. lucky enough, it stopped 15minutes before training. I had Bak Kut Teh and Yau Cha Kuai YESTERDAY! I was expecting poor timing for my weak will to refrain myself from unhealthy food. Somehow, I clocked my personal best just now. 2 minutes faster than my normal time. Isn't that amazing?!

capstone

2011-10-24T07:15:00.002+07:00

Pyramid's Capstone

For the past 7 days I've been pumping myself with lots of good food. KFC, cold drinks, red meat, oily fried Yau Cha Kuai, and also the infamous Bak Kut Teh. To be very frank, I don't blame myself. It's people around me who dragged me along with them wanting me to enjoy my life. Haha.

Yesterday I hanged out with a bunch of really friendly and funny people. It's totally different compare to my military environment. Having fun in life is a must, but right now I'm performance oriented kind of person. I wanna make good use of this young and energetic period to achieve glorious moment in life. I'm putting aside joy, and work hard to gain life experience so that I'll have lots of stories to be shared when I'm old.

As a competitive athlete, reduction of risk and uncertainties is the key to great performance. However, one thing still yet to be mastered. I'm extremely vulnerable when come race period. Without mental toughness, I can never win any game. When I'm highly motivated, u will see outstanding performance.

Emotions is like a capstone of an athletes' pyramid. The gigantic structure of pyramid, has got a weakness. At the topmost of a pyramid, a capstone is placed to provide pressure strong enough to hold all other stones down under it. Despite being one of the tiniest stone, capstone can never be neglected.

Like an athlete, brain is at the topmost of a body. Brain must be in top form to do well in races. Probably this theory doesn't apply to all people, this applies to me.

U will be shocked to know my capstone. Trust me.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Pantun MUDS 2011

2011-10-19T13:34:00.004+07:00

4 minggu yang tegang,

juara bertahan rasa tertekan,

atlit lemah akan kecundang,

andai gagal sahut cabaran.

siri pertama kenangan pahit,

tumpas dalam gelanggang sendiri,

walau kaki berasa sakit,

pantang kami berundur diri.

akhbar THE STAR besar terpampang,

juara lepas gagal bertahan,

tidak mampu bersuara lantang,

hanya team mates saja yg paham.

siri kedua serangan mengejut,

dua roda pantas berputar,

nombor satu berjaya direbut,

pulih kembali semangat yang pudar.

siri ketiga Uni Malaya,

tempat selalu aku kecundang,

atas usaha kalian semua,

4 Piala dibawa pulang.

Chan Jun Shen

3x Ironman Finisher

2x Duathlete of The Year

1x Johan IPTA Sayembara Deklamasi Puisi

Tears of Joy

2011-10-19T12:41:00.006+07:00

UPNM Endurance Sports Club

Beware of who u are drafting

Final leg in University Malaya.

I came in 2nd to Amirul and slightly ahead of Tarmizi.

after working so hard on the bike and came in far ahead of chase pack, I was so touched knowing that it is very very possible for me to win this game. I nearly cried when entering transitions. Only spectators saw how far the gap was, and only 3 of us feel the pressure of becoming race leaders.

I have lots of ugly pictures during MUDS, Melody was right, we gotta smile all the time despite in pain. U see cameraman by the road side snapping u doing dangerous descend and snap attack capturing racer's emotions.

saw the result today. wanna cry already

UPNM won best university by 4000 over points.

3 days after race.

I'm still over the moon, been pampering myself with lots of junk food and cold drinks.

As I've said before, this is a race for bragging rights!

I worked very very hard together with my team mates to bring all 4 trophies back.

From The Eyes of University Duathlete of The Year

2011-10-16T10:28:00.016+07:00

Athlete number A111, just another nervous athlete standing at the starting line waiting for Mr Yusof Rashid to flag us off. The running track and infamous Bukit Cinta are both disadvantageous to me. I never liked uneven running route coz i'm not very good in it. I'm a flat course specialist. The fact that Ong always beat me in UM has lowered my confidence, I started this game WITHOUT the winning thought. I was imagining how to tell people after losing this game. I told Amirul "whatever will be, will be. I just wanna end this as quick as possible."

the fact that I'm the UPNM athlete with highest points but overall standing 2nd, I feel extremely pressured. Even when Kannan wanted to interview me, I didn't talk much. However, I reminded all racers to check their brake calipers which is the utmost important safety check before riding up Bukit Cinta. I don't like to talk before race starts actually, because I want to focus on my game. There's a tornado going on in my mind, so please don't give me another hurricane.

Tips : safety is paramount

Took a picture with Mr Yusof Rashid 30 secs before gun off. I poured whole bottle of water on my head and started sprinting. Ong went to the front very quickly, I saw a few of my team mates also leading the way. Like the Iron war between Dave Scott and Mark Allen, now is happening in University Malaya between Ong and Chan. we were both winners of Power Bar University Duathlete of The Year. His strength on the run and my advantage on cycling spiced things up, making the competition more and more intense. That's what spectators want to see!

Haha. I wonder if anybody bet on us. If I'm the spectator, it'll be fun to watch. But now I'm the horse that u guys are betting on and I'm struggling! =p

Tips : everything went wrong, change to damage control mode.

never underestimate this humble looking guy. he will smoke u if u try to pace him.

Tips : Don't judge the book by its cover. Respect all athletes.

I was running with Gan (Ong's Team), and was confused with his moves.

He was running at unstable pace, one moment overtake me and slow down, and the next moment in front of me again. Then I ignored his pace and started running with my comfortable pace. Ong has become smaller and smaller, further and further, then disappeared.

Tips : run at your own pace if couldn't get a pacer.

Fly mount and slip on my shoes. My transition skills have tremendously improved and I went out together with those wearing shoes. I'll be racing with very minimum tactics this time, coz this track will really test whether can your muscles survive the hills. Put aside attacking and sprinting, all I had in mind was very tiny hope of finishing slightly in front of Ong.

the very first climb, I saw Ong pedalling at low cadence. I did my training, and I know this is my strength. Legs felt fresh and I just kept pedalling without looking back. There's no need to look back, because I can't do anything if Ong stuck at my back. Previous years, I couldn't get rid of him when he paces me. At the top of the hill, I look back and saw Red Jersey. wasn't sure if that was Amirul or Tarmizi, but I was relieved. Suddenly Amirul came to my side and said "Go Fast!". I was gasping for air and he sprinted down the hill. I will ride to drop dead disregard what will happen, bike is my strength. we overtook all relay riders, we are now the RACE LEADERS again!

together with Tarmizi and Amirul, 3 mad men went down the hill more than 60km/h.

He reads my mind and understands my condition, very familiar with my tactics and style.

repetition of ups and downs Bukit Cinta can be mentally demanding. I drank very little to prevent stomach bloating for my final run. The very last climb I worked together with Tarmizi, and Amirul was the King Of Downhill. I think he gone crazy when see downhill. I have confidence with him though, because we train together and I know his bike handling is very good.

He scored the fastest bike split. I was so sure that we were ahead by more than 400m.

Again, I heard Kicap's voice shouting and yelling at us.

maximum speed 64.5km/h

the word on my handle bar, is my motivation.

Aiman got his girl friend's picture on the handlebar.

Amirul will be rewarded by his girl if he gets Champion this time.

As for me, no girl will reward me and I do this to entertain the crowd who wants to see tough fight =p I'll reward myself with KFC Snack Plate if I win this game.

the last run was super duper torturous. my legs were flimsy, my body couldn't go any faster.

FINALLY, 3 of us crossed the line in one pack. Amirul and I crossed together, but his leg was slightly longer than mine making him the overall champion. Mek was there right after I crossed the line, I felt like fainting. I didn't bend down, just kept walking till my body feels slightly better.

Moral of the story : It is nice to have longer legs=p

lady rider fell before entering transitions. good experience, she'll be a stronger and better rider next time. anything that doesn't kill u will only make u stronger. take it positive.

Tips : when u fall, leave the bike and protect your face first. especially girls. =p

Polygon Helios 700 is a very good bike. Replacement tires from Mr Danny shows their concern for customer's satisfaction. This bike served me well. I've been leading all 3 series on the bike leg.

Tips : Invest on a good tire. It is better than buying many many tubes.

this is our Team's achievement.

They offered 4 trophies and we won all of them.

I told everyone, if we can bring back all 4, this will be the golden era of UPNM endurance sports club.

4 from UPNM.

as I've said before, the game wouldn't be interesting without Ong's tough competition.

Aiman Champion Men Open

Amirul Champion Men Uni

Me Duathlete of The Year.

we just set a bloddy high benchmark for the juniors.

3 times podium finish and accumulated rewards.

this is really sweet

this will make me diabetic =p

I just wanna thank everybody who supported me along the way. especially those who never lose hope on me even though i was injured and running out of time to regain speed. I appreciate and can never thank u guys enough. Mr Tey, thanks for the super nice photographs. Snap Attack also, I'll buy those pictures when I get my pay, hope to get student price.=p

Mr Tey : "wei, don't forget to thank your parents when press interview u!"

Me : Yes......

Mr Tey : "no parents, u cannot buy 2xu and all your equipments!" jokingly scolded me.

Me : EXCUSE ME... I bought my race gears myself okay. not even a single bolt on my bike is sponsored by my parents. But still, I have to thank them for supporting me.

Jamie, Jasmine, Jaspreet, Michael, Ethan, Henry, Ahmad, ABANG ALANG(huruf besar sebab badan besar), and everyone who personally sms wished me luck for this game especially my classmates and batchmates, THANK YOU very much. I know I missed out a lot of people, just want u guys to know that I'm so thrilled right now and u guys are always in my heart.

My parents were there early morning till the end of the race. didn't really spend time with them coz I was busy with press interview and lots of sms-es coming in. I have really supportive parents. Obviously they will never understand this sport unless they really join, but they've done their part to support me=)

not forgetting superb organizers Melody, Adele and the gang. Small team but super efficient!

thank u to the sponsors Malakoff and Power Bar, and media as well =)

Press interview by BERNAMA and RTM

video of the interview.

it's time to bring it to the next level. my next race will be Powerman.

almost triple the distance of MUDS but not even half the distance of IRONMAN.

I have my aim for Powerman.

"KITCHEN" is a powerful word =p

now Athlete A111 get to rest a little. I'll take a break and come back stronger.

now that I've won the game, I still don't get my KFC SNACK PLATE!!!!

Final Leg MUDS University Malaya

2011-10-14T07:32:00.010+07:00

it has been a really long week.

this weekend will decide whether my training throughout the year is effective or not.

undeniably, quality of race for MUDS has leaped to the higher level over the years.

the competition is greater, faster cyclists and runner come with the winning thought.

as the saying goes, "champion will rise and stars will fall"

No matter being competitive or simply recreational, this event is for everybody. U can choose to walk and even push your bike throughout the sprint distance. As for me, I've watched this event grow since my young and naive junior years representing UPNM. I was given penalty for going into the wrong junction, had fever and DNF at Uniten, and the sweetest part when I was awarded the Power Bar University Duathlete of The Year.

I've never cheated.

there are times when I feel the competition is so intense that I couldn't bare with the pressure of wanting to win. Many people enjoy their race, but I will only enjoy if I can bring back medals. I push myself very hard, mainly to bring up my team's name. In order to get better allocation, we need good race results to prove to UPNM that worth sponsoring out team. Achievements don't come free, it requires months of preparation and volumes of trainings.

a friend asked me how was the race:

me : I lost

friend : what's your ranking?

me : 3rd

friend : F*ck you la. U liar.

I've tried to reduce risks and uncertainties by reading lots of books on endurance racing.

But still, I got myself injured 2 months back. I was wearing my uniform walking to the elevator and I felt sharp pain at the side of my left knee. till today I don't know why. Lucky enough, after I changed my running shoes, I slowly recovered. Though not fully well, I've made up my mind to be competitive. Theoretically, reduce training load and stop when u are not well.

First leg in UPNM, I lost in my home ground. A place where I've never lost to anybody (other than my team mates). I finished 3rd. wrong strategy. I wasn't feeling well that day, and I held the gap too close with the chase pack. I didn't push hard enough at points where I'm supposed to. probably I know the route too well, I think too much.

Second leg went well in UPM. with my team mates, we swallowed all race leaders. I gave my all, really nothing left in me. I could only maintain the gap I built on the bike, and finished the race 1st.

tomorrow is the final leg in UM and today I'll be conducting the pre-race clinic.

deep in my heart, I hope to delay this week's duathlon. On the other hand, I want to end all stresses. I need some rest. transition from long distance to sprinting is really not easy.

Physically, I've done everything to improve. what is left is just motivation and mental toughness. this is a sprint game, there's no room for mistakes. I don't even have time to drink! an hour of sprinting really pushes your body to the limit. I respect all the podium finishers, and also participating athletes from all walks of life. those competing for podium, are equally strong. it is just a little extra motivation and zeal which make an athlete the overall champion.

Right now I'm feeling empty and lousy, no idea why..

to be a champion, be EXTRA-ordinary.

good luck to all and race safely. tomorrow's descent can go up to 70km/h the sharp 90 degree left bend. please make sure both brake calipers functioning perfectly.

RACE FAIR, DON'T CHEAT.

it's a race for bragging rights.

RIP TSB...

Putrajaya Training Ride

2011-10-09T12:02:00.005+07:00

Saturday morning.

A day after Adam's bike crash, everyone in the club still not in the mood to talk about our training plan. I care more about our training than his injury, because if he wants to be a good rider, he must be able to endure pain. Juniors made paperwork and our cycling training has been approved. Putrajaya will be our destination.

Before ride, one of the rider recited prayers after my briefing on how to group ride. they're a few juniors in the peloton, i was kinda worried actually. traffic will be busy, so riding in formation is very important so that we can conquer the left lane escorted by Sarjan Jasmi with 2 ladies cameraman in the car. as usual, no spare tube means no ride!

average of 34km/h when we reached Putrajaya.

tongue out =p

photo courtesy Zurul and Syaika.

they ran up to peak of Bukit Besi for morning training, then we just realised that we need some nice pics especially for those first timers who didn't have the chance to take pics at Putrajaya.

even before the ride I've told them many times, no breakaway please! safety always come first. stronger riders can stay at the front slightly longer, we must ride in group. at certain p

oints where the juniors started to slow down, I shouted at the peloton telling them to slow down so that the juniors can catch up. Some just try to show their ego by pulling at high speed ignoring the others. There is no need to unleash your ego when come to group ride, why wanna breakaway when the peloton is waiting for the rest to catch up? u think u are a fast rider? when u are supposed to pull, your legs become flimsy and weak, body swaying left and right like a worm? I seriously got annoyed.

many of them get scolding from me during the ride, especially those who turned on music and plug in ear phones. we have cameraman in the support car, some riders got excited when they saw the car pass by the peloton and started to wave like a mad man. we are riding in a big group and drafting one another, if your front wheel rubs with the back wheel of the front rider, u will surely crash! so please pay attention. Lots of bad words came out from my mouth within that few hours. That's how we always communicate during trainings anyway.

I see the need to teach them a lesson so that other riders will not complaint about them when they join mass start. My seniors didn't teach me all this, I learned through experience. Many great riders outside and we can always learn from them.

2km kayaking.

rode to Presint 5 to support the UPNM rowing team. my rowing friends showed me a guy who looks like Edward Cullen the Vampire. they told me rowing requires lower body strength, I'm gonna try their rowing machine next 2 weeks at Pusat Marin. who knows if I'll found my new talent? =p haha

water sports

our way back to Sungai Besi was much easier. Juniors understand the formation better.

However, most of them already exhausted and struggling to keep up with the pace. Double file went above 45km/h on the highway, still not too fast for the seniors. some of us have even reached 60km/h on flat highways, that's where we show our ego. Most of our riders, I can see they have the potential to go faster, just need a little training. Come on guys, BUCK UP!!!

Hope they learn something from this ride.

All about love

2011-10-07T18:33:00.005+07:00

I never loved martial arts.

I was sent for martial arts class since I was standard 2. Being a kid, I had no choice but to listen. My Sunday morning's sweet dream will be disrupted and groggy me will unwillingly drag myself to the basketball court start doing punching and kicking. I quit taekwondo as a blue belt coz I had to move to Alor Setar. years later when I joined UPNM, taekwondo was compulsory and all cadets must get black belt before being commissioned as an officer. I got no choice.

As I said before, I join UPNM to be an Ironman. I love swim bike run more than anything else in my cadet's life. So I've made up my mind, go all out and get my black belt fast, then I can be exempted from martial arts. Finally I got my black belt, and months later UPNM came out with new policy saying that all cadets will start Tempur Tanpa Senjata, the previous Taekwondo belt is no longer valid. So, from black belt I turned white belt AGAIN.

How can it be possible to keep doing something u don't love for many years?

I've tried to focus, tried to love Taekwondo. I always tell myself this is for my own good. My bitter experience of getting snatched is a good reason why I should buck up my self defence. However, it didn't come from my heart. That thought came from my logical thinking. Something u don't love with all yr heart will never last long, trust me.

today's TTS, I was day dreaming all the time. I couldn't remember patterns and taegeuk.

because I never loved TTS but I'm forcing myself.

Many years of endurance racing, my passion didn't fade at all despite all the pain and bitter but meaningful experiences. I love endurance racing even deeper over the years.

some people tell me, channel your spirit and energy to your goals just like how u do in Ironman.

Left brain will do the analysis, then says that the statement above is theoretically correct. Some goals in life, we pursuit because we need to achieve it. that doesn't mean u love it. It is like somebody telling u to like Jessica Alba because she is so damn hot, yea u might like her for her hot body but u don't love her.

today's bad news, one of my rider crashed his bike.

days ago I posted on how to crash your bike skilfully to minimize the damage, and today one guy crashed horribly. all riders will surely fall, it's just a matter of time, so learn to minimize the damage. But still, juniors are so stubborn. I told them like a million times to read up and gain more knowledge so that they don't have to learn the hard way, but they will never listen. this is why seniors tend to manhandle the juniors, because they couldn't stand it anymore. I'm still keeping my clean record for not manhandling the juniors, never even once.

Be patient.

basikal mahal disangka hebat,

budak mentah baru belajar,

berbuih mulut beri nasihat,

mungkin perlu aku yg ajar.

today is my aunt's birthday. How i wish i could go home and celebrate. too bad I won't be home for 3 weeks, gotta attend Solidworks class. sigh.

I'm Fat

2011-10-06T19:46:00.004+07:00

I wasn't caught hell striking, guess my running posture has improved.

I told Amirul, when I was running to the finishing line, I felt like the whole club is standing on my shoulder. It was a heavy responsibility to win, everybody passed by cheer for u, scream their throat out hoping u to go faster. this week I'm free, get to rest a little. Next week's final leg gonna be super steep climb all the way.

Heavy training high calorie burn must be replaced with good food. Everyday's lunch, I feel sad for all my comrades. I wonder if they know what are they eating. Many of them told me why I eat a lot but still very lean, that's because I eat a lot but my meal is low fat and high carbs.

for now, all cadets who exceeded the BMI limit will undergo special training program to slim them down. increment of 100g will result in 1 ringgit saman =p haha. I even told one of them, why not u join triathlon training, sure u will slim down.

he told me "I rather die than join your training"

makanan goreng katakan tidak,

tidak sihat penuh lemak,

Berat badan berat lemak,

disuruh berlari jerit "alamak!"

It's not easy to follow cadet's routine, then score good grades in academic, and at the same time actively involved in sports. It's really VERY tiring. I always go to bed exhausted, and often doze off with piles of assignments undone on my tables especially when come race seasons. For this semester, I will cut down my races and pay more attention on my academics.

Next week I'll be conducting Race Clinic on Science of Injury Free Running at University Malaya.

very inspiring Ironman video

days ago I went for a simple body fat percentage test. I saw the digital display blinking then got a cartoon moving up and down, then only appear the result. according to my online search, Cyclist 5 - 15%, Sprinters 3 - 5%. I was so disappointed with the result! my body fat percentage is 15.2%. I'm too FAT to become a cyclist. sometimes knowing too much is not a good thing. I'm not good in ball sports coz of my slightly slower respond. by the time I put out my leg to stop the ball, the ball already passed me.

I always tell my friend, my legs can only move one axis which is front and back, I can't play football. They make a big joke out of it saying that this weekend's inter course football, I'll be the super fast winger who dribble the ball out of the court and bring the ball for cycling. I know u guys like to laugh at me.

whatever it is, to all my Aeronautics course mates, best of luck=)

kalian lincah gelecek bola,

saya hanya mampu berlari,

Aeronautic pasti menjulang piala,

hanya juara yg kami cari.

Taylor surprised her mum with this song. Listen to the lyrics =) one of my favourite song.

MUDS UPM - A meaningful one

2011-10-02T11:03:00.014+07:00

Pre race night, I went to my stall and sold satay. u must be wondering why we wear so smart =p

a week ago, I was 3rd in my own University. I've never lost in my home ground, that was the very first time. this week, I'll be racing in UPM, a place where we have always dominated.

a night before race, I was anxiously waiting for the punching heart beat to come. that's a very important indicator of my next day's performance.

to my deepest disappointment, I've lost the punching beat.

I failed? yea the media like to spice things up and make it more interesting.
now Ong and I become like Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei.

when everything goes wrong, not as per planned, just don't give up and change to damage control mode. throughout the week, every single thing went haywire! I didn't wanna give up, I planned my game and strategy. Honestly, I've lost my motivation a day before game. what is left is just an ounce of fighting spirit.

3km first run was normal pace. Ong and Gan had about 200m lead, when I went into transition, they have already disappeared. I did a good fly mount and fastened my velcro strap once my bike was cruising at 40km/h. My confidence slowly build up when I had 12 UPNM Team Mates riding in my peloton. On flat we rode above 45km/h, we chased down all the race leaders and swallowed them. UPM is a flat course, but u really gotta be careful of sharp corners, holes and humps on the road. the peloton went crazy, 12 of my team mates highly motivated and hammering the pedals keeping the pace high in order to keep the gap far from the chase pack. we were in a breakaway, no time to slow down, no time to drink too! my bottle was still full when I climbed the final hill.

I saw the Palm Oil Estate in front, and the super steep hill. that's the final climb. I doubted myself, I didn't believe I could do this. I took a quick glance on my aero bar, so many things crossed my mind within that few mili seconds. My very last phone conversation was a great booster, somebody made a very big request. The moment I thought of it, I got out of my saddle and punch! I attacked the final climb and pulled the gap as far as I could!

I kept asking myself "what the hell?! this might be a wrong move!"

2 words on my aero bar.

If he can ride with one arm, why not u?

Photo courtesy Snap Attack

I was breathing so hard, and my legs were really hurt. Remained focus and not wanting to look back what is going on, I didn't stop hammering my pedals. I'm very sure the chase pack is chasing after me. At one point I felt like a little pig being chased by Big Bad Wolves. Remained in aero position slicing the wind all the way back to transition and did fly dismount. Now I'm the leader.

saw my mum and abang alang by the road side cheering for me. Thanks a lot=)

Honestly, I couldn't really hear people screaming when I cycle. But this time, I could hear my mum and Kicap screaming. Kicap has been my faithful lead out man over the years.

Ong is a damn fast runner, I better work harder.

the chase pack consists of 12 UPNM riders and Ong came in together. the gap was closing up. I didn't wanna know what's gonna happen. I just kept striding at high cadence and maintained the gap. it's impossible for me to go any further, any faster, my engine was over heating!

In sports, we fair play.

U give your best, I give my all. The best man win.

Photo Courtesy Mr Yusof Rashid from Malakoff

u can see my shit face crossing the finishing line. It was really tough. Ong came in 2nd, super close! Later Amirul, Suhaime and Tarmizi came in. Aiman got 6th place, but his bike speed improved.

this is a real big favor u know?

Medal is just a piece of metal, Certificate is merely a piece of colourful paper. It's the racing memories that make life colourful.

Ong brought his girl friend to support him, no wonder I lost to him before this. I'm in disadvantage in this aspect=p so I went to get some morale booster a day before. Haha so now we are equal.

Exhausted..

to all the 12 horses in my peloton, u guys rock! Hahaha. people have been commenting how crazy we rode to chase down everyone at the front. U guys simply the best!

Abang Alang treated me with reflexiology.

spent my night with Ahmad, Amirul, Aiman and Abang Alang.

Father's Love

2011-09-29T18:55:00.008+07:00

last night, I was touched by a statement from my friend.

we went for interview and our instructor will assess us based on a long list of officer's qualities. spent about half an hour in the meeting room, I was the only Navy, and the only Sergeant. I scored maximum for sports achievement, the other columns mostly slightly above average. He tested us on military knowledge and leadership. Then we did public speaking on our role models in life.

A friend of mine said :

"my role models are my mum and dad". everybody started laughing, it sounded like a big joke.

"my dad is not highly educated but he successfully sent all the 9 of us to school despite earning low income by selling nasi lemak. "

my father said "although I'm stupid, I showed u the way to success"

"now that I'm studying in this university, I have them to thank."

"walaupun aku bodoh, aku tunjukkan kau jalan"

a very simple speech, but deeply impacted everybody in the room. love need no intelligence, it comes from a sincere heart.

UPNM war dance. Photo courtesy Snap Attack =)

UPNM cadets, always full of adrenaline and aggression. Sarjan Jasmi was telling a friend of his "don't look at all this cadets sweet talk with their girl friends, they can be very fierce especially during war dance."

can u feel the rush?

tomorrow I will pay a visit to Batu Arang ammunition company to have a closer look on the APFSDS. hope it'll be a fruitful visit =)

this whole week, my blog clocked more than 250 readers everyday! thanks readers=)

Sinusoidal

2011-09-28T19:12:00.004+07:00

sometimes when things go wrong, I feel like the whole world is tumbling down. A good leader must be able to withstand stress and work under pressure without being affected by emotions. However, I feel like I have lost the thirst of power and desire to lead.

being appointed as the new rank holder, I felt normal, nothing special.
just now after sports, I was talking to an officer. and I voiced out my thoughts of letting go my rank. I have no idea where i got the guts from. people change over the years, being an active blogger, it indirectly makes me more outspoken and dare to voice out. He was shocked. He gave me some advice and I did tell him my reasons. Mechanical Engineering faculty, only 30% will graduate this year. and for my batch, only 30% of students are in the 3 pointer's list. Lucky enough, I'm still in the top 30%. He told me to forgo my sports. My aunt told me I have enough success in sports, it's time to study and score good grades before I graduate. Cadet's routine is tough, but I will always spare some time for my training. I love endurance racing.

given the chance to choose sports and rank, I will definitely choose sports.

when I'm avoiding rank, rank comes to me. still remember when i was form 4, I wasn't given the rank Putera Sarjan. I was extremely upset and Jamie was there to listen to all my complaints, for many months I complained to her=p I got my rank when I was form 5 though. I wanted rank so badly, been praying for it every time I go temple. But today the rank is preying for me, I'm now a cadet sergeant, with 3 big V's on my shoulders

I really don't care how people look at me when I rejected my rank. I wanna graduate on time, and be a good aeronautical engineer. In the future, there'll be a million opportunities to practice leadership. In the military, u always have juniors under u. don't tell me no chance to practice leadership.

this week, lots of up and downs. struggling to find my inner peace. morning training was supposed to be exciting as i planned to attack them. went to store room and saw my back tire punctured. Blinkers not working, heart rate monitor went dead. sigh. canceled my plan. checked everything and nothing was wrong! whatever it is, I just changed new tube and it was fine when i came back after class. Hopefully it'll be alright. what is going on! or may be avoiding today's cycling saved me from accident. who knows? =)

Hope tomorrow will be a better day =)

Real Bad Day

2011-09-26T19:41:00.006+07:00

morning run was soothing, weather was cool and windy. it was perfect to do my recovery run. both hamstring feeling a little stiff after the duathlon. been asking myself what am i born for? long distance or short sprints? i can take pain of racing long hours, but I just hate to breath hard while sprinting.
whatever it is, this year might be the last year I race as a student. Next year I'll graduate and need to focus on my career. Currently I'm very into sabot manufacturing process, and brainy military engineers invented such lethal weapon really impressed me. however, weapons are meant to kill.

engineers are creators, and also destroyers.

so I took a short evening nap after class, I'm free for today. lecturers are busy with accreditation and interviews. washed my uniform and socks. before my evening training, I better rest my body. I was day dreaming, lying on my bed reflecting what happened last Saturday.

Then my phone rang....

Eddy called me to inform that I'm selected for the Board of Engineers' interview.
I hate it when people disturb my sleep, especially nap after lunch.
straightaway i shouted "Fu*k!!!" then the line was cut off. then he called again, and again. i told him i'm not going. the next call, Amirul was on the line. Amirul is an obedient cadet, a good son and is a good example to follow. Me, too rebellious. He is my team mate, so I listen to him.

went to my locker and grabbed another set of uniform. my goodness! my pants was so tight and I had to fasten my belt one inch shorter, can u imagine! I've grown big, horizontally =p I ironed my uniform in 10mins time, put on all ranks and accessories, then sprinted all the way to Block Bestari under the RAIN! what the hell. why my name is selected?

I was worried, because the interview will severely affect our uni's accreditation, and sure my lecturers will kill me if i couldn't answer. 30 mins before i went in, I know nothing about Board of engineers malaysia BEM, and IEM. I gotta answer those Outcome based education, program outcome and bla bla bla... I was cursing and swearing why the hell they picked up my name! Eddy's name was right below me and his pointer is way better than mine, why me? I was angry and upset, why am I so unlucky.

so I did this mind mapping. I drew lots of cartoons to help me remember.
I went in with confidence, with all the cutie cartoons in my head, and answered all the questions SMOOTHLY. don't play play.
one interesting question they asked me.
" don't u think it is not appropriate to do your engineering degree and at the same time do your military training"
deep in my heart i wanted to tell him "cadets are superman, we need no rest"
I answered " Sir, no doubt it is hard to undergo military training and study at the same time, but I still think it is possible. That's the reason why the selection of UPNM cadets is always very strict. They expect us to have good time management."
that guy was stunned, couldn't say a word =p

I answered lots of questions. Basically to back up my own faculty.

In the evening, Naim crashed his bike. he got a deep and wide cut above his lips, was sent to hospital. cycling is a dangerous sport.

That's About It.

2011-09-25T11:11:00.008+07:00

Monday to Friday I will fulfil my duty as an obedient officer cadet attending morning parade before class. After class I'll be buried alive under piles of assignments to be submitted the next day. Friday evening UPNM want me to be a killer, fighter, assassin, so I learn TTS. Saturday they make us carry heavy logs, run, march, and all sorts of military training to equip us with military knowledge. Sunday I'm a civilian.

yea today is Sunday.

I'm alone at Dewan Bestari downloading some PDF files on my Final Year Project. My sabot design is meant to assist the penetrating rod so that the penetration can be tremendously increased, and improve the aerodynamics. Basically I'm designing something harmful, to kill. Looking at different perspective, I'm designing something to ensure safety of my country. went to see Prof Ghani, he told me my project is too hard for a degree student. whatever it is, just do it. a year later, we'll see if my sabot can be successfully launched from 90mm gun barrel of armoured vehicle.

those who answered my questions correctly were given Power Bar Bottles and Towels.

the winners answered my questions perfectly, proven that they paid attention to me when i was presenting. good experience for me. next week will be Kannan's presentation, I'll go and support him =)

she will bring back the trophy Women University Duathlete of the Year. the chances is high.

she fell off her bike and suffered from injury for many months, came back highly spirited and been getting support from team mates.

I had 10 hours sleep, now I'm feeling a little fresher. though not fully recovered from mental pain and muscles soreness, I need to continue with my assignments and projects. Presentation on my project need to be submitted next week. Cadets are supermans, we work till drop dead.

hidup susah tak pe, janji tak susahkan family. hujung bulan, ATM kasi duit raya. tiap2 bulan kami beraya =p nak jadi cadet, kena la work like hell, kena hell, go to hell.

Bad Post Race Condition

2011-09-24T19:20:00.008+07:00

as an athlete, always listen to your body. as for my case, before race starts I already know how my body would perform. I'll listen to my body the night before race, if i could sleep well, then race day will be disastrous. My performance will be outstanding if my heart punch my chest hard and I feel the adrenaline rush throughout the day.

conducted a talk on Race Preparation. pic courtesy Aiman Halim.
presentation slides here

tell u what happened last night.
my body felt warm, and my heart wasn't pounding hard all the time. went to bed around 11pm. 2am i woke up and realized I was cycling on my bed at super high cadence, legs were spinning so fast in the air and my bed was shaking like crazy! I had a nightmare. my room mates probably think I was doing some warming up. dozed off again, woke up at 6am, I was calm. bad news.
actually, I was worried of the Melaka riders would attack on the bike. they've the speed of National riders and been participating in lots of bike races.

Ong was damn strong on the bike, I held back my speed and let him do the pacing. we had 4 of my team mates in the peloton chasing after Kicap who was riding at above 40km/h. at the roundabout I looked back and saw the Melaka riders were super far behind, so they're not a threat to me. Ong almost went for another round on the bike, I told him to go straight to transition instead of letting him to go the wrong way. I believe in fair play, we are rivals in races, but sportsman spirit always come first.

we were attacking each other for the final 400m.
in sports, u did your best and I gave my all, the best man win. he was ahead of me by 2 steps.
overall position no 3. Ong was untouchable. At one point, I was hoping that all my knowledge on endurance racing could be put aside during the race. while my heart beating fast and muscles going all out, my brain extracted my endurance racing painful experience telling me to hold back. Only if i was naive and innocent, I could have done a lot better.

end of the race, Amirul questioned me why didn't I attack on the bike.
because I think too much and eat too much. most of my team mates did well though, I'm really happy for them =) I could have done better. a lot of people asked me why? what's wrong? what the hell? are u in bad form? different people interpret the race result differently.

Family will say :
"u did your best, u deserve a good rest. don't worry too much"
family always never fail to give moral support.

My UPNM Squad will say :
"what the hell? u shouldn't have lost to a civilian! your military training is not enough!"
because in war, there's only win or lose. there's no runner up.

Team Mates will say :
"hey u normally do well in trainings, are u alright?"
"we are always with u, we'll do our best for the next game!"

Juniors will say :
"Sir, u did great! that guy beat u because he doped. u are my idol, u should be the champion, u are always a champion!"
Never trust your juniors, they're all lying bastards. by all mean they will please u and do what it takes to survive. I was a junior and for sure I know not all of them are honest.

as an athlete, people are concern about performance. I would be really grateful to have somebody to talk to. I wanna talk to a friend, not team mates, and most important not your UPNM Squad. I just wanna talk. since no body have time to talk to me, I have decided to walk to academic block and start blogging. despite not knowing those anonymous readers and followers of my blog, but at least I know somebody will listen to my stories. my average daily blog hit is about 150, so there must be at least one human being on earth read this post.

Ultraman and Ironman.

Ahmad (right end) will graduate soon. left 3 of us.

Skyscrapper (cover) by Megan Nicole and Boyce Avenue.

thanks readers =) hope my leg will recover faster, I need to run. injury kills my mood. the worst part is, I don't even know how and why i got it.

Final year project

2011-09-21T21:07:00.008+07:00

putting on extra stripes doesn't make any difference to me.
everything is possible in the military including a double parade in a gloomy Monday morning.
6.45am at the parade square ready for Commandant's parade, all rank holders ready for the ceremony. 9.15am we marched all the way from RMC's Parade Square to Dataran Wawasan which is about 1km apart. Both parades, many juniors fainted, some vomited. How could the juniors be so bloddy unfit, not enough ragging i suppose. Now we see the need of a little injection of pain to make them tougher. However, putting on new rank doesn't mean I will change my character, I will remain as who I am and the most important thing is leadership by example.

to the juniors, hammerlight will remain as my favorite. so stay away from trouble.

we went buffet during the weekend with grandma and grandaunt. right after dinner, grandaunt surprised me with an offer to get me a new lap top. I really need a new lap top for my final year project, I will have to run many engineering simulations to complete my project. this is really the best time to get a new lap top. I'm extremely happy to get this very perfect gift =) before I left the car, she gave me a hug and told me to study hard. I'm a stubborn person and I choose to listen to very few people in my life. Right now, I'm gonna take grandaunt's message very seriously. having a new machine to assist me, I have no reason not to do well. this lap top is super fast, hope I can keep up with it =p

this week, I'm officially a student of Aeronautical Engineering. that means I entitle for allowance of RM1500 per month as an aircraft engineer after graduate! everything seems to fit me well, on track and smooth sailing for this new semester. I feel so grateful to be blessed with so man good things recently. Thank God, really.

my room
6 of us. 3 Navy cadets, 3 Air Force.
all were wearing shorts and shirtless cleaning up our room last night getting ourselves ready for room inspection.

my study desk. half of my book rack filled with my supplements. As I've always said, I'm a full time athlete, part time student cadet. Last week had a long chat with aunt on the phone, she told me "u can't earn money by riding a racing bike!" haha.
I know my priorities in life, studies always come first. I know my goals, I'm very clear with what I'm doing.

Company picture which has got no me. I went cycling when they took this picture.
this week I'm occupied with many programs, including talk on Race Preparation before MUDS 2011. I haven't even rehearse my presentation. It wouldn't be hard though, I'll talk based on my racing experience since form 4, make it casual and spontaneous.

we will conduct a mortar firing session in October. all this firing practice and simulations will be my toy for the whole semester.

Brig Gen Prof Madya Dr Shohaimi is my supervisor.
it is an honor to have him supervising me. He has the experience, authority and knowledge. by the way, his son is my batch in RMC.

my final year project sounds like this :
Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized discarding sabot rounds during gun tube launch.
it sounds so complicated and confusing. Firstly, I've never seen firing practice of Long Rod Penetrator, and the worst part is I've never heard of it. After his detail explanation, I have a clearer view of my project.

90mm penetrator has got low penetration force, so we need to reduce the area to achieve grater penetration. But for us to maintain gun barrel 90mm, we need some sort of adapter which is the sabot. from the picture u see the long rod penetrator made of tungsten which will strike armored vehicle and make deep penetration. the two pieces separated from it is the sabot. so I'm gonna design and fabricate the sabot first, then the whole APFSDS.

sounds more ganas when people ask me about my final year project, I'll be so proud to tell them. haha.

Mother's Love Japanese Earthquake (share)

2011-09-17T21:40:00.002+07:00

This is a true story of Mother’s Sacrifice during the Japan Earthquake.
After the Earthquake had subsided, when the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks. But her pose was somehow strange that she knelt on her knees like a person was worshiping; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supporting by an object. The collapsed house had crashed her back and her head.

With so many difficulties, the leader of the rescuer team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to reach the woman’s body. He was hoping that this woman could be still alive. However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away for sure.
He and the rest of the team left this house and were going to search the next collapsed building. For some reasons, the team leader was driven by a compelling force to go back to the ruin house of the dead woman. Again, he knelt down and used his had through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement,” A child! There is a child! “
The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a 3 months old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. Obviously, the woman had made an ultimate sacrifice for saving her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to make a cover to protect her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

The medical doctor came quickly to exam the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said,” If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” This cell phone was passing around from one hand to another. Every body that read the message wept. ” If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” Such is the mother’s love for her child!!

i found this article from this website. click here

MUDS Pre Race Clinic

2011-09-15T14:43:00.004+07:00

3 months ago before, I had the intention to share my experience and knowledge on duathlon with more people. I know Malakoff University Duathlon Series (MUDS) will be my very best platform to conduct a talk on endurance racing. I didn't have the confidence at first, and I discussed this with a few of my very close friends and team mates. I doubted myself. will people listen to me? am I experienced and qualified enough to talk in public? can I do it well?

thanks to their constant support and encouragement, I finally voiced out my idea to race director Melody Tan. thanks to the person who checked my slides for Science of Injury Free Running too =)

this year will be my final year racing as a student, I wanna make it meaningful. for many years the topics have been very basic and easy to understand, so this year I will bring it to the next level, more detail and technical.

I will talk on
Race Preparations and Science of Injury Free Running.

Ironman and Ultraman
standing next to me is Kannan Murugasan, an Ultraman. just in case u don't know what Ultraman is, Ultraman is 3 times Ironman distance to be completed in 3 days time.
I'm a 3 times Ironman Finisher, he did triple Ironman distance in one shot!
this year, both of us will conduct the talk in 3 different universities. I hope combination of us both will enlighten more new athletes and give them a good start in endurance racing.

today I enlighten 10 athletes, those 10 athletes will help 100 more athletes, the 100 athletes will share the knowledge with a thousand athletes. the cycle will go on and on.

Avril Lavigne - Wish You Were Here

during my industrial training I got a reminder from a friend. since then I've been typing the word "humble" every single day, till today. this is one thing that I'm still learning.

Dividing Love

2011-09-13T21:20:00.003+07:00

Runners, which one do u love more?
In life, It's impossible to equally divide love.
the person who was always by your side during rainy days shouldn't be forgotten.

day one class with Brigadier General Dr Shohaimi, he gave me the motivation to spend more time and effort in my engineering subjects. He is a good leader, great lecturer.
A leader gives hope to his men.

Digging Deep

2011-09-10T23:41:00.008+07:00

on sale 40%.

3 months of surveying, weeks of sleepless night, days of decision making.
It takes less than 1 minute make the purchase.
Racers vs Trainers
the initial plan was to get another pair of better shoes than the racer. after considering my injury and over pronation, I have decided to race with a more stable shoes which many lightweight racers cannot fulfill. GT2150 is a little stiffer, but very stable. The forefoot is soft, and the padding at heel collar hugs my heel comfortably. will be my first time race and train with Asics, and I believe I'll see improvement. Asics shoes are super expensive! without discount, i won't even consider buying it. tell u what, both my Racers and Trainers are the very last pair on sale!
I guess these shoes are meant to be mine.
we are fated to be together=)

the bad news, I spent about RM800 on sports equipment this month. I bought 2 Running shoes which costs about RM600 after sale and a pair of racing tires. If i'm not earning my income and ask money from parents, don't u think they slaughter me? Looking at my 2 digits savings left, I will have to remind myself not to go cafe after this. gonna fill my stomach with Mess Cadet's food for the rest of my days till my next pay.

after many days of carefree life in Penang, now I'm back to my high performance maximum productivity life in KL. as i always say, my family is a high performance organization. structured like a military hierarchy, we work and move in a group, as a team. we discuss issues and solutions, we are problem solvers and event organizers for family gathering. it can be stressful most of the times, that's why i went to Penang to rest my mind a little and catch up with nice peoples over there.

days in KL have been filled with doing bike fit for a friend, fix grandma's gas hose, escorting the old relatives to go places, and listening to their life experiences. a good leader practices servant leadership, so I need to learn and understand how to serve people in order to be a good leader.
I promised myself to do at least a good thing a day.

I'll dig myself very deep to punch hard during racing, so does my bank account. I just dug a very big hole=p will spend most of my training hours with my new darling =)

don't be jealous=p
Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You.

Surviving Iron River

Welcome to the playground

How to hunt for mussels

Wasp Stings Treatment

In Time

Fighting Spirit

quitters never win

Beautiful game

sunshine

Dua Tiga Kucing Berlari

Clearing the cloud

Ice Creamory

Losing steam

Hard head

UPNM Inter University Eco Challenge

Eco Challenge

Multitasking

Lika-Beli

Newton 25km New Year Challenge 2012 Race Report

Carbo Loading

Bloggaholic

Birthday Double Too

快要完了!

Loading tummy

cocky

Mental Breakdown

curiosity

I'm a Runner=) 張鈞甯，用跑步 做自己

Rebound

Monotony

Ours

Double Promoted in Self Defence Exam

7km a day, keeps the doctor away.

Sleepy Head

Lie Low

Distress

only if the heart can see

Recovery Week

Pangkor Training Camp

Reflection

Show your love, donate blood

Video Tempur Tanpa Senjata - One Step Sparring

Time for body to rest and let the brain work! =)

unfair

Post Race Syndrom

Powerman Race Report

Powerman WIND and weather forecast

Powerman Strip Show. Azrul vs Chan

Powerman mini brick

Penang Trip - 最后一天

Penang Trip - 第一天

最美的回忆

Colours of Life

military physical training

Happy Birthday Jamie

Keystone

capstone

Pantun MUDS 2011

Tears of Joy

From The Eyes of University Duathlete of The Year

Final Leg MUDS University Malaya

Putrajaya Training Ride

All about love

I'm Fat

MUDS UPM - A meaningful one

Father's Love

Sinusoidal

Real Bad Day

That's About It.

Bad Post Race Condition

Final year project

Mother's Love Japanese Earthquake (share)

MUDS Pre Race Clinic

Dividing Love

Digging Deep

I'm a Runner=) 張鈞甯，用跑步做自己