So it’s set!

I’ve been using custom orthotics since 2008 and to be honest, even up till recently, I was still having to make adjustments. I’m no expert, so I trust my podiatrist and physios to tell me that I have quite a significant leg length difference. But even this information has been debatable by a few bike fitters I have come across. We’ll leave that for another time.

The challenge I had was shaving off enough at the heel of my orthotics to give me enough heel grip. Some shoes that have silicon heel grippers inside which might help prevent heel slippage. Then a friend introduced me to G8 Performance Adjustable Arches.

It comes with 4 different arch heights and has 28 different arch positions which makes it adjustable to almost any feet. It wasn’t hard to get the right position. The immediate feel I got was how stable my feet felt. There was very little to no movement of my feet within my shoe. In my opinion, stability is key in maximum and consistent force transfer.

I’ve had them on for almost a month now and I’m extremely pleased with them. I don’t have any direct force numbers to justify their efficiency, but I no longer experience any pain or discomfort in my feet, which does mean I have one less thing to worry about.
Try them out for yourself. Feel free to contact me if you’re thinking of getting a pair.

Recently I was humbled to be asked by Ling Er, top Singaporean female finisher at The Ironman World Championships 2011, Run Specialist and ACEndurance Coach to do a simply write up on recovery nutrition for the ACEndurance training squad’s blog. I’m glad to be able to share my experiences and I hope it’ll help their training in some way or the other.

Here’s the article:

http://acenduranceteam.blogspot.sg/2012/09/sports-and-nutritional-recovery.html

Sincere apologies for the extensive lack of updates. I was looking forward to some amazing sporting action the Games and pulling together updates around the world which might not have been reported at home, for the benefit of everyone. But I spent most of the entire period serving the nation back in military service. There were many outstanding performances to cheer about and doping cheats to jeer. But in all, i guess most would agree London 2012 was a huge success.
Military service was a great time to catch up with old friends and have a good laugh considering I missed my last two in-camps because of the Asian Games and SEA Games. So all was not lost.

As we move closer to the end of the year, things continue to shape up nicely. Extremely delighted to have Alan on board to tackle the track as well. He has been of great help and support to my cycling ever since I started visiting Athlete’s Circle when I was rowing. Or should I say when I first put my bike together at the now de-funct Passione. All round funny guy, hard arse bike rider. Besides what everyone can find on the internet, I’ve learn heaps from himself and LingEr while hanging out at Athlete’s Circle. Exciting times ahead for sure.

I recently dropped by The Runner’s Gait to catch up with the guys responsible for Compressport in Singapore. The new Pro Triathlon range is out and now available in Singapore!!

There will be an exciting event coming up at the end of September as well. Our friends from The Muffinry are organising a fund raiser for myself and Alan as we work towards the Asia Track Clubs race and ultimately targeting the Asian Championships in March 2013. Can’t thank them enough for the generous support and believing in what we do. They are working on the details of the event so more will be revealed soon. In the meantime, I hope to have your support and be part of this amazing sporting journey, in one way or the other. Any amount will be greatly appreciated and will certainly go a long way. Thanks everyone!

http://gogetfunding.com/project/wai-mun-at-the-2013-asian-cycling-championships

It’s been a great 2 weeks in Perth, where I began my crash course as a track cyclist. Track Cycling WA are just an amazing and passionate bunch of people, who were kind enough to host me. I was certainly a cause for worry on my first week. Plenty of stories of riders causing massive pile ups, I really didn’t want to go in the record books for that. I don’t mind falling, I know it’s part of learning, I just don’t wish to take someone innocent down with me.

The learning curve was steep for sure. And i appreciate all the experience riders for putting up with my noob riding skills. Being thrown into a pool of sharks might not be the best for learning. But it’s something that I’m quite used to, having learn the same way in rowing. I did have my first fall after a week of riding on the track, sitting behind someone who was going a tad too slow. She slipped off the bank, I went up to avoid running over her, but didn’t accelerate, that means going at the same speed, which is obviously too slow, and I slipped off, from a higher up the bank. Not pleased at all. Didn’t seem too serious, but after another week and now that I’m back, the scar has somehow become a swollen shin. Really have no idea how that happen.

Apart from the mishaps, I really enjoyed the riding. You can only truly appreciate track cycling if you’ve ridden on it before. The speed and the forces of gravity is an amazing experience. Plenty of adrenaline going around for the junkies.

I’ll be looking forward to what plans we have next. It’s clear what are the specific things I need to work on before we next hit the tracks. It’ll certainly be upwards from here. Really, there’s no where else to go

Things are coming along slowly but nicely. My 10s and 30s wingate anaerobic tests in the lab went well. Significant rise in peak power output, which is encouraging. Numbers dipped slightly on both step and VO2 max, which is expected considering a major shift to anaerobic sprint training since January. It’s been reported that pure track sprinters have very very little aerobic element to their training. For a start, it’s probably better for me to still have a tad of aerobic capability, until we see what I can put out on the track. Weights sessions with Louis will continue to focus of maximal strength and power, with primary focus on super fast execution and explosiveness.

The RunBikeSwim expo 2012 just 2 weekend saw quite good response from the public. Organised in conjunction with the Sundown Marathon race pack collection, it was a chance for consumers to get their hands on rock bottom price deals to stock up on sports stuff for the rest of the year. Huge thanks to Athlete’s Circle (their facebook page) for letting me assist them at the event. I took time to try out a pair of ON shoes and was impressed on the feel on my feet. Drop by Athlete’s Circle to try them on for yourselves!

The expo was also a great chance to meet and chat with like-minded people, who experiences and understands the challenges Singapore athletes face to rise up the ranks of elite in the international stage. I had a great chat with the guys from Runner’s Gait (facebook page) the same guys responsible for Compressport in Singapore. I swung by the shop during the week to get myself measured up for the ForQuad.

Fitted myself with the ForQuad at Runner’s Gait!

I’ve been having it a go for recovery and i’m looking forward to putting it on for Monday’s weights session.

Next week will be exciting as I hope to secure additional support to compete at the Perth Winter Track Cycling Grand Prix. Exciting times!

Check out this video of an interview with Eric Murray of the Kiwi Pair. Honest with humble confidence. Can’t wait to see what they can do in London.

The interview says is all: Relentless, mind-numbing training, competitive environment. Attitude is key

Things are starting to take shape. Though the issue of my exclusion from rowing has yet to be resolved, prep work for the track is gradually coming together. And you can have my word, it will be resolved. An apology for neglecting and/or overlooking, on purpose, an issue which is a major part of the organization’s mission statement, and then trying to sweep it under the rug, says a lot about true intentions.

Moving on to better things. It’s now week 8 of strength training with Louis and I definitely feel some significant gains in the weights room. I don’t claim to have tons of experience in the gym, but I have my fair share of experience with strength training programs. Everyone has a different objective going into the gym. For me it’s gaining specific power and strength to allow me to produce more force on the pedals off the blocks and continuously put power into the pedals through my pedal stroke. Understanding the speed of movement involved is key and Louis has definitely demonstrated that with the specificity of his program. We’ll see what comes out of our strength test tomorrow and a follow-up wingate from the start of the year. I have to do without a power meter for now, but going by feel, I’m confident that I’m putting out a lot more watts during ergo sessions on the turbo trainer. Definitely looking forward to the next few weeks