Of IM and long road to recovery

Since I started doing the multisports, I have come to a conclusion that being an Ironman would be the pinnacle for one's personal goal. I made friends with many IM, some before they become IM, and some after, so much so that I want to be like them. Not because of the glamour or the the title "IM" that u can proudly place in front of your name, it is simply because of the question that I would like to answer it by myself. "Can I do it?" I JUST NEED to know this...and so the long journey begins.

End of Feb, went to Langkawi to witness the 2010 IM for 2 reasons;
1. To recce the venue
2. To soak up the whole experience

Suffice to say the event was nothing short of inspiring, and now, I also have a better sense and idea on the full distance IM. With that, my goal is getting much clearer, which shd translate into a better training plan. Needless to say, the plan looks very long and intensive. It better be.

However...(mesti nak kena ada however punya, drama...) I need to overcome the first obstacle right from the word go. To begin with, I'm injured (since Jan). Dr diagnosed me of having minor meniscus tear and MCL sprain on my left knee. Need to undergo Physio and few assesments. The next one is gonna be early May, which if it doesnt turn out right, the knee will be put under the knife.

So, my training is limited to swim and cycle, which is actually a blessing cos cycling is my worst decipline and cant say otherwise for swimming too. So this "time out" from doing 'weight bearing' activity has forced me to focus more time on swim/cycle which I think is bearing some fruits now. Now my ass on bike saddle have a higher pain threshold and my swim stroke is looking better than before.

I also started slow runs, but not without problems. The pain is still there but not as bad as before. The bigger issue now is the confidence level. For every step with my left foot, I'm always cautious, which resulted in putting more strain on my right. Not good, need to improve this.

Diet is also another area that I'm focussing. There is a certain weight range that I need to achieve to race effectively. Its always hard for endurance athlete to loose weight bcos u always need to have high level of input(food) to sustain the high level of work without affecting performance. So I'm targeting on 3 areas, the 1-Quality of food, 2-The compositon of food and 3-The Timing of intake. It is showing some result as I've lost abt 2 kg for the last 1.5 months without ever getting starved. Hope to shed few more kilos of fat.

In terms of knowledge, now I have a better understanding of the bike, with the help of Bandit, Stupe, Kam and others. I spent some time browsing the net reading bike articles as I'm also planning to upgrade my current bike to something that can do the job in Langkawi.

In summary, to do an IM is a big commitment. I'm hoping that I'd have the tenacity and strive to achieve my dream.

P.S: Eventhough the post date is Mar 7, I only post this on April 27.I drafted this post in early Mar but only now get to post it. Lazy...