One Month To Go!

February’s almost over! It has been about four weeks since I started working out for the 20km event – advertised as “probably the toughest obstacle course event on the planet”, ack!

Monkey bars. I don’t think I'd succeed. But I’d still go through them and enjoy doing it! Then I’d also find out how many bars I could actually cross. There could also be a very strong possibility that I’d surprise myself or adrenaline rush would enable me to succeed! :-)

I increased my exercise from twice a week to 6 days a week, mainly weights training and swimming. My lunchbreaks were spent in the gym. I carried, pushed and pulled MUCH heavier weights. I pushed harder from the second week, which was when I realised I really needed to get my strength to the point where I could carry my own weight without support for at least 20 dips. I can now do 3 to 5, depending on how low I dip and how tired (or warmed up) my arms were.

I don’t like to run. I struggle to stay motivated past 5 minutes, and hit my “wall” immediately. I don’t like how it makes my knees feel. I went from being a die-hard athlete in primary and high school days to choosing running as a last option. I prefer to row, swim or bicycle instead. This could be an issue during the event as the guideline stated I should be able to run at least 14km. My possible partner had been warned, and he was encouraging (said we have 6 hours to finish and it will give him time to rest, hahahah, sweet!). I know I’d “stop-start-fast-walk” it, with the help of my natural perseverance. I did an 8km marathon (with only two 4km practice runs) in under 60 minutes last year. I figured I know I could endure 2.5 hours of running, plus the time it’d take us to finish 20-30 obstacles. Four hours tops of crazy tough fun! Bring it on! :-)

To improve my cardio, at least twice a week I swam  - 15 metres times 100 laps – more than a mile each session. I’ve never sweated so much while in water before! It was a challenge on the first week. But boring on the second week, so I timed myself to make it interesting - 10 laps in 3 minutes when doing freestyle and 3.5minutes when breast stroke. Now, I just swim for over 35 minutes without counting how many laps I did. I don't finish til after about 40 minutes to compensate for any stops/breaks/breathers during each session. And I just realised while writing this I should have swam for minimum 45 minutes, ack! :-)

I’m a water baby, but mostly self-taught. I’m more comfortable to swim like a mermaid (inspired by Ariel, the Little Mermaid). I’m not at ease with the “formal techniques”. I learned to freestyle etc from watching others and from a tourist who taught me how to dive, kick my feet and take a breath in between strokes like an Olympic swimmer. I was about 9 years old those times he saw me splashing in the pool when not in school or sleeping. The 30 minutes to one hour he spent to teach me became the foundation of my ability to swim now. He was also the motivation behind why I like to teach people of all ages how to swim/float. All I knew of him was that he was either American or European, and that he gave me his swim team jumper which said, “Biarritz” (French?). :-)

Anyway, I can’t (couldn’t) freestyle well without a snorkel (yes, I’ve been doing my laps with a snorkel on, dorky, hahahah ugh). I tried to swim with normal goggles on last week (third week) and I drowned during the first lap. I felt low and sad because swimming which used to be always fun for me became work/exercise/routine. I couldn’t stop between laps to do a somersault or swim around in circles pretending I was a bear or a seal (ehh…heh eheh), or a mermaid. Swimming was no longer “just for fun”.

However, I did love how I am still “soothed” while I exercised, coz water has a calming effect on me. My body/mind naturally feels happy when I’m in water so my mood stayed/became positive. Best of all, I felt myself improving! I felt stronger and this week, in both swim sessions, I could freestyle without using the snorkel’s mouthpiece to breathe!! YAY! I still needed the mask to stop my nose from inhaling water, but I didn’t drown. Woohoo! I might take lessons to fine tune my techniques, in the future. Excited to freestyle properly with proper goggles on. NICE!

…. The biggest change I noticed aside from feeling stronger, and that I always smelt a hint of chlorine on my skin, was that I was always hungry! I already ate like a man. Increased appetite meant nowadays I ate like a horse! I tried to eat healthier, but circumstances this month (and next month) increased my intake of cakes, sweets, pizzas, savouries, ice creams and other junk foods. Aaaaccckk! Eheheheh ugh! Lots of get togethers, meals and picnics also meant I drank several “occasional” wines and beers (1 to 3 maximum per outing, mostly only 1 serve).

I also put on about three to five kilos (66kg approx), but my body felt the same. I look like I weighed less. This is why I tell girls to not gauge their health by the number on the weighing scales. I was under 50kg last year after my trip. I did not feel nor look healthy. I did not feel beautiful. I like my body with meat. I love having a little pot belly to rub. :-)

My pants are not tighter (nor loose). I was told the extra kilos must be the muscles I’ve gained. I admit I thought I’d lose weight, even after all the excess eating and drinking I did. But only because I worked out so much! I see the benefit of being lighter, for this event. The less weight I have, the lighter the load I'd have to carry. So I better work on eating healthier, with less or no more of the indulgences at least until after March. It'd be hard, hahahah ugh!

I'm excited. I didn't do this for charity or any honourable cause. Only for fun with friends and for the personal challenge. We'd definitely finish the course. But I am very curious in what condition at the finish line!!!???! I also wondered why I'd willingly go through this tough event and also paid for the opportunity!!!??? :-)