My No.10 Triathlon

On October 2nd 2016, a hot autumn day in Taitung, southeastern Taiwan, I completed my 10th triathlon. It was also my 10-year triathlon anniversary , so it really meant something to me. I trained hard for three months to try to get a better ranking. However, the outcome was not satisfactory because I didn’t make it to the podium for only 8 seconds behind the leading contestant of my age group. Finally I finished in 7th place of M45 but I felt happy that my wife and my sons were all there supporting me as usual. It was an unforgettable memory and I was so proud of myself, just like 10 years ago when I finished my first TRI.

C3-Never Give Up

When you see the topic, some of you might think: Oh come on! Everybody knows it. Never give up. It’s a cliché. Yes, it is. But how many people can persist in their goals and dreams? Sometimes we give up before we even start and other times we give up just before we are about to make that huge break-through that we have been putting so much effort in to achieve. It really makes you feel discouraged.
From my experience, there are some tips I‘d like to share with you. I hope you will find it before you give up.

1. Stay Alive.
The only valid excuse you have to give up is if you are dead. I once thought about committing suicide when I got depression in my early 20s. Fortunately I didn’t do it. As long as you are alive and healthy, you have the choice to keep trying.

2. Be Realistic
The chance of mastering something the first time you do it is almost non-existent. Everything takes time to learn and you will make mistakes. Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player of all time. He attributes his success to all his failure. He just never gave up when he knew he had missed over 300 shots and had missed the winning shot of the game many times.

3. Lower Your Expectations
The secret of happiness may be to not expect too much from life.
For if you start off with low expectations you could end up pleasantly surprised, according to a scientific study into human happiness. British scientists found that day-to-day well-being does that reflect how well things are going, but whether things are going better than expected.

4. Write out goals in detail
The act of simply writing down goals sets the process in motion and provokes emotion, which is an essential key to activating a new belief system—so you need to be very specific. Instead of writing, “A new home,” write, “I am enjoying a 5,000-sq ft home on three acres of lakefront property with vaulted ceilings, five bedrooms, three baths and a private boat dock.” The more detailed information you include the more you can associate yourself into the probability of the outcome.

5. A balanced lifestyle
Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. To live a balanced life , My suggestion is: Physically, you could get sufficient exercise, get sufficient rest, eat healthier, pick a hobby that you enjoy. Mentally, you could plan out your day and set goals, find out and develop your talents, keep a diary, and read. Spiritually, you could pray, meditate, or seek religious belief.

Never give up is not only a slogan but also an action. When you are stuck in a dip, you have to stay calm and keep moving. Believe in yourself, and think positively that you will survive and succeed. Now let’s stand up and say to yourself as loud as you can, “Never Give Up! Never Give Up!”

C2-My First Triathlon

Triathlon? All you do is swim, bike and run?

Did you make a bet with a buddy that you could do a triathlon?

Are you looking for personal challenge?

All you ever do is work out, don’t you have a life?

Are you having a mid-life crisis?

When it comes to triathlon, you might hear some of those common questions.

A standard triathlon consists of three disciplines: a swim, bike and run in that order, with quick transitions for equipment changes between each leg. Typically, the swim leg is done in open water such as a lake or protected part of a ocean. The bike and run legs are done on the road, but there can be variations. Maybe I will talk about it in the future speeches.

Back to 10 years ago, when I walked upstairs in MRT station I suddenly felt I could barely breathe. That warned me there is something wrong with my health condition. Afterwards, I started swimming and went to the gym regularly. As to my first triathlon, I really don’t know what specifically sparked the idea. One day I just searched the web for something challenging and a triathlon game popped up. Then I signed up for it on the last day of registration and I didn’t even have a bike yet, not to mention ride 40 kilometers.

As the proverb goes, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. I registered. There is no way out now. Short of injury or world disaster, it was going to happen. Less than two months later, I would become a triathlete.

One coworker lent me a road bike, so I could start my bike training. But I hate running, especially in the summer. To complete a triathlon, I cannot but start to run. With race day approaching fast, I was convinced that I couldn’t possible complete this event. One day before the race, I drove to Taitung City with my parents, my wife, my son and my coworker’s bike. My son was only 8 months old. I was happy they came with me. Because of their encouragement, my fears dissipated, and I once again became excited over the challenge in front of me. I was so excited that I had a tossing and turning night.

Finally, the race day was coming. I woke up in the early morning before sunrise. When we arrived at the venue under Chunghwa Bridge, it was crowded with people. After setting up my transition area, I did some warm up and stretch. When the start horn sounded, we jumped into the water by age group one after another with 3 minutes gap. It was quite chaotic in the beginning. I got some hit by participants’ strokes and kicks. But a couple of minutes into swim, I started to enjoy the view under the clear water. Then I realized that I swam to the edge of the lake. So I tried breaststroke to back to the course and kept doing it till the end of swim course.

The first transition went smoothly. But the ride was a blast. There were rolling hills and flats. After reaching the turn-around, the wind direction changed, and I needed to ride against the wind. I pedaled so hard that I got cramp in my legs. As I hobbled into the second transition, my legs did feel like bricks. Actually, they felt like bricks throughout the entire run. Here was the true challenge of the race for me. I never got my legs back. I struggled with the whole 10 kilometers. Just when I would feel like I couldn’t take another step, somehow, the scene of my family waiting at the finish line urged me on.

When I crossed the finish line I was almost sobbing. 3 hours 35 minutes and 20 seconds. Hardly an impressive time by any standard, but I finished before the time limit(3 hours and 40 minutes).

In all, the whole experience was excellent, and I couldn’t be happier with how it went. From training to preparation to running the race, it was fun, interesting, challenging and exhausting. And this time I didn’t give up.

 

C1-The secret of joy is the mastery of pain

Cicadas were chirping on the trees and music sound was echoing around the classroom.

It was a typical day of high school life on Saturday morning when I felt a severe pain in my right chest. It was so painful that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I asked for a leave. When I came home, my mom tried to persuade me that it is a necessary process of growing up. She told me don’t worry just have some sleep. The next morning when I woke up I still feel painful. My mom took me to the nearby clinic to take an X-ray. After doctor checked the photo, he told me that my right lung collapses and need to go to the hospital emergency immediately. As soon as we got in a taxi, I was thinking maybe I am going to die.

In the emergency room, I was diagnosed as Spontaneous Pneumothorax. After chest tube drainage was operated, doctor said I have 80 percent chance to recover by myself. Afterwards, I still stayed in the hospital for almost two months. During hospitalization, sisters and brothers from church came to visit me. They prayed for me and sang hymns to praise the Lord for anything I encountered. At that moment, I was a faithful Christian and leader of the youth fellowship. I thought maybe I would be a priest in the future. Day after days, my condition did not get better, even worse, so the Doctor decided to perform lung surgery. Fortunately, the surgery was successful. When the day I was about to leave hospital, doctor reminded me don’t do any high intensity exercise. Soon after coming home, I cannot help but go swimming.

Everything seemed to get back to normal. I graduated from high school and took the College Entrance Exam. Later I got admission to National Taiwan Ocean University, which is not my ideal school. So I didn’t complete my first school year. After that, I got depressed and stayed depressed for over a year, both physically and mentally. For over a year, every single day was a battle with myself. For over a year, every single day was heavy and pointless. I lived like a zombie. I just completely shut down and slept all day to escape reality. Then, church fellows encouraged me to come back and to study in the church to prepare College Entrance Exam again. Later I got admission to Tamkang University night school and majored in Computer Science and Information Engineering. In the daytime, I worked in the church. However, in similar conditions, I didn’t finish my second school year and dropped out of school. Because of lung surgery, I don’t have to fulfill my military service. This time, I decided to go to work.

Until now, you may see I am a man who is easy to give up. Every day I talked to myself I was not supposed to be this kind of person. I prayed the Load to brace me up. I didn’t want to screw everything up again. I felt nobody loved me. I was alone. This was probably the darkest valley of my life. I don’t understand why God treated me like this. Gradually, I kept away from Him and did not go to church anymore.

Perhaps work could be a way to learn new things and keep me busy. I went on business trips to meet different people and travel different countries. A variety of life experiences made me temporarily forget about unpleasant memories. My life seemed to get back on track. Getting married was definitely a milestone for a miserable single man. Having two healthy sons was blessings from above. That means I need to work harder to support my family. As a software system analyst, sometimes I had to stay up late to meet the due date. One day, when I walked upstairs in MRT station, I felt I can barely breathe. I knew there is something wrong with my health condition. And I knew there is something right needed to be done. Since then, I went to gym and exercised regularly.

10 year ago, I finished my first triathlon with pain and joy. How come can pain and joy coexist? Actually, first comes pain, then comes joy. Triathlons are challenging and soon I realized that the feeling of finishing a race is the best feeling in the world. Somehow I was totally hooked by the painful game. Therefore, I joined cycling clubs and triathlon clubs. In order to participate in races at different locations, I almost traveled around Taiwan. 6 years ago, I started to run marathon, which is another suffering sport. With all the preparation I did is just for the IRONMAN, which includes 3.8k swim, 180k bike and 42.2k run with a sum total of 226k. But it really takes a lot of time on training, I think I should better not to do it until my youngest son entering into elementary school.

The bible verses from Psalm 23:4 says “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” People tend to care what they lost, but they don’t cherish what they have got. In the midst of my life journey, I think I have to take more action and stop complaining. After all, no pains, no gains!

重返健康-基隆河右岸夜跑有感

超過一個月沒在河濱跑步了，只能靠騎車及游泳維持心肺能力；起因是10月中的一場籃球鬥牛賽，打了近三個小時，我這人就是不服輸，拼命搶籃板，難免有衝撞。隔天起床時發現右胸異常疼痛，因為高中時曾氣胸開刀過，當下不敢確定是否氣胸復發？早上仍騎車上班，再隔一天早上騎車上班甚至還破了PB，是迴光返照嘛。

前兩個星期是最痛的，連跑步都會痛，所以不敢跑步，無奈九月底開始練跑的我正準備重回馬場，只好放棄其間一場21K路跑比賽。游泳其實也會痛，只好把泳訓次數減少，好不容易夏天練起來的肌力技術及水感，又要退回去了。

正所謂計劃趕不上變化，一場不應該打的球，我卻莫名其妙地去參與，連左腳踝也扭傷。以後再也不幹這種傻事了！

晚上在河濱奔馳著，心理感覺很踏實也很欣慰，籃球不適合現在的我，可以跑步真棒。

我的第一支GPS WATCH – TomTom Runner

想了很久，正好有個團購機會，敗了這支TOMTOM RUNNER GPS WATCH，訂價4900元。主要是希望除了跑河濱之外，在跑山路或山徑時，能夠掌握跑步的距離，這時就非得要GPS手錶才能辦的到，要不就是要戴著SMART PHONE，但我嫌它重。

這款錶戴起來還滿輕的，而且衛星定位的速度也很快。

早上第一次戴著它試跑了20K河濱，雖然是多雲的天氣，定位上沒有太大問題，仍然很快，實際跑起來測的距離也滿準的，其中經過幾個橋樑，誤差不會太大。之後跑山路再來回報其使用心得。

2014跑馬季前添購的路跑鞋

星期天下午和波哥去秀朗國小游完泳後，到頂溪捷運站永和路上逛逛運動運品店，最後在北泰買了兩雙路跑鞋及一雙襪子，加上昨天在萬岳買的三雙襪子，共四雙襪子，都是跑步專用的，總共花了五千多塊，只要持續跑馬拉松，每年這些錢都省不掉。

Adidas Boston 4 主要是拿來做路跑訓練鞋用，原先的Mizuno Wave Aero 11底已經磨得差不多了，腳大姆指處也破了洞，而Aero 12可選擇的尺寸已不多，最後就挑了Boston 4，特價2200元，它的馬牌輪胎底，希望能讓我跑山路時耐磨一點；另一雙Mizuno Wave Spacer Dyna準備拿來跟Minuno Spacer AR4交替穿，主要是用來比賽及速度訓練時穿，希望九月之後慢慢恢復中長跑訓練，夏天跑步實在少得可憐。

PS. 8/30穿Boston 4晨跑15K，當天早上是多雲天氣，可是跑過10K之後，整雙鞋只能用積滿水來形容，排水性不算很好，以訓練鞋來說還有改善空間，之前夜跑兩次各10K並沒有感覺排水性差，果然距離一拉長馬上見分曉，這部分Wave Aero要好一點；隔天早上一樣是多雲時晴，穿Wave Spacer測試15K，輕巧度及排水性就好很多，當然兩雙鞋不能一起比，看來我已被路跑鞋養壞了。

Adidas Boston 4

Mizuno Wave Spacer Dyna

Nike Elite Hyper Lite Quarter

2014環東北角追風挑戰賽

環東北角追風挑戰賽，全程67.2公里／總爬升820公尺，星期天一大早不到四點起床，先去接小朱後，約六點左右抵達瑞芳國中，這次單車社共有八人報名，大夥在主舞台拍照後，約七點十分左右出發。

一開始在市區只能慢慢龜，過隧道後的下坡接台2濱海線後，開始像子彈噴發，全速前進。

延途小朱和我輪車，後面也跟了不少人，濱海線上上下下，也不是很好騎，接台2丙之後，靠一個長坡加速才把後面的人甩開。我們在雙溪上林國小附近的第二補給站休息補水吃香蕉，不過我和小朱都覺得這水有點怪味。然後開始爬長坡上平雙隧道，下坡後接106縣道往五分山方向繼續爬坡，這段坡在前面狂抽猛送之後，雖然不是很陡，還是稍微吃力一點，抵達坡頂的第三補給站時，吃了一截香蕉，開始連續12K下坡一直到終點。

最終以2小時27分完賽，總排名在32名左右，此挑戰賽主要是當做高強度訓練用，爬坡能力仍有不足，接下來仍是加強重點。

澳門三天二夜自由行規劃(Macau Itinerary)

明天將飛往澳門玩三天，初步規劃行程如下，好像都在吃，還好早上安排先在飯店游泳，不然回來肯定胖幾公斤；這次去澳門只換港幣，到時再帶些台幣或美金，我想應該就夠了。

這次機加酒是透過EZTravel訂的，再加上水舞間及澳門旅遊塔門票，其實沒有便宜多少，服務也沒有特別好，要不是跟同事湊團，我想我會比較喜歡自己訂機票或酒店，不過對於不會自己透過網路去訂機票加酒店或怕麻煩的人，也是有其方便性的，就看你的需求吧。

在網路上爬文後發現船屋葡國餐廳很熱門，已打國際電話事先訂位，由於老闆是葡萄牙人，怕中文不通，所以我打去是講英文，結果當我講完這星期五預訂二人(I would like to reserve a table for two this Friday.)時，她竟然回我：幾點？(外國腔)，害我愣住，表示中文應該也能通的，不過我還是用英文回她晚上七點，然後她再用英文Repeat一遍，不用一分鐘就搞定囉。若怕麻煩，也可以到酒店時請櫃檯服務人員幫忙代訂。

DAY1: 11:50抵達澳門國際機場–>金沙城酒店(SHERATON MACAU)放行李–>氹仔(官也街)–>新好利咖啡餅店–>水舞間取票–>逛逛威尼斯人–>飯店CHECK IN–>20:00水舞間

DAY2: 游泳–>勝利茶餐室(澳門新馬路營地大街94號)(早餐)–>新馬路–>議事亭前地–>玫瑰堂–>西灣安記(豬扒包)–>咖哩榮–>恆友魚蛋–>檸檬車露–>大聲公涼茶–>大三巴牌坊–>大砲台–>陳光記飯店(黑椒鴨或黑椒鵝與火肉)(Option)–>瑪嘉烈蛋塔(Option)–>澳門旅遊塔–>媽閣廟–>船屋葡國餐廳(A Lorcha)(853-2831-3195)19:00 菜單: Sangria(88 MOP) 葡式炒蜆 葡式海鮮燴飯(138 MOP) 葡國雞(128 MOP)–>回飯店

DAY3: 游泳–>飯店Buffet早餐–>路環–>安德魯餅店蛋塔–>聖方濟各教堂–>飯店CHECK OUT–>小飛象葡國餐(氹仔地堡街喜來登廣場地下A舖)或官也街吃小吃–>逛威尼斯人或官也街買手信–>取行李前往機場–>21:00返回桃園國際機場

實際行程及花費等回來後再整理給大家參考!

2014北濱100挑戰賽 (North Coast 100 Cycling Challenge)

6月8日的前一天還下著大雨，心想不妙，早上雨勢雖然稍止，其間還是一陣一陣的下，還好天公作美，開車到淡水時已沒什麼雨，這場挑戰賽是跟公司單車社一起報名參加，所以五月份幾乎都在練車，很少跑步。

反而是前一天參加女王公司活動，我順道跑了一趟劍南路來回。

等大夥集結完成拍完照後，七點多出發，由於路面積水，卡鞋還是濕透了，很不舒服，不過也多虧多雲的天氣，氣溫不熱，還滿適合運動的，去程就跟小朱順順的輪車，從萬里上香員林這段爬坡，被小朱放了一段，在第三個補給站會合後，回程我只能跟到過白沙灣的上坡就被海放了，因為右大腿快抽筋，只好放慢速度，一直到淺水灣才漸漸恢復速度。

最終100K以3小時42分完成，騎乘時間3小時30分，平均時速約28km/hr，中間休息兩個補給站，及上一次小號。

EZFun辦的活動很專業，下次還會參加。給自己的表現打70分，下次均速希望能拉高到30km/hr。