Plain water

Can you believe I'm drinking plains water?

Wahaha...

After 100km Sundown Ultra Marathon yesterday in Singapore, I'm now traveling #VinTravel to the east with 5 hours flight journey.

It's just amazing.

Sundown 100km Ultra Marathon

I been thinking thinking deciding which wear which shoe how many shocks to change to wear during my 100km Sundown Ultra Marathon which going to start at 6:00pm today!

First it's the compression pant:

100km Sundown UltraMarathon 2011 #VinVirginUltra

3-digits marathon, 100km, my #VinVirginUltra, Sundown Ultra-marathon 2011, be it greeted by you or not, be it blessed by you or not, be it wished by you or not, I'm giving my best to complete it.

Somehow, somewhere, sometime, i feel i have boarded "Pirate of Caribbean ship" lead by Captain Jack Sparrow last year when i clicked "register" Sundown Ultra marathon 100km.  haha... Now is the battleship movement! No regret!

After 6 months since the "click", my running changed. I can run 9 hours without problems. A 42km marathon is just a mere fun running, where I can start running back after 1 day. The recovery is faster than I can imagine.

The fun of 100km will begin at 6.00pm on 25 June 2011, at Marina Bay Sand Roof. 

289 - Always HUAT Forever! haha...

A lot of factors which influenced me to board the Pirate of Caribbean ship! Among all of the factors, one have defeated my purpose of joining 100km Ultra. 

One is enough to kill me. 

One is enough to help me cruise through 100km. 

One factor can turn my ship over or help cruise smoothly. 

Im trying to stay afloat on the ship.

I'm trying very hard. 

I'm trying.  

I dont wish to sink into the deep sea.   

Don't ask me whether i'm will be back for Ultra 2012 or not. At least not now.

Im going to enjoy the fun aka mental & physical roller coaster coming Saturday evening starting from 6.00pm for 16 hours 

Yes, my battle on the pirate ship together with Captain Jack will be spending 16 hours! 

Battle field: Singapore 

Departure port: Marina Bay Sand Roof 

Ship route: Marina bay to Bedok and return

Good luck & All the best. 

Last training for Sundown Ultra-marathon 2011

It's less than 1 week! It's our Ultra-man test ! It's Sundown Ultra-marathon 2011 100km !

This weekend were the last LSD... we were tapering down... Sat 20km and today also 20km.

Sifu Terrence accompany with Mohan Marathon was giving last tips regards our Ultra-marathon on Saturday. 

A very important last piece of advises from Sifu...! 

Thank you Mohan for coming all the way from Singapore to run with us. 

You're such a very good motivator! 

Ultra-buddies running up the hill towards Bukit Tunku. It's such a disappointment on how DBKL maintain the road lamps along the road! 

We been training in the dark on this part of road for months, wait, for years! 

Shame on DBKL, who failed to maintain road lamp in the heart of City of Kuala Lumpur! 

Running with Mohan, your mind are automatically sync with his strong mental ! He was encouraging Karen who is also going to do his 42km KL marathon! I can feel Mohan encouragement too! 

Btw, psst, psst...Want to learn How to cheer up when you're running? 

It's teach by Mohan grand-sifu! Just go watch what's I'm doing inside the video, and you go test it out yourself! hehe... 

Tell me after u have tried it! 

The Timex Tap Tap (Orange color) ! Very interesting watch! haha... 

But on upper side, the big brother of Timex orange, it's awesome! 

All the best to my running friends in Standard Chartered KL Marathon which ending the same time with my Sundown Ultra-marathon in Singapore if you're finishing in 5 hours 30mins. 

:) 

Lastly my greeting to all! 

All the best & Good luck in your Virgin Ultra marathon and marathon! 

Yes, Sundown Ultra is my Virgin Ultra marathon! 

Royal Selangor, Royal Selangor again & again!

Remember my previous post on Royal Selangor on 5th June 2011 ?  Today i was with the same gang plus one new friend were here. I can't believe that one of my friend have been visiting the cafe here on weekend for almost every week ! Saturday & Sunday never fails to turn up here!

Glad that I managed to introduce Royal Selangor Pewter to him, yet he is KL local boy who never ever thought of visiting Royal Selangor. But its was me who the non-KL boy introduce to them! haha...

A simple and enjoyable breakfast on sunny Saturday morning! A good retreat for my #VinMentalBreakdown ! 

This is tea pot used ! It's a real pewter ! Im enjoy pouring the tea out from the pot! 

This pot used for coffee! Very nice! 

Before we were leaving, one of my friend actually inquired about the plate! He is going to get the pewter plate for his new house! haha... 

He gives us a wild idea on how he going to use the pewter plates by utilizing the nature of pewter! We really enjoy his idea and had a good laugh!  

Namewee want to meet PM Malaysia - Part 2

Namewee! Namewee! You keep saying want to meet PM Malaysia Najib Razak yet PM are so busy and have to wait until PM ada masa to meet you.

Instead of waiting, 为什么不直接去找首相呢？？？

请看看下 面。。。！




我知你很活跃在facebook, 但是， 你却不知这 Young Corporate Malaysians - An evening with the Prime Minister - Najib Razak... 的活动。。。

这是你美好的机会去见首相阿。。。！

Click 以下的link啊！！！ 

YCM's Evening with the Prime Minister of Malaysia

Sundown Ultra Marathon 100km - Carbo Loading

Deng Deng Deng! Pre-race Ultra-man certification dinner ! Carbo Loading...

Location: Singapore
Location: Singapore

Ultra-man wanna be at :  Singapore.

Chia Seed - 2nd batch

Jeng Jeng Jeng... Since i having this Chia seed on 20 May 2011, Im been doing well for my running. My weight also keep reducing. hehe...

My 375g pack is going to finish soon, as im consume a small tea spoon everyday. My supplier going to get his second batch of Chia seed stock this week! 1KG pack is coming to my way as im sharing with my friend.

hehe...

Loving Chia seed everyday! 

Nyek-Nyek 

Running Lab Malaysia

I always get questions from my twitter friends or other friends asking: What shoe is the best shoe for running? I try my best to explain to them and sometimes, i hope they know what's Im talking to them.

Now with the 'coming soon" Running Lab, there's a professional expert who can introduce "best shoe" for running!

Feel excited over the new opening of Running Lab in Malaysi!
Looking forward to 1st visit on July 2011 !

For more info, please click http://www.runninglab.com

Story behind making of iPad - True?

After watching the youtube video below, would you still using your iPad?

For every iPad sold, Apple is earning at least 40% net profit.



Women works like men.
Men works like machine.   Quote in the video.

It's 15 days left to be Ultra-man certified !

It's 15 days remaining for me to go through the Ultra-man certification test 100km in Singapore. 

The 42km Sundown marathon warms up race was over 16 days ago. 

Countdown to 100km Sundown Ultra-marathon in 15 days. 

From Sam Chong's Photos in facebook. 

This Ultra-man wanna will be bearing G0289. 

0289 ! HUAT ah! 

Ultra-man! 

Time to Rest for UltraMarathon 100km on 25 June 2011?

An Article from RunnerWorld website. Is I'm over training for my Ultra-marathon 100km Sundown Ultra-marathon 100km for coming 25 June 2011? Let's me go through all the symbol / signals !   

Time to Rest?

Pay attention to 10 body indicators to gauge when to run and when to back off.By Jayme OttoImage by Saverio TrugliaFrom the June 2011 issue of Runner's World After disappointing performances in a couple of key tune-up races last fall, a depleted Ryan Hall made the hard decision to withdraw from the Chicago Marathon. Too many grinding 15-mile tempo runs at a five-minute-per-mile pace at 7,000 feet with too little rest afterward had finally caught up with him. "I love to push my body," he says. "Recovery is the hardest part of training for me."

Problem is, if you don't take time for proper R&R, your body won't adapt to the stress of your training—you won't get stronger or faster, explains Stacy Sims, Ph.D., at the Stanford Prevention-Research Center, School of Medicine. Neglect recovery for too long, and you will start to lose strength and speed. You'll sink into the black hole known as overtraining.

First, your sleep patterns and energy levels will feel the effects. Eventually, your immune system crashes, and you lose your appetite. It's like burning out your engine. And you don't have to be logging 100-mile weeks to suffer. Recreational runners can overtrain, too. "With deadlines, chores, bills, kids, and lack of sleep, it's more challenging to recover properly from your runs," says Sims.


So in preparation for the 2011 Boston Marathon, Hall used an online recovery-tracking program called Restwise, which looks at simple biological markers input by the athlete first thing each morning, calculates a daily recovery score from 1 to 100, then trends it over time. (Rest-wise subscriptions start at $119 for six months; go to restwise.com.)

Pay attention to the following 10 markers. If three or more of these indicators raise a red flag, you should consider a few easy sessions or off days so you can return to running strong (see box, right). Says Hall, "Now I'm learning to love to rest."

1 BODY MASS: You lost weight from yesterday
A two percent drop in weight from one day to the next indicates a body-fluid fluctuation. Most likely, you didn't hydrate enough during or after your last workout. Dehydration negatively impacts both physical and mental performance, and could compromise the quality of your next workout.


My condition: Yes, my weight is reduced from maximum 78kg in April to 70kg now. If you want to know how i can reduce weight tweet me with : #askVinAnn ! Currently my body weight floating around 69.5kg (when hungry) to 71kg (when im had my big meal). 


**1 red flag flagged ! 


2 RESTING HEART RATE: Your resting heart rate is elevated
Take your pulse each morning before you get out of bed to find what's normal for you. An elevated resting heart rate is one sign of stress. It means your nervous system prepared for fight or flight by releasing hormones that sped up your heart to move more oxygen to the muscles and brain. Your body won't know the difference between physical and psychological stress. A hard run and a hard day at work both require extra recovery.


My condition: Ah, this heart rate thing, i never ever able to understand and measure it. No comment. 

3 SLEEP: You didn't sleep well or enough
A pattern of consistently good sleep will give you a boost of growth hormones, which are great for rebuilding muscle fibers. Several nights in a row of bad sleep will decrease reaction time along with immune, motor, and cognitive functions—not a good combination for a workout.


My condition: Sleep is Good! 

4 HYDRATION: Your pee is dark yellow
This can be an indicator of dehydration, barring the consumption of vitamins, supplements, or certain foods the evening before. The darker the color, the more you're struggling to retain fluids, because there's not enough to go around. You need H2O to operate (and recover).


My condition: I drinks about 1.1 liter of water for 1st half of the morning if im not running in the morning. My pee color is always in the clear situation. 


5 ENERGY LEVEL: You're run down
If your energy level is low, there's something amiss. The key is honesty. Athletes can block out signs of fatigue to push through it, thinking it will make them stronger. It won't always work that way.


My condition: Energy level ? I must admit, since last week 1st June 2011, my energy level at my full potential. I ran faster than what im used to be.  

6 MOOD STATE: You're cranky
When your body is overwhelmed by training (or other stressors), it produces hormones like cortisol that can cause irritability or anxiety. Stress also halts chemicals like dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that has a big bummer effect on mood when depleted. Crankiness probably means not enough recovery.


My condition:Mood? stress from work is the only thing i can thinks of. But it's at manageable level. 

7 WELLNESS: You're sick
Any illness, or even a woman's menstrual cycle, will increase your need for energy to refuel your immune system, which is having to work overtime. This means fewer resources available for recovering from training.


My condition: I feel GOOD. 


8 PAIN: You're sore or nursing an injury
Whether you're sore from overworked muscles or an injury, your body needs more energy to put toward repair, lengthening total recovery time.


My condition: My upper body are sore. Was doing TRX workout and it's really push my uppper body muscles!  But my leg's muscles are GOOD! 

9 PERFORMANCE: Your workout went poorly
This is a subjective measure of workout quality, not quantity nor intensity. If you felt great on yesterday's run, you'd evaluate that as good. If you felt sluggish on that same run, you'd count it as poor. Trending workout quality—multiple poors in a row—is one of the easiest ways to identify the need for more recovery.


My condition: On Tuesday, 7 June, when i were running double hill route with my running gang, good form, good mode, and good companion, good encouragement, I managed to run 1:04:54 for double hills! Yay! 

10 OXYGEN SATURATION: Your oxygen level has dipped
The amount of oxygen in the hemoglobin of the red blood cells can be measured by placing your fingertip in a portable pulse oximeter, a gadget available online for about $40. The higher the percentage, the better: Above 95 percent is the norm at sea level or for an athlete who is fully acclimated to a given altitude. This is a new area in recovery science, requiring more research, but there may be a link between low oxygen saturation and the need for more recovery.


My condition: Not measurable.  


Count Your Red Flags
The restwise algorithm assigns more weight to some markers (e.g., performance) than others (e.g., mood), along with other factors to generate a precise recovery score. But you can get a sense for your ballpark recovery quality by tallying the red flags (left) you average per day in a week.

0-1 GREEN LIGHT
You are clear to train hard.

2-4 CAUTION
You can go ahead with a hard workout if your training plan calls for it, but cut it short if it feels too hard. Better yet, take an easy day, or a day off.

5-6 WARNING
You're entering the danger zone, which could be intentional according to your periodization or peaking protocol. If not, back off.


7-10 DANGER
You require mandatory time off, ranging from a day to a week, depending on the severity of your fatigue and what you've seen over the previous few days and weeks. You may need to visit your doctor.


FEEL Better: Too much rest has its own problems: Your performance stalls. On your recovery days, do something active; go for a bike ride, walk, or do yoga.


MUSCLES NEED 48 HOURS TO RECOVER AFTER AN INTENSE RUN. DURING THIS TIME, CELLS ARE REPROGRAMMED TO BE STRONGER.


Conclusion: I still can train hard? Er... I thinks, it's enough. Coming weekend would be 30km and 30km back to back. 
Im ready for Sundown Ultra-marathon 100km 2011 ! 

Sundown Marathon 2011 - Race Day 28 May 2011

On 28 May 2011, Saturday afternoon 1.30pm, i board Air Asia flying to Singapore.

Wearing 2010 Sundown Marathon Finisher T... On my way to renew my Sundown finisher-T to latest version! :) 

Finally i got my 2011 version of Sundown Marathon 42km finisher T. Sleep can wait ! 

:) 

Details race report, hope that i got time to write. ! Im been busy running and running, running and running for my coming 100km Sundown Ultra marathon 2011 on 25 June 2011. 

:) 

Countdown 20 days to my 1st virgin 100km Ultra marathon. 

Nervous... nervous... nervous... 

But i know, Im well prepared. 

Postcrossing - Royal Selangor Postcards

Jeng Jeng Jeng, finally after I'm actives for 452 days in postcrossing, I finally want to declare that I'm been fall in love with Royal Selangor postcards as below!

 I sent various type of postcards and various and many more postcard, which you can view on my postcrossing wall and I love Royal Selangor postcards :)

 Starting from the least favourite, and the last postcard is the last postcard i ever wanted to send out! Im love the design and art of Royal Selangor!

Pewter !  

Duit ah ! Duit kijang ! 

Pewter tea pot which also the important simbol for Royal Selangor's history.  

Another tea post on the postcard! <3 <3 <3 

History of Royal Selangor are foundation of what Royal Selangor stand now! 

Never ever forget the foundation of the company and Royal Selangor really did it and maintain it well. 

On last weekend, I finally, finally, together with my LYN friends, I proposed Royal Selangor's cafe as our second round yam cha session! It's turn out to be pleasure for all of us! 

We enjoyed our session and there's a leather lazy seat for you! 

Ah, the next table ordered tea, which using the actual pewter tea pot ! next time must try it! 

Finally, the cafe. 

Finally, finally, managed to get this photo from my blog entry dated 15 March 2010. As you can see, the watermark is vinann.blogspot.com :) 

P/S: I lost all my old photos on my old hardisk. :( 

辣死你媽! Nasi Lemak 2.0 by namewee

Remember this video clip below?

Malaysian Must see!!! Namewee 1Malaysia story 黃明志要見首相!

Because of this, now namewee come out with new facebook fan page! It's called 辣死你媽! Nasi Lemak 2.0

Faster go click "like" ! 30 minutes ago, it's already have 2,200 likes and now its 3,324 ! and its keep increasing!

We support you Namewee!