2015

It's been an interesting year so far,

2014
In November/December 2014, I read a book and worked on habits. Became a lot more productive and contented with life as it is.

2015
Jan - Febuary
Went back to KL in Feb for about a week before returning to KCH for CNY.
Replaced my classes and self-extended my CNY holidays.

March
Returned to KL, some old habits relapsed and I'm not proud of any of it. Starting from scratch now.
Cousin came over and we both made uni visits. He decided on doing Cambridge A-Levels in TARUC.

Kuching

My finals ended on 26th August. I changed my mind and went back to my hometown the day after.

Been in Kuching for almost 2 weeks now. The first week was not productive to say the least. I was not familiar with my other commitments such as driving my sister to tuition and such which led to not planning the day; wasting a lot of time.

The 'box' was tempting with our low internet speed (compared to KL). Managed that by recording shows I wanted to watch.

Had a conversation  with a friend about watching news channels such as CNBC, CNN etc. . It seems to be a productive activity since we all can justify its benefits and how society urges us to ' keep up to date ', however it still depends heavily on what the current goal is.

I find there to be more isolated facts rather than concepts to be learnt. That should be a sign.

Perspective

"Overall, the mean household income in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau 2004 Economic Survey, was $60,528, or $17,210 (39.73%) higher than the median household income."

After 30 years of work, one's net worth would be somewhere about 1.8 million USD. 

There are about 49,000 people in the US who are net 50-500 million USD. 

Some want more, some want less.


What's your number?


"Being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What's the point of being realistic? I'm gonna do it it's done, its already done, as soon as I decide it's done it's already done now we just gotta wait for y'all to see." 
~Will Smith

My first 10 miles!

Woke up at 6 am, and went down to run. I only planned to run 11 laps around the condo. My record before this run, 2 days ago, was 10 laps which is about 4.2 miles. A week before, my record was 5 laps.

Based on previous records using RunKeeper, I calculated 1 lap is about .422 miles which now seems to me that this is not accurate because the miles per lap decreases as my laps progress.

When I started running today, I felt a slight discomfort in my stomach; an about to cramp sensation. I just focussed on my posture and the discomfort seemed to get better as the lap progressed.

The first few laps were always the hardest. I like to think that my body is adjusting to the stress which it is not accustomed to yet and that the first 5 laps were warm ups to "get the flow".

I could not have felt better after my 10 lap (broke my PR here). The small aches from previous laps did not seem to bother me at all and I was not catching my breath. The aches did eventually return. So I thought, wouldn't it be good to break a friend's record of 14km today. I took out my phone and calculated the number of additional laps that I'd have to run to reach 14km. 
It turned out to be 22 laps with the assumption of .4 miles per lap and 1.6km per mile.

I would not deny that during the laps, the thought of giving up was seductive. My feet were aching, abdominal pain was still an issue ( though minor) and my thighs were bruised. Despite that, I kept going for the next lap.

At the 18th lap, I came to realise that 25 laps would mean 10 miles. That's just 3 laps shy of the current 22 lap goal!

Here are my reasons of doing 10 miles:
1. It's a double digit mile
2. I've already ran this far
3. I've already ran for so long ( over an hour and still counting )
4. I FREAKING THOUGHT 10 MILES WAS 21KM!

5. I have no intentions of breaking my friends record (8.75 miles) only to have it broken the next day.

I finished the 25 lap and was about to stop. Took out my phone and it was 9.2 miles; 2 laps away from 10 miles.

I persisted another 2 laps.

So today is my first time doing 10 miles, 27 laps, and I've never ran this distance before. I never expected I would be able to run north of 2 hours. I broke my friend's record (in one week) and now it is his turn to break mine.

Today is definitely a breakthrough. 

I hope to do this again next week. Persisting another 3.2 miles to complete 13.1miles/21km.

I'm sitting at a coffee shop having breakfast whilst writing this. 3 glasses of cold tea, 1 cup of coffee and a bowl of noodles in soup.

Now I feel like a water tank.

New Shoes and PR

Bought my running shoes this Monday. It's a Sketchers Go Ultra. Ran 3.3 miles on that day itself.

The next day, I ran 4.2 miles with an average of 10m30s/ mile. That's my PR so far.

Tomorrow I'll again break my distance record without sacrificing speed. Looking forward to it.

Ping

Text structure and Running Mistakes

Woke up on time at 0600 today. Took out the trash and went for a jog. Did 5 laps which is about 1 mile folowing the advise from "How to Improve Your Running Form: The 5 Biggest Mistakes Beginning Marathoners Make" on youtube. It did help heaps. After the laps, I went for breakfast. Came back and watched some Jordan Belfort videos before reading.

Knowing the text structures really helped in reading. It helped me to get the big picture and even helped me to detect the writers insecurities by over elaboration and attacking the views of others.


Ping

Marathon

I'm training for my first marathon. It will be in November. Woke at 0640 today although alarm rang at 0600. Only ran half a mile because I have gym in the evening.

Update:

I did another 2 laps after breakfast.

Searched up different types of text structures and memorized them. Hopefully I'll be able to read faster with this. Studies went well today, did more than expected.

Gym went well, the jogs in the morning does not seem to affect on my workout.

Ping