Villages 'wiped out' as massive earthquake near Samoa sparks tsunami warning for South Pacific

Entire villages are feared to be wiped out after a powerful 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the South Pacific between Samoa and American Samoa today, sending terrified residents fleeing for higher ground as a tsunami swept ashore.
Early reports say that there have been an unknown number of fatalities.

The quake hit at 6:48 am local time (17:48 GMT) midway between the two island groups.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1217020/Villages-wiped-massive-earthquake-near-Samoa-sparks-tsunami-warning-South-Pacific.html#ixzz0SX85jUQz

Emma says: Less than one week after Typhoon Ondnoy swept through Manila another natural disaster has struck. I count myself very lucky to live where I do and my thoughts go out to those people in the South Pacific who have lost everything. Too often we place too much value on material things in life. For some time now I have adopted a much simpler way of life. I place no value or attachments on what I call 'unnecessary material shit'. So long as I have a roof over my head, food to eat and can ride my bike I am happy. It is just 3 simple things, but sadly even this simplicity is something that many people around the world do not have the pleasure or security of on a daily basis.

How to Help Ondoy Victims

If you have not heard of the tragic events accumulating from typhoon Ondoy in the Philippines I don't know what you have been up to. Over 90 people are dead and the number is rising and this morning displaced persons was at 1.5million!
My thoughts go out to the many friends I made last month in the Philippines...you guys have a special place in my heart and as such I hope you and your families are safe.
look forward to visiting you soon,
E.
If anyone wants to help and make a donation to the relief fund please click on the links below:
http://www.typhoonondoy.org and http://www.ondoyrelief.org

Camsur Interview

I finally had the courage to look at my interview form Camsur. It is not AS bad as I thought. So here it is!!
Thanks Peter :)
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Road ID

TSB asked me earlier today if I have one of these. I don't. But I do need one and it has been on my shopping list as I do ride alone these days. My idea to save some shipping and get everyone safely ID'd up is that we place a bulk order. Now of course this will take some organising.

If you want one I suggest you go to the site www.roadid.com fill out your details and then forward teh link to TSB on le.bigeasy@gmail.com The ID costs USD21.95 each.

He will compile a list of all the names and details and submit the order. Before the order is placed PLEASE ensure you PAY. You can do this by leaving the money at The Bike Boutique KL or directly to TSB or myself (EMMA :)

Cutoff date to submit details and payment Friday 16th October (2weeks from today).

If you submit details but TSB does not recieve payment your order will not go through!

Road ID's will be delivered to TBB KL.

A Pro Swimmer!!

This is Caroline Koll, aka Bean. One of the girls from teamTBB who has been keeping me on the straight and narrow here in Singapore. She is quite tall, but not as tall as the water level on her thigh indicates. We were in fact swimming in the kids 25metre pool and she still managed to do flip turns!! As for moi, I don't do flip turns. In fact I don't do much very well in the water but I do try my best. And I did manage to graze my knee a few times on the bottom!!

E & Bean go Underwear shopping

After meringue's and ice cream we decided to go underwear shopping. After making such a pig of myself over the weekend I was in need of some super duper granny sized undies!!

Over Indulge

Post my Saturday ride in the wet wet rain and after falling off George when I clipped a HUGE piece of metal blocking the pathway I was cold and VERY hungry. With an afternoon swim/bike session still to go I needed to fuel up...but perhaps I fueled up a little too much??? Yes?/No?
On the way back to the house I bumped into Bean who had got fed up of waiting for me to go to the pool. I forget what we were laughing about but after seeing these pictures I think it is pretty clear :)

Meringued!

Finally I am blogging. It is going to be short, but VERY sweet...and I mean that literally. I have not been traipsing round malls really can't be bothered with that. BUT if there is one thing I do love that you find in the malls it is Gourmet Shops. Love to cook, love to eat, also love to shop and drool over prettily packaged foods...particularly the sugary indulgent ones :)

Briefly popped into Paragon with Bliss last weekend and downstairs by the supermarket I found this Canelle counter selling chocolates, cakes...basically ALL things gorgeous and good for you...NOT. A kid in a premium candy store...Emma was in love. Especially with the cannonball sized meringues on top the counter! I had to get me one of those!! Last weekend however was not the time or place but I made a mental note to go back and get one.

After a lazy Sunday morning yesterday I got a cab over to Paragon with Joel and went straight to Canelle for my Vanilla meringue. It was 11am, stomach was rumbling and what better way to satisfy it than with a huge pile of sugar and egg whites (see getting my protein).

I didn't realise however how much attention I was going to arouse, walking down Orchard road trying to negotiate my mouth around the cannonball!

At first I thought people were checking me out...but I soon realised that they were actually checking out the huge meringue in my hand that I was trying my best to eat as daintily as possible!!! Perhaps not the most successful street food ever invented...but I enjoyed it IMMENSELY!

Pictures say a thousand words...say no more!!!

We went back to the same place last night with Bliss, Minsok and their daughter Hanna. She was quite upset when I informed her I had already had my fix!! Hanna went ahead and had the rose flavoured meringue which this morning she still has not finished!!!

A Looooooong weekend

My bus to Singapore left at 3pm on Saturday. That means I had to get my ride in very early and rather then do an afternoon session of training I had to train the swim and run back to back straight after the bike.

The day started early at 4:15am. On the bike by 5am to KLIA Downtown. Felt I was giving a good, no GREAT effort. Heart rate up there...pushing hard. But then everything started to fall apart. Heart rate dropped, cadence dropped. I still thought I was giving a good effort but knew I was far from it. So no PB today...I had had an awesome weeks training one of my strongest yet. So I guess it had finally caught up with me.

On the return the head was dropping and I had to start having a good yell at myself. Got to the toll after the Kerinchi link and something was wrong with George. Wouldn't you know it. If my day was already bad enough I had my first ever puncture during a ride. GREAT! Time was not on my side...still had swim, run and packing to do.

Changed the flat...used the C02 successfully but I buggered up the tube and it flatted again. F***!

Had to flag down a taxi 6k from home. Got to TBB put George in the store and whizzed up to home to get swim and run gear. 1.5k swim, 40min speed run and back in the store. SK and Wong were kindly 'mummifying' George for his trip down south so I left them to it and popped home to change.

Finally got on the bus. Brought a much needed first coffee of the day from Coffeebean. Sat down on the bus and moved a recline lever and the coffee tipped and went ALL over my jeans. HOT HOT HOT...Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...what the hell next. Well thankfully nothing.

The trip was smooth and I rolled up to Bliss's house (my home for the next 2weeks) a little after 8pm, smack bang in the middle of their dinner party. I wasn't hungry but she put 2huge plates of food in front of me and I obliged.

Long run with Minsok her hubby this morning. Minsok is in the final few weeks prep for Kona. And his was a 3hour run today, after his 3k swim...and you think I am mad!!

I joined him for the last 2hours starting at 9.30am...yes it was hot...but it was also very pleasant not getting up at the crack of dawn.

Lunch and hanging by the pool at The American Club (Am I really in Asia, is all I could think about) and then Korean food for dinner.

Training tomorrow is going to be switched about. Turbo in the morning and swim at work later in the day...this is gonna be interesting and FUN (I hope).

Cat Nap

Despite what you may think, I don't get time for cat naps, wish I did.

The week started off very well indeed, with regards to training. Usually Mondays are a BIG struggle, Tuesdays nasty but strong, Wednesdays...just get through the mayhem and then by Thursday I AM ON FIRE!! I usually KILL my longest turbo session and LOVE IT.

Last night I started rather late and I WAS killing the session, feeling good, humming along in my head to Frank Sinatra amongst others :) (I have found these days I don't need MAD fast music to get me going...just anything that makes me smile.)

After the boys left and locked up I switched into Spin-E-oky mode and started to sing for the last few sets...really enjoyed that...and as I was cleaning up after myself (mopping up the pools of sweat) the final track to come on was Eurythmics "I need a Man" . .hahhahaha!!!! That caused me to laugh out VERY loud indeed.

Trouble is last night unlike Monday, my endorphin high didn't last very long...maybe 5minutes (sounds about right eh??!!) By the time I got back upstairs (home) I was pooped...no energy to cook...didn't want to eat - so a hot milo with condensed milk was the order of the day.

Woke up this morning and did NOT want to move. It's long swim day today. I have asked myself this question many many times over the past year. What makes me get out of bed EVERY day and train? No one is shaking a stick at me and there is definitely no one pushing me out of bed!! So WHY? No matter how I feel I still do it. I like to make things pretty simple and break the training down. So this morning it was just a swim. If I missed that swim it would mean I wouldn't do anything until I ride tomorrow morning. It is just 1hour plus of hurt that's all. one measly hour out of the whole day...nothing. Where as if I stayed in bed for an extra hour what good would that do me?? I will tell you. NOTHING...no good at all! So just HTFU!

And once again...thereof endth the lesson :)

Sussssshhh!

You often see construction workers, Alam Flora guys etc, taking a siesta in the afternoon. It is a common sight, gets very hot in the afternoon, and there you are stuck in a traffic jam in the cool air-con of your car and there they are sweating their B******* off for very little money. So I don't blame them!

But just to prove it doesn't just happen here...over in good old Blighty where the pay for these heavy labour jobs is pretty OK (so I have heard)...and the weather is not going make you fizzle out in the midday heat - cos there isn't any! They still like to take the biscuit (aka take the piss) and have themselves a little siesta too. Trouble is over in Blighty, Big Brother (surveillance cameras) is everywhere and as such you should really think twice about where you are going to have a little afternoon snooze!

Picture from www.dailymail.co.uk

Scott for SALE

It's not mine, my frame was snapped up :) This CR1 Carbon is going for RM3500 ono for the frame, fork, seatpost and headset. Drop me a comment or email if interested.

Junk Miles Vs Bricks & Mortar

It has been one long arse crazy week. Problems have been thrown at me from all angles and as such I now have severe neck ache from being on Larry (the laptop) for most of my working hours since Friday, Saturday and once this is posted, Sunday. Tomorrow is a Public Holiday..but guess what...still got frigging catching up to do!

ANYWAY...she is rattling on again...to the point Emma!

I had 3 days of nothing after Camsur. Yes you heard right 3 days of squat...meaning no training. I do not remember when that last happened in the past 12months. I was berated for doing this. Accused of being weak and not disciplined.

Given a pop quiz. Choose one of the following that you think applies to you and your swim. If ANY. Discipline, Consistency, Patience.

My reply was...I am disciplined, I would like to think I am consistent, but we both know I am NOT patient.

Reply back: You see you are none...any little excuse (read: food poisoning) and you skip a swim, got a cold, skip a swim, feel tired, skip a swim. Now while some of these excuses I have NEVER used, I was not going to hit back and argue. So I took the punches, shut up and got back in the pool.

So with 3 days off I feel fitness has lagged, I have slowed and am trying to get back up to speed. Sessions have been extremely mentally trying this week as have those tiny fast-twitch muscles in my legs that scream at me when doing speed run sets. Coupled with little sleep, problems with Larry all these things I know effect training.

Yesterdays ride was solid. 138k's, it was 3 mins slower than my best effort. I knew I was not on fire and I know you cannot nail every session with PB's.

Before this morning's run I logged onto the teamTBB forum and there in the light of Cyber space was a post from Doc about the very thing I know to be true but sometimes in the fog of fatigue and mental tiredness we weaken and fold.

Some people talk about junk miles. What is 'Junk Miles'?? To me junk miles is training that you do just for training sake. You go out there and swim, bike or run and just go through the motions...because maybe you are tired, not feeling well or not up for it. But usually if you are honest with yourself if you are feeling any of these three elements you would not even get out of bed. SO that means when you do do Junk Miles you are doing them on a good day when you feel good. It is simple:

No pain

No fatigue

No puffing & panting

No tiredness

This ladies and gentleman is what you call Junk Miles and you should have bloody stayed in bed!

Whereby Bricks & Mortar is when you go out when you are tired, not feeling 100%, mentally buggered and weak. It is simple:

Push through all pain

Push through all fatigue

Push through mentally

When you are having a BAD day you CAN have the best training day. Your times may not excite you so don't get hooked up on splits, averages, power and shit. If you can train when you are at the lowest of the low...no matter how slow it was if you felt the pain and didn't cut short no matter how much the demon on your shoulder said QUIT QUIT QUIT then you come out the other side stronger, more confident, very tired probably, but oh so much STRONGER in mind and BODY.

I suffer with pain every day...I don't complain about it, it is always there. If it goes away I know I have not been training. I enjoy training it is my drug of choice. It gives me such a high I cannot explain the euphoria that goes through my body on good days. And when I am having a bad day and there are lots of them...the feeling of complete and utter satisfaction on completion of a nightmare turbo session, swim or run is to me the best feeling in the world.

And there-of endeth the lesson :)

Thanks for the Pic, Cycling Asia...I actually like this one :)

Unproductive

Today has been the most unproductive, frustrating, annoying, pull-your-hair-out, pissy, shitty DAY! BUT...it's 11:32pm I am wired on coffee and I can still laugh thanks to Eddie Izzard and his Lego and Little Britain on the TV behind me...please, please, please let me install the software with NO MORE F*** UPS. I promise to be good.

I can't Dance

The pictures say it's true..but another lil' secret is I can't sing. On doing my turbo on Monday night I was in severe discomfort and verging on tears (9hours in the saddle on Sunday) was part reason for that me thinks. Coupled with leg fatigue and a loss of fitness it is the least fun I have EVER had during a turbo session. Determined NOT to give up I finally decided if I start singing I won't cry. The first song to shuffle up on the iPod was this :) LOVE IT. After that we (I) was belting out Queens Bohemian Rhapsody.
Monday was a holiday...no one was in the store. This will only happen when I am completely ALONE...I would not dare put anyone else through the pain of my attempts at spin-e-oky!

A few more shards of light

I won't post any more pictures after this...unless something really funny emerges! But these do prove that I was sober on collecting my trophy (no way could I have stood on that step if inebriated). Secondly they prove I do smile. Thirdly it proves things went down hill pretty quickly, there were a lot of NICE bare torsos on show and finally, that I really can't dance!!!

Thank you Philippines for the most amazing time. You went out of your way to make everyone not just the pro's feel special. I am very proud to have participated and to have been a small part of such a wonderful triathlon event. I will be back next year (AUGUST 22nd) to defend my titles (one for the AG 70.3 and one for the Awards night as "The only person who CONSISTANTLY managed to keep falling off the stage!) It was very high!!