As ecommended by Alex, I bought a book called “Total Immersion – by Terry Laughlin”, and learn this revolutionary swimming technique. Under the Total Immersion (TI) system, 70% of swimming is done by the core, the limps merely provide the remaining 30% of the propulsion.
When you can balance, you can reducing body drag by maintaining a body shape that “swim through a hole”.
Hence the legs only kicks to help balancing the body and to hide themselves in the “shadow” of your body down the slipstream. As for the arms, their main function should be to lengthen your body, to turn yourselves into a torpedo (more hydrodynamic). In the pull cycle of a swimming stroke the arm and shoulder is surprisingly not the source of power but merely an extension of an action that originated in the turning of the hip, an analogy is like hitting a backhand in tennis, the power comes from the turning of your waist, not the arm. Of course this makes perfect sense so far, you probably know that when you were a kid.
What I found radical is the drill in the TI system; the drills are all emphasizing body balance. When you can balance, you can reducing body drag by maintaining a body shape that “swim through a hole”. The drill also emphasis the hip turning, not only as the power source but also to bring your side out of the water at each stroke, again to reduce drag. None of the TI drills will build stronger kicks nor improve shoulder endurance, the idea is when you can glide through the water like a knife, you will become strong at the right muscle (which happen to be the muscle below the armpit, not the shoulder.) Strange huh?
I’ve been visitng the pool in the gym the last 2 days to try out the first few drills on my own, hard to tell if I am doing it right. Though being able to flow on my back and move forward is not something I can do easily before, it is definitely new insight to find that delicate body balance of neither sinking my legs nor drowning my face.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Total Immersion Swimming
Sunday, May 06, 2007
AA Sprint - Discovery Bay
Action Asia Sprint 2007 Race 5 - Discovery Bay
Date: 29-April-2007
Time: 1:47
Overall: 139 / 295 Finishers
Men's Team: 11/17 Finsishers
Andy's Album
Action Asia's Album
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
2007 Freeyasoul Adventure - Japan Alps
We are now planning the long awaited Japan Alps trip in mid-July, you might have already got my invitation already, here some more pictures to temp you to this 6 days hike. Our trip will begin in Murodo and ends in Kamikochi. Reserve your holidays now!
Tatayama - 立山
Gosikigahara - 五色ヶ原
Kurobegara-dake - 黒部五郎岳
Yari-ga-take - 槍ヶ岳
Oku-Hotaka-dake - 穂高岳
Kamikochi - 上高地
Saturday, April 28, 2007
I've Been Shopping
I have made some serious damage to my wallet in a second hand Kuota Kredo full carbon bike and a Giro Atmos helmet, Martina also bought me a cool Oakley sunglasses. Call me a snob as you will but a great quote I heard recently is: Why Train When You Can Buy Speed?
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Luke Lau Bun Hay (1948 - 2007)
My Dad has left for his place in Heaven last saturday, a week has already gone and the family's sorrow has eased day by day. We have been busy preparing for his funearal and preparing a remembrance booklet for him to be given out to guests in the funeral. Reading through the contribution from his friends, I come to grip of what a remarkable character Dad has been, intelligent, strong willed and wittyly humourous are just some of the trend that flow through those passages. Below is my piece to the booklet "Dad's Final Lesson to Be Strong". A side of him that fits so well to the theme of this blog.
Dad in his final 5 months of his life has delivered to me the final lesson of how to be a strong and positive throughout life, whatever the adversary you may face tomorrow.
*****
As I was watching my father lying on the hospital bed on the final week of his life, I was infected by an overwhelming sense of sadness. It was to me that the curtains were slowly being drawn down on the “Story of Luke’s Life”. For the past 5 months, I felt that everyone have been faithful supporting actors in the final act of this drama, in which my Dad has showed us the most admirable side of him. While facing a terminal illness, he was never seen in despair, throughout the fight he has kept up his witty British humour and has insisted on taking every step that his body would sustained. Three weeks before he passed away, Mum and I accompanied him to his office to finish up all his projects at hand, then in his fragile voice he said, “Today’s work has been completed.” Then we rushed to the hospital as he had been in need of medical attention since the night before. It was terrible for all of us to watch our beloved one to go through the suffering but in a way I was glad and proud to have been given a role in this finale.
After the inevitable has happened, my role has shifted from being a “supporting actor” to being the “tape editor” of his story as I was putting together this remembrance booklet. I saw “footages” that I have never known before when reading the contribution from my father’s friends and family members. Like putting all the “clips” into a “movie”, I began to see Luke’s story as a whole. I gained a deeper understanding the kind of person he had been and I realized how the many little things he did has shaped me and made me the kind of person I am today.
When I was 14, I asked my parents to let me continue my study in England. Immediately when I arrived in the boarding school in England, Dad has insisted on arranging a local English family to be my “guardian family”. Hence when the first term breaks comes, while most of my fellow Hong Kong students would go to London to pack some homesick cure in the forms of Dim Sums, I on the other hand barely adapted the peculiar world of British boarding school, would travel to the nearby town and stayed with a family that I have barely known. Thanks to Dad’s arrangement I have gained an insight to the English way of life and was also able to get to know the Ramsey family who took me in as one of their own. Shortly after, Dad arranged me to head out to France for a 2 weeks home-stay holiday over the next school break. I have only just made myself comfortable in the Ramsey’s and once again I have to take a lonesome journey to an unfamiliar territory. Struggling with the language and a harsh landlady, the 2 weeks in France was no smooth ride at first but I came back with memories of great deals of funs and adventure in the end. Looking back it was really through these lessons selected by Dad that I developed an appetite for exploration and adventures; henceforth I became thrilled by unknown situations and bored with familiarity. Some of the best times in my life have been my climbing trips and backpacking holiday to distant shores, I owe these to my Dad’s training.
Now going through the life stories of Dad, I am surprised to know that he was also an adventurer in his days. He has been a Scouts leader and a keen hiker as a boy, as a young adult in England he often disappeared for solo backpacking trips around England. Growing up, this strong and independent character has carried him through many hurdles in life including the 3 years of court battle with his former employer. As he sailed into the unknown and desperate territories of carrying a cancer in his body, this tough and self-reliance side of him has simply shined brighter than ever.
While my supporting role in Dad’s story is over, I must carry on playing the main character in the story of my own. And in this story, Dad in his final 5 months of his life has delivered to me the final lesson of how to be a strong and positive throughout life, whatever the adversary I may face tomorrow.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Invincible - Muse
During the struggle they will pull us down. But please, please let's use this chance to turn things around. And tonight we can truly say together we're invincible I just got back from the hospital where my Dad is there struggling with his illness. He is in much pain and discomfort but he is fighting on, refusing to be pulled down, making me so proud of him as a son. Martina and I sat down to read some lyrics of Muse while listen to their songs, I found this particular song's lyrics very beautiful and inspiring in times like this.
"Invincible - by Muse"
Follow through
Make your dreams come true
Don't give up the fight
You will be alright
'Cause there's no one like you in the universe
Don't be afraid
What your mind conceives
You should make a stand
Stand up for what you believe
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we're invincible
During the struggle
They will pull us down
But please, please
Let's use this chance
To turn things around
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we're invincible
Do it on your own
It makes no difference to me
What you leave behind
What you choose to be
And whatever they say
Your souls unbreakable
During the struggle
They will pull us down
But please, please
Let's use this chance
To turn things around
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we're invincible
Together we're invincible
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Hard Training
I just got back from the second training session with the triathlon club, the training is usually an hour of running and an hour of swimming. On Monday in the first session the swimming was so hard for me that my shoulder was stiff for a day and a half, just relaxed up in time for tonight's session. Then tonight when I was pushing hard for the head above water drill, I kicked so hard that I had cramps in the calf muscle on both leg. A long way to go before I can keep up with these guys but I like those pain and ache in my muscle afterward, a sensation that has been long missed.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Muse X Youssou N'Dour
Martina and I attended not one but two great concerts in a weekend, on Saturday it was one of my favourite Brit Pop band "Muse" in Asia World Expo. Then 24 hours later we went to the world's most loved Senegelese singer "Youssou N'Dour". Both were captivating performance, Muse's live act had so much energy, within a track, their music may swing from soulful piano rythum to a high octane explosive electric guitar display. Youssou N'Dour on the other hand played Afrian Music with a variety of styles. His songs imbedded political messages of social justice. In his most memorable song of the night, he said, "This song is about Africa. People often think of only 3 things in Africa, Povery, Aids and War. But there is more to it, there is also happiness." Then he went on to sang the sorrowful song that rings in my head since.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Year of Triathlon
Sorry guys, it has been a lifetime since I have updated this blog. As some of you might know, my Dad is suffering some bad illness and hence I just tried to stay with my family as much as I can. Which mean I don't get home till quite late in the evening. I have only spend about 10 mins in front of this computer every night.
Setting the sorrow aside my recovery from adventure sports are more or less completed. As a consolation from lunch time bouldering in Kwun Tong, I have joined a fantastic gym 5 mins away from the office in Central. Its 20m swimming pool has served a monumental role in getting my left arm muscle back in swing. My default lunch time pass time has been running on the treadmill, cycling on the gym bike or crawling through the water with a vengence.
While on the gym bike I like listening to this podcast from TriTalk, it is a brilliant bi-weekly program on training tips for triathletes and I hope I discover this before Alex does! Coupled with much improved working hours, the condition is now perfect for me to embark on some proper triathlon training. And my first target is a the first ever Half Ironman in Asia, the SinaporeIronman703. I hope to get into the rythum of proper training soon, gonna tried out the Sonic Sports Club next week, which my mate Larry (Kin's partner in crime in Actiona Asia Macau) said it is a nice gang to be with.
Inevitably, I don't forsee climbing much this year but something had to give. I have finished reading "The Villian - The Life of Don Whillan". I recommend it in the same passion that I recommended "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World". Don is a genius in climbing and mountaineering, though unfortunately a tragic character that never realised his potential. He partnered with some of the best climbers in his generation first with Joe Brown and then Chris Bonnington. Though cause of his psychological flaw, he felt out with them and brought the most successful partnership in 1950's British rock climbing (with Brown) and a budding partnership in Alpine Climbing (with Bonnington) to a fruitless end. He went on a decade without major successful ascent until 1970, Bonnington saw the fire in him and took him to Annapurna to conquer the South Face of the mountain. He summited the face with Dougal Haston and the feat was a great national achievement at the time. Though even at Don's height he was on his way down, he was portraited as a calculating person who avoid load carrying on the mountain to preserve his fitness in order to get picked for the summit bid. Eventually such bad reputation drove him out of the top league of mountaineering and was never able to met his goal of conquering the North Face of Eiger and the South West Face of Everest. Go and read it, a sad tale of a nonetheless hero of his time.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Faith in Friction
I started reading "The Villain - The Life of Don Whillans" by Jim Perin recently. Right now I am at the infant stage of Don's climbing career in Peak District. I used to lived an hour's away from the climbing outcrops of the "Peaks". Reading those few chapters which he gradually evolved from a hiker to a climber brings me back all those fond memories of my first year in climbing, it was also in the "Gritstone" crags in the Peaks which I got into the sport. It is a very special rock, big bulging round rocks that is highly fritional and abrasive. It is either loved or loathed by British climbers, though I don't know whether it was the history of Gritstones climbing or my personal happy times there, it occupies a special place for me. The following is an extract in the book on Gritstone:
Its holds for the most parts are sloping and indefinite, its bulging crack lacerate your hands. It demands a style based on confidence and agility, on both sophistication of technique and aggression in approach, on ingenuity and faith in friction."Faith in friction" what a nice saying, I love it, and I just checked that faithinfricition.com has not been registered yet, I can't believe no one has done it.
