Bruce Stewart's Taiwan Blog 我的臺灣網誌

Italy - Where I spent 6 weeks this year

2011-07-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn and I arrived in Milan, Italy in the middle of March and were surprised at the warm sunny weather that characterized most of our first two weeks. Perhaps what surprised me even more were the many cherry blossoms in the area in which we lived. In Taiwan, we had only occasionally seen them on mountains several thousand feet above sea level.
Although we were staying on the outskirts of Milan, the business capital of Italy, I did not really venture into the city much at first, and so my experiences at that point were confined to what I saw in the predominantly residential area where we stayed.
With Jocelyn busy with the course that she and five other students were taking, I needed to decide how I would make the best use of the six weeks I had there, given that my work would keep me busy much of the time. When I travel to places I am particularly interested to learn the local language and if possible interact with local people. However, I realized meeting people would not be that easy, especially since I was in a big city and was really unable to take part in the kinds of social activities that might help me meet people. If only I had had a good road bike!
I did have the use of a bicycle, even though it was very old and way too small for me. It had 20-inch wheels and the seat only went up do much, so that I had to ride very carefully so as not to seriously damage my knee tendons. However, the bike did prove very useful, and I could reach the area around the Basilica of San Lorenzo (above) in just about 20 minutes from our accommodation.
Milan Cathedral was huge and I was lucky to be able to at least get a picture of it on a sunny day using a wide-angle lens. However, it was always a magnet for tourists, which meant that one soon got tired of being in that area.
Not far from there, I found the church of San Steffan Maggiore, for which the foundation was laid around the 5th century A.D. From the outside it did not look particularly special, but the inside was amazing. I was also able to find some peace and quiet here, to read and to reflect a little. This is perhaps where I began to realize why I had come to Italy.
This was the inside of a smaller church with more of an emphasis on Mary.
After being in Italy and with Easter soon approaching, I summoned up the courage to attend mass at the church of San Barnabas in Gratasoglio, very close to where we were staying. I was not sure what to expect, since I had not been to a Catholic church since my childhood. At least it was a great way of hearing Italian being read and spoken. The service the evening before Easter Sunday was also particularly good - much work went into planning the mass and it appeared very well orchestrated, with the involvement of many "lay" people.
Perhaps the church I liked most was one with a very long and rich history and a huge building, San Eustorgio. In spite of the very well planned services (the Good Friday service was particularly memorable), the excellent quality of the singing, and so on, there were not that many people (perhaps just a few hundred) in attendance at the Sunday services. I somehow got the impression that most people in Milan did not care to go to church, even though there were so many historical churches there.
I did even get to talk to one of the priests there. He did not mind my attending the services, even though I told him that I stopped attending the Catholic church when I was 17. I was later to learn that the senior pastor (now well into his 70s and who blessed me at the end of one of the services) had helped establish churches all over Italy and in spite of the robes and the relics within the church was a very fervent Christian and church leader. The ambulances in the picture where there because some of the ambulance personnel were participating in one of the services. It was good to see their commitment and enthusiasm.
Milan also has many other buildings of historical interest, in fact so many that it is very difficult to visit them all, and I could more or less write a book on the few that I did get to see.
Well, I did manage to see a few other places besides Milan, although the farthest that I went was to Venice. This is a great destination. It is packed with tourists, but it has that "olde worlde" feel and there are many alleys one can walk down without feeling one is in a tourist destination. And, no cars, too.
San Marco in Venice - It is huge.
A restaurant by a canal in Venice. No, unfortunately Jocelyn and I did not get to eat there. Generally we were on a limited budget while in Italy, and most of our money went on paying the rent. However, the views were priceless, and were almost costless (the train tickets we bought being relatively cheap).
This was a quiet part of Venice overlooking the ocean where I ate the lunch I had brought with me.
Inside a church (Santa Maria di Nazareth) close to the train station in Venice.
During my last two weeks in Italy, I got to visit a few other cities, including Genova (Genoa) in Liguria. I found this a nice city with much of historical interest, and also some astounding churches, including the one above, with its beautiful ceilings (see below).
I feel that Genova would have been a nicer place in which to live than Milan. It is by the sea, is made famous by Christopher Columbus, and is easy to walk around in a day.
A park in Genova.
Inside one of the many churches in Genova. This one benefited from the help of famous European painters in centuries past.
Standing by the Ligurian Sea in the Port of Genoa.
I also went to Torino (Turin) where I visited the royal palace.
This particular church in Torino was devoted to St. John the Baptist.
The Basilica di Superga outside Torino. This is several miles outside the city and at elevation. There is a train service. However, I chose to walk back from the Basilica to the town and it took a good two hours.
A view along the river in Verona, Italy. Jocelyn and I visited this city which is perhaps most famous for the balcony which Romeo was able to climb up to to meet Juliet and which inspired Shakespeare.
The famous churches in Verona all required admission fees, whereas most in the other places I visited were free. This one, Santa Anastasia, had a particularly beautiful ceiling.
Part of the Roman wall in Verona.
Jocelyn and I standing in front of the open door to the balcony made famous by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

In my short stay in Italy, I feel I hardly got to know any local people, but I did make quite a lot of progress with the language, by first of all trying to read bits of newspapers, then attending mass in Italian on several occasions, and reading much of the mass-related material. While I was able to visit several of the major cities in Northern Italy, I feel that the greatest thing I learned during this trip was the relevance that being raised a Catholic had to me as a child, and also now later in life as I reviewed my spiritual pilgrimage over the years. Hopefully, Jocelyn and I will get to go to Italy again and then I can continue to understand more.

The Last Year: Part One - Sweden

2011-06-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

It seems very hard to start writing a blog again after leaving it for so long. Well, my last post was about a failed attempt at a marathon early last year. This left me wondering what on earth there was for me to write about. While I continued to swim on and off for a few months after that fateful run, I was not particularly focused on sports at all. Thoughts of a possible trip to Hawaii where I could have got back into training again had to be pushed back as plans did not work out quite as expected.
So, what is there to write about over the last year or so? The first major event was a trip to Sweden, for about 11 weeks - not exactly a flying visit.

My wife and I stayed in a small campus community of about 100 people in an area that was mostly farmland. Fortunately, there was good Internet access, so I could keep in touch with the world outside.

I arrived by plane in Göteborg, Sweden in mid-September after a week visiting family in England. After a train ride and a short drive by car, I found that I would be living in a fairly remote farming area for most of my time there. My wife was taking a 3-month course as part of her degree program, and I would be getting on as best as I could with my own work, as well as taking the opportunity to learn as much as I could about Sweden and hopefully attempt to learn some of the language.

Picturesque views like this meant that in the afternoons on sunny days I could sit and overlook the sea while getting on with some of my work, based on the idea of doing work but enjoying nature at the same time.

Having done quite a lot of swimming earlier in the year, I thought there may be opportunities to swim here, since I knew that the sea was only walking distance from where we were staying. However, while I did dive in once (very briefly), I realized that it may be better to wait until I returned to Taiwan before taking up swimming again.

Apart from the water being a lot colder than what I was normally used to, the one thing that stopped me from at least one longish swim was the many jellyfish that happened to frequent the waters at this time of the year.

A Lutheran retreat center about an hour's drive away. These were quite idyllic surroundings and I would have liked to have been able to just stay here.

While living on what had once been a private Christian school, at times it felt like being a little cut off from day-to-day Swedish society. This was because there were many different nationalities represented on the campus, meaning that English was the main means of communication. Certainly not very good if one hopes to learn the local language. So, to try to speed things up a bit, I ended up picking up Swedish here and there through the Internet, especially through listening to music and comparing what I heard with the lyrics of the songs which I could usually find somewhere.

When someone had said there was a lake within walking distance of the retreat center, I had thought that it might be the size of a small swimming pool which might provide the opportunity to swim. This lake (Kornsjön) was so huge and isolated that a swim was out of the question.

While living at the campus, in order to relax a little and get away from my desk, I would go for walks among the nearby farms - usually after lunch, as it got dark fairly early.

Because my wife and her classmates needed to visit the library at the University of Gothenberg, I had a chance to go there, too. We also went to the Economics library in another part of the city. I found that interesting, although I am glad that I hardly ever go to libraries now, preferring to find whatever I need on my computer.

The city of Göteborg has many nice buildings, many of historic significance.

Later in our trip, we got to visit the Laxå commun. I cannot remember if this church (Tiveds Kyrka) was actually in that commun, but it was in a very nice part of the countryside half way between Göteborg and Stockholm.

One of the local farmers started grazing his horses (North Swedish horses) in the field in Restenäs right next to where we were staying.

A trip to Sweden wouldn't be complete without a visit to Stockholm, in my opinion one of the nicest looking cities I have been to. We stayed in the Old Town (Gamla Stan). Here we are looking out of the old town.

Jocelyn and I in Stockholm. I was quite pleased with the hoodsweat I had found in the "boutique" (the free second-hand store) on our campus. Certainly one of my Swedish friends like it. The Swedes are very patriotic, at least a lot more than the British.

There were many nice souvenirs on sale in Stockholm. I have a few souvenirs that I brought back. However, it is not the items that are important, but rather the memories that you bring back.

Occasionally we would see a nice sunset. However, towards the end of our stay (early December) one had to hurry after lunch to get there in time.

The horses were obviously used to the cold winters. On the day this photo was taken the temperature was between -5C and -10C. Just taking my gloves off to take a picture was quite a challenge for me.

I still miss the horses, particularly this one, which always came up to me when I waded through the snow to visit them.

Each time I passed this cottage (stuga) next to our campus (which appeared to be "empty"), I wondered about one day living in one of these.

In England, the airport would have been closed. In Sweden, this was just a normal day. After dousing the plane with warm water and making sure the snow was swept off the runway, the airport authorities allowed us to take off without incident and we were soon back in England where it fortunately was not snowing.

So, what did I learn from my trip? I kind of had a lot of mixed feelings about my trip. On the one hand, it was great going to a country to which I had never been and finding the local people that I did manage to meet to be quite friendly, although not very easy to get to know. I am not a very touristy type of person, and I am not really interested in just seeing the sights and enjoying the comforts of hotels or having everyone talk to me in English just because I am British.
When being part of an international community, as we were, relationships with other people can tend to be quite shallow since everyone tends to be busy with their work or studies and after a few months most people are going to move on. That is why I particularly enjoyed being with local people who just live their normal lives year in year out in the location, usually working at the same job and living in the same house. While these kinds of contacts were few and far between, I did at least have a few good conversations (in English of course), which proved that despite the differences in nationality and background, there was still a lot we had in common. It was nice to hear people we visited talk about their taking the train each day to Örebro each day to go to work, or to hear how one man almost my age coped with the harsh winters and how they affected his livelihood. The Swedes on our campus were mostly in their early 20s and so it was like my wife and I were talking to people of our children's generation. However, that was also a lot of fun. In fact we have been so used to that over the years that we don't realize how old we are getting.
I wish in a way that I had spent some time learning the language before going to Sweden, but that is a lot easier said than done. The pronunciation of Swedish is quite different from what I would expect. Therefore, I feel I learned to recognize the sounds a lot more easily by actually being there and listening not just to the occasional Swedish spoken around me but also to music to compensate for the lack of interaction with local people. I will always be better prepared next time. I hope to go again. I went to Oslo (for one night) since my wife needed to meet her classmates there for one week as part of her course, but unfortunately my Norwegian friend was not there at the time. It is so much easier if you know someone there with the time to show you around and introduce you to people. On this trip I wasn't attending a school or doing a specific job for people so that in some ways restricted me, but on the other hand it gave me a few more opportunities, too.

Running in Kaohsiung (Cheng Ching Lake)

2010-02-28T23:28:00.000-08:00

The winner of the men's race in the 2010 Kaohsiung International Marathon was a Kenyan (hardly any surprise) who covered the 26-plus miles (42-plus km) in 2hr 36mins, which was close to 20 minutes slower than his personal best, which only goes to show how brutal the weather conditions were. In my opinion, the true winners (and heroes) were the many local Kaohsiung people who went out perhaps for their first ever 15 mile (half-plus marathon) and stuck it out for several hours in the heat with little drink, no food, no ice, hearing the curses of motorists forced by police to let them pass, etc. and then denied any recognition for their attempt because they did not finish within the 3 hr 20 min time limit set by the organizers. Do people who are professionals, with coaches, good training and proper nutrition, first-class VIP treatment, etc. really accomplish more? I wonder. (My photo - I ended up near the podium by mistake!)

My attempt to run a marathon this last Sunday was a somewhat humiliating experience since I was told I had to stop at 15 miles because I was going too slow. Perhaps I should be thankful that I did not attempt to stay out in the 90F degree heat longer. It was not a "user-friendly" race, at least for the slower runners. I never saw any ice, hardly saw any food, and I survived on what I ate before the race started and the sports drink provided that I grabbed by the bottle rather than the cup, as the poorly-equipped aid stations were often several kilometers apart.

The man on the left, in his sixties, was from a running club in Peitou, near Taipei. I was still with him at around the 18 km mark (where this was taken), but then I slowed even more, and I assume he was just about able to make the "cut-off" at the 24 km mark, which I failed to do. He was slow (as these people are really only going at walking pace), but he had endurance. What's more, he had traveled 200 miles to race at his own expense. If I had just been a little fitter, I might have been able to see him up until the finish. Well, I'll look out for him next time.

So the rest of Sunday, I was rather tired, and felt close to fainting as I walked back to my bike to ride the 20 minutes home. It seems there were no refreshments for those who had to drop out, and no convenience stores handy. The sports stadium is a wonderful piece of modern architecture, but it may only be used a few times a year for big events, and may remain off limits much of the time. On Monday, I could have written a long blog about all my failures in running over the years, etc., but did not get round to doing so. Fortunately, another day has passed, and rather than wallow in disappointment, I am trying to work out a "modest" running plan so that I can try and run a reasonable half -marathon this summer. Carrying out such a plan, does not involve high-tech stadiums, which are inaccessible to ordinary people, but places hopefully not far from home where one can get a little training in, while juggling all of life's other responsibilities.

There's no place (to run) like home. These cement paths (and wider flatter ones to) wind their ways on both sides of a river on a few hundred meters from our home. After taking measurements, I have found one loop around the park which involves crossing two small bridges is about 810 meters or half a mile. So on days when I just need to get the running over with quickly, I could just do it here. No motorized transport is allowed on the paths and one should avoid evenings when there are more people walking.

One of the good things about my "miserable experience" on Sunday was that for a long time I have worried that running would hurt my knees, having had a little trouble with them in a failed Ironman attempt over three years ago. Well, after being out there on Sunday, they feel a lot better, and so maybe some running, done sensibly, may be helpful to me. In addition, feeling a little exhausted isn't much fun, but after two days, I was swimming today, and while a little slower, felt great.

Cheng Ching Lake is located less than 3 miles from my house. My winter swimming pool is located at about 8 o'clock (the traditional-looking hotel) and my summer swimming pool (also 50m outdoor) is at about 1 o'clock (the green mound with a person on it). Apart from mornings and late afternoons when people travel to and from work, it is relatively quiet and pollution free, and the water is relatively clean (since it acts as a reservoir for the city inhabitants' water needs). About 70 percent of the lake's circumference has exclusive, designated bike paths, to separate riders from motorists.

A 12-week running plan involves running 4 times per week, with one or two days for cross-training and one or two days of rest. Basically 2 of the runs in a given week are "easy" by which is meant just covering a distance of between 3 and 5 miles. So hopefully not too stressful. Another day involves running from 2.5 miles to 4 miles at "race pace", which for me will hopefully be 9 minutes per mile. The remaining running day, requires a run that starts at 4 miles in the first week, and builds to 10 miles by week 7, before going down a little as part of a taper towards the race day. The training plan proposes using Saturday for this - maybe not a bad idea, as there is a lot less traffic on the road Saturday morning. With all this in mind, one just needs to find suitable places to run.

Currently the most important section of the Cheng Ching Lake bike path (the 2km thick red line along the "right-hand" side of the lake in the map above), is undergoing road works (perhaps cables or pipes that are not to do with widening the path), and so it is a mess. In one month I will start to swim at the pool on the right-side of the lake which means I hope everything is back to normal by then.

The right-hand side of the lake has some popular tourist attractions like this pavilion (that is one of three pavilions together). The bike path is behind the fence on the left, and the lake is through the trees on the right.

By cross training, I will be doing swimming, since I want to continue swimming, and I will also use an old mountain bike to get to the swimming pool or to the running venue, if it is not within walking distance from my house. A slight snag is that I want to swim three to four times per week, which means that for two of the runs, I will ideally run starting and finishing close to the pool, and run first and then swim, and not the other way round as was the case in Kona. Here it is better to swim last, as swimming can help me cool off (even if the water is 82F or above), and I can make use of the showering facilities at the pool, before a relaxing cycle ride home.

Cross-training (mixing days of running with days of swimming or both one after the other on the same day), not only helps reduce the risk of running injuries, but also has practical benefits, too. By swimming after the run, you get a free shower (usually two) and sometimes a free spa, and you can return home refreshed after what seemed like a blistering run in scorching heat. The water temperature today was 82F, but it still felt cool.

After one reaches the 1.96 km point on the "red" bike path, one reaches the bottom of the lake, and the next 1.24 km consists mainly of fairly uneven cobbled sidewalk with the occasional half-felled tree that runs alongside a fairly busy road, so it is doable, but not a lot of fun. From the 3.20 km point (above) is a fairly nice and quiet run well away from most of the traffic for about 870 meters, until one reaches the road that goes up past the Grand Hotel. Since the Kaohsiung local government is committed to "building more bike paths", hopefully something more will be done to deal with the more dangerous stretches especially to the south of the lake. Many whole families bike on these roads on Sundays, etc., and so making things safer concerns a lot more people than a few freaky runners.

A few meters short of 1 kilometer from the start of Yuan Shan Rd. to the turn off (above) into Song-Yi Road, one reaches the exclusive bike path on the "left" of the lake that goes past a golf course further up on the left. This section of the bike path is 1,900 meters long and hilly, being higher at the other end. The first 350 meters is a "moderate" climb, then 650 meters is a gradual descent, then 350 meters of "moderate" climbing, followed by 550 meters of flat (along a green containment wall) then a gradual descent to the intersection of the roads the motorists use. There is relatively little traffic except during the times when people commute to and from work. After that, there is a total distance of 400 meters, the last half being a fairly sharp downward descent (with no bike path) until one reaches the "start" of the bike path track next to the side entrance of the Cheng Ching Lake park.

A few hundred yards away in a side road from the start of the "left" bike path (shown in the previous picture), I came across this larger than life sculpture. I guess the intention is to encourage people, young and old alike, to run to be healthy. At least that is a step in the right direction. Since this is a quiet residential road, I could probably lock up an old bicycle nearby and leave a towel, a bottle and some outer clothing, without anyone being concerned about it. After all, I don't want to return home looking like one of these people.

To try to sum up, since I live in a city of about one million people, finding a place to run away from traffic or just the mass of humanity is not easy, and so today I went on my bicycle to look around at possible venues. If the training plan says "short, easy run today", I will consider running in the park near my home, preferably when there are less people, such as during the day when it is warmer and people are at work. However, if I want to have bit more space to run in (so I am not just doing laps) or I want to combine the run with a swim (since I hope to keep swimming 3 times per week), I will run on different parts of the bike trails around Cheng Ching Lake, to which I can cycle within 15 minutes. This will be good for "time trials" of usually no more than 4 miles, since I have measured the distances between different points on these bike trails fairly accurately. When it comes to doing a longish, and perhaps more challenging run, say 6 or 7 miles, then I will consider doing one whole loop of the lake (or fractions/multiples thereof) in order to accomplish that day's goal. According to my calculations, one loop of the lake, while remaining either on the bike path or the road next to it where there is no path, is about 7.25 km, which is 4.5 miles. About 3 of the miles are "safe" (though nowhere is really safe), and the other 1.5 miles is OK if one runs against the traffic or on more uneven surfaces (like narrow sidewalks that no one would ever walk on or drain covers that are at least shielded by trees to keep the motorcycles at bay as you run up past the Grand Hotel. Fortunately, the longer runs don't come very often, at least for me.

About the author: Bruce Stewart is a one-time Hawaii Ironman finisher (2004) who, while having since then kept up a reasonable amount of swimming, has let the other two disciplines, biking and running, slip. After recently covering the first half of a marathon in barely under three hours, he has decided to follow a "modest" running training program that he can incorporate into a fairly busy life, all the while trying to make the most of living in a large city.

Next Sunday's Kaohsiung International Marathon

2010-02-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

A bicycle I acquired just prior to the Chinese New Year of the Tiger. My intention in buying it was to have a second "old" bike that I could use to get around town, and have an extra bike available should friends or family visit from afar.

This Sunday, February 28, is a special day in Taiwan to remember an unfortunate incident that occurred in Taiwan 63 years ago, and which led to thousands of Taiwanese being killed by Mainland Chinese who had only recently taken control of Taiwan following the withdrawal of the Japanese at the end of the Second World War. It is also the first time that the Kaohsiung International Marathon is being held. While I am not a marathon runner and I currently do not have a lot of interest in running, given the event is being held on my back doorstep, as someone who has at least completed an Ironman, I would have to come up with some very good excuses not to enter the event.

A photograph of an official memorial for the victims of the "white terror" in Taiwan that I took a few months ago in Taipei. The "white terror" refers to the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of the 228 incident (referred to above) under the period of Martial Law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987. I lived in Taiwan for 5 of those years. Not that I was threatened in any way, but either people knew very little of what had happened historically, or else they (or the vast majority at least) kept their mouths firmly shut.

While I was in Hawaii until almost 3 years ago, I regularly took part in triathlon events, tending to prefer the shorter events (under 90 minutes if all three disciplines were involved). Like most in the local triathlon community, I tried my luck at the longer, more prestigious events, and qualified for the Hawaii Ironman three times, although I completed it only once, on my first attempt in 2004. The second time I twitched my knee towards the end of the bike and could not run, even though I spent nearly 6 hours on the run course before giving up, and the third time, for visa reasons, I could not stay long enough to have another attempt at the full distance.
With three sports to train for, I tended to mostly swim and bike as I enjoyed them more, and I constantly found I just did not have the time to do much serious running.

The weather in Kaohsiung is generally quite hot much of the year. Although the winter is a little cooler than in Kona, Hawaii, the winter is also short, making it possible to swim the whole year round outdoors. In addition, except for the summer school vacation, there appear to be few people swimming in excellent pools like the one above, which makes swimming all the more enjoyable.

Kaohsiung is not an ideal place for running. The city is fairly heavily polluted (although it is slowly improving, as there are fewer factories, and the government is encouraging people to cycle or buy electric mopeds). However, while many bike paths have been established in various parts of the city, it seems that few people (apart from junior high school children or the elderly) use bicycles, unless they are going on a Sunday afternoon family outing. A gasoline-powered scooter is much more convenient for most people, and people always seem to be in a hurry. So the bigger roads are full of scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks.

From this photo of the city of Kaohsiung (the tall building on the left is 50 stories), it can be seen that this is hardly the place to run a marathon. Fortunately, the marathon will be held Sunday morning, so perhaps most participants will be almost done by the time the city of 1 million wakes up and all the gasoline/diesel-driven engines roar into action.

There will no doubt be some "nice" spots along the course. In fact, for people moving at a snail's pace like myself, it will be a time to appreciate at least the steps that are being taken in the right direction to make this a better city for its many inhabitants.

A contrast in biking styles. On the one hand, a gleaming Harley Davidson Fatboy 1,584cc, designed for the ultimate ride, parked next to my rusty 18-speed MTB on the other. There is no doubt which one is better, but at the same time the Harley would cost more than one thousand times what my bike cost.

The city of Kaohsiung is not a great place for training on a bicycle. One does see quite a few people in full cycling gear on their road bikes, but hopefully they are biking out of town to places where they do not have to compete with traffic. However, I occasionally hear about accidents, and so I am not too keen on going riding, unless I am planning a really long ride. About 50 kms south of Kaohsiung, there are some great roads for riding and it gets better and better the further south one goes.

The bicycle is, however, a great means of transport for getting around the city, for instance when going to the bank, or to the swimming pool, or for shopping in the market. In the above photo, my bicycle is laden with several kilos of potatoes, carrots, onions, apples and bananas. I have bought more this week, as I will try to carbo-load as much as I can in the last few days before the marathon.

This will be a marathon I have not trained for. I just found it very hard to generate the interest to go out and train, feeling that swimming and biking (to the pool and back) are much more suited to my schedule and longer-term goals. I also have to watch for injury when running, having had to drop out of the Ironman once due to knee pain (even though I found the problem had gone the next day). I don't seem to get any injuries swimming (maybe because I swim like a crab), and biking only gives me problems if the bike is too small (as the one I used for the Ironman races was), which puts a strain on my knee when riding long distances. I will wear soft knee braces for the marathon, and I will go slow and do whatever I can to delay the onset of bonking (still not sure whether the race organizers will supply anything other than water). I will carry my own supply of food and Gatorade if needed. I will probably look like some old grandpa, but I am not particularly worried. I have heard Mike O'Reilly call my name before, followed by "You are an Ironman!" Once an Ironman, always one, I guess.

Recently, I have been wondering what it is like to run/walk a marathon in a big city, full of buildings, vehicles and the hustle and bustle of city life. Recently, when I visited the recycling yard where I rescued the bicycle I am now using to get around, I found the owner's cat sound asleep amongst the huge pile of electrical cables that have been sorted to await further collection. The cat at least can make the best of far from idyllic surroundings, and it will be my turn to do the same this weekend. (This cat looks very much like our own. Since this cat lives a little over a mile from us, it might be our cat's older cousin).

Christmas Letter 2009

2009-12-24T07:14:00.001-08:00

In spite of 2009 being a difficult year for many in view of the global economic recession and various natural disasters, this year will certainly be one that we as a family will have many good memories of. It was our second year as a family living in Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan. Jocelyn was able to buy a good bicycle and to discover the joys of riding relatively long distances in sometimes difficult terrain. I myself also bought a "real" mountain bike and one that was the right size for me. In addition, I was able to swim the whole year outdoors in two different 50 meter pools.
Occasionally, Jocelyn and I were able to get away from the city of Kaohsiung, even if it was just for a couple of days a couple of hours away. Both our boys applied to colleges and were accepted, with James going to Surrey, England to study for a BA in filmmaking and photography, and Morrison going to Elmhurst in Illinois to study international business. I was able to work hard throughout the year, mostly from home or wherever else in the neighborhood I felt able to concentrate, and to meet all their tuition, accommodation and general living expenses by the due dates.
In my generally busy life, I was sometimes able to appreciate the beauty of flowers, like these bourgain villea, as well as banana trees. I enjoy eating bananas, and so I am thankful for the many banana trees that flourish in the warm weather here. To try to maintain some balance in life and not let work completely take over, I tried to swim for about one hour per day about five days per week, and also went on quite a few bike rides, mostly with Jocelyn, in addition to using a bike to get around town, usually to the swimming pool, as going to work mostly only involved going up or down stairs.
Jocelyn was able to become increasingly involved in counseling younger women and church ministry activities and to develop her many unique giftings in these areas. She was also able to help with a fairly difficult translation I was given to do, as well as to work for the local city government as a counselor among some of the many indigenous peoples displaced by the disastrous landslides and flooding in the mountains not far away from us in August this year.
Ten years ago, at the start of the new decade, we as a family were still getting used to living in Hawai'i, where we had only been a couple of months, but subsequently stayed for another seven and a half years. When we returned to Taiwan in 2007, James had finished high school, but Morrison still had one year left (of home schooling). At that time and especially for the boys, the future looked somewhat threatening and uncertain. We are pleased with what happened this year, and thankful for having great friends, great supporters (through work) and a great God. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Confucius' Birthday 孔子誕辰日

2009-09-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

As the world was getting ready to go to work on Monday morning, a gathering of faithful disciples of the great sage and teacher Confucius, ceremonial participants and a smallish group of curious onlookers made their way to the Confucius Temple in Tsoying, Kaohsiung to commemorate the day of his birthday about 2,560 years ago.
I was a little in two minds as to whether to go or not. I wasn't sure if the ceremony would be held here and thought it might start very early, say at 4:00 a.m. However, since I could not take good pictures in the dark, I waited until nearly 6:00 a.m. before leaving for the 15 to 20 minute bike ride to get there. I was greeted by this huge gate. Fortunately, the smaller red gates on the left had been opened and in I went.
This brought me into the following courtyard, and another gate. These gates weren't open and I had to go round to the left and enter the Temple forecourt from there.
I thought I might as well have been standing somewhere like the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was about 6:20 a.m. I was told that the ceremony would start at 7:00 a.m. sharp. At least I hadn't missed it.

Just before the 50-minute- long ceremony commenced, various participants took their positions.

The people dressed in red appeared to perform various duties like carrying incense, etc.

The people dressed in yellow appeared to be elementary school children. At least they hopefully can carry on the tradition in the future.

The people in black were modern-day disciples of Confucius, people no doubt who study Confucius' writings in depth. Many of them looked as if they could have been university professors. After all, you almost have to be one to understand the Four Books.
This was the first time I had ever tried to attend this ceremony. Many years ago when I studied Chinese in Taipei, the ceremony there was held very early and there was no way that I could get up at such an unearthly hour.

This is the entrance to the "front gate" from the inside of the courtyard.

I very much liked the mix of colors - red, yellow and black.

When I was a student of Chinese in the early 1980s in Taipei, one of my teachers spent about six months teaching us a lot of passages directly from Confucius' writings in classical Chinese.
I also had a teacher named Kung (孔), who claimed that she was the 75th-generation descendent of Confucius. At least she was somehow able to trace her ancestry that far back. At the time she taught us, she was in her 60s, and was an expert in Chinese literature.
In the past, one of the research institutions where I worked held a conference on "Confucianism and Economic Development". While the evidence isn't conclusive, Confucianism is believed to be partly responsible for the economic success stories of Taiwan and several other Asian countries.

Carrying incense.

In the olden days, these axes would no doubt have been real.

Standing guard on the other side of the gate.

Several "consecrations" were held.

The children who participated posed for a photo afterwards.

I decided to get my photo taken, too, for the record.

Outside the temple complex is a wall with a lot of engaving on it.

This close-up picture of the wall reminds me of Confucius. That is how I imagine he was.

View from a bridge crossing the Lotus Pond. The building on the right is the one where the ceremony was held.

Looking towards Gu Mountain in the other direction from the Confucius temple. Although it was about 8:15 a.m. on a Monday morning, everything seemed so peaceful. Somewhere in the distance, the city of Kaohsiung was bustling with people going about their daily business.

"I would rather be a chicken's head!"

2009-09-14T01:29:00.000-07:00

Not a big running track, but this track at the nearby Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages has a good surface and is completely surrounded by buildings so one doesn't hear the sound of cars. So far I haven't seen people use it (the summer vacation is very hot after all), but I do hope to try out my running shoes here as it gets cooler. I will need to bike home (5 minutes) to have a shower, as I haven't seen those outside showers like we had in Hawaii.

There is a well-known saying in Chinese that states "I’d rather be the head of the chicken rather than the tail of the ox." When I first came to Taiwan, I had not had much work experience before (as in the U.K.), but what particularly surprised me was that most people who gave me name cards had the title of "President" or something similar. Of course, a few might have been big powerful bosses, but the vast majority were "one-man bands" or else very small businesses with just a few family members as employees. However, it was these "small businesspeople" who had a huge part to play in Taiwan's phenomenal economic success story.

The Library at the Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages is less than five minutes by bike from my home. This is a great place to work at in the mornings, although one is never sure of being let in as they limit the number of outsiders who can use it on any given day. However, the library is full of books in French, German, Spanish and Japanese, if only I had the time to read them. If I cannot get in, I can usually bike to the Golden Lion Lake reading room (see below) in at most ten minutes.

When I finished college in England, I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to do as a career, and at the time the only options were to be an employee of any firm that would employ me. Hopefully, the firm I joined would help me further my career, but invariably the firms I joined were at most stepping stones to an uncertain future and were usually quite slippery, meaning that I did not easily make it from one stone to the next.

The Golden Lion Lake, five minutes by bike from my home. This is the view from the bridge I ride across to go to the reading room where I often work late afternoons.

Even in Taiwan, after going back to school for a few years to study Chinese, I looked for a job that would give me a steady paycheck, and while I had some nice working environments (like well a air-conditioned office, and even a plush carpet in one case), I was generally in one of two situations. The first was where I had a steady, not-too-demanding job, but where it was not really possible to save much money or advance my career. The second was where I had a very demanding and challenging job with quite good pay, where I was able to save, but I had little security for the future as I never knew quite what would happen next.

The Golden Lion Lake reading room. This air-conditioned public reading room is open six days a week from about 8:30 am to 7:45 pm. A place I often go to from 5 pm until it closes (when there are few people). I can spread my work out on the table.

I guess that, apart from issues like job fulfillment, pay, career development, etc., I have never been a good team player. In most group activities, whether in paid or voluntary work, I have always tended to be at the far back of the orchestra, and in such situations I have felt frustrated, unable to follow my dreams and have felt my life has been wasted.

Burning paper money to appease the spirits during ghost month. This is so much part of the traditional Taiwanese culture here, that these kinds of fires are being seen all over the place.

So for the time being, I am "doing my own thing" as regards work, supporting my family and preparing for the future. I strategize and make plans on my own, and I mostly work on my own. I am not trying to further the cause of any organization, save my own reputation. I am, however, seeking to pursue excellence in what I do. In fact the work I do is little understood, perhaps not surprisingly since it involves the Chinese language, but I am convinced that if I can keep pace with the new developments constantly taking place, I am confident that as a chicken's head as opposed to an ox's tail, I can still continue to find my way in this increasingly integrated but at times unsteady world.

Tables laid out for an offering during the ghost month outside a temple next to the Golden Lion Lake.

I continue to swim regularly, although with both children now in full-time education, I am currently unable to devote as much time to sports as I would like, and work is often a higher priority. Hopefully, my swimming will not slow down too much before I have the chance to visit Hawai'i again.

Recap on the Last Two Months

2009-08-05T22:53:00.001-07:00

It is over two months since my last blog post. I have recently been posting to Twitter, mostly so that I can write to myself and see what the few people I have been following are up to, maybe unknown to them. Anyway, I am thankful for the few friends who do follow me on Twitter (there is a link on the right), and no doubt they sometimes see my postings.

The main reason I have not posted on this blog is because I have been very busy. There just does not seem to be time to post things, and I sometimes feel bad about posting things, especially if it distracts me from my work. My swimming has been affected, too. While I still swim about 10 km per week, I often swim slowly and seldom feel out of breath, meaning that I go too easy.

A few months ago, our younger son was accepted to study at a college in Chicago (see the previous posting) and soon after that I thought we could just about afford it. Then our elder son attended a UK universities exhibition in our home town in Taiwan and was subsequently accepted by a university in South-East England to start an honors degree program this September. James has often tended to be a last-minute person, and this was no exception. We received the university offer for him only in June.

While this is of course good news, it has put added pressure on me. It's a bit like trying to ride the waves. If you can stay on the board, then it's great, but if the waves overwhelm you, then you sink! I am not one to consider borrowing money (even if it were an option), and so each day I have to be very disciplined with my work (fortunately I don't lack it), to make sure I am doing everything possible to make our children's university dreams a reality.

On this posting I attach a few pictures taken in recent weeks and months to serve as a reminder of some of the more interesting things I have seen or done in an otherwise busy life.

Kaohsiung (in south Taiwan) hosted the 2009 World Games and we attended the opening ceremony with 50,000 other people. This is only a few miles from our home. The wooden canoe is a traditional hand-carved boat used by the Yami indigenous tribe living on Orchid Island off the east coast of Taiwan.

A fisherwoman casts her net into Kaohsiung harbor. In the distance is the tallest building in southern Taiwan (85 storeys). The image is not very sharp as it was late in the day.

View from our rooftop. Not very exciting - naphtha crackers, a congested overpass, and some hills in the distance. Part of life in a big city.

Sunset over Cheng Ching Lake in Kaohsiung. Our home is about one mile behind the building sticking up to the left of the setting sun (the incinerator shown in other pictures below). I see this lake each morning on my way to the pool.

Not the moon, but rather the sun during a partial solar eclipse on July 22 about 9:30 a.m. Taken through 4 pairs of sunglasses on the roof of our house. A little hit and miss!

The gabage incinerator which is a major landmark in our immediate area seen behind a rice field. If you click on the image you will see that is carries an ad for the World Games.

A sign along the bike trail that goes along one side of Cheng Ching Lake, with the words being backlit by the setting sun.

Jocelyn standing with her bike next to two mascots of the Kaohsiung World Games. This was taken near the Love Pier by Kaohsiung Harbor, a place that we can bike to mostly along designated riverside bike routes.

The new wetlands park a few hundred meters from our house. The garbage incinerator is in the opposite direction to our house.
Not sure what these things are, maybe some kind of eggs. At least they have an important part to play in maintaining the ecosystem in these wetlands, something that has been neglected for too long.

Bananas, just yards away from the pink eggs. Grown privately on public land.

A excellent local jazz band performing on a stage set up by the river along which we ride our bikes. Well worth stopping to listen.

Jocelyn and me in our cycling gear on the sea wall having just arrived too late to watch the sunset over the ocean next to Kaohsiung's National Sun Yat-Sen University.

We are not doing anything special this summer, just spending time with the boys mostly at home as they get ready for the adventure of their lives. Hopefully, as time passes and more work gets done, there will be a little time to relax later.

Living the American Dream - in the U.S.!

2009-06-02T01:21:00.001-07:00

On the way to the U.S. (Don't worry, the cards have either expired or are samples used as fridge magnets!)

Many of us have grown up dreaming of living the American Dream, including myself. As a teenager, I used to regularly play golf with a couple of American friends who were living with their families in England because their fathers worked with U.S. organizations based in London. At university when studying economics, I found that much of the economics literature was written by Americans, and while I at times dreamed of one day going there to live, it all seemed a little beyond my reach.

For our younger son, Morrison, the dream may be a little easier to realize than it was for me, since I did not first set foot in the United States until I was nearly 40. Morrison visited the U.S. for a few months when he was four, and then in 5th grade when he was 10 went there where he graduated from Kahakai Elementary School, Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, and spent in total almost 8 years of his life in Hawai'i.

Morrison on a beach in Taitung, East Taiwan (photo taken by his brother James)

At the end of our time in Hawai'i, Morrison still had one more year of high school, and upon our return to Taiwan, things looked a little uncertain. Life was also a little hard for Morrison at that time, as he had to leave all his good friends in Hawai'i and complete his high-school studies by correspondence. Having been home schooled for almost all of his teenage years, would he be accepted into a U.S. college? There were also other things like SAT scores that he had to concern himself about. I myself had not paid much attention to these issues and even wondered if he could take these tests on Taiwan.

Morrison on Mount Alishan, Central/Southern Taiwan (photo taken by his mother)

When Morrison attended a small cooperative school in Hawai'i at around the age of 12, the teachers looked at each child and chose a character trait to describe what it was that each child had that caused him or her to excel. For Morrison, the character trait was "Determination". During the last two years in Taiwan, Morrison was certainly determined. In spite of a very laid back life in Hawai'i during his mid-teen years when his school performance was very so-so (homeschooling often seemed to be "no schooling"), Morrison's grades improved year by year and, even in subjects he found difficult, he managed to complete his assignments on time and get good grades. To prepare for the SAT test, he bought a large book full of practice tests and would sit in the local library for three hours at a time doing practice tests. While his written English (understandably) may have left a little to be desired, his Math scores got higher and higher.

Morrison applied to three U.S. colleges and was accepted by all of them. After careful deliberation, Morrison settled on Elmhurst College in Illinois where he will read for a B.A. in International Business starting this fall. Last week Morrison went to the American Institute in Taiwan to be interviewed for his student visa and now he has that, the next step will be to book a flight to Chicago some time in August.

Elmhurst College - Langhorst Football Field (Courtesy of the National Athletic Testing System)

Studying in the U.S. is not cheap, even though Morrison fortunately was able to secure a more generous scholarship than I had expected, given our circumstances. However, as a parent, I am confident that the money that I invest in Morrison over these next few years will be well worth it, as I know from being around him all these years that he is very careful with money, and he is also someone who can be entrusted with other people's money. In Hawai'i, a few of his friends for certain periods of time actually left some of their savings with him for safekeeping, to make sure that the money would otherwise not be spent when they were saving up for things like relatively expensive overseas trips.

Elmhurst College, Illinois, established in 1871 as a seminary, and today offering a liberal arts education. About 10 miles from Wheaton College and about 40 minutes from the middle of Chicago.

Of course, just going to America does not guarantee success, and one can be successful in all kinds of places, particularly in Taiwan as I in a small way have discovered for myself. However, as anyone who has lived in the U.S. for a length of time will realize, the United States is a land of opportunity, a land that treats people with due respect, regardless of their ethnicity, color or religious beliefs, a land which values the liberty of the individual, and a land in which one can easily make a lot of friends.

As for me, the U.S. is a country that I feel I can be a part of without being one of its citizens (which I might well be if the process was a little easier!). During my eight years there, I could relate to what was going on, from the 9-11 tragedy, to Katrina, to the sporadic campus shootings, as well as to the more successful events like the return to earth of the space shuttle or the inauguration of the nation's first black president, Barack Obama. However, I am also European, and have lived much of my life (and continue to live) in Taiwan, and so I guess I will visit the U.S. for relatively short trips from now on. I hope that the next few years that Morrison spends in the U.S. attending college will be enjoyable and will help prepare him for whatever lies ahead, wherever that may be.

Morrison doing what he enjoys - skateboarding - somewhere in Southern Taiwan (photo taken by his brother or one of those with him at the time!)

Biking for Health and Pleasure

2009-05-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

What does one need to enjoy biking on a regular basis? Well, a bicycle, I guess, but also a nice environment that is easily accessible from home in which to ride, relatively safe and uncongested roads, as well as dry and not too cold weather. In Niaosong, Kaohsiung county, it is possible to enjoy riding in this way. It takes less than 15 minutes to cycle from our home to this point on the edge of Cheng Ching Lake. In what follows, Jocelyn and I will show you that biking can be a rewarding and healthful experience.

If you are not too familiar with a bike course, a map is helpful and if you don't like carrying a map with you, one etched in stone by the roadside is just as good. This map describes the bike course around Cheng Ching Lake. One loop is a little under five miles. The red lines refer to an exclusive lane for bikes. This unfortunately does not extend the whole way round, but at least it's a start.

Since the bike course goes round a large lake, for about one-third of the ride (mostly downhill in this direction), one can see the lake to the right. Air temperatures close to large expanses of water like this are a few degrees lower, and the view is certainly good for the eyes.

When riding here it is not necessary to wear a face mask, although there are parts of the course, as well as parts of the ride to and from home, where one has to interact with quite a lot of traffic during rush hours. While this is part of the price that has to be paid for living in a big city, at least the contact with dust and internal combustion engines can be kept to a minimum.

To make the ride more pleasant, it is important to have good equipment. A bell is important as occasionally people are so taken in by the scenery that they fail to keep their eyes focused on what lies ahead of them, including oncoming cyclists.

The seat on the bicycle should be designed with the rider in mind, like this one was.

It is necessary to carry water on any bike ride, and the bike should have a bottle cage to allow a water bottle to remain firmly in place (as shown elsewhere), and accessed while on the move.

Bikes no longer come in "one size fits all". It is necessary to find the perfect fit for you. Giant bicycles in Taiwan have come up with a bicycle that is "women specific" and this particular model is designed for the smaller rider. This frame is made of aluminum.

With a good set of gears (in this case Shimano SLX), there are few hills (barring parts of Kaloko Drive in Kona, Hawaii) that one should not be able to ride.

Front suspension will make for a smooth ride when the going gets rough. Disc brakes appear to be the 'in thing", although I find the traditional types of brakes are just as good.

A mirror is a good investment, and saves one having to constantly turn one's head.

Lights are of course important at night, and a lubrication system built into the bicycle should keep the cables in good order.

A speedometer/odometer provides much valuable information on any ride.

About one kilometer into the ride, one passes three pavilions and one can also get a good view of the Grand Hotel on the other side of the lake.

The three pavilions area is an excellent place for watching the sunset. as the sun comes down on the opposite side of the lake as one looks out.

The Grand Hotel from a distance.

A bike helmet should be worn at all times even in warm weather. This one fits well (and is not cheap!) and has good air vents. Its white color is also less likely to absorb the heat.

Here one can see that the bike path is separated from the road by something resembling a 4"x4" piece of wood. The only criticism that could be leveled against the path is that is gets somewhat narrower than this in places, which might encourage some people to just ride on the road instead, which can of course be done, too.

As one turns at the bottom of the lake one sees a huge expanse of water. From this point on, one has to share the road with the other vehicles for about half a mile, but then after that there are more bike paths.

The Grand Hotel is a very famous piece of architecture in Kaohsiung and well worth a visit. After passing the hotel there are more rolling hills and relatively little traffic except in the height of the rush hour.

If one keeps following the route depicted on the map, one will eventually get back to where one started. Since this point where I (pictured) am standing is very close to the swimming pool, I not only biked today, but also swam about one mile in the pool, too. Not a bad workout. Maybe I could add in a short run as well.

A Different Mother's Day

2009-05-11T02:44:00.000-07:00

This year, the day before Mother's Day, I found these roses at the local market. Before I gave them to my wife, Jocelyn, I took this photo of them as a souvenir.

Sometimes holidays give rise to conflicts of schedules, and being very busy these days, I am always a little apprehensive about participating in organized activities, for fear of falling even further behind schedule. Besides, on Saturday night the streets were packed with people going out to eat for Mother's Day, and I immediately imagined myself waiting at the entrance of some crowded restaurant on a noisy and traffic-congested street for more than an hour before we could get served.

So I heaved a sigh of relief when my family members suggested we go for a bicycle ride as a family on Mother's Day late in the afternoon when it would be a good time to take a break from the busyness of life, anyway. The idea was to more or less follow the river which runs only a few hundred yards from our house all the way until it hits the ocean at the other end of the city. In recent years, the local government has expended much effort in constructing bike paths, and it is more or less possible to ride on these paths for miles, usually next to a river (or a lake if one goes in the direction of where I swim in the mornings), with only minimal interaction with motorized transport.
We did not leave home until about 5:30 p.m., and after one or two detours (like where we were on the "wrong" side of the river and there were repairs being made to the bike path), we soon found that the otherwise bright and sunny day was quickly coming to an end. At this point looking down the river we were about two-thirds of the way to our destination (had we gone directly there).

We stopped close to where the Love River meets the ocean to take a few photos and decide on where we were going to eat. Like many of our trips, little had been planned. I kind of like things that way, i.e., a bit more spontaneous.

With less and less light, my little camera was becoming less capable of getting a clear shot, and fortunately James had his new camera with him, a Canon with a 30 mm F 1.4 lens, for those in the know.

As we waited there, the lights on buildings started to come on. I could still get a few reasonably good shots on my camera, because there was still quite a bit of daylight left.

However, without a a bigger and better camera, the above shot would not have been possible. I took it, although James set it up manually first. I should have brought a tripod.

In this picture we can see the four bikes we rode. Only mine on the far left, is a "real" bicycle. Even with gear on it and its much larger size, it still weighs a couple of kilos less than Jocelyn's bicycle. Maybe it is time to find Jocelyn a "real" bike.

After these pictures, we rode about another kilometer to the Fishermen's Wharf in Kaohsiung, which as its name implies is part of the port of Kaohsiung. (This was taken with my "little" camera, which was possible because the lights were very bright.) To get there were rode down a street full of small stores with names in various Asian languages, no doubt to serve the many foreigners who work on the boats.

This was the view (also taken with my camera) that we had as we ate a nutritious meal in an oceanside restaurant. However, instead of getting on one of these boats, we together rode (for about one hour) the 11 kilometers we needed to travel to get home, most of which was along the river and the nice bike paths built for this purpose.

The Impossible Dream

2009-04-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

50 meters of outdoor pool open all year round

As I have been going to swim each morning, or at least most mornings, I have looked down the 50m pool and wondered just how fast I could swim a length if I especially trained for it. I remember in 1997 not long after recovering from illness that, at the end of a life-saving training session, I dived in another 50m outdoor pool in Taipei and swam the length in about 50 seconds. At the time, I told one of the instructors about it and he said that for us ordinary folk that was quite good, although of course for good swimmers it was really slow.

Now I can swim the same distance with a dive into the pool in about 40 seconds, and I often will have a go as I finish a 3,000 m workout and am warmed up for it. The world record is somewhere around 21 seconds (20.94 if Frederick Bousquet's recent record in France holds). For my age group, the qualifying time for USMS Nationals is apparently around 32 seconds. So getting my time down from about 40 seconds to about 32 seconds may be impossible or possible depending on which way you look at it.

I would really like to have the chance to qualify in some freestyle distance for the USMS Nationals. I think one of the main reasons is that there is a tendency for people to think that if you were not a good and fast swimmer when young, then you will never be able to become one when you are older. In my case, I did not break 50 seconds for this distance (LCM) until I was "over the hill" in my forties. In addition, in life I have had my share of setbacks and negative feedback, etc. and so to accomplish something, even if only small, will be all the more worthwhile.

So what have I got going for me? Besides having a pool to practice in (even though it is probably not a "fast" one), I have the advantage of height (1m 92s). While I still look like a shrimp compared with some of the "big boys" (who are often almost two meters and much more strongly built), at least I can get stronger through training, although I cannot make myself any taller. I also have fairly big feet and hands, which while a curse when one goes to a shoe shop, may possibly help if I can learn to use them to my advantage.

Currently, I am not very well coordinated on my 50m training "sprints". I can usually do a fairly good dive, but I am still experimenting with the dolphin kick (like they do in the big races) to get further up the pool before actually using my arms. Then I am not sure whether to take short, rapid strokes with my arms, or to fully extend them and take longer strokes with more glide. My breathing seems to be erratic, like 10 strokes then one breath, then 6 strokes, then 2 strokes, etc., etc. I can feel myself slowing down and struggling half way through the swim.

Well, all these things can be overcome, just as can flip turns. When swimming 100 meters where I need to turn, I can flip over so that I lie on my back as I push off the wall. However, often my push is so weak that I must have almost come to a complete stop.

Anyway, there are plenty of things I can work on, and it is well worth the effort. It is a great feeling to go down the pool and find out that a second was knocked off one's previous best time.
Another reason for focusing on the short distances is because in the past I have always tended to train for much longer distances. While I have developed a lot of stamina, I have always tended to be slow, and I could rarely pick up the pace in a short race (like a short Peaman or Mango sprint). So even if in the end I cannot reach the USMS qualifying standard, my overall performance in a "short" race with a swim of up to half a mile should be improved.

Second by second, pressing toward the goal

Swimming Alone in Taiwan

2009-04-15T01:51:00.001-07:00

What do all these pictures have in common? The answer is that I am the only person in the 50 meter pool. This is a regular occurrence, since most of the few people that swim here are out of the water by 7:45 a.m. and I usually stay another half hour to "finish" my training. This is something I never could have dreamed of when I left Hawai'i almost two years ago - being able to swim all year round in a 50 meter outdoor pool, just 4.5 kms from our home mostly along quiet, scenic roads by bicycle, Kona weather all year round, except December and January when it is slightly cooler here, but still swimmable outside if one is mentally prepared for it. However, what about all this swimming alone?

Many years ago, I heard the story of someone who had stopped talking, not that he couldn't speak, but he felt that by not talking he would be less likely to say something bad and offend someone. Better to keep quiet than to start an argument or else be accused of being a gossip. Likewise, reclusivity may be a virtue. Just focus on yourself and live life for yourself, and spend lots of time training and reviewing your training.

Well, at times life may be like that (being on my own, etc.), especially after leaving Hawai'i and having to say goodbye to many good training buddies. There is the whole issue of culture shock when one relocates, not shock from an unfamiliar culture in my case (because I was just returning "home"), but having to start all over again, getting to know people, finding interesting things to do, etc., and discovering that people like those crazy friends that I trained with before don't seem to exist here (at least there are very few that I have the chance to meet).

Of course, nowadays we have blogs and Facebook, and so at least it is possible to keep in touch and share photos and video clips, etc. It is such an improvement over just using the telephone. And by keeping in touch, it is possible to plan trips to exotic places like Hawai'i to train and race with friends, and while a trip may be expensive, overall one still saves money as it is usually a lot cheaper living somewhere else the rest of the year.

As for my own training, in March I generally swam between 1,500m and 2,000m each day roughly six days per week, and this month I have upped the distances to between 2,000m and 2,500m per day. Not a lot, but I need to work harder this year than last as our boys are going to further their education overseas. While an extra 1,000m may not take that long in the water (even for me), I am more concerned about the onset of sleep later in the day when I am supposed to be getting things done. Still, I can't complain, I still feel as if I am retired, only that I have to be very careful with time.

I have benefited a great deal from the freestyle teaching video prepared by Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, who continues to be a great inspiration as she breaks more Masters' records. My workouts start out with a longish warm-up, followed by relaxed sets as I slowly build up speed. However, instead of getting out once I have covered a certain distance, I usually like to finish with a 100m or 50m at at least 90 percent effort. That is the highlight of the day, and puts me in good stead for the work I do later in the morning, which requires a lot of mental concentration.

I have recently made friends with a cardiologist I see at church. Don't quote me on this, but when I asked questions like: "Will I have a heart attack as a result of going flat out on a 50 meter sprint?" he appears to be of the opinion that as long as I train regularly this would be extremely unlikely, and when the unimaginable does happen, it may be due to a problem with the heart that existed at birth. Anyway, it is important to train regularly and consistently and to warm up well at each workout. I have not had any shoulder discomfort this year and had very little last year even with longer distances.

In closing, after writing this, I am not so keen on becoming a recluse, and I do have a few good swimming friends here - someone had to take the pictures. So while it may not be so easy to train together, at least we can train and follow each others' blogs and maybe have the chance to race against each other in the not-too-distant future.
The pool is occasionally used by other people, like this Saturday morning. The children are mostly in elementary school and belong to a swim club. They are training for a meet and are all pretty good.

Alishan's Cherry Blossoms 阿里山的櫻花季

2009-03-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

On March 9 & 10, we went on a family trip to Alishan in Chiayi County in central/southern Taiwan. Well, it was supposed to be a family outing, but James sprained his foot badly the day before and the doctor advised him to stay home. So just three of us went. We can always go again some time.

The real start to our adventure, as you will see below.

This little diesel train, and another further up the hill, were going to spend the next four hours transporting us to our destination.

The early stages of the train ride. Normal weather and plenty of betel nut trees (a cash crop that is not environmentally or medically friendly).About half way (a little above one thousand meters) and above one set of clouds. Morrison is already warmly dressed.

Somewhere in the middle of the trip we had to change trains which involved a 15-minute walk over hilly and muddy trails - all because of a landslide some time ago that broke the line in two.

As the afternoon wore on, we would occasionally see some nice cloud formations (now about 1,600 meters)

After we reached the end of the journey and our hotel at 2,200 meters and about 7 degrees celsius, we went out to eat our evening dinner - hot pot!The next morning we were up early and joined a prearranged tour that would take us to see the sunrise.

Two of the many sacred trees that we saw during our stay.

We were fortunate to see the sun as not every morning is clear.

The scenery up here (at 2,700 meters) is a lot different from what one usually has at sea level.

Some trees made people look like midgets.

The cherry blossoms that we saw later the same morning were the highlight of our trip, the icing on the cake as it were.

Hsiu-chin even had the clothes to match!

Many people have seen Christmas trees with lights, but they cannot compare with a Tokyo cherry tree like this. (To see the flowers more clearly, click to enlarge image.)

This tree was located next to the Alishan hotel (which we did not stay at, but would consider doing so another time)

These blossoms are unbelievable (thanks Morrison for the pic)

Blossoms by the roadside.

There are trees everywhere and also a lot of blossoms.Two generations at the three-generation tree.

Certainly a nice place for a walk! We did not have a lot of time, unfortunately, at at this point we had to make plans to get back the the hotel to check out.

The 21st largest tree in the forest here. This one is still standing.

This sacred tree, after a life of two thousand years, in recent years (with the help of an earthquake) finally bit the dust. One wonders of the struggles that the ones still living are having to face just to survive in this day and age.

Sadly, the prearranged tour had us taken down the mountain in a 9-seater van. Had I been traveling the usual way I travel, I would have just got on this train instead (at Fenchihu station).

After we go back to the old Chiayi station, we caught a bus which took 20 minutes to reach Chiayi's high speed rail station. Then, we rode the shinkansen for 35 minutes. After another 10 minutes we were back home. I really think we need to go again. We did not see it all.

Another New Computer

2009-03-08T05:04:00.000-07:00

The addition of a new PC (a BenQ Joybook), was in my mind a necessary addition to complement the better quality MacBook that I also recently bought.

Not long ago I posted an article about a new MacBook that I had bought and compared it with the aging computers that I had previously been using. The other day, I bought another new computer, not to replace the MacBook, but to complement it. It is a PC Notebook, with a 13.3" screen (the same size as the MacBook). I had toyed with the idea of getting a "mini Netbook" (with about a 10" screen), but ended up getting this one, a BenQ Joybook S31VW-T27, at a special price (just under US$500 dollars). The reason it was so cheap was that it was a demo model in a large store. So maybe there is a little risk involved there, but the price I paid included a 3-year guarantee. The 10" screen PC is the craze at the moment, and a lot of people "follow the crowd". However, they are also around US$500 and, besides being "ergonomically challenging" (if that is the right expression), they are relatively weak. There is only so much stuff you can squeeze into such a small space.

This tree, which is situated next to the swimming pool I go to each morning, provides great shade from the strong sunshine we have had recently. There are wooden tables and benches next to it where I can work in the mornings.

My reason for buying the PC was that I occasionally have to do work that cannot easily be done on a Mac, and while I did install XP Home on the Mac, it does not work well, and so I just decided to get an extra computer. In addition, I plan to travel on longish trips by bike and I want to take a computer with me, as I need to carry a mobile office with me. Should something happen to this new PC (which runs on Windows Vista) on a trip, at least I will know there is another machine waiting for me when I get back home.

This pond lies next to the entrance into which I turn to ride the last few hundred meters to the swimming pool (along the road shown below). Views like this, seen from a bicycle, certainly help me relax. This pond is 4.4 kms away from our house.

Being slightly more than one-third of the price of the MacBook, the PC has some shortcomings compared to the MacBook, one being that the Mac is a lot better for playing Youtube videos, even though I am using the same ADSL cables at home. The Mac appears to be able to get a lot more power/receptivity out of a weakish Internet signal as it were. The Mac is ideal for blogging and editing photos and movies, for typing Japanese, etc., and so I doubt I will bother to use the PC for this. However, sometimes the Mac will reject a research paper with a lot of mathematical equations, etc., whereas the PC seems to be much better designed for this. A Taiwan PC is also better for handling documents in Chinese since the operating system is in Chinese, whereas Chinese to the Mac is just one of the many foreign languages.

As a friend remarked, the cherry blossoms are really nice. My family and I will go to see more of them soon.

The BenQ brand may not be known much outside Taiwan, but here their computers are well-known for their good looks. After all, the insides of the computer are often much the same whatever brand you get. It has an Intel core duo chipset. Not a high-ranking one, because the machine is about one year old already. This 13.3" model is also no longer made. A pity in my opinion (for other people, that is). A 12.1" notebook has a narrower keyboard (which is a factor I consider) and the now popular 14.1" model is a tighter fit in a pannier bag on the back of a bike. Now at least my MacBook and PC being the same size can share the same carrying cases and sleeves, etc.

The building on the right serves as the entrance to the outdoor 50m swimming pool. Because these private grounds are all part of a "youth activity center", there are a lot of activities like camping and get togethers for school children of all ages. So when the kids come, they really like to live it up. (Click to enlarge photo)

One word of advice when choosing/buying a computer. First, see what is available locally in case there are some good buys. Then go home and do some homework on the Internet, trying to read reviews, and finding out current prices and specifications. Then ask the sales clerk to switch it on and check things like the screen (for unusual lines, etc.) and the keyboard (in case kids have played games on it in the store). If you can make your mind up, then you won't be easily talked into buying a newer model or something you don't really need at a significantly higher price. This computer was the "last one" they had left of that line, and I think most people passed it by. If I get two or three years of good use out of it, I will certainly feel I got my money's worth.

This is a map (by the side of the road opposite the youth activity center) of the "Niaosong Bike Path". The red line refers to a separate path that is only for bikers and pedestrians. The youth activity center and the swimming pool are located about 1/3 of the way down the red path to the right.

Relaxed Freestyle Swimming

2009-03-01T04:26:00.000-08:00

Cheng Ching Lake at about 7:00 a.m., which is about the time I reach the swimming pool.

February, being only 28 days this year, went especially quickly. At the end of January the pool temperature was still a chilly 66F. A few days ago, it had reached 78F, before falling to 76F today. So the winter appears to be past here, and the weather is generally very pleasant without being too hot.

Alongside much of the lake pictured above, is a separate bike path, designed to keep bicycles and other road users separate. That is my new bike on display there.

My swims in the last few weeks have typically ranged between 1,500m and 2,100m, maybe not a lot, but I have often not wanted to get too tired from swimming, as I have been busy most of the rest of the time. Life often appears to require trying to excel in a number of different areas, and for me swimming is only one of them.

While this path is intended for bikes, the surface appears perfect for running, and there are distance markers.

So, while I may not have been quite as fit as in times past, I have been compensating for this by trying to improve my freestyle swimming technique, and that means swimming as relaxed as possible (and often fairly slowly) as I think about and work on issues like breathing, head position, extending and pausing before taking the pull, and so on. While I don't attend swim classes here, I am constantly working through what I remember of the Swimming 101 classes I attended with Steve Borowski in Hawaii as well as some of the recent variations in my swimming technique that I have been learning from Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen.

On seeing these pictures with the blossoms and leaves on the ground (the pool is about 100m up this road), one would not think that the temperature when I took them was about 87F.

Timing is very important in swimming, and not just when one breathes. In particular, it is very important to learn just how much to pause after extending the hand and shoulder forward. Pausing before pulling does not mean one is wasting time. Even if the forward hand stops momentarily, one is still gliding in the water, and getting ready for a more powerful stroke.
As I swim each morning, I do attach a lot of importance to trying to relax. My life as it is is relatively stressful already, and when swimming it is easy to feel uptight, to feel "slow" and to worry. However, I find that if I relax, say, by taking the first half of the workout very easy, then it is much easier to crank things up later. Then, some of those shorter swims (like a 50 or a 100) feel barely moderate, with long smooth strokes, and the end result is a time which is equally as good as that hard swim only a couple of weeks ago.

The two tables here just behind and overlooking the swimming pool is an excellent place to get some work done before returning home in the mornings. Often one just has the birds for company.

My flip turns are a lot more relaxed now and at least in most cases I keep on going. I still have a little difficulty judging exactly how close I need to be to the wall when I flip, so I sometimes don't managed to plant my feet squarely on the wall, or else get a fairly weak push. However, it is coming, and since I am only occasionally getting water up my nose, I am tending to flip turn more often. Today most of my turns are flip turns where the intention (not always realized) is to push off the wall while lying horizontally on my back.

One reason I feel more relaxed is because my new mountain bike is so much more comfortable to ride than the old bikes (which are too small for me) that I had been using to get around town. It is a 15-min ride to the pool and about that coming back, so while I may not be doing any serious cycling, I am at least on the bike every day. The scenery close to the pool is particularly beautiful and I get to experience this just about every day.

The grounds of the youth activity center which houses the swimming pool are not always quiet. One day last week all these high-school students had an activity here.

On the subject of bikes, I passed a small bike store today and noticed that they had two "Argon 18" road bikes for sale (unfortunately way too small for me). However, I did ask the repairman there where they were made (Central Taiwan) and he gave me the name of the company. I don't know if they could make me a 61cm tri-bike frame, so I could get back to some road racing. One of my greatest triathlon heroes (or heroines) rides an Argon 18, and so surely if I was to get one, I would get a lot of respect wherever I go. Maybe the bike's name isn't important, but in many ways it is.

Bicycles serve many purposes, one being to transport heavy metal objects. In this case, the metal was on its way to a recycling center.

Installing a Bike Rack on an MTB

2009-02-19T19:31:00.000-08:00

My MTB now has a sturdy aluminum bike rack firmly in place.

I am pleased to say that I have finally bought and installed a sturdy bike rack on the back of my new mountain bike. This means that I can now buy appropriate pannier bags to hold all the things I would need for long-distance traveling, both in Taiwan and overseas.

Buying a rack was quite troublesome as when I visited a few of the many bike shops in Kaohsiung, I was constantly told that my bike could not hold a rack (as there were no special holes for it in the frame near the middle of the back wheel). I almost got to the point of ordering a rack from the US which would have cost significantly more than twice as much as what I ended up paying here (US$28 which included the bits necessary to attach it firmly to the bike). In my opinion, while the US version is a good invention designed to deal with the problem faced by many MTB's with rear wheel disk brakes or no holes for screwing on racks, I believe my rack is a lot sturdier and although it says "Max 25 kgs", I bet I could probably sit on it without it breaking, although I won't do so just in case, which would just create unnecessary work.

Tin plate "plastic pipe" clips, bolts, washers and nuts, duck tape and strips of old inner tube rubber were combined together to securely attach the rack to the frame where there were no previously built-in bike rack holes.

After seeing someone else's bike where a rack had been fitted with a little improvisation, I first went to a few stores to find a rack that would fit well, given a few "extras". The "extras" essentially turned out to be two 3/4" "Omega" shaped clips (pictured) made of tin plate or galvanized iron (白鐵) bought in any hardware store that are usually used by plumbers to secure plastic piping to the wall. I ended up using the 3/4" size because I estimated that my rear "forks" on my bike are roughly 3/4" in diameter. I wrapped one of these clips on each side of the bike and put the long rod of the bike rack which had a hole near the bottom in between the two ends of the clip (it so happens that the weight of the rack almost rests directly above the bike frame and is not that much dependent on the clip - there is a small gap that could be stuffed with rubber as a precaution in case a gorilla tries sitting on the rack), and passed an appropriately sized bolt through the three holes which I secured with a washer and nut. To protect my precious bike frame, I wrapped (blue) duck tape around the affected area and placed a strip of rubber cut out of an old inner tube on the inside of the clip to make a snug, rattle-proof and shockproof fit. Being a novice in this area, I spent quite a lot of time adjusting the various places where adjustments could be made to the positioning of the rack to ensure that the rack was perfectly horizontal when the bike was in the upright position (I used a split level to test this), and that, as far as possible, the back wheel was centered in the middle of the rack. I also loosened the bike stand to accommodate the clip on the left side and retightened it, which was not a problem, despite being told before that I would have to remove the stand completely. One area where I was a little lucky was that, I only narrowly missed intefering with the V-brake mechanism due to one of the rods at the front of the bike rack. Some adjustment is possible here, but not a lot.

The bike rack I bought is made of aluminum, just like the bike frame. I forgot to check its weight, but it was somewhat lighter than some of the cheaper models despite its relatively intricate design. It is certainly less than one kilo.

The bike feels a little heavier now, because I have also added a "tool" bag under the back seat which has an inner tube, a multi-function tool, a front light if and when needed, tire levers, patches and glue and a few other loose tools as deemed necessary. The CD reflector is quite a common sight here, and I just bored a small hole into it and used a nut and bolt and washer to hold it in place as there are holes built into the back end of the rack.

The bike shop (one of the many "Giant" retail stores) where I purchased the rack also has several varieties of panniers, including a relatively expensive set that is "plastic coated". Something 100% waterproof will be essential. It may not rain much here, but when it does, it pours, and some parts of the island have little cover.

Before venturing on a trip, in particular one requiring airline travel, I need to learn how to get the bike into a cardboard bike box. While I have fixed bikes a lot in the past, I have yet to take off the handlebars, and need a good pedal-removing tool. I don't know if I will need to take the forks off. The less I take off, the better. I will also have to decide what to do with the bike box at the other end. For instance, if I ride in Japan I will still need a cardboard bike box when I return home. So, as yet, I don't know if I can just pick one up for free that is being discarded by a bike shop (as you can in Taiwan), or whether I have to "hide" it somewhere near the airport to use again later, or whether the airline will take care of providing a box for the return journey for a fee. Anyway, I certainly don't want to carry a hard case, for I want to get on the bike in the airport and start riding there.

Long rides will, however, be on hold for now, as my work is particularly busy at this time of year, and with the economic recession looming and currency depreciation, etc., I want to make hay while the sun shines. Still, I will try to plan trips in the meantime, by studying maps and finding out where the interesting places are.

The CD provides an effective reflector at little or no cost. However, it also is symbolic of the times in which we live. In future, when I go on long trips, I will carry a notebook computer, a flash drive (to use for printing files in 7-ELEVEN stores), a digital camera (to prepare .jpg files of any documents needing to be sent as well as maintain a travel log/blog), and a cell phone (at least in Taiwan). I won't attach a navigator on the handlebars, but I will research the next day's journey, ideally with the use of the Internet, wherever I stay in the evening.

Have Bike, Will Travel

2009-02-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

Not a particularly fancy looking bike, but that may make it a little less easy to catch the eye of a potential thief. The main reason I bought this bike was that it was the only one more or less my size that I could find. The reflectors in the wheels is actually a legal requirement here in Taiwan, although you rarely ever see them used.

It may not be the most expensive bike on the market (cost a little over $400 new), but at least it is more or less my size, and besides being able to get to the swimming pool and back a little more comfortably, I will also be able to go for longer rides. The bike is a GT Avalanche 2.0 "hardtail" with an aluminum frame. For the technically minded, it has a seat tube measuring 21.4 inches, the effective top tube length is 24.33 inches (fairly generous for a tall person), and the standover height is 31.41 inches, high enough but without having to slant the bike when dismounting. A little like my training shoes, it is not suitable for the average-sized person, and also not very easy to ride off on unless you are at least six feet tall.

The rear derailleur is the Shimano Deore variety. This is a fairly "basic model". I would have preferred to buy a similar GT bike with a more expensive set of gears. However, I am not using this for racing (yet, anyway) and maybe one day in the future I will be able to find something better (like a good road bike).

The bike is "designed in California, USA". This is what in many ways gives the bike its value. While Taiwan is very good at making things, the perception at least locally is that things made (or at least designed) in Japan or the United States are better (and usually a lot more expensive, too). A bike is actually just a collection of different parts, and the more one pays for a bike, the more that these parts are designed or manufactured in places like the U.S., Italy, Japan, etc.

I am not particularly up-to-date with modern gadgets (except for my new Macbook), and so it may be a surprise to some to say that this is the first bike I have ridden where you can actually see what gear you are in. In the past, it was always a matter of glancing towards the back wheel. I have no idea how good the wheels are. At least, being black, I won't see the rust too quickly. The dealer who sold me the bike put a thick front tire on it. If I go on a long trip I will probably put a thinner, smoother one on. Anyway, it's just a tire. I don't know if the stem or whatever it is that connects the handlebars to the frame is the longest available. Anyway, it seems pretty good as it is. Maybe there is a little room to lengthen it or push the seat a wee bit back. The bike's brakes are just the "V" kind. The modern fashion in Taiwan is to use disk brakes. However, as long as they work, then that's fine. In Kona I did not use brakes a lot, as I tried to keep moving.

The seat pictured separately is a fi'zi:k "Vitesse". It was a gift that came with the bike. I am not sure what it is worth. Usually any old seat has worked fine with me. Maybe this is the seat I need for long rides.

Until I unwrapped the bike after it was delivered (I got it via the Internet from Taipei!), I was still worried that they would send me the wrong size, even though the ad clearly said it was XL and I specifically asked for that. So you can imagine my relief when I found the "XL" sticker on it. Still, I did get a tape measure out to measure the seat tube length just to make sure.

The Ironman helmet did not come with the bike. It is one I bought at Costco in Kaohsiung a few months ago, but still haven't worn (I just wear an older one). Now I will be able to get my bike clothing out and put on my new helmet and I'll be ready to go.

Not pictured are the various gadgets that I will consider getting to make the bike appropriate for long-distance riding. First and foremost is a bike rack which can be attached at the back. Then I will be able to get various bags, like panniers, etc., drink bottle holders, quality lights, and so on. Maybe I'll end up spending a few hundred dollars just on those things.

If any of you want to bike Taiwan in the summer (beaches, mountains, gorges, etc.), you could come over, buy a bike here (as long as you are not my height), travel around, and then take the bike home where you can use it to do X-terra, Maui in the fall. I could be your guide....

Review of Freestyle Technique

2009-02-04T00:40:00.000-08:00

This is a simple clip, but at least enough to give me something to think about. This may not be how I always swim, as I did this rather hurriedly after a fairly hard 2,100 meters. Still, the camera is a very good way in which we can see what we are doing.

In spite of swimming a lot of meters much of last year, my swimming slackened in December and January as I grappled with water temperatures sometimes in the low 60s together with the fact that I was very busy with work - the recession has not hit me yet.

I was swimming at my best around early October last year, and for distances around 100m and 200m I appeared to set my best times perhaps ever. However, I switched pools in late October (from an indoor 25m pool to an outdoor lane-divider-less 50m pool) and I started studying the freestyle swimming technique taught by Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen of Aquatic Edge.

Everything felt strange at first, and I balked at the idea of doing a flip turn where I would have to lie on my back underwater - a sure recipe for a lot of water up your nose or, worse, a crash into the bottom of the shallow pool! However, I persevered and things started to look good, although I became a lot slower.

Then the cold weather came followed by a cold a little before Christmas that decimated me. I literally lost about 10 percent of whatever muscle mass I had built up in the space of a few days. I still have not got it back.

Anyway, hopefully the winter is over now and I can increase the yardage and not feel all weakish from the effects of the cold for most of the morning after the swim. I will also pay attention to doing a little weightbearing exercise at home, and use the Stretchcordz, etc. Hopefully, I will get my times down somewhat over the next few months. Never give up, it is never to late to learn!

The Bike Predicament

2009-02-03T05:51:00.000-08:00

The Fuji Tahoe SL hardtail MTB is made in Taiwan with its 21-inch aluminum frame size (with an effective top tube length of 24.8 inches) would apparently cost about US$2,100 in the U.S., but at least 15% less in Taiwan if it were made available here. This is the bike I would use to tour Taiwan and Japan.

I sold my Kestrel before I left Kona 19 months ago, and since returning to Taiwan, I have been riding an old MTB that is somewhat small for me. When still in Taipei, I occasionally visited bike shops after being informed that at such and such a place they could sell me a tri-bike or something like that.

However, it was easy to get a little disillusioned, as road bikes in stores seldom were over 50cm, and parts and things imported from overseas were very expensive. At the same time, most of the money I was getting was being used to pay for fairly extensive repairs to our former apartment, and I was so busy I did not have any time to ride, no were there many places to ride anyway.

Having moved to Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan one year ago, I realize that if I had the time, I could bike and train, too. The roads are relatively flat, it seldom rains, and if you ride about 20 minutes away from here you are very much in the countryside. Of course, there are bound to be quite a lot of 35-ton trucks hauling dirt or other cargo, but at least they are fairly easy to see.

Recently, I have been thinking of getting a mountain bike, the idea being that I could carry necessary things for extended travel (with overnight stays elsewhere) and venture on to more isolated roads where the surface may not be very good (to visit the indigenous "mountain" peoples, for instance).

So about two weeks ago, I started visiting various bike shops in Kaohsiung that stock Taiwan-made brands, like Giant, Merida and GT (which apparently is American, although the bikes are made here). By trying to learn about how to determine what is an appropriate bike size from reading articles on the Internet and also asking salesmen and looking on the Internet websites, it appeared there was a fairly good range of bikes for taller people. However, none of the shops actually stock these large (actually XL in my case) bikes, for obvious reasons. In addition, when I ask them if they can get hold of a bike my size made in Taiwan that I could buy were I to visit a bike store in the UK, I am told either the large bikes are now manufactured in Europe or the company (which makes them here) hasn't got any in stock and is not planning to make any for the foreseeable future, or that the export department is like a separate company, etc. It makes me wonder whether I should just wait until I go overseas and buy one there and bring it back.

Today, I visited another bike shop that sells the Fuji brand of bikes. I like the name (since it sounds Japanese to me), and from reading the catalogue I noticed that the bikes are generally longer than other brands with comparable seat tube lengths (which is good for someone like me with longish arms). The store manager even went so far as to say he would phone the head office to see if he could get the larger sizes that appear in the US catalogues and are made in Taiwan. So maybe there is a glimmer of hope, and maybe with some arm-twisting I might be successful.

Another thing that interested me was that Fuji has a tri-bike called the Aloha. I think that it has that name because it is a way of being friendly when you whizz past someone and leave them in the dust. And, guess what, they sponsored Matt Reed, at least in the past as I don't know who he is with now. Matt is 6' 5", so a little taller than me, and he would need a larger bike than someone like Lance or Macca.

The Fuji Aloha road bike (up to 60 cm), a cheaper model to that which Matt Reed was apparently sponsored to ride. To justify having a bike like this (if I could get one), I would need to spend a lot more time training than I am now, time that I don't really have, and I would need to spend more time in places like Kona where I would have people to train and race with. So maybe something to dream about for the future.

So I don't really know if I will eventually be told that I can get an appropriate bike through them or whether I will just be riding a 17" MTB indefinitely. Money is of course an issue in the case of a tri-bike. Not that I don't have any, but this year the focus is on one of our son's first year college expenses, and so I would be wiser to just think about a relatively cheaper MTB for now.

One thing is that I don't really want to compromise and end up either buying something too small (like the Kestrel was (57 cm?), which is why I did not bring it back) or something too cheap that is poorly designed and built. Only the other day, I almost in desperation bought an MTB for US$550 that was almost big enough, etc., but which actually felt pretty awful. The Kestrel in Kona at least taught me how something good should feel.

Should my present inquiries lead nowhere, I guess the next step will be to try to locate the factories where some of the good frames are made - they surely must be on this island somewhere. Maybe the bike in the end won't have any brand name, but if it is big enough and feels good, it should at least be able to do its job on the Queen K.

A Visit to Kuan Yin Mountain (高雄縣觀音山)

2009-01-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

View of the pagoda. There were many smaller statues which I did not photograph. This one being a lot bigger was a little difficult not to photograph.

Over the years, we have occasionally visited Kuan Yin Mountain in Kaohsiung County. My first visit was a little over ten years ago after the passing of my mother-in-law. The Chinese New Year break is a time for family members to be together and, in the case of our extended family, it includes a trip to Kuan Yin Mountain, which is about a 20-minute-plus drive from our house.

Jocelyn (left), brother-in-law, brother and elder sister deal with the offerings and the paper money.

This year's trip included Jocelyn's older sister and only (older) brother, and a few others, several being the next generation of children who have all grown up. Morrison, our second son, is the youngest of eleven grandchildren of the grandparents whose remains are both located here.

James, Morrison and one of their first cousins, who is about six feet tall. They are now all grown up.

While Jocelyn and I did not spend a lot of time with our Taiwanese relatives since we lived far away from them until the move down south last year, the saying that you marry not just a person, but into a family, is very true for the Chinese. When Jocelyn and I got engaged and subsequently married many years ago, I met quite of lot of relatives who mostly lived around Kaohsiung, and we would briefly see them on our mostly annual trips down south. Most of our boys' cousins at that time were in elementary school and I tended to just know them as lively kids who liked playing games all the time.

View from the 7th floor of the pagoda. Since it is the Chinese New Year holidays, the place was packed.

The marble ball was constantly turning due to the force of the water. The goldfish were on average about 6 inches long.

Then about a couple of years before we went to Hawaii, Jocelyn's parents unfortunately one by one passed away as a result of illness and as a spouse I accompanied Jocelyn to the family gatherings and the various ceremonies that took place. In Buddhism, at least here, many people are cremated and their ashes are placed in urns that are kept in pagodas in what look a little like safety deposit boxes that you would find in banks. Often a passport-sized photo of the deceased will be placed in front of the urn, probably to aid recognition as the boxes, apart from an elaborate numbering system, all look the same.

In the middle of the picture is a huge bonfire where the paper money is collectively burned. This is why Jocelyn covered her mouth when walking outside. In the foreground are various graves for those buried in that way.

Peace and tranquility in the distance greet us

The photos taken here were not taken openly, as this is not the kind of place where people take pictures. However, these are the sobering realities of life that we all face, and increasingly as we get older. The pictures I took were mainly to serve as a reminder of today's visit and previous trips, and also so that I can reflect on my gratefulness for being part of a great family.

When we returned to Kaohsiung, we all stopped to eat lunch within walking distance of our home. Afterwards, Jocelyn's elder sister, her husband and two of their children (pictured) came over to our house for a visit.

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂!

2009-01-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

The gates of this large kindergarten in Kaohsiung have been nicely decorated to usher in the new year of the ox.

Chinese New Year is more or less upon us, and this coming Sunday (January 25th) will be the Chinese New Year's eve. We are not planning to do anything too special this coming week, when many people will be on vacation. It does not make a lot of sense to go places or to try and stay in a hotel when everything is likely to be crowded and fully booked. Since I don't have to report at an office each day, it will make more sense to go somewhere after the Chinese new year and the vacations that surround it (especially for students and university faculty) are over.

The market where I get my fruit and vegetables with my bike in the foreground. You can see the weather has been quite cold recently. This is unusual and fortunately does not last long for Kaohsiung.

I have been in semi-hibernation as far as training is concerned. With the water temperature at the outdoor pool having started at 18C (64F) at the beginning of January, and having steadily declined to 15.5C (60F) on January 14 and having come back up to 19C (66F) today, while swimming is bearable, it has not been such a lot of fun. I have swum between 1,000m and 1,600m each time (less when it was colder), and I have obviously not thought of doing sets or flip turns or anything apart from just going for it and getting the distance over with. Hopefully, that should change within a few weeks once the water gets above 20C (68F), which in my opinion is a reasonably temperature, even if not particularly exciting.

In early January this year, tougher anti-smoking laws came into force and many no-smoking signs have been posted in public facilities. Whether the restrictions have any effect remains to be seen.

Other news is that I might be getting a mountain bike soon. Of course, I ride one to the pool and back each morning and use it for shopping, but it is designed for someone almost a foot shorter than me. On trips around town, it is not a problem, but I cannot expect to ride to the southern tip of Taiwan (about 80 miles away) on that, not unless I want to have a lot of knee and back problems.
I saw a bike that might fit me last week, but the shop was about to close early for the New Year break and so I will have to wait another week before taking a further look, assuming it has not been bought already. However, in my opinion, if it really is my size, there aren't many people here who are likely to buy it. What I need to do is to really make sure it is my size, and if it is even only slightly small for me, it will still be a lot bigger than anything I rode in Kona.
For all my "official" races (including Honu Half-ironmans and two Ironman attempts) I rode a Kestrel that would have been ideal for someone about 5 ft 9 in. It was great in short races, but on the longer rides my forearms went numb due to the arm rests being too close to the saddle and my knees were hyperextended so that when tired they gave me trouble, so much so that on one Ironman attempt I was unable to run at all at the end of the bike and eventually had to drop out.
Taiwan makes lots of bikes and I have seen some really nice ones in the stores, and at good prices, too. However, mountain bikes larger than 19" are hard to come by (they are mostly just exported), and there are few bikes with longer top tubes (which suit people who don't just have long legs). People are just not that tall here. The bike I saw may turn out to be a fairly good choice if I can convince myself it is large enough. It is in the "middle" price range for aluminum-framed bikes, and so, while it should provide fairly good service, it also won't cost me such a huge amount of money, thereby leaving open the possibility of something else later on when I am more certain as to exactly what is the right bike for me.

These flowers, which Jocelyn planted at outside our front door have been blooming and it is the coldest time of the year. At least it does not feel cold seeing these.

I am not considering a road bike or tri bike at present. The MTB will not be for racing, but more for exploring, and will hopefully enable me to carry sufficient "baggage" to travel, eventually overseas. If I can get it to Hawaii, I could try riding down from the radio tower at the top of Kaloko Drive (lol), in the same way that I watched one girl, who knew the route, do it on an MTB that she had just ridden up to the top in Gecko's "Journey to Lalaland". It's not about how fast you go, but rather how much fun you have. I did that ride (on the asphalt) three years running and it was probably the funnest biking experience I ever had, even though I did not have the right gears on my Kestrel.
Hapuna is only 170 days or so away. Will I make it there? That depends on a lot of things. Whether I am swimming faster or not does not really matter as I can only train so much. One of our sons has applied to three colleges in the U.S. to start this fall and all three have accepted him, but at a high price, which is normal given our circumstances. So the big priority for this year is to ensure that he has enough to pay his way at whichever college he in the end decides to go to. If my training suffers, that does not matter too much. All that really matters is that I don't get too busy.

Crazy Cold Swimming

2009-01-14T02:50:00.000-08:00

Me standing with Kosuke Kitajima, the world champion breaststroker, before our swim Monday (well, not quite, but this guy A-Long is a tremendous breaststroker and I have to swim really hard at freestyle just to stay with him and often cannot). The numbers in the picture are in Celsius for the air and water temperatures.

In Taiwan, we have had quite a lot of cold spells recently, and the temperature in my office at home today never went above 68F, in spite of today being sunny and my room facing the sun, at least around the middle part of the day. The colder weather has also caused the water temperature at the pool to drop further. I remember when 73F felt cold. Then I got used to 68F and it did not seem too bad. Then 66F, and then anything below that felt cold, and the emphasis shifting from serious training to just seeing what I could withstand, and also only on an every other day basis.
Well, Monday may have been only 61F in the water and 50F out of it when I swam 1,000 meters, but this morning, the water was only 60F and the air temperature was only 44F at least when I entered the water. The push off the wall felt cold, but at least I knew I had swum in only slightly warmer water a couple of days earlier. On the first 50 meters I could particularly feel the cold air on my arms as my hands one by one entered the water. However, after about 200 meters I felt reasonably comfortable, at least comfortable enough to relax and slow down a little. At the outset I planned to do 1,200 meters and that is what I did. I could have done more. However, the problem is not so much with the swim, but having to handle things like a hot shower in a cold air temperature afterwards. I really don't know enough about all of this, but for one thing it was hard walking barefoot after the swim to get to the showers and I was not sure how the rush of hot water would affect my circulation, especially now that I was standing as opposed to being horizontal in the water. It must be a sign of age, I guess.
My stroke feels quite good, although the cold may make me feel a little delirious and so I wonder if I am zigzagging at times because of how I am set up when I take the pull or because my mind cannot think normally. I don't know. Hopefully, the cold weather will soon be gone and I will no longer face such a predicament. I really miss being in Hawaii at the moment (for the swimming that is).
It is a little unfortunate that we have to exit the pool at around 8 am in the morning. If I could swim, say, at midday, at least the sun would be a lot stronger. Still, when there are only a handful of people swimming, we are very lucky to be swimming at all.
I am not planning to swim the English Channel, and I realize that it is way beyond my capability. To do so, I would need to increase my body weight by about 20 kilos, and spend a lot less time working. If I did not live so far from the place, I would consider being a support swimmer, although I am not good at traveling by boat in anything but calm seas, and so I am not sure I would be able to perform when needed. Maybe I will just stick to pool swimming for now.
Anyway, in case I am looking for a pat on the back after all this, a 70-year-old gentleman swam something like 1,500 meters today in the same pool as me today, and he was there Monday, too. Hats off to him, truly awesome!

When I returned home at around 10:30 am, the sun was shining and you would not think it had been so cold earlier. On my bike are various fruits and vegetables I bought at the open-air market and some hard foam squares, the kind you piece together on the floor to provide a mat for doing sit-ups on or whatever. The 16 pieces cost me about 60 cents altogether secondhand. No need to buy them new. All they need is a little soap and a scrub. Kitty as usual was there to greet me.

A Busy and Cold Start to 2009

2009-01-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

This picture is very similar to the one at the top of this blog, the main difference being that this one is taken a lot later in the day. I heard the sunsets here were quite good and so I biked the 15 minutes from home one clear afternoon to wait for and see this. I hope these views can help me relax a little more.

The weather has been fairly cold, despite quite a lot of sunshine around the middle of the day. I have not been doing a lot of swimming. It is not that swimming in 65F water is all that bad, but I tend to feel fairly weakish for several hours after the swim and if I am not careful I catch colds more easily. It is not that much fun swimming at the moment. I guess I just want the winter to be quickly over. I am used to Hawaii weather. In Kona the water never seems to go below about 72F during the coldest times in the year and that makes a big difference.

With the colder weather, being busy and frequently feeling tired, I have often found myself in danger of falling asleep on the job. No kidding, working in surroundings like this is far better than in an office (except when I need my computer). What I make is based on my productivity, which is based on my ability to think, and has nothing to do with clocking in or trying to look like a professional or pretending I'm working. I am either working or not working.

I have been very busy working these days, a good thing in some ways since the economic recession is deepening worldwide. For me it is "Make hay while the sun shines." One never knows what may be around the corner. While we are fairly comfortable here in Taiwan, this is the year when our children will "move on" whether to college or just to try out life in a foreign country.

To readers, this might look just like a pair of jogging shoes and that's true. However, this is the first time I have ever found a pair of size 13 trainers in at least the last 7 years in Taiwan. These New Balance 373's may not be top of the line, but getting them for US$43 equivalent is not bad considering I find it so hard to find shoes my size. My feet are not particularly big, either. The shoes are very comfortable (including riding the MTB) and being new look very smart. I will wear them to attend a wedding of a couple of friends next week.

The Freeway is something I have to cross every morning I bike to the outdoor swimming pool. It is a constant reminder that I still live in a big city. However, I am glad I only have to ride a bicycle. The Freeway access road is very close (maybe a little too close) to our house. At least one day when we have a car we will be able to get out of town fast.

The Chinese see investing in the children's education as being very important, and so we may well be investing in them both for many years to come. This is certainly a different approach from what I experienced growing up, and while I eventually ended up doing what I wanted to do, I felt very restricted in terms of the choices I had when I was in my early to mid-20s. While of course I learned a lot of lessons in humility, etc., I feel that I also missed a lot of opportunities. Time goes very fast and a lot of those opportunities never come again.

Jocelyn had her birthday recently, and so we went out to celebrate it with a meal which included making your own cotton candy. A memorable occasion!

Morrison (left) and James (right) learned how to make pretty large cotton candy for themselves.

I'm thinking of a swim tomorrow morning, but it will be cold!

The British Consulate, Kaohsiung 英國領事館

2009-01-01T04:11:00.000-08:00

Had there been less people around, maybe I would have tried to disguise myself as the person on the left.

Today Hsiu-chin and I celebrated the beginning of 2009 by visiting the former British Consulate in Kaohsiung (高雄港的英國領事館). Being a public holiday, there were many more people than we expected, and also compared with the last time we came here, which may have been when the boys were only starting elementary school.

The former British Consulate in Kaohsiung. It's always amazes me how great an influence Britain had in the far corners of the world a century or more ago.

I guess if I had been born a hundred years earlier, I would have sought to enter the diplomatic service.

While the building was very interesting, I was finding the view of the ocean equally interesting.

Hsiu-chin posing next to the postbox. Would we do this when in the U.K.?

This was the kind of boat used about 150 years ago when the British came here.

The ink in the stamp pads had more or less run out. Next time, I will bring my own stamp pad so that I can stamp a lot of things with the "official" chop of the British Consulate.

The buildings in the top left corner of the picture are only a couple of miles or so from where we live. So I could make this dream of coming here more often a reality.

Hsiu-chin wanted a picture by the British letter box. I actually wanted to post a letter.

Just sitting here about to edit a Taiwanese professor's academic research paper on econometrics. The rarified atmosphere reminds me of Albert Einstein's office in Bern, Switzerland, which I visited many years ago. This beats any modern office. People need to be able to think and concentrate. I doubt if many Nobel prizes were won through constantly being in noisy surroundings.

I'll have to come back again when it's quieter. I could bike from home to here within 40 minutes (mostly by "river" bike paths), and I could get a lot of work done here, too. I could go indoors to see the computer screen better, too.

The large concrete post is one of the entrances to the adjoining National Sun Yat-Sen University. The bay behind has a beach for swimming, and I could join a morning swim group for a moderate fee. I would not mind an occasional swim here, but am not sure if people would really let me swim out, so perhaps I'll just stick to the pool.

This beautiful mosaic is found on the ground in the courtyard of National Sun Yat-Sen University (about 1.3m x 1.5m).

One thing about watching the afternoon sun, is that no two minutes are the same.

Today, as it is the start of the New Year, I have made the following resolutions:
1. Smile and laugh more - I often take life too seriously.
2. Work harder and smarter - I will need to this year.
3. Keep up the swimming and eat and sleep well for my health and sanity.
4. Spend more time enjoying beautiful scenery and surroundings.
5. Pursue my dream of "cycling for cultural understanding".
6. Keep working on my two blogs (this one and a new one I am just starting).
7. Have more fun times with family and friends.

In closing, let me wish all readers a Happy and Prosperous 2009.

Today’s background music (Theme from Shaft) is played in memory of Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008), an outstanding musician and songwriter.

Family Happiness 天倫之樂

2008-12-27T23:14:00.000-08:00

Back row: Morrison (left), James (right)

I think the most important thing about Christmas for our family this year was just being together and doing simple things like having brunch together. Christmas comes so quickly in Taiwan that a lot of people still don't realize that it has now already past. In the morning, I swam 1,500 meters at the pool in 67.5 F water. Hsiu-chin made the delicious lunch, and the boys cleared up afterwards. I was able to have a good rest.

Christmas brunch 聖誕節之早午餐

This morning (Sunday, Dec 28), I again went to swim at the outdoor pool. My swimming seems to be getting slower and slower, possibly because I feel I am in hibernation as far as swimming is concerned. I swam 2,100 meters in 68F water. This morning was a special day, and the other swimmers and their families prepared a delicious breakfast. It wasn't like corn flakes and bagels, but a large variety of different kinds of fine noodles, soups and various kinds of meat. There were also plenty of bananas, and they gave me a lot of them to eat, since they have often seen me eating them after my swims in the past.

Sumptuous breakfast at the swimming pool. 擺滿山珍海味的桌子

There are only a few days until the end of this year, and then I will need to set some goals and objectives for next year, which will no doubt be another busy year for me.

Our Christmas Dinner

2008-12-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

There appear to be plenty of restaurants with delicious Japanese food within about 10 minutes by car from our house.

In Taiwan, many people hardly notice the coming of Christmas, and in recent years, including this year, it is not regarded as a public holiday, and so most people still go to work on Christmas day, just as if it were any other work day. Today (Christmas Eve), we as a family went out to dinner, at a Japanese restaurant that James and Morrison had chosen. Here are a few pictures so you can see what we ate.

Morrison and friend A-Kin are busy ordering even more delicious food.

These little black fish eggs were particularly tasty (魚子醬軍艦)

Hsiu-chin enjoyed eating the little Japanese "salad", which included rice, fish, seaweed and other sumptuous ingredients.

Salty cooked salmon on sticky rice (for real!) (鹽燒鮭魚)

Lastly, we made sure that the cat would not miss out on the delicious raw fish. Note that her claws are extended as she makes sure she maintains a firm hold on my hand!

Review of 2008: Success or Not?

2008-12-22T02:47:00.000-08:00

A nice shaded place for a rest on a warm day (near the southern end of Cheng Ching Lake, Kaohsiung)

Many people set goals for themselves at the start of a new year. Well, I did not have a blog then, and in any case I did not write down any goals, even though I may have kept a few goals to pursue somewhere in the back of my mind. In some ways, then, it is not very easy to determine whether I had a successful year or not. However, given that I did not articulate the goals clearly then, I can perhaps express the goals I think I might have set in terms of the results achieved. In this case, I may be able to record some achievements after all.
While at the beginning of the year, money had a very prominent role to play in terms of how I thought I should define success, there is clearly more to life than just money. At times in the past (usually when it appeared I had sufficient to cover immediate daily living expenses), I often regarded making money as a necessary evil (often due to having a boring, time-consuming job) in order to have what I needed to do something interesting in the little time that I had left. While with any work there is the inevitable frustration and boredom, I fortunately seldom have to think like that nowadays.

Hopefully, there will also be some spare time to understand famous historical Chinese writings such as this one which hangs on my study wall.

I have recently been reading a book entitled "7 Principles for Creating Your Future," by James Semradek and Michael Butler. It is "light" but thought-provoking reading. Since both authors are fairly successful management consultants with their own business, they view a successful life (and by implication successful steps along the way) as the ability to integrate a good family life with business and financial success, with sufficient time left over to enjoy family vacations, remain physically fit, be debt-free and able to "pursue one's dreams". They even provided a table in which we can grade things like the success of our business, relationship with spouse, kids, etc. While the authors appear to be able to give themselves an "A" or higher for everything, at least I can try to see if I am any better off now than I was at the end of last year (or is everything just "F"?!).

The Grand Hotel, Kaohsiung (overlooking Cheng Ching Lake from the other side)

While the family members are much more objective in terms of determining how I scored in that area, I realize that at least where I am at present, there is a certain trade-off involved. This time last year (December 22), we were close to finishing the fairly extensive repairs on our older Taipei apartment, had already started packing our things and our new house in which we are now was more or less ready for occupancy (various cupboards, a solar energy water heater, the kitchen equipment, etc. had been fitted). So I knew 2008 would be a year in which we would have to continue to spend a lot on our new house (furniture, curtains, lanai wrap-arounds, etc.), and we also were uncertain as to whether to sell the old apartment.
Anyway, we moved down south at the end of January just in time for the Chinese New Year with my in-laws who basically all live there, and then life mainly consisted of getting on with work to buy the things we needed. In March after not having swum for nearly 8 months, I checked out a nearby indoor pool and soon was swimming there every day. At the pool I gradually got to know some people, and apart from those people, I did not really get to know anyone else (except for a few at the local church we attended), mainly because I just work at home.

One can still eat fairly well on a limited budget by eating fruits that are in season.

It was probably the end of October when I first started to think we had bought everything we needed for the house, although shortly afterwards I realized that we were not quite there yet. However, reaching that realization and also discovering the outdoor 50m pool in scenic surroundings gave me a new lease of life as it were. In October I also started to focus more on changing my swimming stroke (with the help of Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen's instruction DVD), so that I could say I swam pretty solidly from the beginning of April to the end of November. During the last few weeks I have been a little hampered by the colder weather (which makes swimming outdoors a bit more of a challenge), and also the fact that for the last week or so I have been affected by a cold or flu or whatever, which had kept me off swimming for a week and on several occasions I just have not felt comfortable eating. I am glad, however, that I was able to get through over eight months of swimming without troubles like this.

So to sum up, the year has been quite a busy one as regards work, but I have managed to continue to swim fairly seriously and, as for family times, at least I have spent much of my time at home each day even though I have not have had a lot of time to actively engage with family members (like watching TV together, or just hanging out). There has been little activity in terms of family vacations, although the four of us did spend a couple of days traveling around the southern tip of the island in July.The benefits of walking - this spectacular view of Taipei was discovered on a relatively clear day.

I have been very fortunate to have had interesting and convenient work to do, which has enabled me to work from home, and I have not had to look for a job since moving from overseas to Taipei last year or from Taipei to Kaohsiung this year. So while there has been a lot of change in my life in terms of where we have been living and the people we see each day, my job is the one thing that has remained stable.
As the year draws to a close, it will soon be the time to list some realistic goals for next year. By realistic I mean that I need to recognize the constraints on my time and budget. Earlier this year, for instance, I found that every time I wanted to engage in some sporting activity with foreigners in Taiwan, there were always so many incidental expenses (in addition to having to travel half the island to get to some venue). With my Chinese friends here, costs are always kept to a minimum. They understand the value of money much better.
One thing I have learned over the past year is that it is relatively easy to life cheaply and comfortably here (e.g., by living in a nice house like ours, cooking one's own food, riding a bicycle or using public transport, etc.). However, once one wants to live on a higher level (e.g., like shop in department stores, drive a nice looking car, or fly overseas), costs suddenly increase exponentially. While trips involving flying have their place, they need to be planned and thought out very carefully, otherwise many of the smaller gains built up over a long period can be completely wiped out.

If overseas travel is beyond one's budget, one may be able to compromise by going somewhere local (this beach is two hours by car from our home)

Therefore, one of the types of trips I am interested in, which has become quite fashionable these days, is to travel by bicycle right from the time the aircraft lands in another country, and to travel from one place to the next, taking photos, keeping up with the world through the Internet on a laptop computer, and even (for people like me) continuing to work several hours a day in the private guest houses where I will stay as I travel. In that way, I can integrate vacations, pastimes (like learning about other cultures, e.g., Japan) and the reality of a job and, if family members, can come, too, then family life as well! Well, that remains a dream, but one I seek to pursue.

My Favorite Blogging Friend of the Year

2008-12-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Bree Wee: My Favorite Blogging Friend of the Year after finishing Ironman Japan with a stellar performance

While I have very much enjoyed the friends with whom I have shared experiences and corresponded through the blog since I started it in March this year, I have not had the slightest hesitation in deciding who is my favorite blogging friend for this year. There is also no need for most of you to guess and so I will mention her name up front: the one and only Bree Wee!
It was through reading Bree's blog very early this year that I decided to start my own, and she was the first person and maybe the only person to read my blog entries in those early stages. It was because of her encouragement that I persevered with the blog, so much so, that the time spent in the blogging world has had quite an impact on my life.
Through Bree's blog I read about many wonderful friends of hers, many of whom I had known fairly well in the past. With our love for triathlon, etc., it seemed we had so much in common. I would follow Ironman race live broadcasts (often at night due to the time difference) in which Bree was almost always a major contender, and see her either finish really well or else, on a few occasions, struggle towards the end of the race and fail to win her slot for Kona for this year (fortunately she has already qualified for next year). I shared in her joys and struggles, as well as some of the hardships she faced. In all, it was a really good and enriching experience, and, in spite of being a continent away, I sometimes felt I could just have been living in Hawai'i itself.
It was through Bree's blog that I made most of the other friends I have either regularly or not so regularly maintained contact with. I was amazed after writing about some of my childhood experiences how one of her sisters gave me a very positive comment and went on down "Memory Lane" to share some of her own precious experiences. I corresponded with other members of Bree's family, and I am sure they an others in her family were reading the many comments I left on her posts.

A trip down "Memory Lane" (the focus of an earlier blog posting this year)

Still, many of the other people I gradually came to correspond with, most of whom I have never met, have become good friends and people I would certainly like to meet some time in the future. L. was an old friend from my Hawaii days and it was interesting how we could share and joke about our mutual love for swimming. P. was hilariously funny but a man with very good values, someone whose forebears probably lived near mine, but who eventually settled on the other side of the Atlantic. R. was always preparing for big races and posting breathtaking photos, but what struck me most was his friendliness and humility. S. replied to every comment I posted on her blog, had the most wonderful races you could imagine and in the end I am not surprised how many comments she received on each of her postings. M., a fellow countryman, found my blog by chance, and then I ended up learning a great deal about how Channel swimmers train and the difficulties they face.

Busyness prevented me and many others from really having enough time to smell the roses. Hopefully, there will be more time for this next year.

There were others who would occasionally correspond with me in Chinese and Japanese (hence the increased use of Chinese in my postings), which made my blog a little more international in flavor, something that I intend to pursue further in the coming year.
Probably because I was not meeting many bloggers in Taiwan and possibly because fewer people within my own generation maintain such blogs, I invariably would read the blogs of several of Bree's friends who were a lot younger and living in a completely different world to me. I frequently read of accidents that sometimes resulted in serious injuries, of debilitating illnesses, and of bouts of depression that they so openly shared. I know at times I was like a lurker and maybe should not have left comments on their blogs. However, I was concerned for them, and at times would have gone to quite significant lengths to help them. Just skipping swimming today because of a common cold brought home to me the fact that I have been so fortunate this year. This is probably the first time I have missed a swim this year as a precaution in case my cold gets worse.

The week before Christmas - nice to see the flowers in full bloom outside this MRT (underground) station.

I also came to realize that certain other people look at my blog besides those whose blogs I frequent or who attach comments to my posts. Some of these are people I work for in Taiwan, and on one occasion one such lady recognized me (from reading the blog) when we passed by each other in a Taipei hospital.
There are many other people I could single out who have made my blogging experience what it was this year. However, at the end of the day I realize that, had it not been for Bree's initial encouragement, I may never have got started on this thing. It is to her that I owe an eternal debt of gratitude.

In closing Hsiu-chin and I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas!

Things I Have Recently Seen 我最近所看見的東西

2008-12-14T03:40:00.000-08:00

I have been very busy recently, maybe like many of you, and while I have continued to follow several people's blogs, I am keeping my writing simple at the moment to save my brain and to save time. So here are a few pictures taken in the last few days, of the kinds of things I see quite often as I live here in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Sunrise seen a few minutes by bike before I reach the swimming pool in the morning. A clear sky usually means that the air temperature is lower than usual, so it is a mixed blessing, and a reason why I always wear a lot of clothes both before and after my swim.

The outdoor pool (again for readers of this blog). Well, it means a lot to me. I have swum more laps in this pool than anyone else in the last six weeks. Today I swam 3,000 meters non-stop in a water temperature of 69F. That did not seem cold compared to 67F a few days ago. When swimming today, there were at most about 4 people in the pool at one time. At least one of the others was swimming or possibly racing with me. Great training!

Another college student is having fun. She traveled about 40 meters like this. Maybe life is too serious for us older folk.

A group of college students are instructed on the use of a paintball gun, before firing at each other with it. The table is significant to me. It is located just above and behind the swimming pool, not far from where I took the picture of the pool above. I often lie down and sleep on the table in the morning sunshine. On the weekdays there are hardly any people around, and swimming in cold water makes me feel cold and tired.

The time to seek the services of an English editor is before you make the sign, not after. If anyone knows what the middle word is supposed to be, please let me know.

Kitty (our cat) always comes out of the garage to welcome me each time I arrive home.

You are more than welcome to visit us at our Home Sweet Home. Merry Christmas!

Me and My Computers

2008-12-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick post about the computers I have had over the years. I bought my first computer (a 286 desktop) about twenty years ago. It could not run Windows or Microsoft Word, but it could word process and I kept it about ten years, since I was able to type on it at home and then convert the files to Word using the office computer.
Then I bought a secondhand notebook and it lasted a year when I was a student in Hawaii. So it served its purpose, even though its useful life was relatively short.
In 2000, I bought a new computer for about US$1,800 dollars, an Asus, which ran Windows 98 and had a DVD drive on it. I still have it (pictured). Although I can no longer take it anywhere, I can still use it as a second computer for scanning paper or photos with the help of a scanner.
In 2006, while still in Hawaii, I bought a Compaq (shown immediately above) which was one year old for US$700. Although it broke down within weeks of buying it and had to be repaired (which made me wish I'd never bought it), it surprisingly worked quite well after that, at least until a few months ago. Then it became increasingly troublesome. Not only did the screen start to deteriorate, but it would often freeze, I would lose work, etc., it was hard to start, and so on. I had hoped it would last a little longer, but in the end I realized I had to go out and spend money and get something. So I ended up getting what you can see below. I hope at least I can get my work done more efficiently and that I can make my blog look nice (when I have a bit more time). Don't ask me what make this one is. I don't know. Maybe if you look closely, you will see.
P.S. No Chinese post today. I have been so busy and so behind with everything. Will do so later.

Water Getting Colder 水越來越冷

2008-11-30T06:29:00.000-08:00

For the month of November, I mostly swam in the outdoor pool, covering a distance of 107,100 meters over the 30-day period. At the beginning of the month, the pool (water) temperature was around 77F and I would often keep swimming until I had to leave the pool. Then some cold weather caused the (early morning) air temperature to drop from about 73F to this morning's 56F. Over the same period, the water temperature also gradually fell, first to about 75F, then 73F, then 70F, then 69F and finally (so far) to 68F yesterday.

十一月份我大部分在室外游泳池游泳，總共游了十萬七千一百公尺。月出水溫二十五度左右，真的很舒服，可以游很久。慢慢來，因為有冷氣團的緣故，所以氣溫（一大早）從二十三度降到十三度左右，同時水溫從二十五度降到二十四、二十三、二十一、一直到昨天的二十度，真嚇得要命！

The Road to the Swimming Pool

Yesterday I felt cold the whole swim. The previous day (69F), I would still take rests between sets, but yesterday I did not want to stop. Yesterday I just swam 2,500 meters non-stop, taking about 55 mins 15 seconds. After I got out of the water, I headed straight for the hot showers. I must have been cold as I could hardly feel the hot water.

The building that is part of the swimming pool complex

昨天，游泳的時候，我一直覺得很冷。前天（二十點五度），會偶爾休息在水裡面，但是昨天我不敢停下來（因為怕冷），因此一直游、一直游，過了五十五分、兩千五百公尺以後就起來了，馬上往洗澡間去。浴室的水雖然很燙，但是我沒甚麼感覺，反而繼續發抖。

A great place to study or work right next to the pool

Although the water temperature in the outdoor pool will continue to fall, I really like the pool’s surroundings. After swimming, I can find a very comfortable and quiet place under the sun’s warm rays to get on with my work. In this way, I can happily spend an hour or two there before getting on my bicycle and heading home.

Cheng Ching Lake seen through the trees

游泳池的水溫會繼續下降。不過，我非常喜歡游泳池的環境。游完了以後，就可以找一個很舒服、很安靜的地方坐下來，在陽光之下做我的工作，這樣子可以很快樂地度了一到兩個小時的時間，才騎腳踏車回家。

And the best of British luck! (Where did you see so many minis together?)

Training with the Best 跟最好的人一起訓練

2008-11-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

As the temperature drops and I get to experience winter, my swimming training changes emphasis, at least a little.

當氣溫（還有水溫）降低，冬天慢慢地臨到的時候，我的游泳訓練方式有稍微所改變。

In addition to (currently) swimming about 3,500 meters each day in water around 22C (71F), I also practice my surfboard catch and pull at home in the outdoor half of my office.

除了幾乎每天在游泳池游三千公尺以外（目前水溫22度左右），在家裡也會練習抓水的動作。

I also spend some time each day replaying the freestyle races held at the Beijing Olympics on a large flat screen. I watch things such as swimming style, turns off the wall, etc.

我每天在電視上會重新看北京奧運游泳比賽，特別注意選手姿勢及游泳技巧，轉身，等等。

As I study my swim coach Karlyn's freestyle DVD, I pay even closer attention to the swimming techniques of these Olympic swimmers. Here are some snapshots of the TV action:

當我在看游泳教練Karlyn的自由式DVD，會特別注意這些參加奧運游泳比賽選手的姿勢。在這裡為各位舉幾個例子如下：

The start of the ladies' 50 meters freestyle. Dara Torres (aged 41) took silver, losing to a young German girl by 100th of a second. 女子一百米決賽。Dara Torres (41歲)拿到銀牌。

Campbell (left 左), Torres (right 右)

Frontal view of Grant Hackett of Australia, the Olympic 1,500 meter record holder.

Rebecca Adlington of the U.K. broke Janet Evans' world record (since 1989) in the 800 meters free. Her stroke is definitely worth watching!

At the turn in the 100 meter men's freestyle. Note Alain Bernard's (right) feet are firmly planted on the wall with a wide stance to get maximum push (as are the feet of Eamon Sullivan, the world record holder (left).

Alain Bernard celebrates victory in the 100 free. If you watch the video of the race, you will notice slight differences in style. Sullivan's elbows are straigher than Bernard's when out of the water (but they are not straight during the catch and pull).

If you want to get good at something, then learn with the best.

Using Hand Paddles 使用劃水板

2008-11-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

在游泳池附近所看美麗的日出 Beautiful sunrises seen near the swimming pool

我幾乎天天會化一點時間穿上劃水板游泳。主要的原因就是好的劃水板可以協助矯正姿勢及游泳技巧，以及加強強化手臂肌耐力。因為會降低水阻，而且會讓划水更順暢，所以游泳的速度會加快，真的會讓我覺得很過癮！喜歡使用TYR牌 “Mentor” 的劃水板。紅色 (L) 比較適合高級女性泳者，藍色 (XL) 適合高級男性泳者。你游的速度並不重要，要看你的姿勢好不好，你的手多大等等。
使用之前，要首先游泳一段距離才把牠們穿上去。譬如，我今天早上先空手游三千公尺，然後靠著劃水板再游一千公尺。因為可以游地更快，所以只需要十七分二十五秒就可以把一千公尺輕鬆地游完。

TYR牌 “Mentor” 的劃水板：紅色 (L)、藍色 (XL) TYR “Mentor” Paddles: Red (L) and Blue (XL)

I spend a little time almost every day swimming with hand paddles. The main reasons for this is that good hand paddles can help correct one’s stroke and swimming skills, as well as strengthen one’s arm muscles. Because the paddles reduce the water resistance, while increasing the smoothness of the stroke, the speed at which one swims will also increase. This really makes me feel really great! I like to use the TYR “Mentor” brand of hand paddles. The red color (L) is more suited to high-level female swimmers, while the blue color is best for high-level male swimmers. How fast you swim is not really important. Instead, you need to see how good your technique is, how big your hands are, and so on.

Using the Red (Large) Hand Paddles 使用紅色 (L) 劃水板

Before using the hand paddles, I will first swim some distance before I put them on. For example, this morning I first swam 3,000 meters without the paddles, and after that swam 1,000 with the paddles on. Because wearing the paddles can make me swim faster, I just needed 17m 24 secs to complete the thousand meters with them on.

游泳水的溫度現在23C－24C 左右。 The pool’s water temperature is currently 73F－75F

23 Years Ago and Now 二十三年前與現在

2008-11-13T05:08:00.000-08:00

時間過的真快！我們已經結婚了二十三年！我們在高雄訂婚了（秀金的老家），而且現在住在高雄，真有福氣！ How time flies! Hsiu-chin and I have already been married 23 years! We got engaged in Kaohsiung (Hsiu-chin’s home town), and now we are living in Kaohsiung. We have really been fortunate!

我與秀金結婚照片 Hsiu-Chin and I in our wedding picture

在高雄訂婚 Engagement in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

在中正紀念堂合照 Photo taken at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei

十幾年前在台北合照 Photo taken at our Taipei home over ten years ago

在夏威夷慶祝二十年的婚姻 Celebrating 20 years of marriage in Hawai'i
昨天美麗的晚餐（高雄）（次子Morrison 跟美國朋友Micah）A nice evening meal in Kaohsiung (Our younger son Morrison (standing) can be seen with his friend Micah)

現在的我們（長子James拍照） Hsiu-Chin and me now (Photo taken by older son James (not pictured)

Swimming Freestyle 101 游泳自由式一零一

2008-11-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

(有音樂，請把Playlist暫時停一下　There is music, please pause Playlist)

今天跟各位稍微分想本人目前「自由式一零一」的小部影片，包括我的游泳教練Karlyn (Aquatic Edge 創辦人) 給我六個以下的目標。我的姿勢還有不少缺點，請各位多多指教。　
Today I am posting a short clip of my "Swimming Freestyle 101". I have much yet to learn. On the clip I have included the six goals prepared by famous swimming instructor Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, which are as follows:
1. Streamline (保持直線)
2. Focus on the tiles (注意看下面的瓷磚)
3. Don't cross the centerline! (不要過中線)
4. Extend and pause (將手伸出來，稍微休息一下)
5. Surfboard catch and pull (抓水，撥水，好像躺在衝浪板上一樣)
6. Put the UMPH in the front (在前面出力)

Extend and pause (將手伸出來，稍微休息一下)

新的泳帽 A New Swim Cap

2008-11-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

新的泳帽 A New Swim Cap (Aquatic Edge)

我最近開始戴一頂新的泳帽。雖然只是一頂很便宜的帽子，但是對我來說，是一頂很寶貴以及有特別意義的泳帽。那就是我在夏威夷的游泳教練跟一個關於自由式的光碟片所寄給我的泳帽。能夠跟一位那麼傑出游泳教練學習是一個榮譽。在「師說」那片文章裡，韓愈強調：「古之學者必有師。師者，所以傳道、受業、解惑也」，意思就是說：「古代求學問的人一定有老師。老師是傳習道術、教授學業、解釋疑惑的人。」我雖然半年以上天天在游泳池好好地游泳，但是有不少的「疑惑」。想去找老師修正我的姿勢還是會讓我有一點不好意思，好像跟韓愈所寫的「今之眾人，其下聖人也亦遠矣，而恥學於師」一模一樣了。可是，連孔夫子有很多的老師：「孔子曰：「三人行，必有我師」（意思就是說當三個人一起走，裡頭一定有一位是孔子的老師）。假如歷史上「至聖先師」有老師，我們一般的百姓為什麼沒有老師？沒有老師，我們做事情就「事倍功半」，有好的老師，而「事半功倍」。

I have recently started wearing a new swim cap. Although it is just a cheap item, to me it is something that is very precious and has special meaning. It is a swim cap that my swim coach from Hawai’i sent me together with a DVD on freestyle swimming. To be able to learn with such an outstanding swim coach is indeed a great privilege. In his famous treatise on teachers, the T’ang dynasty writer Han Yu emphasizes: “In olden times, those who sought to learn all had teachers. As these teachers taught moral principles and skills, they were able to explain and resolve the doubts that people faced.” Although I have been swimming at the pool almost every day for the last six months or more, I still have many “doubts” about my swimming skills and technique. When I think of seeking out a swim coach to improve my swimming technique, I still feel a little embarrassed. It is just like what Han Yu wrote when he said: “Most people these days are so far removed from the sages of the past, yet they feel it is a shame to study with a teacher. However, even Confucius himself had many teachers: “Confucius said: “When three people walk together, there will always be my teacher among them.” If history’s “most venerable of teachers” had teachers, then why do we ordinary folk not have teachers? When we do not have teachers, we only get half the results with twice the effort. However, when we have good teachers, we get twice the results with half the effort.

我的游泳教練 Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen (Photo courtesy of http://www.usms.org/)

自由式的光碟片 Freestyle Swimming DVD (Available from Aquatic Edge)

退休了以後，我希望… After I retire, I hope...

2008-11-03T03:55:00.000-08:00

希望住在一個又漂亮又暖和的國家 I hope to live in a beautiful and warm country (like Taiwan)

將來退休了以後，我希望可以住在一個又漂亮又暖和的國家（譬如台灣），希望能夠幾乎每天早上騎腳踏車到游泳池在那邊好好地游泳。希望可以住在一棟又漂亮又方便有幾層樓的小房子，在那邊過一個很愉快的生活。退休了以後，我要繼續在家裡工作，主要的原因是為了讓我感覺生命有價值。我另外要繼續讀書，譬如我希望好好讀文言文。中國人有一句話：「活到老，學到老」。我希望在我家附近有不少好朋友，也希望偶爾可以搭飛機，到國外去看一些好朋友。又希望能夠繼續賺一點錢，可以減少生活各式各樣的壓力，也為下一代留下一些遺產。

我明天早上要騎腳踏車到游泳池…

我要在家裡工作 I want to work at home

After I retire, I hope I will be able to live in a beautiful and warm country (for example Taiwan). I hope almost every day to ride my bicycle to the swimming pool and to have a good swim there. I hope I can live in a beautiful and convenient multi-storied house, and live a happy life there. After I retire, I wil continue to work at home, the main reason for this being in order to enable me to feel that my life has value. In addition, I will continue to study. For example, I hope to study classical Chinese in depth. The Chinese have a saying: "Live to old age, study to old age." I hope to have several friends living not far from my house, and I also hope to occasionally be able to catch a plane and fly overseas to visit some good friends over there. I also hope to be able to continue to earn a little money, so that I can lessen the many pressures that I face in life, and also leave an inheritance for the next generation.

Tomorrow morning I will ride my bicycle to the swimming pool...

希望幾乎每天早上好好地游泳 I hope to have a good swim almost every day

高雄國際機場（可以飛到日本，夏威夷...）Kaohsiung International Airport (can fly to Japan, Hawaii...)

冬天游泳：新的開始 Winter Swimming: A New Beginning

2008-10-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

在游泳池旁 Next to the 50m outdoor pool

雖然高雄白天天氣還是很熱，但是已經開始變，早晚稍微涼快。最近決定要參加澄清湖早泳會所舉辦的冬天游泳活動。那裡有五十米室外游泳池，游泳的人少，而且大部分都是游泳高手，速度也很快，希望透過一段時間跟他們練習，我的自由式也能夠稍微快一點。
從十一月到三月我的游泳目標如下：
（一）在兩個游泳池游泳（包括原來參加二十五米室內游泳池）每一個禮拜游兩萬五到三萬公尺。
（二）注重長距離，短距離（速度快）的游泳。
（三）在陸地多锻練身體（為了增加我的力量）。
這個計劃要從十一月一日正式新的。

Although the daytime weather in Kaohsiung is still very hot, it has already started to change, and it is slightly cooler in the mornings and evenings. I have recently decided to take part in the winter swimming activity being organized by the Cheng Ching Lake early-morning swimming association. There the swimming pool is 50 meters long and is outdoors, there are few people swimming, and those that do are mostly very proficient at swimming and also very fast. I hope that after a period of time of training with them, my freestyle will also be able to become a little faster.
For the period from November to March, my swimming goals are as follows:
(1) Two swim in two different swimming pools (including the 25 meter indoor pool that I have been going to), and to cover between 25,000 and 30,000 meters of swimming each week.
(2) To lay emphasis on both long-distance and short-distance (high speed) swimming.
(3) To do dry-land exercises (to increase my strength).
This program will formally commence on November 1.

澄清湖 Cheng Ching Lake which I pass on the 15-minute easy bike ride from home to the outdoor pool

Congratulations to Ruben Ruzafa of Spain with his winning time of 2:37:36 and to Julie Dibens of the United Kingdom with her winning time of 3:03:57 (awesome race) at the 2008 XTERRA World Championships on Maui. A special thanks, too, to a previous many-time champion Jamie Whitmore for her excellent commentating. I hope you fully recover.

記王永慶先生 Remembering Wang Yung-Ching

2008-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

台北新店王先生長大的地方 Hsintien, Taipei, the area of Mr. Wang's boyhood.

我雖然與王永慶先生沒有一面之雅，但印象還是很深刻。記得二十多年前在中經院服務時，常常聽到王先生的名字。王先生對台灣經濟發展與「經濟神奇」的影響力與貢獻是非常大。從16歲時用父親所借的200元自己開辦了一家米店開始，王先生一步一步變成美國《富比士》雜誌所排列世界最有錢的富翁之一。雖然如此，王先生並沒有成為好像一般的「富翁」一樣，而且他一輩子很節儉，很謙虛，很樸素，很勤勞，以及很善良。在今天的社會裡，這種的人真是罕見的，也不見得收到一般的人的歡迎，按照古人所寫的：「儉，美德也，而流俗固薄之」。我會以感恩的心永遠記得「台灣的經營之神」，就是王永慶先生。

English Translation: Although I never met with Mr. Wang Yung-Ching face-to-face on even one occasion, he has left a very deep impression on me. I remember more than twenty years ago frequently hearing Mr. Wang’s name mentioned when working at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research in Taipei. Mr. Wang’s influence on and contribution to Taiwan’s economic development and its “economic miracle” was huge. Starting with a little rice store which he established with 200 yuan that he borrowed from his father, Mr. Wang eventually joined the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest persons. In spite of this, Mr. Wang was not like “rich people” in general, but throughout his life was very frugal, very humble, was in no way extravagant, was very hardworking, and very kindhearted. In today’s society, such people are indeed rarely seen, and they are not necessarily welcomed by people in general. As one writer of old expressed it: “Being frugal is a beautiful virtue, but the customs and traditions that are popular in our society on the contrary look down upon it.” I will always with a thankful heart remember Taiwan’s great industrialist, namely, Mr. Wang Yung-Ching.

台塑的六輕 The Formosa Plastics Corporation's 6th Naphtha Cracker

長庚醫院（就是「平民」的醫院，也是我的醫院）王永慶先生的父親叫「王長庚」。 Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, named after Mr. Wang's father, is also my hospital.

(Note: Mr. Wang Yung-Ching was a very prominent industrialist in Taiwan who recently died at the age of 91.)

What I Miss About Hawai'i

2008-10-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Having read Karen's blog and a few others, I have been thinking about what I miss about Hawai'i, and how it compares with living in Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan. It definitely makes a trip back to Kona in the foreseeable future a possibility.

Besides the occasional stunning sunset, what I miss about Hawai'i is going for a morning swim to the King's Buoy and back far from the concrete commercialism and noise of Alii Drive.

I miss having friends to bike and run with and actually having a road bike.

I miss being able to take my daytime naps on a foldable beach chair outside.

I miss racing in Captain Cook and swimming across Kealakekua Bay.

I miss listening to Pidgin and the occasional Hawai'ian that I hear spoken.

I miss going to the local bank and talking with the local people there.

I miss driving back to Kailua-Kona after taking part in a race at Hapuna.

I miss cycling through Kapa'au near Hawi.

I miss listening to slack-key guitar and watching the hula.

I miss being able to go to Ross and sometimes being able to find training shoes or sandals (all I wear on my feet) that are my size.

I miss being able to enter the Honu Half Ironman race each year with a good chance of qualifying for the Hawai'i Ironman.

I miss having more time to think about the future of Hawai'ian studies or the local economy.

I miss the sashimi occasionally served on the campus where I used to eat.

I miss watching trucks go by the size of single-decker London buses.

I miss seeing a nice house in Hawai'i that I wish I could live in.

However, in Kaohsiung I enjoy the similar weather to Hawai'i even though we are in a fairly big city.

I enjoy listening to and conversing in the Mandarin and Taiwanese dialects.

I enjoy making friends with the local Taiwanese people here.

I enjoy being able to swim each day even if it is only in a pool.

I enjoy being able to sleep and take daytime naps on my own bed.

I enjoy being able to spend a lot less on day-to-day living and hence am able to save for that airfare to Kona.

I enjoy being able to blog with friends in Hawai'i which is the next best thing to actually being there and seeing them face to face.

I enjoy being able to dress just the same as in Hawai'i each day and to live a slow-paced, laid-back life even though I am generally very busy.

I enjoy dreaming about the nice house in Hawai'i that one day I might live in.

Well, that's it for today. Aloha!

Swimming Easy - Don't be Fooled!

2008-10-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

During a quick break between sets early in the workout today, another swimmer asked me how I could look so relaxed swimming, yet go fast enough so that he could not keep up with me. Swimming indeed looks deceptive. Often the people who look slow are actually swimming fast.

I remember a friend telling me about watching the Cinco de Mayo swim at Anaeho'omalu Bay in Waikoloa on the Big Island of Hawai'i a few years ago. The swim is a two-lap ocean swim that covers approximately one mile. After the first few fast swimmers had exited the water and finished, he noticed a man swimming very slowly towards the finish and assumed it was someone completing the first lap with one more lap to go. However, the man then stood up and my friend then realized that this man had in fact already completed the two laps. So, the swimmer might have looked slow, but he was actually moving through the water at great speed. It turned out that this was none other than Matt Biondi, the U.S. Olympic swimming sensation during the 1980s. Being at least 6 ft 6 inches tall no doubt helped a little, too.

When I swam Masters in Kona, there were a few swimmers who looked slow but always recorded fast times, like Mike "the Moose" and Sheri L. By contrast, I had to work really hard and was still way, way slower than them.

So today I focused on staying relaxed during my swim, and this helped me to focus on applying effort where needed in the swimming stroke, mostly underwater during the pull which people usually did not see. Yesterday was a public holiday and the pool was closed. So on Thursday, the day before, I decided to go in the afternoon to swim, too. In the morning I swam a fairly lackluster 4,200 meters, feeling a little tired after the elation of the previous two days. In the afternoon, my heart did not really seem to be in it, but I still covered 3,000 meters. The afternoon is better for sleeping than swimming in my opinion.

This morning, Saturday, my workout ended up like this:

1 x 1,000m

1 x 500m

2 x 250m

5 x 100m on 2:00

5 x 100m on 1:55

5 x 100m on 1:50

5 x 100m on 1:45

100m "race" in 1:25

50m "race" in 40 secs

After maintaining a relaxed pace for the first 2,500 meters, I then took the pace up a notch on each of the remaining sets. Hence, when it came to the 100m "race" I felt like a well-oiled machine. I felt I was swimming within myself, and never felt under pressure to make the send offs, even on the last set of 100s. I probably rested about 45 seconds between each set, followed by about 3 minutes before the race.

In reading the article linked to Matt Biondi, I noticed that it mentioned that Matt would make a point of being the slowest swimmer during warm up. Why was that, if he was the fastest sprint swimmer in the world? I don't know his answer for this, but from my own experience going slow first and gradually building up the pace is very good conditioning. I have not felt any discomfort in swimming in weeks and even months, even though I have at times been going as fast as I can.

Such training of course contrasts with doing things where I am out of my depth, the Ironman being an excellent example of this. When I did the Ironman in 2004, from about mile 70 on the bike, I really felt depleted, and I had to rely almost completely on willpower to finish the event before the cut off. It was really hard. I hope I can complete another Ironman in the not-too-distant future. This year, I will just have to follow the race on the Internet, on Ironmanlive.com. I wish everybody a good race and a great experience. The above photograph was taken by Bob Fewell of the Big Island Visitor Bureau. Thanks.

As for predictions for the Ironman race, I don't really know about the men's race. It should be close with a couple of very good bikers versus a few very fast runners. I think ultimately it will be a fast runner who wins, but who can tell? For the women, Chrissie without a doubt, unless something unusual for her happens (like an unresolvable bike problem or sickness). On races like the Hawai'i Ironman, I don't think anyone can guarantee anything.

Spontaneous Structured Workouts

2008-10-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

As the sun was shining today (which is not unusual here), I ventured outside to take a few pictures of our home, which as you can see is on a corner of a block and has five stories, even though each floor is quite small (a total of some 1,800 sq. ft. if you add up the areas for each floor together). We only recently finished having the rain covers added for each floor on the front of the house. It does not rain often here, but usually when it does, it pours.

While moving into a new house has been quite an expense (so many things to buy when you move into something that is almost an empty shell), it is nice at least to feel that this is home. After several years living in more cramped rented accommodation in Hawai'i where we were subjected to the whims of landlords, it is nice to sleep on your own bed.

When it comes to training, it is important for things to be running smoothly in several other areas of life and housing is one of them. Swimming has its stresses and it is important not to be stressed out with daily living and work, etc. if we can get the most out of it.

My swim workouts have been going quite well for me these days, so let me share a little about them. First of all, they are not mandatory. I don't set my alarm clock so if I wake up, I wake up, and if I don't, well I could consider going later in the day. In fact I cannot recall not having woken up in time to get down there and swim in the early morning. Secondly, I don't have a typed list of what I am going to do each time. Usually I just have a kind of feeling starting from the day before, like "long slow distance", or medium distance sets followed by some sprints at the end. Whatever. I just tend to listen to my body. If I want to go fast, I try to go fast, and if I don't there is always the next day. Thirdly, instead of thinking, how am I going to through 4,000 meters today?, I get into the pool, push off swim 50 meters and think, look, I just swam 50 meters, isn't it easy, continuing my warm up while paying attention to my technique and whether I feel any pains or discomforts, possibly from something I did the day before.

My approach to swimming these days is quite a lot different from attending masters. When I did that, I often arrived at the pool tired, struggled to stay with the flow at times, and while I did have a lot of great swims and learned all kinds of workouts, I felt I never made the most of them. I think I was just a little overstresed at times. Now, when I am in the pool, I imagine I am swimming with the masters and I visualize the coach telling me to pull through properly at the end of the stroke or keep my head at the right level in the water, etc.

Yesterday's workout, the first of a new swimming week, consisted mostly of fairly relaxed swimming, where I started slowly and gradually built up to a slightly less than moderate pace by the end of the 4,300 meters.

Today's workout (Wednesday) was one that evolved out of a desire to have another day of relaxed by smooth and efficient freestyle swimming. This is what I did:

4 x 500m (just feel relaxed)

4 x 250m on 5 mins

5 x 100m on 2 mins

5 x 100m on 1m 50s

1 x 400m moderate (but not all out) in 6m 30s

1 x 50m "light moderate" in 42s

1 x 50m easy cooldown

All for a total of 4,500 meters in about 1 hr 35 mins. Would that be equivalent to a workout with the Masters? Maybe not, but as I practice like this, I often feel I am getting better at least at something and learning something new. Today it had to do with "hand and foot coordination". This is hard to explain, but I felt that my hands and feet were working together to enable me to do the 400m in 6m 30s without feeling I had to go flat out. Well, it's just a thought and I don't know if there is any scientific evidence for it. It's not often that it feels this good.

As for tomorrow's workout, I will decide that when I actually start swimming. I do want to focus on more speed work tomorrow, with a lot more 100s.

Enjoy your swimming!

P.S. There is more to my life than just swimming, although it may seem like there isn't!

Example of a Current Swim Workout

2008-10-06T04:41:00.001-07:00

I continue to swim close to 25,000 meters per week (24,800 meters this last week to be precise) and my times have been slowly improving, which is encouraging, as before I left Hawai'i in 2007 I was getting slower and slower and felt that maybe age was catching up with me.

On Saturday I had a fairly typical swim in fairly typical conditions, with the first hour having to swim with several people in the same lane (several being slow breaststrokers) and the last half hour maybe just one or two swimmers. I covered a total of 4,150 meters, which is not unlike the distances I was doing a few months ago, only now I am incorporating quite a lot more speed work. The focus today, after warming up, was on 100s (even with several other slower swimmers). I think they got a bit tired of my passing them all the time and several just moved to other lanes or quit altogether (although they normally don't swim that long, anyway). So I went: 2 x 500 (focus on form not speed), 10 x 100m on 2:05, 5 x 100m on 2:00, 5 x 100m on 1:55, 5 x 100m on 1:50, 5 x 100m on 1:45, followed by a rest and a "race pace" 100m in 1:27 and a little later to finish off with a 50m which I did in 40 seconds. I often took about a one minute break between sets, figuring that a little more recovery would make me a little fresher, which it did.

On Sunday I did a total of 4,050 meters, which included a lot of 50s, although at the end, while I was sure of the distance, I could not quite remember whether I did more 100s or 50s in the middle. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. I still got the workout. I in fact ended with 20 x 25m. Then I raced over 50 meters which I did in 39 seconds. Going faster takes me a little out of my comfort zone, but hopefully it will make the longer more leisurely swims go a little faster.

I was out much of the day Sunday, and after church I biked a few extra miles to take a look at this trash incinerator, which I can see from our 5th floor balcony at home. When I first moved down to Kaohsiung I was a little horrified at the sight of factory smokestacks, garbage incinerators and morgues, etc., but I guess that is just life, and so far I have not felt under attack by deadly chemicals, apart from those I might come across in my milk powder.

I might add that I felt quite tired around dusk on Sunday and ended up sleeping close to two hours. The "sprint" swims are no doubt using up quite a lot of adrenalin, as I haven't been eating that well. I get tired of constantly peeling potatoes. Fortunately, church served up spaghetti bolognaise for lunch and I went up for a third helping.

I really want to go out and bike more, but I am still about a week behind on my work, and so I will continue to press on with that first. I also ordered stretch cords, but some my card details did not match up on the order and so the items are still somewhere in California. I really hope I can get them soon and also have a little more time so I can start some "real" training.

I've tried telling one or two people I see at the pool each day that they could be fast if they train properly. Some have clearly learned good technique, but have never been introduced to training for something like an age-group race. I think most people here think that if they are not going to make the Olympics, there is nothing else worth aiming for. Maybe things will change with time.

New Age Group, Under 3 Minutes, 18 Secs to USMS Nationals

2008-10-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received a birthday card, a day early, from American Express (pictured). They also sent a few coupons, but unfortunately the ones that I could use expire at the end of October, just before my wife returns. I can't be bothered to go and eat somewhere on my own.

Entering a new age group increases my chances of getting a higher position in a race or of qualifying for something, like the US Masters' Nationals. Today, I very much wanted to accomplish something swimming on an otherwise very uneventful day, and so my swimming practice was a gradual build-up for a crack at the 3 minute barrier for the 200 meter free.

This week had been a typical week swimming: Tuesday, 4,350m, Wednesday, 4,000m, Thursday, 4,200m, and today altogether 4,050m. On Wednesday, I went 3m 04s in the 200m (a little tired from the earlier 8 x 100 on 1:55), and on Thursday I went 3m 01s, despite almost colliding with another swimmer at the wall. Today (Friday), I did 2 x 500 (easy and long efficient strokes), 5 x 200m (each in about 3m 50s), 5 x 100m on 2:05, 5 x 100m on 1:55, 10 x 50m on 1:00, 1 x 200 in 3m 30s, 1 x 100m in 1m 42s (relaxed), the rest room, 1 x 50m very easy. 2 mins rest then "Go!". I had to rely on my ability to watch the clock, but the second hand was definitely before the 12 when I first saw it after I finished. Hence, it is reasonable to say that I did the swim in 2m 59.5secs.

I did not feel particularly excited about the race. While swimming I wondered if I might have rested too long beforehand. There was just me and my friend swimming. Inside of me there was that fear that it was just the "old Bruce" swimming, but I felt at least I had to break the 3 minutes because it was my birthday. I did not feel any fire or burning zeal to storm through the water. It was a fairly well controlled, consistent swim.

Now that barrier is broken, I now I have my sights set on lowering the time by about another 18 seconds, which will probably qualify me to race against a bunch of old fogeys in the USMS nationals. I would much rather race against younger women (at least unofficially), and since their qualifying times are not much different, maybe that would result in a fair race. So the training will continue, but I don't know if in the end I will have anyone to race against!

Earlier this year (April) I set as my main goal breaking 6 minutes for the 400m free within one year. I haven't swum hard at that distance for a long time, but given my style of swimming I am surely getting closer. One of these days I'll try to see where I am at.

This morning the skies (at least until mid-morning) were overcast, and I faced the need to finish one or two of my more tedious "work" jobs (which call for extra discipline and patience). So in a sense I don't feel that happy, but I don't feel much else either. I don't think happiness is something you can turn on and off. Generally speaking, I feel happy doing my swims and being able to work at home, etc. I have read that many people become increasingly unhappy as they reach their 50s and 60s. Certainly, my experience when younger was that older bosses could have lots of money, etc., but they were some of the most miserable people to deal with every day.

I guess it's hard for people in their 50s to have a lot of fun these days, so I will have to schedule some into my morning workouts. A lot of fast 50s should do the trick.

Preparing to Break Another "Record"

2008-10-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Bruce's home office. Although I have been using this 5th-floor room for 8 months now, I still haven't finally sorted everything out, but at least it is now beginning to take shape. The advantages of this room is that it is quiet, breezy, bright (no lights needed during the day), and has all the equipment I need to get my work done. I even have enough room to do push-ups on the floor, etc. Since I don't want to spend all day, every day in this room, I also usually go to a local library mid- or late-afternoon to continue my work there for a few hours. Remaining sane is important.

While by "record" I mean "personal best", I am pleased to say that at least I am already doing better on most pool distances at the moment that I did in Kona over the past several years. This, to me, makes swimming all the more fun, and despite my currently busy work schedule, trying to figure out ways to swim faster makes each day exciting and challenging, not to mention the good feeling I have each morning when I go and swim in the pool.

To swim faster, and to break 3 minutes in the 200 meters free (my best so far s 3m 01s), I have not only been trying focus on techique (head position and movement, body alignment, stroke mechanics, etc.) but also on swimming faster in practice. For the week ended September 21st, I swam a total of 24,900 meters. Each day I had a tendency to start slowly and swim without rests for one or two thousand meters. Then I would do a few 200s, then 150s and 100s, and even 50s and 25s on some days, so that I would end by swimming with a faster turnover.

This last week (Tues Sep 23 to Sat Sep 27 - an approaching typhoon closed the pool Sunday), I swam 4,250 + 4,100 + 4,400 + 4,250 + 4,100 = 21,100 meters. While it may have seemed like a typical week, in a "race" against my friend I did 100m in 1m 23.5s (my fastest so far) on Wed 25 Sep, and the next day I finished with a 50m in 38.3 seconds.

A new development this week is that normally when I did 100m sets, I would have my "send offs" on 2 mins and sometimes longer if I just wasn't really moving. On Sat Sep 27 I did 10 x 100m on 2 mins followed by 10 x100m on 1:55. Yesterday (Tues Sep 30), on which I swam a total of 4,350 meters, I did 8 x 100 on 1m 55s and 4 x 100m on 1m 50s, with no rest between these two sets. Today (Wed Oct 1) I swam a total of 4,000m. The last swim of the day was a 200m that I swam alone, and did 3m 04s, despite not turning well and having to turn on one wall just as another swimmer was trying to do the same.

My plan over the next few days is to continue with these 100m sets, but according to whether I am able, to gradually lower the send offs. I find that I am fairly well focused on these sets, and they not only enhance my stamina, but also increase my speed. One of these days, I want to have another crack at breaking the 3 minute mark for the 200m free. I am also hoping to start some "real" swim training once I am not so busy with work.

Today I was shocked and saddened by news of the passing of "Bob" (those from Kona will probably know who I mean). He had been living in Kona having retired several years earlier and was a strong biker. He certainly did not look like he was in his mid-60s. Sometimes I would try to race him, but I remember more the talks we would have when we decided just to cruise instead. Bob had had a pretty successful life from what I learned from talking to him, and he is one of the people who inspired me (perhaps without realizing it) to carefully plan for my future, which was something I generally tried to escape from before. I also frequently told him about my plans to return to Kona. Little did I realize that, when I did go back, I would no longer be able to see him. Bob died of cancer and was robbed of what should have been many more years of healthful living in Hawai'i. He will be missed by many. The biking/triathlon community in Kona is very close knit.

Finally, I appreciate the comments regarding the Brendan Hansen video I posted. Until I saw it I never really knew much about him except that the famous Japanese breastroker Kitajima had recently been beating him and had lowered the 200m world record. Brendan's video is truly inspiring, not just for his dedication to the sport from a very early age, but because it also shows how much people who encourage can lift us up and help us reach new heights, while at the same time not feeling too overcome by failure. In a world in which it is so often a case of every man for himself or dog-eat-dog, we can see the preciousness of friends and the value of those who are for us rather than against us. For those of you facing a big or not so big race, take courage!

A butterfly at the butterfly sanctuary that I pass on my way to the pool each day. This species seems to be the most common here and the easiest to photograph.

Brendan Hansen Tribute - "We Will Rise"

2008-09-26T07:54:00.001-07:00

If the video screen does not appear, the video can be found on YouTube, using the following:

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=e4zpLnly_Os

With so many swim practices, I do not have the time to write my blog tonight. So I will just post this YouTube video to inspire you. Think of this as you try to break you own records, let alone beat your buddies or break the world record.
Brendan did not do too good at the Olympics this year, but he is still a great swimmer and champion. Who knows, he may have a great comeback. We must not let failures discourage us. We may fall, but we will rise. Just as Skip-Dawg so elegantly put it in rap.

Swim Workout with a Purpose

2008-09-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Wherever he is traveling in the world and whatever he is doing, Bruce Stewart always carries American Express!

Tuesday evening: While all swim workouts are hopefully with a purpose, whether a long-term goal of achieving a certain performance, or just doing it to get in the yardage, I have decided to train tomorrow morning with the goal of doing my fastest 100 meter freestyle swim yet.

There is a lot more to this than going to the pool and just saying "Go" and trying to swim as fast as I can. However, a lot concerning the workout is much the same as usual, only that I am trying to tweak it a little bit.

So I have decided to write down a few thoughts on how I am going to go about it tomorrow morning, and then after I get home, I will append a short report on what happened to this same post, since readers will probably read the two parts together.

I am not expecting to receive a fax or phone call from a coach telling me the brutal workout that I am supposed to do. I have to experiment with how I feel emotionally, what I feel I want to accomplish, pool conditions, and whatever else. Anyway, it's no real big deal. I face all these same feelings and conditions more or less every day. I will also incorporate what I learned recently from my friends' blogs into the workout, to give it a little more meaning and direction.

So I will get up as usual without the alarm clock, as I just seem to wake up at the same time whether tired or not anyway, eat my banana, drink my water, get on the bike and arrive at the pool after a leisurely 10-minute ride at about 6:15 am.

First thousand meters: Consistent, relaxed swimming with minimum effort, getting a good push off the wall with open turns (which Leann brought to my attention), streamlining and trying to glide more, averaging about 14 strokes per length, and only speeding up when it is necessary to pass (usually two at once) people. I will focus to on whether my arm crosses over when breathing (which Shirley recently talked about).

Second thousand meters: 2 x 200, 4 x 150, about 20 seconds rest in between each swim, but open to being flexible due to lane traffic (i.e., other swimmers).

Third thousand meters: 10 x 100m descending set on two minutes. Here I will keep my longish, slowish stroke but pick up the pace somewhat, trying to imagine I have a metronome in my head, and increasing the turnover (with Bree's training in mind). I will intersperse open turns with flip turns depending on how I feel and with safety considerations in mind (not to collide with another swimmer).

Last thousand meters: 12 x 50m and 8 x 25m (I want to go fast but also save a bit for later), followed by 2 x 100m very easy (to kind of recover a bit) to get me to the 4,000 mark. Then I want to have a few minutes to relax and chat with my friends and wait for an opportune moment to do a "flat out" 100m.

So far my best 100m in the pool here is about 1m 24.5s, which I did last week. Tomorrow I would like to do 1m 23s (vs. 1m 13s for USMS 55-59 qualifying time), and hopefully besides having my usual friend race me, I would like to have someone time us as it is hard to get a clear reading off the wall clock on these shorter swims. Today I was timed at 39 seconds (which could mean almost 40 seconds) for a 50 meter swim almost at the end of the workout.

I don't know if this is a recipe for success or for just so-so, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So I hope anyway that I can have a go tomorrow.

Wednesday morning: Well, I got back home about 10 minutes ago, having taken my time leaving the pool and having also stopped to buy some vegetables at the market. The weather is warm and sunny - typical weather for Kaohsiung.

I got down to the pool about 10 minutes earlier than normal, which meant that I had a little more time to get what I wanted to do done. I more or less followed the above plan to the letter (although I had some slightly longer rests now and then), and generally felt quite good, although a little slower generally than I expected. On the 100s, I was usually only going about 1:47 to 1:49. It made me wonder what I would do later. I think the 8 x 25m did me quite a lot of good. I took long rests in between (maybe 45 seconds or so) and at least I tried to get closer to race pace. Then I did two very easy 100s, but they felt good, too. Almost 5 minutes later I raced my friend over 100m in empty adjoining lanes, having told him my intention. Another swimmer who had finished his workout kindly used the stopwatch function on his watch. The result: 1m 23.47s. The first 50 was pretty fast, and I more or less swam it like a 50 (shorter more choppy strokes with more rapid turnover). The turns at 50m and 75m were weak and I wasn't close enough to the wall to get a good push, but I soldiered on, despite feeling slower, down the stretch.

During the 4,000 meter warm-up prior to the race, I did think about the things I had written concerning the things to focus on, although sometimes I become a little paranoid just thinking too much about them. I was a little schizophrenic trying to manage the metronome on the 100s. Bree's clock was going "tick...tick...tick..." in rapid succession, but my own clock was going a much slower "clonk...clonk..clonk..." I don't know if those things people use to keep to a certain stroke rate are just gimmicks or not. Maybe I should have ordered one when I ordered the paddles and cords. Too late now.

The good thing about this workout, is that I went out there and did what I had planned to do, and got the end result I had hoped for. At least "bit by bit". I think I will take it a little more easy for a few days and then have a crack at the 3:00 mark on the 200m. I will try to eat more. When I go to the market, I get compliments like I'm in good shape but the impression of the women there is that Westerners (especially those on the other side of the Atlantic to where I came from) are a lot fatter than me. To consistently go faster I need to be a little stronger, too. I will try to get someone to film me with my recently-acquired camera one of these days. Then I should be able to see more clearly what I am doing wrong.

Finally, thanks to all those who have given me such positive comments and have written such inspiring articles.

"Golden Swimming Week"

2008-09-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

The supermarkets are well stocked here, although I am still not used to doing a lot of cooking.

In one of my Japanese anime movies, the school-age kids enjoy a "Golden Week" which appears to be a time to enjoy a week off school. Well, this week has been a kind of "Golden Swimming Week". It does not mean that I have taken a break from swimming, but the practices each morning, despite my being very busy these days, have gone extremely well.

Generally speaking, life for me has been a little too busy recently. I never seem to be able to keep up with all the work that is coming in for me to do, and even though I enjoy doing it, I don't like keeping people waiting or having a long list of things still to be done. In addition, I also have to shop and cook nearly all my own meals and (occasionally) clean the house. I would like to buy a robot to whom I could delegate a lot of chores, etc.

As a result I have not been eating all that well, and at times while swimming I have felt a little hungry. So much for Michael Phelps spending $20 on breakfast each morning. Well, this isn't Baltimore. There is a lot of good food available, but in my opinion it is best if you cook it yourself, and I never had much training in cooking, not that I really have the time to do it.

The highlights of the last 5 days of swimming are as follows. Basically, each day has followed a progressive build. Usually the first 1,000 m I am just warming up easily, negotiating traffic, and getting into a rhythm. The second 1,000 is slightly faster and now may involve something like an ascending and descending set. The third thousand involves watching the clock and focusing on the 100m to 200m range. Beyond 3,000m, I am getting up to moderate pace and occasionally "flat out" especially towards the end. The pool closes at 8:00 am, and usually the last 10 minutes or so there are few people so that I can swim hard down the middle of lane 4 or 5. While the "last (focused) swim" has me huffing and puffing at the end, I can't say I am really tired after it. I think I am getting used to it and so I will tend to shirk a little. I don't have any slave drivers to give me a brutal workout. However, to get better, I may need to crank things up a little, within reason.

Tuesday: 4,200 m (Focus on descending sets in terms of distance). Final swim: 200m in 3m 04 (equals my "record" so a good start to the week).

Wednesday: 4,200 m (Focus again on descending in terms of distance. Key set 10 x 100 on 2 mins (range 1:48-1:41)). Finished with a 200m race in 3m 08s. May have been slower due to the 100s.

Thursday: 4,250 m (Focus on gradually shortening the distances until 3,000 m mark. Then key set 20 x 50 on 1 min (usually completing each one in 50 secs)). Then raced 200m in 3m o4s (must have a mental blockage here!). After a minute or two, still had time and did a 50 m in 40 secs.

Friday: 4,050 m (Focus on getting into 200s fairly early on and then 150s and then 100s and 50s.) Then as I got close to the 4,000 m, I took a few minutes' break, and then swam 1m 25s for 100m on my own, followed by another in about 1m 26s (felt a little more out of breath on that one).

Saturday: 4,200 m (Focused again on gradually decreasing the distances, but nothing more than moderate.) Later as I was doing 50s I tried to work on my flip turn, and sometimes tried not to kick or else kick hard, etc. Then I went easy for about 100m. Then my friend paced me over 200m and another timed me. 3m 01s for 200m, with the first 100m in 1m 27s. Where I felt I "lost it" was on the flip turns at 125m and 150m in particular, which were very weak and I was gasping to surface and breathe. So I need to work on the turns more.

I still need to go about 20 seconds faster if I am to qualify for USMS Nationals in what will be my new age group next month. Well, if others can do it, then so can I. I just need to get used to swimming faster. To help me, I have just ordered some stretch cordz and larger hand paddles as training aids which are being delivered by Fedex to Hawai'i and then being hand carried to Taiwan at the beginning of October. Hopefully, in October I can start my "real" swim training, and eventually I hopefully will get good enough to give a few of my old friends in Kona a surprise when I finally get out there.

I must not forget, tomorrow (Sunday) will be a swim practice, too! The week is not over yet.

Mid-Autumn Festival and a Typhoon

2008-09-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Rescue dinghy in Taiwan floodwaters. I once trained how to operate and deal with a boat like this when engaging in lifesaving activities.

The days and weeks for me often seem to go by with monotonous regularity - a swim followed by working at home, catching up on needed sleep, preparing meals, going to the local library to do more work, and reading the blogs, etc. However, this weekend was somewhat different. On Friday, a typhoon was approaching and at the last minute the local city government decided to take Saturday off work in case things got bad. While the typhoon devastated a few parts of the island, there was little damage down here in Kaohsiung.

Then today (Sunday) was a public holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival, when families like to Bar-B-Q and to gaze at the moon, which unfortunately they could not do because of the inclement weather.

What this meant was that my swimming training was cut short this week, as the pool was closed both Saturday and Sunday, and is closed anyway on Mondays for maintenance. In hindsight, I was pleased I did an extra swim practice on Friday afternoon - mostly speed work. So the distances covered last week were as follows: Tues (4,100m), Wed (4,050m), Thurs (4,250m) and Fri (4,100m + 2,150m), for a weekly total of 18,650 meters.

So I did little training over the weekend, apart from a few push ups at home, and cycling to church and back, mostly in pouring rain (about 25 minutes each way). It was a good job I took a complete change of clothes with me going there. Coming home, it did not matter that I got wet.

When our schedule is disrupted or we miss training for whatever reason, it is easy to feel a little down, as we (myself at least) often feel tired and when the weather is bad, it seems so much easier to catch a cold. In addition, I usually make use of the extra time I have by not training to catch up on my work, which often means I am more tired and my immune system isn't at its best. Fortunately, this time I seem to be OK.

Anyway, during such times as this, it is good to reflect on what we have so far accomplished, to try to get some needed rest and to get all fired up again to go on to greater things in the future.

Review of the Past Year: Work

2008-09-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Economics 101: Advantages of keeping goats in semi-rural southern Taiwan ten minutes of biking from home: (1) Keeps the grass down without the need to hire a grass cutter. (2) A steady supply of milk. (3) Possibly some tax benefits if it can be argued that the land is being used rather than sitting vacant.

Whenever I write about training, I often write about work, too. It is as if they are two sides of the same coin. Certainly in my mind, they cannot exist without each other, and it is hard to feel a sense of accomplishment in one without feeling it in the other.

Without going too much into specifics (and I have made mention of this elsewhere), I basically work alone, according to my own schedule, at home or wherever is convenient, and to a large extent I enjoy what I do. Like training, there are always the not so interesting parts, but that is where discipline is particularly important.

The work I do is not considered very exciting to a lot of people (maybe that's why I seem to have plenty to do), and there are no quick tricks for getting rich overnight, i.e., no promises of a big windfall if I sell some things or speculate or whatever. My work consists of just plodding along, dealing with one case after another. It is knowledge-intensive which, in my opinion, is the way to go in this day and age. I am not just the run-of-the-mill same as everybody else person. I have unique skills built up over a lifetime that fortunately have been discovered by people who need them. I originally did not train for a career in this area. I basically learned to adapt to my circumstances, to be not just a survivor, but a success in a specific part of the work world. I am not a member of a professional association and do not have anything like a union to back me up. I compete in a very rapidly changing and competitive world. However, besides making every effort to remain up-to-date and relevant in my chosen profession, I have also built up quite a lot of goodwill, and that, I have discovered, is a tremendous asset.

Because of my economics/accounting background plus many of the things I deal with in my daily work, I am well aware of the economic issues that face modern societies, not only at the national level, but also for each of us individuals. I constantly ask myself whether I could be doing other things to earn money, or whether I should be handling my own money in a better way. This has become all the more important to me as I have now reached an age where I have to plan for the future with a lot of "what if?" scenarios in mind.

I certainly have not been "money conscious" all my life. Although I studied a lot about money at university and in subsequent work, as with most twenty-somethings, I was mostly concerned with being fulfilled in what I was doing, and I did not see any need to make more than was necessary to pay for a relatively frugal lifestyle. Rather than ending up getting "stuck" in some unfulfilling career in the UK based on what I knew then, I went to Taiwan as a Chinese language student, fell in love with the place, and eventually with someone there, and settled down to a new life in a country that was very different from the one in which I grew up. Finding a good job was not easy. I was obviously not a local person, and neither could I find a job where I could represent some kind of British interests in Taiwan (which would have paid pretty well had I been able to do so). So I tried different things, and was quite successful at some, although I never really liked just being an employee of some organization. If the job did not offer much in terms of career development, then I felt I was unable to make full use of my talents. If the job did offer growth opportunities, then I tended to try to change the job to fit me, rather than adapt myself to the needs of the job. Obviously, the demands of the job were sometimes quite overwhelming, and so I had little choice but to focus on what had to be done. A move to Hawai'i to volunteer in a Christian organization in 1999 put an end to regular employment for me as I knew it, and since the turn of the millennium I have gradually evolved to where I am today.

That said, this is a good time of year to review the past year, since we returned from Hawai'i in early July last year and there were some major changes in our lifestyles. While I continued to do much the same work (and also for the same people) as I had done before when in Hawai'i, we stopped living in rented accommodation and went back to living in an apartment that we had owned since very early in our married life. To determine whether "progress" has been made in terms of my financial situation, which has been shaped by my work over these last twelve months or more, let me consider this period of time in terms of two balance sheets with an income statement in between.

Balance Sheet Summer 2007: As our time in Hawai'i drew to a close, I was determined to return to Taiwan "in the black", despite the relatively high cost of living there and the additional expenses of air tickets, etc. Thus when we were back in Taiwan and all the bills had been paid, I had something like $5,000 in the bank and rent-free accommodation, and of course a full-time job that I could do from home, or the roof, or the hills behind our community. The first six months were spent having quite extensive repairs done to our old apartment, initially so we could live in it longer term, but then with a view to selling it. I was able to meet all these additional costs out of current income. My time until March was spent a bit like this: work (including varying amounts of "labor" related to the house) 95%, training (walking in relatively fresh air) 5%.

Then, around January our new house in southern Taiwan was ready to move into. That had also included quite a lot of expenditure on fixtures and built-in furniture/decorations. We basically borrowed 100% of the cost of the house itself through two mortgages (one on each home) and paid for the additions with cash, as and when each different thing was completed.

From the beginning of April, when I got back into swimming, my time was spent like this: work (for money) 70%, swimming & extra rest 20%, "blogs" and other interests 10%. I am still busy, but at least I am not working like crazy.

Income Statement 2007-2008: Having explained how my time was spent, I basically did as much work as I could within reason, but saved little, due to the expenses related to both houses. Fortunately, the old apartment was put on the market around May, and sold relatively quickly, in large part, I think, due to all the repair work we had done. The last year we have lived quite frugally, despite the nice home that we have. We don't eat out much, have not bought a car, and have been mostly concerned with paying all of the bills for the many expenses related to the houses.

Balance Sheet Summer 2008: While some would argue that the house one lives in cannot be regarded as an asset because it does not bring income (i.e., rent from tenants), at least it would be useful to have should a spouse need to dispose of it in difficult circumstances. Now that the previous apartment is disposed of, we currently owe little more than half of the cost of the new house. While we still have 19 years in which to pay the balance, due to age and other considerations, I am thinking more in terms of 5 unless of course there are other "equivalent investments". Currently no credit card debt, not that there ever was. No Hummer in the garage, either, to drain our resources. Plans for the next few months are to finally get a "real" bicycle(truly a luxury good and an exception to my normal lifestyle), and also to build up a few "liquid reserves" for better cash flow management and to "be there" for the children as they contemplate their next steps, or should my wife continue to work in a voluntary capacity, serving needy people in society, in much the same way that she did when in Hawai'i.

Well, that sums up my thoughts on work over the past year and what I have been trying to achieve in that regard. I don't know if it will be relevant to readers but I thought I would put it out there, anyway.

Turning to swimming, I continue to soldier on: Tuesday 4,100 meters, Wednesday 4,050 meters. More about that in another post.

Review of the Past Year: Triathlon

2008-09-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Riding a bicycle in Taiwan is in many ways a lot different from in Hawai'i. There is so much more to see here. The sun is also very strong and, in an effort to protect my face (which is already very red as it is), I have bought myself a new hat (US$3) which is actually very cool when riding. I am riding a mountain bike. The emphasis is not so much on speed, but just on relaxed riding. I get my workouts at the swimming pool.

Before I get into the main focus of today's blog, let me quickly recap on my swimming for this week. In the previous post, I noted that I had covered a total of 12,350 meters for Tues, Wed and Thurs of this last week. On Friday I did 4,050m, Saturday 3,600m (I woke up late, obviously tired from the trip to Taipei on Friday), and this morning (Sunday) I swam a total of 4,150m. That means that for the week as a whole (Mondays the pool is closed) I swam a total of 24,150 meters. In each workout this week, I had several 25 meter "blasts" sometimes followed by 75 meters of "easy" swimming without a rest, and sometimes I just rested and then did another fast 25. While the workouts have been fun, I tend to get quite tired during the day and am forced to sleep for at least one hour some time close to the middle of the day. Fortunately, I have a nice comfortable bed, but I also find that I am a little slow at getting down to doing my work. However, without a rest, I just cannot do any work.

I would like to briefly write down some thoughts on my training over the past year. My training in Kona, Hawai'i ended with the Hapuna Roughwater Swim on July 1, 2007. We flew on July 2 and returned to our home just outside Taipei. Although it was summer and the community pool was open, I decided to give it a miss last year. I had quite a lot of work to keep me busy during the day, and I decided to go for walks in the hills behind our community. When going for walks I would often carry work with me. Our old apartment needed quite a lot of work done, and so it made sense to concentrate on trying to make a little extra money. I occasionally ran in the hills (despite the steepness of the roads and the relatively sudden change in elevation). I was surprised that I could run fairly well, both uphill and downhill without suffering knee discomfort.

However, the runs were very few. I missed the way I trained in Kona, with friends and over familiar ground. I tried to get involved in some organized activities, one being the Taipei (and later Kaohsiung) hash runs, having done quite a bit of that in the early part of the 1990s in the Taipei area. However, the lack of a car in Taipei made it virtually impossible to reach the venues for some runs, so I ended up only doing one such run there (although it was a really good workout). In Kaohsiung, by the time I had reached the run start, and had had a few beers and sat through the formalities afterwards, too many hours in my opinion had passsed. The actual running time was little more than an hour. So I wondered if I should really get involved in that. In the end, apart from showing up once, I did not. Maybe I will if I have more time, but that is unlikely.

Early this year, I met up with some foreign acquantances in the very south of Taiwan for what was to be several days of triathlon training. Unfortunately, I did not have a bike, but I figured I could at least swim and run. I was advised to take a wetsuit, which meant ordering one and having it Fedexed from the US, so more money. I could have managed without it. The water where we were in early February (although very rough) was no cooler in my opinion than Kona. The camp was suddenly cut short on the first day when a participant unfortunately had a fatal heart attack on the first group swim. I had already felt a little scared on the swim as it was my first in half a year.

With the decision being made to move down to Kaohsiung as early as August last year (when we actually saw the house and expressed an intention to buy it), followed by meetings with bankers and the construction company, etc., we moved down south in late January this year. While the troubles associated with the major repairs on our old apartment and all the packing (which was mainly my job as it turned out that I am a lot more gifted at doing that than significant others in our family) and the moving of all our things down south were now in the past, the new house had its own set of issues, mostly financial, as it needed new furniture, kitchen and bathroom fittings, air-conditioning, windows to wrap around on some of the lanais (balconies), solar water heating panels, etc. Fortunately, for us, much was done before we actually moved down, since we gained possession of the new home in mid-October, but kept finding things to do that made us want to stay in Taipei. Most of the things that we had planned to have done have been finished now, which means that we will soon no longer have to pay relatively large sums of money for a sofa, or several air conditioners. The list of things seems endless. I now agree with the statement that it is a lot cheaper to rent in Taiwan than to buy. However, living in a place like the one we have now is a lot more relaxing and comfortable in my opinion.

After moving to Kaohsiung, I started to ride an old mountain bike by following the cycle paths along the river that runs through the city. Then I went to check out a fairly nearby swimming pool that I had heard about, and that gradually changed my approach to training.

Given the circumstances I am in, I feel that any training program that I seek to follow must fulfill certain criteria if it is to be meaningful and worthwhile: (1) It must be such that most of the time devoted to the training is actually spent training (i.e., no one hour drives just to get to the start of the run, and no obligatory one hour waits to drink a watered down beer as part of the formalities); (2) It must be local enough that I actually get to make friends with people in the local community (i.e., not large events where one is just lost in the crowd, or where people are too transient (often the case with the foreign community here); (3) It must not involve a lot of expenses (such as having to keep up with the Joneses by driving to events in swanky cars, having to pay for the beer that the others drink, high subscription/ attendance fees, etc.; and (4) It must encourage the development of wholesome relationships. By this I mean that events should be about fun, friends and families as the Peaman races were. I am a bit over events that end up with a lot of beer drinking or cross-dressing, etc. I know I would like to have a good laugh sometimes, but maybe some things might lead me astray, too.

I am pleased to say that the local swimming pool I have been attending nearly every day for the last six months meets all the above criteria. That is a big part of the reason why I have mainly just been swimming. I have found a factory that can make me a carbon tri-bike frame that actually fits me, but I have kept putting off the purchase decision until a few further expenses in relation to the new house have been met. Besides, if I just want to bike easy for the time being, I can use the bike I have at present. As for running, I have been rather tired with swimming and also have not found someone with whom to train. I probably won't find anyone with whom to train unless I go out and run, and so I guess I should get started. However, I still feel too busy with work and too tired from swimming for the time being.

I have not been able to take part in any competitions so far here in Taiwan, not that the competitions don't exist, only that they have usually been far away from where I live. Step by step, I guess. I am thinking of trying to do Ironman Japan next year (to experience Japan as well as try to complete another Ironman), and hope I will also be able to get over to Hawai'i at some point to see if the swimming training I have been doing has really been making a difference.

In another article I plan to write a little about an equally important part of my life (and which I have already referred to quite a lot in this article) and that is work. It is probably a common experience for many, that when we have a lot of work to do, we never have enough time to enjoy the money that we earn. However, when we do not have enough work, we often cannot afford to do the things we would like to do. It is clearly important to achieve a right balance between the two, something that I will write more about later.

Getting to Enjoy Sprinting in Swimming

2008-09-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Picture: Alain Bernard breaks the World Record at a swim meet in the 100 freestyle. Note that those he beat by perhaps only an arm's length were the also-rans. You just have to learn to be that little bit better than the competition.

After several months of often just swimming the Ironman swim distance non-stop (even six days in a row), I have made some adjustments to my workouts. In general, the first two or three thousand meters in a workout is fairly slow and steady, but then after that, body permitting, I try to pick up the pace somewhat. The last three days (Tuesday 4,100m, Wednesday 4,150m, and Thursday 4,100m), I mainly started with a slowish 1,000 meters, just waking up and getting warmed up, followed by 4 x 250 with about 30 secs rest in between each one, followed by a pyramid from 50 to 200 and the same down again (a total of 1,000 meters). Then at 3,000 meters, realizing that I had most of the workout behind me and with fewer people sharing the lane, I focused on either 150s, 100s or 50s. Then, at around the 3,800m point, I shifted to 25 meter sprints, to be followed by a "race" or a cool-down.

On Tuesday I did 6 x 25m as fast as I could, and Wednesday I found that I was a lot more sluggish throughout my workout. I obviously used some muscles I was not used to using. I did about 4 x 25m yesterday. Today (Thursday), I did 8 x 25m, and on at least four of them I was accompanied (i.e., raced) by other swimmers who are as good as me over 100m, so they helped pace me, not that I had a lot of time to look to see where they were, except when reached the wall.

Doing these sprints is a lot of fun. We used to do a few at the end of Masters' workouts in Kona, where I felt I had a lot of endurance, but was weak and lacked speed. Things are not a lot different now, but at least I feel my turnover is getting faster on these things.

Last time I wrote that there were benefits of being able to sprint for short distances in ocean swims. I think my friends at the pool here in Kaohsiung recognize that I have a lot of endurance in that I can keep going over long distances, and that is in part because aerobic swimming is something I have a natural tendency to do. However, now I am trying to increase the amount of anaerobic swimming I do, hence the rests between sets (the idea being to feel that I am huffing and puffing). I am also trying to work on strength training, which includes dry-land exercises, for which I have little equipment. My push-ups are very poor but at least I can do a few, right next to my desk at home, so at least I will try to work on that. The water at the pool is too shallow to do "get-outs", so what I do instead is to do them with my back to the wall at the pool. This may be a little different, but it is good for the triceps and I did several 50s, following each one with about 10 of these reverse get-outs. Of course, it is particularly important for me to focus on my body position and stroke mechanics, especially on the slower swimming when I can think about what I am doing. However, as I do more speed work, my mind is increasingly able to keep up with what I am doing as I thrash my way through the water.

At some point, I will need to get some footage of what I am actually doing in the water. I still need to do a lot of work on my flip turns, which is easier said than done, as I generally don't like to do them on the slower swims.

I read somewhere that when trying to go flat out, we should make sure we don't have any heart problems. Last year after I returned to Taiwan from Kona, my hematologist (whom I will see in Taipei tomorrow for a routine check-up) got me to have a chest X-ray and, while I don't know what she learned from that, at least she said things were OK. There is a great thrill and sense of freedom to swim a length of the pool as fast as one can (especially when we reach the age where most people do very little strenuous exercise). It is almost like going down a steep hill on a bike in the aero position, only that on the bike you are likely to veer off course and have a crash while in the pool it really all depends on how good your "engine" is.

One of my friends recently drew my attention to the swimming exploits of Jessica Sullivan, a U.S. citizen who almost made it to France when attempting to swim across the English Channel. If you think you've had a hard race or have been unfortunate to accomplish something you had set your heart on doing, then reading her blog and looking at the pics and clips should give you some comfort. Jessica is still young and no doubt she will try again. She got to within 1.5 miles of France, but later discovered she was 3 miles away, and would have needed at least another 6 hours given the currents!

Learning to be a Stronger Swimmer

2008-08-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

For the month of August, I swam more than 100,000 meters. However, in a way, that is nothing special. I have gotten so used to just going through the motions of swimming, that I can do this kind of training week in, week out without feeling any muscular discomfort. At the same time, I am not really getting any faster.

So, now I have to crank "it" up. Exactly what "it" means, I am not so sure. However, I read that to get faster, I need to train faster, and to get faster I need to get stronger and to get stronger I need to swim faster, etc. I measured myself today, and while I am between 192cm and 193 cm tall, if I lie on the ground and stretch out my hands, the distance from middle finger tip to middle finger tip is 202cm. So while is those respects I am not that different from some of the taller, elite swimmers, I am a lot weaker, and a lot slower.

Each day during the last week, I have been doing sets and taking rests in between them, sometimes more than one minute. So after the first three days I was on 12,600 meters (Tues, Wed, Thurs). On Friday, I covered 4,250 meters, and while I felt tired and slow that day, at least I was doing things, like 150s and 100s and 50s towards the end. On Saturday, I swam 4,350 meters, and the last 1,000 or so was mostly 100m or less at a time. Today, Sunday, I swam a total of 3,850 meters (I overslept slightly, thus reducing the available time for training). At the end of the practice today, I raced my friend over 100m, and although I barely broke 1m 30s, at least I got several fairly fast 100s, 50s and 25s in beforehand. So my swim total for the week was 25,050 meters, slightly less than in previous weeks, but then I need to focus a little more on speed now. Two "hard" 50s appear a lot harder than an "easy" 100.

While my goal may be to become an open water swimmer, speed work is important. For one thing, incorporating it in training may raise the overall pace on a long swim. In addition, it has tactical advantages. By being able to shift gears now and then, maybe I can catch on to a good draft. Then, near the end of the swim, I hopefully can outsprint the person I drafted off most of the race and then run hard up the beach to finish in a higher position.

I'm not thinking of trying to beat Alain Bernard (pictured above), the Frenchman who won gold in the 100m freestyle in Beijing in 47.21 seconds I think, but at least I hope I can learn a few things from him, without throwing up my breakfast in the process if at all possible.