Thursday, May 1, 2014

I swam, I conquered. [Kapas Marang Swimathon '14]

Let me begin by saying that I was once an overweight, failed, rejected and confused guy. And the peak was at last Raya. The momentum I gained today started from that point onward.

Despite the effort I took to become better before, somehow it's like it keeps yo-yoing around. Just like my weight. My maximum weight was 118.5 kilograms to be exact on the digital scale. Everything was up and down. However, I find new strength and hope. God disconnects to connect. Alhamdulillah. :)







Identity
I know, in order to really improve my life, I have to form a new identity. Apart from inside change in terms of perspective and principle, I also wished to reform my physique. Identity is important. Your behavior is governed by your identity. Just like men won't wear women's cloth, so does fit and strong guys don't eat carelessly at KFC and drink 100Plus.

So, I make the change. I learned what was necessary in healthy body, and I put my aim in becoming at most like Hugh Jackman. Perhaps in another two or three years. Even though when I express my wish, my mother said she doesn't like man with big traps. For me his traps is OKAY.

Training and Nutrition
To swim efficiently, you need strong muscle, good stamina and correct technique. So, I asked for my friend's help who was a regular gym-goer. I learned from him what exercises were needed to stimulate muscle growth in some parts - in the end - I obtained an arsenal of BASIC knowledge on how to make almost every part strong. From biceps, triceps, deltoids, lats, hamstring, core, quad, calves, traps and glutes. It was amazing, by the end of some even-you-don't-realize period, you know a whole lot of thing that people don't know.

So, I went to the gym, I learned the proper technique, and I went swimming, I learned the correct technique. Although it was obvious for me to keep polishing my technique, I was amazed by how much I've progressed. :3

Butterfly!
The training wasn't easy. Vomits and tears were occasional companies. Sometimes, you got angry and frustrated, and that when you performed your first 50 meters butterfly with perfect form. Sometimes, you remembered your past failures, you felt so remorseful and suddenly you were able to deadlift 100 kilograms. That's channeling energy.

Basically, I went jogging almost every morning after Subuh, and 3 weeks before the competition I stopped. I focused on maintaining my muscle and compensated my cardio and endurance in water. I lifted four to five times a week, focusing full body transformation and stressing more on deltoids, triceps, core and legs - the ones that would be used the most during the competition.

My meals then were consisted basically of chicken breast, lot of eggs, pasta, brown rice (I learned to cook them too!), countless veggies (half of them were unsuccessful experiments), and spices and whey protein supply. I learned what types of foods that were needed to support my healthy initiatives, what to avoid and many more. Surprisingly, the budget was low and the nutrition was enough.

During my training, my lifestyle also changed. In order to maximize hypertrophy and recovery, I slept early. I made sure I got enough rest. Stress-free life. I varied my training. I did research, extensive research about division in lifting - powerlifting, bodybuilding, Crossfit and PX90.

Live well
However, I didn't let this health initiative consumed my life. I hanged out with my friends, and I planned my cheat days so that it could be accommodated with my usrah - in which usually we would eat a lot!

I also took note of Arnold's advice - build your body and give back to community. I taught my overweight friends and housemates how to live healthily. My room mate loss 5 kg in two weeks :) I tried to educate my family about good foods and bad foods.

We stayed away from oily foods, excessive carbs, and we bought a lot of fruits and experimented with various veggies (most of the time haha!)


Kapas Marang Swimathon
At last, the awaited moment came. One week before competition, I virtually didn't do anything. Just maintained my healthy foods and toured KL with my siblings.

Kapas Marang Swimathon was a race - long distance from Kapas Island to Mainland Pantai Kelulut. Around 6.5 kilometers shortest distance. This year, the participants were around 530++ from all around the world including USA, Belgium, France, South Africa and many more. About 60 kayaks, 4 jet skis, and two big maritime boat were placed for safety.

My plan was just me going bringing a tent so I could sleep near the beach. But, fortunately, my parents wanted to come along (I was so happy!). They rented a home stay, and we had a lot of fun the day before. My siblings went to the beach where I would be swimming and they played around. Me? I just watched the choppy and big waves come and go. I enjoyed the moment. The happiness. The near-accomplishment feeling.

Three days prior, I have started my carb loading phase to increase my glycogen store. So, yeah, I ate a lot. Alhamdulillah.

That day, I woke at 4.30 in the morning. Did my qiam, kissed my sleeping mom and siblings and went to the jetty at 5.30 am with my dad. I felt proud - seeing so many Muslims did stop at the surau to pray just before the ferry took off at 6.00 am. Muslim swimmer!

On board of the ferry, I met two new friends. We talked about how we trained and what foods we ate and many more. At 7.30 am, the body marking started. A 228 digits were marked at my lengan. I ate my power bar. Just so that I would not exhaust myself too much during the swim. Funny, some pakciks went to mark their numbers on their bellies. It was cute though.

We had around 30 minutes to warm up. I jogged a little, do some push ups and stretching, just to get my blood pumping.

There was something I wanna search during the swim. I don't know. What I knew was I just needed to complete the swim. I prayed to Allah before the gun was shot - so that I found what I was searching for.
During a warm up session. You see all those boats. That's security. 
We had a little bit briefing. And we were informed that that day current was a bit strong and we need to see the direction the boat was anchored to figure out the strong current. Mr Chan, who was the director said the shortest distance was 6.5 kilometers but the total distance we might swim due to the strong current probably about to 8- 10 kilometers - unless our stroke was strong and steady, we would be surely pushed aside a little bit time to time.

Some of us wanted to race and finish the swimathon as soon as possible. But there people like me, who were just there to enjoy the view and cruise peacefully through the beautiful vast ocean.

Bamm! The gun was shot. I quickly started my freestyle. Not too slow, but not too fast. Relaxing and keeping pace with the main crowd. It was so enjoying and relieving. I felt so free. Some of us started to do strokes for fun - butterfly and breast stroke. I was too. It was so fun, I waited for the big wave to come then splash I stormed out from the water with my butterfly stroke. It felt so majestic! I saw a few pakciks in front of me also were doing the same thing.

In the middle, I started feeling disoriented. About 1 hour 45 minutes after the release. I had my watch. So I watched my time closely to track my course. A kayak called me out, saying that I was so far from the main course. The current pushed many of the swimmers aside. The current was strong. I needed to learn to use my front hand during the freestyle to 'feel' whether the wave would be up or down so that I could catch my breath properly. If not, when my face emerged, it would be covered in water then I would lose my chance to breath properly. Breathing needed to be kept steady. I didn't want any accumulation of lactic acid to interrupt the swim.


There was a time when I lifted my head to relax - I saw nothing in front of me, behind, left and right. No kayaks, no main land, no pulau, nothing. Perhaps the waves were too high I couldn't see anything. I felt afraid. But then, I felt thrilled. Still, in the midst of the swim, I couldn't help but to feel we humans are incomparably small. So small, tiny, and helpless. That's the way I felt during the swim. To Allah, the Lord of the seven seas I praised. Subhanallah. In the middle of that swim, I felt the loneliness. Only Allah and me. It felt romantic though.

I slowed my pace a while. My watch showed 2 hours 30 minutes had elapsed. The fatigue just started to kick in. I stopped at a kayak for one minute to drink water. In that condition, water was essential. I swam and accidentally gulped a lot of sea water. So, I was dehydrated. Then, Alhamdulillah, I saw the balloon arc finishing gate at far sight.

"At last" I sighed. The sun started to glare already. I did not apply any lotion or sunblock cream. At that time, there were three swimmers with me. And we seemed to struggle to set the direction of our swim because the current kept pushing us away. We needed to do sighting every few and then to really optimize our remaining energy. I felt so exhausted. My deltoids and triceps started to burn.

The last phase seemed the longest. The water kept pushing me back. Felt tired of sighting, I just counted until 200 strokes every time to sight.

At last! I arrived. I saw my brothers Ayaz dan Saif were jumping excitedly seeing me out of the water. Other swimmers also beside me, three of them. All of us somehow a bit disoriented. We could not stand properly and walked like a drunk person. We were greeted by a government official. He gave me the shirt and congratulated me with the finisher medal.

Somewhere I belong
I searched for my mum and dad quickly after that. I found my mum and I hugged her very very closely. Tears escaped my eyes. Thank you mama. I hugged my dad. He gave me a manly pat behind my back and said, "Mama cakap menyesal lepaskan Asif dalam laut tadi. Ingatkan asif tak sampai-sampai mama takut asif lemas" and he laughed. My mum laughed also. Well, that was happiness. And my brothers all came to me to peluk-peluk. Haha geli. Tak pernah nak peluk sebelum ini pun, tetiba.
Still disoriented!

I found what I searched. Alhamdulillah. It's a secret. But, trust me, the swim was worthy. Definitely.

I shut down during the trip back home, and my deltoids and traps were sore as bad as they could be. I could not even lift my hands to drive. Imagine!


And the sijil!


One day, I will compete in a triathlon event. Aim set. Let us execute.