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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Overhydration Leading To Hyponatremia

My previous write up on abnormal heartbeat and how we all should be careful with personal health resulted in this article about the other side of hydration - the excessive type.
Overhydration or known as water poisoning can happen when an individual consumed too much water that it upset the electrolyte balance in the body, usually leading to Hyponatremia. To better understand how this happen, we have to understand what are hypertonic, isotonic and hypotonic.

Osmosis is a process where liquid passes through a semi-permeable membrane (in this case, cell) where it moves from low solute to high solute concentration. This typically go against the typical notion that higher concentration will moves to lower concentration like when we spill water (from wet to dry area).
In the case of hypertonic solution where the concentration is higher outside the cell, water will be drawn out from the cell and the cell will shrunk - or become flaccid. This is typical as observed back in school science experiment when we immerse a potato into a salt solution and the potato will shrink (as water are being drawn out via osmosis). SO, taking too much salt during your sports too, will be demerital and will cause dehydration!
Isotonic is no stranger to sports people when they are essentially talking about the sport drink they consume. By mean of isotonic, it meant that the concentration inside and outside the cell is at equilibirum or steady-state. However, this has to be taken with a pinch of salt (no pun intended, since we are talking about salty solution here) as excessive salt intake will leads to hypertonic condition. The best isotonic drink in my opinion is still coconut water. Carbonated sports drink does more damage to you than good. Stay away if you can.
YOU DO NOT NEED ISOTONIC drinks if you exercise less than 2hours. The food intake of average Malaysian already has more than sufficient sodium to supplement a typical Joe that exercises. For example, a pack of Maggi Mee noodle has sufficient sodium to last you a week of running. Two slices of commercially available bread will gives you close to 200mg of sodium. So, the need for isotonic drinks should be limited if you are doing anything beyond 2hours.
Next is hypotonic condition where the solute concentration outside the cell is lower than inside. This will cause the movement of liquid into the cell, engorging/enlarging it before bursting the cell. This will happen when one drink too much water, upsetting the sodium and electrolyte balance in the body and causes the Hypoatremia problem, which could potentially lead to death.
Doing some research into Hypoatremia or condition sets by over drinking of water, i can't help but to even mistaken them for dehydration.
When you are going through Hyponatremia, you will feel:

Headache
Confuse
Irritable
Drowsy
Difficulty in breathing
Muscle weakness/jelly like feel
Twitching
Cramping (bet most of us think it's not enough salt!)
Nauseated
Feeling to vomit
Thrist (wow! from over drinking???)
Changes in behaviour

The above is easily misunderstood with being in a dehydrated state. It takes a trained medical personnel (and not St. John Ambulance personnel or unqualified medical personnel) to identify them to administer sodium solution or saline solution.

Being an amateur competitive triathlete and having known my own limits and has guided many that knows me to recognize theirs (i hope i am not sounding too arrogant), it is safe to say that if you are doing endurance sports like i do, always learn to take a sip of water every 10 minutes if you are doing long endurance bike or run (i.e. anything in excess of 2hours) and supplement it with proper sports drink/mix like Accelerade or those energy drinks. I personally take Accelerade simply because it has a 1:4 protein to carbo mix. I take Endurolytes salt tablets from Hammer Nutrition as well to supplement if i am doing anything beyond 20km of run.

Staying alive during and after a competitive race sometimes just require a bit of common sense and moderate approach. Now that you know it is possible to die from over drinking, go easy in your next race - there is really really no need to gulp down those water at every water station and you have absolutely no reason to skip them too. Carry a bottle of fluid (energy drink would be good, as most water station gives water only) so you can take a sip after every water station you stop for a short drink.

Learn to recognise the symptoms above and learn to manage them should it happen to you, or someone near you in the future race.

Competition Is Good For Consumer

The recent debacle about which bread represented which race has left a bitter taste in the mouth. Something as simple as bread could be made into a racial hoo-ha that if you now look back, sounded very silly.

Gardenia official reply as per their webpage

Now, like it or not, all companies in the country is to an extend a crony company. Everyone is benefiting from each other. Th symbiosis process has been in existence and been the main reason why the different races community are cohesive and coherent to earn money and to make ends meet.

For someone to throw allegation on why Gardenia and why Massimo, it is like telling (again, food into racial issue) why Pepsi and why Coke; and, why McDonalds and why KFC.

As middle income earner in Malaysia, struggling to make ends meet and ensuring a comfortable living condition for the family, COST is the single most important factor when it comes to buying groceries and household items.

I lost count of the time i lost standing at the aisle wondering if i should buy Milk X that cost RM4.30 or Milk Y that will cost me RM4.50.

I believe you too, has been driven more to buy Massimo at RM1.90 (wholewheat with wheat germs) as opposed to spending RM2.80 for Gardenia's Wholemeal bread, right?

The maths is simple - it is NOT about which race produces what bread, as i believe as a Malaysian company, unless you practice extreme racial composition, there will be a multiracial/multi religious/multi ethnic workforce. We can't live without our Ahmad, Ah Seng and Muthu (coincidence in name to real life person is much regretted).

The more subjective friends has said that Massimo apart from being CHEAPER, has way much better TASTE too.

That i have to agree.

Unlike many others, friends that think like me based our purchases on COST and TASTE.

However, as me and my family are practicing clean eating, the purchases of mass produced bread are based on need (when we failed to have homemade bread at home).

Now that Massimo bread price is back to their pre-introductory prices (of RM1.90/loaf) to full RM2.50/loaf, the decision to buy Gardenia or Massimo is sort of levelled. There is no more preferences based on COST.

Having said that, I went to buy a loaf of bread at the local grocery store this morning. Massimo was not available at the shop, i believe based on the arrangement NOT to stock them up based on the "bread war".

Imagine my surprise when i saw that Gardenia now has new variant of bread in the market - three new type to be exact.

They now have the Herbal Mediterranean Mixed Grains sold as Passione Italiana, The Le Classique Sesawhite sold as Bonjour, and Multigrain & Seeds sold as Sommerset Cottage.

I don't quite like the names to be frank, it is at best wannabe. We all know there is NO Italian bakers recipe in any of the commercially available bread sold in Malaysia, let alone bread masqueraded with foreign sounding names that only wannabe cliche people can pronounce.

What is available on the shelf

The "French" bread is going for RM3.80 and the "English" bread is going for RM4.80. I have to see the ingredient to justify my purchase, if i want to make an informed (and boring) comparison.

I was pleasantly surprised when i saw the "French" bread having pretty good stuff in them.

Sesame (black and white) and butter as part of the ingredient

For RM3.80 on the sesame bread, it is well priced between their own company products. My only complain is the usage of oil as part of the ingredient when there is already butter - unless the butter ain't butter

Impressed with them having Chia Seed in the bread - question is, HOW much in them? Chia is only potent when taken at least 2teaspoon a day.

Again, with butter too. But WHY the need for vegetable oil? If you are Gluten intolerant, best stay off this variant as it stated Gluten to be in their ingredient. I will write about Gluten soon. Stay tuned.

On the surface, these two bread looked promising by offering more varieties to the consumer. This is most useful for those that plan to stop taking highly processed commercial bread and incorporate it into their daily diet. However, for advance dieter wary of what they are going to put in their mouth, i will give this a pass. And with the price to be only RM1.70(comparing against the RM4.80 "English" bread) off from the Adventist Sprouted Grain Bread, i will settle for the real deal that has fantastic ingredient that you really know exist.

Sprouted Grain Bread. Won't go wrong.

So, weighing in the COST and TASTE factor and with limited choices (of brands) available, i settled for a loaf of RM2.40 WHITE Gardenia bread. It has what i expected it to have, without having to second guess what other new things it is inside. Let this be the last White i will buy for the family.

The Massimo vs. Gardenia bread story would had been much more valuable and interesting when the haters (and racists) starts talking about what these bread company is feeding them as opposed to who is benefiting the most from all these made-believe racial stuffs.

Hope you don't look at your next piece of bread thinking what they are made off. Have a great day ahead.

Running Beyond 20km Loop

Now that you all have read about the 12km Double Hill and the 20km Bukit Aman - Hartamas loop, those at the advance stage, or moving towards the advance stage might want to consider route that will give them mileage. The option could not be simpler if you choose to do two times Double Hill for a good 24km workout or 2 loops of Bukit Aman - Hartamas loop for an almost marathon 40km.
There is a few option for a 2km loop and a 3km loop which will help add on to the 20km loop you will be doing from Bukit Aman to Hartamas.
The first one would be the 3km loop that will bring you around the area of Matrade and Solaris Dutamas. When coming up from National Archive and reaching the cross junction as in Step 4, turn right and run along the main road passing Matrade until you reach a T-Junction. Turn left at the T-junction and go straight up towards Solaris Dutamas/Publika. The road will be curve left and you will run downhill from there. If you need to refill at this point of time, there is a Mamak that has water or isotonic. You won't miss it as it is along the road on your left side. Run down towards the cross junction and you can turn right into Step 5 of the 20km run. This additional will not give you a full 3km, but about 2km worth of good hill workout. Option is doing loop on this 3km route to build up on your distance, if you need to.

Another good additional will be a short 2km loop after you reached Petronas in Hartamas. This route has a fair bit of climbing (up to 600m) and work up a good sweat too.

Run past Petronas and you will see a field on your left hand side. There is a junction on your left and run up that junction. Going straight will lead you to a dead-end. There is a small bump that you will power up and you will be rewarded with about 200m of downhill before hitting a flat of 50m and the climb will starts again. Just run following that road and it will eventually leads you to a junction along the main Hartamas road, coming from Plaza Damas on your right, or back towards Petronas on your left.
This short 1.2km route can be an alternative for a short interval workout towards the end of your 20km, or used as a warm up if you run in reverse order.
Which ever way you take, it is just extra distance that you will want to cover.
Armed with these local knowledge, you will be better equipped (route wise) on where to run 12km, 15km, 20km and beyond 20km (this blog entry)
I have a 35km route in mind - and that will involve running from TTDI park to Bukit Aman. It already sounded tempting and it shalt be explored one fine day.
Run safe and run in pairs at least if the distance is beyond 12km. It is for both safety and company.
Should any of you want or need more information, please drop me a comment and i will try to accommodate (with answers) as much as possible.

RebeccaSaw.com and Ritz-Carlton Giveaway

Everyone loves freebies. So, when I saw what Rebecca offered in her blog yesterday, i had to jump in and try to win something as well. I am turning this into a blog post because i want to help promote RebeccaSaw.com blog and facebook page - not that she need any promotion (instead, i might want her to promote my blog!).
Anyway, to know more about how to win the 2 Days, 1 Night Stay at Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur in their Executive Deluxe Room, or win any other prizes being offered by Rebecca herself. Click this link to find out more : http://bit.ly/RebeccaRitzCarlton
Meanwhile, this is my entry to satisfy Task 1 to Task 3 per requested.

Task 1: Complete a slogan and must link both Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur and RebeccaSaw.com

Task 2: Tag both yourself and the person you want to bring in ANY photos at Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur Facebook page. We love Japanese food. Hence, the selection.

Task 3: Both involved MUST LIKE both the Pages.

And finally, post it up in Rebecca Saw Facebook page as proof that the Tasks has been completed!

And Task 4 : Post it on Rebecca Saw's FB page. This is because some FB are private! Can't see, Can't Win!

OK, now fingers crossed on winning something!

15km Sperm Loop

The office gave Feb 14 half day off to all of us. I was taken a back but was pleasantly surprised. I left for home and was back by 2.30pm. I then decided to go for a run, perhaps to try out the route i had in mind for a 15km run. With traffic and logistic in mind, i figured out that running in Taman Tun would be a good idea. Instead of running like a hamster in rounds around the park, i decided to run from the park to Damansara Heights and back. I baptise this route as 15km Sperm Loop. It is easy to see why.

I did not wrongly name it, right?

The elevation on this route is more demanding than the 12km Double Hill, you will gain about 500m of elevation in total over the 15km distance. This route makes Double Hill looked like a pancake flat route.

Lung Busting Goodness

So, if you are looking for a 15km loop if you are staying at the Taman Tun Dr. Ismail and Damansara side of town, here is a guide and because i ran with my phone, there are photos instead of map. :)

IMPORTANT TO GET 15KM : Once you arrive at the TTDI park, run a loop of the lower loop. Essentially, it is only a 14km distance unless you finish it off with a 1loop around the park. You can opt to use this last lap as your warm down lap.

Lower Loop around the park's lake is 1.4km

A partial of this route was my Ironman run training route and Damansara Heights hills kick ass. The climb are longer and more demanding. You can have an alternative 5km loop just running the Jalan Beringin like how i did with a group of lawyers a while back.
The main draw of this route is the ease of accessibility without having to drive to Hartamas (to do a reverse Bukit Aman - Hartamas) or to Bukit Aman. With adequate hills, this route can be a king maker (for fitness).
Here are some other random photos i took while running it on Valentine's Day.

Up the longest steepest portion. Huff and Puff!

Behind KLGCC towards TTDI. Yes, i am on Instagram too. Find me at TriStupe

Translate to 89% HRmax with 80% HRave

Slow 7:47 average pace with max of another slow 6:00 pace. GPS distance was 15.5km. Uncalibrated Polar about 15km.

Thank You PDRM!

My dad called me late Saturday afternoon about 6.15pm to tell me he had trouble with the car (a Kancil by the way) and it sort of stalled in the middle of the road near the Damansara Jaya - Damansara Utama turn off, the spot where road users can U-turn back to NKVE. It was pouring heavily and my first instinct was to tell him to switch on the hazard light, stay away from the car and under the flyover for shelter against the rain. I then rushed out and managed to persuade a mechanic at Uptown to follow me and troubleshoot the car.
As I arrived at the location, i saw two PDRM patrol car pulling away and my mum, dad and cousin (she had school that afternoon) was safely under the flyover.
I was about 30seconds too late and did not had the chance to thank the officers (there were four of them) and they gave two bottles of their drinking water to my dad to be filled up in the radiator. They were drenched in the rain as well, as they tried to help with the car. Kudos PDRM!

Published here

I wrote a few emails to the major English dailies hoping that the appreciation will be posted up. Many thanks The Star, for highlighting this.

20km Bukit Aman - Hartamas Loop

Fresh from running the 12km loop per the Double Hill entry, here is another favorite of runners in Klang Valley. The Bukit Aman - Hartamas Loop is also known as weekend long slow distance (LSD) training that will give a good 20km worth of distance to sweat it out. As per the entry yesterday, if you need the GPS coordinates, please email me at im at tristupe.com to get it. Else, here is a description on how where to run the 20km, turn by turn, as detailed as I can provide.

1. Follow the route to get to Taman Tunku Apartment per the Double Hill entry here (up to Step 5). Go straight on passing the National Tennis Centre on your left and up the small slope towards the main road that leads from Bulatan Segambut.

2. At the T-junction, carefully cross the main road, climb over the metal barrier, walk under the flyover, climb over the metal barrier again, and cross the road towards Arkib Negara (National Archives). Traffic on early morning are typically light, but be careful when crossing it after 9am, as it will start to get heavy. The GPS forces the route to go up to Bulatan Segambut. Just ignore it like how i noted below.

3. After you cross the road, run up the long slope (about 800m) passing the Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) on your left hand side. Keep running until you reach a cross-junction with the Jalan Duta Food court on your right.

4. Cross the junction carefully and make your way towards Majlis Wilayah. Run up this slope and down towards another cross junction. Cross it carefully and head up towards Solaris Dutamas. At the next cross junction, turn left.

5. After turning left at the second cross junction, you will find a gated community on your right and the new spanking Kementerian Dalam Negeri on your left. Run along this road until you reach Plaza Damas, passing the new Istana Negara on your left. Warning - Big Climb.

6. Run past Plaza Damas and down the hill. Petronas is a mere 1km away from there. You can stop there for some refuelling (though at this point of time, the station is closed for renovation). You can then take the same way back to Bukit Aman following the same route.

This route allows you to do some sort of benchmarking for your own fitness. Essentially, it is a 10km one way and you can use it to gauge your 10km split timing. Done properly, your speed will increase and so will be your fitness. There is a few other variants to get more distance out of this simple 20km loop which i will share separately soon. Meanwhile, if you have been wondering where is this 20km LSD that everyone is saying, you now know and can run this route safely.
If you feel this is useful, do share it with your friends!

10km Double Hills Loop Bukit Tunku

I meant to write about this for some time already. Having used this route for a lot of training and initiation of beginner runners to run in the open (i.e. not on treadmill), i never actually officially written about the route or posted map on it. Double Hills Bukit Tunku is a 12km loop that is challenging enough for any runners. Beginners will find them daunting with the name (HILLS!) and more experience runners will at time use it for interval training or for recovery run. Whatever the level of your running experience, this route is not strangers to runners in Klang Valley.

The run starts from Bukit Aman car park. It will be difficult to explain in writing which is the correct route/turn to take. If anyone need the GPS routing, please email to me at im at tristupe.com. If you do not have any GPS, Here is the rough guide to run Double Hills Loop.
1. Start from Bukit Aman Car Park and run out towards the main road, turning right and head down to Bank Negara, passing Padang Merbuk on your left. This first km is a slight slope downwards and gives good opportunity for a warm up.

2. Upon reaching Bank Negara, turn left and run along the road until you go under a flyover. That flyover is for KTM Komuter. You will then turn right into the road and run pass the KTM Komuter Station. Run pass the station and follow the uphill road, which will leads you to pass Sasana Kijang, the new Bank Negara Building. Admire the building if you want to. After all, it is build with some of your tax money. Run down towards the intersection and take a sharp right up, passing an Arab school on your left.

3. Running pass the Arab school, the real workout begin. You are now in Bukit Tunku area where the size of your house could be the size of a bedroom of these houses that belongs to the rich (not sure if they are famous). Just follow the winding road for about 2 1km(thank you Anon) until you reach a major intersection. You have to turn left immediately and not go straight ahead and down - or you will end up at The Mall and Legend Hotel.

4. After turning left, you will run passing a flyover with Lebhuraya Mahameru below you. You will also see two huge mansion on your left and a high end gated community on your right. Right in between these two is a small roundabout. Turn right and run down the small slope or use it for some active recovery before hitting about 1km of flat road passing more mansions and high end gated community.

5. Run along the road until you pass a bus stop on your left and right hand side. You will see Taman Tunku Apartment - an old settlement of quaint unpretentious gated community on your right, cross the 2-lane road after you pass the Taman Tunku Apartment and turn left into Jalan Pinggiran Tunku. Missing this turn, you will end up next to National Tennis Stadium and dangerously close to crossing the main road towards Hartamas ;-)

6. This is where the so called Double Hill starts. A short slope up Pinggiran Tunku, you will meet with a fork on the road. Turn right and and run in between more mansions. You can opt to count cars inside the two mansions on your right if you got bored of running. I last counted 12 cars in each mansion. Immediately after that, you will be facing a 8 degree climb for about 200m. This is the first "hill" of this run. Elevation gain over this short 300m is about 60meters. Decent enough for a good heart pump. Continue on the road and you will have an option to turn right into Simpangan Tunku and take the short 150m to Persiaran Bukit Tunku, before turning left down the road. The typical practice over here is that most runners will take the alternative route per below where Pinggiran Tunku and Jalan Girdle meet. Keep left and run down the hill and you will meet back with Persiaran Bukit Tunku. You only lose about 200m if you take the alternative route. Make it up with some hard running down the slope.

7. Run along the road and turn left at a T-junction towards a roundabout. Take the second exit at the roundabout and run about 1km before hitting Lebuhraya Mahameru. Make sure you exit Bukit Tunku and do not turn into Jalan Carruthers or Jalan Tunku Putra. One is a dead end and the other, a massive 10degree climb over 1km await! Carefully cross and run on the left side of the road. Run along the road that runs parallel to Lebuhraya Mahameru. You will reach an overhead pass and turn left, crossing the highway. Turn left again and run up the second hill (hence, Double Hill), flanking the Agricultural Ministry and the Department of Irrigation. The road is wide here, but careful of fast moving vehicles and always run against the traffic so you can see what is coming to you.

8. Once you clear the "hill", there is a turning on your right (first right actually) to a road called Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin. This road is winding and only about 1.5km long, but adequate flat and slight downhill to perform a fast interval. I managed (my fastest) a 4:45 pace here a hold it before the heart rate peaks at 169bpm (my 90% max). You will run past Tugu Negara (National Monument) before hitting the crossroad back to Bukit Aman Car Park. Cross the intersection carefully and sprint to your car to finish!

So, there you go. The 12km loop of Double Hill Bukit Tunku. This route has been ran by runners back in the 80's and still remain a favorite for many today. While there were news of runners being mugged by Mat Rempit (biker gang), they are isolated incident. Just remember to run in group and avoid running this loop too early in the morning or too late in the morning. Meanwhile, here are some photos to share from the Double Hill Escapade Saturday morning with wifey.