News from Sydney !!

Howdy folks!

It’s Rizal from Sydney, feeling engaged and energized with the Fitness Challenge you guys & gals are participating in. Reading PLT’s “skinny” on Corporate Athlete (CA) reminds me of the time when I asked him to train me on CA. Although daunting at first, having your Country Manager as a personal trainer helps to keep the motivation to stay on the program :-P Interval training is very effective and sure-fire way to get maximum output in minimum time. I remember one time (after doing the program for a few months) – I overestimated my fitness level and started to up the tempo. It’s a guy / macho / ego thing as there was this girl who was running faster beside my machine. I couldn’t even finish one interval!!! Had to stop, took a shower and borrowed Mahboob’s car to drive home. I had an ashtma attack and my ventolin inhaler was at home… lesson learned è stick to the program and listen to your Polar Heart Rate monitor!!!



The folks here in P&G Australia are now running Boot Camps as part of our wellness program. Generally, the people here are more health aware and more willing to participate on such programs. We had 2 of our employees here trained to be a CA trainer. During our last annual offsite ala NatCon, we launched the CA program to the whole organization. We had outstanding response to it with 90% of the organization signing up for the full CA program training.

Have I been keeping up with the program? I’ve modified my program to suit my personal needs here. I now cycle-commute to work (about 10-15km return route) and do about 70km long weekend rides. Having little access to mamak stalls and halal food has helped me tremendously. I’ve lost approx. 10kg since I came here and started cycling. I’m hovering around 75kg mark now with the aim to drop below 70kg. I’m trying to see how much I can improve my hill climbing ability. I’ve also recently learned how to swim. Again, it’s a macho thing as my boys have been taking classes and can swim better than me!



Best cycling achievement? Recently completed a 85km Sydney Spring Cycle and 96km Sydney to Wollongong (Gong) ride (both after not doing a lot of training during Ramadhan). I recently joined my local cycling club to learn group riding techniques and potentially enter some races. Will update you with more progress on that later. Sharing some photos from my Gong ride and my most coveted toy right now.

Net – it’s good to feel connected back home. Keep up with the program folks! Kalau ada kelapangan, jemputlah datang ke Sydney. You’re more than welcome to stay at my house.

Rizal