Sunday LSD @ Yishun

I went for the scheduled 30km Sunday LSD at Yishun Stadium this morning. My last run was a short Thurdsday recovery run with Beverly, and I was waiting for this run to condition myself. The Standard Chartered Marathon is just a month away. There was about 15 of us gathered at the Yishun stadium, all SAFRA MF members. I was joined by sanji from SgRunners, who wanted to do a lsd to build up his mileage base for his virgin marathon in Dec too.

I was more or less fully equipped, with HRM, cap n fuel belt. I didn't bring any powergels, since I have already tried them out for the last 2 long sunday runs. We started off promptly at 7am and ran at a 6min/km pace along Yishun Road towards the Seletar Reservoir dam area. The sun was already shining brightly as we crossed the dam area, and I was glad I had my Reebok cap on. Sanji ran with me for a bit in the beginning, and after about 5km, I moved up to join Kumaran and Ah Leng in front. The pace was still comfortable, as we pushed along Seletar Reservoir Road and onto Seletar Camp. When we reached the beginning of Jalan Kayu, I moved ahead with Kumaran and we waited at the mobil petrol station along Jalan Kayu. The rest came about 10min later, and we proceeded onwards to make a big loop around Buangkok MRT station...not really sure what the distance was for this portion, but the sun was real HOT. Many of the runners were drenched and was feeling the heat. I felt good with the cap, and I was taking intermittent sips of water to get hydrated. We made a couple of stops along the way, mostly at the coffee shop.

On the return, I ran ahead with Kumaran and Teck Hou. It was hot, and I didn't really chat much for today's run. I was trying to focus on my form, as well as waiting for impending pain to my knees, which did not come. I also played around with forefoot and heel strikes, to try to use different set of muscles. The results seemed to be favourable. Soon, we reached back to the mobil petrol station again, and toop a final break there. I got a bottle of 100plus to replenish some salts n carbo, took half of it, and shared it with Teck Hou n Wong. Kumaran and Melvin had run ahead. Ong indicated that we had run 17km already, and I checked my watch which showed about 1hr30min of running time...yup, the distance and time tally more or less. I said lets push on, only 13km to go. We moved on as a group, and ran into Seletar Base Camp. In the camp, Ong & Teck Hou pushed ahead, with me following closely behind. As we exited the camp, we ran towards the dam area, and I still felt strong at that juncture. A body check indicated that all was fine, no pain to the knees yet. Very soon, we hit the 5km mark along the reservoir...Ong said 5km more, i showed him the thumbs-up and moved on. Teck Hou was just in front of me. I was thinking that the distance was quite short...anyway, with the remaining 5km, I increased pace and pushed all the way back to Yishun Stadium. Along the way, Teck Hou turned back to run home; I ran past Melvin and CH who were already walking. I looked back, and there weren't anybody too. I guess they were all drained by the intense heat. I felt that it was great conditioning, as we might face such weather at the SCSM. The cap really kept me cool all the way, and I was tilting it forwards and backwards, depending on sun direction.

I finally reached back in about 2.5hrs, and saw Chairman and Kumaran, with Jaime. I told them the distance was probably 26km, and Kumaran felt he should have run another loop around Buangkok MRT..he really wanted to run more than 30km to get his mileage up...never mind, we should be having a 35km pretty soon. The rest came in slowly, some were injured, CH vomitted and was feeling very ill. Sanji came back later, looking alright, but still suffering strains from his injury...he also mentioned some slopes made his heart rate shoot up quite high. I had a good chat with the guys, took a bit more 100plus and a banana, before bidding farewell to the group. I will see them on Tuesday morning for the Deepavali long run of 20km+ at Mt. Faber, followed by carbo-reloading at Kumaran's house. Overall, I enjoyed the run today, especially the conditioning in the hot sun...just hoped it was longer at 30km. My legs felt ok, though my left knee feel a little achy.

Distance Ran:25km ___Time:2hr24min____Pace:5:46min/km
Average HR:156bpm___Max HR:168bpm____KCal: 1,909

A western night run with SgRunners

Back-From-Left: Spectre, Carine, Penguin, Flip, Freddy, IronmanDreamer, Balasing
Front-From-Left: runalone, whr, Tiwazz, kops21, slacker, DreamRunner

This evening was supposed to be my gym day. Because of some last minute changes, I had the good opportunity to join in the first mini-group run with some SgRunners in the western sector. The plan was to start off from International Business Park (IBP), running through some canals, and then to Buona Vista, before making a return loop back. I wanted to go down for a slow, recovery run, mainly to meet and chat with SgRunners, many whom I have not met yet.

I went to Jurong East MRT and picked up Tiwazz, Carine and Freddy. Together we went to IBP and met up with the rest...introductions all around with whr, runalone, slacker, Flip, Spectre, kops21. We proceeded to run after some quick stretches, and chatted as we ran. It was a cool night and we all enjoyed the company very much. The canal route was new to me, and quite brightly lit. The tarmac road felt much better than the usual concrete pavements we have to pound if running outside the road. As we ran, we discussed the happenings at SgRunners Forum, as well as some of the recent events.

We were joined by balasing as we crossed the overhead bridge at about the midpoint. As we went on to the main road along Buona Vista, we bumped into Ultraman doing his own secret training, running the opposite direction. We shouted for him, and he joined us for a bit, before continuing to run home. We carried on back along the canal, and met up with Penguin and IronmanDreamer (ImD), who joined us on our return trip. From there, there was about 8km more to go. I increased pace a bit faster, and runalone went faster ahead. Soon both of us ran at quite a fast pace, and I was enjoying the harder portion of the run then. We reached an intermediate point after about 2km, and waited for the rest to join up. With about 5km left, we ran together and then with 700m to go, did a fun sprint to the finish. All were happy as they finished, and was pleasantly surprised to know we have covered 14km, as confirmed by Freddy's Polar 625x foot-pod. We did a quick warm-down, and took a series of photos for the memories, as well as to show to others who did not manage to join in the run.

Back-From-Left: Spectre, runalone, DreamRunner, whr, ImD, Tiwazz, Flip
Front-From-Left: Carine, Balasing, kops21, slacker, Freddy, Penguin

We did a quick wash up, and everyone went their separate ways, while I went for a good dinner and more chatting with Tiwazz and Freddy. I look forward to join in for more of such mini-runs with different groups of SgRunners. It is a good way to exercise as well as get to know more runners who share a common passion.

Distance Ran:14km ___Time:1hr20min____Pace:5:42min/km
Average HR:N/A___Max HR:N/A__KCal:850KCal est.

Tempo run through Ulu Pandan Canal

WOW...Did it rain heavy today...I thought I will not get to run, but fortunately, the rain stopped and we had immaculate weather this evening for our 18km tempo run. Thr groupp wasn't big today, and many who ran 30km on Sunday were not back yet, probably still resting.

I was taking this run as recovery in a way, since I didn't run with Beverly yesterday. The SgRunners' servers were being migrated, and I had to bear with not getting up-to-date information and shouts on the system..somw kind of withdrawal symptoms showing...haha. I started with the group from SAFRA Clubhouse, and soon I was mainly running alongside Sok Hwa through Depot Road, then to Queensway, Jln Hang Jebat, Portsdown Road before arriving at Dover Road/Buona Vista Junction. From there, I ran ahead with Jim Chow pacing Sok Hwa. I was feeling good in my legs, just some aches on my shoulders and arms from the Pilates trial I had yesterday. I ran on along Dover Road, and was overtaken by Jim Chow near the end of the road.

I ran on along Clementi Road, and then onto the canal. Good relief for the legs...at least we have tarmac there, compared with the tough concrete all along the way. Ran through the 3km canal road, and went to Buona Vista MRT for a quick water break. From there, I ran all the way through Alexandra Road, Queensway, then back along Depot Road. Reached the ClubHouse in 1hr41min, and Derrick, Jim Chow and Chua had reached earlier. Sok Hwa came in just after me. Did my warm down, stretched my ITB, and did some reverse-leg draining. I felt good throughout the run, and there was little pain in my ITB & knees. Good, the form is improving.

Distance Ran:18km ___Time:1hr41min____Pace:5:38min/km
Average HR:156bpm___Max HR:170bpm__KCal:1,342KCal

30km SAFRA Location Run @ East Coast Park

There was a group of SgRunners that joined me for the SAFRA Location Run at East Coast Park. This is a quarterly run organized for all runners from the various SAFRA Running Clubs, and is a highlight of the Club's running activities for the year. BrokenRunner, DO, Ultraman, cosmic_wind, tekko, IronManDreamer joined in to try a LSD training run with SAFRA. The previous night was raining cats & dogs, and fortunately it stopped by the time the run started. The weather was very cool. I picked up DO and we arrived at carpark C4 near MacD. By 7am, a large group of SAFRA runners already gathered.

After a brief by David Shum, the run was called to start. Runners had an option to turn back at Esplanade for a 21km distance. As we ran, I introduced Chairman to most of the SgRunners, and they chatted a while. Ultraman was late, but managed to rush all the way down in 15min, and then took all of 5min to catch up with us. It was a slow pace for the first 3km or so, with lots of chatting and getting to know one another...a bit like a fun run. Once we got out into fort road, we pickd up pace and moved towards Kallang and then taking the AHM route to Esplanade. Along the way, I ran mainly alongside Ultraman and DO. We had a great time chatting about the SgRunner events and news of the day. We took a break at the Esplanade toilet, and I took a Powergel (Tangerine with double-caffeine). I felt good at that point in time, and estimated distance was about 12km.

We continued along Shenton Way, then turning left to Marina and started to see some runners turning back. We hit the midway point (B02 bustop) and took a turn back. At some point, we broke contact and somehow landed in Robinson Road where there was filming of an action movie going on. Car chase and acrobatics were displayed. We continued on, and then later rejoined the main group again. We probably ran an extra 1km because of some detours. Then we saw Mike and Yuen, and we ran back to Esplanade for a final break. From there it was about 12km back to the end point. We took an extra 5mins to do some stretching. We continued and as we reached the end where the Marina Promenade is, DO and I moved slightly ahead of Ultra. My legs were getting tired at that point. As we pounded forward, I saw Wong and Chin just ahead. As we finally reached fort road again, my ITB acted up. I slowed down, and continued to run, hoping it will not flare up. It was contained, and when I slowed down, DO overtook me at that stage. He mentioned that we have about 3-4km left to go. I picked up my heavy legs and pounded all the way back to MacD for the finish. It was the longest 3-4km finish I ever encountered. I was so tired. The strain of the lack of sleep (I slept probably 1hr only) from the previous night was taking it toll. I pushed on and finally finished to a round of applause. Immediately took isotonic drinks, and 2 bananas to reload, since I felt quite depleted at the finish. I followed that with a packet of Bee Hoon and a ice-packet. The food was great. Then we mingled and I was impressed with the performances of cosmic_wind, tekko, Brokie, tekko, IronManDreamer who did very well. Of course DO, Ultra and myself weren't too bad either. Found out the CheeryRunner n Pre had left for home after completing their respective distances.

I did not time properly at all, but we estimated we took about 3hrs to do the 30+km, about 6min/km. We also got to know many other SAFRA members, and especially Eileen who had just joined the TP side. She apparently came in third at the AHM with a timing of 1:45hr...wow, and she looked great. DO and myself together with Rita who introduced, chatted a bit with her. Hmmm, refreshing. Overall, the SgRunners enjoyed the run, and the support, and I was happy to have completed the 30km with only slight pain in my left knee. I will need to apply the RICE treatment, but it will be easier said than done...hehe

Hills Training

After doing 2 short slow runs this week, today was the tough hillwork. We started off from the SAFRA MF Clubhouse at 6.45pm and proceeded along depot road, alexandra road then into Labrador Park. I had my HRM on today, and I ran a good steady pace in the beginning. All went smoothly, no signs of ITB tightness nore knee pain. Into Labrador Park, took the steep upslope along carpark A, and then proceeded to fo 2 rounds around the 800m labrador circle.

I ran alone most of the way, and bumped into Derrick a few times. On the way out of Labrador Park, I proceeded to run towards Mt. Faber. Have to do 3 loops up there, which I didn't think I could make, since laying off from hard running for almost a month already. On the way, Derrick asked me to look at his arm swing, and I corrected him a little. He said he was trying to practise my arm swing, and it made his running this evening very effortless. He felt strong. Lai Chee came behind me shortly, and all three of us met just before the entrance to Morse Road which leads up to Mt. Faber. I told Lai Chee, who is a very strong lady runner to follow Derrick, since I was in no position to run so fast up Mt. Faber. I went up Mt. Faber slowly as I felt really drained this evening. Not sure why, but my legs felt very weak. I barely made it for the first loop. It was hard work. I struggled through the second loop. I decided to just do 2 loops and proceeded to Cable Car Towers for a toilet break. There were renovation works going on and the toilets were closed. I had no water, and felt very weak. Fortunately it was downslope, I met Andre along the way, and I took it easy all the way to ClubHouse.

When I reached back, I was totally drained. I quickly drank water, and did cooling down. It was a tough workout for me this evening, and the good thing was my ITB did not flare up at all. My knees felt good too. I hope I can start to push a bit for the next few runs from November onwards.

Distance Ran:15km ___Time:1hr25min____Pace:5:38min/km
Average HR:158bpm___Max HR:187bpm__KCal:1,147KCal

What The....Shoutbox

Haven't had time to blog about my runs these few days. Have been too busy and having loads of fun learning and sharing running news, info, tips, gossips, discussions and field reporting at the SgRunners Forum Shoutbox. It is the latest feature to hit the running scene in Singapore, and has set tougues wagging and stomachs cramping from the sheer joy of just reading the myriad of shouts posted by SgRunners forummers...Ultraman, Sotong, DO, BrokenRunner, flip, Bee, snail...u name it, they've got it. Do drop by and pay them a visit.

After Sunday's 27km run to sentosa, I did easy work so far. Did an easy 13km recovery run with Beverly on Monday, nothing to shout at literally. The pace was slow and I just wanted to let my legs warm up a little. This evening (Wed), I did a quicker 10km run, in slight drizzling run. Beverly started out with me, and at the halfway point, I moved ahead and finished on my own. Did the whole run in 55min, about 5:30min/km pace...ok for a warm-up run. Good thing is I didn't feel any discomfort at all from my leg leg, which has just recovered from ITBS. I did not want to stretch it too. It gave me a good chance to hone in on my form, and put some Chi-Running drills into practise. This stuff really helps to prevent over-straining and injury. I will be down at SAFRA Clubhouse to do a 16km hills run tomorrow evening, rounding off with a 30km LSD this Sunday at East Coast Park. We have a few SgRunners who will be joining the SAFRA group for this run...hmm, it should be fun. I look forward to trying out my Powergel tangerine double-caffeine flavour then.

Sunday LSD to Sentosa

Went down to SAFRA MF today for the Sunday LSD to Sentosa. According to the training program, we were supposed to do a 27km run to Sentosa from Clubhouse, then the 10km NB Real Run Route (minus the sand), another 7km loop of the NBRR Junior course, then to Mt. Faber up Morse Road, and down the same way, before going back to the Clubhouse.

I brought a few new stuff along to try out. My new reebok cap, the Neat orthotics for Plantar Fasciitis, applied Neat #B cream to prevent chaffing. I also put on my Patt Strap as well as HRM wearlink, together with fuel belt carrying a pack of Chocolate-Caffeine flavgoured Powergel (planned to use at about halfway mark). After the relativelysmall group arrived, we started off at about 7:10am. Chairman, Yuen, Jimmy Tan, Chin, Rita, Teck Hou, Derrick, Adam, Jaime, Ong, Wong and myself were running as a pack initially. We ran around behing the Clubhouse and towards Sentosa, at about a 6min/km pace. All throughout, after entering Sentosa, we tried to maintain that pace.

After running for about 55min, we took a water break at the beach area. I took half a packet of Powergel...hmm, I liked the taste of the chocolate flavour. I did some stretching while waiting for the rest to be ready, and we carried on from there to complete the beach portion. There were a few groups of young people already up and organizing activities for the day. We were joined by Melvin and Hock Soon at about this point. We continued on, and made a smaller 7km loop, this time led by Chin and TH, as Ong went back to pace Jaime and the rest.

Chin, TH, Derrick, HS and myself soon left Sentosa and ran at a faster pace towards Mt. Faber. After running for about 2hrs, we ran up to Mt. Faber. My knees were aching at this point, due to the numeroud downslopes sustained at Sentosa itself. Nevertheless, I pushed on and made it to the top of Mt. Faber. Then it was all the way down...yucks, bad for my ITB. I minimized my pace by a lot, and did not even dare put my left leg in front. I just lifted it, and went with the flow downwards. Soon, I finished the slopes, and it was all the way back to ClubHouse. When I finally reached the finish point, I had logged 2.5hrs of actual running time. Done another LSD training for this week. Next Sunday will be a 30km location run at East Coast Parkway. I will look forward to that as the last few long runs I have to do in preparation for the marathon.

Distance Ran:27km ___Time:2hr30min____Pace:5:34min/km
Average HR:150bpm___Max HR:170bpm__KCal:1,845KCal

The past few days...

Monday marked the end of the 2 weeks that my sin-seh asked me to lay off running (but I have already done more than 100km during this time..haha).

I did a very easy 10km reovery run with Beverly on Monday. Prior to the run, I still have the after effects of the 21km on sunday. After the 10km, it was as though I had new knees...Wow...

I joined the SAFRA MF Runners for interval training on Tuesday. I originally didn't want to go down to the track, but changed my mind, and joined in a fun session to do 6 laps of 800m. Ran 4km to the stadium track as a warm up, and then 4km back from the stadium to the clubhouse after the run. So a total distance of about 13km. I did not go high speed during the intervals, choosing to under-stride but practise increasing my cadence...averaging 3:35min for each 800m lap. Beautiful thing is no more knee pain at all during the entire 13km duration. I hope this marked the beginning of the healing of my ITBS.

Thusday: I did a fast-paced long run of 17km from SAFRA to Botanic Gardens and back. Quite a large turnout this evening with the StanChart marathon training program gaining momentum. I put on my Patt Strap, and wore my new Asics Cumulus to get adapted to the new shoe. Ran a reasonable pace of about 5:20min/km throughout. Somewhere on the downslopes in Botanic Gardens, I felt a slight tinge in my left knee. I slowed down, and it went away. Throughout the whole run, I minimized my stride and increased cadence. I could feel my quadriceps being used, and they were still sore from Tuesday's interval session. After 17km, I did not experienced any ITB flare-up, and even PF soreness was minimal. Great! I did more stretches and also did some leg-draining. Went for cheng-tng and mee-pok dinner, and heard from Alan Chao about his preparations for the impending StanChart Nairobi marathon. I will rest for the next 2 days before doing the 27km run @ Sentosa this Sunday.

Distance Ran:17km ___Time:1hr30min____Pace:5:18min/km
Average HR:162bpm___Max HR:195bpm__KCal:1297KCal

2nd SgRunners Run-Together Session @ ECP

Today was the 2nd Sgrunners run-together session at East Coast Park. I decided to do my Sunday LSD with SgRunners instead of joining the SAFRA MF runners who were doing their 30km LSD at MacRitchie. There was a big crowd of at least 35 from SgRunners coming, and I was looking forward to meet up with many familiar faces, as well as new members who had recently joined.

I woke up at 6am, took my time to brew a cup of nice coffee, and then brought along a banana for breakfast. I had a heavy dinner last night, and I wasn't feeling that hungry. My plan was to run at most 25km today, so there wasn't a big need to eat much breakfast too. I put on my new Asics Cumulus VII which I just bought yesterday. I arrived at carpark C2 near East Coast MacDonald's (the meeting point) just after 7am. Shortly, I saw BrokenRunner driving in, and went over to say hello. Then Alvo and Meteor arrived, followed by Bee, Balasing, Kay, Tiwazz, YankeeII, Cheow12 and his wife. We chatted for a while, and proceeded towards MacDonald's. Along the way, we saw Kops21 and found that he was there even earlier. Upon reaching Mac, we saw DO, bselby0, LaoKaYu, and a few others who were there earlier. DO had already done his 10km warmup run from his home to meet with us.

A few runners already noticed my new shoes. DO wore his new pair of Cumulus too. I didn't do much stretching as I was busy talking and getting introduced to new Sgrunners. It was a good crowd, Alicia and her friend, sotong and wife, Cyberkinetic, True_Atlantean aka Malcolm, and many others. Fatty came and passed me the $10 Running Lab coupons, and he went off shortly. Thanks, Fatty. Of course, TLR and Fd were already there and gathering the people together. It was my first time standing near to the 1.97m sotong..hmm, seemed ok leh..didn't feel too much like a midget near him. This sotong really has runner's legs.quite lean and firm, not like those of the wobbly squid's. At 7.30am sharp, we started off and jogged slowly towards Fort Road. We were having fun chatting with one another, and I got to speak with Clive, Osama, Slacker mainly on the first 5km stretch. I moved sometimes to the back to catch the tailgater and had some fun talking about snail78, Pilates and Yoga. Tiwazz also shared a bit of his tailgating techniques...haha.

We reached Fort Road shortly, and did a U-turn. A few km after the U-turn, we bumped into Joggers running in the oposite direction. We did a round of high-fives with him. Then we saw Balasing coming in with Renohtaram and his 3 friends. Along the way, Kops21 was busy doing some fartlek runs, and taking candid shots of the running group. Good work! Kops21, who already did a LSD yesterday with his friends. I then moved up to the front and chatted with Superboy and gentle. Superboy is a TAS (Triathlon Association Member) while Gentle is a member of trifam (Triathlon Family). Both were explaining the virtues of doing cross-training and superboy actually does a lot of runs around his housing estate which was quite near to my nest near the gurkhas camp ...hmm, it seemed like he could keep a good pace. Gentle told us how the Ponggol run was initiated by a teacher near Senkang looking for people to run with at 5am...interesting stories...a bit like why some runners like snail78 would like to run after 11pm...tiwazz will be doing a field report on that one...hehe

Just look at those long tentacles of sotong! [Pic courtesy of Kops21]

As we moved back to Mac, we saw that another group had gathered at the meeting point. We gestured for them to join in. Among them was cyberkinetic & skyvers. As we got on to the pond area, we increased the pace slightly and very soon, me and superboy were running ahead. As we decided to make a toilet stop about 2km in front, we increased our pace further. My legs were feeling quite ok so far, and when I reached the toilet, I felt the tightness in my IT Band. Maybe I had increased my stride a bit too much. I did a quick stretch, and saw BrokenRunner, cyberkinetic, skyvers, Alvo, Cheow continue moving up. I went for a drink of water, and went on to catch up. DO mentioned that he will wait for our return, since he had already done 10km prior. I ran a bit faster and soon caught up with the group. The skies looked gloomy, and very soon there were light showers. I was talking to skyvers about his good performance at his recent IPPT where he did 8min+ for his 2.4km...whoa! The second guy, according to skyvers, came in at 10min. Imagine how fast our skyvers was. We all ran to the Country Club, and did a U-turn. Along the way, we were discussing our need for more LSDs for marathon preparation, and that BrokenRunner should actually try to do 42km instead.

Cheow and myself took a toilet break, while the rest carried on. I did a quick stretch, and both Cheow and me ran together after that. Cheow mentioned that he too, with the increase in training mileage, had developed some knee pain at the front. We ran slowly at first and then increased pace and passed a few groups of people running along the way. Cheow mentioned that we had covered about 16km then, and roughly about 5km more to go. I increased the pace slightly to catch up with the rest, and nearing the end, we did see Alvo and Balasing again. We turned towards Mac and met up with the large group of SgRunners who had finished their run. As I finished, DO was gesturing to the rest to ask me to show them the techniques of Chi Running...haha.. I told them that yojanjan was the actual Chi Running guru, and Phonmooda probably will know all the theory and techniques about it...incidentally, both did not turn up for the run today...hehe.

I checked my HRM. We had run for 2hrs15min. Not too bad. I had wanted to do longer, but since my ITB was quite tight, and all SgRunners were back already, I'll just take the 21km. Taz who went to run with another group came to join us too. I was busy doing my ITB stretches and cooling down. I put on my SgRunner T-Shirt, did a quick wash-up of my face, and barely made it in time for the customary SgRunners' post-run photo-shoot in front of Mac. This must have been the largest gathering of SgRunners, and I must not miss this photo opportunity. I switched 3 positions in the shoot. Arhh...Mythos and his wife joined in too. Good to have as many of the kampung as possible.

We stayed behind for lots of Big Breakfast and Pancakes carbo-reloading. More chit-chat and talking about tailgating with tiwazz, DO. Tiwazz was expounding the beauty of Pilates and Yoga...it was great fun. True_Atlantean got me a coffee...cool, that was what I needed after a good run. Met eunice (with the leaf) who was late for the run. We got our 168km stickers from Fd and all were so excited. A few new members who did not have the SgRunners T-Shirt was so jealous of us, and they were asking TLR to go for a third round of T-Shirt orders...wow, hot stuff! We took more photos, exchanged more running ideas and tips, and left for home very satisfied just before noon. I look forward to the next SgRunners' Run-Together, and I heard that someone is planning for a Pulau Ubin nature reserve run? Cool!

Distance Ran:21km ___Time:2hr15min____Pace:6:25min/km
Average HR:147bpm___Max HR:168bpm__KCal:1,602KCal

New shoes for Standard Chartered Marathon

My new pair of Asics Cumulus II

After a late night, I woke early this morning to meet SAFRA folks and SgRunners DO at the ASICS warehouse. I was there to introduce some friends to the ASICS distributor, as well as to get some shoes for my friends.

There was a large crowd there when I arrived. Fortunately, I had pre-arranged with Eric to be there to provide assistance. Met David aka DO when I arrived. Ong, Jaime, Yean, Derrick, Patrick and his friends were there too. I myself tried the Landreth and the Cumulus, both the latest range. I settled for the Asics Cumulus VII in the end, as I felt it had good cushion all around, and also got good feedback from DO who had worn it before. DO also got the same model.

I look forward to bringing it for its virgin run tomorrow at East Coast Park with the SgRunners. I hope to bring it to at least 150km before using it for my marathon end this year.

Recovery Run - Sentosa

This evening I decided to go down to SAFRA MF for an easy run, and then join the guys for dinner afterwards. There was quite a large turnout at this evening's hill repeats/speedwork on hills. I wanted to do my easy run, and broke away from the group shortly after the 1km warm-up run to telok blangah hill.

I did not have my Patt Strap on today. I wanted to see if my ITB is under control. I ran at a shuffling speed of about 5:30min/km, and proceeded along Keppel Road and then into Sentosa. Did a loop in there to Sentosa Resort Hotel area and then back out again, and all the way back to ClubHouse for about 10km. Felt no pain at all from the knees, and whole system felt very good and well oiled. I didn't want to push it further, and will let my legs rest for another 2 whole days before Sunday's LSD at East Coast Park.

While waiting for the rest to come back from their hill repeats, I met up with Chin from SAFRA TP who introduced a young member to me. This guy recognized the NTU 168km escort running attire I had on, and then told me he was one of the 8 core runners who ran the Ultra-Marathon event. He made it through 3 marathon lengths...impressive, for such a young guy. He was planning to join SAFRA Running Club to seek running company...good to have such long distance runners join us. Later in the evening, I met up with this senior veteran, Richard, who had not visited the Club for a long time now. He mentioned he came back from the Mongolia Marathon, and immediately, we established he knew my FIL who went for the same trip. In fact they were running kakis for a long time already. What a small community this is.

Distance Ran:10km ___Time:58min____Pace:5:48min/km
Average HR:149bpm___Max HR:174bpm__KCal:709KCal

Post -168K Recovery Run

I did not run since doing the 45km escort run in the 168km Run-Round-Sin Ultra-Marathon. Almost 3 days of rest. This evening was supposed to be my recovery run, and I was at SAFRA MF to join in the training run to Kent Ridge Hill.

I put on my Patt Strap for protection again, and got some medical tape from Akira prior to the run. The tape was supposed to be used by atheletes, and Akira mentioned that the Japanese Olympic team uses them too...hmm, maybe I will try it when I get home. There was quite a number of runners, including new ones today. I also passed the SgRunners T-Shirts to CheeryRunner aka Jaime, JustDoIt aka Bernard, and alanyeo. I started off easy, and soon edged up after depot road. Ran quite smoothly along Alexandra Rd, through Jln Hang Jebat, then crossing the newly constricted highway into Science Park leading up Kent Ridge Hill. No pain in my ITB and knees, and I was taking small steps and increased cadence. Also trying to improve my running posture, to prevent furture strains and injuries.

Upon hitting Kent Ridge Hill, I decided to slow a little (to avoid my ITB from flaring up) and ran along with Jaime. We ran up and down the hill at Kent Ridge with good fast, short strides, chugging up the hills like a choo-choo train, and breathing deep to recover on the down slopes. My knees ached a little on the down slopes, and I tried to increase cadence and run faster down. It seemed to work with this style, as advised in Chi Running. After 3 laps, we then ran towards the top, took a sip at the toilets, and proceeded to run back down. At the top, we saw a large group of Hash Harriers who were celebrating their finished run with beer from a van. We exchanged some greetings, and the few of us proceeded down the slopes, out into Pasir Panjang Road, then to Telok Blangah Road and back to SAFRA ClubHouse. As I ran down the steep slopes from Kent Ridge Hill, my knees did ache a bit, but it was bearable. The ITB pains did not come about, and I was able to finish the entire 13km in quite good form. Of course, my breathing was easy and smooth. A good recovery run indeed. I plan to do a short, flat run this Thusday and then meet up with SgRunners for our Run-Together-Session this Sunday at the East Coast Park. I look forward to doing a LSD with the SgRunners' folks (25 people or more expected) then.

Distance Ran:13km ___Time:1hr15min____Pace:5:46min/km
Average HR:EASY___Max HR:EASY__KCal:950KCal est.

The 168km NTU Run-Round-Sin Event

The 168km Run-Round-Singapore started at 9am. I started to monitor the status of the core runners from 1pm, after receiving a message from Aik Hock that the front runners (Adrian, Ngee Huat) were ahead of time. As I was supposed to escort Ngee Huat, I had to finally report an hour earlier at the meeting point. Met up with DO, Alvo, Aik Hock, Mika, Stephen, Karen and we took 2 separate cabs to CP24 (Sengkang East). We waited for about 45min, and soon we saw Adrian Mok runnng in strongly. Mika and Stephen put their bags into his vehicle, and started to escort Adrian.

Running vest provided to the escort runners

We waited for a while more, before our runner, Lim Ngee Huat arrived. There were quite a number of his friends and colleagues already running with him. There was an Ang Moh escort (wearing the NTU running vest) with him, and later that Ang Moh retired after running 90km with Ngee Huat. Aik Hick, Alvin, Karen and myself joined in the entourage. DO who was supposed to escort Sumiko, decided to escort TLR, since Sumiko's status was unclear at that point. We ran for about 3km before stopping at CP25, where there were medical tests done on the core runners to determine their fitness levels. We stopped there for about 20min, before we went on. From there it was a good run. When we were at Tampines Road, it started to drizzle, cooling the runners. As we ran on to CP27, we were joined by SgRunners meteor and vorx. Ngee Huat had a bunch of colleagues joined him there too. So we had quite a crowd running along. We ran along Elias Rd, then to Loyang Point, skirting Pasir Ris, and finally reached Changi Village. The group of Ngee Huat's friends stopped running.

We were soon joined by another group. We ran slong the long Changi Coast Road skirting the airport. By then, I have aleady covered 22km with NH. My ITB acted up here, and I slowed down a bit. With my Patt Strap on, it was actually quite good tonite. Around this stretch, there were many stops mande for Ngee Huat to get some massage for his tired legs, treat his toe abrasions, have some power gels and powerbars. I had the good opportunity to do some stretches and have some water and dates since I was feeling a little hungry. When we reached the road leading to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, we were left with only escort runners AH, Alvin, Karen, Malcolm and myself. There was a friend of NH who had joined us earlier running along too. From there we plodded along as our legs were getting heavy since we crossed the 30km mark. We ran along East Coast Parkway, crossing Big Splash, and then MacDonalds... reminded me of my recent AHM run along this stretch. We stopped to take a leak as some bushes, as we know it was about 7km left to Katong CC, which would have completed NH's third marathon distance for his run. Some one then told us we were only 200m behind the lead group of Adrian Mok and his trifam escorts. NH got excited that we were this close, since we lagged behind quite a distance earlier. He upped the pace, and immediately gave instructions that he would like to overtake the front group, run strong for 30mins, and then hit CP36 in good time. We upped the pace to about 5:45min/km, and soon we overtook Adrian's group, and they were taking a walk break as we passed them. We found out later that he actually had problems with his tendon, and was walking to ease the pain...Ouch!

Shortly after this point, Malcolm bade goodbye, as he felt he didn't want to carry on further. Karen, who earlier almost wanted to flag down the cab at Changi Road was still with us, though very tired already. As the CP36 was getting near along Fort Rd, the pace increased. NH's friend too dropped out after a while. Karen lagged behind sometimes, but managed to keep up mostly. My legs were getting tired, though I no longer had pain in my ITB already...hmm, forgot when it went away. I was careful to relax my ankles and running posture, and maybe that helped. At CP35, we were joined by a young team of escort runners..great, fresh legs to the rescue. We pushed on for the last 3km, and soon we arrived at CP36 (Katong CC) to rousing applause. We arrived at 2:45am, when the estimated time of arrival at this check point was 6am...Wow, we were ahead by 3hrs at least. Coffee and some prata were served. Ngee Huat had his well deserved massage and ice bath. As we sat massaging our tired legs, Karen and I decided to call it a day. We had run 45km already. Karen said that was her toughest exercise in her life..haha. Aik Hock was still fresh, and would like to carry on the final marathon with Ngee Huat. Alvin too said he would fall out soon. After quite a long wait, another core runner came in, and he was waving like a champion boxer, with arms outspread. We were surprised to see it was not Adrian. Adrain came in quite late, and we heard he had inflammation in his tendon, and was walking most of the way. They were worried for his condition.

The fantastic 4 @ Katong CC, after covering 45km

Our veteran ironman, Ngee Huat, soon got ready and proceeded on his final 42km leg. He was targeting to reach NTU and complete the 168km by 9am, 24hrs exactly from when he started. He looked strong as he left CP36 at 0330hrs. I was quite sure he would continue to lead and finish first for this 168km run. He had a good strategy, patience, and most importantly, an undying endurance. I take my hats off him. My friend TLR ran through more than 2 marathons in this events, and he too was happy to complete such a long distance with the company of friends and sgrunners. For me, 45km is the longest I have completed in a single run, and through there were some pain, I was happy to be able to ride through them during the rain. I will take a well deserved rest, knowing that I should be able to complete my upcoming Standard Chartered Marathon.

Distance Ran:45km ___Time:6hr2min____Pace:8:00min/km
Average HR:138bpm___Max HR:155bpm__KCal:3,607KCal