My longest run in my life: MR25 12hrs ultramarathon

Note: This is a super long event and I do not have the memory to remember evey single details...below are wat is in my memory at the point of typing It was early morning 610am and was pouring rain and dogs. TheLonelyRunner and his parent came to picked me up in the wet morning. As we travelled along PIE...the rain came heavier and heavier....we was thinking what will happen to the MR25 Ultramarathon which is starting at 7am....we reached MR25 carpark and saw runners pouring carrying umbrella and raincoat...the run will go on...we registered ourself and waiting for the event to start. Meanwhile, run.run.runaway, astrogirl, WS, ultraman, tiwazz, sotong, philips and many other familiar faces came by....at 7am sharp when the sky is still pouring, the run was flagged off.... I was still not ready and started a minute later with run.run.runaway, astrogirl and WS on my Salomon Techamphib. And here, 4 of us started our first ever attempted on ultramarathon. It was an annual finale event organised by MR25 running club which runners was given 12hrs to finish as many rounds as possible. 10 fastest and most number of laps will have prizes and runners completed 5 runs of 52.5km will be given an exclusive event tee. after running about 100m, we were shocked to see a big group of sgrunners doing stretching and warmups...we joined in a while and started off after a few minutes...it was very wet and the ground was water-logged....basically, we were all wet and soaked in the morning rain. after a few minutes of running as a group, we started to break off slowly and each of us went at our own pace. As usual, I will adopted my run/walk strategy. The slopes was a killer to my strategy as i have to adjust accordingly. After my first round, not feeling so good as the body was still unadapted to the wet terrain and weather...but the cool environment did help to keep the body cool. lucky i was wearing my Amphib shoes, my socks and shoes was dry when i reached the end point. After finishing first round, i decided to take a banana and hold a powergel eat at the waterpoint about 3.5km away. I did not rest more than 3 min before i take off again. The second round was still a wet run but the weather started to calm down. I ended strong after 21km. This time, I took 2 bananas at the start/end point for my 3rd round and held on to a powergel for the waterpoint and went comfortably away. I met quite a few familiar runners at my third round...but but i have forgotten what has happened. So not going to elaborate more...remember meeting gentle and also YankeeII who complaint to me after run.ruin.runaway running too fast and he has to give up. Finished my 3rd round strongly and i believe i might be able to go beyond 5 rounds. taking 2 bananas and holding on to the powergel, i did not rest more than 5min before i went off again. I feeling great during this round mainly becos my body has warmed up. i even felt second wind during the last 3km part but i decided to hold my ground for more rounds later. The ground is till wet and muddy. Luckily, I wore my Techamphib, my socks and shoes was able to dry by the time i reached back the start/end point. I decided to change my shoes after my 5th round if i was OK to carry on,...I finished the 4th round which is a full marathon distance at a decent time of 5hrs 30min which my fastest lap time. still feeling good, i only stopped for less than 5min after eating all the necessary food and drinks. The 5th round was quite a torture as my legs started to feel the strain, i decided to take more walk breaks....still feeling good and push on, i slowed down my pace so that i still feel comfortable..in less than 1km after start, run.run.runaway suddenyl came by with choonwei and dasher who were accompany her....as usual, she was going with a fast speed...cannot see her minutes after she past me. I pressed on and on and finished the 5th round feeling strong. Decided to push on for 6th round, i changed my Techamphib to my salomon XA pro 2 which has more support and fresh cushioning. I took a longer break of about 10min. Took the necessary food and drink, pushed on for my 6th. the legs started to get heavy for a start but after the midpoint, my legs were able to flow smoothly..finsihed my round feeling a bit lousy but with 3.5hrs more to cut-off time, i decided to go for the last 7th round...maybe i will walked for the whole 10.5km which will take about 2hrs. I started for a while before i met gentle. He finished his 3 rounds in the morning, went home for christmas lunch before coming back in the afternoon to finish the remaining 2 rounds. he was walking and he said he just take stroll...but he decided to follow me and we can keep each other company....he told me that astrogirl was in front and he wanted to overtake her. As my previous 5 rounds, i continue to do run/walk and gentle try to follow....i slowed my runs and actually we walked a lot chatting all the way...very comfortable and interesting last lap for me....saw astrogirl at the golf course and we decided to catchup up slowly...finally, we past her at the last 2.5km from the end. Gentle and myself was doing a very good pace and we finished strongly with astrogirl finishing behind us. I managed to finished 7laps of 73.5km in 10hrs 12min. having my alst 7th lap as my slowest lap of 10min slower than the average of my first 5 laps....a great achievement for my 1st time doing distance longer than marathon with no special training for it...just a light maintainance run and tapering after my Singapore Marathon. After reporting, i was told that I was within the top 10!!! a big big surprise for christmas this year!!! my 1st marathon finish is a great accomplishment...but this is even a greated achievement than that..... I must really thanks all the sgrunners who supported me during my 10 hrs run. Without them, i doubt i was able to complete 7 laps comfortable. below is my 10.5km lap timing for every run including rest time: lap 1: 1hr 24min lap 2: 1hr 19min lap 3: 1hr 21min lap 4: 1hr 21min lap 5: 1hr 27min lap 6: 1hr 38min <- 10min rest lap 7: 1hr 39min total time: 10hrs 12min total distance: 73.5km position: 8th for my 8th position, i got the following prizes: 1) extra MR25 Ultramarathon 2005 polo tee 2) a NIKE backpack 3) a NIKE waistpouch 4) a pair of NIKE socks 5) a pair of NIKE Free shoes (got both right side of the shoes 8-( ) Photos: I've fall in love with ultramarathon. I can't run fast, but i can run long. Cheers.....................

2 days to Ultra-Marathon and Christmas

just 2 days more to Christmas...and my first ultra marathon My last run is on monday...tuesday played badminton....no exercise at all till now and also even to sunday....hope i can survive the 5 rounds after this long rest have been eating a lot for these 2 days mainly due to free buffet and also food from christmas celebration..... Cheers....and Merry Christmas to everyone on planet earth!!!

Makan Cycling!!!

This is Out-Of-topic entry …One of the interesting Post-marathon event that I was jio to take part with SK, JM and WS. The date was 17 Dec 2005 6pm (actually is yesterday). It was pouring heavily….I just woke up from my sleep waiting for the time to past…..confirmed that the event will go on due to the rain, I decided to go to the meeting point at ECP MacD early. The rain started to get lighter…I reached MacD and found the participants and organizers for the event. So I waited patiently for my teammates to arrive and the briefing for the event to start…….All my 3 other teammates have their own bikes except for me…so I got to make do with the rented bike…. JM arrived at about 8.30pm but SK and WS were still on the road peddling their way to meet us. At 9pm, the finally arrived…we waited shortly and organizer started to get thigns going…..I collected the bike and briefing was done… This is a cycling cum eating event called Makan Cycling organized by NUS ODAC and cycling club. All teams will be escorted by a safety official cyclist and we are supposed to go to 7 checkpoints to eat the designated food within a budget of $6. The team that comes in first will get a $50 Royal Sporting House voucher….But overall, it is just a fun cycling cum eating session. We took off at 9.30pm at East coast park Kit runners bike rental…just after 10min of cycling, JM’s rear tyre gave way, we heard a loud hissing sound and he stopped his bike immediately for a check….we found a teared at the side of the tyre….we took 15 min to mend the tyre while we watched the rest of the teams cycling past us….. Took off at about 10pm…..we are supposed to go to ADAM ROAD MARKET to eat SATAY!!!….i lead the way and got my teams detoured by a easier to cycle road until bukit timah road where we just follow the road ahead….reached our destination and took 10 satays…..next point is Johnson Lock Duck rice at Upper Bukit Timah Road… After fighting with the traffic for a while, we finally reached the location but found the shop to be closed……in the end, we brought 2 plates of duck rice from the store nearby…found that we are number 4th team to arrived…next destination is behind NUS for Nasi Lemak. Quite near to our Checkpoint 2 but the up slopes are a killer and the downslopes is fantastic!!! We shared a plate of nasi lemak and the next checkpoint is at the other side of the island: Joo Chiat Fei Fei wanton Mee….. The journey to the east is the longest between 2 checkpoints….2 of us knew the location so we had no difficulty finding the place after a long boring ride…..to our surprised, we caught up with the 3 teams in front of us!!! 2 of the teams took quite a while to find the place which slowed them down a lot….took 2 big bowls of the famous wanton mee, we are supposed to head westward to Lavender Mixed Pig organ soup. Went by the dangerous and happening geylang, we had no difficulty getting to the location…Had a bowl of soup and off we go again to our next food: You Tiao & Tou jiang at geylang lorong 9….we had a do a backtrack back and this time, we ordered more food…..trying to stuff them in despite our bloated stomach….The next point is our final checkpoint at simpang bedok for prata….. Not a difficult place to find, we cruise along the road and found the place easily…we were the second team to arrived…ordered mushroom cheese prata, milo dinosaur and bandung, we make our journey back minutes after the first group left. We took a easier road by bedok road and east coast road….we met up with the first team along bedok south road and followed them all the way to the end point….. We arrived and completed at 4am in the morning…….from the estimation, only the first 4 teams can finish by 6am…the rest will have difficulty to finish the route….. This was a fun event for 4 of us as all of us have not been cycling regularly and we managed to cover 70km in 6hrs with 7 makaning place and bloated stomach!!! Well done to my team and hopefully, we will be back again in action for our adventure race next year!!! Cheers………….

Post Marathon

Life after marathon is aimless and lost for a while before I regained my composure to think about next year goals….going to be busy next year for first half and I guess, I going to miss the fun going KL marathon with Sgrunners. It is now 2 weeks after marathon. Legs and body was recovering well….at least I felt much better compared to my after 30km training run. I started running 6 days after at Macritchie with my usual gang to get our legs to familiar the ground again. This year, some of us are ambitious enough to go for the MR25 Ultramarathon on Christmas day. After this run, I took a easy tempo run on Wed for 2 rounds around Bedok Reservoir to see how my legs are. The next day, Thurs nite was the first time I joined the 3rd Running Labs Run. A group of us from Sgrunners also joined in…We went for an any how run at Fort Canning for half an hour which we agreed that this is not a suitable place to run in future. This morning, I went Macritchie again..but this time with Sgrunners as my gang have went oversea for holiday for this weekend. We had a good one round to check out the timing for the Ultramarathon round…we took a decent 1hr 11min which I think we can slow down more during the actual day. woodstock and blur sotong: carine, tiwazz, bug and jennifery warming up:

My Running Life 2005

Decided to do a summary of my running life for this year as Standard Chartered Marathon is supposed to be the finale of my Run life this year. Life after the Marathon will be recovery and also a final long run at MR25’s 12hrs MacRitchie ultramarathon. This run will be the final celebration run for the year before we start a brand new running year. This year is my second year of “serious” long distance running and the goal/objective is to complete my first marathon. A year full of ups and downs, of the 5 races completed, Only my first MILK run and final marathon are done to my ability. The rest of the 3 are not completed properly due to my bronchitis relapses. However, this is considered a very fruitful year as the main goal/objective to complete a marathon was met!!! Here the summary of highlights by month: Jan: My bronchitis relapsed 1 week before SCM 2004 and lasted until this mid-month. Started to do light running round bedok reservoir to get my engine going. Feb: Consistent running has boosted my fitness to recover this month. Started to go macritchie reservoir run during my last weekend. Mar: Increased regular run at bedok reservoir to 2 rounds of 8.6km. Did legs and paddles with WS and finished my 5km run for 25min 25sec after kayaking. Apr: Went to ECP for my first long run. Did 11km for 1hr 8min on the first weekend. Continued to go macritchie run. Final weekend did a longest run of 18km, finishing in 1hr 52min. One of the longest mileage for the month in the early months. May: Macritchie Run became more regular. If I not wrong, this is the first time I met runX3 during a macritchie trek. 2 weeks before her KK trek with astrogal. I did one run trek with my runX3 and frens after I completed running one round earlier in the morning. June: Regular macritchie run during weekends and ECP long run for the last weekend. Preparing for MILK Run in early July. started jioing more and more frens to join in my regular sat macritchie run. July: Finished MILK 10km in my PB of 48min 39sec. Met Sgrunners for the first time during NB REAL Run trial run at sentosa. Completed 10km for the first time in exactly 1hr. Regular runs increased to 10.3km. Did my first half marathon run at ECP with Sgrunners in a time of 2hrs 12min. Aug: Down with Bronchitis again. Not much running for the whole month. Got better towards the end of the month when I did New Balance Real Run 10km in a time of 1hr 6min. Sept: A busy month but my bronchitis still hanging and my health is not 100%. Die Die got to do IPPT and finished my 2.4km in 11min 07sec and still managed to get $200 outof it. Did Mizuno Wave Run 10km in a time of 59min 7sec. One week later, did Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon in 2hrs 29min 17 sec. My health started to recover during the mid-month. Oct: Pickup my fitness quite fast and tried a 21km for 2hrs 11min in the early month. Increased my mileage quite fast and completed 25km in mid-month for 2hrs 51min. Nov: Panic button pressed. One month to Marathon and mileage still not enough. Tried Galloway’s run/walk strategy on my 24.3km run and did well in 2hrs 31min. using run/walk, managed a comfortable 30km in 3hrs 15min. Confidence rose. Tapering starts as we did a half marathon run/walk in 2hrs 10min. Dec: Completed my virgin marathon in 4hrs 45min57sec!!! Life still goes on and on ...............

Marathon statistics analysis

Result Analysis is out. This is one of the most interesting feature of this race. To have the analysis of your race statistics. Gun Time: 4hr 50min 48s Net Time: 4hr 45min 57s Average pace (km): 6min 47sec/km Average pace (Mile): 10min 54sec/mile Average Speed: 8.9 kph/5.5mph Positions: 1199th of the overall finisher 25% of the finisher ahead 1067th of all the male finisher 25% of the male finisher ahead 678th of all Singapore Male finisher 20% of the Singapore male finisher ahead Ahead of 78% female finisher 4808 finisher of which 12% are female and 88% male

VIRGIN MARATHON COMPLETED!

It was 3am in the morning when my alarm sounded. Started to try and get my bowel moving so that I can run lighter later.....finally finished all the prep and catched a cab at 4am....met up with the rest of the gang at capitol centre carpark before we proceed to esplanade to get ready.....keep drinking water to keep myself hydrated sicne i woke up...went to pee for a couple of times until we finally got ourself into the pen...we were light couple of hundred metres away from the startline....J and I went at our usual pace while we lost the rest of the gang. We decided to walk for 2min at every 2km mark. the music rocks and the race finally started at 6am sharp..the moment we have waiting for the past 6 months.the group of us walked for 5min before we reached the starting line and started squeezing among the crowd...as expected, the route to marina south was squeezing due to the small 2 lane road....as we pass the 4km mark, the elite kenyans started to fly pass us at the opposite direction and everyone started to cheer for them. we met a lot of familiar faces and started greeting each others...at about 10km, we had our first packet of powergel. The sky started to bighten up and the sun was out shining with intensed heat....the 2nd part of the route was from shenton way to east coast park...we started to feel the strain from the heat and i started pouring water on my head....cool finally reach east coast park at abt 19km....at 20km, i took my powergel. J was feeling bloated and decided to take later. most part of east coast park was shady so the run was very comfortable..in fact, we went faster without realising..J was hyper and wanted to surge ahead and i got to pulled her back...met a lot of familiar faces as the front runners came back at the other direction. As we reached the lagoon, the sun was right in front of us and the heat was really unbearable. we U-turned after bedok Jetty at about 26km and free powergel was given out....J took 2 packs and I took 1 from the volunteer ad squeezed them into my little pouch. as we pass 27km..I started to feel the strain of the run....went slower and push on...we reached the sgrunners support table at 30km. I took J's gatorade mixed while J took a packet of powergel...slowly, I started to feel bloated and started to feel my stitches coming...shit...i must have drank too much isotonic drinks....the heat continue to strain the body and my heart started to feel the strain. At 33km, I told J to go ahead as I struggled with my bloated stomach and stitches...I decided to walk for 3min at every km mark...it was here that the strong separated from the weak...as we see more and more walkers....my strategy works well as I still can maintain within 15min for every 2km mark...poured water over my head at every waterpoint, I started to feel my bloated stomach went away...but my heart started to strain after about 3min of run...i started to take more walk before run at 39km mark, J gave a pat on my arms and i was shocked!! how can she be behind me? she said she hit the wall at 37km and finally got over it...she went ahead again and slowly disappeared away from my sight as i continue my struggle...at the esplanade, a familiar face appeared and gave me a big shock!! is Alvo...one of those Sgrunners confidence of a sub-4 marathon....he hit the wall badly and was walking to the end...down the esplanade bridge, i took a whole bottle of ice mountain and pour over my head before i surge forward and open up my strides....it did not last long as my heart feels pressured...not taking any chance, i walk again until the last 200m before i speed up for the last time... crossed the finishing line at a gun time of 4hrs 50min...my watched stopped at 4hrs 46min...whatever the timing, I managed to complete my first ever marathon within 5hrs ALIVE!!! linked up with J and WS...collected our medal and tee, we went for a good massage...met up with the sgrunners for a while before we went to look for the rest...12noon has passed and we went back to J's car and everyone was there...found out that SK did not finished his run due to over-exhaustion...he must be disappointed..hope he will be back next year, stronger and fitter...S came back in a strong time of 5hrs 18min and JM came back 6hrs 01min cos he did not train at all....well done everyone...we washed up and went funan foodcourt for a good lunch, linked up with the sgrunners before we head home for a good rest...Overall, it was a very good run for me...i guess the last 9km strain is due to the lack of mileage which i try my best to improve next year. But the run-walk strategy works well and wonders...had a good first half marathon within targeted time.....not able to do negative splits but the second half timing was not too far away from the first....biggest mistake was I did not train for isotonic drinks for a hot day and I took too much to replenish my salt loss..lesson learn and hope to improve next year.... Date: 4 Dec 2005 Time 6.00am Shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Lap: 2km for 14:13min@7:07min/km 4km for 27:53min@6:58min/km 2km for 13:35min@6:48min/km 2km for 12:52min@6:26min/km 2km for 13:08min@6:34min/km 4km for 25:01min@6:15min/km 2km for 14:50min@7:25min/km 4km for 23:10min@5:48min/km 2km for 12:51min@6:26min/km 2km for 12:45min@6:23min/km 2km for 13:15min@6:38min/km 2km for 13:25min@6:43min/km 2km for 14:05min@7:03min/km 2km for 14:34min@7:17min/km 2km for 13:58min@6:59min/km 2km for 14:41min@7:21min/km 1km for 07:10min@7:10min/km 1km for 07:20min@7:20min/km 1km for 07:39min@07:39min/km 1.195km for 08:06min@6:47min/km Split: 02km@0h14:13min 06km@0h42:07min 08km@0h55:43min 10km@1h08:36min 12km@1h21:44min 16km@1h47:09min 18km@2h02:16min 20km@2h13:12min 21km@2h20min 22km@2h26:06min 24km@2h38:58min 26km@2h51:43min 28km@3h04:59min 30km@3h18:24min 32km@3h32:29min 34km@3h47:04min 36km@4h01:02min 38km@4h15:43min 39km@4h22:54min 40km@4h30:14min 41km@4h37:54min 42.195km@4h46:00min Average pace: 6:52min/km Cheers........................... running a marathon is a journey of life, it has up and downs, good and bad, and you get to meet new faces.

10 hrs to marathon

As I was writing this....it is 10hrs away from the start of my first ever arathon of my life..... had a great gathering with the sgrunners at suntec swensens this afternoon....cheers each others and exchanging plans and tips....cyberkinetics also brought his fren from US down to meet us...one of the runners from HKrunners also joined in.....and first time met several sgrunners like lyn & siong, pre & cheery runners.....run.run.runaway and astrogirl also made special appearance....... cheers to all runners and all the best to your run.......

2Days 7hrs to marathon

it is now 2Days and 7 hrs more to marathon when i typing this entry........... The day has come...the key to the journey....the collection of the race pack.... This year race expo was held in conjunction with Sports & Fitness Expo at Suntec convention centre. I reach at about 6.30pm and the queue was cleared.....only took less than 3 min to get my stuff....this year race pack comes with a shoe bag (not again) which is smaller size than last year...A very very nice and comfy climacool event singlet from adidas with StandChart company colours.....very nice piece of event tee which is the best looking and best material so far.....On top of that, 4 Vitmin pills from Berroca, a free packet of pasta from flitz, a one for one swimming pool entry voucher and race information booklet...And last but not least, my championship chip and number tag with a 4D of 4283.....basically as shown in the photo below After collecting my race pack, I met up with the usual gang: dasher, astrogirl, astrogirl's sister, run.run.runaway and x20a.freedom...I also linked up with 136f????(sorry fren, dunnoe how to spell) from sgrunners....we had a small walked around the expo...interestingly, found the dive shop which i took my OWD was in charge of the diving booth....said hi to the gang there and just beside it, Adrian Mok is conducting his marathon talk....we "sneak" in to listen to some tips before we carry on....found the chiropratic booth havinf free sphine check and my result is below on the left 2 diagrams: I was basically having muscle stress on the left at the neck area and my right side at my lower back....not too bad....but maybe if i got $$$, I might use the $80 voucher given for a thorough test and treatment... across the booth, found L2S foot sports injuries specialist Dr Leong's booth having free foot analysis...i have never done one before so I had a try at it.....result was interesting: I have medium arch on my left and high arch on my right..which is exactly the same feel when i run which my left is neutral and my right supinates I am bowed legged which might be the result for the irregularities when checking my achilies tendon from the back when i bended my knees, it actually bends outwards which is the indication of pronation..hmm..might try stability shoe next time.... but so far I hvae no feet or knee injuries or issues....so Dr Leong said, my posture is actually balanced..the irregularities are ok for me.....heng heng man.....hahaaa we ended our walk and went for dinner together at suntec food court....decided where to meet this sunday and went home for a good rest...... Hope everything goes smoothly this sunday...... cheers.................

2 days and 14hrs to marathon

just 2 days...tonite will be the start of the race pack collection and I should be down with my usual gang...might meet up with one or 2 Sgrunners too.... Did a comfortable tempo run last nite.....weather is cool and good... %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/30/2005 Time: 7:30 AM Shoes: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Route: Bedok Reservoir (1 round) Total distance: 4.3 Kilometers Total time: 22:38 Average Pace: 5:16 / Kilometer

3 days to marathon

Intended to run this morning....but last nite rain has damped the ground....this morning weather is also gloomy so decided to try my luck tonite if possible......my last run before the big one this sunday....... cannot believe is so near.......last year this time..i was struggling with my cough and flu....

4 days to marathon

anxiety continues.....fortunately, I was too tired every nite to have any dreams on the marathon....busy schedules has also helped to divert my attention... Did a short run last nite at the reservoir: Date: 11/28/2005 Time: 7:30 PM Shoes: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Route: Bedok Reservoir (1 round) Lap: 2.4km for 13:40min@5:42min/km 1.9km for 09:47min@5:09min/km Total distance: 4.3 Kilometers Total Time: 23:28 Average pace: 5:27.4 / Kilometer

7...6....5 days to marathon

very busy weekend....no time to think of marathon......only did a 15km run at marina south yesterday morning with J, S and G..for the first time this year...I oversplept..becos I replied too much on my Hp as my alarm, I cannot get use to my new Hp alarm...J msg me at 7.30am(which is th time of meeting up) and I was still in bed...so I jumped out of bed ..without clearing my bowel (which i always do before my morning runs) ad washup, I sprinted down to took a cab there...we managed to start at 8am...We did not do run-walk as we took a easy jog all the way and carbo reloaded at Carl's Jr before we went separate ways.... Date: 11/27/2005 Time: 8:00 AM Shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Comments: ran with J,S and SK Route: start from esplanade then goes into marina south following the marathon route and U-turn at the same place..back to esplanade and head towards sheres bridge, U-turn and back to esplanade Total distance: 15 Kilometers Total Time: 1:44:4 minute Average pace: 26:59 minute/ Kilometer

8 days to marathon

Want to Run but Rain....what to do.....rest lor.. I suspect I tapering down too fast...is always a mental problem here that suddenly u did not run the normal mileage, you will feel your fitness going down... I only ran twice this week, 8.6km on tues and 4.3km on thurs.... Hopefully the weather permits and I can run this sunday morning...if not, I may go berserk!!!!!

9 Days to marathon

9 in a favourite number in Chinese becos it sound like "long"......so Marathon is a distance which is 9 for most people to run...you need a lot of patience, endurance, discipline to complete the 9 journey...we have to give respect to runners who takes >5hrs to finish as that is a 9 9 time for human body to be under stress So...9 more days to marathon....seems like a 9 time....but...I will wait patiently....stay cooled!!! Did a short run round the reservoir this morning...actually wanted to do 2 but my bowel started to move so i have to stop at one and head straight for the restroom....hopefully, tomolo weather will be good enough for me to do 2 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/24/2005 Time: 6:40 AM Shoes: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Comments: wanted to run 2 rounds but bowel cannot hold Route: One round the scenic reservoir on grass or gravels beside my home. Lap: 2.4km for 13:33min@5:39min/km 1.9km for 10:16min@5:24min/km Total distance: 4.3 Kilometers Total Time: 23:50 Average pace: 5:33 / Kilometer

10 days to marathon

Starting the 10 days countdown.............. rest day today....it was raining the whole day and night the day before and last nite sleep is one of the coolest in this year!!! This marathon is a race between my left, right brain and my body!!! "Run with your hearts and soul, Not your feet and knees" Cheers............................

11 Days to marathon

11days 14hrs....this is how close and how far away from my virgin marathon Did a cooling run this morning at the reservoir, covered 2 rounds at a superb temperature of about 24-25C I believe.....the second round started with a drizzle but died off after a few minutes....if the marathon is run in this condition...I bet the record will be broken and most runners will be doing their PB. Date: 11/22/2005 Time: 6:45 AM Weather: super cooling Shoes:ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Route:Bedok reservoir (2 rounds) lap: 2.4km for 13:41min@5:42min/km 1.9km for 10:34min@5:34min/km 2.4km for 12:11min@5:05min/km 1.9km for 09:17min@4:53min/km Total distance: 8.6 Kilometers Total time: 45:45 Average Pace: 5:19.1 min/Kilometer Cheers...............run with your heart, run with your soul

12 Days to marathon

12Days and 14 hours away.......... "What is the best marathon advice you've ever received? - Buy shoes that are a half to full size larger than your normal shoe size - Get a massage a week before the race - Treat each marathon you run differently - Start slowly - Trust your training and respect the distance - Remember to have fun - Finish with a smile on your face" from Runner's World Jan 2004

Last 3rd week to Marathon

When I was posting this, I am 13days and 2hrs away from the marathon. My first virgin marathon...mixed feelings has already started...feeling of fear, feeling of anxiety, feeling of excitement...already started dreaming of the final moments as I reaching the final 100m stretch of the finishing line......it was that scary feeling.....will I make it? Only that day will tell.... I have started tapering for this week...from weekly total of 60km to 40km this week...next coming week might go down to 30km...below are the summaries: %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/15/2005 Time: 7:35 PM Shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Comments: did a slow run this eveing with J,S,KT and GK...a slow slow run as i can still the strain from last sunday 30km...KT just recovered from flu. Route: from behind shaw, we ran along nicoll highway until we cross the bridge and ran along kallang river to Sir Arthur bridge and cross the bridge and run along the running path all the way to esplanade and up singapore river to zouk and U-turn back to padang, raffles hotel and back to st joseph church 2km for 14:52min@7:26min/km 2km for 14:56min@7:28min/km 2km for 14:01min@7:01min/km 2km for 14:23min@7:12min/km 2km for 14:37min@7:19min/km 3km for 24:31min@8:10min/km Total distance: 13 Kilometers Total time: 1hr 37min 21sec Average pace: 7:29.3 min/Kilometer %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/18/2005 Time: 6:30 AM Shoes: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Route: Bedok Reservoir 6km road run Total distance:6 Kilometers Total time: 31min 56sec Average Pace: 5:19.3 min/Kilometer %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/19/2005 Time: 7:30 AM Shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 8Weather: Comments: ran end to end at east coast park with jianming and soo kng, shirley came later and ran on her own...i went ahead of the other 2 and ended 10min faster 6km for 37:07min@6:11min/km 4km for 25:33min@6:23min/km 2km for 11:07min@5:34min/km 3km for 20:45min@6:55min/km 2km for 11:10min@5:35min/km 4km for 24:57min@6:14min/km Route: ford road to entrance of NSCC and back Total distance: 21 Kilometers Total Time: 2hrs 10min 42sec Average Pace: 6:13.4 min/Kilometer %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%5 Cheers..............................................

Another Adventure Run called Riverside Run

Date: 11/15/2005 Time: 7:35 PM Shoes: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Comments: did a slow run this eveing with J,S,KT and GK...a slow slow run which we never went faster than 7min/km pace..i can still the strain from last sunday 30km...KT has just recovered from flu but he did well completing the run with us....we decided to do a 2km run with 2min walk to get use to the pace and also for KT to catch up due to his condition...as 80% of the route are runing beside the river, I would call this Riverside Run...actually, not a good palce to run...cos there are too many restaurants along the way and the smell from the delicious food are too strong.......after the run, i did felt a bit of ITB on my left leg...maybe is the strain of the 30km run...got to rest properly this week and taper down for the D-day. Route: Start from behind shaw, we ran along nicoll highway until we cross the bridge and ran along kallang river to Sir Arthur bridge and cross the bridge and run along the running path all the way to esplanade and up singapore river to zouk and U-turn back to padang, raffles hotel and back to st joseph church Lap Time: 2km for 14:52min@7:26min/km 2km for 14:56min@7:28min/km 2km for 14:01min@7:01min/km 2km for 14:23min@7:12min/km 2km for 14:37min@7:19min/km 3km for 24:31min@8:10min/km Total distance: 13 Kilometers Total Time: 1hr 37min 21sec Average pace: 7:29.3 min/ Kilometer

Final high mileage week report (7 nov - 13 nov)

Due to my late runs and work...i was not able to blog individual runs for this week so I have to do them all in one day. This is the last high mileage week for marathon preparation before tapering...the final 30km was done on sat 12 Nov at east coast park...tried 3 runs with run-walk and the feeling is good and confidence is high.......details as follows: %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/7/2005 Time: 7:00 PM Shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Comments: Decided to go for a long run of maybe 15-18km.Happened to shout at Sgrunners forum and jio cosmic who stayed at tanah merah to join part of my run....so I ran down to his house and we did a 8km loop before he head home while i carry on my journey back....quite a fast pace...hopefully using run-walk, i can maintain this pace and finish strongly. Route: start from my house and run along bedok reservoir road towards east and turn right to bedok north ave 3, left turn at swimming pool to new upper changi road and after tanah merah mrt, turn right to bedok road, run all the way to upper east coast road..right turn at bedok south ave 1 and turn left to bedok south road, turn right to upper changi road and turn right to bedok south ave 1 after mrt...turn left to bedok south road at junction, turn left to bedok south ave 3 at CC and turn right back to upper new changi road...run eastwards until bedok park connector and turn right and run along park connector back to bedok reservoir park Lap Time: 3.0km for 17:46min@5:55min/km 5.3km for 33:04min@6:14min/km 5.1km for 31:19min@6:08min/km 4.5km for 26:05min@5:48min/km Total distance: 17.8 Kilometers Total time taken 1hr 48min 15sec Average pace: 6:05 min/ Kilometer %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/10/2005 Time: 8:30 AM Shoes: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI Comments: It was a rainy aftern and decided to do a ran with J and S at the first half of the marathon route since we will be doing 30km at the second half east coast park this sat. however, J was cuaght up with her work and we met up later at 7.30pm....and a tiring me did not direct J properly and we end up going the wrong way to marina south. We only managed to start at 8.30pm....so i decided we should do a 13-14km instead of the original 18km trying out the run walk.....it was a good try and J and S were fine after the run but the distance is too short to see the advantages of this method.....this sat will be the true test of the run-walk method.... Route: starting from marina south in front of chong pang steamboat and ran towards the U-turn point of SCM. we U-turn at the point and ran the marathon route back to the start point at esplanade bridge and U-turn back to where we begin Lap Time: 3.0km for 19:51min@6:37min/km 2.7km for 20:12min@7:29min/km 2.6km for 17:07min@6:35min/km 2.6km for 17:49min@6:51min/km 2.7km for 18:58min@7:01min/km Total distance: 13.6 Kilometers Total Time: 1hr 33min 59 sec Average pace: 6:55 min/ Kilometer %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 11/13/2005 Time: 8:00 AM Shoes:Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Comments: ran with J, S and SK...SK dropped out after 18km..J and me together..S clocked 3hr 36min. Route: ran to sailing centre and U-turn to ford Road U-turn to Sailing centre again U-turn and abck to start Lap time: 3.0km for 19:34min@6:31min/km 2.5km for 15:23min@6:09min/km 2.5km for 15:10min@6:04min/km 3.0km for 20:26min@6:49min/km 2.0km for 13:21min@6:41min/km 3.0km for 18:24min@6:08min/km 2.0km for 13:15min@6:38min/km 3.0km for 19:35min@6:32min/km 2.5km for 15:31min@6:12min/km 2.5km for 15:34min@6:14min/km 3.0km for 20:56min@6:59min/km 1.0km for 7:22min@7:22min/km Total distance: 30 Kilometers Total time: 3hrs 14min 37sec Average pace: 6:29.2 min/Kilometer %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% cheers................

Vertical Marathon 2005 (Swissotel The Stamford Singapore)

I climbed stairs everyday cos my house was on the 4th floor and there is no lift…..but This very morning I have to climb 73 storeys up to the helipad of the South East Asia Tallest hotel: Swissotel The Stamford. This is my 5th vertical marathon after having completed 63 storeys of OUB building from 1999-2002, which is organized by NTU sports Club. So it was a totally different experience. A little fear of the lack of oxygen and also the strain on the hamstring after 20 floor cos for my first 4 Vertical Marathons, I was pulling the railing for support after 40 storeys and my legs turned jelly when I completed and my lungs was grasping for Oxygen…worst than a 20km run… Woke up early at about 6.30am to get ready and had a filling breakfast at the kopitiam near my house before I set off. My race is Men’s Open category which is the last 3rd event and it was scheduled to start at about 10.25pm. I reached the event venue at about 8am. Slowly walking around and started to see familiar faces from SgRunners….BrokenRunner, Meteor, YankeeII, Kops21, Mythos, fastlane…..later cokiee, runalone……we got together and placed our stuff at a corner and jaga by Mrs Kops21’s. All of them went up earlier than me becos they are under age groups. By 10pm, all of them came down and I transferred my stuff to another fren’s location as she and her frens will be up with me in the Open’s category… This year race for Men’s Open was a good one as they invited a few other international runners….Ben Pulham, the last year Men's winner and Esther Tan, last year Women's Champion were not able to retain their crown. This year men's category is won by Pedro Ribeiro, a 32-year old Portuguese reaching the top in 7min 18.2sec and Women's Champion is Kristy Rice from Honolulu finishing in 10min 13:15sec It was finally my turn as I purposely placed myself in the last wave of the Men’s Open while waiting to see the Men’s Open champion reaching the top from the plasma TV at the start area. Due to fear from previous VM, I decided to take a slow and steady pace in, I took 2 steps at one go and see how much I can continue…. For the first 40 storeys, I was surprised that the staircase is followed by a 10m walk before we proceed further, this gives some rest time for my muscle to recover. It was after the 40th storey that the direction changed from clockwise to anti-clockwise that posed a challenge. I continued steadily up and went past all the climbers from my wave. From this point onwards, there is no walking break but just up and up and I decided not to look at the storey. The stairs suddenly changed colour and found myself at the 70th storey, pushed up my pace and finished in a decent time of 12min 33sec (hey about the same time as the time i climbed OUB 63 storeys). A very good and enjoyable climb….I did not stop at all and managed to climb 2 steps at one time all the way to the top….and most important, I did not use my arms at all…My legs felt strong after I finished which is unlike my last 4 VM. I guess, all the endurance run did helps a lot here….In terms of race condition, this was much much better than OUB climb. There are actually ventilation system that keeps the air flowing so we did not experience low oxygen condition unlike OUB and there are less steps for a storey compared to OUB. The first half of the climb with some walk space did places an important part unlike OUB which is really climb, climb and climb. After that climb, some of us went to kiliney kopitiam for kopi, the and some food before we went home. Maybe next year, I can come back to beat this year timing….hmmmmmm Here the Photos: Cheers.................................Life is short, play Hard

Final run for the week and weekly mileage summary

Today is the last day of my run for this week as I rest for this sunday Vertical Marathon. I have up my mileage a lot compared to previous weeks mainly due to desperate and also whole will of holiday which I do not know wat to do other than Run, eat, sleep and Forumming. I did a full 11km round at MacRitchie Reservoir on Monday Morning.Did a 16km with my running Kaki from Yishun Stadium to Jalan Kayu via Seletar reservoir on Tuesday Nite. A 18km with Sgrunners from Macritchie Reservoir to pierce Reservoir via Upper Thomson Road and a 24.3km run to Pasir Ris, Loyang Ave, Tampines Ave 7, Tampines Ave 2 and back to Bedok Reservoir with a final complete round. So this week total is about 69.3km...Wow +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The original plan for tonight is to do a trial of 20km using run-walk method. The plan is to run about 3km-4km and walk a minute for every km ran. However, the weather is cool and the walk breaks really refreshed the legs and I was about to maintain quite a fast speed for the run section. I was feeling very good until I reached Tampines after about 14km where the traffic lights were very horrible and broke my rhythm for about 3km. The traffic was heavy and there are numerous traffic lights to cross with each traffic light waiting time of about 2min if I was unlucky. But after the horrible part, I was able to regain my rhythm and finished my 20km at the time of about 2hrs 3min...as I was feeling good, I tried to continue another round of 4.3km around Bedok Reservoir with a 3min walk after 2.9km run and ended my 24.3km run at a time of about 2hrs 31min..... The timing tonight is considered incredible as my last terrible run 25km took about 2hrs 50min at East Coast with no ammo left. Furthermore, I did a long 18km run yesterday morning....As My legs are still able to go on after my run tonight, on the actual day, if I was about to keep my cool and maintain my 3km run, 3min walk, I should be able to finish my first marathon by 2hrs 15min and my second half should be able to complete within 2hrs 45min which I should be able to complete within 5hrs.....lets hope so....I will do my 30km run next week using the strategy again. To summarise, I did the following for tonight's run: Run 2.5km-> walk 2min-> Run 4.5km-> walk 3min 30sec-> Run 3.5km-> walk 3min 30sec-> Run 3.5km->walk 3min 30sec->run 2.5km with a lot of traffic light breaks-> Run 3.5km-> walk 3min-> run 2.9km->walk 3min-> run 1.4km

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Summary of this week mileage in chronological order: *********************************** Date: 10/31/2005 7:35 AM

Comments: went the full round alone this morning, starting and ending at the lower carpark toilet. took a 3min walk break at the ranger station which is about 4.7km...hit by rain at the last 1km Route:Macritchie Reservoir Full 11kmstart and end at toilet

Total Distance: 11 Kilometers

Total Time: 1:00:33.3

Average Pace: 5:30.2 / Kilometer Shoe wore: Salomon XA Pro 3D

Lap:

0.6km for 3:27min@5:45min/km

4.2km for 23:17min@5:33min/km

5.3km for 30:15min@5:42min/km

0.9km for 3:33min@3:57min/km

***********************************

Date: 11/1/2005 6:00 PM

Comments: Ran with J,Gerald, Shirley and weishan. Start from Yishun stadium, and run down to seletar reservoir and pass seletar airbase to jalan kayu and back. Took a 10min break at jalan kayu

Total Distance: 16 Kilometers

Total Time: 1:46:44

Average Pace: 6:40.2 / Kilometer

Shoe wore: ASICS GEL CUMULUS VI

Lap:

8km for 52:38min@6:35min/km

8km for 53:46min@6:43min/km

*********************************** Date: 11/3/2005 8:00 AM

Comments: went with Sgrunners for run from macritchie reservoir to pierce reservoir...via thomson road, old upper thomson road. we had water, toilet break along the way. Route: macritchie along upper thomson road to pierce reservoir

Total Distance: 18 Kilometers

Total Time: 2:28:29

Average Pace: 8:15 / Kilometer

Shoe wore: Salomon XA Pro 3D

Lap:

9km for 1hr 15min @ 8:20min/km timing included break time

************************************

Date: 11/4/2005 6:30 PM

Route:run from Bedok Reservoir to Temasek Poly->Tampines Ave 10-> Pasir RIs Ave 3-> Loyang Ave-> Tampines Ave 7-> Tampines Ave 2-> Temasek Poly->back to Bedok Reservoir->one final round at Bedok Reservoir

Total Distance: 24.3 Kilometers

Total Time: 2:31:23

Average Pace: 6:14 / Kilometer

Shoe wore: Mizuno Wave Rider 8

Lap:

2.5km for 14:16min@ 5:42min/km

1.5km for 08:56min@ 5:57min/km(include 2min walk break)

3.0km for 17:02min@ 5:41min/km(include 3:30min walk break)

3.5km for 21:53min@ 6:15min/km(include 3:30min walk break)

3.6km for 24:06min@ 6:42min/km(include 3:30min walk break)

2.5km for 19:05min@ 7:38min/km(include a lot of traffic breaks)

1.5km for 08:01min@ 5:21min/km

2.0km for 10:20min@ 5:01min/km

2.9km for 18:34min@ 6:24min/km(include 3min walk break)

1.4km for 09:05min@ 6:29min/km(include 3min walk break)

Cheers.............................is all in the mind

Vertical Marathon Race pack collection

Went for lunch with J, Kay and balasing somewhere near bugis before balasing, Kay and myself went down to Swissotel Raffles city to collect the race pack for this sunday Vertical Marathon.... As arranged, we met BrokenRunner, Meteor and Alvo at the collection site and also met Fastlane who sneaked out during lunch to collect the packs. After collecting the pack, we head down to Funan and paid a visit to Running Labs to see if we can make use of the $10 voucher from the goodie bag..However, the birthday boy, Kay kana recalled by his auntie back to the office so he left us early.....We reached the shop and met Sam from SAFRA who was the sales personal at the shop. Only Meteor brought a Nike top and the rest of us left empty-handed...we decided to head downstairs for kopi at Yakun....we had a long and interesting talk mainly about what is happening in the forum and we tok and tok until 5.30pm before we decided to leave..Myself, Meteor and Alvo took a lift from BrokenRunner while Balasing continued to hang around until at night when he needs to continue at work...poor guy I reached home at 6pm and got ready for my planned LSD for the night........ My bib number is 098 under Men's Open category and this year Race pack for Vertical Marathon consisted of: A black Shoe bagEvent Tee A white brandless towel A gentle soap from Raffles Amrita Spa One travel pack of ORIGINAL LEMON SOURCE SHOWER Gel (Tea Tree & Lemon) One travel pack of ORIGINAL LIME SOURCE SHOWER Gel (Tea Tree & Lime) One travel pack of ORIGINAL LAVENDER SOURCE SHOWER Gel (Tea Tree & Lavender) One voucher from Fitness First for Special One day workout PassOne $10 voucher from Raffles Amrita Spa with minimum spending of $90 One $10 voucher from Running lab with minimum spending of $30 One namecard of the manager from i-VOX communication One certificate of discount offered to VM participants from Raffles Amrita Spa One November Issue of Men's Health Magazine (Singapore Edition) Anyone need the vouchers other than the Running lab one, please contact me Cheers................u never run alone in Sgrunners.com

SgRunners Hari Raya Get-Together-Run

Thanks to Tiwazz for starting this Hari Raya run at Macritchie....quite a number of us replied...the orginal plan was running 2 loop of macritchie of 1 loop depending on individual....looking at the bad weather recently, Alvo suggested the following 2 options: OPTION1: For those who are doing two loop. Instead of doing the second loop in the trail we can run the MR20k route. I can be the guide. OPTION2: Run along thomson road to upper thomson road. Then back. Distance: 16km We fixed to start at 7am meeting at macritchie....So i woke up 530am..just to make sure i will catch the first bus to Toa Payoh..it was drizzling the night before and the weather was clear this morning at bedok...however, it startd to pour when the bus reached paya lebar area...I was thinkign shit..and message dreamrunner,Tiwazz and Alvo...only DreamRunner replied and he tried to confirm the weather near MR...I reached Toa Payoh interchange by the rain came pouring heaviler...and i was feeling hungry so I took a plate of char kway tiao at the interchange canteen with a cup of hot tea to keep warm....at about 7am....the sky started to clear and seems that 2 few of them went down to MR...I decided to make my way there..... I reached at about 7.30am and saw sotong changing his shoes at the lower carpark....I went up the upper carpark and saw the rest of them....but cyberkinetic was no where to be found..so we waited for him to arrived before we started at about 8am..commando decided to wear his boots and went for 2 rounds of muddy trail....So we took option 2 and Alvo led us out of Macritchie to Thomson road...we started with 14 runners...a very good turnout and was causing some curiocity from the runners we met on the road.... we went at a very comfortable chit chat pace and we are able to keep close to each other till we reach the lower pierce toilet for a small break. We continued on to upper pierce when we met DO near the Old Upper Thomson Road entrance...we went along the OUTR and reached Upper pierce when Alvo, DreamRunners and DO led us to the famous "aircon" road....as the weather is already very cooling, we did not feel the "aircon as claimed...will come back next time when the weather is hot.....it was about 9km when we U-turn back to the start point...we started to pickup some pace as the slower runners dropped behind...we reached lower pierce toilet and waited 15min for the last few runners before we decided to carry on.... It was about 4km left when BrokenRunner broke off from the group and went her "kenyan" style....his brother, Roger also follow her..while DreamRunner and myself trying to keep up....as we are near MR, DreamRunner and myself suddenly pickup and passed BrokerRunner and her bro....we increased out pace and finished strongly to where we started...I came in before DreamRunners as he was slowed down by the pedestrians.....without the people blocking his way, he should be ahead of me to the end..... We waited for all to be back, washed up and head straight to the famous PRATA shop!!! we got 17 hungry runners searching for seats at the shop and finally, we got to split into 2 different groups for out carbo reloading..I had a plain prata, a mushroom and cheese prata, one teh-tarik and a MILO DINOSAUR!!!! A great meal we had before we parted..... thanks to Sotong we brought his camera along for the run and took a lot fo fun picture...and also brokeRunners for some other photo at the PRATA shop... And also thanks Alvo, DreamRunner and DO for leading up all the way and show us interesting places and routes... more report here from DreamRunner... cheers....................looking forward for the next SgRunners run-together-session..

An inspiration day with a good 16km run!!!

Today was the first day of Nov, also 5 weeks more to the big day on 4 Dec....... My company shut down for the week and was forced to take leave on Mon, Wed and Fri because of the holidays on Tues and Thurs......as it was a last minute notice, I did not have time to plan for anything else except run, eat, sleep, walk or sleep, walk, eat, run for the whole week.....4 running days and one final day of Vertical marathon at the 73 storey Raffles City on Sunday. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I woke up late at about 10am today, went for breakfast cum lunch and decided to join the SgRunners:DO, Balasing, TheLonelyRunner and Cyberkinetic for a meeting with Lim Nghee Huat, The legendary ironman who was the first to complete the NTU 168km ultramarathon a month ago......This meeting is suppose to finalise the sharing session next sunday which ws joining organised by SgRunners and Himself. During the meeting, he also inspired us with all his stories during teh 168km ultramarathon and also his past achievement...things i remembered: he did is first marathon in a time of 3hrs 20min without much training...he went for Kona Ironman in Hawaii at the age of 36, he was the fastest Asian to finish that year....and many more accomplishment However, something he mentioned about his 168 ultramarathon is he did the first marathon in about 4hrs 50min with run-walk method with a ration of 30min run-5min walk.....this has indeed inspired me to complete the marathon within 5hrs......I going to try the run-walk method this friday using my 20km LSD.....I got to leave early because of the adventure run at Yishun organised by ethanolic...... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I met up with J, Shirley, Weishan and Ethanolicat Yishun stadium. The run supposed to start at 5pm, but was delayed to 5.30pm due to the hot weatehr but we finally started at 6pm due to latecomers like me...heeeee we started at Yishun stadium and went up northeast along Yishun Ave 1 all the way to Seletar Reservoir dam running past orchid country club entrance...Shirley was not feeling well as she just recovered from flu so she slowed down after about 2km...I also slowed down to accompany her....J, weishan and Ethanolic went ahead.......we crossed the dam and follow the road at the outskirt of Seletar airport via seletar country club entrance...teh road lead us allt he way to seletar camp entrance and we went to jalan kayu for 10min toilet and water break...we have ran about 8km and took about 52 minutes.... After the break, the exciting part came in...we sky has turned dark and the whole stretch of road by the outskirt of seletar airport was totally darkness..the lightpost were there but there was no lights at all....we got run in the dark with cars passing by dangerously...can feel that the girls are a bit scare as I volunteered to lead the way and they sticked very close to my back...finally, we are out of darkness at the reservoir dam....Ethanolic started to feel uneasy and slowed to a walk and jog....J offered to slow down and accompany him while Shirley and weishan followed me closely all the way back to the stadium...everyone was feeling good after the run...and Shirley flu seems to be recovered fully as she did a good fast pace finished.....we took about 53min back. We ran a total of 16km... Weishan, shirley and myself went into the stadium for warm down while waiting for J and Ethanolic to come....I took the chance to calibrate my watch...based on 100m on the track, I measured that I will took 91 steps with about 110cm stride length....this was entranced into my watch and if i can follow a consistent 180 cadance pacer, I can easily have a estimation of my distance run in future...... After everyone was back, we had carbo reloading at a kopitiam near to Khatib mrt before we parted for the night........the route we ran is shown below:

Weekly Summary (24 - 30 Oct)

This week is a low mileage week before i ramp for another high mileage next week. Due to tight personal schedule, I can only restrict my run around the neighbourhood except for my run today which I explored a new route down to east coast park and back thru siglap park connector. Date: 10/25/2005 6:30 AM comments: 2.4km for 13:55min@5:48min/km 1.9km for 10:31min@5:32min/km 1.9km for 9:20min@4:55min/km 2.4km for 11:08min@4:38min/km Route: Bedok reservoir (2 rounds) Total Distance: 8.6 Kilometers Total Time: 44:55 min Average Pace: 5:13.3 min/ Kilometer =============================== Date: 10/27/2005 6:25 AM Comments: 2.5km for 15:04min 3.5km for 17:59min 4.3km for 22:00min Route:Bedok Reservoir 10.3km run one run on road for 6km then one round reservoir for 4.3km Total Distance: 10.3 Kilometers Total Time: 55:04 min Average Pace: 5:21 min/ Kilometer =============================== Date: 10/29/2005 7:45 AM Comments: 5.2km for 34:58min@ 2.2km for 12:05min@ 2.9km for 19:23min@ 2.8km for 19:14min@ 1.3km for 7:26min@ Route:from bedok reservoir run down to ECP lagoon food centre via bedok north ave 3, turn towards west and head towards VJ, cross the bridge and went north along siglap park connector to PIE and cross the bridge and turn east to bedok town park until bedok north ave 3 and turn back to bedok reservoir and back to starting line Total distance: 14.4 Kilometers Total time: 1hr 33:09min Average pace: 6:28.1 min/ Kilometer

Oh NO!! Work also must see the word RUN!!!

I was shopping at a provision shop for my new notebook for my upcoming new work assignment when I found this!!! The perfect notebook cover for me!! RUN! Found on the cover of this notebook is the following passage: "When the runners are taking part in their race, they know they are practising both their endurance and strength. Strength exercise needs to be carried out alternatively with relaxing exercise, flexibility and coordination. The load for players should be proper, special the strength of each muscle part of the athletes waist and legs. Their health should be improved rhythmically by a scheduled basis. The whole dynamic strength should be assembly developed." If anyone understand what the hell this is talking about, please leave a comment for this post. cheers..........running is not only a sports, it is a lifestyle

Shopping, sightseeing and MIDNITE RUNNING in the Land of Angels: Bangkok

The place is called: "krungthep mahanakorn amorn rattanakosin mahintara yutthaya mahadilok phop noparat rajathani burirom udomrajaniwes mahasatharnamorn phimarn avatarnsathit sakkatattiya visanukam prasit" The meaning of the above is The great city of angels, the supreme unconqueralble land of the great immortal divinity (Indra), the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city, with plenty of grand royal palaces, and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity (Vishnu), given by Indra and created by the god of crafting (Visnukarma). But we only know it by the name, BANGKOK!!! Yes, I flew there on 14 Oct 2005 and came back on 17 Oct. Went Sightseeing, Shopping and RUNNING. Doing something different this time. With minimum words, below is my blog entry for this trip, click on the picture for enlarged version:

Flying Off

The Street of Bangkok

In Shopping centre

An Impressive performance at calyspro cabaret!!!

River & Temple tour

Weekend market and other finds

BMW AMARI MIDNIGHT RUN

Increased Mileage summary (17 Oct to 22 Oct)

After a break last week, I have increased this week mileage, you can said by quite a lot. Total mileage is 53.5km. Below are the summaries: 18 Oct 2005 7:00 PM Route: Run along bedok reservoir road then turn left to tampines ave 1 then turn right to tampines ave 10 then turn right into tampines ave 9 straight to tampines ave 2 coming back to tampines ave 1 and left turn to tampines ave 10 and end at bedok reservoir Distance: 14.7km Time Taken : 1hr 26min 59s Average pace : 5:55 min/Km Shoe: ASICS Cumulus VI Lap breakdown: 2:55km for 14:44min@5:47min/km 1.5km for 8:36min@5:44min/km 1.25km for 8:12min@6:34min/km 1.5km for 8:43min@5:49min/km 1.9km for 11:36min@6:06min/km 1.75km for 12:19min@7:02min/km 0.85km for 5:24min@6:21min/km 1.5km for 7:43min@5:09min/km 1.9km for 9:39min@5:05km 20 Oct 2005 7:00 PM Route: start at shaw towers->nicoll highway until bridge and went towards indoor stadium->cross bridge over to tanjong rhu and follow tanjong rhu road to ford road and turn right going towards indoor stadium and went up nicoll highawy to cross over to kallang riverside park and run towards esplanade, queen elizabeht walk and to empress place -> turn towards padang and towards raffles city->past raffles hotel and turn left towards bras braseh and cross the road to reach the church distance: 13.8km Time Taken : 1hr 39min 31s Average pace : 7:22min/Km Shoe: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Lap breakdown: 2.4km for 15:25min@6:25min/km 3.4km for 24:18min@7:09min/km 2.7km for 21:01min@7:47min/km 5.3km for 38:45min@7:19min/km 22 Oct 2005 8:00 AM Route: start at NIKE start and go towards NSCC and went about 2km more at coastal road to make up the extra distance needed, U-turn and went to ford road end and U-turn and back to start point distance: 25km Time Taken : 2hr 51min 38s Average pace : 6:52 min/Km Shoe: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 Lap breakdown: 3.5km for 24:14min@6:55min/km 2.0km for 13:03min@6:32min/km 1.5km for 11:35min@7:43min/km 2.0km for 15:35min@7:48min/km 3.5km for 26:33min@7:35min/km 5.5km for 38:02min@6:55min/km 3.5km for 21:16min@6:05min/km 3.5km for 21:20min@6:06min/km

Running Gear VI update: My NEW Running Cap

Went for 4D3N shopping trip to the land of angels in Thailand called "Krung-Thep-Mahanakorn-Amon-Rattanakosin-Mahintara-Ayuthaya-Mahadilok-Propnoppara"....OK is actually known as BANGKOK to us...more details coming up when I find time to blog in a new photoblog style. But first, to share with everyone my new "toy" for running. I was at MBK on the first day when I spotted this Sports shop called "Sport junction" onthe second floor. Like wat my gf always said when she saw this," magnet on" and there I went into the shop and the first thing I that caught my eyes is this: A "perfect running cap" from Saucony!!!

White in colour

mesh cap with "large/huge ventilation holes"

light-weighted

black under the visor

What am I waiting for? I grab it and pay straight away for 350baht (~$15)

and went home a happy runner......heeeee

The One and Only for this week (I am a slacker)

I was feeling very tired, sleepy and weak on the bus ride home from office...The fast and furious badminton session last nite was drained quite a bit of energy from my body. My muscles are still sore this morning. I told myself: by hoook or by crook, rain or dry, I must run tonite!! Reached home and changed to my running attire immediately, get my gears and head out of the door. Decided to do the reservoir round of 4.3km first before i head out to the road pavement for the last 6km. The run inside the reservoir park was quite slow as I was feeling quite tight on my hamstring. It took quite a while for my body to loosen up as I can still feel the strain from last nite game. did a slow 24:30min for the first 4.3km. Head out of the hard pavement, I was feeling tired and my right knee seems to be feeling a bit of strain. I was slouching!!! I started to concentrate on my posture at this very tired moment and all the Chi-Running, POSE method, Alexander Method all started to pour out of my brain....Important is to run tall and look 30-50m ahead I told myself. After about 3km on the road, started to feel what runners called 2nd Wind!! I was able to quicken my strides and run comfortably tall. I was concentrating to maintain the good posture and My legs went on and on effortlessly until I finished at 56:13min. A bit slower than last week, But I swear my last 3km was my best ever finishing run. If i dun stop, I believe I can go on and on at that fast speed for 1-2km more. Due to busy schedules, This will be my one and only run of the week. Take it as a rest week before I ramp up my runs again next week. 12 Oct 2005 WEDNESDAY 7.00pm Route: run one round reservoir for 4.3km then one run on road for 6km Distance: 10.3km Time Taken : 56:13 min Average pace : 5:26 min/km Shoe: ASICS Cumulus VI Lap breakdown: 2.4km for 13:30min@5:38min/km 1.9km for 10:58min@5:46min/km 6km for 31:44min@5:17min/km Suddenly, I decided to time my 0.5km walk....I did it for about 6min at the pace of 2min/km....hmmm..should start planning my run/walk for year end marathon.. Cheers..............To Rest is to recover for longer journey tomolo.

Weekly Summary (3 Oct - 9 Oct)

Reached East Coast at 6.30am and joined J, SK and G at 6.45am. We did a light stretch and started our half marathon at 7am. I not sure whether is a good idea for me as my longest run so far for the past 2 weeks is only 10km. So is a big Question mark on my endurance. We started at a comfortable pace until 7km mark at NSRCC entrance when G stomach giving him problem and he dropped out from the group. After about 8.5km. SK started to pick up and he went way ahead of J and myself. So J sticked with me all the way to ford road end and after U-turned at 17.5km, we started to pick up out pace for the last 3.5km. The sky started to turn dark at about 2km, the damn wind pickup its strength and went against us. We pushed on and struggled the strong headwind and finished at 2hrs 11min. A very good timing for me considering my first serious long run >10km after a long layoff. I was acually surprised that today's timing is faster than my last half marathon run (2hr 12min 20sec) at east coast 3 months back before i got my 2 months bronchitis... After the run, we met up the SgRunners(supposed to have gathering today but we wanted to run earlier and went our way). Had breakfast at MacD and went separate ways...Hope next time I have a chance to chat more with the SgRunners.... Here my this week summary: 3 Oct 2005 MONDAY 8.00am Route: run one run on road for 6km then one round reservoir for 4.3km Distance: 10.3km Time Taken : 56:04 min Average pace : 5:27 min/km Shoe: ASICS Cumulus VI Lap breakdown: 6km for 32:21min @ 5:24min/km 2.4km for 13:25min @ 5:35min/km 1.9km for 10:17min @ 5:25min/km 6 Oct 2005 WEDNESDAY 7.00pm Route: Adventure run on new route from suntec to marina south and back Route details: Start at Suntec, running pass esplanade, cross esplanade bridge, along shenton way and turn into marina south. Did one round 4km and out from Sheares brdige exit.walked till sheares bridge before going to suntec, down rochor road and pass bugis junction and finished at st joseph church Distance: 13km Time Taken : 1hr 35min Average pace : 7:18 min/km Shoe: MIZUNO Wave Rider 8 Lap breakdown: 2km for 17:18 @ 8:39min/km 2km for 13:50 @ 6:55min/km 4km for 27:59 @ 7:00min/km 9 Oct 2005 THURSDAY 8.30pm Route: ford road to entrance of NSCC and back Distance: 21km Time Taken : 2hr 11min 36sec Average pace : 6:16 min/km Shoe: MIZUNO Wave Rider 8 Lap breakdown: 3.2km for 20:26 @6:20min/km 2.3km for 15:05 @6:33min/km 1.5km for 11:00 @7:20min/km 1.5km for 10:38 @7:05min/km 5.5km for 33:47 @6:09min/km 3.5km for 20:47 @5:56min/km 3.5km for 19:59 @5:43min/km

Crazy Night Adventure Run: Marina South

I was asking J when they having their nite run at Bishan park when She suggested that we should try running around esplanade from her workplace at Bugis. We started asking our running kakis and managed to KT and SK to joined us. I went to the map and start thinking about 3 possible routes to run from Bugis: 1) running to esplanade and went north following Singapore River thru Boat Quay, Clark Quay, Robertson Quay and reach ZOUK and U-turn back the same route 2) Going towards esplanade and go south along esplanade park to kallang river. Running along the riverside till we reached the end near Kallang MRT, U-turn and back the same way. 3) Going towards Esplanade, crossed esplanade bridge running along shenton way till Maxwell road and turn left to marina south. Go into marina south and run round the big loop and come back either by the same way, or up sheares bridge and to exit rochor road and back. In the end, we decided to stick to plan 3 and try to come back via Sheares bridge and rochor road. We met up at about 6.45pm and did a small walk tot eh starting point at suntec. We started and found the construction going on which does not allow us to cross the road to marina square…damn..we got to hit the crowd going up the pedestrian bridge. We finally hit esplanade and crossed the bridge and everything went well. J was not herself…running much slower than usual…might be her previous nite which she pushed too hard and did not recover well. We took 17:18min to hit 2km mark at Golden Bridge. Into Marina South, we met several runners running against our direction and we took about 13:50min more to reached the 4km mark. We started our loop into marina south and everything went good and comfortable. We took about 27:59min to cover the 4km. Then we hit the exit to Sheares Bridge and Out of my plan, I did not realized that there is no pavement for about 1km up to Sheares Bridge!! We decided to walk by the dark undulating grass patch beside the road until we hit the Sheares Bridge pavement. It was a very nice view from Sheares Bridge and we came down at the Suntec side and turned right. We ended up in the crowded Suntec and J started cursing…cos she so paisey to run in the middle of shopping center. We too a run thru to Rochor Road when KT’s friend Horned at him! Damn, caught running in the middle of the nite at Suntec. We went straight down to Bugis Junction and got no choice but to run thru the crowd at outside to reach the junction at National Library side. Finally ended the run at St Joseph Church and took about 1hr 35min for the whole route which is about 13km. < An enjoyable and interesting run overall…Only for thickskinned runners who can run thru shopping center without the need of a shade and cap….Hope to do it again another nite!!!

Crazy escort Run: In support for TLR

Apologise for those who are expecting this entry earlier, kind of lazy and busy to blog for the past 2 days. It was a last minute twist of events during last weekend inaugral Ultramarathon in Singapore. Some surprises like Adrian Mok injured before his last marathon and limped all the way back to NTU in 27++hrs. An irony that the oldest runner was the first to complete the run in 24hrs 45min...where are all the young runners? Nevertheless, it is the spirit of running, the friendship, wonderful support from runners, supporters and not the time or who complete the Ultramarathon first that wins the day. Now back to the main Topic....the crazy run of my to escort The LonelyRunner (TLR)..After running thru 2 marathons, TLR was really feeling the strain of not preparing for this run. He told me that he did not exercise for the past 2 weeks, with no preparations and training...He was just trying his best to see how much his body can tahan. I was constantly getting feedback from Kops21 the condition and locations of TLR (and the escorts from SgRunners) thruout the day....as I will only join in for the overnight phase after 10pm. after about 2 marathon stations, TLR started to slow down and about 8km before where I meeting him, He feedback that he will be walking slowly.....I decided to make a move I took a bus which goes against the direction of where TLR and gang will be going and managed to catch them at the ulu Old Tampines Road. Only 2 SgRunners were left: DO and BrokenRunner.

So we snapped a picture and carry on our walk. By that time, TLR was walking very slowly and feeling the sleepy at that time. We push on and turned into Tampines Ave 10 towards Station 27.

We reached Station 27 after about 1.5-1.8km of walk. DO suggested TLR to do a "POWER NAP" which he "secretly" found Adrian Mok "secret" to stay awake and still going strong after 2 marathons. It was here that BrokenRunner decided to break away and went home. A TLR's parents and Fd came by and checkout the condition. After TLR's "POWER NAP", we are on the way...he started to look fresher... We strolled and finally reached Downtown East when TLR atacked by the sleep bug again.....we decided that he should take another "Power nap" at a busstop 100m away from Downtwon east....However, this time he is really looking quite bad and decided that we should call it a day. TLR's dad decided to do ferry service so he brought TLR first to Changi Village before coming back to pick DO and myself up.....Do and My legs started to carry on the run towards Changi Village and we started to run like a Bull....we ran for abt 2-3km at a ferocious speed especially the downslope at loyang towards changi...I was carrying a 2l waterbag while he was having a 6 tiny bottle hydration belt from New Balance....but still, we flew until commando camp before TLR's dad caught us and pick us up.

We reached the food center at Changi Village and Do and myself had a good hot Teh Halia. All of us had a good meal of Nasi Lemak before we called it a day at about 2pm. Although, TLR did not managed to complete the 168km run, it was a very good and inspiration effort from him for finishing more than 2 marathons in 16hrs with no exercise of 2 weeks and no preparation. Another great inspiration for all of us was the continuous support and companion from SgRunners for the whole 16hrs which did not let The LonelyRunner Lonely during this long and tiring run.

Although I did not completed the targetted distance and time for this run, I did enjoy myself for the night and get to know more about the experienced DO...and had a very good run with him before the yummy Nasi Lemak...I guess, I will do my crazy run next time when I more prepared also...hahaa

Checkout Balasing's Special report on this wonderful SgRunners escorted TLR run

Cheers...................................run like Forrest Gump

My new baby Review: Mizuno Wave Rider 8

Another User Comment: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 A proven cushioned running shoe by many, A proven brand in international event. I got this shoe after more and more positive reviews by SgRunners and happened to got some vouchers for used. After Running 6km with my new baby, I was very happy and satisfied with this new pairs of new shoe I brought. Then I thought, Mizuno is the running shoe brand to watch in Singapore. The make, the feel is not worst off compared to ASICS. The only thing yet to be tested is the durability. My ASICS Cumulus VI has hit 800km and still going strong...Hope that WR8 can be as good in time to come. My feeling for this cushioned shoe is that the cushioning is soft and sufficent but yet, it is light and responsive enough. The shoe is very comfortable and it is able to hold my feet well. I have the problem of left foot bigger than right so My right shoe is feeling quite roomy at the toebox. Luckily, my right shoe lace at the toe end is actually quite loose so if I tighten the lace more, it should be very nice. By the way, last night Dasher Gerald has made his moved and joined the Mizuno WR8 usergroup...Welcome Ethanolic!!! Number of stars out of 5, I will give 4

On my Feet again!!!

This week, I finally able to re-start my regular run after 2 months of bronchitis..... feeling good that I am on my feet again. I had 3 runs summarised below....quite a good gauge of my current fitness level....now till the marathon on 4 dec, I will be targeting to ramp up my weekdays mileage to about 30km per week (abt 8-12km per day) and weekend will be super long runs >20km with my running kakis.....For weekdays, will be using the training strategy of either run morning, next day night and rest one day or run morning and night on the same day and rest one day....probably trying these 2 combinations for the next 2-3 weeks I will also have to juggle between runs and badminton/tennis (leg itchy cured but hand become itchy now) On Wednesday, My ASICS Cumulus VI had finally clocked the 800th km...and is still going strong...i will probably use it for weekdays short runs (<10km). Last night, I had my 3rd run of the week with my new baby: Mizuno Wave Rider 8...finally bring it out of the box after I purchased it 2 weeks back for virgin run...Had a very good run with it, I ran the same route as the one 2 days back and clocked 1min faster...this run although faster, is actually more comfortable than the first...There will be a separate posting for my review on my new baby. Here my this week summary: 26 Sep 2005 MONDAY 8.00pm Route: Pavement Run round big loop outside Bedok Reservoir via Temasek Poly Distance: 6km Time Taken : 31:34 min Average pace : 5:16 min/km Shoe: ASICS Cumulus VI 28 Sep 2005 WEDNESDAY 6.30am Route: 2 rounds Bedok Reservoir Distance: 8.6km Time Taken : 47:31 min Average pace : 5:32 min/km Shoe: ASICS Cumulus VI Lap breakdown: 1.3km for 7:39min@ 5:53min/km Shit for 5min (yes...i took a toilet 5min break) 1.1km for 5:55min@ 5:23min/km 1.9km for 10:55min@ 5:45min/km 2.4km for 13:13min@5:30min/km 1.9km for 9:47min@5:09min/km 29 Sep 2005 THURSDAY 8.30pm Route: Pavement Run round big loop outside Bedok Reservoir via Temasek Poly Distance: 6km Time Taken : 30:33 min Average pace : 5:06 min/km Shoe: MIZUNO Wave Rider 8 I should be doing my crazy overnite run with my Mizuno WR 8 this weekend...watchout for it!!! Cheers....................crazy runner on crazily(does this word exist?) good shoes

Crazy Run this weekend

OK, I going insane....I going to do something crazy this weekend...long time never do these ever since out of Uni....I going join in LonelyRunner in his quest for 168km Run Round Singapore with other SgRunners. I will start about after the 2nd marathon distance and maybe up to a maximun of marathon distance(end at esplanade)..but current plan is to travel the route highlight yellow below which is about 35km(end at Katong CC). according to the NTU schedule, I should meetup TLR and SgRunners gang between 10pm-11pm...going to be a fun overnite run (1st time...last time done a lot overnite cycling) However, these stretch of the run is one of the toughest stretch....as up to changi village, we can replenish at petrol kiosk or 7-11 if any along the way and at Changi village, we can have our last supper before we embark on our long lonely run via coastal road to east coast park....no place for replenishment (unless from the official run station) ...... But this time, situation is defintiely better than my last long long travel on foot for 35km from Sembawang to Heeran which there is no food or water. Me and my partner suffered Dehydration due to my partner idea of putting Pocari powder into our water bag....... However, I think with the motivation and company of SgRunners...it should be done with fun and laughter Cheers..................good luck for my insane run

Lobster Feast!

I know this is a bit out of Topic for this Blog....But just tempted to share with everyone these delicious lobsters I had last Sunday from pengarang!

Equipment review: Salomon hydrobelt 45°

There quite a number of hydration packs or water bottle holders in the market. If you are interested in one....probably can try the one shown hanging above (who's butt is that? some handsome one lar). Can be found at Salomon labs at Suntec. Read Ethanolic's review here Cheers.................................

Photo finish For Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon

What can be better than a Photo Finish with 2 of my fellow Running Kakis? OK, I admit we look bad in this shot, we did smile at the photographer but he did not catchus at the right moment....anyway, thanks to whoever took this photo and squeeze the 3 of us in.... cheers...............

Up and Running Again!

Feeling very good waking up at 6.30am this morning...This is my second run after a long long break and also the last of this week....I was shocked to see the sun has already brighten the day...Gosh! It has been 6 weeks ever since my last early morning run.....so that means next week, i can wake up earlier to run and not in darkness... Hooked on the transmitter to my chest and geared up real fast, i headed out of the door....er...Still wearing my old ASICS Cumulus VI...still not relunctant to wear my new Mizuno Wave Rider 8 to run at the reservoir...probably leave it to the road run next week.... Went straight to the chin-up bar and pull...Wow! still feel the ache from 2 days ago...i guess too long never exercise so recovery still very slow...went over to the reservoir, swing my limps, stretch and jump a bit, I started my run at a slow pace.... I was trying to control my pace, focus on my head-neck, my vision 30-50m ahead, my elbow backswing and also using my knee to lead the way (from the pointers in my previous post)...a bit uncomfortable, which is normal as I am not moving my usual way....My Heart rate was good...at least 5-6 count lower than my run 2 days ago...I shoudl try to maintain the effort till the end...Hit the 2.4km mark at 12:55min..good, not too fast or too slow and most important, not feeling any strain from my last run.....now focusing on running at a consistent pace...breathing is good and comfortable....finished the last 1.9km at 9:45min..just 2-3sec off tuesday run with less strain.. head for the chin-up bar again and struggled with another 8 chin-ups before walking back home to shower and change for work. Good run...going to do macritchie 9.5km with my gang this sat....next week run will be more or less the same to condition the body before I push my mileage up. Run Stats: Overall - 4.3km for 22:41 at 5:17min/km avg HR: 158 max HR: 177 calories burned: 211 KCAL lap - first 2.4km for 12:55 at 5:23min/km avg HR: 150 max HR: 165 last 1.9km for 9:45 at 5:08min/km avg HR: 170 max HR: 177