New Rubber to burn

Yeah baby!! After hunting up and down, left and right...from Running labs at Funan, Adidas suntec, bugis to tampines and finally at Heeran Adidas, I found the shoes, the right colour and the preferred size for this rare find..... Go google and search for "adizero SN", i bet u can find more than 5 or even correct hit on this pair of shoes..... I have been aiming this shoes months back at adidas shoes early this year.....this shoes appeared in Singapore since somewhere after last year SC marathon...The first version of this shoes is RED on white base which kind of match my RED adidas running attire.....the thing that attracts me is the forefoot cushioning which more prominent than other cushioned trainer.....months later, the yellow version came out followed by the latest orange/black... about 2 weeks back, i actually saw this shoes going at 30% at bugis adidas.....my hands got itchy....i holded my ground and Running labs at funan having mega sale.....the orange/black and red version going for 50% off!!!! I tried the shoes there but they only ahve size 9 for the red and half size small and another half size bigger than my preference....AArrghh!....i think i got to settle with the 30% at adidas shops..... Went down to Suntec adidas after watching X-men with sgrunners and saw the yellow and orange/black version..Funny thing is the yellow version is on 30% off but not the orange/black ones...crap....i decided to search other nearby outlets......bugis has NOT adizero SN at all.....i gave up for the day happened to dropby Tampines Mall and decided to give it a try.....wow! they got the RED version which i wanted....but no size....the pretty lady told me that they have the size and colour i wanted at Heeran....i placed my reservation straight away........and picked it up hours ago.....going for virgin run with it tomolo if possible..heee Some backgrounds i found about this shoes....this seems to be meant for Asian market......u cannot find they online on major oversea online stores like zappos, road runners......there are no reviews or news on this version of shoes....as i earlier on mentioned, i actually only found 4 matches (3rd one is from DreamRunner who got the orange/black version earlier on)...one from a news report from Hong Kong, one is from adifans in taiwan, one from Korea website and one from japanese website.... When i first wear this shoes, i really find it having a better cut than my Nike Air pegasus which is more of American feet, it is in fact wider and roomy than my other trainers(not becos is bigger in size but becos of the cutting)....compared with my Nimbus, is in fact slightly smaller and shorter... Enough of story on this great find......my 7th running shoes in my shoes cabinet....eagerly wanted to burn the road

A quick short one

took a bus passed Bedok Reservoir int eh evening and saw a ot of pple jogging/running around.....my legs got itchy so i went to changed into my run attire and head out at about 6pm..... The air was cooling due to the heavy rain near noon....the sky still cloudy so no evening hot sun steaming the ground......i decided to have a relax run and enjoy the pple and the cool fresh air......finished at about 23min......beofre i head for a protein loading dinner Shoes: Nike Air Pegasus 2005 Distance: 4.3km Pace: 5:21min/km Time Taken: 23min 02sec Lap time: 2.4km for 13:09min@5:29min/km 1.9km for 09:52min@5:12min/km

slopes conditioning and the X-men

It is always difficult to wake up early for a run...especially on sat morning where the pat 5 days of stress and strain has drained the body energy out....but...a good run can revitalised the tired body... I got to overcame 2 barriers this morning......1st is the barrier of the mental to wake up before 6am..managed to do so at 5.45am....changed up and started my run at 6.15am..... I decided to try out the run to Upper Pierce Reservoir and make a loop of the many slopes and end at the famous cassuarina prata shop.... 2nd big barrier to overcome is to wake my body up from sleep...it took me at least 4km to get warmed up......running along YCK road, met quite a number of runners and cyclist along the way...took me less than 46min to reach the junction with Upper Thomson road.... turned into OUTR, i was cut by cyclist and saw a number of runners running the opposite direction....then...i saw Vivain tang wth her furious pace (must be the Animiles run)...followed by more fast runners behind her.......i reached entrance to UPR and started my slopes conditioning.....up slopes were good but my control for downslope is terrible..... i cut into SRCC golf cource and here came Henry the tigger walking with his 2 friends int he opposite direction....exchanged greetings, i continue my way to SRCC clubhouse road.....the slopes here are as bad....i did not turned into MR trail but continue out to UTR by island club road.....turned left and continue my way to lower pierce reservoir toilet.....the downslopes are causing some strain on my right knees.....i slowed down my pace and keep my feet lower and closer to the ground.... managed to finished at about 1hr 48min for the 18.6km run...a good run which i managed to struggle at a pace below 6min...after cool down, i went ahead to buy the famous prata home for replenishment....... Shoes: Asics Nimbus VII Distance: 18.6km Pace: 5:49min/km Time Taken: 1hr 48min 11sec Lap time: 2.9km for 17:10min@5:55min/km 3.1km for 18:51min@6:05min/km 1.9km for 10:43min@5:38min/km 5.4km for 31:41min@5:52min/km 3.3km for 18:37min@5:38min/km 2.0km for 11:06min@5:33min/km got home for washed up and changed...left home for Great World city to meet up with 18 other Sgrunners...wow!! 18 of us are catching X-men 3!!!!!...first time going movie with such a big group...met up with some of them for lunch first and aichai was there....we had a good discussion on shoes.....astrogal came late and had a quick lunch.....left us right after we reached the cinema entrance...after dilly dally.....all of us arrived just in time before the actual start of the show.......a simple plot but humorous at some part with a very strong computer effects at work.........after watching...more inspired to get the "X-men" tights from US...heeee

LRT track exploration

Did a little run along the deserted road under the not yet open LRT track. Heard this is a very popular spot for runners staying in Sengkang. Almost everyone i heard running in Sengkang will come here. Started at 8pm after rushing back from office, i took a slow start in the cooling nite....did met quite a few runners on the road and some foreign workers lucking around the area......I reached fernvale and turned towards jalan kayu followed by a right turn into Yio Chu Kang Road.... I really love this stretch....2 little hills to run over before i reached buangkok and a small tempo home for the rest of the 2km. Shoes: Nike Air Pegasus 2005 Distance: 8.2km Pace: 5:12min/km Time Taken: 42min 36sec Lap time: 3.7km for 19:27min@5:15min/km 2.5km for 13:26min@5:22min/km 2.0km for 09:42min@4:51min/km

A crazy LSD: Kovan mrt-> Bedok reservoir->Buangkok Mrt

Today is the 9th day that I have worked without any break day and 8 continuous day of >12hrs at work…I even went back office for 6 hours meeting and 12 hours of work on sun……I was drained mentally and physically…….. I decided to take an early leave on the dot of the official hour to finish work….wanted to go for a run….thru msn, found that teelee also wanted to find running kaki for a long run of about 16km. So I suggested a route to him and we agreed to go ahead tonite…. Just I was about to leave….something cropped up…problem….got to settle the problem and I left office 45min later than planned. Managed to reached home at 7.30pm and rushed out of the house and meet teelee at Kovan mrt……we managed to started at 8pm.

The route took us from Kovan mrt along tampines road, turned into Lor Ah Soo before we turn to Hougang Ave 3…continue down to Eunos link, we turned into Kaki bukit and reached bedok reservoir road before we hit Bedok Reservoir itself. It was a pleasant pace of about 6.44min/km and we have done 7km for about 47:05min. along the way, we chit chat about everything under the moon….. we went one loop round the reservoir and took a short toilet break along the way…including the toilet break, we took about 26min for the round…wow…nice comfy pace which I normally wil l do 23min or below if running alone. Leaving the reservoir, we continue our chit chat and enjoy the comfortable speed and a good weathered nite…..we headed backt he same way and reached junction of old tampines road and hougang ave 3 which is 6.5km away from bedok reservoir. We took about 42min for this stretch. Teelee went back home from here while I decided to carry on the tough journey home. Due to lack of conditioning for distance above 15km…I started to feel a bit of strains on my legs from here onwards…keeping my pace steady……I decided to end my run earlier at Buangkok MRT station so that I can fill my emptied water bottle from the toilet there……it was 3km away from where teelee left me and I took about 19:51min…. A nice cooling run with a good company….i managed to run 20.8km for a total of about 2hrs 15min with a constant 6:30min/km pace….feeling a bit of strain but a great sense of achievement today…..hopefully, I can maintain the consistency in running and I should be feeling more comfortable finishing AHM, SCM or even the ultra marathon on New Year Eve. Thanks telee for the great run Shoes: Nike Air Pegasus 2005 Distance: 20.8km Pace: 6:30min/km Time Taken: 2hr 15min 17sec Lap time: 7.0km for 47:05min@6:44min/km 4.3km for 26:17min@6:07min/km 6.5km for 41:57min@6:27min/km 3.0km for 19:51min@6:37min/km

LSD in HSP

Woke up at 5.45am…trying to do a warmup run before joining the HSP. …kana a bit of stomach ache and went to the toilet to release $@#%#$%@….hooked up my Pegasus and managed to start at about 6.15am. I ran to Punggol along my usual route and came back to punggol park busstop opp Kopitiam. I managed to reach the meeting point at 7am sharp which is the planned meeting time. Today, I really did a HSP run..as I ran thru punggol, sengkang and Hougang....a few of us were scheduled to meet at 7am but only 5 runners turned up; FBB, aichai, Andy and teelee and myself…quite a number of them pulled out last minute. Aichai was still nursing his flu and FBB was still having his knee injury. As I already finished my 1st run of about 8km in about 48min, I decided to stick with aichai and FBB at the back while speedy teelee and andy went ahead. We have a nice chat as we jog down hougang ave 7 into defu lane. At about 3.2km from the startpoint, aichai and FBB decided to head back first. I went ahead to make sure teelee and andy did not wait for us…….. True enough, they waited at the junction of the main road…I lead them back along Hougang ave 3…we hit the park along sungei serangoon when we decided to run to the end of the running path instead of turning back to houngang ave 7. we reached the end of the running path and saaw a small trail continuing along the canal……teelee said we can continue and hit the main road further up…….so we just carry on and true enough, it turned left along the canal and went under the bridge where we have to jump over the fence……we carry on along the canal until we reach punggol park again and cut back into the park jogging path and back to the end point… So 3 of us finished at about 1hr 3min for a distance of about 9.5km….FBB and aichai was still making their way to the end point while we hanged around sweating……we went ahead to kopitiam for breakfast after meet up and Nemo, who is flying to Taiwan in few hours time came over to joinus for breakfast…..as I still got to rush back to office for a super long meeting, I parted the gang early…… A good 17.5km LSD for me….very busy with OT every nite has reduced the time and energy available for runs this week….hopefully I can return to normal mileage next week

My legs will go on, But not my heart

as the title has mentioned, I had attained the level of running where I have attained improved efficiency in running such that the stress on heart limit was reached before my legs get tired. All this while, when I do faster run, lactic acid will flood my muscle before i started to feel breathless....I guess, the past 2 months of work to improve my running style has shows some worth........ It happened that I was on half day leave today....i decided to go for a run at bedok reservoir (my old homeground). I was on the bus home as I was in the middle of reading the more important and exciting part of this book which i borrowed from Sengkang library; Running with Pheidippides: Stylianos Kyriakidas, The miracle marathoner

An inspiration and touching story of a man, a marathoner with a miracle running time of 2hrs 29min to win 50th Boston Marathon in 1946. He beat the previous year champion by more than 2 minutes and set the world fastest time that year. It is not the winning of the marathon race the highlight of the story. It is the life, the purpose and the meaning behind this race....He ran not for himself but for 7 million greeks suffering from provety and starvation. This is the 2nd time he ran this course. The first time 8 years back, a handsome young and fit man, whom is expected to come in top 5, had suffered from a bad bloody blister. He dropped out right after the 21 miles mark due to the hard concrete course and the new running shoes without break in. The story is more than this.....and is one which can touch the heart......honestly, i almost cried..... I reached home...pondering about and still thinking about Stylianos Kyriakidas.....we are fortunate in this times...having enough food to eat and proper equipments and no war to suffer...... I started my run after 3 days of rest from my 20km at MR alst sunday, which has drained quite a bit of energy to recover. I decided to do 2 rounds...it was a fine weather with no heat from the evening sun and also fresh air and beautiful scenery...i wanted to complete 2 rounds at tempo pace....trying my best to keep a constant quick steps throughout the distance...... after 500m, i felt that i was going too fast....i tried to slow down but my legs just felt light and swift...hit the 2.4km at 12:04min..wow....that was damn bloody too quick..i usually hit around 14min for the for 1st round....i tried to keep my feet low on ground and keep a constant 180 steps/min cadence.....hit the finishing of 1st round 9:41min later which i took 21:45min for 4.3km...that was terribly wrong....normally will hit around 23min.... i continue to focus on my steps...ok.i just going to maintain the pace...my legs feeling still as fresh went tapping on the sandy ground....hit the 2nd round 2.4km for 11:24min....good pace which i tried to maintain....this run, i did not bring any usual water...and it started to take a toll me after this point....my phelgm was building up as i tried to maintain my pace.....struggled and panting but my legs are still tapping swiftly...i managed to finish my last 1.9km in 9:06min....and this is my record time of 42:16min for this 2 rounds 8.6km course and also my 2nd round time of 20:30min is very close to my fastest for 1 round 4.3km.....after ending my run, my legs can still go on...but not my heart....

my last PB at this course is about 4 months back before my leg broke down to ITB and my body broke down to bronchitis.....my last PB story But the feeling of running fast still cannot beat the feeling of running ultra during last christmas where runner's high hit me.....this is the reason why i do not like short and fast run but long and slow steady run. took out my shoes and found a bad pain and bruised 2nd toe on my left feet....look like, my feet have overgrown my second shoes in 2 years......a new shoes might be needed in months to come especially for this year marathon.

Mother's Run at MR25 20km route

I have never tried and never know how to run this route.....i only know the first 1/4, the middle 1/3 and the last 1/4 of the route...the rest the connection between upper pierce and macrithie..... I arrived early and met DO...saw a lot of indians walking around with tentages and ambulance.....then i found out Bank of India are having their walkathon. As the runners from Sgrunners started to pour in...Tekko was having difficulty to find parking.....i decided to start the run earlier with Alvo, meteor, violet and cokiee cos i knew the rest will catch up with my snail speed. The first 1/4 of the route are familiar ground until i hit SRCC clubhouse where I met cokiee who sped in front earlier on...I caught up with him and followed him along the way... At the end of the slopy road, we turned left to run along side the waterline and golf course till the dam at upper pierce reservoir....the rest are faimilir route which i ran 2 days back...Bug was running fast and overtook us along the waterline...soon, zhiwei and realrunner also over took us...while alvo was still far in front The route turned in what they called the "aircon" route before we hit back and went for Upper pierce main entrance...touched the gat and U-turn back to MR. The sun started to heat up. I was maintaining my pace while keeping cokiee company...he just had a hectic judo training the day before.... I left him at the junction of SRCC clubhouse and went my own pace ahead. back to familiar route, i bash thru the cordoned off landslide area.....reach back the fitness station and saw indians running and walking towards me...wow..they just started...the rest of th journey back was squeezing thru the indians....... managed to hit back at the end point and finish the run comfortably for 2hrs 5min 59sec. My longest continuous run for LSD this year.... after w waited for the rest to come back..we went to adam road food centre for the famous prawn noodles and sugercane juice before we left home for the rest of mother's day

Adventure to Upper Pierce Reservoir via YCK and OUTR

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Recently, I like to go for exploration runs....and you will see more coming in this blog....discover new places and meeting new pple. I actually planned to run from Sengkang to Macritchie Reservoir this morning. Managed to force myself up at 6am and prepare my gear for my first morning run in Sengkang. Started at Renjong LRT at about 6.30am...already seen some runners on the road....I followed Sengkang East Ave, continue into Sengkang West ave and hit Fernvale. Turned into Jalan Kayu and reached the junction at YCK road. About 2.9km from the start point. Continue to run along YCK road with a steady pace....quite not warmed up and so i went on at a slower pace....the slopes along YCK road were gentle enough to cause no damage to my pace. Crossed under CTE, passed ST electronics, motorola, APPLE computer and reached the junction under the MRT line. that was 6km from start. I continued my journey at a steady pace...body started to be warmed up and my motion got smoother......up and down the slope....it was just another 2km before i reached the junction with Upper Thomson road.... I crossed the road and planned to turn left to MR...But...saw a group of runners and one of them is my long lost friend Mark Lee!!! Mark was a teammate of my during 2001 adventurer race...an adventurer, swimmer/open water lifeguard and a very good cyclist....a perfect combi for tri.....i decided to tag along with him for 3.3km into Upper Pierce Reservoir dam as we chat and update each other of our lifes and friends.....they continue to hit the trail back to MR but I U-turn back to casaurina walk to end my run. My total distance ran today was 14.5km..which is about 2.5km more than orginal planned....but the last 6.6km with mark was at a much slower pace for chatting.......good run today....and now I got to try again next time to run to MR from Renjong LRT....8-( Shoes: Asics Nimbus VII Distance: 14.5km Pace: 6:13min/km Time Taken: 1hr 30min 14sec laps: 2.9km for 17:21min@5:59min/km 3.1km for 17:58min@5:48min/km 1.9km for 11:43min@6:10min/km 3.3km for 23:00min@6:58min/km 3.3km for 20:10min@6:07min/km

Sun Rise but Brain Down

Woke up early and plan to do the usual 2 rounds at bedok reservoir. Started out slowly towards the rising sun....however, feeling wierd and my legs are not going smoothly...so i slowed my pace and hope to get back the form after one round of warm up. However, after 2.4km...my legs still not feeling as light.....so decided to end of with just one round to rest for the 2 more siong runs in the later part of the week...... Shoes: Mizuno wave Rider 8 Distance: 4.3km Pace: 5:39min/km Time Taken: 24min 17 laps: 2.4km for 14:00min@5:50min/km 1.9km for 10:16min@5:24min/km

Seletar hill estate exploration run

Something crop up at work that made me rush from office home…have arranged with teelee and Patrick to go for an exploration run in seletar hill neighbourhood. Supposed to meet them at 7.30pm at buangkok MRT….i managed to get home in time and was late for about 3 mins after a 800m warmup from my house. Teelee ran about 4km from his house and Patrick also ran quite a distance from his home. We started at Buangkok MRT heading towards buangkok. Then we ran along buangkok green until Yio chu Kang road where we turned right and entered seletar hill upon the first right turn…we into the private estate and came out right into jalan kayu. Entered Fernvale and ran back towards buangkok MRT via Sengkang West and Sengkang East avenue. Finished the 8.4km run with a time of 8.4km. I continued to do a 1.4km at tempo pace while the other 2 continue their run home. A good relax run with good company and perfect weather….cloudless sky with stars shining bright above….. Shoes: NIKE Air Pegasus 2005 Distance: 10.6km Pace: 6:54min/km Time Taken: 1hr 13min 54sec laps: 0.8km for 04:00min@5:00min/km warm-up 8.4km for 64:28min@7:40min/km 1.4km for 06:26min@4:36min/km tempo

Adventure Run in the East

Today is one of the most imporatnt day in Singapore; POLLING DAY…..decided to join a few of the guys for polling run from pasir ris park along tampines park connector to bedok reservoir and siglap park connector to reach east coast park tennis centre, followed by running along east coast park to bayshore underpass out to upper east coast road and end at bedok corner. The estimated distance covered was 18km. I reached paris ris park at 6.50am…no one was there…went to the loo and came out to see TLR running around the park…managed to phone him to meet me back at the park fitness station. Ah Bee arrived shortly after. Tekko later arrived with his running master, aichai and benruth. So here we are early in the morning gathered for a wonderful day run. We ran along tampines park connector but the sky looks very very glooming towards out target. We reached bedok reservoir park and drizzle started…we decided to stick to our plan and carry on….it was 8am and polling has started…we ran past a few polling stations and saw pple eagerly going for their voting…..as we turned into siglap park connector, the rain has stopped..no sun and no heat…superb condition for running…we reached Kembangan MRT and TLR got a 1.5l 100plus to share…we took a little break before we carry on to reach east coast park…… East coast park was quiet as we cruise to bayshore park underpass…crossed over to upper east coast road and TLE, benruth, aichai and Tekko’s sifu surged ahead…Tekko and myself escorted Ah bee all the way to reach our destination: bedok corner food center…we finished the 18km for 2hrs 18min…..a very good run…but a bit over mileage for me.. We had breakfast and I took one plain and one egg prata to replenish my carbo loss..together with a good cup of sugar cane juicewe chatted a while before we parted ways…I decided to join TLR for a jog home….we took a relax walk to New upper changi road before we started running again….TLR led me thru his secret ninja training route home…we took about 2.4km to reached his place before I carry on running 2km more to finish my run home….A very nice slow long distance run for a beautiful morning….is a over mileage for me but my legs are feeling great…..thanks the company for a good run today Shoes: ASICS Nimbuss VII Distance: 22.5km Pace: 7:36min/km Time Taken: 2hr 51min laps: 6.9km for 48:53min@7:05min/km 3.8km for 31:22min@8:15min/km 7.4km for 57:49min@7:49min/km rest 2.4km for 18:39min@7:46min/km 2.0km for 12:33min@6:17min/km

Sengkang Punggol Run with FBB

What a day....orginal plan was to do intervals at Hougang stadium with SC5, patrick, teelee and Fatty Bom Bom....took a ride in a NEW Mazda 3 but found the stadium to be closed for jogging due to preparation for some event tomolo....decided to wait for every one to arrive and met up with patrick on his bicycle, teelee on his honda super 4 and came on foot is fatty bom bom...lamy also came.... After discussion, we decided to shift to Serangoon stadium....but only teelee and fatty bom bom will join us.... We arrived at the stadium after squeezing thru the heavy serangoon road traffic and was SHOCK!!! PAP RALLY!!! this is definitely not our day...SC5 decided that he has no time to carry on and teelee decided to went back hougang for his own training..... Me and Fatty BOM BOM decided to go for a long run round sengkang to punggol and back...so i lead him to the route i took the last time.... I jogged from my house to Sengkang fire station as warm up...took about 8min to cover the 1.5km....met up with FBB and we went towards buangkok...turned to Sengkang east road and hit straight towards punggol...turned to punggol central and ran all he way to other nd of punggol before we turn back to SK by Sengkang East Drive and back to Sengkang fire station.... We took about 1hr 14min whcih is a very comfortable pace as i started to tokking nonsense to keep FBB company.... we parted outside SK fire station and i hit straight home at a faster pace...maaged to do a sub-5min pace for 1.4km ...a good run overall...good company and also very good weather Shoes: Mizuno wave Rider 8 Distance: 11.9km Pace: 7:32min/km Time Taken: 1hr 29min 40s laps: 1.5km for 08:00min @ 5:20 min/km warmup 9.0km for 74:42min @ 8:18min/km long run 1.4km for 06:57min @ 4:54min/km tempo

Health screening result

The NKP Health screening bus happened to be at my company building today....i pop by for a free health check which i last done more than 5 yrs ago...... here my healthy results: BMI : 21.7 (healthy range 18.5 - 22.9) - a bit on the high side towards overweight Waist Hip Raio: 0.76 (Male <1) - This is good Body Fat Analysis: 16.8% (Male <30 yrs old 14%-20%) - wow...very good...last measured 3 years back is 22% Blood pressure: 1st reading - 125/60 2nd reading - 110/59 - good Urinalysis: Glucose: NIL Protein: NIL pH: 6 - acidic here Random Blood Total Cholesterol: 197mg/dl (desirable <200) - This is way too near to undesirable range Random Blood Glucose: 114mg/dl (desirable <140) - still safe Conclusion: Nothing to say....just health at the moment

May Day run

J picked me up opp UTR prata shop and we headed down to Sentosa to meet the Sgrunners for May Day run...there are 2 groups of runners; one running from Botanical garden to tanjong beach and the other doing the REAL Run route within Sentosa. We met up with the group running the REAL Run route....quite a big crowd we have there: kops21, TLR, aichai, sotong, brokie, leh-lio ger, Yankee, SV......we started and ended at Tanjong Beach carpark....everyone went their own ways and style....I was running with J all the while....we covered the whole length of beach from Tanjong Beach to Rasa Sentosa with Yankee and TLR before we split ups.....J was suffering from lack of mileage and started to slowed down after we reach the REAL Run start point...but I managed to push her all the way and we ended at a reasonable time of 1hr flat.....good run there...and hope she will get back to shape soon..... A big grop of BG to Sentosa runners came when we hit the end point and we did a great group photos before a group of us headed to harbourfront Mac for more chit chatting...... Shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 8 distance: 10km pace: 6:06min/km time:1hr 00min 10850 steps