Standard Chartered Marathon 2007

Woah! finally completed my first and longest race. Here are some of the moments i felt at the various marks.

Pre race

Day before: Packed my items which included my fuel belt, mp3, extra clothing and footwear for after race. Had a chemistry experiment of mixing my power gels into my bottles for fuel belt as i found out that i cant squeeze in all the 6 power gel into 1 small little pouch which i intend to put my mp3.

Here is the formula. 2 x power gel squeezed into the bottle, add in 1 tablet of Berocca (given in race kit) and add in water till it does look so thick. Risky move for me to to pull out this stunt as its often recommended not to try something new especially on food before and during races. Anyway it didn't backfire me during the run.

2 hrs before run: Check in of baggage was easy although queue was abit long. Gotten a good number for my baggage, 4646 whereas my tag number is 5252.. guess my mom after knowing these number will most probably buy for next 4D, 4652 'quan da' haha!

Start of run: Still stuck in the large crowd. imagine i was stuck for 8mins before crossing the flag off point.

During race: (refer to the map for more understanding, click here)

First 2km: Still with Wilson, after 2 water point, he is no where to be found. Must be indulge with his techno music and started running in his pace.

Marina Bay (3 km): Saw Wei Yang and gang, get to know that they are adopting a comfortable run and rest method for this race, hence overtook them after a short conversation. Told them that I'm looking for Wilson, in fact he was behind me till he caught up with WY shortly after i left. Guess it made Wilson run faster to find me, in the end he caught up in front of me without my notice.

Marina Coastal Drive (7 km): This is where its damn crowded and saw some familiar faces as it is a two-way flow. Saw boon how, Gregory, and some men from NS & Ah Lu from secondary sch.

Marina Coastal drive: While exiting Marina area, Fat Cat (sec sch senior) caught up with me and overtook me after a short while.

Back to City, towards ECP (10-18km): Still feeling good as i had been training to go 20km. Saw my OC.. haha! tried to keep quiet and siam him but in the end still kanna caught. Saw him running in a very comfortable pace, guess he is also conserving for next day outfield. Basically stopped for all the water points to hydrate and regulate my pace.

In East Coast Park (19-33km): Cramp starts to kick in once i enter ECP. Did a good stretch at the 19k mark. Can see most water booth now start to give out deep heat for us to apply, to make my race fee worth while i apply whenever i cant feel the deep heat's warming effect.

Before turning point: Saw Sunny, Jonathan and Kiat Rui, was surprise and relief to see Sunny there as i thought he had trained quite hard for this race to perform well.

Turning mark (In between 25km and 26km): Before reaching the turning point, i saw Wilson (once again), tried shouting for him but was kindly ignored as he is still indulge in his music. He was about 2km ahead of me. Saw my army friends, Leming and another officer whom both had just ORD recently and my OC just 400m away from the turning point, tried to catch up with them but too far apart after the turning point.

Power Gel station (26km): Gotten a free power gel. (Yes! minus another $2.50 from race fee haha!!!) Think they gave me a coffee or mocha flavoured power gel. After consumed it, cant wait to drink at the next water point as its flavouring is so strong and made me felt thirsty.

Exiting ECP: Saw Gregory whom i mention earlier that was very much in front of me. Caught up with him at the Coastal Sand Resort area.

Back to City (34-41km): Keep reminding myself to watch my pacing especially after the 29km mark. Heard stories from friends that after 30km mark usually its where the break in point is. Keep motivating myself to carry on with the run and look forward for the 32km and 37km mark as they both are left with 10km and 5km respectively. Constantly still applying deep heat on my calf and hamstring area.

Returning portion is like playing catching, trying to catch up with those who are in front of me. Caught up with Leming at Mountbatten Road while my OC at Esplanade.

Sunny at Mountbatten road caught up and overtook me, saying that he cant stand the pace of the rest. In the end saw him at Republic Ave, either had a bad cramp or muscle too sore to run. After overtaking my OC, i picked up my pace for the remaining 1+km to the finish line. (haha ego cant let him catch up!)

Finishing Point: Saw Wilson, still drenched in his sweat was thinking he could be just a few mins before me. Not for long, Sunny also finished the race. Overall ran 4:19:23 with average timing of 6:09 per km.

Timings of others

Charmane (Tri) - 3:57 (kanna OWED big time!)
Boon Howe (NS) - 4:12
Wilson (Tri) - 4:16
Daniel Toh (NS) - 4:19 (exactly same with me!)
Sunny (Tri) - 4:30
'Ah Lu' (Sec Sch) - 4:51
Gregory (NS) - 4:58
Zhi Feng (Tri) - 4:59
Wei Yang (Tri) - 5:03
Fat Cat' (Sec Sch) - 5:26
Kiat Rui (Tri) - 5:31
Jonathan (Tri) - 5:33

Post Race

Morning: Leg damn sore after the run, having a hard time walking down and up stairs, felt pain at knee cap.

Afternoon: Made booking for a full body message session at Statice located at AMK in the the evening. Thanks to it, my post race recovery was speedy. Anyway the message session is commendable, bought a $300 worth of message package from them, 1hr session for $30 or 30mins session for $15.

Evening: Back to camp, before sleep took a pill of Panadol for muscle and bone ache, anti-inflammatory pill. Hope it will aid in the recovery from the run.

Good Run!

42km Marathon Finisher

C Cube

New Run Route: Bedok Reservoir

haha don't think that its just running at Bedok Reservoir.. haha! anyway here is the route


Running towards Bedok Reservoir is rather smooth, little traffic light. However when comes to returning journey, there are quite a few traffic light along the way, disrupting the running momentum.

Sian~ 2 more days to Race Day, now kanna sore throat and a muscle lump at the calf.. Hope they will recover by tomorrow.

42km run
C Cube

Small Boy Toy: Polar RS200SD

Had received and 'played' with this gadget for the pass few weeks (although wore only 2 times). Nothing much to comment about this watch, other than its functions which you can easily know from its website.

Not a watch which you wanna wear for daily use. Have to go through many screens just to set alarm, chrono and timer functions which normal watches can offer with just a few press of their buttons.

Some intro to the to the adds-on which make this watch special (and expensive).

The foot pod is the black bulky thingy on the left used to take speed and distance of the runner. It requires calibration by running on a fix distance by the runner. Any change in running style and shoe will require to re-calibrate it.

The Transmitter placed at the bottom and the Strap works together. Many people (including me) though that the transmitter is the one which captures the heart rate. Well its actually the electrode on the Strap which does it, connecting to the transmitter to send the signal to the Watch..

Some people had asked me how does the foot pod works. haha! I'm not that smart to know how does it function and lazy to go find out. Maybe those who manage find out, let me know.

Small Boy Toy's Owner
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Sports and Fitness Expo 2007 | Race Kit Collection

Went to collect my race kit at Suntec. It was organised together with the Sports and Fitness Expo which was also managed by my friend, Kim. This years goodies bag for Standard Marathon was quite interesting. Instead of the usual shoe bag, they gave away mini duffel bag and draw string bag. Nothing much inside, only find the Berocca and Deep Heat useful. The free runner's top is still Adidas although quality not as good and stitching designs are still located at the armpit side which are prone to abrasion.

The whole flow of the event is as such: Runners will collect their kit, then proceed to the Sports and Fitness Expo hall which was partition away from it. So the impression which us get when we reached the hall is to proceed straight for the Expo rather than the collection site. Lucky when i went to collect the kit, the queue wasn't as long as i expected from previous years.

At the Expo, there are many sport related booths which carries merchandise of cycling, triathlon, blading etc.. Polar also opened their booth, however not interested in them as their price are usually damn expensive. What caught my attention is the BMC bikes being exhibited..(not those model in white with little tummy showing out)

Well gotten a Small Boy Toy in this expo, a fuel belt which have 2 slots for their bottles and a small pouch at the rear (almost look like my SBO). Also gotten myself 4 power gel but still think it wouldn't be enough.

Went for the Spinal Test together with Shu Jie, found out the importance of maintaining good posture and how a badly aligned spine as affect us. Was told that my right lower back muscle is not as sensitive as it should be.. Tempted to go for its consultation and treatment, however got this feeling that i will need to pay alot more than whats stated..

Before i go, a picture with Kim

Getting Ready for Suffering

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One to check, Two to confirm

Well three days since i last ran my 20km running route. Today I decided to run on it again with special guest, Wilson and my little brother, Zhi Lee.

Well for those who dont know my little brother, he is only 12 yrs old. For him to run this distance is bad for his young joints. Anyway his role for today is a water boy! haha! remember the previous run AAR i mention that i need more water points. So for this time, i 'invited' him to go for a ride on his bicycle(identiti), telling him that it will be a much more longer ride than the expo route. On top of that, he had to carry my water bag (of course with 2.5l of water). Also in the bag i put in some money just in case i started to get hungry.

This time round it is more challenging to get to the Coastal Road as my brother is not good in riding not to mention riding on the road with vehicles going at fast speed. I'm acting like a road marshaller to get the attention of the drivers and tell them to avoid us.

Coastal road is at least 6km for its straight portion not to mention the remaining journey. Happily he just do his own riding till the half way mark of Coastal where you can see him resting at 1 of the Along Coastal was much easier, just tell him "just keep cycling till you see the end..." haha pavilion which is newly setup along Coastal.

Also this time round running along Coastal with companion of Wilson really change the tempo and pace and not set by the tempo of the music from my itune from the previous run.

As usual, i got hungry at the 14-16km mark. Luckily this time i got my money with me! $2 really make a different when you can get snicker bar out from it. Really a life saver..

Lastly to sum up for this run, its rather a good route to train on. With the 'never ending' Coastal to train the mental and the 'Loyang hill' for me to really push myself to overcome it. Now its time to figure my '30km running route', which is most probably my last run before Standard Chartered Marathon.

Next week i cant run long distances... sian~
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Bang the wall, break the 20k training mark.

After another long hectic week, finally i got to have a break. However rotting at home with nothing interesting to do. Sick of being killed by the monsters in monster hunter, release of my animes and mangas are not out yet. Decided to go for a run, just nice had been planning a 20k route, however yet to test it. So i decided to run this route without much consideration, which soon regretted not doing so...

Breakdown of run
1-6km: Run to coastal, have to run on the road when crossing over to Coastal. Feeling good, good pace, good weather..

6-12km: Running along coastal. Just a damn long stretch of road. From the start, you can see the Airport control tower till the end.

12-14km: Running along alps ave where all the logistic company located. Still feeling alright. Also my first water point(12km) and last drinking point

14-16km: Hunger and fatigue starts to kick in. Looking at people bbqing their chicken wing along Changi beach really put my temptation of food on test. Another water point(14km) but didn't go for it.

16-22km: Chui liao~ (crushed) Body feeling cold, limbs jellified, stomach growling. Basically i just gave up on running or even maintaining my form. Just run and walk to get myself back. 2 more water points, Esso mobile and Shell petrol stations at 20km and 21km. But just to shag to make the extra effort to run in to drink. Start cursing why i didn't bring money! i want snickers & 100 plus!

Last 200m: Just walk back as my warm down. Leg muscles tight, every step i take will have a cramping effect. Is my power gel still on my shelf? Damn I'm dried up!

Some AARs for this run:

1. need to plan for hydration and messing plan for runs more than 10km! only had bread, cheese and egg for breakfast; cabbage porridge for lunch.
   
2. go for all the water points, don't be lazy!
3. for goodness sake, next time plan the run in your weekly training program! don't 'suka suka' go run 20k!
   

4 more weeks to Standard Chartered Marathon
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New running route: 7 Wonders

Well for those who had been to Brunei and experience the '7 Knolls', or those who are craving for a hilly, adventurous and challenging run. Here is a new route which i came out this evening.



Brief description of this route. Start from my place, towards Loyang ave, overcoming the hill. Next will be the start of the hill set for cycling, which leads all the way to Simei. Here is the adventurous part, at certain portion, i am required to run along the road leading to the PIE. After that part, will be a straight road back to Simei, clocking a total of 10+km.

If you still think this isn't tough enough, you can also add the 'expo route' which can easily go above 15km...

New Balance Real Run, 28 Oct. Here i come!
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Map My Run/Ride: Expo Run

Was looking for deals on Polar RS200SD HR monitor watch. Came across Sgrunners website. It is packed with information on running events, triathlon and advanture races happening in Singapore. To further explore this website, i registered and read thought some of their posts in forum

Well, stumbled across this website http://www.mapmyrun.com/, find it very interesting especially for people who train often and wanna know how many mileage they have clocked. It works something like Google Earth (In fact it is). But it is able to save your running route and keep them as a log. Below is an example of my run this morning.


Sg Runner
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Training: Week 9 Race Week!

230707 1630hrs - Swim
Workout: Mileage
Description:
Ladder set, 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 (2.5km swim include warm up and cool down)
Distance: 2.5km include warm up and cool down
Feeling: Yes!! finally able to finish this set. Had stick close to the rest timing of 30sec. only the first and last 100m and 200m i used them as warm up and cool down.

Felt pain on my shoulder the day after the swim. Maybe exceeded the mileage i had been doing too much.

240707 1630hrs - Brick Training
Workout: Mileage
Description:
Warm up from Tampines-Pasir Ris-Changi-Coastal.
Cycle hard for 5mins with 1min rest. 2laps on Coastal.
Run 2.4km
Distance: 40km (B), 2.5km (R)
Feeling: Sian my cyclometer broke down when i am doing the interval, so cant tell what speed I'm going. Cycling alone for interval is very boring...

This year wasn't well prepared for the race. Training sets are messy and not being followed closely.. Did my race prep on the day before the race, settling things like my race cycling shoes, tuning of the drivetrain. Powergel was done on race day and not being done up nicely.

Worst thing to happen was i left on water bottle at home while on way to race site, left home at 0930. Noticed that i didn't bring my bottle and went back when about to enter ECP. Reached home, urgently went to pee and left home again! w/o the bottles... Only noticed it when I'm at expo... In the end reach race site at 1030, clocking a mileage of almost 20km (hmm.. well prep chin)

Race week
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Training: Week 9

180707 1630hrs - Swim
Workout: Mileage
Description:
Trying out a ladder set, 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 (2.5km swim include warm up and cool down)
Distance: 800m due to interruption at 4th set's 200m
Feeling: Muscle aches when swimming the first 2 sets. Wanting to rest often.

190707 1545hrs - Swim
Workout: Mileage
Description: Same as day before. However this time got interrupted at 4th set
Distance: 1km
Feeling: Felt slightly better. Force myself to stick to the set and not resting.

Was having unarmed combat training this whole week. Neck, arms and tight damn sore and still aching. Swimming really helps recovering faster.

200707 0745hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage
Description: AHM buildup route. Hendon camp to Tenah Merah Ferry Terminal
Timing: 58mins
Distance: 12km
Feeling: Was a organised mass run for our formation. Maintained a pretty good pace. Was tired at last part, cant open up.

210707 1835hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage
Description: Expo route, easy run
Distance: 8-9km
Feeling: Went running with my bro cycling on the snow white identiti. Meantime give him pointers on how to ride, balance and brake.

1 more weeks to Osim Triathlon
C Cube

Training: Week 8

110707 2020hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage
Description: AHM buildup route. Hendon camp to Tenah Merah Ferry Terminal
Pace was relatively fast for me at the start.
Increased the pace in the middle of the run and slow down when reaching to cool down.
Timing: 1hr 15mins (with cool down)
Distance: 12km
Feeling: Felt good. Was painful at the start. Pace set by friend is kinda fast for me. My first 12km run after so long.

120707 2020hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage
Description: AHM buildup route. Hendon camp to Tenah Merah Ferry Terminal
Same set as day before but slightly slower pace
Timing: 1hr 25mins (with cool down)
Distance: 12km
Feeling: Know the route better. Felt some pain in knee, too long didn't run such long distance. More like a recover run for day before.

2 more weeks to Osim Triathlon
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Exciting races of the year!: Revised | Training: Week 7

After knowing that I'm posting to a training company and fighting ATEC right after my men have turn ops. The training tempo of my company will be very high, maybe till i ORD.. Time for training and races have to be compromised due to the level of commitment level i have in NS. Well~ higher allowance comes with greater responsibility and sacrifice.

Initial plan from 'Exciting races for the year':
Port Dickkson Triathlon (22Jul), OSIM Triathlon (29 Jul), Desaru 'Half Ironman' (18Aug,) Army Half Marathon (29Aug) and lastly Standard Chartered Marathon (Nov)

Currently have to scale down by taking away the Port Dickson Tri, Desaru 'Half Ironman' (still pending)

070707 1600hrs - Bike & Swim
Workout: Mileage (cycle to Sentosa, swim and cycle back)
Description: Cycled about 30km/h to Sentosa and back. Swam 50+mins for 1.5km
Feeling: Did a 1.5km swim at Sentosa Tanjong beach, last swam this distance 1 year ago. Wah! really cant swim liao. Drank alot of sea water.. Think i finished the whole course in 50+mins?

Today there is a triathlon sprint organised by trifam. Woke up with sore muscle and a bad sore throat (drank too much sea water?). Decided not to take part.. This shows how much my physical fitness has dropped since i enlisted. wa~ sad...

Now thinking how to train and look better for my OSIM..

Weak and slow
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Training: Week 4

Due to the busy rehearsal and schedule of last week, i wasn't able to train. Anyway this week also didn't trained for cycling but swam more.

110607 0845hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage
Description: Ran Springfield's 2.4km route, enter Bedok Reservoir via canal, 1 rd Bedok Reservoir and back to 2.4km route.
Distance: 10km
Feeling: Leg felt heavy, dint have the strength on the legs..

110607 1800hrs - Swim
Workout: Mileage
Description: Few laps of kicking drill, 20x25m (10x25m easy) speed set at Training Pool
Distance: 800m
Feeling: Didn't bring my goggles to swim, kicking is tired on the tights. Speed set is good, fast at the first few sets while slow down at the last 3.

120607 1730hrs - Swim
Workout: 800m TT
Description: Warm up 200m, 800m TT (timing: 18:30)
Distance: 1km
Feeling: This time didn't rest as much as previous TT. Need to swim more to swim comfortably.

120607 1800hrs - Run
Workout: Easy jog, static sets
Description: Just jog easy until the rest finish their set (<3k?)
Feeling: Just to have a transit from swim to run, leg quite jelly while running. Like coach's core exercises, really make me feel that my abs is going to come out (still not out yet~)

Quite a easy workout for the week. Will be busy with my COCC next week, wouldn't be training, at home or even in camp..

4 more weeks to Port Dickson
C Cube

Training: Week 2

After the warmup training from previous week, this week i had this sudden kick in doing long distance

300507 0900hrs - Run
Workout: 2.4k TT
Description: IPPT, 2.4k run (timing 10:08)
Distance: 2.4km
Feeling: Bad pacing, from 1:30-1:45. After running 6 laps i feel i can run below 10mins.

010607 0630hrs - Bike
Workout: Mileage
Description: Simei-Pasir ris-Changi-Coastal-Fort Rd-U turn-same route back
avg spd: 27km/h, 2hrs+
Distance: 75km
Feeling: Damn shag, legs aches after the ride. Find that when catch the momentum of using big chainring, can go above 30km/h easily.

030607 1600hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage
Description: Long run using expo route, 45mins
Distance: 8-9km
Feeling: Good run, feel aches/jelly on knee after hitting 6-7km.

This week didn't swim, maybe took lazy and hate the sunny hot weather.

Tired
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Training: Week 1

After motivated to join all the races i stated in "Exciting races for the year!". I had decided to start moving my rusty ass instead of just sitting in front of my monitor working out my fingers. Will be posting all my training sets, a way to motivate and monitor my progression in training.

240507 1930hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage + Speed Work
Description:
5+km warm up w/ gentle hills
6 x 400m interval, (1:35, 30s rest). Avg timing: 1:33-1:35
Distance: 8.00km
Feeling: After the long warm up, felt very tired, intend to just do a 4 x 400m. However after running 2 sets of 400m, my joints seems to be 'lubricated' and muscles more activated to run more.

270507 0630hrs - Bike
Workout: Mileage
Description:
Route: Simei-ECP-Fort Rd-ECP-Coastal-Pasir ris (breakfast)-Tampines-Simei
Avg spd: 27-29km/h
Distance: 60km
Feeling: Leg felt sore after reaching ECP, avg speed is ard 27-29km/h, cant seems to exceed the 30km/h mark.


270507 1530hrs - Swim
Workout: Mileage
Description:
Warm up 2x100m,
800m TT, timing 19:08,
Warm down 100m
Distance: 1km
Feeling: Never felt so bad before, almost like the first time i did my biathlon swim.
Peak timing: 16mins, Training timing: 17mins, Slack timing: 18min. So now how should i classifled my 19 mins!!
Arms felt sore during the warm up and started to warm up only after 600m of my TT.

Shag and tired
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Training: Week 0

Must be wondering why is there a week 0? Well, my official training week starts on week 1, however find that my week 0 training programme is quite challenging, hence decided to include it.

160507 2100hrs - Run
Workout: Mileage + Speed Work
Description:
Warm up 3km,
4 x 400m, (1:30,1:30 rest).
Distance: 6km
Feeling: Initially intend to do 6 x 400m, however too tired so decided to gave up and end it with 4 sets.

200507 0630 - Bike + Run
Workout: Mileage (Bike), Speed Work (Run)
Description:
20km bike to Yio Chu Kang
400, 600, 800 interval, avg timing 1:30
20km bike to Pasir Ris
Distance: 40km (Bike), 3km (Run)
Feeling: Was almost like a brick training with speed for the run. The leg is so stiff that after the ride to YCK, i cant even do a proper warm up run.

Warming up for more action
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Exciting races for the year!

well well, MIA in the sports events for quite awhile, decided to resurface after my commission. First coming up race will be Port Dickson Triathlon on 22/23 July, doing the OD distance. It will be tough for me especially the swim as I'm trained to sink in NS.

Follow up next week will be the Osim Triathlon, hopefully can look even better as more audience will be expected to see me there... haha!

After completing 2 OD triathlon events, another highlight will be the Desaru Long Distance Triathlon, consisting of 2k swim, 90km bike and 21km run. Will be my first long distance or half iron man equivalent race.

Enough of salt water or getting wet from water. Last quarter of the year will be packed with long distance run events. Army Half Marathon, 21km expected to fall in Sept while Standard Chartered Marathon, 42km on Nov. Aiming to complete a marathon this year.

well it all goes down to the motivation level and most importantly the discipline to train for the events.

Enthusiastic
C Cube