An early day, or so I thought

Yesterday, I thought I could knock off work early - or rather, not too late. At 6:30 pm, I changed into my running gear and went for a run in the neighbourhood around my office with a colleague, Francis. I brought him along on my usual 6.6 km route. We took a leisurely pace, and completed the distance in about 50 min.

After the run, I took a shower at the office gym, and then went back to my cubicle, hoping to just grab my bag and head home. However, to my dismay, there were a few fresh assignments placed on my desk, some of which were marked "Complete by today". :P I left the office at around 12:30 am this morning.

Sunrise Run Photos

The pictures from the Sunrise Run are out. Thanks to Alvo and Cyber for the excellent pics!

Gathered at Marina Bay, just before sunrise


The lovely sunrise, as viewed from the East Coast Parkway


The group of us along ECP


Running along Esplanade Park


Across the bridge


Shoes Galore!


Watches Galore!


A run well-done and much enjoyed

SAFRA/Navy Biathlon 2006 and World Harmony Run

Sad news to report today from the SAFRA/Navy Biathlon 2006. A 39-year old army officer died during the race today. My deepest, deepest condolences to his family. :(

[ChannelNewsAsia report here]

I arrived at East Coast Park this morning at around 10:30 am to cheer on my friends who were participants in the biathlon. By that time, the officer had already been sent to Changi General Hospital after collapsing near to the finishing line. At that time, I didn't realise that anyone had been sent to hospital...the crowds were still buzzing happily away, cheering at the other runners, collecting their goodie bags, waiting for the final results... All of us who had gathered there were in good spirits: Alvo, Meteor, sxuanjing, Balasing, Penguin, Cheow12, Violet, DO, Astrogirl, SportsVenturer, Mythos, Jennifery, Kops21, Gentle, Tiwazz, Hedgehog, Ironmandreamer, Eunice, SC5, David, etc. I also met Wilson and Zac there.

When the race was done, we headed for Marine Parade for lunch, and waited for our friends who were on the World Harmony Run (WHR) to come by the area. At around 1 pm, we saw the torch-bearer approach us at the Marine Parade Community Centre. Among the WHR runners were Tekko, Brokie, whr, Bee, Cokiee, DiverRunner, Seal, Sotong, Le_Charlotte, DreamRunner, and more. At the CC, they stopped a while to rest and take pictures, and then went on their last leg of their 37-km journey.

Later on, Alvo, Meteor, Tiwazz and I headed for Suntec City for our session at Planet Fitness. Balasing joined us on the journey there, because he wanted to take a nice, relaxing shopping break in the area. While in the car, I received an SMS from Run3, and that was the first time all afternoon that I became aware that someone could have been hospitalised after the biathlon.

After our BodyCombat lesson at the gym, we received an SMS from Kelly, confirming the dreadful news. :(

Once again, deepest condolences to the family. This is the second recent fatality in our local sports scene. Just last year, another participant drowned during the New Balance Corporate Triathlon. Were there insufficient safety measures put in place? Did the competitors push themselves too hard? I guess the lesson for us to learn is to listen to your body, and don't force it to exert beyond what it can take...but that is easier said than done. I know full well that the human competitive spirit, the one that pushes each individual to his/her personal hallmark of excellence, is an unrelenting force during a competition.

Kenny Sia's KL International Marathon Video and NTU National Vertical Marathon Results

This video by Kenny Sia at the KL International Marathon brings back so many memories...Especially the front bit with the lady commentator speaking... I also received my Certificate of Participation for the 21-km event. My race timings are:

Official Time: 1:57:21
10-km Time: 0:50:55
21-km Time: 1:56:52

And I just found out my results for the NTU National Vertical Marathon. I did the Lovers' Challenge with Kelly, and we came in 17th position out of 80 couples! :) Not a bad achievement, considering that we had never trained for the event. Our timing was 8 min 54 sec.

Sunrise Run

When my alarm clock rang at 5:15 am this morning, I really dreaded getting out of bed. I had only just crawled under my blankets at 2 am, and I wanted to get some quality rest after a hectic week at the office.

But I dragged myself out of bed nevertheless, because I had arranged to meet some other SgRunners for the Sunrise Run @ Tanjong Pagar. It was a very enjoyable run, attended by Meteor, Alvo, Tiwazz, SportsVenturer, Cyberkinetic, Kickjazz, sxuanjing, Choonwei,T@z, Run3 and me. With Meteor leading the run, we started at 6:40 am from outside Wallich Building, and then went towards Marina Bay until we reached the Sundial at the end of Marina Park. After a brief stop for photos, we continued our way up the East Coast Parkway, where we waited for the brilliant golden globe to rise above the clouds in the horizon. It was beautiful.

After even more photo-taking, we ran along the rest of the East Coast Parkway, did a turn into Esplanade Park, then progressed along Raffles Quay past Lau Pa Sat, SGX Centre and DBS Building before doing a final turn at Maxwell Rd back to Wallich Building.

We washed up and had some brunch at Tanjong Pagar Plaza, where we bumped in Ronnie who lived in the area and was ta-powing some breakfast for himself and his mum. I had a $2 plate of nasi lemak, which wasn't all that tasty but filling nevertheless. Afterwards, Run3, Choonwei and SportsVenturer decided to go for a swim at Jalan Besar Swimming Complex, while Cyberkinetic, Tiwazz, Meteor, Alvo and I headed for Planet Fitness @ Suntec. For me, it was weight-training, then core-balance training under Pilates Master Tiwazz, and finally a short session in the sauna. Nice...

Meteor mentioned to me something about a song by Steven Curtis Chapman, entitled "I'll be here". The title sounds vaguely familiar, and I'm intrigued to get my hands on it. Chapman is my FAVOURITE artiste. He's a really annointed Christian contemporary musician, excellent guitar-strumming, country-style flavour, and his songs have never failed to minister to me.

On the whole, I thought the morning was rather well-spent but the heat of the day, especially towards the later half of the afternoon, was simply unbearable. For the rest of today, I plan to watch a DVD (Gosford Park), catch a quick nap and work on my report.

Tomorrow is the SAFRA/Navy Biathlon at East Coast Park. I'm not taking part, but will be turning up to show my support for the competitors. :)

Day of Activities :)

This morning, I was at Rocher Rd with Meteor, Alvo, Wildcat and Tiwazz for Philip's max VO2 test. We gathered at the 6th floor of a HDB block, and took brisk steps up to the top of the building. We had brought along our HRMs, so we were able to time our ascent and also record our final heart-rate upon reaching the 17th floor.

Based on the formula: Max VO2 = f (age, height, weight, time taken to ascend 12 floors, final heart-rate), I determined my max VO2 to be about 54 ml/kg/min.

For the uninitiated, max VO2 is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be removed from the blood and used by muscles during a specified period. During a long run, a person is unlikely to maintain his/her VO2 level at the maximum. A lower value of VO2 is more likely instead. A person who can sustain a higher VO2 level will probably perform better in a race.

Given the right training, a person can increase the level of VO2 he/she can maintain, as well as increase his/her max VO2 level (but only up to a limit determined by genetic factors).

Lance Armstrong's max VO2 is 85 ml/kg/min. A typical Kenyan marathoner's max VO2 is about 75 ml/kg/min. Philip said that with my max VO2 level, I should be doing sub-50 min 10-km runs. Gosh, that means I haven't training hard enough!

At the same time though, disturbingly, I found that my HR readings tended to be about 20 beats higher than everyone else. Before we started the test, the others had readings of about 70-80 beats per minute, but mine was 90-100 bpm. At the end of our climb, mine was 180-190 bpm, while the rest were 160-170 bpm. And my HRM was not out of order... I suspect that either my heart is smaller than normal, or I have some really seriously choked arteries...

After doing the test, the group of us went to have breakfast at a neighbourhood kopi tiam, then proceeded to Planet Fitness @ Suntec to claim our 1-month free gym pass. As Philip did not take part in the Vertical Marathon, he didn't qualify for the pass, and so he decided to go shopping instead.

At Planet Fitness, I did predominantly chest training: free dumbbell presses, dumbbell overhead raises, Smith machine decline presses, and cable flyes. I also did some bicep barbell curls, hammer curls, tricep dumbbell raises and compound rows. Later, Wildcat, Meteor, Alvo, Tiwazz and I attended the Spinning class. It was a sweaty, intensive but enjoyable session.

After the class, Wildcat took his leave. While Meteor went to the Ladies' section to shower, the other guys and I went to relax in the sauna and steam room in the Men's section. Yeah, the feeling was good.

Over lunch, Meteor, Alvo, Tiwazz and I planned what we would do next weekend. On Saturday, we would probably go for a City Run around the Suntec area in the early morning. On Sunday, we would go to East Coast Park to support our friends in the SAFRA Biathlon, and then come back to Planet Fitness @ Suntec in the afternoon for the Body Pump and Body Balance classes. Ah, the satisfying feeling of having things to look forward to next weekend!

Zombified

This week has been so draining. I felt like a walking zombie most of the time. Today was the only day this week that I knocked off from work before midnight. It's a strange feeling when a person gets insufficient sleep. I can feel the artery throbbing in my head and down my neck. When I drink a big mouthful of water, my lungs freeze and I can't breathe and the fluid gets choked in my throat for a few seconds before I am able to swallow.

Thank God for the weekend.

The Climb to the Top

A photo-finish picture of Kelly and Renoh from Sportsphotox.com

National Vertical Marathon

Today was the NTU National Vertical Marathon. I took part in the Lovers' Challenge with Kelly. We had to climb up the 43-storey Suntec Tower 4 in as short a time as possible. With us were some other pairs: Astrogirl and Sherman, Brokie and Wildcat, and Meteor and Alvo. Dtay was also there with his lover. Our race began at around 3 pm, and we were up at the top in no time. :) Kelly and I did a great job, despite our lack of training for the NVM.

The SgRunners on the Lovers' Challenge


Conquerors!

Later on, the whole group of us, including Tiwazz who helped to look after our bags during the competition, went to the Planet Fitness @ Suntec for a shower. The facilities were quite good. We were given 1 month free membership, and will be going down together next Sunday to try out the machines. While I was Planet Fitness, I also met Siew Keong, a buddy whom I befriended during a trip to China. Such a coincidence :)

I'll post more about our NVM timings when they become available.

Coughing, coughing

I got home from work at around 3 am this morning. It had been a long, long working day, not just for me, but my colleagues as well. Looking ahead, I don't think we'll be able to get a breather until maybe June. *sigh*

I'm still cherishing the wonderful moments of the KL International Marathon. I still can't believe that I managed to get a sub-2 hr timing. :)

Tomorrow is the National Vertical Marathon at Suntec. I'm registered under the Lover's Challenge with Kellylim22, who's due to run in the Xiamen Marathon next week. It'll be fun, climbing up all 45 storeys. I doubt we would finish it with an earth-shattering timing, given my general feeling of fatigue and persistent coughing, but it would still be an experience to remember :)

Back to Singapore

Freddy had helped us to get Transtar coach tickets for our return to Singapore. There were fourteen of us taking the 16-seater coach back: DreamRunner, DO, BrokenRunner, Lactic_Acid and her friend Ivy, Cokiee, Freddy and his wife Josephine, Jamessoh, Wei Shan, Kellylim22, SportsVenturer, David, and I. As for Run3 and Astrogirl, they had stayed on to do more shopping in KL.

We reached the Pasarakyat Transtar coach terminal at 3:30 pm, and rested in the Transtar VIP lounge for a while before we were allowed to board the coach at 3:50 pm.

The coach was great! Each of us had a display screen to ourselves, from which we could watch movies of our choice or play games. I watched the extended version of LOTR: The Two Towers, and Troy. The seats in the coach also had built-in back massage function, which was welcome after our exertions this morning. There was also a service personnel on the coach who served us dinner and drink :) It was a very comfortable ride back to Singapore. :D

At the immigration counter at Johor Bahru, we ran into a little problem. The lady at the counter was not very helpful by kicking up a ruckus that we needed to produce our train tickets (we had travelled to Malaysia by train) before she would let us through. But we explained to her that as we were now returning to Singapore by coach (and therefore had no more use for our one-way train tickets), some of us had already thrown away our train tickets. She said that we should have kept the tickets all the same, and that if the Singaporean immigration counter did not tell us to do so, then it was the fault of the Singaporean immigration counter, not hers. DO managed to pacify her, and convince her to let us through, which she did so only grudgingly. Ah well...border politics...

Eventually, all of us got across the 2nd Link Causeway, and dropped off at either Tang Dynasty or Beach Road. I alighted at the latter stop, waved my good-byes to the rest and took Bus 100 home.

All in all, my trip to Kuala Lumpur was extremely memorable and enjoyable. The run was fantastic, and I'm proud of my personal best in the 21-km event. I think I may become addicted to overseas races. :D And I am really glad for the company of running enthusiasts who have helped to motivate and encourage me in my own running journey. :D

After the run

After cooling down and drinking up (and soaking my hot feet in a container of ice - shiok!), I moved over to the area about 150 m ahead of the finishing line, to cheer on the other runners. Amidst the other 42-km runners, I saw Mythos, Commando, Kops21 and Wei Shan come in. There were also some familiar faces; I must have seen them at SCSM, or at the AHM, or Mizuno, or some race, somewhere. :)

The highlight for all the SgRunners was Astrogirl's return. She had not been feeling too well (body aches and all) for the past few days, had not trained in two weeks, and had initially wanted to downgrade from the 42-km event to the 21-km event. But she was not able to, and so decided to go ahead with the full marathon anyway. Her legs were giving her problems, and she would be running using the Galloway run-walk-run method. When we heard that it had taken her about 3.5 hours to reach the 25-km mark, we really hoped she would make it to the finishing line within 400 minutes, the cut-off timing for the full marathon.

At about 10:30 am, with 30 minutes left to the cut-off, Astrogirl appeared around the bend, with a strong and determined smile on her face. She was in pain, but she pushed herself really hard. She sprinted the last 150 m all the way to the finish line. Well done! After the race, it became obvious to all of us that her knees were giving her a lot of pain, and she had to rely on Cokiee and Run3 for support to climb steps. But she had done it, finished the full marathon, and that's a commendable achievement! :D We're all proud of you!

After the race, we took our routine photographs :) and then returned to our hotel, showered, checked-out and proceeded to Equatorial Hotel for a Japanese buffet! :D The food was excellent. I had lots and lots of sashimi.

Post-race photo

Along the staircase in Equatorial Hotel after our buffet lunch

My turn to run

When it was nearly time for us to start the half marathon, there were much more people at Padang Merdeka compared to at 5 am. But still, the number paled in comparison to that for the SCSM. I went into the runners pen with Run3 and Brokie, but lost sight of Brokie in the crowd. So Run3 and I squeezed our way on our own towards the start-line. At this point, the organisers decided to play some music to rev up the crowd, but the choice of music was questionable. It was a traditional Malay piece, which was very soothing and lovely no doubt, but it was not the sort of music that would raise adrenaline levels in the runners :P

At the pull of the trigger, we were off! Although I had agreed to keep pace with Run3, I lost her after about 10 minutes into the race. :P

It was a good run for me. There were great slopes, which allowed me to pull ahead of some of the weaker runners. :D Heh heh, my limited training along the slopes of the Botanic Gardens seemed to have helped me tremendously. :D

The route was not particularly scenic, but the weather was nice and cool, and it didn't get uncomfortably hot until very late in the morning. So I was able to maintain a relaxed breathing style for most of my journey. I was also able to put some of the chi running techniques into good use.

One problematic aspect of the run was that the routes for the 7-km, 21-km and 42-km kept overlapping and diverting at different sections. So it was very confusing, and there was always the possibility of a 21-km runner taking a wrong turn and going onto the 42-km route, or for a 7-km runner doing an extra loop which was meant for a 21-km runner. Other than that, if there were more water points and distance markers, the race would have been even better.

I reached the 10-km mark in 50 min 28 sec. Woohoo!

Route Map

But when I had done about 18-km, I increasingly felt as if my legs were lead. I told myself that if I didn't push myself harder, I won't be able to get a sub-2 hour timing. "Run, move your legs, come on, open your strides, don't think about stopping..." I kept telling myself as I moved along. By this time, the 7-km and 21-km routes had merged into one, and I found myself surrounded by a sea of 7-km walkers. At one point, I couldn't see any 21-km runners around me. That was rather disturbing, and I thought I might have ended up running the wrong route. Fortunately, I hadn't.

Near to the finish line, the 21-km competitors had to do two 800 m loops. I dutifully did both, albeit slowly. At this point, Run3 overtook me from behind. With quick steps, she steadily went ahead, and I lost sight of her soon after.

I looked at my watch. The race was entering its 113rd minute. If I wanted a sub-2 hour result, I had to reach the finishing line within 7 minutes. But I couldn't see the end-point ahead. "Move those legs, faster, wider!!" I shouted to myself. Then the road took a turn, and lo and behold, the finish line was in view. I dashed the last stretch, and came in with the timing of 1 hour 56 min 53 sec, and was ranked 140th out of 295 men in my category. :D

I had never run under 2 hours in a half-marathon before. This was my personal best, and I'm really pleased.

Ke Padang Merdeka

The full marathon was supposed to start at 5 am, and the half-marathon at 6:30 am. But many of the halfers wanted to support and cheer the fullers (Kops21, DreamRunner, DO, Wei Shan and Astrogirl) as they set off, so we decided to all get up early and go with them to Padang Merdeka. That was why I woke up at 3:15 am, and gave morning calls to David's room and SportsVenturer's room. Then I went for a quick shower, after which I woke up Seal and Cokiee. Feeling hungry, I sneaked over to Brokie's room for a packet of Milo :)

On the steps of Ancasa Hotel on the morning of the race

At 4 am, we gathered for a photo-taking at the steps to the hotel, and then began to make our way by foot to the starting point, Padang Merdeka.

The padang was quite quiet. No music was played; there was only repetitive announcements made in Bahasa Melayu by a lady and in English by a male chap. There, we met IronmanDreamer and his girlfriend, and Sumiko and her training partner. When it was almost time for the full marathon to begin, there was still a surprising lack of people, compared to the Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon.board.

The start line

When the gun was fired, we, the halfers, cheered on the competitors as they ran past us, but our cheering hardly lasted a minute...because there just weren't that many competitors running!

There were two latecomers in the full marathon. One woman appeared at the starting line about 5 minutes into the race, looking disoriented. 5 minutes after her, a male competitor also showed up, with a large sheepish smile on his face. :)

Being the warm and friendly supporters that we were, we gave the two latecomers a roaring send-off. Then, we adjourned to the nearest 7-Eleven to buy something to eat, cleared our bowels at the mobile toilets, and began to wait for our turn to start the race.

Settling down in KL

We arrived in KL at about 7:30 am in the morning. I thought it was a rather comfortable ride, with the rocking of the train and all, but some folks woke up with sore backs and others with bad hair. :P

At the train station in Kuala Lumpur.

After alighting from the train, we hopped into cabs in groups of four and paid RM 12 per cab for the journey from the railway station to our hotel, Ancasa Hotel. We met Kops21 and his wife, and Freddy and his wife, Josephine, at the Hotel. As check-in was only available in the afternoon, we decided to dump our bags in the hotel storage area, and go walk around the hotel in search of breakfast.

We found a rather nice dimsum place in Jalan Petaling, and we ate to our hearts' content. The porridge which I ordered was excellent! After breakfast, we roamed the neighbourhood a little more, then went to the Race Expo at a building nearby.

At the Expo

The Expo was rather disappointing. There were a few miserable-looking booths, and registration counters manned by staff who looked extremely bored. We collected our race bibs, champion chips and even T-shirts there. (The design of the T-shirt was terrible. The base colour was a dull, pale blue while the main design was a muddy yellow. Yucks.) Freddy downgraded his race from a full marathon to a half-marathon (he had not clocked enough mileage), while Kellylim22 also registered on the spot for Choonwei's behalf -- apparently, Choonwei made a last minute decision to come to KL for the race. By the time we returned to the hotel, we could check-in to our rooms :)

Still feeling rather full from breakfast, we decided to go do some shopping first at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).

In the KL subway on our way to the KLCC

The shops at KLCC which caught our interest the most were the Adidas shop and the Nike shop. There was also a "premium toilet" on the ground floor, which Run3 paid money to enter and use. She came out smelling of Bodyshop products all over. :) Talk about a high-class toilet.

For our late lunch, we ate at the foodcourt on the top floor. After lunch, we went into a trigger-happy mode again. We started taking lots and lots of photos around the KLCC. :D

Outside the KLCC

Outside the other side of KLCC

Kellylim22 also met Choonwei at the steps to the KLCC to pass him his race bib, champion chip and event tee. By this time, it was already late afternoon. I was too tired to walk, and thankfully, DreamRunner suggested going to Dome to sit down for some coffee. I gladly agreed. Meanwhile, Run3, Astrogirl and Wei Shan went shopping for shoes and other sports items. These girls really can shop! I almost fell asleep in Dome, waiting for them to return with their purchases.

In the evening, we had dinner at Nando's, a Portuguese fast food chain near our hotel.

Outside Nando's

After dinner, some of the other SgRunnners, including my two roommates, Cokiee and Seal, decided to explore the neighbour some more. I declined to join them, and chose to return to the hotel room instead to pack up and prepare for the big day tomorrow.

I slept at around 11:30 pm.

Catching the train

Carrying a single backpack, I arrived at the train station at Tanjong Pagar at 9:00 pm. I was about to take a train with some friends to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to take part in the KL International Marathon.

There at the station, I soon met Astrogirl with her boyfriend Sherman. Later, we found DO and DreamRunner having coffee at the open-air tables just outside the train station lounge; they were chatting with Lactic_Acid and David. Ultraman was there too, even though he wasn't going to Malaysia with us. He just wanted to send us off, which was very nice of him. We were soon joined by Sotong and his wife, Spectre and his wife and two daughter, Cokiee, Seal, BrokenRunner and her husband and two boys, Commando and Flip (who came to send us off too), Wei Shan and Sportsventurer. We chatted and had our drinks, and when it was time to get onto the train, we prompted proceedly to board.

Some of the runners with members of the sending off party.
(L-R): (front row) Kellylim22, Lactic_Acid, BrokenRunner, Cokiee; (second row) David, DO, DreamRunner, Renohtaram, SportsVenturer, Seal, Commando; (third row) Sotong

The train was quite nice, and we almost had the whole carraige (L5) to ourselves. In the carriage, we took lots of pictures, made fun of one another and even played Taboo. Spectre's two daughters were very cute, but although DO tried very hard to get them to sing, they resisted his charms. :) Still, they succumbed to the temptation of chocolate :) Jamessoh joined us aboard at one of the stops in Malaysia.

The train was supposed to leave at 10:15 pm, but it didn't move until 11:30 pm. So that meant that our trip was off to a late start. But no matter, all of us were in high spirits, and looked forward to waking up in Kuala Lumpur.

Off to KL later today

Dear readers of my blog, later tonight, I will be making my way to Malaysia to take part in the 21-km event in the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon. I will be taking a train ride there, do some shopping and eating, then run the race on Sunday morning, and catch a bus-ride back to Singapore by late evening. Until then, cheerios!

KUALA LUMPUR

Running Lab Run

I took half day off today, and managed to leave the office at 4 pm. :)

I got home, updated my virus and internet security subscriptions, then went out of the house again to join in the Running Lab @ Funan run. I arrived there at 6 pm, and I was among the earliest to get there. :D

Later on, Dasher, Ironmandreamer, Sportsventurer, Ronnie, Tekko and Mrs Tekko turned up as well. Eddie from Running Lab led us on a 10-km run from the area near Funan, to around Temasek Towers, and then to the Marina area, and back. It was a short and enjoyable run. :) I took about 55 min to complete the distance, which was not too bad. The Running Lab folks really know how to lead a good cooling-down session!

The route taken today