For the second time in as many weeks, went running at Mt Faber again.
Than on Sunday, join the sgrunners for the Eastside run breaking my own cardinal rule of not running on 2 continuous days.
Firstly - the Mt Faber run. This was decided to let those who wish to test out the slopes before signing up for the Mizuno Mt Faber Run. 8 persons came including M's ex-colleague, Lily and Alicia. Also making a guest appearance was SV. We started at Safra and went up via Henderson Rd - Morse Rd - Pender Rd - Mt Faber Loop -down via Kampong Bahru - Lower Delta Rd - Telok Blangah Way - a distance of app. 5km.
Lily who was running for the 2nd time this year faltered at the start of Pender Rd and started walking. SV stayed with her initially before he moved off. She complained of chest pain alarming me like hell. Told her to walk while I dashed off to join the rest but stayed back at every junction to make sure she didn't loose her way. Eventually, she completed the run/walk in about 58 mins.
Alicia, forced by the Mrs to come did very well considering that she has hardly run this year. She only started to walk on the way down somewhere just outside the condo. I'm so proud of her!
The rest took about 45 mins to finish and except for Bambi who was looking rather pale and feeling a bit giddy, seems quite game to sign on for the race.
This morning, met up with the sgrunners for a run to Bedok Reservoir. The route is the same as the previous run. Led by the boss, TLR, we went at about 7mins pace. There was a l0 mins toilet break at the reservoir and in the tradition of sgrunners, a photo taking session at the top of the slope. Didn't join them back to Kembagan, instead ran back to Simei with Avin who ran back to Pasir Ris. Thanks for the company guys!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Recap - 3 months post op running
Crossed the 3 months mark since resuming running after the op.
So far except for the CNY period, been doing
- average of 3 runs a week comprising 1 short hard run, 1 easy run usually on Thursday night at RL and 1 slightly longer run on weekend. Longest run was on 25 Feb - a 12km run with the sgrunners. The fastest run was today at avg 5:23m/km for 20mins at the gym.
- swim 1 or twice a week. If weekend - at least 2km - weekdays 800m
- cycle twice a week 30 minutes session in the gym
- weights everyday - each major muscle group at least once a week but the legs more often.
Results - weight has gone up! from 73kg pre-op to 75 Christmas to 77 CNY.
I loved to think has gained more muscle mass but who am I kidding - all the extra weight has gone to the waistline.
I think God has a purpose there. If cannot run - can use the spare tire to roll myself.
So far except for the CNY period, been doing
- average of 3 runs a week comprising 1 short hard run, 1 easy run usually on Thursday night at RL and 1 slightly longer run on weekend. Longest run was on 25 Feb - a 12km run with the sgrunners. The fastest run was today at avg 5:23m/km for 20mins at the gym.
- swim 1 or twice a week. If weekend - at least 2km - weekdays 800m
- cycle twice a week 30 minutes session in the gym
- weights everyday - each major muscle group at least once a week but the legs more often.
Results - weight has gone up! from 73kg pre-op to 75 Christmas to 77 CNY.
I loved to think has gained more muscle mass but who am I kidding - all the extra weight has gone to the waistline.
I think God has a purpose there. If cannot run - can use the spare tire to roll myself.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Mount Faber
2 years of NS in Gilman camp and never got round to running up Mt Faber. Today decided to see whether I can conquer it. Chio Sebas to pace me. Reach Safra Mt Faber and there were a few Safra runners warming up. Did not run with them. Not in their league.
We started from Safra - ran towards Henderson Rd and bumped into DO and Dream who seems to have ran from somewhere to join the Safra Runners. Up to Telok Blangah Rd before turning into Morse Road and up Pender Road which runs all the way up to the top. According to Sebas, this is only about 1.5km whereas from Kampong Bahru side up is about 1.1km only. After huffing and puffing my way to the top, glad did not stop to walk, we let the downward slopes drives us down and finally reached the bottom where we saw Bug speeding away. Checked the watch - alamak only 28 mins which means we had barely covered 5km at our pace.
Since had come all the way from the East, decided to run some more otherwise waste time. So we went along Kampong Bahru Rd past the beautiful St Teresa Convent down to Jalan Bukit Merah turned to Lower Delta Rd and finally Telok Blangah Dr and ended back at Safra. Took 56 min and guess the distance should be around 8km which works out to a 7min pace. Slow no doubt but I did it - my first run up to Mt Faber!
We started from Safra - ran towards Henderson Rd and bumped into DO and Dream who seems to have ran from somewhere to join the Safra Runners. Up to Telok Blangah Rd before turning into Morse Road and up Pender Road which runs all the way up to the top. According to Sebas, this is only about 1.5km whereas from Kampong Bahru side up is about 1.1km only. After huffing and puffing my way to the top, glad did not stop to walk, we let the downward slopes drives us down and finally reached the bottom where we saw Bug speeding away. Checked the watch - alamak only 28 mins which means we had barely covered 5km at our pace.
Since had come all the way from the East, decided to run some more otherwise waste time. So we went along Kampong Bahru Rd past the beautiful St Teresa Convent down to Jalan Bukit Merah turned to Lower Delta Rd and finally Telok Blangah Dr and ended back at Safra. Took 56 min and guess the distance should be around 8km which works out to a 7min pace. Slow no doubt but I did it - my first run up to Mt Faber!
The Women got it all
Another women race. How come got no men only race?
This one the Women's Outdoor Challenge 2007 held in conjunction with International Woman's Day and in aid of Aware and held at the East Coast Park. It consists of 3 events - a Frisbee competition, a combat laser and a run. The run itself consists of a 5 km and a 7.3 km run. Actually 8 km cut down to 7.5 and now 7.3. Like the Shape run, the goodies bag damm good - 1 Bodynits singlet, 1 packet of milk, some barangs and the usual discount vouchers. On race day itself, a gym ball!
The 5km was flagged off at 5 pm and the 7.3km at 5:15 by actress Tan Kheng Hua of Phua Chu Kang fame. All the VRP gals (ex and present) were present. The first lady to cross the finish line for the 7.3km came in around 25min + (something like 3.30/km pace?) The 2nd place lady a Caucasian came in a long 10 minutes later and was heard protesting that she should be first! According to M and Golden Retriever, they only saw the Caucasian lady in front of them and not the chinese lady who came in first... so maybe the first place winner u-turn at the 5km turning point or she started with the 5km runners?
From what I heard, the organisation of the run was terrible. No timing chips - not even rubber bands or marshall at the u-turn. The ending was the same. Cyclist and bladers were moving in and out of the finish lane, the marshals were shouting bib numbers all over the place... There was even 1 guy running with a number bib!
But the logistics support was superb. There were plenty of 100+, Activa juice, Gardenia musli bread, fruits and even Weider gel or something like that!
When will a men run get so much stuff?
This one the Women's Outdoor Challenge 2007 held in conjunction with International Woman's Day and in aid of Aware and held at the East Coast Park. It consists of 3 events - a Frisbee competition, a combat laser and a run. The run itself consists of a 5 km and a 7.3 km run. Actually 8 km cut down to 7.5 and now 7.3. Like the Shape run, the goodies bag damm good - 1 Bodynits singlet, 1 packet of milk, some barangs and the usual discount vouchers. On race day itself, a gym ball!
The 5km was flagged off at 5 pm and the 7.3km at 5:15 by actress Tan Kheng Hua of Phua Chu Kang fame. All the VRP gals (ex and present) were present. The first lady to cross the finish line for the 7.3km came in around 25min + (something like 3.30/km pace?) The 2nd place lady a Caucasian came in a long 10 minutes later and was heard protesting that she should be first! According to M and Golden Retriever, they only saw the Caucasian lady in front of them and not the chinese lady who came in first... so maybe the first place winner u-turn at the 5km turning point or she started with the 5km runners?
From what I heard, the organisation of the run was terrible. No timing chips - not even rubber bands or marshall at the u-turn. The ending was the same. Cyclist and bladers were moving in and out of the finish lane, the marshals were shouting bib numbers all over the place... There was even 1 guy running with a number bib!
But the logistics support was superb. There were plenty of 100+, Activa juice, Gardenia musli bread, fruits and even Weider gel or something like that!
When will a men run get so much stuff?
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
National Heart Walk
Went for the National Heart Walk organised by the Singapore Heart Foundation on Saturday morning. Only reason we were going cos Alvin's school was supporting the event. Family invited as well. Anything to get him away from the comp!
After a damn long delay; VIP late, dance performance, still got warm up from Amore the walk was finally flagged off. It was just a short walk round Marina City Park - distance of 3km. Everybody seems to be taking short cut. For such a short route, why? Might as well don't attend like that! Anyway, took 30mins to complete the walk.
On the way back, saw the flag off for the competitive walkers and Brokie was among them. She looked so determined and was geleking very well. To prepare for this, she got Sebas to gave her some tips on brisk walking and apparently has been training hard. The training paid off cos she came in among the top 3 and walked away with a whole lot of Omron products. Way to go Brokie! Also saw her sister - Lehlio girl and when I asked her why she was so far behind and not in front with her sister - her reply - "she siao on". But look who has the last laugh now!
After a damn long delay; VIP late, dance performance, still got warm up from Amore the walk was finally flagged off. It was just a short walk round Marina City Park - distance of 3km. Everybody seems to be taking short cut. For such a short route, why? Might as well don't attend like that! Anyway, took 30mins to complete the walk.
On the way back, saw the flag off for the competitive walkers and Brokie was among them. She looked so determined and was geleking very well. To prepare for this, she got Sebas to gave her some tips on brisk walking and apparently has been training hard. The training paid off cos she came in among the top 3 and walked away with a whole lot of Omron products. Way to go Brokie! Also saw her sister - Lehlio girl and when I asked her why she was so far behind and not in front with her sister - her reply - "she siao on". But look who has the last laugh now!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
PNFS 1
Finally kicked off my PNFS session on Saturday. Last week inaugural session was cancelled as everybody was still suffering from CNY 'hangover' and got no mood to run but with the Women's Outdoor Challenge coming up next week, I think Bam and Mic finally decided die die must run. So together with WJ and M, we went over to the East Coast Park for the 3 ladies to do a full dress rehearsal of the route.
At 5:30pm it was still blazing hot so we delayed the start until 6 pm. Wondered how they are going to cope next week with a starting time of 4:30? Since both Bam and Mi have not been running consistently over the past weeks, told them to just take it easy and just enjoy the running focusing on completing without walking than on timing.
We started off with M and Bam in front and WJ, Mi and myself at the back. I can never start off fast but after about 7 minutes, decided I had warmed up enough and proceeded to pick up the pace. Since the ladies said that there were only about 400 participants, decided M might have an outside chance of coming in top 10 if she push herself a little bit. So tried to get her to follow up pace but after about 2 km, she gave up. Alamak, with no real motivation, slowed down a bit and tried to focus on my running techniques.
The 3 ladies finished respectively 49:58, 59:54 and 1:00:02, the latter 2 without walking. Not very exciting timing but a good effort still considering the heat and their lack of running fitness. WJ did a slow recovery run choosing to keep the 2 ladies company. He has improved a lot since I met him last year at the NBRR. Great work everybody!
Next week PNFS session will be their race and maybe will do the stadium thingy the following week. see ya all
At 5:30pm it was still blazing hot so we delayed the start until 6 pm. Wondered how they are going to cope next week with a starting time of 4:30? Since both Bam and Mi have not been running consistently over the past weeks, told them to just take it easy and just enjoy the running focusing on completing without walking than on timing.
We started off with M and Bam in front and WJ, Mi and myself at the back. I can never start off fast but after about 7 minutes, decided I had warmed up enough and proceeded to pick up the pace. Since the ladies said that there were only about 400 participants, decided M might have an outside chance of coming in top 10 if she push herself a little bit. So tried to get her to follow up pace but after about 2 km, she gave up. Alamak, with no real motivation, slowed down a bit and tried to focus on my running techniques.
The 3 ladies finished respectively 49:58, 59:54 and 1:00:02, the latter 2 without walking. Not very exciting timing but a good effort still considering the heat and their lack of running fitness. WJ did a slow recovery run choosing to keep the 2 ladies company. He has improved a lot since I met him last year at the NBRR. Great work everybody!
Next week PNFS session will be their race and maybe will do the stadium thingy the following week. see ya all
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Steam Letting Run
Had a big fight with the bosses this evening. Sigh, why do I continue to fight with them knowing that I can't win. Maybe it's a matter of principle. I wondered how long I can tahan this type of rubbish?
Anyway, decided to hit the road to let off steam. Did the small slopes behind my place. Wasn't a particularly good run. Not too fast in view of the slopes and guess didn't let off enough steam eventually. Finished the run and still feel like punching some body.
Anyway, God works in mysterious way. He sent a little boy with a cute cocker spaniel to come up to me and chat with me while doing my cool-down. Seeing the charming little boy and dog sure cool me down physically and mentally.
This morning received a mail from a friend with a beautiful and meaning full song. I guess I should learn to count my blessings after all.
Anyway, decided to hit the road to let off steam. Did the small slopes behind my place. Wasn't a particularly good run. Not too fast in view of the slopes and guess didn't let off enough steam eventually. Finished the run and still feel like punching some body.
Anyway, God works in mysterious way. He sent a little boy with a cute cocker spaniel to come up to me and chat with me while doing my cool-down. Seeing the charming little boy and dog sure cool me down physically and mentally.
This morning received a mail from a friend with a beautiful and meaning full song. I guess I should learn to count my blessings after all.
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