Some Whinings

This is one of those whining post so don't read on if you can't tahan this.

It has been 7 weeks since the injury and I was all hopeful when I visited the doc for a review. After all, there has been no pain in the foot for almost the whole month and I was walking normally without the Hellboy's shoe. Got the x-ray done. A callus was forming over the fracture but the crack could still be seen very clearly. So the doc said no running, not until the next review in early October. What a bummer! That means I will have to dns 2 more races including the TNF 100. Sighed. And I have signed up for so few races this year and now got to sit out 4 races. But that wasn't so bad. There will always be another race another time so it's no big deal.

But what is bad is that without any form of cardio, I am going to get fat, not just fat but fat fat! My 6 - 7 meals a day is still ongoing. Habit dies hard although I am trying to cut down on the portion but it's a nightmare at home during the holidays and weekends. There is always food on the table and every hour, somebody will utter "eat" and the eating can go on and on. The only real form of exercise I can do now is some strength exercise. No cycling, no swimming, nothing that can weight load the foot or stress it too much.  Luckily, following yesterday review, I am now given the go ahead to swim but swimming has never been my forte and I don't see myself swimming more than once a week even though the swimming pool is now just a 5  minutes walk away.

The other thing that pissed me off no end is people telling me not to run forever. I appreciate the well meaning concerns but would I be better off being a couch potato? After all, at my age, there isn't really much safe activities that I can do. Cycling? I think here in Sg more people get injured and die from cycling accidents than runners dropping dead. Swimming? How often can I swim anyway? 3 times a week? Is that going to be enough to compensate for all the calories that I consume? Racket sports? With my bad knee and now foot, any jumping up and now is definitely a no-no. Balls sports? I believe I know more people with ACL injuries from playing soccer than from running. So maybe table tennis or croquet? Or what about chess? So to my friends and relatives if you are reading this, if I choose to kill myself by running, so be it. I appreciate your concerns but please keep your advice to yourself unless you are a trained professional.

How to Lose Weight the Cheapo Way - Part 1

Actually I wrote about this before. But from time to time I hear friends. mainly the ladies, talking about losing weight, which left me baffled since most of them are not obese or even mildly fat!

Anyway, I thought it will be idea to rehash some cheapo i.e. low cost ways to lose weight and most important of all, for those who do not exercise - without any need to do any real exercise, although frankly some exercises will help tremendously. By the way, I am neither a dietitian or nutritionist. I am also not a medical doctor not even of the quack variant. So what makes me think I am qualify to dish this? As most old fogeys will said "I eat salt more than you eat rice" so that should ably qualify me. So here goes:

1. Those fancy diet plans dreamed up by the angmohs do not work. Not in the long run anyway. Forget about such diets as Atkin, Zone, South Bridge and what's not. Nothing works. And you won't get to enjoy life if you stick to these extreme plans. What do you live life for? To eat, drink and be merry. And if you can't do the former, what is the point of living?

2. Those expensive diet or food supplement do not work. Things like the Xando, TrimUp  or even those weight loss tea, coffee, diuretic pills only help you to lose water, maybe some oil or is a meal replacement at most. Why eat such tasteless stuff when you can eat real food? And have a lot of change left over!

3. Don't go for those slimming programs by those so called beauty parlours or clinic. The most they do is help you lose some water which you will gain back at the next meal. I am constantly amazed at the people who put in money to be wrapped up like a mummy, soaked in a tub like a rubber duckie or lighted up with fire on their stomach hoping for a miracle. Fat chance! They could just as easily do it at home without fattening the wallets of these contrepreneur.

So forget all these. Better to save the money and give half of it to me errr go for a holiday and have a nice meal.

Continue here..

TNF 100 Singapore 1st Progressive Run

The 1st TNF 100 Singapore Progressive Run and the response was a bit disappointing. Maybe it is the location, the Tampines Mountain Bike Park which since the YOG, has been downsized and only half of the original site is now open to the non-cycling public. Maybe it is also due to some communication problems from the event organiser but quite a few of the regular TNF series runners have informed that they were not aware of the run today.

In any case, I am still not up to running yet. Nevertheless, I walked over while the sidekick ran over from our place in Pasir Ris to the park. This time round, the event organiser is Dirt Traction and not us run leaders. The route, as I understand, is 3 loops of the park for those doing the 15km. Gu drinks were served at the start point which also serves as the u-turn for the loops.

I contended myself with snapping away.

The photos can be found here and on my facebook.

The next progressive run will be on 10 September 2011. Venue to be confirmed. Look out for more details here and on TNF Facebook.

Running Guild No Frills Series 2011

This race was not on my agenda originally but after thought decided to sign up for the team event and put the whole family in the team. Just for a bit of fun. As it turns out, in the end I had to do a dns and contend myself with watching and snapping from the sideline as the Tekkokia kicks off a family run.

This race is I believe one of a series of race organised by the Running Guild, a company set up by Ultramarathoner Ben Swee and friends. True to its name, the race is a no frill back to basic event. No medal, no event or finisher tee, no timing chip, no flashy race expo or extravagant race site and most important of all, expensive race fee. But it more than made up for all this by being well organised, adequate hydration and fruits for everybody including the non-runners. Of course there are some room for improvement- like the route could have been better designed without so many u-turns (although they did removed one u-turn in the end) but judging from the expression on everybody face, almost everybody came away happy with the overall experience.

The Tekkokia took part in the team event. The Princess was roped in as a last minute replacement for me. With only 2 weeks to train for the 10km, her longest distance previously being only 5km, she did admirably well finishing in exactly 1 hour. The kid fared much better as compared to his baptism at the Marina 21km clocking in a 51 minutes. That left the experienced veteran M who finished behind the 2 young fellas. Look like the Tekko family has sprouted well!

More pictures of the events can be found here.

No proof that running on soft surfaces can foil injuries!

Caught your attention? The Strait Times on Saturday 30 July 2011 reproduced an article from the New York Times. The article, as the headline suggested, is that running on soft surfaces does not reduces injuries. The actual headline in the NYT is even more provocative: "For Runners, Soft Surfaces Can Be Hard On The Body". Read the full article here.

To summarise, the writer quoting several physiologists and sports specialists concluded that because there are no scientific evidence ie published studies and because runners including exercise physiologist, Hirofumi Tanaka have got injured from running on trails, therefore it concluded that "runners are more likely to get injured on soft surfaces, which often are irregular, than on smooth, hard ones".  Finally, it went on to recommend that "with no evidence that softer surfaces prevent injuries,there is no reason to run on softer ground unless you like to".

So basically what it is trying to say is that contrary to the generally accepted consensus that running on trail(soft ground) is kinder on the legs, it is in fact not true.

Not the Usual Trail Shoes

In recent years, there has been a lot more interest in trail running and the various manufacturers have been coming up with more and more trail shoes catering for the highly technical trail to the all terrain and to minimalist too. However, most of them have yet to reach our shores.

Here in Sg, when we talked about running shoes (trail or otherwise), it is the usual big 4; Nike, Adidas, NB and Ascis. For trail, most runners goes for Solomon, Adidas, New Balance and North Face (if they do wear trail shoes) in the first place.rail

Here are 3 of these new shoes which we may get to try out in Sg one day in the future if we are lucky.


1. K-Swiss Blade-Max Trail

More renowned for their running shoes, K-Swiss has come up with a very mean looking trail shoes.  This should most likely make it to our shores by mid August. Look out for it at the K-Swiss shop at Marina Square and all Running Lab outlets. Read the review in the Singapore's Edition of Menshealth.


2. La Sportiva Vertical K

La Sportiva is more well known for their mountain climbing shoes but it has come out with a minimalist mountain running shoe that looks pretty cool. Read the review here.

3. Inov-8

A close competitor to the 5-Fingers, the Inov-8 caters mainly for the barefoot running community. And it has come up with a range of very cool looking trail shoes. One of these shoes that appears to be quite popular with trail runners is the X-Talon 212 which was first released in 2008.

Not too sure whether this is available in Singapore although I think Inov-8 is distributed here.

Now this is the part where the purpose of this post is revealed and for me to be thick skin. So here goes. Hint hint to the shoe distributor out there. You guys got very nice looking shoes and it could be even nicer if somehow I can get hold of a pair of these shoes for a field test.  You reading this?

Your Guide To Trail Running | Men's Health Singapore

I can't run for the time being and so since I can't run, I talked. And uncle here shared his 2 cents worth with the reader of Menshealth Singapore for the online edition. Read the full article here:

Your Guide To Trail Running | Men's Health Singapore

New Water Carrier

Some runners want to run long distance but for some reason or another, are reluctant to carry a hydration bag or fuel belt. Fortunately, for the majority of runners in Singapore, "refueling" facilities are readily available in most of the popular running routes. However, what do you do when you really need to carry bottle of waters and maybe the odd towel or keys and stuff and do not have a bag or belt?

This innovative lady seems to be got the problem solved: 

Can't see the solution? Have a closer look: