Looking Back Looking Ahead

2010 is almost over. Time to reminiscence about what is over. Bopian. Old man already. Always must talk about the past.

1. Did 10 races. Not bad considering that I did only 6 in 2009.
2. Did 4 half marathon including 2 overseas in KL and Macau compared to zilch in 2009.
3. No full marathon. Don't think I miss doing this though.
4. Volunteered in 4 races. I enjoyed doing this so probably will do more in 2011.
5. Remained injury free the whole year. First time this has happened since 2005. Sure there were some scare but nothing major to take me off running for any extended period.
6. Attributed this to a successful conversion to mid foot running + reduced mileage.
7. Discover the joy and pain of barefoot running but will continue with shoes but maybe switch to minimalist shoes
8. Didn't have good timing for almost all the races. Probably because of the reduced mileage. Hopefully can do better next year especially for TNF.

So what's the game plan for 2011?

1. Do 6 races - at least 2 overseas. Maybe Muar and Angkor Wat. Anybody want to join me?
2. No full marathon. Yipee!
3. Try again for TNF 50km Duo. Hope to better the time. Will abandon my constant companion and get a new partner (male). Any taker?
4. Get new minimalist shoes. Target Acqusitions: Terra Plana Evo, Saucony Kinvara, NB Minimus. Any of you distributor out there want to sponsor me in exchange for a nice review?
5. Volunteer in 6 events. So far signed up for 1 in January.  Any event organiser (must be non-profit) need volunteer?

Anyway, to all friends, readers, bloggers, auntie, uncle, boys and girls and fellow citizens, have a prosperous 2011. Happy Running!

A Different Form of Torturous Fun

Came home from work and it was raining again. With no more gym to go to, I was like hmmm need to kill time before dinner. Do what? The weights can wait till later so what other option?

Then it strike me to do something I have never done in my entire short running life. Go climb stairs.  I did like may be 10 minutes of stairmaster in the gym like 2 3 years ago but have never actually tried running up real stair- case. The most was to walk up the 4 flights to the house. There was always this fear that I may hurt the knee.

But boredom is a big motivation. So what the heck. The flat was only 13 stories high. So I ran up 13 floors and took the lift down and repeat. All of 4 times which means I ran a record 52 stories. Total time taken: 9 mins 40 sec. Is that good or bad? No idea but that's a PB. Ha ha.

Was it tough. Yeah it was tougher than I expected. I was panting hard after the second set and by the end of the 3rd set, the right hand felt weak and tired - from holding on to the railings.

But it was fun and I think I going to continue. At least it doesn't take too long and there is potential to increase the intensity by doing more set. But first must see how the legs behave tomorrow.

Runners, Plodders and Walkers Part II

Continuing from where I last left of, I was talking about the SBO runners vs the JJ runners. The SBO runners are basically unhappy with the JJ runners who take up to 8 hours to complete the FM. Their main unhappiness I believes, stems from the misconceived thought that the JJ runners ‘block’ their path while they are running thus causing them, the SBO runners to have to expend more energy to weave through them and thus spoiling their race. Apart from this, I do not think there are any other valid reasons for the SBO runners to be unhappy with the JJ runners.

However, this thinking of the SBO is not correct. Let me explain. The average SBO runners will take slightly over 4 hours to complete which means they will end around 9 am. The JJ runners take over 7 hours to complete. The route is one big loop and there is no overlap so how can the JJ runners be blocking their way since they are far far behind the SBO runners? But of course we all can see the mountain of walkers every year. Just take a look at the pictures of the marathon in 2009 below. This was taken at the Esplanade Bridge which is barely 300 metres from the finish. Look at the numbers who are walking! And notice that they who are walking have a different color bib whilst those FM marathoners with the white bib are the ones running.

So what is actually happening? The FM starts at 5 am. The average SBO runners will finish after 9 am. The HM starts at 6.30 am. The average JJ HM runners will take about 3 hours to complete the half which means they will be streaming in around 9 am as well. The 10km starts at 7.45 am. The average SBO 10km runners takes about 1 hour to complete 10 km and the average JJ 10km runners will take about 1 to 1 and a half hour to complete – ie between 8.45 am to 9.30 am. So what do we get? 3 group of runners converging at the same point at around the same time. When you have 3 lanes of traffic merging into 1, there is naturally a bottleneck and a big traffic jam or in this case – human jam.

Runners, Plodders and Walkers Part I

The dust has finally settled. Silence is golden. Every year after the full marathon is over, inevitably there will be a heated debate in cyberspace be it Facebook or the sgrunners forum. The bashing can become so bad that sometime it seems like there is no common ground between the 2 differing views. And this is not the case just here in Singapore but oversea and nothing ignite the debate better than this quirky and yet provocative ad from Pearl Izumi.

What am I rambling about? The eternal struggle between the runners and the plodders of course. The runners and here we are not talking about the elites but the (See Bey On) runners who typically complete a marathon in say less than 5 hours and those (Jalan Jalan) runners who complete a marathon in say 7 – 8 hours.