from the wonderful people at sgrunners. The caps presented to the few of us who helped out at the support table during last week Sundown Marathon are a token of the runners' appreciation to the supporter. Thank you very much guys. There really isn't any need not when we were all having a good time as well. I am sure all of us at the support table even though we did not run, enjoyed the time together and watching you guys suffer. Ha ha.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Sundown Caps
Each one of us got a beautiful cap personalised with our nicks 
from the wonderful people at sgrunners. The caps presented to the few of us who helped out at the support table during last week Sundown Marathon are a token of the runners' appreciation to the supporter. Thank you very much guys. There really isn't any need not when we were all having a good time as well. I am sure all of us at the support table even though we did not run, enjoyed the time together and watching you guys suffer. Ha ha.
from the wonderful people at sgrunners. The caps presented to the few of us who helped out at the support table during last week Sundown Marathon are a token of the runners' appreciation to the supporter. Thank you very much guys. There really isn't any need not when we were all having a good time as well. I am sure all of us at the support table even though we did not run, enjoyed the time together and watching you guys suffer. Ha ha.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Thursday Night Run
Another Thursday night, another RL run. Time flies. It has been more than 2 years since I started running at RL as a volunteer runner. Many people have come and gone and I am still there. Most time being the slowest of the 4 volunteers, I am the sweeper but tonight there was no newcomer and no real slow runner so I was able to run at a slightly faster pace. The route was to Marina South Pier. Based on MayMyRun, the distance is 9.72km.
Wearing the Nike+ Sportband, this time using my NB 1222, the distance on it was 9.9km so I guess even without calibration, the Nike+ Sportband is pretty accurate.
Tonight the downloading on the notebook was trouble free. Figured out what I think was wrong with the previous time uploading. I had tried to connect but the notebook was logged on in my daughter's ID so it probably couldn't find the Nike+ program which was installed using my Window's ID. This time round, I installed the Nike+ program again on her Window's profile and it worked smoothly. Didn't even have to log in to the Nike+ website.
Anyway, 1 curious thing. Looking at the splits, (unfortunately it doesn't come with split time, only split based on per km), the timing is very inconsistent. I knew I ran slower for the 1st 2 km, was faster thereafter until the 7th km before I slow down a wee bit but I was pretty sure based on my pace, my slowest was not slower than 6min/km pace but the analysis of the splits show that during the 9th Km, I actually ran a 10.13m/km pace (even my grandmother, God bless her soul, if she is alive can walk faster than that!) and I wasn't even walking! Same thing with the first run. The 2nd last km showed my pace as 7.38m/km whilst I was pretty sure I ran a very consistent pace throughout for that run. And why only the final 2nd last km?
Wearing the Nike+ Sportband, this time using my NB 1222, the distance on it was 9.9km so I guess even without calibration, the Nike+ Sportband is pretty accurate.
Tonight the downloading on the notebook was trouble free. Figured out what I think was wrong with the previous time uploading. I had tried to connect but the notebook was logged on in my daughter's ID so it probably couldn't find the Nike+ program which was installed using my Window's ID. This time round, I installed the Nike+ program again on her Window's profile and it worked smoothly. Didn't even have to log in to the Nike+ website.
Anyway, 1 curious thing. Looking at the splits, (unfortunately it doesn't come with split time, only split based on per km), the timing is very inconsistent. I knew I ran slower for the 1st 2 km, was faster thereafter until the 7th km before I slow down a wee bit but I was pretty sure based on my pace, my slowest was not slower than 6min/km pace but the analysis of the splits show that during the 9th Km, I actually ran a 10.13m/km pace (even my grandmother, God bless her soul, if she is alive can walk faster than that!) and I wasn't even walking! Same thing with the first run. The 2nd last km showed my pace as 7.38m/km whilst I was pretty sure I ran a very consistent pace throughout for that run. And why only the final 2nd last km?
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
1st Tryout Nike+ Sportband
Finally got a chance to try out the Nike+ sportband. For this inaugural run, I choose a flat route, one that I had ran often. Starting from my place to the underpass along the ECP just before going over to East Coast Park. The distance as measured on Mapmyrun is 10.24km (+ return) but somehow I always felt that it was slightly longer more like 11km.
As I was wearing my regular watch on my left hand, I had to wear the sportband on the right. Being right handed, it was a bit difficult to get it to fit just right. It was either too loose or too tight. It would have been better if it had come with normal watch strap.
Using the sportband was a breeze. Just press and hold the button and go when the display start flashing. The Nike manual said it was 95% accurate out of the box and 98% with calibration but only if worn with Nike+ shoe. As I still do not have a Nike shoe, I wore my Ascis 2110 and attached the sensor with the Switch Easy Runaway which means that I expected it to be slightly off.
At the u-turn point at the entrance to the underpass, which I usually take as 5km, the distance shown was 5.47km. The total distance was 10.97km which was pretty close both way and I think more reflective of the actual distance.
So far so good. The only grouse I have with the sportband was it small display area and lack of light. As I was running at night and being shortsighted, I had to stopped under the road light to peer into the display to check the distance which means I had to make several stops.
Back home, the initial uploading was a pain and nearly caused me to threw the darn thing away. Firstly, for some reasons, my notebook could not read it and I had to use my desktop to upload the run record.
Unfortunately, even though it keep saying uploaded, when I logged into Nike+ using my existing Nike+ ID, it failed to record the run. Finally, I had to create a new ID before the uploaded run could be captured. Hopefully, this is a one off thing. So here is the initial run details.
One thing though the Nike+ website is notoriously slow to load. So maybe for uploading, to save my time and lower my blood pressure, I shall only upload every few runs.
As I was wearing my regular watch on my left hand, I had to wear the sportband on the right. Being right handed, it was a bit difficult to get it to fit just right. It was either too loose or too tight. It would have been better if it had come with normal watch strap.
Using the sportband was a breeze. Just press and hold the button and go when the display start flashing. The Nike manual said it was 95% accurate out of the box and 98% with calibration but only if worn with Nike+ shoe. As I still do not have a Nike shoe, I wore my Ascis 2110 and attached the sensor with the Switch Easy Runaway which means that I expected it to be slightly off.
At the u-turn point at the entrance to the underpass, which I usually take as 5km, the distance shown was 5.47km. The total distance was 10.97km which was pretty close both way and I think more reflective of the actual distance.
So far so good. The only grouse I have with the sportband was it small display area and lack of light. As I was running at night and being shortsighted, I had to stopped under the road light to peer into the display to check the distance which means I had to make several stops.
Back home, the initial uploading was a pain and nearly caused me to threw the darn thing away. Firstly, for some reasons, my notebook could not read it and I had to use my desktop to upload the run record.
Unfortunately, even though it keep saying uploaded, when I logged into Nike+ using my existing Nike+ ID, it failed to record the run. Finally, I had to create a new ID before the uploaded run could be captured. Hopefully, this is a one off thing. So here is the initial run details.
One thing though the Nike+ website is notoriously slow to load. So maybe for uploading, to save my time and lower my blood pressure, I shall only upload every few runs.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Sundown Marathon
Yesterday was the night of the first night race in Singapore and I was there - to take in the sights and sound and kaypoh a bit but not run. The Sundown Marathon comprise a 84km Ultra marathon or a 42km marathon ran along the Eastern Park Connector. It is a tough route to run - mainly on roads and hard pavement with long stretches of boring roads. I can imagine how mentally tough it will be to run along these roads especially in the wake of the night with nobody to cheer you on and nothing to hear or see except your imagination. So anyway, to all my friends who have completed the Sundown, well done and have a good rest before signing up for another long race. Give the body some time to recover.
I have been having a certain thought the past few days and what I saw at the Sundown Marathon certainly reinforce it.
Common sense and conventional wisdom dictate that a person need to train for a marathon. What does this 'training' entails? Countless grueling hours of toil, sweat and pain in sweltering hot weather over period of at least 3 months. Not counting the opportunity cost - time which could have been better utilised to sleep in, go out and 'partall', etc etc And than what happen on race day? You still end up with pain and fatigue. No training can ever fully prepare one for a marathon.
So why train when end of the day you still have to suffer? Why suffer so many days of training? Just go and run. After all, you still end up with pain on race day. At most you suffer for a few days after but it still is better than the countless hours of training? No? At least I can see many people who believe in this strategy looking at the hordes of people who were walking when they reached our support table at the 27km mark. These people obviously believe that there is no need for training and are prepared to suffer later for it. and further looking at my friends doing the Sundown, most of them have trained long hours for it yet look at how they suffer Seeing the agony on their face, their shacked look, how they limped and dragged themselves, and knowing that they have trained so hard for it, it really makes me wonder........ Did they got it all wrong?
Disclaimer: Take my above advice at your own risk? Me - I think I will still stick to the countless hours of training:)
Photos of the sundown here.
I have been having a certain thought the past few days and what I saw at the Sundown Marathon certainly reinforce it.
Common sense and conventional wisdom dictate that a person need to train for a marathon. What does this 'training' entails? Countless grueling hours of toil, sweat and pain in sweltering hot weather over period of at least 3 months. Not counting the opportunity cost - time which could have been better utilised to sleep in, go out and 'partall', etc etc And than what happen on race day? You still end up with pain and fatigue. No training can ever fully prepare one for a marathon.
So why train when end of the day you still have to suffer? Why suffer so many days of training? Just go and run. After all, you still end up with pain on race day. At most you suffer for a few days after but it still is better than the countless hours of training? No? At least I can see many people who believe in this strategy looking at the hordes of people who were walking when they reached our support table at the 27km mark. These people obviously believe that there is no need for training and are prepared to suffer later for it. and further looking at my friends doing the Sundown, most of them have trained long hours for it yet look at how they suffer Seeing the agony on their face, their shacked look, how they limped and dragged themselves, and knowing that they have trained so hard for it, it really makes me wonder........ Did they got it all wrong?
Disclaimer: Take my above advice at your own risk? Me - I think I will still stick to the countless hours of training:)
Photos of the sundown here.
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