Sunday, March 30, 2008

2hours of running

Woke up around 6am. Got out of the house and started off at 6:25am. Decided to extend my route and see how far I could go. So, at a slow pace I went, clocking 8.5min at the 1km mark near the Anchorvale CC.

At Punggol Road, I turned and ran towards Upper Serangoon Road. It was my 2nd time on Upper Serangoon Road. This time, I hardly stopped to walk, and jogged most of the way. The up and down slopes on the pavement (like at bus stops) is still a challenge. A challenge also to keep a slow pace to preserve my knees and ankles. But I was going at a fairly slow pace throughout since I wanted to go long distance.

The most challenging sight is approaching the Tampines Road/ Upper Serangoon Junction and looking ahead at Kovan MRT and seeing Upper Serangoon Road sloping up like a hill ahead and not being able to see the top. That was at almost 7km into the run already with the white vest soaking wet (vest from ex-firm, BTT). Told myself, I won't stop to walk but will keep on jogging unless I can't.

Well, I reached almost the highest point of Upper Serangoon Road and decided to do my U-turn at Hougang St. 21. Quick stop at Kovan MRT toilet for a little drink of water before continuing. From there, ran straight up Upper Serangoon Road towards Sengkang.

On reaching Hougang Central (10km mark), was deciding if I should take Hougang MRT back (like 2 weeks back) or run back to Sengkang. Since, I was still doing my slow pace, decided to keep running and see how. I discovered the white BTT running vest becoming soaked & heavy with sweat, sticking to my back or chest and after some time, the wet vest feels cold due to the breeze blowing on it. So much for dri-fit. It ceased working after the 10km mark of my run. :(

Ran till I reached the end of Upper Serangoon Road, turned into Rivervale and followed the LRT to Compassvale for regular Saturday morning breakfast. Quite pleased with the run, almost 14km, ran for 1hour and 58 mins and an avg pace of 8.26min/km. If I can manage 3 hours of jog/walk or complete a 21km distance by July 2008 (regardless of timing) once, then I will seriously consider signing up 21km for SCSM 08. Otherwise, it will be 10km for SCSM 08. This morning's route can be viewed by clicking the link below:

View Interactive Map on MapMyRun.com

After effects now is an aching knee, feeling of thirst still after 100Plus and water, breakfast and lunch. See how else my legs and joints hold up tomorrow. Thank goodness it is a Sunday, sort of. Have to do a walk tomorrow afternoon, but less than 14km, at most 2km. Phew :)

Friday, March 28, 2008

Cramped :(

Woke up this morning when suddenly my left calf cramped by itself while still lying down. It was a real bad one.

Anyway, still felt the twitch when I reached home early today. Rain had stopped but decided not to risk my calf. Don't want to be 'pai kar' just to log in a short run. So, it's the weekend run to come.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Frustrating run

Yesterday, Monday, reached home early but decided not to run as it appear it was going to pour. But it didn't.

Today reach home, it looked even worse. Dark clouds coming from the South, strong breeze with a slight chill. Like gonna have thunderstorms.

Decided to just change and run. Need the mileage to build up stamina. End May to June would be running a bit. Don't want to faint before finishing the 2nd or 3rd race.

Clocked 7km at a leisurely pace of 55mins, almost 8mins/km. Satisfied with the distance. But the run was frustrating. Some things troubling me in the mind. Anyhow, got to leave some things aside and carry on with life. Some things too mentally taxing to think too hard and long about. Also had my stitches. Good thing it didn't last long. In any case, I was doing a fairly comfortable pace. But I'm happy for the fact I jogged consistently for most of the 7km instead of running at 7.5min/km and then feeling breathless and exhausted before the 3km mark and needing to walk long stretches.

It was a good and bad type of experience.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Singapore Bay Run

OK, me crazy. But I signed up for Singapore Bay Run at 12:03am, 24 March 2008. 10km. :))

Received the email from them for the payment already.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The coming months (2008). . .

Finally, the (my) event calender is starting to fill up. Blue for events I've already signed up, Green for yet to sign up, Orange for undecided and Brown for events I don't plan to sign up.

23/04/08: JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2008 - 5.6km (1800hrs)
[Not running because office cannot find enough runners. Hiaz].

31/05/08: Sundown Marathon Team Challenge 2008 - 10.5km (2030hrs)

01/06/08: Cold Storage Kids Run 2008 - 800m
[kids running but have to be at Padang. Plus, I'm running 800m with my girl.]

08/06/08: Saucony 100Plus PAssion Run 2008 - 10km (0730hrs)

15/06/08: Mt Faber Run 2008 - 10km
[Will likely skip this as 10km Saucony the Sunday before and no uphill run for my heart's sake]

29/06/08: Lion City Marathon 2008 - 10km
[IS this event gonna happen or not? Such a great date].

27/07/08: Mizuno Wave Run 2008 - 10km
[SO much bad feedback of last year's event].

24/08/08: Singapore Bay Run - 10km

October: New charity run and Real Run

December: Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

**********************************************
Revisions:

Update 1: [24/03/08; 0036hrs]
Signed up for Singapore Bay Run - 10km on 24 March 2008.

Update 2: [26/03/08; 2033hrs]
Not running in the JP Morgan Corporate Chase. Email from co-ord saying not enough colleagues have signed up for it]

Running around Sengkang

I tried to run round the whole of Sengkang East, by roughly following the Sengkang LRT East Loop route (West Loop route goes to Fernvale). Exactly 1 hour run for 7.68km (7.49min/km). I discovered I can almost job 3km without stopping to rest which must be a big improvement from usually needing to stop and walk before hitting the 2m mark. The distance is a bit short so I will have to find another route that is 10km+/- for my weekend runs.

For the route, click below:

View Interactive Map on MapMyRun.com

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Night 1/4 Marathon - Sundown Marathon - Update II

Har. . .got my 4 team members and the Team Registration done. :D

I named the team Slow_Runners ;)

Friday, March 21, 2008

Night 1/4 Marathon - Sundown Marathon - Update

Now there are three persons. Need to find one more to form a Team :))

Night 1/4 Marathon - Sundown Marathon

So sad. :(

I emailed 6 persons to form a Team of 4 to sign up for the Sundown Marathon Team Event with each team runner running 10.5km for $62.50 each. Only 1 was interested. Looks like no chance for a night event (plus the Adidas Vest and SDM Red T-shirt as well as other goodies) :D


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Long hours

Left office at about 9pm (not bcos I finished my but but only bcos I didn't want to be the last and have to arm and locked up the place).

On the way to MRT, am glad I did a run yesterday instead of postponing it to tonight. That's why, it is good to run as and when cause it is hard to predict what might crop up (like deadlines and fire-fighting after receiving a number of emails).

I wonder if I should run on Friday morning (public holiday) or tomorrow night...