Let's Take a Walk

Pray for us! Gina, Rachel and I are going to walk the big 5-0 tomorrow. I'll let you know if we're all still friends if we haven't killed each other after more than 12 hours together!

http://www.letstakeawalk.sg/

F1 Sports EQ Nature Run 2010 - F1 Sports Equipment

F1 Sports EQ Nature Run 2010 - F1 Sports Equipment

Looks interesting enough...save the earth whilst running...woot!

I Wussed Out of My Half Marathon

and I don't even feel all that bad. R tried to give me grief, but I wasn't even looking forward to the race so his grief-giving failed! Hah!

I'm really proud of him for finishing the full marathon with zero training for the past couple of weeks and whilst nursing a injured calf. If anything could make me feel a teeny tiny bit bad, it'd be the fact that R ran a distance longer than I was supposed to run injured and completed the whole darn thing. He's a rockstar!

I'm Tired

I've spent a lot of the past 2 weeks freaking out about the half marathon and as if to subconsciously get it out of my mind I've gone off and substituted tennis for running. Real genius huh? So essentially the half mary's in less than 48 hours time and I am completely unprepared. I have been doing a lot of thinking about training if that amounts to anything, but actually getting my act together and going out and running has not materialised so much. I did, however manage to squeeze in a run yesterday night...and it was torture....and that run wasn't even 21k! It was just half of that and I felt like lying down and dying when I was done.

Lately I just feel unsettled. I'm all over the place and I've no idea why. I think I just need a couple of 'me days'. I know it sounds lame, but all the thinking about running constantly takes a toll on you. Especially since I just spend half the time feeling guilty because my flesh often times trumps my spirit and my flesh is very very weak. I keep making plans and then not following through on them and if my running training is an indication on how things are in my life (and trust me, it's a pretty good indication), it just shows how bleak things are. Things just seem to be happening with me being completely taken unaware and I just don't feel like I have any control over my life anymore!

I think what I really really need is just one day for me. Just to hang out by myself with a good book and cheeky glass of vino and not have any plans to meet anyone or do anything. I'm just mentally and emotionally weary now and having one day to myself to gather all my thoughts and plans seems like a beautiful beautiful idea. I'm planning to do that very very soon. Maybe after this Sunday's half marathon and the wedding I've to go for after.

Hongkie Konks

My trip to Hong Kong went pretty well. The conference was rather interesting and I learnt a bit more about the regulations relating to capital markets (yawn....yes I know). I also rediscovered the Shangri-La. Hah!

I managed to squeeze a run in with Jimbo and Steph on Wednesday evening and it was fun to catch up over exercise. We weren't speedy (considering some old dood lapped us 3 times!) and we didn't run that far, but I enjoyed the run immensely...well, except for our 'warm-up' which consisted of climbing up a gazillion flights of stairs! The weather in Hong Kong's been pretty chilly, which made running oh so comfortable. I think I've been pretty spoilt by good running weather in that I just feel sad and miserable when it's warm out...which is pretty much every other day in Singapore!

Because of the nice cool weather in Hong Kong, I managed to convince the family to go trekking on Dragon's Back. We took so darn long getting to the top that we ended up doing only the short route. But the view was as good as it always has been and I'm so proud of my folks for doing the trek up!

What I've done:
Wednesday: Ran 5.77K in 48:08 minutes
Friday: Trekked 4.94K in 2 hr 08 minutes

Off to Hong Kong

And I'm hoping to fit in a run with Jimbo and Steph whilst I'm there!

Half Mary Training Weary

I know I'm planning to run more than I'm actually running, but I really am sick of having a half marathon looming up and having to think about when to run and having to feel bad when I don't run! Bah!

My New Shoes, a 4k Run and a 1k Walk

This is a bit late, but I got new shoes two weeks ago. My trusty Asics Landreths have carried me through numerous races and got me through a 10 miler as well...but the cushioning was starting to wear out and my legs were giving me grief each time I ran. So I now I have a pair of shiny silver Asics. Nimbus this time and I bought Sole insoles because I was just tired of not having any arch support.

I trudged down to Feder Sports again to get Jeremy's take on what sort of shoe I needed this time and was kind of put off when he brought out my very 'bling' pair of Asics. I mean, I'm not a super speedy runner as it is, BUT going out running with these shiny, shiny shoes was just yelling at people to look at how slow I was was! I have to put pictures of my shoes up soon. They're super white - I look like a total non-runner, and shiny silver - space cadet, BUT the cushioning...oh the cushioning. It's like running on air. If I could just get Asics to design a more aesthetically pleasing shoe and make the shoe just a wee bit lighter, this shoe'd be heaven. As it is, running in it has been rather enjoyable....till last night.

My plans to do a 7k run got shot down about 100m into my run last night. Firstly, the weather wasn't great. I know I go on and on about running weather and I sound like a spoilt little child throwing a tantrum, but it really is depressing running when everything around is so darn hot! Secondly, my legs started aching pretty early into the run. I probably should have given them another day's rest (cross train!) instead of running again. Ah well, I guess I'll try to fit a swim in sometime soon and get a run in before the week's done. Anyhow, I did 4 miserable km yesterday and to make myself feel better, rounded that off with a 1k brisk-ish walk.

What I did last night:
"Ran" 4k in 33 mins
Walked 1k in 11 mins

An Easy 13k

Ever since I've bought my compression pants I haven't really used them a great deal. I wore them in Manchester when I did a run there and (if I remember) to sleep after a hard run. The truth is I look like I'm trying too hard when I wear them. And that's a big deal for a gear head like me to admit. However, now that I'm trying to cut down muscle recovery time in between longer runs (and for me that's anything over 10k) I figured I'd wear them under my shorts when I do my longer runs. The problem with that is the laughing. I had a bunch of colleagues laugh and make stupid jokes about my "leg warmers" yesterday. The same colleagues who don't run at all, much less complete a 10k. Well, that's my consolation, but it still sucks being laughed at.

Anyhoo, I'm finally back on the saddle and I got a 13k under my belt yesterday. It's moments like yesterday that I'm so so sure my God exists! R says that God has better things to do than listen to prayers that are lame, but I've always felt that God is a God of big AND little things and that He's capable and wants to hear everything. Long story short, I prayed for good running weather last night (on top of world peace etc etc) and it was the best running weather I've had in a long long time - I think probably since the Yellow Ribbon Run! Nice little drizzle so it wasn't too hot and no thunder or lightning!

I took a different route home this time because I wanted to go a bit longer and the change was good. It was a bit more challenging because of that short little stretch up Fort Canning hill, but overall I had fun. I'm saying that probably because, again, the weather was just great.

The compression pants worked too because today my legs aren't aching too crazily. They're tired, but I guess that's to be expected. My hip, however, is hurting a lot, which means it's time to google how to sort that. I think they should make a special search engine just for hypochondriacs.

What I did last night
Ran 13k in 1 hr 48 minutes

Wasted Weekend

And a very colossal waste it was. I had friends from out of town down in Singapore so I spent Friday to Sunday entertaining. I ate way too much rich food, drank way too much beers and did absolutely zero running. I did, however, plan numerous times to go running only to lame out. The body no longer recovers as quickly after a mad night out. Ah...a clear sign the big 3-0 is on its way!

Interrupted by Lightning

Since my 'race' on Sunday I've been taking things a bit too easy, so last night my aim was to do a steady 12. I ended up doing 7.99k (which is irritating because it isn't a round number) thanks to the sheet lightning. I can do rain, but I ain't gonna mess with Madam Lightning out there. Ducked into a cab and got home before it started pouring. Welcome back, Monsoon Season!

What I did:
Ran 7.99k in 1 hr 1 min

Great Eastern Women 10k Race Report

It's been a whole year since I've done this race! And this year G and I didn't do so well. G has been studying really hard for her bar exam and hasn't had time to train while I still can't get rid of that persistent lingering cough and well I've also been really lazy. Nonetheless I decided at the beginning of the race that it was unlikely I was going to break my PR (much less finish the race in under 1 hour) so I'd take it easy and treat it as another 10k. G's aim was to just complete the run without walking (actually her aim was to run 5k, walk the other and finish in 2 hours...which frankly I was not going to let her do!) so we both ran together at an easy pace. Well, a far too easy pace, I reckon, because we managed to chat the entire 10k and I had energy to run around a lot asking people if they had extra tissue paper for me to blow my dripping nose. Yeah, my nose was acting up yesterday.

All in, I rather enjoyed the GE race. Not because it was a particularly fantastic race per se (although I don't have anything to complain about for a change! big wow!) but because it actually was rather fun catching up with Gina while running (exercise!) at the same time. I'm not saying that I'll give up the joy of catching up with a good mate over a beer, but catching up while running comes pretty close.

Race time: 1:24:45 (a far far cry from my 1:09:47 last year)

R and I went off to the Singapore Open because Rinaldo scored us some course tickets. It actually turned out to be a pretty fun day, despite me getting a bit too much sun. I thought it'd be boring as hell, but it wasn't as slow as I thought it'd be and, minus my tired legs and crazy heat, the combination of beers and golf go very very well. Next year I'm going dressed properly though - definitely wearing clothes with wicking material so I wouldn't be a big sopping mess like I was this year (pretty picture, isn't it?)

What I've done since the last entry but been too lazy to write down:
Monday last week: 6.85k
Wednesday last week: Intervals 4 X 400m

Nike+ Human Race 10K Race Report

If I had to give an award this year for different races, the Nike race would win the prize of 'Most Gimmicky Race'. From the bit where everyone HAD to run the race wearing the same T-shirt that had your race number (ie, you're Number 359,128 amongst all the million runners in the world - they had a separate race number for each country's individual race which makes the whole 'world number' kind of lame) emblazoned on it to the finisher's medal...not really a medal but a Nike arm band which I'm sure many many people will be wearing in the days to come as a whole 'guess what I got this from the Nike 10K run I completed'...to the really annoying local rock bands they brought up to entertain the crowd (you know that 'look at how how open we are to different kinds of music because we've got the whole ipod thing going').

Maybe it's because I had a crappy run that's why I'm being hard on the Nike run, because other than their completely crap website and lack of email notifications, the actual run itself was pretty well organised. I had some crap time (no idea what the actual time is since the Nike website sucks and I can't access it) because well, I haven't been doing much by way of running for a long while now, plus the tons of unhealthy food I've been shoving down my throat can't have helped. I had a side stitch pretty early on the race and had to stop to walk about 4k in because my chest felt tight, and my legs just felt miserable. R was actually being nice and running with me (poor chap had to take tiny little strides) at the beginning, but I fell so far behind he had to leave me in the dust about midway through.

So I've come to the conclusion that next year I'm going to save me some moolah and not do any Mizuno or Nike runs. The thing is I really don't see why I should pay all this money (these races are pretty pricey) when I don't really need the free goodie bag (which isn't 'free' seeing as you're paying more for these races than any regular race). I know a lot of locals run for the race pack and all the freebies in it, but frankly I'd rather have the money I put into a race go to a good cause then another t-shirt or water-bottle or backpack.

Race Time: 1hr 22 mins (as per my watch which I forgot to turn off till I had my post-race drink - Nike website sucks!!!!)

What I did yesterday:
1hr in the gym working the core

A Very Easy 7k

After much lounging around, excuses followed by pangs of guilt, I finally laced up my runners and hauled my KFC-filled body out on the roads. I'm quite happy I did that. Okay, so it wasn't a huge distance, nor was it anything close to speedy. But, it was me finally climbing out of the lazy rut and a run is a run at the end of the day.

Surprisingly, post-run I actually felt (and still feel) pretty good. I suspect that previously I was over-working myself with all the running, muay thai, swimming training, pilates etc. My muscles didn't actually have time to heal and I was getting to a stage where running was becoming more a drag than something I at least looked forward to. Moral of the story, I'm going to be a bit more sensible going forward and do things in a bit more moderation. All things going well, I'll have no more bouts of illness or injuries for a while!

What I did last night:
Ran 7k in 51mins

AM running

So far of the one million times I've tried waking up early in the morning to run, I have succeeded a grand total of 1 time and it probably was a fluke I was up that early anyway. I was supposed to be up to do an easy 4k - 5k this morning but when the alarm went off at 6am the excuses started - I'll sleep another 5 minutes/I can run during lunch/I can run after work/I'm too dehydrated to run this early...blah blah blah. So now I have to run during lunch because I didn't wake up early enough to run. Better yet, despite sleeping the extra 1 hour, I still feel tired, which makes me feel as if I should have just woken up and run the damn 4k.

Big plans to wake up at 6am tomorrow and try this again. Wish me luck.

Last note: I've just discovered how ridiculously easy to fall back into the lazy cycle. I've been ill for the past week and have sat on my ass eating fried chicken and other similarly unhealthy meals. I also haven't been doing anything close to exercise. And somehow, while there's a little part of me that feels guilty, I'm actually pretty happy being lazy for the most part.

Salomon X-Trail / Tinny Run Reports - ish

Thanks to the lovely cough that's keeping me up most nights, I decided to give the Salomon X-Trail Run a skip and go down as a supporter. R did the muddy, hilly run and enjoyed it, which made me kind of bummed that I was too sick to take part. Bah. I have some pictures somewhere.

As for the Tinny Run, maaaan....I dropped out of that. Firstly it was unlikely I was going to be any better than I was in the morning (where I skipped the Salomon Run) and secondly, running with a tummy full of beer, SHEER MADNESS! R did pretty well and got held back by the big spoil- sport, essentially me. He has plans to train me well in the art of downing cans of beer and running madly after. Good luck to him.

Meanwhile, I'm still coughing away and I am so behind in training and fitness. Tonight I'll do a little core training, just to ease my guilty conscience.

On the Brink of Illness

I've been feeling a bit out of it lately. Been really sleepy and I've got an annoying cough to boot. I've decided also to be sensible and take the next two days off running/muay thai etc. Sigh, what a bummer.

What I did yesterday:
Swim training for 1 hour

I Woke Up At 6am!

And did a 6.5k run!

What I've done:
Friday: Ran 11k in 1:27 hr
Saturday: 1hr of pilates (Tower)
Today: Ran 6.5k in 50:18min - Yeah, the time's crap, but it was some insane hour of the morning!)

Reebok Pink Ribbon Walk - Women 5k Competitive Run Race Report

The Pink Ribbon Run/Walk was actually pretty well organised and also for a good cause. I did this race purely to find out what my 5k time was and I have to say I'm rather disappointed. I don't think it's a great time at all. I know I started way too fast and then I was struggling to maintain the idiotic speed I started at; then I spotted a friend walking around and decided to use that as an excuse to rest some (I stopped mid-race and went over to her say hi); then I managed to start again at a slower pace...and that essentially was my race. Needless to say my second 2.5k was faster than my 1st split (because I didn't have anyone to say 'hello' to) and because I somehow managed to find some reserve deep within me and dash the last 100m. I'm proud to say that my pace then was 3:28min/km...and that essentially is all I'm proud of in the entire race.

My personal timing aside, the race was at East Coast Park (which I hate running in so much) and it was just 5k of mind-numbingly dull flat road. Everything went smoothly - there really is nothing much one can say about a 5k run, since it really is just 5k at the end of the day.

More interesting than the race, is my 25k evening bike ride which was a real kick-ass (or crotch) workout. A couple of us joined Terra Outdoor for their Mid-Autumn Festival Western Connect Ride from Ghim Moh to Jurong freaking Bird Park! Okay, we didn't cycle all that fast and it was more a leisurely ride than anything else, but it was fun all the same!

Race Time: 30:28 mins (new PB!) - First split: 15:56 mins, Second split: 14:32 mins

What I did:
Saturday: 25k bike ride

My First Tempo Run

was pretty good fun but sure took a lot out of me! I think I may have run too fast in the middle and then having to hold that pace was sheer torture. All in, this run made me realise how easy I've been taking my runs. I've essentially become so used to running at my grandmother's pace that pushing myself harder has become a foreign concept.

What I did
Wednesday: 25 minute Tempo Run