Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sundown Marathon (42km) 2011

I was flagged off at 10pm with thousands of other runners attempting the Sundown marathon. It was my first night 42km race, I was not prepared for it per se. I was going to use this as mileage building towards my ultra-100km next month. I think I might start regretting signing up for that race.

The crowd of runners generated a lot of body heat and humidity. We took 14min to clear the first 2km, already sweating buckets. The road eased off a little after 5km. I finished the first 10km in 1:01h. Decent. Then I met Johnny and we ran together all along the ECP to Fort Rd u-turn. Next 10km - 1:02h. But I had to go to the toilet. Perhaps it was dinner or the 100-plus, but anyhow, diarrhea was unpleasant.

Then it went downhill from that point onwards. By 23km, I was starting to cramp. The next 7km was a pain of run, walk, run, walk. It was also past midnight and my body clock was starting to shut down. Ok, remind me again why I do not like and could not survive night runs... It took me forever to reach 30km. It was 3:31h. Right,... that was the time I took in the trails and with zero cramps. But on the road, I was hopeless. My shins and ankles were cramping up. Maybe it was my shoes...?

32km and we were back on the Coastal PCN again. The most boring stretch. I decided to try and run through the next 10km. My stomach was acting up again. Plodding on. Hopes of getting an "average" 4:30h were dashed. Nor that of a 5:00h time. This has got to be my slowest marathon outside of an IM! Haha.

Eventually, I finished the race in 5:16h. Mega, mega yawns... Body shutting down.
I wonder how I would finish the 100k next month! *panic*

Sunday, May 22, 2011

MR Two Loops

I have always liked the feeling of running-skipping-and-flying downhill in the trail. It is so carefree, so light, with nary a worry. Unfortunately that carefree feeling only lasted a short while.

I was up and running in MR, targeting two loops. Had to rush off for a lunch appointment so only had time for two rounds. Completed them in exact even split timing. 1:07h each.

There is a Sundown marathon this coming weekend and I am so under-prepared for it.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Run & Soup

Had an ultra quick 1.5 loops at MR. The weather was excellent this afternoon but I did not have enough time to complete two rounds. :( Had to turn around about 1km to the trail exit and head back. I bumped into KC along the golf course on the way back. He was going in the opposite direction, but we had a group dinner to catch. So he turned and ran back with me. Alas he went so fast that I gave up keeping pace after a while.

Dinner was a soupy affair at a double-boiled soup place in Sin Ming. We had a total of 26 'pots' of
soup! Heavens.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

My First 30km LSD

Yes! I finally completed my first 30km LSD in two months. The weight gain got to me and goaded me into action this morning. I hit the MR trail and willed myself to run 3 loops. It was a slow but steady pace, the first 2 sets having an even split timing, and the last set was a notch slower.

I stayed within the trail all the while, and did not bother exiting to the concrete or visitor centre. That meant that I went from A-B, B-A and A-B again, covering the same route 3 times in slightly different directions. That also meant that I kept seeing some of the people strolling on the trail more than a few times.

The ranger station toilet became my pit stop. It was about 5km from either end of the trail. The weather was not as sweltering as the past weekends, but it was still humid. I was soaking wet and succumbed to a Gu-gel on my 3rd loop.

Total run time ~ 3:32h.

Thoroughly enjoyed myself and the quiet time in the trail. :)

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Cooling Swim

The pool was much cooler tonight, after the heavy downpour this morning. We had so many days of extremely hot weather, the rain was very refreshing.

5x 200 @5:30 - 4:59, 5:18, 5:08, 5:08, 5:08
1x 300 - 6:22

6x 100 @2:45 - 2:20, 2:24, 2:29, 2:31, 2:28, 2:34, 2:31 (first one was a trial)

5x 100 @3:00 -2:37, 2:38, 2:43, 2:35, 2:30

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Round and Round the MF Loops

I was very early today and went for a 5km run prior to Safra's group, followed by MF loops. I skipped the stairs and ran back to club.

5km - 29min

5.5x MF loops - 9.36, 9.47, 10.01, 10.01, 10.56, ...

Continued by the return via Kg Bahru.

Total 19km

Yeah!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Heat-stricken Pool

5x 200: 4:56min 4:57, 4:54, (I missed two)
1x 300: 7:36

7x 100: 2:15, 2:20, 2:20, 2:21, 2:30, 2:25, 2:15

5x 100: 2:27, 2:26, 2:23, 2:29, 2:31


It was so so super hot in the pool, I felt like I might get a heatstroke in the water!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Evening Sweat

Another ultra hot day. I slept in til noon, having stayed up til 4am to catch the election results. I deliberately waited til 730pm to go for a short run, but alas, it was still as humid. The air was stale and whatever little breeze we had was warm.

Alber took me on a 10km run around the Woodlands - Admiralty estate. We went along the PCN and then I did not recognize where I was any more. Winding in and out of the roads, we eventually made a huge 10km loop. I was immensely glad to be back, totally drenched in sweat despite the sunset. Yucks.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Humid MR

The heat was unabated this weekend. I went to MR at about 11am. It normally was quite cool in the trails, but today, it was as humid as running on the road. I was drenched pretty soon, from the heat, not the effort.

Managed to run 2 loops nonetheless. The heat was putting a strain on my run and I left with a headache.

Today was Polling Day, and also house-viewing day. I had a long day ahead....

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sets of 200m

We did many 200m sets tonight. I was late and got into the pool in time to join them for the sets.

200m - 5:05min, 5:02.... missed timing two sets

4x 200m - 4:56min, 5:09, 5:15, 5.10

2x 50m slow - 1:15min, 1:21

5x 50m @ 1:30 - 1:11, 1:15, 1:12, 1:19, 1:15

5x 50m - 1:14, 1:16, 1:22, 1:17, 1:18

Done! :)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Two new loops

Safra training plan: 3 loops of 5+km tempo run around Depot Rd - Telok Blangah Hts.

It was the first time I ran that route. There was a long gradual upslope near Telok Blangah Hts which was rather fun to attempt. The roads were slightly wet after the rain and the weather very cool. It was the perfect weather for a personal 'time out' chat to self. I did my first loop at 33min. Obviously not a 'tempo' pace. Oops. I went on my second loop and was overtaken by Jackie and WL at the mid-way point, their third loop. Very fast guys. Alas, towards the end of my second loop, it started raining, and most people stopped.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Long Running Weekend

Thank goodness for a long weekend. The weather held up gloriously. Slight drizzle throughout the days made for very cooling runs. I was happy to be able to run at any time of the day. :)

Saturday - Did an evening run around my estate. For a moment, I thought that the election campaign banners were wrongly placed, until I realised that I had run from one GRC to another. On my way back, I decided to jog through the Sunset Way estate to check out the houses there. Some of the bungalows were really huge and beautiful in a quiet estate. Aspirational. I ran about 14-15km.

Sunday - There was a morning drizzle but I headed out anyway. Thought that I could do a long run, but no, sugar low. Ran from my house to Clementi canal to NUS through the winding slopes and out. Along the way, the rain started and stopped and restarted. I was very tempted to flag a cab home, and there were many empty ones that drove past me. But I trotted along until Clementi and decided to take a bus back because I was rushing for an appointment. Definitely an off-form run. Another 15-16km perhaps?

Monday - Dropped by MF Safra in the late afternoon. Plan was to complete two loops around MF, but alas the gym was closing early today. So I had to shorten my run to 1.5 loops. 15km.

But immensely happy with my slow trots. :)