This would be my 3rd time running the HKSCM full marathon, but I was full of nagging doubts. Just 2 weeks before the trip, I could barely run 10km without feeling pain in my foot. I was under-conditioned for the distance and my legs had different plans of their own. I did not have high hopes for the race this year, and was mentally prepared to flag the sweeper bus if I crossed the cut-off times at various checkpoints.
This year I stayed at the Kimberley Hotel. Sandy was at the same hotel and kindly helped to collect our race packs. The hotel was a very convenient location. The morning of the race (8am start), I woke at 7am, had my instant oats + milo breakfast, and strolled down to the start line with 8min to spare. The VIPs were already present and getting ready to flag off the marathon runners. Chief Executive Donald Tsang was the guest-of-honour for the race. I knew only because my picture was coincidentally captured on the front page of the South China Morning Post - a tiny little head in the background, just below Donald Tsang's outstretched waving hands!
The morning was rather warm, 20 deg-C, unlike last year's 13 deg-C. I mistakenly wore my Nike long sleeved and 2XU tights, only to be greeted by the warm air. Most other runners were in typical sleeveless vests and shorts. I was very conservative during the first 7-8km, feeling my foot and knee (last year's injury). My first 10km took slightly past an hour. Alber had already sped ahead the moment we crossed the timing mat, so I could only catch sight of him at various u-turn stretches. I did not the see the other Safra runners until 16-17km mark, after they turned around.
When I reached the 20km mat and turning point, my legs could feel the lactic and I wondered how to survive another round of 20km. At 24km, I went to one of the mobile loos, and took the chance to remove my Nike top. Ah, now the weather felt much better, cooler. I ate a powergel, and picked up speed at 25-27km. Caught up with Alex who overtook me earlier, and had a running photo taken. Vanity! Haha. Looking at my watch, I felt that I could complete the race in 4:20-4:30h. But shortly after, disaster struck. I felt a churning in my stomach, like diarrhea. Gosh, I had never had a bad stomach during any race or climb. From then on, I was on the lookout for loos along the route. The worst section was the 35-37km tunnel stretch. There was no water points or loos inside the tunnel. I was forced to walk the 2km because any running made my stomach more urgent! It was pure happiness and desperation when I spied one immediately after we cleared the tunnel. I was in a pathetic state....
I managed to walk (upslopes) and run (downslopes) and hung in there until the last upslope at the dreaded 41km point. I was about to sip my drink when Henry came from behind and grabbed my arm, wanting to drag me along. I told him to go ahead. As we rounded the bend into the final 1-2km stretch, the public lined the streets and were clapping loudly in encouragement. Shirley called my name from the side as I ran past her. Adrenalin and peer pressure kept me running to the end. I crossed the line finally at 4:48h, a rather long run. Alber was back long ago, at 4:00h. Fantastic timing for him. As for me, I was extremely thankful that my legs did not give me problems beyond the usual muscle soreness! Welcome back, dear Legs! :)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Makan Index Increased by Cold Swim
Makan index for the day -
Breakfast - sandwich, 2 cups of tea
Snack - couple of CNY cookies, 3 pieces of sugar-crackers (no choice, pack of 3, haha)
Lunch - fish soup + rice (very generous portions! and uncle charged me less for less rice, hard to find stalls like that nowadays), almond paste (waitress changed it when I commented it was too liquid, unexpected good service), 2 cups of tea
Snack - Cereal drink + muesli bar
Dinner - Claypot chicken & mushroom + rice (rather disappointing... tsk tsk), horlicks
Snack - ..... I'm working on that right now! Haha
Swimming class was not as cold today despite the rainy afternoon. I told Coach he had to explain less and make us swim more, or else too cold & freeze. :) Anyway I was late, had to rush out an email at work before I could go. Only managed to catch a few drills and we started on training - 500m, 400m, 200m, chasing-sprints 8x 50m, and then treading water (ouch my poor legs...). Shower was cold though, I came out of it shivering, goosebumps all round. Brrr.....
Off to HK tomorrow. Can't wait to check out the winter clearance on gear! Mammut, Montane, Salomon, Nike, Rockport..... tip of the iceberg. :)
Breakfast - sandwich, 2 cups of tea
Snack - couple of CNY cookies, 3 pieces of sugar-crackers (no choice, pack of 3, haha)
Lunch - fish soup + rice (very generous portions! and uncle charged me less for less rice, hard to find stalls like that nowadays), almond paste (waitress changed it when I commented it was too liquid, unexpected good service), 2 cups of tea
Snack - Cereal drink + muesli bar
Dinner - Claypot chicken & mushroom + rice (rather disappointing... tsk tsk), horlicks
Snack - ..... I'm working on that right now! Haha
Swimming class was not as cold today despite the rainy afternoon. I told Coach he had to explain less and make us swim more, or else too cold & freeze. :) Anyway I was late, had to rush out an email at work before I could go. Only managed to catch a few drills and we started on training - 500m, 400m, 200m, chasing-sprints 8x 50m, and then treading water (ouch my poor legs...). Shower was cold though, I came out of it shivering, goosebumps all round. Brrr.....
Off to HK tomorrow. Can't wait to check out the winter clearance on gear! Mammut, Montane, Salomon, Nike, Rockport..... tip of the iceberg. :)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Accidental Brick
A quick entry since I'm super way past zzzzz time.
Perpetually hungry the whole day and ate non-stop. Like really eat..... breakfast nutella sandwich in car, 2 cups of earl grey tea in office, some CNY snacks during meeting, wanton noodles soup for lunch + peanut butter donut (cos noodles was so light & healthy!), resisted buying snacks, 2 cups of vanilla tea in office, resisted sinful chips, oat cereals drink + muesli bar. Workout @ Safra. Shared dinner with Adam - stir-fried bittergourd with egg, + steamed fish head (enough to feed 3-4!) & rice, + assortment of munchies. Felt guilty. Made a big mug of camomile tea at home.
Training wise - swam 20 laps (because I was late), and ran a short Canterbury-Henderson route. Did not intentionally plan a brick training though, it just happened. Foot felt fine, hope it remains fine in HK.
Perpetually hungry the whole day and ate non-stop. Like really eat..... breakfast nutella sandwich in car, 2 cups of earl grey tea in office, some CNY snacks during meeting, wanton noodles soup for lunch + peanut butter donut (cos noodles was so light & healthy!), resisted buying snacks, 2 cups of vanilla tea in office, resisted sinful chips, oat cereals drink + muesli bar. Workout @ Safra. Shared dinner with Adam - stir-fried bittergourd with egg, + steamed fish head (enough to feed 3-4!) & rice, + assortment of munchies. Felt guilty. Made a big mug of camomile tea at home.
Training wise - swam 20 laps (because I was late), and ran a short Canterbury-Henderson route. Did not intentionally plan a brick training though, it just happened. Foot felt fine, hope it remains fine in HK.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
RPM Relax!
It rained the entire afternoon, washed out all plans of run or swim. In any case, it was Challenge Day. The class was fully subscribed within 10 min of opening the registration. Luckily I went early.
My usual corner bike was replaced by a brand new one. The resistance knob was stiff and tight, and it was hard to make incremental adjustments, short of cranking up/ down a huge resistance. I rode relaxedly tonight, wanted to save my legs for HK.
On my way home, I stopped by Daily Scoops ice-cream cafe at Sunset Way. I had heard about it, but only found its exact location a few months ago, and finally got to try it tonight. After various samplings, I settled on a double scoop Crunchy Peanut Butter and Salted Mr Brown(ie). The ice cream texture was slight melty though, I would prefer it to be more frozen. Not all the flavours were creamy and rich though, I found the vanilla too 'light'. Nonetheless, the flavours I ordered tasted rich and decent enough. Great! I think I would be back very often, enroute home! :)
My usual corner bike was replaced by a brand new one. The resistance knob was stiff and tight, and it was hard to make incremental adjustments, short of cranking up/ down a huge resistance. I rode relaxedly tonight, wanted to save my legs for HK.
On my way home, I stopped by Daily Scoops ice-cream cafe at Sunset Way. I had heard about it, but only found its exact location a few months ago, and finally got to try it tonight. After various samplings, I settled on a double scoop Crunchy Peanut Butter and Salted Mr Brown(ie). The ice cream texture was slight melty though, I would prefer it to be more frozen. Not all the flavours were creamy and rich though, I found the vanilla too 'light'. Nonetheless, the flavours I ordered tasted rich and decent enough. Great! I think I would be back very often, enroute home! :)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Brand New Safra Run
Almost every evening I go through an elaborate (aka think a lot but cannot decide) process of choosing a workout. Typically my options revolve around RPM, BodyPump, swim, run, and occasionally cycle (though rarely on a weekday night).
Today was similar. After much indecisiveness, I showed up at Safra, thinking that I would try the 10km MF route. By some mis-management of time, I ended up running with the group instead. Happily! Finally! We did a 11km from Hort Park to Kent Ridge Park, 2 loops inside, and back to Safra via Pasir Panjang Rd. It was my first time in months to run with the main group and I was happy to be there. I was also apprehensive that the runners would chiong, it being only 11km, and I would be dropped far behind. I hoped my foot would hold up, I was not sure.
The run turned out ok. The pace was decent and relaxed. I was not very conditioned for the slopes, so I just took them at a leisurely pace. Had to protect my knees on the downslopes too, not wanting to suddenly shock them with the inclines. Ankles and feet felt a little stiff, but they loosened somewhat after a while. Constant self-reminders to relax and land normally. The tendency with injuries would be to over-compensate for it by changing our postures etc, and hurt another body part consequently.
After exiting KR Park, I did not see any runners ahead or behind me. Hmmm, weird, did I get the route wrong? Nonetheless, I completed the distance and was happy with my effort. Happy with my foot. Mental note to stick more medicated plasters when I sleep.
Today was similar. After much indecisiveness, I showed up at Safra, thinking that I would try the 10km MF route. By some mis-management of time, I ended up running with the group instead. Happily! Finally! We did a 11km from Hort Park to Kent Ridge Park, 2 loops inside, and back to Safra via Pasir Panjang Rd. It was my first time in months to run with the main group and I was happy to be there. I was also apprehensive that the runners would chiong, it being only 11km, and I would be dropped far behind. I hoped my foot would hold up, I was not sure.
The run turned out ok. The pace was decent and relaxed. I was not very conditioned for the slopes, so I just took them at a leisurely pace. Had to protect my knees on the downslopes too, not wanting to suddenly shock them with the inclines. Ankles and feet felt a little stiff, but they loosened somewhat after a while. Constant self-reminders to relax and land normally. The tendency with injuries would be to over-compensate for it by changing our postures etc, and hurt another body part consequently.
After exiting KR Park, I did not see any runners ahead or behind me. Hmmm, weird, did I get the route wrong? Nonetheless, I completed the distance and was happy with my effort. Happy with my foot. Mental note to stick more medicated plasters when I sleep.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Irritating & Inconsiderate Swimmers
I felt so lazy today. I went to Frankie during lunch to tui-na my foot. Ouch. I must have been over-zealous last night, self-rubbing it. It felt stiff and slightly painful this morning when I walked around. So I got it wrapped up in medicated cream the entire afternoon in the office.
That left me with nothing else but to swim this evening. Swim swim swim. The weather looked grey and gloomy, the water looked cold. No choice, I was already at Safra. Made a date with Alber to hit the waters tday. So there I was, in my new cyan bikini, trying not to yelp when I jumped into the pool. Ok to be fair, it was not as cold as last week's Fish class.
The pool was relatively empty when I entered, I could still afford a lane to myself. Then it started filling up. Two lanes were closed off for Navy Biathlon time trial, with a giant digital timer set up. Haha, I could pretty much time myself and know that I would not meet the 40min. Anyhow I swam, and swam, and swam. And ducked swimmers. Brrr..... Irritiating swimmers. There were those who could not keep to their lanes, and those who swam without ever looking up to see where they were headed - they probably thought they were like torpedoes, fired up and charging ahead blindly. And then there were those (male) breast-strokers who almost became just that, their arm pulls coming so close, I had to deliberately siam! Finally the most irritating swimmer was this chap doing butterfly strokes, churning out huge tsunamis along the way in the very crowded pool. I was next to him, which meant sometimes I risked having the water splash right in my face as I turned to breathe. Idiot! *grumbles*
Peter, Jason and Siew Lee were there too, training hard for the biathlon. So fast, so effortless.... unlike me, still so slow. Anyhow, I swam 40 laps in exactly 1h, and still felt good for another 10 after that. I wanted to time 40 laps to see if I could possibly make it under the Aviva 1:10h cut-off for 1.9km sea swim. Looked promising.... with 10min to spare for struggling in the sea, obstructions etc. Hmm.... should I sign up for Aviva, times are bad, wallet's in recession too. *ponder*
That left me with nothing else but to swim this evening. Swim swim swim. The weather looked grey and gloomy, the water looked cold. No choice, I was already at Safra. Made a date with Alber to hit the waters tday. So there I was, in my new cyan bikini, trying not to yelp when I jumped into the pool. Ok to be fair, it was not as cold as last week's Fish class.
The pool was relatively empty when I entered, I could still afford a lane to myself. Then it started filling up. Two lanes were closed off for Navy Biathlon time trial, with a giant digital timer set up. Haha, I could pretty much time myself and know that I would not meet the 40min. Anyhow I swam, and swam, and swam. And ducked swimmers. Brrr..... Irritiating swimmers. There were those who could not keep to their lanes, and those who swam without ever looking up to see where they were headed - they probably thought they were like torpedoes, fired up and charging ahead blindly. And then there were those (male) breast-strokers who almost became just that, their arm pulls coming so close, I had to deliberately siam! Finally the most irritating swimmer was this chap doing butterfly strokes, churning out huge tsunamis along the way in the very crowded pool. I was next to him, which meant sometimes I risked having the water splash right in my face as I turned to breathe. Idiot! *grumbles*
Peter, Jason and Siew Lee were there too, training hard for the biathlon. So fast, so effortless.... unlike me, still so slow. Anyhow, I swam 40 laps in exactly 1h, and still felt good for another 10 after that. I wanted to time 40 laps to see if I could possibly make it under the Aviva 1:10h cut-off for 1.9km sea swim. Looked promising.... with 10min to spare for struggling in the sea, obstructions etc. Hmm.... should I sign up for Aviva, times are bad, wallet's in recession too. *ponder*
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Lamp Post Hugging Run
I slept an insane 13hr last night, from 6pm to 730am, skipping dinner totally! Gosh, I did not even realise.... but was not hungry, so did not bother waking up to feed. So I woke up this morning rather refreshed. The grand plan was to go to ECP and test mileage. Of course since I was alone, I was not disciplined enough to hit the road early.... It was 830am when I started.
The first stretch from B1 to hawker centre was fine. The weather was cool, the feet were holding up. Then some minor discomfort. Maybe it was a wrong choice to wear Mizuno... should have stuck with my Asics instead. Along the way I saw Lynn, then Lai Hsia, then Coach zoomed by, and a couple of Fishes. Nearing F2, one guy ran past me. What a great physique! Tall, lean, muscular, tanned, in good shape..... I only caught his back view since he overtook me. And then I realised it was WY. Haha.... Oops. KPI was having their monthly Newton Run day at F2, so that explained why so many Fishes were there and some other familiar runners. Chatted briefly with Fiona about my bad foot, and continued on the run.
It was a jog, stop, stretch, repeat all the way to the sailing club toilet. To stretch, I had to stop, find a lamp post, step on the cement base, 'arch' my foot and pull myself into the lamp post. Sort of stretching the calf and foot at the same time, holding the position for many seconds. And I did that several times. It must have looked funny to the passerbys, a girl semi-hugging the lamp post for so long.... :( When I reached the last toilet/ car park, I was most tempted to go up to the departing cars and hitch a ride back towards my car at B1. I suppose I could play the damsel in distress role.... but somehow I did not do that. So I jogged my way back. Luckily the foot pain eased after a while, and did not really bother me by then. I saw more people on the way back - GiaYee, LiPeng, Maye-e, David, R.... And Mien too, with her 3 princesses and hubby out on a Sunday stroll. With so many people along the way, it was hard to stop and walk. I guess that kept me going until I reached B1. Haha.
The first stretch from B1 to hawker centre was fine. The weather was cool, the feet were holding up. Then some minor discomfort. Maybe it was a wrong choice to wear Mizuno... should have stuck with my Asics instead. Along the way I saw Lynn, then Lai Hsia, then Coach zoomed by, and a couple of Fishes. Nearing F2, one guy ran past me. What a great physique! Tall, lean, muscular, tanned, in good shape..... I only caught his back view since he overtook me. And then I realised it was WY. Haha.... Oops. KPI was having their monthly Newton Run day at F2, so that explained why so many Fishes were there and some other familiar runners. Chatted briefly with Fiona about my bad foot, and continued on the run.
It was a jog, stop, stretch, repeat all the way to the sailing club toilet. To stretch, I had to stop, find a lamp post, step on the cement base, 'arch' my foot and pull myself into the lamp post. Sort of stretching the calf and foot at the same time, holding the position for many seconds. And I did that several times. It must have looked funny to the passerbys, a girl semi-hugging the lamp post for so long.... :( When I reached the last toilet/ car park, I was most tempted to go up to the departing cars and hitch a ride back towards my car at B1. I suppose I could play the damsel in distress role.... but somehow I did not do that. So I jogged my way back. Luckily the foot pain eased after a while, and did not really bother me by then. I saw more people on the way back - GiaYee, LiPeng, Maye-e, David, R.... And Mien too, with her 3 princesses and hubby out on a Sunday stroll. With so many people along the way, it was hard to stop and walk. I guess that kept me going until I reached B1. Haha.
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