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*

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.

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.

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. :)

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

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!

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!