Demoralized Run - sgrunners

Even though I lived in Singapore for more than 10 years, I have never been to the part of Changi Cost Road which runs parallel to the runway. The sgrunners group has a "Demoralized Run" from Changi Beach Park through the Changi Coast Road to the East Coast Park. I picked to U-turn at the 2nd toilet in East Coast Park and the distance is 25.7km. This is the longest run that I ever have. Why "Demoralized"?

The Changi Coast Road is a 6+km straight running parallel to the runway. There is no water point during the 6+km. I usually run along ECP and do not carry water, just use the vending machine along the ECP. However, this time, I bought a fuel belt and carry about 800ml of isotonic drink with me.


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The course is tough. I try to keep my pace as constant as possible. I start with about 7.5 km/h and the last 4~5km at about 7km/h. Overall pace is 7.3km/h. Not bad for a distance that I never cover before. I sweat a lot during the race. Even after drinking 2 liter of fluid, I still lost 1.5 kg of fluid. It will take a day or two to recover. I also got sunburn on the face and back of the neck. Need to better prepare next time.

In my last 23.5km run, I have a blister on my right foot small toe, even when I was wearing a toe sock. I got some silicon cushion from Daiso in IMM. The silicon cushion helped to separate the two toes. It is supposed to be placed between two toes. I used the one on the right during this run. The one on the left is thicker and may not fit my case very well but its design should has less movement of the cushion inside the shoe. Initially when I use it, it is uncomfortable. However, after several kilometers, it is kind of settled and out of my mind. Though I did not have a blister on the usual place (bottom of my small toe which was pinched under the fourth toe), my small toe is still inflammed. Need to find out the root cause of it.

Tough Long Run

My usual long run are all performed on the East Coast Park. It is flat and has plenty of vending machine. However, this morning, I made a switch and run around on the west side of the island.


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The route went through several up and down hill including South Buona Vista. At the middle, also encounter rain and need to seek shelter in NUS. The up and down hill post much more stress on the body. Going through the pavement and the traffic junction need to step up and step down also add to the toll. After finishing the 23.5km, I felt exhausted and tired much more than my regular 20km in the East Coast Park. And the small toe on my right foot has a blister filled with blood inside. So far, this 23.5km is my longest run. Next week, I will try to stretch by another 10%.

Rubik's Cube Part II

Another off-topic. I have spent another 2 hours on the Rubik's cube. Now, I can consistently solving the cube in around 3 minutes with personal best of 1:56. However, I think I am approaching the limit on the current method I am using. I am currently using the Layer-by-Layer method. It easily takes over 100 moves, perhaps 120 moves to solve it. In order to further reduce the time, I may need to adopt the much more difficult Cross-F2L-1 step OLL-1 step PLL method to reduce the move to 60+ moves per solution which will allow me to get close to 1 minute mark. But it seems that it will take a very long practice to get to be familiar with the quicker method.

Rubik's Cube

Today is my rest day. I took my kid's Rubik's cube and play around. I used to be able to consistently solve it within 3 minutes when I was a kid. I think my personal best was around 1 minute 28 seconds. But I started slow with about 18 minutes. I keep playing to get familiar with the Layer-by-Layer solution method and improve my time. Finally, after about 2 hours, I have improved to 2 minutes 47 seconds as my today's personal best!! Next target will be to break my own personal best record!!

Singapore Marathon Clinic

Yesterday, I have joined the Clinic from Singapore Marathon. There are three sections of it. But my overall impression is only average. And it is especially bad when the speaker for the practical session did not show up!! The first topic is on "What to do to recover faster from training/from after a race". I believe the speaker is very knowledgeable on the topic. However, I think he can improve on his knowledge transfer. The second topic is on "Common Sports Injuries - How to avoid and treat them". It is informative but more from a doctor's perspective rather than from a runner's perspective. And the last practical session is a joke since the speaker did not show up. I don't know whether he eventually showed up or not since I left early.

Running in Penang

I have a trip in Penang earlier this week. This is the first time that I run in a foreign country with the GPS. It is not a familiar place but I can still track my speed, distance etc. It is good! When I load the data into the MotionBased website, there is no map information! Luckily, they also allow the use of Satellite map and I can see where I run.


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First Long Run after Army Half Marathon

This morning, I woke up at 6:20am, want to start my weekly long run. However, the weather is really bad. It rained heavily with lightning. After up for an hour and still no chance to improve, I went back to the bed.

In the afternoon, the weather is ok. Overcast, not too hot. I decided to go for my weekly long run.
After skipping a weekend for the long run, I finally get back on track for a 19.4km speed walk at East Coast Park. Though I finish the walk at averaged 6.9km/hour, my last 3km are a bit tired already. Possibly due to going too fast at the beginning. Really need to tune my speed for the challenge in stretch my long run.

Yesterday, I got a Nokia 6110 Navigator phone for my wife. The phone has a built-in GPS. You can also download a Sport Tracker software from the Nokie website. With the software, you can track your run!! Obviously, the 6110 is much bigger than the Garmin Forerunner. But it will be interesting to compare the two. Will need an arm band to hold the phone in order to use it this way.

Nokia Sport Tracker

X-periment!

On 1-Sep, I went to the Suntec City for the Comex computer show. When I passed by Marina Square, it happened to have an event called X-periment! Some of the stuff is interesting like the floating super-conductor, bio-fuel cell, wind generated by static discharge etc.


small car using bio-fuel cell. Glucose is used as fuel


The Homopolar Motor


Game is used to explain center of gravity


Static is generated by rubbing plastic. The charge is used to generate wind.


We have a lift off! The superconductor is cooled by liquid Nitrogen and float on the track which is made of magnets.


Game for the small kids as well!

Vertical Practice

In Nov, there will be Vertical Marathon in the Swissotel Stamford. I am interested to participate but not sure how tough it is. Therefore, I want to try something out first. Two weeks ago, I try it on a stair master for 40 stories and it is ok. Today, I went to climb 30 stories in an HDB block. Cannot remember when is my last time in climbing some many floors. The total is actually 29 floors with a time of 5:07. It is actually not bad and easier than what I anticipate. However, each HDB floor is not as tall. I think the 29 stories is only equal to 20 in Swissotel Stamford. I think next time, I will try two time go up, come down and go up again and see how it goes.