MR25 Ultra Marathon 2007

I participated in the 2007 MR25 Ultra Marathon. The event is a 12 hour time limited event from 7am to 7pm and counts how many time a person completed the MacRitchie loop which is 10.5km in length. In order to qualify as a finisher, I need to complete at least 5 laps.


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I arrived the MacRitchie and around 6:25am. Got register with the bib number 1048. I carried with me Milo, Jello, Gel and Kraft Oreo waffler sticks. I put on my petroleum gel on both feet, sunblock, Action cream and then ready to go.

Due to the fact that I did not rest the day before, I decided to go for very conservative strategy and aimed to complete 5 laps and then see if I am ok enough to complete the 6th lap. Anyway, if I complete 5 laps, this will be by far my longest run at 52.5km If I am able to consistently hit 7km/hr, there should be plenty of time for me to finish 6 laps.

The day started with nice weather. Because I was outside for 4.5 hours the day before, I knew that I did not start in my best condition. The goal is to complete 5 laps and see how it goes. The first lap is ok at 1:26:15, inline with my expected speed of 7km/h.

After a short 5 minutes break, I started my second lap. I started to feel that my right foot has expanded and now is occasionally hitting the front of the shoe. If continue for 5 laps, I definitely will have black toenail or even worst. Also, I was wearing a Nike Pegasus TC which has a lighter weight version of Pegasus. Due to the lighter weight, I believe it has less cushioning and I can feel the rock through the sole of the shoe. On the way at the golf link, I was catching up to a girl and she sudden lost her support on the left leg and almost fall down. I asked her if she is ok and she said she is ok, then I just continued. I still finished in good time of 1:35:20. By then, my shorts, singlet is all wet already. I decided to change to my spare shoe. To add more cushioning, I decided to go for double sock with Injinji inside and Thorlon sock outside. I also change my singlet, take a break and chat with some of the sgrunners. As time flies, the break has become 30 minutes long before I started my third lap.

It was becoming all sunny and hot. I add a small belt and bring along one of the fuelbelt's water bottle so that I can refill it at the water station and drink it in between water stations. But the heat and the muscle starts to eat in. I cannot maintain my speed on the upslope and need to slow down significantly in the rough terrain between the end of golf-link and Lornie Road. Timing wise is drifted to 1:46:30.

For the 4 laps, the ITB at the knee for both left and right leg are tightening up. I can no longer reach my normal brisk walking speed. Slowing down to 6-6.5km/hr on flat and need to lower the cadence and shorten the stride on the up-slope. Timing also stretched to 2:01:00. Now, it is clear that I will not be able to do six laps judging from the condition of my legs.

It is hot and sunny. But suddenly, some cloud appears and block the sun. I decided to start the 5th lap. And about 1km into it, I meet up with the girl that I encounter on the 2nd lap. And we start to just walk along and chatting, taking rest in the Ranger Station. When it comes to the stairs, she start to struggle due to her knee problem starting in lap 2. At the Jelulong Tower, I decided to move ahead. Because of the slow walk, I have recover quite a bit of energy and I start my normal brisk walking. Unfortunately, the higher speed of brisk walking has generated extra heat and a blister was formed right under the forefoot of my right foot. It is still 3.5km from finish line and the blister is painful for every step I took. I have to curl my toes inward and use it to support my right foot to reduce the pain. I finished the 5th lap in 2:18:00.

When I arrive the finish line, it was 10:08:30. I don't have enough strength to go for another lap (my blister will not allow me at all). I just called it a day.



Summary of Timing for each lap
Lap 1 - 1:26:15
Lap 2 - 1:35:20
Lap 3 - 1:46:30
Lap 4 - 2:01:00
Lap 5 - 2:18:00


52.5km is the longest run that I ever have. Although the pace is slower than I expect and I have taken too long during the breaks, but overall, I am happy that I have completed the event.

Definitely for next year, I will shoot for 6 laps as minimum.

Formula Drift

On the eve of the MR25 Ultra, I did not do the usual thing of staying at home, rest and carbo-load. Instead, I went to the Extreme Night exhibition in Singapore Expo. They have the drifting demonstration which is fascinating.

These are high power rear-wheel drive car. The driver control the car under drifting which is not easy to control. The drift generate lots of smoke and strong burning rubber smell. This is the first time I am using the D200 in an action sport. The focus of the D200 is amazingly good. Even though I am only using a cheapo 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lens, the continue focus mode is able to give perfect focus 95% of the time. I have a lot of keepers. The high speed continuous shot is also amazingly good.

Here are some of the shots:

Smoke coming out!!


More smoke coming out!


Even MORE smoke coming out!


Wow! It is all surrounded by tyre smoke!


Three cars drifting at the same time!


This is the difference between the wore tyre and the new tyre. All the groves are gone!!


You can get up-close with the drifter!



Five Sequential shots in a second.

Interval Run

This is my first interval run after Singapore Marathon. Since my shin splint two months ago, I am building up my training slowly. I did a 400m x 8 @5min/km pace with 2 min rest in between in Queenstown Stadium. I took the first lap slowly as not sure what is the right pace. I speed up my second one to 4:30 pace. Then, I am on target for the rest of the intervals and even push for fast speed of 4min/km pace in my last one. Legs feels good, no shin splint.


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Garmin Forerunner 305 User Review Part Three

Software

The Garmin Training Center (GTC) comes with the watch is pretty basic. It has three major functions - Training History, Training Workout and Training Courses.

Training History. The GTC serves the need of loading up the training data. When you connect the watch to the computer, the GTC will pop-up and download the data from the watch. It shows your training history organized by week on the left while showing your training route and graph on the right.


The map that comes with it is not good for Singapore. Basically, there is no detail at all. The example below is a run along the East Coast Park. The GTC default map even only show an ocean.


I loaded a map from the malsingmaps.com to the GTC and it works much better. I can have detail enough map shown in the GTC. However, I still prefer the Google map that I got in other software.


You can replace the map with "Total" which can show you lap-by-lap data and summary of your HR/pace by zones.

It is very useful. And I have an Auto-lap of 400m meaning that the watch will create a "lap" every 400m. This "Total" tab allows me to analyze my run lap-by-lap.

Workout. The GTC allows the customization of training workout. However, I found that it is very complicated to edit and design a workout. I just use the build-in ones. I do not really use the workout function.


Courses. I use the Courses function to upload a course to the watch. This is the only way that I know of to upload training courses.


From a functionality perspective, there are several shortcomings in GTC:
- it does not track the shoe usage
- I cannot display the split time and the map at the same time
- the display graph is not flexible enough
The SportTracks will be better in these area. However, I still use the GTC for downloading courses to the watch which cannot be done by using other software.
I still have not fully explore the workout menu as well.

MotionBased

My first "upgrade" is to use the MotionBased. MotionBased is a web based software accessed by the browser. The basic membership is free. You can download a MotionBased Agent from the Garmin site. The MotionBased Agent will recognize the forerunner 305 and sync the data between the watch and the Motionbased website.

The MotionBased really upgrade two important features - map & elevation.
The MotionBased Map is based on the Google Map which is much better. You can also switch to satellite view or Hybrid (overlaying map on satellite image).

This is the one that I always use in my blog.

The elevation data captured by the Forerunner 305 is very bad. It is totally incorrect and not usable. However, if you upload your data to MotionBased, it will use a real map's elevation data to correct it and give you the right elevation change.


The MotionBased also provides some basic analysis such as lap-by-lap, graphs etc. But these are not better than the one in GTC. There is a premium service on the MotionBased that suppose to give you better analysis. But I do not subscribe and don't know whether they are good.



The basic service of MotionBased will only allow you to access the last 10 activities though all of them are being stored in the site. If you want to access the older one, you need a premium service. But there is a trick. Since your MotionBased data is shared on the TrailNetwork, you can logout of MotionBased and search your activities in the TrailNetwork. You can access your old data as well.

SportTracks

The next upgrade is the SportTrakcs. You can download it free but remember to download SportTracks v2.0. The version 1.0 is not good but the v2.0 is much better. You can Import Tracks from the Forerunner 305 which is automatically identified by the software. It has nicer graphics than GTC and can display a graphic, a table, and the map at the same time. The map is a Google based map and allow you to choose between map or satellite images (in case you run in trails).


You can also enter your shoe and it can help you to track the usage.


For the activity, you can select the split summary which I like it a lot. It can give you a plot of your pace for the different labs. You can also select a different split such as 1km. The portion of run related to the lab is highlighted in RED color on the map.


There is also a weekly activity summary which allows you to look at your weekly mileage.


I like the SportTracks better than GTC. Currently, after every run, I will hookup my watch to the PC and upload to GTC. Then, I run the MotionBased Agent to upload it to MotionBased which I use the Google Map to document it in my Blog. Then, I run SportTracks to capture the data and have a look of my splits. I wish there is a single software that combine all the strength of them.


Overall Comment on Forerunner 305

In the few months that I use it, I did encounter some issues:
- the Delete of training history by using "Keep 1 month" or "Keep 3 months" does not work on the old firmware. Have not tried the function with the new firmware.
- not able to check how much memory left. It did alert to me when the memory is almost use up. When the data is really full, it stop recording (instead of automatically delete the oldest data). I missed one event data due to not knowing how to delete history in the watch properly.
- the discoloring of one of the electrical contact though I have no issue in communication to PC.
- I encounter once that it cannot be properly power up. I have to use the soft reset to correct it.
- I encounter once that the watch mysteriously discharged though I have it fully charged the night before (and it happen on my first Marathon run!). But I did not know whether I accidentally hit the POWER switch and drain the power though it is very remote since the button is very stiff and you have to hold it for two second to power up the watch.

Pros:
- smallest GPS watch. Other solutions from Timex & Polar are all bigger
- Large readable display with on-demand backlight
- Flexible data field display
- accurate distance, no calibration needed
- once lock-on to Satellite, can stay locked even going under tree, underpass etc.
- data are in industry format, easy to use data in other software such as SportTracks, Mapmyrun

Cons:
- only up to 10 hours battery life, cannot be used in Ultra event
- Garmin Training Center & MotionBased are not good enough
- Initial lock on to Satellite can take long time
- Workout too complicated to customize
- Have to use Cradle to charge & sync
- Need to buy footpod for treadmill use and it is not cheap
- Buttons are a bit too stiff, need to press hard to activate

Hope this review helps to the evaluate your buying option. Here are the links to Part One and Part Two.

Garmin Forerunner 305 User Review Part Two

The Forerunner 305 is bigger than a normal watch. But compared to the Forerunner 301, it is significantly smaller. It feels ok when wearing and does not feel too heavy even for an endurance run.


The watch has a total of 7 buttons, two on the front, two on left side and three on the right side. The two in the front are the START/STOP and LAP(RESET) button. The RESET is to reset the time counter to zero (i.e. start a new count) rather than reseting the watch. Navigation of the menu is done by the buttons on the left and right side which has the POWER button, the MODE button which also acts something like previous, the UP/DOWN button and the ENTER button.



Use of the Watch

You start the watch by holding the POWER button for two seconds. After it started, it will first search for the satellites.

It is not easy to get the initial lock. If you are indoor, placing the watch near a window will not get you a lock. From my experience, you need to have at least 2/3 of the sky open in order to get a lock. You can improve the locking by facing the Garmin logo upwards. I typically will take my watch off, face the Garmin logo upwards, get a lock and then start using it. You can see the individual satellites' status as well.


In my experience, once you get a lock, it tracks the satellites pretty well. Even you run under the tree with heavy tree coverage (e.g. MacRitchie), or temporarily run under an overpass, it still gets a good track. Even inside a rain shelter with one/two sides open, it can still tracks the satellites. But the initial lock can take anywhere from 15 seconds to 5 minutes. There are times that I just don't want to wait and just start running. It will eventually get locked to the Satellite but it may take a even longer time. I have a case that it took 1.5km of run to get locked. Please take note that when you are moving, it takes longer time to lock. Therefore, it is better for me to remain stationary to get a lock. Or sometimes I will take the watch off, put it on the ground and do some warm up. And when I finish the warmup, it typically will get the lock.

The watch has a very flexible display. It has two main display, 1 running display, 1 cycling display and 1 for other sports. In each display, you can define to display 1 to 4 data fields. Each data field can choose the data that you want to display. It is very flexible. I generally put the different combination of data I want into the two main + running display and I can easily cycle through them by pressing the up/down button during the run. You can also set it to scroll automatically but I think the auto-scroll mode is more for cycling use. The only part that I want is to allow displaying pace & speed at the same time. In the current software, you have to choose displaying either pace or speed but not both. (noted that the blue tint below is not seen on the watch, it is caused by the difference of the camera shutter speed and the LCD refresh rate)


The display is crisp and very readable. At night, you can press the POWER button once to turn on the green color backlight temporarily.

The watch can record and store my route. If I use the per second data recording which will record at every second, it can only store 3.5 hours of activities. However, if I choose Smart Recording which only create a record every couple of seconds, it can record many, many times more. I only need to start deleting data after 3 months of usage with total of around 40 hours of workout. I can view the activities on the watch. However, please take note that the rechargeable battery inside the Forerunner 305 can only last up to 10 hours, possibly less when it is not new. Therefore the Forerunner is not really for Ultra Endurance activities (e.g. 60km or more).


One of the advantage of the GPS watch vs a footpod based watch is the map. I can draw my running route on Mapmyrun site and download a copy in .GPX format. Then, I can upload it to the watch as a course via Garmin Training Center. The map will show up on the watch. The elevation data also be loaded into the watch which is much more accurate than the elevation data detected via GPS. You can select to view the elevation profile which helps you to plan your tactics.


When I run, the map will show my position on the course. It will also calculate how much longer to go based on my average pace. If I run off-course, it will alert me as well. And if you set an average pace in the .GPX file, you can "race" with the virtual partner which is set at the average pace. The watch will show the relative position in distance between you and the virtual partner. It is kind of nice to motivate me to run.

Garmin also comes with training feature. So far, I only use one - interval training.


It is pretty flexible, you can set it by distance or by time for the run/rest. Then, you can set the detail and the number of repetition.



When using the interval training, the watch will show you the current status and have a countdown alert for you to switch between run & rest. However, the speaker which is located at the back of the watch is very weak. I can hardly hear the alert on the road but it is okay if I am running in a stadium which is much quieter.


to be continue in part three and link to part one.

Garmin Forerunner 305 User Review Part One

I bought the Garmin Forerunner 305 in Aug. So far, I have used it for 4 months in 60 runs. I think that it is about time for me to do a detail user review.

Content

I bought my Forerunner 305 from eBay as a newly overhauled unit. It comes as a box in here.


Inside, it contains the watch and its accessories.


The watch can be connected to the computer via the cradle and a USB cable.


At the back of the watch, there are four contact points which is connected to the cradle. Please noted that there can be discoloring of the contact point. I have the leftmost one discolored. But don't use abrasive material such as sandpaper to clean it as it will make it worse. I find out that it is best just rub it with the towel after run, then rinse the watch with tap water.


The watch also comes with an extension on the strap. It is used if you need to wear on outside the jacket or mount it on the bike. The tool for changing the strap is provided as well.


The watch is charged through the USB port. You must put the watch on the cradle and then connect the USB cable to the cradle. The package comes with a universal voltage charger and an adaptor for using it in Europe. I don't use the charger at all as I charge it via the USB in the computer when I sync my data.


The package comes with manual and the Garmin Training Center software on a CD.


The heart rate monitor use a plastic/rubber belt, not as flexible as the wearlink from Polar. The center portion is pretty wide and rigid. It does not fit well on center of my chest. I typically wear it shifted a few inches to the left. The elastic band at the back works fine and I do not get any chaffing from it.


The heartrate monitor use a standard lithium battery and is user replaceable. It claims that it can use for 3 years of normal usage.


To be continue in part two.

Ford GT

In the Ford Showroom in Alexandra, they have a Ford GT on display. Here are some pictures of it.

ECP run/walk in the Rain - 12.28km

Today, I got up very late, therefore, decided to do the running in the late afternoon. I arrived ECP around 4:45pm. It was overcast and the rain has just stopped. I got out and start running. Just after around 400m, it started to rain heavily. Since it was overcast, I did not wear my running cap. I got back to the car and got my running cap. Put it on and start running again. The rain was heavy and water is gathered is several places. In one stretch near the Fort Road, the water is more than 3 cm deep. My shoes were all soaked with water.

The running cap works very well for me. It stopped the water from splashing to my eyes. I have no issue in raining in the rain at all. I did a 12.28km. At the last 3km, I did some intervals - dash for 400m at around 5:20 pace and then walk for 400m at around 8:00 pace. Feels good after the run.


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Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s)	1:27:57	7:09 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	1:26:24	7:02 pace
Distance (km)	12.28
Moving Speed (kph)	8.5 avg.	19.0 max.
Elevation Gain (m)	+162 / -163
Avg. Heart Rate	149 bpm	Zone 4.1
Temperature (°C)	28.3°C avg.	31°C high
Wind Speed ( kph)	ESE 7.4 avg.	ESE 13.0 max.

BookFest 2007

I went to the BookFest@ Singapore 2007 in Suntec City yesterday. I am not happy with the experience. First, when I want to take picture for my blog, I was stopped by a staff from Popular saying that I cannot take pictures. Therefore, I cannot post any pictures for it. Secondly, the Bookfest is organized by Popular and it is like a large Popular store. There is no other book vendor. So boring. It is no comparison at all with the Book Festival in Hong Kong. Why don't they call it Popular Bookfest?

Its Christmas Time

Some picture of Christmas Carol performance in Marina Square & Esplanade.

MR25 Ultra Recce

There is a group of sgrunners to have Recce of the MR25 Ultra route. The team is split into two with Kayano leading the group for the 10.5km while Dreamrunner is leading the group to have an extra loop in the Muddy Grass. I follow Kayano's group.


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The weather is fine at the beginning. The course is ok, not particularly slippery. However, after the first group finished, at around 9am, it started raining. Some are doing a second loop while those go through the Muddy Grass is not back yet. There are also two runners Passion & IMD accompanying Mei-Mei and have not finished by the time it started to rain.

Update the Blog to 3-column

Finally, I finish my update of the Blog to a 3-column format. Some of the widgets need to be re-created. I think the 3-column format fits better.

This morning, I have my health screening in Raffles Hospital as my annual health check paid by the company. As usual, there is blood test, urine test, respiration, x-ray, body fat, eye sight, doctor examine your body etc. I also need to do a treadmill ECG test since I am over 40. This is my third time doing a treadmill ECG test. I recall my first time having one a few year ago, my body condition is so bad that I nearly faint during the test.

I proceed to have the threadmill test and it starts with resting heartrate, sloooow walk, medium walk, fast walk, and when it switch to the stage four which is typically jogging, the nurse told me that she forgot to put in the incline. I have to stop, cooldown, wait for the heartrate to go back to resting, then, start again.

When it goes to stage five, which just started running, the nurse already call it a stop since she only want stress my heart up to 160bpm. I told her that my max heartrate is 185. But well, she is in control of the test.

Velocity Christmas Run

I have a special run today. It is my first time joining the Velocity weekly run. The special thing about today's run is that the group of runners are wearing a Christmas Hat. We run through the Orchard Road and took picture at the Plaza Singapura as well as in front of Paragon. Then, we had ice-cream in front of Ngee-Ann City. Overall timing is slow due to the stop for photo and ice-cream.


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Thanks for Byron, Brokie and Ripley taking the pictures below:

Speedwork

This is my first speedwork after SCSM07. I did a 3.2km loop with around 5:15 min/km pace. The overall pace is equal to my best run before SCSM07 though average heart rate is a little bit high at 90%. Feels good after the run as well. I certainly hope that I have regain my form.


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Lap (#)	Time (m:s)	Distance (km)	M Spd (kph)	HR (bpm)		Energy (Cal)
				Avg	Max
1	2:05	0.40	16.2	145	165	32
2	1:59	0.40	14.4	165	168	31
3	2:13	0.40	13.7	168	170	30
4	2:07	0.40	13.3	168	170	31
5	2:05	0.40	12.2	170	172	30
6	2:12	0.40	11.9	172	173	30
7	2:23	0.40	11.2	171	174	31
8	2:03	0.40	13.7	172	179	30
9	0:15	0.06	15.8	180	181	4

Garmin Forerunner 305 updates

Today, I visited the Garmin website and found that there are new updates to the forerunner 305:

GPS unit is now updated to 3.00 (was 2.9)
Unit software is updated to 2.80 (was 2.7)
Garmin Training Center is updated to 3.3.2 (was 3.2.3)

I have installed all of them. From the outlook, there is no major difference. But hope the new firmware fix some of the issues of the forerunner 305

Here is the Garmin Website

Brisk Walk in Nike Free 5.0

Yesterday, I bought a pair of Nike Free 5.0 from a Nike sales. It fits very different from any other shoes. Basically, it fits like a glove. Its top softly surround your feet and suppose to mimic barefoot running (actually half-way in between). I tried it yesterday to walk around, go to supermarket. I can feel that my feet are "exercising".

Today, I took it for a brisk walk. It is amazingly comfortable for brisk walk due to the extremely flexible sole while maintaining cushion for the heel. Though my Daidora Fantasy is even more flexible but the Fantasy offers no cushioning at all.

The Nike Free also very light which enable a different type of power walk. I warmed up with about 1.5km of brisk walking at around 7-7.5km/h. Then, I switch to a very quick power walk at 10km/h. In the past, I can only sustain about 0.5km at this speed before my shin get too tight to continue. But with the Nike Free, I did a 10km/h for a 1.6km!! The exercise is so intense that I pump up my heart rate to 170bpm (yes, it takes more effort to brisk walk at 10km/h then run at 10km/h).

Since my first pair of Nike Pegasus TC, the Nike shoe is giving me more and more confidence. I used to think that Nike did not make good running shoes. But my mind has changed.

Botanic Garden Run

Have a short BG run on Sunday. Total 8km. Together with some sgrunners - Ultra, Cobalt, Ronnie, Trencen, Babumouse, Prata, Ripley. Weather is nice with overcast sky while no rain during our rain (it does run after the run). This is a my first middle distance run after the SCSM 07. It is all okay at a modest 9km/h pace. No issue until the 4km mark. My left leg where ITB join the knee start to become tight. I did some short walk break and it improved during the walk break but will start to tighten again after another couple of minutes of run.


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I was wearing the Mizuno Exliar which I had <50km on it. I have put a heel gel on my left leg but not on the right leg. This may be the root cause of the tightened ITB. Will try to put a heel gel on my right leg as well the next around.

陽明山菁山渡假村

I was in Taiwan last week and have stayed in the 陽明山菁山渡假村 for one night with my team in Taiwan.

The site has a total of 20 small houses each accommodate 6-8 people.

Each house has a hot-tub inside and have hot-spring water channeled to your own private hot-tub. The water temperature is a nice 38-41 degree C.

It is on the mountain and surrounded by nice scenery. The group arrived there on Friday night. We play a few rounds of games. I lost on one of the round and got the punishment. We Drank some beer, ate snack and chat till around 2am+.

On the next morning, I took the opportunity to have a short run around the site. It is hilly and therefore, I treat it as a hill run training. And also, it is a good time to check out running in cool temperature as a preparation for the HK marathon in Feb-2008. It is already start of winter in Taiwan. Temperature in the mountain is about 15 degree C. After a warm up walk around the site with long sleeve and jacket, I change to short & T-shirt. I did a back & forth on the main stretch of slope and then several laps around the main building which has a steep uphill slope followed by a steep downhill slope.


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I have to cut short and go for a bath and breakfast. It was a very nice stay.

Recovery walk/jog

Yesterday, I did my recovery walk/jog. Start very very slow due to muscle still sore. But I was able to pickup the pace a little bit but never reach normal pace. Spend 33 mins covering the stirling loop (3.5km) which I typically cover in 17mins (running) or 25mins (brisk walking).


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Initially, feel even more ache after finishing it. However, the next day morning, most of the muscle ache/soreness are gone. Only left with some muscle sore in the butt. The recovery walk/jog works well for me.

The Day After Marathon

I got this interest video:




On the day after the Marathon, though my legs are still aching and a little bit awkward in walking, I am basically fine. I can walk upstair as well as downstair without any issue. Also, no bone or ligament related pain. The best worry that I had before was my shin splint. I thought that it may come back and I may need to rest for another 2-3 weeks. But the shin splint is gone!!

However, I do not go for any recovery walk/jog. I will rest today and may have a recovery walk tomorrow.

The colleagues that went for the full marathon seem to be fine. Most of them come back to work today. Only one guy take a MC due to flu (he had the flu right before the marathon) and one guy has the knee badly swell (but still come to work due to important meeting).

Congratulation to all the finishers!!

StanChart Singapore Marathon 2007

I did not sleep well, only have around 3 hour+ of on-and-off sleep. I woke up at 2:15am. Get my breakfast, showered, change and heading out at around 3:15am. I arrive at the Raffles City before 4am. Lots of carpark. I put on some deep heat rub on the part of the leg that I suspect will give me problem. I put some Action cream on my nipple, neck, shoulder and upper thigh. I also first time used a petroleum jelly to put on my right foot. I always has blister on my toes and hope this helps. Some of the volunteer also arrive very early to give briefing and started their day. Thanks for all the volunteer and run-inspiration.

map of the padang


Volunteers coming out of bus


Volunteer briefing

After taking some picture and with the colleague, I put my bag back in the car, grab my watch, HRM, cap and go to the starting point.


And that was 5:15am. I was cutting pretty close. So close that gave me some trouble.

The first trouble is that my Garmin Forerunner 305 is NOT working!! I powered it up and it will power down immediately. I had tried possibly 50 times and even using the reset button sequence. No no use, it did not work. So, I carried extra weight of watch + HRM. But more important, I would not know my progress in both pace and HR!! Because I was cutting it too tight, I could not go back to my car and take my normal watch. I would not even know the time during the race (I had to ask the volunteer on the side from occasionally to know the time. This is my first trouble.

My first 1/3 of the race is uneventful. I run and then switch to walk and switch back to run. The problem is that I typically use my HR to gauge whether I should walk or run. But without my HRM, I switch between walk and run will not work well. I did not even know whether I was too fast or not. But I was following the crowd, possibly too fast on the pace already.

From around 16km, when turning into Mountbatten Rd, I started to develop my second problem. My left ankle on the outside is hitting the counter of the shoe. It happened once before. I believe it is due to the insole/mid-sole compressed due to the pounding. I already made the precaution in adding an additional heel gel on my left foot to lift my ankle a little bit higher. However, seems that it is not high enough. It created a pain on every landing and it is not bearable. I would not finish the marathon if I do not do something.

My thought was to lift my ankle higher by inserting something between the insole and mid-sole of the left shoe. I decided to use the material from the paper cup. I took out the bottom of the paper cub, squash it flat, roll up the top lip so that the whole paper stay flat. And then I fold it in half. Basically, I have a trapezoidal shape of 4 layers of paper. It is about 1mm thick. I first added one to my left shoe and tried it out. It was not thick enough. I pickup a used paper cup on the road side and added another layer. Tried it out and it is still not enough. I had to wait until the next water point to get paper cups. This time, I added two paper cups. Meaning that I had 4 layers of paper cup on my left heel between the insole and mid-sole. The 4mm lift is enough to clear my ankle to the counter.

However, now my heel is sitting about 5-6 mm higher than my forefoot. It became strange to run/walk. Then, I added two layers of paper cup under my forefoot. Now, it is more balanced. However, it created another problem. Now, my left leg is 5-6mm longer than my right, it has affected my running gesture. I start to get a very tight on my ITB at where it is attached to my knee. I could not run at all. I had pain even when just walking. Solution? Add two paper cup to my right shoe, one at forefoot and one at heel. The solution solve the problem. It is amazing how the extra 1mm made the difference. However, my ITB was in bad shape already and I never recovered from it during the race. I had to apply deep heat rub on it every two km just to keep it going. By the time that I solved the problem, I was at 24-25km mark. And I have "destroyed" my ITB and after this point, I can no longer switch between run and walk, I could ONLY walk. This made my second 1/3 of the run extremely slow. I crossed the half marathon mark at around 3 hrs (remember, I did not have a watch) while my 2nd Link half marathon time was 2hr 27mins. Here is the photo of my modified Mizuno with 8 paper cup stuffed between insole and mid-sole.



Now, my objective has changed. Instead of looking at finishing 5:45, my objective is just to finish. I recall some people say, run your first 1/3 of marathon with your mind (meaning pace yourself, but I did not have a watch), 2nd 1/3 of marathon with your legs (are you kidding, my legs are in bad shape), and the 3rd 1/3 of marathon with your heart (this, I totally agreed, without the passion, I possibly had give up at mid-way).

When I arrived at the 27km mark, and suppose to have a gel, they ran out of gel!!! Instead, they gave out powerbar. But powerbar is kind of already "melt" inside the packing and was very sticky and difficult to take. But I had no choice. I had taken the two gel that I carried with me earlier and is running low on fuel. My ITB was tight and it was still 15 km away.

It is only the heart the keep me going. With the shoe problem solved, I re-gathered myself at around 28km. My race really started at 28km. Now, I was mixed with a group of >6hr. Almost all of them are walking. I re-adjusted myself and get myself into a power-walk rhythm. I focused myself on the breathing and kept myself away from thinking about my leg. I let my natural powerwalk style to take over. I started passing people. I was significantly faster than other walkers. I did not know my pace but I used to powerwalk at 7.5km/h. This get me going for about 3 km. But then, my ITB was worsen and my right calve started to cramp. I have to stop every now and then to apply deep heat rub. Luckily, I put a few cc of deep heat rub into a small plastic bag and carry with me. I can rub on it anytime, no need to wait until those water point. I also observe an interesting fact, when I powerwalk, my left ITB is kind of ok. But if I walk slower, the ITB is painful. Well, then just powerwalk!!

Then, I switch my mindset. I told myself that my longest run in practice is 34km, get to the 34km and anything beyond that is a bonus. That works, and I was able to inch myself using powerwalk to 34km+.

At around 35km, I met my two colleagues who are cheering for a few full marathon runners from the team. I re-picked up myself and started a new strategy - Counting each of step from 1 to 10 and start over-and-over again. It is almost like self hypnosis. The heat is not a problem for me. I was not using my full cardio-vasicular capacity due to the slow speed. And I sweet less than normal, therefore, no dehydration problem. Also I did not hit the wall. I was able to keep going at my normal powerwalk pace. But with those stops to rub deep heat rub, I guess the average timing is not great.

After a few km, I reached the Crawford st which goes downhill under the Nicholl Highway and than goes uphill into Republic Ave. I was power walking through which is a dear mistake. I was too fast and cause my right hamstring and outer shin to cramp up. Another minute spent in rubbing deep heat rub. I believe that due to my left leg problem, my right leg compensate for it and overwork. I had to slow down to around same pace as other walker in order to give a break to my right leg. After around 500m, the right leg was getting better and I resume my powerwalk. But both my legs were already overworked. Then, I recalled of the Galloway book of "Marathon, you can do it" and mentioned about mental tricks. I imagine that I had two powerball generated at my hand and I injected them into my legs. The mental trick worked and I get my self going for another 2km until I reached 41km mark.

Both of my legs were almost gone. And I almost run out of deep heat rub. I had to come up with a new strategy to keep me going. Since my stride is about 97cm and it was 1.2km till end. I guess I can start counting from 1 to 1000. And by 1000, I should be on the Padang straight. The countdown kept me going for the last 1km. On the straight, I started running, but it was very painful. Every step, the muscle is telling me to quit and give up. Both left and right leg cramp up in my last 200m dash. But I made it!! I finished at the gun time of 6hr 8mins. For the chip time, it is 6:01:04. From the runpix, I am faster 34% of full marathon runners, 33% of male full marathon runner but only 19% of my category (Male 40-44 in age). Hmmm... meaning that those 40-44 male runners are on average better...

It was tough, very tough. As in the Murphy's law, whatever, can go wrong will go wrong. I had a shin splint three weeks ago and had to stop running for two weeks. I had a failed watch and a pair of shoe that gave me problem. But I am happy that I compete the race, though not at a time that I like, but it is a personal best (first time, of course personal best).

Learnings from the race:
1. Check your equipment before hand, don't take it for granted
2. Must try out the shoe combination that is going to be used in the race.
3. Petroleum jelly works great. I have no blister on my right foot
4. Marathon IS a mental race. Positive thinking is important. I think I won the battle this round.
5. Bring small amount of deep heat rub with you is a good idea
6. Although I put on action cream, I still have nipple abrasion. I think I should have just tape it.
7. My sunblock is useless (anyway, it says that it is effective for 4 hrs only). My kid told me that I got darker. Anyone has any recommendation?