Nike Plus SportBand

I got my Nike Plus SportBand Yesterday. It comes in a transparent box with both the sportband and the sensor together.


Inside, there is instruction manual under the base. No software disk in the package. I have to go to the Nikeplus site to download it. If you are using Firefox and have the Adblockplus add-on, you will need to either disable the add-on or add a filter @@http://nikeplus.nike.com/ so that Adblockplus will not block the nikeplus site.
Here is a close up look of the sportband and the sensor. The main unit of the sportband is detachable from the band and have a USB connector to hook up to computer.
To use the sensor on a non-Nike shoe, I use a piece of plastic to wrap the sensor with three holes punched. And use wire-tie to tie it to the shoe lace. It seems to work fine.

I did a run with my Garmin 305 together with the sportband. I run inside a stadium to calibrate it. For two laps of walk or run, Garmin has almost exactly 800m. However, the sportband register 0.77km when I walk and 0.7km when I run at 5:00 pace. I have input them into the calibration screen in the Nikeplus software. Will need to try it out next time to see if the calibration factor works. At least the good part is that it allow independent cal factor for walk and run which will help a lot since I am a run/walk runner.

Tempo Run

The recovery run that I had two days ago works very well. Today, no more soreness from my right leg. Therefore, go back and have a tempo run.


I started conservative to see if any soreness or pain. Then, I get into the rhythm for a 5:30 pace.
I also try out the new shoe Nike Air Zoom Katana S4. I wanted to buy a Katana for quite some time. Finally got it in a sales for just S$65.

The shoe is light, about similar weight to my Pegasus TC. The fabric on the top is light and is just enough to wrap around the feet. It has a pretty solid sole and reasonably good cushion. But my run is only 3.4km, not enough to truly evaluate the shoe. I will have some longer stint on it to it how it work on a 20km stint. I may use it to replace my favourite Pegasus TC which I had two marathon and two half-marathon races on it.

Recovery Run

After the AHM, I have some soreness on my tibialis anterior muscle. Even after some massage, it is still there. Whenever I flex it, it has a bit pain. I guess it is tight and when I flex it, I am pulling it and cause the pain. I decided to do some simple recovery run to see if it helps. At least, the recovery run helps me to recover in my last couple of long runs.

I started with a very slow jog for about 1km+. Then, I started to accelerate to a tempo pace for another km. Then, slow for another one, then finish with a tempo pace. I feel ok. See if this helps to reduce the pain on the right leg.

Army Half Marathon

For this year's AHM, I did not really prepared. I was oversea during the week leading to the event. Almost got drunk during Thursday night dinner. Not enough sleep and not proper carbo-loaded. It is not possible for me to have a personal best.

Today, the weather is nice, not hot, the sun is hidden behind the cloud. And it is not raining. It is ideal condition for running in Singapore.

I start at the back of the group, it takes about 8 minutes from the actual start time till I cross the starting line. I run at consistent pace at the beginning and switch to brisk walk when we need to climb the Sheares Bridge. And I hurry down the bridge at a 4:30 pace. Since I started at the back, the runners nearby are slower runners. I switch between run & walk all the way. When I walk, I am about similar to the slower runners and obviously much faster than other walkers. But when I run, I have difficulty in passing people. The runners are just too slow for my pace. There is simply too many people and too narrow on the course. There are several places that I encounter bottle neck and need to slowdown to slow walking pace. For the stretch between Fort Road and the Marina barrage, I can hardly switch between running and walking since the runners are very slow. I was actually passing the slow runners with just brisk walk at 7:45 pace. Secondly, that stretch is just temporarily paved and there are lots of water potholes and loose gravels. I got some gravels into my left shoe and caused a blister. I ultimately need to stop at 18km mark to clear it.

At around the half way, I started to have my shoe fully soaked. I think it is due to the water spill at the water station when I need to squeeze in to get water. The result is two blisters - one on the middle toe on the right foot and the other near the heel of left foot which is more caused by the gravel. I brought along two packs of gels and I used them at around 13km and 17km mark.
At around 17km mark, I have some cramp flare up on my right calf. I have to put some deep heat rub on it but in order to play safe, I have to switch to pure brisk walk in the last 4 km.

My original plan is to run the last km before finish line continuously. However, with the worry on my right foot, I decided to only start running in the last 200m. Well, it proves that I was too conservative. My last 100m is sprinting (3:46 pace) and I still have quite a bit of reserve. I think I could have run the last km without problem.

The water points are really disappointed this time. There are too little tables and it ends up spending 20-30s in each water point to just get the water.

Overall, the finish time on my Garmin is 2:38:16. It is faster than my last year's AHM but no where near my personal best. Even my half marathon split at HK full marathon is faster. I think if it is not due to the water point and mixing with the slower group, I should be able to finish at around 2 hr 30 minutes. Well, next time, I will start at the front portion of the group.

Run in Seoul

On the second day, I choose to run in a different route. This time, not around the block but just run along the main road. I cover a total of about 5km. But there are a couple of points that I need to cross the road and need to wait for the traffic light.


The two longer split is due to the waiting in front of the traffic light. However, the GPS log shows I have a 3:23 pace in one of the split. It is no way that I can run that fast. Certainly, there is some incorrect signal received. But overall pace of 5:30-5:45 is ok.

Brisk walk/Run in Seoul

I travelled to Seoul in last couple of days. Running in foreign country with GPS to log the run is good to see where I run. I stayed in the JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul. Next to it is the Central City shopping mall and the Kangnam Bus Terminal. I brisk walk/run around the block for 3 loops. Each loops is around 2km long.




I did not carry the HRM with me, therefore, no heartrate info. The brisk walk portion is pretty quick. I am able to maintain 8km/h. I ran in the last 1km, feels good. But the pavement around the area is using brick-like structure. The surface is not smooth and a bit up and down. But overall a nice workout in a foreign city.

Tempo Run 3.2km

Tonight has drizzle over Queenstown. I did a short 3.2km tempo run. Paced around 5:30. With cloud on the sky, tonight is particularly difficult for the GPS to sync. I just started without getting a proper sync. It finally sync up after about 200m. Therefore, the time for the 1st split is not accurate at all.

I did stretch my heart pretty deep and register a max HR of 187.

Racing Pack from Singapore Bay Run

I went to collect the Army Half Marathon race pack. I brought alone my camera but forgotten to take pictures! After getting back home, I took out the content of the race pack.

The content includes - bib + champion chip, a bottle of New Water, dri-fit t-shirt, leaflet about the marina bay, leaflet about the event and a couple of different discount coupons.

I like this year's t-shirt more than last year. The design is simpler and does not have the "sticky" feeling of the complex design printed in last year.

Watching Olympics

The Olympics is exciting. And I have spent quite a bit of time catching with events and results, especially those with HK or China participated. And for a few days, I was staying late watching TV on the replay of events. The result is a lack of sleep and lack of training! My training mileage in this week is really low.

Brisk Walk

I try to do a mini-interval training. With alternate splits at 7:00 pace and 8:00 pace (each split is 400m).


I end up doing better than that with a very quick start and good pace throughout the 6km. Overall average pace at 7:06. The hip twisting works well. I estimate a proper hip twisting will reduce the pace by about 15 to 20s per km.

Interval training 800m x 6

This week, I am re-doing the 5:00 pace 800m interval training. This time, trying to keep the initial pace slower. This time 800m x 6, 3 min rest in between at a target pace of 5:00.


The SportTracks has some problem in accurately getting the splits. From Garmin Training Center, my six splits are 4:57, 5:04, 5:01, 5:19, 5:08, 5:14. Pretty good consider split 1 & 4 contain a 200m uphill section.

Southern Ridges

I try out the western side of the Southern Ridges today. I go along the Hydrabad Road and then into the Kent Ridge Park. Through the Kent Ridge park to the Science Park and NUS. However, I lost my way around there and not sure what is the proper road to go to the West Coast Park. Therefore, I went my usual way into NUS and Clementi Road to the West Coast Park.


I have to stop in a few places to look at the map which results in a couple of splits being slow. Overall still ok at around 8:57 pace. If I minus out the map reading stops and the two stops that I bought drinks at petrol station, I think the pace is ok in the view of a few long slopes and uneven pavement.

Tempo Run, 6.6km 6:00 target pace

Running around Stirling again, I set a 6:00 target pace for 2 laps totalled 6.6km.

For the 1st lap, I keep up with the 6:00 pace. But the 2nd lap, my speed is sliding downhill. Overall pace is 6:03, very close to the target. I should control my initial pace better to have a more uniform speed.

I try to look up my running history since about a year ago. For the similar distance, the 6:04 pace is the fastest.

Interval training 800m x 3

I was planning to do a 800m x 6 interval training with 3 mins rest in between. I set a pace goal of 5:00 pace. I started off at a pretty fast pace of 4:43 despite the 200m uphill slope. And my second interval is at 4:48. Heartrate goes up to 170 at the end of the interval. The 3rd interval slows down to 5:08. And I am already huffing and puffing. Heartrate goes up to 170 just after 400m. I decided to call it off today since I started too fast on the first two. And I will get slower and slower in the next 3. At this pace, maybe I should have 3 mins rest in between instead of 2.

Tempo Run, 5:15 target pace

I am keeping my mixed training within a week - Interval training, tempo run, brisk walk. Today is the tempo run day. I set a target pace of 5:15.


First, it does look strange cos my heartrate drops at the end when I was pushing hard. It is because the chest strap has loosen and fall to my belly. Ha ha, it is measuring my "belly" rate.

When I compare to my previous personal best in Dec-2007:

Splits	17-Dec-07	3-Aug-08
400m	2:02	2:03
800m	1:59	2:08
1200m	2:13	2:13
1600m	2:07	2:07
2000m	2:06	2:07
2400m	2:12	2:11
2800m	2:22	2:19
3200m	2:04	1:56
Total	17:09	17:08

I am one second faster in the 3.2km route!!! However, overall pace is 5:21, slower than my target pace. I was doing okay for the 1st 6 splits and really lost my momentum in the 7th split which is slightly up-slope but no where near the slope in split #3. I should have gone faster in that split. The final dash is good. It is quite a equal split between the 1st half and the 2nd half.

16km brisk walk, 8 min target pace

It is about time for me to lengthen the weekly LSD. Today, I did a 16km brisk walk with 8 min target pace at the East Coast Park


I pretty much keep to the 8 min pace. The three spikes are the water break (getting 100 plus from vending machine). In the last 1km, I switch to run at a target pace of 6 min. Feels good after the run. Heart rate is at a very reasonable 130-140 range. In Sundown, due to the flu, my heartrate was running 140-150 at a slower pace. I did some quick one about 3km from the finish at around 7:30 pace with HR at around 150. Overall, very satisfy with it. Seems that I regain my peak performance. Hope that I can hold it for Army Half Marathon later this month.