Singapore Motorshow 2008

I went to the Singapore Motorshow this year. However, the scale is very small. Only a few Japanese brand are on : Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi Fuso.





It also has a stunt show organised by Subaru. Took some pictures.



There is a bicycle shop showing bicycle and some futuristic designs. They also have a bicycle game for riding 1.5km. I gave it a try and finished 2nd on the group of 4 at a time of 2:45.

Marathon Pacer Training

I am not a pacer and not intended to be a pacer during the SCSM. But anyone can join the pacer training leaded by Team Fatbird.


The route starts from Changi Beach Park carpark 2. One can adjust the distance by adjusting where to U-turn. Some go for 24km, some for 28km and some for 18km. I decided to do a 21km and make the U-turn just before going into East Coast Park.

I target to be at 8:00 pace. I was about there except a few splits.

Overall, the average pace is 8:07.

Interval training 1200m x 4

I must be crazy. I had my 2nd interval training within the week. Maybe I am trying to compensate for the shorter than expected mid-week LSD. This time, I try a longer distance of 1200m x 4, same 3 mins rest, target pace at 5:15.

But I am not able to keep the 5:15 pace. The 4 splits are 5:16, 5:05, 5:27, 5:26. Need more training...

Mid-week LSD

Today, due to a planned long afternoon meeting in the office, I will not be able to do my afternoon LSD to walk from office back to home. Therefore, I did the reverse and walk from home to office in the morning.

I woke up at 4:45am and get my early morning journey started at 5:18am. This time, I took a different route.

I also using a new light weight backpack from Deuter. It is a 15 liter backpack with only 350g in weight, less than half of the backpack that I was using in the last 2 weeks.

Since after arriving in the office, I still need to work for the whole day, I set my target pace to be 9:15.

I am basically on the right pace throughout the whole walk. I started when the sky is completely dark till it completely brighten up. However, around AMK library, the sky get dark and started to rain. It starts with a very light dizzle but quickly getting into heavy rain. I had to stop and took a bus to Yishun. Overall, I completed 14km right at the target pace of 9:15.

Interval training 800m x 6

Again, today is my weekly interval training, 800m x 6, 3 min rest, 5:00 target pace. In my previous 800m x 6, usually I have difficulty keeping my pace consistent down to the last split. Added to the problem that the last split always hit on a 200m slightly uphill slope.

Today, I finally got one with consistent pace down to the last split.
The pace of the 6 splits are - 5:00, 4:56, 4:54, 4:59, 5:00, 4:56 respectively. Though my heart rate peak up significantly in my last split. I am not sure if I can still keep the 5:00 pace for another 2 more splits.

Let's Take a Walk training session #2

I joined the Let's Take a Walk training session #2. This time, it goes from Kembangan MRT station to Pasir Ris MRT. Total 20km.

The pace is also relatively slow but slightly faster than last training. There is a big different in pace between the leading group and the trailing group. And for a few times, we need to have extended break for the leading group to wait for the trailing one.

Nike Human Race Finisher's Bracelet

For the Nike Human Race on 31-Aug-08, I only joined it as a Virtual Race. A few days ago, I got an email from Nike saying that I am one of the first 2000 people who joined the virtual race and uploaded the data. Therefore, I can collect my finisher's bracelet.

I went down today to the Nike office in Changi and got it.

Another Mid-week LSD

This is my 2nd mid-week LSD. I took exactly the same route as last week from Yishun to Queenstown. Total distance is 22.64km.

Last week, my average pace is 9:00. This week, I set a faster target pace of 8:30. I also made some small adjustment such as leaving my formal shoe, shirt & pants back in the office so that my backpack will be lighter. I also bring along 2 bottles of water and 2 bottles of isotonic drink with a total of 2 liter. This will reduce my need to stop at petrol station to buy a drink.

I basically is able keep the 8:30 pace in the 1st half of it. But I did slow down in the third quarter. I re-pickup the pace in last quarter with a strong finish in the last 1km. The overall time is 3:12:19 at exactly 8:30 pace!!!

I am planning the route in next week to include an extension into MacRitchie to lengthen it by a few more km. But this also means that I need to start earlier in order to catch dinner at home before 8pm.

Brisk Walk interval training

In this week of interval training, I want to have a change. I did a brisk walk interval training. 400m x 6, 1.5 mins rest. It is just like how I do my running interval. I am not sure what is the right pace. I pick 6:00 pace which is quite aggressive.


The result is that I have a super fast first split of 5:23 pace. But this cause my Tibialis Anterior muscle really cramp up. I can roughly maintain 6:00 pace in the next two splits. But the pain from the cramp started only after 200m and I have to stay on to endure the pain. The two splits are 5:55 (with uphill section) and 5:51 respectively. However, I cannot keep up in the fourth split and slow down to 6:23. In the last two splits, the muscle cramp up so much that I am even slower than my usual pace. Only have 7:35 & 7:40 respectively. Maybe I seldom really push that hard. And my leg muscle is not good enough for the sprint. Need to train more to improve. I hope that I can consistent do 6:00 pace for 1km continuously.

SwingKPE

I woke up 5:45am in the morning, took the MRT to Kovan Station while the sun is just getting up.
At 7am, the queue for the shuttle bus to the starting point is not long. Just a few minutes, I got on a bus. After getting down the bus, need to walk a few hundred meters to the starting point.

There is also a 5km Fun Run/Walk. They will carry a lantern in an attempt to break the world record of largest group of people carrying a lantern (little red colour ball attached to the red stick which contain the battery).
The start of the 10km race is right at the entrance to the tunnel and all 10km will be inside the tunnel. Basically, it is 5km into the tunnel and u-turn to the other tube and another 5km back to the exit of the tunnel. Part of the tunnel will be delibrately dark so that we can see the effect of the lanterns.
Some entertainment before the start of the race and there are game stall on the side for people to play after the race.
Overall, the tunnel is hot and humid inside. Just after 2-3km, I started to sweat heavily. But there is no wind to cool-off and speed up the evapouration of the sweat. The core temp just go up and at the half-way mark, I have to slow down to run-walk-run-walk sequence. There are two water points and give you a bottle of water. On the return leg, we also merged with the 5km fun run/walk. And I have to dodge people. And finish with a sprint in the last 100m with 1:07:42 timing. I was using the Nike Plus Sportband and it indicate a distance of 9.62km.

After the race, I collected the goodie bag. It contains a sports drink, a lantern, a hot/cold gel pack, a towel, a fan with LED light on it, 3 batteries for the fan, 3 packs of noodles, a water bottle, a bookmark and some coupons.

I did not have the finish certificate. Not sure whether it should be in the goodie bag. I did not bother to find out.

Then, I went forward to queue up for the shuttle bus to Kovan. The queue is long and not very well managed with people jumping the queue as well as the mix-up with the Community Center buses. It took me over 30 minutes in the queue to get on a bus.

Brisk Walk

Tomorrow is the SwingKPE run. Therefore, I was to have a easy 6.7km brisk walk with target pace at 8:30. However, after started for about 600m, it starts to have drizzle. I decided to change the program to shorten the distance to 3.2km and increase the target pace to 7:30.

Yishun to Queenstown

Early in the year, when preparing for the Sundown Ultra, I look up training plans that ask for two LSDs in a week. One of the option for me is the have a mid-week LSD going from office in Yishun back to Queenstown. However, I never pull-it-off and never had enough mileage (my peak weekly mileage before Sundown was only 50km). This year, I will sign up for the 100km walk. Therefore, really need to boost up my weekly mileage using mid-week LSD.
The route is from Yishun Ave 7 to Alexandra Road. I follow almost exactly the same route that I drive everyday. I took a bus to office and start my LSD at about 4:15pm (need to take 2 hours off). And I return home at about 7:40pm. I also carry a backpack with my office clothes/shoes and waters. I left my notebook locked in the office, too heavy to carry it.

Due to the extra load, and possibility of delay in crossing several traffic junctions, I set my target pace to be 9:00. At the end, I finish the 22.9km at 8:59 pace. I stopped at several traffic light and also bought two drinks at two petrol station. That's why you see a couple of slow splits. Overall, I keep a 8:30-8:45 pace most of the time. Slow down a little bit in the last couple of km due to some hot spot on the left foot. Really don't want to get a blister.

In the last 5 days, I had 4 trainings of 13km, 15km, 3km and 23km totalled 54km. Feeling tire getting back home. I don't want to push too hard and get injury.

Interval training 400m x 5

Today, time is tight since I have a tele-conference at 10:30pm. Therefore, I shorten the interval training to 400m x 6, 1:30 rest in between. But I up the target pace to 4:30. Never try to run at that speed for interval training.


The pace for the 6 intervals are - 4:11, 4:16, 4:15, 4:27, 4:55, 4:53
Obviously, the 4:30 pace is still too fast for me. Not able to keep the pace in the last 2 intervals. The resting period is also a bit too short as my HR have not come down sufficiently yet. Next time, maybe I should have 2 min rest in between and try it again. Hope that I can have the HR goes down to below 130 before the next interval starts.

2nd LSD in the weekend

This will be my first back-to-back LSD in a weekend. I did 13.3km yesterday and I repeat the same route + a little bit more today for another 14.75km.


Yesterday, the pace was very very slow. Today, I am on my own and can go for my own pace of 8:30.
I pretty much able to keep the pace at 8:30 except several split that wait for traffic light or go up/down stairs. I did a brisk walk sprint at the end to finish it off. Condition still feels great.

SwingKPE race pack collection

After the Let's take a walk training, I went to the Suntec City to collect the race pack for SwingKPE run. I was expecting some queue for the collection. But no queue at all. Very quick and collect my t-shirt and bib. One of the key reason is that they just give the bib in sequential order. No specific check of your bib number is needed. It takes less than 30 seconds for me to get the t-shirt and bib.


The t-shirt I got is black in colour. With SwingKPE logo at the back.

Interesting that the bib has the tag line of "Avoid Cutting Across Lanes". In the collection booth, there is also yellow and orange colour t-shirt. My friend going for 5km got the Orange colour one.

Let's Take a Walk Training Session

I am in the process of forming a team to participate in the Let's Take a Walk (100km). It is organised by Raleign Society. Today, I went to the training session.
The training starts from Redhill MRT station, and go through the South Ridges. Total is 12km. Adding to the 1.5km from my home, the total distance I had was 13.5km.

The pace is relatively slow, while on the move is around 12:00 pace but there are stops for breaks and get the slower walkers to catch up. Overall pace is 15:00+ . As you can see, the average heart rate stay very low as well. Anyway, it is a training for the actual 100km. 12:00 pace is possibly about the right pace for the 100km walk

A photo that I took at the end of the walk.
For my information for the walk, you can look at http://www.letstakeawalk.sg/
The next training will be on 20-Sept for a 20km walk.

Tempo Run 3.2km

I try running as fast as I can for the 3.2km loop. Target is 5:00 pace to finish at 16 mins.


I am able to maintain good spped at the first 2.4km. But I when I hit the slope around 2.6km mark, I slowed down too much. Even I run hard on the last 400m, I still finish at 16:12, just miss out the 16 minutes mark. However, compare to my previous run, it is the fastest time that I ever have

Splits	17-Dec-07	3-Aug-08	5-Sep-08
400m	2:02	2:03	1:55
800m	1:59	2:08	2:06
1200m	2:13	2:13	2:04
1600m	2:07	2:07	2:02
2000m	2:06	2:07	1:54
2400m	2:12	2:11	2:02
2800m	2:22	2:19	2:12
3200m	2:04	1:56	1:53
Total	17:09	17:08	16:12

Interval training 800m x 6

This week, I resume my weekly interval training. This time, 800m x 6 again, 3 min rest in between. I was not happy with the speed that I had in my two previous 800m x 6 interval training. And this time want to be consistently sub 5:00.



The pace this time is much faster than my last 800m x 6 interval on 11-Aug:
11-Aug : 4:57, 5:04, 5:01, 5:19, 5:08, 5:14
2-Sep : 4:21, 4:32, 4:54, 4:55, 5:06, 5:23

I was faster this time in all splits except the last one. Feel pretty good about getting into the sub 5:00 into the interval training.

Nike Human Race - Virtually

Originally, I want to sign up for the Nike Human Race. However, when I was about to sign up, it is already full. Therefore, I signed up the alternative - virtual human race. I got my Nikeplus Sportband on Friday, did a few test on Saturday, and use it on Sunday for the virtual race. I did have a very full day on Sunday - I visited Royal Singapore Air Force Open House for about 2.5 - 3 hours. Then went to Suntec City for the Comex 2008, then took some pictures for the Nike Human Race. I was about to go to Padang and took pictures at the finish line. However, the security refuse to let me walk across the Padang. At the end, I was pissed and just went off. Then, I also went to supermarket for the gorcery shopping. My legs are a bit tired. I was not sure whether I should take the 10km virtual race. At the end, at 10:30pm, I picked up my running shoe and did it around the neighbourhood.



I ran at a pretty consistent pace. Stop at the mid point at a 7-11 to buy a bottle of H-two-O which explain the slow split right at the middle. Then, resume. Final time is 1 hr 06 minutes which is a pretty good time for me. My last 10km under race condition is 1 hr 15 minutes.