On 20-Dec-2008, it comes the day for the long walk. 298 participants for the 100km walk gathered at MINDS in Margaret Drive. My team is named ZLers with 3 male (me, Gopi and Chun Sing) and 2 female (Teresa and Corrine) team members. The flagoff is at 8:10am. The route is all over Singapore and pass at least 10 national parks.
Our initial speed is slower than planned, only at 4.5km/h. We had our lunch in the Longhouse eating place along Upper Thomson Road. Chun Sing's wife has landed support and bring us apple, banana, Milo, Pocari. No dramatic issues in the first 50km. We arrived CheckPoint 5 right at 8pm. The same time as the 50km walker starts their walk. Corrine has planned right at the beginning to stop at 50km mark. Therefore, no surprise for us that she dropped out at 50km. I had a foot massage at CP5. We have the drop bag in Chun Sing's wife's car. I got my shoe & t-shirt changed and move on at around 8:50pm. We arrived Pasir Ris Park at around 10:35pm and re-start at 10:52pm towards Changi Village. We arrived Changi Village at 1:20am. My wife went their to support us. We had coffee, Coke, sandwich and rock melon.
The next 13km is tough. The walk along the endless Changi Coastal Road can be demoralizing. We saw many teams dragging their feet. Chun Sing suffer from blister in the toes. Even after some padding, the situation does not improve enough. He finally decided to quit at the SAFRA resort. I had a blister developed on my left heel. But with a heel gel and slight change to the walking pose, I am able to move without pain problem.
Teresa, Gopi and me continue and arrive CP8 at around 5:12am. After a break, we move on and decided to skip breakfast. We arrive CP9, the last checkpoint at around 7:28. For the last 10km, I pace Teresa. We move slowly at 4km/h and stop a few times to air the feet. We finally finish at 10:09am at the SMU. Even though Corrine and Chun Sing did not complete, they came to the SMU to cheer us as well. Thanks for both of you!
For the 298 participants signed up for the 100km walk, only 99 completed the distance.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Singapore Marathon 2008
I did not sleep well last night. Woke up and 2am. Surf the net, eat an energy bar, get dress and drive down to the Padang area. The race started at 5:30am. I started from the over 5hr pen. I had 4 pack of gel with me.
I had some pretty quick runs at the beginning, overtook the 5 hrs pacers. I had two splits that are at 5 mins pace. But paying the price later down the race. I adopt the run/walk strategy. The field is a bit packed at the beginning and make it difficult to run smoothly. It takes a few km before the field started to spread out a bit. The waterpoints are a little bit crowded at the beginning but it is still well organized. I consumed my first pack of gel at 10km. My 10km split is 1:09:01 which is right on the mark. My run/walk strategy stopped at around 17km when I had my first cramp on my right foot. It is around the lower part of the right hand side of the shin. I knew that it is vulnerable point. I have a similar cramp in the Realrun and recently had some involuntary muscle contraction on it even in resting time. The initial fast pace possibly make it worse. I had to switch to pure walking. My initial plan is to use the run/walk till 25-30km in order to catch the 5 hr 30 minutes finish time. But now, have to settle on 5:45 finish time. I pop the second pack of gel at 18km.
My half marathon split is at 2 hr 36 minutes. Only 6 minutes off the schedule pace. I collected another pack of gel distributed by the race organised which I consume it at 24km. I like the taste of the Gu Gel, both the strawberry banana and tri-berry are nice. The chocolate is only so-so. At the 30km mark, I stopped at the sgrunners group for about 3 minutes. Have a biscuit, a drink and another pack of gel. When I hit the stadium link at around 33km, fatigue started to hit me. I can no longer keep the 7km/h target pace and slowed down to 9 min to 10 mins. My back also started to have fatigue and painful. The body is telling me to stop and lying down but I just continue, counting the step, targeting runners to pass. I was still possible to finish at 5:45. I consumed my 5th pack of gel at 34km. When I was on the Crawford Lane and the underpass of Nicoll highway, I saw Esther. She has a real problem in going up the slope. I slowed down the joined her. She supposed on a 5hr 30mins target but her back pain started to slow her down. It was only 4km from finish line. I walked with her and chat with her at a slower 11mins pace. She stopped for some deep heat rub for her back and right foot. After that, she feel better and started running again. I try to re-start running, but just 200m, the cramp on my right foot came back. I just brisk walk to the last 250m and run to the finish line.
Overall time is 5:51:19 according to my watch. Gun time is about 5:53. It is an improvement from teh 6:01 time that I had last year. But I really need to sort out my right foot problem. Otherwise, I may not finish within the cutoff time in HK marathon.
I had some pretty quick runs at the beginning, overtook the 5 hrs pacers. I had two splits that are at 5 mins pace. But paying the price later down the race. I adopt the run/walk strategy. The field is a bit packed at the beginning and make it difficult to run smoothly. It takes a few km before the field started to spread out a bit. The waterpoints are a little bit crowded at the beginning but it is still well organized. I consumed my first pack of gel at 10km. My 10km split is 1:09:01 which is right on the mark. My run/walk strategy stopped at around 17km when I had my first cramp on my right foot. It is around the lower part of the right hand side of the shin. I knew that it is vulnerable point. I have a similar cramp in the Realrun and recently had some involuntary muscle contraction on it even in resting time. The initial fast pace possibly make it worse. I had to switch to pure walking. My initial plan is to use the run/walk till 25-30km in order to catch the 5 hr 30 minutes finish time. But now, have to settle on 5:45 finish time. I pop the second pack of gel at 18km.
My half marathon split is at 2 hr 36 minutes. Only 6 minutes off the schedule pace. I collected another pack of gel distributed by the race organised which I consume it at 24km. I like the taste of the Gu Gel, both the strawberry banana and tri-berry are nice. The chocolate is only so-so. At the 30km mark, I stopped at the sgrunners group for about 3 minutes. Have a biscuit, a drink and another pack of gel. When I hit the stadium link at around 33km, fatigue started to hit me. I can no longer keep the 7km/h target pace and slowed down to 9 min to 10 mins. My back also started to have fatigue and painful. The body is telling me to stop and lying down but I just continue, counting the step, targeting runners to pass. I was still possible to finish at 5:45. I consumed my 5th pack of gel at 34km. When I was on the Crawford Lane and the underpass of Nicoll highway, I saw Esther. She has a real problem in going up the slope. I slowed down the joined her. She supposed on a 5hr 30mins target but her back pain started to slow her down. It was only 4km from finish line. I walked with her and chat with her at a slower 11mins pace. She stopped for some deep heat rub for her back and right foot. After that, she feel better and started running again. I try to re-start running, but just 200m, the cramp on my right foot came back. I just brisk walk to the last 250m and run to the finish line.
Overall time is 5:51:19 according to my watch. Gun time is about 5:53. It is an improvement from teh 6:01 time that I had last year. But I really need to sort out my right foot problem. Otherwise, I may not finish within the cutoff time in HK marathon.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Singapore Marathon Race Pack
After reading about queue time of 45 mins to 3 hours to collect the Race Pack, I was not sure how much time that I need to reserve. I went to collect on Friday afternoon. But with doctor's appointment at 4:30pm, I had only 45 minutes for collection it. When I arrived, I expected a long queue but I cannot find one. I go all the way to the Hall 5 and still no queue. Going into the Hall 5, there is only a very short queue of less than 10 people for the full marathon.
The lady quickly process my confirmation slip and pass me the rack pack.
At the exit, there is a counter that I can check the timing chip. I did and it works! The rack pack has a bag, bib, timing chip, safety pins, singlet, Natural Valley energy bar, sample of deep heat rub, waist band with Audi logo, sample of Becorra, a booklet on race information and varies flyers.
The lady quickly process my confirmation slip and pass me the rack pack.
At the exit, there is a counter that I can check the timing chip. I did and it works! The rack pack has a bag, bib, timing chip, safety pins, singlet, Natural Valley energy bar, sample of deep heat rub, waist band with Audi logo, sample of Becorra, a booklet on race information and varies flyers.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Interval training 400m x 6
The last run before Singapore Marathon. Interval training 400m x 6, 2 mins rest, 4:30 target pace.
The pace of the six splits are 4:31, 4:41, 4:10, 4:11, 4:42, 4:44. Not too bad.
The pace of the six splits are 4:31, 4:41, 4:10, 4:11, 4:42, 4:44. Not too bad.
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