Dusty Run 2009

I have been troubled by my Achilles Tendon problem for a few weeks. I cut down on my training to once a week (or less). Mileage has been low and no high intensity exercise. But I still need to get my long run to prepared for the Sundown. I joined the Dusty Run with about 100 other runners. I decided to go for at least 30km and possibly longer (if I am still in good shape after 30km). I followed the 30km route. And when I was back at the starting point, I feel that I can do a few more. I have a total of 35km - longest training since Hong Kong Marathon.


The route goes from East Coast Park F2 carpark. We go eastward to and cross the East Coast Parkway to Bedok park connector. Make a loop in the Expo and heading to Bedok Reservoir Park. After that, follow the Siglap Park Connector, Siglap Place, Bedok and back to East Coast Park. I do some extra after arriving in F2 carpark to the hawker center and the Bedok Jitty.


The the first 8km, I was walking with Le Giang at a slow pace of 10:30. She catch up on the MRT at Expo and then I speed up to 8:30 pace for the next 7-8km. But the uphill portion at the Siglap Place is taxing on me and I have to slow down to 9:30 pace. Plus, I was running low on water along Bedok South Road and have to slow down to avoid de-hydration. I stop by in a coffee shop for a coke and head back. Overall pace is a bit slow. and the 35km took me 5hr 43 mins. I need a slightly faster pace in the Sundown, perhaps a 6hr 30mins for the 1st loop.

My Achilles tendon holds up ok. Though a bit tired but everything is fine. There is only about 4 more weeks to up the mileage before tappering down.

Tempo Walk

Since I will concentrate my training on brisk walking this year, I switched my interval training from running to walking. Now, I also switch my tempo run to "tempo walk".

I target a 7:00 pace and I was able to keep the pace. However, the original intention is to go for 6.6km but after just 3.3km at the sub 7:00 pace, I was sweating a lot and my shin muscle start to get tired. I think I am not fit enough for a 6.6km at sub 7:00 pace yet. During the big walk, I was only able to keep the 7:00 pace up to 2km and then fall back to 7:30 pace. More practices needed...

Fat Bird NightHawk run #1

I was a bit lazy in blogging after the HK marathon. I have resumed training and have two LSD in the last two weeks. This week, I have joined the Fat Bird team NightHawk run in the East Coast Park. Around 50 people participated in the run. Some goes for 10km, some 19km, some 21km and some 24km.

I decided to take a 21km as a progressive buildup of my mileage again. Route is very simple, go from the Splash all the way to end of East Coast Park and then into the Park Connector 1st traffic light. Although the intended distance is 21km, the Garmin GPS shows only 20.4km.

Since in 2009, I will be focusing on walking event, I will conduct most of my training in brisk walk. It just happended that a group of runners also want to go slowly at 7:30 pace for "fat burning". I was able to keep up with them in the 1st half.

My previously longest walk at 7:30 pace is 1 hour. Similarly this time, I am able to keep up the pace for the 1st hour, and then, my pace dropped to 8:00 to 8:30 range. And finally finish at 2 hr 39 minutes. It is slightly slower than my AHM pace but I am happy with it. I should have let my early pace goes a little slower. Still working on "what should be the pace for my Sundown?".

Recovery Run

I have my recovery run a little bit late, only 3 days after the marathon. I still have aching quad, a black toe, an ankle with a blister and a bit pain in my right Achilles tendon.

I started with 7:00 pace. After about 500m, I feel better and started to run at a faster pace of 6:00. I continue to go faster in the later part at about 5:30. Overall, feel great after the run!! The pain in the quad and the Achilles tendon are both reduced.

Hong Kong Marathon

I am back to Hong Kong to participate in my hometown's marathon. I arrived on 5-Feb and collect the HKU team t-shirt.

I collect my race pack on 6-Feb and it is very very quiet in the collection booth.




Items in the race pack are t-shirt, bib, champion chip, booklet, medal and the deposit bag itself.


On the Marathon day, I woke up at around 5am, had a energy bar as breakfast, tape both feet, then take off to TST. I arrive there just before the 2nd wave of the half marathon starts. The weather is nice, 17-22 degree C with some cloud covering the sky. It is a little bit hotter than last year. I don't need to wear glove or disposable raincoat.

I warm up, deposit my bag, meet up with some sgrunners, then get ready for the start. The route is exactly the same as last year. From TST to Tsing-Ma bridge, U-turn and back across western cross-harbour tunnel and ended in Causeway Bay.



I start my first 10km in good shape. Seems that the not yet recovered flu did not have much impact. Heartrate runs between 160+ to 170+. I am able to keep up the pace with average 6:30 in the first 15km.



At the half way point, I am just 1 minute off my scheduled time. Looks promising. But around the same time, my right leg's quad suddenly cramp up. This is not my usual location of having cramp. I first hope that I can delay the start of cramp to 25km+, but...

I have to switch to brisk walk and I have to keep my pace at 8:15 for the rest of the course in order to beat the cut-off time. This started the tough part of the race. A few km more, my left leg also have cramp, then the inner thigh, and the hamstring taking turns to cramp up. I have to stop a few times to get some oil from the medical team to rub on the cramped muscle. Whenever, there is a downhill slope, I took the chance to run down it to cut a few second off, risking trigger more serious cramp. In each the checkpoint, here is the spare time that I had before the cut-off time:

15.4km 10 minutes before cutoff
20.3km 14 minutes before cutoff
25.0km 15 minutes before cutoff
33.6km 12 minutes before cutoff
37.3km 9 minutes before cutoff
39.2km 4 minutes before cutoff
42.195km 1 minutes before cutoff

You can see that I has slowed down a lot in the last 5 km. Luckily, I build up enough in the 1st 25km that allow me to slow down and still meet the cutoff time. At the end, I finished with gun time at 5:29:03 and chip time at 5:27:32.

It is slower than my 2008 Hong Kong Marathon. But judging from my health condition and the higher temperature, it is a satisfactory result.

Brisk Walk

Want to switch back to a brisk walk since I haven't done any brisk walk for a month. Target pace to be 8:00.



The slowest split was due to traffic light and the next 2 slowest one has some stairs. But it is still getting too slow! Especially for just 11km. Hmmm, need more brisk walk practices.

Tempo Run

Want to target a sub 6:00 pace for the tempo run.