Twilight Ultra Challenge

The twilight ultra challenge is organised by sgrunners together with running guild. It is a 16 hours event that we go around a 5km stretch on the East Coast Park.  You can do whatever distance you want.

 
My plan is walk from beginning to end. If able to maintain averaged 9:36 pace, I suppose can cover 100km for the 16 hours. It works great in the first 25km. The plan was to build up a buffer early on for the 2H of the race. I was able to maintain about 8:40 average pace and completed the first 25km at around 3 hr 40 mintues. Therefore, I have a 20 minute buffer created. Then, I have my usual struggle in the middle of it from 30km to 40km. There is hotspot on my left foot which force me to change my shoe which took out about 5 minutes. My back started to hurt and need to make frequent stretches. I tried my best to keep the average pace to be 9:36.  At the 50km mark, the timing is 7 hr 50 minutes, meaning that it took 4 hr 10 mins for the 25km. The pace is slowly dropping back. While I can temporary boost my pace for 1-2km, I am not able to maintain a sub-9 min pace.

In comparison during Malacca 12 hr walk, other than the break & stretch, I was able to walk in sub-9 min pace.

The next 25km is even dragging. Blister form at around 60km on the left ball of the foot and I have to drain the liquid from my left foot blister at 65km which cost me 15 mins. Patch up with an extra cushion to avoid pressurizing the blister. I hang on for another 10km to complete 75km.  But the timing is at 12 hr 55 mins, way off the time that I need for a 100km.  I was sleepy and demoralized.  I lay off for about 20mins before taking another 5km.  I call it a day at around 7:15am in the morning. I could do another 5km or 7.5km. But don't want to put too much damage to the foot. A blister on ball of the foot can take a few weeks to heal completely.

After getting back home, I have a total of 5 blisters. Drain the liquid, patch it up. The one on the left ball of foot continue to hurt when I walk even at home.

I also have a strange situation. My salty sweat was causing real problem on both eyes. I have slight abrasion on both "eye-bag". I have to wash them every 2.5km from 50km onward. It does not happen before. Need to find out how to prevent it in the next round.

For the weight, I lost about 0.75kg. Think that my hydration plan is ok.

The drink & fruit are great. I appreciate that the volunteers are staying up late for us. A great practice to prepare for Sundown Ultra 100.  Now, I need to think about mitigation action to come up with a feasible plan to complete Sundown Ultra within the 16 hr cut off time.

Preparation for Twilight Ultra Challenge

Twilight Ultra Challenge is organised by sgrunners.com  The rule is simple, for 16 hours, you can go as long as you want in a 10km loop. My personal target is 100km.

Below is what I have prepared:

Shoe : Asics Gelfeather (spare : Nike Katana)
singlet : SCSM 2005 singlet (spare : HK marathon t-shirt for wet weather)
pants : 2XU long compression tight
socks : Injinji toe sock
food : Natural valley Honey & Oats, F&N Alive Mixed nut bar, Gu chomps, salty cracker
Electrolyte : mainly depends on the heed supplied by organizer, plus Active Zero & Nuun
Blister prevention : Strappal tape, Leukoplast tape, vaseline
others:
Northface cap (for wet weather), Gamin 310xt + HRM, O2 racebelt + small pouch, 2 cups (for Bring-Your-Own-Bottle initiative), Tiger Balm muscle rub, small towel,

Hong Kong Marathon

I collect my rack pack on 19-Feb. Content is very simple, just an event-tee, event brochure, a flyer, timing chip, baggage bag and the year of rabbit medal.


 

The weather in Hong Kong is cold, estimated to be 12 degree with rain. I did not bring any long sleeve clothes. I will use a HKU-100 t-shirt, 2XU long compression tight, running cap and ASICS gelfeather.

I prepared 4 packs of gel, a tiger palm rub and 4 capsules of electrolyte.

I am on the second group of full marathon which started at 6:45am. I was wearing a disposable raincoat at the starting line. The temperature feels ok. Just before it starts, there was some very very light drizzle. I am not sure what is the best "clothing" strategy. But anyway, just before the start, I took off the raincoat and dump it to the side.  

In the first 3km, there is a light drizzle which was worrying cos I threw away my raincoat already!  I was having my 80/20 run/walk in the first couple of km, keeping an average pace of 6:50.  When arriving to the foot of the Stonecutter Bridge, I switch to brisk walk up the bridge. My 10km time is 1hr7mins which is typical. So, nothing unusual.  But when I arrive the Tsing-Ma bridge, I feel different. Usually, I will start to get tire and can only have 50/50 run/walk. However, I feel very good, I continue my 80/20 run/walk without any issue. I realize that I will have my personal best. I continue to push and finish the half-way mark at 2hr21mins, a personal best for half marathon!  There are several splits that I was running below 6:00 pace!

After passing the half-way point, I know I cannot keep the 80/20. I switch to more walking than running but still make stretches of 100-250m run. I was able to keep a good pace of averaged 8mins. Even after the cross-harbour tunnel, I still feel ok and able to run the downslopes at good pace.

After the last bridge, I try to switch to 100% run but the muscle cramp up. I mix brisk walk with short stretch of run and able to sprint on the last 100m.  Overall chip time is 5:06:10 which is my personal best.  It was 18 minutes faster than my previous best (2008 HK marathon 5:24:09).

Tempo Run with Diadora Fantasy

Have a tempo run wearing Diadora Fantasy. I bought it 3 years ago for Pose running. But did not actually shift to pose running. Now, try to use it as a minimalist running shoe. 3.3km run @ 5:30/km pace. I was more cautious at the beginning making sure that I don't heel strike. But it turns out my natural running gait of mid-foot strike is ok with the shoe. The shoe is very very light (the lightest among all my shoes).

Tempo Run by jjchsg at Garmin Connect - Details

1st Run in 2011

Originally intended to join the Weekender's Run in Yishun, but oversleep (I am not using iPhone). When woke up, already 6:45am. Therefore, just have a run around nearby area.

Run a total of 10km with total time 1 hr 15 minutes. The first 4km are purely running and the last 6 km are run/walk mixed.
Garmin Connect

2010 Malacca 12 hr walk

Just one week after the Singapore Marathon, I have another event at Malacca - 12 hr walk. During the Singapore Marathon, I have 2 blisters developed - one on left foot and one on right foot and both are at the ball of foot. I was very very worry about it. I am not sure whether I can recover in time for a long walk. Even I just recover, the blister may come out again with just 10 or 20km walk. But anyway, I went over there and give it a try. I set a very low expectation of maybe just beating my last year's 60 laps. I also want to try out to see if it is possible to walk 100km in 16 hours (cutoff time of Sundown Ultra 2011)

I took a coach bus from Singapore to Malacca at 8:30am, arriving Malacca around 2:45pm.

Since there is plenty of time to go, I decided to go to have a pre-race massage.
After that, I went over to collect my race pack and pay for the registration fee
The Race Pack has a t-shirt with collar (strange for a competitive event), some samples, a visor, a notebook and several pack of drinks.

There is a big team from Hong Kong with about a dozen of participant and two support. In view of last year that I felt cold at the middle of the night, I decided to use t-shirt + long compression tight and wearing Asics Gelfeather. But I am not going to carry a belt pack as I had placed my supply just on the side of the road in the race course.
The race route is a ~1km loop around the St. Paul's Hill. And participant can go as many rounds they can within 24 hours. There is supply of drinks (isotonic, water, soya bean milk, teh terik) and food (11pm, 2am, 5am). Though I did not eat their food, instead, I have my own cereal bar and salty crackers.
Learn from last year, I started slow in the 1st lap (8:52), accelerate a bit in 2nd lap (8:26) before going full steam for three fast laps (7:4x) and then settle back on 8:20 to 9:00 pace. I was drinking alternatively isotonic drink & water. Suddenly, I had pain in the abdomen at about 12km. I try to contain it for a few lap and finally need to visit the toilet at lap 19. I hit the half marathon at 3 hours and continue at around 9:00 pace. From lap 27, I started to feel sleepy. I struggle and need to take breaks every 2 to 3 laps. Then, I started to have pain at the back of the foot at around lap 36. I tried to change the lacing but cannot get rid of the pain. I finished lap 42 at 6hr 22mins. I decided to change to my spare shoe - Nike Katana. The Nike shoe did not solve the problem. Finally, I cut a cushion material with a hole at middle to put it on the top of my foot. The pain was then reduced to a manageable level. But I think I wasted at least 10 minutes on this shoe issue. After I solved the shoe issue, I had my 2nd wind from lap 42 to lap 50 with a strong finish for the 50km. At the end, I was ranked 17 on the 50km male.

After that, my back started to hurt. I had to stop almost every lap to stretch my back. I started to put on deep heat rub on the legs and the back. My timing is not good. I was not sure how many laps I can go on. I just want to beat my last year's 60 laps, and then go for 65 or 70 laps.

Even though I had the back problem, I continue to pile on lap-after-lap, though slower lap time of 10:00 to 11:30. But at lap 66, the morning started to come. And I was suddenly not feeling sleepy anymore. I had my 3rd wind. I started to lap at 9:00 pace. At the end of lap 70, the clock showed 11:08:34. I had about 51.5 minutes left. I thought I can only do 5 laps. But then, another participant numbered A067 passed me and was going faster. I believed he wanted to squeeze in an extra lap. After lap 73, the clock shows around 11:35:00. With only 25 minutes to go, if I could go at 8:00 pace, I would be able to squeeze in another lap. That really motivated me and I started to pickup the speed. My last three laps are around 8:00 pace and help me achieved 76 laps, something that I never thought of before the start of the race.
With completing 76 laps (around 75km since each lap is about 985m), I was ranked 11 among the male participant. It is extremely satisfactory
And I also got a prize of RM100!
From the timing, I completed 75km in 11hr 59minutes. If I can keep the same average pace, I would be able to just complete 100km in 16 hours. Now, I need to seriously think about Sundown Ultra.

After the post-race, I found a total of 9 blisters on my right & left foot. Thanks to the switch to use the Strappal tape. My 2 pre-race blisters are okay. Instead, new blisters are grown on the edge of the Strappal tape. Maybe I should use it more extensively to prevent blister.

2010 Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

After returning from the Penang marathon, I collected the race pack for Marathon Singapore. The singlet looks quite nice and there are lots of brochure/coupon and some samples in the pack.

On the marathon day, before the race, there was heavy rain around my area. And the weather forecast is thunderstorm all over Singapore. Therefore, I have selected to wear a t-shirt instead of singlet. 5 pack of gel was prepared. And I also bring along a disposable raincoat with me in case it rains before it starts.

The race starts at 5am from Orchard Road, running down to China town and loop back to Nicoll Highway where the usual route going to East Coast Park. Since I was on a mission of 6 hour pacing, I tried my best to follow the timing to the dot.



I have my run in the first 3km and switch to run/walk at about 15%/85% ratio. This continue till the exit of ECP and switch to almost 100% walk. I was within 2 mins from the km target time for all the km mark. After the ECP exit, it was Marina Barrage. There is little shades and the sun is hot (who forecast thunderstorm?). I should have used a singlet instead. It does not really affect my plan at all. On the East Coast Parkway, I was walking up the slope and run down the slope without much issue. I try not to use any deep heat rub. Approaching Padang, I try to pick up speed but some minor muscle on my legs are a bit out of control. But I still run the last 200m and finish at 5:58:05 (chip time). A very successful 6 hr pacing.

The heartrate is all the time in moderate range except running down the slope after East Coast Parkway.