Queenstown Stadium

It has been quite a while since I last came to Queenstown stadium though I always get to see the tracks on the train to NIE. Today is the last interval session with the club before the D-day.

Tr Jimmy planned 3 interval session: 1 X 1200m; 1 X 800m; 1 X 400m (relay). Looking forward to the relay part as I nv did at the club before.. add some fun to the interval with the baton passing.. reminds me of sch sports day which i nv get the chance to try.. sigh...

1 X 1200m - 5:55:11
Lap 1 - 1:59:05
Lap 2 - 1:58:69
Lap 3 - 1:57:37

1 X 800m - 3:51:33
Lap 1 - 1:50:98
Lap 2 - 2:00:35

1 X 400m
din take timing for this lap but it is definitely the fastest that I have ever done.. dear estimated shld be 1:20++ ^o^

NUS - Ulu Pandan Canal - HF

The weather was quite cooling as I ran along Pasir Panjiang-99 slopes-NUS. Saw Julie enjoying her ice lemon tea @ NUS busstop. Told her that I will be running on as I have my mini pocari sweat. Ivy caught up with us at clementi road and we ran together towards the canal. The sun was shining hard on the ground along the Canal. Finished up most of my pocari. It was hurting for the eyes and I have to keep my head down to avoid the glare. Julie went much ahead and I was enjoying Ivy's pace from behind. Had our 1st water stop @ SPC Holland n Julie was there too. Ivy treated us ice cool isotonic drinks and convinced us to go for the full distance today. Was thinking of returning back from Depot rd initially. I was feeling quite thirsty n grabbed another Gatarade before we cont'd our run. Luckily the weather was kind on us as it turns cloudy on the return route. Picked up a bit on my pace along TB rise.

Was feeling quite good after the run.. not that tired .. had a filling lunch celebration for Eddy ORD @ Zion.

Distance: 23km __ Timing: 2:49 (inclusive of 10 mins break)

Portsdown - Queenstown

Today run is the usual 14km route from Club - Queensway- Portsdown - BV MRT- Queenstown - Queensway - Club.

Was in the middle pack until the AYE part.. peter asked if I am ready to increase speed since it is abt 8km left.. not confident.. asked him to go ahead n if i can follow, i will just tag behind.. can only keep in sight with him till the BV MRT. Was a traffic behind the middle pack by the time I reached Queenstown CC junction. Checked my watch.. 52 mins.. Saw Peter and Siok Ying at the opposite side of Queensway junction... Din see Ivy.. picked up my pace along depot road n saw peter n siok ying reaching CMPB. Quite a good run today and tested out some good pace along the str paths..

Distance: 14km __ Timing: 1:23:34

Labrador Hill

Din complete the training today.. just cldn't get myself to run up the slopes.. thomas was encouraging at the 2nd loop... trying to keep me entertained by dancing up the slopes as I struggled.. *o* decided to stop and walked all the way back to club.. thinking back... seems like i always have difficulty doing slopes on the Tues training.. except for once when i did the 7 loops...

Loop 1 - 10:09:25
Loop 2 - 11:46:21

Flyer

As I ran along the whole stretch of shenton way, there was a strong cool breeze.. it was very nice, reminds me of Gold coast... But the breeze was gone when I reach the Nicoll hwy bridge towards esplanade.. instead the sun took over from there and shined very brightly on the clear blue sky.. I didn't put on my sunblock today! decided to run to the flyer n turn back.. had a short break at flyer.. saw Wong, Shirley, Eddy, Giang having their break too.. got a bottle of pocari from 7-eleven and cont'd my return route to club.. saw Ivy, Siew Lee, EH and Lucille.

As I ran towards DBS building, a group of bikers sped past and I heard someone shouting out my name from behind.. it's Melvin Jr! PS and alber were also in the grp.. saw another grp of bikers as I ran along keppel rd too.. nice to see more n more locals into sports nowadays.. not much of a shade along the TB way part except for the small portions from the trees, so i did tempo along this stretch.. slowed down in the shade and sped up for the sunny part... :D

Distance: 18km __ Timing: 1:59:44

Punggol - BK MRT

Missed 2 training sessions for the past 2 days due to the rain... Was in a short dilemma if I should go for a morning run to make up for it.. glad that I managed to convince myself and made the right decision to do it as it started to pour from 4pm till late evening...

Got on my gear and off I went for the usual 15km ard my neighbourhood. The early sun was still cosy tucked in by the light puffy clouds. Running at my comfy pace of 7min/km, I enjoyed the cool breeze as I headed towards Punggol. Tot of getting a bottle of Pocari from Ang Mo, but they were closed. Ran past the construction sites and decided to turn to SPC @ Edgefields to grab a drink. As the working force were buzzing their way towards punggol NEL, I observed something common in them. They were not smiling, their expressions looked stoned and tired. Even the drivers on the road looked very much the same. Many thoughts came by to me. What's life? Work for the sake of pleasure or survival? Are you enjoying what you are doing now? Up to date, yes I do. Many may say that reality is different, many a times it just not within our control. How much risk are you willing/able to take/adjust? There's so many perspectives that you can take... it's your choice.. your life...

As I headed towards Sengkang, traffic was heavy which made running difficult. Stopped a couple of times. Not much of the cars were travelling along Anchorvale - Fernvale, which makes the air much fresher and less noisy. By the time I exit from Fernvale, the sun is already out- big and bright in the clear blue sky. Din stop at YCK Shell as I still had my drink.. cont'd all the way to back. Legs were ok.. stretched and had a short rest at BK MRT enjoying the greenery view and light breeze... :)

Distance 15km __ Timing : 1hr45mins

MF - ECP Mac

Dear and I were down at the streets before 6am.. no sign of a cab at all. Dear made a quick decision to take the train instead when the train arrival display indicated "Harbourfront 2mins". Saw Derrick, Simon, Laichee, Shirley, Wong and Yuen on our bus ride to the club.

Had a short chat with Henry, Lucille, Enghwa and started off 1st at 7am sharp. Engine was slow in starting up today. Calfs felt achy tho I had a superb good rest yesterday. Doesn't felt like running at all. Felt like walking when I reached Shell. Be patient and just go slow, dun stop. Henry caught up with me at Harbourfront and asked how long will I be running today. Up to ECP Mcdonald which I really hope I can do it. Weixin past me at the railway station, told me that he will be running slow today as he had a full day of ball game @ Sentosa cum a late nite show till 2am this morning. But in less than 10mins, he was already out of my sight.. that's the slow of fast runners! *o*

It was only when I reached DBS that I felt warmed up and felt like running.. weather was very nice and the road was cleared with the Apec meeting, i was running in the 1st lane at most of the times towards Flyer until Freddy came up from behind and asked me to run on the pavement. :P Reached the flyer in an hr in a comfortable pace that I could talk. Stopped for a 2min break at B1 Wenlong's pitstop, topped up my pocari bottle with 100 plus and went on to Mac. Felt a blister on the right side of my left big toe as I ran... did some adjustments so I wun feel it else it's really hard to run.. Saw Julie, Laichee, Micheal and Ivy on their return route. Dear was surprised when he saw me at Mac, tot I wld run up to B2.. asked me to be careful and off he went. Time check - 1 hr 57 min for 16+km.

Had another break at B1, topped up another can of 100 plus to my bottle plus another can. Din take any gels or chocs as I told Ivy tt I wanted to burn off my fats.. :P quite mental as I ran along kallang, looking forward to reach flyer. Planned my next pitstop @ Lau Pa Sat Cheers, no Pocari oni 100 plus and Sportswater.. decided to go to 7-eleven at Anson.. the drink pushed me on.. saw Ivy at Tanjong pagar and told her that i gg to 7-eleven. Grabbed Gatorade and off I went. 3hr 40min... last 5km to go... just keep going.. my lower back and side of my hips were hurting.. so glad to reach the club. took me 2hr 14mins for the return route from Mac .. Lie flat on the grd n asked dear to massage my lower back to relieve the pain...

Distance: 35km (inclusive of breaks) __ Time: 4hr 12 min