Holland Drive-Magaret Drive

Always very mental to do the margaret drive stretch.. dear paced me today n i managed to finished in 1:27:40

MF Loops cum Stairs

Was late to club today.. reach Safra n saw a long car queue.. alamak.. Carpark Full.. let dear, Ricci n Waifung alight 1st while i joined in the queue.. lucky dun have to wait tt long.. but to my amaze, there were actually quite a no. of empty lots.. hmm guess they shld upgrade their systems on the no of empty slots so the drivers wun have to queue for no reason.. -_-

Dear is the trainer for today.. 6 sets (5.5 rds) of MF loop + 2 sets of staircase. manage to join the fellow runners in time as I went up from the stairs of henderson rd.. :D just before we start our session, Peter ran past all of us n we cheered him on :D

I went up from the road.. n two big buses came down on after another.. luckily manage to hope onto the grass patch path in time.. phew.. shld have follow the safety rule to run on the protected pavement.. Doing the MF loop has always been very mental for me.. how to convince myself to go rd and rd.. trying hard to increase the no of loop i do.. the 1st 2 loops.. my mind is blank.. as i just look forward to run.. saw julie taking a water break at the hill top when i was doing 2.5 rds.. tempted to go in too.. but worried i might stop.. since i still feel hydrated.. told myself.. ok next rd then drink.. saw her coming out of Hilltop at the next subsequent 2 loops.

As i went down the slope.. i remembered the documentary I watched last sun.. Pushing the Limits: Strength.. how to reduce the impact for ur knees.. as running is X times of impact than normal walking.. n the pounding on down slopes are worst.. it mentioned tt by staying relax, ur muscles will be more flexible.. hmm maybe instead of restricting the speed of gg down.. maybe i shld try on relaxing n just let my legs run down.. i felt the more i try to control the down speed, the more resistance it may be for my knees.. (P/s: not sure how true it is.. as i am just trying out n try to think in a logical way)

Tho i still felt quite "Chuan3" during the upslope.. but felt my legs condition better than the last time I did MF loop.. as I can still lift up my legs (Tho Jimmy was not ard n went for swim to nurse his left swollen knee, his voice kept repeating in my head: "Gotta lift up ur legs."). Dear overtook me at my 4th loop.. 5th for him... followed by Melvin (Snr) n Derrick who is giving a hard chase after Mel who looks soooo relax... guess the oni one who can go @ steady pom pi pi speed is melvin(Snr).. hardly hear his breathing if u run beside him.. *envy*

Manage to complete 4.5 rds.. n continued to do 1 sets of stairs.. wah really not easy.. not used to it as i had skipped the stairs training for the past sessions.. not sure how long i took.. but my legs really jellied tt i have problem standing.. just 1 set n it flatten me out! got to lean on the road barriers to support my body weight.. oni 1 word: TOUGH but very good training.. really kudos to Alan's elite grp who have to do numerous sets of power run + 2 sets of stairs..

Loop 1: 9:44:61
Loop 2: 10:16:39
Loop 3: 10:38:84
Loop 4: 11:38:93 (with water break)
Loop 5: 5:22:23 (1/2 Loop)

Kent Ridge

Trainer Jimmy planned route: Depot Rd -> Queensway-> Portsdown -> Kent Ridge 1.5 Loop -> Pasir Panjiang -> Harborfront -> TB Rise -> Club.

Had a great run today.. guessed mood is also good for run.. as Thomas told me on tuesday my performance depends on my mood.. which is quite true.. took abt 17-18mins to reach Queensway.. tt's consider quite fast for me.. saw Dear n the fast runners at the junction too.. followed behind them n dear stopped to wait for the 2nd grp at the entrance to portsdown.. I ran on.. keeping my pace.. Henry asked me to check out his new Orange Saucony Safra gear which i passed to him last Tue.. fit very well.. :D I followed behind Henry as we ran up the KR slope.. picked up my legs n breathing is good.. must be the slope during Tuesday run tt made me feel KR slope is easy today.. managed to tackle each part as I went up.. Henry went back str to club while I continued on my next loop. Saw William, Cm n Jackie doing the opposite direction @ the pond.. 2nd slope up was done without much difficulty.. Saw Julie n Melvin Snr @ the canon, i continued on my run towards the wooden bridge.. felt a slight twinge at the side of my right ITB.. this time at the upper side.. had to walk abit n kicked my leg high up to relieve it.. Cm came along n asked me wat happen.. went easy for my down slope part.. Cm paced me as we ran along Pasir Panjiang .. manage to see Julie, William, Lee, Heng @ Labrador junction.. crossed the road n they went toward Harborfront direction.. I gave tt part a miss n walked back to club from TB heights.. din get to see dear all the way.. he was not feeling well the night before.. oni get to know tt he went back from HortPark.. haha if i knew wld have followed him... looking forward to this sun official opening of the 3-Hill Link Bridge.. ;)

Overall good 1hr plus run n sweat it out tonite.. tho abit disappointed with the right side ITB.. still bearable n more strengthing required to build up tt part..

TB Hill Loops

Trainer Jimmy introduced something new for us at TB Hill Loops today. We are supposed to do 4/5 sets OTOT pace of the usual TB 1km route + around the carpark 1 + down n up the steep slope of the TB road entrance.

Did the 1st set in 10min 18 secs.. din realise tt I pressed the wrong button n stopped my timing instead.. agrhhh.. legs are heavy to move up from the steep slope part.. very weak in running up slopes.. the 2nd loop up the usual 1km route was quite ok.. already used to it.. decided to work on the steep slope entrance part for the next subsequent 2 sets.. took a short drink in between the sets. Nice run.. can feel the aching feeling on both sides of my knees.. hmm weak knees tt gonna be build stronger..

Finally...

Having a peaceful mind as I write.. Enjoying Kenny G white Xmas as I write.. feel so peaceful today.. calm n relax.. This wk has been a relief wk for me.. as I finally hand in the letter...

Looking forward to my new career.. hmm nv have I wrote personal feelings except running in my blog.. but this incident really left me hurt n sad.. Glad tt it was over.. glad that i survived thru tt quarter.. My dear has always been there for me to hear my grievances, anger n complains.. provide the best listerning ear, console me and walk thru this period with me together . Thank you so much dear :*

Due to company policy, there are too many restrictions for contracted staff.. too many "You can't do this", "You can't access this", "You can't know this" but they expect u to perform n complete the work as if "You have all these". When the fault it's always the lowest rank that have to take the rap. Altho that's always the case, but being to be that person it is so unfair. Nv expect to happen to me.

When I handed in the letter to boss, he was taken aback. He nv expected that when I personally request to meet him for the 1st time with my 2 yrs working there would be passing him that. Asked me why. I explained that I liked to move on to do something that I have wanted to do in my life. He said that I am irresponsible to do this at this moment, shld have inform/hint him or my fellow colleagues. I am different from the rest as I have been the one n only handling this project. How can I leave at this moment and my notice is definitely insufficient for the smooth transistion. My decision is firm. Feel very maligned for what he said. I have done everything I could for the company (which they have nv show abit of appreciation to outsourced staff). I have suffered enuff emotionally. Since I am leaving, I will nv allow my reputation being tarnish as an irresponsible person. I explained one of the reason why I decided to leave. Of cos also got a few other factors tt made me feel unwilling to stay on for my main company.

Tt incident... from Sep to Dec...
Insufficient material was available to complete the modules. I was questioned why I nv do the necessary stockup. The fact is I have informed my sup a couple of times but due to his busy schedule, he may have overlooked it. Worst thing is the lead time takes 10 wks. He was fuming mad, how could this happen. But the case is from the start he nv gave us a specific timeline when he will need the next batch cos normally this coy operation is so unsure that they oni knows at the last min. When sudden the high authories wanted to carried it out.. then the ones below are like "ants in a hot pot" to quickly execute out the instructions.

Nasty things start to roll out from his mouth.
1."Ur coy charged me XX K per mth. I'll make sure I squeeze u dry. U are more expensive than my fellow team mbrs."
This is totally ridiculous n absurd. How can he blame me for that! It's the contract between both companies n I defintely nv gained anything from it. What i am getting is 5X lower than what was paid. This is not the 1st time I have been contracted out to work for another company. I knew my coy will charge a higher rate to the client cos no employment/medical benefits have to be bore by them. Compared to my fellow colleagues who had been attached here, my workload is so many times heavier. I am not loafing in the office doing nothing. I always plan ahead to make sure I'm earlier than schedule.

2. "Check with tt particular fellow colleague in your coy. What a nasty client I am."
That sounds like a threat to me when I am to be transferred back to my coy to continue on his project. What wrong did I do here? I carried out n submit my work on time. I nv have any conflict with him before. I was called to meeting with him for so many times during tt period. My supervisor's EA also got to go with me sometimes n get instructed by him. Felt sorry for him too. That's y I told him nv make any empty promises to him. You will get it if u cannot deliver.

3. "You shld keep checking with your sup if he had ordered the items."
Hey that's not right. I can only check with my sup periodically, not every min/hr every day. Everyone has their own loads of work to complete. I can't possibly disturb n remind my sup everyday. That'll piss pple off. I dun like ppl to do the same to me too. (And at the moment, he has been chasing me everyday to chase the suppliers for quotations n I have to apologise to the suppliers as they are not only serving me alone. They have customers all over sg.)

4. "Your sup is of higher rank(same as him). You shldn't bother him on these things. I want you n his EA to have this communication bridge in future."
He aske me n my sup's EA why we can't communicate in ordering the items. Actually I was instructed by my sup before, I have to go thru him n he will instructed his EA the things to order. Tt's the proper channel as I am only a contract staff with no assistant. So it's rightful for my sup to delegate work to his EA. After this, my sup's EA has to take ownership in ordering the items for him in future. I explained to my sup on his decision. Ridiculous right, end up my sup has no control on how the work shld be delgated to his own EA.

My boss is in great disbelief that I have gone thru such incident. If I have any conflict with him, but we are quite ok before that n nv have any differences. I just did my work assigned by my sup when he informed my sup. But I guessed he was also under tremendous stress to shield his own mbrs from their head who is extremely demanding. Anyway the case already closed last yr n he also apologised. I shld have told him or my mentor. Actually I did mention to my mentor before. He said someone is paid to settle this type of issues. He doesn't have the power to control me in this way. Is there any ways that he can make me stay. If he transfer me out from this project n work on something else. But my decision is firm and I am looking forward to my new career. Of cos being thru this, it has taught me to be stronger mentally n emotionally.

The reason why i have stayed till now is becos I felt I am responsible to complete all the work. Happy to hear compliments from my supervisor, PM and lab head in my contacted company tt I have been a good staff. Finally I can put a nice fullstop for the 2 years working there. :D