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

Stairs

Did 4 sets of stairs today.. was asking dear how come he can do so fast... seems like no matter how I ran up, the timing is sort of stagnant there... maybe I should try going up 2 steps at a time instead of 1 at a time.. hmmm

Set 1: 2:03:21
Set 2: 2:01:73
Set 3: 2:03:35
Set 4: 2:02:50

Canterbury - Kent Ridge

Tr Mel gave a chop chop briefing and off we went for today's run. It's the same route as two thurs ago, Canterbury - KR 3 loops. Hmm seems like the usual fast runners were doing easy at the beginning... managed to cross the Tr junction into Canterbury with them.. chked my time at the end of depot rd, 12 mins.

Quite comfortable with my pace all the way up the zig zag slope to KR. It was quite slippery at the middle part. I almost lost my grip but managed to get back my balance in time. Called out for Giang to turn right (stairs) instead of left (canopy walk). Walked up the dimly lighted stairs n Tr Mel & Trevor overtook me.

I pushed myself up the slopes, tried to maintain consistency for each loop. Leaned forward n lifted up my legs abit. Struggle abit at the last loop, glad to pushed thru. Lucky the returning downslopes helped in the recovery. Dear waited for me at the end of the slope of Canterbury.. asked if i did 4.. i din opps... :P

Club - KR: 28:40:55 (4.5km)
Lap 1: 6:41:01 (1.1km/lap)
Lap 2: 6:26:85
Lap 3: 6:30:14
KR - Club: 29:47:88

Distance: 12km __ Total: 1:18:06

MF Loops

Haing a tough time at the 2nd loop... terrible.. not panting that hard but just that my legs just dun feel like moving at all.. have problems with gg up slope.. felt like i was in slow motion.. dear overtook me at the end of my 2nd loop (his 3rd).. asked me to run slowly .. maybe my technique is wrong.. or am i feeling tired from mon's run? hmmm.....

Loop 1: 10:21:91
Loop 2: 11:12:85
Loop 3: 10:44:73
Loop 4: 10:49:49
Loop 5: 7:08:21 (up to stairs)

Total: 50:17:19

Buangkok MRT Loop

Missed sun's LSD last sun as Dear was down with high fever and diarrhea since friday.

As Dear just recovered, he would be doing his training pace and wanted to do 6 rd of the bigger loop. But I managed to convince him to be my pacer for today session. After our warm-up, he did his pace and I just followed. It seems so easy for him, as I observed him from behind. His movements were so relaxed but I was on full power mode, chasing behind him like mad. *o*

The gap started to widen after the 2nd half of the 2nd loop, my fuel started to run low. I had no chance to control my breathing as I was busy panting, picking up my legs and grasping for air. Dear looked back twice and slowed down a bit for me to catchup. It was really endurance to go for final loop. So glad that I crossed the imaginary finishing line..

Check my timing.. shredded off 30s from the previous PB for this loop.. it makes alot of difference with a pacer..

1st Loop: 7:19:94
2nd Loop: 7:28:12
3rd Loop: 7:43:21

Total: 22:31:27 __ Distance: 1.6km/loop

Delta- Tanglin

Not much of a turnout today as it has been raining the whole day, but luckily it managed to stop just before we started our run. The ground was very wet and slippery.

Today's route was to Delta Canal- Holland-Margaret Dr-Henderson.

It was nice and cool with light drizzle at Canal stretch. Snr Chua asked me about my NIE course which will end by the end of Nov. We caught up with Enghwa and Wengkong at ex-Republic poly traffic junction. Told Enghwa that I would be doing the 10km route instead of the 14km. She joined me and we did an easy pace. My right sole was still in pain as I landed each time. But not as bad compared to walking, which I had to limp at times to ease the pain.

By the time we reached the same traffic junction, Derrick and Laichee were there too. Peter overtook us at GESS. By the time we reached the club, more than half of the 14km runners were already back. It was an easy cooling run :)

Distance: 10km __ Time:1:19

TB Hill loops

Almost tricked by the weather today... the sky was pitched dark with gloomy clouds that many tot that it was gg to run.. think Mel Sr clouds blowing skill is superb to blow it away.. haha

As briefed by Tr Jimmy and SO Dear tt in any case there is rain, the exercise will be cut. With no further ado, we started off the interval training - 8 sets of 1200m.

1st few sets were still quite manageable, from the 4th set onwards, my hands and legs were already wobbling. Mental mental mindset mindset was all in my mind. Guess i really tested the limit when i felt like i was crashing down by the end of 6th loop... told myself i can do it for the 7th.. just go by momentum... dear held my cold hands and suggested i better stop.. my body was turning cold.. cold sweat with weak arms n legs *o* walked real slow down back to club with dear n henry..

Had a fulfilling supply of sweet wine grapes from alber, it was like a great recovery fruit for me.. the sugar level seem to help me to regain the lost energy, else i think i would have been half dead by dinner time. dunno how much i ate, at least 3 handfuls of it. haha.. was asking everyone to try it too :P

Loop 1: 5:39
Loop 2: 5:27
Loop 3: 5:34
Loop 4: 5:42
Loop 5: 5:48
Loop 6: 5:45
Loop 7: 5:47
Loop 8: DNS

MF - ECP B1

Started off with Julie and Henry today, was worried if I was running too fast at the beginning as I felt abit breathless to talk.. time checked at harbourfront, 14mins.. 7min pace.. much better. Caught up with both of them at keppel traffic light, told them that Ong told me to run in a pace that I can talk, haha and i occassionally does chk by asking myself if i can still talk. of cos when no one around else people might think that i am mad or something.. haha

Ran past many female runners along esplanade - nicoll highway. saw Lucille and she was looking good! improved her 10km timing to 1:10, well done! It was GE women 10km run which i participated once in 2006. Good thing about running on event day is that there's road closure and free drinks (of cos after most of the runners have past that WP). I topped up my bottle at nicoll highway WP and cont'd on. Julie and Henry were long out of my sight.Took 1hr10mins to reach the end of nicoll bridge.. Dunno why i had a thirst to drink today, kept taking sips of water from my bottle. maybe with a bottle in hand, it's hard to resist and psychologically had an urge to finish off everything. Saw Dear abt 100m behind of TH exiting ECP as i ran towards B1. Time checked again... 1hr 39mins at B1 (U-turn point). My mini Pocari bottle already emptied.

Took a 5mins break at SPC @ Tanjong Rhu estate. Walked abit towards Mac and finished half a bottle of my just purchased Pocari. Told myself i better stop drinking. Transferred the remaining to the mini bottle and dragged my feet on. Laichee and Freddy past me b4 the stadium. Refilled my bottle with mineral water at another GE WP (closed shop with no officials) at kallang park. Was all alone running until Freddy came up from behind again. was bit of surprise as he had overtook me much earlier, he had a bad stomach day today.. cleared 3 times during the run.. asked him to aim for flyer for the next pit stop. As his image get smaller and smaller and then totally out of my sight, i was wondering how much time is my foot resting on the ground before the next stride since that detemine the pace that I am running. How should i coordinate my stride whereby i will not feel breathless as I run faster? Can i breath normally with fast strides? How to do that???

A kind GE official let me refill my bottle with 100plus syrup at the last pitstop before flyer.. lucky i have 3/4 of water left as i din really like the taste of plain water during runs, felt tt my legs were cramping up with the water. The 100 plus came in handy to last me through the entire run. Din stop at Anson 7-11 tho i was tempted to.. haha but told myself that i have been drinking too much, shld be able to last without water for the last 5km to club. Easy comfortable pace that was not really tiring.. glad to completed my 1st 30km after the past few wks of training

Distance: 30.5km __ Time: 3:41