About 2 weeks ago, i ran at McRitchie on Sunday after playing a couple of hours of badminton the previous day and although i tried denying it for as long as possible, i couldnt help notice that i simply am not good enough in recovering from 2 hours of badminton singles within a day to run 20+ kms the next day. Therefore i decided that for the sake of my running life, my badminton life needs to tone down a bit and i will play not more than 1 hour of singles if i am running in the next couple of days. Around precisely the same time is when i started experiencing a palpable pain in my right shin and i was hoping against hope, that this wasnt shin splints. I decided to play it safe and took a break from running for 3 days with only swimming and home workouts saving me from the definition of a total couch potato. That turned out to be a smart thing as i found that at the end of those 3 days, my shin pain had practically disappered and i was raring to hit the roads again.
So Sunday morning brought me to MR again and since the better half decided to start a few minutes behind me, i started out on my own picking my way gently through the trail. I knew that the earlier time i was there, i tried forcing the pace early on and paid heavily for it in the second half of the run. After switching my 305 on, i decided i wasnt going to look at it until i finished the run and somehow i did manage to do that. I steadily increased my pace for the first 5 kms of the run finishing my 5th km in 5:50 and then pretty much held that pace for the remainder of the run.. with a 5:27 pace at the 10th km. End result: 10kms in 61 minutes, which if not the best, is easily one of my best times in MR.
I also think that a few pictures would add a bit of life to my blog so from my next run on, i think i will carry my pocket cam along !! :)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Cranking it up at Fort Canning
A couple of days ago, i had what in my books was an excellent hard run with the CBD folks doing the Fort Canning route. I cant quite remember whether I have ever managed to run 5 loops on top of Fort Canning so may be this time around counted as a first. I clocked a total of 13.78 kms in a total running time of 1:20 and ran the bulk of the distance well under a 6min/km pace.
One of the reasons i felt good about this run was that I had had good nutritious food the entire day, was well hydrated and hadnt run the previous day so was in a good mood to start with. :) The weather was not bad either although a lil less humidity here in Singapore is always welcome.
I ran in my NB RT801 midfoot strike shoes, and i am increasingly convinced that it has been money very well spent. Its light, helps me maintain my strike and is slowly but surely strengthening my calves as midfoot running would tend to do. Towards the end of the run, my calves were starting to feel really tired as these are still early days for me changing from heel strike to midfoot strike. I had originally planned to run my first 10km race in VFF KSOs at the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run on Sep 5th but now will attempt to do so on Aug 14th at the Republic Run, so i need to invest as much time as i can in ensuring my legs are strong enough to endure a race paced midstrike run.
One of the reasons i felt good about this run was that I had had good nutritious food the entire day, was well hydrated and hadnt run the previous day so was in a good mood to start with. :) The weather was not bad either although a lil less humidity here in Singapore is always welcome.
I ran in my NB RT801 midfoot strike shoes, and i am increasingly convinced that it has been money very well spent. Its light, helps me maintain my strike and is slowly but surely strengthening my calves as midfoot running would tend to do. Towards the end of the run, my calves were starting to feel really tired as these are still early days for me changing from heel strike to midfoot strike. I had originally planned to run my first 10km race in VFF KSOs at the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run on Sep 5th but now will attempt to do so on Aug 14th at the Republic Run, so i need to invest as much time as i can in ensuring my legs are strong enough to endure a race paced midstrike run.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Some more of burning rubber ...
I went for a short and easy 5km run in my VFF KSOs after a home workout around 7.30pm as I was still feeling restless and thought that a 30 min run would lift my mood quite a bit. This was my home loop run which is Lorong Chuan - Bradell - Upper Serangoon Rd - Serangoon Ave 2 - Boundary Road - Lorong Chuan.
When I ran in my KSOs last, i had worn NB toe socks as the previous few times had left me with blisters (and interestingly enough, only on my right foot). So yesterday I thought that i would run with just the VFFs on and see if the blistering situation has magically improved somehow. And ... they hadnt !! I got the blister on the exact same spot as before .. so i guess i will need to continue running in toesocks when in VFFs which is perfectly fine with me as it doesnt take away anything from the experience of running without any cushioning whatsoever.
The one thing i have trouble doing in VFFs is maintaining my speed .. even if i want to run a steady pace, i invariably end up going faster towards the latter half of my run. Need to bring my sensibilities into view ....
When I ran in my KSOs last, i had worn NB toe socks as the previous few times had left me with blisters (and interestingly enough, only on my right foot). So yesterday I thought that i would run with just the VFFs on and see if the blistering situation has magically improved somehow. And ... they hadnt !! I got the blister on the exact same spot as before .. so i guess i will need to continue running in toesocks when in VFFs which is perfectly fine with me as it doesnt take away anything from the experience of running without any cushioning whatsoever.
The one thing i have trouble doing in VFFs is maintaining my speed .. even if i want to run a steady pace, i invariably end up going faster towards the latter half of my run. Need to bring my sensibilities into view ....
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