Last evening was spent in a very enjoyable race at the Republic Run 10km, in Woodlands, Singapore. It was the first time I was going to race in my VFF KSOs and i was quite eagerly waiting for a chance to try them out. For those who want to cut the chase, well, I ran 52:42 (5:11 pace) and bettered my previous PB by 2.5 minutes or thereabouts. The longer version continues below ..... :)
After my 21km trail run on Saturday, i hadnt run for 4 days due to a strange mix of work-related and shopping-related circumstances! :) I was eager to clock some mileage up in the week and so although, i knew i had a race on Saturday evening, i thought i would venture out for a 12km run on Friday evening. And boy, was that a mistake !! I have never run in more humid weather and was already sweating buckets by the time i had run my usual 1.25km to the AMK Ave 1 - CTE Signal where i usually do some stretching before continuing on the rest of the run. I had planned to run at a 6:15 pace or so, but ended up going at 5:40-5:50 pace and at the 6km mark, had no choice but to sit and take a break on Upp Thomson Road as I had been steadily losing water but had nothing to supplement this loss. Of late, i have stopped carrying water for 12km runs and below, as what i have just before i leave my house sustains me for the running duration. I resumed my run, only to stop another couple of kms ahead to take an extended traffic signal break. This dismal sequence would continue once more and by the time i ran 11km, i decided i was just gonna walk back. That made for a very forgettable day.
And so, when Saturday came along, i wanted to atleast partially, redeem myself for the poor show on Friday. I met with Eugene at the Woodlands MRT and we made our way to the start line together. (Also saw Mok, Vivian Tang at the start line). As it turned out, i was probably the only runner in the entire race running in Vibrams, which made it slightly special! ). I have PowerBar Gel boxes at home which are expiring in October this year so I use every chance i can get to finish them before they expire, so at the start of the race, i popped a Gel, downed it with water and figured i wouldnt have to drink water during the race. The race started and i found myself running at a planned 9.5km pace or so i thought. My breathing was very stable and i am very conscious of not running the first few kms of a race very fast and instead use it as part of the warm up. Except that when i looked at my watch somewhere around the 1km mark (to check the calibration of watch vs. distance marker), i saw that i was going at a 11kph + pace. I thought i was asking for trouble and slowed down. Except that i ended up somehow running the 2nd km at practically the same speed as the 1st km. As i do these days, i barely looked at my Garmin after that until the finish line and mostly run by how i feel. After the first kms, the field strung out quite a bit and i began steadily picking my way up through the running field. The route was mostly flat with a couple of gentle slopes, like Sling had mentioned on FB and except for the time of the day, which made it humid, the tree foliage along the route and the reservoir at a section of the race all made for very peaceful surroundings to run in.
At around the 7.5 km mark, i saw a couple of other SG Runner friends who had started with me and i slowly eased ahead of them running a very steady race. This run was a dramatic change from my first couple of runs in my VFFs when my Calves turned into stone towards the end of the run and for a few days after that. 90kms later, with another 60 kms in my midfoot strike shoes, i found myself a lot more comfortable running with a midfoot strike and also learning to relax as i ran faster. Coming out of the reservoir road at 8km, i ran into a sea of school kids who were doing the 5km fun run and although i had to spend extra effort to weave in and out without losing pace, it is always fun to see young kids out in the open having fun. :) I came up to the 9km mark and saw that i had 47 minutes and change, down already and knew that if i just kept my current pace, i was going to beat my previous PB of 55:20. Since there was some gas still left in the tank, i picked my speed in the last 500kms, and finished with a sprint 100mtrs. My garmin recorded a distance of 10.17 and time of 52:42 as i came past the finish line.
After a very tasty and cold herbal tea drink and a bit of water, i had cooled down enough to reflect that one of the advantages of improving your running speed, is that you stay out of downpours that hit the 70min+ runners for the race! :) It was great weather nevertheless and i am sure i would have run in the rain if it had come down while i was still in the hunt. From my 1st race in Dec 2008 where i ran a 67:33 for the 10km to this, its been a fantastic journey. I definitely want to see a sub-50 10km run this year now ! :)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Finding my running legs...
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 !! :)
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 !! :)
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 ....
Sunday, June 27, 2010
KL Marathon 2010 race review
I ran the half marathon at the KL StanChart Marathon on 27th June. Bested my previous PB by a significant 25 minutes by coming home in 2:12:45 which was more than what i could have hoped for, initially just praying to break 2:20.
I traveled to KL the previous day, with a big and awesome gang from SGRunners (organized by JJ and Kayano) and reached around 2.30pm or thereabouts. Rest of the day was spent going to the race expo, chitchatting with a kenyan elite runner and going out in the evening for makaan.
Race day: I got up around 4.30am, took care of pre-race prep and was at the start line at around 6am where a thin drizzle made the weather quite cool. It was a very pleasant atmosphere and i was looking forward to a good race. The race flagged off and I was running by myself hoping to run the first couple of kms at a 9kph pace as warm up and then increase it to around the 9.8 to 10kph pace and hold that for about as long as I could. Early into the race, i was beset by a feeling of tiredness and lethargy which was inexplicable and i had some doubts about to whether I would even break 2:30. My cough which had subsided but hadnt gone away completely, reared its head every once in a while during the run, as did my cold.
The route had several uphill and downhill segments, and to my credit, i ran all of them without stopping on a single patch. At about the 8km mark or so, i broke on to a flat road and thats when something clicked inside me and i started to run better, in a more fluent stride and kept the pace up. Interestingly enough, while my first 10kms took me 64 mins, i ran the next 10 kms in 61 mins which was definitely not what i had planned for (i thought that i would be slowing down after the 15k mark but actually picked up speed in that part of the race). And although i was carrying 2 powergels with me for use during the run, i found that just drinking gatorade i was carrying in my fuel belt was serving me fine and throughout the race i didnt have to touch the powergel at all.
Throughout the run, i tried to consciously not think about what speed i was doing or what time i was on, and just wanted to make sure that my body did what it felt best doing .. so along the race, i was doing plenty of sightseeing while making sure i missed the puddles on the road that had formed due to the rain (it had stopped drizzling about a few minutes into the race).
My splits were 0:32 at 5km, 1:04 at 10km, 1:35 at 15km and 2:05 at 20km. In retrospect the slow start helped to set up a speedy finish, with the 21st km being run in 5:47. As i crossed the finish line, i was filled with a sense of relief (for managing a sub 2:20) as well as a sense of immense satisfaction for having done what i consider to be a good time. Its a confidence-boosting experience when you have races like this that help you go farther than what you trusted yourself to go to. I am gonna soak in this post-race euphoria for sometime before i start training again, and this time i going to slowly work in some speedwork into my training. I definitely want to try and break 2:10 at the Army half marathon on 12th September and with a extremely gigantic slice of luck and good fortune, break 2:00 hours.
I traveled to KL the previous day, with a big and awesome gang from SGRunners (organized by JJ and Kayano) and reached around 2.30pm or thereabouts. Rest of the day was spent going to the race expo, chitchatting with a kenyan elite runner and going out in the evening for makaan.
Race day: I got up around 4.30am, took care of pre-race prep and was at the start line at around 6am where a thin drizzle made the weather quite cool. It was a very pleasant atmosphere and i was looking forward to a good race. The race flagged off and I was running by myself hoping to run the first couple of kms at a 9kph pace as warm up and then increase it to around the 9.8 to 10kph pace and hold that for about as long as I could. Early into the race, i was beset by a feeling of tiredness and lethargy which was inexplicable and i had some doubts about to whether I would even break 2:30. My cough which had subsided but hadnt gone away completely, reared its head every once in a while during the run, as did my cold.
The route had several uphill and downhill segments, and to my credit, i ran all of them without stopping on a single patch. At about the 8km mark or so, i broke on to a flat road and thats when something clicked inside me and i started to run better, in a more fluent stride and kept the pace up. Interestingly enough, while my first 10kms took me 64 mins, i ran the next 10 kms in 61 mins which was definitely not what i had planned for (i thought that i would be slowing down after the 15k mark but actually picked up speed in that part of the race). And although i was carrying 2 powergels with me for use during the run, i found that just drinking gatorade i was carrying in my fuel belt was serving me fine and throughout the race i didnt have to touch the powergel at all.
Throughout the run, i tried to consciously not think about what speed i was doing or what time i was on, and just wanted to make sure that my body did what it felt best doing .. so along the race, i was doing plenty of sightseeing while making sure i missed the puddles on the road that had formed due to the rain (it had stopped drizzling about a few minutes into the race).
My splits were 0:32 at 5km, 1:04 at 10km, 1:35 at 15km and 2:05 at 20km. In retrospect the slow start helped to set up a speedy finish, with the 21st km being run in 5:47. As i crossed the finish line, i was filled with a sense of relief (for managing a sub 2:20) as well as a sense of immense satisfaction for having done what i consider to be a good time. Its a confidence-boosting experience when you have races like this that help you go farther than what you trusted yourself to go to. I am gonna soak in this post-race euphoria for sometime before i start training again, and this time i going to slowly work in some speedwork into my training. I definitely want to try and break 2:10 at the Army half marathon on 12th September and with a extremely gigantic slice of luck and good fortune, break 2:00 hours.
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