Miles and Miles in Asia

Changing of Guards

2009-05-15T08:45:00.006+08:00

Arnaud had moved to Tokyo for work since August 08. Life has been stressful for him. We are lucky to have a great bunch of friends in our running club, Namban Rengo, who made the adjustments so much easier. We get to travel a fair bit outside of Tokyo Metropolitan City with the club members.

I joined Arnaud in Dec 08, helping him adjust to life in Toyko and getting...*drum-roll* Domesticated!

I have been trying to put warm food on the table without giving ourselves food poisoning (!), learning abit of the Japanese language (sugoi!), and watching lots and lots and lots of TV(0120-999-9377..hahah). And ya, trying to do some "real" training.

So I thought I should try my hand at this blogging thingy. For years I avoided reading blogs as they usually offer little insights - "Today, ran 20km. Light rain. Weekly mileage 40km, Monthly mileage 60km." Geez, thanks.

However, in my attempts to find out about the "real" Tokyo, I came across some really nice blogs about (what else would a Singaporean look for) food. Some friends have also started their own blogs which talk about their life outside sports (yes! there should be a life beyond that!).

So I thought I should indulge myself abit by talking about my little adventures in Japan. Honestly I had been to so many places but I still hold the fond memories, so most of the postings will be in retrospect. I don't care if nobody reads them, besides Arnaud under duress. Its a treasure-trove of my experiences here. ;)

leng

"Gourdon Hike" France 12.5k May 1st 2008

2008-05-04T13:44:00.005+08:00

This wasnt planned at all! especially with Leng recovering from her Seoul Marathon and me from a long combination of rest and injury. We were visiting my parents in the south of France's "arriere pays" and discovered this local race completely by chance the day before. They still had room for 2, all we had to do is fake an official license to practice athletics or a medical certificate (mandatory to participate in any foot race in France). We opted for a letter certifying that we were members of the legendary MR25 Singapore and that shut them up!

The course is an A to B starting at a village at around 300m above sea level and finihing at Gourdon village at around 750m above sea level. Excellent organisation, abosutely breathtaking sceneries along the course and after the race. Neither Leng nor I were in the mood or in shape for a serious race so we just took it easy starting towards the back of the pack and jogged the few Kms together before settling each in a steady but confortable pace. I was actually in much better shape than i thought and Leng ended up finishing 2nd in her age group and 4th overall.

It is my second race in France and I was again surprised at the number of Triathletes and the number of good club runners in all age groupes. I joked to myself that i was first in the over 35h categorie (people working over 35h a week, a rarity in France).

The race was followed by a giant pasta party and a local farmers market... all so relaxing and quaint...

2008 sucks

2008-04-04T20:26:00.002+08:00

First 2008 update! in a nutshell it sucks. I took a month break in January with a view to recover from last year's hard training and come back all refreshed. Well i came back sighly overweight and 3-4 weeks back into training I visited my favorite sport doctor to enquire about a mild recuring pain in the plantar fascia (on the right side this time! i did the left side last year)and...

BOOM! I have fibroma! That is a micro tears in the plantar fascia that heal very quickly but get worse over time. So since i dont have any major race coming up I decided to do the treatment now. The treatment is a mixure of stretching, anti inflamatory and... Shockwave therapy ! That sounds only sligtly better than chemiotheratpy but really it s not that bad... the only thing is i cant run at all and can only do non weight bearing cross training (biking swimming...).

3 weeks to go... i will cycle as much as possible and lift weight to avoid losing my fitness completely but cross training is a bit of a shore really! The muscles trained are not the same as the running muscles so it takes a lot of effort and pain to lift the heart rate only to a modest level... Will also do my best to improve my diet but thats easier said than done!

I hope to be back to reasonable level for Obuse or Melaka in July....

Chiang Mai Half marathon : 1:20:42 - 3rd

2007-12-30T19:43:00.000+08:00

Quick notes on our trip end of year trip to ChiangMai Thailand.

The city of Chiang Mai itself has little to offer exept a few good Thai restaurants and night Bazars but the montains behind it are quite interesting. Altitude of the highest spot is around 2500m. Lots of Temples, local villages and splendid waterfalls.

The race: Leng finished second overall with a time of 3:41 in the full marathon which, effectively, turned out to be her first ultra since she, along with the first lady and a few other Singapore runners, did an extra loop somewhere on the course adding about 3-4k because of bad signage. Such a shame!

I finished 3rd in my age group with a time of 1:20:42 a huge PB... maybe a little too huge as the course is not AIM certified (only certified by the jog&joy running association of Thailand) and might have been short. Again, shame as i needed a 1:22:59 to obtain a garanteed entry at the 2008 NYC marathon and am confident i have achieved that time today but NYC may not recognise the time. Anyway, anyday you get a pb is a good day even an "unknown pb"!

I can always try to do it again in 2 weeks along the Arakawa river although i really feel the need for a break at this point ...

happy new year !

Angkor wat -

2007-12-20T14:28:00.001+08:00

oh yeah... Angkor Wat... i almost forgot. Thats the only fast and certified race in south east asia that i have been pshyching myself up for since august . 4 month of hard training (a one point running up to 145k in a week). Unfortunately i came down with a bad cold turned into bronchiatis 3weeks before the race. I tried to train though it but in vain! A few days before the race i tried running but couldnt maintain a decent pace for more than 15min or so. By race day my condition had improved significantly owing to intensive rest and medication, i was still coughing but felt ok during the warm up and so decided to give it a go.

Remember, this is a small race with a small field of a few hundred people only so my target time of 1:22 (NYC qualification) put me in 4th place for the first 10k or so. At the front the legendary Tony Seakins from MR25pulled away from the group at around 6k to win the race for the first time (1:18) at 55 after finishing 3rd the preceding 2 years. Very impressive!
I was coughing every 10 minutes but didnt feel too bad and was trying to convince myself that I could finish if not on target at least with a PB. Unfortunately after going trough 10k in 39:10 i began to weaken very very rapidly and hit the wall just after passing 15k in 1:00:53. By 16k i had to walk-a-jog along the road encouraging team mates passing by while quickly reassuring them that i was ok, just completely flat. When i saw Patrick then David Stevenson then Rob Hogan passing me I attempted to hang on but to no avail. I saw Leng being caught by mini Mika, in the last mile (Mika won the race in a sub 1:35, securing her qualification for Tokyo International Ladies next year, Leng finished second in 1:35:xxx). Amusingly, when JJ passed me she said something like "congratulations you made it" thinking that i had finished, jogged in the opposite direction for a kilometer and was just jogging back towards the finishing line!! when in fact i was dragging myself in agony through the course for the first time to cross the line in 1:40. The silver lining in this is 1) it was a great trip with the group as usual, this year we were joined by only one Nambaner (rob) but a bunch of cyclist and triathletes made the trip for the 100k bike race or 50k rally on saturday 2)the race course is really stunning (had lots of time to admire it this year!) 3) I look at a half full glass and pretend that 10k at race pace coming off the bronchiatis is not so bad... unfortunately since then i have taken more rest and while the cold and coughing are gone i appear to have lost quite a bit of fitness judging by the last 2 steady run... I am slightly disappointed of course but really enjoy training consistantlyhard for this race. Let's see how it goes once i have recovered completely

Next up, Chiang Mai on Dec 30 and a half along the arakawa river in Tokyo on Jan 13th.

Showa kinen Tokyo Masters half

2007-10-29T09:13:00.000+08:00

Leng, David and I ran a half in Showa Kinen park in Tokyo this week end. Showa Kinen koen is a gorgeous memorial park dedicated the the Showa era localed a 35 minute train ride away from Shinjuku.

The weather was sunny and slighly windy with the temperature around 26 degre (high for the season). Not really ideal for running but it made for a very pleasant day... Besides, it had been raining heavily and friday and Saturday with really strong typhoon like winds and that would have been a nightmare!!

The course was 4 laps around the park with some extra bits at the start and finish. The course reminded me of the Graveyard in which we train in Singapore. It has 4 not really steep but steady hills with nearly constant ups and downs. So although very pleasant the conditions were pretty tough.

Leng finished 3rd overall and 1st in her age group in 1:36:02 (1:35:56 at my watch). Not bad at all given her minimalist training.

David had a hard time with stiches, even walking off the course at one point before changing his mind and finishing in 1:34

I did 1:25:59, good enough for 3rd in my AG and 19th overall. My legs muscle felt horribly tight and sore in the 1st few Ks (insufficient warm up?). It got a little bit better after 5k and I settled into a somewhat consistant pace albeit well below my target of 1:23. As the course and weather began to take their toll on everyone I passed 4 people in the last 5k including 1 in the final lap around a dirt soccer field. I almost never race for position but given that I was unlikely to do a good time it was pretty cool. I felt the benefit of my better conditionning, my heart rate stayed within a moderately inconfortable zone all the way. The fruatration was that I was unable to run any faster... Maybe in Angkor or Chiang Mai with an adequate amount of tempo runs and hills...

Also memorable was the post race party at my service appartment complete with pizza, beer and chocolate and also beer!

Phase 2...

2007-09-25T11:25:00.000+08:00

Right...I think thats enough conditioning for the time being... It's time to start the "proper" training. The conditioning is supposed to last about10-12 week but there has to be enough time for the rest of the training, so hopefully 8 weeks of base, 8 weeks of more specific and intense training followed by 2 weeks taper should be ok.

These are the main ingredients. It is based on an attempt to reconcile Guy's recommendations (the guy hired to coach the National Team of Singapore)and typical scheduled runs in Singapore. Specific training is fine but running with others is also important. I also would like to incorporate 1 or 2 5k time trials on track if possible.

The key elements are:

* The mileage is reduced from 130k to around 80k a week (or lower)
* Progress will come from very easy recovery (rec not wreak) between the hard workouts (super hard in some cases Guy prescribed up to 15x800, 6xmile 3x3k or equivalent in minutes all with short recovery!).
* Frequent pace run (problematic in Singapore because of terrain and weather)

Only a guideline but proceed with care as always!

AM PM
Mon 0 7 rec
Tues 0 15 interval ~5k pace > 800m, 1k, 5x5min
Wed 0 7 rec
Thurs 0 8 easy strides
Fri 0 15 Tempo ~HM pace > up to 10k (?)
Sat 0 8 easy
Sun 0 30 long v easy pace
(90)
Mon 0 7 easy
Tues 0 15 interval 15 (5) 10 (5) 10min --HM pace
wed 0 7 rec
Thurs 0 12 Hills
Fri 0 10 rec
Sat 0 10 easy strides
Sun 0 18-20 interval eg: 6 x 6min ~HM

PS: That was supposed to be a table ..damit!

Bonk Bonk Bonk ...

2007-09-22T13:34:00.000+08:00

I am getting tired... 111k so far this week but on wednesday and this morning (saturday) i have felt suddenly exhausted and had to drag myself through a recovery run at a very slow pace. After a slow 16k on wednesday and a recovery jog on thrursday morning i had made a decent enough recovery (though still feeling generally fatigued!) to run steady on Thursday and Friday. I am reminded of the idea that the level of lactic acid in your legs after a recovery run is supposed to be lower than would have been if you had taken a complete rest. Not sure if this is true but my morning 5k recovery jog seems to be effective... up to a point at least!

It's hard to tell if this is "weakness leaving the body" ie the conditioning delivering its benefits or the start of a good old burn out!! Either way this maybe is an indication that i should close that "conditining" experience at the end of this week...

Tikity Boo !!!

2007-09-17T22:36:00.000+08:00

Not sure about the spelling but i dont think that's real english anyway :)

I was getting worried last week as I counted the number of little red crosses that peppered my log,each indicating a new source of pain! Last Sunday I actually had to cut my morning long run short after only 15k because of a nasty calf muscle pain; but by monday evening I was back at nearly full throttle (ok maybe 80% throttle)and managed to log my hightest ever weekly mileage (142k with 2 steady runs).

One small disappointment is that I seem to be able to run 20k amost every day but really struggle to run anything longer than about 23-24k ! I guess i didnt make it easy this week by attempting a 30k on Sunday afternoon, instead of the usual 6am!! I ran with Leng in the Botanical Gardens but the weather was extremly humid and we ended up calling it a day after 22k !! Maybe i could have pushed on for another 8k but since the goal is to be able to run the next day (did an easy 21k today!) i decided not to insist. I am only training for a half anyway so the goal is more to be well conditioned for the harder interval/hill training to come than preparing a marathon. The idea being that the interval type training will be much more effective off a couple of months of steadish mileage...

conditioning update

2007-09-01T19:24:00.000+08:00

I am completing my 5th week of aerobic conditioning. I am trying to enter a half in Japan on October 28th which would be my first serious race in a while and the first of three race that i intend to do (the 2 others are AngkorWat-Cambodia and ChiangMai-Thailand Half Marathons)

Traveling and work permitting I am thinking of keeping the mileage around 120 for 3 more weeks before dropping the volume and introducing harder tempos and interval training. That would give me just 4 weeks of race training before my first race... I wonder if that's enough to have a good go at my current PB... I am just guessing but 8 weeks of conditioning sounds about right to increase "the base" !

So far so good....

2007-08-18T06:55:00.000+08:00

I am completing my 3rd week of endurance training (this week should be around 120k). My intention was to use the more tranquil month of august to get in more mileage, running about 15k a day, staying away from both hard workouts and junk miless. Ideally i would like to do this for 8-10 weeks before returning to normal training until Angkor Wat (one of the only decent race in South east asia.

I must say that i am enjoying this new type a running so far... Next week i am going to Japan and with my business travel resuming it might be difficult to keep this up...

Lydiard: such a simple sport...

2007-08-03T21:37:00.000+08:00

I stumbled upon the Lydiard fondation link(http://lydiardfoundation.org/pdfs/al_lecture.pdf)on line a few weeks ago but never got round to reading it untill today. Lydiard is a legendary coach who during an intertional career of almost 50 years (1950s to 90s) exposed and organised the basic principles of training. He has had many exegetes but his ideas have influenced many other coaches.

I am normally not that interested in training theories but this is such a clear description of the training components we are all more or less familiar with and how they fit together (eg: check out the section with the graph about the importance of aerobic conditioning). Also often overlook i think is the emphasis on "listening to your body" (eg: not obsessing about round numbers of miles per week or number of reps given in programs)

Incidently these are notes from a lecture he gave in Osaka in 1990, he starts his talk by saying that contrary to most other countries the Japanese overdo the aerobic conditioning!That fits well with tales of Q-chan running up to 70k per day!!

Coincidently Lydiard also seems to have caught the attention of Steve a fellow runners in Namban Tokyo. Like him the thought of adapting this to my own training has crossed my mind...

Obstacles i see so far:

- hard to reconcile with a running club life revolving around the weekly track session the thursday tempo etc,,, Eg: 4 weeks of nothing but hills (2-3 times a week)

- The high recommended mileage (even if adapted to one's level and background) could easily lead to injury or burn out... One possibility would be to supplement a reasonnable amount of running with aerobic cross training (the "next best choice", 1h x training = 8k running i think i have read somewhere...)

- Good races in Asia tend to be spread around not concentrated over a few months (eg the Sheares Bridge Half in 3 weeks would fall right in the middle of a higher mileage period)

- It seems the whole schedule takes over 6 months!

mmm... interesting but...

Stay tuned

Melaka International Half Marathon

2007-07-30T22:31:00.000+08:00

The week end trip was a welcome break from the Singapore routine but the race itself was a bit a shamble! Where do i start....

Confusion at the start... some runners appear to have started way ahead while others where asked to go collect a bracelet to certify that you had started at the start!

Kilometer markers placed randomly along the course... did my first k in 3:08 , 5k in almost 23min etc...

Not a drop of water along the course, only some sugary orange drinks amost impossible to swallow without... water.

Poor directions, a kenyan lady running in front of me took a wrong turn because she missed the tiny arrow pointing the way... did the same thing at the end of the race, running up a flyover instead of around it before spotting a runner ahead...

No lane closure and minimalist traffic control... the leading female kenyan runner was allegedly knocked off by a truck (nothing serious but still...)

Course grossly long...

But hey this make you fully appreciate racing in Japan or Angkor Wat...

Despite all that i had one my best run in tropical conditions and finished in 1:29:02. Leng did 1:39, not too bad given her recent training regimen...

Melaka nous voila!

2007-07-27T23:58:00.001+08:00

Leng Leng and I are on our way to spend a romantic week end and running a half marathon in Melaka, a small but historically significant city in Malaysia located about 3 hours or so from Singapore.

Leng has been super busy at work and hasn't had any time to train properly (even by her standards). She did some emergency training last week end and, to my surprise appears to have retained some residual fitness from her spring marathon training. Still a pb is unlikely and she is mostly hoping to have a good time.
I on the contrary, am in very decent shape and, weather and course permitting, will run as hard as I can.

More later

Phucket "quarter marathon" - June 17

2007-06-27T09:11:00.000+08:00

I had registered to run the Phucket half marathon last week end but given my relatively limited mileage and the Phucket heat and hills my club mate Chuck and I decided to "trade down" to the 10k instead... When i say 10k i mean the "quarter marathon" something like 10.5 to 10.6k... for some reason this is a relatively popular distance in the region... The distances are seldom accurate in South east asia anyway... Unlike in Japan a race course is typically created based on convenience for the organisers, traffic conditions etc,,,rather than distance.

We stayed at one of Chris's somptuous Sheraton villas on the Laguna and enjoyed a few days of relaxation, ocean swimming and great food before the race.

Chuck was very pleased with his 3rd place finish in his age group, having outkicked 2 runners in the last kilometer. I finished 5th and was slighly disappointed not to have kept up with the guy in front of me but overall had a decent run given the conditions. In the half... Tony finished 1st in his AG and 2nd overall with 1:22, Chris was 1st in his Age Group and as is becoming a ritual, collapsed at the finishing line ( he met another ozie in the first aid tent!), Vivian finished 1st overall in the women category in 1:29.

Finally Michael who had given us crap for "poofing out" of the Half dropped out of the race (allegedly when Tony passed him at around 10k!).

Micheal is famous for not finishing races when the conditions dont suit him or he doesnt feel in the mood to slug it out (a general philosophy that i share to some extent) !!

MR25 Golden Mile 2007

2007-06-02T18:57:00.000+08:00

This week was the annual MR25 MIM Golden Mile organised and sponsored by Michael Craig (pictured here) through his company MIM Asia.

Michael is one of the leading figure of MR25 (and one of the most recognisable too having been the poster boy for the Phucket Marathon last year). He came to Singapore from Scotland ages ago and recently became super rich selling his company ... despite all that he is a great bloke and dam good runner too (2:45 marathon PB).

Chuck, Tony and Singapore champion Vivian decided not to race the Mile and opted for a conventional 5x1200 track workout. A miles race is definitely more fun to watch from the in-field and the risk of hamstring injury is much lower!

The women's race was won by Pauline Mulroy, JJ almost closed the huge gap Pauline had opened in the first lap and finished second. Sarah finished 3rd.

The men veteran title easily went to Paul Thompson (4:37) followed by Donald Ng and Barry Kent.

Paul is MR's fastest runner (although he currently lives in NY City) he recently stepped up to the marathon distance succesfully with a 2:29(London Flora 2006) last year and a 2:31 (London 2007)this year.

Donald and Barry finished in a few seconds over 5 minutes. I was disappointed for Barry (below) as he trained very hard specifically to break the 5 minute mark and ran slower than his time trial 2 weeks ago when he clocked a 5:02 (paced by Suzie , a colleague at Symantec and ex-common weath game gold medalist)

All in all a really entertaining evening which as always ended with lots on Beers.

JP Morgan corporate challenge

2007-05-05T21:23:00.000+08:00

I had a good run despite recent attacks of fatigue and aches finishing 13th and clocking around 20:30 for the 5.6k course (Not sure about the exact time my watch showed 20:30 but the photo seems to suggest 20:32/33 and 20:29 was reported...anyway..) Perhaps because of the relatively fast start induced by the narrowness of the course my legs started to ache after just 400m or so but I settled in quickly in some sort of cruising pace for the rest of the race. Having not looked at my watch once during the whole race i was vey pleased to see the race clock showing 18:0x with about 500m to go! I probably have gone through 5k in under or around 18:00 which is ... hey..a PB!

Now one more training session and some serious rest before Kanuma next week...

The photo shows a classic lack of racing etiquette... Slow runners line up at the start as close to the front as possible to be on the picture and sprint the first 400m (maybe hoping to "hang on"!).

Here we have a big "Angmo" guy running in front of Vivian (the lady in yellow on the right and Singapore female marathon champion) and Tony (at the back, from my club MR25 who regularly runs sub-1:20 half marathon in Asia at age 54)

What do you think happened to the big guy in the picture? Did he...

a) complete his pace making duty and drop off half way
b) unleash a devastating mid race acceleration and finish strong
c) die a few seconds after the picture was taken

Downhill

2007-04-21T18:38:00.000+08:00

The last 2 weeks have been pretty grim as far as training goes!! 3 or 4 weeks ago i felt great and was churning out decent workouts on the track and on the road but recently i have been feeling more and more tired to the point of heading out for a run and not being able to complete the warm up! That happened twice this week, on Tuesday on the Treadmill of my hotel in Canberra and on Thursday, in both cases i was warming up with the intention of putting in a good workout and both times i had to stop after 15 minutes or so.

I think the cause lies with a bad combination of 1)work related stress (had to interact with my US office a lot recently, which meant very early and very late conference calls), 2)travel fatigue combined with fairly intense training.

I have just read that Mika T from my Tokyo running club has suffered from anemia recently but in my case I think it's just a case of plain old over training.

I will lower the mileage a lot over the next few weeks and see how things go. I had planned to race a 4.5k tomorow April 22nd, i might skip this one but intend to do the Bedok 8.5k next week and the JPM Corporate Challenge on May 3rd, all as prep for my Half Marathon in Kanuma Japan on May 13rd.

All my races in Japan with Namban have always been memorable, regardless of the actual race performance and this one promises to be equally enjoyable. Jay, Jurgen, Chiba and my Singapore club mate David will be there, so it should be great anyway but it would be nice to have a good race too.

Onwards and upwards

2007-03-18T20:11:00.001+08:00

I am all the more disappointed to have had to cancel my trip to the Thai Masters Championship that i appear to be getting back in good shape. Indeed Some of the last workouts gave me the feeling that i was in good nick : 5x1k under 3:30, a confortable 4x1mile in 6min with one min rest, generally feeling good during other intervals and tempo runs...

I am looking to enter a half marathon in mid to late may but would love to to a race before that. JP Morgan 5.6k corporate challenge looks the most likely candidate...

update -Udon Thani cancelled

2007-03-04T16:44:00.000+08:00

A quick update.

After missing the Tokyo marathon because of reoccuring foot injuries it now looks like i will have to miss the Thai Master championship in Udon Thani Thailand because of intense work commitments this week and next. I was planning to run the 5k and 10k events and was looking forward to have a good time with Mark, Trevor, Tony, Mika san (usual post race celebrations maybe a day trip accross the border to Laos).

I am in average shape and carrying a few extra kgs from the christmas season, an unusual number of busines entertainement and off course the Chinese new year season (which ends today thankgoodness!).
Despite all that I am all booked up, flights and hotel, i got my singapore gear today, a red singlet with the singapore national flag on the back - how weird is that! I guess I will have to decide at the last minute if I have to cancel this trip or not.

Putting fire in our bellies...

2007-01-10T22:15:00.000+08:00

There you go... a day after my last post a colleague from Houston sent me this... This appears to be from some motivational speaking group my company uses... The message is "211 degre makes the water hot but 212 degre makes the water boil.. and the steam can power a locomotive"... man... that's genious!

It reminds me of another quote: "if a cute saying or a metaphore is all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job... the kind robots will be doing soon!"

http://www.walkthetalk.com/the212movie.php?refsource&campaign=212

Have a look it's quite funny .. in a second degree kind of way!

2006 "demotivations"

2007-01-07T10:43:00.000+08:00

I used to find www.despair.com "the art of demotivation" funny and refreshing especially at the beginning of the year where the emphasis in most companies in on "positive reenforcement". Unfortunately they dont seem to have added many posters since last year but some of the old ones reminded me of some 2006 running highlights!

Perfect for: those seriously thinking 10x800m in 2:50 translates into a 2:50 marathon and suffer the consequences!

Pefect for: prolonging the off season...

Perfect for: my last 7 k at Ohtawara !

Perfect for: those, like me, believing the RunnersWorld "Race Time Predictor" and going out way too fast as a result!

Perfect for: justifying resuming training after Ohtawara and looking forward to the next race!

Cross training magic

2006-12-27T21:49:00.000+08:00

I have just read in Runners World that an accepted formula for cross training is:

60 min = 5miles provided you keep your Heart rate at or above 70%.

So if I do 1h or Spinning/indoor cycling and 1h of Elyptical Runner 4 times a week and add this to my running allowance of 30 miles I would be doing near 70 miles per week! Isn't that cool?

But after just a few days of cross training I have noticed one problem: although i am not wearing a HR monitor it is apparent that to keep circa 70% of max heart rate on a stationary bike I have to hammer my legs pretty hard!

Plantar F$%^&shitis !

2006-12-25T19:40:00.000+08:00

Damit! I had a feeling i might have resumed training a bit too quickly or rather raced too soon after the marathon. I felt a sudden and vaguely familiar pain in my left foot in the middle of my run on Thursday! I went to see Dr Ben Tan (who ran ottawara as well) on Friday and got confirmation that my left plantar fascia is swollen and that an other tendon behing the PF is also inflamed (Dr Tan could actually show me all that "live" on a large monitor).

The good news is that by identifying the injury early I should be able to treat it quite quickly. The bad news is that i have to severely cut down my running to about 2-3 runs a week until the inflamation goes away! The other good news is that i can cross train (bike, elyptical ...). Still it means bye bye Tokyo marathon but i still have hopes for the Udon Thani Thai masters in March.

I just read that Steve who also ran Ottawara and resumed training almost immediately is suffering from a knee injury ... maybe we can compare our cross training programs!

After a short rest period i am planning to cross train 3-4 times a week and run 2-3 times (on flat surface if possible)... Fingers crossed...

Beautiful Angkor -

2006-12-19T15:23:00.000+08:00

I along with several club mates from Japan and Singapore ran the Angkor Wat half marathon last week end for the 2nd time. This race is organised by multiple olympic medalist and japanese running legend Akimori for the benefits of landmine victims and children of Cambodia. The course is flat, certified and runs around the Angkor Wat area through local villages and temples which makes it equally suited for a PB or a casual sight seeing stroll. We had many instances of both within our group this year.

To name just a few:

- Tony-older-than-the-other-2-guys-on-the-podium-combined:(1:19)
- Chuck-with-2-toilet-breaks-of-the-kind-that-are-not-executed-in-a-stand-up-postion (1:32)
- Trevor-high-helideck-mileage (1:24:38)
- Sigi-sorry-about-the-noise (1:25)
- Jay-damit-thought-yoga-would-make-me-faster (~1:23)
- Leng-all-the-goodies-i-won-are-4sizes-too-big-again (41:12 10k race)
- Mika-1 race-per-weekend-would-be-too-easy (1:34 + 1st in saturday bike race)
- Terry-fastest-hairy-little-indian-of-all-time (46:16 10k)
- Renald-9%-beer (1:40)
- Chiba-no-rush-i-am-here-for-the-ruins (2h)

I ran a "controlled" 1:29:30 still shamelessly out-sprinting Brigitta from Namban who finished 2nd in the women race. It felt exactly like the pace i ran with Steve in Tokyo on Wednesday (can chat a bit but not too much). That pace is very pleasant.

Judging by post race comments It seems that everyone had a great time and some people have already said they will come back next year.

Off Season ...Right On!

2006-12-06T20:56:00.000+08:00

They say you have to forget your previous marathon before starting to train for the next one... well 13 days since the marathon and not only is the agony of Ohtawara forgotten but i am looking forward to start training again (although not necessarily for another marathon) but first i have to get through the "off season" period which I read somewhere is mostly about drinking and setting new goals.

For one thing the end of the racing season coincides with the beginning of the Xmas season... and for me this means loads and loads and loads of copious lunches, dinners and piss ups... some personal some professional all more or less self inflicted. Just went for an easy run to get rid of a massive hangover accumulated over 3 days...not pleasant. I think piss ups are like intervals: you should have easy days in between. So looking forward to get rid of a few excess Kgs...

The next question is what to train for... Honestly i dont really need a goal to train for i am happy just running aimlessly around Macritchie... still if i had to pick a target i am thinking of improving my 5k/10k time... There is some kind of veteran championship in March in North East Thailand with a 5 and 10k events and the JP Morgan race in April. Lots of people in the club are thinking of going so that could be a fun trip. There is of course the Tokyo marathon in February but this might be difficult as i have a very heavy travel schedule in January which might make it difficult to train properly. What to do laah!

OK i need a drink!

Ohtawara Marathon - The Wall

2006-11-26T08:28:00.000+08:00

So that's what they call "the wall"!! Well... that was not unexpected given my lack of marathon specific training but i had hoped that somehow after running the first 30k relatively comfortably in 2:12 (3:05 finish) i could just jog my way home on time for a Boston qualification!! Slightly optimistic!!!

I was fully expecting to slow down dramatically but I was surprised at how brutal that "wall" was!! At 35k i was still running at about a 3:10 finish pace but at 36k I was totally shattered and had to walk/jog very slowly all the way home in 3:26.
(My splits: 10K: 42:35 -- 15k: 1:04 -- 20k: 1:27 -- half: 1:32 -- 25k: 1:49 -- 30k: 2:12 -- 35k: 2:38 -- 40k: 3:11 -- 3:26)

Ironically despite this botched up race i did enjoy myself greatly for 2 reasons:

1)The race is extremely well organised (as usual in Japan). The 1000 or so Runners can change, leave their bags, buy water and sport drinks and take a shower after the race in a heated gymnasium a mere 2 min walk from the start/finish. Runners can aslo prepare their own drinks and have them handed over to them at various points along the course.

2)The Namban Rengo contingent was friendly as ever and the post race party at a nearby Onsen was memorable.

Dr Ben Tan ran a gutsy race to qualify for Boston in 3:14. Leng was still in recovery mode but managed a good 30k split before walking to the finish line in 3:47. Mika had totally recover from her Tokyo Ladies Marathon 3 days earlier and ran a 43 minute 10k as tune up for next week's Singapore marathon! Her endurance and sheer joy of running never cease to amaze!

Ohtawara Game plan

2006-11-17T13:42:00.001+08:00

Our good friend Dr Ben Tan just realised that he needed to run 3:15:59 to qualify for Boston (or wait to turn 40)

So for better or worse (guess which for me) Leng (half only), Dr Ben and I will probably run together at something like that :

Pace/K	10	21.1	30	32.2	35	42.195

00:04:37	00:46:10	01:37:25	02:18:30	02:28:39	02:41:35	03:14:48
00:04:30	00:45:00	01:34:57	02:15:00	02:24:54	02:37:30	03:09:53
00:04:27	00:44:30	01:33:54	02:13:30	02:23:17	02:35:45	03:07:46

Real people. Real questions. Real answers. Share what you know.

Race predictors...

2006-11-16T11:21:00.000+08:00

When i first considered running the full instead of the Half at Ohtawara next week i immediately put my recent half time into some of the race finish "predictors" you can find on most running web site... These things are probably based on some "representative" sample of runners from which you derive a generic formula along the lines of "your pace will decrease by x% everytime the distance doubles".

I am of course far too lazy to really investigate how these formulae were arrived at, but looking at the results they seem pretty close to reality for distances from 5k to 21.lk (I ran an 18:37 5k a few days before a 1:25 half)... but a 2:57 marathon?

Could these things just be there to create a feel good effect? mmm!! i keep hearing that the marathon is unique etc,,, so i will err on the side of caution... Entertaining though!

1500m 5:10
the mile 5:34
3000m(3k) 10:46
3200m(about 2 miles) 11:32
5000m(5k) 18:30
8000m(8k) 30:27
5 miles 30:38
10,000m(10k) 38:35
ten miles 1:03:53
a half marathon 1:25:03
a marathon 2:57:19

These times are projected equivalents and are not a guarantee of performance or final race distance times.

The Distance Finish Times calculator calculates a predicted time at a distance for you based on a time you provided for another distance. It uses the formula T2 = T1 x (D2/D1)1.06 where T1 is the given time, D1 is the given distance, D2 is the distance to predict a time for, and T2 is the calculated time for D2.
The formula was developed by Pete Riegel and published first in a slightly different form in Runner's World, August 1977, in an article in that issue entitled "Time Predicting." The formula was refined for other sports (swimming, bicycling, walking,) in an article "Athletic Records and Human Endurance," also written by Pete Riegel, which appeared in American Scientist, May-June 1981.

Treadmill mind F$%^&* - fri Nov10

2006-11-13T16:19:00.000+08:00

I mentioned that following my good half two weeks ago i am considering joining my better half in Boston next year which in turn would require me to run a qualifying time at the Ottawara full marathon.

One problem: my complete lack of really long runs. Sure i have done some good half marathon training over the last few months but nothing longer than 25k... The reason for this, a part from the fact that these really long runs are not necessary for a half marathon, is that i cannot seem to run that long in the Singapore climate!

I had another go at it last weekend without success: after 2h, regardeless of pace i just hit the wall and have to stop... I could do 2h saturday and 2h on Sunday without problems but for some reasons, on both occasions, i couldnt take it to 2:30 or 3h!

So after an easy week of running, i decided to do the unthinkable: do my last (and late) long run on the treadmill. 2:31min at 3:10 pace with 0.5% incline!.... A major mind job to be sure but i have to say that it wasnt so bad afterall... just that personnal trainers walking around the gym were looking at me suspiciously after 90min!!

I am not sure how close to the real thing the TM is... pretty close some say, an athlete from Alaska became famous for doing all her training this way in the run up to the US olympic trial... The effort was hard and i felt quite sore the next day but, again, i felt that the pain was manageable. I just hope that with only 13 days to go i will have enough time to taper properly before the race...

Should Distance runners count seconds?

2006-11-13T16:13:00.000+08:00

I have spent most of the week enjoying congratulations for my Half Pb last week. My watch indicated 1:25:01 but disaster stroke yesterday: the official "Chip Time" (ie the times correspnding to the electronic chip attached to my race number) appeared on the race website ... bad news : my official time is 1:25:03 ...

What's 2 seconds you might ask? well... i have always thought that one of the perks of long distance running is that seconds are not important... For example Big Mika , an inspiring running friend from Namban ran a 3:09 marathon earlier this year ... She told me recently that the actual time was 3:09:5xxx and she actually sprinted the last 200m to dip under 3:10... but everyone remembers 3:09... I found this perfectly normal...

In fact the Boston marathon seem to have the same approach in that you get a grace period of 59s! eg: if your qualiying time is 3:15 and you run 3:15:59 you are in!

So being the cheeky sod that i am I was hoping for a small miracle and see a time of 1:24:59 on the website ... maybe i started the chrono a second too early at the start or more likely stopped it a couple of seconds too late as i sprinted throuh the finishing line... sadly no such luck!!

So i hereby change my policy to "Seconds should be mentioned when it suits you" Eg 1:25:03 means ! "almost 1:24"... 1:24:59 just means 1:24 !! Given that my half time points to a 3:00:41 marathon (should i ever decide to run one) I think thats the best policy :)

Totally shameless i know: I dont care.

PS: being an individual of not the highest moral standard but say.. mid range moral standard I want to stress that i wouldnt apply the same logic to a Mile race!!

Teganuma Half - Oct 29 2006

2006-11-13T16:03:00.000+08:00

It works ! My cunning plan "2kg for 2minutes" worked !! Well actually I lost 3kg for almost 3 minutes improvement on my half marathon time.
It all happened at the Teganuma Half Marathon i ran on oct 29 2006.
The race takes place along a scenic loop around Teganuma Lake and is super well organized (even by Japanese standards).
The course is fairly hilly with a few natural hills and 3 or 4 bridges (ie steep up hill and steep downhill on the other side). The winning times were 1:10 for the men's race 1:20 for the women.
I ran this race at the invitation of a friend who lives in Kashiwa and much to my regreat there were no other Nambans... in fact among the near 9000 participants i have only seen 2 other Gaijins (including Phil from Tokyo Jogging Club, a 1:16 british "jogger" who knows Namban,,,). It seems that due to its popularity the Race closes very early and most Nambaners had chosen faster races with less participants.

I ran a 1:25:18 Pb (~1:25:01 chip time) with a cool 39:10 "en route" PB for the 1st 10k... Still, as with every other races i did in Japan i got overtaken in the last 5k by countless "senior" runners (some with unorthodox running styles:)). There was even a blind runner who finished in ~1:17 (i wonder what it takes to lead a 1:17 blind runners? do you have to verbally describe the course, and where the other runners are etc,,, while running at that pace?).
The post race organisation was equally impressive with plenty of fluids, bananas etc,, distributed by an army of volonteers.

I am now tempted to try the full Marathon at Ottawahra next month (rather than the "unofficial" half ) with a view to accompany Leng in Boston ie finish in 3:15) or i could save my energy for the AngkorWat half... I guess i dont have to decide before the 20k mark at Ottahwara!

NIE 12h relay October 14, 2006

2006-11-13T15:44:00.000+08:00

I competed in (and won!) an unexpectedly tough event in the night of Friday to Saturday! The relay is held as a fund raising event for the Singapore Heart Fondation. Teams of 6 runners must complete as many laps of a hilly 2.4k course as possible over a period of 12h. All combinations are allowed as long as the Baton is passed on at the end of each lap. Sounds easy enough... 2.4k followed by about 45 minutes rest... how hard can this be? well the way to think about it is as twelve 2.4k races back to back or as Michael put it a "12h interval session".
The tactical aspect is interesting since you can have runners running in any combination, the team needs to pick the best combination given the level of fatigue of each runners and what the other teams are doing.

The going got really tough after 6 reps and particularly after i pulled an "all out" lap to catch the team in front of us ! It was all downhill from there and I experienced record pain levels in the last 4 laps, as my calves and chest began to cramp very badly.
Not sure it did my training any good but it was a great experience (not to be repeated!) and great MR25 moment!!

A

From Michael's report:
"I've just dragged my self out of bed and am "dog's bollixed" from last nights effort.You will all be proud to know that while you were all lying in your pits a team comprising of Mark,Sigi,Chuck,Arnaud,Trevor and myself won the Directors relay.I am sure our official distance was 184.6km (may have been 186.4). Brief rundown is as follows.Pre-race we decided to switch tactics from running in pairs with a back up to a "flat 6" for the first few hours.WE got this spot on as the race started at a fair old pace and even allowing for Mark getting lost we knew we were in for a tough challenge. To cut a long story short Victoria Junior College and SIngapore Poly (cheating B's) both had strong teams and although it was difficult to ascertain I'm sure that after about 3 or 4 hrs we were around 3 or 4 minutes back.After a few hours of one by one reps we changed to running in groups of 3 doing 2 sets each per hour approx before switching with the next group.This was tough. However as the night progressed our consistent reps (all usually ran it in a 9-9.30 slot for the 2.4km loop) began to pay dividends and somewhere around 7 hrs we began to build up a small lead which over the next few hours continued to stretch until finally around 6am we lapped VJC which meant that we had the title won. After 6 am we switched back to the one by one method which meant 1 rep per 50 minutes approx.Doesn't sound tough but the loop was tough and we were still making sure we couldn't be caught. Finally at around 8.30 am we could relax and with about 17 minutes left young Trevor set off on his victory lap. If you guys can imagine running a twelve hour track session you'll have an idea how tough this was.By the time they'd got through the speeches for prize giving we were ready for bed. Other MR runners did well.Sumiko's team I'm sure came third.Chee Yong was dragged from his sick bad and ran himself into the ground. There was a good atmosphere that was only spoiled by the obvious cheating by Singapore Poly who replaced some runners during the night.This was a real shame as some of the other teams ran themselves into the ground to achieve their goals. The Victoria Junior College guys were a credit to their school.They ran themselves into the ground and only our long years of distance running allowed us to prevail and even then only by 1 lap. We had wonderful support last night with Mark,Arnaud and Sigi's better halves forming a great time keeping and lap marshallling routine.They were wonderful.Various Aunties turned up including Aunties JJ and Mika at the start and then Auntie Evelyn pitched up after midnight on her way back from a disco at Mohammed Sultan. So thats it as I recall.I'm stiff as a very stiff thing and I bet Arnaud is still eating breakfasts now.Arnaud asked "was that tougher than a marathon".........indeed it was"