Different types of pain

Yes as always monday night is a suffering session for my thighs as i have my usual dose of kicking in the pool during lesson. But some how i managed to relax my arm during the swim , but somehow my legs keep sinking. Alex suggested i tighten up my butt muscle and keep my legs close together. James turned up finally and boy he has alot of practice to catchup on. Fever seems to be the in thing these days, june is down because of the fever so did not turn up for the lesson too.

In another news , running friend renoh just dislocated his arm so hes having a 1 week long holiday.. opps i mean MC. Go ahead visit him or drop by his blog to send him your get well soon comments. We wanted to visit him lastnight but our lesson ended late, so we (fennel , stazla) gave him a call instead

Adirun - clarke quay- fort canning 9.38km

Weds adirun saw alvo, meteor, stazla, lionel, simon, delphine , lisa , fahmy and joali attending the run. Due to some miscommunication, simona and delphine went down to esplanade start point instead of behind suntec. But fahmy decided to go proceed away with the run.

Tested my run using the new switch easy device for my nikeplus.. turns out it came almost out after 400m. Seems like i need to find someway to secure it more tightly. This time round the distance is right on the money comparing with google map.

After the run, Eddie join us for a short swim at the suntec pool, getting some tips on front crawl and some drills. Dinner was joined by SV who came after work. A real tired day .. and glad to jump into bed straight away

Distance : 9.38km
Timing : 53mins 39sec
Pace : 5.43min/km

Tuesday CBD run first anniversary

Oh lazy to blog syndrome just hit me!.. maybe i am just tired...
just an update on tuesday we had the first anniversary for the CBD run organised by the Sgrunners.

Before meeting them i dropped by funan center and bought a switcheasy runaway for my nikeplus..now i don't have to rip a hole in all my running shoe!







Being one of the first few pioneers who started the run, its my duty to be present . The gathering saw some 40 over runners with couple of new faces. But i opt out of running the 6km distance as i was kinda tired after the swim lesson the day before.

As the celebration is a pot luck thingy i bought down some lao po biscuit and of some hello kitty phone ornaments for the ladies, SV made some nice bookmarks for us too. Here are some photos taken at the event.

Swimming lesson 3

Swim lesson yesterday was mainly on kicking using the kickboard. One arm drill and One arm drill with kickboard. Turn out was smaller minus fennel and james but overall it was a good work out. before going down to newton hawker for some sinful food!

Run - Sembawang -yishun 9.4km

Hmm first use of my nikeplus device yesterday was well over 800m off the google map distance. I dunno if its ok but i think i will be going to the stadium to do calibration just to be sure.

Anyway same route of 9.4km on google map but on my nikeplus it was 8.66km. One thing i do like about this device is the female voice announcing your pace and timing.. and i stress it wasn't some robotic like voice.. but a real female voice.. hmm i wonder how the guy's voice will sound like.




















Oh well time to go for my swimming lesson.. maybe tomorrow before the CBD 1st anniversary run i will try to get the switch easy for my nikeplus.

Distance : 8.66km
Timing : 47mins 44sec
Pace : 5.3min/km
Shoe : nimbus

Ipod/ Nikeplus hacks

Well did some research on the net on how to hack their shoe to have the nike plus sensor in it. Heres my experiment..













Outlined the sole of my shoe with a pen just below my arch of my foot.













Used a cutter and cut out a hole , Then a plier to pull out the rubber.
Test fit my nikeplus sensor so that it sits nicely in the hole.

Next my ipod sports band-
Cut a slit for my receiver to fit in.. simple as that














Whats left is to go out and test out the hacks!
Test results later...

HK trip

Yup writing to you guys now in hongkong Airport on the way back (thanks for the free wifi PCCW). Nike plus has just been launched in Hongkong and the device cost about SGD 43 bucks got it at the time square shopping mall where they have a live show. Also at the nike sale i got a running vest for $22 bucks. As i say picture speaks a thousand words, check out the picture below.















Nike plus tops cost about 110 odd bucks and the shorts cost about 80 bucks. A little steep for my liking!

Weekend : Swim Practice / BG run - 15.5km

SUNDAY -
Once again its the monthly BG (botanical garden) Run, Somehow this run shouldn't be called BG. Essentially the route did not enter botanical garden at all haha. Droved down with run3 to old SMU. I guess we were the lastest to arrived. Some new faces from sgrunners Asturias, Eugene_Ng8, Petia, Yakman. Also present was tiwazz , charlotte, astrogal, terrence.



The route runs from old SMU - Bukit Timah Road - Ngee Ann Poly - Clementi Road - Ulu Pandan Canal - Buona Vista MRT Station - Holland Village - Holland Road - Botanic Gardens Minden Gate - Cluny Road - and back to old SMU. Tiwazz , astrogal and petia did a shorter 5km route.






















Washed up at old smu before heading across the road for prata. Roonz and Alec joined in for the lunch also.

Distance : 15.5km
Timing : 1hr 45mins
Pace : 6.46min/km
Shoe : nimbus

Saturday -
Supposed to meet up with the gang for swim practice. In the end just me and june end up at the pool. Did some drills and i managed to correct her breaststroke, also ested out the new kickboard i bought.

Will be leaving for HK next week so i guess no update till end of the week. Cheers

Adirun - shenton way - marina south 11km

Tonights run has a rather small turn out only 9 of us. Namely joao li, SV, simon, fahmy, freddy, babumouse and 2 other. We were wondering where the other regulars went. But the run went on as usual. Fahmy was testing out the new adistar shoe and has clocked some 18km this morning.

Anyhow the route was from suntec to marina south. The pace started out slow before babumouse split away after marina south park. Somewhere before the ferry terminal i got a bug in my eyes and i had to stop to get it out. drats.

Fahmy was considerably tired and came in quite sometime later then all of us. Did a quick warmdown and head back to suntec for banana and drinks. Then a quick shower at suntec (wanted to go for swim but the water too cold) Settle down for a bite at carl's jr before heading home.

Distance : 11km
Timing : 55mins
Pace : 5.5min/km
Shoe : nimbus

Swimming lesson

Yup on my quest to accomplish one of my resolution, i took up swim lesson again. Well mostly to learn the frontcrawl which had eluded me for along time. Not sure how long it will take but i am sure i will be able to learn it soon.

The course is at old SMU pool with james, fennel, stazla and june. First session was learning to kick, breathing with nose and mouth , flotation, head rotation with breathing, pushing off skimming on one hand. Taught by alex tung whos an ironman and open water swimmer.

After a tiring session we had dinner at MR prata just next to the center.

3 park run - 7.3km

Today i made a decision to run down to the newly built bottle tree park at the back of sembawang road.

























Taking the road into bottle tree park can be quite a time traveling experience. On the left side of the road is the Agrotechnology Park and on the right side of the road is some dilapidated houses
Reaching in to the bottle tree park you can see some young bottle tree plantation and not to mention ponds lots of it.





















Further into the park you will find some larger bottle trees , swings and fountains. Theres even a shrimp fishing pond and a children waddling pond for catching guppies.











View of Bottle Tree Park

Just a few mins from Bottle Tree Park is the Lower Seletar reservoir. Another nice place to fish and jog too. Saw a father and son in football outfit looking helplessly at the soccer ball they had accidentally kicked in the the reservoir. All i can say is .. never kick ur ball around near the reservoir.. cause might not get it back.






View of Lower Seletar Reservoir

Last but not least yishun park. Which was just a run thru from the back of safra i will not elaborate on that.

Distance : 7.3km
Timing : 36mins 33sec
Pace : 5min/km
Shoe : nimbus

2007 Resolution

Last year i did not set any resolution but i would say completing in a marathon is the greatest achievement so far. As for these year heres my resolution list:

Complete at least 1 overseas run event.

Learn to swim freestyle.

Do at least 2 marathons.

Complete at least 1 ultramarathon.

Complete at least 1 biathlon.

Read up on at least 1 book on running

Find a Steady and for gawd sake settle down!

Runner's Lifesaver Tips

#1 Simple Sunglass holder
Wondering where to put your sunglass while running?
Heres a quick and dirty solution to this problem. This applies only to folks with hydration belts or bags.









Attached a rubber band on your belt .









make sure you do 2 loops around it for a tighter fit.









Put your sunglass thru it.









There you have a simple sunglass holder!

#2 Earphone wire clipper
Have your earphones (during your run) been dropping off from your ears due to the constant shaking and movement of the wire?
Heres a quick remedy for these situation.









Attach a handsfree clip to your earphone wire , somewhere close to you shoulder.











Adjust this so that its as close to your shoulder as possible, trial and error to find the best position.

Have a great run
The end!

Activities of tues /weds of the year 2007

Tues was my first swim of the year. Headed down to Safra yishun around 7 in the evening. But soon i notice the cloud has turned dark. Thinking i might be able to squeeze in 20 laps even thou it started drizzled. When i was in my 14 laps , thunder was spotted and lifeguard blew the whistle on me








Weds, First run of the year with adirun group. Fahmy was having his cough for the past 2 weeks so he skipped this run. This run saw about 15 people turned up. Fennel, george, freddy, stazla , new comer lionel and his friend , LCPsimon and sister, babumouse , superboy etc turned up. As per yesterday the sky turned gloomy and we put the run into a vote. The decision was to go ahead with the run, and should it rain we will return back to the store.














The plan was simple a short 6km up the esplanade and kallang river , and then back. I volunteered to be the last man and superboy will be leading the run. Lionel and friend was the last in the group so i tag along with them, chatting along . Topics ranging from types of running, to intervals and even races coming up overseas. At least the run wasn't that boring.

After which we gathered for a warm up which was abruptly hindered by the rain. We dashed back to the store for the bananas and isotonic drinks. At this point in time i also signed up with fennel , lcpsimon, stazla, jamesoh for swimming lesson! Yup will be conducted at the old SMU every monday. This will be one of my resolution this year to learn freestyle and to better my strokes.

After shower, we had dinner at the foodcourt before each going their separate way home.

Distance : 6.4km
Timing : 44mins
Pace : 6.52min/km
Shoe : waverider 9

MR ultramarathon - 2007 countdown

Sunday the final day of 2006, Macritichie was transformed into a racing arena. Runners from north south east west all gathered in for the annual MR ultra-marathon. But this year again i am not fit to fulfill my destiny to run the treacherous distance. Landslides and deep crevices has been sighted by some of the scouts.

Instead i brought my picnic kit and help to consume and chat with the merry runners participating in this gallant act of achieving the coveted title of a ultra marathoner.





















Being a supporter is a .. well tough job!

After which me, run3, kay, astrogal, taz went down to novena square for a meal and some window shopping at the new extension "Velocity".

Before i go heres a happy 2007 from me!