Bubbles of my thoughts. A biography of my personal journey to my own Eden.

After the NB Real Run, running and studies take up the bulk of the time. Regular runs at i-Run and the long weekend runs in preparation for my half marathon, studying for semestral exams (still in the midst, with 1 paper to go), and weekly hydro sessions with Nick (tough but beneficial, though I’m woefully lacking in swimming mileage!).

Attended a triathlon technical official course, and practical’s commencing only next year at triathlon/aquathlon/duathlon events.

Intending to sign up for Singapore Biathlon next year, but registration’s got to wait ’til after SCSM as I have to complete my swim trial within 2 weeks of registration, and I want to have time to train, even though most probably I’ll be doing breaststroke for majority of the time.

Clinical attachment’s commencing after SCSM - my first ward experience since leaving my workplace in 2007. It’ll be interesting to experience from the perspective of a RN-turned-student nurse.

Now in the midst of tapering for SCSM. Was thinking of commenting on my running form, but think I’ll leave it ’til after the event.

‘Til the next post.

Did the 10km route this year, after completing the 15km route last year. Thankfully the weather was better than last year’s; there’s sun, but not blazingly hot.

Reached Changi Exhibition Centre at around 0510 hours, thanks to a busride hitched from my friends at SJ who were covering the event. Bummed around ’til around 0600 hours before meeting up with a people from Team FatBird.

Race started at 0700 hours for 10km runners. First part was the trail, about 4km long. Barely 2km in and my right shin and calf started to hurt badly - I could feel the muscle tension. Wanted to walk but forced myself to jog slowly, resulting in being overtaken by runners.

After reaching the runway/road part, a change in running gait helped in easing the pain, and by around 6-7km I recovered sufficiently to start to pick up pace. Running onto sand, I felt pretty effortless on that part of the route and overtook quite a number of runners who were slowing down or walking. A lot of people thought that running on sand’s the toughest, but as long they know the technique it’s actually quite easy.

The final 2km back was relatively a breeze. The sun was up, but wasn’t hot. Maintaining pace, overtook some runners and headed back to finish line in pretty good shape. Collected the finisher tee, medal, bag and drinks and waited for my friends running the 15km route to come in.

Apart from the lousy start, the run was quite alright actually. The shin and calf did feel sore afterwards, but a good sports massage later in the afternoon pretty much took care of that. I’m not surprised at the bad start as I hadn’t train on trail at all, however being able to run on sand relatively easily was a pleasant surprise. I attribute to the days of running on sand during dragonboat days, and remembering strategies learnt from research.

Another point was that I had zero pitstops for this race, i.e. didn’t go to drink points for water at all. And didn’t felt thirsty immediately after the run. If I remember correctly this was a first. Goes to show the importance of pre-race hydration - I kept sipping on my isotonic drink from the time I woke up to about 30-40 minutes before race start (and didn’t have to go to pee too!).

Timing wasn’t really fantastic, but was happy that I overtook quite a bit of runners at the last part. Now if only I can do that for my HM next month.

With the conclusion of this race also marks the end of 3 consecutive weeks of Sat-Sun runs (btw, had a lousy run yesterday… did only 18km instead of 21km). Gotta take care of my legs from now on ’til SCSM.

New Balance Real Run 2009
8November 2009 (Sunday)
Distance: 10 km
Expected time: None. Expected to be a recovery run.
Watch time: 1:06:48
Net time: 1:06:46
Gun time: 1:08:11
Ranking: 125 (Gun time) out of 745 for Women Open 10km category

Special mention: From checkpoints, my position went from 163 at 4km, to 178 before sand, to 125 at finish. I overtook a whooping 53 female runners! And god knows how many males I overtook too. *grin*

Next race: Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (21.1km) on December 6

The weather for this year’s event was good, cloudy with wind. After depositing my bag, went to the start line. The start was quiet - no music, no noise whatsoever for 30 seconds before the horn sounded.

The route was pretty straightforward, starting from War Memorial towards Nicoll Highway, turning towards National Stadium before heading back. It was a good run for me, managed to hit my 10km PB (personal best) for this year, despite running 21km for my LSD run yesterday at ECP, and was my 2nd day of menses. I was thinking of treating this event as a recovery run, but my legs actually still felt alright after that long run on Saturday, a huge difference from the Nike Human Race last week. Which showed that all the mileage I’ve been clocking from SunBird is working. Although the weather and vigorous foam rolling also played a part.
Worth mentioning also that for the LSD run, I did a timing equal to my last year’s SCSM half marathon timing. Bodes well that I might be able to go below 2:20.

Overall the run’s a well organised one, compared to Shape Run. Maybe except that the medal collection could have been placed closer to the finish point, and that baggage deposit should not be charged.

I probably have to try to get my cadence up though…

GE Women 10K 2009
1 November 2009 (Sunday)
Distance: 10 km
Expected time: None. Expected to be a recovery run.
Watch time: 1:00:58
Net time: 1:00:57
Gun time: 1:02:27
Ranking: 636 (Gun time)/647 (Net time) out of 5359

Next race: New Balance Real Run on November 8

The second edition was held at the F1 Pit Building, going towards Nicoll Highway, looping at National Stadium, towards Kallang MRT direction before heading back.

Reached there at around 6.55am, deposited my bag and headed towards start line, weaving through the sea of red to get as close as possible until about 20m away. Race started at around 7.15am with a pretty unique countdown, by a rock band which served to pump up the atmosphere.

While the route was relatively flat, my legs were feeling tired soon after starting. Might have been the frequent run trainings. Coupled that with a high heart rate, I had to slow down after the halfway mark in order to keep running. The humidity and sunny weather didn’t help also.

Completed the race, got a finisher bracelet and went to get free yoghurt ice cream, a godsend. Met a couple of friends while waiting, all commented on the hot weather (1 said it’s due to the structure of the pit building that keeps heat in). Some also commented on the event tee material - sticks to the skin when the sweating starts, but I thought that at least the sweat evaporates quickly due to the thinness. The ongoing concert provided entertainment, and apparently they threw down freebies, but I wasn’t there by then as I went off with a few of Team FatBird people at 9am to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to support those taking part in TheNorthFace 100.

Timing this time round wasn’t good (at least for me lah). Most probably a case of legs not adapting to the increased mileage, and me not used to the hot weather. Surprising given that I’ve already been back in Sg for 2 years and yet the heat still gets to me. I foresee the same thing happening for the next 2 races, especially since both are a day after the LSD runs at ECP. Looks like I can’t aim for PBs in these races then, more like recovery runs.
Watching TNF100 participants running, it’s really inspiring. The tough trail terrain didn’t deter some from maintaining a good pace, while some despite their fatigue pushed on. A couple of them , including our MP Teo Ser Luck, ran in the Human Race before doing TNF100! A big salute. Perhaps if my training is enough, I might join next year…

Nike+ Human Race 10K 2009
24 October 2009 (Saturday)
Distance: 10 km
Expected time: Under 65 minutes
Watch time: 1:05:24
Net time: 1:05:18
City ranking: 2567 /7877
Gender ranking: 364

Next race: GE Women 10K on November 1

The past 2 weeks were mostly spent running, with the occasional swim, and doing my school assignments. The major one’s just done and submitted, so now’s kinda relaxed, save for a short film project for my Singapore Studies elective and other small tests.

Three races are coming up, and their race pack collection period fall within the same weekend, so decided to collect them all in one trip.

At first I wanted to run outdoors at Kallang, but realised that the place where I want to store my belongings was not open on public holidays (Saturday happened to be Deepavali), so changed plans and went to the gym at around 9am to clock my running mileage on the treadmill.

Showered and headed down to Singapore Flyer for my first collection - Nike+ Human Race. While walking towards the Flyer, 2 of the Team FatBird runners DO and AS who were driving after collecting their packs waved to me. Reached there at about 11am, an hour after the opening time. No queue at all, went straight up to the counter and collected my friend’s and my packs within 5 minutes. Took a couple of photos before heading down to the next destination.

Leisure Park Kallang was next for GE Women 10K collection. Took me only 30 minutes to get there. The place was getting crowded, but thankfully no queue either, so managed to collect within 5 minutes. There were a number of booths around showcasing various products, but the place was kinda cramped with the crowds which kinda put me off browsing.  Started to feel a little hungry, so off I went to the final destination.

After changing buses along the way (and sprinting to the busstop to catch the bus!), I arrived at Novena Square at 1215hr for NB Real Run collection. Also no queue! Collection done within 3 minutes. Went up to the gym to pass my friend some money, then off to Mos Burger for lunch. Walked around the race expo and bought a few stuff before heading home.

Collections went smoothly, and pretty happy with the stuff I collected.

Went for my friend Jeanne’s birthday celebration in the evening. First we went to watch a movie at the Animation Festival, on her recommendation, a French one called “A Town Called Panic” (translated), about a horse, a Red Indian and a cowboy. Animals in the movie can talk, and the storyline’s really really surreal. We laughed throughout the whole thing, it was that funny, and enjoyed it tremendously.

After the movie, we went for a buffet steamboat dinner at Coca Steamboat at Taka. Joel met us there (Adeline, Seok, Jeanne and myself went for the movie), and we tucked in. Ordered numerous plates of thinly sliced beef, think we had at least 20 plates of those, and other dishes. By the time we were done eating, chatting, laughing and taking photos, we were the last to leave the restaurant! The price’s a little of the high side, but was worth the money.

Been quite some time since I last caught up with this group of friends. Hope to meet them soon!

For the past 2 weeks majority of my workout time were spent on running. Loads more running than I usually do.

I’ve signed up for this training program organised by Team FatBird, called Operation SunBird. It’s to train for the upcoming Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. Now, since I’ve already done 4 half marathons and the coming one’s my fifth, why sign up for a training program?

Well, the past 4 were done without proper training. While I did run to prepare, it wasn’t structured - just run whatever distance whenever I feel like it. In the end, yes I completed the events, but not without consequences - very sore feet for the first 2, a left knee strain (LCL) at last year’s event, and generally feeling blah. Not to mention the deteriorating timings I was getting.

Signing up with a team to run forces me to clock the mileage, get my running form in check, and most importantly ensures I am following a structured program that allows me to improve, especially since I can get lazy at times.

Did 2 long slow distance runs so far, something that I’ve never really done since leaving Sg for Syd in 2007. One was on a flat route (ECP), the other was on trail and slopes (MR+Thomson). The good thing was that I managed to complete without stopping to walk, maybe a little slow but I felt good.

Was I mentioned in my previous post, I may not have the speed, but I make up in endurance, and mental strength. I definitely cannot compare myself to people who are gifted, or those who have trained hard to get to where they are now, but as long I know I’m improving in small steps I’m glad.

And I know I’m improving, judging by the timings from the runs I did so far, a few seconds here and there. Which shows a structured program does help.

I haven’t really set a target timing for my half marathon yet. A definite is to improve on last year’s timing of 2:24 hours. Perhaps I can aim for a 2:20 or below? The icing of course will be to get near to my PB of 2:12 hours. Keeping my fingers crossed.

A hunt for answers on a Saturday night, on a bicycle.

It was with trepidation that I signed up for a cycling event with my classmates. It’s been about 2 years since I last cycled, and with the “bad” experience with the roadbike I kind of had a hidden fear of cycling. Which I know I have to get over with if I want to eventually do a triathlon of whatever distance. And knowing that I have the mental strength to get over that fear by actually doing something, I decided to go.

Was feeling slightly anxious when my hands touched the rental MTB. Got on it - was it too big for me? Or just my mind playing tricks? Since the other size available was too small, I just stuck with the bike I chose. Rode for a short distance twice, each time feeling slightly fearful whenever starting and stopping (’cos that’s where my weak points were). My aim - just don’t fall or crash.

Flagoff at 2220 hours. After roughly deciding on a route to get to the checkpoints, we set off, a group of 12 (3 teams of 4). It was easy in the park itself, a straight and flat path. The real challenge started the moment we exited. Cycling on the road and pathways reminded me of 1 particular time when I cycled with my male buddy - and it wasn’t a good memory esp. when coming to the turns. Trying not to show my anxiety, I just stuck to the back of the pack and tried my best. Thankfully my classmates were understanding, letting me go first while they ride behind; if they had any frustration they didn’t show it.

As the night progressed my bike handling got better and I felt better. A couple of times I had to get off the bike and push as I wasn’t confident handling the narrow paths at certain areas and upslopes (the bike gears can’t be changed, not that I know how to anyway!). More than a few times I had to remind myself to not grip the handles too tightly and to relax.

We went to places like Indoor Stadium, Esplanade, Clifford Pier, Chinatown, Orchard Road, among others.

Heading back, I led part of the way through from Kallang area through to National Stadium to somewhere towards Fort Road, before someone else took over. At that point I just took off, riding on my own and enjoying. I caught myself imagining myself riding that stretch on a roadbike, something I had never done when I had it.

We reached back to the starting point slightly after cutoff time (some confusion of route), but we weren’t after the prizes anyway. Returning the MTB, I had slight hesitation. I wanted to ride for a while more. But it’s enough for the night. I didn’t fall or crash, and I’ve done more - cycling the longest distance I’ve ever done and doing that on roads and pathways at night.

Taking away from the experience, my bike confidence definitely did increase, but of course the time to actually take up cycling seriously (as in to actually get a bike again and start training) is still a long way off. I have to start cycling on a recreational basis and learn to handle better, which admittedly is not on top of my priorities list now. It is tempting, but I’ve learnt my lesson of not rushing into things too soon.

For now, it’s back to the run and the swim.

Another first for this year: participating in a mass swim event. After deliberating for quite a while, decided to take part in the Swimathon category, which required one to swim 100 laps (of 50m) within 3 hours. Incredible (or crazy, whichever way you want to look at it), as the longest distance I ever swam was 2.5km clocked last week! Was I sending myself to doom?

Reached NUS SRC swimming pool, got myself bodymarked on the arms with my number (086) and proceeded to prepare myself. Goal was to complete in one piece.
My race strategy was to swim for 1 hour or about 50 laps, take a break to hydrate, then continue for the remaining laps. Knowing I would be a slow swimmer as I’m doing breaststroke mostly, I waited for the majority of swimmers to dive in before diving in myself.

As expected in a mass swim event, you kick/hit people and you get kicked/hit at. Got my first taste of how it was like to swim with a whole bunch of people which probably gave me an idea of how an open water swim would be like (not saying that it replaced the need for me to do open water swim trainings if I want to prepare myself to participate in a biathlon, especially on the sighting and low to no visibility underwater).

Swam and swam, using breaststrokes mostly and doing a lap of frontcrawl occasionally when I had a coast clear in front of me (I’m not fast enough to cut people lah!). Then, when I popped my head up to check on remaining for the first time, I was very surprised. I was swimming for 1.5 hours continuously! Decided to continue swimming until I hit the 2 hour mark.

At the second hour, I stopped to count the number of rubberbands I had. One rubberband was issued for every 2 laps, and I lost count of the number of laps I swam after rubberband #7-#8. 48 rubberbands, which meant I had 200m to go. Swam another 4 laps, got the rubberbands required to make up to 50 (i.e. 100 laps) and got up to go redeem the lap gifts.

The queue was long. Took me about 20-25 minutes before I could finally redeem the stuff. The lap gifts were not bad, mostly foodstuff, but the highlight for me was the finisher tee (for finishing the swimathon) and swim cap (lap gift).

From uncertainty in finishing to managing to complete without a rest break. Although the timing’s not fantastic for sure, considering I was using breaststroke most of the time while other swimmers were zooming by using frontcrawl, my goal was achieved. Perhaps it was my relatively good cardiovascular base which helped. I tell myself, I don’t have the speed, but I make up for it in endurance. It’s my race.

Still I will wanna brush up on my frontcrawl technique and if I’m joining again next year hopefully I can go under 2 hours.

NUS Splashdown 2009
12 September 2009 (Saturday)
Distance: 5km (100 laps X 50m)
Expected time: 2:30:00
Estimated finish time: 2:06:00

Next race: Nike Human Race in October

This run is organised by Singapore Prison Service in support of the Yellow Ribbon campaign to help ex-convicts reintegrate into society. It was one of the best race experience I ever had and very impressive given it’s the first time by the organisers. From the shuttle bus to baggage deposit, goodie bag and baggage collection (and others). Minor hiccup for the shuttle bus from prison to expo, but it’s alright.

Race route was from Changi Village area to Changi Prison compound. Went to start point via shuttle with Jeanne, who was participating in the 5km fun walk with her company.  Baggage deposit reminded me of the races I did in Sydney, bagging and labelling the bag with tag number (although in this case it was pasted on the bag using a portion torn from the race bib). The route was pretty good overall, save for the slopes (which I think most people wouldn’t like anyway!). And a bit deceptive at the end point - thought it was a straight route running along the perimeter, when there was some u-turn points! *LOL*

The cool weather helped loads, and thankfully the rain didn’t come pouring down, just a slight drizzle and only opened up after most of the participants had finished. Finished under the hour for the first time this year (and previous 2 years). The distance seemed shorter however, my SportsBand registered 9.26km only! However later reports by others set the route distance between 9.6-9.8km. Time for another recalibration… But if extrapolating the distance I still have my PB for this year. Maybe I do better on slopes? Hmm.

Think this was one of the events where there’s so many freebies - the goodie bag’s good, free notebooks, pens, ice cream, milo etc. Very worth it. The finisher paperweight is a nice surprise. The finish point area also very spacious, with entertainment and education areas to know more about the prison service.

Will definitely go for it again if they are organising next year.

Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2009
6 September 2009 (Sunday)
Distance: 10km (around 9.6-9.8km though)
Expected time: 65min
Gun time: 1:01:10
Net time: 0:59:44
Ranking:123/773 (92/773 based on gun time)

Next race: NUS Splashdown on 12 September