Missing the runs, tan & feast

Gone were the days when we did extremely long runs on weekends or whenever we could afford the time. I actually miss those runs and the hard earn feast thereafter. The best reward was the sense of achievement; the feeling of a good workout and a guaranteed good night's sleep for that day.

Lately, I had to refrain myself and capped the distance at 8km due to the little bump. Doc said that it was perfectly fine for me to continue with my run since I've been so regular before. If missing out on those good stuff about running mentioned earlier is not bad enough, how about getting comment from mere onlooker who used his own yardstick to measure what I was doing and in turn imply I was a brainless weight watcher who exercise excessively?

How would you ever convince these pregnancy police or even clueless accuser that exercise is safe and beneficial for both the mother and child instead of getting those usual frowns and accusation?

Clearance from my gynae was first obtained. I did my reading up which was why I was so confident of continuing to run.

According to a study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, healthy, well-conditioned women who exercised before pregnancy may continue to do so throughout pregnancy without compromising their baby's health or development. Researchers from the University of Oslo, Norway, studied 42 pregnant women who exercised six times per week at either a high or medium intensity. When the researchers compared the women's length of labour, maternal weight gain, and the baby's birth weight, they found no differences between the two groups of exercisers.

Just to mention some but non-exhaustive list of benefits of regular exercise for mom-to-be:

1) Boosting energy level. It seems paradoxical but getting too much rest makes one even more tired.
2)Improved sleep. Regular exercise allows one to sleep better and wake up up more rested.
3)Endorphin is released during workout, meaning mood is improved.
4) Exercise stretches tensed muscles which is even more important when pregnant women tend to have cramps.
5) An active body encourages active bowels.
6)Moms who exercise tend to have shorter labour.
7) The more fit one stays during pregnancy, the faster the recovery will be after childbirth.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, for the baby:
1) Babies tend to be more fit given healthier weight.
2) Smarter. Research shows that babies of moms who exercise throughout pregnancy score higher, on average, on general intelligence test by age 5.
3) Babies of pregnant exercisers are easier to handle in that they sleep through the night sooner and less prone to colic.

SSCM 2009

SSCM has been a good one for me this year :) Clocked a personal best 04:38:54 and am glad with the consistent improvement. I'm particularly satisfied with the pacing this year. The tempo of 8.2, 8.8, 9.2, 9.7km/hr at each 10km interval was evident of a good attempt in conserving energy at the start. The constant time checking helped a lot too. In addition, the joint pain deep heat rub was also a savior at the 23, 27 and 30km mark to prevent the fatal cramp from acting up. The last reason why it has been a good race this year is because i finally have a decent finishing photo taking.

Dear on the other hand wasn't able to readjust back as he only came back last night and I kinda lost him after the 27km mark.

This yearly affair is certainly a love-hate event. Hate because I couldn't even climb up and down the stairs after the run. I had to limp and use the side handle to lift myself up.

extremely worn out after the run.

Run for us, economical fuel for car

Nike Human Race- running with the rest of the world this morning didn't turn out good for me. The running route was very crowded and weather wasn't favourable. Worst still, I had cramps acting up in the second half of the run. So, it was within my expectations that I won't be able to go under 54min and did a horrid 56'45". On the other hand, Xun did a great job! Clocked an excellant timing of 49'09".

We joined the crowd at the shell promotion after the race. A promotion aiming to educate motorists about fuel economy. $1 per litre of fuel was surerly a good bait which was evident in the long queues of cars causing much traffic congestions everywhere with shell station. It was quite an experience as we could see how some fellow citizens actually tried to skip the wait and cut into the queue recklessly, which very much disgusts me. Fortunately, we were there in them morning and the wait was about 30minutes which was still acceptable.

shape run

yes! results are out :)

a personal best this time - 54:11 for 10km

an inch closer to the sub 50's goal

that's a ranking of 157 out of 2537 which works out to be top 6%...if only i'm that smart while studying in uni.

saw VT (full time marathoner), also the confirmed no.1 for this run 3km into the course and later at the u-turn point. it turned out that she ran a different route from us after the u-turn. while the crowd ran along the dusty main road, she was given the privillege of running behind a traffic police bike along the small road, under the shade somemore! so cool la. her timing was a remarkable 38minutes!

go on, drink COFFEE

Much to my excitment- Research has shown that caffine is a proven performance enhancer and legal too!
Another added reason to pump in my daily cuppa :)

Caffine:
-helps muscles use fat as a fuel, sparing glycogen in muscles and increasing endurance
- increase power output of muscles by releasing calcium stored in muscles which allow athletes to go longer or faster in same length of time

Test statistics:
Performance improvement in lab ~ 20-25%,
Performance improvement in reality ~ 5%

Dosage:
Suggested intake 1 mg of caffine per kg of body weight(Austrialian Institute of Sport report ~120ml of coffee = 2 cans of coke!

Source- SundayTimes 5 April 2009 & The ST 11 April 2009


***
My own results:
with a small cup of coffee : 1 hr 19 min (~13km) vs
without coffee, normal diet: 1hr 20 min (12km)



that's about 8.96% improvement! :)

super long weekend! :)

Saturday was a luxourious day, a FULL day to ourselves at last, with no more scurrying around! There was also no need to rush through household chores as there was ample time.

We started with a long run in the morning, approximating 21km where we stopped after kallang stadium. Rewarded ourselves with a good breakfast of loh mee at Old Airport Rd. Such good food usually invite supporters, which was evident in the queue good enough to span the length of the market.

Then it was rocking our way back home on good old bus no. 30 where we read papers, chat and dozed off, resulting in stiff neck at the end of the ride.

Dinner was at outback, the reliable place where hubby seek his protein loaded comfort food. the cheese fries are sooo yummy though calories laiden. He commented that my portion of chicken tenders were akin to kfc. This made me felt that the treat to hibiki was far more value for money, given both treats amount to be the same.

Please bear with me as I'm still very intrigued with my new hair. hehe





THE comfort food for him


We also checked out gucci and LV shop at orchard. It's amazing to see women streaming out of the shop carrying big shopping bags with an almost visible victorious grin.

For me, my only loot of the day was an expensive miracle weapon over the counter before heading home. hope it works!

another miscellaneous photo to feature the black and red contrast-

movie and sore muscles

watched 3 shows in a matter of less than one week

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Sat afternoon)

2. Marley and Me (Mon afternoon)

3. Slumdog Millionaire (today)



i'm seeking to maximise the free time i've now because i'll hv no break this holz. leaving all work (those which can be stalled) to the time i'll be stuck in batam. the rainy days as well as the critic worth of 4 popcorns for these movies just made it more condusive for watching movie.

my favourite is in the order in which i watched them.

went for tuition a while back, and i met a little new friend. her name's faith and she was waiting for her mummy who's learning yoga inside the function room. she claimed that she's 5 but i'm not sure if she's familar with numberials.

while i was teaching my romanian kid beside the pool, this little gal came along to check out our conversation. with just a little "hello"and some gestures, we became instant friends. she kept talking to me, stroke my hair, tried tying it etc. she was so adorable! she kept asking me when i'll be back again and she wants to give me her doggie hairpin. my romanian kid wasn't pleased with us talking as he froze at the sight of little children. the 2 of them were vying for my attention at one point in time till i didn't know who to listen to. i thought this is one of the most enjoyable session at tuition so far. a welcomed distraction :)
*****
Total mileage for Feb: 125km

too little! arrgh.

42.195km

we crossed the finishing line together this year! :)
timing was 4:46:28(mine)and dear's was 1 sec faster! yippee.

oddly, there was an improvement in timing for both of us even though we kinda expected to finish in more than 5 hrs this time due to our lack in training. the new running technique probably helped us quite a bit despite the cut in training and yet a better timing or rather maintain the same timing as the improvement was just a few minutes. hopefully this will inspire and motivate us to really train hard next year. we've seen normal mortal around us who cut down 30-45 minutes in timing, so hopefully next year we'll be able to bring back such favourable news.

there was an insert in this year's race pack about running paradise in phuket next june. before our 2 trips this year are over, i'm already thinking of a diving and running there. oh dear.

first trial run

i've just completed my usual run at the reservoir a while ago and i used the technique which i learnt from the workshop yesterday!

crazy enough, i woke up at 6am in much anticipation to practise. see, our body learns best by repeated practice. moreover memory like mine deteriorates quite fast so i had better try it out as soon as i can.

the results? astonishing!

way before the wedding, the time taken for me to complete 12.4 km (2x pandan reservoir) was around 1:18- 1:20

then training dips like mad for the last 4 months and my timing became 1:28 (arrrgghh!)

and TODAY, with the new running technique, i effortlessly completed in 1:19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's a quite a substantial cut in timing :)

ok, i'm quite motivated to train harder so that i can shave off 5 more min in next yr's 10km race and work towards a better timing for marathon :)

ChiRunning and Project R

hubby & i attended ChiRunning course together with 2 of his colleauges today at toa payoh stadium. hub was telling me how he managed to change these 2 colleagues perspectives on running and now, they are both totally enthusiastic about the sport. we thought this could be a good platform for outreach and gave it a name,Project R. R for running, in case u are wondering. just like food blog which uses good food as a bridge to reach ppl with the gospel, we thought we could use running to connect with them, especially the meal after training. what else is more important than food after a good hard run?

back to ChiRunning. it is a technique for injury-free running. It also increases efficiency with mid-foot strike and at the same time increasing speed while reducing effort through the use of the core muscle group and less emphasis on the legs. ChiRunning claims its origins from the combination of modern physics with the ancient wisdom of Tai Chi to create a running form that is effortless and enjoyable.

don't raise your eyebrow yet. the Tai Chi origins has to do with tapping on the core muscle for running that's all. no religious or mediation etc.

the course is $150 per pax and good thing there's a learning fund which i can still utilise to offset some of the cost.

we were in toa payoh stadium from 8am-3pm doing postual alignment and running practice under the blazing hot sun. by the time we break for lunch, i was already sun burnt! :(

will probably upload some of our running video clips that the trainer filmed before and after the course to see the difference in running posture. personally the most rewarding statement, "now this really look like a marathon runner" which he commented at my after-the-course video made me felt that i got the full value of $150 refunded.

i'm really excited to try out this new running technique and will try it out tomorrow morning!

after a sunburnt afternoon, it was dinner at Kyomomoyama in Central with prudence and YL.

long run

we've been putting off trainings for the past months. worse still, for myself, i've missed the another race for this yr, the great eastern run. as the end of year draws nearer, we are getting the last min jolt to do some long distance running before the actual marathon.

since i'm much better today after resting for the past 2 days, we decided to do our week's long run.

route:
teban gardens --> west coast road --> pasir panjang --> telok blangah --> henderson road (~12km) --> tiong bahru --> havelock road --> robertson quay --> clarke quay --> esplande --> nicoll highway --> fort road --> east coast park (before mac) --> fort road --> old airport road

total distance: 30km

finally for once, we felt that we've accomplished something after so long.

by the time we reached old airport road market for our well deserved dinner, it was almost 10pm. apparently LG wasn't very satisfied with the spread as he found them too healthy - porridge and prawn noodles (soup) and he this intense craving for unhealthy food like macdonald's fries. thought we could walk out a bit further to get a pack from kallang stadium but the moment we stepped out of the market, we saw bus no. 30! we ran with all our might to catch the bus else we probably won't reach home till midnight. the whole journey took 50 min and when we reached at a horrendously late hour of 1130pm, considering the next day is still a working day. LG wasn't over with his unhealthy craving. as such, we got 2 big packs of ruffles and doritos from 7eleven.

terrific, putting back all the calories burnt earlier and perhaps even more.

the girlie outing

with the energetic young gals- cindy and pek har

we had indonesian food followed by roaming around far east plaza before surrending at toast box
----

a rare occasion when i chose to do interval training today

400mX10 at 2"10' pace
think it's a little light..
2" pace almost killed me the last round. will aim for that nevertheless.

Shape Run = second fainting experience

didn't really get to note my timing at all. i tried my best not to black out and struggled for half an hour. everything could have possibly went wrong went wrong in this run.

1) insufficent hydration.

2) not enough fuel in the morning. 1/4 of sponge cake from provence didn't provide sufficient energy for the run. not done on purpose cos i'm still in the midst of trial and error... a whole grain bun made me burp non-stop once, so this time i thought something more dense, packed with fats would do the job.

3) wrong pacing! aimed for 25min flat for 2 X 5km.

the last dash, i suspect was the main contributing factor to the fainting experience. after dashing for the last 500m, i was made to stop abruptly because of women jammed pack in front who didn't clear away from the finishing line, thus i was left with nowhere to warm down. I could feel the constriction of my windpipe, which made each gaseous exchange difficult.

thereafter i was sandwiched between lots of women of all shapes and sizes queuing for runner's kit. some were polite, others were simply xxx.

while queuing, my vision got a bit blurred. at first, i thought it was sunscreen which got into my eyes. then i realised it wasn't when colours started to fade. faces became extremely faint to almost white colour that i couldn't make up the faces of those around. i lost my footing and had no choice but to grab on the the lady beside me. i was struggling very hard not to lose consciousness. innately i knew i had to squat down. that made me feel better as colour begin to resume slowly.

i was squatting in the queue and when the snail pace of the line moved, i stood up and walk, before squatting again... the moment i stood up, the colours seemed to fade again... it was kinda scary...and i had to go back to squatting again. the lady beside me was very kind, she offered to queue on my behalf and then look for me later while i rest. a mule as always, i declined her kind offer and continued queuing in my pathetic state. finally, after 30minutes of queuing, i reached the boothe and collected the kit. i was grossed out by many who cut queue!

after clearing myself from that sorching, sunny place, i gave xun a call at city hall mrt. he was worried striken when he knew about how i almost fainted, so he picked me up before heading for service.

while i was in the bathroom, i was shocked to see my blue lips and thought i must have looked scary while i was almost fainting. probably white?


to compensate my body for that horrible experience, i stuff down a portion which is double of what i normally have before heading for service.

seems that i've become weaker physically. haiz.

Sacuony Passion Run - 8 June 2008

East Coast Park
Competive Mens & Womens Open 15km
Cool weather


Rank Name 10km u-turn 15km u-turn NetTime
353 MUN SHIUN 00:30:05 01:12:12 01:24:49





Rank Name 10Km U-turn 15Km U-turn NetTime
79 ONG HUIWEN 00:31:41 01:18:18 01:32:04

He always has focused nice running pics! My calf muscles look gross. *yeeks*

we have completed

but not together and therefore he was truely unhappy. :(


a super big red blister on pinkie. no wonder it hurts so much...