The Infinite World

I am currently trying ways to improve my running time with really minimum training. Due to long working hours, I try to squeeze in 3-4 runs during weekend. Although this is not a solution at all, I still wish to achieve at least a pb for the coming run this Sunday and the 32km Newton Run on 20 Oct 2013. I have to try strengthen my core muscle group a little to have a chance to get my PB.

Started at 6.14 am from Ford Road carpark, started slow 6m18s 1st km, 6m12s 2nd km, try to run easy as this the 1st ECP run in 7 weeks. Covered the 3rd km in 6m5s, going under 6m by 4km, 5m57s. Seems to being going fine, clocking 5m49.9sec for the 5th km. The 6km was even faster at 5m45.2s, slowing down a little 5m50.1s for the 7th km. The 8th km was covered in 5m42s, 5m36.3s for the 9th km and 10 km in 6m6.3s including a 20s water break. 11km was covered in 5m33.8s, 5m31.8 for the 12th km. The 13th km was clocked in at 5m24.7s, followed by 5m22.5s and 5m14.3s for the 14th and 15th  respectively. I could not maintain the pace and slow to 5m41s for the 16km. The heat was unbearable and I had to take a water break and cooled myself down by wetting my head with water and the pace slowed to 7m3.8s. I slowly tried increasing my pace and managed 6m10.6s for the 18th km and 5m46.9s for the 19th km. Finally finished the 19.65km run in 1hr54m23s, it was a good run given my lack of mileage...

Completed a short run of 6km at the gym today in 30min6sec, average 5min per km. Started at 6min/km, increased my pace slowly to 5:40, then to 5:10 and eventually to 4:30 for the last 0.5km. Will have to do a long run tomorrow morning.

Whenever I received  credit cards bill, sometimes I received brochures promoting discounted goods, meals and others. They are printed really beautifully, on good quality papers, coloured and all, but 95% of the time it would end up in the waste basket. I believe it happens everyday in Singapore and elsewhere, but why these company keep doing it? In these age and time, why waste so much papers ? 

I think the state of the mind is important for achieving optimum result from training run. I guess whenever I try to rush through a run, I feel kind of distracted and would result in a mess up run. Need to train myself to be more patient and really knockout some long slow run of more than 25 km. 

Finally managed to complete a good distance of 18.5km according to my Polar RC3GPS watch, in a time of 1hr51min51sec. Did not feel very good but at least quite a smooth run from near the middle of the run till the end. Can feel my steps falling into place nicely and the body holding up well despite not drinking or eating any gel. Hope to put in a at least 21 km this weekend.

Manage to complete a 2nd run on 10 Sep 2013, Tuesday, about 10km in 1hr1min1sec. Although its a slow run, it was a good training, to get my body to accustom to running slow and far. Today, 11 Sep, 2013, managed to run 8km in 48min54sec. My body still trying to get use to running more, good training run.

Completed a short of 6.2 km at the  gym in 34min22sec. Felt heavy and out of breath, have start to put some miles into my legs. The SCB marathon is only 11 weeks away, have to take it seriously from now.

I was in Ipoh, Malaysia on 31 Aug 2013 Saturday and did a 8.11km at Polo Ground in a time 43min17sec. The park was quite crowded and I had to keep running right and left to avoid people having their morning walk. Not a pleasant run and a lot of energy wasted. Anyway I am really out of shape and it just felt so heavy when I run. This evening, 3 Sep 2013, Tuesday, run around Yio Chu Kang, covered about 10.2 km in 58min19sec. Still felt the same, heavy when I run. Today slightly better, at least no need to run through a  crowd. 

Where are we at the world standard of running ? Take a look at the medal table of the recent World Athletics Championship, where do you see Japan, Korea and China ? I think only Japan won a bronze in the women marathon. So how do we fare against these 3 Asian Giant ? You got the answer !

Europe seems to be recovering according to reports, but they have deal with structural problems in the long term. US seems to be happy just printing more money, China is slowing down. Further more, there seems to issue everywhere, Syria, Egypt, especially. Just do not understand the rational behind people fighting each other, but that's just the way human been behaving all along. 

Completed a short run at the stadium this evening, 10laps or 4km in 19min42sec. Not been running much these 2 weeks, have to really up my mileage in preparation for the Newton 32km run on 20 Oct 2013. Have to put in a few slow long run to gain back some confident. 

Most people would think that Singapore is a very clean country, but in fact it is clean because there are cleaners to clean the places. I think the easier way to maintain cleanliness is to educate people to behave like what they do at home. Not many people would little in their own house, so why do it outside your house ? Sad to say even educated people behave in such manner! Parent and teacher should teach such value to the young people.

Completed 3 run this week, 8.57km in the gym in 46min, 10.4km at the stadium and a 6.72km run today 11 Aug 2013 Sunday. The better run is the 10.4km run on Thursday in 56min41.357sec, not fast but I felt good about as I can felt I did put in a good effort. Still the same problem, not enough mileage and need to improve my core muscle.

Completed today 12km run in 1hr 5 min 16 sec. I am happy with this run as I am not in the best physical condition but I did put in a good effort to try to give it my best. I did hit a low 4 min plus per km, I can feel that I am kind of like floating. I try to imagine how the elite can maintain a 3min to 3:10 per km for the entire 42.195km ! Now I know how big is the gap between the average runner and the elite runner.

There is no short cut that will help to achieve new PB, the only way is to run more. Other ways will help but marginally only. There are a thousand and one way to improve but it's how you tailor it to suit yourself. Some like to run in the morning, others like to run evening. Some people like to listen to music when they run, some have to dress like a pro, etc. One very important thing is to know yourself, do not overdo any one thing and get hurt or injure you body. And of course having a positive attitude will definitely help as well.

Started late at 7.45am, completed 17km in 1hr 46min8sec. Started slow, reached the 1km in 6:57. Nothing special about until about 6km, start to get into the rhythm. Reached 10km in 1hr5min41sec. Saw a lady running with a dog in front of me, to avoid running behind her, I started to run faster. Completed the 12km in 5:57, follow by 5:40.4, 5:40.8, 5:41, 5:38.2 and the last km in 5:21.2. I did not take any water break or consume any gel today, trying to see how far I can go without any water or gel intake. Overall a good run but pace too slow.

Completed a 10km run at the stadium, 25 rounds of standard 400m. I could really feel how heavy I am when I run, felt I was really using much more energy due to my weight. I completed the run in 53min 52 sec. Although my running was smooth but somehow I felt my mind and body seems not connected properly. I tried to push harder but my body did not seems to response much at all. Maybe it's due to my slight sore throat that kind of made everything put of place. I could feel like I was not getting enough oxygen that I need to push harder. I need to put in more mileage if I want to improve my running time.

I have difficulty keeping a pace because I  normally drained after about 21km. One of the main reason is due to lack of mileage and the other is how I keep the energy level up by consuming gel and water along the run. But the real elite runner do not seems to do that at all much?

Started early today at 5am, initially suppose to run a 36km but we decided to shorten the run to about 20km when reached the 10km mark. We did a 1hr 7min 46sec 1st half. Once we decided to shorten the run, I pick up speed almost immediately. I kept a constant 5:35-5:40 till about 18km, was still feeling good at this point. I tried my best to keep going a little faster, but did not seem to be able to go much faster. Still running quite comfortably and managed to increase my pace to 4:25 -4：40 for the last 500 m or so. Completed the run in 2hr3m21sec, not a fast run but at least a good workout from my perspective.