The Infinite World

Achieved a new PB of 27min9.635sec on 29 Jun 2015 for the 5.6km run at the stadium. People might wonder why I run such odd distance ? Well, its because I used to take part in the Annual JP Morgan Run here in Singapore and train for the run at the stadium. This is a run that take place every year in several cities the company operate in, including London, New York and a few others. My PB for this JP Morgan Run on the road is 25min23sec in 2008.

New Horizons, a Nasa space probe launched 19 Jan 2006, will be flying by Pluto on 14 July 2015. The main purpose of the mission is to study Pluto, Charon and the Kuiper Belt, plus some other minor missions. Hope Scientists learn more once new data and images are obtained from the probe.

There was another rocket launch failure just hours ago in the United States, it was supposed to be a resupply mission to the ISS and also carrying some experiments aboard. After 57 odd years of launching space missions, human still, cannot get the technical issues and technology right ! Unless, these so called experts can get the basic right, we can forget about travelling further from the earths' neighbourhood !

Covered 10.17km from Yio Chu Kang/Lentor Ave junction to Yishun Ave 1/Orchid Country club, in 58min8sec, on Saturday . I always find it so much harder to run along walkways beside roads, as here in Singapore, other than running in parks or at the standard stadium, you have to run on walkways along the road. These walkways are made of concrete and its not very conducive for running, its often use by cyclists or people with electric bicycle. These people normally assume runners will give way and they never both to stop at all. I can never achieve good time when I run on such walkways or routes.

Did a 5.6km run or 14 laps at the stadium today, in 27min39.390sec. Initial plan was to run as many laps at 2min per lap for 25laps and set a personal best. But than on the 13 laps,  I got stitches and would not be able to last for another 12 laps. So I just try my best to compete the 14lap as fast as possible to finish the run. All 14 laps were either 2min or faster, except for lap 10 at 2:02. I am running better than I ever did previously, my legs felt good and I can probably go even faster. 

After 6 days of no running, I covered 15 laps or 6km in a time of 30min 7.816sec at the stadium on 14 June 2015. This was faster than the 30min12sec that I managed on 6 May 2015, in fact my first 3 laps was very slow, 2:14, 2:11 and 2:05. My last 6 laps were all faster than 2min each.

The 28th Sea Games in Singapore ends today and the conclusion is that Singapore is way behind the Southeast Asia Track and Field Powerhouses, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia and even Myanmar. We are way weaker physically and mentally, we need to work harder to catch up or fall further behind. We need to raise the medal we win from the 3-3-3 to closer to 6-6-6 to be considered competitive.

Did a short 7.5 laps of 400m at the stadium yesterday's evening, 3 km in 14min9.451sec. I have no plan before the run, just want to put in a short run. I also did a 200m in 49sec and a 400m in 87sec. I have been wanting to find out how fast I can run for a 400m and this is my 1st sub 90sec run probably in the last 2-3 years. This is not really a 100 percent effort, so I think I can probably get it down to 80-82sec. But the problem is as you run faster, there is not much grip on the synthetic track. I think the fastest I ever run for a 400m with a pair of running shoes was about 68sec many years ago. I might try to run with a pair of old spike I have to see how fast I can go !

I finally managed a decent long run of 20.4km on Wednesday, 13 May 2015. I covered the distance in 2hr3min6sec, averaging 6:02 per km. This is not a fast time by any standard, but it did take me quite a bit of perseverance to complete the run, as physically I am just not fit enough. Need to do some exercise to improve my core muscle group and also to reduce my body weight by at least 2 kg. Just have to keep training and pushing to run faster time.

Completed a 2.4km(6x400m at the stadium) run this morning, 8 May 2015, Friday, in 10min37.877sec. Probably my fastest time for this distance in last 3-4years, although I am not in the best shape physically but I am mentally stronger. Sometimes, we just have to learn to run at a faster speed than we thought we can handle. You might feel like you are running out of breadth, but your body can actually take it and we just need to learn to get use to it.

Repeated my 6km run again on 6 May 2015, completed the 15 laps of 400m each, in 30min12sec. This is surely faster than yesterday's run of  31min29sec. My mental state was much better and I did a little bit of warm up exercise on the 6 May 2015 and this is reason why I run 1min17sec faster over the same distance. It could have been at least 15-20 sec faster if I had push my body a little bit harder. It is important to be positive mentally and maybe some visualisation of the next run will help us to run faster.

Did a 12.41km run to Bishan park and back home, covering the distance in approximately 1hr15min on Friday, 1 May 2015. It was a bad run, started our really slow and my kegs were heavy. I guess sometimes I will still need to stretch my legs a little to warm up and run a little faster to avoid such a situation, where I really struggle with my run. My next run was  on Monday, 4 May, 2015, this run was better. I covered 14.22 km in 1br25min, still slow but did not suffer from the heavy legs situation again. I was able to run a better second half and finished well with a fast closing stretch. Did a 6km run on 5 May 2015 at the stadium, 15 laps on a standard 400m track in 31min29sec. Slow run but necessary to make sure I still can run at faster pace than my longer run. 

There are a few bright spots and good results in the news for Singapore Running ! A 41 years old record was broken for the mens 10,000 m in June, 2014, Soh Rui Yong ran 31min15.95sec in Oregon, USA. He ran his maiden marathon in the US in 2hr26min01sec on the 7 Dec 2014 at the California International Marathon, the second fastest time ever by a Singaporean. Mok Yin Ren is another elite Singapore runner, he just arrived in the Boulder, Colorado, USA, a few days ago to train with Lee Troop, a Australian Olympian. Has is the SEA Games 2013 marathon gold medallist(2hr28min36sec), his personal best is 2hr26min30sec. Then there is Ashley Liew, who is also studying in the, US, who ran 2hr32min12sec in the New Orlean Rock and Roll Marathon on 25 Jan 2015. There are quite a few others who can run below 3 hours, Lim Thow Wee(2hr48min49sec), Fang JianYong(2hr38min40sec), Ning Wenlong(2hr53min57sec), just to name a few. Hopefully, with the SEA Games in Singapore, more Singapore a...

I did a 4km run in the morning in 20 min flat, just trying to make sure I run after 2 days of no running. I did a 5km run in the evening in 24min4sec, initially I was trying to see if I can keep going at 2 min per 400m lap for 24laps. But, I think I go out too fast, averaging 1:57-58 per lap. I ended up just running 12 and a half laps instead. One thing I noticed, is that I am more comfortable running at a faster pace of around 2 min per lap now. I believe I can keep up with the 2 min per 400m lap for 20-24 laps soon and I will hit a PB for he 10km run at the stadium.

I managed to run a life time best of 50min21.87sec for the 10,000m at the stadium near where I live on the 20 April 2015, Monday. (on a standard 400m track) I have been running well by my standard lately and I was quite confident that I would get this PB sooner or later. My plan was to stick to a 2:03 per lap pace for most of the 1st 24 laps and go all out for the last lap which would enable me to break my previous PB of 51min3sec. 24 laps at 2min3sec per lap would give me 49min12sec and I would just need 1min47plus sec to break 51min. I usually can do a 1min40-45sec quite easily for 1 single 400m lap. I did better than 2:03 per lap on Monday. Here's my breakdown of the 25 laps. 1) 2:03.065 2) 2:04.922 3) 2:00.727 4) 2:00.506 5)2:03.361 6)2:01.851 7) 2:00.599 8)2:01.396  9) 2:01.746 10) 2:01.341 11) 2:00.575 12) 2:00.862 13)2:02.159 14) 2:04.905 15) 2:03.813 16) 2:02.737 17) 2:02.608 18) 2:03.354 19) 2:04.187 20) 2:02.847 21) 2:01.921 22)2:01.892 23) 1:59.319 24) 1:55.124 2...

Completed a short run of 6km yesterday's evening, in 29min25sec, another PB for me. I have never run this fast before, average less than 4:55 per km. I guess sometimes you need to want it bad enough for things to happen! I have always like running and read up quite a lot on running, especially race reports on the web. I was reading Mary Cain's achievement last year and I was wondering wow 4:04 for 1500m at 17 years old ! Reached World Championship Final of 1500m ! She even has a PB of sub 2min for the 800m, a sub 9min for 3000m and a 15:45 for 5000m! She is only 19 years old this year ! 

I was quite happy with my run onTuesday at the stadium, why ? I managed to maintain an average speed of  120.27sec per lap for 18 laps of 400m, which I have never been able to achieve before. I completed this 7.2 km run in 36min5.003 sec. I ran it with a take it easy attitude and I felt good before the run. But, one thing is that I keep feeling like I was running slow and was inpatient to keep running at the same pace and at the same time worry that if I run faster, I would burn out. Anyway, I am happy I have done a sort of a pb for the this distance, which gives me more confident to run longer distance at the same speed for the next run.

I was at the New Singapore National Stadium, I witnessed the running of the men 10,000 metres race. The overhead shutter was 85 percent close, providing shade from the afternoon sun. There were about 8-10 competitors in the race, the first 2 places were Vietnamese athletes, running an average of about 75 seconds per lap. To a layman it might means nothing watching the athletes running at such a speed, but to any average runner who ever timed themselves running a lap on a standard 400m track, it will be mind blowing. When I watched the 2 front runners, I can feel like they were sprinting instead of running. I myself perhaps can run averaging 2min2.1sec per lap for 25laps, I really cannot visualising myself running at 75 seconds per laps. It will take some natural talent and lots of tough training to run at such a level. The winner completed the race in 30min36.53sec, averaging 73.462sec per lap, the 2nd place runner finished in 30min57.81sec, also Vietnamese. Third was local runner...

Covered 21.35 km this morning, but it was slow, 2hr23min plus. Tried out a new route today, start from Yio Chu Kand Road towards upper Pierce Reservior. Ran along old Upper Thomson road until I reached Reservoir park, I saw some runners who ran along the golf course. I followed them and ended up at the Macritchie Reservoir. Ran back to Yio Chu Kang Road via Thomson, then Upper Thomson Road. It was a nice scenic route and the early morning air was refreshing ! Slow but enjoyable run !

Start my run this morning at about 7.01am, weather was cool. I have no real target today but was initially thinking of a 20km run. Not in the right state of mind, just trying hard to do a double digit for mileage. Eventually covered 13.24km in 1hr22min42sec, averaging 6:15 per km. Thinking about work, which is not going too well. But, anyway just have to stay positive in the mind. Correct state of mind, will result in positive action in life !