To Stanchart or Not to Stanchart

The Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2008 is open for registration once more. Friend A has been bugging me to enter with him. Apparently his kaki for last year decided the marathon was too short a distance for him. Thus he decided to go two further by adding two events on top of the gruelling 42.195km. He's taking part in an Ironman, which unfortunately for Friend A, happens to be on the same day as Standard Chartered Marathon (SCM) 2008. As of this moment, I believe I am the one of the few friends who is capable of keeping up with Friend A for a portion of the distance. Therefore he has approached me to participate once more in the event.

But to Stanchart or not to Stanchart? That is the question. It would be nice to try and complete one more marathon, and hopefully with a better timing. The temptation is there. Furthermore, for my last marathon at Gold Coast, the perennial question of "Why am I doing this again?" did not once pop into my head during that 4 hours 43 minutes. Perhaps it is the appeal of being in a foreign place running a marathon. Or perhaps I am simply looking forward to the fun things I would be doing after the suffering. I'm not sure. But that question did not pop up. So I ask myself, do I really want to continue to run marathons for a lifetime? To this question, the answer for now is I don't know.

Another interesting thought just pop into my head. Why the hell did I participate in such events anyway? The first marathon I believe I took part was in SCM 2003. That marathon, I had the company of 3 friends from Army. I guess the reason I took part in that was to achieve something. I've been pretty slack in much of my life in the 6 years or so preceding my National Service. Perhaps it is a way of redeeming myself or a proof to myself that I can complete something daunting. Nowadays, I join marathons as a means to keeping fit. I believe that if you have a target, such as running that dreaded 42.195km, you will have more reason to train and you would have to find the time to train.

So whilst there seems be a lot of compelling reasons to participate once more in a marathon, the opinion of my better half still matters and I do take her opinion into serious consideration. It was due to her opinion that I should stop running marathon, at least for a year, that is why I did not run the SCM 2007. I can understand her fears and concerns. She's worried about the impact the constant pounding of my feet would have on my feet, joints and other stuff. I know where she is coming from particularly as I have had problems with my knees and ankles before my National Service. But thus far, she has been very supportive of the two marathons that I have participated this year. Will she be supportive of SCM 2008? The answer is still an unknown.

Again, to stanchart or not to stanchart? As of now, it seems more likely than not that I will join SCM 2008 with Friend A. I would say 70% likely. But it's not a confirmation yet! :P

Interval Running

Have you ever heard of the term Interval Running? Some people, like myself, call it by other terms like Power Runs. So what's this all about?

Interval Running is a type of training to improve your overall speed. I did a lot of it when I was training for my IPPT. For non Singaporeans, IPPT or Individual Physical Proficiency Test is a test of the Singapore Armed Forces as a gauge on the fitness of its servicemen. Well, IPPT requires a 2.4km run. For the crazy people from Commando and Divers, the timing required is under 9 min 15 seconds. To pass, one has to run faster than 13 minutes.

Anyway, Interval Running helps in improving your time. It involves running for a short period of time or distance, followed by a short rest or slow jog. For instance, say you run for 600 metres then you rest for 1 minute. Then you repeat the process. The thing about this exercise is that you have to run quickly. When you do so, you pant more and you take deeper and bigger breaths. I believe this will in turn improve the amount of oxygen you and your muscles can take in. Also, Interval running helps in improving your muscle endurance. The more and harder you run, the better your muscle endurance will be.

Does it work? Well in my humble opinion (IMHO), I believe it really does. Much as I really hate doing it, I believe it is one of the few ways to get that elusive Gold. Getting Gold and you get rewarded by the Singapore Government. Your prize money is $400! Well, I haven't achieved it for quite some time now. Dang. Have to keep trying.

Monday I did one on the treadmill in school. I ran a moderate pace of about 10 on the treadmill. I'm guessing it's 10km per hour. I ran at that pace for about 4 km before I started on the dreaded training. So I started running at a pace of 12.8 for 2 minutes followed by 10.6 for 2 minutes "slower" jog. Damn. It's tiring. The pace was subsequently upped till about 13.3. Man am I tired. I did a total of about 6 sets of that and I completed Monday's run of about 8.8km. Today's a Thursday and I'm still tired. Haha.. I know.. Friend A and his friends will say I'm a bum. Haha..

So anyway, now you know about Interval Running. Hate it..

The Good Stuff of GCM

Another day Another article on GCM. Well it should be apparent how much I enjoyed the trip Down Under. Did I enjoy the marathon? Come to think of it, probably one of my more enjoyable ones. I didn't mind the first half of the marathon or so. Not much pain and I was running at a pretty comfortable pace. The second half was challenging but nonetheless an experience I still enjoyed. Now I'll just have a brief write up on the good stuff of GCM and what our marathons back here can learn from.

There were a few things that appealed to me in the marathon. Firstly, we got to put our names down on our bib numbers. I thought that was an excellent idea. People who were cheering the runners could finally call out their names instead of their numbers. Ever experience running then someone shouts to you, "Comeon 2379! You can do it!" It's quite obvious he's cheering you on. He's staring at you and you have eye contact with the guy. Who else could he be cheering for? But nonetheless, How many people actually remember their numbers? I, for one, don't. I'll still have a peek at my bib and oh! That's me he's referring to. At GCM, there wasn't the issue of that. People called me by my name and it feels so much better. You can even put your nickname or something. One of my friends put his alias and it sort of humoured the cheerers who cheered him on.

Another thing I liked was the numerous timing mats. There was a timing mat for every 5km, and at the halfway point. I think it's really nice and it provides you a breakdown of your marathon. This would particularly be useful if you are a really serious runner, or if you are like me, just curious.

The isotonic drinks during the marathon is also worth mentioning. Perhaps to some it may be too diluted. It has a lot of water mixed with probably half the required syrup. But I felt this was a really good mix. Normally for isotonic drinks, it tends to be too sweet and it makes you want to drink water, at least I do. After drinking the isotonic, you need to drink a bit of water to dilute the sweetness and to wet your throat. The isotonic at GCM was diluted, as mentioned, but it was just right. I felt that I could just take a cuppa isotonic and that's it. This helped reduced the bloatedness and I felt that was really nice.

The last thing I would like to talk about would be at the finishing line. I was really really appreciative of the team of people at the finishing line whose sole task was to assist you in taking out your championchip tag. These nice folks would ask if you require assistance and they would squat, so that you needn't have to squat yourself, to take off that double knot you tied. At the end of a tiring run, that is such a god sent. Thanks nice folks who took off my championchip tag.

Well yeap. That's the main stuff I liked about the GCM apart from the wonderful scenery and amazing people. So hopefully the organizers of our marathons learn something from this. :P

Gold Coast Marathon

The Gold Coast Marathon was held on 6th July 2008. The date quite nice ah.. 06.07.08. Well anyway, it was obviously held in Gold Coast Queensland and on that fateful day, 3 friends and myself embarked on another 5 hours of torture whilst another lady friend embarked on her own race of 10km.

Our morning began at like I think it was 5am Aussie time. Through the night, I keep waking up. Some how I slept pretty lightly that night. And through the night, you could hear the howling of the winds and if you bothered to get on your feet to look out the window you could see the dark clouds and the wet streets. What an excellent day for sleeping in! Why the hell am I waking up to run in such conditions! Crap!

Sadly, a friend (not Friend A) came in to wake us up. He's a morning person. Dang.. I was half hoping that everyone forget to wake up although I was already awake and still enjoying the comforts of my bed. So anyway, I woke up reluctantly and got dressed whilst at the same time cursing the weather. Haha.. We had our little breakfast and prepared ourselves for the race. So by about 6am, we left our lovely, comfortable, WARM apartment to put ourselves through pain once more.

We reached the designated carpark with time to spare. So all of us decided to visit the little boy's room. The moment we got out of the car, we felt the wind! oh my gosh.. Freaking cold. It is those kind of wind that chills you, even into your bone. Argh.. So a quick run to the toilet. And a quick run back to the relatively warmer car and under my wind breaker. Why oh Why am I doing this again! Sigh..

Sadly, time passed really quickly when you are comfortable. Soon we had to leave the car and head to the starting line. Time is about 0640. The marathon starts in 10 min. The thing is, we parked in a shopping centre. And we have no idea where the exit is. So we spent like 5 min trying to figure out just how to get out of the building! Haha.. Then we panicked. 5 min left and we had some way to go to the starting point. So we started jogging to the start point. Thankfully, we reached the start point like a minute before the flag off. Just nice. So within that time, we jumped over the barrier and found ourselves within the 3.00 to 3.30 timing runners. Oh what the hell. We moved a little forward and then the horn sounded! Gold Coast Marathon has begun!

Two of my friends are much better runners than myself. So they were like 10 metres or so ahead in front of me. Friend A was very kind to run along side me. I know that he could have run ahead of me but he decided to be a good friend that he has always been. Haha.. What blatant sucking up this is.. Friend A and myself ran together for the marathon. It's a very interesting experience running the Gold Coast Marathon. For one, it's an Australian marathon so most people around you are Westerners. It's way different from the Singapore Marathon where you are the majority. In Gold Coast Marathon (GCM) you are sort of the minority, well sort of. So besides these Westerners, or Ang Mohs, there were quite a lot of Japanese. Apparently, GCM has always been popular with the Japanese folks.

Friend A and I ran at a pretty comfortable pace of slightly less than 6 minutes per km. I think that's quite okay a pace. But the wind in the morning is a killer. Woo.. When it blows, you really feel it. But run on we did. Soon 5km came along and we get to run pass the red timing mat. Cool! So they will have my 5km timing. Soon 10km came and they had the timing mat once again. Very impressed!!! Soon after the 10km mark, we saw our first friend! The bugger had already turned at the 13km or so turnaround and was on his way back to the starting line. Well that guy is a born runner or something. Running seems to come so easily for him. Dang.. So proud of him when he ran passed us cos he was quite near the top people. Another few minutes, our second friend ran past us. All the quick buggers. Haha.. Soon, it was our turn to make our turn around. So glad to have done so and through this time, my good friend, Friend A, was running alongside for much of the time. We continued on and on. However, since the 2km or so mark, my stomach has been playing punk with me. It was like gurgling for a very long time and making it unpleasant to run with. After 18km, I decided I better deal with this stomach problem if not it will be a terrible 3 hours or so more. Sucks. Once I saw a toilet, I decided to bid Friend A adieu and I queued up for the toilet.

Sad to say, after like 5 minutes of queuing, embarrassingly, it was all blanks. Haha. So nothing fruitful nor anything unpleasant came out of this event. So off I continued. Run run run. I told myself during this time that it would really be nice to catch up with Friend A. So after the toilet break, I ran slightly quicker than normal. However, at the 21km mark, I was feeling the muscle fatigue already. If I persisted, I was worried that I would not be able to last the whole race without cramping up. So I decided to go ahead with a walk 1 minute and run the rest of the kilometre tactic. Well the tactic worked all the way till about 29km mark and by this time, we have already passed the starting point. Now we had to head like another 7 km or so before we turned around for the final leg. Anyway, by the 29 km mark, the muscle fatigue was pretty bad. So more rest was required. By like the 32 km or so, I was resting as much as I was running. That is so not good. Note to self: I have to train up on my muscle endurance.

The second turnaround happened at about 34.5km. My constant mental calculation told me about 8km left. So on and on I went. Half walking, half jogging. Terrible way to pass a Sunday if you ask me. But I was there now. In the event now. The scenery thus far has been wonderful. From the beaches with the beautiful crashing waves to the expensive houses with big boats. As a first time there, it was really an eye opening experience. So much beauty and wealth. Amazing.. Well in countless blinks of my eyes, the home stretch could and should have come sooner but finally come it did. There were more and more people and they were all cheering. Perhaps it's psychological but the people seemed more friendly and supportive. Finally, at 4.43, I crossed the Finish Line with a funny looking pose. Finally..

Well obviously, all my friends came in before me. I don't think I shall reveal their timings just yet. Too much embarassment for myself. Haha.. The youngest yet the slowest according to another "friend" of mine. Oh what the hell.. Finished I did and that's what counts. Haha.. :)

Build up to Gold Coast Marathon

Just two Sundays ago, a couple of friends and myself completed the Gold Coast Marathon. I will recap the events preceding the event itself such as the gruesome training and my thoughts on the marathon itself.

In all honesty, I didn't train much for the Gold Coast Marathon. Yeah months before that we did train. We did quite a few half marathons at East Coast Park. Then there was a period of time where we totally stopped training. At least I stopped training. I finished school, went for holidays with family and loved ones. As a result, I stopped running and neglected training. For a period of like 4 weeks I hardly ran more than 15km.

Following this very enjoyable 4 weeks of my life, Sundown Marathon happened. Was I prepared? Probably not as much as I wanted. So midnight the horn sounded and I told myself 5 hours of suffering began. And true enough, 5 hours and 2 min of suffering and I crossed the finish line. Glad I finished but disappointed at my timing. Oh well..

Sundown ended on 1 June 2008. Gold Coast Marathon was on the 6 July 2008. A good 36 or so days of training. You would think after the disappointment in Sundown I would kick myself in my butt, pull up my low ankle socks and train even harder! Well so did I. But I didn't. Can't really remember what I did. I spent a lot of time at home. Doing stuff myself for myself. And my good friend whom I always blog about went overseas. No training kaki!!! Best! The lazy part of me was like cheering. No more running. Life was good!!!

Unfortunately my friend came back and sadly reality came back with him. He coaxed us back to running. So I ran with him like 3 or 4 times. Monday was like a 15 - 16km long run. Wednesday 18km long run. Friday was East Coast once again, about 21km. So altogether that made up to about 50 - 55km covered in a week. I don't think I ever did that in my preparation for a marathon. Haha. Amazing.. Then the Monday before Gold Coast, he coaxed me into a "short" run. We came back 1 hour 8 min. Dang.. Was upset during the run cos I was cheated. Short to me means 20min of running or maybe like 4 - 5km. Not 1 hour 8 min. But I get where he's coming from and at the end of the day, I appreciate it. Thanks friend. I should give him a name. Hmm.. From now on I name thee Friend A.

Wednesday soon came and on the 3rd of July, a couple of friends ( including Friend A) flew of to Gold Coast, Queensland Australia.

Apologies and Excuses

It's been a very long time since I have updated the blog. For that, I apologize. My excuse would be my lack of access to a computer. My laptop have crashed. My home computer kaput. And with the home internet down, it almost seem like somebody up there don't really want me to be connected with the rest of the world.

Luckily for me, I believe he or she has changed his opinion and slowly, but surely, I am regaining my connectivity with the world. My laptop is more or less gone. But I have internet access again. And the home computer is breathing once more.

So with my running out of excuses, it is time once again to bore the world with my boring life. Stay tuned!!!