Track24 - 6km run (53rd run)

Seven hot-runners turned up today to run together. It's sort of a "breakaway" run for YS Yun and ZiJing whom are moving on to join another new company.

It's one of the better runs that I have had along Track24 (our Thursday route) as most of them are good runners and running at fairly good speed.

BokHui and Edwin were ahead of the pack. YS and ZiJing are the 2nd running pair. HT, HC and KH are in the 3rd group but not too far behind.

KH shared his running experience on the 42km Sundown event. He was not fully prepared for it and recovering from runing injury.
HC's suggested to take a look at YK Loke's training plan for 42km marathon which he found to be quite helpful. Also to try to minimize running injury. Marathon is an endurance sports.... so do not really need to speed, it's ok to run at a slower comfortable speed and able to last thru the whole race.

Thanks to HT for sponsoring the 100-Plus drinks. His wife Janice came to pick him up after the run. She was a marathon runner too.

Overall a very good run today.

(Notice that FOUR of us are using the Garmin heart-rate, speed and distance monitoring device model F50. So far the feedback from the users have been positive).

Our 52nd run together

Six of us turned up to run together today at the UPR of which two of them drove directly and meet us there.

HT was not able to join the run today but shown up to chat with the group.

BokHui putting on his Garmin gadget to track his heart-rate, running speed and distance covered. Cheap and good stuff.


Group picture at UPR carpark before the run.

Those who turned today were ZiJing, GuanHong, CM, BokHui, YS Yip & HC Gan. The range covered varied from 3km to 10km among them.

Thanks HC for sponsoring 2 bottles of 100-Plus and ice after the run.

51st Run

It was a peaceful Thursday and good weather was prevailing at 5:30 pm. It was time for the Thursday run. HC Gan was there to say hello to the Doris and myself before we headed to Track 24. I used Garmin to jog at 150 to 159 beat per minute. Was surprised to find that I was running average at a good 9.5km/hr with the moderately relaxing pace. Doris was determined and did 6.8km as well. We drank to our successful run with Gatorade. Doris has signed up for 10km. In our discussion, she pointed out that there are runners out ther ewho prefer not to join the group runs due to perceive run range difference. This is contrary to our goal of just getting anyone to brisk walk/jog/run any distance for Health, for Fun and for Life. If there are curious questions from interested persons out there, will like your help to extend your welcome and give our prespective to them.

>>> When I got back home at 7:30pm, I was still keen to run with my 14 year old son. We ran up and down Haig road for 2.4km at above 10km/hr. We broke out quite a bit of sweat. My heart rate was above 160 bpm most of the time. Was glad that my son is picking up running again to chase his lethargic afternoon away.

Also, over the weekend, I did my first early morning cycling with a group called Joyriders.
Anyone who are interested can call Big Alvin, the ride lead, mobile 81255225. http://www.joyriders.sg/ is their website. Group cycle from 24km/hr and above. Distances are 50km and above per ride. Oouch, my backside. There is a Thomson Road group and East Coast group. Have fun if you want to try distance cycling in Singapore. If you do, prepare to wake up early.

Since I am on this topic of other activities, I came across a group called the Briskwalkers on 12 May during our first East Coast Run. It seems like the group is for the more senior persons. They looked like a fun bunch and was willing to pose for this picture. Hmmm second anniversary. 16 Oct will be Hotrunner's first anniversary... akan datang.

>>> Back to running, CS Chan completed his Mount Faber Run. You can find out more from him. Choon Yoon Tak, a friend of mine, completed his Sundown Ultra Marathon 2009 in 8hrs and 44 mins. Tim Teo and him makes me wonder why did they do what they did. The motivation must be extraordinary.

Our 100th posting on this BLOG

Hi fellow hot-runners,
HT reminded me that we have hit 99 postings already in this Blog and said I should pen the number 100th article here with some of my thoughts about this Hot-Runners group.

I started serious running on 9-Jul-08. It was a co-incident that my friends ST Kuan and HT Ng have both signed up for the 24-Aug-08 Marina Bay half marathon events at about the same time. Both asked me to join them. I signed up for the 10km event... a long distance that I have never run before. I have not been jogging or running for more than 10 years. In the first few practise runs I encountered numerous challenges : nausea, muscle aches, KNEE PAIN, heel injury, chest pain, etc, etc.

But with the encouragements and supports from the fellow runners, all these challenges were able to be overcome. HT shared with me the Pose Running Method. Since then I have never have any more knee pain at all. Along the way, I have learned a lot from the fellow running friends. Managed to convince a few of my friends to sign up for the Marina Bay running event as well.

My health has been improving by the days. I felt great during that period of time and created a website to blog my running experience and to share with friends at my blog ==> HC Gan Running Web Site

Having experienced all the good health benefits that running can provide, HT and myself decided to set up a running group within our company (which I have retired from recently). We invited like-minded people who enjoy running or want to be health through running to joy / run together on a regular basis.

Since then we have organized regular twice a week runs (Tue & Thu) for the group. We created a running blog site called Hot-Runners (i.e http://hot-runners.blogspot.com/) to post our activities, share experiences, update major events, training tips, etc, etc. HT named the site as Hot-Runners and I provided the slogan Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life. As of now we have more than 50 people in our mailing list. During peak period, we have 23 people running together in one of our weekly runs.

For those people who do not enjoy running alone or do not feel safe to run alone, this group is an excellent source for them to do their regular runs together.

The Hot-Runners just celebrated their 50th run together this Tuesday 16-Jun-09 at East Coast Park by the sea side. 22 people turned up to run together and followed by dinner. There has been suggestion to invite a CVP or a VIP to join or flag-off the run for our 100th run in the near future.

A lot of people have contributed to the success and fun for this running groups through various actions such as sharing their experiences, sponsor the drinks, co-ordinate the weekly runs, share training plan, running tips, provide transport as and when needed, post on the blog, etc etc. Listed here are some of the people who have made contribution to the Fun and Success of this running group:
HT Ng, BokHui. Edwin, CS Chan, Janto, SokeHan, Catherine, Pete Laute, Reias, CM, Joyce, YK, ZiJing, YS Yun, etc (I am sure there are a few more others which I may have missed out).

THANKS and looking forward to the next 50 fun runs with you all !!

50th Run Together for the Hot-Runners Group

Wow..... time really flies. Today is the 50th time the group have been running together.

22 people turned up to "celebrate" this run together at the East Coast Park. Saw several new faces today... Carol Lee, Victor (Reias's friend), two other guys (need to find out their name). Most of us took the 10km route while a few took the shorter route and 15km route.

Gathering at the carpark before driving off to East Coast for our 50th run !!




Meeting up with those people who drove separately to East Coast F1 carpark.





Today run is one of the best that I have had. All the runners were jovial, enjoyed the run and company. The weather was great and windy by the seaside.


After the run, many of us went together to have dinner, satay and drinks at the nearby East Coast hawker centre.
The Sundown ladies with Victor and Eric. At the far end are BokHui & Karen.




HC, YS Yip, GuanHong, ZiJing and YS Yun... after a good run can afford to take coconut (high cholesterol?)





Running can really make you "high" like this lime-yellow shirt guy, just look at his face !! Our super-duper HT..... eat satay and chit-chat with us all. With him is JY.

Running can be a very lonely sport or a social fun sport by running in group with nice people. The Hot-Runners group aim to provide a platform for people to enjoy running as a fun sport, to stay healthy and have fun ! I enjoy running with this bunch of great people.

Happy faces after the 50th run together.

Those 22 person are Wil, George, Ivy, Reias, Margaret, Betty, BokHui, Francis, Eric, JY, Edmund, CS, HC, HT, YS Yun, ZiJing, Victor, GuanHong, Karen, YS Yip, Mr.A (blue-shirt) and Mr.B (green-shirt).

Getting ready to leap for joy.... and JUMP ! (a bit blurry as ligthing was dim)

Thanks for the wonderful run today.

Fwd: 50th Celebration Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life

From: HT Ng

Date: Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Subject: 50th Celebration Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life

Dear hotrunners,

On behalf of the celebration organizing group, it is our pleasure to
invite you to join us in an evening run at the East Coast Park
followed by a group dinner at East Coast Food Centre. The run is
specially organized to commemorate the 50th run which started since 16
Oct 2008. The run frequency was once a week and has since progressed
to twice a week at the members' request from early this year. The
motto for the group "Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life" (from
Gan) very aptly describe our feeling to 'why we do what we do'. Hence
it is without doubt that we simply want to encourage people to run.
For beginners, injured runners, born again runners to active runners
who wanted the company, hotrunners are always available to run with
you on Tuesday and Thursday (with exception).

Here are the logistics:
Meeting time: 5:20pm
Last car: 5:30pm
Meeting place: Open carpark between MIC mailroom and Guard house.
Run start: 6pm from carpark F (100m east of the exit 7A along service
road - map attached)
Run distance will be 5km, 10km and 15 km in a circuit similar to Passion run.

Coordinators: (also our regular coordinators for Tuesday run)
Reis Yeak: for materials team
HC Gan for ex-Moto
Ong Bok Hui for the rest

Please let the coordinators know if you are interested..

Those who have indicated their interest so far are:
Gan, Cecilia, Yun, ZiJing,
Bok, HT, William, CS Chan, Guan Hong
Jimmy, George, Margaret, Betty, KY Chen, Francis, Ben

Volunteer Drivers:
CS Chan.. Bishan
Jimmy Ng.. Ang Mo Kio
Yun Yow Seng..
Ong Bok Hui… Hougang
Poh Chwee Hwee  (Yishun)… to be confirm
Gan: Yio Chu Kang

Drinks: Gan and HT in 2 containers

Please be punctual. Bring a friend or two if you like (Moto and
non-Moto are equally welcomed

Best Regards
from Celebration run organisers

Timings for the 14 Sundown runners

"Choo JY-w20999" , 10, 1:05:15
"Janto-exMoto Tjandra" , 10, 1:04:42
"Lim-GQCV87 SanSan Margaret" , 42, 6:30:00
"Ong BokHui-F11645" , 10, 0:56:14
"Per-Moto SokeHan" , 10, 1:13:04
"Qiu Betty-e7690c" , 10, 1:11:00
"Rodriguez Steby-E11328" , 10, 1:22:53
"Tay KhengHua-F11612" , 42, 7:13:00
"Tee Eric-E11666" , 42, 5:35:00
"Venkatesh" , 10, 1:08:58
"Yeak Reis-KDG387" , 10
"Yuan Zijing-A20721" ,zjyuan@gmail.com, 42, 5:59:55
tanpeisang@yahoo.com, 10
yk_loke@ymail.com, 42, 4:49:00

29 names signed up for Marina Bay Run 18-Aug-09

Let me know if your name is missing from the list... :-)

"Chan-moto CS" , 21
"Gan-gmail HC" , 21
"Goh Edwin-FSGA2107" , 21
"Janto-exMoto Tjandra" , 21
"Lim-GQCV87 SanSan Margaret" , 21
"MJ Matthew-HRBQ43" , 21
"Mohammed Iqbal", 21
"New Catherine-F10493" , 10
"Ng Haotat-FPJ634 - Jimmy" , 10
"Ng-Moto HT" , 21
"Ong BokHui-F11645" , 21
"Ong Francis-E11422" , 10
"Per-Moto SokeHan" , 0
"Poh Hweechwee-F11993" , 21
"Qiu Betty-e7690c" , 10
"Tan Randy-E11845" , 21
"Tan Wil-MGF873" , 21
"Tee Eric-E11666" , 21
"Teng George-MQV648" , 10
"Yeak Reis-KDG387" , 10
"Yeoh William-C23042" , 10
"Yeoh-ymail Cecilia" , 10
"Yip Yew Seng" , 21
"Yuan Zijing-A20721" ,zjyuan@gmail.com, 21
"Yun YowSeng-a4054c" , loyys@pacific.net.sg, 21
tanpeisang@yahoo.com, 10
yk_loke@ymail.com, 21
Pak Loon (Per Eric Tee's mtl list), 21
Benjamin Wee B.Wee@motorola.com, 21

49th Run

49th Run has to happen else the 50th Celebration Run will be out of synch. At 5:45pm, YS Yun, the Chi master and I headed for the Track 24 route. The weather was a little humid. I tried on my Garmin once more. As usual, YS Yun was running comfortably and way ahead. It was a joy to be able to witness the ease and pace of YS. I hope to pick up more tips from him. I limit myself to less than 160 pulse per minute. Was surprise to find that eventhough I felt slow and comfortable, the speed was still 9.5km/hr. Not too bad, need not push so hard to get decent time. This was my second run from a long break, legs to toes felt a little stretch. At the end of the run, I have a very good chat with YS Yun as part of cooling down. Yun will be joining SEEL from 1 Jul. The company ends work at 6pm. He will have difficulty to join the 5:30pm runs.

We welcome HC Gan back from his travel and we should be seeing him next week.

See you at the 50th celebration at East Coast Park. Run cum Seafood dinner (high Carb type).

Warming up the Run (48th)

15 hotrunners headed for Upper Pierce reservoir. CM Lai and Francis kept each other company to the main gate and to the pump house. Yun and Zijing ran to the Casuarina carpark for the 6.5km route. I took the 7km route along with Margaret, Randy, CS Chan and Ben. Not too sure about the others as we are used to running our own route.

Margaret ZiJing was with us despite just finishing their 42km Sundown Marathon 9 days ago.

I was using my Garmin watch for the first time. It was beeping most of the time above the desired 160 pulse rate. Also notice with interest that my pulse will climb just by looking up the long slope.

The group decided to celebrate the 50th run at East Coast Park Next Tuesday. Out of the 15 runners, 13 have confirmed to go be at the 50th run. A mail will be sent out for more details on this. ZiJing and PC Poh was enjoying the East Coast Park Run the last time round.

CS Chan will be participating in the Mount Faber Run this Saturday so we wish him the best. CS has also run off track in MacRitchie and will be available to bring us there if we can fit it into our schedule. He is also planning to undertake the Genting Highlands 50km run. Anyone care to join him?

Some interesting exchange… my foot arch was incessantly painful once it goes beyond 4 hours of running during Sundown last year. I found that ZiJing, Margaret have the same experience too. Some suggested that it was inadequate conditioning. More motivation to finish faster so as to avoid the foot arch pain if I ever try another Marathon.

Hope to see all at next Tuesday's 50th Run at East Coast (cum dinner). This Thursday 49th Run is On. Track 24.

HT

Eric Tee on his Sundown Marathon

Below is my timing..about 5 hrs 53 mins. 3 mins better than last year. 2nd marathon. This year is really a tougher run than previous. As the humidity is killing us. When reaching 20km, a small voice telling me to sneak into a taxi and go home sleep instead as i began feeling heavy legs. But thinking spending so much time training, i just continue running. Compare to last year, i did improve timing at the stretch of 20km to 30km. I was quite surprise still can run at this stretch.
But came to the last 10km, i was already having severe pain at my calf and whole leg muscle, so i just jog, walk and crawl to complete the toughest run of my life. It was a relief when i finished, but sitting down for half hour still not enough to forget about the pain. The atmosphere was great though, having so many crazy folks running together at wee hours. All panting, but still showing fantastic strong will and mental power to continue pushing and running. i admired those runners who run passed me. For those who completed the marathon, we deserve the satisfaction of completion. So runners, lets come join us next year.

Post on behalf of Eric Tee

42km Marathon Training Plan for 1st Timer - YK Loke

Thanks YK for sharing with us your Training Plan for a 42km full marathon event.
Congratulation on completing your 1st full marathon run in the Sundown event with very good timing of 4:50 hours.
Glad to hear that "running" has help you stop smoking.
w.rgds,
HC Gan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From : YK Loke
Date : Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 11:02 PM

Hi ,

I actually picked up running in only Aug last year, doing distances like 3 to 6km per run about 3 times a week. Was still a smoker back then, smoking about 15 sticks a day. Only managed to kick this bad habit on the 1st day of CNY this year.

Then I signed up for the Sundown marathon in late Jan this year, so I've actually about 4 months to train for it.

My main focus was on building up endurance and stamina as I felt that my foundation is not sufficient, and importantly to stay injury free at the same time. I did not intend to do any speed, tempo or interval type of training as my target was just on completing my 1st marathon comfortably, hoping to do it under 6hrs.

I increased my mileage progressively to about 8 to 15km per run 3 to 4 times weekly. On either Sat or Sun, this is where I will do my LSD (long slow distance) run, doing distance of 20 to 25km. Keep these runs at very easy chit-chat pace at about 7mins/km, no need to rush thru them. This is teach the body to adapt to long run and to burn fuel more efficiently. Try to keep your heart rate under 150 bpm, the lower the better maintaining the easy pace.

Remember to follow the 10% rule, i.e. don't be too impatient to up your mileage too much and too soon, otherwise you will risk getting injured. Keep the weekly increase to within 10 to 15%. I did have a slight ankle injury which kept me off my training schedule for a good 2-3 weeks.

So my mileage was building up to about 50 to 60km weekly. Try to do a couple of LSD runs that is slightly above 30km 3 to 4 weeks before actual race. It's not necessary to run beyond 35km during training. Remember not to run a marathon before a marathon.

Last 2 to 3 weeks before the marathon, you should go into taper mode, i.e. decrease your mileage.

The above was more or less my training plan. There's actually a lot of online resources and books that you can find on training for a marathon.

Now back to my actual Sundown run. This is quite a tough marathon as many people told me. 1st, this is a night marathon and secondly, the route is not flat (compared to stanchart), there's actually a number of overhead bridges that we need to conquer during the 2nd half of the race ! Very interesting terrain, some parts are quite mentally challenging.

My hydration plan was very simple actually. I brought 4 energy gels with me. Took my 1st one 15mins before start. 2nd one at about 12km, another 1 at around 25km and the last one at 35km. As for water/isotonic drinks, I tried to drink them at every alternate station. As I have a fuel belt with me, I can actually drink from my own bottles so that I do not have to stop at every one. Also ate a banana at the one and only aid station that gave them out at about the 25km mark..

I did not suffer from any cramps throughout my whole run. Try to keep a consistent pace if u can, and don't start out too fast. I did however slow down quite a bit during my last 10km as fatigue set in, needed to take a toilet break and a couple of walk breaks when I got to the water stations.

I hope u will find the above useful in your preparation. I learnt quite a fair bit from this whole marathon training and experience, and there's still a lot to learn !

Have fun training, but do remember to listen to your body ! Feel free to ask me if you have further questions.

All the best for your 1st marathon !

Rgds
YK

My 1st marathon 42km run - by Zi Jing

Thanks Zi Jing for sharing your 42km marathon experience in the Sundown event.

---

From: Yuan Zijing
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009

I put up my report on a blog. You can follow the link here. It's a bit long. For the info of fellow runners, I am copying the Lessons Learned part below:

Lessons learned

In short, my Gun Time is 5:59.54.97. First 10k is 1:03:38.79, second is 1:35:30.99, third is 1:25:11.38 and last 12.195k is 1:55:33.81.

The first 10k went on pretty much according to plan, though the pacing was not consistent. The GI issue virtually killed my plan and disrupted my rhythm. I cannot pick up the usual pace I was running after the walk break. I thought the third 10k will be the slowest but it was not. I'd attribute the fading in the third installment to low mileage and inadequate training. I thought the last 10k or 12k will be a bit faster; at least it is mentally in my mind. That probably is the limit I need to break, of cause with higher mileage.

Now the things I did correct:

1. Though a lot of things happened during the preparation of this race, I still tried my best to log the miles in training. From Jan 1^st to the day before the race, I accumulated 570km. Not good enough to bring me a good finish time, but at least the max I can get.
2. Two days after the run, I was not experiencing serious injury. I guess the shoes and gears are generally working for me. A little problem is with my left feet. There is more pain on the left foot than on the right. Probably it is worthwhile to find a good pair of shoes that work on my left foot.
3. I followed and quit the pace group on my own judgment. I would crash much uglier if I have followed the pace group.
4. The double-layered short saved me from suffering serious chafing. I though the singlet is lose enough from causing aberration on the arms, it still turns out painful in the armpit.

And the things I can improve:

1. Mileage, mileage, mileage! Again as I mentioned above, I thought the last 10k or 12k won't be the slowest but actually it was. Should I not experience the GI issue, the last installment would still be the most difficult physically. Next time a plan should be followed as closely as possible, especially the long runs.
2. Don't try anything new on race day, even something as simple as plain water. I did experienced gastric discomfort in one run before the race. I didn't expect it is so serious. It is worthwhile to try out all the things that you would expect on the race day, even plain water.
3. Pace well. Probably something like a Garmin foot pod or gps pod would best fit for determining the pace. Once out of rhythm, it will be difficult to adjust back and realize the goal and the optimal result you are capable of.

Regards,

Zijing

How to tie your shoes: From Penang Motrunners

Chan ChongKhong is from Penang Motorola who visited Singapore Motorola and took time to join the Thursday track 24 run along with Jasmine, Tan CheahSin and others on 7 May. He was kind to contribute the points below for the hotrunners.

Some sharing on how to tie your shot knot. Probably can share it with the runners. http://www.runnersworld.com/video/1,8052,s6-4-0-4,00.html

Thanks to our runner friends in Penang.

My 2nd Sundown

From : BokHui
This is my 2nd Sundown event with my classmates. Thot it was going to rain minutes after starting but weather was cool. Was jam-packed first 2km and very difficult to run.
My 10K time was 56min 14s... we then had Ayam Penyet at Changi Village before heading home.

UPR Run on 2-June-09

Last weekend was the Sundown marathon event. The prior week was the PAssion Run. Some of the participants will likely be resting for a few days to a week.

Today 7 people turned up for the weekly UPR run. HT met up with the group at the carpark.
The mighty 7 were Wil, Ben, TL Yen, George, Francis, HC Gan and PH Tan. The weather was nice and the team have a great run today.

HC was pacing behind Ben and Wil. Three of them did the 7km run and at moderate speed. HC commented that at the first half of the run, his heart rate was consistently at 150bpm or below, a very comfortable zone At the heart rate and speed he believe can complete a 42km full marathon. The average speed was between 9kmph to 10kmph.

Assuming at 9kmph the entire 42km will take 4:40 hrs which will not too bad for a 1st timer for full marathon. Looking forward to the Dec Standard Chartered Marathon event.

Fwd: Sundown Marathon

CONGRATES, YK !!!

Completing a marathon event is a Glory.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: YK Loke
Date: Sun, May 31, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Subject: Sundown Marathon

Completed my SD marathon ( my 1st marathon ! ) early this morning in a time of 4:50, again base on my watch.
Rgds
YK

Sundown Event 30-May-09

Congrates!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TAN PEI SANG
Date: Sun, May 31, 2009 at 2:13 AM
Subject: Sundown Event 30-May-09

Just back from Sundown 10km woman. Eat nasi lemak & teh tarik at changi village with some ex-motorolan after that...haha...yummy yummy

Some comments :
- First time to participate in night run. I like it as night time icooler & not as hot as morning & i think can run faster due to weather. Will join next year again. See how is the result next week as the result will publish on 1 June online.
- 100 plus : Only 1 water-point (when approaching 6.5km). Very little as compared to other similiar running event. Will it be due to economy downturn & they cut down sponsorship ? haha
- route is not so good as participant need to run at small path which is very near to a plant area. Participant will touch the plant if need to overtake other participant
- Exciting part : when about to approaching 5km for U-turn, there is big electronic signboard to tell you : 350m to U turn". This is encouraging the morale of participant.
- approaching 8 to 9km route : we passed by an area whereby people are having BBQ at both left & right, some are fishing, even can see people playing guitar & sing song when they are having picnic there. haha. That moment is tough as feel like stop the run & join them for BBQ & ask for a free chicken wing....haha

Tried to register for Bay run for 10km but noticed there is error...will try again tomorrow to enjoy early bird promotion...promotion extended to 3 June....

"An error occurred on the server when processing the URL. Please contact the system administrator?