Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Moments of 19 Mar 09 run:

Moments of 19 Mar 09 run:
------------------------------------------------------
Steby, SV, JY Choo, Edwin, PH Tan, Poh Hwee Chwee and I (7 hotrunners) did track 24 starting at different times.Yes.... Poh made it twice within this week. She is one tough lady when she put on her running shoes.
PH is determined. He is running twice a week including in gym. He is making sure he takes care of his knees as he progresses from jog-walk to longer continuous runs. Breath well is his main focus now.
JY, is turning to become another "gripper". Running steady pace without rush and does not show tiredness on his face. He seems almost ready for a good Sundown. With SV, Steby and Yanto, the foursome will get lots of fun running together for the event.


News
- Was told by Poh that Bay Run registration started (see end part of this mail). Register before 31 Mar if you ran the event before will be much cheaper. 31 Apr is last day for normal early bird.
- Also, Passion Run early bird discount ends 31 Mar. Normal registration ends 31 Apr.
- Sold out: Standard Chartered Marathon Tee shirt. Place: Marine Parade HDB shop outlet. No need to make the trip there.
- Met HR Hannif Khoo. He is OK to have the company sponsor for registration of events with conditions. I will be writing to him to propose the events and budgets. I have picked some hotrunners to give initial comments on the proposal.
- Edwin will be writing to Lim Chye Beng (facilities) to look into bath facilities for MIC building for those who wanted a shower after the run.
- Heard Yanto has enjoyed running so much since picking it up in January that he was spotted running in Serangoon Stadium too. Zoom, zoom...
- Jasmine will be bringing a colleague to join next week's. If the weather is kind, I think the turnout will be good for next week.


Posted by HT Ng

Thursday, March 12, 2009

DEVELOP YOUR PERCEPTIONS TO DEVELOP YOUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES

From: Laute Peter (from Beijing)
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:15 PM
Subject: DEVELOP YOUR PERCEPTIONS TO DEVELOP YOUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES
I agree with the below. Since I have stated the Pose method my perception of movement has very much improved, and my whole lower body is stronger than ever before. I am in the best shape of my life, thanks to implementing all of the Pose method (Forefoot landing under CoG, strength exercises in book, and running drills on DVD). Only pain (I should say discomfort - not pain) I now have is when I forget my age and go at it too hard, then my muscles are sore for a day or two - but no more injuries.
w.rgds,
Pete
----------------------
DEVELOP YOUR PERCEPTIONS TO DEVELOP YOUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES

There are three main components of development of higher level athletic abilities:
1. Improving your body physically,
2. Improving your perception and
3. Improving your skill level.
Everything else either falls under these three categories or is a "side effect" of development of all or any of the three.

All three are very interconnected and are very important, but nothing is as powerful and significant as perception. A slight change in perception can change everything. In running, Bannister's famous Mile run in under 4 minutes (3 min 59.4 s) is one of the most famous examples of breaking barriers by changing perception (click here to read more about it).

Our perception is an incredibly complex system, it is a multidimensional channel of communication that is as vital to us as the air we breathe. Our senses and perceptions are vital to the learning process. This is how we "collect and process data". Perception is the ability to gather, sort through and act upon information collected, and all in a matter of milliseconds. So the better your perception is developed, the better the resultant action will be, and the better overall result you will have.

Overwhelming majority of athletic coaches today tend to move past less tangible characteristics like sensations and thoughts, and instead concentrate on what they can see, like muscular movements. The commonly discussed proprioceptive feedback from muscles, ligaments and tendons is important, but the true meaning of it is not regarded or used to take corrective measures.

We have to understand that senses and perception are more than just the feelings in our muscles and contain the keys to mastery of movement. To see that, consider what a "natural talent" is.

What we call a natural talent is a complex combination of many things, two of which are physical abilities and perception - an incredible ability of an athlete to perceive his own body, the forces, the surroundings on an advanced level. Talented singers have higher sensitivity to sound, talented dancers have better perception of their body and its movement. Similarly, better athletes, have better perception of their body in space and time.

While we cannot acquire talent, we are either born with it or not, we can focus on development of our perception. It is a complex process, and it is also a deliberate one. It is a learned ability that is within everyone's reach.

Here's another thing to consider. None of the natural forces that provide for and are involved in human movement can be seen or touched, but they can be felt or perceived. So does it make sense to work on developing and refining your perception? It would seem to be so, would it not?

For even more reasons than mentioned above, in the Pose Method, there is a strong emphasis on developing perception. Both the Pose Triathlon and Pose Running books have a number of chapters on the subject of developing perception and there are a number of various unique exercises and drills to help you.

A good place to start is development of physical perceptions and perception of correct movement specifically. Diligent work on developing your perception - perception of your movement, your body and its dynamics will result in improvement of your overall athletic abilities. What's more - it could potentially promote improvement of many other things that you don't even think about right now. Developing your perception could possibly be the best investment of your time and effort you will ever make.

As Marcus Aurelius said, "The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception". If you think about it - everything is only perception. So, change your perception and everything around you, including yourself, will change.

Article by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Composed by L. Romanov

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Running on 10-Mar-09 at UPR

From: HT Ng
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 11:35 PM
Subject: Running Associates... Running Hot

Moments from last run:
-------------------------------
15 runners head into UPR for their run. Some for Fun, some for Health, some for Life besides work.
Got to know Margaret and Will both from materials team.

Bok Hui led a proper 3 course warm up routine for us.
1.
"Show your sexy hairy leg"










2. "Ride the horse"










3.
"Golden chicken on single leg"










Bonus 4:
Magaret gave stretch demo as well. (these ladies are really good. HC's fingers were still about 12 inches from the ground!).





I was running with Yan most of the time. This is my second time running with him to the Gate and back via the undulating road. There is marked improvement for sure.
This time, a special drink "Active 8", (expensive stuff) was sponsored by Soke Han. Hurray!!



(HC : it tasted so good. I am planning to buy a box for next Saturday Wii game party with my firends' kids at my home).












From Yip YS, there is a special talk organise by a Hea
lth service provider on "Run for Life". It is about how to run without hurting yourself. This Friday 4 pm and Saturday 2pm. If need more info, get hold of Yip. If one of you attended it, pls share the salient points.

Near term events are "couples run" by MR25 run group, Sundown by Adidas .
Gan is thinking about 15km for Passion Run 24 May by 100plus. Anyone interested? => www.singaporepassionrun.com

Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life.

Monday, March 9, 2009

5, 10 or 15km Running Event for 24-May-09

For those of you who missed the opportunity to register for the 30-May Sundown running event, there is a PassionRun event for 24-May just open for registration. Discounted price for early birds from 1 to 31-March.

Race Details

Date: 24 May 2009, Sunday
Venue: East Coast Park, E2 (Angsana Green)
Time: 0645hrs - 1200hrs
(Each category will flag-off at different time. You are required to look at the Race Category Table you have registered)

www.singaporepassionrun.com

Race Categories + Flag-Off Timings

Race Categories

Age Limit

Distance

Flag Off Timing

PAssion Challenge (with Timing Tag)

Men's Open
Women's Open

No Age Limit

15 km

7.00am

Men's Open
Women's Open

No Age Limit

10 km

TBC

Men's Veteran
Women's Veteran

40 years old & above

10 km

TBC

PAssion Run (with Timing Tag)

Men's & Women's Open

No Age Limit

15 km

TBC

Men's & Women's Open

No Age Limit

10 km

TBC

PAssion Fun Run

Fun Run

No Age Limit

5 km

TBC

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Track-24 Run on Thursday 5-Mar


We met a new hotrunner "Jasmine". She has been with Singapore designe centre for a while now (from Penang) and finally decided to do her maiden run last week. She did receive a request from her Penang colleague to be able to run with "Motorola Marathoners" when he get posted here 2 months from now. Will stay with the term "hotrunners". Just wanted anyone to run until they perspire a bit... hot and sweaty. Shiok. BTW, Jasmine did the Penang Bridge Run 2 years ago.



We were happy to have Bok Hui back from Reservist.
Edwin and I did a relaxed pace. JY Choo was pacing well.
Gan was well perspired by the time he completed his run.
Some members walked and run. That is absolutely right thing to do.... do it at your pace. Do not strain your body. With some of the members, I briefly touched on midfoot landing to remove the stress on the knee cap as one alternative for running technique. For more info, look for Chi or Pose running literature. Yun Yow Seng is our Chi Running master.


Tay KH assumed his role to make sure Jasmine felt secured running at the rear of the pack. We always make it a point to do the security/safety thing for new runners and ladies. Thanks KH.
100 plus was provided by Edwin Goh for the runners. Thank you to Edwin. It was interesting to note that besides JY Choo, Edwin and myself felt the same way about drinking room temperature plain water after a serious run is prefered compared to drinking cool isotonics. So, some of the Thursday's run, we will consider BYO (bring your own bottle water) or prepare smaller quantities for isotonics for some of the runners.

In general, last week we have a good turnout of runners ranging from persons who have picked up running-briskwalking to those who simply enjoy running with the group and those who are preparing for 10km runs in near future. All the smiling faces and personal progress reported from their workouts makes the run fun and rewarding.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Heart Rate, Speed & Cadance and Pose Running Method

Article and Pose method DVD contribution from Pete. He has progressed amazingly well with his cadence at 180 rpm, fantastic! Anyone interested to borrow the Pose method DVD please contact HT or HC.

From: Laute Peter (from Beijing)
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:02 PM
Subject: Hello

Hi,

I see that the Hot Runners are really multiplying and soon you'll need to hire a bus to transport everyone to the running routes. This is really great!

I've been focusing on developing running skills and strengthening my lower legs using lots of Pose drill as shown on the DVD. I have also set heart rate limits for each run so I do not over train. So far I can definitely feel my ankles, calves and arches getting stronger and it is well worth the time doing these drills. My goal is to complete all three DVD drill sections by June and then start running longer distances again to prepare for the Beijing 2009 marathon. I currently do Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday runs totaling 28 to 32KM depending how I feel. Below is my typical Thursday run. I do like all these Garmin features!

Keep Running!

Pete (from Beijing).

Chart below from the Garmin F50 gadget (now on special fire-sales discounted price of us$93 only).

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Another great run at Upper Pierce Reservoir

Hi all my wonderful running mates... thanks for the great time together today. The weather was great and it has been fun.

Guess their names from their backside ?




HC brought a REAL camera and the picture looked sharp & great. Camera phone was use in the past which are not as good. Cecilia joined us today.




Wonderful view of the lower pierce reservoir with all the beautiful people !






A total of 21 Hot-Runners ! Very good turn-out today. I love these bunch of hot babies. They look so Good and Healthy.





Full of laugthers.





After showing off their gorgeous backsides, they now turn and show their fronts.




Oh ya, thanks to Joyce (3), MJ (2) and Cecilia (1) for donating the Isotonic drinks.

Friday, February 27, 2009

HOW TO EVALUATE YOUR OWN TRAINING

From: Laute Peter (Beijing)
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009
Subject: HOW TO EVALUATE YOUR OWN TRAINING


HOW TO EVALUATE YOUR OWN TRAINING


When there is no coach in the picture to help you train, make various training decisions and evaluate your training and your progress, it is important that you yourself know what's going on and how to keep an eye on everything you do and how things pan out.

The best part is that you really don't need to know all the details. By following the basic guidelines you can successfully conduct your own training sessions, avoid
over-training and achieve good results.

There is a "
Golden Rule of Norm", formulated by Professor Anokhin in the 50-60s in Russia, that goes along the lines of: there is your individual "initial state" that you start from and have to return to. If that does not happen, it signifies a direction towards health problems. It doesn't matter what your initial state is, all of us are so different, there are so many individual variables that define our individual "initial state". For example, your heart rate could be higher or lower than the guy next to you. You might've had some stress at work and the other guy didn't, so you two are on different mental and emotional levels at the time you start your training session, and so on. What matters is that you mark/record/note your initial state and then compare it to your state after recovery, they should match. If they don't - you got a problem, a level of which is determined by the recovery time frame.


The time frame of return to initial state is significant, for it indicates the state of your body's "current affairs", but that could also vary vastly, for example, you cannot expect to have as quick a recovery as an elite athlete would have. The recovery time of regular people as opposed to professional athletes, could be and is commonly much longer. Elites count recovery time in minutes, sport enthusiasts could be counting in hours and days. Obviously, the longer it takes, the less fit you are.

The most important aspects of training are your ability to progress and to recover and do so within your individually appropriate time frame.

Evaluating your own progress is also an interesting subject. There is lots of confusion in regards to what should be considered true progress. As an old saying goes - your true success is determined by the price you had to pay for it. So if you shaved off a couple seconds off your run, but got
shin splints in the process, you probably shouldn't walk around with a victory flag, mistakenly thinking "you've done it!" What exactly have you done? Set yourself back a couple of weeks due to injury?

Progress is not achievement of a goal at the price of sacrificing something else. Progress is your overall "step up". Taking your time, focusing on improvement of technique by drilling and performing
strength conditioning exercises will get you farther, rather than loading on miles and number of repetitions during mindless and thus pointless training sessions.

To sum up, the evaluation of your training should be based on progress and your state of health. If your training is negatively affecting both or either one - time to change some things. Simply paying attention to above mentioned signs will help you ensure a productive training season.

Article by
Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Composed by L. Romanov

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Garmin Heart-Rate, Distance and Speed Monitoring Device

HC's run captured on the Garmin heart rate, speed and distance monitoring device

Some of you asked HC about the small black color Garmin device (about 1" x 2") attached to his shoe. It's called the foot-pod. It measures the distance, speed, pace and cadance of the run and wirelessly transmit the data real-time to the watch on the wrist.
HC wore the heart-rate monitoring strap during this run too. It transmited real-time heart beat information to the same wrist watch.
Once at home, plugged the USB wirelesss device (about same size as a typical USB memory stick) into the home computer. The software on the computer started up automatically, detected the watch and transferred the data from the watch to the computer. The chart was plotted and displayed on the screen immediately. Click on the picture to see the enlarged view.

Click here for more info on his data and chart.

Click here for more info o the Garmin device or where to get one.

Running Associates... Run Track 24

From: HT Ng
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
To: hot runners-HOTRUN01
Subject: Running Associates... Run Track 24

Date: 26 Feb (Thursday)
Route: Start from Offce to Track 24 and/or 1.2km circuit
Time: 5:30pm



I shall be looking forward to a hard run and hope my will can take me pass 10km distance. I believe there will be those coming to run for Fun at a comfortable pace as well. This run can be a good training day for those signed up for the 10km women's Sundown marathon.
I have the container and will load it with ice. Will be fun to have new sponsor for the drink tomorrow for a show of group spirit. If there is a volunteer, pls reply so that we do not have so many carrying drinks here (apologies for the short notice). Anyway, I have Gatorade and sky juice on standby in my office.

Moment of 24-Feb Tuesday's run :
-----------------------------------------------
The afternoon drizzle frizzle out when 22 hot-runners reached UPR (Upper Pierce Reservoir). Yes, 22!! This is a new record. (I will have to do a re-count with the group photo from Joyce's ZN5 to confirm). It will be hard to match.

About the route, everyone felt the UPR has a ethereal atmosphere similar to that of a temperate forest.... cool, faded light. It is a refresh feeling for all of us. Imagine Lord of the Ring setting. Simply uplifting to be running in such environment with good number of associates for company.

Runners of various preference took different routes/distances and end at the same point for some relaxation. Drinks at the courtesy of Joyce Lim, barang barang from HC Gan and setup by 3 other helpful volunteers. Lots of group spirit here.

The confident yet humble CS Chan joined us. Lots of encouragement from him for new and experience runners alike.

Was pleasently surprised to see SV, Steby and Janto on Tuesday run as well having done las Thursday's. Anyone aware of a 10km race between now and Aug's Bay Run?

George, Jimmy, Ress are new faces I came to know. Will take a bit more time to get to know the other runners.

Regards , HT