.... the jackal rides and run....

Wow, the 188km distance covered during Bike Rally day was really draining. I was still quite tired on Monday and body started to exhibit for muscle sores albeit not serious at all. Took Monday off the exercise map. Tuesday I was not sure if I could wake up for a run so decided not to commit to Ryo's running invitation. I set the alarm anyways to schedule a run for the usual 5.30am. Morning came and I woke up to the alarm, quite reluctant to get up but forced myself up anyway. Still had second thoughts though but hey what the hell. Decided to go barefoot and guess what.....did 12km on my barefeet and in decent time too (under 6:00 min/km pace). I saw Ryo at the 4km point coming from the other direction....he promptly turned back to join me and took off this spanking new NB MT10's (nice and light BTW). He ran with me at my snail pace for another 3-4km and turned off to head back home at Big Splash area. I continued on and made the u-turn back to Macs starting point. I mus...

170km covered for the event, giving a total of 188km for the day, taking into account to and fro rides to the F1 Pit. This ride was tough. Despite all the stops every 18-20km or so, its still tough! It was hot as hell too! Starting out, I was not feeling as great as I did last year due to the fact that I have massively scaled down on my cycling (only twice a week now). The initial pace was not very fast but it soon pick up speed after the West Coast Part rest stop. Reached the next few rest stops in the front pack. JM was doing well tailing right behind me. Scary moment at Tuas. I was together with a group right behind the safety car. Some guy had this event singlet tied to this seatpost. I noticed this early on and I thought it was a bit dangerous as it could just come off its poorly tied know and get stuck in the wheel or something. And then it happened! His rear wheel locked and being right behind him I hit him from the side....I was going "oh dear I'm gonna fall" bu...

Did a short 11km run at Macritchie trails on Saturday. I just want a short workout as there a big ride the next day. It was great opportunity to also try out the Salomon XT 10+3 Hydration Pack. I tried mounting the light on the straps but it kept hitting my shoulder blades during the run so I took it in my hand. All in all the pack felt pretty comfortable but it does get a tad hot. I need to adjust it better as well to get it higher up to the body and tighter for a more snug feeling and not have it sloshing around. Its better not to have things in the hand especially for someone like me who tends to fall a lot! The run was good. Ryo was kind. Did a modest pace of 6:27 min/km so its pretty decent for a trail run. I think Ryo can easily do this within the hour. I can too, with more practice of course...

I was all excited about my Zoot shorts and it felt great yesterday on my 10km run. Had it washed by hand, as I do all my other running/cycling stuff and what came out was shocking. Only after one time of use!!! Made in Canada??? You sure??? Frayed sewings!! I'm afraid to even pull/cut it!!! This is on the left thigh area. I do not know what to call this part. Pulling on the frayed thread seems to just un-sew everything!  Everything looks to be 'ok' on the right side though So I am devastated. I was about to order more from CRC as they have 10% promotion this weekend but this is definitely a deal killer for me. I only chose Zoot over 2XU or SKINS due to recommendation from some running friends...I'm so unlucky! I'm not sure if I can still use this thing without further destroying by the 3rd or 4th run. The compression is not bad and the material seems to be of good quality but I was aghast at the sewing quality. I have had various cycling short...

Ryo cycled to my place and we ran at ECP doing the 10km loop. As he is definitely a much faster runner than me, I asked him to help me to try to achieve 5:15 pace (just want to get it under 53mins). He did just that at shot off at a bullet pace of 4:30.....I nearly fainted but thank goodness he noticed my state and slowed down to 5:10 pace.....by then I was dying already. Think the initial fast pace destroyed me. Upon reaching the 5km point (a PR), I could feel that I was getting tired fast so I knew at that point that it would be quite difficult to hit the under 53mins target but to achieve a PR over my best time was definitely possible. I gave it all I had for the last km or so and managed to do just that. Ryo hardly pulled a sweat! 10km in 53m 22s....improvement of 20s from previous PR achieved last week. Wow, every seconds equate to pain and suffering but I am loving every moment of it. Strange.

Back from China. En route back via Chep Lap Kok (HK) Airport, I had to get my siu yuk (roast pork) fix. for the record, I'm not claiming this for my travel claim. This is one serious piece of meat.....crispy skin, fat fat belly meat and yellow radish dip. Heaven. I managed to RUN on a treadmill on Wednesday morning in the hotel at Shenzhen. Its the longest time I've been on one....for 10km!! At the 3km point, I was begging to get off the damn thing. Just something very unsettling with 'running on the spot'. Well at least it made me feel better about eating the above later that day! Thursday morning....back on the bike and man I shot out from go. Pushed and pushed and felt great throughout. Must have been the fat meat I consumed. Managed to do the usual 30km ECP - COASTAL - ECP at an average speed of 33.4km/h.....just 0.1km/h off my best...damn. Fast. A pleasant thing once I got home was the CRC order waiting for me....the Garmin 'Premium' Soft Strap ...

Its 11.50pm and I'm in FuZhou, China. Just checked in, freaking tired. Did not get any sleep during the flight (quite a good flight with Xiamen Airlines though). So here I am in the hotel, just think I'll post something and finish updating my business cards (!!). Interesting stuff at work but that's another story. Anyway, great weekend otherwise. I just had to do one long ride to acclimatize my butt to the long 160km Bike Rally next Sunday. To be real honest I don't think I can fare as well as last year (where I actually came into the finish with the front pack!) as since taking up a lot of running, been neglecting my top of the line electronic shifting carbon bike! Saturday : 100km Singapore Loop Clockwise Managed to rope KL into this ride (he's in the Bike Rally as well) and met him at Nicoll at 5.45am. I did not intend to push, just to last the distance with a decent speed was the target. However, upon going up the Viaduct, KL was leading at 35km/h. There ...

Monday : A rest day....was hit with sore-throat right after the trail-run beer session. I've instructed Ryo to remind me next time out. I'm such a sucker to peer pressure. Not blaming beer directly but the past few times that I got sick.....it was beer after heavy exercising, everytime!! Tuesday : Got up and ran barefoot 10km......did the first 5km alone was suprised I could hold a decent 5:50ish pace for the first 5km. Ran slightly slower with Ryo as my feet were feeling a bit raw by then but it felt great and we managed to complete the next 5km slightly under the 6:00 pace. It was nice to run an chat a bit as well just to catch up and talk about stuff. Wednesday : I owe my bike a ride so I headed out for a 'base' 30km. Basically try to keep HR at 130bpm average for the entire ride. Boring ride as usual but I did not feel the greatest either as I have a dry cough after the sore throat subsided. Thursday : Headed out for a run......I felt ok and thin...

Must be over 20 years ago back in JC when I was in this range. Finally I just crossed from the "Overweight" range into the "Normal Weight" category. I came close back in 2001/2002 from running as well but could never go below the 82kg line. I just hope I can keep improving this! Steadily below 80kg will be the target. right now its hovering at 80kg-81kg. Been getting sick (cough, sore-throat) pretty easily over the past month. Change of weather probably but I should also pay a bit of attention to the weight loss which is quite substantial.  I went from 87kg in end Nov TDB2011 time) to 80kg now....that's 7kg in 11 weeks. I've had to abandon all my work clothes and go down one and half size down at least. Waist from 36" to about 33"-34" now. Shirt size down from 17/16.5 to 16. I can wear slim fit shirts now but the tummy is still huge though! Nevertheless it's a good feeling to have. What I did consciously since then... - I ...

Preparation for Sundown Marathon cannot be complete without a feeler route. I need to know my capacity for suffering and manage it myself, especially for this distance. ECP - Changi Village - ECP (42km) Hope to do this soon, just to get a feel of the pain expected. At this point, I'm just going to go easy on the NTU Bike Rally Event! EDIT : Ryo has offered water support for this grand effort. I will probably need him to run alongside be for the last 10km!!

SATURDAY So comes the trail run Saturday. The PTR (Pre-Dawn Trail Runners) group formed in FB by JM have now offcially 6 members. All of which turned up. HG, new to the group and fellow barefooter turned up. Picked up Ryo at 5.35am and got to the meeting point a bit late. Did not manage to take my ritual pee before the run haha so rushed off in pursuit of the group. Upon reaching Venus drive and before getting to the trails, I stopped to take a leak but seeing the guys already going in I rushed and was fumbling with my lights....inevitably, fell down at the start of the trail and got hit on my left knee (which is still painful today....got a bit of a limp while walking) and some rashes on the right shin. Nothing major cosmetically but it did hurt a bit running and I still have about 17km to go! Luckily HG waited for me and we ran together until we caught the tail-end of the group. As usual I slowed down the group a fair bit as they have to stop to wait. I don't feel good about ...

I had Ryo to pace me for Monday's 10km run and bettered my time by 8s. Coming out from being sick last week, I think this is a pretty good achievement. I probably would not have been able to do it without Ryo's pacing, so thanks to him! Time 54:05....just a shy over 54mins. Tuesday was more like a recovery run.....did about 6+km on barefoot with Ryo as well. Amazingly, we had pace of below 5min/km for the last 1.5km or so barefoot! That was nice. Thursday was back on the saddle day for me. Feels good to push on the bike after a while. Pushed hard against headwinds on the way up and on the way back was quite spent to push further. I was determine to keep the time below 55mins for the route so the last 1-2km, I pushed harder. Managed to comply within 55mins timing, just by a shade. The bike now feels pretty good, and looks good too, with the HEDs and GLUED tubular in place. Which reminds me that I need to put more miles into the bike!

I've een making sandwiches for the wife the past few weeks of weekdays and starting last week, including my sons and daughter. Its quick, satisfying and strangely therapeutic. One of my more elaborate creations yesterday : Chilli Tuna Luncheon Meat Triple Decker with Lettuce! (for the me and the wife) smaller ones for the kids (no chilli!) The Production Line typically takes up the entire kitchen counter. I must say I'm pretty efficient at this....all done in less than 30mins which includes frying the meat!

Taken and Edited by JM. Along end of Mandai Road towards Yishun.

This ride was a little bit of a worry; I was still a bit tired from the meds and MR run. To compound this, I only managed 4.5hrs of sleep! No, thanks to Paranormal Activity 3 which made me sleep waste past bedtime (so-so show by the way, wouldn't waste my time on it). Got up, did my rounds and met with JM below my block. Reaching Nicoll, I could already sort of know that this was not gonna be a fast ride at all. I just could not push. Energy levels were moderate and body felt lethargic. So I decided that I will just enjoy this ride. In fact, we didn't even take the viaduct towards Jalan Buroh. Did some sprints at LCK and Mandai (downslope) but thats about the 2 pushes I made the whole time. I was tired at Punggol and laboured all the way back home after JM   left at Downtown east. Good thing is, no pain or sores, just general tiredness and lots of calories burnt!

MERRELL TRAIL GLOVE  ROAD GLOVE quick review :  Compared to the Puma's, the forefoot area is more rigid and offers more protection from the rocky path. What's noticeable is also the arch area....I would not call this arch support but there is something there that confirms to the arch making the fit from heel to midfoot, snug and good.  The toe-box is great and my toes could literally 'splay' as I forefoot strike, very nice. I do feel like it promotes midfoot strike more than the Puma's. As it rained previously at MT, the trail was wet and the path was a little bit slippery for it...but I imagine it should be not much different from other trail shoes in this respect. I still find the Puma's more barefoot than these TGs. I will stick to Puma's for road and TGs for the trail. Something about the TG sole tread that feels weird on the road. EDIT : So after comparing the sole online, mine is really the Road Glove. However, I do not see why it can...

Its been about 10 years since I last ran the MR loop. Used to take a bus from Toa Payoh those days and start running over here at around 7am. The loop took me about 1hr 10mins during that time, typically. It wasn't fast. So when Ryo asked to do some trails (actually, was a little adamant as was still pulling a slightish fever and still on antibiotics) I said 'why not?' but not the brutal 20km of course given my state. 645am. My car reaches MR. I was shocked to so many people over there. I thought there was an event going on but NO....its normal for that as I found out later after the run. The carpark was almost full I think. More asphalt and building at MR park area now compared to then. A much upgraded visitor centre (which did not exist 10yrs ago) and canoe storage area but the path to the trail remains fresh in memory. The trail itself seemed a little wider, but maybe this is just because I've been going to Woodcutters too much! So no problems in getting lost thi...

Had a thumping headache and nausea Thursday morning. I was basically immobilized and bedridden. Had to haul my ass to the docs just to get an MC, no way I was going to work in this state. In the end, had to induce vomitting (yeah, reminds me of my beer drinking days) which made me feel a whole lot better. Started on my antibiotics...as much as I hate to do so! I guess its the way my body is telling me to take real good rest. Although I only spend 2/3 of the days per month average to do my workouts, I really think the lack of sleep (waking up between 4am to 5am every workout day) had taken its toll. Tough with the kids! I think I should be ok for a light one tomorrow....long distance is ok just not push it.