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

I'm changing my runs to the evenings at the moment, in preparation for the Sundown Marathon in slightly more than a weeks time. The Marathon event starts at an ungodly 12.30am so I better get used to some late runs prior. Started out at about 7:15pm and did the ECP loop. I wanted to try to break 2hrs in this run but failed! I started out with a fast pace and was actually softly challenging a lady who was running quite fast! I passed her at lagoon area but she came back sprinting ala interval style after Bedok Jetty. Passed her again soon after as I help my pace but then again at the 6km point, my pace dropped and she beat me straight up. Respect! From there on no way of catching her.....Did a decent 10km (56mins) so I was on track but I was wrong. Although its still a PB at 15km (1hr 26mins), I was fast faltering in speed and could not even do 6min/km after that point. The last 6km was just pure torture and defeat. HR refused to get up at all (and it was pretty high during this ...

Monday was an off day for me and managed to do a 21km run. Woke up a bit late for this but even so, only had a lousy 4+ hours of sleep....maybe too much rest over the weekend! I should stop napping in the afternoon perhaps! After some tough decision-making, I went with the Puma H-Streets (a good decision). I just ignored my pace and garmin for the first 10km or so and went on a pace comfortable to me. At the halfway mark, average pace was about 5:53min/km. Went about 2km into the coastal straight...it was dawn by then so not creepy at all :) Pace dropped going into ECP and average became 5:58min/km at one point. With 5km to go, I upped my pace a bit and was determined to do better than my last 21km PB. With 3km left to go, the rain started and it was pretty heavy. The shoes were rather slippery under such conditions and could not really do any sprint. Nevertheless managed decent under 6 min/km pace and finished with 5:53min/km average pace. For 21km, this is a minute+ better than my...

21km Run Monday's run was good and rather 'fulfilling' as its a PB and by over a minute so leaves me with a very positive vibe. Now the mind was elated and pumped and it deceived me on the bodily condition. Well, this deception came with a price as I tried to achieve another PB on Tuesday with the 21km. I even employed the help of Ryo to come in at km11 to supplement my pain with inspiration and correct pace. It was not to be. Started out quite promisingly for the first 2km but really that was it. Pace began to falter, HR refused to get pumped up. What started out at a "go for under 2hrs" went gradually to "go for 2hr 2mins" and then to "go for 2hr 4mins" and by the time I reached the meeting point where Ryo was waiting eagerly....it was "Ryo, can't make it....just try for my PB". He pushed at 5:40 pace for a while but it was killing me already and as we passed my underpass area at 16km, I really wanted to give up (I think...

The MTP required me to completed a 21km this week "time trial". I'm done with pushing speed as I tend to get bad down times after those kind exercises! Initially wanted to put in a day's rest before doing this one but decided the night prior, what the hell! Just do it! Started off at about 5.20am and did the usual ECP routes available to me. Started off quite strongly with a good 5:35 pace but that soon deteriorated to a 6:00 pace. Things just went downhill from there and there was no 'second wind' although I did hope for one! From 10km onwards, it was getting even tougher as I struggled to even keep the 6:00 pace. Did a push for the final 3km and just managed to keep JUST below my last PB pace of 5:58 did last month. I used the H-Streets for this one (no cushy Kinvara for me!). I do think that I could have done better, but it is likely that the lack of good sleep and running the past 3 days has taken its toll on this effort. Still I cannot complain, its s...

CNY has come and gone! Lots of great food and high calorie intake over the short period. Fortunately, I was committed to exercise during this period! I only had one rest day, which was Monday. I needed the energy to move the family here and there for visiting so I refrained from any further energy sapping activity in the morning. Woke up early instead and took the kids to KFC AM....always a treat and the waffles are to die for. Monday : REST for BIKE and RUN Woke up early took the kids to KFC AM for breakfast, went out visiting until evening dinner time. Thats at least 1500 calories I think! Tuesday : 80km Ride to Tuas and Back, SOLO Nice ride solo ride. There was little traffic being the 2nd day of CNY. Surprisingly some activity still at Tuas area but right at end : completely empty wide road. It was very pleasant indeed so I took a 4km round around Tuas industrial area. Speedwise, I went for it from Keppel onwards and managed to hit 30km/h ave prior to descending the viadu...

A satisfying weekend of workouts albeit announcement from a dear friend that he won't be cycling with me for a while! Saturday Met up with KL and JM for an extended Eastern Loop. A good 78km or so. Started off pretty slow we pumped up the pace eventually. We managed to hit 30+km/h average speed around Pasir Ris prior to dropping JM off. KL was not at his usual pace that day after having missed a weekend of cycling. This ride also marks the return of my HED Stinger 6. All trued and mounted with Evo CX 25C tubulars. This time, I got it glued at TEF. Boy, that tubular loving feeling that I missed is back. I chose 25C in the hope that this will be more puncture resistant than its smaller counterpart. No tape this time, GLUE is the best. The Evos are some of the best tires I ever rode on.....sure the tape and conti gatorskins were bulletproof and convenient but I was missing that great ride when I first got the wheels : glued with evos 23C. The roll was excellent. Weight increase ...

I thought I had enough of riding and wanted to retire for a while after the tough TdB weekend. Well, guess what, I was out on my saddle again on Wednesday morning. Did the usual 30km on the Z3 on Wednesday, with my DA handbuilts....decent ave of 32+km/h achieved and wasn't pushing much too. A strange phenomenon these past 2-3 weeks was that my HR seems to have gone down. Its getting tougher to hit the 180's these days. I did 2 short 5km runs as well on Tuesday and Friday morning. As agreed with JM, we went out for a 100km ride on Saturday morning, sporting our new Lezyne Super Drive light. The buggers are bright and cost about half of what CRC is offering online at Gee Hin Chan. The guys there were kind enough to inform me that the stocks have arrived.....apparently this is a new line of products from Lezyne. Impressive lights, and equally impressive build quality as well....I just hope they last! They are rechargeable via USB. 450 lumens of brightness! JM, as usual, was...

......just killing off some lunch time that I have still left at the moment. So, I've done a lot cycling in previous weeks. In fact this month is going to be the 2nd highest in a month in terms of mileage covered on a bike. This is a big thing since most of the 'high mileage' months are due to events. This month, there is none. There is some worry that I'll probably burn out soon and my wife has even remarked that I was mad going on on the bike or hitting the road on my pumas nearly every single day. Hey, maybe I am but reallly, nothing matters if you are enjoying it! It cannot be harmful anyways right? Another thing is, the running. I covered so far a record distance on my feet this month and I'm loving every moment AND every step of it. Running on minimalist shoes has been an absolute joy (Thanks to Ryo) and reading the book "Born To Run" has been pure inspiration (and I'm still only halfway through the book!). Last week I ran my first 21km (...

Ok, this 3 day work week thing has really gotten me into exercise-crazy mode. Running and cycling, that's all I ever do these days in those non-work mornings. So pretty historic day! I completed 21km of pure ECP-ness. I've been thinking about doing this but reading that "Born To Run" book really helped me pull the trigger. The tagline that caught my attention : "You don't have to be fast. You just need to be fearless". That was it. Started out at 5.30am from my home and ran. Did not stop until 21km was reached (Siglap Kopitiam). So its confirmed that if one runs the entire ECP loop, its a half marathon, duh! Initial pace was about 7min/km. Somewhere along the line, I decided to try to get at least the average to not exceed that. A modest 6.59min/km was achieved in the end. My HR barely went over 155bpm. Cardio-wise there was plenty of room left for perhaps a 6.30min/km 21km run BUT I was worried about destroying my legs plus I have not run  on th...