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

Monday was a rest day. No thanks to that highly disappointing England - Italy live football match that I watched live.By that its apparent which team I supported. A terrible performance but some piece of good defending though. Anyway, started back on the saddle on Monday for the usual 30km to sweat it out. Didn't go outright fast as felt kinda sluggish yet again. Top off the ride with 5-6 mins spent on planking below my block with rest time of course! After a week from running (longest period free of running in months I think!) I decided to go for a 10km barefoot run. The sore butt syndrome is still there but less. Got pretty decent speed out of the outing; just 10s than my PB barefoot 10km. Soles were, of course, battered. There's something about this soreness of sole when it hits the ground that I like! I went out again on the saddle on Thursday morning for the same 30km route. This time did it noticeably quicker and felt better too (maybe because I forgot to p...

Tapering down at the moment and eating well (too well at times, I fear!). Only did a 10km on Saturday morning which was strangely a very lethargic run for some reason unknown. Legs felt lazy and heavy. Nothing noteworthy from this run. Managed a 12km barefoot run with good speed (a 10km barefoot PB of 57:22). Legs always feel more alive without shoes and in general, always happier after a barefoot bout. Could be also due to the excellent foot massage I had yesterday (and dinner buffet). I was doing sub 6 until the 9km point where I turned it up. I was running on the road park road centre-line which is 'smoother' to relieve the tender soles at this point. A guy in huaraches-like shoes passed me a quite a fast pace and he led a good 80m or so before I decided to turn it up and made him a target pacer from afar. Managed to catch up and eventually passed him right after the old Macs and of course, my end-run point as well. No blisters thankfully but soles felt tender....only afte...

I decided to take it easy these few weekdays. Basically just to let my body recover a bit from the punishment I handed to it the past 2 months. Last month's running mileage was a bit much. March was already high but I had a crazy 42km outing in that month whereas in April, I did not. With only 5 days of rest, I survived April with 260+km on the foot and 430+km on the pedal. Originally wanted to take on the 36km MTP distance on Monday but it was a bad day (woke up with some diarrhea). Within 2 mins of starting; heavy rains. Had to stop for another toilet session at 6km point then I conceded that I can do not much more and completed just 15km, more than half of which was in the rain. Pace was a paltry 6:14 min/km. I just did not want to do anything on Tuesday , just rest in and eat. Had the best sleep in months....basically slept at 10pm and woke at 8+am. Wow, for the first time in a long time I woke up not feeling groggy....so this is how waking up feeling fresh is like...

First and foremost. Right after today's 10km run....post recovery drink and some ~900ml of hydration. I will be back to ~80kg by the end of the day. It has been more than six months since I got back into running. I really re-started around August when I found the Eureka! moment with minimalist/barefoot approach to running but at the time I was not really that much into it as I was cycling my hearts out for Tour de Bintan in November. So really, my journey shot up (plus my weight dropped like a rock) since mid/end November onwards. Below is a plot generated using Endomondo ... Weight : from 86kg in mid Nov to slightly below 80kg now Mileage : increased tremendously from 80+km to 250+km per month (I expect this to go down to 150+ level after the marathon!) Heart Rate : average has been dropping, mostly also because I've been pulling in more sedate long runs for endurance and much less speedwork Average Pace : surprisingly, despite not doing much speedwork the past...

Ah, what a good 3 days.... Certainly 2 highlights was 1) Run350 with my Wife 2) Both my kids can ride the 2-wheel bike! On Saturday, to give my legs from the Faber torture the previous day, I opted to go for the 'an hour or less of moving time challenge to Siglap kopitiam" something Ryo and me cooked up while riding at those ungodly early hours just to kill the boredom. This was to be the last time I will use the MotoACTV (until they clean up their act on the website and the TCX export). The best time for this was done in January with Ryo where as a team we averaged 33.1km/h to cover that 32km of start and stops (with some slopes). I set the virtual partner on MotoACTV for 32km distance and 1hr time. This time out I was solo and did not expect much from this ride except, just do it. Started out ok at the service road and just managed to pip the VP but lost out again at the park area leading to the coastal road...however at Coastal, I turned it on and went to 35km/h avera...

I was kinda upset that my knee was hurting quite bad on Tuesday (rest day) and facing the prospect of some down time. Determined not to lose mileage, I did the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) regime on my right knee the entire day (and in the office!). It did not improve as much as I would have hoped by the end of the day.....but then I remembered this pack of Korean Plasters that I bought for my wife and my parents that had huge success rate on their back/shoulder pain (I personally do not use it) that they kept asking me to buy them whenever I traveled to Korea (which I did, early last year, in a wasted attempt to forge ties with a major customer, oh how I wish I could rant about that one!). Right before getting to bed, I placed one on my knee/quad area and went to sleep. I was hopeful that I could at least do something the next morning. I woke up at 5am and wow, the pain has subsided quite a fair bit so I went out for a 12km slow run (6:50min/km) and survived. I was ca...

Actually, this was quite irrelevant to me since I already did 42km on my own prior to this training. The goal of this training is then of course to see if I could do it at a considerably faster pace than my 'feeler' run earlier this month. I target the marathon pace of 6:00min/km, which will give me roughly, a 4hr 15min Marathon. This is going to be tough and truthfully, I'm not gonna make it! Still, aiming high is good. I wanted a training programme that is more flexible and not something which is regimented day by day. This 12 week program was from Runner's World (I think) and I converted it to metric to suit my metric-trained-mind. The programme basically covers 12 weeks (just nice till Sundown) and defines 2 key workouts for each and every week. It also defines how much these workouts should account for, in terms of mileage percentage, for your weekly mileage target. So the extra runs apart from these 2 workouts can be simple, easy runs, I decide! So far, I...

The Soles Looks like my arsenal is increasing rapidly, especially for running! The strangest thing about running is that I sort of went extreme by going Barefoot directly, moved into minimalist shoes like the Puma, and now I'm back to padded shoes! I think for me, a heavy guy, I will need some padding especially for those long runs, hence the Kinvara 2. It still promotes midfoot strike with its low profile sole/padding design. For maintaining running form and technique or just for kicks, barefoot and/or the Pumas are the way to go, no question. It looks like I got it all figured out :) So my short 6 month journey in to serious running taught me a couple of things - barefooting is good for form and technique sharpening (midfoot strike, balance, feel) - minimalist shoes like the Pumas gives some measure of protection and is almost as good as barefooting (and they look good too!) - shoes are absolutely needed for trail running, plus a stiffer and less padded sole is ideal to a...

Post 42km Run.....had a well deserved rest on Sunday and brought the kids for breakfast treat. I wore my Zoot compression shorts for recovery and looks like it worked. I was ok to start running again on Monday. Monday Starts my 12 week Marathon Regime. First one is to do 2.5km tempo pace x 3 with ~1km recovery jog in between. Legs were still off but managed to complete with tempo pace at 5:15min/pm. Not too bad. Tuesday I look forward to my barefoot runs. Met up with Ryo at my block and we went for a 'chat pace' barefoot run. Only for the last 2km or so did we pick up the pace. He went off pretty quick and it was quite a struggle to catch up! We covered quite a fair bit....10.5km. Had a quick drink after that and off to work. Wednesday My very much delayed bike ride. I've not gotten on the bike since the Bike Rally 2 weeks ago. I prepped my SS over the weekend and decided that I should put some distance on it this week. Did about 31km/h average for the E...

I just had to know. How does 42km feel like? So I set out at 5am, on my "Marathon Feeler Route" (I have 3, by the way), with the intention of finishing at 10am, with a pace of 7:00min/km. 'Modest' I thought. Oh how wrong I was! The route basically covers the Park Connectors. It was pretty interesting on paper but in reality, one can get confused, like I did as at times the PC do not really 'connect' that well. I entered the Siglap PC near my place. This brought me through Teluk Kurau, Kembangan over the PIE and into Bedok North. Made a wrong turn over here but luckily I stopped to check my GPS and u-turned back towards the correct route. At Bedok Reservoir......the usual dump-attack came....so had to stop at a coffee shop to do my business. I was running on the pathway here until Tampines ave 1 junction where I connected in the Tampines PC. This brought me towards Tampines Mall, Sun Plaza park etc and finally into Pasir Ris PC at Downtown East. At this poi...

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...

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 ...

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!

Made prior arrangement with Ryo for 5km run barefoot. Feeling bad that I did not do anything on a Sunday (!!!) due to my foray into drinking the previous night, I just had to do a solo 5km on the my spanking new Merrell Trail Glove. As such I ran the first 5km myself with the shoe and the next 5km with Ryo with the shoes in hand. Decent pace for the first 5km with the Trail Glove. The shoes are very comfortable and the fit is nice. I appreciate the large toebox which allows very natural toe-splaying as the forefoot hits the ground and finally 'roll-off'. The padding is much less than the H-Streets so hence it takes a bit of getting used to, actually its more 'barefoot minimal' than the H-Streets. I feel that the sole has a bit of arch support compared to the flattish H-street....this is good as I feel that the TG promotes mid-forefoot striking in the shoe itself while I have to focus a bit on natural running with the H-Streets. I can't say for sure which is better...

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...

I was struggling with the idea of whether to catch up on some sleep and not exercise on Friday morning as the past 3 days of early rises have had some effect on my afternoons (sleeeeepy)!. Been toying with the idea of going barefoot again and in order not to be traumatized by blood blisters, I decided that I should go barefoot 'slow pace', with more focus on form running rather than speed.....basically get my virgin soles used to prickly, hard cement ground. I walked to ECP in slippers and only had my GPS/HR watch with me. I ran while holding on to my slippers. It must have looked strange to some people! The pace I settled upon which I found to be ok for my feet was about 6.30min/km. Cardio, no problem....hovering just below 140bpm. As I started, the foot feel was good but somewhere after 5km, I can start feeling the 'rawness' of the sole hitting the ground and picking up coarse sand. The tactic was to run on grass for a while to clear up whatever was prickling the fe...

Had a nauseous new year weekend. I did not feel great from Thursday onward....a bit of a stomach discomfort coupled with headaches and nausea (flatulence problem too! and no, that did not help in general propulsion on any of the sporting activities I undertook)....did not push it for runs on Friday and Monday as well as the ride on Saturday. Of course, having lots of "great" food over the festive weekend as a treat for the family did not help the stomach situation, as exhibited yesterday on the 10km run. I literally stopped at 4km point with splitting headaches. Careful not to tempt a probable onset of stroke or heart attack, I walked a bit and it got better......decided to go into "limp home" mode just to get my ass back home but of course no cheating, so I went the full 10km as intended from the beginning. I basically spent the whole of Monday resting (sleeping, eating) and this morning....it started with a bit of worry that I'll get those headaches again ...

Did my last ride of the year this morning with KL and Ben. Just a friendly 65km of Eastern Loop followed by a sell deserved milo-ping at Siglap kopitiam. It was good also to see Mark and Stefan there (with the PC group). 2011 career-wise was an up and down for me. Very numbing experience from the start till end and it continues! Well, I have plans for 2012, just you wait and see. Let's get on with the interesting stuff : Cycling AND Running. This of course is the year where I completed quite a lot of cycling events....starting off with the NTU Bike Rally, JMFR2011, Cameron's + Ipoh Century and finally TdB2011. I did a lot of solo rides kicking off at 5am and doing many of these in excess of 110km per ride. Its also the year where I managed to keep an average speed of 30km/h+ for distances above 100km....solo! It was tough but it was all worth it, just for the experience and the torture :) Completing the century ride under 5hrs was also quite a feat for me. TdB 2011 was pure...

It has happened the past 2 weeks. I went into TdB weighing 86kg+, fully carbo-loaded can reached Singapore with 84kg left....admittedly a lot of water loss from the event itself. After the weekend, I was back to 86kg again the usual bummer weight. I cycled much less from then on and started to run more frequently with increasing intensity and goals. That first goal was to do consistently, 10km in under an hour. So far I already managed to do this 3 times over the past 2 weeks so running 10km under an hour should be a given thing now, not a fluke! The last run yesterday, I did the usual ECP route but ran into the construction area near Marina Barrage (a failed attempt to get to the bridge, I'll try again tomorrow). I ran a total of 11+km yesterday giving me the best 10km time of 56mins 45s with a pace of 5.40min/km. That's quite an achievement for me! The good thing was legs were STILL THERE and felt as if I could go on at that pace for another 3-4km or so. However, this readi...