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

Back to trail running with PTR. This time around ; JM, JvM, Ryo and Kuan joined. Met at the usual place (Casuarina Drive carpark) and started off at around 6am. This time I had my Salomon with me, I think this helps a lot in getting my mind off stuff on my hands and concentrate better on the trail. It does get a bit warm though! We did the usual ~20km route covering part of Macritchie, Rifle Range road and Woodcutter's Trail. Starting out, the pace was quite fast for me on trail and I fell back after couple of kms into MR and RR but eventually they slowed down and I caught up. I decided to control the group pace a little going into WCT....I got a bit tired and gave the lead to JM who took it faster! The trail was muddy and wet but still not too bad. At Old Upper Thomson road, we all went barefoot until Casuarina. I felt relieved to get those muddy we shoes off! This is the first run I did on this route where I finished feeling still relatively alive! Covered 105km for the past ...

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...

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 ...

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...

The usual suspects met up at Casuarina car park this time around. JM, JvM and me at 6am in the morning. JvM's wise idea to do the loop anti-clockwise. It was something I did not expect! After 2km of Old Upper Thomson road, we found the entrance to Woodcutters and bashed in. Thereafter we found out that going this route has much more uphills than downhills. To add to the drama, it was pitch dark in a tough wet, muddy trail so there was a lot of up slopes and stop and go drama due to the terrain. I was destroyed within the first 6-7km. They had to wait for me quite a fair bit. I was on my h-streets and they were ok but as the terrain got a rockier, I could feel the strain of my soles hitting on every hard uneven surface. We managed to complete slower than the last time. Going this route counter clockwise, for some reason, is definitely harder. Had (too much) beer after that at Casuarina drive and I really do not think its a good idea! On Sunday morning, decided to wake up late ...

Saturday's 20km Trail Run All geared up on Saturday morning...picked Ryo up and drove to Venus drive. Prior to that I was still deciding whether to try out the new shoes I bought last week which looked suitable for trail running, boy should have stuck to my puma's! So, we were the first there, in the pitch dark carpark. The guys arrived right before 6am and we started promptly. JM took the lead and was going pretty fast.....I was struggling and panting to keep up and at that point I KNEW the shoes were a big mistake. The sole being rigid plus the fact that it did not have a single piece of padding whatsoever, made it felt like walking with a wood plank stuck to the bottom of my foot. It hurt and I just prayed that'll survive the run! Kuan took over the lead and he continued the fast pace! For me it was just a struggle to keep up....my heart was beating fast, feet were hurting from the hard shoes. Before long we reached Rifle Range road.....the guys ran off at medium pac...

My legs were sore...not for the run but from the fall! My left knee is pretty bruised up and although the wound has well dried up and hardened, therein lies the problem....every time the knee is over flexed, the sensation of hard skin over the wound is not nice.  Other than that no noticeable further damage from the fall and best of all very minimal muscle soreness. So I highly suspect now that compression works (read my last post on the make-shift sock!). I wore it during the run and a good part of the day after the run plus to sleep as well. That kind of battering on Saturday would have taken its toll on my calves but hey, feels good so far. Still I think its too early to conclude. It could be that I just got stronger anyway! I'll keep using the same sock (or other old socks) a couple more times before I conclude. No need to buy! Just do a Macgyver on this one. Its amazing how companies can squeeze out SGD40-80 from a consumer for something like this. That's easily couple ...

I was pretty much psyched up for this run for the past couple of days. Kinda worried cause I was fighting a slight flu, cough and fever as well. Fortunately, today I felt much better, not 100% for sure but good enough to go. The target was to complete 20km (16km+ pure trail); I made up the route but using partial of what we did last week and adding Woodcutter's Trail, a much lesser known trail. This time, I wanted to make a route which allows us to do a true loop, meaning starting and ending at the same point without going through the same route again. The usual suspects included JvM, JM and me.....we set to meet at 6am, Venus Drive. At 5am, I received a message from JM that he is still not well and hence not able to join this epic run. Met JvM at Venus drive and we set off with our lights. As before, the night run was exhilarating. Good thing he still remembered the route as I was a bit blur at the time. Funny thing was here we were running with our lights in pitch darkness an...

Saturday : did 80km with Ryo, KL and Sam (whom we met at Mandai). This is the same route as I did solo last week, a 81km route. Got a puncture on my rear wheel at Bukit Timah Road on our way back...did a quick repair and off we went. Nice friendly ride with some sprints in between but nothing too taxing! Sunday : TRAIL RUN! My first ever. Over the week I was discussing this with JM and we decided to do a 'short' one. The cool thing about this was that we want to start early, in the dark! JVM came along as well. I drove down to Mandai Zoo, our meeting point, and we started off there at 6am. Ran into Trail 15. The starting pace into the rail was quite challenging for me as JVM led the pack. I'm weakest runner in the pack of 3 and was struggling for the first 2-3km into the trail. It was complete darkness, if not for our Lezyne Super Drives. Very cool and exciting! As expected, we got lost a bit especially when the trail forked and made a couple of u-turns. But rest assu...