Running Accessories

Nathan Lock Laces

I found this a very good (even essential) accessory. I bought 4 sets of this over the last 6 months, and all my shoes have this fitted. I even got one for my son's shoes.

Simple to fit (you need a pair of scissors though), and once it's on, you never need to worry about your laces coming loose in the middle of run

Nathan Race Bib Holder

Grabbed this picture off Amazon. I have never used it even I bought this before my Osim run. I used safety pins instead. Will update on it once I tried it in an actual event.

Nathan Blinkers

Nathan Strobelight

I bought this for my night runs. It can go from flashing to just a normal "on" mode. It's quite bright and can be blinding at night if you stare at it, but it you put it at your waist level, I believe other people will be able to see you clearly at night. I even used it as a flashlight when I ran through some dark paths. It is light enough that you can hang if off your back collar and you won't feel it. If I'm not wrong, it comes in many different colors.

Nathan HyperBrite Strobe

I originally bought this for Devon as he liked the way the lights blink sequentially clockwise. It has 3 different light sequences: all 4 on, all 4 blinking, blinking lights in sequence. I think I dumped it into water (I forgot to remove it from my hydration pack), but when I remember to take it out, it was still doing okay. Looks like it is water proof for a short while.

11.3 km slow/fast [Workout 34/64]

Superman UnderArmor Compression Top with a Blue Halo Headband!

This week, the kilometers (miles) are beginning to add up. I have already ran 21 km in 2 days (Tuesday and today, Wednesday),  both at the "fast" speed (<6 mins/km). Luckily, tomorrow is a slow 8 km run before preparing my longest long run ever: 25.7 km (which is 16 miles), 60% of a full marathon. This will also be the longest distance I will be covering in this program in s single run. In a later part of the training program, the trainer, Jeff Gaudette, has planned for a 12.5 km fast run on Friday, followed immediately by a 25.7 km long run on Saturday to simulate the fatigue.

Made it home late today as I worked late today. Had a McSpicy meal (upsized!), and rested for 2+ hours (I intended to exactly rest 2 hours, but got distracted by YouTube videos). My run was uneventful; I took the first 1.6 km (1 mile) easy @ 7 mins/km, before starting on my fast interval for 8 km (5 miles). The training target was 6:09 min/km to 6:15 min/km, but I achieved 5:55 min/km. I forced myself to do negative splits, and I think I did pretty well, except at around the 4-5 km intervals. Finished off the run with another 1.6 km easy, which I did close to my steady pace (approx 6:30 min/km).

Yesterday (Tuesday), I discovered that one of my older colleagues (who has a bunch of Standard Chartered Marathons medals hanging in his office) is intending to run the 18.45 km Straits Time Run (which I will be running). He is a seasoned runner, and intends to run it at a pace faster than 6 min/km. I'm aiming to run faster than 6:30 min/km (my latest half marathon speed is 6:34 min/km). He lamented the early start time (5 am), and both of us agreed that we need to wake up by 3:30 to change and make it there early to find a parking space. I'm looking forward to running into the new National Stadium!

(Man there are so many grammatical errors in my writing....)

8 km + strides [Workout 33/64]

Officially in the 2nd half of my marathon training, and I have been hitting all my targets so far. Let's hope I can do a 4:30 in the Standard Chartered Marathon. The training is going to get tougher from here onwards.

I had wanted to run on Monday night, but I was feeling so exhausted when I came back from work on Monday that I took a shower and crawled into bed before 10 pm.

Today (Tuesday), I was feeling a bit better, but still not feeling the best. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out to run. I pushed myself a bit harder on the "easy portion" of my first 8 km run. Was supposed to go around 7 min/km, but I averaged less than 5:50 min/km for the first 8 km. This was followed by a series of strides. I had to do 6 strides this time but I was expecting to do only 5 strides, which was what the training program prescribed to me the last few times. I was totally "flat-tyre" by the time I had to do my 6th stride.

After the running workout, my top was totally drenched! I suspect it was due to the high humidity (it had rained in the afternoon). Going to run today again. Next workout is going to be a bit more siong: 1 mile slow, 5 miles fast, 1 mile slow. Fast will be 6:09 to 6:15 min/km.

A picture my wife took of me before I started running. Spiderman outfit!

Timing

24.1 km Long Run [Workout 32/64]

After yesterday's easy run, finishing at midnight, I had a short sleep  (less than 5 hours), and woke up at 4:45 am. I had laid out all my gear the night before. All I had to do is dump 3 tablets of my electrolyte into my hydration bag and I was ready to go.

This was also the first time I tried out my new Nathan Firecracker (Thanks Weigee for buying it off Amazon for me!), and it was great. I used one of the water bottle slots to put in my handphone, and the other water bottle was filled with just water (to wash down the gels)

Bleary eyed, I stepped out of my condo at 5:05 am, wondering to myself "Why am I torturing myself?". I did meet someone carrying out a bag of golf clubs. I think he must be going into Malaysia to play golf.

And so, I started my long run at 5 am. I didn't meet anyone at all until 6 am, where I saw some seniors starting their morning walk. It was only until 7 am, when it was really bright that I saw some younger folks coming for their run.

My half marathon timing was 2:18, which is fairly consistent over the last few runs, and I completed my 24.1 km in around 2:40 mins. The last few kilometers were quite bad, as it was an uphill run. I also encountered a light drizzle. I think I need to train harder, or this might be a result of my lack of sleep last night.

I went to Al Azhar restaurant for 2 kosong prata and 1 telur prata. Ambled my way back and took a shower. Wore my compression calves and Tried to sleep, but it was a fitful sleep, I suspect mainly due to the caffeine in my GU gels. I am going to need to sleep early tonight.

This is my first of 5 am Saturday runs. I hope I remain disciplined to maintain this regime for the next coming weeks, in preparation of the races I have signed up for.

Feeling fairly good after the run!

Fueling
5 mins before: 1 Gel
0:45 hours: 1 Gel
1:30 hours: 1 Gel
2:15 hours: 1 packet of Energy Chews

I forgot to buy some bananas to eat as a breakfast, and I did the "fasted" run that the Runkeeper training course author, Jeff Gaudette recommended.

8km Easy Run [Workout 31/64]

This was an atypical run for me. I went out without a planned route at 10 pm. I basically ran in different directions, and stopped to look at interesting things. I went out without hydration this time, and wore my Everlast singlet.

First Stop: I ran into Bukit Batok Park. It was quite eerie at night as it was wooded. There was no one around, thankfully it was well lit. After accidentally disturbing a couple, I met a fellow runner doing some stretches at the playground. I think I will bring Devon and Evalyn there one of these days

Second Stop: I ran to Singapores  Little Guilin. The quarry wasn't lit (as expected), but I found quite a few people fishing there. Is that allowed? I didn't see any signs forbidding people from fishing though. I saw some hobbit holes-looking alcoves. Next time I should stop for some pictures.

I stopped by a signboard that indicated that there was a route that went to Chu Lin Road. I climbed some steps but I stopped as the route was not lit. Not a good idea to run 1 km on an unlit trail. I turned back and ran pass Bukit Gombak stadium, and carried on my merry way.

I ran pass a Seventh Month festival "Ge Tai". I stopped to listen for a while, and ran on.

Third Stop: I stopped by an SG50 dinner (?), I'm not too sure whether that was an SG50 dinner or some 7th month festival dinner. Again, I stopped to listen for a while, before running on and getting lost. I had to resort to Google Maps to find my way back.

All in all, I took a leisurely 1:20+ to cover 9 km. (Original target was 8 km, but I overshot)

9.7 km Slow/Fast [Workout 30/64]

I came down with a fever/headache after Sunday's long run. It was probably due to a lack of proper sleep on Sunday night. This meant that I had to turn in early on Monday and Tuesday (8 pm and 9 pm respectively!). Luckily I felt much better on Wednesday. I decided to try to go for my run on Wednesday night, skipping my workout #29.

This run called me for to run for 1 mile (1.61 km) slow, 4 miles (6.44 km) steady (6:09/km to 6:15/km), then finish it off with 1 mile slow. I managed to run at 5:52 for my steady portion, and I didn't feel like I was particularly straining myself. After finishing the run, I got a 100 plus and small pack of HL chocolate milk at the Shell fuel station.

Obligatory Picture @ Shell Fuel Station

Noticed that I wear the same blue shirt every time. Time to bring out the other colors.

Hydration
Hydration wise, I was drinking less during this run, I finished about 1 1/2 x 7 Oz (200 ml) bottles, but I felt I could have done with less. John did mention that I need to be able to control my hydration and not drink too much. Perhaps this is my body being conditioned to take in less water during my runs.

Considering that my usual weekday runs do not typically exceed 10 km, I am considering buying (yay! more gear) the Nathan belt that I saw with just one big bottle. When I go collect my race kits, I'll see if there are any sales for these hydration belts. The Fuel Belt that I currently use comes with 3 small 7 Oz bottles. It also has a small pouch (which cannot fit my Nexus 5). I bought an additional medium size pouch that can "sort-of" hold my nexus 5. This means that I can run without my nathan waist pouch.

Saturday Route
After my run, I decided to plan for my Saturday route. I was considering running all the way up to Kranji Road/Way, but when I took a look at Google Street-View, it involved going through some industrial areas without proper walkways. I decided against it, and will run my usual PCN (I thought PCN meant Pedestrian Cyclist Network, John pointed out that it was Park Connector Network) route and double back to finish my 24.1 km long run this weekend.

Side note:
My wife told me an interesting story about Evalyn, our daughter.

On Wednesday morning, when my wife dropped Evalyn off at preschool, one of her friends came up and called Evalyn's name excitedly and proclaimed her as "her friend". Marion, one of Evalyn's close kakis was apparently taken back by this proclamation and put her hands around Evalyn's shoulders and said "No! I'm her friend, not you!". The first friend (I didn't get the name) was not too happy about it and argued back. Marion also made a comment that she goes ballet class with Evalyn while the first friend didn't, making Marion "the friend".

What was Evalyn doing throughout all of this? She was covering her ears and complaining to the teacher that it was very noisy. My wife and I had a good laugh about it.

22.5 km Long Run [Workout 28/64]

The end of week 7 of week 16 of my training program, and this is the furthest I ran in my entire life. I was supposed to run on Saturday morning, but my 5km chiong on Friday night left my calves a bit cramped, so I decided to rest. My grandmum's birthday party was on Saturday evening, so means I had to postpone it to Sunday.

I started off around 9 pm. I tried to run a negative split, but I didn't execute it perfectly. Started around 6:45, and was trying to monitor the average pace and bring it down to 6:30. It went down to 6:28 in the middle of the run, but it crept up to 6:35 towards the end.

Runkeeper stopped suddenly at 21:08 km, most likely because due to my sweaty body, it register a click on stop. I restarted it and finished the remaining 1.5 km and merged them manually together later.

This would also have been my fastest 21 km, clocking in at 2 hours 18 minutes.

Fuelling Notes

1. I tried the GU chews (instead of the gels I usually take) at the 45 minute mark. It was interesting, and I have bought another 2 more packets to try. Took quite a bit of water to wash down though.
2. I took another gel at 1:30
3. I was considering taking another one at 2:15, but I decided to save it as I was expecting the run to finish by 2:30

Route
I decided to run down Bukit Timah Road to Newton Circus, and all the way up to Grange Road, before taking my usually route through Holland Road/Clementi Road back. This route has a LOT of traffic lights and a lot of noisy traffic. I could barely hear my podcasts while running. I think I will go back to my normal routes through the PCN (Park Connector Networks): a whole lot quieter, and less traffic lights.