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.

6 km Easy Run [Workout 27/64]

Obligatory picture

This was supposed to be an easy run, so I went out without my hydration belt as I thought this was going to be like a 40 min run max. However, when I stepped out, I felt so "light", as I didn't have all those accessories that I usually run with. In the kung fu movies, the hero will train with metal bands around his wrists and ankles. When he finally takes them off, he find himself suddenly more agile and more powerful. I felt like that... sort of :-).

Anyway, I decided to run a fast 5km and see how fast I improved. I think I did quite well, running at 26:43 mins for my 5 km. (I remembered when I was in my secondary school and JC, I could barely manage 30 mins for my cross country 5 km). With a bit of training, I think I can go below 25 mins, but I'll save it for another time.

My Shoes: ASICS Gel Kayano 20, ASICS Gel Kayano 21 & New Balance Zanthe Fresh foam

Before I started running in earnest, I was using some crappy Reebok shoe that I bought from a factory outlet. It supported me fine whenever I was doing 2.4 km on the treadmill, but when I started running on the road (my first long run was 8 km), it was literally in pieces at the end of the long run.

1st Running Shoe: Gel Kayano 20

Around mid-2014, I went down to Queenstown Shopping Center where I bought my first my first proper running shoe: The Gel Kayano 20. I remembered going to the salesman of one of the bigger shops and telling him that I intended to start running longer distances, and I wanted a good pair of shoes. I was predominantly still running 2.4 km on the treadmill, but I was starting to go up to 5 km distances.

He made me stand on some heat sensitive gel to see whether I was flatfooted or neutral. I was somewhere between neutral and flatfooted (if I remember correctly). I used this pair of shoes mainly on the treadmill in the gym in Batam.

2nd Running Shoe: New Balance Fresh Foam Zanthe Boston

Probably around Apr/May 2015, after John convinced me to try out for the Osim Sundown Marathon, he brought me down to Novena and I bought this pair of shoes. It sure looks nicer than the Gel Kayano 20. At this time I was still based in Batam, and I wanted this pair of shoes for my weekend long runs.

However, there was a problem, whenever I ran with these pair of shoes, the middle of my right sole will have a sharp pain that won't go away for after a day after I had completed my run. Basically, when I ran on Saturday, I was limping on Sunday. The situation got a bit better over 3 long runs, but I still was basically in pain on Sunday.

John mentioned something about heel-toe elevation, and I decided to go down to Novena to ask the the specialists at The Running Lab. After I explained my situation to one of the more experienced looking specialist, he immediately pointed out that the Gel Kayano 20 had a heel drop of 9 mm, while the New Balance was only 5~6 mm. This was probably the reason causing my pain (confirming John's suspicions). He told me that I had to start from 1 to 2 km runs and slowly build up again if I wanted to switch to this shoe.

I didn't want to start again, with the 1/2 marathon less than 2 months away, so I bought my next shoe immediately

3rd Running Shoe: ASICS Gel Kayano 21

Got this pair for $249 (I think I got the Kayano 20 for $200 only). Pain went away immediately! I was so happy that it went away.

So far this has been my main running shoe and it has been working well. I should probably take out my Kayano 20 and use that for my weekday runs to rotate the shoes.

Future

John has been advising me to go back to a less structured running shoe. He believes that this will enable me to run faster. I will probably stick to the Gel Kayano 21 until the end of the year (where I will run my full marathon at the Standard Chartered Marathon) before I switch over to less structured type.

I have been reading up about shoes in general, and there are discussions over strucural support, foot pronation etc. I'm considering going to see a specialist one of these days to get some professional advice on which type of shoe to wear.

2X3.2km fast [Workout 26/64]

The first and last mile was to be run slow, while the 3.2 km portions was to be run at a target pace of 6:06 to 6:12 mins/km, with a 3 min rest time in between. I achieved the aims, but it was fairly tiring/ The Shell petrol kiosk ran out of the small HL chocolate milk, so I bought the normal chocolate milk.

Got to prepare for the longest run I ever ran before this Saturday: 22.5 km. The distance will build up to 25.7 km in the next coming weeks. I have already planned my route, probably running down to Newton Circus, up thru Orchard Road, and back through Holland Road. I'm going to try running in the morning, but I have strong suspicions that I will probably do a night run instead.

8km+ Strides [Workout 25/64]

The RunKeeper GPS screwed up on my first few km. It was recording that I was zooming around in zigzags, which made my pace incredible fast. I am ignoring the pace results for the first 8km for this.

Looking at my stride timing, I am averaging about 4:15 for 20 seconds of burst speed. I wonder if I can improve on this timing in future strides.

As a record: I have been drinking 2 X 200 ml of HL chocolate milk after every run for the last 2 weeks. 

12km Long Run [Workout 24/64]

Two more weeks before I reach the mid point of my marathon training!

Last week, I ran on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I was one day out of sync on my training schedule (I usually run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays)

I had quite a good "short run". I quote from the training program "Short long run this week to help you recover from the recent increase in mileage and workouts"

I think this was the fastest 10 km I did so far. I hope to crack under 1 hour for 10 km one of these days.

I really need to start waking up early to acclimatize to the 5 am starting time, but I miss my bed...

8km Easy Run [Workout 23/64]

I tried to do the negative splits again, and did a bit better. But I still failed at the start at the 2km and 3 km. Besides that I maintain quite a nice pace, reducing a couple of seconds per km.

Quite tired after this run. Was running faster than I usually do.

Interesting note: before I started the run, my security guard commented that I should be flying not running. I told him I need to train a bit more before I can start flying. :-)

9.7km Negative Splits [Workout 22/64]

Tried the negative splits, but I ran out of gas towards the end. Think I will try again on Friday's easy run.

Note to myself: don't take selfies from the down up. The double chin looks horrendous.

Run with Devon on 29th July @ East Coast Park

Evon bought Devon new running clothes the other day and we bought Devon a new pair of running shoes at the Royal Sporting  House in Ngee Ann City (technically correct term for Takashimaya :-) )

I went for a night run with Devon on 29th July to train him up for the 1km Garfield Run in Sentosa. After dinner, we went down to East Coast Park and took a slow jog from Big Splash to where the old MacDonald's used to be (there is a new food complex there, but I'm not sure what the name is)

We spotted a Laser Tag venue and went inside to ask about the rates. (Devon ultimately chose to do it at Polliwogs). We then ran back at a slightly faster rate (about 7:40 mins/km). Went to a 7-11 @ Big Splash, got Devon a drink and drove him to Ah-Ma house for a stayover.

Unfortunately Devon has been sick and/or busy with homework since. I didn't get time to go for a run with him until now. I'll probably go for a quick jog with him during the Jubilee Weekend.

Interestingly when I went back home, I happen to read about a murder case that happened at Amber Beacon 25 years ago. We took this photo on top of a lighthouse looking structure, which I discovered was the very same Amber Beacon! I looked at the picture carefully, but I couldn't spot anything out of the normal. Heng.... :-)

Halo Headband / Sports Cap

One of the first few things I bought together with John was the Halo series of headwear.

I had tried running 7 km on a Saturday morning to join my wife @ Star Vista after her Zumba sessions, and I had a serious problem with sweat trickling down my face and into my eyes. I had put on moisturizer and sunblock, and the combination of these face products was irritating my eyes, to the extent that I was tearing. I actually went to buy some wrist bands so that I could wipe my eyes and forehead. But it wasn't very effective.

I told John about it, and when he brought me to kit me out properly @ Novena Velocity, he told me to get the Halo series of headwear. At that time, I was only running in the morning, so I bought the Halo Sport Cap @ Running Lab. John pointed out that it has a yellow band that redirects the perspiration to the sides. There was also a mannequin that had the headband on. There were small trickles of water directed to the top of the head, and all the water was directed to the sides. This was a great buy. No more sweat in my eyes!

Only issue I had was that (due to my large head), the cap didn't fit extremely well. It had a snug fit, but I felt it could be better (especially after I started using the headband)

Halo Sports Cap

When I was preparing for the Osim Sundown half Marathon, I was running mostly in the night. Hence, I didn't need the cap, a headband will suffice. Luckily, when I collected my race pack, they were having a sale for Halo apparel, and I snagged the Halo Headband for around $20 plus. This will become my essential headwear for all my night runs. I'm thinking of getting another one to rotate. I (actually my wife. Thanks for washing my clothes!) will face issues with washing and drying the headbands in a short period, if I intend to run consecutive days.

Halo Headband

Conclusion
This is a must buy for me. I strongly recommend it to any beginner (like myself) who is starting to run. I think there are some female-oriented designs too. Just got to google around for it.

6.44 km run (4 mile) w/ Strides on 4th August [Workout 21/64]

Made it to Week 7 of my 16-week beginner marathon training on RunKeeper (although I skipped the first 2 weeks as I just finished my half marathon). Another 3 more months to go! I choose the beginner marathon so that I would be "over-prepared" for my 32 km Newton Run in 74 days. After resting for about a few days, I will have to decide what training to plan to follow to get prepared for my Standard Chartered Marathon

Training Results
Started at 9:30 pm after playing some Dragon Age Inquisition Multiplayer with Brian. Didn't feel particularly great, ran my 6.44 km (supposedly at a conversational pace) at my usual 5 km pace (6 mins/km). If I can manage to keep this pace for my half marathon, I can finish in close to 2 hours! hmm... but this will take me a lot of training to able to hold this pace over the half marathon.

I started the 4 x 20 seconds strides and 2 mins rest period after the 6.44 km. Managed an average of 4 mins/km for the strides. I did some calculations and found that one of our best Singapore marathon runners, Soh Rui Yong, who won the 2015 SEA games gold for men's marathon in 2:34:56 ran an average of 3:40 mins/km! This is faster than my almost all out sprint. These people are at the top of their physical fitness. Impressive!

Short run, hence the look isn't too shag!

Next Step
As I am one day late behind my training (I went cycling for my first time with John last Friday, which caused some posterior pain. I postponed my long run from Saturday to Sunday night), I will probably have to do my training on Thursday, Friday & Saturday to catch back up.

Next training will be 9.7 km negative splits. According to the training program, I need to do the following

• 1.64 km / 1 mile slow
• 1.64 km / 1 mile @ 6:30 mins/km
• 1.64 km / 1 mile @ 6:25 mins/km
• 1.64 km / 1 mile @ 6:19 mins/km
• 1.64 km / 1 mile @ 6:13 mins/km
• 1.64 km / 1 mile slow

Difficult part will be figuring how to measure my pace with all the negative splits and the mile breakdowns. I don't want to reconfigure runkeeper to miles, and I'm not familiar with what is an acceptable time for mins/mile. I could do the calculations of course, but perhaps I will reconfigure my RunKeeper to give me splits over a 10 km run and try to pace myself from there, something like

• 1 km slow
• 1 km @ 6:30/km
• 1 km @ 6:28/km
• 1 km @ 6:25/km
• 1 km @ 6:23/km
• 1 km @ 6:20/km
• 1 km @ 6:18/km
• 1 km @ 6:15/km
• 1 km @ 6:13/km
• 1 km slow

I tried running negative splits in my Osim Half marathon, starting a snails pace before reaching my usual pace at the 5th km. However, I could not hold my pace from the 18km onwards, and was basically ambling along until the end. So far the furthest I ran at a similar pace was today: 6.44 km at 6 mins/km. Hopefully I can manage this 8km without too much pain.

Nathan Firecracker

Hydration Requirements
Based on 3 to 6 ounces over 15 to 20 mins, if I run 3 hours, that means I need 27 ounces to 72 ounces. Converting that to liters, I need 0.8 to 2.7 liters. Considering that I'm a heavy drinker (John is asking me to cut down), my current 1.5 liter Camelbak will be insufficient for runs more than 21 km. In fact, in my last 19 km and 21 km run, the Camelbak ran out of fluids.

So, I had Weigee to help me buy the following since he was buying stuff from Amazon.

Nathan Firecracker

Looks like a good price (USD 60), and I can port over my 1.5L hydration bag from my Camelbak as the Nathan Firecracker doesn't come with a hydration bag included (2x water bottles included though).

Current Camelbak

I bought it from a shop on the 3rd floor of Novena Velocity for S$90. Biggest gripe about my current Camelbak is that it bounces too much (it doesn't have a chest strap), and I can't put my handphone (which is running RunKeeper) in a convenient place. This means I have to wear another waist belt for my handphone.

One good thing about the Camelbak is that it has reflective strips in front (which is great as I run a lot at night)

Nathan Waistpack

I bought this Waist Pack in Marina Square (should be at Key Power Sports) just before my Osim Sundown Marathon. I had been using an arm band to carry my Nexus 5, but it kept slipping during long runs, probably because I was perspiring too much. Earlier, I had bought a larger fanny pack from Mustafa, but it was too bulky and kept bouncing and slipping.

The waist pack was great, it has a front outside pocket that can store 2 gels securely for easy access. The pocket has an inner pocket with a Velcro fastener and a hook for your keys. I use it to put my condo access card and my keys. I put my mobile in the outer pocket. In addition, I bought some blinkers to attach to the waist pack and I'm running at night.

It's very secure, easily tightened and I used in my Osim Sundown Marathon. Currently my waist pack of choice for future events as water points are provided.

21km Run on 2nd August [Workout 20/64]

Shag look after completion of my run

Results
Time: 2:20 hours
Distance: 21 km
Average pace: 6:40 min/km

Ramblings
Did my 2nd half marathon after the Osim Sundown marathon. The run was supposed to be on Saturday morning, but the Friday night cycle left my posterior in pain and I decided to postpone the run to Sunday morning (but late night gaming with Weigee and Brian) meant that I could not wake up in time, hence the Sunday night timing. This means that I'm one day late on my training schedule. Probably going to run on Tuesday morning (5:30am wake up again?) and Wednesday night to recover to my original schedule.

If I remember correctly, I ran a 2:37 min (official timing) for the Osim Sundown marathon, but Runkeeper recorded that I ran 21.99 km, so I was worried if Runkeeper was overestimating my distances. Looking at the Osim Sundown Marathon, if I take the Runkeeper data to be accurate (comparing apples to apples here), I ran the 21 klicks in about 2 hours 28.8 mins with an average pace of 7:05 mins/km. This means I improved my half marathon speed by 8.8 mins or a 6% improvement!

I am seriously considering the sub 2 hour half marathon training program after my Standard Chartered Marathon.

Running Route
Again, I took the route around Ulu Pandan Park Connector, but I made an overrun at the Lab One Building (nobody there tonight, probably because it's a Sunday), then followed it for the first time. It was very quiet, a few joggers (all running the other way), and quite a few cyclists. Almost ran into a cyclist because my head was down. I must remember to keep good posture and keep my head up.

I came out of the Ulu Pandan Park Connector at Clementi Road, got disoriented, and ran a bit down south before I discovered that I needed to cross the road. "Jay-run" across the road, and I was back on my trail.

Next, I came out near Star Vista. I made a wrong turn, I went up Commonwealth road, instead of heading down to Holland Road, as a result I was a few kilometers short and I had to run down Bukit Timah Road for 2 km.

The conditions for running on Bukit Timah Road were atrocious. Lots of barriers & roads work due to the MRT works, and the sidewalks were tiny. I was feeling quite tired at this time (last 5 km), but my splits were generally okay.

Fueling
0:45: Gel number 1
1:30: Gel number 2
After run: 1 Energy Drink ($1.20 at NTUC Express, forgot the brand), 2 Chocolate milk packets and one bashed up banana.

I brought 2 bananas but didn't touch them during the run. On hindsight, I should have taken a banana at 1:15 and the gel at 1:45 so that I could last until 2:30. I was feel quite tired towards the end of the race.

Side note: I was reading up about fueling, the magical formula appears to be 1 gram of carbohydrate per minute of running. I need to go check how much carbohydrates my gel gives me.

Afterwards
Didn't sleep well that night, I was wide awake. I should have checked whether the energy drink had caffeine. The two gels I took had zero caffeine in them.

Introduction

This blog is going to be a personal journal of my running journey and all the pain and suffering and happiness that comes with it.

 I have signed up for the 18.45 km Straits Time Run (27 September), 32 km Newton Run (18 October) and 42km Standard Chartered Marathon (6 December).

Do let me know if you guys are going for the same event. I have just completed my first ever half marathon on July 4 during the Osim Sundown Marathon.

To write about:
1. my motivations and my aims
2. my experiences with the Runkeeper app and Garmin Forerunner 910XT
3. my gear (and my experiences with my shoes!)
3a. Hydration pack - done
3b. Headwear - done
3c. Hydration belt
3d. Pouches (waist and handphone)
3e. Clothes
3f. Blinkers - done
3g. Shoes - done
4. Fuel: Electrolytes, Bananananananas, Gels and Sports Drinks

New
1: New Hydration pack (Nathan Firecatcher)

[Updated 13 August]