Legs and Paddles 2007

Sunday was a day to remember. My first unfinished race! Let me tell you what happened.

Legs and Paddles was an event organized by a bunch of college kids from the NUS Canoing Club and the NTU Sports Club. Categories included a 10k run followed by a 6k paddle, a 5k run followed by a 3k paddle and a 10k run which was called the Brooks Life Run. I elected in doing the 10k, seeing as I don't have any upper body strength. On the 26th I took the bus down to One Fullerton to pick up the event t-shirt and tag number. I got to the booth set up in front of a Starbucks and got a t-shirt for Dad and myself. I then asked for the tag number, but they said it wasn't ready yet and I would have to pick it up race day. College kids!

I got to the starting point at One Fullerton at 9 a.m., one hour before the start of my wave. Dad and I got our tag numbers and our goodie bags. Look in picture for contents of bag. We put the bags back in the car and were back just in time for the mass warm up led by a few women from California Fitness. After the warm-up I was already sweating bullets. I was sweating just waiting in the shade for the race to start. We were scheduled to start at 10am, but even at 10.10, we hadn't even started yet.

Finally at 10.15 the other waves started and we finally started at 10.20. Coming around One Fullerton I was already struggling, no thanks to the extreme heat and humidity. As we proceeded across Esplanade Bridge, I had to run up on the gangway to escape the crowd. When we rounded the bend at the Esplanade I could already feel a cramp starting to form. I eventually ran through the cramp but when we got to Brewerkz, which was the u-turn point, I was in a lot of pain. A combination of the sun and a sore area in my thighs. I told Dad that I was just gonna do the 5k and he said he was going to do the whole thing. I got through the finish line, but just barely. The clock and the finish line wasn't even on, so I had no way of even knowing my time. Luckily, I had my Nike+Ipod and it said I finished the 5k's in 27 minutes at an average pace of 7.50 per mile. Not bad considering the conditions.

I sat at Starbucks for a while, watching the kayakers in Marina Bay and waited for Dad to finish. Dad came in 25 minutes later in obvious distress. But, after some water and shade he was fine. Dad asked one of the organizer's what the temperature was and he said it was 38 degrees. That is hot!

Even though it was a good race, I was a bit disappointed in not being able to finish. I'm glad I did it though. It was good training for the upcoming MR25 5k.

Two New Personal Records

At 10 a.m. this morning, under the burning morning sun, I headed to the Singapore Sports School to run a mile race with all of my classmates. Every year, right before school lets out, our school has us run a timed mile at the SSS. The top finishers get invited to the cross country team the next year. Anyway, as I said earlier, I arrived at the SSS at 10 am and did some stretches and had some water. After, I found a patch of shade and watched the first mile heat for people who have a mile time over 8.00 minutes. After they finished their run it was time for the people with a mile time under 8.00 minutes, my PB was 6.49. I lined up at the starting line with about 35 other people and the gun was fired. It was hard to get out in front because of all of the people, but I found a spot on the inside lane and proceeded to finish my first lap in 1.42. At this point I was in about 12th place, but as the run continued on I passed 5 people and on the last lap I was in 7th place. The last lap was pretty hard, a combination of the sun and fatigue. On the last 100 meters I started to sprint because my goal was to break 6.30. When I had about 10 meters to go I heard the guy who was calling out times say 6.23, 6.24.... I needed to run faster. I actually leaped over the line, but had a nice cushion of 3 seconds. I had broke 6.30! My final time was 6.27. I could be invited to cross country try outs, they say that you have to be below 7.00 to be invited. Who knows? We will see.

My second record for today was that I broke 100km on my road bike computer since I had gotten it about 3 weeks ago. I rode 20.5 km today. My route went around the Botanic Gardens, through Bukit Timah Road and through the Dempsey area. I was really hurting on the uphills, probably because of the mile run earlier today. A funny thing happened on the ride. As I was hurtling down Nassim Hill at 45kmh, a fly flew right into my open mouth! I nearly crashed because I was so startled. I pulled over and coughed it out and it flew right away! Pretty funny.

My stats: Distance- 20.51kmh, Avg. Speed- 26.91kmh, Max Speed-44.2kmh, Time-48.46

Oakley City Duathlon 2007

Today, May 20th, I took part in the first ever Oakley City Duathlon. It was a run-bike-run event in the heart of Singapore's downtown area. My category comprised a 2k run followed by a 6k bike ride and finished off with another 1k run. The longest category was 10k-40k-5k(I don't see how anyone can do that, but 1000 did).

Woke up to 5.30 a.m. alarm, after an anxious night with little sleep. Proceeded to get dressed and eat some breakfast and checked all racing stickers. The day before, I had gone to the race expo to collect my goodie bag a racing numbers. I had two numbers to attach to my shirt, three to my helmet, one to affix to my bike and they also gave me an electronic timing chip which I strapped to my left ankle. I was out the door with my bike and gear at 6.10.

Got down to the Central Promontory at about 6.40 and proceeded to the massive transition area for the bikes. It must have been 400m x 400m. I was directed to put my bike at row 19, which luckily was right next to the bike exit. I spent a few minutes getting my bike and helmet set up, so that when I came in from the run leg, I could get away with the bike quickly. I got away to from the transition area and waited in line for the Porta-potty for 5 minutes before proceeding with my warm-up. Did a little run, some strides and some stretches for the warm-up and then went to the starting line.

There were about 200 people in my category and I chose a spot near the back of the pack. (Nothing is more demoralizing that starting at the front and having people pass you). One of the organizers came and gave us a short briefing and then the gun was fired. There was a pacer bike at the front to lead the way and when the gun was fired all of the little kids sprinted like Carl Lewis after it, but burned out after about 100 meters :). I had trouble picking my way through the pack, I had to weave through lots of people, but finally found a nice, clear area. We got to the 500m mark right before Esplande Bridge and went over the bridge. I could see the bike and front runners about 150 m ahead of me. We then did a u-turn under the Esplanade bridge and came back the same way. I finished the 2k in 9:02.

I ran to the bike transition zone, donned my helmet and ran with my bike to the bike mounting area and was off. At this point there were about 40 people ahead of me, but the bike leg is where I felt like I would dominate. And dominate I did. As we weaved through Marina Bay, following the lead motorcycle, I started to pass people. When people saw me coming up behind them, they would try to sprint ahead, burn out, and I would then coast right by them. Throughout the bike leg there was this one girl I was neck and neck with, and even though I would finish before her on the bike leg, she would later pass me on the 1k run, to be the first female finisher. I finished the 6k bike in 13.12.

We came down One Marina Blvd. pass the crowds on our bikes and back to the transition zone. I threw down my bike and helmet and started running. I was feeling the pain. It is an easy transition to go from running to cycling, but cycling to running is much harder. I choked back nausea as I went back through the crowds and down to Esplanade Bridge. I was running, but at a 4.45kmh pace and with lots of pain. I u-turned at Esplanade Bridge, and was on the last 500m. The first female finisher passed me and so did five other people. But I overtook a few people as well. The finish line and start line were in different places, so some people in front of me sprinted to what they thought was the finish, but I passed them because the finish was actually another 200m further.

I hobbled through the finish in 27.57 and just after I crossed the finish line a medal was placed around my neck and a cold bottle of water was put in my hand. Great service. As I found my family, I found out I had finished in the top 20! (I later found out the official race results and I found that I finished 5th for my age category and 14th overall!) I was overjoyed. I had no idea I was going to do that well. I got my bike, watched the elite wave start and then left for home.

It was a great race(and not just because I did so well). My sister said that after watching me she really would like to do it in 2008. My souvenirs included a gray, synthetic t-shirt with a nice design and a silver finishers medal. If I train hard, who knows top 10 next year? Top 5? Number 1?

Today and Yesterday

Pretty high octane two days for me. Did a brick workout yesterday.Definition of a brick workout is one activity immediately followed by another. ex. biking and then running. This is exactly what I did yesterday, except in a slightly modified form. I decicded to do a formal run through of the upcoming Oakley City Duathlon on Sunday. It is a 2k run followed by a 5k bike ride and finishes off with a 1k run. I got to Nassim Road and proceeded with the run then bike without problems, until I got off the bike for the second leg of running. Even though it was only 1k, it was the hardest 1k of my life. My legs were unaccustomed from going straight from pedaling to running, I ran through in a weird sort of shuffle to finish the whole thing in 21 minutes.

Today, I broke my PB for the one mile run! It was a school mile race, and started at about 10 a.m. today. The weather was great(a slight drizzle which made for cool air), I ran a 6.30 mile. 19 seconds off my old PB. The funny thing was I didnt even feel tired after the run. That is a good sign because the final mile race is next week and I am hoping to break 6.30.

At about 6 tonight, I walked up and down my stairs for a total of 60 stories. I walked with my heavy, leather hiking boots and a 30 pound pack in preparation for a backpacking trip next month in the U.S.

Rest day tomorrow.

Mother's Day Run

Did a 5k on Mother's Day. Dad and I ran with E on bike, through one of our favorite stretches of Singapore-the Dempsey Area. The Dempsey Road area used to be a quiet, secluded part of Singapore-for runners and cyclists, but I sense a great change coming. We ran to the warehouses,(the picture on the left is one of the warehouses) which are usually deserted and were surprised to see them being torn down and replaced with restaurants, a mini-mall, and even a Ben and Jerry's. The place was jam packed with people-mostly foreigners, which made it quite unpleasant. I guiltily admit that I am jealous that people have found out about Dempsey, guess I will have to learn to share.

Anyway, on with the run. After reaching Dempsey, we turned off into the quiet side roads and I did a hill repeat with Dad on one of the hills, with an intention of doing 2-3 more, but continued on because my legs felt really heavy. E got off her bike to do some repeats with Dad, but I continued ahead. I ran a total of 3.33 miles at an average pace of 7.09 per mile. I decided to sprint the last 400 meters to my house, all uphill, and by the end my chest and legs were screaming with pain. I was happy I got to go running because I needed to train for the upcoming Oakley City Duathlon. The duathlon consists of a 2k run followed by a 5k bike ride and finishes up with a 1k run.

Mile Splits-

Mile 1- 7.15

Mile 2- 7.11

Mile 3- 6.59

100 Mile Barrier Broken!

3.31 miles ran today, hard. More importantly, after this run I had broke 100 miles since I got my Nike+Ipod kit a few months ago. The Nike+Ipod kit tells you how far you ran, your current pace and distance through a sensor implanted in a compatible Nike shoe and the data is transmitted to a sensor attached to your Ipod Nano.

Feels great to have run 100 miles. A big accomplishment for me. No relaxing though, I have the Oakley City Duathlon in two weeks, the Brooks Life Run 10k in three weeks and a Macritchie Runners time trial in 4 weeks. I have a busy month ahead. MUST TRAIN HARD!

Anyway, today's run took me through the Botanic Gardens where I nearly ran right on top of a monitor lizard before it skittered away into the brush. Then I continued on to the Orchard area for some hill repeats. I did five hill repeats up a moderately steep hill and every time I ran up the hill, a little dog kept jumping up and down and barking at me. Gave me some amusement to help fight through the pain of sprinting uphill. Also, when I was doing my hill repeats, some old aunties walked by me and shook their heads as if to say "stupid boy, running up, down hill, he kill himself lah". This was my first run in a week and I felt tired. I ran 3.31 miles with an average pace of 7.11 per mile. The run was also ran in negative mile splits.

Mile Splits:

Mile 1- 7.26

Mile 2- 7.20

Mile 3- 7.11

Slow Recovery Ride

After yesterday's grueling ride, I decided to take a slow recovery ride. Only did 10k, but I could definitely feel the burn in my thighs from yesterdays ride. Rode one of my favorite routes in the Dempsey area. Hit a new PB top speed going down Nassim Hill-59 kmh.

Stats- Distance 10.2 km, Average Speed 24 kmh, Maximum Speed 59 kmh

Long Blazing Road Ride

My Trek 1000-->

Went for the longest bike ride of my life (so far) yesterday. Started out as a little jaunt to the Chinese Cemetery via Kheam Hock Road. The Chinese Cemetery is a nice, relaxing place to ride except if you are afraid of ghosts or wild dogs. Dad and I then decided to continue to Macritchie via Sime and Lornie Road. On Lornie road we stuck to the sidewalks because of the reckeless drivers rocketing down the road at at least 100 km per hour. After getting to Macritchie, we decided to go further. We continued on up the nice, shady, quiet Upper Thompson road which is pretty much flat with a few up and downs and at the end of Upper Thompson Road we accidently turned left onto the Seletar Expressway, but had intended to turn left via Mandai Avenue. Luckily we continued without incident and without being aressted until Mandai Road. Then we rode down Mandai Road, which I am sure is a nice place to ride, but is h*** on a sunny day. I could literally feel my arms sizzling from the UV rays. Anyway, after getting onto Woodlands road we took a rest break at a gas station a downed a one liter water bottle, refilled the bike bottles and had a Pocari Sweat. Then continued down Upper Bukit Timah and Dunearn Road. At that spot I really started to crave ice cream and pizza, and was sprinting to get home just to satisfy my cravings. It was the longest ride I have ever done but my rather new Trek 1000 road bike performed brilliantly(except that the fact that the saddle is really stiff). I have dubbed the route I took the Reservoirs Route, since it goes around all of Singapores major reservoirs and the Central Catchment Reserve.

My stats- Distance-44.1 k, Average Speed-23.8 kmh, Max Speed-51 kmh

Mountain Biking in Singapore

One of the most inhospitable places to cyclists on earth, Singapore. The drivers give you no respect on the roads, it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk and the blazing heat and humidity make riding near impossible. Where do you turn to? The answer is mountain biking. More challenging, adrenaline pumping and scenic than road biking and under the shade of the trees, mountain biking or MTB is the way to go. Singapore has just began to embrace the idea of mountain biking with two trails in the city and an island off Singapore that is a haven for mountain biking.

Bukit Timah- Probably the most well known and easily accessible MTB trail in Singapore, the Bukit Timah MTB trail is the place to go to test your mountain biking skills or just to give mountain biking a try. This trail is not for the faint of heart though. It is full of very steep and muddy uphills (including two sections where you must carry or push your bike) and heart pumping, rocky downhills. It starts off in the parking lot near the Bukit Timah Visitor Center and weaves its way around the whole nature reserve for a total of a 6 kilometer ride. Beginners should expect about an hour to complete the ride, while more experienced riders should expect to finish in about 30-45 minutes. On weekdays the trail is almost empty, but try to arrive before 8 am on weekends or you will be stuck in a slog of bikers.

Getting There-

By Bus-SBS service 170. TIBs services 67, 75, 171, 173, 184, 852 and 961. Get off along Upper Bukit Timah Road after the Courts furniture store and walk to the end of Hindhede Drive. By Car-Travelling from the city, follow the direction of Upper Bukit Timah Road towards Woodlands, make a U-turn just after the Courts furniture store and turn left into Hindhede Drive. Drive until the end of the road. Limited parking is available at the base of the hill.

Pulau Ubin- Away from the concrete jungle of Singapore lies the small, forested island of Pulau Ubin. Considered the mecca for mountain biking in Singapore, Pulau Ubin is abound with many rough and raw trails and scenic routes. Once you arrive in Pulau Ubin, if you didn't bring your own bike(and if you don't have a car, it is very hard to get your bike to Changi Point), you can rent one at one of the many bike shops that line the main road. The bikes aren't of the highest quality, but they do all right. Try to get to there early so you can get a good bike with full suspension. A good bike might cost $8-$12 for the day, but always make sure you test out the brakes and handling before you rent it. Also make sure to ask the shop owner for a good map of the area, you are going to need it. After renting the bike you are free to go, there are no set trails (unless you stick to the roads) so just take one that looks interesting and if you hit a dead end, turn around and go back. Exploring Ubin is half the fun.

Getting There- Getting to Ubin requires you to get to Changi Point, on the east end of the island not far from the airport. You can take the number 2 bus from the Bedok MRT station, although it does take about 25-35 minutes to get there. After getting off the bus, walk down to the boat dock and hire a bumboat driver to take you over to Ubin. A bumboat costs $15 to hire, one way. If you are not in a hurry, you can wait until the boat has 12 people and then you will each pay $1.50 to hire the boat. If you are in a hurry, just pay the guy the full amount and he'll take you without a full boat.

Kent Ridge Trail- Probably considered the hardest MTB trail in Singapore, the Kent Ridge trail is reserved for those who are extremely confident of their skills on a mountain bike. It is only 2.8 kilometers long, but it is a very hard 2.8 km full long downhills and steep heartbreaking climbs. It was just the recent location of the Singapore Mountain Bike Championships.

Getting There-

By Bus-Service 200 : alight at South Buona Vista Road, then proceed by foot via Vigilante Drive.
Service 92 : Alight at the end of Science Park Drive.
Services 10, 30, 51, 61, 143 and 176 to Pasir Panjang Road and proceed by foot via Pepys Road.

By Car- You can park at the Carpark A or B near the trail head or at any of the carparks along South Buona Vista Road.

Bukit Timah MTB

<-- Stairs Suck


Arrived at Bukit Timah trailhead later than I would of liked at 8.30. I was surprised though because anytime past 8.00, the MTB trail is clogged with bikers which makes riding very difficult, but when we got there we were the only ones there. I was also surprised by the number of monkeys in the parking lot area. I saw quite an ironic scene before hitting the trail; in front of a huge billboard that said STOP FEEDING THE MONKEYS-OFFENDERS WILL BE FINED, was a man throwing bread at the monkeys.

Anyway, my friend A and I hit the trail at 8.35 and were instantly fighting for traction at the first paved uphill thanks to the torrential downpours that had been hitting Singapore for the past week. We continued without incident for another few minutes before having to lift our bikes over a felled tree on the trail. We reached my favorite spot (a large meadow among natural, large rock walls) at about 3 kilometers into the ride. When we were at the 5 kilometer marking, we decided to cool off in a little stream runnng by the trail. It was really refreshing, but in back of my mind I kept asking myself if we could get fined for doing it. Well, we didn't end up getting aressted and after carrying our bikes over the notorious and tiring stairsuck section (for the word sucks spraypainted on the bottom stair) we finished the ride about an hour after starting. It was A's first real MTB ride and he said it was one of the hardest things he had ever done! It was an enjoyable ride for both of us though.

Tomorrow my plan is to either ride one of the routes featured in the Straits Times on Wednesday or to ride around Changi Airport on my bicycle.

Recovery Run

Just had a rather long, painful dentist appointment and didn't get home till 6.30 and was saying to myself I am too sore, too tired (had just run a 100 meter dash in 14 seconds and did a 4 meter long jump for PE at school). My pride prevailed though, so I went running. I took a route up past Tanglin Shopping Center and into Nassim Road. For anyone that lives near Nassim Road, I advise you to take a run/walk or bike ride there. It is a lovely, semi-quiet, shady road that is a joy to run in. I came out at the back entrance of the Botanic Gardens and finished with a sprint past Gleneagles which left me gasping for air. Since I ran this run as a recovery run I didn't push the pace (until the end)-7.26 per mile or the distance-3.05 miles. My legs felt heavy from the 100 meter dash, but otherwise I felt fine.

Mile Splits-

Mile 1-7.12

Mile 2-7.34

Mile 3-7.25

New Balance Real Run Club Terrain Race

I first saw this race advertised on a poster on the outside of Royal Sporting House in Tanglin Mall about 3 weeks ago. Scanning the poster, I saw an address for a website with more information. Once home, I went to the website and thought that the race would be fun. I was thinking I would just run the race to finish, not to kill my self trying to get in the top 20....100. Registration for the race was only available at a New Balance shop for people who weren't members of HomeTeamNS. My father (who also wanted to run the race) and I headed down to the New Balance shop in Novena and proceeded with registration. For registering, we got 20% off anything in the New Balance shop. I proceeded to buy some socks while Dad bought some new running shorts.

Race day-April 28th came around and Mum gave me a kick at 5 am to say get going. Lazily and reluctantly getting out of bed, I took a look out of the window and in the pre-dawn mist saw steady drops of rain pouring from the sky. Thought maybe race will be postponed, more time to sleep? Just in case, I downed a few pieces of peanut butter toast and donned my running attire and made the decision to just go for it.

On the cab ride over with Dad, the rain started to let up, but by the time we arrived at Bedok Reservoir it was still sprinkling lightly. Getting out of the cab, we spied the rather small tarp that was the meeting and later to be awards point. We took cover under it and I was surprised to see only about a hundred people there (werent there supposed to be a 1000?). After about 30 minutes of just standing around, Dad and I proceeded with our rather meager warm up of a few stretches and a short jog. I saw some of the seriously hardcore runners take a whole lap of the reservoir as their warmup.

7.30, the starting time for the race finally rolled around but was postponed by the rain for about 5-10 minutes and at 7.40, everyone was at the starting line listening to the announcer trying to get us pumped by saying are you ready in a loud voice and the half hearted response of yyeess, it was too early in the morning lah. Anyway, the gun was fired and the race was under way. Dad and I started in the middle of the pack and watched the rabbits sprint off as we started to plod along. Half of my energy was put into dodging big puddles that were right smack in the middle of the path. It was quite funny watching people weave their way left and right to avoid the puddles. Dad and I finished the first lap of 4.2 kilometers in 22 minutes and I was surprised to still be feeling quite strong. At the halfway/water point of the second lap I told my Dad to go ahead because I was spitting up garbage from my throat. Nonetheless, I sprinted the last 400 meters, passing several people and finished the 8.4 kilometer course in 47 minutes and 2 seconds. Dad finished a few minutes ahead at about 43 minutes.

I felt like I ran a good race, but was a bit disappointed by the goodie bag-a string sack and blue HomeTeamNS shirt. The label on the shirt said 100% cotton, but felt a lot like synthetic. I was wondering why there wasn't a NB logo in the shirt, it was after all a NB sponsored event.