Great Eastern Women Run 2016

Great Eastern Women Run has always been my favorite run. Simply because it's an all-women run #girlpower. I missed it last year because of Subaru Challenge. 

2016 had been a year plagued with injuries. First, I twisted my left knee in a basketball tournament. Then I injured my right knee which saw me withdrawing from my Ironman race. Just a few weeks back, I injured my lower back. I consulted Dr Cormac O’Muircheartaigh from Sports Medicine Lab for my injuries and only managed to get back to running a few weeks back. 

So the goal for GEWR 2016 was to enjoy the run and to complete the race without injury. I was careful not to increase my mileage too quickly and to hurt myself again. I did multiple 5km runs and only a single 10km run a week before GEWR. The night before the run, I even googled "How to run a half marathon without proper training" ;p

At the start, I kept telling myself to be patient... It's a 21km run and I need to conserve my legs for the later part of the run. Whenever I see a runner charging forward, my mind went "patient... patient..." 

Throughout the run, I was checking for pain in my knees and lower back. None. Soon, I ran past 5, 6 and 7km. I popped a salt tablet... When I reached 10km, I ate a gel. The sun was rising and I told myself, that's where the run really begin... My coach used to tell me, the first 10km is a warm up... the rest is the real race. 

I set the run-walk pace on my Garmin. The strategy was to run-walk the last 10km so that my back can rest... A few times I felt my legs wanted to go faster, but I knew the consequences would be more pain later (which I cannot afford). By the time I reached the last km, I still had legs to pick up speed towards the finishing line. 

There was no pain. No fatigue. No mental wall. I enjoyed the run thoroughly! It was not my best timing but definitely I had worse ;p

Another reason I like GEWR was the Adidas tee. Maybe it's a women only race; the cutting is always flattering. I love, especially the Finisher tee for this year. The colour. The design. Love. 

Every race is an experience and GEWR has been a great one! A confidence boost for my marathon coming up at the end of the month. And a final note... If you want a decent running picture, wear shades :) 

Sundown Marathon 2016

Race Report

I had no intention to sign up for Sundown Marathon this year. I was satisfied that I had my full marathon ("FM") experience last year. Moreover, since Standard Chartered Marathon last year, I have not ran more than 10km in a single run. However, I was secretly hoping that there would be a free slot for me...

3 days before the race, a friend asked if I knew of anyone who would be interested to take over her slot to run a half marathon ("HM"). I gladly volunteered myself.

The week leading to the run, I had office run (5km only), CrossFit, swimming training and office outing at the ClimbMax. My body was aching from one of the killer obstacle where we had to move from swing to swing... Anyway, I totally rested for 2 days so that my muscles could recover.

My goal for Sundown HM was to complete without injury and to enjoy the run. Drink at every hydration station, eat a salt tablet every 7km and eat a gel at 10km. It was all good for the first 7km. Then I started to feel a little empty on the stomach and I did something dumb! I ate half a banana... I have NEVER eaten a banana in any of my races before and I always knew that we should not try anything new on race day. I think the tummy reacted to the banana; I suffered a stomach upset :(

Well, my toes started to cramp at 10-12km but I managed to run it off... At 15-16km, After taking a gel, I could feel some energy coming back and I cleared the Marina Golf loop pretty well... But my calves started to cramp again at Garden Bay East :( At 17km, we had to run up the ramp at Marina Barrage, many, including myself were walking up. As the legs felt better after that, I managed to jog slowly down the slope. But legs cramped badly at the last 2km and I had to alternate walk, limp and jog back to finishing line.

I could only say that I was relieved I did not take over a FM slot because I knew that I was not prepared for one. Every race is a lesson to be learnt and a total new experience. Never try new things on race day. 

Only ONE word to describe this run... PAINFUL :)

Run4Education - Charity Run

It all started in one of our post-training conversations. We wanted to convert our passion for sports into a fund-raising effort. The idea of running to raise funds for education was birthed. After much thought, we decided to raise funds for City College; a private school.

The idea was to raise at least $10 for every kilometre that we pledge to run. We shared the idea with City College, set up the Facebook and extended the invitation to other friends who were interested. The run was conducted over 3 days; November 28-30, 2015 at Kallang outdoor track so that we could stay accountable to the donors. Rubber bands were given for every completed round :)

Close to $4,000 was raised. Glad to have played my part :)

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2015

Every race is unique. SCMS was my 2nd marathon. I have heard many horrid stories about SCMS... About how people would collapsed due to dehydration and heat stroke... how the people would bottle neck at the end... how the crowd would end up walking just to complete a marathon etc etc...

But all these did not stop me from signing up because, after all, it's a national marathon :) I liked the tag line - Race As One.

I had up to 12 weeks to prepare for Sundown. However, due to holidays and unforeseen circumstances, I had a crash course to prepare myself for SCMS. Did mainly squats, leg drills, sprints and lunges to prepare the legs. The race plan for SCMS was different from Sundown.

Things I did differently for SCMS:
- I did not clock any long run prior to the race. The longest distance I did was 10km a day, which I did consecutively for 3 days for a charity run.
- I did a lot of leg works to strengthen the legs. If I cannot run fast, I needed to make sure that, at least, my legs could carry me for 6 hours.
- I ran with a HRM. I usually only wear my Garmin for time and pace, but this time I decided to let my HR lead me.
- I ran without music.
- I stopped and drank 2 cups of water at every aid station. My usual run would be 2 cups every 10km. But I knew that I would need that extra water later in the run...
- I applied sunblock on my face :) Yes, you heard it right... I usually ignore the sunblock part... But knowing that the sun might be merciless, I decided not to take any chances.

The day before the run, a friend sent me the weather forecast! I was excited to see "thunderstorm" and "mostly cloudly". That was good news :) Running in the rain would be fun!

Sad to say, the weather forecast failed... The rain came but too late...at about 12.30 p.m. But I guessed for anyone that endured the sun till noon to complete a marathon deserved the rain more :)

I only had 3 words to describe SCMS; HOT! HOTTER! and HOTTEST! SCMS 2015 concluded my race plan for this year.

Whether you ran sub-4, sub-5 or sub-6... Whether you were decked out in full 2XU gear or just plain run tee and shorts... The tagline for this year was Run As One. I probably forgot how I suffered under the hot sun because somewhere inside of me was looking forward to SCMS 2016 :)