Tuesday, July 29, 2008

27th JULY 2008

MONDAY training:
first training of the season

thanks to coach who was kind enough to run with me, because I had reached training late for an hour due to my CCA in school!

Warm up: 5 rounds on the CCAB grass field

Workout: Interval training of 6mins
Rest interval: 2 mins
Sets: 5 sets

Though it was a short session, but the session felt quite long to me! it felt as though it was never ending. I was trying to correct my running posture and bring my legs up a little higher. I have been too used to having low running posture and also in a sitting position which fabian always mentioned in past few trainings ...

I am trying very hard to correct it..Coach had said that it was a very good workout and I looked strong at the end of the day! thanks coach! appreciate it very very much for all your concerns and kindness!

Sunday-27th JULY 2008

sunday went for NIKE plus human race training run..
Uncle Vincent msged to ask me to be a pacer. However, upon arrival, realised that there was a need for finishing time keepers.

I met Sunny there! i was really happy... it was like a sudden happiness hahaha! i went mad, ran over to give him a brotherly big hug and we both started chatting like never ending! haha...

anyway he was the Emcee of the day... I met Ben Pulman and Jon Fong there too.. as well as Sacha and Andrew from NIKE..they were busy like beesssss....

the training run was supposed to be 5.2km.. Ben started to brief the pacer runners and then he briefed the signed up runners. He then led the warm up and stretching. He did some plyometric drills and also some good stretching...

the race started off. I was there having a chit chat with Mika and Johnson of MR 25 who were the finish timers... Uncle vincent was taking the timings... and then Somehow, i found that something was just missing there.. though there was music, however, there was an emptiness.... and the immediate reaction I had was... ran to Ben, got the mike from him and started to wait for the first runner's arrival...

"Oh, I can see the first runner approaching the finishing end point!... with a tag number..." ahah that was me. yes, I had the sudden urge to emcee. Maybe because of the events I had emcee in school. I had the natural instinct and urge! haha... Anyway my job was to read out the tag numbers to Mika and Johnson and i realised that the mike played a very gool role in this case...
I tried my very best to use different words of encouragement and finishing sentences... hope it did not sound as bad!

when sunny came back, he told me he could hear my voice from very far away, across the river! oh my gosh! am i sooo loud?but he said it was very encouraging! ahah at least it did not seem that bad! Andrew from Mr 25 also came over to comment.. felt quite ok... hope i did not do a bad job!

anyway the run was completed with everyone having smiles on their faces... they had free hundred plus, water and subway sandwich! my gosh, reminded me of the days when i worked in subway as a supervisor after my a levels!

after that, they had a lucky draw and winners went home with IPOD, NIKE sports band and nike stuff! It was real good!

They also borrowed trial shoes to runners who would like to experiment NIKE running shoes... it was a good and humble event with interested participants and hardworking and refreshing employees... the next run will be this sunday at east coast.. have promised to go down to help...

after the event, i headed down to macritchie to meet JD for a 1 hour 20mins run! it was a good run, but i was complaining the whole way that there was no water, and he did not bring any money along! a thirsty sumiko is a grouchy sumiko... he was really tahaning my temper for the whole route..! ahha...

Monday, July 28, 2008

sunny

it's just so amazing how 2 strangers can come together to know each other from an event... and become good friends, move on to good bro and sisters... and maintained that relationship for years... supporting one another on a good basis and support each other emotionally...

he has been the best guy i have known so far.. one of the best that have been there for me whenever i feel very down.. someone whom i have supported much wholeheartedly... and someone who has earned the respect from not only me but also my bf... someone who knows how to treat his little sister - me really good... someone who is good at sports but yet humble.. someone who is quiet but yet strong...


he is he.. he is Sikhandar Singh.. he is Sunny..

though he did not really do well in the last sea games and pple have been questioning him abt it.. i have not yet question him the reason why.. because i understand that every athlete has their down days...

It is him who has known me through national squad training 4 years ago.. when I was fat and he was unfit! hahaa...

he is Sunny... who has gone through so much trouble for his NUS tri team...

He is Sunny, who loves his gf Angela a lot..

He is Sunny, who was my bro last time, now and future...

whenever I see him, I feel so happy! because to us, the frienship bond between us is sooo strong!


Thanks bro for being whoever u are to me! thanks bro!

Port dickson Triathlon

port dickson triathlon...
stayed at a haunted place!
reached there after 6 hours of bus ride.
it was an apartment building... 4-5 buildings. the outer view looked so majestic, but yet very runned down!

we reached the apartment and realised out of the 400 plus units that were available, we were one of the only ones occupying the apartments... all our units were away from each other.. none was just beside each other...
entered the apartment and found out that there were 2 rooms there.. the kitchen had no utensils, very badly maintained... there were no bed sheets.. dirty rooms...

the worst was, i went to toilet and the next thing i found out was, the water, instead of flushing downwards, it was flushing upwards and going to overflow ... and in it held much dirty contents!

we wanted to change the room, but was told that maintenence could not help because the pump had spoilt. in the end, they offered us a change of room, with 3 bedrooms instead of 2 ( that was a totally bad choice). we swopped rooms from C block to A block. on our key for the A block, it wrote level 13A. Hence, we pressed the lift for the 13th floor. But the maintanence guy told us that there was no 13th floor... 13th floor will not be open for customers.!

we reached the 14th floor... and checked into the room. the basins were bad, spider webs could be seen. there were lizards also!haiz.

anyway 2 of our friends left our apartment and headed home when they were trapped in the lift between the 5th and 6th floor! and they forced open the door and jumped to the fifth level!

the next morning, the lift was still not working. JD had to run down several storeys to press the lift for the lift to go up to pick us up. However, he ran to the 13th, 12th and 11th storey. To no avail... and finally the lift suddenly proceeded to the 14th level when we could not even press the button at the 14th level at all! JD dashed up all the way to join us... scary yeah...

finally race starts... i was hanging ard with darling SHU throughout the race... the race entry was a small one .. the swim start was quite messy.. but because there were few pple, it was still manageable... they used loud hailers to call for the swimmers into a start point...and off they went...

the swim was relatively easy.. i dashed for the start...was in front.. swam an easy swim to the u turn point.. looked at my watch and realised it was 13mins... then i sped up.. in the end, finished the swim in 25min and 3 seconds... realised i was the second/third girl out of the water...

took my bike and prepared for my weakest leg of all...the bike leg...

as usual, i took off, and was overtaken by more than 15 ladies! ... demoralised... when i met S as i was turning into the transition area, she was already 2km in front of me in the run leg... i dropped off my bike... and then ran off.. not expecting to come in top 10 at all... but as i ran, i realised i could start to see several ladies in front of me...i tried to increase my pace... and as i ran faster, i could feel my legs performing...

i tried very hard to catch up with S.. throughout my run, there was nobody that caught up with me.. i was catching up with all the guys and ladies!! yeah!

just 2 km towards the end point, i saw s... chased hard... and then ran with her for a distance.. we were playing the catching game! she is really strong! i wanted to give up at a point of time!... but the at last km mark... i saw a water point, then i sped off! not looking back.. and caught another girl!

when i reached the end point, timing was 2hr 40min... and realised i had came in 5th! JD did an excellent job.. it was his first OD.. came in 2 hr 33 min.. so proud of him!

received 600 ringgit as prize money! Shu also won some money.. she came in 10th! good job!


when we reached the apartment back there... the lift was still not working. jd and me placed our bikes at our friends' apartment in block c and came back to block a and climbed all the way up 14 storeys!! .. packed our stuff, walked down 14 storeys with PS, alber and SHU... and realised the life suddenly worked!!!I will never ever want to stay in this apartment anymore! it's soooo errie!!!!

photos after the race:





Friday, July 25, 2008

article on redsports

my interview on redsports is up! thanks to Ps for the photos!

Have pleasure reading it.
http://redsports.sg/2008/07/24/sumiko-tan-triathlete/

Training at mount faber...

yest training at Safra Mount Faber.. ran with Laichee... runner up of the 84km sundown marathon...

i could feel my legs have not yet recovered fully. it's quite painful to run a 13km ... i could not breathe properly either.. but i have to do it... ran fro mount faber to depot road then to queensway all the way to portsdown road, woking road and the back to commonwealth and queensway and back to depot road..

i was contemptating to stop because i could not breathe properly... but i just kept moving. din want jd to worry about me if i had not come back in time...

but he did got worried! haha Lai Chee and me reached back the first ladies... and then we did our own stretching. Went by the back door to join the rest. JD was actually waiting for me to be back! He was wondering what had happened to me, did i do a slow jog or ? haha... in actual fact we had already been back eons ago! haha...

Lai Chee is a very nice lady... a nice running partner and a good friend. Have known her for years.. and she is an experienced lady in the running scene. I love running with her.. wish her luck for her next up race this weekend - Mizuno Bedok run..

as me for.. I am going to be a pacer at the NIKE 5km run this sunday.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Gold Coast Marathon

Gold coast marathon update:

it is a late entry... but i was too busy with work.. so sorry guys... late ...
4th July 2008. Reached the airport and was sent off by Darling and Fabian...reached Brisbane airport 8 hours later... started to miss Darling already...
coach rented a car...and drove us around for the next 4 days...it was cheap and good... cosy and nice car...we drove to University of Queensland to meet Renuka. Renuka used to be a runner from MR25 and now she is studying there for 4 years... she has improved in her running form tremendously!
after meeting Renuka, we went to check in at our apartment. Called BelAir.. it was very big. 1 room with a queensize bed and 2 sofa beds in the living room. There was a washing machine, dryer, toilet with bathtub and big kitchen for cooking..! it was really great stuff!
we went for lunch and carbo loading... and then drove up to the race expo to collect my race tag. The race expo was huge and affordable stuff... it was filled with videos showing marathons of the past and also race attire and other races details. Was very well organised ..! dinner was an easy teppanyaki chicken meal at an outdoor japanese restaurant...
I forgot to mention that I was freezing in the cold weather! It was 13 degrees, but to me, it felt like snow! ...look at how thick my clothes are~
the next day, i was greeted with even colder weather.. fell to a 9 degrees... I wore 3 layers and still could feel the coldness bitting my skin! we went back to the race expo and met up with coach's friends from Aussie... after that i went back for some shopping and coach went to the beach for a run...I bought a pair of 2 XU long sleeve top to run in for my marathon. The weather was sooo cold that i could not afford to run only in a sports bra as my top...
dinner was great! coach cooked pasta for me! it was specially chosen from the sauce, pasta to the filling of the pasta. It keep me full till the next day. I could remember what we ate, pasta, salad with some nice sauce and even ice cream! we bought goat's ice cream in a tub which costs only 13 aussie dollars! cheap deal and nice! i loved the passion fruit flavour.. missing it already...
race day. Woke up at 6 am. ate 2 eggs, corn flakes (coach calls it the champion breakfast) ... reached the start point. Saw the 21km race flagged off.. they ran in the opposite direction... after the 21km was flagged off, coach told me that he will meet me at the 28km... I was wearing gloves at the start...
however, just before the race started, i threw away my gloves, it was getting a little warmer. I started off with running at a 5min pace for the first 3km... it was the target time... however, i started to push the pace after the 3km... i was supposed to maintain at around 4.55min per km for the next 8km... however, i made a mistake. I ran a 4.45min per km... i tried to drop back a little but my legs were pulling me forward. it was a grave mistake...
coach had wanted me to maintain at 4.55min per km... but i had gone too fast... i had hit 4.30 min per km at the 13km to 15km... I knew i will suffer majorly if i do not slow down.
However, what was pushing me so fast was the pacers that were ahead of me.. there was a balloon hanging 3 hr 15mins and another one hanging 3hr 30mins. Coach had wanted me to kep behind the 3 hr 15min but in front of the 3 hr 30mins...

however, i realised i was all the way behind the 3 hr 30mins and that kept me pushing on the pace to catch up... Was not a good thing to do!
I managed to past the 3hr 30min balloon at the 18km mark... and sped up... felt still quite strong at that point... but felt really warm when we were heading back!... I took off my long sleeve top and ran in my NIKE sports bra... it felt much more comfortable after that. However, i had to hold on to my top till the 28km when i met coach.. i was thinking, oh no, 28km!!!
met coach at 28km, passed him my top and he took a video of me... he mentioned... good job, good posture, keep the legs going...! i was really motivated!
towards the 40km , weather was getting a lot warmer, but i was still not perspiring!!! i met coach at the 40km and he told me to speed up. its the last 2.195km!!! i sped up and was looking at my watch.. i kept a close look and shorten my steps...
in the end, i crossed the finishing end line at 3 hr 24min 54seconds...
It was a really good race. I cried after the race because all the training that i had put in for the past 7 months has shown his worth. Coach had targetted for me to hit 3 hr 25min and i was on the dot...! coach was really happy ... but at the same time, he was upset with the fact that i had gone too fast in the start. he said based on what he had analyse during my race, he realised i could hit a 3 hour 23 min instead..
coach was happy because i had shaved off 20 minutes from my previous marathon in dec 2007...
but this experience hit me hard. taught me a good lesson. learn to pace myself well..

next marathon: London or Berlin 2009. Berlin marathon would hope to hit a 3 hour 5 min at that time. Hope and pray for full sponsorship for the marathon. San Francisco marathon would be great too.
after the race, i went to harbour town to shop.... went to the NIKE shop and bought many things! 3/4 of them belong to JD and only a few pieces belonged to me.... I called a cab myself and went back to the apartment while coach went for his sports massage!
the last day was spent at brisbane... went shopping again! NIKE store, sports shop and sweets shop... things were relatively expensive there.. so din buy much...

was happy to be back in Singapore. However, i was greeted with a late arrival of JD and his nephew! I was already out of the departure area and he had not arrived! I called him and he say he is slightly late... haha... he dashed to me when he saw me...

that taught him a lesson: never be late for your gf's flight... if not she will complain her whole life...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

nike plus:)

i just saw the change in the NIKE plus website with my new photo...
thanks to Zesamine! hahah... some friends commented the interview picture on the webie is sexy..oh my gosh..
when ever have I gotten any sexy image for myself..

i would rather think that it is nice, sporty and nice:)

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/humanrace-en_SG/2008/06/21/sumiko-tan

Keming Track

Keming Primary track and Field.
A team I build up only this year:)

One talented boy won the 800m gold..he was also leading in the 200m finals for the a division boys.. but fell at the last step. he got up, ran to the end and got 6th... sad as he was
but i was very amazed by a boy who came forward to him...offered to give him the trophy... I was amazed by the fact that he was willing to accept the fact that he was not the rightful winner...
that moved me nearly to tears... I was trying very hard to hold back my tears for the fact that Yusuff was near to winning the whole race... but a trip had made him fall... his dreams were gone..

however, he is still very talented:) winning the 800m at 2 min 40 seconds with only 1 month of training has already proved himself :)

good job !

Pearl Izumi Run Series

Pearl Izumi Run series...
first one was 12km... went down with JD.. met up with Pei Shan and Alber.

it was my last race before Gold Coast marathon.
I ran an easy pace... just making sure that I was running around marathon target pace.

It was a fun, enjoyable and heartwarming race where many people turned up. i met up with many friends.

The route was not easy... it had several slopes, 3 bridges and many turns!

in the end, i completed it in 54mins...:) got 3rd.. the prize was good... a watch which could measure heart rate!
pictures after the race...
jd and alberpeishan and me

back from gold coast marathon

Back from Gold Coast.... long time have not updated... soon will update.. lots of info and pictures.

I managed to do a PB of 3hr 24min 54seconds for the Gold Coast Marathon... dun ask me how i did it... I have only one answer : My coach's formula worked for me.. it was right on target..

However, I still have a long way to go.. all the way to 3.10hour next year at Berlin...


Wednesday, July 02, 2008

interview

My interview is out...

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/humanrace-en_SG/2008/06/21/sumiko-tan

But the photo is .... erm a little ugly and old!

I am still waiting for the photoshoot photos to be out....hopefully it will be!

Leaving for Gold COast.... midnight...be back soon!