KPE RUN

KPE run:)
Met up with Joe and Marcus . Reached tampines at 645am. took the first bus.
Luckily, weren't many people at the first bus:)

It was in interesting event where we saw many pple going to help and break the guiness World Records of having the largest number of people holding a lantern in a tunnel:)
aahah

the start point - 10km was in front of 5km.
however, we had limited space to warm up. Had to warm up at the side. The below photo is taken after the race.into the race:

The first 2km, i started to perspire, not due to the speed that i was running at. But it was stuffy, difficult to breathe and a little suffering.

the 5.5km U-turn mark, spot the first water station. But they serve recycled water in bottles. Was not cold, took a sip and threw the bottle away.

Spotted Sunny at around the 6km mark. Was surprised. He said he did not want to torture himself racing as he could not breathe properly and so he slowed down to wait for me.

He ran with me. (heh he is also a competitor!)
all the way to the end point. Thankful he was there for me all the way... just like a brother who is always there for me all this while! thanks bro.

managed to emerge 2nd. Overtook some Nepal lady runner .

First - Cheong Tsui Ying (expected!) - 44min 29seconds
Second - Sumiko Tan - 45min 01seconds
Third - La Thapa - 47 mins plus i think

and the prizes were quite good:)
i won 300 cash (which was only allowed to be taken after 29th sept!)
and a medal
:)

overall the race was well run. Beside the fact that a photographer dressed in jeans actually collapsed and had to be resuscitated...
we were all worried whether any runner will collapse
the air ventilation was really bad and almost all the runners wee suffering:(

however, good attempt! i like the disco part of the tunnel:)
photos after the race...with Joe who got 9th and Marcus who got 11th. great job guys!
nurulwith Tsui Ying, the lady winner...
melvin, his bro and his wife:)Since it was a launch of the tunnel, there was a sports car show!and some trishaw challenge:)and Joe receiving prize... (nobody took my stage photo because i was holding on to the camera!)
like to thank Joe who picked me up at 545am and his dad for helping us to carry our stuff!!!
my 6th race of the month-done and done.
rest till great eastern women ten km:)
anyway running with long hair is troublesome! i dunno how long i can endure this till!

coaching freelance now.
not under SWim lab already:)

so anyone who wants to learn swimming, let me know:)
can help me recommend too:)

especially the learn to swim. those children that are starting to learn to swim
i love kids:)

11th Sept training

training at CCAB - Thursday

recovery short workout
instead of the 1200m x 8 times

coach gave me
1200m - 5min
1000m - 4min 10secs
800m - 3min 20secs
400m - 1min 40secs

this is the set pace and i successfully managed to hit on target every set:) coach was with smiles at the end of the day

preparing for next Thursday's time trial - 1.6km x 4sets with 90seconds rest
to predict my current 5km timing...

Lyrics from Shu:

"The heart is stronger than you think ,
It’s like it can go through anything.
And even when you think it can’t find a way to still push on through,
Sometimes you want to run away,
Ain’t got the patience for the pain
And if you don’t believe it look into, your heart the beat goes on
I’m tellin’ you that,
Things get better, Through whatever
If you fall, dust it off, don’t let up
Don’t you know you can go be your own miracle
You need to know
If the mind keeps thinking you’ve had enough, But the heart keeps telling you don’t give up
Who are we to be..questioning, wondering what is what Don’t give up…THROUGH IT ALL, JUST STAND UP!
It’s like we all have better days
Problems getting all up in your face
Just because you go through it
Don’t mean it got to take control, no
You ain’t gotta find no hiding place
Because the heart can beat the hate
Don’t wanna let your mind keep playin’ you
And sayin’ you can’t go on
I’m tellin’ you that
Things get better Through whatever
If you fall
Dust if off, don’t let up
Don’t you know
you can go
Be your own Miracle
You need to know
You don’t gotta be a prisoner in your mind
If you fall, dust it off
You can live your life
Yeah
Let your heart be your guide
Yeah yeah yeah
And you will know that you’re good if you trust in the good
Everything will be alright,
yeah Light up the dark,
if you follow your heart
And it will get better
Through whatever
You got it in you,
find it within You got in now,
find it within now You got in you,
find it within You got in now,
find it within now You got in you,
find it within Find it within you, find it within
THROUGH IT ALL, JUST STAND UP!"

new hair done:)
At city plaza..
angels level 2 unit 36")

thanks 2 besties

I was disappointed throughout the past few days... Due to some stuff.
Thanks to Sunny who was there for the listening year. His words cheered me up a lot "Yes, its tough. You know i am here for you if you need anything."
thanks bro.. when i read this msg.. my tears rolled... was so touched

thanks to Shu too for msging me and keeping me going:)

ironman 70.3

the race:

reached race place at 530am. brought along 2 bags - transition and gear bags. deposited the gear bag at the deposit booth. But i found it weird because they provided us with a big sticker written gear bag and out number tag printed on it to be pasted onto the bag. When i reached the booth, they gave us another wrist tag and asked us to wear it for the race. I was rather surprised, even more stunned when the helper said i could not collect my bag if i had not had the tag. I asked what was the use of the sticker then. She answered she does not know. weird though.

Did not wear the wrist tag, threw it right into my transition bag, praying hard that i do not lose it if not i can't collect my gear bag after the race! i can still remember what the helper said, " if you dun have the wrist tag we give u, you cannot collect the gear bag even though your arm has the number print similar to your gear bag.." ...wondering what happened to the organisation...

at the race transition area, i started to panic. After 6 months of minimal swim and ride.
With only less than 10 times of swim in the pool (apart from coaching small adorable children)... and only 2 times of cycling, clocking about 70km in total for the 6 months... would i still be able to do it... finish the 90km of bike

JD was rather worried for me because I had never ride more than 40km at all... he strongly that i wear a pair of gloves for my ride and a vicer for my run. and yes, i did it all..

at the swim start,panicking... whether i should stand right in front or should i stay put in the middle of the crowd. In the end, i did the former choice...the first lap of the swim was easy. i made my way out without any fighting in the water. It was easy to swim. Did not feel exhausted at all. There were a handful of girls right in front. I told myself that I just wanted to feel good and easy...tried to do a handful or long strokes and eased my way through the ladies water crowd. Soon, I was reaching the beach and I got up, ran to the other side, dived into the water again. As i dived in, had to take some time before I could catch my breathe..out of the water .and then headed to the transition area to welcome my worst leg of the race - cycling. was really bad. we had to loop three rounds from east coast to shears bridge then to alexandra and west coast road. make a u turn and back to east coast into the cheers of our supporters.

As i took my time in my transition area, my first time wearing gloves. took my time with my shoes and then took my time with my ride! I remember sunny telling me "we were all wondering what happened to u in the transition area. you looked like you were taking a lot of time!" oh yes, i normally take less than a minute to do the transition. this time round i took more than 2 mins !

as i rode out.... i was praying hard on 2 things
1) legs dun cramp
2) Bikes dun puncture

as i expected. many ladies overtook me on the bike. I was rather demoralised. But I told myself this " never mind, i will see you all in the run very soon" hahaha.... but what can a marathon runner doing a triathlon tell herself to motivate herself.. i guess this is one of the good phrase to use!

the third lap: feeling stressed on the back and on the hstrings...relaxed a little...you could see frm my body posture that I was really tired already...

and yes, i took 3 hr 17min for my bike, 8th position out of 9 girls in my age category... really bad!

and now at last my favourite part. Was wondering how well I could do the run because this is my 5th race of the month. Have been physically and mentally drained by all the racing. but as i saw JD in front, I caught up with him and smiled... a gesture of love for him:)

and then waved my way through the crowd. i ran quite slow for the first lap... relaxing the muscles and ensuring that they do not cramp ...
after the first lap, i felt rather strong... picked up the pace a little and headed off the aim for ladies in front of me... My NIKE lunar racer helped me a great deal as it was absolutely so LIGHT !

and i realised I was really quite far behind the ladies after the bike... well that did not put me down. I ran hard. though it was painful and exhausting...i continued...saw alvin, eddie, david from yellowfish, JD, alber, Jeanette, Ling Er, Grace, Esther and Elvia on the run... and many more friends too:)

the lanes were rather narrow. when i wanted to overtake, i had to make a rather rude move y turning my shoulder to the athlete in front and tried to squeeze past him or her. I did not want to spend time saying"excuse me" all the way because i was already very tired! Hence, i would squeeze thru every single space i see:)

haha in the end, i ended the race .. surprised to hear that I got third... in age category...
was a good swim, bad bike and a not too bad run...

but i decided... prob wun take the whole half ironman next year.. perhaps..
maybe do just the swim or run...
with esther and grace:)
overall the race was pretty well organised except for the lack of water and sponges during the run route. however, it made it more easy as the run route was relatively flat and easy to run. the supporters at east coast also made our run easier by cheering for us!

the bike route was tough for me as it had several sloped to climb. but it was not for some riders who has been training real hard. (this goes to show how much training u put in determines how much u get out of it!)

the swim was alright but not pleasant during the second loop where we had to ensure with breaststroke kicks from the swimmers of the waves behind us as they were going for their first loop. it was not really nice as my momentum was paused several times.

I still love the atmosphere of the race because we could see fellow athletes racing with their passion and love for the sport.

a few photos of pple who have been in the scene for long:)
esther tantan yew chung... supposed to train under him for this race in the bike, however due to his commitments as the head coach for the commando team for AHM, we missed out trainings...and thats about all:)
race ended with a blast and we headed for buffet dinner at calton hotel .Did not stay for the awards ceremony though. it was too late. missed a chance to go onto stage to receive the award, but nevertheless, i enjoyed the race.

it was already an achievement having to finish the race with no training. love it:)

thank you some supporters:
1) Pat from NIKE singapore
2) Vivian Tang
3) SG runners
4) Fab
5) Rachel from redsxtreme
6) Peishan
7) Karen for preparing the sumptous bread for me after the race
8) People who have kindly taken photos of us all:)

everyone who has supported us in a way or another
kudos to everyone!

Ironman 70.3

All Age Group 18-24 Female Athletes

ATHLETE RANK AGE/ DIV SWIM BIKE RUN TOTAL





1 GORDON, Elizabeth 5/9/5 23/18 to 24 00:34:35 02:48:08 01:51:36 05:18:37



2 CHOO, Ling Er 21/25/15 21/18 to 24 00:44:05 02:58:36 01:58:01 05:44:27



3 TAN, Sok Hue Sumiko 7/44/21 23/18 to 24 00:38:18 03:17:10 01:50:33 05:50:59



4 STEPHENSON, Lauren 11/38/37 20/18 to 24 00:40:31 03:09:41 02:24:05 06:17:31



5 HUNGERBUEHLER, Patricia 9/37/42 22/18 to 24 00:38:56 03:09:42 02:31:5 06:25:16



6 MOK, Juliana 34/40/46 24/18 to 24 00:47:59 03:03:50 02:28:36 06:30:02



7 TAN, Vanessa Yuzhen 37/45/54 24/18 to 24 00:48:21 03:06:58 02:33:02 06:41:28



8 CHOU, Maria 28/46/59 19/18 to 24 00:46:04 03:10:49 02:53:56 06:57:22



9 LAW, Hannah 48/65/65 24/18 to 24 00:49:23 03:32:14 03:09:54 07:42:20





results shown above have shown one thing:


My legs and arms are meant for swimming and running. Not meant for cycling.





Well short-cut: I din train for this race. I cycled 2 times out of 6 times and most of the time my bike was at home resting and trapping dust. hence, suffering on the bike for this race was well deserved suffering for me. I had been too lazy to train for the race.





Well the good thing is : My run had been good and i felt really strong in the run. next is, my swim is rather maintaining at the usual speed though I had been in and out of the water coaching only and not training.





The race was good. In fact, I felt it was quite well organised.





Friday: Race expo. Went to race expo to collect race pack and headed down to East coast for the race briefing and dinner:) Met YC, my ex cycling coach:)

the carbo loading dinner was not that tasteful. It was really practically carbo loading. Filled with sphagetti, bee Hoon, rice, one meat and one vege dish... stomach Din feel quite satisfied after that.. but obviously meeting with friends have filled my mood of racing to a higher level:)

opps...now going meeting continue later:)

Training on Monday:

graveyard run 45mins
Was feeling really scared throughout the run. The guys and gals were doing their interval training and I had to do a recovery run myself. the whole place was filled with incense paper, food which was served during the closure of the ghost festival and candles which had melted. I was running alone and at times, i can't see an of them in front! So was rather scary though!

Training on Tuesday:
Recovery swim - 40 laps
Mountbatten Swimming Pool

Training on Wednesday:
50mins run
East Coast Park
Recovery run with JD after the race. Halfway, it started to pour! we had to wait till the rain stopped before we could get our things from the car! Bad weather, but good run

Training on Thursday:
6 x 800m speed workout
Supposed to go at 3.16min per set

in the end, i hit 3.11, 3.13, 3.11, 3.14, 3.12 and 3.13
not a very good workout. Knew i would be reprimanded when coach gets back! oh no!

after that, went to a friend's dad funeral. sad.

met Sunny after that. He passed me the X lab wheels and i gave him his long due birthday present. A pair of ASICs racer. he always needed a pair of racer:)

Friday: coaching and coaching.
going to collect race pack for aviva 70.3 and also race briefing in the evening plus carbo loading dinner:)

I dunno how i am going to survive the half ironamn this Sunday because I have not been biking. I hope I can just finish it!

NIKE HUMAN RACE

Sunday NIKE human race
Great event with lots of people wearing red NIKE shirt.
It was an eye opener event with everybody around the world coming together to run a similar race.

saw Vivian, Dinah, Mok, Huiqin, Ben Pulman, Jon Fong and some NIKE people right in front at the seeded line:)

I was 4 rows behind them.

the race started off with Joanne Peh, Jessica Tan and a young boy with cancer giving a short but yet sweet speech. Perseverence is the word.



There were several turns. We started at the Esplanade Bridge, headed to Lau Pat Sah, then towards Marina and then headed to Clarke Quay made a whole round around there and back to the Padang to end our race there.

In the mids of the race, I was rather very happy. Every other km i ran, i hear friends shouting and cheering for me. It was a very nice moment , though I could not see their faces in the opposite direction. However, I knew that out there, my friends are running and I love to see friends exercising. Till now, i also wonder who are the friends who has been calling my name!
thanks to all friends though:)

ran my 4th race of the month. 10km. NIKE human race. Din regret it. Did not do a very good PB. though it was 44min 28 seconds.. i was wondering whether it was a good timing.

It was my first time doing a 10km race after soooo long.
However, it din matter when all the work has been worth it.
Managed to get a 2nd position in the race for the under-25 category.
yeah i am lucky.

prizes were fabulous.
A NIKE Ipod, sportsband, and $300 NIKE voucher.

The stage performance were amazing. it's the first time i ever see any stage performance that i really enjoyed after a race. It was really grand. I wished I had my camera with me after the race. But i was enjoying myself at the NIKE lounge!

yes, there was a lounge. Vivian and me were talking and laughing there, enjoying each other's company. We also took free polariods photos!

She ran great! 1st in women's open category. great job!

overall, i highly recommend this race. It keep so many people talking about it even after the race has ended:)
i love this pair of shoes! NIKE lunar racer

AHM run

AHM army half marathon - Last Sunday

raced 3 races in a week, 2 before the ahm.. din think i could do well too.
coach had something planned for us. JJ and me:)

before he went to Beijing to watch the olympics, he actually emailed both of us regarding the race plan for us. He knew that I had 2 races before that and that was not able to use my full force to race.

he asked us to start very slow at 24min for first 5km...

i could remember i did a 23min for my first 5km in gold coast..my mistake was starting too fast in a marathon or half marathon.

as per said, we went off at an easy pace. but felt really too slow for me.. was running at 24min 39seconds for first 5km...

in my mind, something told me to keep and hold back the pace. The instructions was : run together.

it was a race strategy.
along the way i wanted to sped up but i realised no point speeding up. i held back again.

it was a great motivation to run with JJ because she is a top veteran runner of singapore and a very good pacer.
We had good company and we took turns to take water for each other. It was really comfortable. we were racing according to time and not for positions. I did not bother to chase anyone in front of me. they just fell back to me one by one.
but it was a totally different race for me because i felt so comfortable at the end.

nearing the last 1km of the race, i saw a veteran runner who was racing in JJ's category and i called to JJ to speed up, I told her to overtake the runner in front. She was having a little cramps and she asked me to pull the pace for her and that she will then follow up. I did as told and sped up, turning back to encourage her...
and in the end, she caught up and overtook that lady. JJ emerged as 2nd in her veteran category and i came in 5th in the woman's closed category.

although i was 6min faster than my previous timing and did a PB, but i was still 3mins off from target.

I knew that if I had sped up and increase the pace, i would be able to do 1 hr37mins.
but there are reasons why coach had wanted to me hold back.

2 races before AHM, then AHM then NIKE 10km race and then 70.3 half ironman and the KPE 10km race.
it was too much.
i have to lay off for more than a month without training.
no point.

anyway Vivian did really well! and JOe did his PB of 1hour 24min:) i promised to beat him in 2 years time:) ahhaa!

patience is the keyword:) i am only 23 years old...:)

Pearl izumi run series-2

Pearl Izumi run series 2

Kallang park:)
it was supposed to be a 20km run:)

I was suffering from a bad hamstring pain all the way. really wanted to stop. but managed to finish it in 1 hour 30min i think:)

it was a great race but tiring because I had training the day before...finished the race strong and also regretted packing soo many races together

run/walk assessment 2008

Run/walk assessment 2008
it is a yearly assessment done for teachers who wanna keep fit and earn money at the same time.
teachers who can run under 12min 30 seconds can get gold and receive $100. as for those who can do around 11 mns plus for ladies, they get silver and thereafter:)

we were greeted with a heavy downpour . it was also one day before my AHM and one day after my Directors relay run:) legs were feeling a little sore

the rain stopped and we started off.
I had a 2.4km run to complete at an easy pace. Saw the caucasian gentleman who was running quite fast!

I did not try to chase as I knew that I had too many races coming up, not the best time to risk injury:)the above gentleman is my boss - principal of keming primary schoolin the end... i ran a 9min 35 seconds:)

NTU BI team

i went for coaching at NTU- the biathlon team:) they had a mini biathlon with 400m swim and a 3km run ... they had about 20 participants:)
not too bad.. really nice organisation.. they even had water point, sandwiches and bananas:)
thanks to my captain.
i was basically there to supervise:)they are a great team. i have a lot of guys in the team from Navy:) divers and swimmers too:0
but most importantly, i focus on attitude during training:)

directors relay!

Directors' relay. Used to be a 12 hour relay when i took part 2 years ago. that time i still remembered my team .. it was a lovely team made up of all mid distance runners from NTU ..

however, this year, it was a big difference. and a wonderful one. We from the Athlon Running team, the group of runners under coach Guy, had teamed up for this event. It was nice to have 2 marathon runners - Fab and me, Mid distance runners - Marcus, Joe, Illyas and a sprinter - Atiqi...
it was so fun because after training for so long, we finally get to race together.

Anxious filled me as i stood on the start line. I knew that my 2.4km was not that fast and i may pull the guys down. it started off and i started running... it was not easy as hatred for short distance run came in! :) I came in 4th lady, at 9min 28seconds... and then passed on to marcus who sped off... but he was actually relaxing! he did an easy run and only sped up at the end.. then Atiqi, Illyas, Joe and Lastly fabian went off...

we were racing with 2 groups. one is F1, the other the SP group which all came from mid dist runners:)

we were rather happy with the timings except for marcus who knew that he could have done so much better! but it's fine:) i guess it's the team spirit that made us really happy within us:)
Joe, Illyas and marc and me went for a short dip after that:) went for prize presentation to collect our 3rd prize!

photos speaks a thousand words...
before the race
after the raceshoes unite!
and this is the NIKE Lunar racer I wore for the race... i felt really light while running with it:)
it gave me minimum cushion but minimum weightage:)
it felt as though I was running barefooted.
the colour is yellow and green.
the laces are soft and easy to tie.
most importantly, it suits people who like to race in light shoes:)

I wore them for my Army half marathon too! my shoe is the one on the left:) the princesand i forced them to lift the heavy me!!!and the last pic! whiy is marcus hiding behind!!

Jackie ROM:)

Jackie's rom was a pleasant surprise.
knew him from hall 3.. and the weird thing was that... I forgotten how i got to know him. but i do remember that we used to be really close. he was my LAO DA... and he calls me ah neh because i was really tanned when i was in NIE-NTU...

he had his rom at an arsenal club at elizabeth hotel:) his wife is a teacher and they actually went thru lots of ups and downs, broke up and patched up before they finally tied the knot.. really happy to see this couple together:)

Lao Da, can you hurry give us a god son or daughter soon:) hehehe:)
its soo nice!

back after 2 weeks

have been off from blogging for more than 10 days.
busy with work, training and obviously race... Had a few races. Directors relay, run/walk assessment and AHM.
received my 3 pairs of shoes too:) love them

had a pair of NIKE Air Zoom, And a pair of Lunar Series training shoes as well as a pair of the NIKE Lunar Racer.

they were great shoes. Will upload the photos of them at night later and recommend as per usual to those avid runners.

As I walk through my second year of teaching, I asked myself, is this the job i really want. Is this going to be a long term commitment or am I interested in other areas?

I ask myself, why do I run till now.

I ask myself, is it a torture.

I ask myself, do I have close friends

I ask myself, who do i depend on..
and the answers were..

I run because i love running.
It is not a torture but a joy.
I have one close friend - SHU