Week 12? 13?

Counting down now to next race! Sunday 7 December 2008!! 10 km!!

This week, quite productive. Played tennis on Tuesday morning, though only for half an hour. Tennis kaki had to dash off.

Today (Thurs) went to the gym in the morning. Tried to calibrate the Nike+ contraption and was quite flustered at first; receiver couldn't even detect the sensor! Was quite warmed up by the time I got it to work and then ran for 2k to calibrate, and another 2.9k after that. Another first for me - running 30 minutes without stopping on the treadmill. Oh, I am unstoppable now! Having said that, I seriously couldn't run any faster without feeling nauseous - how to run for 10k??

ACK.

Need new earphones for iPod. Right bud keeps falling out, though left sits snugly without problem.

Then this evening, played tennis again. Doubles this time. Of course, I was the worst player. After the game, the ladies gathered and one turned to me and asked, where did I get my shoes? I love my white-brown (BROWN!) Adiprene with diamante. I may not play great, but at least I have nice shoes. I am secretly thrilled that I am the Posh Spice of the tennis group.

It is Finished

For now, that is.

Race Day I was frightful. Hordes of women dressed in the same top (!!), lots of annoying rah-rah by skinny Ms Sunshine MC, and no personal space to even uncreak my lower back. And they made us warm up to "YMCA"! After an agonising 20 minute wait, finally the foghorns were sounded and everyone burst forward. Had to concentrate hard so not to trip over any one of the 5,000+ women around me.

It was comforting to see some not even bothering to jog/run from the start. At least there was hope I wouldn't be last - YAY! Tried to keep pace with lady with brown full-face visor and brown rubber bands in her hair. It was a sign! After all, brown is my fave colour. She was fast! And she didn't go round the cones or kerbs, and after a bit I lost sight of her.

Woe to you who come in groups and stroll 4 abreast! And those who whip their elbows side to side while moving forward! And mostly, woe to those who do not break sweat while bouncing along and chatting with friends!

And, am I glad I did some roadside running before the race. It is truly treacherous, dealing with the pollution and hot road surfaces. My feet felt so hot after the halfway mark, and the weather was (thankfully) not even that warm yesterday morning.

Throughout the run I was thinking, how am I going to do the 10k? Aieeeeeee.....

Seemed like forever till the end was in sight. Tried to concentrate on music, though noticed for the first time how disturbing the lyrics of some of the songs I have on my iPod are. Finally, crossed the finishing arc and greeted by too-enthusiastic ushers. Mental note to self - never print real name on bib again.

YAY!! We did it, we did it!!

Now, had to search for water. Loud broadcasted reminders to keep hydrated were annoyingly frustrated by refreshments being hidden. That was plain evil! Legs so wobbly! Throat so parched! And still had to make way to far end of field to get something to drink.

Did semblance of warm down, then off to celebratory lunch! Dulukala Peranakan Restuarant at Beauty world Plaza. Mmmmmm! First time for everyone and it was great! Assam fish head, ayam goreng, sambal sweet potato leaves, ayam buah keluak, babi pongteh, and lotsa drinks.

Came home and crashed, had a nice long nap.

I dedicate the successful completion to all our fans who believed in us - K, had I read your Celtic blessing *before* the run, maybe I wouldn't even need music; Carrie, whom I've not met but thanks for all the kind words :) and Jared, who actually asked if I would come in first (sorry mummy has disappointed you but I'm pinning all my dreams of running glory on you!), and thanks also to Opus - we can check this off out Bucket List now - wouldn't have done this without you and wouldn't dream of doing this with any other penguin! Keeskees!

p/s 4 weeks till 10k!

Done!!

... in more ways than one.

Er, sorry, fan(s), forgot to post before race day. Too stressed out over a pathetic 5k. Honestly.

Anyway, we did it! Me in 34min and runningstitch in 30min. Basically I lost sight of runningstitch within the first 400m and never saw her again. I endeavoured to and managed to pass at least a couple of ah sohs, one or two um, "larger women", and one or two school children (who would annoyingly just pass you again later). But i also did not pass a LOT of other people. Still - i'm glad i ran the whole thing!

I have to say running in a crowd makes a big diffference. It's no where near as boring as running on your own, and the sight of ah sohs running ahead of you just makes you push on. Seriously.

My heart was a bit skippy, but that's what I get for quaffing a whole 6-pack of coke a week before the race.

Disappointingly, once you pass the finish line, you do not run straight into a table full of cookies, bananas, jelly and water. As was my dream. (Organizers! Note for next year!)

Thanks to our cheerleaders and thanks to runningstitch without whom i would not be able to do this involved in this madness.

T minus 3

I woke up feeling a little sick-ish today ... and i was still sore from (stupidly) doing a bunch of sit ups and push ups the other day, so i decided to take a rest day.

La di dah. I think i'm in denial about Sunday.

T minus 4!

I have apparently put on more weight again! What the --! Running is bad for you. It makes you fat! Shit.

Anyways, I ran on the treadmill today. 20min = 2.75k @ roughly 7.1 min/k which doesn't sound fast but man my lungs were burning up. And my heart was hopping around.

I tried to be a bit more scientific about it cos I'd read this How to Improve your 5k Time (getting ahead of myself, I know) and also this neat Training Pace Calculator but I only read them cursorily and I think I did it all wrong. I thought I was doing a tempo run at my tempo pace, but I was not. Ha. Oh well.

T minus 3/4??

Ran yesterday on treadmill, could only do 3km! Was so tired, and not running fast at all! Anyway, the Nike+ thingy is way off, recorded over 4+ km. Such false, inflated hopes it's giving me.

Didn't run today. Had class, then it rained and basically am in denial. Wondering about possibility of inclement weather and/or PSI levels spiking over the weekend, in particular Sunday morning. Stayed in and spent a pleasant afternoon doing some embroidery.

T minus 5

Went to the gym tonight but someone was on the treadmill - grr. So I went on the ellipsis/stair machine instead, and while I was on that, the first person on the treadmill left and someone else got on! Double grr! And the other person took so long I just ended up doing some interval training on the ellipsis machine, then some sit ups. That was my training for today.

The most infuriating part was that both people who used the treadmill were just walking. WALKING!! The nerve.

T minus 6

Almost there, and getting in some last minute panic training.

Took firstborn to the beach today, excited to try out my new Nike+ Sports Kit. Son decides he will cycle alongside, though I suggest the skate-scooter. I start to run and he falls behind; I had expected him with wheels to be far ahead! Run back to check on him, and he's all blubbery and exclaiming that I am an "absolute madman" because I was running so fast. Whaaaaat? Also complains about pain everywhere, though sprints away once I am towing his bike back to the car. Grrr.

With all the starts and stops, running on the spot and running back and forth, my Nano reported over 6km and 45+ minutes! I really need to calibrate this thing properly. It's probably a little nuts by the "running" pattern today.

T minus 6

Rest day. Very important, you know. Muscles have to relax, rebuild. Etc.

KFC for dinner.

Yum.

T minus 7

Ran my "about 4k" route today - and I didn't stop!! Yay!!! Of course I was just plodding at a slow pace, but still, an improvement from before. And it was all because I applied the lesson I learned at Bedok Reservoir which was: look out for dead bodies.

No, the other lesson: start, find and stay at a REALISTIC PACE. Otherwise, if you go too fast, then you just conk out early and there's no saving you after that.

That said, the last 500m killed a little. And now me legs are all wobbly.

To start the countdown to 5k day, I shall state my goals:

1. Finish within 40min (alas, I don't think this will be possible...but one must dream, yes?)
2. Pass at least several Ah Sohs.
3. When running across the finish line, there had better NOT be any Ah Sohs walking across the finish line at the same time.
4. Don't stop running.

I aim to achieve at least 3 of the above items. Gogogogogogogogo.

7 days more!

Ran today. Ran kerbside. In fact, just came back and googled how to calculate how far I ran. Found this- awesome! I ran 4.094 km! Woohoo!

Dislike the pollution. But, thankful for cloudy weather!

The end is nigh

I HAD to run today. It's been too long. Did 3k on the treadmill, wasn't bad considering how little i'd been running lately, but not good enough! The run is NEXT WEEK!!!!

Gasp.

Um, lost track

ok. This is not going well.

Ran last Saturday with Opus and it nearly killed us. Bedok Reservoir is terrible! Gravel-ly and super hot, and it was only 10+ in the morning. The Forest Adventure looks fun though, and it was all in the shade!

Anyway - before that, and since then, there has been no running whatsoever. I blame everything. Heat, rain, hormones, hunger pangs, heat, exams, bad throat, housework, sewing projects, emails, fixing dinners, homework, ferrying children, sick children....
On the bright side, I've been faithfully subscribing to alternative training strategy as espoused in The Independent. Opus and I love this article: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/healthy-living/marathon-training-the-cheats-guide-to-running-805731.html. It's not complicated - just eat jelly in bed. I had to modify this a little, since I don't like the idea of eating anything in bed. And, why stop at jelly?

Today this strategy kinda backfired. All my pent up hankering for dumpling noodles (the food centre was closed for 6 months. 6 MONTHS!!) did me in. While waiting for my takeaway order of noodles (of course I ordered the extra-everything version) I went to the SweetTalk bubble tea shop and ordered (urgh, feeling ill all over again at the memory) a cup of chocolate ice-blended milk tea with oreos and pearls. I was so hungry then, I finished half the cup in no time. Picked up the noodles, and mmmm, was feeling bloated by then but undeterred - and all in the name of injury-free training - I ate it all up.

Yeah, I'm much better now than 2 hours ago. Haven't felt so ill in a long time! Man, may have to consider going for a run! (boo)

Did we also say we picked up our running kits & bibs? Am so not looking forward to eating the dust of ah sohs and kids. How???

Week what is it, 11?

Hey where did everybody go?

Did a "test run" of 4.3k with runningstitch yesterday and it DID ME IN! Feeling sick today, so am drinking lots of fluids, sweating and eating. Um, which is my self-prescription.

Week 10: Days 6 & 7

Day 6: no running! (blogging when i do not run is really boring)

Day 7: Played tennis with runningstitch. Got to use my new tennis racket, the Wilson K(Factor) K(Blade) Team 104. Racket of choice for Serena and Venus Williams, you know. Anyway, of course I still played crap, but *better*. Less crap. This racket ROCKS. I love it.

Week 10: Day 5

Finally ran again today! Felt out of sorts for the past three days cos I didn't run - which is strange, and sick and perverse because it is miserable when you DO run. So. Running is some sort of sick twisted reverse psychology trick designed to mess with me.

Anyways.

Ran my roughly 2.8-3.0 k route and was definitely plodding but I daresay I think there is a teensy bit of improvement! Yay! Still a long way to go, though! Gaaah.

Week 10, Days 2-4

As anticipated, have not done anything worth mentioning here.

Oh wait, I climbed up the stairs, all 10 storeys, yesterday!

Week 10: Days 1-3

Day 1:
Ran my 2 x 2k route. The first 2k was halfway decent, but I was definitely floundering during the second loop. Nevertheless, a promising start to the week. But, destroyed by...

Day 2:
No time to run!

Day 3:
No time to run!

Die.