Just completed the 10km SAFRA Marina Bay run on 24-Aug-08. Trained for 1.5-month after more than 10 years of no jogging/running non-active life. Felt really GOOD and Healthy. So I have gone ahead and signed up for a 21km Half Marathon competitive run scheduled for 07-Dec-2008. Will blog for 10 minutes after each training run.
Click here for ===> Inspiring poem written by HT's son when he was 14-year old.
w.rgds,
HC Gan
http://hcgan.blogspot.com
http://hcgan.webs.com
Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life.
Sun 12-Oct-2008 :
Have not been running since Wed. Have to run but it was slightly drizilling. So went to SCC gym and ran for 40 minutes and clocked 6.6km. Then swam for 30 minutes. Need to continue to increase my run time and distant to prepare for the Dec half-marathon race.Looking forward to receive my Garmin heart rate monitor, speed and distance foot pod on Sat 25-Oct. Cost around US$137.24 compare to S$400 in Singapore.
Sat 11-Oct-2008 :
Slept through the morning until 2pm. Several missed calls and SMS. Cheang and Hong were trying to contact me to meet up for a bowling session.
All of us (Hong, Cheang, Kuan and Gan) and family went to SCC for bowling for more than two hours. My wife was travelling and my kid having tuition so they did not join. All of us had a good time bowling. Some of them went for swimming for a short while.
Went to Mornington Crescent area for dinner. Quite an interesting and secluded place in Seletar Camp area. Food was good and price reasonable. Thanks to Mrs.Kuan who recommended this place.
Fri 10-Oct-2008 :
Wanted to run today but was too busy with work and skipped.
Yesterday was the end of the ban on short-selling in US and as expected the stock market dropped significantly. Decided to stay through Friday night to see how the stocks and options prices behave during this unprecented day when the US ban on short-selling ended yesterday and today being the Friday before weekend close and G7 "rescue" meeting.
Witness the most volatile and wildest trading day in the entire history as the Dow hit a low of 7882 and a high of 8901, more than 1,081 points swing in a single day and I was with it through the full session. Likely due to short-selling in the early part of the day and in the final hour the traders rushing to close out their short positions before the weekend starts, which are the normal behaviour of the traders.
Wed 8-Oct-2008 :
Went to SCC gym to run on treadmill instead of running-track after work because of drizzling rain. Did 4km within 25 minutes on treadmill. Seems tougher than running on treadmill compare to running-track. Did 5 minutes warm-up and 5 minutes cool down run. Had late dinner around 9:15pm.
Requested one of my colleaguea in US to help order a Garmin heart rate monitor, speed and distance foot pod. Cost around US$137.24 compare to S$400 in Singapore.
All stock market crashed yesterday and today... has been on the downtrend for several days. Several central banks cut interest rate together. Looks like a Global Financial Amagaddon. Global recession coming soon or already into one.
Mon 6-Oct-2008 :
Finally back on Nanyang Polytechnic running track today! Was with William. HT preparing his son for PSLE exam and not able to join, a good father. Was planning to do 10 rounds (4km) which in 33% more than the 3km I did on last Sat on the treadmill. William was planning to do 13 rounds, so I decided to run 13 rounds if my cardio can take it. At the end I did 12 rounds.
Was consciously trying to land on my mid-feet instead of on the heels, and trying pose method along the way for some of the distant. No pain on the knees !! No nausea feeling!! The rhythm is back, I am back in running again !!! The feeling was really good today, feeling healthy all over again.
LAPS Lap-Time Cumm-Time
Lap 1 = 2:20:84 02:20:84
Lap 2 = 2:14:48 04:35:32
Lap 3 = 2:25:87 07:01:19
Lap 4 = 2:24:91 09:26:10
Lap 5 = 2:24:86 11:50:96 (2km mark. Pace is 59:15minute per 10km)
Lap 6 = 2:38:21 14:29:17 (did a reverse direction clockwise turn)
Lap 7 = 2:32:61 17:01:78
Lap 8 = missed
Lap 9 = 5:25:47 22:03:25
Lap10 = 2:59:14 25:02:39
Lap11 = 2:06:22 27:08:61 (4.4km mark. Pace is 61:40minute per 10km)
Lap12 = 3:32:77 30:41:38 (at 4.8km, cooling down lap)
Will try to do 6km (15 rounds) and 8km (20 rounds) for 2 more runs this week. To build up stamina gradually. I am back !!
If can average 2:24 minutes or less per round (400m), one can complete 10km run within 60 minutes or less. Definitely do-able.
61 days left to Dec Half Marathon race ! (for my first 21km run, target for 2hr 30min or less).
Sat 4-Oct-2008 :
Went to SCC to continue training for the Dec race. Did the following today :-
i) 5 minutes on Hamstring gym equipment.
ii) 25 minutes on track-mill running for about 3km, of which 5-minute for slow warm-up and 5-minute for cool down. The actual 15-minute run was at 10km per hour pace. This is the worst run I have recently, feeling a bit nausea after the run. Cardio has weaken and need to continue to build up. Have to run at least 3 times per week to continue to build up the cardio.
iii) 5-minute cycling on the gym bike for 2.1km.
iv) 20-minute leisurely swim. Felt really tired from the run. Can feel the tireness on the legs and cardio area. Was able to hold the breath and swim underneath the water through the whole length of the pool... which I think is between 35m to 40m.
Quite sad that my daugther did not want to join me to swim today. Gotto find some ways to motivate her to swim again.
Yesterday the US House of Reprensentatives (Congress) passed the $700B bailout plan for financial institutions. The US situation is pretty bad with most credit frozen up where banks are not wanting to lend to each other. The ban on short-selling in US was extended till this coming Thursday 9-Oct-08. Will have some impacts on hedge fund for the mean time being. This financial fisco will take some time to settle down.
Thu 2-Oct-2008 :
Went to SCC gym after work to prepare for the Dec half marathon run. Did the following today :-
10 minutes on Hamstring gym equipment.
10 minutes cycling on the gym bike for 6.2km.
15 minutes on treadmill running for about 2km. Another 3 minute cool down run.
20 minutes swimming.
Wanted to run for 30 minutes but around 10 minute into running, felt a slight pain at the left heel again. So cut down the run to 15 minutes only. Did a combination of pose method and my normal way of running (but consciously trying to land on the mid-foot instead of on the heel).
Reach home and ate dinner late at 9pm but felt really good and healthy.
65 days more to Dec Half Marathon race !
Wed 1-Oct-2008 :
Today is Hari Raya public holiday. Met up with Hong, Cheang and Kuan at SCC. Did two sets of bowling games. My first game score 135 and second game 140 and were top scores among us. Not bad since I have not been bowling regularly. Brought along a 2003 bottle of red wine "Irony" Napa Valley cabernet savignon. Did not taste as good as expected. Cheang's wife joined us for dinner.
29-Sept was labelled as BLACK MONDAY as the Dow Jones dropped 777 points (8%) in a single day after congress vote against the bail-out plan for financial companies. It was more than the drop on the 9/11 day.
Mon 29-Sep-2008 :
Arrived Taipei yesteday at 1:30pm. Few hours later the airport was shutdown due to typhoon JangMi (Category 4) landed on Taiwan. Got a very bad flu yesterday and slept through dinner time till 4am next day. The government declared Monday as off day for all offices. But proceeded with the meeting with the supplier in their office in the afternoon as planned.
Still have not started running to prepare for the Dec half marathon. The heel seems to be recovering well. Need to start running soon.
Sat 27-Sep-2008 :
Went for a afternoon movie (Mamamia) and dinner with Hong and Kuan with spouses at Vivo city. The movie was really good, they managed to put together a movie around the songs from Abba group. After dinner went to St.James bar hopping. Left the crowd for about 20 minutes to join a Quarter closing conf call. Had been a very busy quarter ending month.
Have not been running for the past 2 days. Need to start training plan for the Dec half Marathon run. Time is running out. Will try to resume training mid of next week if the heel pain is gone instead of waiting for a full 2 weeks.
Thu 25-Sep-2008 :
HT & William went running today. I went to SCC's gym to exercise and swim to avoid stressing the heel to let it recover first. Today's routine :- 10 minutes on gym equipment to exercise the hamstring, 20 minutes on the cycling machine (covered 6km) and 20 minutes swim (relax pace).
71 days to race day... need to build up the cardio endurance and legs. Since cannot run for 2 weeks, cardio training to continue first. Not sure whether able to complete the 21km half-marathon actual race or not.
Tue 23-Sep-2008 :
Heel pain have been there for nearly 2 weeks. Was worried whether it is due to a minor bone fracture. So went to see an Orthopedic (Dr.Leslie Leong) today, quite a nice chap. He confirmed that the bones are ok. Most likely due to stress (or tear) of the tendon at the side of the heel area. Was given pain killer, anti-inflamation cream and Glucosamine. Total cost S$218 of which $100 was for consultation fee. Fortunately this is covered by my medical insurance.
The doctor adviced to stop running for 2 to 3 weeks. And if need to exercise to do some swimming and cycling instead. Sigh.... will have stop running for a while.
The Orthopedic said within the first 2 or 3 days after run, ok to use ice around the pain area.
After 3 days or more, ok to use hot-water or warm towers around the pain area (which is what my mom has suggested earlier and I found that it works).
Analysed the situation with HT. Concluded maybe I was trying a bit too aggressively and too hard on the new Pose running method. My first attempt on the running track was more than 3km, fairly fast and with socks only. Should have practise it on a more gradual basis. But that run was fantastic as there was no knee pain at all.
Definitely not giving it up..... will resume run (with pose method) in 2 weeks time. For the half marathon (21km) race, probably have to use a mixture of pose running and my normal running method to complete.
Extremely busy month in Sept with work related issues.
73 DAYS more to Race day.... wow sounds pretty short time left to train.
Had a wonderful swim with daughter at SCC swimming pool yesterday, after more than 9-month break. She was so shy with swim suit on. But I believe she will overcome that shyness pretty soon.
Sat 20-Sep-2008 :
Have not been running as regularly for some time. Mainly due to the pain at the side of the heel on left foot. In Orchard Rd Takashimaya's sport shoe retail area, Adidas has set up a small area to check your feet running pattern e.g. whether pronate or not, landing pattern, etc. The test showed that my left foot is normal but the right leg seems to pronate. Also found out that the Adidas shop at Cathay has the system to test the full running pattern of a person and can recommend the correct shoes or tailor make shoe for you!
My daugther and me used to swim together every weekend since she picked up swimming at a young age. But since we shifted to our new home from Dec-07, she has stopped swimming till now, more than 9 months. Have been trying to encourage her to pick up swimming again but not successful. Manage to get her to agree to go swimming this weekend. So we brought her to buy a swim suit. The one she selected was quite expensive, more than S$80. But still gone ahead and bought for her as I really want her to start swimming again. In the process I found out the real reason why she has been so reluctant to swim again because she thinks she is too fat and was shy about it! Honestly I will not consider her fat at all. She is tall and slightly large-build for her age, yes but definitely not fat. And she is beautiful. By the way she is only 11+ years old. Looking forward to the swim tomorrow.
Fri 19-Sep-2008 :
Went for a dinner function tonight. Met and get to know James Soh and his family from Hougang area and some other families. Wife Teresa is a Canadian and their 2 daughters are 12 and 9 years old. Both husband and wife are regular Marathon runners !! So naturally we spent quite a fair bit of time talking about runnings. He is from the Navy and work in Changi area.
Left the evening function early to attend a work related conference call from 10 to 11pm with US. So many work related conference calls lately.
Yesterday the US government jumped in to save AIG from collapsing. Today US implemented curbs on "short selling" on all financial company stocks, all 799 of them. That will have some impact on my hedge fund. At 11:44am CST Dow Jones shot up 424 points to 11,444. Gold tumbled 7.6% as stocks recover.
Thu 18-Sep-2008 :
Sorry to HT and William. Missed the chance to run with them today as too many issues to resolve in the office due to typical rush for Quarter ending. Missed the opportunity to get HT to coach and correct my pose running errors. Very busy week and month. At 11:30pm, practise static exercise on Pose position balancing and pulling of legs with wall support. This evening practise made provided me a better feel of pose method.
Stock market crashed since Monday due to Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection and AIG crisis. Many good stocks begin to look attractive with share price well below net asset and good dividend yield. For the next 3 to 6 months, good opportunity for those long term investors with some spare cash looking to buy-and-hold for next 3 to 5 years for some under-valued good company stocks. But be prepared to ride through short term major Volatility.
Closed out all the naked PUT Options on the financial companies late last night. Enough to pull ahead retirement age by 3 years. Have been anticipating and planning for this event for about 2 years.
Sat 13-Sep-2008 :
In the evening went to jog around Neram Crescent Playround. Not trying to go for long distant but to practise the Pose running method. Try pose run and walking (to reflect on the run) for about 40 minute. Still not getting it right.
No pain on knees! No major pain on bottom of heel. Did feel sharp pain at the two sides of the heel below the ankle. Notice that when I landed on the ball area of the forefeet, the heel is a bit too high (fairly big angle) and did put quite a lot of stress on the heel.
Thu 11-Sep-2008 :
Did not run today trying to give the legs an extra day to rest. Also very busy with work and my mom is visiting us this week. Mom suggested to soak both legs in a pail of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Did that and found that the pains on the heels and ankles really went away! Hmmm... the old folks do know some useful experience that they can share with us.
Tue 9-Sep-2008 :
Had my BEST run today trying out the POSE running method. Went to run at Nanyang Polytechnic running track today with HT and William. My main objective was to seriously try out the POSE running method. Have been reading up and watching some of the videos over the last weekend on the Pose method free website.
Decided to run with a pair of thick socks only and WITHOUT shoes. This will make the legs more sensitive to the touches on the ground and run more naturally for the Pose method. It worked great for me. One of the key objective was to run and land on the "ball area" at the front of the feet near the toes and avoid landing on the heel. When landing on the heel the impact will hurt the heel and transmit the impact up to the knees. Without shoes it naturally encourage me to land on the ball area because if I land on the heels it will be so painful without the shoes.
Since I start running about 2 months ago, this is the FIRST time that I do not feel any pain at my knees !! A major achievement for me as I am quite worry that my knees may worn out and not able to run for a full life time. I believe I found the right method that will enable me to enjoy running for a long long time without getting leg injuries.
HT is fairly advance in this method already and have been giving me a lot of coaching and support. Thanks!
Do have pains at the back of the heels and the muscles behind the lower legs. This should be normal as the muscles in these areas have not be fully utilized in the past. Felt really GREAT today.
When I tried to run faster today, I tend to keep my body straight upright and increase the cadance of the legs exchanges. HT highlighted that I should tilt the body slightly to the front to increase the running speed and not just increasing the cadance on the legs. Will test out during my next run.
The basic theory of Pose running method is to use Gravity to propel you ahead using 3 simple steps i.e. Pose, Fall and Pull. Stand in a POSE position, let yourself FALL forward and PULL the support leg when it touches the ground and repeat the Pose-Fall-Pull cycle..... continue to fall forward using gravity.
Sun 7-Sep-2008 :
Very busy week. Did not run since Monday. In the evening went for a short run of 3.58km near Seletar area for about 30 minutes. Still feeling pain on the heels. After the run, felt pain on knees and heels. Was trying to use Pose running method. Read up a lot during the night to better understand this running method and watch some of the videos. My error I believe is at the cadence or rate of change of supporting leg which the recommended rate is 180 per second or higher. Seems very fast. Will continue to try and get advice from HT who has been actively practising Pose running method too. Felt very healthy...other than the legs.
Sat 6-Sep-2008 :
Went for Penang food fair in York Hotel with Hong, Cheang and Kuan families this evening... sort of to celebrate the completion of the Marina Bay run 2 weeks ago. Adult $28 and kid $21. The food fair drew quite a crowd with queue on the entrance to the restaurent. Had a good time last year for this same event. For tonight, the food were ok and do not feel that it is as great as last year's. But all of us do enjoy the get together and eat more than we normally do!
Dr.Kuan shared a very useful website www.mapmyrun.com that can trace the map and let you know the actual distance covered. Wow.... found this to be very useful to plan my running routes near my home.
Mon 1-Sep-2008 :
Did not plan to run today. Since HT & William both are running at the polytechnic I decided to join them and to get some running tips from them. Ran leisurely for about 6 rounds today. HT was kind enough to share his experience and learning on the "pose" running method. Sounds easy but to do it actually is quite difficult. Some practise tips from him.
Stand in pose position. Then tilt the body forward slight as if it is going to fall. Then move one of the leg to land on the ball (near the toes) of the foot. Once the foot touches the ground try to lift it as soon as possible. The objective is to let the gravity of the body to move you along.
Practise recommended.
1. Stand on one leg and move the other leg up and down. Let the leg "drop" downwards and once it touches the ground, try to lift it up as soon as possible.
2. Same as above except hop along using one leg moving up and down but hop the other "fixed" leg.
3. Inter-change both legs. Typical legs swtch rate is about 180 per minute or 3 per second.
4. Hands hold onto some support structure and slant the body forward by about 10 to 15 degree. And try to simulate run on the spot using pose method and interchange the landing leg at rate of about 3 per second.
For all the above, remember to land on the ball of the feet near the toes. And to lift up the leg as soon at it touches the ground.
Tried to run round the track using this method but was not able to control the legs well. The ball of the feet hit fairly hard on the ground and can feel the ball of the feet rubbing against the socks and the shoe and can feel the rubbing heat. Was suppose to just let the leg drop downward and lift it up as soon as possible when it touches the ground. But my feet hit too hard onto the ground. Need to practise more.
Sun 31-Aug-2008 :
All the other folks have already started running in the past few days after the Marina Bay event was completed. Was very busy this week and have not started running yet. Knees are feeling ok but surprised to still feel some pain on the heels.Decided to resume running and went to run this morning at 7:30am for about 38 minutes. Felt very easy to do the run today. The cardio (heart and lungs) were feeling ok. Except the heel pains can be felt throughout the run. Need to figure out how to run correctly and effectively so as to avoid injuries due to running. Need this to continue to enjoy running for the rest of my life.
Today is the Nike+ Human Race 10km held worldwide. Singapore is only Asean country that held this event. Should have sign up for this meaningful events, seems fun. HT suggested to "gate crash" and run along with the participants. Non of us joined this run. Will try to join next year if Nike hold this event again in Singapore.
Thu 28-Aug-2008 :
My very FIRST attempt for 21.1km Half-Marathon Run.....
Chosen this auspicious day 28-08-2008 to start off this new Blog Posting to track the training and fun activities leading to the final Marathon event on 07-Dec-08. As of today several of us have signed up for the run.
CS - FULL MARATHON 42km
Kuan - 21km Half Marathon
HC - 21km Half Marathon
HT - 10km Qtr Marathon (to accompanyhis son)
HT's son - 10km Qtr Marathon
LJ Lim - 10km Qtr Marathon (this is my nephew who have read my Blog on Marina Bay Run and decided on his own to pick up serious fun running! Wow.... that's cool. The Blog web site on Marina Bay Run does inspire people to come forward and choose to run and stay Healthy.
I am sure more will sign up soon. Heard Cecilia is going for next level challenge and will likely sign up for the 21km half marathon. Hong and wife Alena will most likely be signing up as well. MORE to COME for sure..... as the enthusiam spreads like fire.
Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life.
Thu 28-Aug-2008 :
Standard Chartered Marathon 07-Dec-2008 : HERE WE COME !
Just completed the 10km SAFRA Marina Bay on 24-Aug-08. Trained for 1.5-month after more than 10 years of no jogging/running non-active life. Felt really GOOD and Healthy. So I have gone ahead and signed up for a 21km Half Marathon competitive run scheduled for 07-Dec-2008.
For those of you who are interested to join, the Registration site is right below. The early registration discount ends on 31-Aug-08.
Register for the STANDARD CHARTERED MARATHON RACE 7-DEC-08 here.
After registration, if you sign up for their Visa card (free for 3 years), you will get a $50 rebate back into your account. So it costs me only $8 for this event.
Apply for the free Visa Card here.
w.rgds,
HC Gan
http://hcgan.blogspot.com
http://hcgan.webs.com
Run for Health, Run for Fun, Run for Life.
- START of my Blog on StandardChartered Marathon for 07-Dec-2008 -
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