New Balance Real Run 08

Running on the sand is always not a pleasant feeling to run on. You can feel the numerous of sands moving in your running shoes and the level of toughness is increase tremendously. But you will enjoy the feeling of conquering the toughness once you have complete the race.

Welcome to REAL RUN 08 where one will enjoy running on the trail, sand, taxiway and road. This year real run will once again held in the Changi Exhibition Centre, which held the Singapore Air show, as the event was held in Sentosa for the Year 2006. There will be 2 different distances for the runners to choose which are 10 km and 15 km. I was puzzled that the 10 km race starting time is earlier than the 15 km race. Normally, the longer distance will start before the shorter distance. Maybe the organizers want the runners to enjoy the morning sunshine and heat (The Changi Exhibition Centre is located in the Eastern area of Singapore, which will be the sun rise direction). The only complains i had for the previous year Real run will be the heat and sunshine. It was very hot at the last few km.

Real Run 08

Date : 19 October 2008, Sunday

Venue : Changi Exhibition Centre, Aviation Park Road

Flag-off : 7.30am (10km) & 7.45am (15km)

10km – 4km Trail + 0.6km Sand + 5.4km Taxiway / Road
15km – 4km Trail + 0.6km Sand + 10.4km Taxiway / Road

Running Routes

Registration

S$30.00 per person (Every runner will receive an exclusive New Balance Lightning Dry T-shirt, a goodie bag and a chance to win attractive prizes in the lucky draw).

Entitles the participant to an exclusive New Balance Lightning Dry T-Shirt, a goodie bag and a chance to win attractive prizes in the Lucky Draw.

Training Run

A Training Run will be held prior to the Race Day, to familiarise participants with the route and to advise you on preparations for the run, including running shoe trial provided by New Balance Singapore.

Lead runners will guide participants along the entire 10km and 15km route. Beginners are encouraged to test out the NEW cross terrain route. A short safety briefing will be conducted by the organising committee before the commencement of the training run at 7.30am sharp.

Date : Sunday, 05 October 2008
Time : 0730
Venue : Changi Exhibition Centre

• The Training Run is free for participants.

Prelude

All participants are required to collect their Race Packs, which include a Race Bib and Race Chip at the New Balance REAL Run Prelude 2008.

Date : Friday to Sunday, 10 to 12 October 2008
Time : 10am - 8pm
Venue : Velocity @ Novena Square

All participants are required to bring along their confirmation e-mail / official receipt to collect their New Balance REAL Run 2008 Race Pack.

Race Chip Tag

For participants who do not require the Race Chip*, please exchange it for a Chip Tag at the New Balance REAL Run Prelude 2008.

* The Race Chip is used for recording individual timing. Individual timing will not be available upon the return of Race Chip. Goodie Bag with Race T-shirt will only be issued upon return of the Race Chip OR Chip Tag on race day.

What’s available at Prelude?

• Race Pack Collection Booth
• Island-wide Bus Ticket Booth. Click here for bus information.
• Sponsors' Booth
• Race Information Booth
• Race Chip Tag Exchange Booth

Run to Here for more details.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

The 2008 Olympic Games had official started on 080808, a very auspicious numbers. Actually the Olympic games kicked start 2 days ago with the women soccer games. Will be looking forward to the marathon competitions which will be held on the 17 and 24 August 08 for the women and men respectively. Going to miss watching both competitions LIVE as i will be running in the RunNUS and AHM 08 on both the marathon dates. Both the Athens 2004 olympic games gold medalists will be defending their title against a very strong fields. I will expect both the marathon "king" and "queen" be dethroned by new gold medalist.

Here are the previous Olympic games medalists:

Men

1 Stefano Baldini, Italy 2:10:55
2 Mebrahtom Keflezighi, US 2:11:29
3 Vanderlei de Lima, Brazil 2:12:11

Women

1 Mizuki Noguchi, Japan 2:26:20
2 Catherine Ndereba, Kenya 2:26:32
3 Deena Kastor, United States 2:27:20

All the medalists from the women catergory will be racing against each others while only the men's gold medalist (Stefano Baldini) will be racing.

Here are my forecasted results :

Men

1 Martin Lel, Kenya
2 Samuel Wanjiru, Kenya
3 Ryan Hall, US

Women

1 Gete Wami, Ethiopia
2 Chen Rong, China
3 Paula Radcliffe, GBR

The Kenya Team will have the strongest fields in the Men competition as it includes Martin Lel (The World Marathon Majors winner) , Samuel Wanjiru (Half-marathon World record holder) and Robert Cheruiyot (Three-time Boston Marathon winner 2006 to 2008). My favourite runners are Jeremy Wariner, too bad he's a 400m competitor not a marathoner, and Ryan Hall. Can't wait for the days to come ..........

Swing KPE run

Fancy running along an underground tunnel expressway? On 14 Sep 08 will be once in a lifetime opportunity. KPE (Kallang-Paya Lebar) Expressway will be closed to all motorist and open to all runners. But i wonder what are the feelings like running in a tunnel. Most likely to be hot and humid, not forgetting the sweaty smell or body odour from our body.

Date : 14 Sep 08 (Sunday)
Time : 0700 to 1300
Venue : KPE expressway

Swing KPE running routes

The full length of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) will be opened to motorist on 20 Sep 08. To celebrate the completion of the longest underground vehicular tunnel in South East Asia, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is organising the Swing KPE, to provide an opportunity for the public to enjoy exciting activities at the KPE tunnel. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to run in the KPE tunnel before it opens to traffic.

The event will be held on 14 Sept 2008 (Sunday) morning. There will be a 10-km competitive run and a 5-km non-competitive run. The programme is as follows:

10km Run

This is a competitive run held entirely in the KPE tunnel for the first time in Singapore . There are 4 categories for this event.

10km Men's & Women's Open Category
10km Men's & Women's Veteran Category

Attractive cash prizes will be given to the top ten winners.

5km Walk & Run

Join us for the fun walk and run event with your family and friends. You will enjoy walking through different stations with special KPE messages and effects.
Guinness World Records – Largest Lantern Parade

Be a part of this record breaking feat!!

It’s really simple.

All you have to do is hold a lighted lantern while doing your run or walk for 1.6km of the route while running in the tunnel. For the fun experience, part of the tunnel lights would be dimmed as you switch on your lantern lights for a unique ambience for your run.
Come join us and break the Guinness World Records and be a part of the largest lantern parade in the world!

Carnival Ground

Games stalls, inflatables, stage performances and buskers! What more can you ask for? Support your family and friends in the longest underground tunnel in South East Asia!!

Goodie bag

Runner's entitlement

And more goodies
• Certificate of Participation
• KPE sticker
• KPE Towel
• Other sponsored items

Run to here for the website!

Recovery from exercising

Has been feeling very tired after work and the tiredness had prevented me from running efficiently. Something has to be done or else this fatigue feeling will jeopardize my AHM race, which i am gunning a timing of under 1hr 55 mins. I recalled that one of the seminars that i attended, talked about the art & science of Recovery.

Here are the abstracts of the seminar :

The Art & Science of Recovery

What is RECOVERY?

• Exercise at all levels of intensity acts to do one thing to the body: it depletes it. The depletion includes your energy stores (muscle glycogen, blood glucose and fat products in your blood), hormones, and muscle structures. In other words, you use up the body's valuable exercise resources.

• In order to return to training and to continue conditioning your body to meet your exercise goals, it is important to create time and take active steps to bring about a re-building of the depleted body resources. This is what recovery is all about. This is especially important if you are intending to exercise intensively or for long durations soon after an exhausting bout. This could be a multi-stage bike race, or triathlon competitions that are only 2-4 weeks apart (e.g. the Port Dickson tri less than 3 weeks after the OSIM event).

Why bother with it ?

• In the very simplest terms, to keep you physically exercising at the level that you want to. Even more importantly, to allow the body's systems to re-charge sufficiently that your mental edge remains honed to that fine sharpness you desire. A blunted edge comes about from insufficient- recovery and can come back to haunt you in these ways: staleness, loss of interest, reduced physical ability, decreased exercise tolerance. Yes indeed, the first steps towards over-training.

• A good approach to recovery will ensure that the quality of your training and competition is high. This will contribute to you feeling satisfied with your efforts and achievements, and bring about continued confidence in your chosen endurance sport. Good recovery also enables you to exert greater overall sense of control of your exercise destiny.

When should I think about this ?

• You should consider recovery at both macro- and micro-levels. An example of a macro level would be a period of training preparation time (e.g. a week or month), or the period between competitions on your race calendar. A micro-level consideration would be after a single very or exhaustive workout.

• At the macro level, the depletion of resources has arisen as a systematic and progressive wearing away that parallels your rigorously planned training program. It is not the single mind-blowing training session that is involved here but rather the accumulated effect of all the sessions combined, and possibly inclusive of the race.

• The micro recovery level answers the body's aching need following that supremely challenging training session, back-to-back training sessions in some training camp, or the actual huge effort put into the competitive event

What are the steps i should take to recover properly?

• First of all, ensure that you take account of your macro and micro needs. Maintain an awareness of these using a training/race calendar that allows you to visually assess the cycles you are going through. Akin to the periodisation approach to training, this will help you to plan for recovery periods and make these a part of your training plan.

• Now consider the elements of the recovery: nutrition, structure regeneration, inflammation reduction, hormonal, and mental.

• Nutrition involves replacing the resources that you have used up in your prodigious attempts to go faster and stronger. This includes particular emphasis on replacing the following nutritional depletions: carbohydrates to re-build muscle glycogen, and minerals and electrolytes (from sweat loss). The best time to re-build glycogen stores is within the first 3 hours after exercise as this is when the rate of glycogen storage is highest. Such storage remains elevated in the next 21 hours but not at the same rate as what has been called the "critical re-energizing window."

• For some of athletes, there are barriers to be overcome to meet this immediate post-exercise nutrition need. This includes not feeling hungry or not having the correct nutrition available. Positive steps must be taken to overcome these. Have nutrition available. If you can't stomach eating (another intended pun), then drink your nutrition (energy drinks, carbohydrate mixes).

• If you are quite lean (meaning your body fat content is low), you should also ensure that your energy replacement includes a balanced diet that has FAT and protein in it. Your overall energy needs are higher than someone who has not discovered triathlons yet. So meet your higher energy needs and balance the sources of your energy: about 50-60 % from carbohydrates, 15 % from protein, and up to 30% from fat.

• 'Reducing your physical exercise is a good idea for 4-5 days after that punishing race. This does not mean just lying around doing nothing, although that may be the order of the first day or so after completing. You will want to spend time actively stretching those tired and tight muscles, and by the 4th or 5th day, a light spin on the bike or some easy laps will help to keep your mind happy while you rest the muscles, tendons, joints and bones of your body. This is what is called "relative rest" with components of "active recovery".

• The recovery period is a useful time to catch up with equipment maintenance matters. And in the tong run, these really do matter. Clean the saltwater out of your running shoes, wash your bike and lake it to the shop for tune-up if needed. Wash those hard-worn heart rate monitor straps.

• And finally, there is massage. Do i detect some glee out-there? The aim of massage to tired aching muscles is to relieve the tension that has built up in the muscles, as well as to assist in the removal of chemical substances that build up during exercise or as a result of cell activity during exercise. So just as top cycling teams bring their own masseuses to races (especially cycling tour competitions), you can help your body along with some judiciously administered massage.

Recovery is something you should invest your effort into as much as you do your training preparations. It is an integral part of restoring your body to a condition which allows you to enjoy regular and continuous challenging training and competition.

After going through all this informations, i felt sleepy z z z z z z ......

Interval Training

Recently, i started to include interval trainings into my running routines. All my interval training had been conducted on the tracks and this training is to improve my anaerobic capacity.

So What is Interval Training? Here are some of the informations i gotta from one of my many running books.

Interval Training

History

The 1st scientific approach to interval training was developed during the 1930s by German cardiologist Dr Hans Reindell. He used it to strengthen the hearts of some of his patients. Subsequently, he teamed up with Woldemar Gerschler, a coach and exercise physiologist, to research this training method. The key to improved fitness was controlling the rest intervals, thus they named this training "interval training". Over the years, coaches have come to call this actual speed runs "intervals".

Benefits

Intervals at race pace and faster can improve several key factors to racing success, including aerobic capacity, anaerobic tolerance, lactate threshold, running economy, muscular strength and power, and the efficiency of fast twitch fibers. It also train runners to concentrate and constantly monitor runners' body.

Method

Warm up -> Speed -> Recovery (E.g. Heart rate decreases to 120 BPM) -> Speed -> Cool down

As for the Speed, runners can try to run an intervals of 400m, 800m, 1000m or 1200m at 5km pace. For recovery, jog at a pace that is approximately 2 to 2.5 minutes per miles slower than 10 km pace.

6 steps to intervals training

Determine

1. Your fitness category
2. Goal of the workout
3. Interval distance
4. Interval pace
5. Quantity of intervals
6. Recovery of the intervals.

Currently, i am running intervals of 800 meters at a pace that is slightly faster than my 5 km pace. Will be increasing to 1 km intervals during next week running.

Book Review : Trail Running : From Novice to Master

Just finished reading this book borrowed from the library-NLB. This book contains a total of 173 pages and provides detailed informations on trail running. I would like to recommend this book for those participating in the North Face 100 race. Here are some of the highlights from the book:

Front cover

Chapter 1 : Introduction

Chapter 2 : How to discover new places to run

Chapter 3 : Basic training principles that can help you become a better trail runner and some on the trail drills. Specific techniques for tackling downhills and uphills.

Chapter 4 : Important of recovery, how to cool down and stretch properly. Learn how sleep patterns, massage, icing, and nutrition work to keep you healthy and fit.

Chapter 5 : Basic navigating and map-reading skills. Learn how to stay safe on the trails.

Chapter 6 : Common injures and first aid.

Chapter 7 : Explore the world of ultra running and adventure racing.

Back cover

Was overdue for 2 days, have to return this book soon.....

More updates on PI run 2nd series

Received an email about information on PI run 2nd series:

PEARL IZUMI PURE RUN SERIES 2008 - 2ND series

Venue: Kallang Riverside Park
(Near SRI MANMATHA KANUNESHANAR INDIAN TEMPLE, towards Lavender MRT Station)

Date: 10th August 2008, Sunday

Reporting Time: 6.00am

Race Flag-off Times:

0700 hrs WOMEN OPEN 20km
0710 hrs MEN OPEN 20km

* Important note: Runners must collect 2 bands, LIME GREEN (at 10km) and Red (at 15km). As it is the same checkpoint serving 10km & 15km, runners are responsible for ensuring they obtain 2 different coloured bands.

Getting to Race Venue:

a) Buses: Refer to the map behind for details
b) MRT: Kallang MRT or Lavender MRT
c) Taxi
d) Car: Free parking Kallang Riverside Park


PRIZE PRESENTATION

WOMEN OPEN – Top 3 winners 10.30am
MEN OPEN – Top 3 winners 10.40am
*All winners are expected to report 15 minutes earlier at the stage. Prize winners are requested to assemble at the waiting area next to the stage.
**Time subjected to change.

OTHER INFORMATION

a) Race Bib - RFID Tag
- Runners are required to collect their race bibs* (with RFID tag) from Key Power Int'l from 30/07 to 02/08. (Mon –Fri 10am – 6pm & Sat 11am -5pm) closed on PH/Sun
- Runners are allowed to keep their bibs after the race.
- Runners will NOT be allowed to participate in the races without their bibs.
- Separate bibs will be issued for the 3rd series.

b) Pre-race information:
- All participants are advised against the consumption of alcohol within 24 hours of their race.
- If you were to fall ill 7 days prior to the event, please seek an advice or clearance from your personal doctor before starting the race.
- Please ensure that you are well-rested and well-hydrated on day of race.
- You are advised to dress lightly for the race.
- There will be bag deposit services at the race venue, but the organizer will not hold any responsible for any items lost.
- To reduce pre-race anxiety, please familiarize yourself with the site plan and the running route. You may refer to race route map attached at last page.
- Please proceed to the run start area 15minutes before the scheduled start of your wave.
- A grace period of 10minutes after the commencement of the race will be given for latecomers. Anyone who reports later than this grace period will not be allowed to participate in the race. Latecomers should be aware that their timings would have commenced when the race begins.

c) During the Race:
- All participants must wear his/her race bib clearly on the front of their running tee at all times during the race. Any participant without a race bib will not be allowed to take part in the race. Running with bare torso is not allowed.
- Water points are located at the 5/18km and 10/15km mark.
- Medical points are located near the finishing area. The Organizers reserve the right to remove any participant deemed physically incapable of continuing the race.
- No pets, push prams, skate boards, skate scooters, inline skates etc are allowed on the race course.
- Support vehicles or pacers are not allowed.
- Runners must run on the designated path for the entire route. Failure to do so may result disqualification.
- Runners who are unable to complete the race before the road reopens are to run to pavement after which all runs taken on the road will be strictly prohibited.
- All participants are required to keep the park clean at all times.
- Please note that wet weather arrangement:
In the event of heavy rain, lightning and other inclement weather, the event will be delayed. Participants or non-participants alike may seek shelter at the Meeting area.
Once the weather has cleared and participants may return to the event area.
Should the inclement weather last beyond 8.30am the organizers reserve the right to delay or cancel the event at its discretion.
The event will not be postponed to a later date.
Organizers reserve the rights to alter or cancel the event in view of inclement weather.

d) After the Race:
- All participants must collect all their belonging before the event end.

The Organizers reserve the right to amend the rules and regulations without prior notification.

Happy Racing!

Race Venue

Will have to collect 3 Race bibs for the next 3 Races within the next 3 consecutive weekends. Phew!

This weekend - PI run series 2
Next weekend - Run NUS

10 - 12 August 2008 - 3pm to 9pm
NUS Sports and Recreation Centre

The following weekend - AHM 08

SAFRA Toa Payoh
15 August 2008 - 12.00pm to 8.00pm
16 & 17 August 2008 - 10.00am to 6.00pm

Full of races for this month!