Fellow Singaporean runners, you have undoubtedly noticed by now, the mercury soaring over the last several days. According to the National Environment Agency, afternoon temperatures will hit 34 degrees Celsius on several days over the last two weeks of April due to sunny skies and light wind conditions. The only relief will come in the form of afternoon showers with thunderstorms, so with all these in mind, the following advice, here’s how to plan for your runs over the next few weeks.
Hydration, hydration
You’ve probably heard your mother or spouse nagging you on this one, but we will repeat it anyway. Drink plenty of water! As the weather gets warmer, not only do you perspire more, the risk of heat stress during a run increases. Drinking water before and during your run helps prevent dehydration, and serves to cool you down as well. Post-run, continue to drink up, and consider salt tablets to replace the electrolytes lost in your perspiration. Increase your intake of fresh fruits; with their high water content, vitamins and minerals, they make the perfect post-run snack.
Dress for the heat
Unless you’re immune to the pain of chafing, you shouldn’t be wearing cotton T-shirts and shorts during a run, but more so than ever in the heat, it is ideal to be wearing technical fabrics that wick away your perspiration. These dri-fit fabrics are light and breathable, helping you stay cool while you run. Consider a cap or better still, a visor, to cover your face from the sun.
A quick word on caring for your running clothes: it is best to wash your running outfits as soon as possible with cold water and fragrance-free detergent, as bacteria in your perspiration breeds very quickly in the heat, breaking down the technical fibres. If you cannot wash your clothes immediately, hang them out to dry, before putting them in the wash, as this helps to extend the life of your running clothes.
Shield yourself
Ideally, the best time to run would be early in the morning, or late in the evening, when the temperatures are cooler and the sun has yet to come up, or has already gone down. If you tend to run in the middle of the day, consider wearing clothing such as sleeves and long pants that protect your skin from direct exposure to the sun.
If wearing long sleeves in the sun isn’t quite your thing, the minimum you should be doing is to apply sunscreen to protect yourself from the harmful UV rays. Re-apply once every 4 hours, and don’t forget to wear sunglasses, as UV rays can damage your eyes, leading to cataracts and other ocular maladies later in life.
Adjust your expectations
Finally, running in the heat is incredibly stressful for the body, and this isn’t the time to be pushing too hard with high intensity runs, especially in the middle of the day. Understand that your performance may be compromised, but that it’s a reflection of environmental circumstances, rather than a true measure of your fitness levels. Continue to train according to feel and effort, and above all, listen to your body! If something doesn’t feel right, slow down and stop if necessary.
Keep running through the heatwave, but run happy and run safe!
It’s mid-April, and we’re halfway into Project Love Sneakers V. Project Love Sneaker takes the old pairs of running shoes that are languishing in the corner of your shoerack, and gives them a second life by giving them to the needy. The objective this year is to collect 2000 pairs of shoes to help as many poverty and disaster-stricken people in the Philippines with the assistance of the appointed beneficiary ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc. (ALKFI).
To date, Project Love Sneakers has collected about 800 pairs of shoes at the three various Running Lab outlets. Our most generous donor was 10 pairs of shoes from one individual! We knew you runners had a Sneaker Museum at home!
If you haven’t already done so, there is still time to donate your used running shoes in clean and re-usable condition. As a token of gratitude, you will receive a $50 voucher, which can be used to purchase a new pair of shoes.
Call for Volunteers
If you have already donated your old running shoes and feel passionately about supporting victims of natural disasters in our neighbouring countries, there are other ways you can help. First of all, thank you very much for donating, you kind person, you.
You could help by spreading the word, and getting your friends and family to donate their old running shoes too. Use the hashtag #ProjectLoveSneakerV and share the joy of giving!
Want to go the extra mile? Roll up your sleeves and get ready to accumulate good karma – Running Lab is looking for 6 to 8 helpful individuals to pack the shoes at their warehouse for shipment to Manila. It should take at most 2 days for the packing.
When all is said and done, we are a blessed and privileged lot in Singapore. In the pursuit of improving our performance, we have the means to change our running shoes every 6 to 8 months, or even buy multiple pairs to rotate them. Yet not everyone in Asia has the privilege to own a pair of shoes, let alone a pair of running shoes. So runners, please show your kindness and support towards this campaign.
JustRunLah! in cooperation with Sabah Tourism Board is happy to bring you another amazing gift! Two of our readers will get to enjoy a free 3D2N stay in a Superior Room at Ming Garden Hotel, with breakfast, and one buffet dinner at Golden Dew Bistro for 2 persons at Sabah, Malaysia!
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Fastest Race: Jurong Lake Run 10km, 21 Jun 14, 47mins 48secs, 4mins 47secs per km
Overall Reflection:
The year did not started well with Marina Run, if I base on the trend set in 2013, my results will deteriorate towards the end of the year. However, things took a turn, my results did not deteriorate, and improve from strength to strength. For Half Marathon races, I almost had PB every other race, even in difficult race like Army Half Marathon and Standard Chartered (challenging route and over crowded), I still manage to maintain a consistent pace. 2014 was a very good running year for me, it made me believe that as long as sufficient efforts and time are invested, performance will improve.
My review for the year concluded that tough training is the key to success. Hence in 2015, it is still JUSTRUNLAH… 😛
As stated in my blog, the whole intent and purpose of starting a running blog for myself is to serve as a mean for archiving my race records. Here goes my Personal Performance Review for 2013.
Fastest Race: CSC Run by the Bay 15km, 15 Aug 13, 1hr 17mins 39secs, 5mins 8secs per km
Overall Reflection:
The year started well, with good enough timing in U Run and Run 350. However, there wasn’t any break through for Half Marathon, despite the improvements in 15km races. And towards the end of the year, the results deteriorated quite substantially. When I look back in 2013, the year was kind of wasted in terms of running, no consistency, and I was kind of disappointed.
Did a review on the training that was done throughout the year, concluded that I may not have run sufficiently during training, and may not have pace myself appropriately during training. So nothing could be done, except for JUSTRUNLAH… 😛
Back for its second year, the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants is organising the ISCA Run on Saturday, 30 May 2015 from 6.30am to 10.30am at the Playground at Big Splash, East Coast Park. With a line-up of activities for a fun-filled morning, the event aims to promote healthy living, family bonding, and corporate social responsibility.
ISCA Run 2015 Event Details
The event offers two main racing distances – 5km and 10km, and is open to adults age 19 and above. Runners can sign up as individuals, or in groups of four for the corporate challenge. There is also a Youth category for ages 13 to 18, and Seniors category for age 65 and above. Don’t leave the children at home! The young ones can participate in the 750m Kids Dash.
Prizes are available for the Top 3 men and women of both 5km and 10km. All participants who finish will also receive a medal.
Fundraising for MINDS and SPD
This year, the ISCA will also be leveraging the ISCA Run as a platform to create greater awareness of the two selected charities – Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) and SPD, which was formally known as the Society for the Physically Disabled.
With the goal of providing equal opportunities for children with intellectual disabilities to receive education and later, to be integrated as contributing and responsible citizens in Singapore, MINDS offers educational, social, vocational and psychological needs for both intellectually disabled children and adults.
With programmes that encompass early intevention, rehabilitation, employment support, training, education, consultation and assessment technology, day care, and social service support, SPD aims to help people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities become self-reliant and independent.
The ISCA strongly believe that every one of us can help make a difference to the lives of many children and adults who are intellectually and physically disabled. JustRunLah! shares this vision with ISCA, and supports this run. As such, JustRunLah! is partnering up with the event as the Official Running Portal for the ISCA Run 2015.
Readers can show their support by registering for this event, or making a financial contribution. No donation is too small. Every donation will go a long way towards helping people with disabilities achieve independence and self-reliance through the provision of education.
To register for the event, please click here.
Alternatively, you can make a direct donation to MINDS or SPD.
Together, we can help make Singapore a society in which everyone can belong.
JustRunLah! is the Official Running Portal of ISCA Run 2015
Admit it, sometimes we sign up to races because the medals look awesome.
We are lucky that some organizers take interest in designing medals for runners so they can show it off after they have earned it despite blood, sweat and tears. We look at our medal collection and we have a story to tell. Here are some medals and cute dolls that Hana Harun has collected over the years ranging from 10km to 100km races in road and trail running, and cycling and duathlon events.
Special Medals
Cuttest Award – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2015 3rd Place
Cuttest Award – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2013 Winner
Best Design Medal – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2015
Hardest To Earn Medal – The Most Beautiful Thing Ultra 100k
Most ‘Are We There Yet?’ Medal – Climbathlon 2012
Best Duathlon Course – Powerman Asian Championship 2013
Hottest Race Medal – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2012
Turned Me Into A Beast Medal – The Most Beautiful Thing Ultra 55k
Most Cherished Trophy – Vibram Hong Kong 100 2014 Bronze Trophy
I had been running Army Half Marathon (AHM) since 2003, and had completed my first Standard Chartered Marathon in 2006, however they were done without much proper training. In 2013, I started to participate races regularly (almost every month), and also started to train regularly to prepare myself for the races.
Back in 2013, my 21.1km timing was 2.00.44, done in Run 350 (7 Apr 13). And my personal best is 1.43.10 done in the recent Run 350 (5 Apr 15). Though I had a official 21.1km of 1.34.23 done in North East Compressport Run (15 Mar 15), I won’t count it as I know the distance was much shorter than 21.1km, at max 20km or even lesser.
So taking my personal best as 1.43.10, what had I done over the 2 years that allow me to cut 17 mins for 21.1km. Training, tough training and tougher training…
Since 2013, I had run almost everyday, minimum of 30mins per session. And from Oct 14 onwards, I had embark on a 40km per week mileage target after reading from ‘Runner Worlds’ that Half Marathon runner minimally need to clock mileage of 25miles per week, I will normally run 8km per session, alternating my pace between under 5.30 and under 6.30 for alternate session. Apart from the runs, I had also started to do 5 sets of 30 push ups and sit ups daily since Jan 15, I believe this will help to build my core muscles for better maintaining of running posture. And only last week, I had started speed training with a friend of mine, we promise to do it every Saturday.
My next Half Marathon will be Sundown on 4 Jul 15 (though I had Energizer Night Run 18km from now till then, but trail run is very different from normal road run), let’s see if my below listed regime can help me achieve Personal Best.
1. 40km per week, with under 5.30 and under 6.30 for alternate session.
2. 5 sets of 30 push ups and sit ups daily.
3. Once per week of speed training,
*P.S. As my username suggested, I am an Amateur Runner, apart from running out of passion, I had never been through any corporate or institutional training. Hence pardon me if my method do not work or if there are more effective and efficient ways to train, do feel free to share with me. IF NOT, JUSTRUNLAH… 😛
Over the last decade, the popularity of mud runs and obstacle course challenges have met with international success. Clearly, runners thirst for a bigger challenge, and greater adventure, than the monotony of simply running. Among the most successful events out there is the Spartan Race.
The Spartan Race is not for the faint of heart. It all started back in 2004 upon a philosophy of the necessity of pain and suffering for happiness and success. No stranger to suffering himself, founder Joe De Sena’s personal life story of growing up poor and overcoming hardships to his eventual success becomes a sort of blueprint for the Spartan Race.
Obstacles are inevitable in life, and learning to avoid them is hardly the answer. It is only by overcoming them can we move forward and grow, and it is this sense of accomplishment that brings happiness.
So what’s a Spartan Race like?
A lot of mud, primarily. Spartan Race offers 3 different events, the Sprint, which includes 15 obstacles over 5km, the Super with 20 obstacles over 13km, and the Beast presenting 25 obstacles over 20km.
The race will have you crawling under barbed wires, leaping over fire pits, plunging into mud pools and scaling greased walls. It is an extremely physical challenge, and you will be covered in filth by the time you complete. You will also feel like a Spartan.
Prepare Yourself
Unlike a fun run, a Spartan race is not an event where you can show up unprepared. It requires an all-rounded athletic ability for completion. The race is also more than simply running, so consider swapping out one or two of your weekly training runs for cross-training.
You will need to ensure you’ve got a rotation of endurance and strength training on top of your cardio conditioning, in order to tackle the obstacles. Ideally, you should be
To help you prepare, the organisers of the Spartan Race have provided a 30-day training plan, which is accessible here.
Spartan Sprint Singapore
Perhaps the esprit of Spartan Race has spoken to you. You’re not put off by the promise of pain, and you’re ready to embrace pushing your limits. You’re ready to push yourself, to work harder, to become better.
Spartan Race is bringing the Spartan Sprint to Singapore in November 2015. More information will be unveiled over the following weeks. You can pre-register for the event to access exclusive early bird rates, and join the Lion City Spartans Group on Facebook.
I have never been a fan of running in a gym on a treadmill. Why will you want to stare at the same landscape (or a video drama) for a hour or so, when there are tons of beautiful places around the world to experience and enjoy while out on the streets?
One of the key differentiating factor between SG Unfit Runners and other running blogs is the sheer number of pictures taken along the running route, to help runners have a better idea the kind of landscape that they will encounter during the run. I have often been asked how I take such beautiful pictures of Singapore while running. Enhancing your running photography is easier than ever with advanced tools like a photo AI generator, which can help refine and stylize your images effortlessly.
All the above pictures are taken on the same day on the morning of 12th April 2015 and here is my route:
Here are the 5 tips to take beautiful pictures while running.
Tip 1: Be Fit
There is no way that you can enjoy the scenery or even think of taking photos if you are struggling to put one foot in front of another. I often take the fewest numbers of pictures when I tried to embark on a run that pushes me past my normal distance limit and I am often too tired to take any pictures at the last leg of the run. You must be able to run in a relax pace while scanning the environment around you and every now and then, you will be thinking, “Wow, this scene will make a perfect picture” and your instinct will normally be correct.
Tip 2: Pay No Heed to Pace Timings
Many runners pay too much attention to their pace and their timing that they failed to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them. Runners who are trying to improve their timings are also often running at their optimal speed and probably will not have the spare energy to think of picture composition while running. If you want to take beautiful photographs, you will need to stop, position and snap. Sometimes I even had to back peddle or lie down in order to get the optimal shot. There is no way to take sharp pictures using a typical camera phone while on a move, so standing still for at least 30 seconds is essential. Once you get the hang of taking photos while running, your pace will barely be affected after a while. My average pace for a run is around 7:20 mins/km and looking at my running map, you can see that I paused to take pictures at a number of occasion and my pace is still decent at 7:40 mins/km. 20 secs per km is a pretty decent trade-off for the beautiful pictures I get to snap.
Tip 3: 7am and 630pm
Every expert photographer will tell you that the best time to take photos is during dusk and dawn. In Singapore, this works out to be around 7am and 630pm. The skies will have a myriad colors and shades with the soft sunlight giving a glow to everything it touches. That is the reason why SG Unfit Runners gather at 7am every Saturday or Sunday to run. Running after 8am will increase the risk of runners getting heat problems, especially in tropical Singapore and running in the evening will simply kill our camera phones which cannot handle low light conditions.
Tip 4: Small Portable Phone with Great Camera
I personally uses iPhone 5 and I try to avoid using bigger sized phone. Reason being, the phone must be easy to handle as you whip the phone out from your pocket/pouch/belt like a professional gun slinger using minimal amount of time… and not dropping your phone. A bigger phone often requires two hands to take a picture and the bigger size also increases the probability of dropping your phone. A good rubber casing for the phone is also important as your palm will get very wet during the run, and the rubber will enhance your grip when your palm becomes slick and slippery due to the sweat. With the introduction of camera mounted smart watches, these problems might go away but the camera quality on these watches are still inferior to the camera phones.
Tip 5: Filters
With the introduction of photos enhancement mobile app, it becomes possible to enhance an already beautiful picture. I am currently using Photoshop Express and Pro Edit (FotoRus) to apply many of the enhancements that you see here. These are some examples:
Original PictureFilter AppliedOriginal PictureFilter On!
These days, I often plan a morning runs in all of my overseas trip and to my delight, some of the best pictures I took were during those runs using my relatively inferior camera phone as compared to the rest of my professional photographic equipment. There is a saying that “running clears your mind” and I realize that a clear mind will often result you being to appreciate the small nuances of the environment around you better. That is when the best photos are taken.
Try it and you will be pleasantly surprised by the quality of pictures that you can take.
Visit SG Unfit Runners for more routes for absolutely unfit people. Don’t visit us if you are very fit and do ultramarathons without breaking a sweat! SG Unfit Runners is a finalist at the Singapore Blog Awards.
Running. One of the simplest, most pleasurable acts in life, that not many of us runners need to find a reason to do it. We do it because we want to, and because we can. But like so many things in life, sometimes we take this freedom to move for granted. Sometimes we lose motivation, create excuses, and complain. Sometimes, to remind ourselves why we run, we need to run for those who can’t.
The Wings for Life is a race like no other. A global race that kicks off simultaneously all around the world, it’s a charity race in support of spinal cord injury. Whether it’s a race against the world, or a race against yourself, it’s the only race in the world where the finish line catches you.
This week, JustRunLah! speaks with ultramarathon runner Paviter Singh, who will be representing Singapore in Yilan, Taiwan, for this remarkable event. Paviter shares with us how he got into the wild and fascinating world of ultramarathon running, the mental fortitude required to tackle challenges of such scale, how running ultramarathons has changed him, and how he’s preparing for Wings for Life on May 3 2015.
Paviter Singh, to represent Singapore at Wings for Life 2015.
JustRunLah!: Tell us a bit about how you got into running.
Paviter: I think running was ingrained in me since I was young. I was a fan of Carl Lewis (American track and field Olympic champion) as a kid, and my dad introduced me to the mountains at a really young age; I think I was about four years old when I first went up to about 3000m.
In school, I was in the track and field team, I was in the cross-country team as well, but the real running started happening when I was in the army. I started doing half marathons in 2004, and eventually marathons and ultramarathons.
JRL: What inspired the transition to doing ultras?
Paviter: I’d done a couple of marathons, and actually got a bit bored of them because I found them a bit monotonous. I felt myself stagnating a bit, and I needed a new challenge. I needed to seek a new pursuit, a new form of adventure, and I felt that just doing a road marathon again simply wouldn’t do enough for me, and I needed to do something a bit more. I think I was at a stage where I wanted to change something in my life, and I found this to be a catalyst. I thought I might as well give it a go, and see what happened. So that’s how I came about doing ultras.
To celebrate my 30th birthday in 2011, I decided to try a bit of a longer run in Kinabalu. I had a bit of free time, I started looking around for extreme running, and came across the one that was closest to Singapore, and I thought yeah well, I think I’m going to give this a go. I did that run and I was quite exhilarated by the experience, the learnings that I had, the people I met, the terrain especially, because it’s different from running on road. So since then, it’s just been ultra-running.
JRL: Describe your running highlights in the last 12 months.
Paviter: The last 12 months have been really exciting. I did the TNF100 Australia last year in May; this was the second time I was doing it. I was quite happy with the results as I finished it in 16 hours, which was 4 hours better than the year I did before. It’s a 100km run in the Blue Mountains and it’s a beautiful race. I would recommend anyone to do it; it’s very runnable with beautiful sights and you get amazing support as well, and you meet lots of good people.
Three weeks after that, I ran a race in the Beaufort 100km in Kinabalu. This was to raise awareness for autism. It’s probably one of the hardest 100km races I’ve ever done because it was a road race, and we were running in temperatures reaching up to 39 degrees (Celsius). It was really really hard. I hit some really low points during that race, but I had some really high points as well. I came in 5th in that race, which was really nice, although I did struggle a lot, and it took me a while to recover from that.
The main highlight for me last year was running in the UTMB CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix) race, which is a 101km race in the Mont Blanc trail. I needed 4 points to qualify for this race, which took me about 2 years, as I had a really bad year in 2013. I DNFed in one race, and I only ran in one other race.
I think coming from a place like Singapore, which is quite flat, to running in mountains in the French and Swiss Alps, this gave me a good reality check on the kind of mountains that are out there, because it was a really tough race!
To give you an example, I did a scale of the Swissotel in Singapore compared to our first climb, and the Swissotel is almost like one pixel compared to the first climb. We had 6000m of climbing in total. Apart from the race, I think the highlight was spending a whole week with a bunch of runners from Hong Kong. We all lived and stayed together, we trained together, and that community, that communal feel and the camaraderie, I think was more important than the race for me. We’re good friends now, and that’s lifelong.
Now I have enough points for the UTMB 100 miler, which I hope to get into next year, which is after my Ultra Trail Mount Fuji (UTMF) this year. So the UTMF will be my first ever 100 miler that I’m doing.
JRL!: What are the biggest factors that contribute to running an ultramarathon successfully?
Paviter: I think mental preparation is one. Having to prepare to deal with the lows in an ultra is really important, because the lows will come, and they get worse and worse the longer you go through the race.
Managing personal expectations is another thing, because sometimes, aiming for the stars is the worst idea in an ultra, the best is to stay focused and to stay present in a race rather than thinking too far ahead.
That’s the biggest lesson that I had, and the reason why I didn’t do well in the races in 2013, because I was thinking too far ahead, trying to go too hard, too fast, and things just fell apart pretty quickly.
JRL: Ultramarathon running is also a little bit different, in the sense that when you’re out on the road for hours on end, there are so many elements beyond your control, and there are certain things you can’t be completely prepared for.
Paviter: That’s right. The first one is weather. I’ve been through the rain for hours and hours, I’ve been through really hot sun, and these are things that you’ll never know when it would happen.
The second one is nutrition, where you get digestion issues. People start throwing up on the race, which is pretty common. Let’s say you’re running a 20-hour race and for eight or 10 hours, all you’re eating is bits of food here and there, and it’s quite natural to forget to eat sometimes, so the body starts rejecting food after a while. It’s not very pleasant when it happens, but it’s something that we have to work through somehow, which is not very nice.
The other thing we can’t do much about is terrain. I could run the same race every year, but it could be different because maybe there could have been a landslide on one hill, maybe another hill is more slippery than before. It’s so different from tarmac, which is completely predictable. So I think these are the key factors.
JRL: There is a huge mental component to running long distances. Do you have a mantra when the going gets tough?
Paviter: When the going gets tough, the tough get going, but if you’re going to run an ultra, you have to keep it in mind that it will be tough, so try not to think about it being tough at all. If you feel like it’s going to be hard, it will feel harder than it actually is.
I’d rather not think about that and just take it as a run. I never think of a 100km run as a 100km run. I break it up into 10km or 15km bits. I do a lot of planning. I make a lot of charts and draw a lot of graphs so I break up the 100km into the names of different hills that I’m going to climb, so that way I don’t think about the entire distance. I have x hills to climb and I’ll just do it one at a time.
Join Real Run 2015 with a discount and stand a chance to win a movie ticket!
HomeTeamNS and JustRunLah! are happy to give away 6 movie tickets to Real Run 2015 participants! Take part in the contest now, save $5 on your race registration fees and enjoy a movie of your choice at any Cathay Cineplex in Singapore.
The contest has ended. Thanks for taking part.
Unleash the Hero in You
This year, with the introduction of the Hero Series, REAL Run invites runners to Unleash the Hero in You. Competitive runners can choose from the 5K or 10K HERO Trail, while recreational runners may prefer the 5K Fun Run distance. Want to honour and strengthen the spirit of National Service? Run the 5K as a torch-bearing relay in the 3-Generation NS Family, a 3-men team with at least one member currently in the Home Team (NSF or NSmen). This will be a family event, which means children need not miss out on the action – with the 500m Kids Beach Dash open to boys and girls in two separate categories, ages 7-9 and 10-12.
Whoever you are, whatever you do, so long as you’re a running enthusiast seeking to test your limits with an extra challenge, the HomeTeamNS REAL Run is for you. HomeTeamNS REAL Run is happening on 17 May 2015. Will you be up to the challenge?
Register now at realrun.sg!
JustRunLah! is the Official Online Media for Real Run 2015
We ran, we jogged, we walked and finally limped, but we made our personal bests! – John Neilson
Eight hours and forty-five minutes in the chair; waving the invisible Team Costa flag for my husband and my friends who were tackling the Twilight Ultra for the first time. That’s with the exception of the culprit who had done it once before and somehow managed to rope all of us into registering for a race that was well beyond any previously completed distances.
Let’s wind back the clock to pre-Xmas. A particularly pleasant day spent around the BBQ pit with condo neighbours and friends. As the BBQ wraps up and we’re chilling at home a new message pops up in our FB newsfeed by one of our more elusive members of Team Costa with the following words:
“Sports fans – It took shockingly little alcohol today to agree on the next challenge. This one will be the stuff of legends and take care of a bucket list item by taking us farther than ever before!
Drum roll… on Saturday, 28. March at 7pm, we will start running then walking then crawling a 10k loop in our beloved East Coast Park (a.k.a. massive home field advantage). We will keep going until we either say “no mas” or until a puny 16 hour time limit is up at 11am on Sunday morning. Some of us will turn ultra, all of us will break personal distance records, and everyone will be a CHAMPION! The camaraderie is truly fantastic, the race is well supported, and we need to make sure we have a good turnout!”
Who could say no to such an invitation, some said yes immediately, some were signed up by proxy and some just didn’t want to miss out on this madness. Promptly registered, the Team Costa contingency included: David, Stan, John, Michelle, Sven, Veronika, Chris and myself.
Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year and other races came and went and somehow the training for this incredible event just in our backyard was sorely underestimated and under-executed. Business trips, holidays, injuries and other races had a way of infiltrating our less than stellar training schedules. No matter, this is Team Costa and regardless of circumstances we always rise to the challenge, well except for me on this occasion. With an ankle injury sustained at the Urbanathlon race, I was knocked out of participating in the Ultra and became the through-the-night support and designated photographer. I now know what DNS stands for. I’ll carry that badge of honour.
A week prior to the race, we gathered around to discuss the race route, how to tackle the 10km loops, what gear to have, food to pack, and essentially pump up the enthusiasm and mental preparation for what was ahead.
Come race day we all met early enough to set up at a shelter near the race tents, collect our bibs and absorb the upbeat atmosphere. One of my highlights was the proximity to our home. A mere 10 minutes walk, which was closer to 30min when we stumbled home at 5am.
Team with their Little League support.
Prepped and ready to roll, the race organisers respectfully observed 91 seconds of silence as tribute to the late founding father of modern Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Shortly afterwards the race started and 230 participants began their long journey into the night.
Twilight Ultra participants. [Credit: Pictureart]
What’s the objective you might ask? Firstly, ultra challenges are recognised as races where the participant must complete a distance greater than a marathon (42km/26miles) either within a set timeframe or a specified distance. This particular race had a set timeframe of 16 hours, from 7pm to 11am the next day, with two 5km loops. With the event tent as the central point one loop headed east and the other west. Refreshment stations were set-up at the halfway point of each loop along with checkpoint officials marking the bibs indicating completed loops.
Having completed 80km at the 2013 Ultra, Sven was the only ultramarathoner amongst the Costa team and hence it was no surprise when he separated from the rest of the group early on to run his own race. The rest of the team, with a target of 50km, held together for 20km at which point different fitness levels were highlighted and they started breaking up into teams of two.
Stan and John still looking good.
Michelle and her son keeping her company.
David and his friend still smiling.
Sustenance break after 15km.
Chasing a longer distance. [Credit: Pictureart]
Four hours and 25km later fatigue, knee problems, aches and pains slowly seeped into the team. The fresh look was not so fresh anymore. There was a strain behind the smile as it was clearly trying to mask the physical discomforts. For John and Veronika, 25km was their new personal best. Neither of the two ever ran more than 14km, giving them their first half-marathon experience.
20km break.
Time passed by and bit by bit the loops were being conquered. By 1.30am, I was left on my own. All other supporters have left to catch some sleep. The team has broken up and running at their own pace, except for John and Veronika who stayed together till the end.
Whilst each 5km loop brought them closer to their target, by now it was getting very tough. As John put it, “I didn’t realize just how much new pain you can acquire in the last 5 km”. It was no longer about physical endurance, it was mental. I wondered, how much longer could they endure the aches, pain and fatigue to reach their goal. It was evident they needed to dig deep and find just a little more and add just one more loop. Unless you were Sven, who by 2am had completed 55km (15km ahead). He was like a dragonfly, flitting in to the tent for sustenance and then out for another loop.
Fatigue kicking in for David and Chris at 30km.
Veronika and John camouflaging how they really feel.
Chris and Stan hanging in there.
Flitting by like a dragonfly.
Whilst they may have looked a little worse for wear, their “never give up” spirit propelled them forwards and onwards with the final target in mind. For David, Chris and Stan the next 20km wasn’t exactly a breeze but their fitness was evident as they pushed on to double their personal bests. Neither of them, including Michelle, have done anything more than a half-marathon in recent times.
John and Veronika have slowed down substantially. John’s knees were causing him a lot pain and the last 5km (reaching 35km) took just over an hour to complete. They were both reduced to shuffling and most likely would want nothing more than to stop but after some rest, food and lots of anti-inflammatory they took off at 2.19am for the next loop. Twenty minutes later Chris came through 45km and was ready to barrel through the last loop, followed by Stan another 10 minutes later. David has dropped behind by half hour since Chris has come and gone but still sported an incredible smile pretty happy with himself.
As the hour passed, I felt the fatigue crawling inside of me, knowing I wouldn’t last much longer spectating. I figured that John and Veronika would come through by 3.20am but as the minutes dragged by, I realised this was the end of the road for them. It took 90 minutes for them to return to the tent and by this point Chris caught up with them as well. Watching John hobbling towards me with his sore knee and I knew he was done for but then so was I. Sleep was beckoning fiercely.
At 3.44am John and Veronika completed 40km. An excellent effort given that I considered both of them as part-time runners. They have both tripled their previous personal bests. Somehow I don’t think they’ll view 5km or 10km races with trepidation anymore. Chris, Stan and David knocked up their first 50km. When I asked Chris if he would do it again, he indicated that he could be persuaded.
Finishing up.
50k/40km
A well deserved medal.
The last leg.
With creaking joints and stiff muscles we all waited for Michelle to come through her 45th km to give her a final salute and word of encouragement before we set off for home. We really thought she was done for given how much she has slowed down but there was “no quitting” signals in her eyes. She would have crawled on her hands and knees if she had to and whilst she probably wasn’t far from it, thankfully she finished her race standing tall (or maybe a little hunched from exhaustion).
45km done. One more to go.
It’s 4.46am and these guys have endured 8hrs44min. Some packed away 50km and some 40km. We left Michelle to complete her last loop and somewhere in the distance was Sven still going strong. Blisters abounded and weary bodies were searching for sleep. The next day their muscles sang to a different tune. But they’ve endured. They’ve pushed beyond their personal limitations and found a new them.
Our poolside talks would never be the same again.
Grateful it’s over.
So what happened to Michelle and Sven?
Amidst tears and exhaustion, Michelle, ambled through her last loop that took her 90 minutes to complete. Tackling the underpass stairs to get home was quite the challenge. Whereas Sven, saw the sunrise and with two hours to spare he stopped at 100km, crashing through his last record by 20km. For him it was a “little dream come true”.
What was their experience?
In their own words:
John
Before the race I thought I’d pace myself and do a combination of slow jogging and walking and get to my target 50km distance. When we all started together it felt really good, like a team sport. I really enjoyed running with a variety of Team Costa members.
At about the 15km mark I started to have a ache in my left knee, by 20km I had to drop back to walking or risk injury. By the 30km mark a lot of other aches started to hit me including blisters on both feet. From 30-40km I was just glad I had Veronica to walk with me as my body was definitely telling me to stop.
I learned that I can choose to keep going when my body says stop. I learned that I need to pace myself earlier and if I were to do it again, I would start even slower to last longer and delay the knee problem which stopped me at the end.
Michelle
There was a wide variety of emotions this race tapped into starting well before race day. Nervousness, apprehension, excitement. As we were all there as a team before it started it felt so humbling and wonderful to be part of such a group of amazing people from all over the globe. It was amazing we all stuck together for the first 20km. We may break off in small groups, but all regrouped at water stations and the main tent. Without the camaraderie and support of one another I don’t think I would’ve lasted so long.
What I loved about this was it really felt like a team sport in the beginning and then it transitioned to an individual sport. Thru the pics you can see the evolution. It was a very emotional run for me as it’s something I never thought I would accomplish in my life. I couldn’t stop the tears of happiness, accomplishment and relief when they handed me the medal. I had to dig deep to find my motivation and driver. The last 5km I finished my book and turned on my music. This made a big change for me as I just lost myself in the music. I always knew I loved music and having this relief felt wonderful.
David
Running a 50km Ultra Marathon was not part of the plan a year ago, but thanks to this inspiring and crazy group of fun people, I can now say: “We did it!”
Thanks to “Mr. 100k” Sven for showing us that it could be done. All of us broke personal best records running 100k, 50km and 40km. The last 15km were incredibly hard, after the adrenaline is gone and you’re digging into any remaining energy reserves. That’s when you just grind it out. Amazing experience.
Sven
Thanks Team Costa for the support and awesome team spirit!!! I was in a really bad place between kilometers 80-95. Then I got this energy burst, passed a guy I had been going back and forth with and went from being behind him to 26 minutes ahead.
For better or for worse, I made up my mind to stop at 100k when I was in horrible pain earlier in the race but I didn’t really register that I had almost two hours left until after I told the organizer I’m done. It also started to get very hot after sunrise. It’s hard to think straight after so much torture and pain.
“Wow! Triathlete leh! He/She can swim bike and run all at once! Must be very strong.” Mention the triathlon, and chances are, this is the general public opinion. Tough? Certainly. Impossible? Definitely not.
Why Try a Triathlon?
If you are someone who gets bored at doing the same sport repeatedly and endlessly, triathlon is the sport for you. A triathlon consists of 3 different components – swim, bike and run, so you will never repeat the same sets of workout again and again. That definitely helps to eliminate the mundane training cycle most get themselves into.
Furthermore, the multidisciplinary nature of a triathlon helps to build a stronger, more balanced body. Swimming primarily develops one’s upper body strength, while cycling and running primarily focus on the lower body, especially one’s quads and calves. Which bring forth a perfect mix of anaerobic and aerobic workout. Conceptually difficult, perceptually useful and powerful.
Potential triathletes always think that you need an expensive tri-bike or a reasonable road bike to participate in a triathlon. This was probably true 10 years back, but today, some event organisers provide the option of race-day bike rental complete with technical support at affordable rates, so cost is no longer a limiting factor.
A Multidisciplinary Sport for Everyone
Curious and willing to give the triathlon a try? The Singapore International Triathlon happening at East Coast Park might be the event for you!
If you are new to triathlons, or not so confident in any component of the swim/bike/run combination, try the Mini category. If on the other hand you are more experienced, and have always wondered what is it like to complete an Olympic triathlon, try the Standard category. For speed demons who like things fast, try the Sprint category.
And don’t forget that there is a Relay category too! Introduced with immense success at the 2009 Triathlon World Championships, and the Singapore Youth Olympic Games. This high-intensity, super-competitive relay format promises to be great fun for participants, and an exciting spectacle for the audience.
With the Kids category designed our young ones, the Singapore International Triathlon provide the platform for unveiling your youngsters’ talent and potential, and Singapore’s future sports stars.
As long as you are able to swim, cycle and run, you have the potential to be a triathlete. So why not try something different this year and take up a new challenge? Never say never, for nothing is impossible. Have you signed up for the one and only international triathlon in Singapore?
The Oster® Brand Promise: Performance. Versatility. Durability
As a smoothie junkie, I like to have gadgets that are fast, space efficient, easy to clean and convenient to handle. The Oster MyBlend delivers on all four criteria plus more and finally supersedes my hand held blender with its open beaker, a power button that I have to constantly hold whilst blending and its inability to crush ice.
Having never heard of the Oster brand, I was surprised to discover that it’s been around since 1924 when John Oster established a small company specialising in hair clippers. When Oster’s company bought Steven Electric Company in 1946 with the acquisition came the patent for a liquifying blender. The Oster Brand blenders was born. For the last 55 years the Oster Brand has been a trademark of Sunbeam Products.
Putting their motto to the test, hubby and I have been experimenting with creamy, icy and non-dairy recipes and concluded that the Oster MyBlend is a terrific addition to our kitchen appliances.
Sleek, light and efficient.
Here’s why:
BPA free bottle
BPA is an industrial chemical known as Bisphenol-A and it’s a main component of polycarbonate that is used to make water bottles and food storage containers. Research studies, whilst not conclusive, have indicated that BPA can seep into food and beverages from containers and potentially be harmful to ones health. No such problem with the MyBlend 600ml bottle.
Sealed container
Have you ever been distracted and forgotten to put the lid on your blending jug and you’ve turned the power on? If not, you can still imagine the outcome followed by the clean up time. There’s no such risk with the MyBlend because the bottle only has one open end, either for the blending blades or the lid for sealing the contents.
Extra bottles
Blend’n go is a great theory if you are a single person drinking smoothies or couples with different tastes. By buying an extra bottle there’s a spare in case a bottle is lost or left in the office. Couples with different tastes can make their preferred version. In our household flavours vary as hubby likes vanilla, I prefer coffee and our daughter is a strawberry fan. Multiple bottles allows us to have our own preference with minimum fuss.
Portability
The blender itself is small, lightweight and easy to store. Let’s suppose you work awkward hours, like my hubby, and find yourself usually teleconferencing during meal times. One way around these awkward times is to have a couple of fresh ingredients along with protein powder in the office and prior to the meeting blend a protein-packed smoothie that you can drink instead of guzzling more coffee. It would tie you over until you go home for dinner. The blender itself has a convenient handle to hold with one hand freeing your other hand to carry the ingredients to the staff kitchen for preparation.
Blend and freeze
Let’s say you whipped up a smoothie but 600ml is too much. To maintain the nutritional value poor the remainder of the juice into popsicle moulds and freeze them for a healthy frozen desert. Kids will most likely love them in this form.
Ice crusher
With its high speed function, smoothies can be turned into thirst quenchers by adding ice to the mix and blending till the ice cubes are completely crushed. Thirst quenchers can aid with cooling the body temperature post a workout whilst ingesting vitamins and nutrition derived from the blended fruits and veges.
Health benefits
It’s widely understood that a person needs to have 5 servings of fruits and vegies on a daily basis. Unfortunately, busy lifestyles often means that we take shortcuts with our eating habits. Having a diverse range of fruits and vegies in the fridge and taking 10 min to prepare a smoothie as a snack or light meal will help towards the required daily intake. Whilst juices are great to get the vitamins and nutrients immediately into the body they are not fibrous. Smoothies on the other hand maintain their fibre which are particularly useful to keep your gut moving, control blood sugars and fill you up when you need to run out the door.
Muscle repair post-workout
Any serious workout session that tears muscles will require repair by having protein based foods within half an hour of the finished workout. The quickest and most efficient way is by making a smoothie that includes raw eggs, protein powder and dairy products. Our banana smoothie is a favorite. It’s a quick and staple smoothie that we drink post workouts and also fills us up for a couple of hours. It’s a much easier way to have something for breakfast if you are not a brekky kind of person (we’re certainly not).
Click here to get your Oster® My Blend® blender and benefit from the launch promotion – a free additional bottle!
Recipes
Below are three recipes we experimented with. Cut all the fruits in small chunks, add the suggested ingredient and whizz away.
Banana smoothie
2 bananas
2 tablespoons vanilla ice cream
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
2 scoops of vanilla whey protein powder
2 raw eggs
100ml milk
Banana, nashi pear and orange mash
2 bananas
0.5 nashi pear
1 orange
120ml apple juice
Blueberry, nashi pear and guava juice thirst quencher
1 small packet of blueberries
0.5 nashi pear
120ml guava juice
3 ice cubes
Healthy additive for smoothies
To increase the health properties of a smoothie try adding any of the following:
Wheatgerm – boost of vitamins B & E
Flaxseeds/linseeds – rich vegetarian source of essential fatty acids
Pumpkin/sunflower seeds – gives a nutty, crunchy taste and texture
Tahini – for a distinctive flavour plus nutrient boost
Protein powder – muscle repair
In summary, the Oster MyBlend with its slim, high speed, blend’n go, ice crushing, BPA free features is recommended to any health conscious, on-the-go, minimum fuss person. I’ll certainly be enjoying my smoothies and will happily move off my handheld blender to blending soups only.
Cheers
Oster® My Blend® blender comes in 4 unique colours.
Click here to get yours and benefit from the launch promotion – a free additional bottle!
In a remarkable global race with 35 simultaneous starts and no finish line, the world will run again on May 3, 2015. In races across six continents, runners will attempt to stay ahead of pursuing ‘catcher cars’ driven to chase and overpass them. Produced by Red Bull in partnership with the Wings for Life Foundation, this innovative worldwide race with a “moving finish line” was first held in May 2014 to benefit spinal cord injury research and more than $4.1 million was raised in its inaugural year.
Singapore’s Paviter Singh to run in Wings for Life Taiwan
Image source: Twitter
Singaporean ultra-marathoner Paviter Singh, 32, will be joining the Wings for Life World Run race this year in Taiwan, at a location called Yilan, a rich plain city by Lanyang River. Surrounded by mountains and sea side with mild climate, with alluvial plains interwoven with water and rice fields, the race promises scenic running views and is one of the 35 start lines for Wings for Life World run. The race in Taiwan will start at 7pm.
The 32 year-old running enthusiast, who completed the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) CCC 101km in France in 2014, and will be taking part in the Ultra Trail Mt. Fuji (UTMF)100-miler in Japan this year, will be looking to take on the challenge for a good cause. “I am looking forward to placing Singapore on the map in this race and to stay ahead of the chase car for as long as possible. My aim would be to cross a marathon distance at least. This will be quite an exhilarating experience! As part of my preparation, I have ramped up my training to almost 6 days a week over the past month.”
The Catcher Car – A Moving Finish Line
Starting more than 35,000 participants at exactly the same time – day or night – worldwide, is one challenge. But the Wings for Life World Run goes one step further and changes the face of racing altogether: thirty minutes after the runners take off, the ‘catcher car’ will begin to follow them. Driving slowly first, but increasing its speed gradually, the catcher car is the moving finish line. Equipped with electronic sensors, the catcher car will pass the runners, registering their digital chips on its way to the leaders. The last male and female to be caught worldwide are the global champions.
The Wings for Life World Run was introduced in 2014 to support the not-for-profit Wings for Life foundation, which funds spinal cord research projects all over the world. 100% of the registration fees and sponsorship dollars from the World Run go directly to the Wings for Life Foundation to fund research to cure spinal cord injury. Millions of people around the world are living with a spinal cord injury. Every year, at least 250,000 more sustain a traumatic spinal cord injury, following traffic accidents, tragic falls and slips.
