Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 completed races.

Summary of all completed races in 2010.

MR25 Cross Country Ultra Marathon 2010 - $35
Dec 26, 51km - 8:46:08
Position : 187/232

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 - FOC
Dec 5, 42.195km - 5:57:30
Position : 6766/14858 (Chip Time)

Swissôtel Vertical Marathon 2010 - $50
Nov 21, 1336 steps - 15:01
Position : 129/261

The North Face 2010 - $95
Oct 9, 50km - DNF. 32km at 5:45:30

POSB Run for Kids 2010 - $30
Sept 19, 8.5km - 1:03:17

Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon 2010 - $30
Sept 12, 21.1km - 2:43:55
Position : 9154/13772

Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2010 - $30
Sept 5, 10km - 59:51
Position : 889/3066

HP Tri Factor Run 2010 - $32.90
July 11, 21km - 2:29:12
Position : 292/403

Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 - $85
May 29, 42.195km - 6:24:2
Position : 2195/3857

100Plus Passion Run 2010 - $47
May 22, 25km -3:07:23
Position : 1551/2594

Sgrunners Banana Relay Run 2010 - $20
Jan 30, 1.65km x 3 - 9:37, 9:39, 8:37

The year started with Sgrunners banana run on January at West Coast Park near McDonalds with 3 loops. Four months later on May, it was 25km passion run followed by Adidias Sundown Marathon the following week. Sundown marathon was signed up at the last minutes when they released additional slot. I decide to give it a try even though 25km was already a very tough distance and i think i suffered during the marathon due to this.

Two months later on July, it was tri factor half marathon. Signed up for this as it was held near my home, near the Sengkang sports and recreation centre. Managed to scrape under 2:30 hrs.

On September, 3 back to back races. The first was Yellow Ribbon Prison run. It was raining the whole race and the rain was quite heavy. Quite an experience and i ran with poncho for the whole run. Also managed to scrape under 1 hours with seconds to spare.

Army half marathon was the following week and can be considered a poor run. Was not feeling particularly well. Jogged the first 8km and walk/jog for the rest of the distance. Was happy that i managed to complete it considering my condition.

The last run was POSB run for kids. As usual, signed up for this as it was held near my home, near the Sengkang sports and recreation centre. Did a 6km jog (additional training for north face) before the actual 8.5km race. Suffered for the 8.5km race and completed the 8.5km race on 63 minutes.

Got my first DNF race the following month on October. The 50km North Face. Very little trail training, only one 21km run with Punggol runners before this. Energy sapping run and very tough for me. Called it a day after coming out the Lorong Asrama loop. 32km for 5 hrs and 45 mins.

November was the Swissotel Vertical marathon. One of the most expensive race considering the time vs the registration fees. 3rd time running. Was surprised that i managed to do a PB. Just over 15 minutes.

SCMS was on the first week of December. This year has 3 different starting points but all will end at Padang. I started at Orchard road on 5am and just before 11am, i crossed the finished line. My first sub 6 marathon on my fourth attempts.

The last run was the MR25 Ultra marathon. Minimum 5 laps from 7am to 7pm. My first time doing this and i was quite afraid of another DNF. But fortunately it came up quite well and naturally i was very happy to complete the 5 laps (51km) with 8 hrs and 48 minutes.

Bike on 31 Dec - Sengkang Punggol area.

Run on 29 Dec - std 5km lap.
Time taken : 1 hr 12 mins 37 secs
Distance : 20.03 km
Avg Speed : 16.5 km/h, 3min 37sec per km.

Decide to do a New Year Eve ride and my first ride using the garmin.
Have not ride for such a long time already. I think got 1 year.

Ride around Sengkang and Punggol area. Stop at Sengkang sport and recreation centre to watch the New Year fireworks.



From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

Can a mountain bike squeeze into the rear seat of a Mazda 3?

The answer is yes! I'm surprise that my mountain bike can be squeeze into the rear seat of my car.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

Pictures taken with Panasonic TZ7.

From 2010 Dec 31 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

From 2010 Dec 31 TZ7 Bike in Car

Family outing to Zoo.

Got 4 zoo tickets which expire today, 31 Dec 2010.

So the whole family went to zoo.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

Waiting for food.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

KFC

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

Pictures taken with panny TZ7.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sold off my old Nokia N82 at a shop at Ang Mo Kio Central.

Sold off my N82 for $140. The shop never even bother to take down my personal particulars.

Was thinking of selling it off for some time already. Singtel shop accept trade in for $100.

Run on 29 Dec - std 5km lap.

Time taken : 39 mins 58 secs
Distance : 4.72 km
Avg Speed : 7.1 km/h, 8min 28sec per km.

Normal weekly wednesday run.
Decide to go for a 5km recovery jog/walk even though i just finished MR Ultra on Sunday.

Starcraft 2 updates 4.

Achievement points 2405.
Main mission completed.
Hard difficulty mission completed.
Challenge achievements completed.
Now trying to get other achievements. eg. Combat achievements.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Hoot! Hoot! HP C5180 printer ink cartridges.

Hooted the below from AMK fairprice.

Black = $29.90
Light Cyan = $15.90
Light Magenta = $15.90

Total = $61.70

Bought Cyan 2 days later = $14.90

Total = $76.60

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Run on 26 Dec - MR25 Cross Country Ultra Marathon 2010.

Start and End : MacRitchie Reservior.

5 loops.

Based on garmin 305.
Time taken : 8 hrs 47 mins 46 secs
Distance : 52.88 km
Avg Speed : 6.0 km/h, 9min 58sec per km.

Official result : 8 hrs 46 min 08 secs
Male Position : 154/185
Overall Position : 187/232



Data from polar watch.









Some stats from the results.

Female
Average pace/km 09:40
Entrants 60
Starters 52, 87%
Finisher 47, 90%

Male
Average pace/km 09:00
Entrants 234
Starters 201, 86%
Finisher 185, 92%

Overall
Average pace/km 09:08
Entrants 294
Starters 253, 86%
Finisher 232, 92%

MR25 Cross Country Ultra Marathon 2010.

First time attempting this. The race that was traditionally held on the last Sunday of the year. I was a little bit worried as i DNF for The North Face. Not sure how i will fare. But you will never know if you don't try.

The rules are simple, run as many laps (approx 10.5km) as possible in MacRitchie within the 12 hours (from 7am to 7pm). Completed the minimum of 5 laps and you get a finisher singlet and finisher certificate.

Went to bed around 1245 hrs. Woke up at 0515 hrs. Luckily Simon from Punggol runners kindly offer to drive me to MacRitchie, else i would either have to take cab or bus.
The night before, i did a few preparation and pack the below.
1) 7-8 power gels
2) 1/2 bar of milo bar(the other half was consumed during SCMS), 1 bar of boost (cut into 3 pieces for easy eating)
3) short
4) towel
5) sunglasses
6) deep heat rub
7) toilet paper
8) money, ezlink card
9) slippers
10) fuel belt with 2 bottles.

Meet Simon at Sengkang CC at around 0630 hrs. Reach MacRitchie at around 0655 hrs. Punggol runners support table have been set up. There is really a lot of food laid on the able. About 8 of the punggol runners are running the MR Ultra also.

Left my bag with them. Put on my fuel belt and turn on my garmin for it to acquire the satellites. The race started promptly at 0700 hrs, before my garmin managed to acquire the satellites. After a short while i started off when my garmin managed to acquire the satellites.

My plan is simple, same as North Face. Walk up the slope and try to jog down the slope. Do it as long as i can "tahan".

There are only 2 water points for each lap. 1 near the start point, the other is around the 4km mark, but since you need to loop back, you will re-visit the water point at the 6km mark also. Drinks provided is Pocari Sweat.

Did not bring any plain water during the first lap. So after completing the first lap, i proceeded to take a power gel.

For the subsequent lap, i topped up plain water from the tap and bring a power gel along to be consume at the u turn point (Petaling hut). I rested for about 10-15 minutes after every lap. During the break, i applied deep heat on both my legs, i even applied them on both my hips as i experience pain at both side. I also consumed the above chocolate bar, visited the toilet to freshen myself. The food at the support table is very tempting including the "tao huay". In the end, i forgo everything as i'm afraid of getting stomach upset.

The surprising thing is that i generally managed to stick to above strategy for the first 4 laps. Of course, the timing for every laps increase as fatigue set in. But i found myself still able to jog down the slope. During North Face, i was literally walking from 21km to 32km. There was hardly any jogging done during that stretch. Even at the fourth lap, i was still able to jog, i felt even stronger than during SCMS. Along the way, met many punggol runnners and other runners and we gave each other encouragement.

After the fourth lap, the distance clocked is a full marathon. Anything beyond that is unknown territory. At the start of the fifth lap, it started to drizzle. After 2km, the rain became heavy and there were many puddle of water along the trail. Spent a lot of time trying to "siam" the puddles. In the end, i just did not bother with it as i was going to retire my wave precision 9 anyway.

There was much more walking during lap 5, but i still managed to do some jogging. At around the last water point (4km more to go) the sky cleared and the rain stopped. Took some pictures along the way and when i came out of the trail, there was less than 1km left to go. I was a really a good feeling knowing that the end point is near. Proceeded to jog back to the finished point.

5 laps is the minimum and enough for me. Report to the time keeper who will give a slip of paper recording your laps and timing. With this slip of paper, you can collect your finisher singlet and certificate.

Instead of collecting the singlet and cert, the first thing i did is to collect my lunch from the organiser. The organiser provides lunch (old chang kee nasi lemak or mee) for runners, but i decide to eat after i finished the race instead of in between laps. Took my nasi lemak and drank some coke from the support table.

Rested a bit and went to wash up and change into the finisher singlet. Left MacRitchie after my wife came and pick me up.

Race banner.
From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Time after 2nd lap.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Punggol Runner support table food. Look at all the available food.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Completed lap 3. Pictures taken with Lai Yin.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Time after lap 3.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Time after lap 4. Total distance now is about 42km.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Start taking some pictures on the final lap. This is near the starting point.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Inside the trail.
From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Pictures on the way back. This is the ranger station.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


At the ranger station. 5km more to go.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


This is the 2nd water point inside the trail.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Out of the trail, final stretch.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Time now.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Its 1542 hrs now. Longest run in my life.
From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Yes. Finally. Completed 5 laps.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Time after 5 laps.
From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Back to support table.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Lunch catered for runners. This is mee.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Lunch catered for runners. This is nasi lemak.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Finisher singlet and certificate collection.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Map and rules. I only saw this after i finished my race.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


This is the start water point.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Last picture. Tent of the timekeeper.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Mizuno finisher singlet. Still got a price tag of $32.90

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


Picture with bib, garmin and certificate.

From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.


From 2010 Dec HTC Desire pictures.

Ending videos.