12 posts tagged “running”

3 more months to the end of 2008~~

I think that year ends are always more exciting and there are more events going on, n'est pas?
- Taiwan trip: 25 Oct - 1 Nov
- Russell Peters in Singapore: 3 or 4 Nov
- Avenue Q musical: looking for kakis
- Lee Guitar Concert: 29 Nov
- DELF A2 exam: 2 Dec
- Singapore Marathon 2008: 7 Dec
- our birthdays
- Planning for a trip around Christmas: thinking of tasmania..

how exciting!

Work-wise, pretty busy right now (and yet look at what I'm doing now?!). Things should be slowing down in 2 more weeks. The current contract ends in early Dec and I guess will be renewing, if they are renewing me. Anyway, hooray for the completion bonus and hope to be able to convince the manager for a pay increment if it is possible.

Another reason to love this time of the year is the weather is cooling down~~~ dear wind, please change direction soon and you are welcomed to enter my windows!. :D

OK, on to entertainment! New seasons of TV shows are out as well as new shows - Prison Break S4, Gossip Girl S2, True Blood S1 (I think the lead female character has a strange look), Big Bang Theory S2 (can't wait for this...soon~~~)...

yay, I finished my half-marathon within my target of 3h. the results are out on RunPix and my time is 2:57 - slower than the average 2:38 but good enough for me, haha.

after cramming much french into my head (and software architecture for him) and getting about 2 hours of sleep, we woke up at 4:15am and hailed a cab to clementi stadium so that we can catch the shuttle bus departing at the ungodly hour of 5am. I was worrying about how to complete the race.

oh yea, you know how the ladies are always crowded? it goes to show the male-dominance of the event when the mens was full but there were lots of empty cubicles in the ladies! - toilets were available outside esplanade so avoided those (yucky) mobile toilets. along the run, saw some males relieving themselves in the bushes too...lol. by the way, I like this year's running singlet...keke.

we saw the leading elite runners while waiting for the race to start. I think their single stride is 2.5 times of mine!! :O

we (or rather, I) started at a slower-than-usual pace as the 21km stretched endlessly ahead and I had a target of not stopping for 15km. so, it was a sort-of-comfortable jog until about 17+ km and I made the mistake of taking a breather. somehow, we didn't see any distance markers after 16km (did you?).

once I stopped, my legs felt as strangely detached and I could feel all the muscle aches while walking. I thought that it'd be good to walk and rest a bit but no (!), the tiredness set in even more! finally, I picked myself up and we ran for the last 1+ km.

besides the muscle aches, the worst agony was that felt by my toes - as if they had been flattened / stomped by something. all due to my unfitting-shoes but I didn't get a new pair because I didn't know what to get. sigh.

after getting home - by the way, you can get a cab easily from peninsular plaza instead of standing in the long queue at raffles city shopping mall - I slept the afternoon away and only managed to wake up in the evening to continue mugging for my french test.

actually, I have the impression that the french test is not that difficult. the main reason I'm studying so much is to make use of the opportunity to catch-up with all that I've learnt. but of course, it helps for the test too. I intend to continue revising after the test...

about the A1 exam, it was ok except the listening portion - as usual, I could only pick out words in the sentence but not able to understand the complete meaning of the sentence / passage. later on, I saw some ex-classmates and they commented on the same so maybe that's normal? but in class, I find that most people are able to listen, understand and response while I'm lost. hmm. I'm glad that I registered for the exam early and my oral was scheduled about 1/2h after the written test instead of in the afternoon / evening!

I realised I kinda misunderstood a part of the oral section where I was supposed to pose questions based on a few subjects assigned to me. I didn't even think and assumed that it was just 1 question per subject but afterwards, I came to the conclusion that it's supposed to be a dialogue, with the examiner, on the subjects so there should be maybe 2-3 questions per subject? :(

anyway, shouldn't be a problem to pass it and I've signed up for the next class too. unfortunately, they are not having any saturday morning sessions for my next level and I have to take the 2:30 - 5:30pm slot. knowing myself, I'll wake up at noon to go for class and so, I'm basically left with saturday evenings for anything. so sad...less weekend for me!

it's back to work tomorrow but I'm not dreading it because the boss is on vacation and there's nothing outstanding on my side...kekeke.

I'm so unprepared for the half-marathon run on sunday as well as the french delf a1 exam on monday!!! :(

trying to study very hard past few week nights and ending up really tired, which is not good for the run. argh. it's just bad timing that the twice-yearly exam falls the day after the run. gees.

work-wise, I could finally get a breather this week. projects are closing and I think I'd be quite free for next few weeks as well.

for those who are running on sunday as well, let's keep going and reach for the finishing line!

went for the 10km run this morning. didn't really meet my aim of running continuously but I guess it's still an improvement - walked for about 300m or so. I think I completed under 75 mins? shall wait for the official results! :)

hmm, the sun was rather strong towards the end of the run, would prefer it if it had started earlier. and now I'm worried for the 21km coz I'm so tired out after today's 10km...

I've registered for the half-marathon (and paid an extra $9 without the extra discount offered to past year's participants). will I be able to complete it? certainly hope so, but it is daunting and I can't even imagine myself at the finishing point. mantra: must train, must persevere, cannot faint...!

anyway, I realised that this year, the women start 45 minutes later than the men for the 10km categories! why the segregation?! friends won't be able to run together and it is a possible deterrent for first-time runners. moreover, a good proportion of males will be almost finishing their run when the women's race start.

is this because of the large number of participants hence the need to stagger the starting times? and, why do the males get to start first at the cooler time of 7:15am that makes for more comfortable running?! so we females are left to sweat it out in the rise of the morning sun heat? *grr*

seems like the runners are doing well in their 217km run that started yesterday. :) here's hoping that they will be able to complete the route tomorrow...加油!

wow, just 2 weeks and the shape run is fully registered - that's fast! gee, they should have organised the event to accommodate a larger capacity so that more females will be able to take part...

registration is opened for the shape run! :) any one joining?

seems that the route is different from last year? it's the same boring route that 10km runs use. I remembered last year's shape run was a different route (though I didn't manage to register) and that was partly why I had wanted to join.

oh well, the goody bag is not bad and got a friend who's joining too. haha, read a forum and it seems that the goody bag is a big plus point for this run. I took the shape 6-months subscription too as it's cheaper this way.

. = . = . = .

I had just went down to queensway during lunch and bought a pair of teva sandals - well, bata ones are really... =_= teva is so expensive, discounted price and it's $75!!!

sitting here and counting down the remaining 2hrs before I can leave and head to the gym. today's plan is to run on the treadmill for 45mins. seems that I really need a minimum of 30mins to burn fats so I'm gonna slow it down a bit and increase the time. I know that at the back of my mind but somehow I ignore it. then I spoke to the nutritionist on Mon and she said the time is very important if I want to burn fats! well, this could be the important factor I'm missing. argh, 45mins is a torture for me (even if I have music and TV to distract myself)...it goes like,

10 mins: ok
17 mins: getting tired
25 mins: tired but getting used to the pace
35 mins: leg muscles aching; feel like stopping
40 mins: desperate to stop
45 mins: ... :(

wheeee, it's great that I can work from home next 2 days. at least, if I don't have work to do, I can watch TV..hehee.

I'm so tempted to go and buy some Chewy Juniors as well as the cheese muffins at Choc n Spice. well, maybe I shall make a trip down there on Sat.

i tried the calculator out and it's pretty cool, hee. well, although now I'm on treadmill at the gym, it's good to know that previously each lap around that big field downstairs is actually about 615m. I used to think it was 500m - 550m.

I think that the NAPFA test in school created this benchmark of 2.4km as the distance to cover. over those years, we ran to beat (or pass) this distance - it was the be-all and end-all for most people. never did it cross my mind to run more than that. ok, have to admit that 2.4km was already a challenge for me.

NAPFA is history after junior college and I got my exercise from jogging around the block or at club fitt gyms. in the former, I was still focusing on the 2.4km completion. at the gym, a new benchmark is created due to the rigging of cardio machines to stop after 20 minutes so that others have a chance to use it. after much time on using the treadmill, my target changed (upped) to "20 minutes of continuous running". now, this was it for a few years, maybe 6? it was either 2.4km or 20 minutes in my mind when I ran. the "20 minutes" mark was also strengthen by many messages and articles advising people to do a 20 - 30 minutes workout, 3 times a week!

it only started to change when I was at my ex-company which had a gym with machines that were not rigged. it was also then that I had to push myself and train to cover more distance because I signed up for my 1st 10km run. I started with a 30min and moved to 40 - 45min or about 6 - 7km. I think it was only then that I saw a significant toning effect, and an increase in stamina as well. I credit the latter to the treadmill because it ensures that I run at that constant pace instead of a tendency to slow down when tiredness sets in.

presently, I think 2.4km as a mild distance to cover - never would have thought this last time! now, my usual target is about 30 - 40min or 5 - 6km. I'm gonna up that to the previous 40 - 45min / 6 - 7km once I get my momentum back. this past year of studying had taken up a lot of time / energy, resulting in a decrease in fitness level. :(

by the way, I'm rather bad at running despite having written so much above. you know, it's just the most convenient cardio to do (alone) and personally, it helps to relieve stress too. I'm glad I took up a gym membership recently! now, I can do more conditioning exercises there besides running.

cheers to better health and fitness!