Singapore Marathon 2006 report


Past the midway point of the 21k. I was overtaking Penguin Tony who was running the full. Photo courtesy of runwitme.
Before the start of the 21km race, as I stood at the starting line of the Singapore Marathon 2006 (along with thousands of other participants), the MC said something along the lines of each participant having their own story to tell. I couldn't agree more.
My story began some 6 months ago- having run irregularly for 8 months, my fitness level was low, I was low on confidence; I entered the Pacemakers Relay held in KLCC park. Each team consisted of 4 members, each running 2.6km. I teamed up with Newton, Cheong and Jamie. We finished the race in a decent time and positioning. Buoyed with my condition (perhaps I was not as unfit as I thought), and with the Singapore Marathon 2006 to be held in December 2006 in mind, I decided to begin training "seriously" again. It was difficult- running around the usual Lake Garden loop left me seriously winded. I knew there was a lot of work ahead. There were some days which I reduced myself to shuffling along, or walking/running or stopping altogether and walking the remainder of the way. But I persevered and I knew that the body is a wonderful mechanism. To echo the words of Bill Bowerman, that is what training is- "Stress, Recover, Improve." So I knew that despite suffering more than usual in my previous training run, or despite the fact that I had to walk the remainder of the way, I had stressed my body sufficiently for that particular day; with adequate recovery, it will improve to a higher level the next time, and I will get fitter again. I admit, it can be frustrating at times- your patience is tested, and you do wonder when will your fitness return, if ever at all. But I reminded myself that this is a long term sport. Patience is the key and if you train well, you will get better.
I entered a few races to get into shape for Singapore. The PJ Half, Putrajaya Half, MPSJ 10k, Puchong 7k, AliBaba 13km were all geared towards Singapore. Workouts that I did up to late October were mainly aerobic- meaning that I ran well within my aerobic capabilities, apart from the races that I entered. I only started my speed intervals
at the start of November, which consisted of Max V02 workouts in the form of mile repeats; lactate threshold runs in the form of tempos of between 30-45 minutes; and races. In the final week, I was doing a lot of striders in the form of 100 meter repeats. I rested from Thursday onwards.
Journey to Singapore
Boarded First Coach from Bangsar. It was still raining when the bus moved; in fact, it continued raining for 3 more hours after that. With the rain in the city, of course, inevitably comes the traffic jam as well. Still, the journey itself didn't take too long- I slept 3/4ths of the journey, and I arrived in Singapore by 11:45pm. i arrived at Novena Square and proceeded immediately to the MRT station but just missed taking the final train. I had no choice but to take a taxi to the hotel instead, which was a mere 5 minutes drive. Still, it costs more!
Arrived at the hotel by 12am, and went to bed around 1am.
Saturday
Woke up around 945am. Went to the coffee house and proceeded to wolf down breakfast, which was buffet style anyway. Lotsa carbs, lotsa meat, lotsa salmon. Headed to Marina Mandarrin to collect Race Pack. Then, off to Marina Square to catch Casino Royale. My take on James Bond? This was a down-and-dirty, less experienced and less suave Bond, which actually added to his appeal. Daniel Craig certainly did very well in the movie. He's certainly the most buffed and physical Bond. Hardly any gadgetry. I wasn't too impressed with the "love story" between him and Vesper Lyn, though. But overall, I'd give the movie a thumbs-up. But I'm digressing here!
After the movie, I had an early dinner, which was your basic spaghetti bolognaise. Went to Orchard Road for a short walk, before going back to the hotel and knocking off by 10pm.
Race day
Woke up at 5am. Got ready and got a taxi. Arrived at Esplanade just before 6am. Changed, deposited my bag at the Baggage Deposit Area. Began my stretches and warm-ups, and strides. Saw Kenneth and Adam, and we warmed up together. Then, I headed to the starting line. I managed to inch my way towards the front of the pack. Saw Ronnie there.
"PONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!" the horn goes off and so do the runners! Ronnie was slightly ahead and we found ourselves near the lead group. After the initial sprint of a 150 meters or so, I settled into a comfortable pace which I was confident in maintaining. Past the tall buildings in the CBD area, the road took a turn to the left as we headed towards Marina Park. I didn't see Ronnie with me by that time and I just continued to maintain my pace. Past the underpass, we started passing the back stragglers of the marathon event, and as we passed the first water station, the crowd began to swell. Presumably this was the back-of-the-pack marathoners. With each passing kilometer, the crowd increased, and the space available to run decreased- I tried to run on the most right lane in an effort to maintain, but even this was getting more difficult by the minute. Behind me, I heard someone yelling "RIGHT!!!" in what sounded like an American accent. I promptly moved to the left, and allowed him to overtake me. I promptly moved behind him and drafted behind him for some time, as he "helped" clear the human traffic for me. Later his pace became too hot for me and I was left running on my own, and I had no choice but to shout "RIGHT!!!" to the marathoners who were taking up the portion of the road on which I was running. I probably came off sounding rude- but I was running in what was my most important race of the year and it wasn't the time for niceties. The crowd was just absolutely massive. There were times when my shouts of "RIGGGHT!" amounted to nothing and I had to zig-zag my way past the runners. This, I think, took up and expended alot of my very precious energy. past 13k back towards the CBD area, the crowd was still massive, although I was able to more or less maintain the pace. I did begin to falter after 10k, presumably due to the effort and energy expended in shouting and zig-zagging, and slowed by approximately 10 seconds per kilometer. Past the Esplanande and towards the 15k mark, I ran on the outer lane by the cones as the crowd was still massive; and it remained that way until the u-turn at the 18km mark.
When I made the u-turn, I saw that Ronnie was a mere 250 meters or so behind me! But I was already suffering at that point and did my best to maintain my pace. I had the creeping feeling that he was slowly inching up on me, but I didn't look back- I was merely focused on the remaining 3ks of the race, and for the next few minutes at least, the tall Caucasian guy (who probably stood around 6' 4") with whom I've been exchanging positions with since the start of the race. past the 19k mark, we were neck-to-neck. He was breathing very heavily and his footstrikes were very heavy for someone so lean. I went ahead of him very briefly for 10 seconds or so, before he responded and was some 10 feet ahead of me. But his move had come too early because by the 20 plus k mark, and on the Esplanade again, he began tiring and offered no resistance as I swept by. On to the final turn towards the finish line, I turned to look and saw that Ronnie was just behind me, probably 50 meters or so. I was already dying at that point and just ran as hard as I could towards the finish line.
I ran past the finish line and clicked my watch- it read 1:35.42. It wasn't my PR, but a PR for this race, and course. Ron finished behind me some 10-15 seconds later I was dizzy and dazed after the race, and all I wanted to do was drink water! I downed 3 bottles and felt much better after that. I saw Jeanne who was waiting for me. Went to collect my bag, and hung around with the gang for some time. Took some photos as well.
Post race analysis
Overall I'm satisfied with my performance. The crowd was a hinderence to running a PR, but this was an international event, with 30,000 runners, so that is to be expected. You take the conditions as they come and you try to make the very best of it. No excuses. I had geared my training towards this event; I ran a PR for this particular race and event; I gave it everything that I had; and that was good enough for me. So, under the circumstances, I couldn't ask for more. Heck, no one runs for a world record in the Olympics- they run to win a medal! There will be better opportunities to run a PR for the 21k. There are so many factors that come into play - you need to be in the right condition and fitness, the weather has to be right, the route has to be right, the crowd has to be right, the organisation has to be right.
Post race runs
Now, this is one thing I didn't prepare myself for- I had a severe case of stomach pains after the race. I initially thought it would be a a normal case of diahhrea, but it ended up being what the doctor would diagnose as gastroenteritis. I purged no less than 6 times after 11am, but the purging did little to ease the pain in my stomach. The attacks came in waves, and it was one of the worse cases of stomach pains I have ever encountered. I dunno if I can contribute it to the Powergels I took during the race, although it seems likely to be the case. This is certainly something I need to address because I was last afflicted by this in the Penang Bridge Run. I'll have to try running without consuming the Powergels and see if this is the reason behind my stomach ailment. It got so bad that i was bed-ridden the whole of Sunday- I even missed the planned journey back to KL with my friend because I was afraid that I would be purging along the way back to KL and the pain would be too unbearable for me. It got so bad that I had little choice but to visit a doctor in Singapore at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. The bill came up to a whopping sum of money!!! Luckily, I can claim this from my medical insurance, otherwise I would be pretty broke.
So I stayed an extra day in Singapore and managed to get a bus back from Copthorne Orchid Hotel. I took the Nice bus back, but the ticket price was a whopping SGD55! Gosh, I've spent more than expected already. Anwyay, the bus ride was rather uneventful as I slept most of the way and arrived in KL yesterday by 445pm.
I'm still having the runs but getting better. My immediate plans? I'm gonna be taking it easy for the next 2 weeks. I'll be doing very little running and I'm heading to Phuket for a holiday. Only after that, I'll start training again for the races of 2007. The next focus race will be the KLIM in March. Other races will just be "lead-ups" if you like, towards KLIM 2007.
Will post some pics later.
pm19, over and out.
My story began some 6 months ago- having run irregularly for 8 months, my fitness level was low, I was low on confidence; I entered the Pacemakers Relay held in KLCC park. Each team consisted of 4 members, each running 2.6km. I teamed up with Newton, Cheong and Jamie. We finished the race in a decent time and positioning. Buoyed with my condition (perhaps I was not as unfit as I thought), and with the Singapore Marathon 2006 to be held in December 2006 in mind, I decided to begin training "seriously" again. It was difficult- running around the usual Lake Garden loop left me seriously winded. I knew there was a lot of work ahead. There were some days which I reduced myself to shuffling along, or walking/running or stopping altogether and walking the remainder of the way. But I persevered and I knew that the body is a wonderful mechanism. To echo the words of Bill Bowerman, that is what training is- "Stress, Recover, Improve." So I knew that despite suffering more than usual in my previous training run, or despite the fact that I had to walk the remainder of the way, I had stressed my body sufficiently for that particular day; with adequate recovery, it will improve to a higher level the next time, and I will get fitter again. I admit, it can be frustrating at times- your patience is tested, and you do wonder when will your fitness return, if ever at all. But I reminded myself that this is a long term sport. Patience is the key and if you train well, you will get better.
I entered a few races to get into shape for Singapore. The PJ Half, Putrajaya Half, MPSJ 10k, Puchong 7k, AliBaba 13km were all geared towards Singapore. Workouts that I did up to late October were mainly aerobic- meaning that I ran well within my aerobic capabilities, apart from the races that I entered. I only started my speed intervals
at the start of November, which consisted of Max V02 workouts in the form of mile repeats; lactate threshold runs in the form of tempos of between 30-45 minutes; and races. In the final week, I was doing a lot of striders in the form of 100 meter repeats. I rested from Thursday onwards.
Journey to Singapore
Boarded First Coach from Bangsar. It was still raining when the bus moved; in fact, it continued raining for 3 more hours after that. With the rain in the city, of course, inevitably comes the traffic jam as well. Still, the journey itself didn't take too long- I slept 3/4ths of the journey, and I arrived in Singapore by 11:45pm. i arrived at Novena Square and proceeded immediately to the MRT station but just missed taking the final train. I had no choice but to take a taxi to the hotel instead, which was a mere 5 minutes drive. Still, it costs more!
Arrived at the hotel by 12am, and went to bed around 1am.
Saturday
Woke up around 945am. Went to the coffee house and proceeded to wolf down breakfast, which was buffet style anyway. Lotsa carbs, lotsa meat, lotsa salmon. Headed to Marina Mandarrin to collect Race Pack. Then, off to Marina Square to catch Casino Royale. My take on James Bond? This was a down-and-dirty, less experienced and less suave Bond, which actually added to his appeal. Daniel Craig certainly did very well in the movie. He's certainly the most buffed and physical Bond. Hardly any gadgetry. I wasn't too impressed with the "love story" between him and Vesper Lyn, though. But overall, I'd give the movie a thumbs-up. But I'm digressing here!
After the movie, I had an early dinner, which was your basic spaghetti bolognaise. Went to Orchard Road for a short walk, before going back to the hotel and knocking off by 10pm.
Race day
Woke up at 5am. Got ready and got a taxi. Arrived at Esplanade just before 6am. Changed, deposited my bag at the Baggage Deposit Area. Began my stretches and warm-ups, and strides. Saw Kenneth and Adam, and we warmed up together. Then, I headed to the starting line. I managed to inch my way towards the front of the pack. Saw Ronnie there.
"PONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!" the horn goes off and so do the runners! Ronnie was slightly ahead and we found ourselves near the lead group. After the initial sprint of a 150 meters or so, I settled into a comfortable pace which I was confident in maintaining. Past the tall buildings in the CBD area, the road took a turn to the left as we headed towards Marina Park. I didn't see Ronnie with me by that time and I just continued to maintain my pace. Past the underpass, we started passing the back stragglers of the marathon event, and as we passed the first water station, the crowd began to swell. Presumably this was the back-of-the-pack marathoners. With each passing kilometer, the crowd increased, and the space available to run decreased- I tried to run on the most right lane in an effort to maintain, but even this was getting more difficult by the minute. Behind me, I heard someone yelling "RIGHT!!!" in what sounded like an American accent. I promptly moved to the left, and allowed him to overtake me. I promptly moved behind him and drafted behind him for some time, as he "helped" clear the human traffic for me. Later his pace became too hot for me and I was left running on my own, and I had no choice but to shout "RIGHT!!!" to the marathoners who were taking up the portion of the road on which I was running. I probably came off sounding rude- but I was running in what was my most important race of the year and it wasn't the time for niceties. The crowd was just absolutely massive. There were times when my shouts of "RIGGGHT!" amounted to nothing and I had to zig-zag my way past the runners. This, I think, took up and expended alot of my very precious energy. past 13k back towards the CBD area, the crowd was still massive, although I was able to more or less maintain the pace. I did begin to falter after 10k, presumably due to the effort and energy expended in shouting and zig-zagging, and slowed by approximately 10 seconds per kilometer. Past the Esplanande and towards the 15k mark, I ran on the outer lane by the cones as the crowd was still massive; and it remained that way until the u-turn at the 18km mark.
When I made the u-turn, I saw that Ronnie was a mere 250 meters or so behind me! But I was already suffering at that point and did my best to maintain my pace. I had the creeping feeling that he was slowly inching up on me, but I didn't look back- I was merely focused on the remaining 3ks of the race, and for the next few minutes at least, the tall Caucasian guy (who probably stood around 6' 4") with whom I've been exchanging positions with since the start of the race. past the 19k mark, we were neck-to-neck. He was breathing very heavily and his footstrikes were very heavy for someone so lean. I went ahead of him very briefly for 10 seconds or so, before he responded and was some 10 feet ahead of me. But his move had come too early because by the 20 plus k mark, and on the Esplanade again, he began tiring and offered no resistance as I swept by. On to the final turn towards the finish line, I turned to look and saw that Ronnie was just behind me, probably 50 meters or so. I was already dying at that point and just ran as hard as I could towards the finish line.
I ran past the finish line and clicked my watch- it read 1:35.42. It wasn't my PR, but a PR for this race, and course. Ron finished behind me some 10-15 seconds later I was dizzy and dazed after the race, and all I wanted to do was drink water! I downed 3 bottles and felt much better after that. I saw Jeanne who was waiting for me. Went to collect my bag, and hung around with the gang for some time. Took some photos as well.
Post race analysis
Overall I'm satisfied with my performance. The crowd was a hinderence to running a PR, but this was an international event, with 30,000 runners, so that is to be expected. You take the conditions as they come and you try to make the very best of it. No excuses. I had geared my training towards this event; I ran a PR for this particular race and event; I gave it everything that I had; and that was good enough for me. So, under the circumstances, I couldn't ask for more. Heck, no one runs for a world record in the Olympics- they run to win a medal! There will be better opportunities to run a PR for the 21k. There are so many factors that come into play - you need to be in the right condition and fitness, the weather has to be right, the route has to be right, the crowd has to be right, the organisation has to be right.
Certainly, with the increase in participants, in the future, the organisers should consider-
- staggering the starting times between each event to 1 hour;
- changing the route of the other events,
so as to prevent the overlapping of runners in the 42k, 21k and 10k.
Anyway, the official results are out- I finished 21st in my category. Gun time- 1:35.46, Chip time- 1:35.43.
- staggering the starting times between each event to 1 hour;
- changing the route of the other events,
so as to prevent the overlapping of runners in the 42k, 21k and 10k.
Anyway, the official results are out- I finished 21st in my category. Gun time- 1:35.46, Chip time- 1:35.43.
Post race runs
Now, this is one thing I didn't prepare myself for- I had a severe case of stomach pains after the race. I initially thought it would be a a normal case of diahhrea, but it ended up being what the doctor would diagnose as gastroenteritis. I purged no less than 6 times after 11am, but the purging did little to ease the pain in my stomach. The attacks came in waves, and it was one of the worse cases of stomach pains I have ever encountered. I dunno if I can contribute it to the Powergels I took during the race, although it seems likely to be the case. This is certainly something I need to address because I was last afflicted by this in the Penang Bridge Run. I'll have to try running without consuming the Powergels and see if this is the reason behind my stomach ailment. It got so bad that i was bed-ridden the whole of Sunday- I even missed the planned journey back to KL with my friend because I was afraid that I would be purging along the way back to KL and the pain would be too unbearable for me. It got so bad that I had little choice but to visit a doctor in Singapore at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. The bill came up to a whopping sum of money!!! Luckily, I can claim this from my medical insurance, otherwise I would be pretty broke.
So I stayed an extra day in Singapore and managed to get a bus back from Copthorne Orchid Hotel. I took the Nice bus back, but the ticket price was a whopping SGD55! Gosh, I've spent more than expected already. Anwyay, the bus ride was rather uneventful as I slept most of the way and arrived in KL yesterday by 445pm.
I'm still having the runs but getting better. My immediate plans? I'm gonna be taking it easy for the next 2 weeks. I'll be doing very little running and I'm heading to Phuket for a holiday. Only after that, I'll start training again for the races of 2007. The next focus race will be the KLIM in March. Other races will just be "lead-ups" if you like, towards KLIM 2007.
Will post some pics later.
pm19, over and out.
2 Comments:
hahahahah! damn jia lat photo! well done nevertheless!
Hey dude, great report. I could almost picture how it was for you. Partly because I ran last year and experienced the clashing of the 10, 21 and 42k runners after the u-turn.
Glad to see you are back in form. Just wondering how some ppl can keep such form up throughout the year though. I can't imagine being able to do that.
Anways.. congrats on your run and for beating der captain. Looking forward to more battle news between the two of you and maybe even Chen. It will be intersting.
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