Ayam bak in Sg

(Thanks to Dr for der photo)

Its been a long, long, loooong while since I last ran with any of my running mates. Although many of my runs have been solitary- partly due to the fact that I wasn't feeling confident and fit enough to run with anyone, and partly due to the fact that I was never entirely certain what time I would start my runs- and didn't want to disappoint anyone by failing to turn up on them (a k a Fong Fei Kei-ing them), I took the opportunity of my weeklong break in KL to attempt logging in some mileage by running with Jamie last Monday, who is in training for his New York Marathon debut, and the Pacemaker gang on Saturday- including my running buddies Ronnie and Kenny. The Pacemaker gang has swelled in size, and there were some young faces running (at least to my old eyes) with an old bird like myself. Jamie and I ran the opposite Carcosa loop, and we were joined by Kit as we were completing the 1st loop. Mileage for Monday was 21k, as I had arrived an hour early before our planned rendezvous and ran the Carcosa loop in the "usual" direction.

Saturday was a 20k, heading to and fro Sri Hartamas. I was a little apprehensive about running early in the morning- I'm not exactly a morning person, as many of you would know- but at the end of the day, I think I did alright. I had enough rest and sleep the night before, my legs were feeling alright (after 2 successive days of foot reflexology), and it was one of those rare days that I actually felt "up for it" at the crack of dawn. The only other times I'm up for it are usually the key races that I want to do well in. Towards Sri Hartamas, the pace felt almost pedestrian because we were running well within ourselves, in a group- it really helps with the pacing. We arrived at the Petronas station in 55 minutes. On the way back to Bukit Aman, the pace picked up- Ronnie, Lionel and Stanley went off on their own, whereas Kenny, me and Wern Tien were behind. The run back seemed tough, but I managed to complete it in 46:44, which wasn't too bad in my opinion.

Well, I'm back in Singapore again- I took the 430pm bus back. Back to my lectures and studies. I will be back in KL in a months' time, hopefully with my condition further improved. Key race is Singapore International Marathon, so I do hope to be in good condition by then.

Der Kok Runner

Der Kok runner from Ethiopia broke his world record again! 2:03:59

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie was delighted to put his recent calf injury behind him to break his own world record on Sunday at the Berlin Marathon for the second consecutive year in the German capital.

The 35-year-old brushed off a calf injury he suffered in training two weeks ago to come home in a time of 2hrs 03min 59sec.

He took nearly half a minute off his own previous world record of 2hrs 04mins 26sec set here twelve months ago to fulfill his own confident pre-race prediction of setting a new best mark.

This was the sixth time the world record has been broken in Berlin on the traditionally flat course.

"I am so, so happy, everything was perfect, the weather was perfect, the spectators were perfect, everything - I am so happy" said the Ethiopian.

"Two weeks ago I had a bit of a problem with my calf muscle, but I took a week off.

"It gave me a few worries coming here, but I forgot about it as the race wore on.

"I knew before I came here I could do something special, if you look from the beginning, everyone in Berlin seems to come and watch the race, it's a wonderful feeling."

The twice Olympic 5000m champion has plenty of reasons to be happy.

As well as breaking the 26th world record of his career he will receive 50,000 euros (73,000 US dollars) for winning on top of his estimated 250,000 euros (365,000 US dollars) fee for racing here.

It was his sixth victory in his ninth marathon and this was the 35th Berlin marathon.

Lance

LANCE ARMSTRONG has confirmed he will return to professional cycling in Australia next year — and seek an EIGHTH Tour de France win while promoting a global cancer awareness campaign.

The American legend, 37, who retired in 2005, will ride for the Astana team.

A survivor of testicular cancer, he said: “I’ll race my bicycle again. I can’t guarantee a Tour victory but I can guarantee the Livestrong cancer awareness message will touch our society.”

The Astana Team comprises mainly of cyclists who were in Armstrong's former teams, the US Postal and the Discovery Channel team, and is managed by Johan Bruyneel, who was one of the key reasons that Armstrong won all of his 7 Tour De France.

The Astana Team was not invited by the ASO to contest the Tour De France this year, due to its chequered past. Click on the link here. It has been argued by Astana supporters that whatever had happened was with the previous members of the Astana Team- and that the current team, with the ex-US Postal/Discovery staff, had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened. It'll be interesting to see if the ASO will extend the invitation to the Astana Team for the Tour De France in 2009. Armstrong's ambition of an 8th Tour De France after all, hinges upon him riding for a team that is actually invited to compete.

Personally I would love to see him kick some major a$$ and show the cyclists that despite a 3 year absence, he is still King. Go Lance!

Euphoria of centuries, alas symptoms of overtraining appearing

The apartment is looking far neater after some concerted effort on our part to clear the clutter and empty the unpacked boxes. Actually we had to entertain some friends for dinner at our apartment over the weekend so that occasion proved to be the motivation! Nonetheless there is still plenty to do, which we will do in our own sweet time. Meanwhile there are some minor issues to settle as far as our previous apartment is concerned, such as the re-directing of mail, informing the relevant authorities/parties of our change of address, cancelling the utilities that were in our names and so forth.

Despite all that I’ve been hitting the ground running- literally. If I’m not running 15-20kms a day, it’s biking for approximately 2 hours. That said however, after experiencing the euphoria of high mileage for successive weeks, my body is telling me that I need to take it easier- at least for this week, or for as long as it takes. The tell-tale signs/symptoms of apparent overtraining are already there- elevated heart rate, dead legs, taking longer than usual to fall asleep, just a feeling of not feeling rested. It’s better to nip it in the bud than to risk any long term effects.

I’m looking forward to coming back to KL. I just hope that there are no issues of safety or security, with the political situation being the way it is in Malaysia.

So here we are enjoying our new apartment, which we moved into last Saturday. Movers were engaged to pack, transport and unpack our items to the new apartment, all of which took place over a course of 2 days. Our apartment is still quite messy, aside from the kitchen which we spent our entire Sunday afternoon tidying. Size-wise it is larger than my previous one. It is about 1300 sq meters in size, with 3 bedrooms. It also has facilities comprising, inter alia, a gym (containing all the basic equipment that is more than sufficient for me) and a pool approximately 50 metres in length. It takes about 11 minutes to walk to the nearest MRT station, and the bus stand is located even closer.

Its been a month now since I stopped work and began attending my classes at NUS. The initial period of joy and happiness of not working has been replaced by periodic feelings of guilt- I feel like I’ve been slacking for too long. The grass is always greener on the other side. Lectures are on the average, 2 to 3 hours per day, leaving me with plenty of free time. I haven’t considered taking up a part time job of any kind, not yet at least, for various reasons- I needed to sort out the move, for starters; I do need to take time to study. The course is not a walk in the park as I expected it to be- its not that I’m falling far behind and I don’t understand what is going on- but I certainly need to take the time to study. Plus, my wife is due in November, and I want to take the opportunity of being a student to be a father to my child, at least in the 1st year of her life. And, I miss my family. Every time I’ve gone back to KL, it was a rushed affair- 2 days of juggling between spending time with my family and friends. Now that I have more time, I can spend at least 5 days to 1 week in KL. So I should remind myself constantly that this period is a fantastic opportunity for me to do the things I’ve just described.

I’ve been able to log in some substantial mileage, averaging 15-20km a day, at least 6 days a week. I certainly feel fitter. Again, at the risk of repeating myself, cardiovascular-wise I feel fit, but the legs still feel somewhat heavy due to my time spent on the saddle instead of being on my feet on the roads. Doesn’t help that I’ve been biking either (more on that shortly). But I have lost some weight (I’m down to 62kgs now- 3 short of my ideal racing weight) and my legs are feeling lighter by the week, so that is an encouraging sign.

I’ve been biking around the neighbourhood too, trying out my new toy, usually for rides lasting a hour or so. The neighbourhood is somewhat undulating so I do get a good workout with some hills.

I did read some somewhat shocking news- my friend John Tan was involved in a bike crash and looked to have suffered what appeared to be pretty serious injuries. Well, it looked serious enough to me and it shook me up considerably. We have to be careful out there but cycling isn’t the safest sport in the world. Sometimes all it takes is a seemingly small innocuous pebble on the road to cause the most serious of crashes. But those who truly love cycling will still hit the roads despite the apparent risks. And they will continue riding after recovering from their injuries. I will be careful out there and will try to minimize the chances of it happening, but sometimes, crashes will happen.

Anyway, there will be a mid term break, and I’ll be back in KL from the 3rd week of September for a weeklong holiday. Maybe I’ll see you around?