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Ong's running log with SafraNovember 27 Portsdown - QueenstownThe weather was extremely strange recently, hot sunshine with breeze. We had expected the cool rainy season to last, but it only come for a while. Hydrate ourselves more is the best option to stay fit for the weather change.
3 more sessions to go for the race day. This evening we did the usual 14 km run to Portsdown and back from Queenstown. Feeling a bit tired recently, just want to engage on easy pace and then do extra distance. The run was met with some cool breeze which made it enjoyable. Jackie was way ahead in the run, he was still pushing hard. Senior Melvin led the front group and the rest sat behind for an easy run. Upfront, S.Melvin ran a 5 min/km all the way through Portsdown. Derrick and myself just enjoyed the pace behind with LaiChee following behind. At Biopolis, S.Melvin surged upfront leaving us behind. At BV junction, i lost him! What happened?? It was a sudden change of pace from S.Melvin, incredible splits. Did he suddenly speed off? But it was just like a flash.
I ran up to Derrick to ask him, "where is Melvin?" He was stunned by the change of pace from S.Melvin too. I raised the tempo a bit to see whether i could catch up behind. All the way to Queenstown, i was running alone. I only caught up with S.Melvin when he was caught by the traffic stop. Having cross the road earlier, i avoided the traffic stop and moved upfront. Since the club members were not back yet, I decided to do extra 1 km, running to Alexandra Rd and back by Henderson Rd.
I got back to the clubhouse with a time of 1 hr 12 min. It should be a 15 km run for me. So the pace should be under 5 min/km. I was satisfied with this aerobic run.
26th Nov 2009. Distance: 15 km. Time: 1 hr 12 min
November 26 Body temperature for runnersI was a collector of running watches, and i enjoyed testing out different features designed to improve runners' performances. Footpod, heart rate monitor, GPS device from Garmin, Polar, Timex had long been in the market. There is a trend of my runners getting the Garmin GPS watches to measure their distance and pace performances in their run. More & more are getting Garmin watches due to the accurate distance marker using the GPS system. You don't have to put on a footpod.
 One important component beside pace and heart rate is the body temperature. None of the running watches in the market have provided the measurement. If we can know our body temperature during our run, it will be a plus. Accorrding to Galloway's running, "Getting too hot in a run slows you down severely. The faster your body temperature rises, the more blood flows to the skin to reduce the heat, and the more you sweat. Both reduce the amount of blood available to the muscles."
So as you can see, if there is a watch that monitor your body temperature, it will be more useful than a heart-rate monitor. It will be good to know your ideal body temperature during running. Is this kind of sports watch avaliable in the market? Please let me know. I will definitely like to try it out.
November 25 Laborador Hill - 8 loopsToday marked the start of the 2 weeks taperring process. The plan was to keep the tempo high but cut down the mileage. Been the trainer for this week, i planned as hard as possible for the training - 8 x 1.4 km loop around Laborador Hill. Most of the strong runners turned up for this training as they knew the importance of the taperring process. Even Wen Long turned up for this tough running although he had just done the Penang marathon on the weekend.
I tried to calm down the mental part, by not giving any time limit on this run. "Try your best to run the 8 loops, if you feel that you need to stop, just stop". I was very tired before the run, not even recover from the Sunday run. This was really strange, not wanting to run and sleepy(overtrain signs). I was having a bit of sore throat, everything was out of sort. Nevertheless, i tried to endure the 8 loops with consistent pace. Tagged behind Junior Melvin until he sped off for the last 3 loops.
1st: 6:39
2nd: 6:49
3rd: 6:49
4th: 6:49
5th: 6:52
6th: 6:54
7th: 7:01
8th: 6:29
Time taken: 54 min 25 sec
I was glad to be able to finish the run although the pace was a bit slower as usual. It's a boost to my mental strength. Total mileage clocked plus warm-up run: 17 km
24th Nov 2009.
November 24 Great Eastern Pacesetter 30 km 2010I was absent from the Great Eastern Pacesetter 30 km run for one year, missing out the hattrick of this run. It was organised by Malaysian running club Pacesetters in KL. I must admit that the route was quite tough with lots of upslope. But i do enjoy this race, giving myself a test before the HK marathon. The Malaysian runners are quite friendly, logistically they try to do their best. Safra Running Club had been the major registrant for the race.
Next year, I will get back in shape for the Great Eastern Run again after missing out this year. It will be held in 17th January, same location (i believe). For my lovely Safra runners, you may find the registration form below if you are interested.
 More details will be stated in the form. The fees seemed to be a bit higher now ... Inflation ah???
November 23 Clubhouse - ECP MacDonald 35 kmI was the trainer this weekend, the plan was to u-turn at ECP B2 (32km). For myself, i would run a bit further to u-turn at MacDonald to make it 35 km. The weather was very kind to us for the past few weeks but not this Sunday. At 7 am, the bright sun already showed up. There was not much turnout this morning as there was a vertical marathon going on in town. Some of them may already going into taperring mode.
We started at 7.10 am. Joshua joined our long run this morning, giving a bit of pace at the front. As he was unsure of the route, he dared not move upfront. Tagged along with me on a 5 min/km pace, must be very agonizing slow for him. At times, he wanted to move upfront for a faster pace. Sorry about it, i have my own plan on the run. At Southpoint Junction, i clocked 24 min 57 sec. Faster than my planned pace. After Maxwell Rd, TH took over the lead and Joshua followed him to run upfront. I was glad that TH took over the initiative so that i could run at my training pace. At some occassions, i was very tempted to follow upfront with the 2 of them but i controlled the temptation. They were basically running at a very fast pace, probably 4:20 min/km. I reached Nicol Highway bus-stop with a time of 48 min 42 sec, 2 min ahead of my planned time. TH & Joshua wre about 150m in front, they were gradually increasing their pace.
The strong sun made the run more tough. I was glad to see Small Chua supporting at B1 especially at this kind of weather. I ran the 15 km with a time of 1 hr 12 min, now 4 mins ahead of time. When I saw TH and Joshua u-turned at B2, i found out that i was not quite far away from them. There was a running event at ECP, the whole cycling path was closed for the run. I followed the runners all the way to MacDonald and then u-turned to run on the cycling path. Rested at B1 with 100 plus from Small Chua. And then continued on with Weishing and Yong on the return route. My pace still remained relatively constant, just under 5 min/km. I clocked 2 hr 02 min at 25 km mark. It was then endurance run at Kallang Rd all the way back. Strong sunshine, hot ground, slowing down my pace. I made it to Lau Pa Sai with a time of 2 hr 27 min. I stopped at Anson Rd 7-11, bought my favourite cold Gatorade. The shop assistant recognized me and we have a short chat. It was really a charge-up drink.
I was in a struggling pace for my last 5 km, battling out with the sunshine at Keppel Rd. I tried to relax myself and it was not as bad as the long run weeks ago. I reached the clubhouse with a time of 2 hr 57 min (including all the stops), just under 3 hrs which i had planned. Most of the Safra runners are now stronger as compared to 1 month ago. All of them came back before 11.45 pm for a hot 32 km run. I guessed that i had already fulfilled my duty to get them fit for the marathon.
22nd Nov 2009. Distance: 35 km. Time: 2 hr 57 min
November 21 Running plan for Sunday's 35 km runTomorrow morning, we will have a 35 km run at Safra Mount Faber. Starting from Mount Faber clubhouse to Shenton Way, Mountbatten and u-turn at ECP MacDonald. My fellow Safra running mates are to u-turn at ECP B2 Big Splash. This MAcDonald u-turn is for me only. From there, follow the marathon route to Crawford St., Shenton Way, Keppel Road and then back from Telok Blangah Rise. This route will approximately fretch us 35.5 km of running.
Below is my planned training pace for this run:
(1) Southpoint Junction - 5 km mark : 25 min 25 sec
(2) Nicol Highway bus stop: 50 min 50 sec
(3) ECP B1 (Slightly after B1): 1 hr 16 min
(4) ECP B1: 1 hr 42 min
(5) Kallang Rd bus stop: 2 hr 7 min
(6) Lau Pa Sai: 2 hr 32 min
I will try to come in sub-3 for this training and i will post the exact running pace on Monday. Wish me a good run tomorrow!
November 20 Safra Running Club vestsThe quality of the running vest is important especially for endurance runners when we are struggling through the 26.2 miles. We had to make sure the running vests that we are wearing will not give us any abrasion, feel comfortable with it. Four months ago when Safra annouced the launch of the new Safra Running club vests, we were pretty excited about the new gears. I had even helped the management to collect the orders who were interested in the vests. The aim was to promote our running club in the Sheares Bridge Run and Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009. Until now (2 weeks before the SCSM09), it was still not there. I had received news that the vests are going to be ready before the SCSM09.
"Is the management asking us to wear the vests on the race day", i asked Chairman. "Shouldn't they should let us try the vests during the training run". I am definitely not going to try something new on the race day and ruined my plan. I think the management pple are not runners, they will not never understand the small little details like vest, type of gels, drinks.. mean for the runners especially in a race. Will you try a new brand of gel on a race day? Will you wear a new pair of shoe on a race day without trying out?
For my lovely Safra runners from my club, below is the design of our new vests...
Male
 Female  Btw, where is the Safra running club logo???
Mount Faber trademark 10 kmAnother rainy afternoon and another wet ground. Somehow, today the rain started earlier at the noon so it stopped just in time for our run. We would be celebrating Wong's bd, so trainer Ricci planned a shorter route this evening. Coincidently, we had done the same route last year on 20th Nov 2008. On my head, i was thinking of doing extra MF loop to clock extra mileage as this week i was on extremely low mileage.
Ricci bursted in front to lead the group, i tried to follow behind. His long legs, wide stride, fast cadence were making the pace really fast. At 1 km mark, our pace was under 4 min - ard 3 min 50 sec. Why am i following behind? Didn't i plan to do extra loop? Aiya, what's the heck! i started to close up the gap from Ricci (around 100m apart). I had to stay very patient as his consistent pace was explosive and fearful. The ground was very wet, making my favourite Cumulus working hard. The steel drain covers made things worse. Saw Wen Long at Harbourfront bus-stop, wearing his office shirt & pant, marshalling for us. Hahaha! A break day for him as he was going for Penang Marathon tomorrow.
Approached the steep slope with pace, i was not really scared of hitting the wall, testing my limit. Ricci dropped his spectacle after Jewel Box which disturbed his momentum on the run. I took over the lead from there, slowed down on the downslope, regaining some fuels for the last stretch. At Morse Rd, my watch was reading 26 min 51 sec which i considered quite slow. Increased my pace from there, heading into harbourfront and got blocked by the traffic. At times, I felt that i could have run better on dry ground. I just continued on with 4 min pace, running the last stretch to the clubhouse with 14 min 8 sec. I reached the clubhouse with 40 min 59 sec. Ricci came back around 50 sec later. Is this a PB timing on this route? I never think of breaking my MF PB today, came with a surprise.
I don't have good feeling for PB during training. It happened to me for the past 2 years when i was running fast on training but crashed out on race day. Hope that this PB don't be bad sign for my SCSM09.
19th Nov 2009. Distance: 10 km. Time: 40 min 59 sec (PB)
November 19 BuangKok MRT 4.8 kmFinally got to run after 2 days of raining. The rain stopped suddenly, so i decided to give the 4.8 km run a try. As the ground was very wet, i put on the old Nimbus shoes not wanting my training shoes to get wet. The surrounding was very cool, fresh legs, hungry for a run.
The wet ground was not helping my run. At certain corners, there was pools of water which i have no choice but to go through it. The steel drain covers making the run more slippery and my shoes were basically difficult to get a grip on the ground. I just held on to my hard run, feeling panting after so many days of rest (in fact only 2 days). My mental toughness seemed to drop, difficult to hit the top speed. Maybe Dear was not there to give an extra motivation for me to chase her. She had done a 16 km run in the morning.
Surprisingly, i finished the run with a good timing - 16 min 59 sec still under 17 min. Whatever timing i got, i was glad to have a hard run.
18th Nov 2009. Distance: 4.8 km. Time: 16 min 59 sec.
November 18 No training for the past 2 days .. rain, rainNo training on the past 2 days due to the rain ... Anyway, just to keep the spirit up even on rainy day.
November 17 The Everyday RunnerDo you wake up every morning thinking about the dream that you're working hard to achieve?
34-year-old Ong Say Cheng does, and this has won him the 2009 POSB Everyday Champion award. The technical executive's dream is to mark his name in the history of Singapore sports. But, in the process of reaching his destination, the SAFRA Mount Faber Running Club (SAFRA MF RC) member has been helping other fellow runners in realising their dreams. This effort influenced the club's vice chairman Chua Song Cher to nominate him for the POSB Everyday Champion award. http://www.in2it.sg/InterestGroup/in2it_cms/index.php/article/39-sports/174-the-everyday-runner Brought to you by in2it.sg November 16 Clubhouse - Cable Ski (40 km)We did the same route as last week. The 40 km run sent runners crawling back back under the hot sun. So i was a bit worried that i would suffer the same fate today. But the sky was very nice to us, probably helped by the clouds which covered up the sunshine. With the rain last night, it made the run more enjoyable. I was concerned about whether i could reach the clubhouse on time. At 6 am, Dear and myself wanted to catch a taxi but the street was so quiet. In the end, i made a decision to take 6:07 am first train to Harbourfront. I think it should be faster than taking a cab.
We reached Harbourfront at 6.35 am, already saw Derrick past by the Harbourfront busstop. Reached the clubhouse by 6.50 am, just in time for the run. First group already ran at 6.15 am and second group at 6.40 am. I did a light stretching before embarking on the 40 km route. It was about 7 am by then. I asked Jackie to go ahead with a faster pace and i sat behind as i seen to be recovering from the Friday's training. I slowed down my pace, the slowest pace i had done for whole 3 months of training, 5:10 min/km - 40 sec off from my marathon pace.
Passed by Keppel Rd and the sun seemed to be coming out but luckily it did not. The 5 km mark was before Anson Rd, the time was 25 min 54 sec. A real slow, controlled and ease pace, my body temperature was not really warmed up. Met up Shirley, Wong and Yuen at Shenton Way - they were enjoying themselves, chatting along the way. APEC meeting made Esplanade street real quiet, every vehicle may have to go through scanning. The 10 km mark at Nicol Highway was 51 min 22 sec, still on a 5 min/km pace. Wen Long was very kind to support us at B1, passing us the precious 100 plus. It was then 1 hr 16 min for me, 7 min off my usual pace. It was really comfortable, seemed like just started running, probably helped by the weather. Met the first group of runners coming back from the opposite direction, TH, Derrick, Lai Chee, Julie, Peter, Michael and Ivy. Overtook Small Chua and Andrew at MacDonald, Small Chua said that i was running too fast. But i did not think so. At times, i was questioning whether i was eating snake (trying to be lazy). I made the big U-turn at Cable Ski, met some of the familar faces like Benny, Eddie and Sumiko. I saw Dear at MacDonald, Wow! That was 35 km u-turn point, i was really proud of her. Her endurance is really superb despite of suffering blisters on her toes. She made a u-turn after seeing me, or else i think she would proceed to the Cable Ski. I couldn't company her for this run as i was chasing my own. I took the second 100 plus from Wen Long and bought Sportswater at SPC Fort Rd. I was still on 5 min/km all the way, very comfortable and no sign of struggling this time round. Final stop at Anson Rd 7-11, bought my favourite Gatorade. Then proceeded on with confident, totally enjoying this run.
I reached the clubhouse with a time of 3 hr 38 min 2 sec (including all the traffic stops and drink stops). It was one of my most enjoyable run ever and i was sure that many runners shared my sentiment as they were simply faster this week.
15th November 2009. Distance: 40 km. Time: 3 hr 38 min 2 sec
November 13 Hong Kong Marathon 2010Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2010 ... Here i come ... i am back ... Tiger year is mine.
 Canterbury - Kent Ridge HillThe weather was kind to us again, rain stopped before the run. Just great for a run, cool surrounding although the ground was wet. Melvin would lead us today, 3 loops around Kent Ridge hill, entering from Canterbury. The turnout was around 20, not like the old times where there was a huge turnout. But i prefer to have it small, easier to train. Even the whole Singapore sleeps at home, i will always have a date with MF hill on Tues & Thursday. May the MF hill give me the strength and honour on the race day.
What's my training plan today? Slow on flat, hard on slope. I basically ran at ease all the way to Kent Ridge hill. From there, i started to go hard on the slope. Trying to work out my weakness on the slope. As i ran each 1 km loop, i started to enjoy more and went for an extra loop at the end. Then I ran back slowly, waiting for Dear at Canterbury. We chit-chat all the way back to the clubhouse. Distance completed was about 13 km. My timing was 7 min faster than 2 weeks ago on the same route. Seemed to recover from the fever liao. We will see how on Sunday when i attempt the 40 km run.
12th Nov 2009. Distance: 13 km. Time: 1 hr 17 min 55 sec
November 11 MF hill loops x 6, MF staircase x 4I had found a weakness in my hill running 2 weeks ago. As Melvin had planned the MF hill, it was a chance for me to address the weakness. Just that, i just recovered from my fever. I feel alright, fresh legs but heart still not ready for a hard workout. I tried my best, tagged behind Wen Long for first 3 sets. Then suddenly cannot see him, he was running at 6:40 min/loop. That's incredible pace! I had not seen TH or Joshua did this kind of pace before.
1st loop: 6:58
2nd loop: 6:56
3rd loop: 7:13
4th loop: 7:22
5th loop: 7:05
6th loop (until staircase): 4:20
I could be dreaming on the 4th set, clocking below avg time. Overall, it was a good comeback from fever. I did 1 staircase and followed Dear back to the clubhouse on the second set.
10th Nov 2009.
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