New Balance Real Run 2009

This is an event which I have participated for 3 consecutive years, the 1st one been a 10km race which is also my 1st competitive race and somehow I always don't do well for Real Run, probably due to the terrain, especially the trail, sand and runway where it is really hot towards the end of the race.

This year the race again started at 7:30am and same as last year the same experience returns as running on trail I started to feel tired fast and only after the 3km mark but this time round I am determine not to walk but just slowed down slightly, make sure I am not too far off my 5min/km pace. Soon as I leave the trail running route, I feels really glad to be on the roads but it is also time for recovery, the idea then is just to recover and run as fast as I can. It is definately more enjoyable to run along the park connectors and Changi Coastal Road where I can better "feel" my pace. But somehow my recovery is slow and I am not able to maintain my 5min/km pace, to make things worse as I reached the sand my pace get slower. It is tiring to run on sand, I was hoping that I can run faster after the sand as it will be just 3km to go, but again I could not run any faster as I felt the need to recover and with the glaring sunlight shining into my eyes it is difficult to run faster. It is only until the last 1km before I can push myself all the way to finish strongly.

I am 3 mins off my target time of 1hr 15mins, which is an average pace of 5min/km. However I struggled to maintain the same kind of pace on trail and sand. Wonder if it helps to run slower on such terrains and only pickup pace only on runways? Overall not a good result and again a positive splits towards the end.

Garmin watch distance: 15.04 km__Time: 01:18:57min__Pace: 05:14 min/km
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for NEW BALANCE REAL RUN 2009