Sundown Marathon 2011 (21km)

It was back to back races for consecutively 2 weeks, last week’s PAssion run was more of a race to gauge my half marathon pace as I was running without any strategy, perhaps the only strategy was to go all out at below 5:00min/km and to run as fast as I could. I was glad that my average pace was 4:56min/km for 25km and it was achieved despite that I never train under the hot afternoon sun at 4:30pm. As for Sundown marathon (1/2 marathon) which will start at 8pm, I had high hopes of a better timing as the distance will be shorter then Passion run. Hopefully a 1h 40min finish is realistic as I aimed to run at an even pace of 4:45min/km.

This will be my fourth year doing Sundown Marathon and only started taking half marathon since last year, still remember I did not train for that race and so did not do well with a 1:52hr finish. It will again be another boring race on almost the same boring route as last week’s race where part of the route was also on Changi Coast Road, the only different been the location of the starting and ending point. However it will still be a good race for a PB on a straight flat route with 14km to and fro along Changi Coast Road.

The race started sharply at 8pm, as it was crowded at the start I had to wave in and out to overtake slower runners before I finally get to settle down to my intended race pace. My first 1km was 4:42min/km, feeling good and I was doing fine and unknowingly it was the end of Aviation Park Road at around 3km before I did a left turn into Changi Coast Road. At 5km mark my average pace over the first 5km was at about 4:44min/km, I was surprised and disappointed that I was feeling tired so early in the race, no sure if it helps if I rehydrate myself enough just before the start of the race where I had my 3km warm up run.

After 5km I had to change my initial race strategy, I decide to slow down to just below 5:00min/km pace and was hoping that I can recover fast. But instead I got more tired, it was just not possible to up my pace and from 6km to 10km I could only managed an average pace of 4:53min/km. At around 11km u-turn point I decide to stop at NSRCC water point for a short 15secs walk so that I can rehydrate myself properly, and there goes my 1:40 aim too!

After the NSRCC u-turn point glad that at least I am now on my way back and again at Changi Coast Road it was almost 12km, I knew after this stretch of 7km it will be around 18km to 19km and with only 2km to go! The short break helps as I managed to keep my pace at 4:50min/km till 14km before I started to feel really tired again, with my pace also slightly off 5:00min/km. I tried to up my pace again as I tried to catch some runners passing me running at 4:50min/km pace, initially it was tough but somehow from 16km to 18km I was feeling less tired, perhaps I finally get over my “pain barrer”? Soon after Changi Coast Road I felt motivated as it was 4km to go, I decide reserve some energy and my pace then was around 4:51min/km. It was very tough after 18km as my pace started to drop again, just could not up my pace and at 20km I was slowing down to a slow 5:12min/km, guess my earlier efforts were really hard and I had max out all energy with no reserve left. It was only with 1km left before I finally managed to pick up my pace again to 4:47min/km, dig deep for any remaining energy reserves and gradually up my pace to cross the finishing line.

It is another hard earned PB with over 90% effort, (now needed to recover from strain muscles) during the race I was tempted to slow down and stop more than once, glad that I did not and was determined not to. The race after 5km was tougher after failing to stick to my initiate race plan. I was disappointed that I could not keep up with 4:45min/km and was forced to slow down after only 5km, perhaps really still no ready for sub 1:40 finish. But glad that it did not kill my race, and through sheer mental strength I never gave up going for sub 5:00min/km pace from 6km onwards.

Date: Saturday 28th May 2011

Event: Sundown Marathon 2011

Gun Time: 01:43:18

Chip Time: 01:42:45

Avg Pace: 4:52min/km

5k Split

Lap (5km)	Time (min)	Avg Pace (min/km)
0-5	23:40	4:44
6-10	24:26	4:53
11-15	24:52	4:58
16-20	24:46	4:57
21-21.05	04:56	4:42

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 01:42:51 21.05 04:53 1 00:04:42 1.00 04:42 2 00:04:48 1.00 04:48 3 00:04:42 1.00 04:42 4 00:04:41 1.00 04:41 5 00:04:47 1.00 04:47 6 00:04:53 1.00 04:53 7 00:04:53 1.00 04:53 8 00:04:55 1.00 04:55 9 00:04:51 1.00 04:51 10 00:04:54 1.00 04:54 11 00:05:10 1.00 05:10 12 00:04:49 1.00 04:49 13 00:04:50 1.00 04:50 14 00:05:04 1.00 05:04 15 00:04:59 1.00 04:59 16 00:04:50 1.00 04:50 17 00:04:52 1.00 04:52 18 00:04:52 1.00 04:52 19 00:05:00 1.00 05:00 20 00:05:12 1.00 05:12 21 00:04:47 1.00 04:47 22 00:00:09 0.05 03:32

100 Plus PAssion Run 2011

It was a race running on familiar route, almost like my usual weekend LSD but instead of doing a u-turn at Fort Road I was needed to do a u-turn near ECP MacDonald. For races I would usually look forward to running at new places with new sceneries, although it was boring to run the old same route again but I think it would help me in my race. I still have bad memories of last year’s race that I did badly as I was recovering from Appendicitis, it was a race that ended up as a walk and run session. This year I aim to do better and hopefully I can go below 2hrs.

As I opted for the first wave I was with most of the elite runners, notably top local runners such as Mok Ying Ren, Anne Date and Sumiko Tan were all around me. It was almost 4:30pm before the race started, as I was running I started looking out for some “Pacers” around me the first runner I notice was Chin KK from Jurong Safra, I tried to follow him but soon both of us slowed down as we were running too fast for the first km at about 4:14min/km. As I still felt strong, I decide to move on and overtake him and soon I was surprise to see Sumiko Tan who was just about 10 meters ahead of me. It was then that I decide that she will be my pacer, I thought it would be a challenge if I can keep up with her pace and I was wondering how long can I do so?

Apart from the first km I was running at around 4:35min/km pace and one of the leading front runners and by 5km I only took 22:24min. I myself was surprise as it was too fast and still a long way to go but so far so good as I still want I can keep up with her pace. It was at about 7km before I started to slow down and soon loses sight of her and by then I started to feel tired so I decide to slow down to just below 5min/km pace. I was slowing down from 7km onwards and by 10km my pace was a slow 5:11min/km, but despite of that I was really surprised that it only took me 47mins to complete 10km, obviously why I was getting tired. It was at about the same time that I see Sumiko Tan again as she was walking at water points near NSRCC and I managed to close the gap on her as I followed closely behind, soon at another water point after NSRCC I managed to overtake her when she started walking again to rehydrate herself, guess the hot weather could have taken the toll on her too.

At 12km it was the usual long boring Changi Coastal Road stretch and my pace was getting really slow, not too pleased with my more than 5min/km pace but nothing I could do except only to hope that I can recover fast enough while at the same time not running too slow. It was not surprisingly the split for the third 5k was really slow at 25:50min. It was with 15km behind me that I tried to motivate myself, I was telling myself only 10km left and now u-turning back at Changi Coastal Road towards ECP!!! Along the way back I tried to up my pace to go below 5min/km, didn’t managed to do so only until I was almost reaching NSRCC again but then I my faster pace could not last for more than 2km. By 20km onwards my pace was again slow and erratic and with 5km left I was struggling, so I planned to conserve some energy for the final 3km for the final push, but somehow I just could not recover in time and can just try to run as fast as I could. The final 1km was hell which I finally managed to finish strongly.

It was a race which I did not really set a pace to run at and was pacing myself over my limit in my attempt to follow faster runners ahead. The first half of my race was definitely too fast while the race after 10km was more of a recovery for me. My subsequent effort to step up my pace fails as I was totally drained out. Overall it was poor race strategy which ended with a positive split when I should really try to go for even or negative split. As always I was too ambitious, but glad that I still managed an average pace of 4:56min/km and came in 45th for Men’s Open Category.

Nr	Bib	Name	GunStart	TimeStart	ChipFinish	GunFinish	Remark
45	12451	Goh Hiong Hong	16:28:55.50	16:29:04.50	02:02:32.50	02:02:41.50	Tag 10426

Lap (5km)	Time (min)	Avg Pace (min/km)
0-5	22:24	4:28
6-10	24:25	4:53
11-15	25:50	5:10
16-20	25:24	5:05
21-25	25:21	5:04

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 02:02:34 24.77 04:56 1 00:04:14 1.00 04:14 2 00:04:23 1.00 04:23 3 00:04:34 1.00 04:34 4 00:04:34 1.00 04:34 5 00:04:39 1.00 04:39 6 00:04:39 1.00 04:39 7 00:04:46 1.00 04:46 8 00:04:50 1.00 04:50 9 00:04:59 1.00 04:59 10 00:05:11 1.00 05:11 11 00:05:08 1.00 05:08 12 00:05:03 1.00 05:03 13 00:05:17 1.00 05:17 14 00:05:14 1.00 05:14 15 00:05:08 1.00 05:08 16 00:05:07 1.00 05:07 17 00:05:20 1.00 05:20 18 00:04:50 1.00 04:50 19 00:04:43 1.00 04:43 20 00:05:24 1.00 05:24 21 00:05:13 1.00 05:13 22 00:05:21 1.00 05:21 23 00:05:17 1.00 05:17 24 00:04:56 1.00 04:56 25 00:03:32 0.77 04:34