Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2011

For the same race last year I can still remember I clocked a chip time of around 48mins, which is even slower than my timing clocked during the first edition of Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2009, as last year I was recovering from Appendix operation thus my fitness level was really poor. Anyway, just don’t seem to be able to do well for this event despite that it has always been well organized. However unlike my most 10k races, this one had a couple of up and down hills which is probably why it is tougher to achieve good timing.

  

Into the third year of Yellow Ribbon Run I felt rather relax and with no pressure for a PB although having miss out on Nike We 10k SG registration this will most likely be my last 10k race for year 2011. It is a race with more for the intent of my unfinished task set during 10 July 2011 Jurong Lake Run, as back then I failed to run a proper race.

The race started at almost 7:45am as I was among the early pace setters followed closely behind the elites I managed to complete my first 1km in 4:17min/km before I decide to slow down as I wouldn’t want to make the same mistake again during Jurong Lake Run. Well overall I was still feeling good with 4:21min/km for the second km. This time I was determined to keep a consistent pace throughout regardless if it is uphill or downhill.

Soon the real test came as I reached Loyang Way where it was an uphill run nearing the 3km mark, it was where my pace dropped to 4:37min/km before I managed to pick up again with a pace of 4:23min/km during the downhill portion somewhere at Cosford Road. I managed to round up fifth km in 4:30min/km which consists of both up and down route. Overall the split for the 1st 5km was a good one at 22:08min.

The 6km mark consist of a mild up and down slope which soon leads to the U-turn along Tanah Merah Besar Road. It was motivating here as I could still see some elites doing the U-turn, so glad I was not too slow behind and with that I rounded up 6km in 4:24min/km.

Towards 7km I was running along the flat Changi North Way which was less straining but as usual I was slowing down as it I had already covered 2/3 of the race and probably the earlier up and down terrain was tiring.

The 8km uphill run along Upper Changi Road North was made tougher as I was also nearing the end. It was at this point that my pace dropped to a slow 4:48min/km. It was just too bad that I could not seize the opportunity to close in on my “pacer Chiang” as I realized he was slowing down too.

The 9km downhill run within the Changi Prision Complex was great as I tried really hard to run faster but could only clocked 4:35min/km, guess I was really too exhausted.

Finally it came the last uphill run where I just went all out breathing really hard and at the last U-turn point I know I was almost there with around 300metres to go before I finally rounded up my last 10km in 4:15min/km.

As expected the 2nd half of the 5km split was slower at 22:37min where as compared to the 1st half it was 22:08min. Despite of that, it was however a good race as the PB achieved over a hilly route. The almost identical 5k split was a good point to note and also keeping pace with my “pacer” helped me finally achieved a sub 45mins 10k.

NAME:	KENNETH GOH
EVENT:	10km
DATE:	18 September, 2011
BIB/DIV:	10278 / M 30-39
TIME:	45m:7s (gun) / 44m:51s (net)

Split	Time	Moving Time	Distance	Elevation Gain	Elevation Loss	Avg Pace
1	4:16.9	4:15.0	1.00	0	8	4:16.9
2	4:21.3	4:22.0	1.00	4	6	4:21.3
3	4:37.2	4:38.0	1.00	15	0	4:37.2
4	4:22.9	4:17.0	1.00	0	7	4:22.9
5	4:30.2	4:30.0	1.00	10	15	4:30.2
6	4:24.3	4:24.0	1.00	8	8	4:24.3
7	4:35.2	4:35.0	1.00	0	0	4:35.2
8	4:47.8	4:48.0	1.00	12	0	4:47.8
9	4:35.1	4:35.0	1.00	3	13	4:35.1
10	4:15.0	4:16.0	1.00	17	9	4:15.0
11	:9.9	:10.0	0.06	0	0	2:40.3
Summary	44:56.0	44:50.0	10.06	68	65	4:27.9

5k split

Lap (5km)	Time (min)	Avg Pace (min/km)
0-5	22:08	4:26
6-10	22:37	4:31

Army Half Marathon 2011

It is finally 4th September 2011, here comes the annual Army Half-marathon that I have been waiting and training for months. As I managed to go sub 4:45min/km for KL Half-marathon, I was hopeful that I can do it again for the Army Half-marathon and hopefully I can finally do a sub 100min Half-marathon, a target which I agonizingly missed 3 months ago by 38secs during the KL Half-marathon.

The race strategy of 4:45min/km pace throughout should be realistic for me to achieve my target provided that the distance is accurate and of course the nature of the route where I am allowed to stay on a fast lane running alongside runners of my pace. Last but not least is my condition and the weather, guess it should not be an issue since the race will start early at 5:15am where it is usually cooling.

Soon as the race started, I was doing fine, kept myself well hydrated and apart from the initial 600 meters of heavy traffic where I had irregular pace, I soon settled down to my intended race pace and registered with a time of 24:10min for my first 5k and only 25secs behind my target time of 23:45min.

The running pace from 5km to 10km was more consistent as I managed to clock 23:42min and rounded up my 10km in a good time of 48:02mins. But somehow I just could not find my form as I was feeling tired fast with heavy legs. Perhaps running through the grass patches at Tanjong Rhu area do play a part in breaking my momentum. somehow I just could not recover and as expected my pace continues to deteriorate to almost 5min/km before I finally completed 15km in 72:34min, which is 24:32min for the third set of 5km (10km to 15km) and disappointingly with a slow average pace of 4:54min/km!

As I was really slow from 10km to 15km, my thought of achieving or at least equaling my PB timing would be a really difficult task unless I can really start up my pace. As I tried to motivate myself to run faster, at 16km and 17km I managed to up my pace a little at 4:47min/km and 4:49min/km and was feeling great before I reaches the dreadful Fort Canning uphill, hard as I try and determine not to slow down but I could do nothing as the uphill run was draining a lot of my energy, felt breathless and heavy legs my pace again dropped to a slow 4:54min/km.

At 19km I made my last attempt to go all out but could only manage a 4:50min/km pace and as I sense I was nearing the finishing point, I ran as fast as I could at 4:32min/km to round up 20km. But at the turn after 20km I was really surprised to see the finish point within my sight before I ran as fast as I could across and was wondering why is my Garmin only showing 20:22km?

Based on my Garmin I managed to clock 1:37:18hr (Chip time) for the Army Half Marathon but soon after the race, somehow I was feeling moody or rather depressed as I the distance is obviously wrong. It was supposed to be a PB but no and not with such a poor average pace of 4:48min/km! I was hoping that I could at least equaled my PB and with 800m to go it is now something which I can never be sure if I will ever be able to do it!

I was confident that I will be able to keep up with my half-marathon pace of 4:45min/km, however I soon realized that it was wishful thinking as I only lasted 10km.

Post race findings:
1) I could have make the mistake of having too much for breakfast, as I felt my body can digest the food in time but with every step I was feeling heavy and it could be why I could not find the form to run.

2) The hill after 17km was a killer where it came at the wrong time when I was about to run faster, it was at this point that my stamina was instead further drained out.


EVENT: Half Marathon
DATE: 4 September, 2011
BIB/DIV:   5911 / Mens Open
TIME: 1h:38m:4s (gun) / 1h:37m:17s (net)



5k Spit

Lap (5km)	Time (min)	Avg Pace (min/km)
0-5	24:10	4:50
6-10	23:42	4:44
11-15	24:32	4:54
16-20	23:52	4:46
20-20.22	00:52	3:59

Split	Time	Moving Time	Distance	Elevation Gain	Elevation Loss	Avg Pace
1	4:49.4	4:43.0	1.00	39	5	4:49.4
2	5:07.9	4:55.0	1.00	32	23	5:07.9
3	4:45.0	4:41.0	1.00	0	30	4:45.0
4	4:48.0	4:41.0	1.00	0	8	4:48.0
5	4:41.9	4:41.0	1.00	7	7	4:41.9
6	4:43.0	4:41.0	1.00	17	19	4:43.0
7	4:41.1	4:38.0	1.00	5	7	4:41.1
8	4:52.8	4:46.0	1.00	4	2	4:52.8
9	4:43.7	4:41.0	1.00	16	12	4:43.7
10	4:43.3	4:44.0	1.00	9	16	4:43.3
11	4:50.6	4:46.0	1.00	8	17	4:50.6
12	4:56.0	4:56.0	1.00	6	1	4:56.0
13	4:57.4	4:57.0	1.00	12	16	4:57.4
14	4:55.8	4:56.0	1.00	15	0	4:55.8
15	4:54.8	4:49.0	1.00	8	16	4:54.8
16	4:47.8	4:49.0	1.00	16	12	4:47.8
17	4:49.3	4:46.0	1.00	35	24	4:49.3
18	4:54.0	4:51.0	1.00	9	22	4:54.0
19	4:50.9	4:48.0	1.00	98	22	4:50.9
20	4:32.6	4:32.0	1.00	97	139	4:32.6
21	:52.7	:50.0	0.22	0	28	3:59.6
Summary	1:37:18.9	1:36:11.0	20.22	434	427	4:48.7