k r i s a n d r o

I had a nice running session yesterday, doing something called a Fartlek. Yes I know how horrible sounding it is but it’s not a condition whereby one passes air uncontrollably. It is actually “speedplay” in Swedish and when I am doing it, it looks as though someone is chasing after me with 10-inch dildo every other kilometre.

KuKuNehNeh had a 4-5km run to prepare her for her 10km run over this weekend at Adidas Sundown and after ending our sessions and a dinner afterwards, we plonked ourselves in the car, preparing to drive off and head home. By the way, she drives and I don’t. Times have changed. *wink*

She released the handbrake and proceeded to look out for traffic as her left hand reached out for the gear stick and she found my sweaty right knee instead.

Half laughing and half trying to drive, she and I started one of our fake quarrels which involve bad Singlish and the raising of ones voice with an irritated tone to it.

“Wah lau! Leg open so big for what?”

“Leg open big cannot meh? I got Dua Lumpa what!”

“WAH LAU!!! LUMPA SO BIG FOR WHAT?”

And then we both break out in uncontrollable laughter. Life is full of great little moments.

[Image by darkmatter]

Deciding on taking part in my 1st marathon this year has made me trawl through the internet like a hungry hard drive on a data rampage. There are so many things to read about and to learn amidst all the ‘Enter if you are 18′ sites.

I realize I treat the marathon training just like how I treat my gadgets; I always read the manual first, play with it, and then read even more about it online. I think it’s so much efficient this way rather then just slipping into a pair of shoes and running off without an aim and ways to collect statistics for reference. The more I read, the more I understand how similar/different of a level I am with other runners. The more I know about my own body from the statistical data I collect, the better I can plan for my future runs to ensure maximum efficiency.

There is really a wealth of things to learn if one is really interested like me. The right type of attire, the type of shoes for the type of feet, the proper diet, the training schedules, the training types, the breathing techniques, the running techniques, the appropriate running pace, heart rate zones and the list can go on and on and I am still discovering new things as I trudge along.

There is no doubt that a better runner can come along and tell me that knowing all the above is useless knowing that he/she is better/more experienced than me but the point is that by training with science and the proper knowledge, I decrease my chances of injury while maximizing my own potential within the shortest amount of time.

I will be experimenting on myself (sounds weird. I know) with everything I have learnt and share with you guys as I move along.

10km training run coming up today!

The plan on Sunday morning was for me to go to the stadium to do my interval training while KuKuNehNeh goes swimming at the complex nearby but she was feeling uncomfortable from the you-know-what. I estimated that I would take an hour at most to finish my intervals and other exercises and we would meet at the market at 10am for breakfast.

The sun was blindingly hot even at 9am that day and the training was quite the killer even when I manage to meet all my goals. The drawback was that I took quite some time to recover before proceeding to the other exercises. It’s pointless to try to do chin-ups when I am constantly catching my breath from the runs and so I underestimated the time taken and was 20mins late to the market. I didn’t have my phone with me as I packed light for the training and I saw KKNN walking towards me from the market with a face of contorted emotions that spoke of worry and anger.

“Sorry Dear~! I’m late…” I spoke and gulped for oxygen and saliva for the fear of a woman having PMS.

“Wah lau! You make me WORRIED lor! Why you so late?”

“Sorry lar, I estimated the time wrongly and I took longer than expected.”

“I waited so long lor! I thought you might have fainted from the training or got knocked down by a car!”

“Haha! Sorry lar!”

“WAH LAU~~!!! I very hungry lor~! I wanted to order first and I realize how wrong it may be if I was eating chicken rice while you were dying in the hospital!”

“WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!”

It’s kind of cute to see the gf worry like that but I really should start to think of bringing my phone along for runs or at least give more time to play with for my estimations. The last thing I would want is for an exhausted me to take a beating for making her worry or for me to die while she enjoys a plate of chicken rice.

It’s week 2 of my training and things are going smooth so far. I’ve clocked 30km so far with a good mix of interval training, quick and long runs. I also managed to keep quite strictly to the schedule without affecting my social life. Or maybe the schedule didn’t affect it because I wasn’t having a social life anyway. Haha!

I did face a little obstacle last Friday on the day for my 8km long run. I made a brisk 10min walk to the stadium beside Yio Chu Kang MRT from KuKuNehNeh’s place and to my horror, the stadium was closed for a rugby event. Not wanting to spend another 10-15 mins walking to Bishan Park for the run, I unwillingly spent $1 for a towel and $2.50 for entry to the nearby gym. And for those who knew that I nearly blacked out from a treadmill last year, it took a lot of desperation for me to decide to run on the ‘belt of doom’.

I had already planned to run a 6min/km pace and programmed it on the treadmill to only find it weird that I am exerting more effort than a 5min/km pace on the roads/tracks. Not sure whether to listen to my body or the treadmill, I decide to stick to the latter and continued jogging while I sped away. Another thing I hate about the treadmill is that while the display indicates that I am running pretty far away, I am still seeing the reflections of the same few guys admiring their muscles as they pump iron in the gym. So much for having good scenery during runs and clearing my mind.

As I approached the 3km mark according to the display, I really felt that the treadmill was vastly inaccurate as I am panting and losing energy faster than I should for a 6min/km pace. I eventually broke down mentally and ended the session after 26mins of running with no correct indication of how far I actually ran. Only fact is that I definitely did not meet my 8km goal and it was both frustrating and tiring at the same time.

Treadmills are seriously not my thing. It is troublesome to change the pace constantly. It is uncomfortable to run in an air-conditioned environment. The stationary view screws the brain up as I jog. The inaccuracy of the treadmill. The vast difference of feel on the belt and on the track/road.

[Image by zebra.paperclip]

I am swearing off treadmills for good.