Songs for Running

There are some songs which have really great tunes for running, but the lyrics are less inspiring!

Example:
"Here I Go Again" - Whitesnake

And here I go again on my own
Goin down the only road Ive ever known,
Like a hobo* I was born to walk alone
And Ive made up my mind
I aint wasting no more time

"Run" - Collective Soul


Have I got a long way to run
Have I got a long way to run
Yeah, I run

But I still love these tunes and would listen to them when running!

Let the Run Begin!

Where Olympics end, I begin. Embarked on my first long distance run today...I completed 20km! Hurrah! After an absence from long distance training it wasn't too bad.WOke up at about 6.10am..decided I didnt want to run too early since it was another lone ranger run and i didn't want to run in the dark.By the time I packed the water bottles for my running belt, get the power gel and prepare the change of clothes, it was about 6.30am already.

Went to Bukit Aman...was relieved to see other runners, and slow ones too! Started my run at about 6.45am, after warm up. Managed to overtake some runners, there was a girl whose running belt kept coming off. I'm so glad my running belt stayed on for the whole run and didnt come off like it did for the Great Eastern run. My belt looks like it's deteriorating..first of all it's loose (always has been) and I have to fold fold the belt before i stick on the velcro. Secondly, I think all the sweat got into the zipper and it got rusted.Cant zip it!But I really do like this one..it's an Adidas one and the bottles are quite slim and there's 4 of them so the weight is evenly distributed around the waist compared the the Nike one which has 3 chunky bottles.

By the time I hit about 4km, it rained on my parade!! I thought oh no, it's gonna pour and it will be hard for me to see as I was wearing my glasses (with Transitions lenses) and not contact lenses.BUt good thing it jsut rained lightly for a while, and then it subsided. BY the time I hit about 8km My legs were beginning to fatigue, and i thought, i;m not even halfway through the run. But thanks to some inspiring music I managed to push on. I don't normally use an MP3 player when I'm running, because you dont get bored when you're with friends, but when you're on your own it gets a bit boring. Fueled myself with 100 plus and Power gel (i love the raspberry one!) at 10km I felt so refreshed.Continued my run, but alas, the MP3 battery died at 11th km. Good thing I am quite used to running without music so it was allright.

At 18th km, as I was struggling uphill, I saw some cyclists going downhill. I had to of course,maintain good posture and make myself look like it was just a breeze! But honestly, although my legs felt like jello at the end, it wasn't that bad.

And now, after the run I am craving for prawn mee!!!

Lone Ranger Run

Everybody was away so I had to run alone today. And bunion felt close to normal this morning. Hurrah! It was definitely the old shoes that caused it..Four days using my Asics and it feels a lot better. Haven't used much of my new orthotics though - maybe I will used them tomorrow since I won't be running. Did an extra 0.5km today....just that little bit uphill was enough to kill me.

Oh and I signed up for the Mizuno run....absolutely love the shirt! Even Ragu signed up before I did!

On the Road to Singapore...hopefully

Wah! There was actually fresh new fluffy towels at Celebrity Fitness. Although judging from the stack of towels they had, I am not sure if it would sustain them past 10am..unless they bring in fresh new laundered towels.

Bunion feels a lot better today..although left foot felt a bit stiff when I got out of bed, however when I started running it began to feel better.Did 3.5km on the treadmill...I think I am kinda inspired now from the Olympics...not just from watching the marathon and athletics, but ESPN has also been showing a series of triathlons and Ironman competitions.On Monday they showed the Specs Savers Ironman South Sfrica competition..there was a blind man competing, with someone guiding him of course..can you imagine swimming when you're blind? I cant even swim a straight line with my eyes open!

I am so behind in my training schedule, i really have to do something about it this weekend. I really pray my foot will be able to endure all that thumping...Also did back exercises today.

Taking it Easy

Woke up feeling rather tired, tempted to skip my outdoor run but decided that I needed it(I'm the Queen of Stubbornness) Left bunion not feeling on top of the world, but I took it easy. The pain seemed to have eased off by going slow, however the surrounding area felt a bit sore but not painful. Did a slow 5.5km run, and only in the last 1km I picked up (a little ) pace. Heart felt in good condition but just a little hampered by the foot.

After the run my left foot felt much better, although a little sore on the top of my foot. Soaked my foot in warm water with a few drops of lavender oil and massaged it with Voltaren after that.

Hope the soreness subsides by tomorrow.

Blistering Bunion!

Changed to my Asics runners today..sigh the pain is still there, however it's not sesamoiditis. It's my bunion acting up again. SOmetimes I just feel like having it sawn off...It's really painful and I was suffering after 3km. On Voltaren now.

And I havent even started my marathon training. Sigh.

Sesamoid Street

I think I've got sesamoiditis on my left toe.It hurts after running a while, and if I push on, I start to get shin splints.

Well I hope that by changing to my new Asics tomorrow the pain will be alleviated. My Hurricane 7 HAS seen better times.

Motivated or Discouraged?

There. I've finished watching the women's marathon. I am not so sure if I feel motivated or discouraged now!! I am just so amazed how Tomescu Dita maintained her lead for half the race without looking too tired! She was in top form, didn't show any signs of major fatigue while the runners in the chase group were already looking so tired. Initially they focused so much on Tosa (Japan) and I could feel her pain. I probably look like that at 5km mark!

I think the marathon seems more daunting now than when I first did it. Maybe it's fears of not being able to beat my previous time. Rightfully runners should run each race as its own and not compare with other races, as weather conditions and other factors could be different (eg form may not be the same etc)I seriously doubt if i can run any faster than my previous....what more I haven't been training.

ALso, I've noticed that the best runners are in their mid 30s! oh woe, what is happening to me? ONly seem to be going downhill!

Tomescu Dita finished in 2:26:44, which is like my half marathon time! But I am really glad that Ndereba came in 2nd at 2:27:06 and very very happy that China's Zhu came in 3rd although I would have liked her to be in second place. Paula Radcliffe struggled in the last few kms with some cramps, but I am glad that she finished her race regardless, unlike the last Olympics.

My friend reminded me though, that I should look at Paula's feat for inspiration, that she completed the race although in a poor position - and that is what marks a true competitor, not just a runner.

I need more inspiration!

Goodbye Hurricane 7

Ah! Beautiful morning! Got up at about 6.45am and went for a run at the beach. It was nice and quiet, nobody on the beach except God, me and the quiet sea breeze.As I ran further down there were many large hermit crabs scurrying. I'll bet I was like Gojira to them (Godzilla - i've always preferred using the Japanese name as I think it is much cuter!) I was desperately trying to catch some snapshots of them, but I guess that hermit (as the name suggests - DUH!) crabs and I are quite the same - we flee when we see people!Everytime they felt my thunderous footsteps they would either retreat back into their hole or into the sea.

It was hard to see the sunrise as it was a pretty cloudy day.I ran no more than 2km before my shoes fell apart!The outer sole of my Saucony Hurricane 7 came off.Oh my faithful Hurricane 7! This is the same model that took me through my last marathon.Guess I will have to say goodbye now..

Exercise on holiday

Am at Kuantan Swiss Garden hotel. It's a lovely place! Lovely beach. Was planning a beach run this morning - nice firm sand - alas, it rained so heavily this morning. Decided to go to the gym instead. Not bad, it's a decent sized gym. Most hotels just have 1 cardio machine and 1 multi station but this one had 2 bicycles, 1 stepper, 1 treadmill, Lat machine, Leg extension, Leg curl, bench press, shoulder press, rowing machine, chest press. It's managed by Sports Lab though.

Marathon Schedule

THought I was late in my training schedule. BUt when I worked out the schedule, I think I can still make it on time for the marathon..at an ok pace(well I think so)

Aug 16 15km
Aug 23 15km
Aug 30 20km
Sep 6 20km
Sep 13 20km
Sep 20 24km
Sep 27 24km
Oct 4 28km
Oct 11 28km
Oct 18 30km
Oct 25 30km
Nov 1 32km
Nov 8 35km
Nov 15 20km
Nov 22 15km
Nov 29 10km
DEC 7 BIG DAY - 42.195km

Keeping my fingers crossed. Desperately need motivation. Sigh.

Dates to remember

need to mark out these dates for athletics at the Olympics:

Aug 15-24 2008

Marathon women: August 17 (Sun 7.30am)
Marathon men: August 24 (Sun 7.30am)

Penang Bridge run has just been reinstated on the Nov 16 2008.Alas, it wont be this year for me - too close to Singapore marathon!

Celebrity Fitness SUCKS

I've said this before and I'll say it again:

CELEBRITY FITNESS SUCKS.

Big time.

Ok this is a bit delayed - it happened on Wednesday but I thought I needed to blog about it since Celebrity Fitness really sucks. ON Wednesday, after my workout they had no more towels! At 8am in the morning! What kind of a gym is that? At least Fitness First doesnt provide towels, but Celebrity provides towels and they ran out at 8am in the morning??? Mind you this is the second time it's happened. Good thing I stay near the gym. I mean, what if I lived in Shah Alam and worked in Bangsar?? I'd have to drive ALL THE WAY home to shower and back to work again.

So later I decided to call the manager. Guess what? The manager wasn't in. Take a guess why. He had to go to 1 Utama Celebrity to collect the towels!! *slap forehead* Is that dumb or what. Totally unacceptable. NOt only that but since I joined the gym early last year, it has been at least 7-8 occassions where they gym opened only at 7am when it was supposed to open at 6am. Die hard gym members like me had to wait 45 mins to an hour for the stupid gym to open.

They should call it Cameo Fitness, coz we definitely are not treated like celebrities.

Losing It

Good thing the haze wasn't so bad this morning. But I am really losing it - can't seem to keep up with my runs these days. Even Ragu is running faster than me. Been feeling a bit weak and have to go at a real slow pace. Even doing a 5.5km run this morning I was having difficulty. Could not keep up with Ragu. And I haven't even done 10km....how am i going to fare for a marathon?

What's happening to me? Is age really taking a toll on me?

Samson hair

Not only did I lose weight fmo the haircut but I also lost my strength. My long hair must have had some kind of Samson effect - I felt terribly weak this morning, and was so tired after a 7km run.

I'm just being dramatic..actually I was just feeling anaemic.

Weight Loss from haircut!

While I was getting my haircut yesterday, I browsed through some Hello magazines. Found out that Ronan Keating completed the London Marathon in 3:59!! Gordon Ramsay also ran the marathon, but there was no mention of his race time. Must have been bad! I can just imagine him cussing and swearing through the run...

Anyway, stepped on the weighing scale today and voila! I'd lost 0.5kg fom the haircut. Wonder if I can improve my speed with short hair? :D

Did an interval walk/ run on the treadmill for 30 mins and another 30 mins on elliptical machine.

I've lost some strength I think - could not do bench press with the bar! It's been ages. Anyway now gotta work harder, with the marathon coming , and also with my short hair. Huh?!? Well, with short hair my shoulders are more obvious, so any small weight gain is noticeable with all that hair gone. So I've to make sure I've got toned upper body!

Change

Made 3 major changes today:

1. New orthotics
Tried my new orthotics today. They look a bit more elevated than my previous ones. Left foot felt the same but right foot felt a bit different. At the end of a 6km run, I ended up with blisters on the arch of both feet, but more pronounced on the right foot. I actually had my feet casted again for the second pair, it wasnt a repeat order. Either the structure of my foot has changed or the new orthotics need some modification.

2. New specs
I've got new specs fitted with Transitions lenses. What a pity there wasn't much sun this morning!

3. New hairdo
I did it! Finally cut off all my hair. I was inspired after watching Selma Blair in Hellboy 2. Been wanting to do this a long time but I guess I've always been insecure and felt unattractive with short hair. Heck, I could not even attract men when I had long hair so what's the difference!?! LOL. So I thought, why not...

Deja Vu

It's been 4 years since I ran my first marathon - I still remember what inspired me - watching the Olympics marathon when I was at the gym.

So while I was at the gym this morning, I caught snippets of Paula Radcliffe completing a race - and guess what - I was sort of inspired to do another one..HOnestly my training regime hasn't been great - I've been feeling lethargic or rather, finding it hard to workout at the pace I used to ( ya ya....getting old and all..). Then I did the unthinkable.....I signed up for Singapore Marathon (again..I am SO boring!) I don't know how my training will be like. Maybe I should watch more of the Olympics this year to get some inspiration. Not to mention I need to lose another 3kg.

Ooooh..I do need to kick my butt more.

also, I'll be getting a new set of orthotics today. Hmm maybe that could inspire me? ( I dont see how it can, but ah well..just looking for some motivation) I hope I don't have to go through the painful process of breaking into it like I did when I had my first pair.

Monday morning workout

Was rather tired this morning but decided to gym anyway. Need to lose another 3kg! Overall i've lost about 3kg but still need to lose another 3. Sigh seems to get tougher with age!

Run 4km
Elliptical trainer 30 min
Adductor machine
Abductor machine
Squats
Sit ups

I kinda miss RPM classes.

First Personal Training Session

Whoa...this is my first post in 2 months. It's been a while, there wasn't anything interesting about my exercise regime to blog about. Today I finally took up the free personal training session which Celebrity Fitness provides when one joins the gym. I've joined the gym for about one and a half years and I've never taken up the free sessions - to me a good personal trainer is very important, and I wasn't sure of the quality of the personal trainers at Celebrity - as far as I knew none of them were qualified.

Anyway I agreed to be trained by a female instructor, without knowing her background or qualification. Much to my surprise, I found out that she had only been in the fitness industry for 2 months.I was pretty impressed with her though. She knew I had quite an advanced level of fitness so she gave me a circuit training program. The circuit is as follows:

1. lateral shuffle 2X
2. run forward and back
3. Shuffle on stepboard x 12 reps
4. Lateral shuffle 2x
5. run forward and back
6. push up x 12 reps
7. Lateral shuffle 2x
8. run forward and back
9. sit ups with medicine ball

It was quite strenuous, my legs were fatiguing but yet i didnt want to push that hard. After the workout I confessed to her that I was a certified trainer, and she was so embarrassed! THis is the 3rd time something like this has happened to her..she had trained 2 other persons who was also in the fitness industry!

What I liked about her is she had a quick thinking mind - she knew how to cater the program to my needs - which most trainers in Malaysia do not know how to do, and most of them end up teaching very boring basic stuff.

I've got one more session with her - i look forward to it.