In which my immune system fights off some invaders, and a few surprises

Remember how I said I was training kind of half-heartedly for a sprint tri, and that I'm not really a speedy sprinter? Well, my body was in the mood to deliver some surprises.

This past week and a half have been kind of a headless-chicken period at work, in which I finished four stories and a commentary, covered a conference, and have been hovering just on the verge of coming down with a full-blown cold. As in, not sick enough not to do any work - and in fact thanks to the adrenaline rush I felt fine - but tipping over the edge of properly sick.

On Friday night I got off work at 9 and chickened out of a dear friend's birthday shindig, because I didn't really want to be a plague vector. Then I had a quiet, early night in with hot tea, Archer and some vitamins.

On Saturday I felt ok enough to drag my arse out of bed for a slow run. (How slow? After 7km I started walking and looking at the birds in the canal - ooh, herons...) That night I went to another friend's farewell party and went home early to sleep.

On Sunday I did the Metasprint aquathlon. It's the first in a series of sprint events: swim and run, run-bike-run, and swim-bike-run; I signed up for all three (talk about getting your money's worth) because I did the tri last year and they were so incredibly well-organised.

Improbably, my body delivered. I think it has a mind of its own.

I always start the swim all the way at the back and to the left, because I'm not a strong swimmer and I manage to get to swim training about once a month. This time, I was so startled when I realised I was overtaking people that I nearly stopped swimming.

The swim course was an M-shaped out-and-back-and-out-and-back - super calm and warm! A couple of minutes in transition (seriously, I need a race belt). Then we took off on the run, in which I managed to pick off several other women before one or two picked me off.

least awful of the race pix. that timing chip strap also gave me an abrasion which was a total nightmare in the shower later while i was also washing off the salt water...

I completely failed to see the 4km sign (not the organisers' fault - just me being dopey) and didn't have time to get up a good sprint before I was confronted with the finish line. Oops. At the end I was VERY surprised to also see a new 5K PR (26:40). Apparently my secret to a short-distance run PR is to take a long, slow swim first?  (This also happened in the Singapore Biathlon last year, when I broke an hour for 10K for the first time...after swimming 1.5km first. No, I have no idea how this works, but thanks!)

proof. i'm a slow swimmer...  

Some thoughts: I make a lot of mistakes during short sharp races:
1. I don't go out fast enough. If anything I'm too conservative.
2. I never race hard enough to blow up. (Gotta take chances!)
3. I always let my thoughts drift and never focus. Trying to look cool for the cameras? Guilty as charged.
So one of my goals is to be more aggressive during short races(5 or 10K), and really race. There's a 5K coming up next weekend...

Sunday afternoon we went to the National Museum with a friend, Marta; I wanted to see this exhibition  -'Being Together', a photography exhibition by Singaporean lensman John Clang, involving modern technology and Skype witchery. But we walked right into this indie craft/ food fair and I had a milkshake that tasted like an orange creamsicle. (Singapore peeps: this is from Once Upon A Milkshake, hands down THE best milkshakes in this city.)

The best part? Because of the indie festival/ open house, all the exhibitions were FREE! 'Being Together' turned out to be excellent. GO AND SEE IT. I PROMISE.

Workouts:
Tuesday track (got there late, did most of the set on my own): 2km (2:10-2:17 per lap), 1.6km (2:05-2:15), 800m (2:01, 2:07), 400m (1:48)
Saturday: 'Long' run - 10km double canal, really easy because I was still trying to get over that cold.
Sunday: Aquathlon race day! 750m swim, 5km run.
Monday: Recovery run - 5km eeeeeasy - plus core work
Tuesday morning: 1km repeats at the track: 5:20, 5:15, 5:15, 5:14, 5:09. (Was that supposed to be 10k pace? Felt good all the way to the end, for once. I'm a morning person. Don't judge.)

The off-season slump

Days like today, I suppose I really am an endurance runner at heart.
Sometime last year, I had an athletic epiphany - also known as, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Racing. Somewhere along the way I decided to train for and really RACE a half marathon, then a marathon.

Right now, I'm training sort of half-heartedly for a sprint triathlon. I'm not really a speedster so am not expecting to win anything; swim class leaves me with crippling, puke-inducing sinus headaches (does anyone have any remedies for that?) and on the bike I'm quite happy to just not fall off. There's a sprint aquathlon next weekend, a 5K, duathlon and 10K in March and the tri and another 10K in April.

But I'm feeling strangely adrift without anything BIG to train for. Base fitness means I can get up off the couch and run a 10K without much trouble - well, not unless I'm gunning for any PRs, anyway. But last year I really got used to rolling out of bed on a Saturday morning and ambling along for a couple of hours. Speedwork every Tuesday night. Tempo runs. Recovery runs. Doubles on Thursdays - 10km along the canal, where I'd say hi to my colleague (an older gentleman who walks 4-5km Every! Single! Morning), then hills at night. Marathon training got to be kind of a comforting routine.

This year, I'm not signed up for any marathons or even anything longer than a 10K just yet. I have travel plans (New Zealand in May!) and family plans (sister's wedding in July!), and there aren't any long races in between; though I'm thinking of the KL half-marathon in June and the Perth City to Surf marathon in August. I get my butt to the track on Tuesdays if only because it's still a comforting routine, I get to see friends and it's also good for my mental health. But I'm just not super motivated... help!!

Workouts this week:

Tuesday - super hilly 12k easy with some friends. Well, easy pace for them, anyway. At the end I was kind of clinging on for dear life...
Wednesday - swim training - a few drills, a little speedwork - about 1.7km all told
Friday - tempo 5k, super tired
Saturday - swam 2km at the local pool, J's prof's birthday party, partied till 1am
Sunday - easy 7k, completely exhausted (what is wrong with me??), followed by a very much needed massage
Tuesday - well, let's see how I feel at the track tomorrow.

- Anyone know a good fix for swim-induced sinus headaches?  
- What do you do when training hits a slump? 

Reclaiming the run

A little more than a year ago, Montana schoolteacher Sherry Arnold went out for a run and never came home. Two men had abducted and assaulted her barely a mile from her house, and it took two months for her body to be recovered.

Last year, her cousin Beth organised a virtual Run for Sherry to honour her memory - print out a bib, run as long and as fast as you like.

No one should have to feel threatened when they are out running on their own - no matter whether you're on a trail deep in the woods, or on the sidewalk in your housing estate. The annual Run for Sherry memorial run is a way of reclaiming that mental territory.

On Saturday (yes Chinese New Year's Eve) I did the virtual Run for Sherry with a new running friend, Holly and her husband - one loop around MacRitchie, one of my favourite places to run here.

After the run (I can't think and run at the same time - seriously) I thought about what happened to Sherry Arnold; and about the horrific Delhi bus attack last year, where a gang of men driving a mini-bus kidnapped and assaulted a young student and her male friend, leaving her so badly injured she died of her wounds.

A great deal has already been said about both of these cases; about violent crime; about a culture (particularly in some parts of Asia, but the US is not exempt) of harrassment and victim-blaming and complete disrespect for women's rights (And you wonder why women in this part of the world don't run? Well, now you know.) A great deal has been said, and better than I can say it.

But everyone - women in particular, since we ARE more often targeted and more vulnerable whether you like it or not - should have the freedom to move about the city, whenever and wherever we want. The Run for Sherry is about reclaiming that freedom.

Weekly roundup

Lost another toenail. I have given up going for pedicures, because the pedicurist a) snickers b) complains but c) should really give me a no-nails discount. Okay, TMI. Here's this week's training roundup.

On Sunday, we did another trash run at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park, and my friend Hannah joined us. The park itself was pretty clean - either people really are getting neater, or the cleaners were out early. The bit that was NOT clean was the part from the MRT station to the park. Anytime there's a bit of bush in which to throw ciggie butts/ drink cans/ tissues/ cigarette packs - you can rest assured there will be rubbish there. (Who are all these people standing around gleefully flinging their empty drink cans into the bushes?)

Tuesday night track session:  it was raining AND I got off work late. But since you all know I run more for my mental health than anything else, I told my coach, "I don't care how much I run - or how slow - as long as I run today." Great, he said. Here, do 5x400, then 4x400, then 3 then 2 then 1. I got as far as the 3-lap bit and called it a soggy, soggy night.
But with Singapore being as hot as it is, I love running in the rain - as long as I know there's a hot shower in my immediate future.
I also found another use for the fleece sweatshirt I wear in the office (because the air-conditioning is ferocious): keep self from freezing on the train home...

Last night's run: it was raining again and I didn't have the heart to do hills at the Botanic Gardens. (Kudos to you if you did!) I finally remembered that my office has a tiny, slightly rickety gym, so I did 8km on the treadmill at a steady half-marathon goal pace, about 10.5 to 11km/ h. (I'm training for a sub-2h half marathon - I can run 20km in two hours, it's the last 1km that always gets me!)

Do you love running in the rain as much as I do? Or is it a blustery, blistery affair for you?

What, me swim?

via https://www.facebook.com/MomandRunningIt

Just had to share.

We live in a 700 sq ft, 2-bedroom flat so we don't even have a garage. Or a laundry room. Or a pantry. Crazy people from other countries and their crazy spacious houses... But yeah, what's the point of folding running clothes when they're just going to get used again really soon? Also, my swim cap and goggles are drip-drying from the window, and socks aren't really dirty until I've run in them... no?

I actually DIDN'T run today (what???). Instead I swam 2km at the local pool. I'm organising a Trash Run* tomorrow morning, though.

Here's what my week in workouts looks like:
Monday - rest day
Tuesday - track night!
Wednesday - short recovery run or swim, strength train
Thursday - hills; last year while training for a marathon I'd run 10km in the morning and hills at night
Friday - rest or strength
Saturday or Sunday - long run and some other activity - if I sit around too long, I get antsy.

*Edit - Trash Runs are some combination of fun/ community service/ core and back workout - see my previous post for a description. Tomorrow's is going to be mayyybe 5 or 6km - but you'd be surprised how much of a workout you get bending down and picking things up. It's really sad, but you'd be less surprised how much trash there is at the local park...especially around the McDonald's...

Race review: The Green Corridor Run

Pre- rail removal. Today, the rails and sleepers have been removed, and the land grassed over.

I've walked this piece of land many times for the past few years. I'm sorry to say I hadn't walked it before the trains stopped running, but then, my sense of self-preservation forbids me from taking a stroll along an operational railway line.

The whole line is 26km, perhaps five to ten metres wide at its widest. For more than 70 years it shuttled people and goods from Tanjong Pagar up to Malaysia, and onward up through the Malay Peninsula to Thailand. In 2011, the railway land was returned to Singapore by Malaysia's Keretapi Tanah Melayu national railway firm in part of a land swap. Heritage and nature enthusiasts have pleaded for it to be retained as a continuous green lung.

(I am writing this paragraph basically from memory. I covered it for the local newspaper for two years.)

And here I was, Sunday morning, at the start of the Green Corridor Run, along this former railway line now called the Rail Corridor.

For Singapore, this was a relatively small race. The 10.5km run from Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to Bukit Timah Railway Station consisted of three waves of about 2,000 people each, starting at 7.15am (competitive), 7.45am (competitive with self) and 8.15am (adventure walkers). We took the 7.15am wave (because heat.)

There were people wearing white shoes and socks, massing in with the others. People! I am not sure what you were expecting from a trail run. But then, this is a country that calls concreted-over, tree-lined pathways next to canals 'park connectors', so you are forgiven for expecting tidiness. (Instead of park connectors, I would prefer connector parks, but then people would complain about fallen leaves.)

The race wound through Tanjong Pagar, Queenstown, Commonwealth, Ghim Moh, and Bukit Timah; it went past my old junior college (high school) and the HDB estate where we live and our neighbourhood hawker centre. It went past relatively quiet estates, left undeveloped because the trains would thunder through. Once, there were shrines and small temples along the route, when it was technically part of Malaysia. Orderliness is in Singapore's DNA; many of these were deemed not only illegal but perilous structures, and demolished.

It went under some very dark bridges with ankle-turning gravel, festooned with some pretty creative graffiti. In the good sense. (This IS Singapore.)
There were plenty of plywood boards over the very muddiest areas. (See, there are uses for plywood besides hoarding it for election hoardings <-- link is pure comic gold)

Midway, there was also a traffic-jam of people daintily picking their way over the plywood boards. The mud is the FUN part - I splashed straight through. Nearly lost a shoe. (Must tie laces tighter next time.)

I chatted a bit with an older white-haired gentleman who was very fit; and when I got to brunch with friends and friends of friends later, discovered that he was the father of a friend of a friend!

I also took it very easy, walking over the rockiest bits - I've sprained my ankles so many times before and it's a horrible setback each time - and finished in 1:05:40 for my pains.

back in there in the purple shirt...image from the Running Shots facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.478889168826027.105765.309422402439372&type=1

At the end, there were plenty of water bottles, apples, bananas; we each got a handy sport towel and a finisher medal. Best of all, there were shuttle buses at the end to the nearest MRT stations. A very well-organised race!

We took a bus home from the end point at Bukit Timah Railway Station, and it was slightly surreal to cross the overhead bridge to get home and go over the very same race that we just finished.

& here's the view from the bridge!

But the most important thing about this run is that it gets people outdoors - people who might never have set foot on the Rail Corridor otherwise - in the kind of tamer/ 'safer' environment that Singaporeans are used to, with water and exit signs and snacks at the end. It shows people some of the possibilities of what the railway land could be. In the end, isn't that what really matters?

More information on the Rail Corridor/ Green Corridor can be found here and here.

In which I am a curmudgeon

Also known as, the one in which some marketers ought to be taken out back and shot. (In a manner of speaking.)

I made the mistake of signing up for the Venus Run. (I wanted a timed 5K and other people to chase. Don't judge.) Now, there are all-women's runs and there are all-women's runs. The Great Eastern Women's 10K is a stellar example of an excellent one.

I have, depending on how you look at it, very high or very low standards for a race.
- Is the distance correct?
- Was the course smooth?
- Did the race start on time?

But a race organised specifically for women? That's a nice thought. In Singapore, and in Asia in general, you don't find a lot of serious women runners. That's due to all kinds of things: historically, general poverty and agricultural societies meant nobody ran for leisure (what a concept! to be running while you could be working); it's very hot; it's not culturally acceptable (dainty? ladylike?) for a woman to be wearing very little in public and sweating copiously, etc. That's shifting these days, but we don't have the same level of enthusiasm about women in sports that the post-Title IX US does. So yes, I appreciate the effort to get women moving.

The Great Eastern Run does this very well, and its message is very clear: women, you need to be fit for the health of your heart. (Great Eastern is a very large insurance company, and they have a big financial incentive to do this!)

But then there's the Venus Run. And I present to you THIS GODAWFUL SHIRT:

It's going to have THAT PROBLEM isn't it. The one in which it's too short for my hilariously long torso. 

Aesthetics aside, there's so much wrong with the things on this shirt.
I am not sparkly. I am not bioluminescent. I AM NOT A SQUID.

Squid, btw, are amazing.

 I do not want to be exhorted to sparkle. If I want to sparkle, I will wear nail polish, gosh-darn it. (I enjoy sparkly nail polish.)

The bigger problem is this: Don't define me in relation to all these other people. Sure, I'm a daughter, (ex)girlfriend, sister, wife, granddaughter and proud of it. Sure, I love my family - but I'm me first, capisce? I'm also a runner, a writer, a journalist, a...so many other things that you can't stick a convenient label on.

That and, let's see you put all these things on a men's version of this shirt. (What? Unimaginable? EXACTLY.)

I am not trying to discourage women's participation in sports and outdoor activities. In fact I will be your biggest cheerleader and better yet, run with you. And I very much respect the people who run marathons dedicating each mile to a person they love. I just don't think we need to be defined by all of these other people in order to find our motivation to run.

Suffice it to say I will not be wearing this shirt.

It gets worse. There was one last year, the Shape Run, that featured male pacers. (Unless you are trying to break a world record, there is no need for male pacers. In fact, these days, the records people don't accept women's record times from mixed-gender races. Which is a whole nother kettle of fish.)

What do you think of all-women's runs and the Venus Run marketing? Is there a good way to sell these things to women without being demeaning or reducing us to a series of limiting labels? 

Catching up

...and catching my breath.

Two weeks since I posted, two weeks of workouts. (I keep a log, religiously, even if the entry just says '11km run' - everything else is in my head.)

Jan 9 - swam 1.6km in all, crippling sinus headache
Jan 10 - Hills at the Botanic Gardens, 8 x (3:08 - 3:24)
Jan 12 - 16km on road and trails in the NB Minimuses (minimes? minimi? minimodes? ack - somebody tell me what the plural is)
Jan 13 - a hilarious 10km track relay with Kate and Linna - we each ran one lap and passed on to the next person. We were very, very far from first.

Last week I was on the afternoon shift - I work from about 2pm to 11pm or 12am, then come home, collapse, wake up at 8 or 9, by which time it's too hot to run... which throws a huge wrench in my training. So I barely ran:

Jan 17 - 5km canal run - EXHAUSTED.
Jan 18 - Ooh, this was #doprah day. Friday's 'workout' consisted of me lazily pedalling on the bike trainer (but not too hard, or I wouldn't be able to hear Lance mumbling) while watching Oprah lightly grill Lance. (That day's lunch in honour of the event: lightly grilled shrimp, pan-blackened, with a dash of sambal belachan.)
Jan 20 - ran 10.7km with the hubs
Jan 21 - long run for the week, 14km - not really training for anything long at the moment - and did a Zumba class in the evening. (To this creaky ex-dancer Zumba is a riot. It's like dancing, except you don't need skills. I am still not 100% sure how I feel about it.)
This evening at the track: 4 x (1km at 10k race pace/ 400m hard): 5:24/ 1:47, 5:21/ 1:43, 5:58/ 1:52, 5:23/ 1:47 <-- I think of this as the 'teaches you to finishing kick' workout. // finally catching up with my speedy friend Janice - I feel like she's hauling me around the track.

It's nearly Chinese New Year. Time to undo all my nutrition! ::gleefully::

Also, a little boy I adore is almost 1. (This is our nephew - his mom and dad live in Baltimore and he turns 1 TOMORROW EEEEEEE.) 

Turning up the heat

The other day I read something that made me laugh out loud.
It was this sentence: "Roberts is the medical director of the Twin Cities Marathon who published a report in 2010 that recommended a Do Not Start temperature of 68 degrees [20 degrees C] for races held in northern latitudes." - from this Runner's World story.

I mean, yes, I fully understand that it's all relative. That if it snows in Chicago, municipal authorities are completely prepared, but dust Texas lightly with snowflakes and all traffic comes to a halt. If it snowed here race directors would call the race off and the entire country would shut down. (Unless climate change goes really nutso and we have a new ice age somewhere, it's HIGHLY unlikely to snow here.)

That made me laugh, because seriously, 20 degrees C is just about the COLDEST it ever gets here.

The other day I did 5x800 repeats at 4:09-4:22 - the temperature was about 26C (79F) and humid, and the day was heating up.

But a year ago, while visiting Japan, I did 6 x1km repeats at 4:30-4:57 apiece.  It was February, and the temperature was probably about 6 deg C (42F). Sure, I was chilly for a bit, but that's what a warm-up is actually for. BLISS. 

----

Here is a story - the very first marathon I did took me just over six hours. I sweat a lot when I run, and I lose a lot of salt when I sweat. I am a puddle. My eyes sting. I cramp. I run hot - I've been on winter hikes, in New Hampshire, where after half an hour I am down to a t-shirt. A worrisomely damp t-shirt.

This marathon started at 5am, and it was mayyybe 24C/ 75F. In December. (The temperature doesn't really vary much year-round.)

 As the day wore on, it got hotter. I lost more salt. I cramped up. It got even hotter - like 29C/ 84F...in the shade. In the direct sun it was easily 31, 32C - 88 or 90F. I was carrying a single bottle as always, which then caused my wrist to cramp. (I didn't even know my wrists could cramp.) I hadn't yet figured out how to swallow a gel. The salt capsules I'd carefully prepared were a mushy mess in their little ziploc in my pocket,  from the heat and humidity. I cramped. I was miserable. I got sunburnt and ended up with a hot pink nose to match my hot pink shirt. I walked. A lot. (This is the story of my life.)

This, ladies and gentlemen, has been my motivation to train for every marathon since then: want to get out of the sun? Run faster! 

Of course I've also cramped on both marathons since then. There is an electrolyte/ hydration sweet spot that I haven't found yet...

Sometimes, I wonder what I could do if the weather was cooler. Me and Singapore weather, we're a bit of a mismatch. Just be warned - now you know what to expect if you attempt a marathon in Singapore!

But Singapore is a nation of runners. So how do we survive running in the heat?
Hydrate a bit more.
Start early. Or run late.
Wear a visor, not a cap (that just traps too much heat).
Tote something cold. I like to freeze my water bottles the night before.
Wicking clothing is nearly useless - at track workouts, my friends have had to wring out their shirts. (We're all disgusting, it's cool.)
And if you run on shaded trails, you can run at pretty much any time of day, because it will feel the same no matter what.
---
I have been seriously hungry all week. Five meals a day hungry. Starting to wonder if I have an actual tapeworm.

Workouts:
Thursday hills x 8
Saturday morning easy long(ish) run: 5km on roads, then 11km on trails with my friend Adrienne -at conversational pace, we had a good catch-up because I haven't seen her in person in months! - strides at the end.

--- 

Head games, or, the wasted energy of envy

Yesterday I did the first speedwork of the year, 5x800 (4:22, 4:20, 4:18, 4:09, 4:13). Not great, but ok splits for someone trying to recover from a very mild cold - a cold so mild that I never got sick enough to skip work or other commitments. I was just very, very tired and slightly sniffly and had the lingering feeling that my head was stuffed full of jello. Christmas bug, you win...

How to get over a cold - day 1: (have someone else) make fresh tomato sauce for pasta.
Day 2 - Turn leftover sauce into gazpacho with the addition of salt, water, tomato paste, vinegar, hot sauce, great glugs of olive oil and two punchy cloves of garlic. (Do not consume immediately prior to interview, meeting or generally any human interaction.)
Day 3 - Go to the track for speedwork. Do 800s until less fatigued.
--

"Stop wasting energy on letting 'talentless' be a stumbling block!" - sage advice from my runnerd friend Desiree, when I complained I was struggling with being talentless and...you know... genetically challenged.

This is much harder to write. In this age of facebook and twitter and dailymile and athlinks, it's so easy to compare myself with other people. Other people who have been running, not even semi-seriously, for half as long as I have, and who are so talented they are able to waltz in and run my times with half the work. (And are genuinely nice people. And hot. And have the supernatural ability to not be a dishevelled, soggy mess after a workout - I am not one of those girls.)

I've had this struggle as long as I do...pretty much anything I love. There will always be more talented writers, more talented runners, more talented dancers. At least running is objective - a time is a time is a time. In the arts, the choreographer or dance instructor can have favourites, the publisher and prize committee can pick and choose.

It doesn't help to console myself with the knowledge that I work *hard* for everything I have - because the people with more talent work just as hard and shine brighter.

I must add: it's impossible to be miserable while running solo. I might be more or less tired than usual, but never miserable. It's when I run with other people that the trouble starts: other people motivate me, but I'm miserable when everyone else disappears into the distance (ahem, upcoming Green Corridor Run) and I am dead last.

I know comparing is a waste of energy, that I should buckle down and work even harder and keep breaking my PRs. But it's hard not to compare.

How do you stop yourself from envy?

Thought for food

A few days ago a Twitter friend suggested I write a post about the runner's diet - how to fuel yourself for a good run.

You'd think December 31 is the worst possible time to write about the runner's diet - seeing as it comes smack dab in the middle of the festive season (with all the accompanying festive eating). Alternatively it couldn't be a better time - there's no better time to make New Year's resolutions, is there?

Singapore is full of good food, and thus of foodies. So much so that my father-in-law, visiting from Ohio, said: "You guys have such a foodie culture. Is that because there's nothing better to do?" Well, of course not! Some of us run. Some of us run to eat...

I could talk about eating everything in moderation. That includes
char kway teow,
bananas,
fish congee,
mangoes,
laksa,
rambutans,
chwee kuay,
dragon fruit,
and my grandmother's popiah*... all of which I've had in the last week alone. And then some.

*Popiah is actually pretty healthy. It's sort of the Singaporean Chinese version of a burrito - a spring-roll-like, very thin flour wrapper, lettuce leaves, a filling that's mostly braised vegetables and tofu and bits of meat, topped with shreds of egg, bean sprouts, crab meat and shrimp and peanuts, slathered in garlic and chilli and sweet sauce...mmm. Of course, my relationship with my grandmother's popiah has never been one of moderation.

But I think my number one motivational eating principle is... eat like an athlete. I don't believe in junk miles. But I do believe there are empty calories. If you think of your body as a high-performance machine - or if you want it to be a high-performance machine - then you have to put in high-quality fuel.

Because I'm motivated more by the outcomes of my runs and races than the way I look, 'eat like an athlete' is the single principle that has kept me walking on by when cakes and deep-fried curry puffs call my name. (Curry puffs calling your name, you say? I think those are called overtraining hallucinations.)

I also like Michael Pollan's maxim - eat (things recognisable as) food, not too much, mostly plants. That dovetails very well with eating like an athlete. For me this means plenty of calcium-rich foods, iron-rich foods, and greens, and getting *enough* food rather than trying to limit or count calories. (Especially second breakfast. Which as we all know is one of the five most important meals of the day. A typical pre-run first breakfast might be a banana with peanut butter, and a cup of coffee. Second breakfast is cereal or oatmeal or eggs or yoghurt or something like that.) It also means hydrating, especially with water and smoothies. For you this may mean something else. Sorry if that's not very helpful...

Eating everything in moderation also applies. Particularly to popiah.

I make an exception for very good dark chocolate, as happiness is also crucial to athletic performance. There is no such thing as too much dark chocolate...happy New Year!

Shoes. Let's get some shoes.

Dear Nike,

The last time I owned a pair of your shoes was about, oh, ten years ago. (At the end of JC - what we call high school - I discovered Saucony and Mizuno and never looked back.)

But then a few months ago, strapped for cash and time and fed up with running shoes that were so feature-heavy they were actually heavy, I popped into some random shoe shop at Queensway and found...

this pair of Nike Lunarglide+4s and I am in love.

My shoes are grimy in about a week, and I've had these for 2 months. Who are all those people walking around with pristine sneakers? Where do they run??? 

Now, I'm a neutral runner/ underpronator. I'm like the Switzerland of runners. I once had a really bad experience with some running-store twerp who took one look at my flat feet and said "You're an overpronator". Whereupon I brandished the wear pattern on the soles of my shoes at him. You try telling me I'm an overpronator, sir...

The nice young fellow who helped me out at the shoe shop was not such a know-it-all. In fact I'm not sure he knew that much about the merchandise in terms of actual running, which is not a problem - I think chasing the latest 'evidence' can really do more harm than good. Does the shoe fit? No? Get a different pair. Do you have knee/ foot/ ankle problems from running in those shoes? It might be the shoes or it might be the running. Have you tried strength conditioning?

Anyway, now that I've been running in them for a couple of months,

including one marathon! this was at the end where my body just wanted to FINISH, i look so much happier here than the guy behind me, and i'm pretty sure he was doing the half-marathon. As you can see I also believe in the motivational power of neon.

the Lunarglide+4s are pretty neutral, very comfortable, springily cushioned, and very, very light. The fact that they come in all those candy colours is a nice bonus. (I can't believe I'm saying this. I've never been bothered what colour my running shoes are as long as they are shoes.)

But, dear Nike, would you PLEASE make the next version with a bit more traction?

The Lunarglide+4s work very well - until it is wet. Then they have no traction on wet surfaces whatsoever. I once tried to run hill repeats in a light drizzle*, and ended up slipping and sliding so much that I took off my shoes and ran in my socks. Even my socks had more traction. You'd think for a company based in Oregon, Nike would know what to do with wet surfaces...wet leaves? slick polished concrete? slightly algae-covered asphalt? dear god, granite tiles in building doorways? nope. I live in fear of landing on my ass or breaking something.

* Singapore definition of light drizzle - ie it has been raining all day and is now just coming to the tail end of the rain and also it is 25C -if you are lucky- and the humidity is 90% so nothing dries and there are unexpected puddles everywhere. This happens year-round, but especially in December. In Singapore there are two seasons: hot and wet, and hotter and wetter.

Thanks,

xo,
G.C.

PS For trails, slippery surfaces and just walking around, I also love love love my New Balance Minimus (minimi? minimuses? mini-mes?) But that's a review for another day.

2012 in review

Here I am sneaking a post in between work, family and training. My in-laws are visiting Singapore from the US for the first time and the list of things we've fed them resembles a hobbit's pantry list, if hobbits were Southeast Asian.

This was one of them: PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE (which is not Southeast Asian, but it is still delicious)

Pie crust 
Digestive biscuits - 10 to 15
Melted butter

Filling
12oz pumpkin puree
2 blocks (about 500g) cream cheese
2 eggs
1/6 cup yoghurt or sour cream
slightly less than 1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp flour
1. Preheat oven to 350F/ 176C
2. Crush digestive biscuits till crumbs form; mix with melted butter, press down into 9-inch pie tin.  Set aside.
3. Beat cream cheese till smooth. Add pumpkin, eggs, yoghurt/ sour cream, sugar, and spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat till well combined.
4. Pour into crust and bake for 1 hour, let cool 15 minutes, then refrigerate at least 1.5 hours.
--

Here's a little end-of-year sum-up, questionnaire devised by MissZippy1.

Best race experience? That has to be the Great Eastern women's 21K, which had cheering spectators (I saw the same set of folks three times), food and ice cream (!) at the finish, wet towels, the worst race photo of myself I've ever seen,

Obviously I'm just woolgathering here.

AND I crawled in with a 2:11 PR.

Best run? 15km mixed trail and road one weekend during marathon training: down Clementi, up Rifle Range Road, said hi to the Metasport bike group doing hill reps, ran through a desolate trail and nearly trampled on two birdwatchers on the way to MacRitchie Reservoir, around the reservoir, and two egg McMuffins at the end. (I don't run for my weight or physical health. I run for my mental health...)

Best new piece of gear? I have trouble buying gear for myself in the consistent belief that I don't deserve  it...finally bought myself a pair of 2XU compression calf sleeves and wore them on the way to my speediest 10K ever. 2013's might be the fuelbelt I got as a birthday/ anniversary present.

Best piece of running advice you received? Get a coach. If you don't think you're fast enough to deserve a coach, how will you get fast enough?
In 2013, here's something else I want help with. When I try to run fast, I need other people around to race. My time-trial times are never as fast as when I'm actually chasing someone down that I think I have a chance of overtaking. It's a different head game...

Most inspirational runner? Desiree who is super hardworking, always chipper, and is the first one to stand there at the finish and cheer her friends on.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? The only way to go is up.
---

And some specific time goals/ new year's resolutions for 2013. Making these public is very very scary.
- Run a sub-25 5K.
- Run a sub-55 10K.
- Break the elusive 2h mark for the half marathon.
- And go under 5 for a marathon!

Some non-time goals.

- Stretch, PROPERLY, twice a week. For too many years I've been coasting by on my ballet flexibility, and have very bad runner habits - like not stretching after a long run. When I do stretch, I need to stretch differently and deeper and in wacky positions just to get the stretch I need (please do not be alarmed if we're stretching on the track and I fold into a position you didn't think humanly possible).
- More strength training - will need this if I'm ever to get faster...
- Get a friend into running and get her addicted.
- And have fun on every run!


As we go into tri training season I leave you with one tri training thought. I like swimming well enough when I get to the pool, it's getting out the door to go to the pool I have trouble with. (Help!!) (I have no such problem with running: shorts shirt shoes out the door.)

Some recent workouts

Saturday. Enduro 'triathlon', a comedy of errors - could not find bike pump, roads too wet to ride. Spent half hour searching for my goggles in my burgeoning 'sports gear' drawer (have not swum a stroke since May). Swam, then ran the run leg twice in lieu of the bike leg, then ran the run leg twice with everyone else. Or more accurately behind everyone else. Swim 750m. Run ~8km.

Sunday. Walk/ jog with my friend Daphne - the goal was good company and a little fresh air.

Tuesday track. 4-minute 800m repeats ("that's aspirational...") followed by 400m recovery at half the pace.

Thursday. 1.3km swim. Did not sink. Success. I am now ready for the weeks of eating ahead...

The loneliest pace

Today's workout. Friday morning. 5km, canal route, 29:55 ('recovery run that turned into a tempo at the end'). forgot to stretch when i got home. 

Maybe it's the good folks I train with, maybe it's just me, but it's been incredibly lonely training for the marathon this year, especially doing long runs and tempo runs at my pace. There aren't a whole lot of serious women runners. I'm usually somewhere between the middle of the pack and the really fast women, somewhere in the front 10-30% depending on the race. (And still in the last pace group at training - a pace group that is shrinking steadily. We are all getting faster by dint of hard work, but everyone else is getting faster faster while I am basically running in place.)

So what am I doing about it? Talking my friends into running with me!!

From a Facebook chat with a friend...

i love getting friends into running cos it means i have more people to run with

and then if i get them addicted to the point where they run at my pace... cowabunga.

My friend Daphne Maia is trying to slim down and get fit. Over on her blog she's chronicling her weight-loss journey, sponsored by a supplement maker called GLOW Raspberry, who are also sponsoring meetings with a nutritionist and fitness training sessions. (I hate to tell you this hon, but of course this going to work! I bet no supplement maker ever does a controlled experiment where they give a control group the supplement without the nutrition and training advice - "here, go do what you normally do and eat what you normally eat and take this pill, chronicle the pill-taking on your blog, and let's see if you lose weight") <-- please excuse my inner statistics curmudgeon. My grand-uncle was a government statistician, it runs in the family.

While she chronicles her diet/ fitness adventure, I decided we should have actual adventures - so on Sunday we're jogging around Marina Bay! I am throwing pace out the window and just going to enjoy the sunlight and the giant garden we're running through...

Goaaaaaal!

(Sorry about that title. I have a lot of friends watching Singapore vs the Philippines in an AFF Suzuki Cup match and tweeting about it, and the Singapore team beat their opponents 1-0. Anyway, onward and upward.)

Right then. Some goals. Some of these are immediate, for the next year. Some of these are for ever.

1. This one's most important, so it's right at the top of my list. Tip the balance so that the percentage of negative I'm-not-a-fast-person or-even-one-of-those-girls-who-runs-AND-looks-like-she-never-broke-a-sweat thoughts is smaller than the percentage of positive I-CAN thoughts.
(Going to have to change my blog title along with it. Calling yourself Genetically Challenged - well played.)

2. Set new 5K, 10K, half, tri and marathon PRs. (Why yes, I do think this is possible next year.) More on this soon...

3. One day I am going to BQ. No two ways about it. It may have to happen when I am 70, but I will be qualifying for and then running Boston. Watch this space.

Trash talking

I can now say I'm a proud member of a super not-so-secret running club: the Singapore Glove Project!

It's just mind-boggling how much trash one sees while running. (Dear runners: if you can't pick up trash while running, please try not to CONTRIBUTE to the trash - after a trail race recently my beautiful trails were littered with gel packets.) Now, this has always annoyed me, so I signed up with the Singapore Glove Project as a way to 'pay it forward'while still doing what I love, and this week was my recovery week from the marathon - no serious training for me!

On Saturday we ran out to West Coast Park.

(Photo stolen from Ken Jin, who organises this thing. Obviously this is pre-trash pickup. Post-pickup we were trashed.) 

I noticed the worst of the rubbish was on the playground and around the barbecue pits - and that most of it was McD's cups and wrappers. Good argument not to have fast-food restaurants and convenience stores in parks...

You're not going to set any personal bests this way. At least, time-wise. You will however get a good back workout. Reminds me of playing table-tennis in school and spending more time picking up ping-pong balls than hitting them... You might also get funny looks from members of the public. But most importantly you get the satisfaction of having DONE something about the rubbish menace.

(Update - PS: joining the super not-secret Singapore Glove Project is incredibly easy; there are no membership fees or monthly meetings, all you need is one large trash bag or leftover plastic carrier bag, and one reusable rubber kitchen glove, or a plastic glove, or a smaller plastic bag to swathe your business hand in. Walk out the door, look around, start running, pick up trash, GO.
If you don't feel like workin' it so hard, just focus on the non-biodegradable stuff. For extra bonus points, also feel free to give yourself points for every different category of trash - cans, gel packets, ciggy butts, PET bottles, soda cups etc. For exxxxtra bonus points, get your friends to do it as well.)

G.C. does the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

Yes, I ran a marathon last Sunday. 

Yes, it took me 5:19, and I'm slower than Oprah Winfrey (!!!). 

The Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore was my third full marathon. At least, I consider it my third. My first was three years ago (6:18 with plenty of walking). Two years ago there was an absolute disaster - I was running with a friend, and he wasn't feeling well, and then I wasn't feeling well, and then I had gastrointestinal issues, and then I cramped up, and then he cramped up, and we both staggered in around 6:30 - I don't count that one. Last year I ran Tokyo in 5:15 (again with the cramps, but visualising my coach Trudy behind me running me down on her bike - very effective). 

But this time round, I actually trained. 

Sometimes I don't really want to say that I've trained, or train hard at all, because what if I work my butt off and am still a flop? Because you know that happens (we've all been there). 

For the last couple of years I've been training quite regularly with Metasport, a triathlon group here, doing intervals and hills. I really stepped it up this season. Goals, people, goals. It seems to have worked a bit. I'd set myself a target: finish this year's marathon in less than 5 hours. Seemed doable. 

But. BUT. 

From the start line to 23km, I was perfectly happy and healthy. Nothing to see here guys, moving right along. I hit 21km in a relaxed 2:15. 

And then things began to fall apart when I felt the first twinges of cramp in my quads. If I hadn't been wearing compression calf sleeves, those bits of me would have cramped too.  

I downed a bottle of water in an effort to wash the cramps out of my system and took the second of my four gels. No effect. Around 25km I had to walk, and told myself I'd just walk for five minutes, then run five. Then walk five, then run five. Bottle of water, salt capsule. Walk five, run ten or fifteen. Rinse and repeat. Told myself I'd still get in under five hours if I could just run 9km an hour for the last two hours. Not so hard, right? It is when your legs don't work. Somehow I was still passing people. Then the 5:00 pacers passed me... 

At 38 or 39km there was an enormous expressway on-ramp. Dear marathon organisers: this is some kind of cruel joke. Not acceptable! 

At 40km all of my training discipline kicked in and I shufflesprinted the final couple of km ("tempo run, tempo run") to the finish. 

The worst part wasn't the cramping. The worst part was that I was chafed in some VERY UNPLEASANT PLACES. (One day I'll laugh about this.)

A couple of days ago I found out that I came in 3665th of 12,922 marathon finishers; implausibly ahead of 71% of the men, 430th overall woman, 227th Singaporean woman, and 94th of 681 women aged 20 to 29 (what???).

Ok, so I didn't hit my time goal, but the marathon wraps up a great training season and I learnt an important lesson: now I know I probably need to start with the electrolytes - MORE and EARLIER in the race. (Somehow this sort of thing never happens on long training runs!) 

We don't have seasons really, but I like to spend the first half of the year on multisport and the second half just RUNNING, which is my first love. This year I set 5K and half-marathon personal bests, and literally lost track of how many times I went under my 10K best time. Believe me there was some whooping and hollering after the Singapore Biathlon in February when I discovered I'd gone under an hour for 10K for the first time. Though at first I thought the course was short. 

...And I was still faster than Katie Holmes! 

Hello world!

Hello there,

I'm the Genetically Challenged Athlete.

Growing up in Singapore, I was never an athletic or sporty kid. I did ballet for years and when I wasn't at the barre I had my nose in a book. I spent most PE lessons running away from the ball, after getting beaned in the head too many times and spraining my fingers more times than I have fingers. (Oh, the tyranny of PE lessons to the genetically challenged!) I thought I was a lifelong bookworm with not a single shred of athletic talent.

But somewhere along the way I discovered that I liked to run. (Maybe it was all that running away from the ball that did it.)

However I am VERY genetically challenged - short legs, not much muscle, not much speed, not much endurance either. I have never won a race in my entire short life, nor placed, nor age-group placed, nor...you get the idea. In a race with three women in the 20-29 age group I would probably come in fourth.


Now I also do triathlons. That's THREE sports to be genetically challenged in.

Here is a great essay by one of my favourite writers on running, Kristin Armstrong.

Like her I have never won a single race in all my life, and like her sometimes I ask myself why I run. Why I sign up for race after race, haul myself out of bed at 5.30am on weekends, watch as everybody else disappears down the trail ahead, or show up at the track and be the last person to finish the set, week after week. (But as they say, if you don't think you're good enough to deserve a coach, how will you ever get good enough?)

I'd say that I do it because running is fun, but that's a lie. It's fun, but it's never all fun. Sometimes it's just sheer work. Sometimes you just have to show up and work, and work and work and work. Isn't that how life functions, though? You show up, you work, you do your best. You go home with your dignity intact knowing that you were professional about it.

I'd say that I do it because finishing the run I set out to run makes me feel a little more accomplished, makes me feel like less of a loser (this can be a very dark place). Even on the days with the really bad workouts. And on the good days, it can be pure joy.

I'd say this is a curious kind of love.