Two words: scorching hot!!
My 4th one this year. 4 stan chart marathon out of 5 years (missed 2012), not too bad. Once again, training did not go as I planned, but it was expected given the change in mentality which permeates into the way I live now. I am definitely not as fit as few years back but I hope to regain my fitness in the next few years. This year's marathon had its pros and cons like its predecessors. I enjoyed the race, especially with the adequate preparation and mental experience going in. I'll simplify my experience by running down kilometre by kilometre and end of with my list of the good, bad, and ugly.
Training: tempo run (5km 30min), bit of hills, 2-3 runs per week, longest distance covered was 29k (22k run 7k walk), longest run was 15k, tapered 2 weeks before, lastly incorporated swimming into regime. Preparation: brought own gel, surgical tape for nipple (LIFESAVER), bandages on smallest toe, vaseline between armpit and inner tight, aleve for ITB pain.
Songs: PLAYLISTS RULE. CM Punk shoot second part, austin podcast, jericho podcast, mick foley audiobook, and motivational power songs.
Start: 3rd wave, 5.15am flag off.
1km: so fast? Must be the adrenaline. As usual, at about 300m from start point took a right sneaky turn into the infamous makeshift 'toilet' (drain) to settle a quick pee.
2k: feeling great. getting familiarized with the race pace using "Glemselems Elv" and "Budstikken".
3k: podcast time. CM Punk kicks it off.
4k: colt cabana's talking a lot. trying to squeeze between runners to find a good space for myself.
5k: hmm, a 0.00001% discomfort on my leg. It's normal, my whole body's a broken mess after years of running.
6k - 8k: hmm, feels longer than expected. energy depleting quite fast, getting somewhat fatigue. unexpected.
8k - 10k: I am plummeting at a highly undesirable rate. confused. why? my worst start to date. it's too early to be feeling fatigue. Will myself on hoping this will pass quickly. focus on the podcast. gel up.
10k - 12k: why is it so long. continue plummeting like alibaba stock. only 12k and the temptation to give up kicks in. aim for 15k...that's ECP.
12k - 14k: quite demoralised now. body feels like it has already ran 30k. terrible. admitted to myself I UNDERTRAINED. just entered ECP.
15k: think i probably started walking now. moral at all time low. is this going to be another looooong walk to the finish? I don't want to be the last few again! short term goal is ECP turning point (21km).
15k - 19k: walk run strategy now. even when walking i tried to double up. still feeling confused and disappointed. only podcast keeping my in the race now. gel up.
19k - 21k: there's no part of my body that is particularly painful (which is good), but i just feel so freaking fatigue. so heavy. probably walked this entire stretch of the race. felt embarrassed just before turning point where you can see the faster runners just opposite from you. indescribable sucky feeling...
22k: turned, and decided to run again.
23k: SUDDENLY, energy back up. As if my motor engine suddenly working after countless start ups. Probably the gel effects finally set in. Pace increased!
24k - 26k: the surge of energy continues. I'm surprised. motivation boosted. Ok I can do this. And my body is holding up well. Mentally I am so strong. so strong. 3 years of experience definitely helps.
27k: slowed down. energy level dropping back to normal but I am still feeling good. MUCH better than the first half of the race. continued walk run strategy. taking in as much fluids as I can at every station. gel up.
28k - 30k: mix of run walk and boosting. overtaking many runners, and feeling good. no pressure at all. don't even realise I am reaching the so called wall. physically i don't even feel close to hitting the wall at all. experienced marathoner!!
31k - 32k: biggest disappointment. where's the banana station? hoping it was further up but it wasn't. this is a serious issue. exited ECP, heading to gardens by the bay.
33k: walk run, still pacing myself. there's still 9km to go.
34k: the long river stretch, don't know what it's called. pace up and feeling good. sun was crazy.
35k - 36k: exiting bay, reaching the bridge soon. initiated my power playlist now. first up: david goggins. suddenly this wave of emotions came crashing down on me. I teared. but it made me even stronger. why am i doing this? why do i do this every year? all the pieces of the puzzle slowly began to fit. no way i'm giving up now.
37k - 38k: most painful and emotional part of the race which i absolutely killed it. digimon song played just before uphill. mentally prep myself; i was going to conquer the bridge by running all the way. all the freaking way. this is ME. i have trained for hills. digimon song boosted me to halfway up the hill. THEN THE SONG I WAS MOST ANTICIPATING FOR PLAYED. PLACEBO RUNNING UP THAT HILL. THE FIRST THREE NOTES. I WAS THINKING, DREAMING OF THIS MOMENT. THIS FUCKING MOMENT. It was surreal. It was emotional. And only now I realised that I was literally running up this freaking hill. It was no coincidence. I pushed and pushed and pushed, up and up and up, past all these walkers who I sensed was taken aback by my show of strength. But that was my motivation. I stopped to walk just at the top for a few seconds, before deciding to finish strong on the downhill. And golly did I. No doubt the fastest part of the race, the downhill.
38k - 39k: again, the experience factor. I knew I pushed too hard up and down the hills. So back to walking. conserve energy for the last few km.
40k: ok the road in front of me is all too familiar. could smell the finishing line from here already!! continued walking and run. I want to save up for the last kilometre.
41k: past esplanade and turn left to nicoll highway. just need to finish this stretch, make a right turn, and cheong to finishing line.
Ending: right turn, ACES HIGH playing, cheong all the way!!!! right thigh muscle killing me but the adrenaline!! Once again, a frantic dash at the last 100m, finished strong, did my ending pose, screamed like a madman, and thanked whoever is up there for blessing me. 4th marathon, completed.
pros: post race carnival better and better every year. love the inclusion of well designed photo taking areas. volunteers more enthu than last year. inclusion of adidas checkpoints with MC and volunteers motivating runners.
cons: still quite boring overall in terms of entertainment and volunteers. I can write an entire post for this but save for another day. no bananas. shortage of tiger balm. crazy sun but who can control the weather?
ugly: walkers should keep left. seen some casualties of war - man, if you are not prepared, don't sign up. think of your body.
Overall: 7/10
What I did right: proper gel timing. proper mentality and PACING. flawless (almost) playlist. so important. NEVERGIVEUP. excellent preparation (aleve, nipple guard, vaseline)
What can I do to improve for next year: better training, bring own TIGER BALM and snacks (because cannot trust stan chart anymore). pour more water on myself at water points. vaseline game could be improved at inner tight areas - have to apply over larger surface area.
My 4th one this year. 4 stan chart marathon out of 5 years (missed 2012), not too bad. Once again, training did not go as I planned, but it was expected given the change in mentality which permeates into the way I live now. I am definitely not as fit as few years back but I hope to regain my fitness in the next few years. This year's marathon had its pros and cons like its predecessors. I enjoyed the race, especially with the adequate preparation and mental experience going in. I'll simplify my experience by running down kilometre by kilometre and end of with my list of the good, bad, and ugly.
Training: tempo run (5km 30min), bit of hills, 2-3 runs per week, longest distance covered was 29k (22k run 7k walk), longest run was 15k, tapered 2 weeks before, lastly incorporated swimming into regime. Preparation: brought own gel, surgical tape for nipple (LIFESAVER), bandages on smallest toe, vaseline between armpit and inner tight, aleve for ITB pain.
Songs: PLAYLISTS RULE. CM Punk shoot second part, austin podcast, jericho podcast, mick foley audiobook, and motivational power songs.
Start: 3rd wave, 5.15am flag off.
1km: so fast? Must be the adrenaline. As usual, at about 300m from start point took a right sneaky turn into the infamous makeshift 'toilet' (drain) to settle a quick pee.
2k: feeling great. getting familiarized with the race pace using "Glemselems Elv" and "Budstikken".
3k: podcast time. CM Punk kicks it off.
4k: colt cabana's talking a lot. trying to squeeze between runners to find a good space for myself.
5k: hmm, a 0.00001% discomfort on my leg. It's normal, my whole body's a broken mess after years of running.
6k - 8k: hmm, feels longer than expected. energy depleting quite fast, getting somewhat fatigue. unexpected.
8k - 10k: I am plummeting at a highly undesirable rate. confused. why? my worst start to date. it's too early to be feeling fatigue. Will myself on hoping this will pass quickly. focus on the podcast. gel up.
10k - 12k: why is it so long. continue plummeting like alibaba stock. only 12k and the temptation to give up kicks in. aim for 15k...that's ECP.
12k - 14k: quite demoralised now. body feels like it has already ran 30k. terrible. admitted to myself I UNDERTRAINED. just entered ECP.
15k: think i probably started walking now. moral at all time low. is this going to be another looooong walk to the finish? I don't want to be the last few again! short term goal is ECP turning point (21km).
15k - 19k: walk run strategy now. even when walking i tried to double up. still feeling confused and disappointed. only podcast keeping my in the race now. gel up.
19k - 21k: there's no part of my body that is particularly painful (which is good), but i just feel so freaking fatigue. so heavy. probably walked this entire stretch of the race. felt embarrassed just before turning point where you can see the faster runners just opposite from you. indescribable sucky feeling...
22k: turned, and decided to run again.
23k: SUDDENLY, energy back up. As if my motor engine suddenly working after countless start ups. Probably the gel effects finally set in. Pace increased!
24k - 26k: the surge of energy continues. I'm surprised. motivation boosted. Ok I can do this. And my body is holding up well. Mentally I am so strong. so strong. 3 years of experience definitely helps.
27k: slowed down. energy level dropping back to normal but I am still feeling good. MUCH better than the first half of the race. continued walk run strategy. taking in as much fluids as I can at every station. gel up.
28k - 30k: mix of run walk and boosting. overtaking many runners, and feeling good. no pressure at all. don't even realise I am reaching the so called wall. physically i don't even feel close to hitting the wall at all. experienced marathoner!!
31k - 32k: biggest disappointment. where's the banana station? hoping it was further up but it wasn't. this is a serious issue. exited ECP, heading to gardens by the bay.
33k: walk run, still pacing myself. there's still 9km to go.
34k: the long river stretch, don't know what it's called. pace up and feeling good. sun was crazy.
35k - 36k: exiting bay, reaching the bridge soon. initiated my power playlist now. first up: david goggins. suddenly this wave of emotions came crashing down on me. I teared. but it made me even stronger. why am i doing this? why do i do this every year? all the pieces of the puzzle slowly began to fit. no way i'm giving up now.
37k - 38k: most painful and emotional part of the race which i absolutely killed it. digimon song played just before uphill. mentally prep myself; i was going to conquer the bridge by running all the way. all the freaking way. this is ME. i have trained for hills. digimon song boosted me to halfway up the hill. THEN THE SONG I WAS MOST ANTICIPATING FOR PLAYED. PLACEBO RUNNING UP THAT HILL. THE FIRST THREE NOTES. I WAS THINKING, DREAMING OF THIS MOMENT. THIS FUCKING MOMENT. It was surreal. It was emotional. And only now I realised that I was literally running up this freaking hill. It was no coincidence. I pushed and pushed and pushed, up and up and up, past all these walkers who I sensed was taken aback by my show of strength. But that was my motivation. I stopped to walk just at the top for a few seconds, before deciding to finish strong on the downhill. And golly did I. No doubt the fastest part of the race, the downhill.
38k - 39k: again, the experience factor. I knew I pushed too hard up and down the hills. So back to walking. conserve energy for the last few km.
40k: ok the road in front of me is all too familiar. could smell the finishing line from here already!! continued walking and run. I want to save up for the last kilometre.
41k: past esplanade and turn left to nicoll highway. just need to finish this stretch, make a right turn, and cheong to finishing line.
Ending: right turn, ACES HIGH playing, cheong all the way!!!! right thigh muscle killing me but the adrenaline!! Once again, a frantic dash at the last 100m, finished strong, did my ending pose, screamed like a madman, and thanked whoever is up there for blessing me. 4th marathon, completed.
pros: post race carnival better and better every year. love the inclusion of well designed photo taking areas. volunteers more enthu than last year. inclusion of adidas checkpoints with MC and volunteers motivating runners.
cons: still quite boring overall in terms of entertainment and volunteers. I can write an entire post for this but save for another day. no bananas. shortage of tiger balm. crazy sun but who can control the weather?
ugly: walkers should keep left. seen some casualties of war - man, if you are not prepared, don't sign up. think of your body.
Overall: 7/10
What I did right: proper gel timing. proper mentality and PACING. flawless (almost) playlist. so important. NEVERGIVEUP. excellent preparation (aleve, nipple guard, vaseline)
What can I do to improve for next year: better training, bring own TIGER BALM and snacks (because cannot trust stan chart anymore). pour more water on myself at water points. vaseline game could be improved at inner tight areas - have to apply over larger surface area.
