The crazy things I do

Its Saturday morning. My alarm went off at 5am or 6am and immediately my half asleep brain started battling with myself, or itself. Should I continue sleeping? Or should I wake up to go for my weekly LSD? Thankfully lately, most of the time, the better side of myself won.

More about LSD, its this long-slow-distance weekly run that people do a few months before their half marathon or full marathon to build up endurance. I know of many people who just sign up for the Standard Chartered marathon yearly, but do not train much and just complete it using 'brute force'. But I've sort of done that last year, and I know how gruelling painful the whole journey can be, so my target is to at least improve on my timing.

A month ago, I joined Running Department on a Saturday morning for a long run. Actually I only did 10km that day but at least I was motivated to go further than my usual 5km or 6km. Gosh, imagine me waking up at 5am and going all the way to ECP for that! I have friends who are very active with the running club and they had been inviting me since a year ago, when they've just started forming the group. I was uncertain as I'm not a strong runner, but I took the leap recently, when I've decided to train more seriously for the HM and FM coming in the next few weeks/months. Strangely, I did not regret the experience and I was looking forward to join them in the coming weeks, this Saturday perhaps?

Can you spot me? (Photo taken from Running Department fb page)

Remember the Asics shoes I blogged about last year? My friend who has been actively running told me that it's actually meant for trail running, and its not so suitable for normal road running that I've been doing. I cant fathom why the guys who sold me these shoes at Queensway Shopping Centre did not mention that, or maybe they did but I was just selecting the shoes based on design and colour. I was dismayed to know that I need to get another pair of shoes when my Fujiracer is still quite new, but at the same time its another opportunity to shop for new shoes! Once again, I went to Queensway as past season shoes are sold at a cheaper rate there. I've heard of other brands like Saucony/Brooks from the running community, but I still ended up with a pair of Asics, this should be my 4th/5th pair of already! The nice Indian uncle recommended the shoes as he claimed it suits my under-pronation feet.. Hmm, I should go to Running Lab someday to have this verified. Anyway, its a Gel-Cumulus 16 and the cushioning feels quite good for my feet, and of course the colour is raspberry pink!

The weekend before Teachers' Day, I wanted to do a LSD so badly that I planned one around my neighbourhood. Its the first time I ran all the way to Sembawang Park, it always seemed so far to me but surprisingly I only clocked 6km running there and back. To be frank, I did not enjoy the experience as the area was rather hilly. I passed home on the way back and it took a lot of determination not to stop running, but continued for another loop to the canal area and back, clocking a total of 12-13km that morning, the furthest I've ran on my own. The following week when holidays were approaching, I started to have sore throat, cough with phlegm and all on the day of Teachers' Day holiday. Sigh.. I skipped running that weekend since I was coughing badly.

After I've stopped running for more than two weeks, I fought a mental war just to get myself started on Tuesday. It was just a 6km run but I could not even push myself to finish it, I ended up walking and jogging after the 4km point. I felt really bad about it and told myself that I have to pick myself up. I came home early yesterday, rested a bit and changed into my jogging gear, thinking that I should try running in the CBD area for a change and some motivation. However, the ride on MRT train is so slow nowadays and with the haze coming back to haunt us, I reached town but decided to just visit my gym in town. It was a bad decision to travel to town for a 6km jog on the treadmill, as I spent 2h travelling but only ran for 45min, I could have just go to a nearer gym. Arghh.. I still did a good run nevertheless.

Looking forward to better runs ahead!