Happy New Year

Wishing everyone that we know a Happy Blessed New Year! May everything goes well in 2008.

From:

Bernard, Sharmaine, Jayden and Maygane

Ultra Pain

Total 64.28km. Time taken (including breaks) is 9:33 hrs. This is the total distance i have covered in my first cross country ultramarathon. Could have gone for the 7 loops but decided to give my sore ankles a rest. Anyway, i am not able to go the top 10 with the 7 loop effort. At least 8 loop to guarantee with top 5. 

Man, this is the longest distance i have ever run. As the title suggests, my legs are ultra-sore now. It is a good experience and i am humbled by it. I thought i was able to do certain things but i knew things were not always planned it would  be. I have learnt a few things for this events. 

Congrats to all those who completed 5 loops and above. You guys and gals persevered and did well. If anyone thinks gals can't run, you are super dead wrong! I am totally impressed by the females who went for this event. Keep it up ladies! 

Jayden Loves Swimming

For the last two days, Jayden has been asking me to bring him swimming. He is enjoying it. That is a good sign and i hope that that will build his self confidence towards water. I strongly believe we, the parents are the catalyst in their development. Hence, i wish that i can spend as many time with him as possible, be it swimming or bonding.

Silverman

Silverman??? The sound of it looks like another comic character from some superheros movies. Or could it be associated to the Silver Surfer from the Fantastatic 4? Answer is No.

This is the world's toughest full distance triathlon in North America. Some facts include 10,000 feet climbing on the 112-mile bike course, 25% (although I’ve read accounts saying it was a higher percentage) of the participants who started the race failed to reach the finish line and total climbing was 1,560 feet over the 26.2 miles run.

So what am i thinking, trying to finish this race? Firstly, this event does not come under the Ironman brand. A lot of positive and excellent reviews are given to this Silverman. Thirdly, the fact that it is one of the world's toughest (that's the whole idea of doing of an endurance event, if it is not tough, why bother?) and lastly, it is in LAS VEGAS!

I am in the planning phase for this event. SK is interested in the Half Dist, although it does not really matter to him (the Casino does..). It is set to start on 9 Nov.

For now, have to get approval from MHA first.

MR25 Ultramarathon - Here i come

Another 2 more days to the last event of the year. The MR25 Ultramarathon, 12 hours of non-stop trail running event. Set to start at 7am and ends officially at 7pm. Runners are expected to run min 5 loops to receive finisher tees and certificates. So the challenge is really YOURSELF to do as many loops as you can. Last year's champion, Tobias did 9 loops and what a pity that he is not able to join us this Sun. I believe the record still stands at 11 loops (this is madness under mortal's definition)

I hope to do 8 loops. Anything more is a bonus and God's grace. I am going to pace myself moderately and taking no chance for nutrition and electrolyte intake. It is going to be a long day out there. I have to be conservative in my running. It will be also a great chance to catch up with many friends who will be joining this event for the fun or thrill of it. It makes the running a lot more fun and easier.

Gadgets that i am bringing or testing out:

1. Garmin Forerunner 305
2. Nike+ Ipod Kit (as back up and MP3)
3. Nathan Water Bottle

See you all there. Run safe.

Images for 2007

Reflections

Sorry if i have not been posting much. We have been settling well in our new place and it has been great staying here. Closer to "civilisation" and of course, our parents. It is really God's grace that we get this place (haha..i am repeating again. We are excited that we are inviting my family over for Xmas Eve Dinner. It will be the first family dinner in our new place and hopefully the kids will have fun in the pool.
Another reason that we are glad to be here, is that we like to rejoin our Cell Group more regularly. Yes, this is something Sharm and myself are looking forward in 2008. At the moment, we are joining the Xmas Get Togther Party at YS's place on 23rd Dec.
It is a sad news that i am not able to obtain leave on Xmas day itself, so I HAVE TO WORK! Really not wanting to miss the Church Dinner, hence Yohannes, pls come early on that day... (just received an sms that he is coming in early..Yeah...)
Looking back for the entire year 2007, I must say that it has been extremely fulfilling and at the same time opening our eyes to many things around us. The first is the birth of our baby gal, Maygane.Til today, both of us are so captivated by her. She bring so much joy and amusement to ppl. The thought of her would melt my heart..The second one is the closeness bet Sharm and myself. After what happened, we would share with each other more and communicate better. Though at times, we still show signs of stubborness. We tend to be more forgiving quicker. Well, we are still learning, aren't we? I guessed for the "bad part", it has to be the selling of the house, dealing with irresponsible agents and renovation issues. We are glad that the saga are over and we hope to put it behind us. On the sports front, it also has been fulfilling that i managed to complete 02 Ironmans this year (IM Langkawi and IM Swiss). I also managed to do my PB (3:47)in the KL marathon (winning SK's bet that i can't do a sub 4 after Langkawi..haha). Coming in 6th in my first Vertical Marathon was also a good achievement for me. (Boy, dun let anyone tell u that stair climbing is easy..Ask them to do it!)To end off with a 3:51 time in Std Chart marathon was a sweet closing to this year's main race event.
Well, it's time to move on. Here comes 2008, it is also time to plan ahead (though it has been pretty fixed).

Wishing all of you a Merry Xmas.

Bernard

MR25 35km Progressive Run

If completing a full marathon is tough enough, i do not know how should i describe this run? Definitely harder than "tough"..Challenging? Yes, of course. Try running 80% of your time on rolling hills. Exciting? Of course, it has a mixture of road running and trail running. To think that i would be spending most of my time on the trail, was a wrong conception. This 35km run consisted of 70% road and 30% trail. It has been dubbed one of the toughest runs in Singapore and most runners would use this run as a gauge for the coming Std Chart marathon in Dec.

True enough, a big crowd of runners had gathered on the early morning itself. Nike Run fellas were also present to do their 15km run. Lam and myself registered with the MR25 and very soon enough, the run started. As usual, we drew quite a few curiosity from other runners with our gears and yes, we were only two guys with a huge pack on us. Started off with a 6:30-7:00 min/pace, i felt very comfortable along the Northern Route. However, Lam was not with his usual self, intending to go slow at the start. I stopped at few checkpoints so that i am to give him some directions. After 10km, i decided to push forward and see how far and fast i could accomplish. Switching to 5:30-6:00 min/pace, i was doing fine along the air con route and Upper Thomson Route. However, things seemed to turn around when i was on my way back to the pipeline route. My thighs started to cramp up and i was reduced to walk/run along the Rifle Range Road. Decided to take a 10 minute rest at the water point U-turn. My last 10km was a mixture of walk and run. The walk part is when i had to transverse up the slope and ran when it was flat. This seemed to work alright. When i reached the end of the Northern Route, the time was 3:47hrs. I knew i have gone below sub 4 hrs and i was happy as i have set sub 4 hrs target for this run. The organisers could not believe i had gone below sub 4 hrs with my load. One of them even asked to "test" the load and yeah, he was dumbfolded after trying it. Well, Lam did not do badly too. He came in 5 minutes after me and also went sub 4 hrs.

Both of us decided to use this run as part of training for the Gobi. It has most of the elements minus the heat. But right now, it's Vertical Marathon this weekend.

Our New Home

Almost done.. just some loose furnitures and cleaning to be done. We are looking at moving in from Monday onwards.

3 Events

It is going to be a tough November as i am participating 3 events back to back. First on the list is the MR25 35km Progressive Run. This will be the first time i am joining MR25 for their run. Seriously, i have no idea on the 35km route. That's the whole idea of trail running. You will never know what's ahead. Really looking forward to enjoy myself. Did i say "pain might set in after that too"? Next is the Vertical Marathon at SwissHotel. I have no idea how much i can take. I did 3 repeats of stair climbing on 16 storey HDB building earlier this week. All i could said that it is one of the toughest training i have done. Totally left my body "wrecked" for a few days. Lastly, i will be flying off to Bangkok for the marathon. Once again, i will be carrying 10kg load as training. My target is to go 4:30hrs or below. Anything sub 4 hours is a real bonus. I am also taking this run as a fueling practice (compliments from Powerbar!).

Will update on the events once completed.

Apparels and Powerbar

Stay tuned. Our very own Powerbar Running attires are in the print! Though we did not manage to get any sport brands to sponsor our apparels, we are grateful that Powerbar ( Jeffery and Athlete's Circle) believe in us and provide our nutition needs.

Our attire are mixtures of different sport names that we felt comfortable in training and racing. We are waiting for Salomon's apparel to hit the local shops and we cant wait to get our hands on the Trail Comp 2 and its performance attire.

Did i mention running shoes again?? Cant wait to get my hands on the new Adistar Tempo. Lam is eyeing at the PI Synchro Pace.

Trail Run 2

We did another similar trail and road route today. Total distance covered was 21.45km and avg pace was 6:00. Both of us felt good after the run and was not that tired previously. Lam is showing signs of improvement and he did well today. He was never more than 75 meters away from me throughout the run. Secret formula? The answer is SUFFICIENT SLEEP! A simple answer and yet often we overlook it as athletes. I was also glad that i had adequate rest the night before (Maygane slept through from 2am - 8am, Hooray)

Overall, the pace we set was comfortable and we discussed that we could stick to this pace of 6:00 for our desert race. + and - depends on the gradient and type of the route too. We are expecting to go below this pace for road.

Next available off day, we should be hitting the road and aim for 25km - 30km.

Floravale

Yes, we finally collected our keys to our new place and we have been visiting the place everyday to do some minor cleaning. Both my wife and myself are excited about this new place, even though we "almost" contemplated of selling it before moving in. Private property prices are shooting up and we thought we might have a shot to it. However, we seek God's prayer and he answered us in his own way.

We have also been or planning to do furniture shopping in the coming two weeks. First on the list is Jayden's car bed. He has been 'bugging' us about his bed, so we are popping by to the Furniture Mall this weekend. Yes,we are visiting Sim Siang Choon to purchase all the bathroom accessories. First on that list is my rain shower set! I have been eyeing on it for long time.

Sad new is,we have to wait almost end of the month before we can move over. This is due to my work and SK's HK trip during this period of time. To add on, we have to settle an outstanding issue with our housing agent. Hence, we are praying hard that God will lead us when we deal with this matter.

Finally Trail Run

Did my first trail run yesterday with buddy, Lam at MacRitchie. We were intended to do 10km road + 1.5 loops of trail. However, i overslept (and thus giving Lam to tease back at me). We had to abandon the 10km road and just did the 1.5 loops. It was the first time Lam used the front pack and it was a trial and error for him. We did the first 11km run in 1hr 04mins. My legs were feeling tired and lethargic. Thoughts like "Am i over trained or under trained?" etc..were creeping in my mind. We saw SK, Danny and Reeves at the car park and chatted for a min before we left our remaining 0.5 loop. Oh man..could not find the rythmn and my legs were struggling. At the 2km mark, saw one runner past me and told myself to get on his pace. Was pacing behind him and overtook him at one of the climbs, afterwhich i left him behind til i reach the turnaround point. Finally saw Lam coming and we rested for another min. With the last 3.8km back, we pushed on and reached the car park. Time check was approx 2hr 02mins. Well, we did not bothered that much as we know in a ultra, we are not going for speed but endurance. Yay.. a good run!

PS: For the first time, we wore our Powerbar caps and drank our Powerbar drinks! Good stuff and we will be expecting more.

Finally..Out of Punggol

Have been trying to find time to write on my blog. Finally, had some spare time to write something. Have been busy for this week, packing all our stuffs. Could not believe the amount of "rubbish" we have accumulated for the last 5 years. I, alone, threw away 3 full trashbags of stuff. My clothes and my desk area took me 2 full days to pack..My wife and myself were jokingly talking that we would never going to move again..We shall see!

I will be putting in some stuff about my races and trainings in the next few posts.

My Family

A little about myself and my family...i thought.

Blessed with a beautiful wife and two lovely kids. Jayden is the eldest at 4 yrs old and Maygane is the youngest at 7 mths old.

Started triathlon while i was working in NUS, thanks to my friend, Chiang Yong who was the Sports President! And the story began from there and then. Did my first Ironman in Western Austraia, Busselton in Dec 2006. Did the 2nd Ironman in Langkawi, only decided to particpate two days before the race. Recently completed my 3rd Ironman in Switzerland. 3 times Ironman Finisher, well i thought, is enough for a time being. Reason?? I was intrigued by the overall experience of ultra running. So why ultra running? I am able to complete an marathon comofrtably any time of the year. But am i able to complete "comfortably" beyond the marathon distance? That is where i started researching on ultra running websites to obtain more information.

That was a BIG MISTAKE!

My First Post

With technology advancing and the use of IT so accessible, i guess it is "sooner or later" that i will catch the bug and start a blog myself. Also, i did not want the blog only to be myself. I want it to be a platform where my family can also access and contribute. I was thinking hard what title to give. In a short notice, i choose the header " My Journey through the Eyes of the Husband, Father and Athlete". Though it may not sound perfect yet, at least for now it suffice.

Stay tuned. More post will be coming.