run2eat

18.8.08

one dream 5050

My thank you run for becoming 50!

When Life gives us a 100 reasons to cry, show life that we have 1000 reasons to smile.

Face our past without regret.
Handle our present with confidence.
Prepare for the future without fear.
Keep the faith and live life to the fullest with grattitude. becos "Each Day don't come by just like this, it is a previlage gift, be thankful" - nicky ting

Friday, 5 September 2008
ECP Chalet unit C11/C12
One Dream - 5050
50 Km run
Start/End Point : Track outside ECP Chalet unit C11
Pace : Easy 8 minutes per km (7.5km/hr)
Water/bananas/power gel point at Tenah Merah Coast Road and mobile water point by bicycle along the route

Stage 1
50km starts 17.50 hrs . Route : Chalet C11- Safra - Fort Road (400m mark) - Chalet 11- Changi Beach Park- Chalet 11

Stage 2
30 Km starts 20:35 hrs. Route : Chalet C11 - Safra- Changi Beach Park - Chalet 11

Stage 3
21 Km starts 21:45 hrs. Route : Tenah Merah Coast Rd- Changi Beach Park- Chalet 11
Target to complete 50 Km at 00:50 hrs on 6th Sep 2008

So far the supporting runners are ;

50 Km - ah hoo, william ,shao chong, shen lian
30 Km - ah tan, man in black,
21 Km- Vincent Teo, Zhao Ming, Allan Kwek, Bay, Mag, Toby
15 Km - Patrick Peng

For 50 km runners, please be at Chalet C11 by 5.30 pm
For 30 Km runners, please be at Chalet C 11 by 8 pm
For 15 and 21 km, please be at Chalet C 11 by 9 pm, there will be transport to send you to starting point.

"If you want to win something, run 100 metres, if you want to experience something, run a Marathon."
Emil Zapotek. The late Czech runner was the 1952 Helsinki Olympics triple-gold medalist in the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon.

15.8.08

Say No! to Hitting "The Wall". Hitting 4D? OK lah!

Hitting "The Wall"
by Sara Latta

If You Understand the Scientific Reasons Behind “The Wall,” You Should Be Able to Avoid It.
© 2003 42K(+) Press, Inc.

"It felt like an elephant had jumped out of a tree onto my shoulders and was making me carry it the rest of the way in.”—Dick Beardsley, speaking of hitting "The Wall" at the second marathon of his career, the 1977 City of Lakes Marathon.

“I wasn’t wanting to talk much. And when I’m not talking, you know I’m hurting.”—Don Frichtl, a runner who encountered "The Wall" somewhere after mile 21 of the 2002 Chicago Marathon.

“At around mile 23, I was beginning to feel like the anchor was out.”—George Ringler, speaking of his 1991 Lake County Marathon.

“The Wall.” It evades easy definition, but to borrow from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous definition of obscenity, you know it when you see it—or rather, hit it.

It usually happens around mile 20, give or take a couple of miles. Your pace slows, sometimes considerably. Some runners say that it feels as though their legs had been filled with lead quail shot, like the stomach of Mark Twain’s unfortunate jumping frog of Calaveras County. Others can’t feel their feet at all. Thought processes become a little fuzzy. (“Mile 22, again? I thought I just passed mile 22!”) Muscle coordination goes out the window, and self-doubt casts a deep shadow over the soul.

The bad news is that more than half of all nonelite marathon runners report having hit The Wall at least once. The good news is that more than 40 percent of all nonelite marathon runners have never hit The Wall. In other words, while it certainly doesn’t hurt to be prepared for the possibility of hitting The Wall, doing so is far from inevitable.

Energy Dynamics 101
“Hitting The Wall is basically about running out of energy,” says Dave Martin, Ph.D., Emeritus Regent’s Professor of Health Sciences at Georgia State University in Atlanta—chemical energy, that is, stored in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and obtained from the breakdown, or metabolism, of energy-containing fuel. The runner’s primary fuel sources are carbohydrates (in the form of blood glucose and glycogen, a polymer of glucose stored in the muscles and liver) and fats (free fatty acids in the bloodstream and muscle triglycerides, molecules containing three fatty acids).

Fats might seem to be the logical first choice of fuel for endurance events; not only are they the most concentrated form of food energy, but even the thinnest runners have enough body fat to get them through 600 miles. Alas, it’s not quite that simple. Fatty acid metabolism requires plentiful circulating oxygen, a precious commodity when you’re running at marathon race pace. Carbohydrate metabolism, on the other hand, requires less oxygen. In fact, cells can derive energy from carbohydrates either aerobically (in the presence of oxygen) or anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen).

If you start your marathon at a reasonable pace for you, your fuel consumption ratio will be about 75 percent carbohydrates to 25 percent fatty acids, according to Martin. During the race, as carbohydrate supplies begin to dwindle, that ratio changes as your body begins to rely more heavily on fatty acids.

What does all of this have to do with hitting The Wall? Let’s start with the pace.

It’s common, in the excitement of the moment, to start out at a pace that’s too fast for you. Big mistake. Your heart cannot pump enough blood to ensure a steady supply of oxygen to the muscles. At this point, your muscles have no choice but to burn glucose in the absence of oxygen. The anaerobic metabolism of glucose, as it’s called, is inefficient, yielding only about 1/18 as much energy (in the form of ATP) as aerobic metabolism. To make matters worse, among the by-products of the anaerobic metabolism of glucose are lactic acid and hydrogen ions. As these waste products continue to accumulate in the blood and tissue, they will not only make your muscles feel as though they are on fire, but they can also inactivate the enzymes that govern glucose metabolism. You’re toast.

Even if you’re racing at a reasonable pace and you’ve done a good job of carboloading in the days before the marathon, you still have only about 2,000 calories worth of glycogen stored in the muscles and liver; that’s about enough to get you to—surprise!—mile 20. If you manage to deplete your glycogen reserves, say hello to The Wall. As mentioned before, burning fatty acids requires plentiful oxygen, so as fatty acid metabolism increases, your heart must work harder to pump more oxygen-carrying blood to the muscles. It may be difficult or impossible to maintain your pace, especially if you’ve lost enough water through sweat to become even slightly dehydrated (this causes your blood to become thicker and therefore harder to pump). In addition, fatty acid metabolism itself requires glucose; as someone once said, “Fat is burned in a carbohydrate oven.”

Of course, you can do things to make sure you stay well hydrated and maintain an adequate supply of glucose during the marathon, and you’re probably aware of most of them. Begin to carboload a few days before the race to make sure that your muscles store as much glycogen as possible. Fortunately, the old, frequently stressful and unpleasant depletion/loading program has fallen out of favor with most runners. Martin recommends eating a balanced diet with a higher-than-usual percentage of carbohydrates as you’re tapering before the race. As the body increases its glycogen stores, it also increases the amount of stored water, leading to slight weight gain but also making more water available for sweat during the race.

Make sure that you are well hydrated before the race, and eat a light, carbohydrate-rich meal no later than two hours before the race. And by all means take advantage of the water, sports drinks, and other glucose-containing foods offered at the aid stations!

Many people also find that sports gels provide quick boosts of energy, although Martin admits that he is not a big fan of them. “Picture this poor soul who takes a blob of GU but doesn’t quite manage to get a cup of water. Now he’s got this thick 100 percent solution of stuff in his stomach that he can’t absorb. I’m a firm believer in energy drinks rather than just water.” Other favorites include defizzed Coke (Frank Shorter used to swear by it), which is a good source not only of carbohydrate but of caffeine as well (the role of caffeine in preventing fatigue is discussed later).

Martin also points out that nonworking muscles cannot transfer their glycogen reserves to working muscles; once glucose is inside a muscle cell, that’s where it stays until it’s metabolized. “This might be one reason why many marathon runners prefer a race course with periodic, slight elevation changes,” he says. “This allows the glycogen reserves to be shared among a larger group of working muscles.” Runners who are racing on a very flat course might consider occasionally varying their pace or stride length to mobilize unused glycogen stores.

Central Nervous System Fatigue

It should come as no surprise that the brain, as well as the muscles, can become fatigued over the course of a marathon. In recent years, J. Mark Davis and others have begun to study the relationship between changes in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord, or CNS) and exercise-related fatigue.

Davis, a professor of exercise science and the director of the exercise biochemistry laboratory at the University of South Carolina, suspects that CNS fatigue, the result of neurochemical changes in the brain, is very likely to be involved in a runner hitting The Wall during a marathon. In fact, he says, “I think that CNS fatigue is actually what causes most people to stop, as opposed to muscle specific fatigue.” Aside from very highly motivated runners, he says, most people don’t really drive or push themselves to complete muscle failure.

Davis cautions that his research is still at the preliminary stage, but his data certainly support the CNS fatigue hypothesis. During prolonged exercise, the brain’s production of the neurotransmitter (a chemical that carries signals from one neuron, or brain cell, to another) serotonin increases steadily; it peaked, in his animal treadmill studies, when the animals collapsed from exhaustion. Elevated levels of serotonin have been implicated in feelings of tiredness, sleepiness, and lethargy. (The folk remedy of drinking a glass of warm milk before going to bed has a sound scientific basis: milk, as well as chocolate, is a good source of the amino acid tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin.)

The rising levels of serotonin are caused by increased delivery of tryptophan to the brain. What’s interesting, Davis says, is that the increase in free tryptophan in the blood is very much related to the increase in free fatty acids in the blood. “While many people believe that the increase in free fatty acids is very important to delaying fatigue in the muscle,” says Davis, “we think it has a negative effect in terms of central fatigue.”

To make matters worse for the marathon runner, the brain’s production of dopamine (the neurotransmitter responsible for generating feelings of excitement, reward, motivation, and pleasure) begins to drop even as serotonin levels are rising.

One experimental approach to preventing an increase in serotonin synthesis has been to give subjects nutritional supplements that include something called branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine). Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) compete with tryptophan for space on the receptors that carry chemicals from the blood to the brain. Unfortunately, while BCAAs do indeed lower the levels of tryptophan and, by extension, serotonin in the brain, they don’t prevent CNS fatigue during exercise. Davis believes BCAAs’ failure to prevent CNS fatigue is due to one of their side effects: an increase in the blood levels of ammonia, a brain and muscle toxin.

The best strategy for delaying both muscle and CNS fatigue, Davis says, is tried and true: eating or drinking carbohydrates. “It’s well known that carbohydrate feeding blunts the increase in free fatty acids,” he says, which of course ends up blunting the increase in serotonin, “so carbohydrates cannot only delay glycogen depletion, but they also delay central fatigue.” In addition, brain function in general is highly dependent upon blood glucose, as anyone who tries to calculate mile splits at mile 23 probably knows.

Davis is beginning to investigate nutritional approaches to prevent dopamine levels from dropping, including the addition of tyrosine (the precursor to dopamine as well as norepinephrine, a stress-related hormone similar to adrenaline) to sports drinks, but he cautioned that there are not yet data showing that tyrosine supplements raise dopamine levels during exercise or delay fatigue.

Runners have been using caffeine to help delay fatigue for years, the prevailing wisdom being that the substance increases the blood level of free fatty acids available for metabolism. Recent research by Davis and others, however, indicates that caffeine plays another, perhaps more important role, in delaying fatigue by increasing the levels of dopamine in the brain.

for full story : http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/latta.htm

15.7.08

16 km of fresh air

first time using MapMyRun to map our next sunday run. it looks amateurish lah. never mind it is the intention that counts. starting point is Petir Road trail to macritchie and loop back.

interested in 16km of fresh air and free supply of negative ion? then meet at my house at 7.30 am this sunday, 20 july 2008

12.7.08

Bukit Panjang English School Class of 1970: George Carlin on aging.

Bukit Panjang English School Class of 1970: George Carlin on aging.

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone..........May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

awesome evolution.
That are for you mortal folks :-) botak me, I BECOME 50 AND my dream of 5050 just started. Yes! May All Of Us Make It To A Healthy 100 And A Half

11.7.08

The week after Mt. Ophir

Good news!!

I hereby declare it is "no running day" for me tomorrow, slacking and junks loading will be my only work out. Ok lah, maybe some simple finger exercise like mahjong is acceptable

Why? After coming back from Mt Ophir feeling 20 years younger, "strong" and "invigorate". I resisted the urge to run on Sunday, but ran my worse 8kms on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday. The mind is willing but the hips, joints and even my "kar chng" refuse to co-operate. Thurday, went golfing and it was x'mas comes early for my golfing kakis. I will be the bigger fool if I still don't get the message my body is sending! All run and no rest make botak a jaded man but I know at least my golf kakis don't mind.

Some good advises from the guru

Fitness improves not only during exercise but also during rest. At rest, our body make adjustment to make the body stronger. Disregarding the need to rest and recover is a very common practice, over-training may lead to fatiuge or worse injury. Giving our body time to rest and recover isn't the same as skipping workouts or being lazy. Resting is about giving our body the time it needs to be stronger and fitter.

Resting is so that we can run longer.

see you tomorrow night@ 17 - good foods, good companies, good times.

7.7.08

One day at Mt Ophir

6.15 am, Sat 5 July 2008 started our journey to Mt Ophir via 2nd link, only managed to arrive at Gunang Ledang Resort at 9.30am due to a traffic jam at immigration.

9.30 am, pre-climb briefing under the coconut tree

10 am, waiting for clearance at Ranger office

10.30 am, own time own pace, chiong eh.....

taking a break at check point 3

Summit we all go...

the impromptu teacher, they called me "chekgu"

2.15 pm, ah wa and ah tan already on their way down

2.16pm“ 螳螂捕蝉，麻雀在后“ ah hoo looming behind

2.17 pm, 麻雀之后 is ? 法国帅哥 sebastian, our french friend

2.23 pm, summit mt ophir

I must be a good "chekgu" my students doubled in no time

2.50 pm, ah chen party make it to summit

let the fun begin, vertical descend

Water break @ Check Point 5

as sure as the sun will set, darkness besiege mt ophir

7.35 pm, mission accomplished.

Mr. Tay of Gunang Ladang was so kind to let us use his room for a much needed shower,want to see shower pictures too?

sorry folks, the pictures have been changed to protect the innocent.

9 pm, gentlemen and hungry orang " dinner is serve".

25.6.08

so many things to do, so little time

21 June, 2008, Mt. Ophir climb.

The lastest ah pek table top dance by ah chan and ah tan

first, i must declare that i AWOL at the last minutes . The reason? this new Salomon "stylo milo" shoe that i specially bought for the climb.

Anyway, ah chan and company finished their climb in less then 8 hrs. congrats!

Did you watch tiger wood won his 14th major titles with only 1 leg? this is what your call determination, guts aka "guai lan".

But it comes at a huge price - the golf fraternity grief the absence of tiger..

Tiger Woods out for rest of the 2008 PGA TOUR season
Tiger Woods will undergo reconstructive surgery on his left knee and will not play the rest of the season.
http://www.pga.com/2008/news/pgatour/06/18/woods.ap/index.html

fret not golfers, no tiger? there is a new man in red.

Since bitten by mara virus, i had been neglecting my golf. from playing twice weekly it is now down to once a month and they usually were corporate or charity events. suddenly i realize that all run and not golf make botak a dull man.
so i am going to balance myself between , mara and golf. wait.. still got trekking, cycling, swimming, blading..

wow-lau so many things to do, so little time.

2 pm, 20th June 2008,

Singapore Island Country Club - Carslberg GOlf Classic.
see and behold! the new golfer in red - was that a tiger? was that a bird? was that superman? no, it IS the new BOTAK SIM

alas like tiger, i was also playing with 1 leg due to wearing the new Salomon XA Pro 3D XCR shoe for the practice round the day before. if there is a shoe call spiderman, this is it! but this spider shoe bites too tight and by the 9 holes, it was blisters time. After the carlsberg game it got so bad that i had to call off mt ophir.