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2010-02-03T04:08:00.000-08:00

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2009-12-10T05:41:00.000-08:00

“First time is always the best time” – Singapore’s top triathlete Mok Ying Ren shines at marathon debut

Today

Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

Singapore’s top triathlete Mok Ying Ren showing the Victory sign after crossing the finish line. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

The Padang, Sunday, December 6, 2009 – Mok Ying Ren, Singapore’s top triathlete, made his marathon debut in style, running away with the accolade of Singapore’s fastest male marathoner with a timing of 2 hours, 43 minutes and 42 seconds in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009.

The top 2 marathoners for 2008, Murugiah Rameshon and Daniel Ling, did not participate in this year’s race. Instead, the second and third spots on the podium went to Ashley Liew with a time of 2:51:22 and Benny Goh, who completed his run in 2:56:44.

“For the first 10k I was with the Gurkhas and some foreign runners. The pace was a bit slow so I went off by myself,” as Mok recounted his race. He then met a Hong Kong runner around the 15km mark and they ran together.

“We were like, enjoying ourselves and talking. It was very good and he was helping me.”

Mok reached the halfway mark (21km) in 1 hour and 19 minutes.

“I think we went a bit too fast, so at the 30k mark, wah, felt tired! The last 10k was torturous,” said Mok about the final stretch of his run.

Even though Mok ran with a local runner at the start of the marathon, he broke off after 5km and did most of the overtaking, except for the last few kilometres where he had to dig deep to keep going on.

He attributed his first marathon success to his parents, masseurs at Sports Council, friends and running buddies. When asked how he thought the competition would have been different if Rameshon and Daniel Ling had taken part in the marathon, Mok admitted that it would have been difficult to hazard a guess.

“The marathon is a long distance event and it’s unpredictable. Yesterday I was dying at the last 7 km, so maybe they would have caught me. You cannot say for sure.”

Runner-up Ashley Liew, a triathlete as well, came in eight minutes after Mok, setting a new personal best (PB) of 2:51:22, smashing his previous PB of 3:34:14 set during last year’s Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

The third-year student from Singapore Management University (SMU), having put in a great deal of training and preparation, thought his run went smoothly. He had aimed to clock a sub-3 hour timing prior to the run.

“There’s a wall that you tend to hit at 32k, but yesterday the wall wasn’t so great. Usually it feels really hard, but yesterday it was a lot easier to go through the last 10km,” he shared a day after the run.

“I was alone for most of it (the marathon), it was a pretty lonely race. It started off with a couple of people that I know, but we spread out after the first 4k.”

Ashley is under the tutelage of Rameshon, who trains the SMU and Hwa Chong teams. He acknowledged Rameshon’s coaching as an important factor in helping him break his PB.

“He imparts crucial knowledge like racing tactics and more so, imparting some kind of mental toughness. I think for any long distance, it is critical to have that mental alert and toughness.”

Benny Goh came in third with a time of 2:56:44. The 2008 Sundown Ultramarathon winner started off the race with his running buddies, including Dr Benedict Tan. However, they broke away due to the difference in their pacing.

“The highlight was that I managed to overtake our number two last year Anne Q (Qi Hui). She was always in front of me, but this year I managed to overtake her!” Benny beamed as he recalled his achievement. Qi Hui clinched the top spot for the local women’s event, coming in almost 20 minutes after Benny at 3:15:25.

Dr Tan, who came in third in 2008 with personal best of 2:56:20, did not do as well this year and clocked a time of 3:04:28. However, he managed to clinch the runner-up position in the men’s veteran category.

“Our race plan was to stick together but the plan fell apart because all of us ran at a different pace. First 10k, we were already at a different pace. During training our fitness level was okay, our timings were the same so we thought we could share the same race plan. But in the end during the race it didn’t turn out the same way,” analysed Dr Tan.

“It’s like this, some years you get it right, and when you get it wrong you learn from it and improve on the training program the next year. I have to go back to the drawing board.”

Benny will be participating in the Boston Marathon next, while Dr Tan will be going to the London Marathon. Both races will take place in April next year and both athletes will be training together for their marathons.

Mok Ying Ren running down the home stretch with supporters cheering him on. (Photo 2 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

http://redsports.sg/2009/12/09/locals-singapore-marathon-2009/

NUS Sportsman of the Year 2009 speech and Video

2009-10-25T06:40:00.001-07:00

Thank you for your support and encouragements. It has been a tough year for me with ups and downs as many of you know. But it has been exciting. Thanks!

Video:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=321760015077&ref=mf

Scroll to 45sec

Speech:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=157884368478&1&index=0

Training for the Hakone Ekiden With Josai University – by JASON LAWRENCE

2009-10-22T00:09:00.001-07:00

japanrunningnews.blogspot.com

As the results of last Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Qualifier 20 km road race continue to reverberate, the inevitable questions about how Japanese runners train have resurfaced. In the summer of 2006 Kiwi runner Jason Lawrence had a rare opportunity to attend 2007 and 2008 Hakone Qualifier winner Josai University's summer gasshuku, an intensive training camp in the remoteness of northern Hokkaido. Josai is coached by former Hakone star Jun Hiratsuka and one hour run national record holder Seiji Kushibe. Among the runners Lawrence trained alongside at the camp was Yuta Takahashi, the 2nd place finisher at this year's Hakone Qualifier in 59:23. Lawrence, now the top runner in Singapore, shared his diary from the training camp with JRN.
Summer Training Camp Diary
August 6, 2006:
I flew up to Hokkaido to join the Josai University distance squad for their summer training camp. 12 days of just running - it's going to be tough. In the afternoon after my flight I went for an easy 10 miler with some of the guys who were just cruising and resting up for tomorrow. Most of them have already been here for 2 or 3 days. I was invited to the camp as Coach Kushibe is a friend of mine. It is very rare that an outsider like me gets the opportunity to join a camp like this as the preparation for the Hakone Ekiden is intense. I'm very fortunate to be here but unfortunate not to be in the same condition as these athletes are. They are super fit and I on the other hand have only a couple months of training under my belt after a long and nasty ITB injury.
Day 1: (AM) 60 min easy (PM) 5 km x 3 (5 min recovery jog)
The morning run was easier than I expected. Normally they run around 4 minute (per kilometre) pace and then a bit quicker for the last 30 minutes. Hokkaido reminds me of the countryside at home, New Zealand. Apparently there is only 1 convenience store in this small town but there are a few interesting local eateries. The town has provided each athlete with a lunch pass that we can use each day at one of the local restaurants– great score! This afternoon workout seems to be one of the camp's more enduring workouts. The pace was set last night at 15.40, 15.30, and the last one was at your own pace. This happened to be around 14.48 for some of the guys. On the second repeat we opened up with a 3 minute kilometre which was too quick for me right now so it was downhill from there. A few of the guys couldn't finish the last set and 2 others stopped after 2 sets. When you have 25 guys gunning for a 10-man team, training is tough. I was coughing a lot at the end because somehow, during the hottest part of the summer I picked up a cold. After a shower and a bath, I feel ok.
Day 2: (AM) 60 min free (PM) 25 km @ 3.30 pace
I felt pretty good this morning running with Coach Kushibe. But in the afternoon I wasn't ready to hit out another workout. I could only hold on to the pace for 10 km then went from 14 km to 15 km in 4 minutes, so I pulled the plug there. The rest of the guys picked up the pace and ran in the last 5 km in about 15.30. Coach had a few words to the aggressors for picking up the tempo. I guess this is why a few guys are out with injuries – if they don’t stick to the prescribed pace and instead push on to impress, things might go bad. Looking forward to 2 days of jogging - I will work on my ping pong and poker. This afternoon’s workout took place 5 miles away from where we were staying. We ran there and back.
Day 3: (AM) 60 min (PM) 60 min
This morning was the first time the pace felt hard. But I did have 2 days of workouts to recover from. In the afternoon I ran easy with one of the guys who are recovering from injury. We talked about how he has been lucky to join a distance squad and make his way through college with his running. I don’t know how tuition fees here stack up against the U.S but some of the fees for just sitting entrance exams are astronomical. The runner I talked to is a senior and with the help of his coach, has already picked up a position with a major telecommunications provider in central Tokyo. He will not become a professional runner as such, but will work a 9 to 5 job with other guys on his team who will train together before and after work.
Day 4: (AM) 60 min (PM) 60 min
Very similar to yesterday, but the pace this morning was faster. For the last 20 minutes we were cruising at 3.30/km pace or better. Yuta Takahashi ran with us this morning before heading overseas for World Juniors where he will run the 10,000 m. He has his own schedule since nobody else is competing over the summer. Who wants to anyway? Even in Hokkaido I walk in the shade as much as possible to beat the heat. That reminds me - we don’t have air conditioning in our rooms, we do however have an electric fan and it has taken a while to adjust the perfect setting to enable a good night’s sleep. After breakfast we drove for 5 hours to our next location. I got out for a jog and strides afterwards with a few of the guys.
Day 5: (AM) 60 min (PM) 1000 m x 10 @ 3 min pace (200 m recovery in about 50-60 seconds)
Once again, the pace was on this morning. But maybe just under 4 minute pace – I’m just not used to it right now. In the afternoon I went down to the track and ran with a couple of the guys doing speed work. I rested every third effort and managed to average under 3 minutes for (1000 m x 2) x 3 and then paced the guys for their last kilometre. I have bumped into several other university and professional runners since arriving at our second location.
Day 6: (AM) 60 min free (PM) 75 min
Morning run was free (at your own pace) because most of the guys ran a 15 km tempo on the road yesterday. The guys I ran with on the track yesterday had just spent some time doing big mileage at another camp and needed to brush up their speed. I think they were checking out professional teams they may join once they graduate. In the afternoon I ran with one of the massage therapists around the 15 km circuit that was used yesterday. An undulating course on nice smooth country roads. The sweet smell of cow shit must have upset a few runners. I also went for a swim after lunch with the injured list.
Day 7: (AM) 75 min (PM) 400 m x 15 @ sub-70 sec pace (200 m recovery jog)
Ran an undulating course this morning coming home quite hard, largely due to a media crew recording build up content for next year's Hakone Ekiden. In the morning we run no more than an hour together, after that it’s up to the individual to cool down or run further. This morning Seiji (Coach Kushibe) and I hunted out a grass course and talked a bit. We meet every morning at 6:00 am for a quick chat, stretches, and then depart as two groups in opposite directions. However, some guys are already outside at 5:30 am walking or warming up. Something I don’t get though is why we never run on trails or grass as a team. Hokkaido looking so green and all it just seems a waste and something a lot of the runners could benefit from. For the 400's we split up into 2 groups and ran the whole workout 200 m apart. It must have been interesting to watch. I skipped every third rep.
Day 8: (AM) 60 min (PM) 30 km @ 3.30 pace
Pace this morning was fine, everyone was aware of the following workout in the afternoon. 30 km at 3.30 pace isn't a big concern for these guys, but in light of the training load to date, it was always going to be a big task. I started the long run 5 minutes earlier with another guy who had taken yesterday off to let a minor injury heal. I led him out at about 3.45/km pace. At the 14 km mark on the foot of a hill I could hear the footsteps of 20 guys in red uniforms hunting me down. I had only planned to run to 20 km so I spent the next 6 km as pacemaker. It was a cool feeling even though I knew I had it easy. However, you must remember that this kind of training is over and above what I have ever done. We are talking more than 250 km a week - if I didn't adjust the workouts to my current level of fitness I wouldn't survive camp. In hindsight, I would have liked to have gone to 30 km. I had no problem maintaining the gap from 15-20 km. I assume I could have slipped into the pack and hung tough for the last 10 km.
The guys clocked 1 hour 45 minutes for the journey. The heat was intense early on; sweat dripping with every single step and shake of the hand. Everyone was together for 20 km then some started to drop. A process that makes the coach’s job of selecting a final 10 for Hakone a little bit easier.
Day 9: (AM) 60 min free (PM) 50 min free with some strides
The day before the final workout. Things were pretty relaxed and I ran with a minor hangover as a few of us celebrated a member’s 20th birthday (The age when alcohol and 'snack bars' enter a man's life). Then in the evening I ran alone summing up camp so far and tried to shake off some fatigue. What surprised me this morning was one of the managers – a short and round looking student, had no problem running almost 10 miles with the pack.
Day 10: (AM) 60 min (PM) 2 km x 5 in 6 min or less, 2 min recovery
Morning run was easy, boys are feeling camp is coming to an end. In the afternoon I knew I wasn't up for it and barely hung on to finish my 3rd rep. After that I ran with guys falling off the pack over the last few hundred metres of reps 4 and 5. These guys crank these workouts out like clock work and always have enough in reserve to bring the last one home faster. Front guys clocked about 5.50 for the 5th rep. No more workouts – it’s time for BBQ and beers.
Day 11: (AM) 60 min free
Final run with Seiji in Hokkaido. Last night the staff, seniors, and honorary guest runner hit the piss hard. After 10 days of hard core training, beers on the coach’s tab were thoroughly deserved all round. Unfortunately my wisdom teeth were killing me so I couldn't party hard. I just wasn't in the mood. A couple of karaoke numbers and then I was off to bed. A lot of guys went straight back to bed after morning stretches without going for a run. I on the other hand made sure Coach got out and paid for his party antics - 60 minutes around random farmland.
Camp Summary:
So, that's it - a standard summer training camp for teams aspiring to run Hakone. These guys mean serious business. I was concerned with the number of injured athletes and the coaches explained to me that sometimes these guys just push too hard too often. A lot of guys come to dinner most nights with ice strapped to various parts of their legs.
I imagine about half of these guys won't go on with their running after university. They are good enough to go professional, or at least win a few road races. I would like to say it would be a waste and if I had their talent I would continue running. But to be fair, although most are very talented and gifted runners, some have made their way on pure guts and determination.
For most team members if not all, "Hakone" is the pinnacle of their careers and it’s what they think about 24/7. If they won I'm sure they would roll over and die happily knowing they conquered the biggest and most meaningful foot race in Japan.
PS: The months after camp, I continued with the high mileage but nothing as extreme as what we ran in Hokkaido. I went on to run Personal best times for 5,000 m, 10 km, and 20 km on the road.
(c) 2009 Jason Lawrence
all rights reserved

Welcome SiS!

2009-09-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

I would like to welcome SiS onboard my support team of sponsors who assist me in my training and juggling with my studies.

SiS (Science in Sport) is the leading expert in sports nutrition for athletes. The gels are the most palatable ones I have ever tasted. The Nocte is a great night time drink especially after my long workouts and they really make you sleep well and recover for the next day! The electrolyte drinks are great tasting (which is the most important right? HAHA) and helps replenish lost salts and sugars.

For those who read my blog, please key in the promotion code 'Mok' to get an exclusive 15% discount. :)

http://2xsfbsports.com/shop

Mok’s FB status

2009-09-18T07:52:00.001-07:00

WTH is wrong with the mizuno wave run organising committee? Results given not in order of ranking?! http://mizunowaverun.com/mizuno/MWR09-runners-result.pdf Seriously. have some respect for the runners who competed in the event, especially for the fo...reign runners who came down for this. This is not a recreational run or an annual time trial. Its a freaking $40 race. For a $40 race, this is not acceptable. Not mentioning the bad route control (everyone ran extra 1km) + even top 10 runners have to stop at traffic lights. Ppl pay money to run in races for a simple reason: to be able to run continously for 16km which is hard to achieve in singapore by yourself due to traffic lights. Now we pay $40 each and we get such crap organisation. Another bad race in Singapore, just like the passion run earlier this year. Are these events just to earn money? where is the $40 going to with no road closure, bad results processing system? Hey. Enough of such races. Such organisers piss me off.

Results of Singapore Athletes at the Triathlon Asian Championships – YOG Qualification Race

2009-09-04T05:14:00.001-07:00

Perhaps something can be learnt from these results.

RUN NUS Clinic 2009

2009-08-13T23:17:00.001-07:00

Trifactor Triathlon Clinics

2009-08-13T23:15:00.001-07:00

http://www.trifactor.sg/race_training.php

Hi Everyone, I will be runnning a series of clinics in the build up towards the trifactor Triathlon on the 13th of September. if interested, please sign up at the above link!

Trifactor Triathlon 13/09/2009

2009-08-05T17:57:00.001-07:00

Triathlete pushing hard for Asiad return

2009-08-04T18:21:00.001-07:00

By Lin Xinyi

Singapore's Cheng Jing Hean with his SEA Games gold medal in the Philippines back in 2005. The NSF made his comeback last month and aims to qualify for next year's Asian Games. -- ST FILE PHOTO

AFTER becoming the first South-east Asia Games men's triathlon gold medallist in 2005, Cheng Jing Hean set his sights on competing at the Asian Games.

But a tough decision to focus on his studies saw the 2006 quadrennial Games in Doha pass him by.

Three years on, he has returned to the sport in a bid to represent Singapore at the Asian Games in Guangzhou next year.

'Whenever I see people race, I'm itching to come back,' he said. 'No matter what, triathlon is already a part of me.'

The 22-year-old full-time national serviceman (NSF) started training last month, but expects to increase the mileage and intensity of his sessions after his operationally ready date in February.

Cheng acknowledges that he is way off the peak he was when he won the SEA Games race, comprising a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run, in 1hr 58min 41sec.

He estimates that he would need four months of full-time training to get back to where he left off in 2006.

While he might be lacking in speed now, he is not lacking determination.

'I want to prove some people wrong,' said Cheng, referring to some in the fraternity who have drawn comparisons between him and a national triathlete.

He gets plenty of motivation back home too. His dad, Chang Fong, is a former national cyclist who competed in the 1965 South-east Asian Peninsular Games and 1966 Asian Games, and he wants to follow in his footsteps.

Cheng's comeback was well received by Triathlon Association of Singapore president Mark Tay.

Said Tay of the youngest triathlete to make the national training team at the age of 13: 'He's one of the few triathletes who have the potential and the right physique for the sport.'

Cheng is hopeful that a time of 1:55:00 will be enough to qualify for the Asian Games in November next year. That would have been good enough for a top 10 spot at the last Games, but it falls short of Singapore National Olympic Council's selection criteria of meeting the sixth placing (1:53:02 ) then.

But association and athlete will take matters a step at a time.

Tay said: 'Whether he can make the top-six timing is immaterial right now.

'By coming back and making the commitment to the sport, he has issued himself a big challenge.'

Tri-Run 2009

2009-08-01T23:34:00.001-07:00

Todays event was another success in the Trifactor series 2009. I was there as a participant too of the event. Haha.

Well, the day started off wierdly with a drunk neighbour lying right at my door step, thinking that it was his house. So we had to wake him up and get him back to his house (wierdly, last night also got a guy sleeping at our stair case landing, and this time we had to call the police as he had blood everywhere too haha)

Anyway, reached there but found out that there will be a delay as there was some problems with the road closure as the TP closed the roads abit late. Thus, we started 30min later. Quite a bad start to the event, but I think the participants took it in their stride. Because of this, the weather was a bit hot on the run.

Ok some good pointers:

1. There were distance markers every km. this was great. initially due to the TP disallowing hanging stuff along the road, there was supposed to be a stretch of in each loop where there will be no markers. I urged the organisers to try their best and paste anywhere because I know as runners, we like to see markers along the way as they sort of tell us that at least we are moving. haha. so hope you guys enjoyed that part

2. The route was dead accurate. The organisers kindly used their vehicles and the walking measurement to measure the route. With gerald’s GPS on the run also measured 21.29km So Must be pretty good la. haha

3. Water points were fantastic with lots of water.

4. The turning points were clear and no confusion from what I saw

5. The run paths were wide enough for the many waves to run in as I saw no congestion and I had no problems weaving my way through also. Actually didnt really need to weave, i could run easily in a straight line.

6. The circuit course has its pros and cons. But for me, it was great as a training run. I had the encouragement everytime i pass buy the turning points when mr birdpark emcee will cheer for me. haha. that was fun. But of course, some paritipants commented that it was getting boring going into the last lap. I guess it is also challenging to close a wider stretch of road due to traffic reasons, unless, it is some super big event like army half marathon. Perhaps after a few more years, Trifactor will gain larger propularity and we can close more roads. haha.

7. Post race, there were more than enough BOOST energy drink for everyone which was great.

8. Made some new friends like William today at the event. It had a nice and friendly atmosphere to it. Congratulations to those who won the very nice timex watch man. haha. damn jealous. haha.

Well, overall the run was well organised. Just that we started 30min later. I am sure next year we will improve on that and such hiccups wun occur anymore. Good choice to skip OSIM triathlon for this. This is definitely more worth it man.

Hope all of you guys who were there enjoyed the event. Do drop me an email or text message if you have some good suggestions for the 2010 edition of Trifactor.

See you guys at the Tri-athlon.

2009-07-24T05:14:00.001-07:00

Interesting EFX

2009-07-22T00:37:00.001-07:00

www.efxsportsasia.com

hello

2009-07-15T07:43:00.001-07:00

Hello Chaps! sorry schools been really busy for the past 4 weeks. Its my surgery posting at NUH lets see what interesting I have done:

1. I catherized a male patient

2. Did 4 Per Rectal examinations in a day

3. Drew some blood

4. Set 1 plug

5. Saw some barium x-rays

6. Watched an colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy

7. Watched a breast lump excision

Well crazy loads to study.

Notes on German Fernandez, Galen Rupp, Alberto Salazar

2009-06-28T05:37:00.001-07:00

by Doug Binder and Ken Goe, The Oregonian
Saturday June 27, 2009, 9:55 PM

Doug Beghtel/The OregonianGerman Fernandez, who led from start to finish in winning the NCAA 1,500 meters, broke the U.S. junior 5,000-meter record Friday at Hayward Field.

EUGENE -- Ever since he broke the long-standing national high school record in the two mile, German Fernandez has carried the tag as the brightest prospect in U.S. distance running.

The Oklahoma State freshman from Riverbank, Calif., ran at Hayward Field for the first time Friday, placing fifth in the men's 5,000 meters at the USA Track & Field Championships and breaking a U.S. junior (under 20) record in the process.

Fernandez, who turns 19 in November, ran 13 minutes, 25.46 seconds to take a record that belonged to Galen Rupp until Stanford's Chris Derrick took it with a time of 13:29.98 this spring. Fernandez also ran 3:55.02 for a collegiate indoor record in the mile.

Rupp, 23, is the 10,000 meters national champion and knows a thing or two about being labeled the next big thing.

"All the attention he's getting is warranted," Rupp said this spring. "He's running unbelievable this year. It's been phenomenal what he's done."

But the high expectations aren't always easy to live up to. Rupp, who broke high school records at 3,000 and 5,000 meters, had his share of ups and downs in his college career.

The two have not raced head-to-head -- or even met -- yet Rupp said he feels as if he understands what Fernandez is going through.

"I wish him the best and hope he doesn't get caught up in the hype," Rupp said. "When I look at people that I ran against (at 19), there were people who were supposed to be the next big thing and some of them fell off. I hope it doesn't happen to German. He's one of the best guys at his age. I'm looking forward to running against him."

Fernandez was happy with his performance and said he enjoyed his first Hayward experience.

"It's really special," Fernandez said. "Hayward Field is a great place to run. The crowd gets into it, the runners get into it. I've never run in this atmosphere before, so it was great to be here."

Thomas Boyd/The OregonianGalen Rupp (center), Dathan Ritzenhein (right) and Tim Nelson on the awards stand after the 10,000 meters at the USA Track and Field Championships.

A good fit: Alberto Salazar, who coaches the Portland contingent of the Oregon Track Club, which includes Rupp, Kara Goucher, Adam Goucher and Amy Yoder Begley, said new addition Dathan Ritzenhein would be a good fit.

"Always, Dathan is the one guy I was thinking I might take on if it came to that point," said Salazar, who has been reluctant to make his group too large. "But he was with a coach. So I thought if for some reason it doesn't work out, he is the one guy I would consider taking on."

Ritzenhein, who represented the United States in the marathon at the Beijing Olympics, split recently with coach Brad Hudson.

"We've been talking for about a month and a half," said Salazar, who told Ritzenhein they should postpone making the move until after the U.S. championships to avoid disrupting both the consistency of Ritzenhein's training and the chemistry of Salazar's group.

"We came to an agreement a couple of weeks ago that it was going to work," Salazar said. "We talked for a while and I said, 'Let's not rush into it.' I wanted to make sure of exactly what he thought he had to do and what I thought he had to do, to see if we were on the same page."

As it turns out, they were. Salazar said Ritzenhein would give up the marathon, at least for a while, and concentrate on the 10,000.

Ritzenhein placed second to Rupp on Thursday night in the USATF 10,000 final.

Salazar said he thinks Rupp and Ritzenhein will make ideal training partners. The partnership will start immediately.

"I think they're both similar," Salazar said. "I absolutely believe it's in Dathan's best interest to do the same type of training as Galen."

COMMENTS

Sorry for pasting these articles in to my blog. HAHA. I am a keen follower of runners who are non kenyans. Galen Rupp is the new running sensation in USA and so is the 19 year old German Fernandez. Coach Alberto Salazar has recently seen a winning streak in all his athletes and I am really excited to see how they fare in the future. :):)

Republic Run 2009

2009-06-27T19:11:00.001-07:00

Mok Ying Rong has just won the 5km race this morning! Congratulations!

As he was as a runner, Salazar is leading the pack as a coach

2009-06-27T16:29:00.001-07:00

By George Schroeder

Appeared in print: Saturday, Jun 27, 2009

Sports: Track & Field: Story

An hour before the gun, Alberto Salazar popped the pill. Tiny and peach-colored, the low-dose beta blocker was preventive medicine, just something to keep his heart quiet.

It did its work. As the race unfolded, Salazar stood calmly along the rail on the curve at Hayward Field, near the videoboard. He called out times and occasional advice to Kara Goucher, and you’d have thought she was on a routine training run.

She won.

And if you’re keeping score, that’s three races, three wins for Salazar’s runners at the USA Track & Field Championships.

As expected, Galen Rupp won the men’s 10,000 meters on Thursday. In a surprise, Amy Yoder Begley won the women’s 10K the same night. Friday, Goucher easily won the women’s 5,000.

We’re not counting Dathan Ritzenhein, who finished second to Rupp, then hurried to Portland to join Salazar’s group. But the message is clear.

It’s past time we declared Salazar’s philosophy a big success: Give a good coach a few elite distance runners. Provide them every imaginable resource. And watch out.

“It absolutely proves it,” Goucher said. “He had three athletes run in this meet and he got three firsts. Pretty good.”

Yeah, pretty good. And after a little prodding, Salazar admitted to some satisfaction.

“Is there a part of me that says, ‘Yeah, I told you so?’” he said. “Yeah. Absolutely.”

Salazar insists he’s not motivated by the naysayers. And he has mellowed over the years, especially since suffering a heart attack two years ago.

At 50, he’s only a dozen pounds heavier than when he ran. Despite the heart trouble and two stents, he still runs six days a week, maybe four miles at an eight-minute pace.

It all feels so good, with or without the Inderal in tiny doses.

But sure, there’s validation.

When the Oregon Project got started, people worried that Salazar would overtrain the runners, like he famously did to himself. They wondered especially about the future of Rupp, a prodigy tied so closely to a guy who’d almost run himself to death — once, quite literally — by his early 20s.

But Salazar has handled Rupp very carefully (which, predictably, led to carping about coddling; you can’t win over the critics). Even at 22, Rupp’s weekly workload is significantly less than many of his peers, and Salazar has mandated regular breaks from training.

The results, beginning last year with Rupp’s trip to Beijing, and rocketing upward since, are clear. People are seriously comparing the kid to Steve Prefontaine, which is too much for now.

But do you still doubt that Rupp has the potential to eventually run with the Kenyans and Ethiopians?

Also, we’ve all heard the whispers — sometimes, it’s been more like hissing — about the cutting-edge experiments Salazar conducts on his runners: the high-altitude oxygen tents-turned-house, the underwater and anti-gravity treadmills, and so on. If it seemed like a good idea, Salazar was willing to spend Nike’s money to try it.

Even Salazar laughs about some of the ideas, like the vibrating platform he installed in his house. When runners stood on it, the jostling was supposed to elicit some sort of muscular response.

It shook the entire house. Paintings fell off the walls. Nails popped out.

Salazar gave the platforms to the U.S. Olympic training center. Now Oregon’s athletic department has several, and you can buy them at Costco — so there’s apparently some beneficial effect.

“In the end, I just didn’t know what I was doing,” he said, laughing at the memory.

But if there was a shred of scientific research and some testimonials, Salazar was willing to try. And it’s pretty clear now that he mostly knew what he was doing.

“Everybody he coaches,” Goucher said, “has made these huge leaps and bounds.”

It’s happening beyond Salazar’s immediate group. Did you see the men’s 5,000 meters on Friday?

A 1-2-3 sweep by Oregon Track Club Elite, whose runners train alongside Rupp and Goucher and the rest.

They came from Wisconsin with Jerry Schumacher, their coach. But the group has embraced Salazar’s philosophy, and what they did Friday night didn’t hurt the cause.

The ultimate goal is to make Americans “truly competitive on the world stage,” and that still feels a long way off.

But we’re witnessing a rebirth of American distance running. Its epicenter is Portland.

Its beating heart is Salazar’s.

Not very nice leh…

2009-06-26T01:27:00.001-07:00

Not a very good role model to athletes out there man. disappointing.

Jakarta 10km Day 3 (Race Day)

2009-06-23T01:45:00.001-07:00

Woke up at 4am for breakfast but there was a stupid morning call at 3.30am. Breakfast ate some rice, nothing much. was really excited but not nervous. Its so exciting. haha

5am took the bus to the race start at the Indonesian Monument which is a huge park actually. thousands of people go there on the weekends and it was reallly packed. everyone was playing badminton everywhere and there were loads of kids flying small kites.

My sister was obviously very nervous and was very fidgety and kept wanting to warm up early. but seriously there is no need to. Just be relaxed and look around the atmosphere is great!! The warm up pics taken by coach pandian sucks! haha.

Race start was 6.30am sharp. really wide starting line. very very spacious and nice. Its like running a major marathon championship. Haha.

When the horn started, I consciously held myself back to try to do a even or negative split. I immediately followed the top kenyan women and settled into rthymn. after 3km, I covered some gaps with some indonesian boys. The keyan lady followed and in so doing, dropped all the other elite women athletes. haha. Me and the kenyan lady went on the the turning point at a comfortable pace. at the 6km mark, i felt that the kenyan was too relaxed already la. i think cus she win liao she dun want to push. cus for them they just want the money. so i went on and increased the pace as I still felt pretty comfortable. I caught some indonesian national athletes and could see the poland guy in front about 100m. About 2 km to go, i upped my pace one notch to about my usual 5km pace and finished strongly. It was a good negative split race and really really enjoyable!! Happy with the timing man. Timing was 33.17. My sister also did a great time and a personal best of 40.38. woohoo.

After the race, we mingled in the athletes tent and had a long long talk with Lee Troop, Australia’s top marathoner who has been to the last 3 olympics and is planning to go for his final one in London. He is 36 this year. and he runs 250km a week. one crazy dude. we got many tips from him. hehehehe. top secret. Such a nice guy man. and he got iphone. dman high tech one. Oh. also found out that Johan Jauhari won the indonesian nationals with a time of 30.48 mymy. crazy man. he is damn good!!

We had to wait a long time for the winners to pass out their urine for the doping test. Thus, we reached back hotel at like 11am. Took a quick shower and me and my sister went to the high class mall next door for lunch at Cafe Cartel. The expenditure there, allowed us 3 tickets for the long slide from 7 storey to 1st storey!! We decided to have a go. so we had to go to the 7 storey, deposit bags, put on helmet, knee guards and slide down the slide. it was very very fast and scary man!!! wah lau eh. We decided to give the last ticket to coach pandian who always seem very sleepy and this will definitely wake him up. tml he will go try it.

After that, went back to hotel and rest and slept a little till dinner. After dinner, me and my sister went with Devi to the high class shopping malls around here. Not that we are high class. haha. but she say these malls are for high class ppl thats why when entering the mall, must go through security checks. haha. Didnt buy anything man. haha.

Then, went back to sleep. Oh. My roomie Mr Bunting had to sepcial tour organised by United Nations Indonesia around jakarta. since he doesnt understand much english, i still dunno where he went. haha.

Jakarta 10km Day 2

2009-06-22T05:30:00.001-07:00

We woke up at 5.45am (Bunting had this alarm ringing at 5am which was such a nuisance but he didnt wake up). We went for a jog at the stadium next door. Apparently over here, the ppl start exercising at 4am. how cool is that?

Anyway went for a jog with Bunting and my sis. Bunting said he is running 1hour and doing 1hour of exercises. crazY! but i think its ok since he does 50km for his long runs. he says he does the 50km long and slow and no timing. anyway, i was surprised he started running at our speeds. I mean my sister 10km is 10min slower than him but he is jogging at our speed. We jogged around and take pictures around the stadium at this really comfy speed. I guess running is really a brainless sport and the way to be good is to keep running at slow speeds. its no big deal.

We had a 3 hours break in which i typed this blog entry and also slept for an hour before we collected our number tags at 11am. Coach pandian was also a participant. haha. Took some photos with mr Hem and also the myannmar runners. Met Jauhari who is also a triathlete who took part at the Asian Beach Games last year. great to see him again. Also saw the kenyans whom all look like twins and sibilings with their shaven heads.

Then, we had lunch at about 1 where we had a long talk by Mr Pandian for 1 hour. Talked alot about athletics in singapore. the importance of lifestyle. commitment, passion. blabla. very inspiring. haha.

Then we have another 1hr break before the race briefing at 2pm and route reccee at 3pm.

The race briefing was short and sweet nothing that we see at triathlons briefings as it was a straight forward out-and-back route without the need to illustrate the transition areas like in a triathlon. haha. so actually i found the race brief quite useless. Took some pics with the kenyans after that. I am wearing the same NIKE outfit as the kenyan. haha. the kenyans speak great english and are super friendly. and i got quite a few tips on training. hehehe.

Next, we sat on a bus to survey the race route. It was a flat course and literally idiotproof. WE had to run on the busway. it is actually like a MRT for the people. Its a small bus travelling on a fixed bus lane which is separated from the usual road lanes. So imagine a bus just going up and down a lane without any traffic at all. see the pics.

After the race brief, I headed over to the mall next door by myself to just take a look. Its a high class mall which is also a residence above the 7 stories. imagine staying above a shopping mall! haha. anyway, they got this huge slide that spans 7 storeys. More about that in day 3.

Dinner was a welcome dinner. food was great with this soup bowl thing I snatched 2 of that. haha.

After that it was time to hit the sacks.

Jakarta 10km Day 1

2009-06-20T21:39:00.001-07:00

We had lunch at Breeks Cafe at Changi Airport. My dad, my sister me and dinah. She came so send us off. yay. haha. But she sent us off when we boarded the Sky Train to terminal 1. haha. Cus she had to rush for physio and massage at SSC. During lunch, i got a call from coach pandian he said “erh… Is that your sister coming with you ah? Cus I realised I was only communicating with you and I forgot the other person” haha. Quite funny.

Anyway, we checked in first as my sister wanted to buy some running magazines (but didnt in the end, bought a book instead). On the flight, I read my ebook on my netbook how cool is that?

When we reached, we had to wait for 1 hour plus because, no one came to pick us up. Quite bad compared to my experiences in Triathlon where there is always the liason officer there to pick us up. But perhaps Triathlon is still a new sport and is a close knit family as Coach Pandian suggested which I think is true. Cus For example, if we wanna race triathlon, the only place we probably go is Bali as no other states has triathlon. So officials from both sides probably know each other already. Whereas for running, every state got their own officials, and it gets messier.

We took a 1hr drive to our hotel. We were with another cambodian runner. I realised that he was Hem Bunting. He is really really pretty famous. haha. He is on wikipedia at least. Try wikiing his name and he got quite an interesting history. So honoured to meet him. and he is such a simple man which many runners from our region are as I came to realised. But yet they run so fast. really puts us to shame.

Over dinner which was at 8pm (1hour behind singapore), we sat with the myanmmar athletes. Very interesting conversation with Coach Pandian being very educative. Poverty in Myanmar. Good atheltes lousy government, good government lousy atheltes. at some 1980 sea games pandian got 4th. he gave his spikes to the champ. and the champ wore that spikes and won the SEA Games 2 years later. the myanmmar athletes got no TV, radio. if they in sea games, government give them TV. Singapore, we get 10k. Sigh. but they are very good. pandian say its the lifestyle. he suggest we go try staying with them during holidays. haha. the coach was a funny guy. rainer paul in myannamar could produce results, but in singapore 10 years no results. why? lifestyle according to pandian.

But my sister is very smart. she say there are 2 kinds of people who go professional. Those who are very poor and those who are very rich. The poor like they myanmmar people are committed to running which earns them a living. the rich – too much money, able to commit the time to training, usually the ang mohs. But for many of us singaporeans, we are halfway here nor there, and somehow no one dares to put down the books. hence, its also not right to criticise ourselves saying why these people can run so much faster with so little support. haha. quite true.

I roomed with Hem Bunting while my sister roomed with the myanmmar girl. Bunting watches the TV though he does not understand any of it. haha. very interesting. Its just like a picture box to him. and he laughs at the kissing scenes. Cute guy.

I also managed to purchase my SIM card to call back with the help of our very sweet LO, Devi

Posted with my netbook hehe

Jakarta 10km

2009-06-17T19:02:00.001-07:00

At last, 3 days before departure, SAA managed to confirm that me and my sister will be going for the Jakarta 10km. Yay, my first time going to Indonesia! haha. And brother-sister team. How cool is that?

We will be leaving on friday, coming back on monday. Race on sunday.

What an interesting way to end my 3 weeks end-of-year holiday. Plus I will miss the first day of medicine year 3. haha. My next posting is NUH for the next 8 weeks. So i can stay in hall and wake up late and squeeze in a monring training. how cool is that?

Anyway MRI showed that there was nothing worthy to be worries about in my knee. But Well, there is still this irritating slight pain of grade 2/10 on the medial aspect of the left knee.

Alright, I just blogged this on my netbook on the bus. hehe

MRI

2009-06-15T22:04:00.001-07:00

I have been having this knee discomfort on my medial side of my left knee for 3 weeks now. Very very sian. I have taken 3 courses of Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) but to no avail of getting rid of it totally.

Thus, today I went to do an MRI (magnetic Resonance Imaging) Scan at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital to check if there is something more serious to this nagging pain.

No worries. The pain is just 2/10 but its just an irritant!

I am blogging this using my netbook connected via bluetooth to my HTC Touch 3G phone on the Singtel GPRS network. hehehe. damn shiok.

TriBike 2009

2009-06-14T23:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the Tribike 2009, the 2nd leg in the Trifactor series 2009. It was held at the Changi Exhibition Center.

I reached there at 7 because I was to flag off the first wave of 60km riders at 8am. I took a cab down from home and I get to see the stretch of the Changi Aviation Road all the way in from changi coastal road. It was a really a beautiful stretch of road to ride and cycle on but it is usually closed to public! what a waste! haha

Anyway, saw joshua and Jon Ma over there. haha. They were really good stuff man. They did the 60km.

I also saw some OCBC boys Jun Rong and Ah Huat who totally owned the 40km field with average speed of 42km/h:

And Some other friends like Gerald, Raphael and Scott!

Here was the start position of the races. There are like 10 waves with distance ranging from 60km, 40km and 20km. There was also a relay category which sadly only one team took part which was Jia jie’s team. haha.

Anyway, the race was very well organised:

1. The roads were really wide. at the U turn points, it was 4 lane wide. Great for newbies and it was really safe

2. There was safety vehicles: ambulances, a few motor bikes, a few SUVs.

3. Water points not really neccessary but there were lots of Boost at the finish line. (However they ran out leaving about 5% of participants without the boost) However, there was still more than enough plain water. So i think its fine!

4. The route was easy and simple, with more than enough marshalls. However, initially for the first wave, I felt that the turning point at the exhibition center was rather confusing and so did some cyclists. I imeediately got the organisers to rearrange the cones to make the route more clear, and it did and we did not have any problems after that.

Some areas of improvements which I will be working with the Trifactor team for next year:

1. I think the finishing point being far away from the starting point and site of canrnival some how causes the event spirit to be a little dull. I think all should be congregated at the same area to hype up the spirit and the Emcee can be heard everywhere.

2. More Electrolytes drink at the end

3. There were still some results disputes which i think can be improved on as it only brings frustration to the athletes.

In conclusion, I feel that the TriBike was a great success coming from a company that is first venturing into multisports events. Like the TriSwim, it has definitely succeeded in bringing the sport of Triathlon to the masses.

Hope so see more people at the Tri Run in August!

Do drop your feedback in the comments below if you have taken part in the event! :)

New Netbook

2009-06-13T22:46:00.001-07:00

hello guys, I am blogging from my new Acer Aspire One Netbook i bought at the PC show at suntec city. Went there with Dinah on Saturday. The price was actually 688. Then friday, dropped to 599. Then courts announced that next 3 sets is $579. So i quckly bought it. haha. I am now online using Singtel Mobile Broadband connected to my netbook via bluetooth. hahaha.

Its only 1 inch thick! Great for bringing around and when I do my presentations. hehehe. so fun.

Today had the TriBike, part of the Trifactor Series at Changi Exhibition Center. Will blog about that later!!

See you!

GobbleMonster!! So cute

2009-06-08T06:27:00.001-07:00

Swift Track and Field 5000m

2009-06-08T01:02:00.001-07:00

Photocredits: Lance Tan

Passion Run Results

2009-06-04T04:52:00.001-07:00

ST - Not going to Pahang meet

2009-05-28T05:20:00.001-07:00

SAA bars local athletes because invitation was not routed through it

By May Chen

SEVERAL top local track and field athletes' move to compete in the Pahang Open on Saturday has come to a screeching halt.

The Singapore Athletic Association (SAA) decided not to sanction the outing for the likes of national 100m record-holder Amanda Choo, claiming it did not receive any invitation from the organisers of the Pahang Open.

Said C. Veeramani, technical director of the SAA: 'There needs to be an official invitation from one body to another when such Open championships are concerned.

'If it is not done, it is hard for the SAA to sanction the outing. What happened in the past did not follow official protocol and we want to change that.'

The International Association of Athletics Federations rules state that anyone who wants to participate in an overseas championship must seek the permission of the national body.

Fourteen athletes from the Wings Athletic Club (WAC) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) received the bad news last weekend.

Sprint Dynamics Sports Consultancy, a company providing coaching services to junior athletes, was told by the meet organisers that the athletes 'did not have the SAA's blessings to participate at the Pahang Open'.

It was slated to send 10 athletes.

The athletic clubs and coaches are unhappy, claiming the SAA failed to explain its decision to them.

Said WAC's president Melvin Tan: 'We followed the same procedures as we did for previous overseas meets. We informed the SAA through e-mail of the intention of the outing, who is going and the athletes' recent results.'

R. Annamalai, honorary secretary of the Pahang Amateur Athletic Association, said he also informed the SAA after receiving the applications from Singapore.

'I made a courtesy call to the SAA but was told that the association would not give its permission.'

He maintained that an invitation was sent to the SAA following a request by the Wings Athletic Club. But the SAA insisted it did not receive the invitation.

Veeramani said: 'We are reviewing the administrative protocol required and will soon be sending all our affiliates the documentation stating what is required for such applications in the future.'

The SAA's decision means the athletes - who include former national long jump record-holder Wang Kan - will miss an important preparatory competition with the South-east Asia Games in Laos just six months away.

Said Choo: 'It's disappointing, especially since this was supposed to be my first overseas competition of the year. It's important because it's a chance to race with top runners in the region.'

The Pahang Open is set to feature 34 national athletes from Malaysia. Most of them are likely to compete in December's SEA Games.

Tan said: 'Our athletes are working hard to qualify for the SEA Games, and they need overseas competitions to gauge their preparation against athletes in the region. They can't just keep racing among themselves locally.

'Even if they keep winning locally, it only means they are kings of the kampung.'

maychen@sph.com.sg

'I made a courtesy call to the SAA but was told that the association would not give its permission.'

R. ANNAMALAI, honorary secretary of the Pahang Amateur Athletic Association

What are your thoughts?

ST - Triathlete who wears many hats

2009-05-27T04:23:00.001-07:00

SEA Games 2007 triathlon gold medallist Mok Ying Ren balances his life as a medical student with gruelling triathlon training. -ST
Wed, May 27, 2009
The Straits Times

By Lim Pow Hong

Mok Ying Ren debunks the myth of brawny but brainless jocks.

Not only was he a SEA Games triathlon gold medallist in 2007, but he is also a third-year medical student at the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

In an Olympic triathlon, a triathlete has to swim 1,500m, cycle 40km and run 10km. Ying Ren competes in 15 races a year.

The 20-year-old also encourages young people to pursue sports. He was the ambassador for the inaugural 2009 Milo/MOE Youth TRYathlon that was held in March, where he introduced the triathlon to young people by sharing his experience as a triathlete.

His experience has inspired 15-year-old triathlete James Ng from Chung Cheng High (Yishun), who started competing at the age of six.

The Secondary 3 student said: 'I've always looked up to him (Ying Ren) as my role model. He is successful in every aspect of his life and that is what I hope to achieve someday too.'

IN brings you up close and personal with this talented sportsman.

IN: When did you start competing in triathlons?

Ying Ren: I started when I was in Year 1 in Raffles Junior College.

IN: why did you choose to be a triathlete?

Ying Ren: I was a swimmer in primary school and I was getting bored swimming up and down the pool, looking at the black line in the middle of the lane.

I found joy running especially in areas like MacRitchie Reservoir. Thus I decided to do some biathlons first, then I progressively stepped up to the triathlon.

IN: Was it challenging when you first started training for the triathlon?

Ying Ren: It was challenging as it requires more time management. I had to divide my time between three different sports.

I also had to learn how to handle a racing bike.

But it was also less boring as there are three sports to break the monotony.

IN: What is your training schedule like?

Ying Ren: It's very dynamic. I train about 10 sessions a week. Each session ranges from 30 minutes to three hours.

I usually do long runs up to 25km, cycle up to 100km, and swim up to 5km in a session.

IN: What is the most challenging aspect of training for you?

Ying Ren: Training on my own. It is challenging to run long distances by myself, day in, day out.

However, I am fortunate to have friends who also compete and are willing to pace me during harder workouts and some long runs.

IN: What do you enjoy most about competing in triathlons?

Ying Ren: Travelling overseas to meet other triathletes. We are a close-knit community as we always see the same faces at competitions.

IN: How do you juggle studies and competitive training?

Ying Ren: I have to sacrifice some time with family and friends. I plan my time properly and study whenever I can.

It is especially challenging during my clinical postings as I have to be in the hospital from 8am to 5pm.

IN: What targets have you set for yourself?

Ying Ren: I want to qualify for the 5,000m and 10,000m track events in this year's SEA Games.

I also aim to run the 5,000m in 15 minutes flat.

IN: In what ways have you worked with youths?

Ying Ren: I try to increase the awareness of triathlon by giving talks at school assemblies or sports camps organised by Singapore Sports Council. So far, I have given five to six talks.

IN: How do you relax?

Ying Ren: I think training is my form of relaxation.

IN: Any particular sporting hero? Why?

Ying Ren: Roger Bannister. He was able to break the world mile record when he was in medical school, ahead of many professionals who were training full-time.

IN: How long do you intend to compete? What are your future plans?

Ying Ren: I would like to compete for as long as I can. I want to try to qualify for the Ironman in Hawaii. That will require me to swim 3.6km, cycle 180km and run a full marathon which covers a distance of 42km.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090526-144008.html

Passion Run 2009 Photos

2009-05-24T22:13:00.001-07:00

Dinah – Queen of Mountain TNP 24/5/2009

2009-05-24T03:29:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday!!!

Today’s Passion Run Organisation was a total Disappointment

2009-05-24T03:01:00.001-07:00

Firstly, though, I feel the organisers should be commended on their successes. The running route was well picked out with abundant water points. A mild annoyance, however, the presence of crowds and obstructions, was something that was perhaps unavoidable and hence blame needn’t be dished out. The generally smooth conduct and punctual start facilitate a good race for me, allowing me to clock a good time.

I was one of the prize winners today. I was disappointed that they did not call our names when announcing the prize winners. They were calling our number tag numbers. When I approached the officials to request to call our names, I was brushed off. This is unacceptable as it does not show any respect to we runners who put in so much hardwork in am attempt to break our own limits

Next, there were a lot of disputes over the results for the women 10km event, yet no one was attending to the ladies. In an attempt to facilitate in the conflict resolution, I approached Mr David Chan whom was initially gathering the prize winners and was wearing the official tag. He brushed me away claiming 'that is not my business. I am just in charge of announcing. Go find someone else.' Upon asking whom I could talk to, he proved equally unapproachable and forcefully directed me to a hostile compatriot of his whom eventually turned out to be equally unhelpful. This showed the incompetence and a lack of basic humanity among the organisers. Later we managed to get another official whom was calm and helped to explain the situation to the ladies. Sadly, the resolution was confined to rhetoric alone and after the prize giving was over, the prizes were misallocated. . The officials were missing this time with no one offering to mediate. I approached Mr Chan once again and he again absolved himself of all responsibilities and on asking who to go to he referred us to information counter.

I just look forward to participate in events that are well organised and enjoyable. It is sad that the organisers of the passion run did not improve on their second attempt of organising this event.

With the increasing prices of registration fees for races, I dun understand why the standard of organisation is still at rock bottom. At least, give us runners some respect and not just organising events to earn money.

Singapore’s Showing at the Subic Bay Philipines Triathlon – Sprint Triathlon (Click to enlarge and see timings)

2009-05-18T00:34:00.001-07:00

Altitude Training - a breath of fresh air…….NOT!

2009-05-12T00:27:00.001-07:00

By Wayne Goldsmith

Message to the Sports Science community - are you kidding?

Altitude training?

I thought the old approach to altitude training was done and dusted but to my amazement, nations continue to invest in one of the most questionable sports performance ”enhancement” methodologies in the business.

You can’t be serious!

Do a literature review on all the available research on altitude training and you know what you end up with………….

“Altitude training may help some athletes, in somesituations, sometimes“.

Think about this. The research pretty much says “altitude training is hit and miss”.

In spite of the thousands of pages of journal articles, hundreds of books and thousands of conference papers presented on altitude training since the mid 1960s, the best the sports science community can tell us is “it might work with some athletes from time to time”- followed by the ubiquitous “but further research is needed”.

Look at the holes in the logic:

The vast majority of papers of altitude training arephysiology based. Athletes arrive at the altitude camp. They have a blood test. Three weeks later they have another blood test and all the usual suspects - red blood cells, oxygen transport mechanisms and blood buffering capacity all have measured changes - therefore everyone taps each other on the back, congratulates each other for the great job done and for another successful altitude camp. The assumption is bordering on stupid because…..it assumes that all performance is dependent on physiological adaptations.
One of the basic principles of research is to control or allow for confounding variables. For some reason, this principle has been thrown out the window when it comes to altitude training. Look at a typical altitude training camp scenario:

Athlete A lives in his home town on one side of the nation. He trains hard in a squad of 30 athletes (with one coach), where he is the only national level athlete in the squad. He works part time in the local insurance company. He lives by himself and cooks, cleans and takes care of a small apartment. He gets a small amount of support from the government and uses the money for coaching fees and a weekly massage. Now let’s take him to altitude…………………..

He is working with the best athletes and coaches in the country every day - (the “camp” effect”)
There is a 1-3 coach athlete ratio.
He does not have to work.
The national team nutritionist manages all meals.
He gets daily sports massage and recovery support.
He has access to the national team sports psychologist.
He gets additional quality coaching one on one from the national coach.
He gets intense technical and tactical training from the national team biomechanics staff.
AND……….he gets some nice adaptations in his blood and muscle biochemistry.

Two weeks later at national championships the athlete improves his personal best time by 0.3 of a second and the team physiologist yells - “See I told you altitude training works. His buffering capacity was enhanced by 16% and his red cell markers were significantly improved”.

You can’t be serious!

It’s a bit like taking sports supplements. Imagine you are working with an athlete who is training hard, getting plenty of rest and recovery and remains injury free for the entire preparation. AND in addition you introduce some creatine into their diet twice a week after gym training.

The athlete races and does a huge PB and you think,“hey -that creatine is great stuff!”.

All the altitude exposure in the world does not make up for inconsistent training, a compromised preparation due to injury or a poor attitude to completing training to the athlete’s full potential any more than taking creatine makes up for a lousy gym program.

3. A lot of the basic stuff is still being debated by the sports science community:

how high to go?
how much volume?
what sort of intensity?
how many sessions?
do we need changes in diet and supplementation?
how long to stay at altitude?
what is the right type of preparation / background training to do (volume, intensity, frequency) in the weeks leading up to training at altitude?
how long prior to competition should we do altitude training?
how long before the competition should we come down?
And the big one……no one has demonstrated conclusively that it works for athletes competing at sea level.

C’mon - after 40 years studying this stuff - is this the best we can do?

In tough economic times, where it is difficult to find money to invest in the preparation and performance of elite athletes, why do we persist in spending so much money on something, that after 40 years of research, still has more holes in it than the proverbial sieve?

Surely someone will start looking at multiple performance factorsin altitude research and look at the physical, mental, technical, tactical and emotional changes in athletes during exposure to altitude - including the impact of the training environment on the attitude of the athlete to training and performance.

To borrow a term from the Thredbo High Altitude Training Centre in Australia…..Altitude with Attitude!

Foreign Talent Discussion on Redsports

2009-05-09T07:24:00.001-07:00

http://redsports.sg/2009/05/04/teo-ser-luck-interview-part-4/

Hmm. was reading this article and the 4 responses by people. I think James put the idea across quite well though his tone was not very nice to our Minister.

I think it is true that bringing Foreign Talent (FT) into SIngapore is not going to work to bring up SIngapore Sports. Frankly, I am lucky, that TAS has not brought in any FT for triathlon. Because, If they do, I will not have achieved what I have so far. Lets see why. Mr Teo suggested that bringing FT will lead to locals wanting to compete with them, thus bringing the best out in us. But that does not really work I feel. In singapore, Most of our athletes are students. 90% of our gold medals in SEA Games are won by student- athletes. These students i presume are already balancing their studies and trainings and are already doing their best at training. THey are doing very well because despite needing to study, they beat several professional atheltes to win their medals. Same for me, I was juggling my medical studies when I was training for my triathlon at the 2007 sea games.

I can just imagine if they bring in a FT. What happens? The FT starts training full time. he dun need to study, he dun need to work becus training is his work. he train eats sleep. Now, to represent singapore, i must beat the FT. you tell me how? Quit studies? In this situation, the local have no choice but to quit studies if he wanna represent singapore. becus that is the only way to compete with an FT. Well, some people will say train smarter la. Well, go try seriously. no matter how smart u train, training makes u tired and with the need to attend school 8-5, how to rest well?

I think bringing FT is not the solution. We know the following:

1. Training professionally give the best results

2. Student-atheltes are not training optimally because school takes up rest time.

THe solutions for is therefore is to inspire students to WANT to quit school and train professionally. How? Dun bring in FTs. Work with MOE, teach students values of timeplanning. TImetable shift from 10pm – 3pm (For university too! for the late bloomers) days so that athletes can train double a day. Blablaba. THis will lead to superior performance by just student atheltes. Next, these SA will perform well at SEA Games. With proper input with sports scientist (James is right again, we should engage sportsscientist experts at managing SAs to optimise training. what is not needed in training, strike them out, and some luck, and some money (Sports high performance is abt risk taking! and dare to change! http://www.sportscoachingbrain.com/what-is-high-performance/), these SA will make it to asian games level and do very well. With some luck, some incentives, they see that they are already half way there, they MAY consider quitting school and work towards the olympics. Because, they are so near!! We cannot expect SEA Games medallist to go pro. they can see that it is quite far. are they willing to risk? But if they already at asian games level, the risk is lower!

As you can see this will take years!!! Its patience that will bring out champions from our younger generation and really require some inter-ministry cooperation!.

Sorry this is quite ramblish i am just typing my thoughts. What do you guys think? Put ur thoughts down in my tag board. haha. Good night, for now, i just want to start running faster!!

3km TT with SAA

2009-05-09T06:58:00.001-07:00

TOday did a 3km TIme Trial run with Coach Elangovan from SAA. Thanks to coach, I had several pacers during my 3km Time trial which was ran at my 5km goal pace. It was a very good run and I felt myself really comfortable despite quite a strong headwind on the home stretch and quite warm day! Thanks to the pacers who made the TT more relaxing!! Felt great in my Nike Zoom Victory SPikes!

I am really hoping that I will be given the oppurtunity to go to overseas track meets such as Pahang Open and Upcoming Vietnam, Taiwan Open meets.

ST - Cycling's double win

2009-05-06T19:13:00.001-07:00

By May Chen

LOCAL cyclists bagged the men's and women's Open titles in Asia's largest amateur race yesterday, boosting their hopes of qualifying for December's South-east Asia Games in Laos.

OCBC Singapore Cycling Team riders Junaidi Hashim and Ho Jun Rong finished first and second among the men, while national triathlete Dinah Chan came out tops in the women's category at the Tour of Friendship, a multi-stage competition which began on Saturday.

Held in the Thai province of Kanchanaburi, the five-day event had a 230-strong field featuring ex-professionals as well as national athletes from Malaysia and the hosts, one of South-east Asia's cycling kingpins.

Junaidi and Chan, 22, each received a trophy from Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Said 27-year-old Junaidi, who competed in the mountain bike category at the 2001, 2003 and 2005 editions of the SEA Games: 'The team have been training very hard, especially in the last month.

'I don't know for sure if I will be going to this year's SEA Games yet, but this result is a great confidence booster.'

Athlete nominations for the SEA Games by various national sports associations are expected to be made around July.

Junaidi added that the competition was good experience, since the team are mostly made up of riders under the age of 21.

Coach Daniel Plews said: 'We were hoping for good things, and maybe even a win. But to finish first and second and do so well on so many of the stages is more than we could have hoped for.'

The eight men in the OCBC team - currently Singapore's best cycling squad - also won the overall general classification award, an honour typically given to the team with the best combined overall timing.

Plews also credited the team dynamics.

He said: 'I can tell them what to do but without them actually consistently going out to do it, nothing would've happened.

'There's no ego, no one is above another and no one rides selfishly. It makes it easier for everyone to work together when you have strong team spirit.'

Dinah Won tour of Egat

2009-05-05T22:13:00.001-07:00

Dinah has just emerged the winner in the overall classification of the tour de Egat. hahaa. Woohoo!!

She won the first 2 stages, lost the 3rd stage by half a wheel length, and won the final stage! Well done man!!!

TriFactor Series Swim (TriSwim) – A Great Success!

2009-05-02T23:56:00.001-07:00

Today, I was very impressed by the Swimming Room/ Orange Room (http://www.theswimmingroom.com/index.php) (http://orangeroom.com.sg/) Team for pulling off such a great event on their first try of organising a mass-participation event! It was the first time i saw an event finishing half an hour ahead of schedule and the running of the event was really smooth. There was no lag time and and things were flowing like clockwork and there was no point in time where nothing is happening.

The route was rather messed up by the rain in the wee hours of the morning, but the volunteers and TF crew were able to set them back up before the event started at 8am. As the ambassador of the event, I led in some warm up stretching for some interested participants and helped to flag off the event.

It was really great to see the participants being very excited and It was my first time as an athlete to stand by the side and watch the competition instead of racing in it.

The last event of the day which was a 500m swim for many kids below 12 years old was the highlight as many of these kids were new to open water swimming! It was great to see younger children being exposed slowly to triathlon.

The event ended with me giving out the prizes and it all ended at 11.30am! What a great success!

Let me just run through some important factors that make a great race and how Trifactor did well!

1. Route – the route was well laid out with huge buoys along the whole swim route. great for newbies and beginners who were the main target audience of this event!

2. Cap colours were well chosen and they contrasted well with the buoy colours and water except for the last wave which was a little similar! Choose another colour next year!

3. Wave starts were on time and thats very good as participants can anticipate their start time with accuracy and precision and no need to worry about delays

4. Demarcations of where to run out of the sea and back in were clearly done with coloured cones.

5. Perhaps, there can be rubberbands to allow participants to wear on their wrists for categories with more laps like the 3km cat which required 4 lap swim

6. Shirts were well designed and the checkboxes on the shirt (you will know if you participated) makes one wanna complete the series!

Today also saw Joshua and Jon Ma racing. hahaa. Very fun man. then we took some pics together. Realy nice to see them swimming. haha.

FInally, thanks to the organisers for inviting me to be the ambassador. I really enjoyed today’s event and I hope everyone did too!

Do drop in your feedback into my tagbox too if you have any and I will convey to the organisers. See you at the next event!

Trifactor.sg TNP advert

2009-04-25T23:12:00.001-07:00

Clinical Skills Foundation Course

2009-04-15T05:54:00.001-07:00

These 2 days we learnt quite a few interesting stuff. Learnt to do stitching. Venupuncture (drawing blood) with the vacutainer system and also played with a human simulator called Harvey. Above are photos of my classmate Rodney poking a model arm. I am still kinda afraid of poking a real person!! What if i miss the vein and unneccessary pain to my poor patient?? Hope it will get better with practice man. haha. Busy busy!

School starts again

2009-04-12T06:31:00.001-07:00

This is officially the end of my holidays which was just a 1 and 3/4 week break! hahaha. But thats great, i dun like to idle around. I prefer to have my timetable packed with studying and training!

This is also the end of Medicine Year 2!!! For the past 2 years, we have been stuck at lecture theatres, listening and studying. For the first year, we learnt the normal stuff. The 2nd year, we learn the abnormal stuff that happens in our bodies. And now, for the next 3 years, we will head to the hospitals and start learning from real patients.

This week is the start of the Clinical Skills Foundation Course (CSFC). we will still be in the LTs this week to be taught how to do venupuncture, wound treatment, communication with patients, cannulation and also play with a human simulator called Harvey!

Following week, I will be embarking on a 6 week attachment at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. See you guys around at the area if i do. Maybe at novena square. haha. Drop me an sms. haha

Alright. time to hit the sack! Good night!!

Oh, do remember to take part in the april poll!!

Trifactor @ Singaporesports.sg

2009-04-09T01:09:00.001-07:00

http://www.singaporesports.sg/PlayNews/tabid/60/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/349/Having-a-go-at-Triathlon.aspx

Having a go at Triathlon
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:54 PM

First 50 Participants at the Launch of the Tri Factor Series 2009 in Sentosa

Even though you can run, swim and cycle the distance, have you ever felt apprehensive about taking part in a triathlon? Do you find participating, too daunting of a challenge? Probably the hardest mental inertia one has to overcome when trying out a full triathlon will be the fear of facing up to the gruelling demands of the course itself. Now there is an opportunity to water down this level of fear, and rise up to the challenge, through the TRI-FACTOR SERIES 2009.

TRI-FACTOR SERIES 2009, as the name suggests, is essentially a series of 4 races. The first 3 races are individually dedicated to each of the different ‘factors’ in a triathlon – Swim (3 May), Bike (14 June) and Run (2 August). The 4^th and final race will be a culmination of the series, bringing together all the disciplines into 1 full triathlon race on 13 September. In short, participants get to try out each leg of a triathlon first in separate attempts, before going for a complete triathlon.

The event held its inaugural launch on 5 April 2009 at Tanjong Beach in Sentosa. Led by 2007 SEA Games Gold Medallist and Official Race Ambassador of TRI-FACTOR SERIES, Mok Ying Ren, and organised by The Swimming Room, eager swimmers and novice triathletes attended the first open water training session during the official launch. Participants were kept busy by trading race tips with one another and getting training advice from the triathlon expert himself.

Mok lauded the participants for taking in the Triathlon challenge, “I think this is a great event which allows people who are curious about what a triathlon is to participate in one by taking small steps towards the event finally. It is a great way for children and adults to challenge their limits!”

The event has already seen a healthy response from the public, as more than 1000 sign ups have been reported at the time of its official launch. The event is especially attractive to people who are hoping to boost their confidence in swimming out in the open sea, as well as to build up their stamina to last a full triathlon.

Race Director Eugene Ting noted, “TRI-FACTOR SERIES aims to make Triathlon accessible and enjoyable for all sport lovers. With highly affordable prices and a friendly race atmosphere, anyone can have a first go at triathlon with TRI-FACTOR SERIES.”

Testing at Racers Toolbox

2009-04-06T09:02:00.001-07:00

Did a lactate threshold test at racers toolbox with Jonathan Fong! It was very challenging and I had lots of fun! hahaha.

Open Water Clinic for Trifactor.sg

2009-04-06T08:28:00.001-07:00

I would like to thank Trifactor.sg for inviting me to give an open water swim clinic for the participants of the trifactor series!

It was a nice sunday morning at sentosa. Actually, i didnt know i was going to run the whole show. I really thought I will just be there as the ambassador for the series. However, as things moved on, I had to run the entire clinic. It was my first time and I felt it was ok. Hope the feedback from the participants was fine! There were about 20 adults in the adults. I shared my experiences and gave them some tips about handling an open water swim with more confidence.

Trifactor.sg is a great idea to encourage novices to take up a full triathlon. With individual swim bike run events, participants can try out each leg of a triathlon individually before attempting the full distance at one go! Coupled with training sessions from qualified swim coaches from The Swimming Room, participants can really boost their confidence in open water swimming. I like such events which bring triathlon to the masses and encourage people young and old to take up triathlon as a sport!

All the best to Trifactor.sg in their debut!

Thanks!!

End of March 09 Poll

2009-04-01T23:55:00.001-07:00

Well, here goes the march 2009 poll. Macritchie is the most popular,followed by pandan reservoir, then running around a field (?!). I heard girider tried to tweak the poll results by voting everyday! So this may not be very accurate.

Anyway for the April’s poll will be what is your favourite workout?

Sweetland of Canada

2009-03-30T07:30:00.001-07:00

2009-03-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sweetland Wins In Mooloolaba

Sweetland Wins In Mooloolaba (March 28, 2009 )

También texto en español.The opening leg of the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Cup Series was won by 20 year old Kirsten Sweetland from Canada as she started 2009 with a bang, beating Olympic Games bronze medallist and local favourite Emma Moffatt to the gold in a time of 2:02:00. In third was under23 World Champion, Switzerland's Daniela Ryf.

Having taken most of 2008 off due to injury, and failing to qualify for the Olympic Games, Sweetland raced ten World Cup events in 2007, and registered her first win with victory at Richards Bay in South Africa. Today's result marks her third appearance on the podium.

“What a great way to come back, today just felt effortless,” said Sweetland. “I race best when it is a little lighthearted, without pressure and today I just felt like I was doing what I love, it is a great way to start the new season.”

Sweetland has based herself in Brisbane since October and the move has clearly paid off.

“That is the first 10km run for me in a long while. I followed my coach’s instructions and started slowly and felt great in the second half. I was always comfortable.”

The swim venue in Mooloolaba changed from the coast to a local river because of large swells in the Pacific, but that didn't stop an exciting start to proceedings as a breakaway group of eight including Sweetland, Moffatt, Ryf and Oceania Champion Annabel Luxford, emerged from the water and established a healthy lead on the cycle.

Despite the best efforts of New Zealand national champion Debbie Tanner, and 2008 ITU World Cup Series runner-up, Felicity Abram from Australia, the chase pack could not work their way back to the leaders, and so the group of eight carried a 90 second advantage onto the run.

Moffatt and Sweetland accelerated away early with Ryf holding on to third place ahead of New Zealand's Nicky Samuels. Further back Abram ran strongly to catch the lead pack athletes with Tanner moving up to eighth.

Sweetland managed to drop Moffatt by the half way point on the run and continued to extend her advantage, crossing the line 55 seconds ahead of the local favourite. Ryf managed to hold off Samuels for third with the fast finishing Abram breaking into the top five.

“That hurt out there, especially on the second part of the run,” said Moffatt. “The hills and the wind were a real battle on what was a challenging course today. The swim felt like there was a surf, and the bike was very windy, especially coming back into town and transition.”

It was however the best result for the Australian in her home World Cup, and a first podium.

“It is nice to finally get Mooloolaba out of the way in terms of a good result. I have had a reasonably short prep with just five weeks with my new coach (Craig Walton) so I feel good and am looking forward to the season ahead.”
Ryf was similarly pleased with her first up effort in 2009, the young Swiss finding her rhythm in the second half of the run.

“I am happy with that race, I was a bit rusty early on the run but happy with my finish. It was a good race, very active on the bike with everyone working hard. I am looking forward to the next four week training block and the first World Championship event.”

Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Women - Unofficial Results
Gold - Kirsten Sweetland (CAN) 2:02:00
Silver - Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2:02:55
Bronze - Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2:03:03
4th - Nicky Samuels (NZL) 2:04:19
5th - Felicity Abram (AUS) 2:05:28
6th - Julian Petersen (USA) 2:05:33
7th - Annabel Luxford (AUS) 2:05:53
8th - Debbie Tanner (NZL) 2:06:24
9th - Liz Blatchford (GBR) 2:06:36
10th - Misato Takagi (JPN) 2:06:46

2009-03-28T05:48:00.001-07:00

Ryan Gregson: Australian Junior 3000m record holder

It took only 8 minutes and 1 second for Ryan Gregson to go from being a solid young distance runner; to the best junior 3000m runner Australia has ever seen. Since breaking that record of Craig Mottram's, Gregson has gone on to compete at the World Youth Championships, finishing 5th in the 1500m final, the World Junior XC Championships in Edinburgh, and finished his track season with the Australian u/18 1500m (3:43) and 5000m (14:14) records, just for good measure. It's hard to believe that Ryan only turned 18 last month. We managed to take some time out with one of the next big things in Australian running for a chat.

RunnersTribe: Ryan thanks for your time. To kick things off, how's the preparation for World Juniors going?

RG: No, thank you. It's great that there is a new website dedicated to running. I love it. World Junior preparations are going well. I'm the fittest I've ever been so physically everything is on track for Poland.

RT: RT: At only 18 years of age, you've bettered Craig Mottram's 3000m junior record, two years younger than when he set it. Is there any key ingredient that you can put your success down to?

RG: Obviously a lot of people will say that it all comes down to natural talent, but I work bloody hard for my results. From a young age I have always wanted to be successful at something, whether it be cricket, hockey or running, so I just applied myself and I was successful. I have a great coach in Ian Hatfield (Skip) who has been coaching me since I was six and has made sure I never worked too hard. There are a whole heap of reasons why I have been successful, but it all means nothing unless I can turn it all into something productive as a senior athlete.

RT: You're down to run the 1500m and the 5000m in Poland. Are you setting your sights on choosing one race closer to the event, or confident of running well in both?

RG: I will target the 1500m. It is a 6 day program so I thought if I was going to be over there, why not have another race? The 5000m is a straight out final, and it's after the 1500m final, so it won't affect my chances in the 1500m. Even though I will be training mainly for the 1500m, I have worked hard on my endurance due to World Cross Country, so I should have enough strength to last 5000m.

RT: Edinburgh. A lot has been said about the Australian results, some full of praise, some critical. For the benefit of our readers can you take us through the race?

RG: A few people bagged me and said I under-performed, but I was happy. I came 31st and I am still in the junior race next year. My goals next year are to make the top 10. I think it's achievable. World Cross Country was a tough race but it was tough for everyone. The course was terribly muddy and the heavier people like Mottram and Birmingham seemed to suffer. Birmingham didn't run as well as expected, but then he came out and ran 13.21 for 5000m a few weeks later. Mottram didn't run as well as he may have hoped but he is still the King, and will be for awhile. The big guys just seemed to really sink into the mud in those conditions, with the lighter runners excelling. It's in Jordan next year though, so it shouldn't be too muddy over there!

RT: Being in a team with the likes of Craig Mottram and Benita Johnson must have been a great experience. Did you manage to learn much from them?

RG: Mottram and Benita only arrived in the village 2 days before the event so not that much was said. It was interesting to see that with only about 1 and a ? hours until her race, Benita was reading a British women's magazine, taking note of different cooking recipes. So I guess that you have to be relaxed and not think about the race too much.

RT: The old mileage question pops up in every interview these days, so I may as well ask it. How many km's a week would you run over summer, and winter?

RG: Winter would be about 110km and Summer about 100km. I do that for 4 weeks and then on the 5th week, I drop my mileage down by about 50% as part of a recovery week.

RT: And session wise, what sort of things does the Coach incorporate. For a young athlete, you seem to have developed not only a terrific aerobic capacity, but also speed!

RG: Skip incorporates the basics. Regular long runs, threshold runs, short and long interval work, recovery runs, speed work, gym sessions and core sessions. It's a very basic looking weekly program. I can't give too much away or Courtney Carter will start beating me!

RT: Rewind a few years back, you were involved in quite a bit of mountain running, and competed for Australia at the World Championships - how different was the training for this event compared to track/cross country running?

RG: Haha. I actually didn't train for Mountain Running. The main reason why I did it was to go and travel to Turkey with my Dad. It was the greatest trip I have ever been on. The long run I do with the local Bulli boys is called 'Devil's Peak'. It's 20km long and is nuts. The hilliest thing you will ever do. The Victorians always say that runs like the Dandenong's or the You Yang's are great runs, but they are nothing compared to the Peak.

RT: A lot has been said of young runners who come out and run fast at an early age, and then fade away as a senior. Are you worried about not developing at the same rate you are now later on in your career?

RG: I just see it as that I have given myself a solid platform to work off. People always say to me that they hear rumours that I do ridiculous mileage and other nonsense, and that I am going to burn out. I am not flogging myself by any means. I think the fact that I have been able to remain un-injured is the fact that I have been doing less than my rivals. All credit to my coach Skip. He is a wizard.

RT: What are the plans for the next few years? Have you been thinking about the idea of going away to college? Or are you happy to remain in Australia?

RG: I'm staying put in Australia. I have a great coach, family, friends and girlfriend here in Australia, so I think going away would actually be a backward step. If it ain't broke, don't fix it I guess. There are a fair few Aussies who can still whip me in a race so there is still plenty of competition here in Australia. Over the next few years I hope to get fitter. That's what I need to improve on the most. Speed is irrelevant unless you are fit, otherwise you will be too tired to use it. So that's the main goal, just keep building that base to set me up for the future.

RT: Sounds like you've got it sorted Ryan. All the best for the upcoming World Junior Champs, we'll be sure to follow your successes!

This interview has been brought to you by Courtney Carter, from The Runner's Tribe
This interview is not to be published or used in the public domain in any way, without prior written permission from The Runner's Tribe

Buoyant Kenyans vow to sweep the board

2009-03-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

Moses Mosop leads team mates during training at the Alhussein sports complex in Amman Jordan on Thursday. Photo/MOHAMMED AMIN

Morale is skyrocketing in the Kenyan camp here after the athletes’ allowances were settled promptly upon arrival.With all the hurdles removed, head coach Julius Kirwa said the challenge is now for the team to sweep the board come Saturday.

“We want this team to emulate the 1994 squad. Make me cry tears of joy. This is what the 30 million Kenyans are yearning for back home,” Kirwa told his charges.

Moses Mosop, the 2007 silver medallist in the senior men’s 12km race, said he wants to win the medal that skipped him in Mombasa where he was spiked and ran the entire race with one shoe.

Team physiotherapist, Peter Nduhio, cautioned Kenyan runners to be careful in the races to avoid being spiked.

“Being the defending champions, they will be placed right at the centre when the race start. It will be tough unless they sprint away,” he said.

Already, perennial rivals Ethiopia are getting uncomfortable with the joint-teams training exercise. One of their technical team members is employed to constantly keep an eye on Kenya’s training.

Both Ethiopia and Kenya are booked in at the Region Hotel. The two teams arrived together at their hotel and the Ethiopians talked in low tones pointing at their Kenyan athletes to watch out for.

End Bekele’s reign

“They are interested in Linet Masai. They know she is strong but what they do not realise is that the others in the team are equally strong,” said Kirwa.

Moses Mosop, the silver medallist in Mombasa in 2007, is also another athlete who has been given close attention. But, Kenyan athletes continue doing their training with no worry.

Kirwa, who was in Brussels in 2004 when the Bekele reign started, said he was disappointed of him not being part of their contingent.

Well prepared

However, he maintained that until after the technical meeting, Ethiopia were still capable of changing their squad.

“I have not seen him though, but that does not mean that he will not be running. Let us wait until the technical meeting today and see what list they present,” he said.

The coach pointed out that Mosop, Linus Chumba, Mathew Kisorio, Mangata Ndiwa, Leonard Komon and Mark Kiptoo were capable of ending Bekele’s reign.

“But we also have Zersenay Tedese of Eritrea, Uganda and Qatar athletes to compete against. His absence will not water down the competition but he would have helped raise the tempo,” he said.

World 5,000m silver medallist Mathew Kisorio, however, pointed out that though his senior colleagues have an advantage, he was in Amman to win the title his father Some Muge failed to get in 1983 (he won a bronze), a gold medal.

"I am well prepared. I want something to look at that will make it understandable and compensate for my missing class,” he said.

http://www.nation.co.ke/sports/athletics/-/1100/553228/-/item/1/-/15e3tgv/-/index.html

2009-03-27T00:11:00.001-07:00

Man dies after bottle mishap

A SINGAPOREAN died of heart failure after his genital became stuck in a soft drink bottle, reported Sin Chew Daily and China Press.

The incident happened when the 77-year-old man used the bottle to engage in a sexual activity.

China Press reported that the senior citizen got his private part into the bottle and only sought help after his genital could not be dislodged from the bottle despite trying various ways.

Doctors tried to alleviate the man's suffering by cutting the bottle below the neck but to no avail because by that time. An inflammation later set in causing him to be unable to urinate.

His misadventure later led to other medical complications causing his death. -- THE STAR/ANN

Exams on Monday and Tuesday

2009-03-25T04:26:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, sorry have not been updating much. My exams are on monday and tuesday and the amount to study is much more than A levels. phew. So many bacteria and viruses and drugs to remember!! Paper is 3 hours long with 25 questions of 5 stems T/F with 4 essays. and another Neuroscience paper of 2 hours with 4 essays! Headache!! Wish me luck!

Half Ironman – Well Done guys

2009-03-23T00:32:00.001-07:00

Amazing stories have been told by some members of our NUS aquathlon team and how they fought to complete the race. Jon ma had 3 flats!? due to some thumbtacks. that guy ought to be shot for throwing the thumbtacks there. what an ass. hope he gets caught by the police (organisers say they lodging police report). Amazing. for me, if i get a flat in OD, i will just quit i think. hahahaha. Norman crashed due to his distraction. haha. what a chin!! but still his first triathlon (i think) and he did the half IM. crazy guy. Jia Jie’s pedals broke?! wth. how can that happen?? confirm some one go an saw it one. how the hell it broke. unless his sweat super good can eat thru the metal. But he cycled 60km with one leg. wth man….. really crazy. Nic – nothing? cant remember i know he finshed with norman. Jason had an uneventful one race but he is going clearwater for championships. siao one.

Really inspriring stories!!

NIE Biathlon

2009-03-16T06:49:00.001-07:00

Reached there at 7am when my race supposed to start at 7.30am. However, it was delayed half hour and so will start at 8am. I hate waiting for nothing. So i did a recce run of 5km to check out the route while waiting.

After I got back, I realised i need to do some swim warm up! SO i hastily set up my transition.

Had a nice swim warm up in the small pool.

THe swim was ok. Swam with Song Loo from NTU. Not sure the timing – about 10.30? Around there la i think. not that bad la. just stroking and relaxing. At about 400m mark, i realised i forgot to put my number tag at the transition!!. I relaxed and plan out my route to my bad to retrieve it.

Out of the pool, i wore my shoes and calmy made a detour to take my number tag from my bag at the side.

THe run was freaking hilly and I am glad i managed to win the NIE biathlon!

The NUS aquathlon team this year is really superb. Top 5 all NUS people. damn good. the team spirit is really tops!!!

Talk at ACS (Ind) Leadership Summit

2009-03-16T06:44:00.001-07:00

Date: 14th March 2009

Time: 1.30pm

Format: Forum with 2 other guest speakers Mr Oon Jin Teik (CEO, SSC), Mr Choo Wee Khiang

Number of students: 40

Location: Lecture Theatre

Materials: Powerpoint

I rushed down to ACS in Dinah’s van after the NIE biathlon to give this talk at ACS. Met Mr Oon and Mr Choo, and an ACS teacher Suzanne (I think) at their staff canteen. Very nice. Well, Mr Oon kept introducing me as “the triathlete” I think he is referring to all my newspaper reports recently. haha.

Mr Oon’s talk was about how there can be very nasty things going on behind the scenes like embezzling of money. He talks about ethics and sports. Mr Choo focused on the foreign talent scheme, because he is the pioneer of the scheme as he was the president the table tennis association when Singapore brought in Li Jia Wei. He did very well saying the pros and cons of the scheme, and not being overly biased. For me, I threw them many topics. Starting from how SIngpaore supports its atheltes by various schemes like SPEX, and I contrasted with China, and the training methods in CHina and how it may or may not be applied to Singapore due to our differences in population. Also touched on the FTS, touched on the sports school. Also discussed about politic in sports, and role of youths in sports. the main point though was the mindset that many of us have that is difficult to change – the mind set that sports have no future in the way singapore does things. Academics is still most important. Until the day when MOE and SSC can work together, to encourage higher standards of training such as through better school timetable, can we then progress further in sports. UNiversities must also work hand in hand to allow flexible curriculum to allow courses to be spread over a longer period of time to allow atheltes to handle their training too. Of course, I talked about much more in the talk and it was great experience.

Leadership Summit @ ACS (Independant)

2009-03-15T02:05:00.001-07:00

Gave a talk at a forum at ACS after my NIE Biathlon. SSC CEO Mr Oon Jin Teik was also present to give a speech. Mr Choo Wee Khiang also gave a very interesting speech about Foreign Talent, very apt since he was the pioneer of the foreign talent scheme in table tennis where he was the president.

Dirty World Out There

2009-03-13T19:25:00.001-07:00

Some people out there can lie in order to protect their own asses. Lie still ok, but the lie is to harm other people also. They also can put words into people’s mouths and attempt to change history. Not only do they lie, they threaten you to do what they want. If not they tell the lie to the whole world. And who will believe the small victims? No one. So their lie becomes the truth. They become the pure, good people who banish the bad people. So beware my fellow readers. Just be careful in your school, work, organisation or whatever you are in. Just do the right things, and concentrate on your goals. There are some disgusting people, just a few, who are so disgusting you wanna puke on them.

Talk at Riverside Secondary School

2009-03-13T06:56:00.001-07:00

Gave a talk at riverside secondary school on wednesday. more details coming later.

S'pore loses right to host ITU series opener - ST

2009-03-11T23:54:00.001-07:00

By Jeanette Wang

IT WAS set to be the biggest triathlon ever held here, but Singapore has lost the right to host the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships series opener in May.

The Straits Times understands the ITU confirmed its decision to move the race to Tongyeong, Korea, on Tuesday.

This was due to a lack of sponsorship support despite months of negotiations. It is believed the race would have cost $2million to organise.

'Essentially, there's a financial crisis going on, so there were issues with making the budget work, and that didn't happen,' a source said yesterday.

Triathlon Association of Singapore president Mark Tay declined comment until he receives official notification from the ITU, which is expected to arrive today.

Some 120 of the world's top triathletes, including Olympic champions Jan Frodeno of Germany and Australia's Emma Snowsill, were set to feature in the May 9-10 event, with guaranteed live international TV coverage.

It was to kick off the inaugural 2009 series, which comprises seven US$150,000 (S$232,000) World Championships legs plus a US$250,000 grand final at the Gold Coast in September.

Besides the elite race, thousands of age-group athletes would also have the chance to compete and try to qualify for the grand final.

'I'm very disappointed,' said David Lim, 41, a swim coach and avid triathlete. 'My friends and I were hoping to see the stars race. I was even planning to take the day off just for it.'

The race was to kick off with a 1.5km swim at East Coast Park, followed by a 40km cycle and 10km run in the city centre, culminating in a downtown finish.

Top age-group triathlete Kevin Timmons, 46, a Briton based here, was planning to qualify for his first World Championships.

'Now I have to go back to the UK to try to qualify,' said the corporate trainer.

The biggest blow: In December, the annual Osim Singapore International Triathlon - the Republic's only Olympic distance triathlon held typically in July or August - had merged with the ITU race.

Osim's brand and strategic marketing head Alan Tan said discussions on the future of the Osim race were ongoing.

'I was training for it,' said Lim. 'I have nothing to look forward to now.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a big screw up and disappointment. Why am i not surprised at all?? If the cause is a financial crisis, we must as well scrap the Asian Youth Games too. So, Singapore losing its chance to host the triathlon world cup must be due to some other reasons that i dun want to say.

Mok Ying Ren blitzes field at Singapore Biathlon – Redsports.sg

2009-03-08T21:46:00.001-07:00

March 8

By Les Tan/Red Sports

East Coast Park, Saturday, March 7, 2009 - Mok Ying Ren, 20, blazed home in a time of 56 minutes 7 seconds to win the open category at the Singapore Biathlon. 2,200 endurance junkies jumped into the waters off East Coast Park, including Chief of Defence Force Lt-Gen Desmond Kuek, Chief of Army Major-Gen Neo Kian Hong and Chief of Navy Rear-Admiral Chew Men Leong.

Mok was followed by Lim Zhi Ming in 58:20 and Sikhander Singh in 58:30.

In the women’s open category, Trudy Fawcett, an Australian and Singaporean permanent resident, successfully defended her title in a time of 1:07:14 while Singaporean Dinah Chan followed in second in 1:08:23. Lin Zhi Yin was third in 1:12:03.
“The swim was a bit weird,” said Mok Ying Ren as he waited in the winner’s tent to collect his prize. “We were overwhelmed by the waves. I was in the second wave and it looked confusing because the first wave wore red caps and the buoys were red too!”

“My aim was to stay comfortable in the swim. I’ve been doing a lot of running training because I’m trying to make the SEA Games track and field team in the 10,000m since there is no triathlon event in the SEA Games this year,” said Mok.

The qualifying time for the 10,000m is 31:33 and Mok is currently about two minutes outside the qualifying time.

“The run was very good because of the cool weather. I wanted to do a 3:30min/km pace and I managed that,” said Mok.

Chief of Defence Force, Lt-Gen Desmond Kuek, also took part in the event, finishing in a time of 1:43:14.

“The race was very good and the weather was excellent. I’m sure everyone enjoyed themselves,” he said after the prize-giving ceremony. © Red Sports

Paula Radcliffe out of London Marathon

2009-03-08T17:43:00.001-07:00

Paula Radcliffe, whose Olympic hopes were ruined by a hip injury last summer, has suffered a new blow after she was forced to pull out of next month's Flora London Marathon with a broken toe.

By Simon Hart
Last Updated: 8:50PM GMT 05 Mar 2009

More pain: a broken toe has forced Paula Radcliffe out of the London Marathon Photo: PA

The injury could also threaten her participation at this summer's World Championships in Berlin, where she had been hoping to regain the title she won in Helsinki in 2005.

The world record-holder, whose career has been blighted by health problems due to the intensity of her high-mileage training regime, was aiming to win her fourth London title on April 26 but sustained an injury to her right second toe while running at her high-altitude base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday.

According to medical opinion, the original cause of the injury was a bunion on the same foot which altered its mechanics and put pressure on her toe.

Radcliffe, who triumphed in the capital in 2002, 2003 and 2005, said: "I am desperately disappointed that I have to pull out of this year's race, especially as I was looking forward to running in front of the amazing crowds of spectators in London that always offer such great support.

"I am considering surgery to get myself totally healthy as soon as physically possible and ultimately prevent the bunion causing any future problems."

A spokeswoman for the athlete said she would "reassess her future plans once free from injury" though, at the age of 35, time is clearly running out on her career.

The news of her withdrawal comes almost a year to the day since Radcliffe was forced to make an almost identical statement when a toe tendon problem forced her to pull out of the 2008 race.

It was that injury that was blamed on causing further mechanical problems to her hip, which wrecked her preparations for Beijing and resulted in a 23rd-place finish. Four years earlier, her Olympic campaign in Athens ended in a tearful exit from the race three and half miles from the finish.

However, following her Beijing disappointment she returned in memorable style with a runaway victory at the New York marathon in November and she had hoped to continue that good form in London.

There was even talk of an attempt on her world record of 2hr 15 min 25 sec which she set on the capital's streets six years ago. Now her absence will inevitably weaken the women's field, where Britain's hopes will now be carried by Mara Yamauchi and Jo Pavey.

Race director David Bedford said: "This is a major blow for Paula. I know how much she wanted to run here this year but luck just does not seem to be on her side.

"Paula's priority must now be to get fully fit hopefully for the World Championships and we wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.

"Even without Paula, however, the elite women's field is still one of the strongest we've ever had in London and I am sure the race will be a superb spectacle."

MILO Tryathlon :(

2009-03-08T07:02:00.001-07:00

Have seen many tags that the race was pretty screwed up unfortunately plus the bad weather and the very crowded beach. I have also read the news and several comments by the children. Though I was not involved in the organisation of the event, I do feel saddened by the kids who went home disappointed.

I will get in contact with the organisers and we hope that next year’s edition will be better improved and contingency plans well rehearsed.

To those who are disappointed with the MILO tryathlon, I really really hope this will not discourage you from taking part in a triathlon in the future! :) It is still a great sport!

Singapore Biathlon Report

2009-03-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

It was a nice morning. I reached the area at 6.30am, had a breeze collecting race pack and body marking. But I felt like shitting! But the toilet at the race was so packed. I decided to warm up to lagoon food center and do my business there. It was gooooooddd! Had a good 12min warm up to and fro.

After that, i went to put my stuff at the transition. Saw quite a few army buddies there! But not much time to talk as I needed a long swim warm up. It was already 7.20 (my race start at 7.45) I quickly swam abit trying to looosen up by muslces. Have not been swimming much this year, about only 3km a week since january! I saw a long queue to go in to the starting area, so i thought just warm up more la. waste time queuing. THen i decided to go and queue at 7.40. I had a nice chat with Joshua. haha

Suddenly, we heard “you are now in the hands of the starter” I was like WTS! I cut queue and got my attendance marked and chiong into the sea in the middle of the pack. I was caught in the mess with all the punching and pulling. Quite fun though haha. I admit that I pulled one guy on the shoulder as I was desperate to get in front (thats what people do in international races) it was crazy but he pull my shoulder back. damn aggressive too man! hahaha. quite exciting. but oh well.

I stayed relax on the swim, swimming with willie loo! haha. didnt know it was him. he got botak head. when we came out i then knew it was him. Transition was shitty too slow. I had some difficulty wearing my shoes. haha. too long never practice.

On to the run. damn shiok! i have never felt so good on the run after a swim. It was a good run in good weather and I totally enjoyed it!

Singapore Biathlon 2009 – Pretty accurate 10km

2009-03-08T06:33:00.001-07:00

Singapore Biathlon Run Estimate
Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore

This is a pretty rough estimate of the run route for the Singapore Biathlon. 9.8km according to MMR.com. Anyway, I did it badly, so it may very well be very close to 10km! :)

Newton Run Route – Accurate 10km!

2009-03-08T06:28:00.001-07:00

2009 Newton Active Run
Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore

I think this nice guy used his GPS during the run. According the Mapmyrun.com, it is exactly 10km! Hopefully thats accurate! :)

Milo Tryathlon

2009-03-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

I would like to apologise to all the little kids who may have been hoping to get the finishing prize of a tin of milo from me. Really sorry about it.

I was racing at the Singapore Biathlon all the way at the east of Singapore at East Coast Park and when I finally rushed down to Sentosa, the event had already ended. Will post the update on the Singapore Biathlon later.

Anyway heard from the organisers that the event had a turn out of 2400 kids and the kids really enjoyed it thoroughly. But the problem came when there were so many kids on the small course and it became quite congested. Furthermore, with each child bringing her whole family to the event, there is probably a total of 5000 people there on Tanjong Beach. I can just imagine the congestion, probably much worse than that at Singapore Biathlon. But the kids had fun and that was the most important thing!

Drop me a tag if you took part in the event and drop some feedback! sorry once again for the no-show! See you at the next race!

ST - No STTA reward for national coach Zhang

2009-03-05T19:41:00.001-08:00

AFTER the national women's table tennis team won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics last year, Zhang Yong had expected a reward of up to $40,000 for being part of the coaching set-up that helped Singapore end a 48-year wait for an Olympic medal.
But the former national table tennis coach is likely to end up with nothing.
The 30-year-old Jiangsu native is set to return to China next week after he agreed to leave the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) at the end of last month. His contract was not due to expire until the middle of this year.
Zhang told The Straits Times that before the Games a contract detailing a rewards scheme had been signed by former national head coach Liu Guodong and former STTA chief executive Jackie Tay.
A copy of the contract, which ST obtained from Zhang, stated that Liu would receive $400,000 in the event that Singapore won a gold medal. Another $400,000 would be split among other coaches and sparring partners.
A silver medal would have entitled Liu to $200,000, while the others would share $200,000.
The parties would pocket $100,000 each for winning a bronze medal.
The names of 'the other coaches' were not spelt out in the contract that had only two signatories.
But Zhang, who coached the paddlers at the Olympics, believed he was entitled to an amount between $20,000 and $40,000.
'The STTA told me I won't be getting a single cent,' said Zhang, who arrived in Singapore in 2005 and had received incentives of over $20,000 from the paddlers' achievements at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
'Even if there were no achievements, there was hard work. But we always had results and the team kept improving.'
When asked if any coach or sparring partner was given monetary rewards for the Olympic success, STTA president Lee Bee Wah clarified that the association had a contract with only Liu.
Ms Lee said: 'We are not short changing any coach.
'There was no such contract with Zhang. The one with Guodong has been settled. If Zhang wants his cut, he can get it from Guodong.'
She declined to confirm if the amount Liu received was $200,000.
Ms Lee, who took the helm in July last year, said the STTA's reward scheme for coaches is under review.
She said: 'We are looking at how best to reward coaches. There must be incentives but they are not automatic.
'Zhang had assumed he would get a reward after Singapore won a medal, but that is not in his employment contract.'

Thoughts: Well well. another sad episode for singapore sports.

February 09 Poll

2009-03-04T21:23:00.001-08:00

Cool bananas!

Anyway, do take part in the March 09 poll on your favourite running routes. If i missed out any, to write them in my tag board so i can add them!! :)

Fish-Fever

2009-03-04T04:50:00.001-08:00

Everyone in block A level 6 has fish-fever. There are altogether 17 aquariums in level 6 of sheares hall block A. Thats amazing!! Everyone suddenly want to keep fish as pets. I particularly like Hanjing’s pufferfish. they are so cute. he got 2 of them. he cant put other fish cus they are quite aggressive. they are really quite big, size of a thumb and hovers around slowly. I want to stress them out one day and see the spines!!

I have been really tired recently. cant really run fast!!! this sucks. and saturday is singapore biathlon. have been doing some crash course on swimming. hope i dun drown! time for supper at KR!!

The New Paper Article

2009-03-01T01:04:00.001-08:00

From Media - 2009

Click to enlarge.

THanks!

Newton Active Run 2009

2009-03-01T01:03:00.001-08:00

Today, i had a race at seng kang. Kien Mau supposed to be there but he had some last minute problems in malaysia and unfortunately could not turn up :( Hope to see him at the next race and hope that he is ok!

So bascially, i actually didnt know Kien Mau was not there at the start of the race. The 6 Div guys keep saying he like to start at the back and catch us all so i guessed ok maybe he is somewhere behind. When the gun went, a Morrocan, a Malaysian and Me and SUnny quickly settled into the first pack. at the 1km mark, i saw that KM was still not there, so i ask Sunny where is KM?? he say behind. I said some words of exclamation because that is very sneaky of KM if he is really behind! haha. ANyway, at the 5km turn around mark, i saw that KM was not there and our pack of 4 was pretty near the next group of runners, only about 10sec, I upped the pace and only left the malaysian (New Balance sponsored runner) and me. He looked fit despite having some white hair. So at 6km mark, i tried to surge and drop him, but no avail! he was really strong! Into the park once again, it was hilly, and i was really tired man! Next, I just followed him as his pace was not slow! he was pushing it gradually. WHen the last 1km, i was practically just hanging there. With 80m to go, i sprinted really hard and managed to win the sprint finish. It was really a challenging race.

Oh well! it was fun and my first pay day for 2009 - $300 for my pocket money. That can probably last for 6 weeks or so! Hoping that I dont have to take money from my parents this year seeing that the economy is not good! haha.

Saw many fellow runners today and many did a good time! Girider was good, devathas was good, jacky was good. Seems like we got a pretty strong team coming up!! THe 6 divison peeps have really good team spririt with same jerseys and everything!

Nice start to the season. Hope 2009 will be good for everyone.

Nike Recruitment Drive

2009-02-27T01:45:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, just got back from NIKE HQ and I would like to relay this message. Its more for NUS peeps:

Nike is opening a Factory Outlet in WEST COAST Plaza somewhere in April and they need part timers. Some details

Target audience – NUS students who may have time to spare in between classes and those who stay in hall.

Commitment – Peak hours e.g. lunch time, evening time + OT

Pay – About $7 on hour + discounts from that shop itself

Location – West coast plaza very near NUS

If anyone is interested, please email me @ mok88@singnet.com.sg or sms me at 91597760

Primitive Running

2009-02-27T01:33:00.000-08:00

My dear running buddy devathas always runs without a watch. I like this idea of running free without any worry of running faster or too worried about the timing at certain checkpoints. that is why i have adopted the habit of not looking at my watch and just taking the total time for the distance run rather than checking every 1 kilometer. I think that is just much much better as u reduce the pressure on yourself. It is also hard to be going faster every other week, so whats the point?? must well just enjoy the run right? haha.

Poor devathas have not been able to recover well and he is still sick :( hope we can run the Newton run this sunday well!! Who else is running the Newton run? Put your name down in the tag board :P

I think everyone holding high posts in whatever associations where they dun get paid have their own agenda. they are not really doing it for their passion or what not. Of course everyone sure have some agenda la. but i mean its how much of this selfish mindset u put into ur decision making. sorry my english is really lousy so maybe u dun understand what i am saying. its ok to have ur own agenda, but dun make decisions based on that. whatever. i know what i am saying. but all i want to say is that some associations just suck big time. Some are really good though, but u never know unless you are inside. outside look good but inside is terrrible. its like that for many things.

3 papers down, 2 more to go! then got 3 weeks break before my 2nd MBBS Professional Examination (1st part). Then its time to go to the hospitals! cant wait man....

Run to WCP via longer route + Pandan + back

2009-02-23T16:04:00.001-08:00

Run to WCP by long route to pandan run back
Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore

Ran with devathas and dinah cycled. there were many flies at pandan if you run at 7.30 pm there. according to dinah, the epidemiologist, she claims that “there are 2 kinds of flies. one black - the drancuslus blackish and the other green – yerbacter greencocuss, appearing in the ratio 2:1 at pandan reservoir”

NEW NUS loop + Science Park 1

2009-02-23T00:47:00.001-08:00

New NUS loop SP 1
Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore

Bascially, do not run up the central library slope but continue down sports drive to clementi road then go to pasir panjang.

Science park 1 loop is 1.2km

Long Run

2009-02-21T06:59:00.001-08:00

TOday, my poor training buddy devathas is still sick and thus he could not run with us. very very sad. But colin managed to come on time haha :P and we did our long run. It is nice and comfortable but I felt really really tired after the run.

Massage was good by John. As usual, pain and shiok at the same time.

Still trying very hard to sleep man… think too stressed. haha.

So tired

2009-02-20T05:32:00.001-08:00

Another tough week is ending woohoo!! My baby guppies are very big now.

Also, block A sheares hall is damn crazy now. we got fish tank, got a swimming pool, got a pond. damn cool man. will take some pictures.

for now, good night!!!

Oh yah i have insomnia 3 days out of 5! damn sad!!

IHG

2009-02-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

Had a really tough run today. Hahha. Ran the 400m in 56seconds and 800m in 2min10seconds. The atmosphere was crazy. Saw pip before te event and asked him about jipson. He say jipson like to read my blog and is very excited when I blog about him. I hope jipson is studying hard now and not slack around.

ANyway it was a tugh run damn shag after that. Did ice bath with jayanta after that. Nice

Off for IHG track and field

2009-02-18T01:27:00.001-08:00

Later I am running the 4x 400m relay and running the 800m leg of the medlay. quite exciting. byez.

From the official IHG website

2009-02-17T19:18:00.001-08:00

http://community.nus.edu.sg/ihg/?p=1609

There are no amendments to the Male Road Relay Results, with Eusoff Hall clinching top spot with an incredible timing of 46 min and 5 seconds. However, it was Mok Ying Ren, SEA Games Gold Medallist who took the individual accolade of the day for Sheares Hall who ran a record breaking 6min 51 sec to propel the Oranje into 2nd Spot.

For the girls, KR clinched top spot with an overall finish of 1 hour and 24 secs, who were followed closely by the aTHletes, who finished gamely with a timing of 1 hour and 35 seconds.

Article on Redsports by Colin!

2009-02-17T18:53:00.001-08:00

Double Joy for the Mok Siblings on Valentine’s Day at the Wings Cross-Country Championships

http://redsports.sg/2009/02/18/double-happiness-siblings/#comment-33266

Today

Story by REDintern Colin Tung. Pictures coming soon…

Bedok Reservoir, Saturday, 14 February 2009 - Siblings Mok Ying Ren and Mok Ying Rong, won in the Men’s Open and Women’s Under-17 categories at the Wings Cross-Country Championships here at the Bedok Reservoir Park, one week on from their starring roles at the SAA Road Relays for their teams.

Ying Rong, representing Raffles Girls’ School, won in a time of 16:45 min, with the next fastest runner - Clara from Methodist Girls’ School - some way behind in 17:35 min, staking a a strong claim to the Under-17 girls’ national inter-schools cross-country individual crown that is to be earned on 25 March on these same grounds.

As Ying Rong crossed the finish line to stamp her dominance in the Under-17 girls’ category, Ying Ren, representing Wings Athletics Club, was just getting warmed up for the start of the Men’s Open race and to replicate the feat of his younger sister, whom he also helps to coach.

Ying Ren, had no illusions about the difficulty of his task though as amongst the field of runners was RJC’s reigning ‘A’ Division cross-country champion Soh Ruiyong, who comes from the same lineage of runners as Ying Ren, under the tutelage of Mr Steven Quek who coaches the NUS, RJC, River Valley High and Singapore Sports School teams.

As the race got underway, Ying Ren and Soh headed the pack of runners and were soon lodged in a duel that the former was eager to extricate himself out of as early as possible.

That showed up in his tactics as he put in sporadic bursts of pace at frequent intervals in the first half of the race, hoping to shake off Soh. Undeterred, Soh kept up the pressure and was running off Ying Ren’s shoulder as they descended from the only hill on the course. With the descent came momentum that had Ying Ren seeking to lose Soh and the latter to close the gap on the former.

Ying Ren emerged the stronger of the two on this day as his greater years of conditioning and experience edged Soh by three seconds. Ying Ren winning in a time of 13:53 min on the approximately 4.5km long course.

Nevertheless, Soh, at 18, can be encouraged by the fact that he is one of the fastest Singaporeans at the moment over 5km and 10km and is a favourite to retain the individual title at the National Inter-Schools Cross-Country Championships. If he does so, he will join a rare breed of runners who have achieved the accolade of having been double champions at the ‘A’ division level. And despite all the similarities that they share as Rafflesians, athletes under Mr Steven Quek and winners of the national schools’ individual title in their freshman year, that would be something that Ying Ren would not be able to lay claim to as Ying Ren had been second in JC 2.

In other races, Anna Thompson led Dinah Chan and Elaine Lim to a Wings sweep of the podium in the Women’s Open in a winning time of 15:28 min. In the Under-14 Girls’ category, Sports School runner Nicole Lim edged out CHIJ (Toa Payoh)’s Charlene Oh with both of them finishing less than a second apart.

In the Under-17 Boys’ and Under-15 Boys’ categories, Zachary Devaraj of ACS(I) and Marc Amiruddin won in times of 15:22 min and 15:39 min respectively.

The Wings Cross-Country Championships was a valuable opportunity for many schools to gain race experience at the Bedok Reservoir where the National Inter-Schools Championships will be held as well. For the few schools and their athletes who did well, the race is a confidence booster heading into the last month to race day. While for those who yielded less-than-desirable results, perhaps they can draw inspiration from Wings - those of an eagle’s, which is to wait upon and catch the winds that would allow them to… SOAR ON WINGS LIKE EAGLES!

Isaiah 40:30-31 - “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.”

Results (top three only)

Individual
Men’s Open
1. Mok Ying Ren Wings A 13:53.10
2. Soh Rui Yong RI Team 2 13:56.28
3. Sikhander Singh Wings A 14:27.02

Women’s Open
1. Anna Thompson Wings A 15:28.54
2. Dinah Chan Wings A 15:52.88
3. Elaine Lim Wings A 16:32.96

U-17 Boys
1. Zachary Ryan Devaraj ACS(I) Team B 15:22.20
2. Rodgrigo Eugene Cyril VS B1 15:27.19
3. Yeo Si Heng HCI (High School) 15:31.09

U-17 Girls
1. Mok Ying Rong RGS Trackers 16:45.46
2. Clara MGS Team B 17:35.40
3. Lian Xueli Berenice RGS Trackers 18:07.47

U-14 Boys
1. Marc Amiruddin Singapore Sports Sch 15:39.79
2. Marcus Ng Yu Pei VS C1 16:06.75
3. Yong Ren Wei Bryan VS C1 16:29.90

U-14 Girls
1. Nicole Lum Singapore Sports Sch Team 1 18:52.44
2. Charlene Oh CHIJ Sec School (Toa Payoh) 18:52.76
3. Hee Yu Ning River Valley High School Team A 18:54.14

Wings Cross Country

2009-02-14T05:29:00.001-08:00

Today had Wings Cross Country. Me and my sister won our respective categories again.

For me it was a very tough race because a steep hill was thrown in!! so damn tired after the hill… haha. rui yong was very strong. he was catching me reallly really fast and i only beat him by 3 seconds! THink he is in great shape for cross country!!

Dinah won 2nd in the womens category losing to an Ang Moh who can do 32min for 10km!!! thats good stuff!!

Back to the bed to rest for tomorrow’s All Comers 5km

Bedok Reservoir Route

2009-02-13T05:53:00.001-08:00

Bedok Reservoir
Find more Runs in Singapore, Singapore

Just wanna confirm that it is 4.3km. And yes it is! damn accurate la!

Inter Hall Road Relay

2009-02-11T16:44:00.001-08:00

Road relay was very exciting this year, just like last year. Very very competitive. Sheares, Eusoff and King Edward had very strong teams. First runner Zhang Ren did well to keep the gap between us and leading Eusoff by only 30seconds. Jayanta ran next and flattened the gap into 15seconds. Next, Zheng Hong took over and the gap rose to about 25seconds. Next, Yi Wei, our dear captain ran but eusoff was really really strong and the gap opened to 30s again. Girider ran next, and the gap closed to about 20seconds. It was my turn. I ran hard. Hit the first downslope and ran past patrick with a surge. But i could not really see Sunny because it was dark, and eusoff had black jerseys + Sunny is an indian and he wore black pants. HAHAHA. I push very hard. he was only 30m when i reached the central library slope. THe ehole bunch of eusoffians shouted to him that i was coming. he got turbo boost and ran away. haha. very tough hill. ANyway, i did a good time of 6.51.

Sheares came in 2nd for the mens. Nice team experience which i had not experienced for quite some time. :)

Zheng Hong, my idol

2009-02-11T06:03:00.001-08:00

Zheng Hong ask me to blog about him! he is really my idol. he wakes up at 5am every morning and runs a half marathon! and he plays the guitar at the same time when he is running. really amazing. he is also a fellow meddie. very very good improvement in his swimming too. all the best sexy boy.

In Class

2009-02-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

This is lowell playing with his WoW. Everyday he does it in class with Ian looking on. Imagine the whole backrow doing this!! Exciting!

Long Run

2009-02-06T22:50:00.001-08:00

With devathas and colin. both of them are getting fitter and fitter hope we can all maintain our saturday long runs!!!

Special request from John Chin my masseaus (however u spell that), to tell everyone about the greatness of sport massages. Yes, it does wonders!! I go ever week for massage at sports council at kallang after saturday long runs. You should try it out too.

Waiting for SAA Road Relay at Bedok reservoir.

Poll Feb 09

2009-02-05T18:36:00.001-08:00

Alright, can those who polled the last one, poll again, i got it fixed up but lost the data from the previous poll. Thanks!! :)

Stupid me

2009-02-05T16:30:00.001-08:00

I realised for the poll I forgott to add 0 or the more than 10 choices. Hahaha. Let me add them soon :)

Poll January 09

2009-02-05T07:09:00.001-08:00

Very interesting stats. Most people like cycling. On the contrary, I like running most, followed by cycling, followed by swimming.

Anyway, vote in the Feb poll! How many running events T Shirts and singlets that you have in your closet right now that you do not want anymore, new or old? :)

Thank You Note

2009-02-04T16:20:00.001-08:00

I understand that there is an on-going forum about a recent incident involving my good friend Dinah Chan and I at the Asian Beach Games that was held in Bali in October last year.

Dinah and myself are both National athletes and we do know that rules are to be followed.

What happened, how and why it happened are not important any more. We accepted the ruling and understand why it was meted out.

To our dear friends who are ‘ fighting for us’, Dinah and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We are grateful for your love and support.

To those whom we have never met but meant well, we know you meant well.

You can all help us to move on and put the entire episode behind us. Let’s look forward to a wonderful year for Triathlon in 2009.

I wish all of you, good health and a very Happy New Year.

I have moved to mokyingren.com :)

Join My Facebook page!

“First time is always the best time” – Singapore’s top triathlete Mok Ying Ren shines at marathon debut

NUS Sportsman of the Year 2009 speech and Video

Training for the Hakone Ekiden With Josai University – by JASON LAWRENCE

Welcome SiS!

Mok’s FB status

Results of Singapore Athletes at the Triathlon Asian Championships – YOG Qualification Race

RUN NUS Clinic 2009

Trifactor Triathlon Clinics

Trifactor Triathlon 13/09/2009

Triathlete pushing hard for Asiad return

Tri-Run 2009

Interesting EFX

hello

Notes on German Fernandez, Galen Rupp, Alberto Salazar

by Doug Binder and Ken Goe, The Oregonian Saturday June 27, 2009, 9:55 PM

Republic Run 2009

As he was as a runner, Salazar is leading the pack as a coach

By George Schroeder

Sports: Track & Field: Story

Not very nice leh…

Jakarta 10km Day 3 (Race Day)

Jakarta 10km Day 2

Jakarta 10km Day 1

Jakarta 10km

MRI

TriBike 2009

New Netbook

GobbleMonster!! So cute

Swift Track and Field 5000m

Passion Run Results

ST - Not going to Pahang meet

ST - Triathlete who wears many hats

Passion Run 2009 Photos

Dinah – Queen of Mountain TNP 24/5/2009

Today’s Passion Run Organisation was a total Disappointment

Singapore’s Showing at the Subic Bay Philipines Triathlon – Sprint Triathlon (Click to enlarge and see timings)

Altitude Training - a breath of fresh air…….NOT!

“Altitude training may help some athletes, in somesituations, sometimes“.

Foreign Talent Discussion on Redsports

3km TT with SAA

ST - Cycling's double win

Dinah Won tour of Egat

Tri*Factor Series Swim (Tri*Swim) – A Great Success!

Trifactor.sg TNP advert

Clinical Skills Foundation Course

School starts again

Trifactor @ Singaporesports.sg

Testing at Racers Toolbox

Open Water Clinic for Trifactor.sg

End of March 09 Poll

Sweetland of Canada

Ryan Gregson: Australian Junior 3000m record holder

Buoyant Kenyans vow to sweep the board

Exams on Monday and Tuesday

Half Ironman – Well Done guys

NIE Biathlon

Talk at ACS (Ind) Leadership Summit

Leadership Summit @ ACS (Independant)

Dirty World Out There

Talk at Riverside Secondary School

S'pore loses right to host ITU series opener - ST

Mok Ying Ren blitzes field at Singapore Biathlon – Redsports.sg

March 8

Paula Radcliffe out of London Marathon

MILO Tryathlon :(

Singapore Biathlon Report

Singapore Biathlon 2009 – Pretty accurate 10km

Newton Run Route – Accurate 10km!

Milo Tryathlon

ST - No STTA reward for national coach Zhang

February 09 Poll

Fish-Fever

The New Paper Article

Newton Active Run 2009

Nike Recruitment Drive

Primitive Running

Run to WCP via longer route + Pandan + back

NEW NUS loop + Science Park 1

by Doug Binder and Ken Goe, The Oregonian
Saturday June 27, 2009, 9:55 PM

TriFactor Series Swim (TriSwim) – A Great Success!