Newton 25km/12km challenge 2010 - Roller coaster run under the sun

My last competitive run was SCKLM 2010 in June. Since then, I decided to reduce my training due to my nagging heel pain. Then work became overwhelming and I was sent for an oversea assignment for 2 weeks in August.

When I was back home in late August, then I got sick with HFMD. It was a really a painful experience. It was so painful even to drink and walk, needless to say, run.

Anyway, I recovered from that and my conditioning and fitness were like next to nothing. But the good thing is, my heel injury has recovered.

So, when I enrolled this Newton 25km run, the expectation was to motivate me to train. However, that was easier thought than done. Work load was getting heavier and mileage per week was like 20-30km.

Good thing was that I managed to convince my wife to join me, although she opted for a shorter 12km. Little did I know that the race course was tough and hilly even for the 12km race. When I found out that during my route survey one week before, I was like, "Ok, this will be very challenging... even for the elite runners." I also felt that the race course was really tough for beginners, especially the 25km course. See the GPS elevation map below (Courtesy from my runner friend, Kwang Leng).


Two photos from Tey on the route:


You will get the feel by now. I went to the extent to describe this 25km route as "diabolical" on my Facebook page. Please don't get me wrong, I have no ill-feeling about hilly course or the organiser. If you play Suduko, you will know what I meant by, diabolical. It is just my personal comment on the level of difficulty of the race course.

Fast forward to the race then. At the starting point, I looked up to the sky and noticed it was a starry sky. Normally, from my experience, this is a sign for a clear and hot day. I had flashes of my experience in my BIM 2010. I knew I would had to deal with the dreaded hot sun besides tackling the roller coaster hills.

I met my friend, BP at the starting line. There was a big crowd for 25km. The emcee announced total runners was about 2800.

The first part of the race was tough for me, as I was trying to keep pace with some of the red army runners, if you know what I mean. Of course, that proved to be futile as the race progressed. After the first U-turn, Kwang Leng overtook me and I was huffing and puffing even before 10km mark. I reminded myself then, I had not trained enough to do a sub-5 min average per km run here. So, no pressure to set PB or anything like that.

The hot sun came sooner than I thought. At first, it was from the side, then in my face in at least two sections of the race. This time, I was able to keep focus. Staying focus on this course was really important. It was more on mental, rather than physical. I found out later, some strong runners were having some issues tackling the hilly course.

Thanks to Tey (Eng Tiong) for this photo and his hard work and support to all runners.

Anyway, I was able to come back running all the way on this diabolical 25km course. The time around 2 hours 24 minutes 2 seconds (gun time). The thought that my wife was waiting for me at the finish line kept me motivated and I was so happy to see her smiling at me when I crossed the finish line. She had done well in her 12km run and got a medal for her effort.

We rested for a while and then went home soon after to fetch our kids from the caretaker. That's why not easy for us to run in the same event always.

When I checked later on my Suunto watch, I found out that my peak HR during the race was 188bpm, average was 167. The peak HR reached was equaled to my estimated/calculated maximum HR. To run with my maximum HR, really scared me. It was like revving your engine to the max RPM. Anyway, it just showed that I am losing my fitness as I continue to train less and less.

Until the next run, do train hard and smart, and stay healthy too.