Back onto the topic of the rat race.
Chance upon a video where it looks to be in an interview scene, very likely a year end performance review.
The candidate, which has shown good culinary skillset during college was being inspired by the interviewer, likely the boss, to follow his dream.
The interviewer throw him the question: "How much did they first pay you to give up on your dreams?"
So the question to myself, how much did I get paid to give up on my deams???
Oh. I just googled and YouTube the video, and I guess it's from the movie, "Up In The Air"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MlWKI-6Btg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Friday, November 29, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
marathon history..
Marathon Track Record:
SCSM Full Marathon 2006 (05:12:24)
SCSM Full Marathon 2007 (05:47:24)
SCSM Full Marathon 2009 (05:42:44)
Sundown FullMarathon 11 (05:28.52)
SCSM Full Marathon 2012 (06:02:18)
a very quick summary:
2006 - 1st marathon: trained damm hard for it. 2006 is the period where im still in poly, when life is carefree, fun and there are lots of freetime. i recall my weekly target is to run at least 3x. 2x during weekdays where i will try to clock between 5 to 10km, and 1 weekend run where i clock distance. I recall clocking around 33km in one of the weekends.
i remember i was trying to aim for a timing under 5hrs, but was 12mins behind, overall still very satisfied with the result. i read so much info about hitting the wall, pain on the soles, ankles, knees etc etc.. all 1st hand experience.. i did not have much strategic planning for the run, timing could better if i planned and applied some strategies i used.
2007 - 2nd marathon, i trained, but not as hard. i don recall i clock a 30km run during training.. maybe at best is 27km i think. got complacence in training and on the race itself. mentally weak, lazy to push myself and therefore got such poor timing.. dishearten, i went on a oversea trip in 2008..
2009 - this was after my army, doing part-time studies. i also forgotten most details of this. i also forgotten if it was this marathon, or the marathon in 2007 that i discover my walk run technique using mp3 player.
2011 - one of my best marathon (aside from 2006) as i unintentionally discovered the other few secrets which worked for me. I recalled i did some training, but not as substantial as per my previous few marathons. at the finishing line of this marathon, looking at my timing of such and the amount of training effort, i thought to myself.. "marathon is no longer a challenge. maybe it time to move on to ultra.." i guess you could now sense how satisfied i was with my results and with myself.
2012 - the marathon which i did not plan on running.. on a quite last min notice, i decided to take on my dad's number tag to run. totally did not train at all.. max distance clock was like maybe 18km... i had a poly 50 race 2-3 weeks before this marathon. so the training focus was a lot on sprint and recovery (poly50). super complacence, thought that my new found strategy can rule the world no matter what.. haha.. silly me.
2013 - how will things turn out??
a summary of my training:
Jun-Oct: never run and live very unhealthy. althought i blog about 11 more weeks to marathon in sept, i still nua for another month before i officially get my butt up to train.
21 Oct: 12km - 1hr 19min: 1st run since donkey years. mainly for warming up, taking it easy, get back into the mood of long dist running. walk a bit here and there.
31 Oct: 18km - 2hr 3mins: mentally force my tired body to run 99% of the time. knees and ankle felt painful during and after the run, for about 2 days..
2-8 Nov: fall sick. flu, sore throat, blocked nose.. i rested and hope my knees recover.
14 Nov: 26.5km - 3hr 26min - ran most of the 1st 20km, knees got horribly painful. practically walked the last 4km home.. after research, found out i got runners knee..
17 Nov: 15.7km - 2hr 6min. ECP. Knees giving me problem. expected it to do so..
Friday, November 1, 2013
sweaty and smelly
i just completed a 18km run, took me about 2 hours to complete it..
it was not easy. this is my 2nd long run, the first was last monday where i clock about 14km...
consider that i have not ran for many many few weeks prior to my last monday session, i consider it an achievement that i endure through.
furthermore, its not like i have run more than 5km from the beginning of the year till now..
so, good job ang. a pat on your own shoulder.
also, i realised that my mental endurance has drop over the years.. i had to really focus hard and keep telling myself to continue through, maintain pace, and look forward to pass by the scenery in front...
after so many marathon (which i lost count), i really came to realised what separate the winners and losers (till the point before you "hit the wall') is mentality. and i meant winners not who came in 1st, but those who fight off the fatigue and persevere through.
that why sometimes i secretly love about the marathon. completing is doable, its just a matter of time. but what makes all the differences is the process through completion. the battle between your brain and your tired body. sometimes i just need to know that i still got it, still got the mental endurance to fight off challenges, be it for a run or for life.
after 18km of running today, (99% jogged, i walk very very little today), i now have a super aching left calves, some pain in my right knee and ankle. Of course, all my lower body muscles, shoulders and lower back are aching as well.
let me share some of my personal tips to a marathon:
1. mp3 player is your best friend. so long as there battery, it keep talking to you.
2. drink drink and drink, isotonic or water..
3. carry a personal muscle rub. trust me, you are like a saviour when you share yours with others
4. apply vaseline on area where you may get abrasion. its a killer and you need to up your mental 10x just to fight off this pain (if its a major abrasion)
5. wear thighs if you do get abrasion between your legs. it works like magic.
6. wear shades if possible, this is to look cool. haha, the other use is to have less glare when you are running towards the sun, it bearable but still irritating especially when you are tired.
7. banana and me don click well. i get bloated after eating the whole slice. i only eat a quarter, or at most half.
and here are the top secrets which i discover and use personally, i will want to copyright them as ang's method:
1. i use a walk run technique and pace myself using my mp3 player. - i typically hit the wall at around 30+km. But due to lack of training, it has move down to like 27-28km or maybe even 26km this yr. Hitting the wall is very painful and frustrating so i try at best to avoid it. before hitting the wall, i start to use a walk run technique, to help the muscle to be less stressful and allows the occasional must needed break. i personally like a walk run ratio of about 1:3, meaning walk 1 min, run 3 mins.. but it very tiring to keep looking at your watch or count lamp post. Here the interesting part, i pace myself using the music on my MP3. When the music start playing, i start walking, and i will walk till the chorus starts and jog till the song ends. if you know the songs well, which typically we do, this give you time to prepare mentally to start jogging as the chorus is about to start, and you will know exactly the song is ending. this method will approximately gives you a 1:3 ratio.
2. i talk to myself mentally encouraging myself - at one point in time, i thought i was crazy but hack, it works! i don know what are your motivation trigger are, but i keep telling myself mentally to "keep going", "you are doing good", "keep your best form", "maintain this pace", "well done", "good job", "you can do it" etc etc. use positive trigger like those above instead of negative like "don slow down", "don walk" or "we are almost there yet" etc etc.
3. mentally have a picture of you running in your best form, and project that image mentally in front of you - this is adopted from nlp. the picture of you can be at any angle, the side, the front etc. but it must show you running in your best form effortlessly. it can also be a moving image where it shows that you are running. project that image ahead of you and tell yourself that "you are the picture" and "be that feller!!!" use this when you are feeling fatigue or when the pain in your legs are unbearable.
4. zoom in only on people around you who are running - this is very very powerful. use this during the times when you are most tired and unmotivated to run. typically for me, anytime after the 30km mark i desperately use this. Around you, there will be people walking, looking to be in pain, i wanna give up face and the "WTF did i sign up for a marathon face". don let these strangers who happen to be around you affect you. they will, as you are feeling how they have felt and when you see them walk, you will have the tendency to walk as well. So they best way is to not look to them, and only focus on the few people who are still jogging ahead of you. Really really only just focus on the people jogging, and blur out the rest. this gives you the illusion that the race course is pack with motivated runners who don give up. it keep you going, and when your mp3 starts asking you to run, you will have the motivation to stick to it.
i hope you find these tips helpful, and see if it works for you..
it was not easy. this is my 2nd long run, the first was last monday where i clock about 14km...
consider that i have not ran for many many few weeks prior to my last monday session, i consider it an achievement that i endure through.
furthermore, its not like i have run more than 5km from the beginning of the year till now..
so, good job ang. a pat on your own shoulder.
also, i realised that my mental endurance has drop over the years.. i had to really focus hard and keep telling myself to continue through, maintain pace, and look forward to pass by the scenery in front...
after so many marathon (which i lost count), i really came to realised what separate the winners and losers (till the point before you "hit the wall') is mentality. and i meant winners not who came in 1st, but those who fight off the fatigue and persevere through.
that why sometimes i secretly love about the marathon. completing is doable, its just a matter of time. but what makes all the differences is the process through completion. the battle between your brain and your tired body. sometimes i just need to know that i still got it, still got the mental endurance to fight off challenges, be it for a run or for life.
after 18km of running today, (99% jogged, i walk very very little today), i now have a super aching left calves, some pain in my right knee and ankle. Of course, all my lower body muscles, shoulders and lower back are aching as well.
let me share some of my personal tips to a marathon:
1. mp3 player is your best friend. so long as there battery, it keep talking to you.
2. drink drink and drink, isotonic or water..
3. carry a personal muscle rub. trust me, you are like a saviour when you share yours with others
4. apply vaseline on area where you may get abrasion. its a killer and you need to up your mental 10x just to fight off this pain (if its a major abrasion)
5. wear thighs if you do get abrasion between your legs. it works like magic.
6. wear shades if possible, this is to look cool. haha, the other use is to have less glare when you are running towards the sun, it bearable but still irritating especially when you are tired.
7. banana and me don click well. i get bloated after eating the whole slice. i only eat a quarter, or at most half.
and here are the top secrets which i discover and use personally, i will want to copyright them as ang's method:
1. i use a walk run technique and pace myself using my mp3 player. - i typically hit the wall at around 30+km. But due to lack of training, it has move down to like 27-28km or maybe even 26km this yr. Hitting the wall is very painful and frustrating so i try at best to avoid it. before hitting the wall, i start to use a walk run technique, to help the muscle to be less stressful and allows the occasional must needed break. i personally like a walk run ratio of about 1:3, meaning walk 1 min, run 3 mins.. but it very tiring to keep looking at your watch or count lamp post. Here the interesting part, i pace myself using the music on my MP3. When the music start playing, i start walking, and i will walk till the chorus starts and jog till the song ends. if you know the songs well, which typically we do, this give you time to prepare mentally to start jogging as the chorus is about to start, and you will know exactly the song is ending. this method will approximately gives you a 1:3 ratio.
2. i talk to myself mentally encouraging myself - at one point in time, i thought i was crazy but hack, it works! i don know what are your motivation trigger are, but i keep telling myself mentally to "keep going", "you are doing good", "keep your best form", "maintain this pace", "well done", "good job", "you can do it" etc etc. use positive trigger like those above instead of negative like "don slow down", "don walk" or "we are almost there yet" etc etc.
3. mentally have a picture of you running in your best form, and project that image mentally in front of you - this is adopted from nlp. the picture of you can be at any angle, the side, the front etc. but it must show you running in your best form effortlessly. it can also be a moving image where it shows that you are running. project that image ahead of you and tell yourself that "you are the picture" and "be that feller!!!" use this when you are feeling fatigue or when the pain in your legs are unbearable.
4. zoom in only on people around you who are running - this is very very powerful. use this during the times when you are most tired and unmotivated to run. typically for me, anytime after the 30km mark i desperately use this. Around you, there will be people walking, looking to be in pain, i wanna give up face and the "WTF did i sign up for a marathon face". don let these strangers who happen to be around you affect you. they will, as you are feeling how they have felt and when you see them walk, you will have the tendency to walk as well. So they best way is to not look to them, and only focus on the few people who are still jogging ahead of you. Really really only just focus on the people jogging, and blur out the rest. this gives you the illusion that the race course is pack with motivated runners who don give up. it keep you going, and when your mp3 starts asking you to run, you will have the motivation to stick to it.
i hope you find these tips helpful, and see if it works for you..
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