Top 10 Running Series #1 - Kallang-Tanjong Rhu

Following my blog on the Evolution of Team Costa, the team had its first run out of a planned series of ten routes. Born out of a CNN Travel article entitled 10 Best Places to Run in Singapore that covered popular sites like the Green Corridor, MacRitchie Reservoir & Keppel Bay, the team figured it would be a great monthly outing as a group as opposed to our individual training sessions.

First one off the rank was the Kallang-Tanjong Rhu 8km loop. A terrific morning, we took off at 7.30am from the Bedok Jetty via the East Coast Park and cycled to Cafe Melba where we locked up our bikes. Geared up with music and good company, Michelle, Chris, Stan, Veronika, John and myself headed west towards Tanjong Rhu on the south side of Geylang River.

Route round the Kallang Basin

Maintaining a steady pace we carried on until we reached beneath the ECP and then scrambled our way up the stairs to get onto the ECP footpath where we were met with a brilliant view of the Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and the CBD itself. It was hard not to appreciate and a five minute stop for some group selfies was in order.

Chris was the route organiser, so for me a run on the ECP itself was a terrific surprise. I enjoyed every minute of it. The morning sun was just right, the traffic was sleepy and I was grateful for dragging myself out of bed on a Saturday morning to experience and absorb it all.

Getting off the ECP was not as straightforward as getting on since the stairs to get off came to a dead end. It basically went nowhere. So we had to jump over the rail, climb down a grassy knoll, cross over Republic Avenue and essentially find ourselves beneath the ECP again.

Down the grassy knoll we go.

Having reached the halfway mark, we made our way north-east towards Kallang Stadium. Here a stretch of the run was alongside the Kallang Basin on a nicely paved footpath until we reached Nicoll Highway and climbed some more stairs. Single file we continued our run towards the Stadium and lo and behold we ran into my brother who, whilst visiting from Melbourne, was off on one of his crazy 25km walks.

My brother on the far right.

From here it was a home run. We were more than three-quarters of a way through and some of us, namely me was quite sluggish and thirsty and hungry and wishing for it to end but still enjoying the torture session simply because I was outside, with my friends and exploring Singapore in another way.

The final stretch took us from the Stadium on the north side of Geylang River to the Tanjong Rhu Suspension Bridge where we crossed and I stopped for a couple more pics. The view was fantastic.

As the final kilometre stretched before us, I’m fairly certain each of us were thinking of breakfast, coffee and lots and lots of water (a beer might have been on our mind but it was still only around 9ish am). As we reached the end Stan departed to nut out some work related issues and the rest of us toddled off to Cafe Melba for food and water. We clocked up 8km in about 52min.

Yay bringing up the rear.

Breakfast time.  

It was a great start for the Team Costa Series. Not too complicated, not too far from home and you could say a mini duathlon in reverse since we had to cycle home.

I think most of us were on auto pilot whilst riding. I certainly remember struggling with my quads and thought at some point they will just lock up. Funnily enough we had to ride past an actual duathlon that was run by the Metasprint organisers.

With the festive season rolling on the next scheduled run will be in January around the Singapore River-Marina Bay loop.

Cheers

Evolution of Team Costa

Sometime during our Friday night’s poolside drinking, some 12 months ago, someone came up with the brilliant idea of registering for a triathlon in early 2014. Up until now our Friday night group of about 10 friends were occasionally dabbling in an occasional form of exercise. Maybe a gym workout, maybe a run, maybe a cycle but really what we were best at is partying, drinking and having a good time socialising.

We range between 30 and 44 years of age. We are families with kids from all walks of life. We are Aussies, Canadians, Americans, English, New Zealanders and a variety of Europeans. Yes, we are all expats from English speaking countries although sometimes you wouldn’t know it given our different dialects, accents and colloquial expressions.

Anyway, nothing like peer group pressure and a jolly mood for most of us to say, “yeah sure, why not, I’ll do a triathlon”, followed very quickly by “what is a triathlon and how far do I have to go”. 
And so the new year began, with a serious “holly Molly, the triathlon is in 4 months and I’ve yet to survive 50m in the pool and how far do I have to run” kind of questions, mixed with exclamations. A steady training regime ensued for every single one of us. In our own time, sometimes together and sometimes alone. It didn’t take long to note who were the swimmers and who were the runners. Everyone was a cyclist, it’s one of those things you never forget.

Unfortunately in the end only 3 participated in the triathlon. It was a tough one since neither of the 3 were natural swimmers but perseverance and a naturally competitive streak took care of the rest. The event was like opening Pandoras Box.

Metasprint Triathlon, April 2014

Within a month two of our members went from cycling 40km regularly to taking on the Wheels for Change Batam 100km cycling event. Most of us thought they were a little crazy but not as crazy as when they returned full of euphoria and signed up for the Darwin Gran Fondo 120km event. Since then other Gran Fondo events ensued along with the two-day 250km Tour de Kepri Training Camp in Batam and Bintan. Now they clock up 110km round the island cycling on Saturday morning before breakfast and we no longer think they’re crazy nor do we bat an eyelid anymore. What’ll they do next?

Come late May and there’s new talk about triathlons such as the SG International Tritahlon in August and the Trifactor Triathlon in September. This time registration has taken traction and 8 of us sign up for varying distances: a few entry level minis, a sprint and a standard. Swimming still a weakness for the majority, we finally adhere to common sense and engage a swim coach who can take us through weekly drills and open water swimming. It helped immensely as our swimming results attested to during the triathlons.

Open water training with our coach 2nd from left.

New bikes were bought throughout the year: some having their fancy racing bikes, some entry levels and some with whatever was available. Brick training was introduced although something I found very difficult given that at the time I had not yet started running. The muscles used for swimming, are different for cycling and different for running. I found it tough to switch gears in my legs coming off a bike and launching into a run. The triathlon day was no different and found myself walking a good deal of the distance.

In between Grand Fondos and triathlons, several running races were also completed such as Saffra, Trifactor Run Series, GEWR, SMU Mile, PassionNorth, Colour Run and Newton Challenge and these are only what I can remember.

To help with the training and motivation we have setup an FB training group, acquired training gadgets such as Suunto/ Garmin watches and connected ourselves to Strava to track each other’s sessions and accomplishments. Our Friday night conversations are now often centered around races, sport articles, innovative sport gadgets and anything fitness related. But don’t think we’ve forgotten how to party. We just fit it around our training or is it vice versa? Sometimes it’s a little fuzzy.

As the year comes to a close, with the Standard Chartered race as our last event, we found ourselves as a tightly knit, supportive unit. We may have started a little haphazardly but we’ve pulled together enough now to create our own team with our own name. And Team Costa was born. With team tops in production, the colors were inspired by our condo’s swimming pool and it’s name translated as Coast of the Sun. The slogan on the back reminds us that: “It never gets easier, just faster”.

Our jerseys waiting production.

We have been so inspired by our personal changes and sporting milestones that Little League in our condo has been inaugurated 3 months ago where our children aged between 2.5 and 8 years, engage in various sporting activities led buy us as the parents. A roaring success it has since doubled in size with various games played, such as: soccer, tug of war, dodgeball, relay races, sack races and so on.

The kids are learning sportsmanship, tolerance, patience and of course physical skills. Developing physical fitness along the way, several of these kids have already completed their own fun runs like: Cold Storage, Saffra Father and Child, PasionNorth, Jurong Lake Run and Standard Chartered.

We are certainly training the athletes of the future and just for added extra fun, Team Costa has created its own Top 10 Running Series. It was inspired by an article from March 2011 entitled “10 Best Places to Run in SG”. Ideally we cycle to our destination, depending on proximity to our home, and run a predetermined route of varying lengths to allow for runner’s preference. A hearty breakfast post run should give our legs the required rest prior to riding home. The first one in the series took place on Saturday, 22 November but that’s another story. Stay tuned.

Singapore Int Triathlon, Aug 2014

Trifactor Triathlon, Sept 2014

We train together.
We race together.
We win together.

Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014 [10km]

Run Ladies Run

Let the spirit take you high

Let your feet pound the K’s

And when it’s sweated and all done

Let the champas flow freely by

And celebrate a race well done

At the break of dawn

15,000 women woke up Sunday morning (9 Nov) to participate in the one and only all women’s running race, the Great Eastern Women’s Run. Certainly the 5am precipitation did not hinder the keen runners, joggers or walkers.

By 6.30am the sparkling view of Singapore’s many iconic buildings across the bay elicited several ooohs and ahhhs, whilst the Singapore Flyer stood majestically above the start line waiting for the break of dawn.

 

As participants jostled for their Start position, fitness trainers broke out into aerobic warm up sessions to pumping music, the compere was hyping up the crowd and the minutes to flag-off were slowly ticking by. There on the sidelines stood the support system: daddies huddling under brollies with their kids, husbands/boyfriends spectating their loved ones. More ooohs and ahhhs were to be had and appreciated.

In the midst of all this seven women left their sleeping loved ones behind to band together to tackle the GEWR race. Several firsts were being experienced in this small group: a first race, a first best time, first 10km / 5km run, first participation in GEWR. Some were cajoled into it, some were keen, some registered in the nick of time and some just snuck it in. No matter the reasons, these band of women donned their gear, strapped on their sneakers and hit the pavement of the F1 Pit.

These women are my friends and neighbours with diverse levels of running skills. Some are old timers on the running track and some are very new to it. Three of us tackled the 10km race and the other four entered the 5km race. Undeterred by the remaining drizzle, we started the race with a smile on our faces and a “see you at the end”.

  

I started off at a very comfortable pace enjoying the scenery from another angle. Michelle was well ahead of me already and I was slowly losing sight of her bright fluoro top amongst the sea of red singlets. It wasn’t long before I ambled into Nicoll Hwy for what seemed like the longest stretch of the run due to its lengthy and straight course. Whilst I was heading west of Nicoll, Michelle had already turned and started heading east, So I spotted her on the opposite side of the temporary fence. We did a swift high-five or more like a low-five to acknowledge one another and then continued on. The last time I would see Michelle would be at the opposite end of Nicoll when I was heading east and she had already turned at the 5km mark to head west and complete the second half of her run.
Hitting the wall

It was at this point that my pace started slipping and I started struggling with the run. Found myself walking a lot more and running less. The uphill ramp didn’t help and by the time we turned the corner for the downward ramp, I was spent and just kept walking. I remember during my 8km NorthPassion race that I ran into trouble around the 5-6km mark as well. Even my hubby’s words ringing in my head to “keep going soldier” stopped working. By 8km I was barely running a few hundred metres at a time.

I was knocked out of my sullen trance by a tap on my rear when lo and behold my 5km buddy, Vika, with a massive smile on her face, waves at me. I mouth a desperate “I am dying here”, she concurs and then just sprints off for the last 2km. I don’t think we were feeling the same pain.

Tired of being overtaken far too many times, I hydrated at the 8.5km mark and mustered all that I had in my reserves to deliver the last 1500m. Running alongside the Kallang Basin, I lightened up (must have something to do with running alongside water) and entered a more positive trance and once I turned the corner at the Flyer and saw the Finish Line in the distance, I got mad just enough to sprint my way to the end.

Look at me fly.

Whilst my time wasn’t spectacular at 1:12hrs, I was satisfied to make it into the top 20%. As we waited in the Village for the remaining racers, we collected our bags, hydrated and met up with our very own support system: hubbies and kids.

Now that the results are out this band of women were pleasantly surprised with their individual outcomes. Chelle had her personal best at 55.56 and ranked in top 3% for 10km, Vika slotted herself in at the top 0.5% for 5km and Zuzana participated in her very first running event and came in the top 5%. The rest of the ladies were in the top 5.5%. All round I think this was a fantastic group effort.

 

I ran and faltered and struggled and walked,

I ran and I hung in there, whether I liked it or not. 

Mile after mile my legs were begging to stop,

But my spirit said no and I pressed on and on. 

And then, I saw the end and harnessed my reserves,

I crossed the finish line and thought “Thank Heavens it’s done”.

See you at Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, if not before. I’ll be participating in my second 10km race there. Cheers.