Multisports in Singapore

Picking the right pace for yourself during the marathon is the key to how well you eventually complete the race. First of all it’s important to understand what is happening to your body as you progress through the long marathon distance.

At the start you will be running quite comfortably (hopefully anyway!!), due to your marathon training and your carbohydrate stores (glycogen reserves). However your supply of accessible ‘fuel’ is limited, and as you get to the 17 mile mark and later you need to draw energy from your bodies’ protein and fat just to keep going. At the same time you are also fighting dehydration. You can lose 2 - 3lbs per hour of body weight as you sweat during the run.

Now imagine that it’s a windy day or a hilly course (or both!). Your energy output has to increase if you want to maintain your pace and time goal. However this may well mean that you’ll use up your available energy stores before you even reach the 17-18 mile mark.

The same goes for the temperature and humidity level during the race. If these are high you will sweat more and be more affected by dehydration. This will negatively affect your performance by 10 to 15 %, which translates into about 1 minute per mile. In other words you will be slowing down…

Marathon runners ‘hit the wall’ because their glycogen reserves are depleted and they feel really weak. This feeling will be compounded by the effects of dehydration. At this point many runners have stop and walk just to keep going. Obviously they will be unable to meet their marathon time goal.

So, knowing all this in advance, the wise marathoner will carefully assess the race conditions at the start of the race. If it’s hot it’s best to start slower until you have reached a steady running rhythm. The same goes for running into a headwind. You should also take into account your running form after six miles or so. Are you relaxed and feeling as good as you should at this early point in the run? If not - it’s time to slow down for a while to see if you recover.

To successfully complete a marathon you must run as far as you possibly can within your body’s comfort level. That might sound like an oxymoron when we’re talking about 26.2 miles, - but it is possible! If you can reach the 16 mile mark without a lot of stress then you have a good chance of finishing the race without too much trouble.

The key point is to start out with a target pace range in mind, and not an absolute goal like 3hr 45 m. For example you might pick a pace between 8:30 to 9:00 minutes per mile (for a marathon time in the 3hr 40m to 4 hr range approximately). Then adjust your pace according to the conditions and your own running ability on marathon day. It’s usually better to start at the slower end and then increase the pace as you get further into the race.

Try this and you may well be pleasantly surprised with how well you complete the race.

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• You usually wake up at 4.00 in the morning but don’t get to work until way after 10:00.

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  Somebody hands you a cup of water and you have to restrain yourself from pouring it over your head.

• Your car has at least one energy bar wrapper and water bottle on the floor.

• You have more shoes than you spouse.

• Cars pass you on the road when you’re driving and you either drop back to get out of draft zone or speed up to attack!

• You need a photo for a job application and you only have race pictures.

• You haven’t bought work clothes in two years, yet you own bike shorts made by every manufacturer under the sun and can recite the merits of Coolmax, Supplex, etc. in your sleep! 

• You think there are only 2 seasons in a year; racing season and off-season.

• You clean your bike more often than your car.

• Your bike has a name.

• When asked, how old are you? You answer 35-39.

• You name your two new puppies Kona and Hawi.

• You are convinced that if you rest more than one day, your muscles will atrophy, your ultra-fit body will turn into a pile of goo and everyone in your age group will beat you.

• You bring bottled water to a party so that you’re properly hydrated for the next morning’s long run. Everyone else at the party also brought their own bottled water because you don’t have a social life outside of triathlon. Oh yeah, and they all showed up 7pm and left by 10pm.

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Running in the dark can be a challenge and presents some unique challenges. Running in the dark can also be very exhilarating, especially when you run in a group.

Basic Questions

There are basic 3 questions that you need to answer before you head outside for your early morning or late evening run.

1. What sort of terrain are you going to be running on?
2. How much light will there be on the route you plan to run?
3. How safe is the route you plan on running?

Terrain

Will you be running on the roads or will you be running on trails or a track? If you will be running anywhere that there is traffic, then you need to be sure to make yourself as visible as possible. Any time that you are out running with traffic, you need to assume that they can not see you. Very few drivers will look for runners out after dark. After all, it seems as if few enough lookout for runners during the daylight hours!

Ambient Light

Does the route that you are planning on running have regular street lights or house lights that can show you your path? Are the moon and stars bright enough to allow you to see where you are placing your feet? If not, then you will want to bring some sort of illumination with you.

Safety

How safe will the route that you are running be? It can be dangerous to run through an area with rocky terrain. You may also need to worry more about predators at night, both two-legged and four. I have never felt a need to carry any sort of weapon when I ran, but I am male and have lived in relatively safe cities for most of my life and most of my trail running after dark has been with a group.

Basic Tools

Once you have answered these questions, you will need to decide what you are going to carry with you. Here are a few items that you may need (I recommend that everyone get the first 3 if they ever plan on running in the dark or in inclement weather):

1. Get a reflective vest or jacket. Preferably a bright one in some unnatural color like fluorescent yellow or orange. You may look funny during the day, but I never let that bother me. Having been hit by a car, I like to make sure that I stand out against my surroundings. You may not need to wear this if you are not going to be running where there is traffic.
2. Get a headlamp. They are pretty cheap these days. You can start with a $20 (or less) pivoting headlamp at your local hardware store that will work well enough on the streets (that is what I currently have.) If you are going to be on trails or running in the dark regularly, then you will want to get a brighter one that is made for running. The ones that are made for running generally have a little extra support, the battery is located at the back of the head, and there are 6-8 white LEDs. Unless it is very bright where you are running, you are going to want to wear your head lamp on all of your runs in the dark.
3. Get a red strobe light. I use one that I bought for my bike as a tail light, but it came with a strap so that I could wear it on my arm. I have used it running more often than I have used it on my bike. It has 8 or 10 red LEDs that are very bright and that flash in 6 directions (3 horizontal and 3 vertical). You may not need to wear this if you are not going to be running where there is traffic. I have found that this does the best job of getting me noticed by traffic when there is any, though. Almost every one of them sees me if I have all three of these items on.
4. You may want to carry some mace. You will need to be careful not to accidentally spray yourself or somebody you are running near, but it can come in handy if you are mugged or if a dog or some other animal begins to chase you.
5. Bring some friends. Running with a group in the dark is a great shared experience, and it can be a lot safer than running solo. You are less likely to be hassled than if you run alone and traffic is more likely to see a crowd than a single person. If you fall and hurt yourself, there will be somebody there that can take care of you or get help.
6. Bring a cell phone, especially if you do not bring any friends with you. If you get lost, get hurt, or just get tired and lazy you will be able to call for somebody to pick you up or emergency services to come rescue you.
7. Bring identification. You should carry some sort of identification with you any time that you leave the house.

Weather

The last thing that you should consider before you leave your house is the weather. If it is foggy, slippery, raining or snowing really hard, or extremely cold then you may want to avoid running in the dark. Your visibility may be impacted and it can be easy to get lost or step on something that you can not see. Especially on roads, you need to worry about people driving that won’t be able to see any lights or reflective material that you are carrying. When it is really cold or has been snowing, there may be no shoulder for you to run on and a driver may not have adequately cleared their windshield so that they can see where they are driving.

Days where the weather makes it too dangerous to run outside I will bite the bullet and run indoors or cross train. It is never a good idea to miss a workout, but if you can not get home safely from the workout then it is worth trying to find some other activity to do or even changing up your schedule a bit to accommodate the weather.

Running at night can be safe and enjoyable, and there are a lot of tools that make it easy to get out in the dark. Make sure that you have an extra helping of common sense and that you can see and be seen, and have fun playing out in the dark!

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By Drew Surinsky

In the past decade, triathlon has transformed from super-jock niche activity to a nearly mainstream sport, and one consequence I’ve seen is a tendency to enter races lightly. You might be a great runner, cyclist, or even swimmer, but making your way through a frenzied open-water swim requires thorough preparation. After all, visibility is usually poor and you’ll most likely be packed in with other swimmers, many of whom are doing their first swim without lane lines and a stripe. While it is impossible to predict every encounter, you can prepare for some common scenarios. Below we will describe panic, navigation and crowd management drills that let you experience and develop strategies for the swim to minimize surprises on race day.

Crowd Management Swimming in a crowd can be uncomfortable. Getting bumped, kicked and hit is common and usually just annoying, but serious injuries can occur. To minimize their likelihood, use your arms as fences and antennae. Fences: Keep your lead arm slightly bowed out to let people know you’re there and to protect your head.Antennae: Use your lead arm to feel what’s happening in front of you—usually somebody kicking. Tip: Swim with good body rotation. Besides making you faster, swimming on your side creates space.

Drills Two across: Two people swim very slowly side-by-side in a lane while staying together. Swim a length with each hugging the lane line. Move a little closer each length or so until they’re sharing the stripe and bumping each other, moving closer only when comfortable.

Three across: Same as two across, but with three people in the lane. Switch positions so that each person gets the middle.

Four across: Same, but with four people in the lane.

Shuffle Drill: Remove some lane lines and group into two heats of 3-4 each. Heat one stands side-by-side, about two arms’ width apart. Heat two stands similarly a couple yards behind. Heat one begins swimming very slowly. Heat two starts soon after and passes heat one, swimming between them. Trade heats so everyone passes and gets passed.  Panic Besides the novelty of the situation, common panic producers are cramps, inhaling water, getting off course, getting bumped or hit, or losing goggles. Having a panic plan is the difference between those being catastrophic or manageable. The key is to practice an easy move that gets your face out of the water and lets you find your way. For most people, this will be breaststroke, sidestroke, treading, or rolling over and floating. Try each a few times to see which is easiest, then make it your panic move. Practice panicking alone and with a group so your panic move becomes automatic. Swim some lengths and “panic” in the middle. Don’t rush out of the panic move or worry about losing time. Wait until you’ve truly collected yourself, take a few strokes, and if you re-panic, repeat your panic move.  

Drills Practice these panic scenarios:

• Inhaling water: Go into your panic move and take easy, slow, shallow breaths.
• Losing goggles: Look for your goggles for a few seconds and decide what you’ll do if you don’t find them. Some will swim normally; others will want a stroke that keeps their faces out of the water.
• Cramps: Practice floating vertically or prone and massaging the cramp.
• Life Threatening Situations: Practice waving an arm over your head. 

Navigating There’s no stripe in a lake, so you must look above water for your reference points (usually buoys). It’s nice if your sighting fits your stroke rhythm. Method one—Look then breathe: I like this because it encourages glancing while streamlined, then rolling to breathe and stroking normally. Method two—Breathe then look: This can interfere with streamlining and stroke rhythm, but some people take to it easily. 

Drills

1. Drill 1: Pick Your Method: Stand in water and bend forward with your torso in swimming position. Select a “buoy” and try each method to determine which suits you. Tip: In freestyle, one arm reaches forward while the other moves backward. Steer with the front arm by reaching toward your destination, like steering a boat.
2. Drill 2: Designate a buoy and spot it while swimming. Initially, glance once per stroke cycle. Reduce your spotting to every two stroke cycles, then every three, etc.
3. Drill 3: Repeat drill 2 but close your eyes when head is down. You’ll quickly sense how often you need to glance up to stay on course.
4. Drill 4: Remove some lane lines and try drills 3 & 4 diagonally. 

Combo Drills Two rows of two across: Heat two starts after heat one and stays on the swimmers’ toes. Add more people to each heat, then add a third heat. Practice starts: Remove lane lines, bunch up in a group and practice mass starts. Add a designated panicker, who churns hard and has an excessively fast turnover. Others practices staying loose and swim their own race. Drew Surinsky, MS, JD, is a swim coach (ASCA II), triathlon coach (USAT II) and sport physiologist in Chicago, Illinois. Drew can be reached at niceguytraining@ameritech.net.

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Swimming is a great way to keep in shape and it is an excellent form of exercise because it uses both large muscle groups (arms and legs).  Swimming is much more technical than running or cycling.  Swimming is also a lifetime sport that benefits the body and the whole person. It is a sport in which almost all the body’s muscle groups are involved, making it one of the best and most complete activities that everyone can do, particularly older adults.  Swimming is primarily an aerobic exercise due to the long exercise time, requiring a constant oxygen supply to the muscles, except for short sprints where the muscles work anaerobically it helps to improve posture and develop a strong lean physique, called, logically, a “swimmer’s build:” lean and spare throughout, with wide shoulders and a smaller lower body.  Swimming is also generally a healthy activity and enjoys a low risk of injury compared with many other sports. 

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Hey guys, I have found this video on how to maximise your aero position to generate more power for your ride.

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