The last two miles in training

Activities/Actions:
Ran 4 days of 8k, 3 miles, 4 miles and 2 miles

Course condition:
All runs on treadmill.


Note and reflections:

This last week of the training I did short runs. At these points, I have been missing many long runs, which are important. The runs of this week were also in the evening not in the morning as I wanted. Well, I am preparing mentally from now on and carbo-loading. Another mission of this week is to get some packs of energy gels [http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6677&PageNum=4] before Saturday ends.

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a glove has gone

I could not find the left side of the open finger gloves I owned. I remembered that I brought them back home with me on the ride home from the office. I stopped at TingHao before getting to the apartment. However, I could not find it anywhere... So, I will use this one with the left side of the other pair of gloves, whose the right side was lost in February.

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Taipei County's 2008 International Volunteer Day

Activities/Actions:
Biked from Nangang to join the ride from Banciao to Xindian and then back to Nangang!

Stat:

Course condition:
Nice weather; sunny and clear sky.

to Banciao

Date: 12/13/2008
Start Time: 05:34:00
End Time: 06:44:00
Time Taken: 01:10:00
Route: Sinica 2 Banciao Station
Total Distance: 16.62 mi.
Burned: 758 (kcal)
Laps: 1
Pace: 04:13 (avg)
Speed: 14.25 (mi/hr) (avg)

to Xindian

Date: 12/13/2008
Start Time: 09:03:00
End Time: 10:49:00
Time Taken: 01:46:00
Route: Banciao-BikeRent 2 Sindian
Total Distance: 10.08 mi.
Burned: 459 (kcal)
Laps: 1
Pace: 10:31 (avg)
Speed: 5.71 (mi/hr) (avg)

Back from Xindian

Date: 12/13/2008
Start Time: 12:28:00
End Time: 14:02:00
Time Taken: 01:34:00
Route: SinDian 2 home
Total Distance: 12.43 mi.
Burned: 407 (kcal)
Laps: 1
Pace: 07:34 (avg)
Speed: 7.93 (mi/hr) (avg)

Note and reflections:

Waking up around 4a to go to lab to finish some work, I could not finish it by the time I have to leave for Banciao at around 5:15a. I pedaled due West in a breezing morning in the less-crowded streets of Taipei City. Many bikers, runners and walkers were enjoying their morning activities along the bike trails and parks, as well as the shop owners and vegetable whole-sellers at Wanhua Market were busy with their business. I arrived at Banciao Station around 6:45a and Wayne's mom fed me up by a big breakfast and even gave me some friuts and snacks to take home.

After I was full Wayne and I left home around 7:15 to meet his friends--Xiao Hao, Lu Dan, and LD's husband. Lu Dan was one of the organizers for this activities. There were many volunteer groups who started their biking journey to promote the importance of volunteers. Bikers were given flags to put on our bike, a yellow vest to wear (each group had different color vest), two types of removable tattoos (one for cheak and the other for hand). By the time we got ready and biked out, it was around 9a. Actually, the most of the member has left before us (we were the last).

Just less than a mile, however, I fell off the bike because I suddenly hit the break to avoid hitting the girls who was making a sudden stop in front of me. I was alright. Thanks to the gloves my left balm and right wrist were only a bit pain. We biked along the left bank of the river, where I would complete the full length of the section between Xin Dain and Banciao.

Wayne and I arrived at the activity venue around 10:30a. The sites had been alrady crowded by people of various ages and the stage had performances by (generally older) volunteers. They were very cute. We enjoyed the activity, got lunchbox and NT$50 from the organizers. I did not know that we would get paid. Around 12:30, Wayne and I biked home but Xiao Hao, Lu Dan and her husband took MRT back because they got rental bikes, which were returned here.

The sun was strong in a generally-cloudless sky. I had been feeling sleepy since I got to XinDian. So, I decided to bike home, buying Xian-Yu-Xian near Kunyang with my NT$50 reward. Took a good nap in the afternoon before going back to lab to finish my work.

PS. I forgot to call Ya-Wen that I would not stop by as earlier planned. :(
PS2. I saw the countdown board to ING Marathon at the city hall, but it said "10 Days"! Only 8 Days left, actually!

Photos:

Guangfu Bridge at dawn break.

Wayne and the tattoos!

Removable tattoos...

The event flag on our bikes with my red Timbuk2

A fellow volunteer biker curving near Yongfu Bridge

The flag flying on my bike.

Almost there! A little girl with her cute bike; Wayne was on the way back.

Arrived finally!

Falling down?

Fellow volunteers in front of check-in booth.

Performances

Performances

Our group chanting the team's slogan.

A little monkey performer.

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Morning Run Kick-Off

Morning run kick-off

Activities/Actions:
Easy Run in the morning.

Stat:

3 m run

Date: 12/12/2008
Start Time: 07:44:00
End Time: 08:19:00
Time Taken: 00:35:00
Route: 3M-Regular Sinica
Total Distance: 3.82 mi.
Burned: 417 (kcal)
Laps: 1
Pace: 09:10 (avg)
Speed: 6.54 (mi/hr) (avg)

Course condition:
The weather was very nice. Yu-Hsiang said, "it feels like Taroko" during the Marathon.

How I felt:
(the 5-point scale)
Physically 5
Mentally 5
About my nutrition 4
About my sleep 3


How hard did I work? 6
(the 10-point scale)

Note and reflections:

After the talk with Yu-Hsiang on Monday about morning runs, finally today was the first morning (after Toroko Race for me) and we hoped that morning run will continue until the race next weekend. I totally agree with J.J. that the morning run is good. The weather this morning was "feeling like Taroko" on the race day [วิ่งไม่หยุด: 2008 Taroko Half Marathon Race]: cool atmosphere after light rain with calm wind and freshly smell of soaked dirt. Yu-Hsaing was the one who kept the pace of this morning run. We ran along the regular 3 mile route with a continuation to China Institute of Technology and back to GRC. In the office, Azhong said that he may join us for one of the next year races. Later, I went for some stretching and weighting in the gym.

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15.6 mile (25.1 kilometer) Wednesday

Celebrating the 200th mile on Brooks Defyance

Activities/Actions:
A long run: 15.6 miles

Stat:

The half (13.1 miles) time was under 1 hour 45 minutes.

Long Run: 15 miles

Date: 12/10/2008
Start Time: 17:58:00
End Time: 20:03:00
Time Taken: 02:05:16
Route: 1m in Sinica (Tai Chi Route)
Total Distance: 15.60 mi.
Laps: 15
Burned: 1,696 (kcal)
Laps: 15
Pace: 08:01 (avg)
Speed: 7.47 (mi/hr) (avg)

---

Gear Summary

Shoes: Brooks - Defyance (total: 201.72 mi.)

Stopped for drinks at the laps 3, 6, 8, 11, 13 for the total of ~9 minutes.

---

Course condition:
The day had been warm and nice, but I started when the sun was going down. The moon was brightly shining in the clear, cloudless sky. The wind was calm for the first 10 laps but picking up for the last five. Changed direction of the run for the last two laps, which ran at a slow pace.

How I felt:
(the 5-point scale)
Physically 4
Mentally 5
About my nutrition 4.5
About my sleep 4


How hard did I work? 8.5
(the 10-point scale)

Note and reflections:
This was the longest run of the training. As the number of lap is increasing, the sun has long gone and the moon shows her brightest ray, my body is soaking up with sweat and my figures are getting cold even though a pair of open finger gloves is worn [I guess, open finger gloves would help?!?]. The last two laps are tired (I guess that I need food), but I feel very good after the run. Taking a break for about 45 minutes, I later biked home to get my prescription (eye drops) and food and back to lab to conclude a 1-hour errand.

Note: The batteries for the front light of my bike were replaced on the 9th because they were running out of power completely. Tuesday run was canceled because of a flu shot.

The 3-year old gloves [Harbinger 155] are still working well, bought just before 2006 New Year Road Trip to Mammoth Cave with Kou, Rina, Yeong-shin and YS's friend.

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the 1st week of December, 3 more weeks left 'til ING

ฑีฆายุโก โหตุ มหาราชา
Long live the King.

Activities/Actions:
where is my long run?

Stat:

Course condition:
Most of the run were on treadmill. Outside run (twice) on Tai Chi Statue.


Note and reflections:

So far, the longest run I made in this training season was the half marathon race (13 miles). The others were 10-11 miles. I believe that I have to do a long run this week soon, hoping for 20 miles as this was the goal of today (but it ended with 2+9.3 miles). Today run was fine, except that I felt cold on my hands and fingers because of sweat soaking up my shirt and shorts.

Thai politics
PAD closed down Bangkok's airports, moving out on the 3rd after the Prime Minister was ousted by the Constitutional Court. Hope for the bright days soon! The red-shirts had been gathering and would opposed the opposite side in forming a new government.

Water bottles
I returned to use my 10-year old water bottle because the lid of L.L. Bean has been broken [วิ่งไม่หยุด: A water bottle under Tai Chi statue]. Sure, this 10-year old bottle has learned to speak three languages.

For the full activity log visit. http://www.mapmyrun.com/user_training?u=368516315439

The 10-year old bottle learning to speak three languages.

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November Recap

Activities/Actions:
Ching-Fang & Yun-Huei's wedding and Kenting

Note and reflections:

For the past three weeks, I have been running most on a treadmill. Long runs on the weekend have been missed out. Need to get it right on track! The last weekend, JJ, Laura, and I drove down to PingDong to Yun-Huei's wedding.

Ching-Fang & Yun-Huei's wedding

The wedding luncheon was fun--pretty and handsome newlyweds! There were six of us (three of us plus Christine, Bernhard and Pei-Shan) at the reception. Yun-Huei had a toast from us with a special drink.


Kenting walks

On Sunday morning, I walked down to NanWan Beach for a quick morning entertainment after our visit to Kenting Main Road Night Market last night. Kenting has many many Thai restaurants--even one of them has "Thar food" (see photo below); 7-8 Thai restaurants, as I could count, were on the main street. The walk to NanWan was nice and relaxing. After check out from the hotel, Laura drove us to the Southernmost of the Island and we had a nice walk there. The weather reminded me a bit of Maine and Cadaqués weather and made us not want to go back to Taipei. After the walk, we drove to taste Wanluan famous pork leg and back to Taipei!

Thanks J.J. and Laura for driving us from and back to Taipei. The trip was fun.

Easy Walk: NanWan, Kenting

Date: 11/30/2008
Start Time: 08:22:00
End Time: 09:57:00
Time Taken: 01:35:00
Route: Kenting-Walk
Total Distance: 4.65 mi.
Laps: 1
Pace: 20:25 (avg)
Speed: 2.94 (mi/hr) (avg)

Easy Walk: Eluanbi Park

Date: 11/30/2008
Start Time: 11:30:00
End Time: 12:15:00
Time Taken: 00:45:00
Route: Kenting-EluanBi Park
Total Distance: 0.58 mi.
Laps: 1
Pace: 77:34 (avg)
Speed: 0.77 (mi/hr) (avg)

For the full activity log visit. http://www.mapmyrun.com/user_training?u=368516315439

Photos:

Bernhard and Pei-Shan

Laura, JJ and I

Smoking fish!

Preparing a spacial drink for Yun-Huei

Yun-Huei was toasted by the friends with the special drink.

Remnant of the special drink: Washabi!

Newlyweds and soon-to-be newlyweds

Sunset over Kenting

Umbrellas await for summer customers on NanWan Beach

Thar food! Want to try Thar food in Kenting?

Bernhard, JJ and Laura with NanWan in the background

Lighthouse at the Eluanbi Park, the Southernmost of the Island

I visit Eluanbi!

Wanluan's famous pork legs

Yummy pork leg

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Headphones, my friend!

The headphones [วิ่งไม่หยุด: Sennheiser PMX 70 Sport] were broken at both ends [วิ่งไม่หยุด: headphones gone bad, วิ่งไม่หยุด: headphones broken at the other end!]. After a long run (10 miles on the 1-mile Tai Chi Statue loop), the clear tap had been moved away from the broken portion and the inner wire at the 3.5 mm jack seems to be torn. The left ear bud had a very low volume. Broken and broken. Good for me!

Later, I used a rubber band to tie the end up to prevent it from moving. Today's run was good and followed by stretch.

Date: 11/26/2008
Start Time: 19:13:00
End Time: 20:32:00
Time Taken: 01:19:12
Route: 1m in Sinica
Total Distance: 10.40 mi.
Laps: 10
Burned: 1,135 (kcal)
Pace: 07:37 (avg)
Speed: 7.88 (mi/hr) (avg)

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A water bottle under Tai Chi statue

Activities/Actions:
Ran 10 miles on Sinica 1 mile loop; started

Stat & Course condition:

Date: 11/24/2008
Start Time: 07:44:00
End Time: 09:08:00
Time Taken: 01:24:22
Route: 1m in Sinica
Total Distance: 10.40 mi.
Laps: 10
Pace: 08:06 (avg)
Speed: 7.4 (mi/hr) (avg)

How I felt:
(the 5-point scale)
Physically 4
Mentally 4
About my nutrition 4
About my sleep 4


How hard did I work? 7
(the 10-point scale)

Note and reflections:

I have done my regular run for two weeks now but usually missed the weekend long run. This is because either I had something to do or I did a long bike ride. So, I managed to come to run a long run (supposed to be 14 miles, according to the training program). Everything had been going normally for the first 5 laps. However, for the 6th lap when I was approaching Tai Chi statue, where I placed L.L. Bean bottle and a bottle of sport drink, a cleaning guy was looking up and down under the statue. Right, he was trying to take my L.L. Bean bottle away as the sport drink has been crushed. I quickly told him, "it is mine; please do not take it away." He said something in Chinese, but I placed the bottle under the statue and kept running. Again, at the 9th lap, I saw an old lady look up and down under the status and walked away. When I arrived, I found that the bottle was missing. I ran after her asking for the bottle; she took it out of her tote bag and handed it to me. She was saying something in Chinese, but I did not understand. I thanked her and took the bottle back to the statue. I ran the 10th lap and stopped.

Later that morning, I made a sign in three languages--Chinese, English, and Thai--posted on the bottle. I will do the same for the other two bottles I own (in blue and light green). Now, my bottle can speak three languages. Thank Meng-Shin for little help on Chinese.

Photos:

L.L. Bean Bottle speaks three languages.

"我是水壺，我的主人正在跑步，請勿把我拿走!
Please Do Not Take Me Away! My owner is running nearby.
อย่าหยิบผมไปนะครับ เจ้าของผมวิ่งอยู่แถวนี้แหละ!"

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