If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)
By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)
The Gould Family - The Running Family
My Meeting with Chris Gould
Jeevanesh s/o Soundararajah and the Hwa Chong Institution athletes ran in one of the SAA All Comers' Meet, running 1500m. A few days later, a person from America by the name of Chris Gould met me at the CCAB track, in one late evening. With a warm and friendly gesture, he extended his hands towards me for a handshake. He told me that he was impressed with Jeevanesh and the rest of the boys whom I was coaching. I was humbled by this person as I found out that he himself was a coach in a High School in USA. In order to share his knowledge with me, I requested him to join us for workouts. He gladly consented.
Some days later, Chris came to CCAB with his wife Debbie, who are both 44 years old, and his daughters by the name of Audrey, Lily and Beatrice Xue who are 16, 12 and 5 years old, respectively. I told myself that this is really what I call a running family. The thing that got me excited was seeing the family enjoying running and the whole family was doing quality workouts.
In my research for Masters in Education (UWA), on sports participation (2008), it was found that if the parents involved themselves in sports with their children, rather than just support, the child's continuity in sports will be extended for a longer period of time in their lifetime. Studies have shown that exercise and sports will strengthen the bone and muscle for long and reduce the chances of becoming obese and prevent certain cancers. The detrimental effects of weight gain will not appear and one can save on health cost. Even the government will be able to save the nation's budget in billions, over time, through our involvement in sports.
It was impressive to see the whole family working together and supporting each other. Chris even joined us for a 300m x 30. Even at the age of 44, Chris was doing 1min flat on average for each 300m, with a minute rest by walking 100m. According to my view, I call this very fit for a person who is 44 years old.
Each week, except for some, Chris joined us and he showed us that he is just as fit as his athletes in USA and he is aiming to get faster over time. I also found out that he is here for 3months in Singapore on a research project. He is also presenting the research in Singapore. I am really excited to see him present his research on 22nd May 2010.
After several weeks, finally, my wife Sumathy and I went for a nice dinner at Gokul, an Indian vegetarian restaurant at Upper Dickson Road, off Serangoon Road. We had a wonderful time with his family. Chris shared with me the training methodology used by him in US to improve athletes and at the same time, he gave a deep explanation on how he periodises his training to his athletes. This topic was very interesting and we enjoyed the whole night discussing about running.
Hence, after my meeting him, I realised that it would be a good idea to share with the rest of the fellow Singaporeans and the world on those things that he shared with me. I have posted some questions to him and he had agreed to answer me in this article.
Interview Questions
On Career and Family
What are you doing as a career?
I am a high school teacher in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the United States. I teach World Civilizations, Honors United States History, and Asian History to students ages 14-18. I also coach my school’s boys’ cross-country team in the fall (September through November) and the track and field team in the spring (March-June). While we do have an indoor track and field team that meets during the winter months, I let someone else take those reins so that I can devote more attention to a heavier teaching load.
What is the reason that you are in Singapore?
The Fulbright Commission, a part of the State Department in the U.S. government, selected me and one other teacher to come to Singapore and conduct research on specific projects. This teaching award, of which we are the first cohort, signals an attempt to give primary and secondary teachers a rare opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture and spend time studying a topic, observing schools, and participating in relevant activities while not teaching. Last fall, three teachers from Singapore travelled to the United States on the same fellowship to conduct similar types of research at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School of Education in Tennessee. Other countries involved in the fellowship included Argentina, South Africa, Israel, India, and Finland. My particular research topic involves convergences between play (sports and games in a learning environment, in casual landscapes, or in sports venues) and racial integration. In other words, I hope to look closely at how game-playing affects our ability to learn about each other and about the disciplines inherent in the game itself. As a strong believer that sports and games in all contexts have the potential to invest our lives and relationships with deeper meaning, I am also aware of the strong cultural pull that many sports and games have for certain groups. I hypothesize that one’s ability to engage in play, even or especially in an unfamiliar venue or among unfamiliar people, often and easily leads to increased understanding of social groups and individual motivations.
Who are the ones in your family taking up running currently?
My wife, Debbie, runs somewhere between 60 and 120 kilometers a week and loves to go long. She recently learned that she received an entry into this fall’s New York Marathon, so you can look for her name among the results. She has run 2:53 for the marathon (in Napa, California, in 1995) and continues to run competitively in the Master’s division in local, regional, and some national races. She has also finished an impressive fifty-mile race in the mountains of Vermont. My oldest daughter, Audrey (16), runs for our school’s cross-country and indoor track teams, generally a powerhouse (at least in cross country—see arxc.org for a fun web page!) She has run 5:35 for 1600 meters and 11:54 for 3200 meters while running 19:12 for 5K on a cross-country course. My middle daughter, Lily (12), runs competitively for the school’s middle-school team and hopes to run 1600 meters in around 6:30 sometime this summer. Finally, Beatrice Xue (5), my youngest daughter, likes to run around the block when the mood strikes her. Otherwise, she is busy learning how to swim underwater. Singapore has helped her along in that task as we are often at the Clementi pool.
What are your achievements in 5km, 10km, half-marathon and marathon?
I have run 15:47 (track) and 15:52 (roads) for 5K, 32:37 for 10K, 1:13:01 for the half marathon, and 2:40:02 for the marathon. In 1991 I ran across the United States from San Francisco, California, to Washington, D.C. in 130 days. It was memorable, but not easy. These days I am running around 17:00 for 5K with hopes of some imminent improvement. I run for the Greater Springfield Harriers, and our Master’s team has enough quality that I am often our fifth or sixth runner in big competitions.
Your wife's achievement in running?
See above. In general, Debbie runs with relatively more success among her cohort than do I. We met on our college cross-country team (Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut), where she was part of a powerhouse women’s team in the late 1980s. In college, she also played ice hockey and lacrosse, while I also played baseball. By our last year of college, we both finally made the transition to outdoor track and field and became full-time runners.
As a Coach
Which school are you coaching and for how many years have you been coaching this school?
I started as an assistant coach for three years at St. Louis Country Day school in St. Louis, Missouri when I had just entered the teaching profession. One of three coaches, we led the boys’ team to its first ever league championship and first-ever appearance in a state meet (we finished second). It was a thrilling experience for everyone. I next taught at Bentley School in Oakland, California, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school with no running program. I began a running club for students ages 11-13 called The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. We trained twice a week and ran in cross-country and track meets that I organized for independents schools in the Oakland region. It was informal but loads of fun. In 1995 I moved with my family back to Amherst, Massachusetts, where I had grown up, and took over for my former coach. In fifteen years of coaching there, we have won one state championship (2001, when we were ranked ninth in the nation) and nine regional championships. But my greatest strength as a coach is probably in turning non-runners into runners.
Can you tell me some of the timing of the runners under you that are well?
I have coached several 3200m runners who ran in the mid-9:20s, a 4:17 miler, and a number of cross-country runners who have run under 16:30 ( and some around 15:30). A former runner of mine recently ran 2:29 in the Boston Marathon, and another finished third in the national collegiate Division III championships. The latter athlete was a struggling runner as a 14-year-old athlete but developed into something truly special. He is also an exceptional cellist at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. My hope is always to leave my athletes room to improve when they graduate from high school. Life is a long journey, and running should be part of it for someone who loves to run.
What is your advice for a runner to train in hot weather like Singapore?
I have found the running remarkably difficult in my four months in Singapore. I have run 35-70 kilometers a week here and with much distress on many occasions. I recommend running in the evening or the early morning and understanding how much stress heat put on the body. If a Singaporean were to travel to a cooler climate and run, he or she would notice a significant difference in the effort needed to complete a workout. Naturally, replenishing water (I lose a ridiculous amount every day) plays a crucial role in the ability to survive regular running. Having said that, I met a fellow at MacRitchie Reservoir who was training for the Gobi Ultramarathon by running 40K with a big bag of rice in his backpack. More power to him.
How do you train students of different abilities when giving them workouts?
I break athletes into 3-6 groups before we leave campus for a distance run or before we begin a speed workout on trails or on the track. That way they are training in cohort appropriate for their current abilities. Runners move to new levels of ability all the time, so no one’s position is ever fixed. While there is some friendly competition among teammates, they know that their prime objective is to make themselves faster so that we, as a team, can have success in the bigger races. I never want athletes running “over their head,” a sure recipe for discouragement. I emphasize consistency of training (we practice five days a week and often race on Saturday), progressive increases in mileage, and most importantly, appreciation for the “story” and “adventure” that the sport creates. Some of our training experiences and race events have become epic tales in the lives of the athletes. As a coach, I will always run with one or more of the training groups each day depending on the workout. New runners particularly appreciate having someone with them to offer advice and take their mind off of the effort of the run. I usually initiate some sort of word game or other distraction during long distance runs so that we can enjoy the experience and not just suffer.
Are there any suggestions you have for coaches and teachers in-charge on training in this weather?
Avoid running in the heat of the day whenever possible. Encourage athletes to run at least six days a week. Allow for cross training, especially if runners seem to stagnate. Infuse games into practice sessions (relay races, dodge ball, kick ball, shopping excursions (really!), jokes during warm-up time, push-ups, sit-ups, and leg lifts, occasional weight training, and social gatherings whenever possible. I also recommend letting girls and boys train together occasionally if possible. Encourage runners to run easy on the easy days and to have a purpose for every run. Coaches should be able to tell athletes exactly why each activity is in place. In the end, the sport must present itself as a game, as play, and not as a war. Maintaining that fresh approach to the many benefits of sport goes a long way, and I would hope all the way to the end of one’s life.
What is your next goal in running as a runner?
I would love to re-approach 16:30 for 5K and to run under 4:50 for the mile. The more miles I run, the better I seem to perform. While I love to run fast and to compete at a relatively high level, I know that the element of story and play in my running career has taken me much farther than my actual race times. My involvement with the run across the U.S. and my interaction with many fascinating and talented student athletes have offered me connections, including the one that brought me to Singapore and that, introduced me to Rameshon, much more valuable than any trophy I might have won.
Note:
By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes to do marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners to do sub-4 hours for marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’ by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).
He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.
