Note:
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 Marcel Sng
Kek Wee - defying age
Kek Wee, 39, had a 5km personal best time of 21min 30sec during his Army days in 1998. Around that time, he had a 21km personal best time of 1hr 43min done in 2008 Brisbane Half-Marathon and he did 4hour 41min for 2009 Gold Coast Marathon 2009. He wants to do a sub-4hours time for the marathon and also a sub - 1hr 45min for the half-marathon soon.
When he joined us, he was doing a time of 25min plus and slowly did 23min 40sec. He got some sensation at the spine area and he reduced his intensity of training and gradually came back to serious running. Recently, he did a spectacular 22min 34sec for the 5km time trial run. He is now feeling strong to do a sub - 21min 30sec in time to come. I decided to interview him as his improvement has surprised me a lot.
With his excellent improvement recently, I have decided to interview him on his future goals in running. I hope that you enjoy reading the interview.
Interview with Kek Wee
1. Can you share with us what distance you have been focusing on?
Full marathon
2. What were you doing for your training before you joined us?
Non-season training: casual jog of 15km/week, twice on weekdays and twice on weekends to de-stress
Season: clocking up to 50km/week, just focus on clocking mileage
3. What is your 5km, 10km timings in the past and now?
Before joining Flexifitness:
5km: 25mins (March 2014, first started off with Coach Rameshon)
42km: 5hr 22mins (Dec 2013, Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon)
After joining Flexifitness
5km: 22mins 34secs (12th Aug/ Tues Flexifitness training)
4. how did you progress to achieve this time?
So far I have seen my 5Ks timing going down from 25mins to 22mins 34secs. I have not done a proper time trial for 21km and 42km yet. As for my progression/improvements, before joining Coach Rameshon, I emailed him in late Dec 2013 after I did another miserable 5hr 22mins for SCMS 2013, even though I was clocking 30km in 3hrs 07mins during my own amateur training one month before the actual run. He rang me back and we chatted casually for 15mins, I told him my goals and asked him about his training programs.
Next, I sought approval from my missus who was just pregnant; I explained to her the training will be more intense and time-consuming in the later part of the year, which clashed with the first few months of our newborn. She is well aware of my “不甘心 bucket list” and is very supportive for me to spend more time training/running than helping her out with changing diapers and sa-yang crying baby. I started off with Coach Rameshon’s personal training in March/April 2014, where he corrected my running posture and introduced 'running frequency’ to me. Took me a few months to see and understand the effects of 'stride rate’.
I started attending group sessions more regularly in July after recovering from my back injury in May/June. I found the group training very effective and the atmosphere is great. There are many good and fast runners made up of both working adults and students. All of them are very sociable (i) sharing with me on their running tips and experiences (ii) pushing me during time-trials and (iii) encouraging during my laps of running around the track. All these factors pushed me to try even harder.
On top of these regular group training, the weight has played a part. I was weighed 72kg when I first joined Coach Rameshon in Mar 2014. I have been controlling my diet to bring my current weight down to 66.5kg. I think it is time to start Coach Ramenson’s diet program.
5. Are you happy with your time?
I am 90% happy with my 5k timings, I believe I go under sub-22 if I lose another 1-2 kgs. But my ultimate aim is still a full marathon, so please ask me this question again when I complete my SCMS in Dec.
6. What are your next races?
Newton 32km in October and SCMS 42km in December 2014. Planning to do a Paris or Seoul full marathon (subject to my wife's approval) next year, heard from team-mates that the weather is good and the terrain is flat, good conditions for a PB.
7. What are your goals?
The current goal is to complete full marathon 42kms in 4hrs before I turned 40 next year. I believe once this goal is achieved, I will set another new goal and work towards it.
Edited by Miss Rajendran
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 do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the 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.
