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)
Haze - Turn problems to opportunities.
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| Haze - at 7pm at my place facing Interlace |
Today, I was looking outside of my house and realised that the haze (psi) was getting worse. This makes me go back in time to make us appreciate the nice environment that we always have been having, to walk, run and live comfortably most of the time.
The last few days, I have been observing a drop in people running outside. As my suggestion goes, it is good to exercise indoor, if the psi is too high.
The POSB Race which was supposed to be held yesterday has been cancelled. This is for the safety reason as competitors may exert and finally become casualty during the race. We feel sad for the POSB organisers, the participants, young and old, who were told of the cancellation at 5am in the morning of 13th Sept 2015.
Above all, we have to take note of the things on what has been given by God and also not to take it for granted. It is good that we do not complain about small things in life and to value life, instead. The haze visit may teach us the value of gratitude.
Concerning my running in the past with fluctuating psi
In my life, while going for the 2hr 24min 22sec time for the SEA Games marathon in Chiangmai, Thailand, in the year 1995, I had been doing my training when the condition was hazy. I had to turn to indoor training some of the time. As I was given 6 months to do full-time training, I had, at my disposal the time to do any form of training in a day when the psi was down. Sometimes the psi was high and this made me wait for the psi to go below 100. There was a manipulation of my diet. I had to watch my diet so that I go out to do the very important workout if the haze does not go down.
Another thing that I did was not to exert outside with psi above 100 and get myself sick. If the psi goes above 100, I turn to MacRitchie Reservoir and do some form of activity, like slow jog so that I do not take a deep breath. I felt great at MacRitchie and I run near thicker vegetation of MacRitchie forest. It was great running there as the air there was still fine. In no way, I fall sick. In fact, I was getting stronger. So, for easy and moderate I go outside to run, with no waiting, as compared to the interval and steady run workout, where there is this waiting for the environment to a bit better before doing the training session which is intense in nature.
There are times I loved to run outdoor running only for workout sessions, to not get bored running indoor, and hence I had to wait more patiently for the psi to drop below 100. Sometimes I got to do at 4/5am and sometimes I will do it at near midnight if it was necessary. I used to wait and wait, sitting down and work on quality instead. My advice to people out there is to adhere to patience, patience and more patience.
The good thing that happened to my workouts most of the time was that my timings started to improve tremendously and this is a truth. The reason for this, I attribute to, haze's prevention of the sun's ray from falling on me and I felt a kind of cooling sensation coming from the haze blocking the sun's ray, as the environment became a bit cloudy. My complaints of, "Singapore is hot" stopped because of the opportunity created by the haze. So, I like to thank the haze for this.
Anyway, I do my best not to run when the psi was too high. With a psi slightly above 100, I was doing easy runs in MacRitchie. That period was the best training days of my life.
Of course, I had some days where my workouts have gone wasted. Sometime, I will wait for the haze to go down for another day and hold back my workout for the day and postpone it. Hence, I was very satisfied with all of my workout times such that it led to the breaking of my own national record for marathon of 2hr 28min.
Most of the runners, in the past, scrammed and visited the gym for training instead. The problem in the gym is that there were too many people and this caused congestion to do the exercise properly.
I pray to God now for all the favourable psi that was given to me, usually 70 to 90, such that my improvement went unhampered.
Many runners that I know, in the year 1995 September to October, were really worried to train. My answer to them is to find out what to do if everything fails and to do a detailed reading on haze and training. There is something that God has done to ensure continued running and you have to continue finding out and not give up and complain about the haze and in turn not do any form of exercise. There are always many things that we can do. When there is a will, there is a way! We should stop complaining and rise to succeed!
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.
