runningcoachsg

Friday, June 14, 2013

Ashley Liew - Has been consistently training despite just finishing his Final Exams

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 Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Ashley Liew - Aiming for sub-2hr 30min in Gold Coast Marathon 2013 since he missed it in 2012.

I did a mileage of 60km for this week as a preparation for Gold Coast Marathon. Today, I decided to do a long run, after my hip flexor strain had gone down in sensation. I ran 16km in the morning in Macritchie Reservoir and ran in the afternoon for about 14km.

When I came back home, I realised that Ashley had just answered the questions that I had given him on his recent 8km race. I told him to finish his exams first, which he did. He is in good physical condition. However, anything can happen in a marathon after the 30-32km mark. I hope that positive things happen and everything works out well. As far as I am concerned, as a coach, Ashley is in shape to do a sub-2hr 30min. This is what I think. Minimum, I hope that he does a 2hr 34min 39min, at least.

I hope that many would go to the Gold Coast marathon and aim for a better time! I hope that the training is going very well for many. I hope to join you, people, there and run. Today's run has made me confident about finishing the marathon in at least 3hr 20min.

An Interview With Ashley Liew

What was the name of the race?
- Sunrise 8km at Simpsonville, South Carolina

Any reason for running this race?

- To race against a high-quality field of runners whom I knew would push me hard.

What distance did you run and how was the terrain?

- It was 8km long. It was quite a nice terrain that involved running through a lot of neighbourhoods. It did have a couple of gentle slopes but has the potential for fast times if weather conditions permit.

What was your time and position in the race?

- Age-group champion, overall 11th. Official time 27m30s.

What was your strategy in the race?

- Start off at a steady yet manageable pace, and then strive to hit a personal 8km best. The air was quite heavy with humidity (a different kind from Singapore!), but that was not going to stop any of the front runners from going all-out. Several of them went out very hard and I knew they were capable of sub-26min (or even faster) times, so I stuck to a more manageable pace together with other runners. With a few hundred metres left I pushed hard like there was no tomorrow and finished strong.

How is your preparation for the Gold Coast Marathon 2013 race?

- It has been going well. I do miss the workouts together with the Flexifitness team under Coach Rameshon but have been making the most out of my time in South Carolina training-wise.

You have about a month left to the race, how do you feel?

- Firstly, I am relieved that my exams for this quarter are now over because that has occupied me much of the last week. More importantly, right now, I really look forward to the Gold Coast.

Your goal time for the race, any range?

- Sub-2h 30min.

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.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Ashley Liew - Arriving Soon after his recent Final Exam

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Ashley Liew - My Vision is that he is capable of going Olympics.

As you know, Ashley Liew was losing to Mok Ying Ren for three years in STANCHART Marathon from the year 2009 to the year 2011. The year 2011 was the worst performance for Ashley as he did not come in top 3 in the Men Open local category of Standard Chartered Marathon 2011.

However, in 2012, we worked as a team to correct every situation and that made him to finally win the Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2013. Our target was to come in first, not second for the race. We achieved it together.

With the achievement, Ashley could proudly say that he has emerged number 1 runner in the year 2012. The whole year's best time produced by the Singaporean was by him. His time was 2hr 35min for the 2012 gold Coast Marathon.

Recently, in the midst of numerous tests, he has done some form of training and races. Just today or tomorrow, he will be finishing his Final Exam for his doctorate studies in the US, his first year.

He will be coming back to Singapore in Mid-June. He has written to me on the recent performance in the US earlier. I would share the most recent ones.

He finished his 15k race, two weeks back, in the morning at Biltmore Estate, North Carolina. He came in second overall. He was not able to keep pace with the overall first guy who finished less than a minute ahead in the end. Ashley's time was 55min 26sec. The course was slightly longer by GPS method by 450+m. Both of us are very happy with the result.

In the most recent race, he did 27m28s for the 8k. In his age group, he was first and was overall 7th. He told me that those who did around this time had a personal best time of 26min plus. The good thing that happened is that he was able to overtake one of the runners whom he was not able to win in all competitions. I think that this is a good sign.

Very soon, he will be training with Team Flexifitness athletes in Singapore. He will give us an interview session.

Check out the blog soon.

www.runningcoachsg.com

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.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Jasmine Tan - Improves her 5km time from 35min to 27min 24sec in 1 1/2month

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Jasmine Tan - No more a waiting game

http://rameshon-m.blogspot.sg/2013/06/jasmine-tan-14min-improvement-in-10km.html

Flexifitness Athlete Jasmine Tan, 33, a graphic designer, ran our 8km hard run about one and a half month back. That was around the beginning of May 2013. She told me that she likes biathlon, duathlon and running as a passion. She also told me that she usually loses out in running most of the time.

In the steady run of ours, while others have finished, I realised we had to wait very long for her to finish. I personally felt that this was a slow time. Nevertheless, things changed for the better over time. She did 53min for the 8km run. Subsequent week, for the following week, she did the 8km run in 51min plus.

Over time, weely, I found that she was meticulous in doing all the things I want her to do. Three weeks back, she did 29min plus for the 5km run. I was shocked to see her surprise progress. I started to ask her about her improvement and she told me that she was doing some of the drills that I had shown her.

As for me, I felt that this lady is very dedicated to doing what is supposed to be done in running. That was why she was improving tremendously. For the two weeks ago training, she did 30min for 5km, as I told her not to push as her race was just 4 days away and I instructed her on what to do for the next few days before the race. "I followed them religiously," was the answer she gave me.

In the Singapore Biathlon which was held on 1st June, she did a personal best time, after a swim of 1.5km. She did 10km in 1hr 04min plus which was her personal best time. She told me that she improved her personal best time by 16min. In the past, her personal best time was 1hr 20min plus.

Recently, she told me that all along her barrier for 5km was 35min and the 10km was 1hr 20min. She has this inner drive to do well and she told me that nothing was happening.

I told her that she was fated to join us as she told us how she may not have joined us as she was not aware of us. I simply gave her the answer that if it is fated, she will be with us. If not fate, then, she won't be with us. Also, we feel honoured to have a disciplined and dedicated biathlete in our group.

My recent interview with her showed that she had been yearning to do well in the 5km and 10km run and she had been training very hard for long from the past, sincerely.

For me, my amazement is that she had value-added her improvement and she has made us proud. Last week, she was able to bring her 5km time to 27min 24sec. This is the greatest progress person in our programme in terms of value add. From a slow runner, she is now learning to run fast. She would also like to thank Ming Ming for pushing her to do this big improvement time for the 5km hard run.

I have asked her on what is her next step as I can see that she is about to do 26min plus for 5km. She told me that she is just aiming to run faster over time. I wish her all the best in our programme. To me, if you do your homework and be sincere in your training, the rewards will come over time. This is natures law. Even a little thing you do will be rewarded, if not now it will be later on.

www.runningcoachsg.com If you like our blogpost, please like us in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/flexifitness.runningcoachsg

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.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Gold Coast Marathon Preparation 2013 (Part 10)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Injury - Dread of any runner.

When you get an injury, studies have shown that a runner will experience depression. Last week, while my training was going very well, I got injured while playing soccer. This was the second time I am getting an injury while playing soccer. Last 2 months back, it was at my groin area. I felt the pull and that took me out of action of running for 2 days. However, I recovered from it quickly. I believe that the stretching that I was doing was helping me.

The recent injury was caused when I kicked the ball and my right leg went out of alignment. I felt a pull just like how I felt in the past when I got a hamstring pull.

Somehow, I was able to do some form of training which totals up to 50km for my mileage. The injury is getting better now and my wife has asked me why on earth I had to play soccer when the Gold Coast Marathon is just nearby.

I told that the group I played are not aggressive enough to get an injury. In my heart, hence, I told myself that I am not going to play until the Gold Coast Marathon is over.

After a week's rest, I am feeling good finally. I am able to run but I cannot run fast for steady runs. I am thinking of preventing my injury.

I have a month left for Gold Coast Marathon. After running that I am thinking of running in the Standard Chartered Marathon 2013.

Today, I did cardio work that involved some running as well for 3hr 36min. I am happy to have done this today.

www.runningcoachsg.com

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.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Jasmine Tan - 16min improvement in 10km in Singapore Aquathlon 2013.

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Jasmine Tan - Aiming for a sub-1hr km run in the next 10km race.

Picture 1 - Jasmine Tan, the tallest person standing among the three and in 2XU attire.

Jasmine Tan, 33, a designer by profession, had a passion to do a good time for her long-distance running. When she came to see me, I did not know anything about her injury that she was carrying at her right knee. After giving her some stretching, I found that her right-hand side, the shoulder, hips and knee were tight. She followed the stretch that I instructed her to do and was asked to do a field test for VO2 max test. She was happy to do it. I found that she was fit and was not that fast a runner. That was the impression that I got when I met her. After the test, she told me that somehow her injury had earlier before the stretch had left her immediately and she felt relieved at the knee area and she told me about this. I was surprised to hear about this and was happy that these stretches are really helping her to improve her posture right from the start.

I gave her a weekly running program and from the conversation, I had with her. Recently, about following the program, she told me that she followed it religiously. I told her about diet and to improve her fat percentage in the body. She was willing to cooperate and do something about it as well.

She came for our Tuesday and Thursday training at night. Over time, she was able to make tremendous progress in running. Her first 8km time was 53min plus. The following week, the 8km time went down to 51min. She looked very happy and was looking forward to the following week's improvement. True enough, she improved her 5km tempo time to 29min plus. I could see her face beaming with happiness when she told me that she had not improved like this in her life. For me, this was an encouraging sign. Then she tapered her training down and did 5km in 30min plus the following week as she had four days to go to take part in the Singapore Aquathlon. I told her to ease down in her training. I explained the reason for this and she accepted it.

On last Sunday, I got an SMS text from Jasmine on her improvement. She seemed very happy judging from her text. She told me that she did a 1.5km swim and did the 10km in 1hr 04min 26sec.

I had asked her why she was training with a high mileage in the past and did not have any improvement that is significant. To this, she told me that she believed that she was training wrongly.

I felt when she told me that now, she feels the training to be structured and she feels that she is making inroads to improving her time week after week. I told her that she should have joined me in the past. She was telling me that she did not about me at that time.

I told her that at a certain age, we can only do some exercises which are limited as compared to those that can be done by the younger people. 'Better Late Than Never'. I found that she can do some of the exercises which can expedite her performance. My take is that within 3 years she will be able to do a 20min to 21min for her 5km. It may come earlier judging from her commitment in running and her dedication in training.

Anyway, I thought of putting her one-month improvement in the blogpost to encourage people who are doing 1hr 20min for 10km to keep the faith and train and be consistent so that they can do a good time over time. I decided to interview her thus.

An Interview With Jasmine Tan.

Why did you choose triathlon and duathlon races?

Because I like three sports - swimming, biking and running. I enjoy doing these three sports.

What was the race that you took part in, recently?

I took part in the Singapore Aquathlon 2013.

Where was it held?

It was held at East Coast.

What was the distance of the swim and run distance?

It was a 1.5km swim and 10km run

What was your swim time?

It was 41min 44sec, to be exact.

What was your run time?

It was 1hr 04min 26sec.

How were you able to improve from 1hr 20min (exclusive of a swim) to 1hr 04min (inclusive of a swim of 1.5km first) for 10km?

Frankly, the Team Flexifitness training on Tuesday and Thursday had helped me a lot. In the past, my 5km best time was 35min. Now, I am able to do 30min easily. I see an improvement in strength in me as well over a period of time. I find that unlike in the past, I can take a bigger stride as compared to my past when I run. In the past, I felt that I was not able to increase my strides and did not the way to improve my stride length. Right now, I do all the stretches taught religiously in the program. Whenever I feel a sensation at my knee area, straightaway, I do the stretches and the sensation just vanishes. This allows my training to continue without any disruption.

How did you feel about your improvement recently?

I have done a big personal best. I have confidence that I am able to do an hour now for 10km, right now.

What Is your target?

To take part in Singapore Duathlon and Singapore Triathlon and do well.

www.runningcoachsg.com If you like our blogpost, please like us in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/flexifitness.runningcoachsg

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.