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)
Balasubramaniam - The Long Forgotten Runner
Around 1989, when I saw Balasubramaniam, he looked like a strong young runner, who was about 3 years younger than me. He had broad shoulders and was fair in complexion. I met him when he was training with the then national coach Sivalingam. He was a mediocre runner in the group of runners which consisted of top youth athletes like M. Maran (4.8km – 14m 13sec, 1500m – 3min 53sec, 3000m steeplechase – 9min 11sec). M, Maran was a bronze medalist for the SEA Games and Asian Youth Athletics Championships. Another runner who was training at the same time and a training partner to M. Maran was Saravanan, who was able to do 3min 53sec for the 1500m and has a championships record for the under 20 National School Track and Field with a time of 3min 59sec for the 1500m.
Over time, Bala, being slow in the group of marathon runners. Hence, he was willing to stop being a track runner and become a marathon runner. I supported him because of his strength to run with easily getting tired. Later on, he was getting faster over time. He also came with a back pain injury when he joined me. He told me that the injury came because of doing intensive workouts after workouts every other day. He also has been asking around for someone to get him out of the back and spine problem. In fact, he was not able to run well because of this severe pain.
Seeing this, I recommended to him to lower down his mileage for the time being and increase the total mileage of the week gradually only when the injury disappears. He was open to this idea of doing some of the yoga stretching exercises that I suggested to him to strengthen his lower back muscles. Anyway, he had no choice in this matter for he had waited for the injury to go and it was to no avail. He had to do the stretching exercises and he did it. Earlier on, in all training sessions, he was complaining about the injury all the time. However, after some time, his complaining suddenly decreased and finally stopped.
For several days, we two used to run our daily long runs together. He was getting much faster over time. He also had this boundless energy to run non-stop. He was in a way grateful to me because of the simple stretches that I thought him to do. He told me that he felt good because of these stretches. He became an ardent person who liked doing the yoga stretches before and after the runs.
Seeing his improvement in running, I told Bala that he had the potential to come in top 3 in the Singapore Marathon. My prediction was that he might even come in first. I told him this truth. To this, he always humbled himself down and told me that he wants to run for fitness only. During that time, he was very enthusiastic to train with me. He was also particular on punctuality. This affected me because I was always going by the feeling of my body and not to the program. I make changes to my program if I do not do well.
I had the idea of better later late than never attitude. This is because, sometimes, a day before the run with him, I feel very tired and need more rest. I used to listen to my body. By resting, I was able to run better, maybe in the later part of the day. I used to tell Bala not to wait beyond 5-10mins for me. As soon as I do not turn up, I usually will ask him to go first. I used to get scolding from him because of me coming late. That went on for some time.
In the 1990 Singapore Marathon, Bala ran and took part in the race. At the start of the race, he was running with me. We looked strong. We ran all the way until the 25km mark where he felt stronger started surging. I was taking a conservative approach to the race, even though, I felt strong. Somewhere, at the last 3km, I ran fast and caught up with a lot of people. As soon as I entered the stadium, I realized that Bala was first and I was second. He did 2hr 35min and I did 2hrs 36min. Bala told many that I coached him to do well. However, I felt I said that I only gave my two cents worth on the training program. He even invited the Media Corp to take a 20min documentary of both of us. We worked as a team. Bala was appreciative towards me for what I had done. He even started telling many people about this. However, I told myself not to get elated with this and also kept my ego at bay. I told myself to ever to remain humble all the time.
After some time, the two of us used to train together for some months. Bala decided to get a program from overseas, from countries like Japan and Korea. He even asked me to follow suit in the pursuit of excellence. I wanted to see what program he was having. I realized that a female runner from Sivalingam’s group gave the e-mail address of the overseas runners to Bala to contact for the program. Evaluating the program, I told Bala not to train like the program. To this, “You don’t know Rameshon, this is the way to do well, then we can improve”. The reason I said that was because he was aiming to do the 3 rounds of the northern route at Macritchie, every day. I told him that this is absurd and tried to save him from this predicament. That went in vain as he was very aggressive in carrying out his plan. I could not stop him as success had conquered him and he was not willing to listen to me. I left him alone.
While I was training, at times, he came to me to ask me to join him. I firmly said a no to him. All-day long, Bala kept running 3 rounds of the northern route. One round of it is 10km. He was also eating amino acid bread and a kind of amino acid powder. I told him that some of the amino acids are essential and are able to be manufactured by the body and some essential one are not. However, it can be taken from outside in the form of food, in a diet like soya bean and milk, as suggested by Dr Teh Kong Chuan. He did not believe me this. He believed that amino acid is the answer and key to run faster. I believed that Bala should have got supplement drinks which are good for recovery, instead. He turned a deaf ear to me. I told myself that I have done my best to help him.
In February 1991, he was the first choice runner to represent Singapore and because of his 2hr 35min performance in the Singapore Marathon, he was selected to represent Singapore in the California Marathon. He did 2hr 33min there while I represented Singapore in the Hong Kong Marathon and came in 5th with a time of 2hrs 31min. I broke the record set by Tan Choon Ghee in China 2hr 34min. I was immediately selected for the SEA Games Marathon then. Bala was not selected. He was disappointed with this. The Singapore Amateur Athletics Association told him that only one person can go for the SEA Games. I was hoping that the two of us could go.
Over time, he avoided a lot of races and after a period of time, he came in 9th position in the SAA Cross-Country Race. He kept running 30km per day relentlessly. He kept asking me to join him. I avoided him because of his repeated calls to do this run. Bala was still doing 30km per day for several months with a pace which was faster than sub 5min per km.
I really do not know what happened to him later on. He used to complain to me that SAAA is not helping him much. I was not listening to this as I believed in hard work. If we work hard definitely fate will give us the opportunity to run overseas. After so long, I still did not meet Bala anymore. Maybe, I feel that the 30km that he did running fast had made him burnt out. Only, God knows what happened. When people asked about him, I used to tell them, “ I don’t know”.
The End
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.
