Friday, July 27, 2012

Beijing 2008 Medal Count

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)

Most Gold Medal Haul - Interesting to find out who will be getting the most.

In the year 2008, China got the most gold medal haul, second position and third position went to USA and Russia, respectively. Great Britain was third with Germany and Australia coming in fourth and fifth respectively. It will definitely be very interesting to see who is going to get the most medal haul in the year 2012. If China wins again, it shows that she can go beyond home ground advantage.

Beijing 2008 medal count

				Table View\|Bar View
Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
People's Republic of China (CHN)	51	21	28	100
United States of America (USA)	36	38	36	110
Russian Federation (RUS)	23	21	29	73
Great Britain (GBR)	19	13	15	47
Germany (GER)	16	10	15	41
Australia (AUS)	14	15	17	46
Republic of Korea (KOR)	13	10	8	31
Japan (JPN)	9	6	10	25
Italy (ITA)	8	9	10	27
France (FRA)	7	16	18	41
Ukraine (UKR)	7	5	15	27
Netherlands (NED)	7	5	4	16
Kenya (KEN)	6	4	4	14
Jamaica (JAM)	6	3	2	11
Spain (ESP)	5	10	3	18
Belarus (BLR)	4	5	10	19
Romania (ROU)	4	1	3	8
Ethiopia (ETH)	4	1	2	7
Canada (CAN)	3	9	6	18
Poland (POL)	3	6	1	10

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.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Running Quotes From Olympics Great

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)

Running Quotes from Olympic Runners

Get Inspired With These Quotes

I find this meaningful and it was collated by Christine Luff. It will good for everyone, sportsman and sportswomen alike, to read this and be inspired as Olympics is just about to start on 27th July 2012.

1. "Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best."
-Michael Johnson

2. "We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort."
-Jesse Owens

3. "Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about."
-PattiSue Plumer

4. "Spend at least some of your training time and other parts of your day, concentrating on what you are doing in training and visualizing your success."
-Grete Waitz

5. "I don't rate myself as a fantastic, talented athlete. I just have perseverance. I'm a cart-horse. I work hard."
-Colleen DeReuck

6. "Running gives me confidence."
-Steve Prefontaine

7. "My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: 'Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus.'"
-Carl Lewis

8. "When anyone tells me I can't do anything, I'm just not listening any more."
-Florence Griffith Joyner

9. "The medals don't mean anything and the glory doesn't last. It's all about your happiness. The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing."
-Jackie Joyner-Kersee

10. "Every time I fail, I assume I will be a stronger person for it. I keep on running figuratively and literally, despite a limp that gets more noticeable with each passing season, because for me there has always been a place to go and a terrible urgency to get there."
- Joan Benoit Samuelson

11. "As badly as I want a medal, I know there is a lot of luck involved in that. I want to put myself in position to be in the top three, give it my all and hope luck comes my way."
-Kara Goucher

12. "The last mile was a cross between savouring the moment and just being really grateful that I was almost done."
-Shalane Flanagan, after winning the 2012 Olympic Women's Marathon Trials

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.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Cancer Run 2012 - The Flexifitness Athletes Who Ran

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)

Cancer Run 2012 - The Team Members

Picture 1 - Ashley Liew (2nd position) - Captain of the team, he doesn't like letting the team down.

Ashley Liew had a very successful season this year, after his depressing 7th position for the Standard Chartered Marathon race 2011. He knew that he did 2hr 45 in Hong Kong Marathon in Feb 2011 and 2hr 41min in Gold Coast Marathon July 2011. However, he knew that from the year 2008 to 2009, he ever stagnated in performance. Later on, he started improving in 10km races to the point that he was ranked 1st in 10km track race by the SAA for the year 2011. You ask me, 2011 year was a very successful year except for the SCSM 2011, where he did 3hr 06min. We sat down and chatted over what had happened. Ashley told me that he followed word for word to whatever I had given. After reading his reflection, I found out that the hydration part of our strategy needed some fine-tuning and that led him to become more successful to the point that he did 2hr 35min 40sec in Gold Coast Marathon 2012. We wanted the timing to be even faster but our plan changed when we realised that the weather could become warmer instead of the usual cold. If not for the warm condition, Ashley could have done between 2hr 30min to 2hr 34min. All top runners were off in their timing by 2 to 4min. Top runners from Australia were off by at least 5min plus.

As the captain of Flexifitness, he has been a very good role model for our youngsters. Ashley needed a two weeks break after the Gold Coast Marathon race 2012. He had only one week to train for this cancer run. Earlier on, it was not in his plan to run this race. However, we had some avid runners like Shui Kun and Darren Toh who represented us as a team of runners from Flexifitness. We asked Ashley to just help sacrifice and run as a team runner. Fortunately, we were given a nod, even though we told him that he may be disadvantaged by his going to Vietnam for a long holiday after Gold Coast Marathon 2012. It was an honour for us to see him finish the race during cancer run.

Picture 2- Oon Shui Kun (7th Position)

2nd in National School 5km track race. He has done a sub - 35min before in a 10km time trial and the cancer race was a start for him to come back to form before attempting to run in the Singapore Bay Run 2012.

Picture 3 - Kashken Ray Hodge, and avid athlete who has a lot of potential

Kashken has done an 8min 35sec for 2.4km after improving his time from 8min 45sec. Kashken did not experience running a 9min plus in the past for a 2.4km run. After a brief training, he did very well for the distance 2.4km. Kashken did 5km in 20min and 10km in 43min plus, setting a new Personal Best time for the race. He expects more to come soon.

Picture 4 Tarandeep Kaur, who is aiming to do a sub - 1hr 50min for half-marathon soon.

Tarandeep Kaur is training for the Bay Run and she would like to do sub - 3hr 30- to 40min in the near future. She has roped in her sister by the name of Tripta to run in Cancer run. Tripta did a 1hr 03min, improving her time of 1hr 20min in the past. Both sisters like running as a hobby. They also loved supporting charitable runs like Cancer Run 2012. She is always full of smiles when it comes to running. She has a PB of 1hr 51min recently for the half-marathon race. She did 50min 27sec approximately in the Cancer Run

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.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Flexifitness Supports Cancer Run 2012 (22/07/2012)

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)

Cancer Run 2012 (Part 1)- 3 Flexifitness Athletes, top 7th in Cancer Run

Picture 1 - Many came in the morning to support the 2012 Race Against Cancer Run.

I was driving to car park E2 to meet our Flexifitness athletes by the name of Ashley Liew, Galen Ruben, Oon Shui Kun, Kashken, Tripta and Tarandeep. As soon as I met them, photos were taken by me. In our group, Darren Toh was recently injured when he knocked on to something. Hence, we decided to let him rest and leave him out and so we were one down. We had to rely on Tarandeep who was on the team of 6. However, we knew that it was important for 5 to count for team event team award.

Early in the morning, I saw the start which was carried on by other different starts. At 7 15am, after a brief warm-up, the Flexifitness runners went along with the runners to the start to run the race. At 7 30am, the race started. I saw a runner who was leading Ashley Liew at the start of the race. Earlier on, before the race, a month back, as we did not have enough runners, Ashley was asked to run for us as we told him to just give his best although the Gold Coast Marathon recovery will take the toll on him. Without any form of hesitation, he decided to run for the sake of the team.

At the start of the race, we saw a runner running in front. At the finish, another runner was leading towards the last 100 metres. Later Ashley told me that it was Leo Jianyong. The latter was running strongly at the last portion of the race as Ashley looked a little tired towards the end. I found out from Ashley that earlier on Ashley was having a big lead and with Jianyung catching up. I felt that the timing was important and the timing showed 35min 55sec for Ashley's run. This could have improved if there was no crowd, towards the last few kilometres, who keep blocking the front runners. Hence, Jianyong was first in men open while Ashley was second. I was very glad about Ashley's performance because I felt that he still needs more time to recover from the Gold Coast Marathon. I was also more concerned with the timing rather than the position.

Later, observing that the slower runners were blocking, the time element had to be eliminated and I had to ask the Flexifitness runners on their positions. I was told that Galen was 6th and Oon Shui Kun was 7th in men open. Hence, we had three coming in the top 7 positions. Kashken did 20min 00sec who later ended the 10km run in 45min plus. Tarandeep did 50min 27sec for the run. Our another female runner by the name of Tripta did a personal best time of 1hr 03min for her 10km and she was very happy about it.

We took some shots after the race and decided to go home. We, as a group, finally felt that the race could be improved more by us providing the feedback. We also felt that it was good to support cancer run in Singapore and hope that the Cancer Society can help reduce cancer in Singapore.

www.runningcoachsg.com

Friday, July 20, 2012

Christian Stauffer - 12:40min in Switzerland Ironman Challenge 2012

Note:

By M.Rameshon

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

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

Christain Stauffer - 12hr 40min ( unofficial time) in Switzerland Ironman Challenge 2012

Picture 1 - Christian Stauffer on the run

Having interviewed Christian last week for Switzerland Ironman Challenge, I managed to finally get him recently to discuss on his completion of the Ironman Challenge. He gave me the answers asap. I also find that it will be interesting to go with Christian and Johnson Jacob for the upcoming 250km Sahara Desert Challenge, probably next year. Our target is to do a personal best time. I am awaiting the training sessions with these two gentlemen.

An Interview With Christian Stauffer

Picture 2 - With former world record holder for 800m Wilson Kipketer and son Louis

How was the weather before the race?
Quite bad. The last 3 days it was mostly rain/wind and cold (the weather was 8-9degrees during the bike)

How did you fair for the Ironman Challenge?

Considering the conditions I felt that I did better than expected. The weather was just terrible with the wind blowing me off the bike and even going through an experience of having 20 minutes of hail storm...

Are you happy with the timing?
I am waiting my final confirmation on my time, as I had a problem with the timing chip. Nevertheless, I believe that it is 12h40' or around that time and I am happy.

Can you share with us on the splits on swimming (distance and time), and for cycling and running as well.?
Swim 3.8km 1h16'
Bike 180km 6h53'
Run 42.2km 4h16'

How was the organisation of the race?
It was good. But a lot of competitors and many races were held on the same weekend, there.

How did your children perform in the race?
Charles had a great race the day before for his first sprint distance in the 16-19 age group category and he came 2nd in the 16-17 age group category and he emerged 4th overall boy as well.

Louis and Eva did the Ironteens which is combined with an aquathlon 150m swim and 1250m run. I am not sure what the result. But in any case, I felt that they enjoyed the race in the cold and completing it.

Are you happy with the timing?
I am happy to see them giving their maximum effort and to see that they enjoyed the experience.

What is your next goal?
Well, I need to fix my hip problem first, as it is starting to annoy me. Otherwise likely to be Atacama 2013. I am also considering doing Sahara Desert 250km Challenge with you and Johnson Jacob, as a team :))

www.runningcoachsg.com

Note:

By Narayanan

Monday, July 9, 2012

Christian Stauffer - Next Stop, Switzerland Ironman (15/07/2012, Sunday)

Christian Stauffer - Ironman Challenge for Christian Stauffer

I have seen Christian many times training, some times at Mac Ritchie Reservoir. I am actually impressed with Christian’s performance in the 250km performance in the Sahara Desert, in the past, along with his fellow team-mates Johnson Jacob and Mika Kume as well, where participated in the year 2009. As Christian is participating in the upcoming Iron Man’s race soon next week 15^th July, Sunday. I realized that it would be good to interview him before the coming competition so as to inspire fellow Ironman fans. We would like to say that Flexifitness wishes him and his family good luck in the overseas’ competition.

Picture 1 - Christian Stauffer in action

An Interview With Christian Stauffer

How has your preparation been going for the Ironman in Switzerland.?

Lately, the preparation has gone not too bad and I was committed to more regular building up in my training volume for the race. The only problem is that I am still injured and this may limits the load in volume that I would like to put in. Overall, I feel that the race will be manageable.

Which country do you like best to do Ironman Competition?

No preference but I am happy to race in cooler and in dryer countries like Australia and a country like Switzerland.

Why did you choose this country to take part in IM compared to other countries?

The timing was good for me and I never raced in Switzerland, which is the country that I live in.

What is your aim, goals and target for the race?

Firstly, it is to enjoy. Secondly, it is to finish and my final objective is to finish around 12h30min

Can you share with us the distance of swimming, biking and cycling during the race?

The WTC Ironman distance consists of 3.8km Swimming / 180km Biking / 42.2 km Running

Any problems’ like jet-lag, etc that you are going to face?

This should be ok as I will leave about a week before to counter the problem of jet-lag. The issue is Switzerland, as the weather can suddenly turn cold or rainy.

What will go on in the mind when you take part in this competition?

It is a good question. I think to do a good race the racer is keeping his mind quite focus as to what he or she needs to do, for instance, heart-rate / nutrition / hydration. For long endurance races, I believe that fitness is 50% with race strategy about 50% combined and this need to be constantly re-evaluated. I know that I need to control myself in not pushing too hard too fast as this will inevitably poor result at the end of the race. It is somehow different from shorter races where your fitness plays a very big part in racing. Here you need to have a race plan and race according to the plan. Any attempt to deviate from your game plan may end up in a terrible result.

Are there anyone from your family taking part in the race? If yes, who are the ones and for what race are they going for?

Charles will be racing his first sprint distance in the Under 19 (16-17) the day before. Eva and Louis will race in the Ironkids Aquathlon (150m Swim / 1.250km run) The races are on the same morning so I will not be able to see them.

How are you expecting your children to fair for the race?

As Charles will just turn 16years old 2 days from now, I feel that Charles will be among the youngest in his field, and it can be the longest combined distance that he is going to race. However, I feel that it will be challenging for him but this experience will still give him some good exposure from the race which be fielded by a strong field of competitors. Eva and Louis could have a good race. If Louis could capitalize on his strong run, probably he could be a contender to watch out for.

Any plans to do Sahara Desert 250km Challenge again? If yes, when do you plan to do?

Yes. When your coach, Rameshon, is ready to join us we will go again as a team with Johnson DJ.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Tarandeep and Mum, Lakhvinder Kaur, Get Fourth For Sculpt Run 6km Team Event

Note:

By Rameshon

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

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

Tarandeep (28 min plus) and Mum Lakhvinder Kaur Get Fourth For Sculpt Run 6km Team Event.

Picture 1 - (Left to Right) Guest-of-Honour Pei Ling giving away the FORTH PRIZE to Tanrandeep and mum Lakhvinder.

Tarandeep told me 2 weeks ago that her mother and she will be running in the Sculpt Run 6km - Mum and Daughter team run. Her fellow mate Dawn Jacob did 49min for 6km and did a personal best time bettering the 56min in the past.

The race took place today. I called her up today and later decided to give her an interview.

An Interview With Tarandeep

How was the race preparation?

I was improving all the while until these last two weeks. I was under stress as I did not have enough time for rest etc. Just before the race, I felt that my muscles were tensing up?

Are you happy with the race result?

I came in third in Women Open race unofficially. In mother and daughter event, I came in 4th, and this came as a surprise.

How did your mother and you fair in the race?

I did 28min plus while my mother did 36min plus. We faired well as I could see my mother speeding when I told her that I was third in the women open category. She really started to overtake many at the last portion of the race. It was great to see her being resilient in the last part of the race.

Are you happy with the organisation of the race?

Yes, it was organised well and there water points too.

Will you come back for this race next year?

No, I don't think so as I would like to take part in 10km and above rather than 6km as I like to prepare for the half-marathons and full marathons.

Can you tell us about the details of the race?

I was leading the women open race for the first two km and I was overtaken by one lady, looking young. Then, later on, I was overtaken again by another runner and I was third. At the 4th km mark, I was the fourth position. At around the 4.5km mark, I fought back and got into the third position again. Eventually, I ended third. I could have done better if I had run a conservative race right from the start rather than leading as I ran out too fast and got tired out at the last part of the race.

I will like to thank those cheering for me during the race plus team-mate in training Ashley Liew in wanting me to do well in the race.

http://www.montagestudios.com.sg/

www.runningcoachsg.com