runningcoachsg

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Injury - When in doubt, consult or pull out.

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)

Picture 1 - When in doubt, consult or don't do it1

I wrote about the 2008 Stanchart Marathon, held in Singapore, in Flexifitness.com.sg website. It was a year that Dr Ben Tan, Daniel Ling and I came in 3rd, 2nd and first in men open category, respectively.

My progress was very good for that year, but I knew that I would not be able to do a 2hr 34min 02sec, which I did in Singapore International Marathon 1994. Daniel Ling, my former colleague that I was training, was sometimes getting an injury and he was visiting Dr Ben Tan at that time. While training, as training mates, we did not know who is going to be first, second and third for Stanchart Marathon 2008. Here, I feel that it is good for me to share something that I did that enabled me to get the 2hr 49min for 2008 Stanchart Marathon.

I am sharing this as there is a lesson to learn still, especially on the art of not getting an injury. I had planned for 6 workouts for the Stanchart Marathon 2008. All went well and there was no injury. However, I had some sensation coming from my achilles tendon for the very last workout, 10 days just before the race itself. The good thing is that the achilles tendon problem came at the very last minute and I had sensation and I was pondering on what to do. Finally, I told myself that it is good to stretch and warm-up and see how the pain in the achilles tendon is going to be.

Just before the last workout of Stanchart Marathon, I decided to back out. I believe that it is advisable to follow this and if one is in doubt, it is wise to do away with the workout, and do other forms of training which can alternate the training, without compromising getting injured.

The fortunate thing was that I was able to converse with Dr Ben Tan, as he was himself an orthopaedic surgeon. I asked him," Is it good to miss the last workout." I thought he will say a no. Opposite to what I was thinking, he told me that what I could do is to look at the sensation. If the sensation is the same during the steady run, it is all right to run. But if the sensation keeps going up, he told me to pull out during the run itself.

Taking his suggestion, I ran the tempo 15km and I did about a 55min plus, while Daniel did 56min. Dr Ben Tan did 59min, which was a personal best for him. Miraculously, I found that the sensation was not there after 2km. It vanished during the run and even after the run. I got only Dr Ben Tan to thank as I could not have done the 15km tempo without his advice.

As some of us have no advisors, it is wise to pull out from injury. Else, one might not be able to run on the day itself. My two cents worth to 'when in doubt' is to pull out of the workout or not to do the training, but find alternative ways to train, which may prevent an impending injury which is about to appear shortly. One can do the workout on another day, instead, when one finds that it is safe to do the tempo, by ensuring that there is no gradual increase in the sensation during the run.

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, September 15, 2016

An Interview With Coach Rameshon -Sub - 2hours 24min 22 sec (Part 1)

By Saranniya

Sub - 2hr 24min 22sec mission starts now.

(Left to Right) Evan Chee (3rd), Ruben (2nd) Coach Rameshon, Coach Saravanan and Dr Ansgar Cheng (Champion) for POSB Run 2016

All along, when Coach Rameshon starts to train hard, I used to tell him that he has already achieved everything that he wanted, especially breaking the national record in Singapore and also in qualifying for the Olympics. It is for the youngsters to go for it!

On top of that, he also has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the famed Loughborough University of Technology, where he studied Physical Education and Sports Science (1992-1994). In the Year 2008, he finally finished his Masters in Education at the reputed University of Western Australia. In that year, as a teacher-coach, he was instrumental in winning the National Schools Cross - Country and Track and Field 'A' Division, for under 18 years of age for Hwa Chong Institution (College Section)in his lifetime. Overall, he has 12 National Schools' Cross - Country Titles. He was instrumental in getting 10 titles for National Track and Field Championships for Hwa Chong Institution.

Having said that, I felt that there is no need to prove oneself if one has achieved. He told me that it is important to keep oneself fit and healthy throughout life. Hence, he kept fit all the way until now, and I have evidenced this all the time. During his own time, he will independently do fitness work when needed. Moreover, I have seen him really running and exercising during the personal training sessions.

At the same time, I was able to come down in weight from 60kg to 42kg by four years, which enabled me to win the second overall position in National School Cross - Country Race for under 17 years of age for girls, last year. our fellow Flexifitness athlete Mariviv Tan came in fourth overall in the 3.5km race.

Flexifitness Athletes in POSB Run 2016

Recently, a few months back, Coach Rameshon told me that without Ashley Liew (who has a personal best of 2hour 32min for New Orleans Marathon 2015) here, we do not have anyone doing a real sub-40min for 10km. Knowing this, with a team of dedicated athletes like Dr Benny Goh, Jensen, Thow Wee, Andreas, Brian Ye, Ruben, Evan, Yogaraj, Darren, and not forgetting the Dr Ansgar, he worked hard to enable them to do a sub-40min. It was because of this that Coach Rameshon stopped serious running for some time. Currently, as the dream has been realised, when Evan Chee won the third position in Stanchart Marathon 2015 and when Colin came in 4th overall for men open category, he is rethinking again to train hard. Recently, five of our runners ran and did sub - 39min for POSB 10km Run. All top five individual athletes in the race were from Flexifitness. In the race, Dr Ansgar Cheng, 50, from Specialist Dental Group, came in first with a net time of 37min 00sec. It was a very big achievement for us.

That marked the day of there are many who can do sub-40min easily. As such, Coach Rameshon has finally decided to run not for fitness alone but for performance as well. However, this time it is not to win anything but to challenge himself with his own time - the 2hr 24min 22sec. After winning the 2008 Stanchart Marathon in Singapore, he was going for the 2hr 24min 22sec time. He did 52min 30sec in Singapore for 15km, one month before the Stanchart Marathon 2009, but he got injured in the process and took three years to get out of it.

After the successful POSB race, where our top 8 runners were positioned in top 14, with four ladies coming in top 13 in the women open category, plus five kids getting overall top 8 positions in the POSB Run 2016, Coach Rameshon told me that it is fun to challenge the 2hr 24min 22sec which he missed out earlier on.

I have given an interview and have got his exhaustive and detailed answers. For the benefit of readers, I will put it up soon. So, watch for it!

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.

Coach Rameshon And His Revisit of Sub-2hr 24min 22sec Marathon Challenge.

By Saranniya

Team Flexifitness - Cheering Group for Dr Ansgar Cheng's Prize Giving Ceremony for coming in as the champion in 5km Men Masters in 17min 39sec.

"Why can't" - A favourite saying of Dr Ansgar Cheng

Revisit of aiming for sub-2hour 24min 22sec, challenging with own time.

My intention of writing this is to state my wonder whether Coach Rameshon, 51, has ever tried thinking of doing a time of 2hr 24min 22sec, still currently the Singapore National Record, again.

The first time he broke the record was in year 1990, in Hong Kong Marathon, where he came in 5th overall, with a time of 2hr 31min and won a cash prize of $3000.

Coach Rameshon has ran 2hours and 30min and below, five times- 2hr 30min (California Rim Marathon 1990), 2hr 29min (Flora London International Marathon 1993, April). 2hr 28min (Berlin International Marathon, 1993, Sept), 2hr 29min (SEA Games first qualifier,1995, Feb, and the SEA Games route was verified by the Thailand officials to go ahead to use it for SEA Games) and in the same Chiangmai, Thailand, he did a time of 2hr 24min 22sec, smashing the national record, yet again.

After seeing this, I have asked him of any future running pursuits. He said," Many have asked me to run again and they are keen to see me run, to the point that they want to see how fast I can run". He told me that at forty, in the past, he wanted to win the Stanchart Marathon, but it evaded him. In year 2007, his runner by the name of Daniel Ling won the Stanchart Marathon in 2hr 46min, defeating triple year winner Elangovan Ganesan. Mr Rameshon ended second position.

In year 2008, Mr Rameshon ran and did 2hr 49min in Stanchart Marathon in Singapore and came in as the champion of the race. His runner Daniel Ling was second and Dr Ben Tan, whom he was training was third (2hr 56min), the first Singaporean Doctor to run sub-3hour for a marathon.

Coach Rameshon told me that in year 2009, he wanted to do a sub-2hr 40min, and then attempt to do a sub - 2hr 30min and aim to do a sub- 2hr 24min, but this evaded him as he got injured due to an injury related to the knee. In that year, Dr Benny Goh was third while Ashley Liew was first runner up for the Stanchart race that year.

"Adidas was supporting me to do a sub-2hr 24min 22sec and I was hoping to do in year 2010 to 2012. My plan failed as I kept getting injuries. "

To my question, recently on," Is there any possibility of going near or even breaking the time of 2hr 24min 22sec again" , He said, " Why not!" "Anything is possible". "One must believe in miracles and it is ok to go for it." " If one can get it is good, if I don't, it is ok and the challenge is not with the youngsters but with myself." I just need to keep away from injuries."

To the question of when he is going to attempt, he said, it starts now. "It is me against myself, I have done it in the past and with the empowered present informed knowledge of preventing injuries, diet and being aware of the new training methodology and training techniques to get faster, I may get it and it is always a thrill to challenge oneself". "Infact, the challenge starts from today."

Picture 1 - (Left to Right) It was Teamwork - Daniel Ling(2nd), Rameshon (1st) and Dr Benedict Tan (3rd) for Stanchart Marathon 2008, in Singapore

http://flexifitness.com.sg/

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Kenyan Consesius Kipruto breaks Olympic Record in 3000m Steeplechase Final in Men 's race

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 Murugiah Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Consesius Kipruto, from Kenya, surged around the last 250m to break away from Evan Jager from the USA.

From the start, 30-year old Kipruto Consesius from Kenya ran a splendid race by racing from the front all the way until Evan Jager, who has a personal best of 8min 00.45sec, from the USA overtook him around the mid-way of the race. At the 5min 00sec mark, the race controlled by Evan Jager. At the 2200m, the time stood at 6min 00sec. Jager kept up his challenge by continued leading and this went all the way until the last 400m as Kipruto and Ezekiel Kemboi (Kenyan) surged forward to lead the race till the end of the race. After the last water jump, Jager over took Kemboi to come in second, and as for Kipruto, he had an approximate distance of 15m gap to win the race with a time of 8min 03. 28sec, which is a new Olympic record. Evan Jager was second with a time of 8min 04. 28sec and Ezekiel Kemboi did 8min 08. 47sec. It is interesting to note that it is the 9th straight victory for Kenya 3000m steeplechase race for men in Olympics, since the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

8:22.74

Note:

By Narayanan

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Sumgong wins the Olympics Marathon Race 2016

Sumgong wins Kenya's first-ever gold medal for Olympics for women's marathon in Rio

After running 32kilometres, there were seven women fighting for first, second and third place. They formed a group. At the last 5km, there was a beeline formed until the last 3km, three ladies were fighting for the championships. They were J. Sumgong from Kenya, E. Kirwa of Burundi and Dibaba of Ethiopia.

The climax of the race took place when J. Sumgong of Kenya won the women marathon in Rio Olympics with a time of 2hr 24m 04sec. Sumgong outsprinted second position runner by the name of E. Kirwa from Burundi, who did a time of 2hr 24min 13sec. Dibaba from Ethiopia came in third with a time of 2hr 24min 39sec.

Jieshi Neo of Singapore came in 51min 14sec later with an unofficial time of 3hr 15m 18sec. She was doing a 1hr 33min at the halfway mark of the race.

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By Narayanan

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Time that Singapore have coaches like George Gandy in Singapore

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 M.Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Going Loughborough University was one of the best decision in life

When I was about to go and study at Loughborough University of Technology, England, between 1992 to 1994, specialising on Physical Education and Sports Science, there were some lecturers who were encouraging me to go study there. Out of the lecturers in the former College of Physical Education, only one lecturer by the name of C. Kunalan came to me to suggest strongly that I should not go to Loughborough University to study and he told me to go to an American university instead. I respected Mr Kunalan's advice, but eventually, I felt that Mr John Sproule's suggestion was better. I went ahead to study at Loughborough University. My decision went unhampered although some friends were also discouraging me.

Looking back, at my running career, even before going to Loughborough, I did 15m 31sec for 5km race in Singapore Open 1992, and 2hr 30min for California Marathon 1990, which was famous for all the way gradual downhill course, from start to finish. (My sincere advice to runners is to go to this marathon and you will have a great chance of getting a very good personal best time as the terrain is excellent for getting a fast time, as it is all downhill). At that time, my 10km time was 32min 42sec done in the year 1992.

Within 7 months of my arrival in England, I took part in three league One National Cross Country Championships, representing Loughborough University. There were other cross country leagues going on in other parts of England as well. In league Two race of National Cross Country Championships, the best runner was, in fact, able to do a 2hr 12min timing for the marathon race. The runners were amazing and impressive. I hope that in Singapore we can have these kinds of leagues. Many clubs were taking part.

In fact, in the first race of the league One, I was 66 position and I underestimated the runners. My time was very good, but I did not like the position, although, in Singapore, I was the fastest runner for 5km to the marathon race. Later on, I realised that in one of the 10km cross-country run, nearly all runners, about 90 in total, were able to do a sub-34min. It was hard to see a 35min and above runner there. I had to really work very hard from start to finish throughout the race.

In our university, by training under the wings of George Gandy, who was later ordained by the Queen of England and is now called Sir George Gandy, at Loughborough University, I was also training with my own personal coach, Alan Guilder, on days where the University does not have any training. Earlier, Alan was taken as a training partner by me at first. Over time, knowing that he has done a 13m 32min for 5km, I decided to take him as a coach, after listening to my friend called Tim Dickenson, who was our cross county captain at that time.

My university study was actually fully funded by my own savings and from my parents' savings. Within 7 months, I did 31min 46sec for 10km. During the week before doing 31m 46sec personal best time, I had to sit for 5 tests and the test were all not that easy and I had to study extra hard and tone down the mileage a lot. In the third cross country league race, which was the final one, I found myself about 100m away from Gorden, a Scottish runner, who had a time of 14m 47sec for 5km. He was also Scotland best junior runner for long-distance running, at that time.

My two-year study at Loughborough was quick and was also filled with test and assignments, projects and research work. (I took up research on heart rate as my supervisor found that there were no research been written much about heart rate in running, at that time). When it comes to running, one day, I was at the Loughborough Athletics Club to look at George Gandy's training schedule for the university athletes. Talking to him, I found that he was a very knowledgeable person who does altitude training projects and it has benefitted athletes in England. The handwriting of George Gandy's training programme was not neat but it was all done with excellent planning, which had technology behind it and it was supported by research.

Many runners excelled in running in Loughborough University because of George Gandy. Lord Sebastian Coe, the president of IAAF have praised George Gandy's Loughborough Circuit in his book for assisting him to break 4 world records in 41 days (800m, 1000m, 1500m 1600m).

Sir George Gandy was also the Head Coach of England middle and long distance team, when I was studying there.

One day, when I was at the Loughborough Athletics Club room, I happened to see the running times of runners aiming to qualify in races between 1500m and 5km races. I realised that in order to go for World Student (University) Games one must qualify for the time. for 1500m, I realised one got to do 3min 46sec to qualify. For 5km the time was about sub-14min. Immediately, something made me to write back to Rina, a former admin manager for the then Singapore Amateur Athletics Association on the dismal state of Singapore Athletics. I did not get any reply.

I wrote that there were a lot of middle distance runners in Loughborough University. That was year 1992. I found that the slowest middle runner for 1500m was doing 3min 53sec. At that time, the fastest runners in Singapore were M. Maran and Saravanan and their times were 3min 53sec. I wrote to her that athletes were giggling about the Singapore's best time, at that time, and I told her that athletes there asked me why the times were very slow. They were my good friends and showed a lot of respect towards fellow runners and they were very curious about Singapore's slow time. Some of the Loughborough Athletics middle and long distance runners became subjects in my research studies, for my degree course.

Over time, I realised that most of the coaches in England were well versed in Sports Science. In Singapore many of the coaches only have basic sports science. When i did IAAF level one course I realised that many have not done the basic sports science yet. I feel that it is important to have basic sports science before doing the IAAF coaching course.

In Loughborough I also saw Paula Radcliffe, current world record holder doing her workouts. The training programme which were scientific.

Hence, I feel that it is important that coaches like George Gandy presence in Singapore would, may be, be an asset to Singapore. Loughborough is known as the Mecca or running in England. Using George Gandy training principal and technology, I was able to assist, over time, in Singapore, 13 athletes to obtain sub-3hours time for the marathon, in my own life, so far. Looking at our 1500m to 10km race time that is going on in the university, I feel that the timings for Singapore's long distance races have not improve and we need a knowledgeable coach to assist runners in Singapore. It is time that Singapore look for coaches with excellent Sports Science back ground, especially at least having a degree, and to develop the runners in Singapore. George Gandy was also good in Physiology and he was my athletics lecturer for Sports Technology. It was through him that we learnt the blue print on how top Olympians train for middle and long distance races. There are plenty of coaches with very good knowledge in coaching in England, USA, Europe, Kenya, etc that we can consider.

Note:

By Narayanan

Friday, May 27, 2016

Calling all 4hours plus marathon runners - Waiting is a waste of time

From no experience of running a marathon, Dr Ansgar has done 3hr 08min within 1 1/2years of training

In our group, at present, there are several athletes with sub- 3hours timing for the marathon. As an aspiring female athlete, I am amazed to see this in our group and I feel honoured in mixing with these runners.

We have Ashley Liew who has done a 2hr 32min for New Orleans Marathon, the year before last year. He is our front runner. He is the top in the league, just a few minutes away from our coach, Coach Rameshon's marathon time of 2hr 24min 22sec. We are hoping that Ashley will go for Olympics in future and break the national record for the marathon set by Coach Rameshon, himself.

A few weeks from now, or in the future, I will write in detail on all the athletes with sub-3hours. Right now, we have Mr Evan Chee, who will be taking part in the Sundown Marathon, tomorrow, although a number of them, in the group are running in Chicago Marathon 2016. There are confirmed 5 athletes who are running, in total.

For 40/50 years and above age category, we do have Mr Erich, Dr Ansgar, and Coach Rameshon who are capable of doing sub-3hours this year. Whether they will be running in the Standard Chartered Marathon 2016 or not, it is left to their decision. For now, many in Flexifitness and other running groups, plus Singaporeans as a whole, would like running overseas, as opposed to running in Singapore.

Recently, I have heard myself from some runners asking for Coach Rameshon just to help them do a sub- 4hours for the marathon. As I have seen for the past 4 1/2 years that I have been training with Coach Rameshon, I have done my best by coming in 2nd in National Schools' Cross - Country Championships 2015. In the past, to tell you the truth, I was an absolute non-runner in the past. In my experience, all athletes who trained up for it in the group have attained it.

For me, it was a sad thing to hear that about 5 of the athletes who have joined us are, after so many years of training, not able to do the sub-4hours. They did all their best to do it but it was of no help. Upon being tested, it was found by Coach Rameshon that the runners have made some controllable mistake in the methodology and some by running with the wrong technique and posture of running. Some have got injuries because of poor technique.

Within 1 1/2 years, Dr Ansgar Cheng, 50, a dentist by profession, has done just two marathons and have done a 3hr 35min in Stanchart Marathon 2015, before doing a 3hours 08min in 5 weeks for the Hong Kong Marathon 2016.

It is in the hope that those aiming for sub-4hours, in not delaying the target time too long that I am inviting these aspiring athletes to aim to go for a group training session with us or do personal training with us too expedite your performance. However, at first, you should give yourself 3 years and below time to do own training to attain the sub-4 hours for the marathon. Time and tide wait for no man!

Note:

By Narayanan