My start to commute was a bit tentative today. I was expecting my calf to act up a bit but as it turned out, the ride was comfortable and am back up to speed. That is good news all around.  As I mentioned, I had a stiff lower calf during the run and had to take the whole of Sunday to relax. Monday was better but I still had some residual strain which had almost disappeared by the end of the day.

I was telling my dad that endurance is measured by how much one can do when the chips are nearly down and am glad that a day after my half marathon, I am back to commuting again. I suppose I have come a little bit since I started proper training in May’06 and my investments are being put to good use.

And I could not help but hum along aerosmith’s song “Back in the saddle” as I rode.

Well, some of you would be aware I took part in the half marathon on Sunday and so did some friends. My training this year was intermittent due to various reasons but I kept up the aerobic end of the bargain by doing a lot of cycling. So as I neared the run day, I put in some runs (8-10K) and was happy I was clocking decent timing (6:15 min/Km). However, I know since I have not trained my legs for running, I am going to have modest targets.

View Larger Map

I set my targets (optimistic 2:15 hrs, realistic 2:20 Hrs and pessimistic 2:34 Hrs) before the race day. My initial target of doing a 2:06 (21Km at 6:00 pace) seemed too far fetched and 2:34 is what I did last year. The target seemed achievable if my legs did not complain. I started with a nice trot – felt like I could keep going for a long while at the pace (about 6:15 after a few km). since I knew the route sketchily, I set some intermediate targets:

1. Entering ECP
2. Starting Benjamin Shears bridge
3. Fort Road
4. East Coast park (U turn) – my domain
5. Fort Road
6. Start of Nicoll Highway – my domain again
7. End point

As I was reaching the Fort road end, I figures that the route along east coast park was about 8 Km. That was the usual route I used to run and enjoyed the run as the sun came up. The problem however was that east coast park is a narrow road (as compared to the 3+ lanes along ECP / Nicoll highway) and the human traffic was pretty heavy. Motivation was easy to come by – I look for some pretty babe and keep pace with her (yea I sound sexist, so sue me). So I cycled for a while between green top, tight white, short pants, great legs etc… Too may to list down here. Suffice to say, these events are great to bump into very fit girls in tight outfits.

Well I guess I got into a bit of problem around the 17 Km point and had to stretch, apply muscle relaxant and walk for a while. That slowed me down quite a bit. I was almost on target for a 2:18 finish but the walking slowed me down considerably and I finished up at 2:23. Better than last year but I suppose I can improve a lot more. May be a 2:06 or even a sub 2:00 next year is not too far fetched. I suppose a more disciplined training routine would help.

At the end point, the crowd was pretty heavy and I skipped on getting the isotonic (fearing the queue). But as luck would have it, as I was heading out, there was this pretty babe who probably took pity on me and offered a 100Plus that she got after queuing up. Thank goodness, for such nice people still exist

So, I have been commuting the past weeks or so through the routes discussed in the previous posts. The trickiest sections are probably along Upper Serangoon Rd with traffic literally moving bumper to bumper. Luckily, since the traffic is slow, I can afford to weave in between lanes (especially when traffic is stationery) and keep moving. This section is about 20 mins of the commute and is obviously the slowest.

Though the traffic flow is pretty alarming, that is not the primary problem with this road. The major bottle neck is caused by morons who choose to ride the bus lane. Once one car is on the bus lane, the remainder of the ‘Herd’ start following him. Law abiding riders suddenly weave into the bus lane hoping to beat the system with numbers. What these fellers fail to comprehend is the fact that once this happens, they bring public buses into the blockage and delay hundreds of commuters (the poor sods who woke up early to reach work on time).

The demographic of these offenders is pretty simple - pickup trucks and private cars. Often these are the same people who honk at slow moving traffic and other road users like me. I can imagine the pick up drivers are probably partially educated wage workers and contractors etc… who are still to make the transition to the first world behavior. A bit of education could change their behavior I suppose but the private car drivers seem generally to be the educated sort who willingly breaks rules for his/her own benefit. I am pretty convinced this is probably a psychological issue rather than a need to be punctual.

Cabs and buses still are (statistically at least) the best of drivers on the road. Not all buses mind you – I am guessing SMRT and SBS have special programs educating the drivers on proper on-road behavior (the results are obviously splendid). Mini vans and other chartered buses are as unruly as the worst of the road users. I guess we have little choice but to live among these rash riders.

The story of construction trucks and concrete transporters is another horror story I’d rather not mention yet. Anyway, I am getting used to the situation along Upper Serangoon but it would be much more friendly place if every one follows a simple rule – keep away from the yellow Line during peak periods.