On a Hot April Night

19th April 2012: Dateline Singapore

Tonight I joined  just over fourteen and a half thousand of my closest friends for the Singapore leg of the JP Morgan Challenge.  http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=2&page=events011711

We had put together a team of 16 runners to represent Quintiles East Asia.   The Social Club very kindly agreed to suppor the event.  Some of the money raised was going to charities in Singapore.  Selection criteria for the team was the first 16 to respond to the general invitation and the spots were snapped up within minutes of the announcemnet going out.

The race was scheduled to start at 6:00 pm, so the plan was that we would leave work at 4:00 pm to get from Science Park I, to The Esplanade in plenty of time for the start of the race.  Too easy.  I arranged for a quick team photo shoot at 3:50 pm with a view to being on the road at 4:00.  As usual, with the best laid plans........  Only half the team could make it for a photo, which was fine, but those who could straggled in like Brown's cows.  (No disrespect to the parents of the Father-in-Law with the last name of Brown, who ran a dairy down at Dapto).  Eventually we got a couple of happy snaps and we were off.  One of the team had volunteered to arrange a cab for a few of us and I was happy to accept the invitation to join them.  However, she did not let us know that when offering to book the cab, she was planning to do it in real time,  not in advance.  So we ended up waiting for quite a while in the lobby of our building waiting for a cab to come.  And the minutes ticked by. 

Further to this, half the male team were seconded to a teleconference with colleagues in the UK and Europe which was scheduled to start of 4:00 pm.  This was a bit of a downer, because it put them under extreme time pressure getting to the start.  All things considered the whole team result was not looking too hopeful in prospect.

I did get to the start line in plenty of time as it turns out.  A leisurely stretch followed by a few 30 m run throughs and I was ready to go! I made my way up to the starting area, which was on Esplanade Bridge, and found a spot about 15 m from the front of the pack.  This was around 5:20 pm.  I then started meditating in standing position waiting for the start  of the race.  In the crowd on the bridge, a couple of hours after very heavy rains had passed over Singapore that afternoon, it stated to get hot and very steamy.  I worked up quite a sweat, and I started to wonder if I had managed my fluids properly.

About 20 min to go I was joined by team mate Jonathan.  The excitement was building, the organisers played "Eye of theTiger" over the PA  and we were getting seriously warm at this stage. And the crowd pressed forward with about 10 minutes to go before race start. 

Fortunately, the race did start on the stroke of 6:00 pm and we were off.  From our position toward the front of the pack we had a pretty easy time of it.  There were some quite narrow sections on the course, but we had enough space to get through without being slowed to a walk as was the case for runners further back in the crowd. I lost Jonathan in the first 200 m.  I went one way around a slower runner, he went the other way and when I saw him next, he was about 5 m ahead of me and I never got close to him from that point on.

After about the first km, there was enough room that I could run without any risk of tripping over someones feet or being tripped up in turn.

I ran comfortably within myself for the first 3 km and then I started to feel the pinch.  The 3 km mark on the course was very positive psychologically, because it indicated that I was already past half way through the course and this sustained me for the next one to one and a half km.  After that it was just tough.  The heat and humidity, together with fatigue I am still experiencing from either a virus I suffered or the half iron man I did last month, really stareted to bite and I seriously started to slow over the last km.  Luckily, I was nearly home by this stage and was just able to roll the legs over so as to get me to the finish line.  It was not a great time, but I took nothing home with me, so I need to content myself with that.

Unfortunately for the team result, some of our other, better runners got really badly held up in the crowd.  Those who attended the teleconference with our overseas colleagues did not leave the building until just after 5:00 pm.  Then there were significant problems with parking which meant that they just got to the Esplanade as the race started and were forced to make their way to the back of the field of 14,555 competitors.  Needless to say, their contribution to the team result was greatly hindered, to say the least.

After the race, I made my way to the  hawker centre known as Makansutra at Gluttons Bay.  There I met up with team mates Jasmine, Rob and Jonathan for dinner.   We had a wonderful meal consisting of satay, BBQ Chicken Wings and fried stingray with fried rice, washed down with cold Tiger beer.  A perfect way to end a great Hot April Night in Singapore.

Singapore: Careful what you plan for...

One of the truly remarkable things about living in Singapore is that it is always changing.  Singapore is a very modern city, and one of the most remarkably well-ordered places I have ever visited, yet it still is a city/country very much in teh middle of a transformation.

Delightful Black Pepper Crab dish we were never able to share with friends and family

So it can be very tricky to plan anything like dinner at a particular restaurant, too far in advance.   Two cases in point.  Last year, we were planning for a visit from Claire's father and partner.  Now, Singapore is famous for its crab quisine, particularly chilli crab and black pepper crab, which are simply delicious.  Claire and I dined out at a local Singapore crab restaraunt that was within walking distance of home.  Everything that you could expec of a great meal.  And we thought, voila, too easy.  Next time we have a visitor from out of town, we walk them down to our local and treat them to a signature Singapore delight with out all the hassel of having to travel to the East Coast, or Dempsey or whereever.

So we were really put out when Claire's father visited to find out that the Friday before, the local crab restraunt shut down so the site could undergo redevelopent.

Just down the road from the defunct crab restraunt, is, or rather was, the famous Zion Road Hawker centre.  This Singapore icon is opposite the Great World Shopping centre and was famous in Singapore for one of hawker stalls that made char kway teow, a signature noodle dish of Singapore consisting of flat noodle, stir fried with soy sauce, pork sausage and seafood, including a very delicatly flavoured cockel.  Very unique, and very tasty.  I had told my friend Tony that this was a must try, because he had just moved into a new condominium in the area and I told him that this was a great place to eat.

Much to my surprise, within 3 weeks of him reporting back that the food there was very good, I discovered last weekend that the entire Hawler Centre has been closed down.  There is some major construction underway on the river bank adjacent the hawker centre.  It may be these works which resulted in the closing down of the place, or it may be a new development opportunity that is being undertaken   What ever the reason, is it a little disconbobulating to continutally have your plans and internal maps being continually rewritten by the whimsy of planning, development and redevelopment.

Coincidentally, I found out about the shutting down of the hawker centre when I was going for a ride.  There is a bike path that runs along the Singapore river from Queenstown to Marina Bay.  It was on this path that I was cycling when I found that it was blocked for construction and along with it the hawker centre was also made out of bounds.  This does happen quite regularly.  Just when you have a path sorted out for a bike ride or a run, circumstances will change and you need to reset your tracks.  Well, I guess the mental challenge could be good for preventing or delaying the onset of Alzheimers' but it does get a little exhausting sometimes.

"There'll be no diner here tonight".  World famous Zion Riverside food Centre is closed for renovation puting diners eating plans into dissaray.

Easy as Sunday Morning

Sunday is often very busy for us.  This Sunday was no exception.

Woke up and made a delicious batch of pancakes which we ate with maple syrup, banana, raspberry coulis and strawberry jam.

After cleaning up we headed out to the soccer field at Turf City which is just off Burkit Timah Road about 6 km west of our condominium at Central.  Sophie joined a soccer team that is run through the Australia and New Zealand Association (ANZA) in Singapore.  ANZA is a great organisation that runs a variety of sporting teams and social events and we have met some wonderful people through the organisation. (http://www.anza.org.sg/) 

One of the tricky things about Singapore is there is no winter.  The locals say there are two seasons, hot and very hot.  Soccer, in my mind is a game designed to be played in cool weather and that does not happen when you are 1 degree from the equator.  So, to make out kids tough, we get them to play soccer in hot weather and between the hours of 10:30 am  and 12:30 pm.  (The competition organisers arranged it so Sophie's team played two games in a row this Sunday).

Well the girls performed stoutly,  the report from both games essentially the same.  They started off more slowly than their enthusiastic oponents and let in a string of early goals.  Then they regrouped and plugged up the holes in the midfield, preventing the opposition from easy access to goals.  In the second half they more or less dominated play leveraging their greater strength and individual skills to claw back valuable points.  In fact, the Snipers went on to win the second half of the first game 3 to 1, but the initial deficits were too big to over come. 

Really Stirling effort under very trying conditions. 

As I wrote in a previous post, Claire and I were considering the purchase of a new lens for our camera.  I am very pleased that we did in fact go ahead with the purchase of a EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens. (for specifications and information see http://www.canon.com.sg/personal/products/dslrs/lenses?languageCode=EN) Some shots from the weekend game are included below.   We ended up buying the lens from Harvey Norman in Singapore.  The price was 14% below list price, which is a nice saving.  However, the main reason we went with them is that we trust the brand.  There are many camera and electronic shops in Singapore, particularly on lower end of Orchard Road, but going into these places one experiences a sense that things are not quite Kosher.  There are a few websites that also list peoples unhappy experiences, having purchased goods from these places. 

Harvey Norman has a good reputation for looking after its customers in Australia and we are confident that the organisation will also deal reasonably in Singapore.  (http://www.harveynorman.com.sg/)  I would recommend using only sales outlets like this chain or other retailers listed on the Canon website.  Note, that the prices that are charged at the airport duty free shops at Changhi Airport do not, at this time, offer any particular savings to the punter.  I am happy with the price that we were able to get for the lens and am confident that the warranty will be appropriately honoured should there be any problems.



Photos taken with Canon EOS 550 DSLR fitted with EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens  

I like this photo because I am so envious of the flexibility through the hip flexor.

To market to market.....

The weekend was wonderful with many things to do around the island of Singapore.

Saturday lunchtime is when Sophie heads off for her French horn lesson.  We have been very lucky to connect with a top bunch of musicians in Singapore at a music school called Top Brass.  http://www.brasssociety.com/topbrass/  There show rooms and teaching studios are in Mackenzie Road, Little India.  Claire and I love to take Sophie for her lesson, for while she gets to learn how to make ever more wonderful music, we get to slip away for 45 minutes to the markets at the Teka Centre in Little India.

Today we went to the market with the intention of picking up some extra ingredients for a beef stir fry.  We picked up some bok choi, snow peas, carrots and coriander to got with fine sirloin steak marinated in peanut oil, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine.  This was served on rice.  The whole meal only took 10 minutes to cook and 20 minutes to prepare. 

For desert we ate fresh seedless table grapes.  Easy as you like.



Little India Fresh Food Market at the Teka Centre

Some of the Fresh Produce in Little India

Singapore: The perfect place to hold a reunion

We had a visit from my oldest friend last night.

Brad Ryan was in Singapore visiting the family of his beautiful wife Celia.  They came by our place last night and we whiled away a good few hours from 6:00 pm to nearly midnight.  The time seemed to fly by with good conversation, some very early childhood memories and a long overdue catch up.

Brad and Celia's two boys, Jonathon and Luke who are 11 and 8 years old, were delightfully entertained by Gabriella, Sophie, Vinya and Leyna.  They were not in the slightest overwhelmed by being surrounded by so many girls.

While the kids went for a swim, we had cheese and crackers by the pool.  It took us quite a while to realise that they had gone back inside while we chatted away until well after sunset.  Then we went up for dinner for which Claire had prepared one of our favourite dishes of lamb kebabs made on skewers of bay leaf branches*.  This was accompanied by tomato and cheese salad and a 2010 Wolf Blass Shiraz.

Brad is heading back to Brisbane tonight.  It was really great to catch up and we all plan to do so again, but not to leave it so long as we have this time around.



*For the recipe check out the CSIRO Well Being Diet at http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Health-and-Wellbeing/Prevention/Total-Wellbeing-Diet.aspx

Preparing for my next triathlon

I have been training at a pretty low level for the past 3 weeks.  Firstly, I was recuperating for a few days after the Aviva Half Iron Man Triathlon on the 18th of March, then I came down with a cold that confined me to bed for about 4 days.  I have been trying to shake the after effects of that for about 2 weeks.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, was the first time that I felt reasonably well while training.  I ran an easy 8 km from home down Grange Rd to the Botanic Gardens, along Cluny Drive, to Burkit Timah Rd and back down along Cluny Park Rd and eventually onto Holland Rd, from there back to my starting point.  This is a really nice run through some very typical tropical city vegetation that borders the botanic gardens.  The course also has some nice undulations.  There are few real hills in Singapore. Sunday was hot and steamy, it having rained just after lunch and I went for my run around 3:00 pm.

Given that I felt almost back to normal during this run I have decided that I should get myself back to full training. So Monday morning I was back in the pool under the supervision of coach Louise Tang.  It was my work colleague, Tony, who told me the secretes of triathlon.  For a good bike leg, you need a good bike, for a good run, you need natural running ability and plenty of fitness, but for a good swim leg, you need a good coach. 

I started training with Louise at the end of 2011 and it has made a very big difference to my swim leg.  Tony was absolutely right.  I have read all the books about "swimming down hill" and streamlining and converting rotational energy into forward movement, but water is just a tricky substance.  It is very viscous and provides a lot of drag.  Small deficenies in swimming technique are massively amplified and cause a huge loss of efficiency. You can try all you like to correct these deficiencies on your own, following the guidebooks slogging up and down the pool lap after lap, but you need some one to guide you along the way, point out your weaknesses and help you to build up your strength in the right areas.

So now I will refocus my training goal.  I have planned for a number of years to get myself up to a level at which I can finish an Olympic distance triathlon in 2 hours and 40 minutes.  I had broken that down into the individual legs as follows:

• 1500 m swim in 30 minutes
• 40 km cycle in 1 hour 20 minutes and
• 10 km run in 50 minutes

Total time: 2 hours 40 minutes.

So now is a good time to reassess my progress. 

The bike is good.  I did the 90 km in the half iron man at an average speed of 30.5 km/hr.  This is right on target.

The run is OK.  In the past 6 months, I have done several 5 km runs at well under 25 minutes, my fastest in the Terry Fox run in January was under 22 minutes.  The challenge with the run is to have enough fitness to finish the 10 km at 5 min/km pace.  I will need to continue to work on overall fitness to achieve this.

Swim leg is still the biggest challenge.  About 10 years ago I was able to swim 1000 m in 19 min 48 in the pool.  I need to be able to improve my time considerably to be able to swim 1500 m in the open water in under 30 minutes.  So this will need to be my focus over the next 6 months.  I figure to swim 1500 m in the open water in under 30 minutes, I will need to be able to swim 1500 min the pool in abound 27 minutes.  So this will be my training focus.  This will determine whether I achieve my goal.  With some dedicated training, the assistance of my coach and just a touch of courage, I will make my target time in the Triathlon Association  of Singapore triathlon in September. (http://www.triathlonsingapore.org/)

In the meantime, I will prepare for the TriBob Sprint Triathlon on the 6th of May. (metasprintseries.com)  I will set my goal of completing this even in 1 hour 20 minutes.  If I can do this, I am well on track to meet my goal for the Olympic Distance event.

Now all there is for it is to hit the pool!

Easter Saturday

Woke up this morning for Coffee and Hot Cross Buns.

After breakfast a short run to the athletic track adjacent the the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  I am still feeling the effects of my recent cold and the Aviva Half Iron Man Triathlon.  Funnily enough, I felt pretty ordinary for the first 7.8 km but the last 200 m felt really good.

Lunchtime I headed down to Harbourfront with Claire and Sophie.  Harbourfront is the home of Vivo City Shopping Centre.  Sophie did some posing as a "Cover Girl' in the Mall. 

We stopped for lunch on the Harbour Front at a German Restaurant called Brotzeit.  This was a great place with a cool breeze off of the water between Singapore and Santosa Island and a good range of German beers including Weissbier, Dunkelbier and Pils.  The Menu consisted of a great range of German favourites, including Wurst, Schnitzel but also some very non traditional German dishes like Crispy Chicken Salad and Pizza.

Claire selected a delicious mozzarella salad with sun-dried tomato, pesto, rocket and  croutons of schwarzbrot.  Sophie ordered a spinach Pizza and I decided on a veal goulash.  This was nice and spicy with lots of paprika, a touch of pepper and served with potato gnocchi.



Mozzarella Salad





veal goulash



spinach pizza
















After a great lunch, we headed home.  In the afternoon, I picked up the last of our Easter Sunday chocolate supplies from Great World Shopping Centre and settled in for a quiet evening at home.

Good Friday, Singapore

Today was great!

Woke up this morning to Hot Cross Buns and coffee.  A perfect breakfast for Good Friday.  The Hot Cross buns from Cedel Bakery in Singapore are almost as good as those from the Happy Loaf in Summer Hill.  The wonderful aroma of the Hot Cross Buns wafting across Lackey Street early on Easter mornings is just a delight.

After breakfast, Claire and I went to one of her friends homes, of Burkt Timah Road where we did a session with their Yoga instructor.  I was very lucky to get to do this session, because they take place on Friday mornings, and generally I am at work.  Today was a real treat.   Even now I can still feel the invigoration of this mornings session.  Given how stiff I proved to be during the stretching, I am sure that I would benefit from more regular attendance.  Maybe I will have to seek out a suitable time so that I can do this more regularly.

Sophie and her friend Lena spent this afternoon topping the chocolate cup cakes they made last night with a delicious chocolate frosting.  They were able to make a beautiful moist chocolate cake which is perfectly complemented with a chocolate frosting for which they sourced the recipe from Nigella Lawson's website at http://www.nigella.com/.  On top of this they added chocolate shavings, and in keeping with the Easter theme, White chocolate, sugar coated Easter eggs.  The perfect dessert.

Gearing up for the Easter Weekend

Hi All,

Great News! I was able to pick up our Camera from Canon today.  It was in for repairs owing to the failure of the processor to detect the memory card.  I must say I was happy with the service I received.  The processor was replaced free of charge, no fuss or arguments.   Mind you, the camera is only 3 months old, but it might have been a pain.  Very happy it wasn't.

I am looking forward to a great weekend with the family.  We were planning to spend some time with Claire's cousin Andrew on his sailing catamaran, "Fantasia", but he got stuck up in Thailand last week awaiting a slot to pull the yaught out of the water to apply antiffouling agent.  So the delay means he is spending the weekend sailing through the straights of Malacca, not frolicking around Tioman Island as we had planned.  That means we will have to seek our fun in and around Singapore.  It also means that we won't have to share our Easter eggs!

Hopefully get some good photos to post next week.  We may even pick up a new lens for the Camera.  I have been looking at a EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, which will cost about S$1300.00.  We shall see.http://www.canon.com.sg/personal/products/dslrs/lenses?languageCode=EN