k r i s a n d r o

Google Latitude is another interesting project by the company and it is basically a location based service that allows users to update their whereabouts through their GPS equipped phones like the Symbian S60s, Blackberry, Android and now the iPhone.

What’s lacking in the release of Google Latitude for the iPhone is that unlike the other mobile devices which has a native app, the iPhone has to settle for a web app that is accessed by pointing your Safari browsers to www.google.com/latitude. What this means for the iPhone user is that your location cannot be updated constantly through a running background application and thus puts a dent in the full voyeuristic capabilities of Google Latitude.

Blame Apple for that as rumours has it that Apple disapproved of the iPhone app that Google made citing the conflicting capabilities of Latitude VS Google Maps as the reason.

But it’s still fun to be able to use Google Latitude to update my location on the iPhone and check out if any of my friends are nearby.

KuKuNehNeh doesn’t own a compatible phone but there are dangers of her checking out my whereabouts if she decides to add the Google Latitude gadget to iGoogle.

Disclaimer: Of course I had no reason to be in Geylang! Google Latitude allows users to manually set their location for users without a GPS. Really!

I usually start off my runs with lots of enthusiasm and energy and by the midway mark, I would usually lose steam and from then on, it is usually a struggle to the finish and my timings for the run would be called a positive split. That is if you section the run into halves or many parts, the earlier parts of the run are much faster and they get progressively slower as distance and time passes. Find this familiar? I am guessing that most people actually run this way as it is probably the most natural thing to do.

Of course the best way to run is to run even splits whereby one races at a constant pace throughout the length of the race but that is quite hard to do unless one was on a treadmill or has extreme running discipline.

It was with extreme interest when I discovered that many top athletes & coaches around the world train and enforce negative splits in their runs which is to run the 2nd half of the course faster than the 1st. The theory behind this is that by holding back during the first half of the run, the glycogen in your body that acts as fuel is reserved better for the latter part of the run. It is also said that it takes a couple of kilometres for the runner to get over the inertia and running too hard from the get-go wastes too much energy. Another very important aspect about running negative splits is that the picking up of the pace during the 2nd half of the race will have you overtaking other runners and this brings a lot of mental strength which is so very important in a long distance run.

So much for the above in theory but I actually put it to the test at 12.30am on Sunday morning for an 11km long run. The last long run I had was a week ago on a Thursday and it as at a 10km distance with a pace of 6mins 29secs per km and that run was a struggle from the halfway mark and it was like any of my runs before, a big positive split.

Now, to help you guys visualize better on how a negative split run looks like, here is the breakdown of my run on Sunday.

Despite running for a longer distance on Sunday, I actually improved my pace by 6secs per km! You can see how the negative splits work by looking at the columns highlighted in yellow. I aimed to run my first half of the training at a 6mins 38secs pace and the 2nd half at a 6mins 14secs pace and as you can see, I mostly ran faster than what I set out to do. I was actually struggling to hold back my speed at the start of the run. But by the time I hit the halfway mark, I realized that I was so much comfortable at this point then previous runs. Pushing up my speed for the 2nd half was hard but comfortable enough which was almost impossible to do if I stuck to my old way of running. And at the end of the 11km run, I felt that I still had some gas left in the tank compared to feeling spent for previous runs.

There is still a long way of experimenting on this tactic for running and I will update you guys as I go along my training for the marathon at the end of the year. For those runners who are interested in trying negative splits without having equipment like Nike+ or GPS watches like Garmin/Polar to track your pace and distance, you can either try running around the track where you can plan & track your lap timings or do like what I advised KuKuNehNeh to do for her 10km run for Adidas Sundown that happened on Saturday; run the first half of the race slower than your comfortable pace and try to push your pace up at the halfway mark. The race results are not out yet but I think she improved her timing by at least 10-15mins and experienced a more comfortable run to the finish. Read about her experience here!

These are some links to read up on negative splits.

The Positives of Negative Splits

Examples of Negative Splits That Worked

Calculate splits for runs here

I was told by KuKuNehNeh (KKNN) that there will be a surprise for me on Saturday evening. I am not the type who would die if I do not know what it is but I still tried to irritate her by asking about it every now and then.

“So where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise lar.”

“Is it a restaurant?”

“No.”

“Are we watching a show?”

“Nooooo…”

“Are you selling me away?”

“Nooooooooooooooooo~!!!! And stop asking!”

 

So I ended up at City Hall with her trying to lead the way.

“So where are we going?”

“It’s a SURPRISE.”

“Are we going to the Esplanade?”

“No.”

“Are we going to the museum?”

“Nooooo…”

“Are you selling me away?”

“Nooooooooooooooooo~!!!! And stop asking!”

(After 10 mins of walking)

“Eh! It should be the correct way leh!” She stood in the middle of nowhere and exclaimed.

“Erm… You want me to use my GPS?”

“Er….. Okay lor.”

 

We were walking in the complete opposite direction and were once against saved by the mighty krisandro…. and his GPS equipped Nokia N95.

Seah Street was where she wanted to go and the place that we ended up at was at her friends pub called ‘Shanghai Jazz’. Purpose there? To watch the big game between Liverpool and Manchester United. To think she was acting all blur when I casually mentioned about the game after seeing a couple of guys wearing jerseys a few moments ago.

Settling down into our seats with a pint of Hoegaarden each, she kept emphasizing that she is a ‘die-hard Man U fan’. The screen showed both teams standing in the tunnel before the walk onto the field.

She looked at the teams and turned to me and asked,

“Red colour one is Man U right?”

“No lar. White one is Man U, Red one is Liverpool.”

“Where is MY Ronal….”

“Who?” (Acting blur.)

“How to pronounce his name ah? The Ronal… something one.”

“Ronaldo lar!”

“YAH YAH! Where is MY Ronaldo?”

“You dunno meh? He died.” (He is out because of an injury)

“ANYHOW LEH YOU.”

“WAHAHAHHAHAHHAA!!”

“Eh Dear…”

“Yeah?”

“Where’s Beckham?“

 

So much for being a ‘die-hard Man U fan’. WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!!! Read her account of the day over here.

I wonder if any of you have this problem that I face almost every morning. I struggle to wake up every morning! I lost count on the number of times in my working life when I eventually wake up and look at the time or the sunlight beaming down on my ass go,

“WHAT THE F**K? KRIS! CHEESEPIE LAR YOU!”

And amongst all the vulgarities thrown at myself, I will running around the room like a headless chicken with a stick up its ass. Scrambling for the bathroom for a quick shower. Almost squeezing my facial wash on my toothbrush instead of the toothpaste. Flying out of the bathroom with my delicate bits hanging and realizing that my room window is still open. Leaping into my pants. Making a break for the kitchen to tone, moisturize, style hair (I am a vain pot). Zipping to my wardrobe to find that the shirt I want to wear has 12 buttons too many. Rushing to the living room, dialing Comfort cabs hotline while putting on the socks and shoes and half wishing that I have only one leg that morning so that I can save half the time.

3 bloody buttons on EACH sleeve?

.

All is good if taxi fares are cheap but it costs me $25 to travel from Jurong West to Aljunied.

TWENTY BLOODY FIVE DOLLARS!!!!

I think if Comfort has a membership program, I should be a platinum member by now. I should have a GPS equipped to my hand and every time I raise my hand, every available cab should have my position locked onto their maps.

Some might suggest that I sleep earlier.

I try but I can’t! 24 hrs a day isn’t enough. If I sleep the recommended 8 hrs a day, I would be theoratically sleeping 1/3 of my life away! And besides, I am at my creative best around midnight.

Some might suggest that I have more alarm clocks.

My phone has 3 alarms set each day at 10 min intervals and a separate alarm clock that has an irritating rooster sound that makes people want to visit KFC more to annihilate the species forever. I even purposely put my phone and the clock out of reach so that I have to actually get up to switch my alarms off.

What happens? I would actually switch off all the alarms and go back to sleep each and every time. In many instances, I cannot even remember DOING THAT!

How ah? HOW AH?