Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Brendan Lee - Giving Marathon a Miss

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)

Brendan Lee, one of the top 10 winners of Standard Chartered Marathon 2010 has decided to pull out of the race and do Phuket Half Iron Man race. In the recent Powerman Malaysia race, he did well by coming in third. 

He had decided to take part in Phuket Half Iron Man 2011 a long time back and he has been training for this very seriously.  Now that the race is coming nearer, he is sharing on the upcoming race, his preparation and his goal. I did an interview on him as he did a good time there with a good personal best time for the Powerman race in Malaysia. Let us hear from him. 

Picture 1 - Brendan Lee is preparing for the upcoming Phuket Half-Ironman race 2011

Can you tell us more about the race that you have participated recently?
1) It was Powerman Malaysia 2011. The race is a duathlon so it consists of run-bike-run (11km, 64km and 10km). The race is meant to be tough with temperatures soaring to 35 deg.
Where, when and at what time this event was held?

2) The race was held at Seri Manjung in Perak, Malaysia. The race started at 7.30am.
How did the training go for this event?

3) My training for the bike was good. I clocked 165km for my longest bike ride. The run training wasn't so good though. I did a long run with racers and injured my knee. Hence, I had to run on grass only and at moderate pace.
What was your prediction for this race?

4) I predicted to do a similar time as last year which was 3hr 21min. I expected my run to be slower and bike to be faster.
Any mental practice that you did for this race?

5) I visualized the race course and tried to make corrections based on my experience last year.
How did your family feel about your race?

6) My parents are proud of the outcome as I improved on both time and position.
What is your next goal?

7) My next goal will be the Phuket Half Ironman where I intend to try for a personal best even though the course is harder than the Singapore Half Ironman.
8 and 9) Are you running in the std chartered marathon?

Why are you not running in the std chartered marathon?

8 and 9) I will not be running the Singapore Marathon as it clashes with the half ironman race. I decided to pursue triathlons this year and therefore had to sacrifice the marathon.
What is your long term goal?

10) I intend to run the marathon and do a sub 3hr timing within the next year or two. I also want to complete a full ironman race at some point.
                                    
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.

Monday, November 28, 2011

El Toro - An Interview With Joy Mahbubahni

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)

El Toro, part 2 (Intro to Salad Bar in the diet)

On Thursday, 22nd Nov, last week, we were at El Toro to witness the launch of 'The Salad Bar Buffet' on Thursdays in the restaurant, in support of a healthy diet in food. Later on, we took the salad which was on an exclusive table which just cost only $9.90. We found the taste delicious. There were other friends of ours who came to eat at El Toro. It is in part one of the blogs. 

Introducing the salad means that people will get more vitamin C from the diet and also have many anti-oxidants for the body to recover from fatigue, stress and workout bout from exercise. In a way, using studies done, many lower the chances of getting cancer and would be able to use this as a weight loss programme. I found that the taste nice and the salad tasted fresh. 

As part of El Toro's philosophy of giving back, Managing Director, Joy Mahbubani has done some activities that encourages giving back by her doing selfless service to the society. Hence, this made me interview Joy Mahbubani on her intentions in doing some of the actions. I found her intentions to be noble and thought that others could do likewise.












What is the name of your restaurant and how did this name come about?
El toro means "the Bull" in Spanish. This was the name of the restaurant when we took it over. We liked the name and how it is so much a part of the Latin American countries that we share through our food at the restaurant.

Can you tell us about the history of your restaurant? 
the new el toro, without alcohol and removing all pork and lard from our menu was part of our revamp when we took over the restaurant a few months ago. We had our official launch in August this year.

Can you share with us about yourself as the Managing Director of this restaurant? 
I have run many businesses in my life and for the first time, this business is a restaurant. The same entrepreneur spirit is required as in most business.  It is a new experience and I am very blessed to have a great team that are our two pillars at the restaurant through the service and the kitchen, I am learning the specifics of this business and enjoying it very much.

What are the Community Involvement Projects that you are doing to serve the community? 
We have worked with ONE Singapore, TWC2, Mother and Child and other smaller groups with their specific cause.

Can you tell us about the assistance that you are doing for SEA prostitute? 
We had a recent collaboration with this group from the US, Together we can change the world, you can find more about this through www.joyful-women.com. They go on tours to help these young women. In our recent concert that we held for them, we raised money for them.

Can you elaborate on the Family Day for your staff and doing voluntary service of the restaurant by volunteers? 
We want to share about what it means to volunteer so we invite young people to assist when we have our give-back programme to feed those we invite to el toro during our Upper Room programme. We hope to bring food out to the needy and having the help of the volunteers is very important.

Share with us the reason for coming up with a salad bar buffet for $9.90 on Thursdays? 
We want to expand our menu to include more dietary requirements. Having a great vegetarian selection is very important for us and for our patrons. We met up with the Vegetarian Society here in Singapore to share about our direction forward. They shared us about the Veggie Thursday movement and it connected with us. The Salad Bar Buffet is the best way to share this message.

Can you share with us in detail on the artifacts that are displayed on the wall of the restaurant? 
As part of our philosophy to give back, we commissioned Mother and Child who is a group here in Singapore who works with single mothers to allow them a means to support themselves through sewing fashion pieces, accessories and gifts. They produced all the wall coverings that are around the restaurant.


http://flexifitness.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.

Friday, November 25, 2011

El Toro - Carrying a message to choose healthier diet

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)

A Visit to El Toro - A Spanish Restaurant which supports a salad bar at $9.90 during lunch.

Picture 1 - Rameshon (left) and Joy Mahbubani (left).

 












Yesterday, I was invited to El Toro to try out their salad bar which was for $9.90. The restaurant decided to support anyone who is a vegetarian to try out their restaurant on Thursdays, besides the shop selling non-vegetarian food. 

El Toro would like to join the community to inform the public to choose a healthier diet by promoting through incorporating this service on Thursdays. They were also doing other good services like calling all staff to take off on Fridays and let the restaurant being run by voluntary people. There are services like selling food to people so that the profits are channelled to needy people. 

I was shown an artwork on the wall made of cloth by people from poor countries. The design was displayed in the restaurant. I will continue with this tomorrow so that people are aware to at least go a day of meatless diet in a week. 

Joy, who is also the Managing Director of the restaurant believes that besides running a business, she is ever ready to collaborate in projects which teaches selflessness.

Tomorrow there will be a continuation of this post showing some details of what El Toro, Penang Road, is trying to do.  
 
http://flexifitness.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, November 24, 2011

Flexifitness Wishes All The Best To Standard Chartered Marathon 2011 runners/participants

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)





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.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Meeting Wilson Kipketer - 800m Former World Record Holder (Part 2)

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 - Wilson Kipketer - The Legend continues on motivating the young. 

Wilson Kipketer with Parents and Coaches
Picture 2 - (Below) Wilson and his winning ways with his past time of 1min 41.11sec for 800m













Picture 3- Mr Kunalan had sent Frankie Lee to bring Kipketer to the track to do a session. 


After a stint at CCAB teaching student on things that they  'can do' or 'cannot do' on running, Kipketer, the 800m 1min 41.11sec former World Record Holder allowed us to take photographs with him. 

Picture 4 - An honour to meet Wilson Kipketer at CCAB
















Picture 5 - Wilson gave advise to Ashley to keep doing training for long and be patient in waiting for results. 
















It was nice to hear from Wilson Kipketer that he looks forward to meeting our sports group another time to do a session where he can run to show on the good style of running and explain on things related to running to the young kids and children. I told him that I will inform the Singapore Athletics Association on another running session to take place. Kipketer told me that he felt motivated on the day's session and he felt good about our group and hoped that there will be another session.


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, November 22, 2011

Meeting Wilson Kipketer in Singapore 22nd Nov 2011, Tues

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)

Sharing Session With Wilson Kipketer - Now a model IAAF Running Ambassador to the World

We finally met Wilson Kipketer at CCAB track, Bukit Timah Road, 22nd of November 2011. He was about 2 metre in height. He was known to have broken Sebastian Coe's unbreakable World record from 1min 41.71sec to 1min 41.11sec. Wilson Kipketer, a Kenyan born Danish runner brought 800m running to another level. However, just last year, David Rudisha from Kenya broke the record and the world record is now 1min 41min 01sec. 

Picture 1 - Mrs Johnson, Malathi, Ashok Kumar, Nisha, Suresan, Wilson Kipketer, Rameshon, Sumathy, Donald, Edgar













Mr Kunalan from Singapore Athletics Association made arrangement to call people who want to work with him on running and running technique. When Wilson met us at 7 30pm, he asked me to do some technique training at CCAB track. I did some drill session. To add on, he gave some finer points to running. 

Picture 2 - Wilson was happy to see us and suggested another session to make it complete.  












Basically, he told us that compared to legs, the hand is important. If we have a proper hand technique, running should not be a problem. He told us to watch out with weights and advised us to be careful about being progressive with weights. He told that bodybuilding and too much muscle building weight training is another sports entirely and not running. Wilson told us on not to sit while we run and not to bend the knee and shorten our stride while we run. He was emphasising on staying relaxed while we run. To add on, he told that a good push-off coming from the feet is important in running. He also reiterated to us to enjoy running and focus more attention on the hands. He gave us some simple drills to make the hands to work efficiently.

Picture 3 - Alberto Juantorena, Sebastian Coe, Wilson Kipketer and Current World Record Holder David Rudisha (World Best Athlete 2010)



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.