jogging and motivation thread

[WussRedXLi]

@sales69

 

[sph777]

3:30 already very solid! Give you big thumbs up. I wish I run like that!

Haven't achieved yet, aiming for it haha

 

[winningeleven]

Would you run today? Based on the visibility. Today is quite bad .

But if judged thru "smell" it doesn't smell that bad for me. I would run after the sunset .. but today I give myself a rest since I ran yesterday 10km. Planing a longer run for tmr morning . Hopefully

 

[Mattitude]

I did check for last year 2025 scsm. Running department fastest group is 3hr45 mins . Maybe this year getting faster !

Running Department has a 3:30 pace group for this year BYDSGIM! First time! I have been joining them for their Saturdays long runs and their pacing is actually consistent!

Hopefully i am able to keep up with them during the actual marathon! Haha.

 

[Scrabby]

Klscm... Just don't have the energy to push the last 10km+

Shaved off 45 mins off my pb

 

[kaisin82]

Haven't achieved yet, aiming for it haha

what's yours right now?

 

[WussRedXLi]

Would you run today? Based on the visibility. Today is quite bad .

But if judged thru "smell" it doesn't smell that bad for me. I would run after the sunset .. but today I give myself a rest since I ran yesterday 10km. Planing a longer run for tmr morning . Hopefully

Already shared with you, it's the cardiovascular benefits:risks relationship mostly.

If you are more health biased, then dont do it. Plus gotta consider your nearly age 50 factor.
If your BYDSIM marathon timing is ultra important and number one factor in your mind right now and nothing else matters, then continue training. Maybe for some that is the only shot (accredited race) to go overseas majors next year etc.....that's a valid reason also.


There still is some net performance gain probably, since the air is not way over AQI 200 (leading to clear and lasting symptoms and inflammation which affects your next few sessions so it's LPPL).


I just checked with AI, it's telling me the same. Performance fitness gain yes, though hampered a bit coz of recovery hits etc. You can still train for say Garmin/BYDSIM and net benefits.

But you are trading this with health risks/benefits.


Or put it this way bro, it's like you are fuelling mostly with instant noodles laden with inflammatory oil + lots of palm oil addition, maybe 4-6 packets a day something like that.
So you will not bonk, performance will still be there since the carbs/glycogen will be supplied by it. But got 加料。


So need to see how you view things overall. Fitness (your BYDSIM marathon timing) vs your health.
You will get fit and net a good timing, but at what expense. You can only answer that yourself as everyone views risks and life differently.


Some more science in this
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/...ts-performance-what-athletes-can-do-about-it/

How Poor Air Quality Affects Performance & What Athletes Can Do About It​

By Will Hicks
Updated August 14, 2026 Published August 4, 2026

 

[WussRedXLi]

Would you run today? Based on the visibility. Today is quite bad .

But if judged thru "smell" it doesn't smell that bad for me. I would run after the sunset .. but today I give myself a rest since I ran yesterday 10km. Planing a longer run for tmr morning . Hopefully

Anyway, yesterday was bad........ can probably knock about 5 to 10 AQI from the graph as this station tends to over-read a wee bit. But still it's hovering around AQI 200 (same as PSI 200)

Other areas might be a bit differnt tho.

Im still training, but mainly zone 2 with KF94 and more emphasis (slightly higher vol) for my strength/calisthenics. Take it as a slight deload, the zone 2 volume also cut anyway.....with KF94 not say very comfy past 1 hr mark, but it will work

The cheap gyms are also like quite full like that, unless if you are willing to really pay for top tier brands.

 

[Kuudere]

Marathon I dun have lofty goals. BYD aiming for 3:30 (hopefully no cramps). Seoul I go to try overseas marathon in cold weather for the first time.

3:30 marathon is quite nice if you are projected to run faster than that. I did my marathon around that pace and I was able to enjoy the marathon.

Butties who want to try overseas marathon in cooler weather can also try ballot for next year's Berlin marathon, one of Abbott's WMM event.

Supposedly one of the easier event to ballot for. (still 20-25% chance according to google)

I failed the ballot even for Taipei Marathon/Half Marathon, but I managed to get the Hong Kong Marathon/Half Marathon which is easier to get in. Majors are definitely a lot harder to get in.

For flat course, the nearest and cheaper one for us is the gold coast Marathon.
Berlin would be more prestige and desirable for star medal collectors.

Gold Coast don't have to ballot, first come first serve. Went for it this year, highly recommend.

I've tried tokyo 4 times, London twice, NY twice, Berlin and chicago once

So 10 times total

all failed

Some people suggested increasing the chances for those who failed before, but no such system in place yet for the balloting process.

Would you run today? Based on the visibility. Today is quite bad .

But if judged thru "smell" it doesn't smell that bad for me. I would run after the sunset .. but today I give myself a rest since I ran yesterday 10km. Planing a longer run for tmr morning . Hopefully

I switched to running in gym treadmill, to avoid the haze.

Run a 2.50 marathon can go for both Chicago and Boston haha

I gave up on chasing time goals, maybe I might consider the 40s age range, especially the 45-49 range. But, the requirement might get harder over time. Most likely, I will seek coaching after I am done with self training. I am still planning to try out some marathon plans (example: Marathon excellence Wind plan, Daniels plan). Given that I don't intend to run more than 1 marathon a year, it will take some time to exhaust the marathon running plans.

 

[winningeleven]

Only Ran 10km just now as I Woke up late. By the time I started running after my warm up. It was 0630am.

Supposed to run longer > 15km at least . But I feel the weather right now is very humid and hot despite showing 26 -28 Deg .

 

[WussRedXLi]

But if judged thru "smell" it doesn't smell that bad for me. I would run after the sunset ..

BTW bro winningeleven.....you can actually use visibility to guage, as a quick and dirty way when you want a quick check, without using your phone to check airgradient/aqicn for near real-time past 5-15 mins info. Not even talking about the past 1hr PM2.5, which you know by now in reality and practice it can lag for 1.5 to 2hrs.

Coz for visibility, it actually errs on the side of caution - ie it looks worse than the ug/m3 concentration is.
But the converse cannot be true, ie it cannot look clear and nice while the ug/m3 concentration is high....that does not happen

For smell, there is no solid correlation and can be dangerous as the possible scenarios is the direct opposite of visibility, ie it can smell like nothing but AQI is very high. But for the converse, it can also smell bad but in reality, the air quality is not too bad.
in fact 2015 various instances it got to nearly 300 and smelled like nothing.....probably part of the reason why some runners still ran, esp for those whose units cannot see farther into the distance and on street level while running that's lagi worse.
It's the former that is "dangerous" - smell nothing but high AQI. The latter is fine, smell sucks but air quality good, coz then you wont run


So in a nutshell, can use visibility as a guage, but not smell.

 

[winningeleven]

BTW bro winningeleven.....you can actually use visibility to guage, as a quick and dirty way when you want a quick check, without using your phone to check airgradient/aqicn for near real-time past 5-15 mins info. Not even talking about the past 1hr PM2.5, which you know by now in reality and practice it can lag for 1.5 to 2hrs.

Coz for visibility, it actually errs on the side of caution - ie it looks worse than the ug/m3 concentration is.
But the converse cannot be true, ie it cannot look clear and nice while the ug/m3 concentration is high....that does not happen

For smell, there is no solid correlation and can be dangerous as the possible scenarios is the direct opposite of visibility, ie it can smell like nothing but AQI is very high. But for the converse, it can also smell bad but in reality, the air quality is not too bad.
in fact 2015 various instances it got to nearly 300 and smelled like nothing.....probably part of the reason why some runners still ran, esp for those whose units cannot see farther into the distance and on street level while running that's lagi worse.
It's the former that is "dangerous" - smell nothing but high AQI. The latter is fine, smell sucks but air quality good, coz then you wont run


So in a nutshell, can use visibility as a guage, but not smell.

The haze issue is like yearly occurrence. I remb there was a time when the PSI is 150++ and the smell was really bad .

But When running at dawn / before sunrise or dark. Still able the judge the visibility ?

 

[WussRedXLi]

I switched to running in gym treadmill, to avoid the haze.

Good call.

Yesterday the group leaders of the training group that i join made the call to cancel last night's session, coz since morning already know for sure cannot make it. But 24h PSI was still 103 then (South).

Some participants were questioning this. Coz seriously not say high, to be honest.

The group leaders and some others just said sometimes you just gotta use trends by looking outside and current info and apply your own common sense.


Either that or join other groups i guess. On Tue, the 6.30, 7pm brief but big spike to comfortably well over AQI 200 levels and street level at Marina Boulevard the top of the skyscrapers already like mong cha cha, i still managed to see many groups and pax some well kitted pro looking folks even doing fast intervals, as in really fast stuff i guesstimate comfortably below 4:00 pace, probably pack 1 or something.
airgradient was showing spikes of over 165 ug/m3 (AQI 230 or something)


Last night also, at MBS n GBTB/BEG area. Tons of runners, cyclists not so much.
I just go there zone 1 with KF94 mask and look see F1 stuff and F1 tourist watching nia. Last evening last chance to do so, tonight i thnik they close the F1 admission gantries liao.

 

[WussRedXLi]

The haze issue is like yearly occurrence. I remb there was a time when the PSI is 150++ and the smell was really bad .

But When running at dawn / before sunrise or dark. Still able the judge the visibility ?

Oh if before sunrise, then harder lah coz it'd be difficult to spot landmarks and stuff, not say impossible tho.

Best to rely on airgradient as "black n white"....i recall you based around JW that side, there is a midwood station at Midwood condo (hillview), shd be fine to use that if not too ngeow.

I use this and sometimes even check halfway while taking a rest and water/pee break during my longer 3hr Z2 cycling sessions.
https://www.airgradient.com/map?zoo...org=ag&embedded=false&dataSources=AirGradient

 

[sph777]

what's yours right now?

I ran 3:45 in 2022 when I had no coach and just ran on my own haha. Have never been close since

 

[sph777]

3:30 marathon is quite nice if you are projected to run faster than that. I did my marathon around that pace and I was able to enjoy the marathon.

I failed the ballot even for Taipei Marathon/Half Marathon, but I managed to get the Hong Kong Marathon/Half Marathon which is easier to get in. Majors are definitely a lot harder to get in.

Gold Coast don't have to ballot, first come first serve. Went for it this year, highly recommend.

Some people suggested increasing the chances for those who failed before, but no such system in place yet for the balloting process.

I switched to running in gym treadmill, to avoid the haze.

I gave up on chasing time goals, maybe I might consider the 40s age range, especially the 45-49 range. But, the requirement might get harder over time. Most likely, I will seek coaching after I am done with self training. I am still planning to try out some marathon plans (example: Marathon excellence Wind plan, Daniels plan). Given that I don't intend to run more than 1 marathon a year, it will take some time to exhaust the marathon running plans.

Yeah, think 3:30 would be an ok pace, at most since got pacers now for bydsim, follow them but see how it goes haha. Still like to run on my own rather than with one group of ppl. But means if they are near me I am good haha.

Yeah plenty of good plans to follow.

 

[sph777]

The haze issue is like yearly occurrence. I remb there was a time when the PSI is 150++ and the smell was really bad .

But When running at dawn / before sunrise or dark. Still able the judge the visibility ?

This morning at 5am, PSI for 2.5 was 81 at central but no smell so I went ahead. No visibility issues.

 

[WussRedXLi]

Always a joy to watch their warm up vids.

If any of you have even attempted such explosive type of A skips (not just merely doing it for the sake of doing coz you are copying others), you'd know it's not easy and you need a certain amount of explosiveness + power involved. The other drills dont even talk about it, even for me i cannot.

Also, if any of us here tried this duration + cadence/effort, is already our VO2max HR liao.

edit - finished watching, the light blue "leader" ^@#$@#$ solid.

 

[Tudo88]

3:30 marathon is quite nice if you are projected to run faster than that. I did my marathon around that pace and I was able to enjoy the marathon.

I failed the ballot even for Taipei Marathon/Half Marathon, but I managed to get the Hong Kong Marathon/Half Marathon which is easier to get in. Majors are definitely a lot harder to get in.

Gold Coast don't have to ballot, first come first serve. Went for it this year, highly recommend.

Some people suggested increasing the chances for those who failed before, but no such system in place yet for the balloting process.

I switched to running in gym treadmill, to avoid the haze.

I gave up on chasing time goals, maybe I might consider the 40s age range, especially the 45-49 range. But, the requirement might get harder over time. Most likely, I will seek coaching after I am done with self training. I am still planning to try out some marathon plans (example: Marathon excellence Wind plan, Daniels plan). Given that I don't intend to run more than 1 marathon a year, it will take some time to exhaust the marathon running plans.

Definitely. Everyone are improving fast haha. I saw that achieving sub 3 at KLSCM,you will only be ranked like top 50 or 60 haha.

 

[Tudo88]

Yeah, think 3:30 would be an ok pace, at most since got pacers now for bydsim, follow them but see how it goes haha. Still like to run on my own rather than with one group of ppl. But means if they are near me I am good haha.

Yeah plenty of good plans to follow.

Haha if I am able to lace up for BYDSIM, I may just attempt to go under 3.30. Only left 8 weeks and I am still unable to run atm