running alck

Often, people i know asked me where is my training ground in Singapore. In fact, there are a lot places to run in this small country. I decided to write a post on “where i run”. This page will show 3 different levels of running route, the beginner which caters for new runners, intermediate whom aiming to do their first 10km to half marathon, to advanced whom runners aiming to do a marathon or an ultra.

Beginners:

• West Coast Park:

The route of west coast park is pretty flat, there’s only one part of the route where you have to ran pass a tunnel, and there’s where a bit of up and down slope. You can easily cloak a distance 5km in this park. You can start running from Macdonald and do a loop; do look out of the nice scenery sea view; its pretty cooling out there.

• Bedok Reservoir

For beginner runners whom stay in the east side, you might wish to consider bedok reservoir as your training ground. One round of Bedok reservoir is approx 4.3km run. You might find it difficult to run initially due to the rocky terrain but after few times, you should be used to it. The best time to run Bedok reservoir would be in the morning as early as 6am and evening before sun down.

Intermediate:

This running route is meant for those runners whom have actually done many 10km events and wish to bring their running level up a notch.

• Jurong East Canal – Chinese Garden (Loop)

For runners staying in the west, you can try to run from Jurong East Canal to the end of chinese garden and make a U-turn back to Jurong East Canal. Chinese Garden itself could cloak a distance of approx 8km. If you wish to do longer runs, you can try doing 2 loops of chinese garden which totals up to 16km.

• East Coast Park

East Coast Park has one of the furthest running route you can ever run. The whole stretch starting from fort road to national sailing centre and back would cloak a distance up to 19km. For those whom wish to run approx 15km, u can start from East Coast Park Macdonald and ran to National Service Resort and Country Club and make a u-turn back to Mac.

Advanced:

• Macritchie Reservoir

For those runners whom are tired of on-road running, you can try off-road running which is Macritchie Reservoir Reserve Trail. The start of the trail and back to Macritchie Reservoir Carpark is approx 10km. Do not worry you will be lost inside the trail as there will be road signs to guide you along the way. There will be a ranger station located 5km away from the start point; I would say MR is one of the best training ground if you are looking to train your endurance and speed. Do remember to get yourself a trail shoe if required

• Kent Ridge Park

One of my favourite running route would be Kent Ridge Park. I started off from my current institution, Singapore Polytechnic. Passed by NUS and down to science park drive and to Kent Ridge Park. At Kent Ridge Park, there will be a slope to look out for. As it is inter-connected, you can run further down to Hort Park which is 2km away from kent ridge park. After Hort Park, you can further down to experience the Alexandra arch. If Alexandra arch does not impress you, you could run further north and you will reach the Henderson wave. From Singapore Polytechinc to Hendenson wave is approx 8km. If you drive up and start from kent ridge park and run to hendenson wave, it would be approx 4km. Once you have enjoy the scenery, U-turn back. Instead of running back the usual route, you can try to run downslope to vigilante drive and run upslope on the south buona vista road.

I actually ran other places but i hope that these areas could help you in your training one way or another. i would appreciate if you could share with me your running routes by email-ing me a short writeup of your running route.

I’m still in the mid of writing more running route and share with you. Hope for the time being, this running route is useful for you. Enjoy your run, train hard and train well.