The Long Green Line

The Long Green Line is a group of York High School Cross Country Runners wearing their green school cross country running t-shirts crossing the finish line at cross country meets.

York High School is in Elmhurst, Illinois, USA. They are the one of the best high school cross country teams in the state and have won the cross country state championships 24 times (beating 700 other schools in that state to reach there).I really admire them...

A group of old students from York High School is creating a documentary about the cross country team which will be released later this year.They first started making the movie two years ago and i am glad they finishing it soon.
Hopefully, i will to be able to watch it. But i don't know whether the movie will be released here...

To me this excerpt has already taught me many things about cross country and about life. Lessons which are useful for daily life and living. To me running is an exhilarating sport.... I really enjoy it. ..



To know more go to http://www.longgreenlinemovie.com

Running Techniques

Here is a short training video to help anyone improve his running technique.

Happy Viewing!

Michael Johnson vs Jeremy Wariner

Both Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner are 400m Olympic champions. Watch them fly across the track...

For the record Michael Johnson ran the 400m in 43.19s. I wish i could run like that...

The 400m olympic record is 43.49s set by Michael Johnson in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Jeremy Wariner did not break the record even though he won the 400m event at the 2004 olympics in Athens.

Jeremy Wariner was featured in the 'adidas impossisble is nothing' advertisements.

The music is fantastic!

Enjoy!

Training and Morning Runs

Now that the mid year exams are over, it is time to concentrate on running.

Training will resume as Mr Tong informed us. Also, there is morning run on tuesdays and thursdays at 6.45 am until the school holidays at the end of the month.

This morning there was a meeting for all of us with Mr Tong. He asked us what events we wanted to take part in the National Interschool Track and Field in July this year. Even the sec 1's were allowed to join.


Next week is our school sports carnival held on the school grounds. The track and field events we can choose to participate in are: 430m, 1300m and high jump. Each student can participate in a maximum of two events. Those who sign up and never particpate will lose points for their house. So be forewarned!

Morning Run on Tuesday

Today i reached school at 6.45 a. m. I first saw Kenneth entering the canteen and told him to wait for me while I went to deposit my bag.Later, At about 6:55 am, I saw Nicholas come to school.Kenneth, Nicholas and I ran a total of 2 rounds around the school and later I went a third round myself .Gideon also came and started running at 7 am.He ran a total of 2 rounds.

During recess, Chitmin ran about 2.4 km or 8 rounds around the field.Guo Qin ran 1 round behind the field.He ran 800m.


There is a morning run tomorrow at 6.45 am. See you then!

National InterSchool Cross Country Video

With the photos that Miss Tan took, I created a video for Team HI at the National InterSchool Cross Country Championships. Enjoy!

Final Mileage as at 19 April 2007

This is the Final Mileage for Team HIH as at 19 April :

• Ray Andrew: 50.40 km
• Gideon: 55.09 km
• Nicholas: 52.74 km
• Lee Yi sheng ; 44.78 km
• Lee Zhi Hui: 52.16 km
• Kenneth : 51.86 km
• Wilburn: 52.88 km
• Tan Jun Guang: 51.94 km
• Khoo Chit Min : 47.64 km
• Tay Wei Sheng: 20.86 km
• Chia Guo Qin: 47.73 km
• Janus Koh : 25.70 km

Notes:

1.Includes the competition on 18 April

2. Includes all morning runs on tuesdays and thursdays up to 19 April

National Interschool Cross Country Photos

Miss Tan took many photos of us at the National Interschool Cross Country that day. Here is the link:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2093108160&code=27609107&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

Results of National Interschool Cross Country

The results of the National Inter-school cross country are out... And we are ... not last! We came in no. 49 out of 63 schools.

We will improve on our postition next year!

Pos Team Total Div
1 Raffles Institution 39 B Boys
2 Catholic High School 42 B Boys
3 Victoria Secondary School 56 B Boys
4 Singapore Sports School 63 B Boys
5 River Valley High School 153 B Boys
6 Hua Chong Institute 162 B Boys
7 ACS(INDEPENDENT) 213 B Boys
8 Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School 233 B Boys
9 Victoria Junior College 263 B Boys
10 St. Andrews Secondary School 264 B Boys
11 St. Josephs Institution 288 B Boys
12 Commonwealth Sec. Sch. 295 B Boys
13 Maris Stella High School 352 B Boys
14 BOON LAY SEC SCH 357 B Boys
15 Broadrick Sec Sch 366 B Boys
16 Nan Hua High School 376 B Boys
17 St Patricks School 382 B Boys
18 Ngee Ann Secondary School 405 B Boys
19 Loyang Secondary School 422 B Boys
20 Bukit Batok Secondary 431 B Boys
21 North Vista Seconday School 443 B Boys
22 Seng Kang Secondary School 448 B Boys
23 Fajar Secondary School 466 B Boys
24 Northland Sec. Sch 492 B Boys
25 Macpherson Secondary School 494 B Boys
26 Jurong Secondary School 504 B Boys
27 Bukit View Sec School 508 B Boys
28 Anglo-Chinese Sch. (BR) 508 B Boys
29 Peirce Secondary School 527 B Boys
30 Bowen Secondary School 538 B Boys
31 Chua Chu Kang Secondary School 546 B Boys
32 Evergreen Secondary School 546 B Boys
33 Fuchun Secondary School 565 B Boys
34 Fairfield Methodist Secondary School 575 B Boys
35 Canberra Secondary School 628 B Boys
36 Anderson Secondary School 640 B Boys
37 Ang Mo Kio Sec School 658 B Boys
38 Woodlands Secondary School 665 B Boys
39 St Gabriels Secondary School 684 B Boys
40 Tanjong Katong Secondary School 694 B Boys
41 Northbrooks sec. (NBS) 703 B Boys
42 Riverside Secondary School 704 B Boys
43 Yishun Town Sec Sch 784 B Boys
44 CHANGKAT CHANGI 798 B Boys
45 Telok Kurau Sec Sch 811 B Boys
46 West Spring Sec Sch 816 B Boys
47 Unity Secondary School 903 B Boys
48 Geylang Methodist School 906 B Boys
49 Holy Innocents High Sch 926 B Boys
50 Compassvale Secondary School 969 B Boys
51 Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary 983 B Boys
52 QUEENSWAY SEC SCH 983 B Boys
53 PEI CAI SEC SCH 984 B Boys
54 Beatty Secondary School 1001 B Boys
55 Admiralty Sec Sch 1008 B Boys
56 Hua Yi Secondary School 1085 B Boys
57 SIGLAP SEC SCH 1093 B Boys
58 Hong Kah Secondary School 1119 B Boys
59 Nan Chiau High School 1158 B Boys
60 Guangyang Secondary School 1169 B Boys
61 North Light School 1177 B Boys
62 Jurongville Secondary School 1346 B Boys
63 Montfort Secondary School 1357 B Boys

Morning Run on Thursday

On Thursday i arrived in school at 6.45 am. I waited for a while outside general office and almost immediately Kenneth came. After that Nicholas appeared and then Wilburn came. We all run one round around the school.




Mr Tong, even though there is CCA standdown, can there still be cross country? All of us boys do not want to lose our form...

One thing's for sure, there will be morning run next tuesday... See you all then...

National Inter- schools Cross Country Championships

Wednesday 18 April was the finals of the 48th National Inter-schools Cross Country Championships held at Turf City at 4p.m. It started with the 'C' boys. Our 'C' boys did not participate but the 'B' Boys did. We were allowed to leave class at 11 am to have lunch and prepare ourselves. Miss Tan accompanied us on the bus at 1.30 p.m. Those who ran the race were Gideon, Ray, Guoqin, jun guang, Yi Sheng, myself. Kenneth, Wilburn and Nicholas our 'C' boys also came but they were not running.

I was very happy that our 'C' boys came to cheer us. Next year you will definitely participate....

Ray ran very well and came in below 19min. The rest also did their personal bests. Congrats to you all.

Unfortunately as I had been sick the week before, I was unable to finish the race. I hope Mr Tong is not too upset...

All of us are definitely looking forward to running again next year..

Training on Monday and Tuesday's morning Run

Training was at Turf City on monday. Mr Yon and Mr Ong both came to conduct the training. Janus, Gideon, Chitmin, Yi Sheng, guoqin, Ray, jun guang, Kenneth, Wilburn and Nicholas, myself came.

All the boys (except me) ran one round of 4.5km. Mr Yon also ran with us.

The second round almost everyone was walking...


On Tuesday, I arrived in school at 6.45 am. I was surprised Joseph came to run too as I did not keep track of his mileage.

Kenneth, wilburn, nicholas, joseph and myself ran two rounds around the school (1.6km).

Our School Cross Country 2007

Thank you to the school and Mrs Wong and Mr Tong without whom I would not have been able to produce this photo slide show.

An American cross country running competition

This is a video of American River College Cross Country team. They are running in a cross country competition.

To me it feels very good to run like that... I hope it inspires you too...

Total Training Mileage for Team HIHS as of April 11

This is the total training mileage that was recorded in training in school, at CCAB and at Turf City since Mr Tong announced that we were accumulating miles on 23 March last month. You can click on the bar chart to get a clearer and bigger view.

Congratulations to Nicholas for achieving the best mileage among the sec 1's and the second highest mileage overall so far.

The rest of you keep up the good work too...Just remember to keep running...








Notes:

1. This is the cumulative from the trainings on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays and the morning runs from Tuesdays and thursdays in school.

2. All personal runs done outside this time is not recorded and thus not added in.

3.I am assuming that the boys present in wed 11 april completed two rounds at turf city as i had left before they returned. ( except jun guang who ran one round and janus who did none. - however he was kind enough to come and look after everybody's
school bag. thank you Janus!)

4. It does not include yesterday's early morning run.

American River College Cross Country Video 2

I enjoyed the movie Chariots of fire. It is about how a team of British athletes trained and went on to win in the 1924 summer olympics.

The music in this video is the theme song from the movie.. I love it...

Morning Run on Tuesday

This morning I reached school at 6.45 a.m. Kenneth was already there when I went to the canteen.He told me to wait until 6.55 a.m. While I waited, I saw Gideon walk to school. At 7 am we started running. As i had been ill, i just ran 1.6km. They rest also did the same.

Those present were gideon, nicholas , kenneth and me. Nicholas only did one round as he said he had knee problems.(0.8 km)


There is a change in training venue on Wednesday. Meet at general office at 2.45 p.m. There will be a bus leaving for turf city at 3 p.m.and there will be a return trip

See you all tomorrow at General Office. Don't be late.

American River College Cross Country Video 1

Here is a favourite running video of mine. Hope you like it...

I also find the quotes very inspirational...

Training on Monday

There was training in school today at 3 p.m. However, I did not go as i was not feeling well. After my maths remedial, which ended at 5.15 p.m. I joined the team to warm down.


As far as i know this is what they did : 840m x 7 . Pls correct me if i am wrong. They also did drills and worked out in the gym. Mr Yon and Mr Ong conducted the training. Miss Tan also came to see us at 4 pm. I was very surprised to see Mr Tong at 5.15 p.m.

Those who came for the training: yi Sheng, wilburn ,jia jun, gideon, Guo Qin, Chit Min , jun guang.

At the end of training , kenneth and wei sheng appeared.

There will be a morning jog at 6.45 am tomorrow.

Next training will be on wednesday at 2.45 pm in school.

Team HIHS Cross Country video

I enjoyed creating this video of the HIHS Cross Country Team ...

Wednesday's training and thursday's morning run

On wednesday after school at 2.45 pm we met at the general office. Mr Tong came and told us to select out tT-shirt size. I chose small. Ms Tan was also there. Then at 3.10 we boarded the bus to go to turf city.

All of us ran two rounds including the sec 1's. Ray came in 20m for the first run.

The boys who came were: Ray, Gideon, Guo Qin, Jun Guang, Chit Min, Janus, Yi Sheng and myself from the Sec 3's. From the sec 1's Nicholas, Kenneth Wilburn and Wei Sheng came.


This morning I ran 20m about 3 km. The rest who came and ran 10m were Gideon, Ray, Nicholas, Kenneth


Tomorrow is good friday so no training.

Good luck to all those participating in the national juniors at gombak stadium this week- end.

Morning run on tuesday

I reached school today at 6.45am. At 7 am these people appeared:

Nicholas, Kenneth and Joseph. We started running. We ran for 10 m or about 1 km. At 7.10 gideon and ray came and ran too.

How many km have we run so far? Is anyone counting?

Monday's training in school

Today there was training in school.Mr Yon and Mr Ong came down to train us at 3.45 pm. gideon, chitmin, yi sheng,ray,guo qin, jun guang, kenneth,nicholas, wilburn, wei sheng,joseph and daniel came. Sorry Chitmin that i left out your name on Friday...

Today we had the highest attendance so far - 12 boys...

We all had interval training:

5 x 840 m at 3 min rest.

We all performed badly as for some reason, we all had late lunches.

All of us managed to complete the training.It was an endurance run which is tough.

After we did the interval training, we subsequently went to the gym to do ten sets of gym work, namely Leg Press, Leg Pull-down, Hamstring & calf, Chest press(Free Weight), Sit up, Bicep Curl ( Free weights) , Squats and shoulder Dumbbell
Left(Free weight).We did all the stations for 3 sets each.I managed to do for hamstring 10 kg at 10 reps.It was tiring.My legs felt numb after tat.

Ms tan came into the gym when we almost finished and stayed with us to to end of training.She gave out the consent forms for the 48th National inter school Cross Country Championships 2007 on 18 April.
She said all sec 1's must go and support us when we are running.She also talked about the T-shirt which Gideon designed.She said all must come early on Wednesday at 2:45 to select T-shirt size. She also said that all B-boys must go for competition this weekend at Gombak Stadium. I can't quite remember who ran what. Chitmin. myself, ray and yi sheng are running 800m. gideon is running 100m and 200m. Guo Qin and jun guang??

Sec 1 boys can also go too. Details are available at SAA website

http://www.singaporeathletics.org.sg .

After that Mr Yon gave us a debrief.he said that we all should not play soccer before training as we would not be able to see our true potential.He also said that we should not eat less than 2 hrs before training and we must only drink plain water and no orange juice before training.Also, we should not drink too much water before training as we would get stitches when running.he reminded us it was only two weeks to nationals...

Next training is on wednesday at turf city.

Please remember to hand in all signed consent forms then.

Meeting at 2.45pm to look at t-shirt size. All who dont come will NOT get the t-shirt.

At 3.15 pm we will leave for turf city.



Thank you Ms Tan for coming to see us even though it was so late. We were so happy that we somehow forgot and greet you good morning...

We learnt a lot from Mr Yon today. He can really teach. Just like Mr Ong he can tell us all about gym workouts...

Remember to come for recovery run at 6.45 am tomorrow. Meet at general office...

Running Video- role of hamstrings

Running Video



What are hamstrings normally used for? While the quads support our body-weight, our hamstrings help us break free from the pull of gravity. When we increase our cadence to 180 or more strides per minute we need hamstrings that are capable of quickly pulling the foot from the ground. However, larger and stronger muscles, trained in static conditions in the gym, do not neccesarily translate to better performance when running. The key to developing great hamstrings is performing dynamic drills in order to train the hamstrings.

Some excellent drills are foot tapping and front lunge. Try these drills with stretch cords to increase resistence. The key use of our hamstings in running is to be able to quickly pull the support foot from the ground

Training on Friday

We had training in school on Friday. As it was raining, we could not run rounds around the school.As a result, we had to do gym work first.Mr ong taught us how use the free weights and dumbell.I did 10 stations at 3 sets.It was very tiring.I had to do 10 sets and I tried to lift 50 kg.Humpf! It was exhausting.After that, I did 4 sets of 840m around the school. It wasn't hard at all.

The boys present were yi sheng, gideon, guo qin, jun guang,kenneth, nicholas, joseph and wei sheng and myself. Yi Sheng and guo qin did not run the four sets. Training ended with all of us eating bananas.

Morning Jog on thursday

Today I reached school at 6.45a.m. It was dark.I wondered who would come early to jog.

When I was at the general office, I saw gideon, kenneth, Nicholas, fu cheng and another boy I don't know waiting there. I now realise that i really do not know the sec 1 boys names. Pls do introduce yourselves. We ran for about 15 min , about 2 km. Later ray and jun guang also came and ran. Did I miss out anyone else?

Tomorrow's training will be in school. See ya then!!

Annual School Cross Country

Today was the annual school cross country. Unlike in previous years in MacRitchie Reservoir, this year it was held at Bedok Reservior.

Highlight of the day was the teachers race. In the women 's open our teacher in charge came in first. Congrats Miss Tan! We are so happy for you!






In the men's open our PE assistant teachers in charge did very well.Mr Yon came in first and Mr Ong came in second. I wish Mr Tong ran so that we can tell how good he is... He told us before the holidays that he had run the half marathon a few years back so he must really be very good. Up till now the most I have run is 15km and that was only once.









Inthe b division boys. I came in first and Ray was second. Sadly the others did not make it to top 20. In c boys I am not quite sure of the results. Well they are very still very new, having just joined training last week so we cannot expect too much of them. From what I heard, and sorry if I post wrong info but I think Wilburn came in 9th,Nicholas 11th and someone from our team came in 5th. Dont worry. I think you are all doing well.

When I was in sec 1, I came in 9th. Very poor right? Anway, if you Sec 1sare interested to work hard and come for training, I am very sure you will improve. Who knows? When you come to sec 3 you can be first too. After the cross country, Mr Tong came over and talked to everyone of us. Even Mr Yon and Mr Ong came over chat and eat with us. We missed you Ms Tan. Next time when there is a gathering you must come and join us too. Also there was so much food left over because all the sec 1s except for Nicholas did not stay back... Mr Yon went to share the leftover food.

Tomorrow there is morning run at 6.45 am. See you all then!

Morning Run On Tuesday

This morning I reached school at 6.40 am. Mr Tong had said that we could run on our own on tuesdays and thursdays. Today's run was a recovery run from our training the day before.

After putting down my bag in the canteen, I wen to the general office. As I preparing to run, Nicholas appeared. We waited a while then Wilburn lee came. Then another boy came, Kenneth from falcon. We then ran together for 10 min, about 1 1/2 km around the school. When we finished, another boy from 1Faith,Eagles came.It was Yeo Fu Cheng. It was already 7 am. He ran 10 mins too.

In total four boys from sec 1 came. Good for you! Sorry if I did not know your names.If I have made a spelling mistake, tell me and i will correct it. I will be posting your names under team members too. If you are interested to run,come down on thursdays too. I will be outside the general office at 6.45 am

After that we all went to the parade square and chatted about tomorrrow's cross country. All of us were very excited.... Will falcons win again this year?They were champions last year. Or will the hawks win?
Answer will be reveal tomorrow...

Training at CCAB

Today we had training at CCAB.Mr Ong and Mr Yon our assistant PE teachers came with us. Today 11 of us came for training, the highest so far. Five of them were sec 1's.

We started our warm-up when we arrived. When Coach came we started training and doing drills.

I ran 1km x 4. I wanted to give up after 3km but as I ran past the Coach he told me to buck up and finish the last one. I vomitted at the end of it and felt very sick and red in the face. Ashley my cjc running mate was beside me and brought me back to the stands. When Mr Yon saw me he immediately came down and told me to keep walking. He did not allow me to sit down. After a while I felt much better.


The rest of the team ran 200m x 5.They had no problems finishing their workout.
Mr Yon and Mr Ong were very good to us. They explained a lot of things like how much water to drink and when to drink it. Also they were very surprised to find out that CCAB has no water cooler...Everyone who wanted water had to go to the toilet or the shower.


After training had ended we took this group photo...


I was very happy when Mr Yon and Mr Ong came down. A pity they are only trainee teachers. They really know how to teach. They are the kind of teachers any student would like to have...

Wednesday is our school cross country. I hope that everyone on our team will be in the top 10. Yes I mean it. I know all of us can do it. Then Mr Tong will be very very happy and have no cause to complain...

To everyon on the team good luck, all the best.
Remember to stay back after the event. Mr Tong, Miss Tan, Mr Yon and Mr Ong will be staying back too.


Next training will be on friday in school.

Impossible is Nothing

Some stories to inspire us from Adidas.....

Training in school on fri 23rd mar

Friday was the first time we had our training in school. Mr Ong made all of us run 10 x 400m inclluding the sec 1's. After that we were allowed to go into the school gym. This was the the first time I ever went there. Mr Ong explained to us how to use the equipment and I also carried 15kg weights. They were heavy ! But Gideon could do it. I learned a lot from Mr Ong as he is very good at explaining so many things. I hope Mr Tong will let him teach us again. He is so knowledgable!

Mr Tong finished the training by giving us a briefing, peptalk etc. Thank you Mr Tong! I really enjoyed my first training in school. I hope the other boys did too!

HIHS Athletics -Our first Post

Welcome

This is post #1 of our blog.

We are all from the HIHS Athletics Team which was formed just last week. Mr Tong allowed us to create a blog to chat, and keep in touch with each other. Please post things relevant to cross country and athletics training. We will also use this blog to keep track of everyone's PBs and to encourage everyone to try their best. After all, as a cross country team, we are only as good as our last runner...

Before I write anything else, let us say thank you to the people who made all those possible. They are :

1. Our school

2. Ms Tan Pei San

3. Mr Jack Ong

2. Anyone and everyone who helped us along the way to create the team

5. Last but not least Mr Tong ( Or maybe I should have put him first... )

All of you know who he is. Anyway he was was the one who agreed to let us set up this blog in the first place and he wants us to abide by the rules. We are a team. We work together in good times and bad .So no foul language , spamming, flaming, name calling or criticising or saying bad things about each other on the blog OK? Also Mr Tong has given strict instructions that no one is allowed to post or tag in another person's name (including Mr Tong's name)...All of you know what I mean. I have to give this blog address to the school and we don't want to have to be forced to shut down the blog because of undesirable content etc etc.

All team members will be able to post as soon as I get your email address so remember to keep those contributions coming...

We can all do it and we can all do it together!