Ashley Liew's Weight Loss Program and Interview.(Part 3)

Ashley Liew - From Fat to Fit to Fantastic.

Picture 1 - Ashley on the right is fat and Ashley on the right, now, is fit as ever(Courtesy of Eugene Lim)

Today, after Ashley's workout run, he shared with me on few things. At the same time, I realised that from the analysis of my own blog, a large number of people have read his weight loss program. For people who are overweight, for people who want to keep themselves fit, and the group of people who want to improve on running should watch their diet. In Kenya, the staple food is ugali. Ugali, a nutritious staple food gives the runner a lot of nutrients - vitamins, minerals and trace elements.

http://rameshon-m.blogspot.com/2010/06/training-secrets-of-kenyan-runners-part.html

Hence, in this post, I told Ashley to draft out for me the diet that he eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner and he answered me without any form of reservation for the benefit of people who are interested in health, fitness and performance.

A day in the life of Ashley Liew - On Food
Breakfast
Usually he takes brown bread with peanut butter. He drinks hot milo.
Sometimes he takes yogurt and always eats fruits

Lunch
Mixed vegetables rice with less fish or meat and a wide variety of vegetables.
1 Fruit juice per day/lunch
water

Dinner
Mixed vegetable rice
Usually he does not take rice.
http://rameshon-m.blogspot.com/2010/04/speedy-weight-loss-program.html
http://rameshon-m.blogspot.com/2010/05/there-are-three-kinds-of-food-that-man.html

Psychological impact of being overweight.

He also told me something that was important for all readers to know. He told me that, in the past, with a weight of 80kg, he had no confidence in many things. When talking to people, he used to forcefully pull his stomach in. When people poke him for fun, he felt foolish about himself. All this, that he described to me, changed for the good when he became slim over a long period of time. He told me that there is no short cut to weight loss program. Weight loss should be a long term thing. He also told me in this blog to inform people not to give up. This was a good gesture from him.

Post Marathon Race Interview

Did you achieve the target you were aiming for?

No. I was aiming for a sub 2h41m marathon time: an average pace of 3m38s per km. Once the gun went off, I started at too fast a pace. I had been nursing an unfortunate last-minute ITB injury even up to a day before the race. I realized my pace was too fast at the 1 km mark but I made the wrong judgment call of believing that my legs were completely injury free and that they could sustain the pace. Thereafter I made the mistake of not slowing down enough. Until halfway, I was still somewhat on track for my timing, achieving a half-marathon PB of 1h20m18s, improving my previous PB by almost 3 minutes. However I paid the price for starting too hard. My legs completely failed in the last 10km and my injury started acting up as well. Hence, the struggle to the finish with almost a 12 minute positive half-marathon split which was supposed to be an even split.

How do you find the route? Can you explain in detail?

Overall the majority of it was fast and flat until the 29km mark. The Sheares Bridge around the 37 km mark, the only climb, was not very easy but clearly anticipated from looking at the route map.

I have two suggestions on improvement on the route. Firstly, some distance markers were definitely not measured accurately, especially the 12km to 13km mark which was only about 800m apart when I measured pre-race. So I was not too surprised with the slightly weird splits during the race at that point. Moreover on the late afternoon just a day before the race during my final route recce, I noticed organizers were just setting up some distance markers, for example the 35 km mark. Perhaps organizers in future could not only place the markers more accurately but earlier as well to allow for mental visualization.

Secondly, the 30 to 35 km part of the route was almost totally unfamiliar. It was windy and the surface was not even, so it would have greatly helped if this route had been open for running. It had always been closed for construction even the day before the race. Thus, I suggest future new routes be opened earlier.
What was your strategy during the run?

My strategy was to stick to even pacing throughout, which I failed to adhere to at the start. Once the elite women overtook me, it felt good to stay with them but I knew their pace would be higher than my target 3m38s per km so I dropped back. Once Mok and Jason caught up with me at 10km I calmly reminded myself not to get distracted or panic, so I remained focused on hitting my target split at 21km (it helped that I was pacing an elite woman from 11 km to 19 km). For the return leg of East Coast Park, I was running alone and sticking to race pace was tougher. The last part of the race was really about gutting it out mentally until the finish, since my legs had nothing left. I had severe cramps before Sheares Bridge but I firmly told myself to fight on so I would not let all my supporters and myself down.

Are you satisfied with the timing of your race?

No. My 2010 timing of 2h52m29s was actually slower than my 2009 PB of 2h51m22s. This was initially difficult to accept because I was definitely fitter and more well-trained than last year. However, I am still glad for a runner-up finish considering the circumstances: too hard a starting pace which messed up the last 12km, three ridiculously serious injuries in this year alone which affected fitness and confidence, and dealing with my mother passing away since March.

What is your next plan/target in the future?

My next race will be the Hong Kong marathon in February 2011 which I am looking forward to redeem myself in terms of time: I want to hit sub 2h50m badly. I will also be making a comeback into triathlon with the Singapore Ironman 70.3 in March. After that, I will be focused on qualifying for SEA Games Marathon: be it in 2011 or the future.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000963984969

All the best to Ashley Liew in his pursuit of becoming an elite marathon runner.