Mission Possible 42.195

SCKLM 2011 - my 3rd full marathon

2011-07-17T22:12:00.001+08:00

The SCKLM is three weeks ago now. Not much time left for blogging these days after all the usual things.

This year's SCKLM is my 3rd full marathon, also my 3rd attempt to achieve a sub-5 finish. The result however was disappointing. At the end my legs couldn't take the challenge and I was suffering from cramps starting from the 25th kilometer. I managed to finish with a time of 5 hours 37 minutes, only slightly better than my 1st full marathon almost 2 years ago at the same event.

Looking back at the run, I was running fairly comfortably until 25km actually until the cramps kicked in suddenly. My 1st 10km pace was around 66 minutes and similarly for the 2nd 10km. In fact I slowed my pace down to 7 minutes per km after the 20km mark, trying to conserve energy. However all these didn't help at the end.

Anyway setbacks are part of life, I'll train hard again for next year's edition and hopefully a better result next time.

Until then keep running and stay healthy.

Newton Run 2010

2010-10-03T16:59:00.000+08:00

Race Day: 26 September 2010

This is the longest run I did since the half marathon in June.

My longest training run before this is only 13km.

Seriously lack of training due to busy work schedule (maybe just an excuse;) and perhaps the real reason is lack of motivation.

The run is held at Bandar Kinrara, the place I started my running adventure. Most of the route is quite familiar to me since I lived nearby for many years.

On the race day morning, I woke up at 5am and drove to Bandar Kinrara after a quick preparation. Reached there at around 5.30am. The race starts at 6.30am so still have plenty of time to kill.

I was walking around trying to look for familiar faces when someone walked straight to me and said "Hi!". It was a pleasant surprise to find Chee Cheng, my old friend to participate in this run as well. We chatted for a while and Chee Cheng left to look for his friend.

The 25km run started sharp at 6.30am and all the runners started the journey to conquer the challenging 25km route.

It was a tough hilly routes and the worst of all (I mean for slower runners like me) is the heat after 8.30am. It was burning hot for the next 1 hour until the finishing line.

I finished the run slightly after 9.30am. Time taken is 3 hours and 6 minutes. Lucky to still qualify for the finishing medal.

Other friends who participated all did quite well. CP finished within 2.5 hours and Pang Sir finished Top 4 in the senior veteran category. Chee Cheng in his first long distance run also finished within 3.5 hours. Not bad for a beginner.

As for me, I'm happy just to get out and do some running. I doubt I would have done any distance longer than 15km if not because of this;)

SCKLM 2010

2010-06-27T18:18:00.000+08:00

This is my longest run since the last New Balance 15k.

I was suffering from the pain on the same left knee again but this time it's a bit better. The pain only started after 8km or so. I was able to endure it throughout the run with a few run/walk breaks.

I started the journey from home at about 3.45am this morning. The World Cup match between USA and Ghana is ongoing and quite a number my friends are watching (evidence from instant comment on my facebook status update:).

Reached Padang Merbuk slightly after 4.15am. Parked my car, picked up all the stuffs and walked to Dataran Merdeka.

When I reached there the Full Marathon runners already queuing up in front of the starting line. I managed to find CP easily. Had some chat with him and took some photos before the downpour started. It was getting heavier just before the starting time of the full marathon.

After the full marathon runners went away, I walk around Dataran to see what they have. Nothing much really so I decided to take a toilet break before the race start.

I bumped in Andre at the starting line after that. Chatted with him and both of us started the run together.

I was pacing myself and lose sight of Andre shortly after the start.

At about 5km point, I met Lam Sing Kong, chatted for a while then Yoke Kuan appeared beside. I chatted and paced with her until 10km before going ahead on my own when she needed a walk break.

The rest of the run is pretty straight forward and I finally reached Dataran Merderka again at around 2 hours 30 mins after the start.

Not an impressive pace but I'm still very happy to finish the run in one piece :)

My New Balance 15k Pace Chart

2010-05-23T15:12:00.001+08:00

This is my New Balance 15k pace chart.

Not doing very well after hitting the hills and when the knee pain set in.

I've been doing minimum running lately to let the knee fully recovered from whatever injury it is having.

Meantime I just signed up for Standard Chartered Half Marathon run. 21k is still a huge challenge for me in my current condition. Will have to kick start the training next Monday to be fully fit for it.

Pacesetters 30k

2010-01-17T11:38:00.001+08:00

A good start to the running season this year.

I just finished the Pacesetters New Balance 30k run this morning despite not much of training.

The consequence of course is the suffering at the last 5k.

My finishing time 3h29m. Total distance recorded by the GPS is 30.2km. Average pace of 6m56s per km.

I started with a comfortable pace. Reached 10k in 59m.

The route brought us to the famous (at least for runners) Sri Hartamas Petronas station then return through a loop around Matrade and Government building near Jalan Duta. Reached 15k in 1h31m.

At around 20k, we reached the infamous double hill route. It was a very tough challenge to run up the hill after 20k. Reached 20k in 2h06m.

The route from 20k onwards is very hilly. I decided to walk up the hills to conserve energy. My worry was I couldn't finish if I spent too much energy on those hills. Reached 25k in 2h46m.

The suffering started after the 25k. Both my calves were at the edge of getting cramped and my knees were getting painful. So I started to alternate run-walk until the last km.

Overall the race was well organised with plenty of water-stations.

I decided not to bring any water having faith in Pacesetters' ability to organise a good race:)

Also had the opportunity to meet a fellow runner from KK - must apologise I don't know how to spell his name. I'm sure will meet him again in many future races.

Until the next challenge.. Keep running..

Spies on the run

2010-01-09T12:25:00.001+08:00

CP sent this MMS a moment ago.

Oops!! Must really train hard next week...

....
Sent: Jan 9, 2010 12:07 PM
Subject: Spies on the run

Agent 007 & 008 are going to run 30km next sunday...

Goodbye 2009 and Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-31T19:13:00.000+08:00

This is my final entry for year 2009.

Just to recount what I have done in the running circuits this year:

1. Completed 1st and 2nd marathon runs but fell short of the sub-5 target. Ya need to try again..

2. Completed 2 half marathons - Bidor and Adidas King of the Road.
3. Completed a 20k race - Great Eastern run.

4. Completed a 15k race, a 12k race and 2 x 10k races.

5. Completed KL Towerthon.

A short list but it has been a tremendous year.

I look forward to 2010 and more friends joining races with me:)

Here it goes again...

2009-12-12T16:49:00.000+08:00

Another one..

More on PBIM

2009-12-05T17:09:00.000+08:00

I promised to write about the race report in the last entry but couldn't find time until now.

My PBIM trip started at about 12:30pm on Saturday when I head off from KL to Penang driving on my own. CP had travelled with his family a day earlier.

I couldn't join him because I still need to bring the kids to their Kumon class on Saturday morning.
I reached Sunway Hotel at about 4:30pm and went for a quick meal in a old restaurant at the famous New Lane just beside the hotel.

Then I sms to inform CP I'm here. He invited me to join his daughter's birthday party at his in-law's place in Island Glade. I joined them at around 7:30pm for a quick dinner. I must apologise to Ashley for not bringing her a present. I promise to get a bigger one next time:)

After the dinner, I head back to the hotel for a short nap, wake up at 12:00am and head to CP's place again at 12:40am to fetch him to the starting line.

Even though only 600 plus full marathon runners, the venue is surprisingly packed with a lot of people. Some even setup a camp there to save on hotel fee. There are a lot of quarter marathon and half marathon runners. Many of them are students.

The marathon started sharp on time at 2:30am, officiated by Penang Chief Minister YAB Lim Guan Eng. Drums rolling along the starting line to accompany all the runners. The atmosphere was magnificent.

Very different and well organised compared to the recent SCKLM.

I started the race fully charged and was setting quite a good pace, now proven to be too fast. Reached 5km mark at 27m40s.

After the u-turn near Seagate Plant, we headed to the bridge. I was still running at sub-6 mins pace. Reached 10km mark at 57m45s. I will suffer for this pace towards the end 3 hours later.

Running at the bridge was a nice experience. The sea breeze was cooling and I paced myself with someone who looked like a veteran runner from Melaka. We reached 15km mark at 1h31m10s.
I stopped at the banana station and grabbed 2 bananas. Proven to be another wrong decision. My stomach muscles started to get uncomfortable with the load in it.

The 20km mark is after turning back from the toll gate. I reached the mark at 2h05m03s. Just 5 mins above my PB for 20km. Still going strong.

We joined up with the half marathon runners just before the mid point of the bridge and the road is full of people after that until the 30km mark. The atmosphere was party-like with a lot of half marathon runners taking leisure walk at the bridge. I reached the 25km mark at 2h41m19s.

The 30km mark is after the turning to the Jelutong Expressway. I keep looking for the signboard indicating this distance but can't locate it during the run. Based on the GPS, I reached 30km at 3h20m17s. I need to beat this timing in the up coming Pacesetters 30k run.

I saw CP who is on his way back after the final u-turn somewhere between 30km to 35km. He looked tired. I called to give him a cheer.

After a long and suffering run at Jelutong Expressway I finally reached 35km mark at 4h01m41s and then 40km mark at 4h41m22s.

The distance measured by GPS and organiser's marker is completely out of synced after the 30km mark. The organiser placed the 35km marker at 33.9km according to the GPS but placed the 40km marker at about 41km based on the GPS.

Based on the GPS I reached 42.2km at 4h57m38s. In the final official result I did a 5h08m. GPS reading said the distance is 43.8km.

I think GPS is measuring actual travelled distance while the organiser is measuring the course distance.

CP was there as promised when I crossed the finishing line. He had to wait longer than expected because my sub-5 target didn't materialised this time. Nevermind I will try again, maybe sooner than expected:)

After the run I walked around to cool down and did some stretching to avoid any cramps. I went over to the medical tent to get some ice for the calves while CP waits for his wife who is doing the 10k fun run.

3 of us went over to Island Glade for breakfast before I said goodbye to them and head back to the hotel.

A friend who came back from UK called to meet up with him and a few others in G Plaza for a quick lunch before I depart home.

The journey back to home was quite tough since I didn't sleep the whole night and didn't have any rest after the run. I reached home after 6 hours of drive with many stops for rest. It's safer to take a public transport next time.

Signed off from PBIM 2009.

PBIM - the long journey

2009-11-25T22:15:00.001+08:00

Running a full marathon definitely isn't in my new year resolution. I've surprised myself to have done it - twice.

I started going outdoor in late 2006 with a broken bike (it cost me RM149 from Tesco).

A couple of months later I stopped riding after a bad accident with my elder son.

Then I started to walk. I tried to run at the beginning but couldn't last for more than 5 minutes.

I continue this throughout 2007 and the target was to complete a 1000km journey. I did it with a daily routine of 4km a day. The routine started at 6am but sometime it's too late when the kids wake up so I changed it to 530 and at the end 5am.

2008 is the year I started to run more.

After the 1000km, I realised I have a better stamina and can run continuously for 4 to 5km. So I started to look around for a road race to participate. I was searching for something 5 or 6km but the nearest I could find is the Mizuno 10km run.

It's now a history but Mizuno 10k is the starting point of a more serious running engagement, leading to 2 marathon finishes this year.

I trained for the run, but unfortunately injured my big toe a day before the run in a company futsal game.

Despite the injury I still showed up and took that important first step with my buddies - Will, CP, Janice and James and it was hell limping all the way to the finish line.

That was the toughest run for me so far. In my mind it topped the final stretch along Jelutong Expressway last Sunday.

Nothing is ever the same again after that.

I participated in 2 more run - IOI 7km and Malakoff 12km that year.

A big breakthrough happened in Jan this year on a rainy Saturday morning. I did my first 20km run with CP, Ken Wei, Andre and Jon. It was the notorious 2 x reverse double hill route.

The next race I participated in was the Great Eastern 20k. I did my first sub 2 hours finish. I was feeling good even towards the end.

I can't remember how it all started but the thought of running full marathon started around that time. CP used to say - "Marathon is the furthest I would go". I must ask him again after his sub 4 finish last Sunday:)

After that 3 of us (CP, KW) started to train on longer distances. 21km, 25km, 28km and finally a 30km run. That's when I decided to commit myself to a marathon.

I registered online for PBIM on the first day, the 4th person to register for the full marathon and given the bib number of A00004.

Then came the news about SCKLM. At first we were not sure whether there is enough time to train for it. But after a lot of thought, all of us, including a surprised candidate Ravin, signed up for the race.

The rest of the stories on SCKLM can be found in this blog.

I continued to train after SCKLM and participated in a few more races. However my timing seems to have hit the plateau and can't improve further. On top of that I was constantly hit with knee problem and had to take it easy.

Despite all the difficulties, I'm glad to still manage to get in shape for PBIM and set a new PB.

In a positive way, I leave a lot of room for improvement and this will keep me motivated to continue my marathon journey.

Until the next race... PBIM race report coming up next...

PBIM - The result is out

2009-11-23T10:28:00.002+08:00

That was fast. The organiser released the official result almost immediately after the race.

Here are some interesting facts:

1.654 participated in full marathon category. Only 66 women.
2. 520 from host country Malaysia. Singapore is the next largest with 46 followed by Kenya (14), Japan (13), Thailand (12) and USA (8).
3. Men Veteran outscored Men Open by 295 to 293.

4. 87 runners managed to get a sub-4 finish. Highest number of runners finished between 5:00 to 5:30.

5. My official result is 5:08:37. Position 157/293 in Men Open. 316/588 in All Men. 358/654 in All categories.
6. In term of Malaysia only. I'm 265/520 overall. 117/239 in Men Open. 246/484 in All Men.

Quick update from Penang Bridge Marathon 2009

2009-11-22T10:59:00.000+08:00

Another mission accomplished.

Finished my 2nd marathon this morning with the time of 5 hours 08 minutes. A big improvement from the first one (5 hours 42 minutes).

The only regret is I didn't manage to get below 5 hours. Argh... it was so close.

Anyway it's a good lesson learnt for me. I pushed too hard too early in the run and as the consequence suffered badly from 30km onwards.

Next time I must know my realistic pace and pace it from the beginning. Call this pacing strategy:)

I started with a fast 5.5mins pace in the first 10k and slightly over 6mins until 20k. This sort of pace killed all energy storage in the muscles after 30k because I wasn't trained for it.

Anyway despite my underachievement, I was very happy to find out CP managed to do a sub 4 hours run. His finishing time is 3 hours 57 mins. What a blistering pace. The pace I can only dream of.

A BIG congratulation to him.

This sub-4 finish will make him one of the marathon elite in the running community. He even finished ahead of notable runners like Kenny Tan, Eugene, Frank etc.

New Lane

2009-11-21T17:46:00.000+08:00

Due to late booking, all the places near Bayan Lepas have been fully booked.

So I end up staying in the Sunway Hotel beside New Lane road.

My friend from Penang told me this street is famous for its pork porridge and port intestine noodle (correct translation for 猪肠粉?).

I will try them tomorrow after my run.

Another thing, I just realised this place is very near to the Magazine road. No wonder the buildings look quite familiar when I was searching for the hotel.

I used to come here very often before schooling and when grandmother is still staying around here.

Final kilometres

2009-11-21T07:23:00.000+08:00

After 16 weeks, 577km and various cross training, the hardest part of the journey is finally over:)

The last 42.2km shouldn't be that difficult and it should be over in less than 5 hours (I hope:).

I'll be heading to Penang after lunch today. Still need to settle the kids' kumon class, parent teacher day and the most important part, need to bring them for breakfast.

Hopefully there is time to take some rest before heading to Queenbay Mall tonight.

Wish me luck..

Final Checklist

2009-11-20T21:56:00.001+08:00

I will be heading to Penang around noon tomorrow.

Here is the final checklist:

1. Running shoes (including a pair of spare shoes) with shocks

2. Bib and timing chip

3. Water belt and bottle

4. Accelerade powder

5. Power Gel x 2

6. Powerbar

7. Knee guard

8. Head band and a cap

9. Ipod nano

10. Watch

11. Phone charger

12. Spare clothes

13. Small plastic bag to protect the phone if it rains

14. Armband for the phone

Did I miss anything important?

Last push for PBIM

2009-11-15T14:59:00.001+08:00

Last week's training went well according to the plan.

I managed to do my last long run (21km) on sunday and followed it up with a few 10k runs.

Total mileage logged is 70km. Highest mileage in a week so far.

I hope that will be enough to last me for the full distance. Let see whether this unconventional training method works or not.

Next week will be tapering and carbo loading week.

My plan is to continue with 5 to 6km easy run everyday until friday. Saturday will be rest day plus travelling to Penang.
I haven't book my accommodation in Penang yet. Anyone with spare room or bed to offer please let me know:)

PBIM race pack has arrived

2009-11-12T06:56:00.001+08:00

The PBIM race pack reached me 2 days ago.

Nothing much inside.

1 running vest which look a bit too small and uncomfortable for me.

1 yellow backpack with DiGi's logo on it which I don't think I will carry. It's against my green nature:)

1 race guide with some speeches from Lim Guan Eng, DiGi's CEO etc. The running route in the guide is quite vague to me but perhaps I'm not living in Penang so can't really appreciate all the landmarks.

The rest are bits and pieces of sponsors' samples.

My race bib is A00004. The 4th person to register for the full marathon event at my age group. It would have been nice if I waited for 3 more persons to register ahead of me:)

Peak Mileage

2009-11-09T22:01:00.001+08:00

Less than 12 days to Penang Bridge Marathon.. and I've yet to put in that "must do" 30k run to survive the full distance.

In fact my longest distance in a single run todate is 21.3k run which I did on Sunday.

Time to panic? No. I'm actually experimenting (or should I say gamble) with a training program that totalled up to 60k per week but with shorter daily run.

If this work, I will use it again in my future marathon trainings. It allows me to have better consistency in term of commitment. You don't feel like giving up before that 30k run or demoralised due to a bad run.

I started this method after I injured my right knee. Works well so far and my weekly mileage has exceeded 60k last week.

Will do another 60k this week before I taper off next week.

Yasso 800

2009-11-05T06:55:00.001+08:00

This technique is discovered by Bart Yasso, the Chief Running Officer of Runner's World magazine.

It will help you to predict your marathon time with some adjustment depending on your running experience, type of course and weather condition.

Here is how it works, if you can run Yasso 800 (10 x 800 meters interval run with equal amount of jog in between) in 4:00 (min:sec) per interval then your marathon time will be 4:00 (hour:min).

So for those who are aiming to go for sub-4, you should test out at 3:50 per 800m with similar amount of jog time in between.

Bart Yasso said you need to make 10 to 15 mins adjustment for newbies. His definition of newbies is those who has run less than 10 marathons:)

One more thing, it is advisable to do this 2 weeks before the actual marathon date.

Not there yet

2009-11-01T15:00:00.001+08:00

The knee is getting better after 2 weeks. My guess is it will take another week for it to be fully recovered.

Meantime I'm continuing my daily training with short runs. Slightly longer, upto 12k, during the weekend and keeping the pace slow and easy.

So far I have managed to build up a mileage of 55km last week.

Will continue with the same strategy next week and hopefully will recover in time for a 30km long run on saturday or sunday.

Mizuno Run 2009

2009-10-25T15:23:00.001+08:00

It was a very productive week both in work and running.

I managed to get the mileage up again and hopefully can maintain it there for the next 3 weeks despite the knee problem.

My knee started acting up again after the 10k run on Monday. I managed to run through the slight pain throughout the week and the good thing is it didn't worsen.

The problem shifted to the right knee this time and it's quite different from the injury I had before SCKLM. This time the pain occur every time I stretch out my leg. So in order to prevent the pain, I have to land my leg as softly as possible and push it back further than usual to compensate.

Luckily this hasn't caused any big imbalance to the running style so far.

At first I wasn't quite sure whether this style of running will enable me to run at 6 mins pace until I tested it out in the Mizuno Run this morning. I has tested it at 7.5 to 8 mins pace before and it was working fine.

More about the Mizuno Run.

I started the run this morning among the big crowd and wasn't even aware that the race has been flagged off until I saw the front runners sped off the starting line.

Then it was 2-3km of runners sardine. I had to run off the road many times to get ahead of slower runners. The track started to clear out after 3km and that's when I started to pick up the pace slightly into my cruising speed.

According to my GPS, I reached 5km mark at 28:38 with average pace of 5:43 per km. Way beyond my initial expectation:)

I reached the 8km mark at 44:56 and average pace improved to 5:37 per km after the crowd clear out.

The route become more hilly after that. Despite that I managed to maintain the steady pace and reached the 10km mark at 56:43, still keeping the pace up at 5:40 per km.

The biggest challenge of this run is the last 1km before returning to the stadium. I think the organiser meant to make it the "heart-break hill" for this run. I had to walk some 200m up this hill to catch my breath before speeding all the way to the finishing line.

My race time: 64:14. Average pace 5:43.

Total mileage this week: 46km

Balancing Act

2009-10-18T16:47:00.001+08:00

(This was posted last sunday - 1¹Oct but somehow didn't go through. This is the last post from Shozu)

Work has taken a lot of my waking hours in the last 2 weeks.

As a result, I have to skip a lot of my morning run to get enough sleeping hours.

However this wasn't such a bad thing after all since my knees is starting to give problem and I needed the rest anyway.

I started my run again this friday with a 12km run and it felt good. I did 11km more yesterday and another 7km this morning without any uncomfortable sign.

I had to cut short this morning's run due to late start and rain. Hope to catch up on the mileage tomorrow morning.

Overall I'm happy with the pace that I'm able to put in right now which is about 65 mins per 10km. The challenge will be to maintain it to at least 25km. That will be my goal pace in the Penang Bridge Marathon.

More training to go and I need to start hitting the distance of 25km or more..

No more excuses

2009-10-18T15:23:00.001+08:00

Less than 35 days to go for the Penang Bridge Marathon.

You could be interested to know how is my training going so far?

Two words could summarized the whole situation - "No good".

It has been 3 weeks since I did any serious running. What I have done so far is only patches of 10 to 15km runs.

Time seems to be flying past and suddenly I found myself in a situation no better than when I was training for KLIM. At least during that training I had a valid "excuse" to skip some of the runs. I was hurt with knee injury.

I must give myself no more excuses starting from next week. Marathon training is not something that can be cramped into the last 2 weeks or one will suffer greatly during the run.

Here I come..

Test post from CellSpin

2009-10-18T13:50:00.001+08:00

Test

Another low mileage week

2009-10-05T21:27:00.000+08:00

Had another low mileage week last week. Total mileage is only 24km.

Both my knees are feeling the pressure of running frequently again. I had to take it easy to not repeat the injury on the left knee I encountered during the KL Marathon training.

It's still more than 6 weeks to go before the race and I plan to only train up to 30km distance once this time.

My goal this time is to run a sub-5 hours marathon. This is achievable if I can maintained a 7 min/km pace throughout the run. Looks easy but things could get very tough after 30 or 35km.

50km

2009-09-28T08:16:00.001+08:00

I was planning for a 25k run this morning but somehow the legs don't feel right from the start. Part of the quad and calf muscles is still aching from yesterday's run.

In the end I managed only 16k with half limping pace. It was a good run nevertheless.

Total mileage this week = 50km

Holiday in Penang

2009-09-22T12:03:00.001+08:00

Did I say I was born in Penang?

Both my parent were from Penang. My grandmother owned a coffee shop at Magazine road (they call it Tao Tiaw Lo or road number 1).

Since my grandmother and almost all my relatives are in Penang, I was a frequent visitor until age of 7. But since I started primary school, the trip down to Penang has been very few.

We decided to take this long holiday break to bring the kids to Batu Ferringi beach to enjoy the sand and sea. It was a choice between Terengganu or Penang. Penang is the winner after considering the distance and potential traffic during raya. The judgement on traffic however is quite far off. It took us almost 9 hours to get to the destination.

Penang is a food heaven. I wasn't aware of this until I landed in KL. Everywhere you go, you can see hawker stalls for Penang hokkien mee, Penang laksa, Penang curry mee, Penang Kuay Teow T'ng, Penang rojak, Penang this and Penang that. All the foods that you have taken for granted is so famous out there..

I took the opportunity to try out a few famous eating places during this trip.

First up was a restaurant beside New World Park, famous for Choo Cha. The bean sprout with salted fish is the best I've tasted before.

The next morning we went to the famous Lam Heng restaurant to try out the Or Kuih (Yam Cake), famous sisters char kuey teow and lobak.

The dinner is at a hawker center near Batu Ferringi. I had a Oh Chien, chicken wing and Hokkien mee.

The next morning we went to a restaurant near Pulau Tikus market. The place is jam packed with people and we had to wait 15mins for a table. There I tried the Char Kueh kak, Chee Cheong Fan, Muah Chi, Tang Yuen and Ban Chien Kuih. Yummy... Imagine you have to wait 30mins for a Ban Chien Kuih...

In the afternoon we stop by the famous Siin Se Kai restaurant for lunch. I had the famous Majestic rojak.

The trip to Ghee Hiang was a waste because they have ran out of the famous Tambun biscuit.

We head to Alor Star to my hometown.

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 7)

2009-09-22T09:34:00.001+08:00

Another low mileage week due to many other commitments.

Those who train for marathon will soon discover the training itself is not that tough but finding time to train is the toughest part.

The best time to put in the mileages will be early morning before work and during the weekend. However the plan can easily be derailed if one has to work late. Weekend is always a juggle between family and long run.

I spent a lot of time in the weekends doing my long runs during the KL Marathon training. A typical schedule look like this: wake up at 5am, drives to Bukit Aman or Taman Bukit Jalil to meet up with the gang, run for 2.5 hours or more, chit chat and cool down after the run, drives home. It'll be 10.30am by the time I reached home.

Because of that, I actually prefer to run around my neighbourhood. I can start a 20k run at 6.30am and it can be done before 9am. I can then head home immediately and bring the kids out for breakfast after a quick shower.

Total mileage this week = 6km (2km at Batu Ferringi beach)
Also did a 3 x 17 (floors) stairs run with Will on Thursday and a swim.

It's a very relaxed week.

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 6)

2009-09-13T11:01:00.000+08:00

I finally did my 21k run after 6 weeks into the training.

Woke up at 5.30am this morning to do this week's long run. Unfortunately it rained again. Not too heavy but I decided to wait until the rain ease off. Don't want to risk getting sick around this time of the year.

I waited until the rain stopped at 6.30 and started my LSD for this week at 6.45. I brought along a bottle of Accelerade and hide it somewhere along my running route.

The route is 3km per loop

I did 7 loops around this 3km route this morning. The guards and people who saw me running must be wondering what am I doing running round and round for more than 2 hours:)

For the first 6 loops, I was able to run comfortably with the pace of slightly more than 20 minutes per loop on average. It was already close to 9am when I did my last loop, the heat plus lack of water (I only had one 600ml bottle) really make the last 3km a bit difficult. I managed to finish it 2 mins off the pace with the heavy legs. Nevertheless I'm very happy to have put in the required LSD for this week. Still a lot of 20k or more LSD to go before the race day. Must stay healthy and avoid any injury.

Total mileage this week = 46km. LSD = 21km.

Total mileage todate = 205km

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 5)

2009-09-08T21:48:00.001+08:00

I consider this as a fairly good running week except for the LSD that didn't happen yesterday.

I started some interval training this week to improve on my stamina.

In the first interval training, I did a 2 x 200m and 5 x 400m speed intervals. It was such a challenging run and I was completely out of breath after each repetition.

I did another interval on sunday. This time it was 3 x 600m. Very challenging indeed. On top of that my shin is still hurting 2 days after the run.

Total mileage this week = 36km. No LSD.

Total mileage todate = 159km.

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 4)

2009-08-30T15:58:00.002+08:00

This is a low mileage week due to many reasons (or excuses??:)

1. I was down with flu, luckily not H1N¹but it was enough to make me feel dizzy in the morning. So 2 days is gone just to recover.

2. Raining season has started and it rains almost every morning. I ended up doing stairs training on friday due to that.

3. Lazy bug hit me:)

Anyway I was determined to make it a good week yesterday by trying to do a 20km LSD.

I started the run a bit late at 6.30am and by the time I finished 16km it's already almost 8.30am. Had to cut short the run because it's time to head home and bring the family out for breakfast.

Total mileage for today is 6km. 2 x 2.6km for the pacemakers run plus some warm up strides I did while waiting for the gang to arrive.

Total mileage this week = 23km. LSD = 16.5km

Total mileage todate = 123km

PS: finally met Yin in person today. She is on the right of the emcee in photo above. Much taller than I have expected:) Kopi O satu or is it Milo O??

The 5th Pacemakers Anniversary Run

2009-08-30T11:17:00.002+08:00

This is my first participation in a race hosted by the Pacemakers Network.

It's a 4 x 2.6km relay run around the Lake Garden track.

My team consist of myself, CP, Janice and James.

Janice took the first leg, CP 2nd then James and me took the last 2.

The greatest challenge of this run is the first 500 meters uphill run then followed by a 200 meters steep downhill before hitting the loop around Lake Garden.

Before my turn, CP has warned me about the punishing climb and asked me to take it easy but when my turn come, I still made the same mistake of pushing too hard on the climb and suffer greatly for the rest of the run.

In any case it was fun to push very hard all the way. You can almost hear the pumping sound of the heart. (not recommended to do it everyday:)

This is the time split of our team:

1. Janice - 13:49 [Pos. 14]
2. CP - 11:42 > 25:31 [Pos. 13]
3. James - 16:12 > 41:43 [Pos. 24]
4. BP - 12:30 > 54:13 [Pos. 26]

We finished in position 26 among 33 teams.

Other interesting facts:

- The champion team finished at 38 mins sharp.
- The fastest runner's time is 8m 27s (ave 3:15 per km)
- My time ranked 80/132 overall and 72/91 among the male runners (this is an elite field:)

- 8/41 female runners are ahead of me. The fastest female runner's time is 9m 50s (ave 3:47 per km)

My average pace for this run is 4:48 per km. I'm quite happy with this and of course there is always a lot of room to improve:)

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 3)

2009-08-23T14:56:00.001+08:00

Woke up at around 6am this morning to do my weekly long run, however less than 2km into the road, the rain started to fall heavily. So I have to make a detour and run home instead.

I was getting ready to do some stair training indoor when the sound of the rain subsided. Quickly, I walk out of the house to check on the rain and it has reduced to small drops. So I put on my New Balance shoes again and go on the road to continue the unfinished long run.

My body felt unusually tired only after 6km, anyhow I pushed on until 11km before calling it a day. Total distance covered is 13km including the 2km before the rain started.

Overall this week's program went well as planned.

I did a 10km at marathon pace yesterday and did a good tempo run during the week at sub 6 mins pace. The plan is to get the tempo run distance up to 10km gradually.

Total mileage this week = 41km; LSD = 13km
Total mileage todate = 100km

Running is bad for the knees?

2009-08-20T21:28:00.003+08:00

Contrary to what most people believe, according to this article, running actually enhanced the knees. Hmm... I guess right running technique must be one of the key factors as well.

So friends, let's continue to run...

At the end of the decade, the active runners showed “no adverse long-term consequences…” while the runner who hadn’t run over the course of the 10-year study showed “severe deterioration of the internal structures of the knee joint..

Usain Bolt's New World Record

2009-08-18T22:40:00.001+08:00

Wow... amazing run... and they said human limit is 9.2s... still long way to go Usain...

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 2)

2009-08-16T12:26:00.001+08:00

Only managed 2 weekday runs this week but managed to catch up on the lost mileage yesterday and today.

I put on the heart rate monitor today to see how is my heart rate during the long slow run. Quite surprise to find out the heart rate can stay below 140 bpm most of the time and go slightly higher to 146 bpm when I run faster at 6:20 pace.

I used to be able to run comfortably at heart rate of around 155 bpm and peak close to 175 bpm when I'm pushing the pace.

This drop from 150 to 140 must be the effect of many LSDs done during the previous marathon training.

Even though I have no problem with the heart rate and breathing throughout the LSD today, my legs especially the knees still feel uncomfortable after 12km. I guess still need to do a lot of strength training to build the leg muscles. That will be part of the training in the next few weeks.

Total weekly mileage = 32km. LSD = 15.5km
Total mileage todate = 59km.

Skytrex Teambuilding

2009-08-15T11:33:00.001+08:00

Skytrex is located inside Taman Pertanian in Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam.

The entrance is quite difficult to find if you're not familiar with this place. A number of my colleagues were lost initially but managed to get there after a few detours around Shah Alam and Kelang.

Before all of us were allowed to venture into the real Skytrex challenges, we have to go through a training and warm up session with 3 mini challenges.

The mini challenges is vertical climb of about 5 meters then we have to walk over a hanging bridge, do a rope swing to a spider web and finally end with a flying fox back to the ground.

It was a challenging experience already for some of us, before we see the full challenges which is about 20 times harder.

The first hurdle for the full Skytrex challenge is a vertical ladder climb of about 17 meters. From there we have to walk through a hanging net across to another platform then through another hanging bridge before we hit the first flying fox.

We need to go through many types of obstacles. The most challenging ones are the swinging tubes and the hanging bridge with a large gaps. We have to jump and swing from one step to another. I almost fell in one of those challenges.

On top of that the interesting part is there are no less than 6 to 7 flying foxes. Flying foxes became quite fun after you've conquered the first one. I really enjoyed flying above the trees from one end to another although I almost failed to land on the tree in the last flying fox.

The weather was quite kind to us throughout the day as well. The rain started just after we finished the Skytrex session and while we were having our lunch break.

In the afternoon, we had a few fun teambuilding activities. A small treasurehunt, a couple of magic rope challenges, building a pyramid with balloons and a couple of brainteasers.

Overall it was a well organised event. Kudos to all the committee. I look forward to another one towards end of the year but it has to be zero cost version...

Road to Penang Bridge Marathon (Week 1)

2009-08-09T08:59:00.002+08:00

Week 1 Training Plan

After a challenging half marathon race last week, I kick started my training program for the next marathon this week.

Last week's Adidas event see a tragic ending with a young runner found dead in the stadium tunnel a day later. A lot of tributes from various runners here, here and here. Life is so fragile and unpredictable. Who would have thought a young healthy runner will end his life in such unpredictable manner. My heart goes to his parents and family members..

Rest in peace Gary Leon Robert.

Back to my training this week. The training program is meant to be aggressive with mileage of around 50km for week 1. Anyway in reality it is very difficult to find enough time to train that long even in the morning unless I wake up 4.30am in some of the days. A lot of 8.30am meetings these days...

At the end I managed put in 27km mileage this week. Not such a bad start...

PBIM is on week 47. Exactly 16 weeks away including this week.

Training log:
Week 01 = 27km, Total todate = 27km, LSD = 10km, Tempo run = 2km @ 6m pace

Adidas King Of The Road Shah Alam 2009

2009-08-02T15:23:00.001+08:00

This is my first competitive run after the KL Marathon at the end of June.

I suffered quite a bit during this run due to lack of training. The longest distance I've done in July is only 10km so the outcome is sort of expected.

In any case, I'm still very happy with this run. Turned out I'm only ¹minute late for the finisher's medal. They only give this to top 350 finishers in Category A.

Must try again next year when I'm able to train harder.

The running route is quite hilly throughout northern and southern part of Shah Alam. Total race distance is 22.7km which is odd for a half marathon race.

I started the race pretty strong and able to keep up with the top runners until about 3km. Reached the first water station (my guess that is the 5km point since there are no distance markers) at about 2¹mins. After that I just can't keep up anymore when the route hit a few hills. My legs were completely lack of strength to push hard so most of the time I ended up with mere jogging pace.

After 10km I have to start my run-walk routine again to ease the running muscles. It worked perfectly and I'm able to overtake quite a lot of runners later on nearer to the finishing line.

The last hill before the Shah Alam Stadium is where I suffered the most. Only if I had push harder, I should be able to finish 1-2 minutes earlier. Frank Chong from Runnerz Circle overtook me in front of the stadium entrance...and he is probably the last of the top 350.

CP did well by finishing his first sub 2 half marathon with the time of 1h 58m.

My Time: 2h 19m

(I forget to stop the watch. So the actual timing is between 2:18 - 2:19). I heard the gun went off about 1-2 mins after I crossed the finishing line.

Next up will be the training for Penang Bridge Marathon. Here it goes again....:)

2km with daddy

2009-08-02T13:10:00.001+08:00

My younger 6 years old son woke up early yesterday morning and followed me out for morning run.

He walked 2km with me around the neighbourhood.

Still full of energy after that..

Adidas King Of The Road 2009

2009-07-18T11:37:00.004+08:00

This will be my next run in 2 weeks' time. I have signed up for the half marathon category.

Meantime I'm still doing slow recovery type runs to take a break from last month's KL Marathon.

This event has a very stringent qualifying time. For the half marathon category, the runners have to finish within 2 hours 20 minutes. This is an average pace of slightly more than 6 mins per km throughout the whole 21.7km distance. Quite worrying for me since I have not been training at this sort of pace for a long time.

Anyway whatever it is, this will be a run to keep my training going until the Penang Bridge Marathon in Nov and hopefully can meet some celebrities like this one during the run:)

Happy birthday to Will

2009-07-06T08:40:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was Will's 40th birthday.

Mohana made this kuih (40 of them) to celebrate with him this morning.

Happy belated birthday, keep running and stay healthy..

My target time table

2009-07-05T20:30:00.001+08:00

I made this target time table for the marathon run last Sunday.

It's based on 8.5 min per km pace with target finish time of 6 hours.

This table is displayed as wallpaper on the phone I carried along and used to update my facebook status every 5km. I get a lot of comments and encouragement from friends who happened to read my status.

Seeing that you're ahead of the target time at every 5km segment is a great motivation for the run. I think I'll do the same again for my next marathon run but the target time will need to improve. I think I'll be happy to go sub-5 in my 2nd attempt and sub-4 one day before the end of my running career..

Less than 1% of population

2009-07-05T20:11:00.001+08:00

After we finished the run last Sunday, CP told me we are now officially part of this exclusive club of people who has run a marathon.

I did some googling later on and found out in North America the % of population who has done a marathon is only 0.1%. I believe this number could be much lower in Malaysia, judging from people we always bumped into during races, I estimate the number of active marathoner in Malaysia is less than 2k. That mean it is less than 0.008% of 26 millions Malaysian population. I'm very proud to be part of this.

What is the main reason the % is so low?

Actually now that I have done mine, I can tell everyone that running a marathon is not as hard as it seen. I believe most people who is willing to commit serious time into training can make it to the finish line.

Our body can adapt very fast to the training - an official beginner's training program from Runner's World website is only 16 weeks. Anyone who is willing to commit their time to it will have very high chance of making it to the finishing line. The hardest part is to make that commitment and stick to it throughout the training period.

So who is joining us (me and CP) in Penang this Nov?

More on KL Marathon result

2009-07-04T14:52:00.003+08:00

Who's who
Of the 1492 who finished, 14% were female and 86% were male.

Opposite Sex

For the record, you were ahead of about 28% of female finishers.

Result in Entire Field - 1146th place

346 finishers behind. About 77% of finishers ahead.

Result in Gender (Male) - 998th place

288 finishers behind. About 78% of finishers ahead.

Result in Division (M3539) - 154th place

38 finishers behind. About 80% of finishers ahead.

From Halfway to Finish

You passed
143
runners

And 10
passed you

Average speed is 8 min 5 sec per km

What I'm really proud of is on 10 runners managed to pass me after halfway mark and I passed 143 runners:)

Official result

2009-07-01T05:20:00.003+08:00

Quite surprise to see they managed to release official results so quickly after the terrible event.

My official gun time is 5h 42m and chip time is 5h 41m.

Position 1047 out of expected 2000 full marathon runners even though not sure how many actually participated in the day.

For friends who by 4D, please remember to invest in this number: 1047 :)

After running a marathon

2009-06-29T21:22:00.001+08:00

What do you normally do after running a marathon?

This is my first time so I hope some readers out there who have more experience can share theirs..

This is my own experience after running my first marathon yesterday.

1. Have to do a lot of stretching immediately after crossing the finish line.

2. Queue up to get my finisher's medal and t-shirt.

3. Queue up again to get a bottle of mineral water.

4. Return to the finishing line to wait for a friend who is yet to finish.

5. Rush home to shower, eat lunch and drive out to fetch my son from his tuition class.

6. Bring the 2 boys to their music classes after that. Do some walking around the shopping centre while waiting for them.

7. Return home at around 5.30pm then bring the elder out for cycling at around 6pm.

8. Bring the 3 fa kuat long's up to the room after dinner and write my race report while letting 3 of them ransacked the room.

9. Sleep early together with the younger boy after a tired day.

10. Woke up 5am the next morning (can't turn off this biological clock) and go for a morning walk.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon - Part 3

2009-06-28T21:17:00.002+08:00

From 32km onwards the route is getting tricky for me. We have to run on Jalan Istana then connect to Jalan Mahameru. It was really hot out there at the time.

The road is slopping up and down. I had to walk most of the up slopes and run the down slopes gently.

My leg muscles started to get tight after the 35km mark. I consume another pack of powergel immediately to supply more energy to them.

35km to 40km is the hardest and longest of this run. Leg muscles getting sore and my right heel started to get painful everytime I land. I just kept going with slow pace.

I was surprised to see Hugo waiting at 40km mark when I reached there. He has come to cheer for us and Ravin especially. I stopped to chat with him for a couple of mins before proceed to run the last 2.195km.

No simple words can describe the feeling I had when I reached Dataran Merdeka... It was pure joy inside.

CP waited for me at the finishing line. He has run a truly outstanding first marathon with the time of 4 hours 39 mins. My time is ¹hour behind at 5 hours 40 mins.

We waited for another hour before Ravin finally came in. This is 3 out of 3 success rate. Too bad Lam can't make it. Otherwise it would have been 4 out of 4. The only hurdle is in the mind..

Update: My time split.
05km : 0h 37m
10km : 1h 15m > 38m
15km : 1h 55m > 40m
20km : 2h 35m > 40m
25km : 3h 15m > 40m
30km : 3h 55m > 40m
35km : 4h 35m > 40m
40km : 5h 25m > 50m
42km : 5h 40m > 15m

Signoff from SCKLM. Until the next marathon...

Standard Chartered KL Marathon - Part 2

2009-06-28T20:44:00.002+08:00

From that point onwards I continue with my 3:¹run-walk plan.

Janice and James came to cheer for us at Jalan Travers 5am in the morning. What a nice gesture.

First 5km, I was pacing comfortably at 7.5 minutes.

I reached the 10km mark at around 75 minutes. Still running at 7.5 mins pace. After that point, I slow my pace down to 8 mins in order to nurse my knee and to ensure I can go further. This is the point my knee pain started during the trainings.

I managed this pace until 15km mark without any sign of pain. Delighted with this, I just kept going.

At 18km mark, Uncle Yong from Bukit Jalil ran pass. I speed up a little bit to catch up and had a few chat with him. He told me to take it easy and warned me about hitting the wall at 30km or 32km mark. I told him about my knee and said I have to take my walk break now. He continue his run and I overtook him later at 22km mark.

Uncle Yong

I continue my run past 20km mark and started to get worry when there is a slight sign of uncomfortable on my left knee.

At a waterstation near 22km, I met a 65 years old senior man and chatted with him for a while. He has just recovered from flu and fever this week and wasn't sure whether he could finish the run. He told me about his first marathon experience and how it took him 4 years to train for it. Again I parted with him to do my walk break. I saw him again at the finishing line hours later. Bravo Mr. Gurdip.

Gurdip

25km was the point I make up my mind I will finish this run even if I have to walk the rest of it. Fortunately my knee is still holding up well up to this point. I stopped to take my first powergel at this point.

About 40 mins later I was at 30km mark. Time still below 4 hours. This is quite unbelievable since I've never ran upto this distance during training. Still remember my furthest distance is 29.2km? Everything beyond this point is an unknown to me and to my body. I decided to take it easy after that by slowing down the pace.

See part 3...

Standard Chartered KL Marathon - Part 1

2009-06-28T20:11:00.001+08:00

This is my first marathon and I'm very happy to finish it within my target time of 6 hours.

The event itself is very badly organised. First the mayhem during the first bib collection day then they ran out of water at waterstations today.

I was told this event is much smaller than similar event organised by the same sponsor and organiser in Singapore. Doesn't make sense how they can messed up so badly with all those experience.

Back to my race report.

I woke up at 3am this morning to get ready for the run. The night before I went to bed at around 9.30pm but was awaken by gastric pain. My stomach has not been feeling well yesterday due to overload of food from the carbo loading. I had to swallow a couple of actal tablets to ease the pain and tried to get back to sleep. However the burning sensation from the stomach kept me awake until around 1.30am (last time I remember checking the time).

The stomach pain was still there when I woke up at 3am. I took a panadol before heading out. Panadol has been an effective medicine for my gastric problem.

After packing a few essential things into the running bag, I head out at around 3.20am.

CP sms me just when I turned into Padang Merbuk parking place. We managed to park side by side.

After taking one of my granolar bar as breakfast, both of us walked towards Dataran Merdeka. Not many runners around when we arrived.

We managed to meet up with Ravin around 4.30am.

Suddenly it rained 20 minutes before the race start. All of us have to hide under the VIP tent for a while before the organiser called everyone out 10 minutes before the starting time.

At the starting line, I told Ravin of my target time and 3:¹run-walk plan. I asked him to pace with me.

The run started on time at 5am. It was such a great feeling running out of the starting line. We wish CP all the best and told him to run at his own pace. Ravin is supposed to pace with me but he decided to continue his run when I started my walk break.

See part 2..

Mission Accomplished

2009-06-28T18:20:00.001+08:00

Photo courtesy of CP again.

When I went out from the house this morning, I really wasn't sure whether I can even finished 15km. 10km was my target.

Less than ¹week ago, when I decided to join the run, the aim was just to be there to give CP and Lam support and run a relaxed 10km then take a taxi back.

It has been close to 1.5 months (a week before New Balance 15k) when my knee problem started. I have been struggling to finish even a 20k run since. So being realistic, I didn't set a very high target.

However I always keep the slim hope alive deep inside me. I wanted to get ready just in case. So while all other runners have started their tapering last week, I was still putting in km after km of mileage. I want to keep my legs ready if the knee doesn't give me problem. I glad I did all that because all those training mileage come in really handy today. I was able to pace myself without much problem through out except the stretch after 33km where it goes slightly uphill.

Being able to finish my first marathon after all the challenges is truely satisfying. I learned a lot from the race, the trainings and from all the challenges that I need to overcome.

We must keep the hope alive and always get ready. Never give up even if sometime it seems impossible..

Race report coming up next...

Less than 17.5 hours to go

2009-06-27T11:28:00.001+08:00

It is less than 17.5 hours to go before the gun off of 2009 SC KL marathon.

I'm in the midst of preparing a checklist on items to bring.

1. A cap - very important item especially if I'm running past 11am tomorrow.

2. Sun block - must remember to apply before leaving home.

3. Powergel x ¹- i normally don't take powergel but will carry one for safety reason. The organiser will provide this after 30km so i can grab from there if need more than 1.

4. Drinks - very very important. Will bring ¹x 250ml bottle of accelerade drink plus a pack in powder form. I can mix it at waterstation.

5. Handphone - my E90 is too bulky to bring along so will downgrade to a smaller nokia just for emergency. Maybe i will facebook along the way every 5km:) Those who are interested can stay tuned..

6. Money - if I need to take a taxi. Also for parking just in case.

7. IC and driving license - a bit troublesome but looks like no choice.

8. My stopwatch - I have programmed a run-walk interval of 3:¹minutes into the watch. I planned to follow this rhythm throughout the run so that the impact to my knee is not so bad.

9. Knee guard - still wondering whether this would help but I will bring along nevertheless.

10. Tower - i plan to carry one during the run. Can serve 2 purposes. ¹- to rub my sweat. 2 - as extra protection from the sun.

Last but not least - i will bring my determination and hope..

My final preparation for Standard Chartered KL Marathon

2009-06-27T07:24:00.001+08:00

Wake up at 5.45am this morning to do my final laps before tomorrow's marathon.

It will be my first marathon attempt and could be my first DNF in races participated so far as well.

Overall since last sunday, I have accumulated 51km of slow mileage this week, trying to catch up on the lost ground.

I've been training with various running speed trying to find one that will not hurt my knee so much when the distance get longer. Pace of between 8.5 mins to 9 mins per km seems to be working fine so far. The truth will be revealed after 10km tomorrow I guess..

Anyway some of my friends have been advising me to not over do it. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to them for their concern. Don't worry as CP said, I know my body best and will know when to call it a day. I still want to run until age of 76 at least, an inspiration I've drawn from the oldest ironman in malaysia:)

Signoff from the training log of my 1st marathon attempt.

Race pack

2009-06-26T21:25:00.001+08:00

Collected my race pack this afternoon thanks to CP.

It was a disaster for the organiser.

First it rained just before noon when most people take the opportunity of lunch hour to go and collect their race pack.

Then they were hit by power outage. The LAN system is out and no one could collect their pack.

When we (me, CP, Ravin and Devan) reached the collection area, it looked like the queue for full marathon category is fairly empty. However when we approached the counters suddenly there is a lady shouted at us said please queue from back there.. Really can't understand the pure kiasu attitude..

After queuing for almost 20 minutes and the system is still down, we decided to walk to Masjid Jamek for lunch.

When we came back 30 minutes or so later, the electricity has been restored. It was still a long and slow queue in front. I waited in the queue for another 15 minutes before decided to leave because I've to catch my next meeting back in office. I passed the authorization letter to CP who helped to collect my race pack.

Overall the initial impression of the organiser is really bad. I hope they improve tremendously during the race day. Otherwise I'm really worry they might run out of water supply for the slow marathon runners like me.

Other than that what's in the race pack is also quite disappointing. ¹running vest, ¹tower, ¹powerbar, bibs, runner's guide, a bunch of promotion leaflets and nothing else. I was hoping for more since this is such a big event compared to others.

Ready or not...

2009-06-24T22:10:00.003+08:00

I've decided to turn up for SCKLM marathon event regardless of what's going to happen. At the very least I will be there to support my friend - CP, who is going to run his maiden full marathon.

So far I'm confident of running at least 10km with a very slow pace. If fortunate I might be able to last 15km or 20km. If I manage to get to 25km mark then I will likely to walk the remaining 17km. BHAG... My Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Hehe :)

This is definitely not a glamorous way of finishing the 1st marathon but who cares..

Meantime I need to find a cap or maybe a hat with umbrella on it to shield myself from the extremely heat from 9am - 12am on the race day. I have calculated it will takes between 6.5 hours to 7 hours for me to finish. All preparation must gear towards heat management... unless it rains..

Other than that I need to bring my knee protector, sloan cream, emergency numbers and other medical supplies just in case..

May the force be with me on the race day...

Happy father's day

2009-06-21T15:35:00.001+08:00

Photo of my sons in the bath tub. My elder son tried to run with me once but he gave up after 600 meters and had to be carried home:)

I try to do a long run this morning without any specific target just to see how far I can go. Unfortunately the knee pain came about after just 7km. I continue to run-walk-run for another 2km before called it a day.

I've stopped running completely whole of last week to rest my knee and at the same time to recover from the cough. Looks like the knee will need more time to heal. It could take months I guess.

Took me around 10 weeks to heal when I injured the metatarsal bone on my left foot in a futsal match last year.

No races for the next 2 months since I will not be able to do long distance run for a while.. Or maybe I should take up sprinting again:)

Bad luck hit twice

2009-06-15T09:15:00.006+08:00

Apart from the knee problem that hit me out of no where, I was down with minor lung infection in the last 2 days. It must have been the haze and viruses around the office.

With this my slim hope of turning up for SCKLM is almost buried. Just not enough time left to train even if my knee can take it.

Anyway I plan to resume my running routine with short distance run until my knee is fully recovered. I might not make it this time but I have committed to another marathon run in November. Plenty of time to train for it so I have to take it slowly this time to not repeat the same injury problem.

It's 2 more weeks to go for my friends who will be running their 1st marathon: CP, KW and Ravin. All the best to you guys.

Not good

2009-06-10T08:40:00.002+08:00

I failed my 15km attempt today. The culprit is the left knee again. It gives way after 4km.

Next stop is Dr. William Chan's office..

An uphill battle

2009-06-07T14:41:00.002+08:00

This week my running program is even worse than the week before. I only managed total mileage of 29km with longest distance of 10km.

I dare not over stretched and had to stop the run every time the pain on my left knee started with level 1 or 2 pain.

Good news is I'm now able to do at least 9 or 10km run before the pain starts.

My plan in the next 21 days before the SCKLM is to do a run on alternate day to give my legs some rest time in between. I'm still hoping to be at the starting line of this event if things progress as expected.

With the alternate day plan, I hope to be able to catch up with a 12km run tomorrow (8/6), 15km (10/6), 18km (12/6), 20km (14/6), 22km (16/6), 25km (18/6), 28km (20/6), 30km (22/6) and taper with a 6km run on 24/6.

25/6 onwards will be carbo loading days to fuel up for the 42km run.

By the way, I'm supposed to see a sports doctor on my knee. I know what the advice would be and decided to skip it until end of June.

Wish me luck all my friends... :-)

The boys are enjoying their Sunday

2009-06-07T11:47:00.001+08:00

There is a nice water park at my housing area and it's only 100 meters away from my house.

Our swimming class was cancelled because the coach is sick so we decided to bring the kids to the water park to enjoy themselves.

30km

2009-05-31T19:19:00.001+08:00

I have to use the same photo again because posting from Shozu requires one.

This week marks 4 weeks countdown to SCKLM.

Every runners participating in full marathon category is doing their last LSD this week. Some did 37km, 35km, 32km, 31km, 30km and so on.

By right I should be joining this group of people this week but unfortunately the condition of my knee has not improve at all.

I woke up at 5am this morning and went out trying to do a long run. My target was at least to do a 25km run. I was sceptical whether longer distance is possible after low mileage this week. Turn out, the knee has not improve at all.

I haven't had pain after a few days of resting but after a short 4km run this morning, the severe pain started again. I had to limp my way till 10km before finally decided to call it a day. I was worried that the limping run will affect the other knee and my back if I continue further.

I tried another run in the afternoon and the pain started on queue after about 5km. I abandoned the run after 1km of limping.

Bad news is I have only 2 more weeks to recover. Otherwise I may have to pull out from my maiden marathon run.

Total weekly mileage: 30km (a lot of rest days to let the knee fully recover)

If problem persist, I'll have to do more cross trainings next week.

KL towerthon

2009-05-31T15:25:00.001+08:00

After almost 3 months, I finally received the official result and finisher's certificate for KL towerthon.

This event was held on 1st of March. I was the lone participant for this event since the rest of the gang can't make it.

The run to the top started with a 1km uphill run. This is then followed by 2158 steps of stair climbing to the observation deck. The good thing is the participants can enjoy the view from KL tower for a while before coming down with the lift.

I managed a modest time of 26:22 minutes. Placed 323 among the men open category.

Outliers

2009-05-27T08:30:00.001+08:00

Just finished reading this book on Monday night. It's a very interesting book. The story telling pattern is similar to his 2 previous books - Tipping Point and Blink.

Lessons learnt:

1. If you want to be one of the richest man in the world today, you should be born in 1955.

2. 10,000 hours is the amount of time you need to spend on anything you do to become one of the best.

3. Success = Opportunity + 10,000 hours.
Opportunity play a much bigger role than what we would like to believe.

4. Culture is a very important element in everything we do. Plane crashes has a lot to do with it.

5. Asian are good at Math not because they have better IQ or hardworking.

6. Most of the best footballers in UK is born in Jan, Feb and Mar.

Knee "injury"

2009-05-26T22:51:00.001+08:00

I managed to accumulate a total mileage of 43km last week despite various problems.

First of all the pain in my left knee resurfaced when I was attempting a 26k run on Sunday. The mild pain started at around 12k but I continue to run for another 4km before it became really unbearable. The pain is at the level where even a slow walk caused tremendous difficulty. I had to force myself to continue the walk until the pain slowly went away.

Prior to that my plan was to do a 30k run together with CP on Saturday. Somehow I developed mild flu on Friday and the body wasn't feel right at night. I sms CP to inform him I will have to skip the run and only do a minor run around my housing area. I did manage to log in a 12k run on my own.

Overall this is the 5th week since I last did anything more than 21k. I'm fighting with both knee and toes problems and against time to get fit for the full marathon. I'm still very positive about able to get ready on time.

All these challenges is getting me stronger and stronger. It also help me to understand this is not an easy task and suffering is part of the journey I must conquered before I run across that finish line on 28 of June..

"Failure is not an option"

50k week and New Balance 15k

2009-05-17T15:08:00.002+08:00

Photo courtesy of CP.

This could be my last race before the KL Marathon. I'm still thinking about possibility of participating in Klang Pacers' Half Marathon. It's on 7 June.

Overall I'm very happy with the race today. Also happy to see Will managed to make it despite some issues at home.

My main aim today is to complete my 50km target for this week. It has been a very tough week with the injury on my left knee. Running has been very painful but as a stubborn person I continue to log in the mileage.

Good thing is the pain has not come back from yesterday's 10k run and today's 15k. I hope it has gone away for good.

3 of us (will, cp and myself) met up around 5:35am at Bukit Aman carpark. Initially I was thinking about doing an extra 3km lap around Bird Park before the NB 15k run. Somehow I don't feel like doing it at that point so we just continue our walk to Tapak A Lake Garden where the race will start.

The race started at 7am sharp. I started the run with a slow 7 mins pace going up the 1st hill. The pace started to pick up when we reached Jalan Parlimen. It's a slight downhill slope and everyone started to step up their speed. Reached 4km mark just after 24 mins. Then it is a long challenging climb at Langgak Tunku. I reached 6km mark at 36mins. After that I couldn't locate any other distance marker until the finishing line. Not a very good planning in this area.

3rd hill at Laman Tunku is not what I always remember so it was quite a surprise hill to me when I reached there. The climb was tough and at this point some of the top women runners started to overtook me. They've started the race 15mins later than men.

After that we ran across Mahameru and reached the 2nd water station in front of Jabatan Pertanian. I drank a few cups of water there to rehydrate.

Not long after that we reached the 4th and final hill. I have to walk for about 200 meters before picking up my strength and run all the way to the finishing line. I picked up my pace considerably after reaching Lake Garden and overtook quite a number of runners.

CP and Lam has both finished ahead of me. Met uncle Yong (a hardcore runner from Bukit Jalil), and had a chat with him for a while. He volunteered as road Marshall in this event.

After I met up with CP and Lam we walk around searching for Will. I managed to locate him with Maxis Friend Finder. Will came in around 9:00am, exactly 2 hours after the race start. It must have been a grueling run for him. He told us he had cramp at the 2nd water station. Every run is a personal challenge for everyone regardless of timing.

Congratulations to all for running a good race.

My timing: 1:34:59
Average pace: 6:08 mins per km.

Not my knees

2009-05-14T21:58:00.001+08:00

The outer part of my left knee has been having severe pain since last saturday's 20k run.

In my 10k recovery run the next morning, I almost cannot walk straight immediately after the run. But the pain disappear fairly quickly after that.

I tried a 10k run again the next day but the pain came back and I had to stop at 9k. Again the pain went away in the afternoon.

So I tried to do another 10k in the next morning but the pain again came back and this time much earlier at 6k point. I abandoned the run after that.

After that I decided to only do light cross training (cycling) to avoid getting into serious injury and have a rest day today.

The knee is much better now after two days of rest. I hope to do a 10k tomorrow before heading out to work..

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T14:37:00.001+08:00

Message to all the moms out there.. from a 6 years old boy:)

Break-in Period

2009-05-10T14:35:00.001+08:00

Read this from one of the Runner's World article. A pair of new shoes have to go through a 6 weeks break-in period before they are marathon ready.

Since it is about 6 weeks left before KLIM, I decided to bring out the birthday present from my good friends to do a recovery run this morning.

Not sure whether it is due to the pain incurred from the 20k run yesterday or the new shoes still too tight, my toes started to suffer from about 7km onwards. One of the toes even has blister after the run.

Not wanting to risk injury less than 2 months from the big occassion, I have to cut short the planned 16km run to 10km.

Will have to try the shoes out again a few more times to see whether the condition will improve. Otherwise I will have to run with one of the old pairs.. hiya...

Fishing

2009-05-10T14:34:00.001+08:00

This is our new hobby - fishing.

There is an old mining lake near our housing area. A lot of residents fish there on the weekends. My son has been asking for a fishing rod since one of the uncles there let him hold it 2 weeks ago.

Yesterday we finally bought the rod for him and went to the lake to try it out. Not a bad result for the first outing, we managed to catch 21. However all of them were too small so we decided to release them back to the lake.

Hopefully one day we'll go deep sea fishing together.

6k short of 50k this week

2009-05-10T11:54:00.001+08:00

This week's mileage is slightly better than last week. Managed to achieve 44k, and that leave room for improvement next week:)

As usual, my weekend long run is on Saturday. This time we decided to do it in Taman Bukit Jalil again.

Unfortunately again like last week, I suffer just to complete the 20k run. This time it was my toes which give problem. This is something new to me. There were some pains at the toes in the past but not as bad as this time.

One of the reason I think could be because of the shoes. I was wearing a different pair of shoes this week. The Saucony Triumph 5.

Thing that puzzles me however is that I have been wearing this shoes for a while for various long runs, including GE20k, Bidor Half Marathon and my first 30k run. It could also be the terrain and the way I land.

Have to find out the root cause quickly. It will not be an easy task to run with painful toes for 42k.

Low mileage

2009-05-03T15:00:00.001+08:00

So far my weekly mileage has been stagnant at between 30 to 40km per week. This week's mileage is only 34.2km. That's inclusive of the 20km long run yesterday and it's full 8km short of a full marathon distance over a week. That's a Red Flag if you are running a project!!

From all the marathon training resources I have read so far, one has to reach the peak mileage of at least 60km per week in order to survive the last 10km of a marathon. Image above is an example of a marathon rookie program downloaded from Runner's World website.

It's time to be more serious about my training program starting tomorrow. Target mileage next week is 50km. It's do or die situation now since it's only 6 weeks to tapering period.

Not sure which runner said this - we must respect the distance..

Relaxing

2009-05-02T16:17:00.001+08:00

The boys are enjoying themselves at the Ogawa massage chair. It's massage chair road show time again for Mother's day.

It'll be good to have one after the long run:)

20k but suffer like hell

2009-05-02T11:20:00.001+08:00

Today is my weekly weekend long run routine. Only 2 persons (CP and me) managed to make it this time.

We decided to go to Taman Bukit Jalil since it's nearer for both of us.

I woke up at 5am and arrived at the car park just before 5.30am. CP is already there waiting. Only ¹other car in the car park.

We started the run at slow 7+ pace. The plan is to go around the park's 4km route 7 times or 3 hours which ever come earlier.

The first loop was relatively easy. It took us slightly more than 29mins to complete it. However half way through on the 2nd loop, my stomach started to ache and I have to rush to the toilet. I told CP to proceed with the run.

After the toilet break, my body started to react abnormally. I started to sweat a lot more than usual. I completed the next 2 loops at around 28mins per loop pace then the 4th loop at 29mins pace. I realised I have finished the water I brought with me at this point. So I have to make a detour to buy drink from the stall outside.

After that I returned to the run and saw CP already half way on his 5th lap. I continue to sweat at the abnormal rate and on top of that seems to be losing the strength to run. So I decided to call it a day and walk for the rest of the 5th lap. It took almost 40mins to complete that last lap.

I return to my car to bring out another bottle of drink and return to the track to wait for CP. He came in about 15mins later after completed his 6th lap.

Another low mileage week this week. Apart from Bidor and another 9k run I did yesterday. This is only my 3rd run this week. Look like time is running out quickly and I have to increase my weekly mileage soon. Otherwise it will be a tough tough KL marathon..

Reward after a good race

2009-04-26T19:32:00.001+08:00

The is the famous Bidor duck noodle. Our reward after a good race. The shop is called 珍品, just a few hundreds meters away from start/finish line of Bidor Half Marathon.

We were pleasantly surprised that not many runners were around when we reached there. Perhaps most of them were still at the gathering area waiting for prize giving ceremony.

The duck noodle here is served with wantan noodle. The soup is mixed with some chinese traditional herbs. Very aromatic and tasty. Think I will stop by again in my next trip up north.

Bidor Half Marathon

2009-04-26T15:31:00.002+08:00

I must say this is the best medal in my collection so far.

For people who don't know where is Bidor, it's a small town 130km away from KL city. Travel there takes about 1.5 hours.

Technically this is my first half marathon race even though I have completed several 21km trainings and a couple of 28km and 30km training.

CP and me reached Bidor at about 7.30pm last night. After taking the bibs, we proceed to survey the race route. It involves two 10km routes. One towards the south and one to the north. We have to u-turn back after hitting the 5km point in each of these routes.

Since we stay overnight in Slim River, we had to wake up at 5.15am and start the journey to Bidor at 5.45am. We reached Bidor town slightly earlier than expected at 6.10am. There are already a lot of runners ahead of us.

Before the start of the race, CP asked whether we should set a target for this race. I told him we should just treat this as a training run and go with the comfortable pace.

All these were forgotten the moment the race starts. We were pacing close to 5.5mins for the first km. I told CP we were going too quick and need to slow down. The 2nd km is relatively slower but still it's at 6mins pace. The funny thing is I felt comfortable with this pace. So instead of trying to control and slow down, I just continue with the pace as long as my body feels comfortable with it.

I reached 10km marker in 56mins. This is my personal best for 10k.

In the 2nd half of the race, we have to go through some hilly terrain, also some gravel road towards the end of 15km. Another factor is the scorching heat when we reached 17km mark. I can barely keep the running pace after that.

At 2km from the finishing line, I abandon the run all the way to the finish plan. I started to walk and run. I realised this method didn't really slow me down. When I run, I can run faster after the walking break. In fact, I have the reserve energy to out sprint a few runners to the finishing line:)

Last 100 meters dash

My timing: 2:03:10

Rumah Tumpangan Weng Hong

2009-04-26T15:03:00.001+08:00

This is the best "Hotel" in Slim River according to Mr Wong senior.

We have to travel 30km from Bidor town to Slim River because all the "5 stars" hotels such as Hotel See Foo and Hotel Ah Moi in Bidor is fully booked.

We were late because Will has to stay home last minutes due to his wife's exam.

I think we should try Hotel See Foo next year. It's located only about 100 meters from the race starting point and the most important thing, this hotel has "air cond" :)

Tukang Jahit Mexico

2009-04-26T14:55:00.001+08:00

We need to collect our Bidor Half Marathon bibs from this place. It's small tailor shop in Bidor town. Less than 200 meters away from Dewan Muhibbah where the race will start and finish.

I heard the owner is one of the Bidor Runners.

I suspect the bibs are all tailored by him.

I'm quite impressed that Bidor Runners is able to host such a big event. The turn up is more than 1600 runners according to the announcer.

29.2k - Pushing the limit

2009-04-18T21:25:00.001+08:00

Another new personal record for me.

29.2km is the longest I have done todate. Some of you may ask, why stop at 29.2k and not 30k? I will tell that story some other time:)

Basically I would have done 30k if I knew it's only another 800m to go. I haven't reached the stage where another step is not possible.

Only myself, CP and Lam participated in this run. It was a fast (I mean for our standard) first 10km, I believe averaging below 7 minutes. The next 10k is still relatively fast. The suffering point started at about 24k. From that point onwards, we are mixing run and walk for the rest of the distance.

I managed to find a good rhythm between run and walk to continue the rest of the journey. My legs were not as sore as last week after the run. I think part of the reason is the better muscles management after the 1st experience last week:)

Next week I'll be at Bidor for the half marathon. Going to take it easy and as part of weekly long run. The road to 42km is still a long way to go...

Zero cost teambuilding

2009-04-18T13:15:00.001+08:00

It was my first trip to Bukit Gasing trek. The idea was to have a zero cost teambuilding session with my new team. Even though we emphasized to everyone this is a compulsory session, only 20 out of 39 turned up. Nevermind a heavy penalty is installed for those who skipped this;-)

Turned out this is quite a challenging trek for some of the guys. We have 3 early drop-outs due to wrong attires and home emergency. Then 4 more decided they can't take it anymore and went out at the half way point. The remaining 13 of us stayed together until the end.

After the trekking, we went to the famous Raju restaurant for a drink. What caught me by surprise is their canggih pa system. Business must be very good during the peak hours until they need such a hi-tech system.

It was quite a fun outing for me. I hope everyone enjoyed this as well..

I'm in..

2009-04-17T10:44:00.000+08:00

Ready or not... time to step up the training to the next level.

Hardest run yet - 28km

2009-04-11T18:48:00.001+08:00

Woke up at 4.30am to prepare for this run. Reached Bukit Aman Carpark, the meeting place slightly earlier at 5.15am. So I decided to take a nap in the car while waiting for the rest.

4 persons including myself turned up for today's run. Ravin, KW and CP. CP brought his new Suunto GPS pod.

We started the run by making a loop around bird park and Jalan Lembah before heading out to Jalan Parlimen and proceed to Bukit Tunku.

First part of the route is similar to GE30k. We cut through Bukit Tunku to Jalan Duta, then to Matrade building and followed Jalan Khidmat Usaha to Sri Hartamas. 3 of us, CP, KW and myself made an extra big loop around Petronas station before making a water stop. I bought a Gatorade from the Petronas shop to refill since the drink I brought along finished at this point.

So far so good at the distance of 19km. I started to struggle on the way back at roughly around 25km. The good thing is it was a long downhill stretch at Jalan Tun Ismail. I managed to keep the run going until we reach Jalan Sultan Salahuddin. At that point my calf muscles just felt too painful to continue. I was afraid they may start to cramp if I push further. So I suggested to KW to stop and wait for CP and take a rest at the same time.

CP walked down about 10 mins later. He is suffering from heel pain as well. So all 3 of us decided we'll walk back from this point. The distance run is around 27km at that point. 1km cool down walk isn't that bad as an option anyway.

This is the longest running distance I have done so far. Feeling and pain is more or less similar to when I did my first 20km.

Next week's plan is to do a 30km..

To run a good race..

2009-04-08T05:40:00.000+08:00

This is my new motto...

Corinthians 9:24-27—"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

By the way I'm not a Christian. Good philosophy existing in all religions. We just need to keep an open mind... I may not believe in God by I believe in Good..

21k training

2009-04-05T12:48:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was the 2nd time I did a 21k distance. The first time was 2 weeks ago with Lam KW around Bukit Jalil area. This time either because the leg muscles have adapted to it or because we didn't go that fast, I felt great after the run. It was a very different experience from the 1st time. My guess is the terrain also play a part in this.

The route from Lake Garden to Sri Hartamas is a lot more hilly than the route around Taman Bukit Jalil. The benefit of a hilly route is the group of muscles used is different going up and down the hills. Whereas in a relatively flat route, one has to keep using the same muscle group through out.

5 of us took the challenge yesterday. CP and his brother CK, Kok Leong, Will and myself. The first 6km gone smoothly with everyone able to keep up relatively well. CK decided to stop at this distance and wait for our return at a bus stop.

4 of us proceed to cross the busy Jalan Duta over to Income Tax building and continue the run towards the Sri Hartamas Petronas Station.

It was a bit more eventful during the return run. Both Will and KL slowed down and got lost at Hockey Stadium but luckily they were saved by Garmin. CP and CK took off earlier from the bus stop leaving me behind to wait for Will and KL. I decided to continue the run on my own after waited for more than 10 minutes without any sign that both of them will show up soon. I was thinking maybe both of them have given up and decided to take a taxi:) Only later, I found out they were lost for more than 10 minutes.

Running alone for the last 6km is quite challenging. It was difficult to decide what pace to run. I was surprised to find out CP and CK has not returned to the starting point when I reached. So I walked around the car park to cool down and later I saw CP ran back without his brother. CK was having a cramp at the killer hill and he came back to bring his car to fetch him. I extend my cool down to jog towards Jalan Parlimen and met up with Will and KL there..

Surprise surprise

2009-04-04T21:28:00.001+08:00

It was a complete surprise to me when this flowers is delivered to me yesterday.

Thank you TY, FW, WQ and Kiang.

Nice birthday cake

2009-04-01T22:32:00.001+08:00

Nice home made birthday cake from Mohana. She said she had to bake one because I'm like a little child keep asking for it.. Haha..

I must say the taste is better than those we get from cake shop or even secret recipe.

A little incident happened after that. One of my blur sotong colleague threw away Mohana's plastic plate after she ate the cake...

My birthday present

2009-04-01T22:28:00.001+08:00

This is the latest Asics Gel Kayano 15. My birthday present from good friends CT, Mohana, Will and CP. It has been a tradition among 4 of us (CT, Mohana and Will) that we will buy present for each other's birthday. CP has joined the club since last year.

It's quite a tough job to decide what to buy after a while. Some time silly decisions were made and ... I guess we'll all have good memories and laugh about what happened many years later.

I'm very thankful for this thoughtful present and I have promised them that this will be the shoes I wear when I across the finishing line of my first marathon.

Thank you my friends:)

Runners and dogs

2009-03-29T16:54:00.001+08:00

I'm back in my home town for Cheng Beng.

Since there was nothing much to do in the evening, I decided to go for a long run around housing area next to my house. It's was around 5.40pm and sun is still shining bright and hot.

I started the run thinking how many rounds should I go, which route to take etc but not even 500 meters into the run suddenly I saw a dog ran towards me from about 200 meters away. Since I have several experience of being chased after by dogs, I immediately knew this dog is heading towards me. Without even a second thought, I turn around and ran back as fast as I could. After 500 meters when I'm back to where I started the run, I turn back to see whether the dog is still chasing. Luckily it has stopped and walking back slowly.

"This route didn't work out.", I thought. "So let's try in another direction". Unfortunately this time it was worse. 200 meters into the run and I encountered another dog barking furiously at me. I stopped immediately and walk home. Basically not worth risking injury just to put in the run.

All these dogs around the housing area is wild. They normally don't border when people walk by but somehow when they see runners, they will start barking like mad and some will start chasing. I guess the dogs think runners are abnormal people..

Since I have not been running consistently for the whole of this week and definitely don't want to miss the weekend run, I went home and took my sister's motobike and ride to the nearby recreational park to continue the run.

The sun was still shining brightly at around 6pm. I went on to run around the track for 35 minutes. The heat from the sun and hot track surface made running very difficult. Since I ran mostly in the morning and quite unaccustom to the heat, 35 minutes seems like eternity but I'm glad to have put this in the bag.

I went back to the track again this morning on my way to buy breakfast to do another 38 minutes run. It was much better without the heat..

Stairs run

2009-03-28T08:22:00.001+08:00

Since I was unable to do any outdoor run for the past 2 days, I have decided to do a stair repeat in my house. I did a similar training a few days before the KL Towerthon with a total of 75 repeats. Equivalent of 75 storeys climb and 1125 steps up and same amount coming down. My legs was completely sore for 2 days after that. Luckily recovered just in time for the towerthon.

Yesterday I managed to do 30 repeats. It's a good alternative during the rainy days and hill runs since there is no hill around my place.

Trying out ChiRunning

2009-03-26T23:19:00.001+08:00

Went out around 5.30am this morning to do some easy run. Also to try out some of the ChiRunning techniques.

Overall I think I'm able to keep the cadence at around 85 to 90 per minute comfortably. The landing of foot seems to be alright at midfoot and behind the body's center of gravity even though I can't be sure without looking at myself from outside but the feeling is good.

Formula one season is starting soon

2009-03-25T22:31:00.001+08:00

The new formula one season is starting this weekend. The first race will be the Australian GP.

I've been following the pre season testing and the most surprising thing so far is the pace of the new Brawn GP team. This team is the ex Honda team. I guess Honda must have invested a lot of money and effort into development of this new car since last season. Problem is they have to quit this year due to the worldwide financial crisis. Most of the top car manufacturers are badly hit by this.

Another surprising thing so far is the struggle of Mclaren team. Their new challenger seems to be way off the pace. Even slower than the Williams at some point during the pre season testing. But fortunately they have shown some sign of improvement late in the pre season test.

Ferrari as usual keeping their real pace up until the first race. I have high hope that Kimi will return as champion again this year:-)

Learning Chi-running

2009-03-22T15:24:00.001+08:00

Bought this book from MPH midvalley yesterday. I came across Chi-running in the web before when doing some research on the correct running form.

Chi (chee) is short for Tai Chi. Chi-running technique make use of principles in Tai Chi. It makes use of natural forces to help runners better their running form and at the same time run more efficiently. This running technique is claimed to have reduced running related injuries tremendously. I will have to find this out.

Another 3 months to go before the KL Marathon. Hopefully this book and the Chi-running technique can help me to speed up the training and most important of all to be able to last the distance.

Leg on the wheel

2009-03-22T15:12:00.001+08:00

Guess whose leg is this on my steering wheel?

Mei Mei loves to come in front of the car when we are waiting. She will test out all the buttons, corner lights, lights etc.

In one occassion, she turned on my front light when we go for breakfast. At the end I have to replace the car battery.

Very naughty Mei Mei.

Penang Bridge Marathon

2009-03-17T06:49:00.001+08:00

Yes. I have signed up for this event on day ¹the registration open on the 6 of March. Going the full distance.

Meantime KL Marathon will be held on 28 June. Tempted to try out the full distance on this event but I guess will need to see how is my weekend LSD progress before committing to it.

The plan is to do a 20k this weekend. 25k the week after and a 30k attempt by mid of April. If I can do a comfortable 30k within a reasonable time - 3.5 hours then will have more confidence to commit to a full marathon.

Let see...

Larian Amal Seri Sinar - Part 2

2009-03-15T20:16:00.001+08:00

Photo courtesy of CP.

Race details:
Date: 15 March 2009
Time: 7.00am
Location: around Taman Bukit Jalil and Kompleks Sukan Negara
Friends who participate: CP, Janice, James, Terence (DNS)

It was a good race for me. Finished the distance of around 10.5km (measured using mapmyrun) in 58 minutes. Placed 103 in the men open category. CP did very well in this race. He finished in 57 minutes and placed 87. Janice did superbly well in her women open category as well. She finished in 16 position. James came in later after the hour mark.

I started the race pretty quick due to the downhill stretch. It's a strategy I frequently took to gain on the timing. The 1st km pace is estimated to be around 4.3 minutes. After the 1st km, I slow down the pace to around 5.5 minutes. Keeping CP on my sight until around the 3rd km mark (the turning to the Sports Complex). After that I started to struggle a bit and had to slow down more. CP continued with his impressive pace and I'm slowly losing sight of him.

Reached 5km mark (water station) at around 26 minutes (found out later CP is already ¹minute ahead at this point) and continue to charge forward after a brief water stop.

The rest of the route is quite flat and I managed to maintain my pace until reaching the starting point again. There the voluteers gave us encouragement and said 3km to go. The 10km runners have to do one more loop around Taman Bukit Jalil. This final loop is extremely punishing as my legs were starting to get very tired. A lot of people overtook me during the long climb at the last 2km.

Finally the climb is over. The last km is the road leading to Taman Bukit Jalil. About 500 meters from the finishing line suddenly a familiar person zoom pass me. She is the strong lady from the senior veteran category. I keep up to her pace until the carpark entrance where the race would end and give my last push and overtook her at the climb towards the carpark.

Overall this is a very satisfying race for me.

Larian Amal Seri Sinar

2009-03-15T20:13:00.001+08:00

Photo courtesy of CP.

Top finishers in the Larian Amal Seri Sinar 10km category.

Spaceship Galactica

2009-03-15T15:05:00.000+08:00

This is the famous Spaceship Galactica. Both Jen and Jey spent 7 hours inside there last weekend.

Mei Mei's aeroplane

2009-02-07T11:15:00.001+08:00

Mei Mei likes to play "aeroplane aeroplane fly high high.." with Papa.

Return to blogging

2009-01-13T22:20:00.000+08:00

1. This is my attempt to return to blogging again after such a long pause.

2. Hopefully this time I have enough topic to keep myself motivated.

3. This bullet style of writing a blog is inspiration from Tun Mahathir's blog.

4. I'll be blogging mostly about my running and some other topic that matters.

5. Stay tuned...