Resume blogging

I have stopped blogging at this blog for a while due to many reasons. One of them of course is just too lazy and too tired to write. Anyway I want to start writing again and record down what I have been doing on running.

It has been a great year for me until July. I have participated in 2 full marathon at the early part of the year. The night marathon at Energizer Night Marathon and the Standard Chartered Marathon. One with PW (Personal Worst) and the other one with a PB (Personal Best). What a great contrast between the two. I was still half way in my full marathon training program when I participate in the Energizer Night Marathon, so was not fully prepared, and coupled with the event at night, it was such a suffering towards the end of the run. However I'm glad I did it and managed to finish at the end. It was a new and different experience running at night until nearly 2am in the morning.

In Standard Chartered, the condition was quite different. At least I was more prepared. I was also experimenting with a new shoes model from New Balance, called NB Minimus. The shoes is surprising very comfortable and I believe part of my PB performance have something to do with this light weight shoes.

Running continues with slower pace and frequency after that. Partly due to greater work and family commitment.

Until next time, keep running and stay healthy.

SCKLM 2011 - my 3rd full marathon

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

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

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

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

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

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...