20k but suffer like hell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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..