Race Report......

Last Sunday was special. The day when I had a journey of 42.195km on foot in KL. Passing those roads and places. prior to the journey, were mostly of no significance. Roads that you have passed and places that you have seen countless times, especially when you were travelling in a moulded steel frame vehicle powered by a combustion engine called automobile. Now this is my report.

Errr...my deepest apology. The report is still haphazardly stored in my head and I just unable to translate them into writing because, you guess, I am yet to complete my Income Tax Return and the due date for submission is tomorrow!! Ammahhhhhh!! Yeah, I am just another typical Malaysians who just love to wait until the very last minute to submit the dreadful Income Tax Return. Guilty as charged, no need to call for my defence. Before I lost more RM for late filing (which I could use to buy another pair of trainers etc), I just need to complete that form today. Now where are the #$$%%$ receipts of the books that I purchased last year (or I might have just thrown them away!!!!). Ammahhh.

FMV and the Day of being Terlambong

I am a FMV!

First, I need to confess that I did register for the full category in the SCKLM 2010. Yes, i ticked the Yikes run's box....triple ammah!! (Diket, sorry for stealing this term). The original intent is to run in the half marathon cat, with an office colleague who planned to attempt his maiden 1/2. Sometimes in late April, that friend of mine threw in the towel due to overwhelming work loads, which were expected to continue until well past the month of June. It was during my prep to Sundown 2010 that the idea of clicking the Yikes came to my mind and click I did. The reason is simple, I think I could double up the training for Sundown to include the Yikes run in SCKLM. The plan is to reach the 30km LSD a week after running Sundown and a 32km LSD in the subsequent week before starting the tapering period. Though I managed to do my snail pace 20-25km-ish LSD for every weekend until Sundown, my plan to bag that 30km LSD was derailed with a week of forced rest to recover the problem of the prolong untreated shin splint of my left leg. Though from the 24km LSD done last week I am pretty sure that my leg can take the poundings of the yikes run (with a slower pace of course), I was in self doubt whether to proceed with the same without any 30km LSD done. And last Tuesday, utilising the 2 days' leave for a brief family vacation, I started the day with a targetted 30km LSD and finally managed to reach the distance of 31.6km with my super slow pace. With such LSD done, the plan is to start tapering till the big day (or so I thought).

The day of Terlambong

Today is the day of me being terlambong. Everybody have been warned of lambong melambong LSD with the star studded Geng Kaki Lambong (GKL) and RBU (those who were at the crime scene: Diket The King Mambo, Nik the Lanun King, Syah King Dolphin or Jaws??, Chief Poco-poco KLCC Shuk, the Speedy Crushio/Syed, Rayzeef Harimau Malaya, Det the Head Bouncer of King Mambo, Nizam the Chief Adviser of King Mambo and Azwa the Ironman).

To tell you the truth, the lambong melambong is not for the faint of heart as I am pretty sure once kene lambong you will terlambong-lambong especially with a full strenght GKL around :). From a planned 10k run I was terlambong to 20k run. I considered myself lucky as the King has given his command for the army not to conquer the Double Hill, otherwise I would be the biggest terlambong macai of all hahahaha.

Overall, with the mercy of the GKL, the pace was indeed slower from the last weekend LSD. I was not really prepared to run 20k today and think I struggled almost from the start. The series of meetings outside office yesterday and a late dinner with clients did exhaust me a bit (alasan ajer hehe). Be that as it may, I believe the run was good to train my body to take a little bit of more exertion before the yikes run. The second part of the run back to Bkt Aman, I ran mostly in my normal super slow pace and the last 2.5km was the point where the others activated their turbo engines. Just continued with my snail pace in avoiding to put the stress on the legs (sebenarnya dah tak larat dah) and finished the run much later than the others.

After today's 19.69km (the actual distance recorded via the Endomondo GPS Tracker), I can start tapering for the big day (or has the tapir already gone back to the woods??)

You can check out the LSD's tracking below.

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/v9i_S5WUmTk (Part 1)

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/uV5WULxyIUo (Part 2)

Happy tapering and all the best for all in SCKLM 2010!

Endomondo Tracker - LSD 12 June 2010 (Bkt Aman - Matrade - Hartamas)

As I had written in one of my postings before, I had never done the Bukit Aman - Hartamas route. In NB20k Pacesetters earlier this year, we ran part of the route, i.e. looping Matrade and back to Padang Merbok via Tijani, Lebuhraya Mahameru, Jalan Sultan Salahuddin and Bukit Istana Selangor.

This morning, after resting slightly more than a week (I did 2 post treatment trial runs around my neighbourhood earlier this week), I decided to join the LSD organised by Syah pursuant to the royal decree of King Lambung, plying the route above. With the medication and the "ice-ice baby treatment", it seems that the recovery of the shin splint at my left leg is progressing well and the LSD will be the test whether it can take the poundings. By the way, distance wise, I did not put any target and I have to admit that the route, with the inclusion of Matrade and Double Hill in the menu, as well as running with far stronger runners did daunt me. I told myself to run up to any distance that I could handle and the possibility of skipping Matrade and Double Hills could not be discounted.

The First Part

There were 5 of us, me, Syah, Diket, Ian, Syed and Irwan (Syed's friend). We started off circa 6.45am. I tried not to think about my pace, just trying my best to follow the others (as long as I think i will not bonk by 3km hehe). Pace wise, we were going much faster than my normal pace. By the time we reached the incline to Matrade I started to struggle and at last resorted to take my walk break, with Syah as my company coupled with his encouraging words, to overcome the final incline before joining the others to finish the first part of the LSD at Petronas Hartamas, where we had our brief re-fuel break. I run my fastest pace LSD completing a 12.3km distance (10k at 62min is a PB for this olie snail runner hehe)! You can check out the split times recorded by the freebie Endomondo GPS Sports Tracker downloaded to my Cik Kia E71.

Endomondo Running Workout (First Part) [Note -To know the splits, just point to the mileage on the map]

The Second Part

I think I started out OK, again trying my best to follow the pace of others (it seemed really easy peasy for them). But once the elevation increased at Matrade, I started to struggle to run pass those inclines. This time, I had a royal company, where the King himself walked with me, to tackle those inclines. This walking routine at certain level of inclines continued for the rest of the journey and though I tried to do the smallest steps going up the peaks of the Double Hills, the task of reaching them was just to tough for me to accomplish. Syah then took over Diket's role and accompanied me to Jln Mahameru and we re-grouped with the others at the junction near Bukit Istana. We run back together to Bukit Aman via Bukit Istana and Tugu Negara.

You can check my split times below (Note - the tracking was slightly delayed after we started our run from Hartamas. The tracking stopped somewhere near Wisma Tani for an unknown reason (it rarely happened).

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts?w=mBp0yY_qHu4

Conclusions

(a) The run proved that I can run faster than my normal pace of 7:30-45min/km-ish (and above) for my easy run.

(b) I got a LOT of advises and tips from the others. That may be a blessing in disguise for being at the back and spending longer time with a stronger and faster running buddy. Thanks guys!

(c) As Syah has highlighted and stressed upon, I need to find ways to improve my rehydration plan with me having problem to take isotonic during my run. I plan to carry along both plain water and isotonic drink (or ORS mixed drink) in my long runs as well as dates/raisins.

(d) More focused mind. I lack ANCHORING (term acquired from the King). I must set the target at the start of the run and the slightest thinking, the like of "lets see how long I could go or if I feel tired I may skip certain routes" is just a recipe for failure in a LSD.

(e) My injured leg could take a 24km-ish run quite well (with the new footware..ehemmm). Felt a slight pain post run last night and this morning but some icing would do. Decided to ditch a 10k run this morning to rest the leg.

After all are said and done, my running journey will continue, God willing.

Kissing Good-bye to SCKLIM 2010

Yim's postings on his knee issue and his consultation with Dr. William has prompted me to consider seeking proper consultation on the pain around my lower left leg (near the shin and during a run could also be felt around the calve), which has been bugging me since before the Energizer Night Run. All this while I have classified the issue as minor due to the facts that:

(a) the pain would be apparent at the start of the run and later eases as the run progresses;

(b) the pain returns after the run and may become a bit worse in the next morning but eases after a day or 2 of rest;

(c) I could continue my run and training as long as the pace is easy; and

(d) since I could run, I am convinced that the pain is temporary (most probably it relates to some muscles soreness) and once I log in more mileage, naturally my running muscles would be strenghtened and eliminate the pain, in time.

I made a visit to Dr. William's clinic at Subang Jaya this evening and after the facts finding interview, some physical examination of my foot/leg, x-tray and ultra sound of the related parts, it has been confirmed that the pain is a second stage "Medial Tibial Stress Syndrom" or in a layman term, "shin splints".

The most important thing about shin splints is to identify the actual cause of the injury. Training wise, a runner should not suffer shin splints if the mileage is around 20-30+km per week. I have been doing about 32-37km per week for the past 4 weeks and this is far from being classifed as excessive mileage. Having ruled out the cause relating to "training errors", the second possible cause is the "biomechanical inefficiencies" and this is where my case fits the bill. In summary after all those examinations, the following are the causes why I suffered shin splints:

(a) I have a left "over-pronate" foot;

(b) my footware did not support the above (case of ignorant or just being lazy bum to dig for more information about running shoes); and

(c) my running style of "forefoot landing" and "big toe pointed outwards" just compounded the (a) and (b) above.

A stage 2 shin splints injury would require a resting period of 6-8 weeks. As Dr. William is a runner himself, he did provide an option that if I still want to run in SCKLIM (restricted me in 5k category!!), he could give me certain medication sometimes nearer to the day of the run. This is the time where I reminded myself why I took up running in the first place. I may ignore the Dr's order and run in the coming Setia Eco 1/2 this weekend and hope with the medication and treatment, I could still run in the SCKLIM but at what cost? I am not running for the podium (I wish I can hehehe). No need to guess the answer. I will be a good boy and listen to the Dr's advise.

Now Yim, when we should start shopping for the bike that we talked about quite sometimes ago :)

Adidas Sundown 2010 - Some Report and Pics

Adidas Sundown 2010 is my second attempt at 1/2 marathon race. There are 4 principal reasons why I wanted to run in this event:

(i) quite a number of runner/blogger friends will participate in the run including those who would attempt the 84Km Ultra Marathon;

(ii) I have heard about how our neighbour down there organized running events and hence wanted to experience in one;

(iii) except a couple of day trip for meetings at the Lion City (i.e. Airport - Meeting -Airport), I had never actually seen Singapore much closer; and

(iv) [Note - This is not in the original list] since my wife is doing her post grad study in heritage building conservation, I may add the itinerary to include: (a) visiting heritage conservation sites/buildings in Singapore; and (b) do some sight seeing and checking out the Singapore sales.

The Trip

The cab picked us up just after I finished subuh prayer and off we went to KLIA. First time flying with Jetstar Airways (a subsidiary of Qantas Air) and KLIA is much more condusive place compared to LCCT as far as playing the waiting game is concerned . Reached Terminal 2 Changi Airport around 9.45 am. As planned, since check in time would be after 2pm, we proceeded with the visit of heritage buildings, covering Kg Glam, North Bridge Road, Bugis Square and Arab Street. My carbo loading session was at Zam-Zam Restaurant in front of Masjid Sultan. Menu was lamb bryani.

[Zam-Zam Ala Kazammmm]

It was really hot that afternoon but we continued walking around that area before checking in at the hotel around 2.30pm. Tried to have a nap but just could not doze off.

At 4.30pm, left the hotel to MRT Bugis with the intent to reach the race venue by 5.30pm to wish off Kash and Haza. Arrived at MRT Pasir Ris around 5.10pm. Saw a crowd of Sundown runners and just followed them to the shuttle bus pick up point. Reached CEC around 5.40pm. Still got time to catch the flaging off of the Ultra runners.

[In the Shuttle Bus. See that Mat Salleh in the Adidas Shirt. He appeared again in the pic below]

[The brave hearts were in the gantry]

[Top Pic - Our Ultra Moms/Queens, ready to start the 84km journey]

[Below pic - The Journey has begun. Can you spot Haza? Tried to snap Kash's pic but couldn't spot her]

[Below Pic - Another shot at the Ultras making their earlier steps to many,many, many more through out the night till the next morning]

The Waiting

After the Ultras were flagged off, the waiting game has begun for us in the 1/2 marathon category as well as the full marathon group. Fortunately with friends around, the boredom and restlessness were kept in check. Below are few of the moments captured in camera.

[Posing dulu, nanti dah gelap x nampak. From left: Ijam, me and Zaki]

[Top pic at the left - Yim (in black) : "kau nak sgt karipap, nah aku beli the best karipap in Singapore". Det & Diket: "Kasi kenduri itu karipap sekarang, ada bran?"]

[Top pic at the right - Yim: "Satu ketul makan, kene reduce 5 minit korang punya PB, ada bran?" Me: "Yim, the girl behind got karipap as well lah". Det/Diket - "Eleh, mana main 5 minit, up terus 10 minit lah"]

[We have marked our territory for the entire night. In the pic, clock wise from yours truly: Det, Diket, Alwin, Zaki, Syah, Nadia (in black -sorry x nampak muka) and Yim]

The Run

About 15 minutes to the gun off time, me, Yim and Ijam went into the gantry and wahlau, we were already at the back with thousands in front. I guessed there were around 6000-7000 runners in the 1/2 marathon category. Diket and Alwin at that time were rushing to put on their running gear after just got back from MRT Station Pasir Ris searching for dinner. I was told later that they started way at the back pack.

Since this would be my 2nd attempt at 1/2 marathon race, the only benchmark is my Energizer 1/2 Marathon finishing time of 2hr 45min. The condition was humid, at a high side. We were already sweating profusely in the sea of runners waiting to be released from the kandang. Since I am a heavy sweater by nature, frequent re-hydration is key to my run that night and I made the correct decision to run with the re-hydration belt.

We were gun off at 9 pm and on hidsight I did place myself correctly at the back since my strategy was to go on a slow pace all the way. I pity Yim, Diket, Alwin and Ijam since all of them are strong runners and by starting at the back, they would need to do a lot of zig zaging,and we are talking about at least 5000 runners in front of us.

In the first 15 minutes after the gun off, I was pacing behind a group of 3 college looking guys who ran at an easy pace ("the 3 Musketeers"). I know they were running easy since they were chatting among themselves. On the spot I knew these boys were not newbies and may just put the target of finishing around 2hr 30min-ish. Following them did help me from being sucked up by the pace of a lot of other runners whom, by looking at their strides and breathings, were going just too fast for their level. "Never mind guys, you can overtake me now since we have another 18-19km to finish", I comforted myself. The 3 Musketeers then upped their pace and I decided to maintain my current pace and those boys slowly disappeared from my sight.

Things were not as smooth as I thought for the first 7km. Though the pace felt right, the body didnt seem to respond as good. Eyes were feeling heavy. Damn. I didnt reach a quarter of the entire distance and I already felt sleepy. I should have taken coffee or nescafe at least 40 minutes before the flag off. Only one solution before things going from bad to worst. I consumed my power gel at that point though I planned to reserve it at KM10 onwards. With frequent re-hydration plus a couple of stops at Water Stations, I had successfully kept the problem at bay and continued the run with a more consistent pace.

By Km10, I managed to catch up with the 3 Musketeers. They still run easy and I decided to follow them for few minutes before increasing my pace and left them behind. The course is flat all the way and I told myself there is no reason why I cannot beat my timing in Energizer 1/2. I already expecting that the other RBUs would all finished in sub 2 hr.

Though I felt i ran better compared to Energizer 1/2, my watch didnt show any much improvement based on my mental calculation each time I reached the distance marker after KM12. To keep the initial target intact, I could either up my pace but may end up wasting the precious time by taking walk breaks by Km17 OR just continue with the current snail pace all the way. I opted for the latter. That means i could not take any walk breaks (excluding the time spent at the Water Station). Once decided, there was nothing more to do other than executing the plan. It was a boring affairs at certain time and sleepiness did visit once in a while and the only medication available was simply pouring the water over my head at every Water Stations. The plodding continued until KM 18 where at that point, it would be simply foolish for me to stop and taking walk breaks with 3km left. Told myself, "aiyoo, 21k distance also wanna stop haaaa. Dah ler slow. Kash and haza buat 84km lagi, the other RBUs buat full. Yim, Diket ngan Ijam dah melepak makan karipap kat CEC time ni". OK, not exactly verbatim but more to the same effect. So i just continue plodding till i crossed the finishing line. Final result, I did the Sundown 1/2 Marathon in 2hr 40min 16 second. Alhamdulillah i safely finished the run.

I managed to wish off Ian, Zaki, Nadia and Det for their full marathon. Syah I believed already in the starting gantry. Cooled off, talk "male chicken" with Diket and Alwin before decided to leave CEC for my hotel slightly before 1 am.

Adidas Sundown was clearly the biggest running event I ever attended so far. With the number of runners involved, I think it was properlyorganized, especially when you are talking about logistics. I still cant imagine how a local organizer could tackle the challenge of handling a 15,000 runners' event. Lets see whether Galazo could pass the test in the coming SCKLIM. I was particularly happy with the water and isotonic provided at the water stations. I can't take isotonic all the way as proven in Energizer. It could not quench my thirst, may be due to the sugar content.

The set back for Sundown i think is the location and it did give us outstation runners a bit of head ache to plan for our meals/dinner and pre-flag off prep. On a personal issue, the run did reveal that the pain in my left calve (think it is a mucles related) would not go away unless I get proper consultation. This issue has bugged me for nearly 2 months. It is mild enough for me to do a slow 21km distance but thing may be different if I want to do more than 25km. i could not do a tempo run as well without aggravating the pain.

Will i come back next year? Yes, I plan to, God willing. Will try to entice my office colleague to come as well. I know some of you guys out there will come back to do Ultra. Go for it guys! Who knows we could bump into each other in your second loop ;-)

A Night in Changi

Me and wife reached Subang Airport about ten minutes before 8pm today. It has been a great weekend, spending time in the City State down south. More so because of the achievement of those persons that share the same passion as mine (if not I don't think we were willing to spend our time and money to be in a place called Changi yesterday night).

The ultimate congratulatory wishes of course would go to Kash, Haza and NIK, for showing how determination, steely resolves and sacrifices along the way could turn a dream into a sweet reality. When I managed to catch both of them on their way to the starting line, I could not help from wondering what was really in their mind at that very moment. I was excited but at the same time humbled with the guts of those people who were waiting to be released to commence one of their greatest journey in life. [Note: I knew Nik started with the ultra runners and I am very-very sure he would at least finished the 42km distance in sub 5) [Note 2 - Nik finished the entire 84km!!! This is the biggest heist in pirating history].

Secondly a thundering applause to the full marathoners, Syah, Ian, Zaki, Dett and I have to give Nadia a special standing ovation with her courage of accepting the challenge of doing full marathon without having prepared to run in one! I did wish that one day I could start along side you guys in future full marathon event.

Last but not least the guys who run in the half marathon category that night just for the fun of it (since they are all a class or two above me and being full marathoners as well), Diket (King Mambo), Yim, Ijam and Alwin. We could not run side by side but the thought of letting you guys waited all night long for me to come back from a mere 21km run did push me to tell the body not to stop from my snail pace stride (of course I did stop to drink at some water stations ok :).

All in all, it was not about my run that made me remember "Adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 - Let's Beat the Sun Rise" but the opportunity to witness mere mortals conquering their own fear and pains to live their respective dreams.

Congratulations again to all!

Pre-evening Run Snack

Can this be my pre-run snack, taken 1 to 1 1/2 hours before an evening run? Technically I don't think it falls in the healthy category since it is a deep fried food (i.e. oily). However it tastes good, easily available and aint it supposed to provide carbohydrate with its potato fillings? Had them before one evening run (due to the time constraint of having a proper meal) and I felt (this can be psychological only) the body responded better.

Where can i find a nice potato fillings karipap in Singapore?