Centro Run

Place : Centro Building, Klang (land of Bak Kut Teh)
When : 0745, 11 Oct 2009
Distance: 5.75km
Weather : Cloudy, but still slightly warm
Terrain : Pretty flat...
Participation : About 1000?
Organizer : KPAC
Overall Rating : 3.5/5

For somebody who is just starting to pick up running as a sport, and for those who want to do some speed work, this is an ideal event. With 6km on the books, the distance is a challenge for beginners and ideal for those who would like to get some serious speed work in.

The race had a staggered start, with Men's Open first, followed by the Women's and Veterans, and then Juniors.

If I was not mistaken, the starting time was earlier than scheduled, by at least 5 minutes. I can imagine that the serious contenders who came in a bit late would not be happy campers.

As the road was pretty narrow, the first km was pretty congested. I started about 40m behind the starting line, hence had to carve my way through. My first km time was 5:04, which was the slowest of the whole race. I may have had about 30 seconds to gain if I started up in the first 5 rows.

Going into the 2nd km, I pick up the pace for 4:35. I decided to throttle back a bit for the rest of the race, as I did not want to aggravate the existing issues with my hamstring.

The fun part of starting behind and also the staggered start was that you get to 'sayur' a lot of runners. When I mean a lot, I was talking 3 digit a lot. Even towards the final 2km of the race, I was overtaking about 10 runners per minute.

Coming to the finish, I was pushing about 14-15kph pace. I wrapped up the race in 27:39, a 12.5kph pace, which was within my targeted pace.

I finished no. 54 for the Men's veteran category.

A pretty satisfying race, all in all, with a good makan place close by, at Teluk Pulai Restaurant at Taman Rashna, with the KK pacers.

Next race....the premium 10k in Malaysia...Mizuno Wave Run on 25th Oct 2009.

Malathion training Wk5/14 - 25km LSD cum Half Marathon for WWFOR

Place : Putrajaya Precinct 2-3...thereabouts
Time : 6.50am
Weather : Nice and cloudy...
Slope : Moderate

I started off the run with a couple of friends. Why Putrajaya? With very low traffic and nice buildings, infrastructure and convenient access to toilets, this place is pretty ideal to do not only running and cycling.

With most of my runs done in my neighbourhood, doing a LSD in Putrajaya, and it was more for a change of the scenery.

I was targeting to do 25km within 2:25, about a 10.5km/hr pace. Also, I wanted to fulfill my commitment to do the WWFOR Half marathon which I was one of the first to register (http://worldwidefestivalofraces.com).

The route was to run from the big mosque in Precinct 2 to PICC and then to Pullman hotel, get across the bridge, and loop back to the mosque. I was expecting that a 2nd loop to PICC was required, and it would be easy to adjust the distance accordingly.

So, there were 2 runs in one. 25km in 2:25 and 21km within 2 hours.

I started the pace at about 10k/hr and by the 2nd km, it was going up to 10.7k/hr. By the 10km, I was averaging 10.7k/hr.

Took my first sip of the double dose of Accelerade, and was feeling pretty good. Most of the kinks were worked out by the 3rd km. No problems with the hamstring and hip adductor.

At 17km mark, the energy levels were still pretty good. I started the 2nd loop and tried maintain a nice steady pace of 5:35 to 5:40 per km.

I finished strong for the first run of the half marathon and completed 21.1km in 1hour 58min 46 seconds, my PB for a half marathon distance non race run.

After finishing this first part, I took a "evacuation" break and continued the run. However, things were going downhill from that point.

I was running at a much slower pace for the last 4 km. Based on my target pace, I had quite a lot of time to spare to cover the last leg.

I did a couple of walk breaks. I was imbibing quite a bit too much water too quickly, and ended up having with a side stitch.

I guess I made finishing the last leg a bit more difficult by thinking too much about it, rather than zoning out and control the water intake.

I finished the 25.24km in 2:24:42, which I was pretty happy with.

Post Race :
I was feeling better than I've felt after other 25k runs or more, so it was a pretty wise choice not to run yesterday. Also the recovery from the muscle injuries almost completed, it was a sweet run all in all.

I will be taking part in the 6km Centro Run in Klang tomorrow. Depending how I crawl out of bed, I'm hoping to be looking at a sub 30min run.