Place : Awana Genting Resort
Time : 0830
Course : Running/Walking/Climbing/Crawling!!
Weather : Cool and lovely
With somebody to sign up with in August, I was happy to take on this event as it had a trail running through the hill forests.
I'm more to walking forest trails than running them when I was younger, but I remember how tough the terrain could be. Hooking up with the Zarinator was probably a great idea as he had done the KK climbathon the week before.
It was definitely a testing experience. We arrived there pretty early at 7am, but hit our first hiccup with our registration numbers going missing. After some whining with the organizers, they gave us a replacement number written in ball pen!! Arrggh! Pay RM168, yet have to deal with this....??? Anyway, they finally located our numbers after the person who was issued our numbers turned up and swapped the correct numbers back to them. Organizer error.
We hardly had time to warm up when the horn went off. The trail started with a 3km run down the road to the Awana golf course. The Zarinator took off like it was a sprint event and we finished the first 3km in less than 15min... Once we hit the jungle trail, things started to slow down pretty quick.
After the 6km mark, things started getting really tough, with sharp ascents and descent marking the next 2km, with 2 river crossings. Even for the front runners, you could hear them blowing their lungs from meters away. Rough, tough and downright dirty....you have to love it!!
My legs was close to Jell-O by the time I was hitting 7km, and had to take many stops in between for my legs to recover and catch my breath. Luckily, with the Zarinator, he towed me for some parts of it and it really helped as there seemed to be less effort in tackling the steep slopes.
On the last sharp ascent, I slipped down the hill a few times, before finally making it up there. With the final 2 km, the trail started to ease, but not without finishing the staircase to heaven and down the final descent to the obstacle course.
This part...you have to love!! Jumping over several ditches, tackling the wooden barriers and crawling under the netting was a nice touch. Took me back to my school days....
We finished the race with a sprint at about 1:55, which was quite credible. We placed 30th and was pretty hyped at the end.
Looking back at the event, lots of time of the stairclimber, upper body work by wall climbing and some trail running, would definitely help in preparing better for this event.
It was all great fun, and we had a blast of a time.
With only 3 weeks to PBIM, I'll probably need to do 1 more long run, hopefully about 33km for the final prep for this event. Until then...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
6 weeks to PBIM and beyond....
After running 3 marathons, the sub 4 hour goal still seems to loom far away. With my last attempt at KL marathon weighing in about the same time with last year, both motivation and time seems to be wanting.
Looking through my blogs for the 3 races, the one thing that always got me was the taper and the endurance. The best so far was the 2009 SCSM, where I went pretty strong until the 31st km. I could have easily gone sub 4, even if I had to slow down to 10kph. Unfortunately, that was not to be...
Another 6 weeks to go, I hope to go into higher gear for 4 weeks, and not taper to less than 40k for the 2nd last week.
Hopefully, I'll be able to have a PB at least.
Perusing through all the articles, most pointers for those on the wrong side of 40 focus on the need to balance intensity with recovery. Hence, trying to make up for both speed and endurance at one go may not be desirable.
For next year, it would be great to work on my speed. Trudging at full effort doesn't seem to get me there faster, so I'm thinking of limiting my targets for 2011 for half marathons max and try to achieve the following goals by end 2011;
5 half marathons
5 > 10k
10 10k races
5k - 22min (PB 24+)
10k - 45 min (PB 48+)
21k - 1hr 45min (PB 1hr 50+)
With these kind of times, I'd think the base speed doesn't become an issue. The question will be more on endurance for 2012. I'll probably be working on at least 2 marathons and 1 ultra, depending if I can keep the body working in 1 piece...
Looking through my blogs for the 3 races, the one thing that always got me was the taper and the endurance. The best so far was the 2009 SCSM, where I went pretty strong until the 31st km. I could have easily gone sub 4, even if I had to slow down to 10kph. Unfortunately, that was not to be...
Another 6 weeks to go, I hope to go into higher gear for 4 weeks, and not taper to less than 40k for the 2nd last week.
Hopefully, I'll be able to have a PB at least.
Perusing through all the articles, most pointers for those on the wrong side of 40 focus on the need to balance intensity with recovery. Hence, trying to make up for both speed and endurance at one go may not be desirable.
For next year, it would be great to work on my speed. Trudging at full effort doesn't seem to get me there faster, so I'm thinking of limiting my targets for 2011 for half marathons max and try to achieve the following goals by end 2011;
5 half marathons
5 > 10k
10 10k races
5k - 22min (PB 24+)
10k - 45 min (PB 48+)
21k - 1hr 45min (PB 1hr 50+)
With these kind of times, I'd think the base speed doesn't become an issue. The question will be more on endurance for 2012. I'll probably be working on at least 2 marathons and 1 ultra, depending if I can keep the body working in 1 piece...
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Newton 25k
Place : Bandar Kinrara
Date : 26 Sept 2010
Time : 0630am
Finish time : 2:37:40
Verdict - tough terrain, tough weather!
Date : 26 Sept 2010
Time : 0630am
Finish time : 2:37:40
Verdict - tough terrain, tough weather!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
My 3rd Marathon : SC KL Marathon 2010
Date : 27 June 2010
Time : 5.00am
Place : Dataran Merdeka
Course : Around KL
Terrain : Hilly, tougher than last year's
Finish time : 4:29:13
The build up to this year's home marathon could be called mild with very minimal conditioning. Over the course of the 2 months, I only did only 3 runs, which could be considered LSDs, with the longest at 30km.
Comparing the mileage logged when I prepared for my 1st marathon exactly 1 year ago, I was definitely cutting corners, with only half the mileage compared to last year.
With a botched long run 2 weeks ago, it did not help my confidence either.
However, with the experience of 2 marathons under my belt, I believed pacing for the intial 30k was key, before the tackling the 'Wall' and cramps.
I went through my gear the night before but couldn't get any shut eye. Seemed this was a condition endemic to pre marathon nights. Haven't learn't any new ways to get around that...
Up by 3.15am, pre marathon meal remained light with 1 cup of coffee, more for 'discharge' purposes, rather than anything else.
I arrived at the starting line 15 minutes before the start time, with a sense of deja vu. As with last year, we started the race in the rain, and all of us were soaked even before the race started.
The first 5km was started taken at a steady pace, with the rain keeping the temperatures pretty cool. It kept falling for the first hour or so. I guess everybody benefited from that. I personally felt reasonably fresh after finishing the first 10k.
The 2nd thing was the abundance of water and sponging stations, which were available at every 2km. Obviously, the organizer took extra measures to avoid the disastrous situation like last year.
As we looped back to town after passing the Sungai Besi airport, traffic began to become heavier.
Moving from Cheras to Pudu, the tingling toe situation had already begun to surface. Normally it was a precursor of calf cramps coming on. Due to the lack of mileage, I took 5 Gu Gel packs and popped the first one at 15k. The tingling came and went throughout the following 10k, before the cramps started to kick in.
KM 25-30 was the 'transition' stage where the tiredness begun to sink in. By KM32, the cramps were spreading from the left calf to the right, then creeping to the inner quads and hamstring.
From then on, it was a matter of intelligent manaagement, lest I falter and had to stop at periods. It was walk run strategy from then on.
I wasn't hell bent to meet any target time, but I had been going at a reasonable pace. I did the first 30k in less than 3 hours. Worst case, I may need to take about 5 hours to finish. At best, a 4:20 was still possible.
As I ran down Jalan Kuching, the cramps were getting worse, and not letting up much. My time fell to a 8min+/km pace.
Finally I reached Longgak Tunku and I braced myself for the climb up Bukit Tunku. Surprisingly, the lack of traffic, lots of shade and green surrounding was really a good boost. The cramps situation surprisingly improved. As we reached the peak, I was actually picking up my pace and managed a few 6min/km. As we turned into TAR road, I was definitely sensing completion in a reasonable time in hand. My wife accompanied me on the last km and this really gave me a boost for a last sprint to the finish line, if you could call it that.
I thorughly enjoyed this race as it was much better managed than last year's, with more show of supporters throughout the course. Hopefully I'll be able to find a good race for the end of this year and prepare for a sub 4.
Time : 5.00am
Place : Dataran Merdeka
Course : Around KL
Terrain : Hilly, tougher than last year's
Finish time : 4:29:13
The build up to this year's home marathon could be called mild with very minimal conditioning. Over the course of the 2 months, I only did only 3 runs, which could be considered LSDs, with the longest at 30km.
Comparing the mileage logged when I prepared for my 1st marathon exactly 1 year ago, I was definitely cutting corners, with only half the mileage compared to last year.
With a botched long run 2 weeks ago, it did not help my confidence either.
However, with the experience of 2 marathons under my belt, I believed pacing for the intial 30k was key, before the tackling the 'Wall' and cramps.
I went through my gear the night before but couldn't get any shut eye. Seemed this was a condition endemic to pre marathon nights. Haven't learn't any new ways to get around that...
Up by 3.15am, pre marathon meal remained light with 1 cup of coffee, more for 'discharge' purposes, rather than anything else.
I arrived at the starting line 15 minutes before the start time, with a sense of deja vu. As with last year, we started the race in the rain, and all of us were soaked even before the race started.
The first 5km was started taken at a steady pace, with the rain keeping the temperatures pretty cool. It kept falling for the first hour or so. I guess everybody benefited from that. I personally felt reasonably fresh after finishing the first 10k.
The 2nd thing was the abundance of water and sponging stations, which were available at every 2km. Obviously, the organizer took extra measures to avoid the disastrous situation like last year.
As we looped back to town after passing the Sungai Besi airport, traffic began to become heavier.
Moving from Cheras to Pudu, the tingling toe situation had already begun to surface. Normally it was a precursor of calf cramps coming on. Due to the lack of mileage, I took 5 Gu Gel packs and popped the first one at 15k. The tingling came and went throughout the following 10k, before the cramps started to kick in.
KM 25-30 was the 'transition' stage where the tiredness begun to sink in. By KM32, the cramps were spreading from the left calf to the right, then creeping to the inner quads and hamstring.
From then on, it was a matter of intelligent manaagement, lest I falter and had to stop at periods. It was walk run strategy from then on.
I wasn't hell bent to meet any target time, but I had been going at a reasonable pace. I did the first 30k in less than 3 hours. Worst case, I may need to take about 5 hours to finish. At best, a 4:20 was still possible.
As I ran down Jalan Kuching, the cramps were getting worse, and not letting up much. My time fell to a 8min+/km pace.
Finally I reached Longgak Tunku and I braced myself for the climb up Bukit Tunku. Surprisingly, the lack of traffic, lots of shade and green surrounding was really a good boost. The cramps situation surprisingly improved. As we reached the peak, I was actually picking up my pace and managed a few 6min/km. As we turned into TAR road, I was definitely sensing completion in a reasonable time in hand. My wife accompanied me on the last km and this really gave me a boost for a last sprint to the finish line, if you could call it that.
I thorughly enjoyed this race as it was much better managed than last year's, with more show of supporters throughout the course. Hopefully I'll be able to find a good race for the end of this year and prepare for a sub 4.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Shah Alam Buddhist Society Fun Jog
Date : 1 May 2010
Place : Bukit Rimau/Kota Kemuning
Time : 8.00am
Weather: Towards the warmer side
Course : Pretty flat
Running a race in the home ground is great fun!
1. You don't need to spend an hour to and fro to get the venue.
2. You can do your warm up by running to the starting point from your house.
3. You'll have time to go back, take a shower and pop back in to collect your prize!
This is a charity event, which generally caters to the general public and for a good cause.
The entrance fee (or donation) was steep at RM50, but like I said, it was for a good cause.
The race started off in a timely fashion and I went ahead in doing a rookie mistake by going out tooooo fast. I did the first km in 4:32.
Going towards the middle part, my pace dropped off dramatically to 5:45 and it was a very strong reflection of my fitness level now. As the number of participants were quite few, relatively speaking, I was in 3rd place (or so I thot) for my category out of 25, and kept thinking about the time that I would most probably finish in.
By the time I reached the 8km, my pace was about 5:50, but my heart rate was on the very high side. With the last km to go, I picked up the pace a bit, but didn't do an all out as the guy in front of me was about 300m away.
I finished in a time of about 54min, which was pretty slack, but ok given the extremely low mileage that I've been doing for the last few weeks or so.
As I collected my 'winners flag', I actually finished in 4th position. Seemed that Ong Chin was way up in front, and probably finished in less than 40min. No fight lah!
The organization of the race was actually quite good, with clear signs of who supposed to go where, and a staggered release according to category.
Too bad my wife didn't take part, else she would also probably have a top 5 placing for her category.
Anyway, it was a nice, cosy and well organized event and hopefully, they'll have 1 again next year.
Next race..Chicken Roosters run...maybe. Haven't registered yet. But I can't resist I think, as it's;
1. In Sunway! Very close
2. My kids are looking forward to it, as the ticket include entrance into Sunway Lagoon.
3. The event is named Chicken Roosters!
Till next time.
Regards,
Edmund
Place : Bukit Rimau/Kota Kemuning
Time : 8.00am
Weather: Towards the warmer side
Course : Pretty flat
Running a race in the home ground is great fun!
1. You don't need to spend an hour to and fro to get the venue.
2. You can do your warm up by running to the starting point from your house.
3. You'll have time to go back, take a shower and pop back in to collect your prize!
This is a charity event, which generally caters to the general public and for a good cause.
The entrance fee (or donation) was steep at RM50, but like I said, it was for a good cause.
The race started off in a timely fashion and I went ahead in doing a rookie mistake by going out tooooo fast. I did the first km in 4:32.
Going towards the middle part, my pace dropped off dramatically to 5:45 and it was a very strong reflection of my fitness level now. As the number of participants were quite few, relatively speaking, I was in 3rd place (or so I thot) for my category out of 25, and kept thinking about the time that I would most probably finish in.
By the time I reached the 8km, my pace was about 5:50, but my heart rate was on the very high side. With the last km to go, I picked up the pace a bit, but didn't do an all out as the guy in front of me was about 300m away.
I finished in a time of about 54min, which was pretty slack, but ok given the extremely low mileage that I've been doing for the last few weeks or so.
As I collected my 'winners flag', I actually finished in 4th position. Seemed that Ong Chin was way up in front, and probably finished in less than 40min. No fight lah!
The organization of the race was actually quite good, with clear signs of who supposed to go where, and a staggered release according to category.
Too bad my wife didn't take part, else she would also probably have a top 5 placing for her category.
Anyway, it was a nice, cosy and well organized event and hopefully, they'll have 1 again next year.
Next race..Chicken Roosters run...maybe. Haven't registered yet. But I can't resist I think, as it's;
1. In Sunway! Very close
2. My kids are looking forward to it, as the ticket include entrance into Sunway Lagoon.
3. The event is named Chicken Roosters!
Till next time.
Regards,
Edmund
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Energizer Half (Sufferding!)
Event : Inaugural Energizer Marathon (Half)
Date : 26 March 2010
Time : 8.00pm
Climate : Very warm!
Course : Quite hilly.
Time : 2:00:40 (PW)
It seems these night runs in Putrajaya have some things in common. Warm roads due to the wide exposed roads and a lot of irate motorists!
The race for me was okay, and I didn't set any particular targets. I hadn't been doing distances beyond 10k for the last 2 months, so I was half expecting the going to be pretty hard in the 2nd half.
Although the achilles issue has elevated quite a bit with the orthotic that I bought from a pharmacy in Subang (RM89- cheap and good?), I doubted that the heel had recovered sufficiently to last the 21k distance.
I was a pretty good pace up to km5. But after I went for a short toilet break, everything seem to go downhill pretty fast. Mainting a 11.5kph pace was a struggle, and when I reach the 13k, I was really demotivated and had walked a good part of that and the next 3k.
After a nice cool sponging at km15, I felt the inspiration coming back and when I joined the 10k group, it became easier to continue running. I even quite a bit left in the tank to do the last 3k in a sub 6 minute pace, so I guess it might be something to do with my head, rather than my body.
With a time of 2:00:40 at a distance of 20.99km, this is my worst time for the 4 marathons. It was 8 minutes off my Putrajaya half. I guess the lack of mileage also shows. Hmmm, no wonder my water belt felt tight. Less mileage = more waist!
On the organization, following are my thoughts.
The good parts;
1. The route had pretty wide roads, and most of the part pretty quiet.
2. The goodie bag for half marathoners was definitely interesting;
a. 1 medal
b. 1 shaver
c. 1 tube of salon spray.
d. 1 button badge from the 'fish oil' sponsor
e. 1 sachet of men facial wash
f. 1 small strip of salon pas
g. 5 tablets of multivitamins
h. And not to forget - a nice looking headlight which has a pretty bright white
and red lights.
As the venue seems pretty new to the Pacesetters, there were several big hiccups;
1. Ample parking space within the campus, but everybody who wasn't a student was made to park a distance away and use the shuttle bus.
2. The start line and the end was not at the same spot. As there were no clear indications or signs where the start line was, even on the arches themselves, I would guess there were quite a few who missed the starting time. Yes, it is noted in their mail and yes, there were quite a few reminders online to those internet savvy participants.
3. The route, although indicating the direction, did not clearly note which distance nor direction for whom, so further confusion for some people.
4. The long queue for the 10k would have been a big issue with those participants in that category. I guess it would take a good 30 minutes just to pick up their goodie bag.
Hopefully, the Pacesetters will use this lesson to improve their next event.
If my heel condition improves, I guess this will be the start of my marathon training for the KL marathon come June 27.
Date : 26 March 2010
Time : 8.00pm
Climate : Very warm!
Course : Quite hilly.
Time : 2:00:40 (PW)
It seems these night runs in Putrajaya have some things in common. Warm roads due to the wide exposed roads and a lot of irate motorists!
The race for me was okay, and I didn't set any particular targets. I hadn't been doing distances beyond 10k for the last 2 months, so I was half expecting the going to be pretty hard in the 2nd half.
Although the achilles issue has elevated quite a bit with the orthotic that I bought from a pharmacy in Subang (RM89- cheap and good?), I doubted that the heel had recovered sufficiently to last the 21k distance.
I was a pretty good pace up to km5. But after I went for a short toilet break, everything seem to go downhill pretty fast. Mainting a 11.5kph pace was a struggle, and when I reach the 13k, I was really demotivated and had walked a good part of that and the next 3k.
After a nice cool sponging at km15, I felt the inspiration coming back and when I joined the 10k group, it became easier to continue running. I even quite a bit left in the tank to do the last 3k in a sub 6 minute pace, so I guess it might be something to do with my head, rather than my body.
With a time of 2:00:40 at a distance of 20.99km, this is my worst time for the 4 marathons. It was 8 minutes off my Putrajaya half. I guess the lack of mileage also shows. Hmmm, no wonder my water belt felt tight. Less mileage = more waist!
On the organization, following are my thoughts.
The good parts;
1. The route had pretty wide roads, and most of the part pretty quiet.
2. The goodie bag for half marathoners was definitely interesting;
a. 1 medal
b. 1 shaver
c. 1 tube of salon spray.
d. 1 button badge from the 'fish oil' sponsor
e. 1 sachet of men facial wash
f. 1 small strip of salon pas
g. 5 tablets of multivitamins
h. And not to forget - a nice looking headlight which has a pretty bright white
and red lights.
As the venue seems pretty new to the Pacesetters, there were several big hiccups;
1. Ample parking space within the campus, but everybody who wasn't a student was made to park a distance away and use the shuttle bus.
2. The start line and the end was not at the same spot. As there were no clear indications or signs where the start line was, even on the arches themselves, I would guess there were quite a few who missed the starting time. Yes, it is noted in their mail and yes, there were quite a few reminders online to those internet savvy participants.
3. The route, although indicating the direction, did not clearly note which distance nor direction for whom, so further confusion for some people.
4. The long queue for the 10k would have been a big issue with those participants in that category. I guess it would take a good 30 minutes just to pick up their goodie bag.
Hopefully, the Pacesetters will use this lesson to improve their next event.
If my heel condition improves, I guess this will be the start of my marathon training for the KL marathon come June 27.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
KL Towerthon (or 'tower toons')
Date : 21 March 2010
Time : 0800-0945 (staggered release)
Place : KL Tower
Course : 2000+ steps, I guess short and very intense aptly describes it!
Time : Less than 25 minutes, forgot to stop my watch until I was on the observation tower.
This was my first time doing the towerthon and I thought it would be nice if the family wanted to go up the observation tower to have a view as well.
Rookie mistake #1 : Get the time table. We were there at 7am, but my group's start time was at 0900. Hmmmm.
Rookie mistake #2 : With 2000+ steps to go, after a steep 1km run up from the base, some training on the step master or staircase at a condo would help.
Rookie mistake #3 : Didn't know what to expect. Seems like the markings on the walls do not indicate the exact level. The marking starts from T1 to T22, followed by H01 to H03. This actually indicates different levels which do not correlate with the actual number of stories you go up.
Rookie mistake #4 : With 4 lifts and 2400 participants, it is a tight squeeze or a long time before you get down. Don't plan for a flight after the race, haha!
Rookie mistake #5 : Better to enter the Open category. Less bodies to deal with!!
Rookie mistake #6 : If you want your family to be up there, don't! My wife and daughter almost fainted when the flood of runners came in before they could get out. On the way down, I have to give thanks to Kevin (PM2 from Der Pacemakers), for lending his voice to give way for my kid. I guess it was a pretty shocking experience, with the all the hot and sweaty bodies squeezing tightly together (sounds a bit funny when I put in writing).
There were about 4 waterstops on the way up, but it was narrow. Even if I could, I doubt I could improve my time more than a few minutes, as there were many people stalled halfway but not much space to squeeze past.
It was definitely a unique experience and I was surprised that I didn't keel over. In fact, if I knew the end was near, I probably could shave off a minute.
Would I do it again? A big YES! I guess it will be pretty easy to beat my PR for this course, haha!
Next....Energizer Half Marathon this Saturday night.
Time : 0800-0945 (staggered release)
Place : KL Tower
Course : 2000+ steps, I guess short and very intense aptly describes it!
Time : Less than 25 minutes, forgot to stop my watch until I was on the observation tower.
This was my first time doing the towerthon and I thought it would be nice if the family wanted to go up the observation tower to have a view as well.
Rookie mistake #1 : Get the time table. We were there at 7am, but my group's start time was at 0900. Hmmmm.
Rookie mistake #2 : With 2000+ steps to go, after a steep 1km run up from the base, some training on the step master or staircase at a condo would help.
Rookie mistake #3 : Didn't know what to expect. Seems like the markings on the walls do not indicate the exact level. The marking starts from T1 to T22, followed by H01 to H03. This actually indicates different levels which do not correlate with the actual number of stories you go up.
Rookie mistake #4 : With 4 lifts and 2400 participants, it is a tight squeeze or a long time before you get down. Don't plan for a flight after the race, haha!
Rookie mistake #5 : Better to enter the Open category. Less bodies to deal with!!
Rookie mistake #6 : If you want your family to be up there, don't! My wife and daughter almost fainted when the flood of runners came in before they could get out. On the way down, I have to give thanks to Kevin (PM2 from Der Pacemakers), for lending his voice to give way for my kid. I guess it was a pretty shocking experience, with the all the hot and sweaty bodies squeezing tightly together (sounds a bit funny when I put in writing).
There were about 4 waterstops on the way up, but it was narrow. Even if I could, I doubt I could improve my time more than a few minutes, as there were many people stalled halfway but not much space to squeeze past.
It was definitely a unique experience and I was surprised that I didn't keel over. In fact, if I knew the end was near, I probably could shave off a minute.
Would I do it again? A big YES! I guess it will be pretty easy to beat my PR for this course, haha!
Next....Energizer Half Marathon this Saturday night.
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