Malakoff Run 12k - the new KOTH course!

Date : 20 December 2009
Time : 0700 (on the dot!)
Place : Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club (Bukit Damansara)
Terrain : Hilllllly...(437m of elevation)
Weather : Great!
Course : Challenging
Gun time: 1:00:35



The preparation for this race event by the Pacesetters was well organized, with smooth traffic movement, crowd control and distribution. The few snags was more on the collection of the race kit, as they did not allow collection from the Pacesetters office in Lorong Jugra anymore.

We were there at 6.15am, just in case there were no parking spots. We ended up parking by the slip road. There were alternative parking areas in Desa Seri Hartamas, from which the organizers arranged shuttle services. However, the trips back would only start at 10.00am. I didn't fancy hanging around for an hour (Actually, I was already back home by 9am, after having b/fast).

The gun went off at 7am sharp, with an accompanying countdown (first time since I've joined road races!). The initial part of the course was narrow and it took a bit of time to clear the timing mats.

On the onset, the course was uphill for the first 700m. Once we turned in Jalan Beringin, it was up and down, up and down. I was quite fazed by the time we finished the first loop and ended up walking about 100m on the last hill before starting the 2nd loop.

By the time we started the 2nd loop, we joined in with the back end of the 7km runners. With the wide roads, overtaking was no problem. Mentally, I kept reminding myself to keep up the pace, as most of the 7k runners were walking.

Although I was feeling much better in the 2nd loop, I knew I was running at a slower pace. I was thinking of the last hill that we need to overcome before turning back to Bukit Kiara.

With 3 quarters of the hill done, my HRT had jumped to 186. I decided to walk about 50m before continuing running to ensure I had enough to push to the end, which was downhill all the way.

I ended up sprinting the last 500m of the course with a bit more left in the tank.

Compared to the previous year's race, this year's run was definitely much more enjoyable due to the course, better organizing and good crowd and traffic control.

My wife finished a couple of minutes behind and seemed to have enjoyed the run as well.

Although I finished 1 second/km off last year's pace, the elevation was much more compared to last year's course (437m vs 330m). They should name this as the new "King of the Hill" road race.

If they organize the race again at this location next year, they can definitely count me in...

BHP Run (10.7km)

Place : The Curve
Time : 0730am
Weather : A bit on the sunny side, about 30 deg C
Course : Some gradient, but not excessive

The run came with good support from BHP's suppliers' and the Pacesetters' did a good job in managing the race.

Thumbs up as far as the running of the event. A lot of participants turned up, about 1,500 based on my best "guesstimate".

The whole family went for this run as I was expecting a lot of free food and drinks, which the kids would enjoy, and we could do little bit of shopping after that.

The men's open and veteran (ha! ha! I qualified as a veteran) started off first at 7.31am and the ladies 5 minutes later.

My pace was pretty good as I was focusing on hard but sustainable for as long as possible. I was not too concerned about negative splits, as it didn't seem to work for me for any distance below 20km. I had 12km/h as my target race pace for the race.

The going was smooth up to the 5th km, and I started to feel some fatigue creeping in. I had about a minute in the pocket to meet the target pace, so I backed off, as my HRT was getting up to 184 bpm, and there were hills coming up. For the next 5km, the pace was below 12kmh, with the worst at 11.3km/h thereabouts.

Coming to the last km (or so I thot!), I turned on the remaining juice to kick up the speed and it was quite nice to race somebody in front of me up to the finish!

I almost crashed into him at the end because there was quite a crowd right after the finish line.

I was elated to do a PR on the 5k and 10k mark for this race! I managed to shave off about 20 seconds off my best 5k and 1 min 57 sec sec of my best 10k, albeit 3 seconds off the target pace.

I finished 53:21 for a 12km/h pace finish.

Right On! The additional miles and LSD seemed to really pay off!

It was a great race and hope that there'll be another next year.

I'll be doing a 30k LSD next week and then a trip up north to Bidor for the last weekend of April.

30k LSD run (SCKLM 11 wks to go)

Time : 6.30am
Place : Kota Kemuning
Duration : 3hr 9min
Weather : Sunny after 8.15am

I was feeling quite ok in the morning with a minor ache in my right heel. Probably due to golf yesterday.

Didn't have breakfast, only a coffee. Packed a 500ml bottle of mineral water and my usual mix of Red Bull (250ml) and 500ml of fruit juice. I was guessing it would be sufficient to carry me through. On top of that I had another bottle outside the house just in case I need it for the final loop.

Mechanically, everything was in their proper working order, so I decided to stick to the plan and go for 30km, with no particular pace as a goal and focus on finishing the run.

Things went well until 23km at a 9.8km/hr pace, when the fatigue started to set in. I held on until the 25km, then the energy levels started to wane. Guess I was hitting the famous WALL. Still managed to run/walk to complete the 30km, but the pace really fell off quickly.

I finished my water supply by 24km and headed back home to have a drink before heading out again to complete the last 2km.

All in all, it's good experience and looking forward to the next LSD run 2 weeks from now. The plan was to cap it at 30km at this point.

The increased mileage to 55km did really pay off as I could maintain a 10km/hr without too much trouble.

Next week will the Orange Run (11km), so I would need to complete a couple of longer runs during the week, probably 10k for Monday evening, 15km for Wednesday morning, 10k for Thurs evening and an easy 8k for Saturday evening.

Melawati 10k run

Date : 29 March 2009
Time : 7.30 am
Place : Taman Melawati
Distance: 9.97km
Weather : Overcast, about 28deg C (Perfect!)
Terrain : Hills in the middle, flat at the beginning and end

As we arrived at the location, which was near the zoo, there were not many signboards on where the start point was. However, when we were close, I managed to spot a couple of runners with their bibs and they pointed me to the right direction.

The great thing about the location was that there were ample parking space close the the starting point. The low point was that there was only 1 miserable toilet near the location. Perhaps the organizers should make a point in getting a few portable toilets for the runners.

The event was pretty low key and participation level was about 400+. As usual, the usual groups of regulars were participating. Seems like there was a fraternity out there, which I was not aware of...


Apparently, this surpassed the organizers expectations as they ran out of T-shirts.

The event started more or less on time, which was great.

The route was interesting after the first 2km as we approached the hills. The first 5km was not that punishing with the gradient building up slowly. But as we started the route back to the starting point, it was apparent that it was tougher coming back in.

It started off slow but I gradually picked up the pace to 12.4km/h in the 2nd km. Moving into the "black zone" (seems that the 4-6km part of the race become more of an effort for me for some reason or another), I backed off and walked a minute to take a drink and bring down my heart rate down a bit. I was also developing some minor discomfort in my stomach in the 5th km. Maybe it was the gas in my drink.

I felt good throughout the run and finished with a 11.8km/h average, 0.2km/h better than my previous 10k's. However, it was short of the 5min/km pace that I was aiming for but I was satisfied with the result as the improvement was significant and I felt great after the run. Looks like all the miles training were paying off.

All in all, the organizers did a good job and things moved along smoothly, with all the basic stuff covered (except the toilet and lack of T-shirts).

Next run - BHP Orange Run.