When everything is in order and suddenly....

You are hit with chicken pox, yes chicken pox at the age of 42 (my Christmas and birthday present for 2012).

I actually got it from my youngest son, which he had it about 3 weeks ago. We shared the same viral. It all started after my routine run on Saturday (22/12). Just did not feel right the whole morning and I thought I was dehydrated as I did not replenish as much liquid as I did usually after my run. Was busy preparing the food for the night's LYN gathering. Popped in 2 soluble panadol and felt much better later. Even went for a swim during that nights' gathering and felt nothing unusual then.

The next morning, Sunday (23/12), I even went for a run with Wai Hong, Ann Ric and Sebastian. However, 2K into the run, I know I am definitely no good and I started walking. Was also busy looking for toilet as nature calls. We ended up had a real short run and a lot of chit chatting. We even trekked up Wawasan Hill after the run but only turns back about 1.5k into the trail as its too muddy. Only Wai Hong continued to finished as he was trying on his new trail shoes.

By night, i was feeling very tired and the whole body was aching. Also feeling cold from the inside out. Went to clinic and was prescribed with the usual antibiotic, fever and flu tablets. My throat was swelling and URTI is on the way.

The next morning when I woke up, damn! its all over my shoulder and neck. That was it, there goes my Newton closing run for the year. Went to clinic again and the bill came up to RM162 and was given an antiviral medicine to be taken 5x a day over the next 5 days.

 It was tough over the past few days. This was how I looked on the peak, it was day 4 (27/12).

taken with the culprit who spread it to me

 Day 5, where it starts to itch a little where I had to apply to Calamine lotion to keep me cool.

28 Dec 2012

And today is day 6, when I am writing this up.

29 December 2012

I would say this a memorable Christmas and Birthday year for me to remember, 2012! :D

Seven days of training

Yes, its 6 days of running and 1 day of swimming. This was one of my highest mileage week, at 66km, since I started running 1.5 years ago.

It was a race event on Tuesday Klang Run for it 6, which I have not enough of running and ran another 6 km in the evening. Friday was supposedly to be a scheduled off day but adrenaline was still high. Decided to go for a swim at Bukit Jalil Aquatic Centre instead. Did a good 2000 M mixture of freestyle and breast stroke.

Started a solo run of 11km on Saturday at about 7.40am. It was a good run as weather was very forgiving on that morning. Was thinking will I able to do another planned 21km the next day with the rest of the LYN runners. Come Sunday, the run started at 5.30am sharp. There were a total of 11 runners with Wai Hong came in late where he got to go by himself. As usual, the run finished with breakfast at Aladdin Bistro.

Usual breakfast place after run, Aladdin Bistro

Looking forward for the coming weekend's LSD (16km), which will be the last before Newton run which will be held on 30.12.2012.

Day off for a run

Yes! I did take a day off, just because I want to run in an event. Partly its because wifey is not working as her office is in Selangor, which is Selangor's Sultan birthday, a day off for all in Selangor.

Thanks to a friend for being able to provide me with a free bib to run in the Klang Run for it 6 - 12km run at Bandar Botanic, Klang. Started the journey at about 5.30 am, traveled together with Kelvin Wan as we car pooled.

Reached there at about 6.00am and first person we bumped into was Yew Khuay, Renee and Hong Lan, which they all came in one car. They were surprised to Kelvin and I as we did not announce that we are starting this race. As we walked towards the starting point, more and more familiar faces were seen like Jeff Wong, Barkley, Wei Min and Alvin Yap.

The race started on time at about 6.33 am with no timing chip. The route was on the race morning and not earlier due to non-usage of timing chip and there are too many open road along the route which is subject to abuse, as per Alvin Yap, whom is part of the organizer team.

I am really liking my leg's muscle

12 km route map

Started the race pretty fast as usual the peer pressure from runners around you.

Lap statistics

At km 8, which you can see there is a drop in the pace, bumped into Kelvin Wan and Meng Yong. Both of them were walking and I joined in for a short stroll. It was because both were also looking for toilet wanting to do their big business. What a day for both of them! Upon crossing the small hill across the bridge at about km 10, thought that finishing line is near, started to sprint. 500m later, I saw the marker which display 1km to go and damn, I was already dead tired and about to punctured. Nevertheless, slowly pushed myself to the finishing line as I was reaching, as usual heard a lot of yelling and shouting...Captain, Captain. Those were the cheers from my fellow running mates.

Finished the race with my (nearly) intended average pace of (5:50) 5:52, if its not because I pushed myself too had in the beginning. Still very satisfactory with it. First time came across where Apam is being served in a race, maybe only in Klang.

Nice Apam 

As usual, cam whoring took place after the run, with many many candid shots. Look at my sweats and noticed my hair is getting lesser too.

Post race group photo

Rain Rain please go away

Rain rain please go away! Don't your resources dries up after such a long period of rainfall.
Look at my training log for the month of December 2012. I am targeting 50k weekly but its far from reach.

Training log for December 2012

As of today (5/12), this week is still zero mileage but I managed to replaced the last 2 days with 20 minutes each day with abdominal and cardio workout. But that's not enough.

I have practically less than 4 weeks to brush up for my next race, which is Newton Challenge 2012. Here is my training schedule for the next 3.5 weeks but with the continuous rainfall, must I really need to wake up 5.00 am daily to fulfill the schedule?

Training schedule for Newton Challenge 2012

Decided that if weather to continues to be as such, rain in the evening, come next week I will have to wake up at 5.00 am to run.

Malakoff Powerman 2012

REPC was on 3 November 2012 at Marriot Hotel, Putrajaya. Met up with Kelvin Wan and Ooi Wei Min. At the same time bumped into Keni Kamaluddin (old school and band mate) whom he confused me with another MTB rider, Ashek and Steve Yap. Attended a short briefing on what are the Do's and Don'ts. Left immediately after the briefing as need to pick up the kids from their usual Saturday activities.

with Kelvin Wan and Ooi Wei Min

Woke up at 5.00am on race day and left home at about 5.35am. Sebastian supposedly to drop by to my house to drive together to Putrajaya but no sight of him at 5.30am. Gave him a ring and he was still sleeping. No choice but got to go without him and to meet him there.

Upon reaching race site, bumped into Jason Thai at the carpark. Got myself changed and went to checked in my bike. Meet Kah Wai and 1st photo was snapped with a funny pose.

Thanks to Kah Wai

Also met up with Jamie Pang, whom I can say its one of my sifu in running. He is doing the running leg in the relay event. As usual, photothon starts while waiting for the even to be flagged off.

with Jamie Pang

while waiting at the flagged off

Event was flagged off at about 7.10am. First leg of 5.7km was smooth, completed in 31:42 with an average pace of 5:43 mins/km, within my expectation of sub 6:00. The 1st transition from running to biking took me 2:54 mins, which overall I think its above the average. Leg was still strong even after about 5.7km of running and bumped into Kah Wai again on the road.

Thanks to Kah Wai

Cycling leg was fun as this is the 1st time I am cycling for the distance of 32km. In this route, it was rather scenic and not that hilly. If I can remember correctly, there were 4-5 incidents of tires punctured noted along the way. 

2nd transition took place after the 32km of cycling. The minute I dismounted from the bike, I was like walking sideways and the quad cramped almost immediately. Spent 3:39 minutes trying to walk off the cramp. The 1km of the 2nd  running leg was ok until when I reached for km 2. Was looking for spray from the medic but none was available. Ended with a bag of ice on hand to overcome the cramp. It was walk and run all the way until km 4. Then bumped into Sebastian and Wayne and as usual, we did the LYNR style by crossing together and holding hands.

Lastly, this is a memorable race and it will be a yearly race event, provided that I still have a bike and its held locally within Klang Valley. Overall, finished 237/411 in the men sprint category.

Again no running for the next 2-3 weeks

It has been a while since I last update my blog here. In my last 2 postings, I was bragging about coming back stronger after laying off for 4 weeks. Here I am again, will be laying off at least for the next 2 weeks.

It all started after the River Jungle Marathon on 9 September 2012. ITBFS struck again immediately after finishing RJM.

This is the view in RJM-with Alvin Yap

The following week, managed to only a total of 17km due to the pain struck from km 6 onward. Decided to take a break then. However, during the period, I did a lot of cycling. Between 11 September to 29 September, I did about 180km of riding while recovering from ITBFS.

Back on the road on 28 September 2012, which was 12 days after my last run for a slow 5km. Things felt good. However, on the next day, supposedly to do a Powerman simulation in Putrajaya, while waiting for other cyclist to show up, did a warm up run and the knee pain struck as early as the 3km. Dang! That's it, how am I going to prepare myself for the coming Putrajaya Night Marathon which I am doing 21km?

L-R: Sebastian, Wei Min, Hong Lan, Renee, myself and Noobus

myself, Jason and Wei Min

There was registered run on 30 September 2012, the Salomon X-trail run in UPM. Prior to that, the night before the run, together with Wayne, Alvin and K1, we attended Stanley Tay's wedding dinner at Sam You Restaurant in Sri Kembangan, Serdang.

myself, Alvin, K1 and Wayne

Salomon X-trail run came and gone. Pain struck at km 4 and by km 8, it had numbed my knee. I actually managed to speed up my pace during the last 3km and finished 11.4km (as per my GPS) in 1:15:19, which is deemed to be very good in my given situation. 

Here I am today, decided to rest for the next 2-3 weeks until PNM or at least 3 days prior to the race day. Between now and then, will do lots of ITBS rehabilitation exercises and at the same time lots of lower body strengthening exercises to burn off some fats. 

Nike We Run KL 10K 2012

The race registration Nike We Run KL 10K 2012 started at 9.00am and is no officially closed at 3.30pm (that is about 6.5 hrs). This raises a question, is that possible as last year's 10,000 registration was snapped up in about 60 hours.

However, registration actually started in August for some colleges within Klang Valley. Here is a snap shot of  this year's running T. For those who missed the registration, I can only say try again next year.

After 4 weeks of not running

Laying off for full 4 weeks is not that bad after all. As the saying goes, you will come back stronger and it is the case now. Rested immediately after SCKLM on 24 June 2012and resumed with a 2km run on 21 July  2012 and went into full swing effective from 28 July 2012 (week 31). There was no looking back from then on which can be seen on the statistics below.

Running mileage by weeks

Highest mileage ever achieved in my running history was in week 36 with 75km. I was able to achieved such a high mileage was due to the long weekend (Merdeka Day 2012) and continued running over the 3 days break.

31 August 2012 - Bandar Puteri

Putrajaya - 1 September 2012

Puchong Kinrara (Ammah Hill) 2 September 2012

This is the tapering week in preparation for the River Jungle Marathon 2012 on 9 September 2012. Sad to say I am still not well prepared for the run. Will be taking it slowly with a lot of walking to do and this route is real hilly and scenic too.

When you are not running in the last 3.5 weeks

Dailymile Statistics

Does the above looks familiar? Yes, its my training statistics extracted from Dailymile. It can be seen that from week 27, which is immediately after Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon (SCKLM), to date, I did not run a single kilometer.

Went for an MRI on the very next day after SCKLM, due to my prolong outer right knee pain. Report from the Radiographer denotes the followings: 

MRI Report

However, in these 3.5 weeks, continuous stretching was done and some physio was carried out on my own based on YouTube's teaching on ITBFS recovery. Overall, in this period of time, the weighing scale shown an increase of about 3 kilogram.

If everything goes well, hope to be back in action by next week. Next registered run would be River Jungle Marathon, which is a 42K fun run to be held in the vicinity of Hulu Langat. Just cannot wait to be back in action. 

TM Fan Run

Got a lady colleague did the REPC on behalf. Very bad of me huh! Well, she benefited as she now knew where is OCM and its located in the same perimeter with Olympic Hotel, of which she never even heard of this hotel before this.


The REPC only contained a Panthera Jersey and a blank bib. Was thinking earlier, why a blank bib? Might as well do away with it for a greener environment. Come to think of it, this will prove that I am a registered and paid runner since I won't be running in that Panthera Jersey. 

Race Entry Pack

So are we suppose to write something on the bib? Got the idea from a running buddy and I wrote in my running group so called allocated number, i.e. Low Yat Net Runners (LYNR) no:5 and also my nick. Lets hope this doesn't confuse anyone during the run. A running buddy also commented that we should write some motivational or congratulatory message for our Olympic Contingent on the bib and pass it back to the organizer and have it pin up on a big board for the public. This is indeed a good idea. 

My LYNR group number

LYNRers are also planning group run together on this event at a very slow and easy pace to promote our group. I managed to coaxed 2 new lady runners (my colleague and her friend) and hopefully they will like running after this. Until then, more photos will be up for this event after this weekend.

Latest addition to the family

When first got to know about the new zero drop minimalist from New Balance, fell in love with it immediately but not when I felt it physically when it arrived to Malaysia's shore in late April. Initially only 2 colours, i.e. the white and lime green was brought in. Didn't quite like it at all as it looks....just don't know how to describe. When got to know that red colour has landed in Malaysia, went and checked it out at NB Concept store at the Gardens. Fell in love with it immediately. Without hesitation, bought it for RM 279 with a 20% being a PACM member together with the NConcept discount card. 

New Balance MR00 red

As of today, this new addition has clocked 4km on my legs as this whole week was nursing as injury which I had while doing my maiden full marathon (BIM) in Kota Kinabalu weeks ago. The feel was superb it provide a little more cushioning compared to my VFF Treksport. Hope this MR00 will bring me through the next next 42km run. 

So why Leanman?

First of all, this is my first encounter with blogging or rather 1st time publishing a blog as an individual as I was introduced to blog in my running group just a few weeks back. I was thinking, why not blog about myself too? 


Why Leanman? I always wanted to look lean and slim. I was overweight then and I used this nick to register with a forum many years back. Hopefully by using this nick would make me look lean and slim hahaha!


So am I there yet? Almost, I would say. I lost about 10 kg ever since I started running in June 2011 and I never looked back. Running has became a passion in me and in no time I have graduated from a couch potato to a marathoner in a span of 11 months. To date, I have a completed my maiden marathon in Borneo International Marathon and numerous half marathon in the last few months.


I would always tell myself now, be dumb just run!