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.