First Training Run Since Sundown Marathon

Been injured before Sundown half marathon and got sick after the race. I went over to Taman Tasik Permaisuri for my run and felt ok with a good 55mins easy run, although struglling in pace. Since I have not done any build up mileage since Chinese New Year, it's going to be tough for me to break my PB in Berlin.

Uncle Chan was there too giving his free coaching clinic, giving advice and tips on what to do on the last week leading up to Standard Chartered KL Marathon. The runners in Permaisuri were having their weekly Adination Run, so the turnout for the talk was good. They also set up booth to sell sports apparels, e.g. Newton shoes, Lock Laces, etc.

Now that I am so unfit, got to turn most of my races into training runs to get my mileage in. Hopefully I will stay healthy to train and race in Berlin.

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010 Route

For maps for all categories, please click on this link

More information available on their website. Please click on this link

Up Close And Personal With Star Rugby Players!

I had the opportunity last week to work for an event company who hosts The Spirit of Rugby Challenge, in which some well-known players from around the world are playing in this friendly match. The featured match was the Classic All Blacks vs World XV. The other match sees Hong Kong vs NS Wanderers.

These All Blacks are still active players. As they are applying their trade outside New Zealand, they are no longer eligible to represent the All Blacks. Most of these players including the World XV are playing with some top competitive clubs around the world.

Players checking in Prince Hotel

Greeting players at KLIA

Players training at Royal Selangor Club

The featured match : Classic All Blacks vs World XV

Classic All Blacks

The World XV

It was a poor turnout of crowds as the match was not promoted well before the match. Only the 2 sides of the grandstands were filled. Very little information about the game in local newspapers until few days before the match. Besides, it could also be due to the small number of rugby fans in KL. Im sure things could have been better if it was well promoted. 

Most of the crowds know Jonah Lomu and they were here expecting Jonah to put on a show for the crowds. However, Classic All Blacks lost 26-36 in this match.

Being involved with these "celebrities" is a good experience. Some of these guys are TALL, LEAN & HUGE! such as Jonah, Jamie and also Troy Falvell. Some are just HUGE, some are just LEAN. Of course, you will never find some rugby like me!!

Simon Maling, Jamie Cudmore and Ben Blair

Randall Kamea, Jamie Cudmore and Campbell Johnstone

 Jean Bouilhou, Davit Zirakashvili, Loïc Jacquet

Dinner at Hakka Restaurant

Some of the other former All Blacks players I had the chance to meet:

Reuben Thorne (former captain of All Blacks)

Greg Sommerville

Andrew Mehrtens

Jonah Lomu 

The players left afterr the tournament, flying out to their base. some in Europe, some in Japan, some in the Southern Hemisphere.

And this is what I like about All Blacks rugby - The Haka Dance

Adidas Cash Vouchers Have Landed!

Finally got hold to the adidas cash vouchers from the Energizer Night Race. And it's RM450 per person!

Thanks to all the winners who petitioned for better prize than the ones we got earlier in our winners goodie bags (pic below).

And thanks to Joshua Leong of Energizer Malaysia for listening to us. Time to shop for a new pair of adidas racer and maybe a short too.

Sundown Marathon

Took part in the Sundown Marathon at the 21km distance for the first time. I wanted to take part in their inaugural race but they had only the Marathon and 84km category. This is their first year in organising the 21km race.

Didn't expect much from this race yet again as preparation for this wasn't perfect. I was targeting for a 1:35 - 1:40 timing based on my current fitness. Not too sure how many runners took part in the Half Marathon category, but the queue seems really long. I had to jump over the barricade just to get nearer to the starting line but in the ned had to settle for about 30-40 meters from the start. Once the race started, I had to zig zag my way to get to the leaders, took me a long while before coming close to the Top 15 (I think. Well it was about 150m-200m behind if you consider that close). I then had to hit the brakes as I don't want to burn myself out. There were a lot of caucasians out in front, a few other runners overtook me and I tried to hang on, but couldn't. I knew my every 5km splits will differ a lot as I felt my pace was pretty erratic. As I found out in the end (based on my watch timing), it was true. Here are my splits (this is based on gun time) & my HR:

12:54 - 03km - 0:12:54 (156bpm)

21:35 - 05km - 0:21:35 (156bpm) - 8:41 (2km)

23:28 - 10km - 0:45:04 (151bpm)

21:41 - 15km - 1:06:45 (155bpm) - Probably where I saw Zul!

25:14 - 20km - 1:31:59 (157bpm) - Don't ask me what happened here!

04:31 - 21km - 1:36:31 (159bpm) - Ranked 27 overall

Winners in Mens Half Marathon came in with a time in between 1:20 - 1:22.

My race bib

Some friends who took part in the race:

Ooi Keat, Chin Ann, Veron (Virgin Marathon) and Su getting ready for their 11:59pm start in the Marathon

Azri (Marathon) and Zas/Zul (came close in beating me)

My friend Charlene (Spore) who did a PB of 1:57:40

Keat Seong, Jenn, Poh Seng & friends at the Marathon start line

Winners of the Men & Women Half Marathon category (with the exception of 1st place women - don't know where she went)

Joining the Ultra Marathoners for a teh tarik session. Lawrence (Marathon), Victor & Choi (Ultra) - All still looking fresh although just got back from venue after finishing.

Jenn, Keat Seong, Choi, Lawrence, Ultraman Yip (sub-10 hours!), Frank, Poh Seng & me

For results, pls click on this link

For photo gallery, pls click on this link

The medal :

Marathon

I took part in Sundown Marathon for the first time. Of course, I can't call it a Marathon since I was just doing the Half. Like a lot of people who asked me, "Hey, what distance are you running? 42, 84?" Then when I say, "21km", their response would be, "Huh? You came all the way here to run the 21km?!" Anyways, I am not the type who will do too many full marathon or ultra distance (very unlikely at all) as I feel you probably need a lot of time in training and for any race distance from full marathon and above, it all depends on race day too. So if you are not feeling you are up for it, you probably suffer throughout the run. And your effort in training will just go to watse. This is different for shorter distances where you still can get away with dragging yourself to the finishing line even you don't feel too well on the day. So this is the way I feel about the distance. I've only done 4 full marathon races so far, 1-DNF (1994 or 1995), 2003 (KL), 2009 (KL & Melbourne). So you can see the "no marathon" years in between those races.

I've signed up for Berlin Marathon this year, so this will be my 4th (5th if u count in the DNF race). Havent really put in the mileage yet but will get to it...... : )

Races

23rd Seremban Half Marathon 2010

Date: 11 July 2010
Time: 6.45am
Venue: N.S. Padang, Seremban
Distance: 10km & Half Marathon

To print form, pls click on this link


Shape & Mens Health Run 2010
Date: 31 July 2010
Time: 8:00pm
Venue: Kompleks Perbadanan Putrajaya, Presint 3
Distances: 5km (Fun Run) & 12.3km (All categories)

To print form, pls click on this link

My Foot and New Shoe....

I went to a sports physician last week to have the doc in UH look at my foot, which has not healed for quite a while. Dr. Mohd Shariff was very patient in explaining to me my situation. He suggested that I have a plantar fasciitis injury. He didn't recommend me any foot insertions as mine was just a mild case. All I needed to do is to do some stretching excercise for the calfs will help with the healing. The other method was tapping, which he was kind enough to demonstrate it on my foot. But this he says, may or may not work in certain cases. I dont think Im going to spend time in tapping myself so much. I will just try out the stretching exercise and see if it works.

Tapping the foot arch

Anyways, I thought it was about time to change my shoe and it was great that I had a good deal from New Balance. I wanted to have a trainer which is lightweight but one that gives me enough cushion so as to not aggrevate my injury further. I need to increase my mileage/training soon, but I don't think my current shoe will last the distance. As it was the shoe which I feel that gave me the problem in the first place.

New Balance RC760 is what I got (pic above). Bought it just a day before I left for Kota Kinabalu to scale Mount Kinabalu with some friends. I have tried to run on the shoe today, trying to break the shoe before Sundown Half Marathon in Singapore. I don't have any expectation for this race as I have not been training regularly as I like to. Hopefully with the new shoe I'll have more confidence in increasing my mileage.

New Balance RC760

I went for an hour run with this shoe today and it felt good. It felt a little heavier than my previous shoes, Saucony Fastwitch 2 and Brooks ST Racer III. But it is giving me the support I need for a longer mileage. Will try to use it for a race to see it will perform well.
 

Got a good news that our team in Energizer Night Race will be receiving a Adidas Cash voucher soon. It will be sent out to the captain of our team (Ronnie). The email mentioned that 2nd place team will receive an exclusive adidas cash voucher worth RM450. I am hoping each of us will be given RM450. This is a lot better than the goodies they gave during the presentation. After a long letter and getting everyone's support, we managed to convince the organiser to fulfil their promise in giving cash vouchers as stated in the entry form. I am glad that the organiser listen and act on it. Well done Energizer! Hoping to get another shoe as an alternative shoe for training or racing.