My VFF Komodo Sport

My collection of VFF Komodo Sport

I owned 3 pairs of VFF Komodo Sport. The first one is the earlier version (yellow colour) and the other 2 of them are the current version (sliver colour). Loved this model and completed countless miles with them.

I got the yellow unit in July 2011, and it retired after my first marathon in a VFF during April 2012 Energizer Night Marathon. If I remembered correctly, I made a hole at the right outsole after 700km on them, and the total mileages logged with this pair was less than 1000km. I got a replacement, and this was the pair that takes me thru the rest of the 2012 and the whole of 2013. I stayed with this only pair until around August 2013. Only after the higher training mileage and intensity at this stage causes the shoes to be wet by sweat and I started to use the 3rd pair as a back up or racing shoes. This time, a hole formed on its left outsole after SCKLM last year. But I still run in it regularly, only retired recently as my index finger can now get thru the hole. Hence the second pair of VFF logged way more than 2000km. Less than RM0.20 per km, definitely value for money!

Hole on the right sole

Hole on the left sole

After I gave it a final wash, I realized that I can still running in them by combining each side which is still good! You will now see me running in Yellow + Silver VFF Komodo Sport, at least for the next 2 coming race in Kuala Kangsar and Ipoh.

Happy mix!

More mileages!

I got another pair of VFF Sprint last November but it still in the box. May be is time to break them in cause the training is getting tougher now and I will sweat the shoes almost right after each run. Another pair of spare shoes will give time for me to clean them before use. And may be is time to get another pair of VFF Komodo Sport whenever its sale.

Since I ran, I spent 1.5 years in conventional type of running shoes (NB1226, NB905, MR00, GTS10), and after that all running done with VFF Komodo Sport (with some very small percentage of barefoot mileages). I think I changed my running style/gaits lots, from heavy heel striker to light forefoot striker. Even when I running with VFF, my running gaits still improved progressively. That’s the reason why my VFF can last longer now. Btw, I think I really need to find out why the left foot now is heavier compared to the right one.

What about barefoot running? It’s taken a back seat now as I am chasing my sub-4 speed with aggressive training plan and pace. The understanding on how one can run in barefoot safely is definitely helping my running gaits. I belief the day will come when I ran completely barefoot, but now I need the gloves on my feet to protect the foot sole.

Run safe! Run happy!

Champion

Recently I just got the Memoir of Meb Keflezighi. It was about the early life of Meb until his 2009 New York City Marathon win. I will now say this memoir published too early for a true champion like him. The London Olympic Marathon 4th placing and the recent win in Boston with a PB, showing that the story of him is still too early to conclude. 

If you are a runner, you will understand how difficult to get a PB. Further more, a PB at his caliber (2:08'37"), at the age of 39, is mission impossible to most of us. I would said this give me hell lots of hope & inspiration! Near that age, I am seeking out my own limit and dig deep into my potential now. I aimed high and dreamed big.

“But I also realize that winning doesn't always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself.” ― Meb Keflezighi, Run to Overcome.

** 2014 Boston Marathon finishing photo obtained from internet, copyright credit to the photo's owner

Garmin Forerunner 910XT Update & Wrist Band Replacement

I got my FR910XT 2 years ago during the race expo of Brooks Half Marathon. The unit is great and I loving it. It got long battery life. It may not capable to do 20 hours now, but for the past 24 months, I never drained it. During low training mileage (<140km/mth), I may charge it once every 6-7 weeks. Even with high training mileage (250-320km/mth), I only need to charge it fortnightly cause I ran with the back light on during my weekly speed repeats. Run my first ultra 50km with full charged battery, and it still had 50% left after the 7.5 hours race. Anyway, after few firmware update, those issues that I don’t like from my previous review still remained. I just need to get use to them.

Snapped at the right hand side, cut the left to remove the piece for installing the expender band

Yesterday, when I prepare to heading out for the routine morning run, I found out that the wrist band snapped! My wrist is only normal Asian sized, hence there is actually some gaps between my wrist and the FR910XT. This created a stress point over the wrist band and finally it gave way. No choice, hence I held the FR910XT on my hand for my 4k easy.

Knew that Malaysia authorised distributor will sure have replacement, but I tried to search online for its pricing. Amazon selling at about USD$19.90, with postage should be around USD$25 (MYR82-85). And I saw some interesting comment in the users’ feedback: there is an expender band came with the FR910XT box, which you can use it as temporary fix for the snapped band. Then I called AECO yesterday to order their stock to PJ Digital Mall, so I can collect it today. And it cost MYR100 from AECO.

This morning, I dig out the expender band for the speed repeats. I have no problem to hold it on my hand (I usually race with a 500ml bottle on my hand, did that for my 50k too), but it will be big disturb during a speed repeats. The expender band holds up the snapped band nicely. Nonetheless, the snapped part left only very short section for the expender band to hold on, it was a bit loose. It will no be a comfortable replacement for the snapped wrist band, but it served well during this emergency.

Snapped Wrist Band with Expender Band

Expender band in action

Expender band in action

Original Replacement Wrist Band from Local Distributor

Replacement Kit, the 2 screwdrivers used to held the screw from both sides 

Done! Fixed in 10-15 minutes

Garmin is coming up with new and better product, like FR620. But I will stick to FR910XT for another 2-3 years (or earlier if the battery gone flat). It will be a very important partner for my sub-4 journey.

Happy Running!

Mood Recovery

Last weekend was tough! The hazy and hot weather is bad enough but it just getting worst over the weekend.

It started from Friday evening, with DSAI case. Then after my hazy Saturday morning run, I got the news of missing MH370. The mood just dip into the bottom. Come Sunday morning, it was just too hazy to run (API > 100). I was terrified with these 2 unidentified persons boarded with stolen passports. I will be flying to lots of places this year! Lucky I got another novel at home for my consumption, else my family will sure suffered from my bad mood.

Anyway, did a short & quick run this morning. It helps to stabilized the mood. But I need more than stabilizer on a Monday! Hence I plugged my earphone to my mobile, play the "Spirit of the Marathon" over the phone, just listen to it when I am working. The movie was fantastic, I watched it many times so I don't need the video. The music, the conversation, the noise over the race field, the foot steps, the starting horn, the progress reported over the Chicago Marathon, kept me calm, and slowly pull me up into positive side. I think this is the benefit of having some highly energy good/positive addiction. The issues happened over the weekend still disturbing me, but I felt I got more energy to deal with it now (at least emotionally).

Have a good week ahead, keep running and keep smiling!

Project Sub 4

I had this plan in mind since I was injured in early January. I saw the benefit of the structural and demanding training program, and I wanted more! The feeling of able to run faster from race to race is fantastic! And I started to wonder what will be my finishing time if I concentrated to only full marathon training. It seems to be a big leap because my PB marathon was done with 4:59’57” in Munich, and I wish to shed 60 minutes from my PB. But after following thru the training program for 3 months, I achieved 3 PB in 3 races (10k, 21k and 25k) with each race completed without burning out. Hence it seems to be very natural to aim high, provided I completed the whole 18 weeks program faithfully.

Aim to finish with sub 4 hours, like a superman :)  (photo from internet)

The key learning from the injury was played too hard and too many races between the high mileages training program. With the high intensity training program (70-90km per week), the body don’t have enough time to recover between races. I crashed after completed a training month with 318km recorded training mileage. First thing that get between me and the training program will be races. So I made a decision to not register or running any new races until my target race: SCKLM (registered Kuala Kangsar 15k, so I will still go for it).

The plan is, after Titi50, I will restart the 18 weeks training program with 4.5 hours FM target time. Round one will finish around June. Then I will continue with another 18 weeks program with 4 hours FM target time. This will help to condition the body to high mileages training, and workout the pace for sub 4 marathon. Anyway, my work demanded more travels this year. I will need to deal with that so lots of training will be expected over the treadmill. Apart from the travels, the most challenging part for this plan will be no clicking on those races registration.

There will be less race report posts in this blog, but I will sure update regularly on my training progress here. Wish me luck.

Race Report: Titi50

My first ultra marathon, trained hard for it but some how the training was held up since January,  by injury and subsequently flu. From some self assessment, I more or less concluded the stamina will be sufficient, but some parts may give way as there are not seasoned to take the extra long distances. Hence the realistic target for the race will be just complete it without injury and gain some experiences.

The 100k race start at 4pm. From some photos posted on the FB, it was hot like hell. For 50k, we were lucky to flag off by mid night. Reached the venue around 10:30pm and the site was packed with enthusiastic runners. Checked in myself, race briefing, then we were flagged off on 12am.

The first part was easy 4km before reaching the Bukit Hantu. I used this section to adjust the hydration waist belt (concluded that the waist belt type is not suitable for speed. It was doing fine when walking, will put up a review later). Started to brisk walking right at the start of the climb. Then ran at 7min pace when descending towards the first check point. Took some watermelon and refill my Gatorade bottle, then I left for CP2.

Running toward CP2 under the moonlight, thanks Victor for the photo.

From CP1 to CP2 was easy. Kind of familiar with the route (RJM route). Going at a decent 7min pace, reached CP2 ahead of my plan. Took some bread and refill water, then I left for the long ascending to CP3. 9km climb with 300m elevation, I will say it was not really tough. The elevation are segregated along the 9k nicely, and I think my engine was warmed up totally. I almost ran all the way to the peak. The night was cooling and windy. It's helped a lot to cool down my hearth rate and maintained it around 150-165BPM.

The CP3 located at 26km, hence from that point onward, I knew the race will be over-distanced. Used the toilet at the check point, took more watermelon and refill my bottle, then I u turned and heading back to CP2. The time was only 3:26am. I can't help but started to think if I can complete this by 7 hours. And lucky the descending to CP2 brought me back to reality. I am strong during climb the slope, but extremely weak when it come to descending one. The first part of the descending to CP1 already taken it's toll and now every steps going down the slope were painful. If I was not bounced into one of the crazy 100k runner and pushed each other to clear to last 4k descending with some speed, I would had did the 9k climb faster (71 minutes) than my 9k descending (67 minutes). Again repeated those eating and refilling, then I left for CP1.

Not much left in the tank, run-walk-run-walk and I finally reached the 42.195km mark on my Garmin around 5:35am. Now, every steps is unknown. The CP1 located around 43km on the way back. Cleared the check point, and I was heading back to finish line. I planned to walk up the Bukit Hantu, then run all the way back. But I was over optimistic. Not only the tank was emptied, the legs were so painful until my will to push was emptied too. Tried to restart the enigine to running mode, but failed. Part of me wanted a good finish time (I will be sub-7 if I ran the balanced 7km), and part of me understand the risk and don't want to push. Finally, walked almost all the way back, and only able to start running again about 1km from the finish line. It was due to panic cause at 7:15am the Garmin marked 51km and the finish line still not in sight. I pushed cause I don't want to missed also the 7.5 hours mark. Finally, finished at 7:23'36".

Hard Earned finisher pack

Food intake during the race,

1. 4 packs of PowerGels.

2. 2 loafs of bread, with some jam or butter inside (too tired to taste).

3. 5 pills of salts.

4. Plenty of watermelon.

5. 6x 500ml of water (mainly, only started mix in 100Plus and Revive after the u turn), plus 1 liter of water from the hydration bladder (almost finished toward the end).

Race plan versus actual

Elevation vs Time, almost symmetry chart. 2nd half of the race not slowing down too much.

Overall, this was a great experience. The challenging route, the use of hydration bladder, the helpful volunteers, the moonlight, the sleepless night, the loneliness, the company and the long winding road, all these will be an unique remark on my running journey.

Titi50 Preparation

With the recent injury on my left foot, the training plan ruined and training mileage on running dropped back to my norm period. With only 9 more days to my first ultra marathon, I am actually kind of uncertain about what to look ahead for in this 50km race. The recovery is so far so good, now I am able to run at easy pace up to 20km and run at sub 6 minutes pace up to 7km without any problem. But these legs are far from their peak and I will not able to follow thru my initial plan of finishing in 6 hours. Hence I need an all new game plan.

After tinkering around with the route map and elevation plan, confirming the brisk-walking pace in Bukit Kledang, and I put up this new game plan. New target time, 7.5 hours for the 50km race. The plan will be simple, I will run with easy pace 7-8 min/km whenever possible, and will shift to brisk walking gear when pace dropped below 8 min/km. The planned brisk walking pace will be 10-11 min/km. I should be finished the 50km within 7.5 hours without much of the issue. Anyway, I may still be too optimistic. Even the time off from injury may only post less than 10% losses on my stamina (I kept cycling during the break from running), but the body parts may not able to survive the 50km. Blisters and muscles clamps may kill me half way....

Items to be pack with me during the race,

1. Torch light + Head lamp (with spare AA batteries)

2. Back blinker light (with spare AAA batteries)

3. CamelBak FreshFlo, with 1litre of water (as spare reservoir)

4. Gatorade 500ml bottle with water

5. PowerGel, 6 packs

6. Salts Stick, 6 pills

7. Plastic Plaster, few

8. Vaseline, 5g

9. IC, driving license & car key

10. Phone (turned off to save power)

11. Running cap (useful when the night getting too cold)

12. Sponge (for cleaning salty surface in the water station)

Running attires,

1. Run for It 7 finisher-T (bright enough)

2. 2XU Compressed short (with bamboo fabric underpants)

3. Garmin 910XT

4. RoadID

5. Vibram FiveFinger KomodoSport

Optional (tentatively left inside the car)

1. PowerBar or bread

2. Bath and cleaning kit

3. Brooks LSD Lite running jacket

I will do my last long run before the Titi50 this Sunday with the PAC CNY Potluck party in Padang Merbuk. Next week will be travelling on business, should be in low training mileages for the body to rest. Carbo-loading...... started since Chinese New Year......

Good luck if you are running Titi100 or Titi50, SCHKM, Tokyo Marathon or other races in February.