Tempo Run

I changed my training plan to only doing tempo pace (about 6min/km) in the weekdays training and long run at target marathon pace over the weekend. 3 to 4 workouts per week and all other days will fill with cross training on bicycle.

I made this adjustment because I am looking for an effective training approach to achieve my 2013 target to sub-5 in a full marathon. My PB for full marathon is 5:11 in 2012 SCKLM. Back then, I am doing fine all the way to 30k and lost the push after that. I think my WALL will be still around that same place this year if I follow the same training plan.

First I looked into the First Program, but it needs lots of discipline and more time for training (compared to my laid back easy training mode). I would say the program’s tag line of “Run Less, Run Faster” is very attractive, but the true is the time you saved from running less, you are spending them in cross training and core building now. I am totally agreed to the approach, but I got a very busy schedule this year so I decided to KIV…

Then I ran into the Yasso 800s. I spent few weeks on this speed work program, but it hurt! I put the blame on my running form / gaits, and the weak core muscles. These muscles and form is getting very hard to control after the first 800m @ 5min/km pace. Although the speed work repeats do improved my running strength but I don’t foresee I can last until the 10th repeats (maximum I did was 4 repeats only, so far), without injured myself! On the hindsight, I can’t connect the speed work to my marathon pace. I found it hard to go with my target marathon pace of 7min/km on my long run. I will normally started too fast and when bonk half way. Again, another KIV…

Then I came across this sharing in FB. It gave me an idea on how to build my training plan, and spend the limited time I had for quality training. I visited the McMillan site and calculated my current pace versus target pace. After analyze the number, I think I found the root cause for the inability to keep up with target pace came from lacking of Stamina, and the solution: Tempo Run. Tempo run aimed to perform the workout at certain level of effort (prefer at the lactate threshold level, which is 80-90% of max hearth rate). Fast but under control pace. I can spend time to adjust my form / gaits from time to time and reduce the risk of getting injured by going too fast. The key is to mix up the short-normal-long tempo run. My current level, short will be something less than 5k, normal is between 5-10k and long is more than 10k, in the tempo zone.

I started to trim down my training plan by removing the easy run and speed work. I don’t need to run very fast for a sub-5 marathon, and my half marathon result showing that I am fast enough for the 7min/km target pace. I used the short tempo run as one to one replacement to easy run, and normal length of tempo run for speed work. Ideally in 3 workouts weeks, I should do 1x short, 1x normal & 1x long run. In 4 workouts weeks, I should do 1x short, 1x normal, 1x long tempo and 1x long run. But I got limited time in the morning so it’s extremely challenging to perform a long tempo during weekday (so far I only got once).

Now I followed the new plan for about 3 months and I think I am doing the right thing. One significant improvement is on my ability to hold on to 7min target pace during my long runs. Will continue to following this home made training plan. The result in the next Marathon will tell.

Happy training!

Race Report: Seremban Half Marathon

I got no plan to run this year Seremban Half Marathon. It’s only because of the postponement of SCKLM, and I am starving for some race, I decided to join. This is my second bandit in a race. The registration actually extended to 5 July and I still able to register online, but the draw back is the race kit collection. I will need to drive 2 hours to just collect my kit from Seremban on 6 July. I am ok to drive that far for a race morning, but not for just race kit collection. Hence I decided to just bandit in this race.

Seriously lack of mileages due to laziness and work, I knew this will be just a race in training mood. Target pace will be the marathon pace @ 7 minutes and should complete the run in about 2:20~2:30 hours. Arrived in Seremban town 6:10am, decided to park the car at the pay parking area near by the padang and next to some budget hotels. Went straight to the starting line and surprisingly seem to be more participants this year. May be all runners are starving to put their training in to test due to the postponement of the SCKLM.

Flag off on time, and we will do the same route like the previous year. I felt lacking of traffic control since the first km. Few cars trapped at the traffic light in front of Seremban Parade when we flagged off. They are allowed to go by the traffic police even before all HM runners cleared that stretch. I thought that was just one off coordinating issue...  As usual, Seremban HM route give you a difference feeling compared to the usual city races we had. We covered mostly sub-urban area and kumpung area. As usual, we ran on the road side which most of them had zero traffic control. But I felt the traffic was heavier now compared to previous years. The situation getting worst at the last 3km, the road get narrower and after that, we emerged with the school children from 10k category. Runners forced to share the 2 lanes climbing roads with lots of walking students, motorcycles, cars and buses.

The support in term of refreshment is good though. Gatorade and sponges was aplenty. But may be next time can use paper cups instate of PS cups. Also observed serving of half bottle of mineral water in the water stations near the D-tag check point. Perhaps they ran out of cups, I think the half bottle is fine, but just wonder what happened to the other half of the bottle :P   As I bandit to the race, I ran with 2x 500ml Gatorade (500ml water plus 500ml Quiet Storm). It proven the 1l of fluid is enough for me to survive the 21km. The only problem is my right arm’s muscle was not used to the water bottle, it sore until now.

Around 11km, thanks Zaini for the nice photo

This was the 3rd times I ran this route, the easy pace game plan is gone after 8k in the race. Felt great and decided to play harder! Pace increased to 6:30~6:45, also the hearth rate went up to 160BPM. Body was doing fine and holding the pace all the way until finish. This is a short distance course of 20.3km and finished on 2:18’. I loved the herbal tea that the organizer served in last 2 years at the finish line, but this year they changed it with some diluted grape favorite solution and no more Gatorade at the finish line too! Another minus point is the same finisher medal, again! In conclusion, tentatively (learned from previous experience, you will never know) I will not return next year. If I need another half marathon, I will join Bidor next year.

As SCKLM postponed, my 10th Full Marathon will be the same River Jungle Marathon that I did as my 1st ever Full Marathon 2 years ago! And it will mark the 3rd running year in my life. 55 more days to go and I am aiming for a sub-5 full marathon this round :)

Quick Update

I have to admit that I lost my driving force or motivation to updating my blog. May be I am too busy in my work and traveling. Or may be the election result hit me really hard. Or may be just plain lazy. Anyway, this is just a quick update about how myself doing lately.

I was busy at work since April. Knowing very well that this will be an extremely busy year for me, I only signed up a handful of races. Attending trainings, conducting trainings and catching projects deadlines will be the main focus of the year. The sub-5 marathon target only comes after these, but I think I enjoyed doing them so far. Conducted 6 trainings (varies length from half a day to 4 days in a roll), attended 2 weeks of training and completed 1 project so far. From the plan I had, I am more or less at the mid way point now, just another 7 more trainings to conduct, 2 more trainings to attend, and 2 more projects to seal. All these will done by October, and after that, I can realign the focus to running again :P

I got myself a new training partner – a hybrid bike. Very basic unit and don’t cost me an arm or a leg (~RM750, whole set with helmet, carrier, mudguard, lighting and speedometer). I think I am working very fine with it now. Cycling become my cross training activity and I think it helped to build other supporting muscles that not functioning or trained in running. I also changed my training plan. No more easy run at training, all my weekdays run is now short (4k) / normal (7k) / long (>10k) tempo run with hearth rate at 150~165BPM. Saturday / Sunday will be my long run of at least 20km at easy pace. I started to felt the impact of the new training plan. I am now able to sustain at 6 minutes pace for longer than 10k without stretching into 160BPM range. But the down side of the story is I get quite tired in the weekdays after those normal or long tempo runs :)

 

Not really working on my barefoot now because I am not able to afford any down time in training. Got myself another toy (Xerox Shoes or Invisible Shoes), still need some adjustment on the laces to avoid some potential hot spots. Will stick to my VFF for may be another year or 2.

I did my LSD in Putrajaya and bandit in the Mizuno Run last Sunday. Planned to do a 30k but was first time doing LSD here and it take me some time to find a secured parking lot in the wee hours (4:45am). Only enough time to finish 14k, and start tailing the race pack all the way from behind as the race started 20 minutes earlier. As I am just another normal-middle-pack runner, not many chances for me to passing so many runners, it was a good experience for me. Unfortunately, I puncit after 9km into the race. The flyover after the 9k water station gave perfect reason for me to start walking. Then the rest of the race is mainly walk-run-walk-run repeats. Met with fellow Ipoh mari-barefooter Lee CW around 10k mark. As my VFF is totally wet, I took it out and barefooting for a while. Not really a clever move, my soles were soften by sweat and no seasoned enough to handle the rough surface. It forced me to stop, clean up my soles and put on my VFF just after the bridge heading back to Precint3. Again walk-run-walk repeats, until the last turn into finish line and I stopped at the parking lot. Clocked only 29km for that day, but I walked so much and clearly I was not in the condition to push for another km. Hopefully this Saturday can challenge the 30km again nearby my home ground.

Another 2.5 weeks to SCKLM, I am not too sure if I am ready to sub-5 in this marathon. I think I trained to my best effort, but the problem is my working schedule and the mental preparation. To me, doing >30km in training will prepare you both physically and mentally. Is all about the mind after you hit the wall :)

Good luck in your training and stay healthy for the rest of the 18 days. See you guys at the SCKLM starting line.

Race Report: Island Ocean Marathon

This is the inaugural version, but the race got really great response from the running community, and it is almost full! James (the race director) told us on the flag off briefing that we had 997 signed up versus the full 1000 quota!

Children having fun at Cenang Beach

Flew in Langkawi on Friday afternoon with the family, rented a car instead of depending on taxi, (MYR120 for 2 days, Viva). The children were so happy when reached the Awana Porto Malai hotel, but later found out that the hotel got nothing for them except the swimming pool. We heading out for dinner after a quick dipped in the swimming pool. We had KFC for dinner… Day 2, kids woke up 7am and we heading to Cenang beach for some fun with the sand. Drove to Kuah town and had some Thai food in restaurant Wan Thai, had some very nice and spicy tomyam. Spent the afternoon in the wild life park fed animal and some bird. Then we were heading back to hotel for some more swimming in the pool. Had dinner in Sheela’s place with the usual pre-race pasta (stomach in upset mode since lunch…), then back in hotel to prepare the race and had some sleep.

Wake up 3am in race day morning, prepared myself and only took some bread in the hotel buffet, really not in the condition to take in more food. We gather at the starting point and James briefed us about the event. Follow with a silence prayer for the Boston Marathon victims, and we are ready to go. At 4:30am, with the air-horn and firework in the background, we flagged off. I ran with the impact from the tomyam still in my stomach, but I really enjoyed the eventful flag off. I throttled down my speed to 7.5~8 min, secretly hope that the stomach will get better after I set into the rhythms.

We turned into Cenang Beach, enjoyed a 1km beach run. The beach was dark and organizer marked the route with glow stick. We ran in the dark, only then I observed the starry night is so beautiful! Love the running at the beach even though some sand got into my Vibram. Came out from the beach and we were heading to airport. The stretch of route is again very dark. On top of the starry night, we also had the light refreshing breeze now. Then I bounced into Khoo, he actually right in front of me for quite some time but I just don’t realized that is him. We chatted for few km before the first u-turn, and I felt the call of natural… need to speed up to find a proper spot to clear the bladder. Btw, no porta-potty provided along the route and there are no patrol stations too, all runners had to settle their business on the road side. I did the same too. But don’t dare to do it again after the sun came out cause saw lots of dead snakes bodies along the way. Who know what will pops-up and interrupt when you half way in the business (lucky my stomach held up nicely all the way).

Last 1k to go, and I can't even run in front of a camera... :(

The crazy inclines started from 17k ahead. Rolling hills and the scorching sun really put our mental and physical strength on test. I had to give up my steady pace after 23k, changed the strategy to slow down when climbing, speed up when coming down. The pace start fluctuating from 6.5~9 min and I think the declining strides really impacting my legs. At 27k, I felt my right leg will cramp if I pushed further and we reached the really hilly part of the route. I decided to stop pushing further. Start the usual enjoying and doubting cycles along the rest of the distances. Enjoyed the coconut at 29k, supporting from water stations, and the up and down hills. Doubting about the earlier decision on pushing, about the whole marathon, about the tomyam yesterday, and about the running itself. Finally, completed the race in very low key/mood at 6:11’07”. I am still not sure why I didn’t felt the usual finishing high this time. Not meeting my target? Not tried hard enough? Or may be something else in my mind (like the uncertainty from GE13)? I really not sure.

IOM 2013 Finisher Medal

After the race, pick up the wife and the children from the swimming pool, clean up and check out. Heading to airport and flew back to KL. That concluded my first visit to Langkawi. Both ankles are slightly swollen until now and I think this is from the speed declining from those hills. In short, I am not ready yet for a sub-5 marathon being either mentally or physically. More training needed to pump in before the SCKLM in the next 66days. Will I return next year? Tentatively yes, but will stay in others hotel with beach as per the kids’ request.

Ini Kali Lah!

Bunga Matahari Newsletter

Barefoot Running Clinic & Fun Run

Another event after the series of barefoot running clinics since end of last year. The invited speakers are Mr Tan Wah Sing and Mr Ng Seow Kong. Come get your first hand information and barefooting guide from the pro.

Refer to the following pic for more information.
FB Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/498775600181241/
Bare With Me, Malaysia Barefoot Running Group FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BAREwithME/

Brooks Half Marathon Race Report

Very long overdue race report…

This supposes to be my first barefoot half marathon, but last minutes decided to pull out and put on my VFF, as I really lack of training since Jan 2013 (only 30k mileages in the whole month). Knowing the route will be very challenging, I played safe with a target just to complete the race in 7 min pace.

Arrived the venue by 5am, saw the crowd I knew this is definitely not a PB race but the 7 min pace plan is doable. Did the usual routine (warm up, use toilet, and walking around), met lots of familiar faces and took a photo with Lina before the race flagged off. The flag off is uneventful, and the crowd were moving! It took me close to 5 minutes to cross the starting line. Started with slow jogging and met some more friends. I didn’t push at all, only kept my pace at steady rhythm, not stopping at most of the water stations. Maintaining my cadences on climb and focusing on dodging people most of the time :P

Before flag off with Lina

The route changed this year. We starting from outside of the stadium, went into Happy Garden first before the usual 10k route from TPM highway into Seremban highway, and finish outside the stadium. From the official result document, the half marathoners who completed the race are about 4500, but the route definitely not wide enough for 4500 runners. Timing mats, ribbons check point, water stations are not able to cope with the 4500 runners. The situation getting worst when we merge with 10km runners after IMU. People just walking and blocking others who is still running. Runners (or walkers) literary just flooded their way to TPM highway, and everyone running at risk with traffic. After the 21km, the finishing outside the stadium is just another anticlimax.

Almost finish...

The mini trophy that draw the crowd...

2 weeks after the race, all I can remember are dodging people and talking to some friends along the way, especially with Nick. The talking part is very useful to keep my self on track and stick to the planned 7 min pace. I felt great with this speed and will have more long run in 7 min pace as it is also my target marathon pace to finish by 5 hours.

My next race will be volunteering in Malaysia Woman Marathon in 7 April. Together with the BWM running group, we will run a water station in barefoot :P Come to support our fellow ladies runners in iCity, Shah Alam. It is not too late to sign up if you wish to challenge yourself.Click here to find out more.

My next Marathon will be in Langkawi. I am not even able to dream of finishing sub-5 there. I will take this as another long run during my vacation. Then, I should be ready to challenge the 5 hours target again in SCKLM.