Race Report: Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2012

This is one of the biggest running event in Malaysia, and also a highly anticipated event by lots KL runners because this is our home ground, as its route will cover part of the weekly BA-Sri Hartamas route along Bukit Tunku. I registered to this event almost immediately after the registration open. I was doing my first half marathon last year and this year got myself upgraded to a Full one :)  I was worried as the hazy condition lingering around West Malaysia on the week before, but lucky it started to rain when we get closer to the event. As per my previous post, my condition and trained mileages doesn’t really grant me to improve my run, but I will still going to try out the sub-5 target here. The game plan is straight forward, but the execution may be a challenge.

Nice Bib number.

Woke up 2am on Sunday morning, gave myself amble of time to prepare myself. Leave home on 3am and arrived at Bukit Aman on 3:20am, the car park lots were full. I parked at the side lane and enjoy my breakfast. Still got some slight blocked nose, but I think it will clear once I started warm up. Get myself ready, and start walking to Dataran around 3:45am. I wished to collect the Run for Bersih bib from Julie, but she is not at the Church as planned, so I run without the special bib :(   Met Nick and had a short chat when I walked around to find a spot for my light warm up, he looked quite comfortable + confident on his first FM (and he did it in 5:20, which is a very good timing for first FM). Met my ex-boss who get me into running, he is doing his first FM too, wished him luck and we are almost ready for flag off.

I am in the middle pack inside the starting pen and it’s crowded. If you used to run FM in Malaysia, you will properly know that usually we have few hundred or one thousand plus runners only. We had 3000+ runners in FM this morning, this one sure is the biggest running event in Malaysia and more people seem to start running in FM now. Flag off on 4:30am, I only crossed the line about 2 minutes after the official gun time. The crowd only starts to ease when we reached the National Museum. The pacers start to working on their pace and moving fast from the back of the pack. Met and had a quick chat with Tan before we turned in to Brickfield. The 5HR pacers are almost out of sight. So I pushed on to chase them, Plan A, stick like a superglue to these 5HR pacers.

Rain started to drizzle on and off when I reached MidValley. Strong wind blew away our heat and created the most comfortable weather to run with. No much comment about the route as we are emerging back to the HM route very soon, and most of the time I didn’t manage to enjoy the scene of early KL city, I am busy chasing these pacers. Both legs and the foot soles were doing fine initially but the right sole start to form hotspot around the toes area after 26km, and I had no choice but to slow down and let the pacers go on the 30km water station.

Met Nick again on the 34km water station, both of us are now taking up plan B which is running from water station to water station. We paced for a while and I pushed on towards the Duta Roundabout, and back to our familiar playground – Bukit Tunku. Passed the water station @ 36km and both Choi & Kak June’s aid stations without taking any supply cause the stomach had just too many water/isotonic. Then we met the worst climb on this route, I walked. Plan B continued until Bank Negara. I brisk-walked from that stretch until the u-turn point, and gave the final push to run until the finish line. Crossed the line on 5:11’31” with a big happy smile on my face.

Post Marathon, the tired feet in VFF accompanied by the finishing medal

Split time, getting slower towards the end

Eventhough I didn’t achieved my sub-5 target, but looking at my condition, I sliced 31 minutes from my previous PB from SCMS. I couldn’t ask for more, at least not in this race. I am surprised that I am running with very comfortable and consistence pace and heart rate, both stayed at 6:40-7:10 pace and 150~158BPM all the way to 29km. Must be the effect from those speed works! But obviously I still need more LSD between 30~40km to let the body (especially those foot inside the VFF) used to the demand.

 

Good about the event,

1. More than sufficient water stations, distances markers on every km.

2. Challenging route especially on the final 5k.

3. Staging starting time for 10k category.
4. Very nice finisher T-shirt.

Things can be better,

1. Traffic control, especially on the intersection on Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Ipoh. Obviously not enough polices/officers to handle the traffic, drivers keep jumping out.

2. Road surface, especially on the Jalan Ipoh and Jalan Kuching. Suggest the organizers to survey the road condition and carry out the required patching a week before the race.

3. Final stretch on Jalan TAR. There are lots of runners/walkers from 5k, 10k and HM, joined us at this stretch. No issue on the runners, but we forced to zigzag to avoiding those walkers. Some supporters also obstructing the flow, some of them are standing on the route but not the sidewalk. May be we can use some barricade here to separate 5k & 10k and  HM & FM runners, with barricade on the side to improve the flow.

You can see I am very happy with my result :P

After the race, met with Tan again and congratulated him on achieving his target time. Also met with Melvin to collect 2 books from him, “Chi Marathon” and “Run Less, Run Faster”. Believe both will help to improve my training and marathon time.

No time to relax for now, I will be doing 3 races in July. With back-to-back Men Health’s Night Run and Seremban Half Marathon, plus PaceMakers Anniversary relay, I not only need to focus on Speed, but I will need to improve my Endurance. Men Health’s Night Run is revenge from last year where I finished 18th place before the limited medal, but as they increase the limited medal to 500 for Men-Open, I think I will be entitled one if I go with 6 minutes pace for the whole 11.8km. Tentatively Seremban Half Marathon will be my last change to secure my goal of completing and sub-2 half marathon in this year, sure I will throw in all I had on that race. For the PM Anniversary relay, each of us only needed to complete 3.14km, another speed event that I never experienced before. If all the plan and training when well, I will try to do it with a 5 minutes pace.

Run Happy!

Preparation for SCKLM

This will be my first Full Marathon in KL city, also my 5th Marathon. Last year I did my first half marathon in the 2011 SCKLM, the experience running around KL city is definitely something you can’t find from other races. Compare to SCMS, this event is less crowded, and you are really traveled 75% of the KL city on foot by the FM route. I signed up for FM almost immediately when the registration is opened. And I planned to challenge a sub-5 FM in this event. That’s target stayed unchanged so far, but I am not too sure if I manage to handle it now.

Like what I wrote before, I followed the SmartCoach training plan from RunnersWorld. But I can’t follow thru, the plan went out the window right after PJ Dawn. And the training mileages decreased drastically after March. May be due to family commitment, workload or just plain over-trained, I felt tired after pushed over 220km in March. And I slow down when I supposed to push harder in April & May. Further more, I was sick for the pass few weeks and body is yet to recovered fully from it. From the result in ENR2012, tentatively I will not sub-5 in SCKLM. The body is yet to back in condition after the long 2 weeks break from running. Anyway, the tuning of the body these few days went well. There will be another 2 runs for this purpose before I rest for tapering.

So what is the game plan? Plan A is simple. There will be pacers in this race. So I will stick with the 5 hours pacers and stay on the course as long as possible. Is it weird that I need a pacer when I run with GF910XT? Nope, running alongside with some one will definitely give you the push factor to out perform yourself. Even if the pacer run with difference strategy that may ruin your own pace, but you will still benefit by knowing that someone is aiming on the similar finishing time with you, and he/she is still insight :P  I plan to run at consistence 7 minutes pace from start till end. Hopefully one of the 5 hours pacers is using the similar strategy. Plan B? Whenever I ran out of fuel, I will fall back to the 5:30hours pacers.

It may be utterly optimistic for me to hope for a BP in my current condition, but if you are not trying, you will never know. I think I didn’t push enough in my passed marathons, and the dominant factor is all about the mind. My best is yet to happen as I am not really wanted it. This round, all I need to do is totally commit myself to the target, and the rest will follow.

Btw, some runners initiated a side track on Facebook. I will run with this special bib on my back. Click the link to find out more.

See you this Sunday 24 June, in Dataran Merdeka.

Path to running a Marathon with VibramFiveFingers

Many people running with VFF or barefoot, all with difference types of reasons. Some said it helps to prevent injuries; some belief that BF or VFF allow a better biomechanical form in running. Some like it simple, and some may even think this is hot and sexy by doing something out of ordinary.

My reason of running in VFF/BF is because it is simple. There are no/minimum barrier between you and the road surface make you felt that all your senses are activated and you are running as a WHOLE person. There are so many disturbances on our daily life, most of the time we do thing half-heartedly but hoping for the best. Running is one of the activities that you can throw in the whole of YOU and working towards your personal best. Running in VFF or BF put it to an extreme (try day-dreaming via running in VFF/BF, and then you will understand this). And this feeling is very addictive.

I am with my KomodoSport for 10 months now. I lost track on how far it goes, but guess it should be only >500km. Due to my lazy feet, the outsole is in bad condition. Both legs have similar problem but the left leg is slightly better. Other parts are still in good condition.

How to start running in VFF?

Start with walking in it first. I used it as shopping shoes for 2 weeks before I start running with it. There are not guidelines for how long you needed in this stage. Take your time to enjoy the walking in VFF until you are comfortable with it. You should not attempt your normal mileages right away, build you mileages in VFF with the usual practice you had with normal shoes. Start with short distances of 20~30minutes. Slowly increase in weekly basis and stop pushing further when you encounter pain especially in knees, heels or ankles.

Running in VFF or BF is all about landing on your mid-forefoot. So, if you are a forefeet striker, tentatively your calf muscles are more ready then other to adopt the additional load from its barefoot liked running style. If you are heel striker, then you need more time. While adapting to VFF via walking, you can also train up your calf muscles by hill works. Focus on your landing and make effort to land on mid foot on each step. This can be done relatively easy in slow pace, try it with 1~2 minutes on top of your normal marathon pace (or 9~10min/km). Shorten you strides, but fire them rapidly. Your cadences should be faster than 170~180spm. The fast churning will not only help to regulate the breathing, it also prevented you to overstrike.

How far and how soon you are ready for a Marathon? Its all depend on how flexible and adoptable your feet are. Some runners took years just to moving from heel striking to mid foot landing, some just took a few weeks to adjust. You will need to listen to your body to avoid TMTS (too much too soon). When should you start running Marathon in VFF? I would suggest you to consider that only after you done a 32km LSD in VFF without feeling abnormal amount of pain especially in your calves and soles. It will be definitely a painful experience to run 32km or a Marathon, the judgment I made is at least your calves and soles are ready to take the pain.

Retiring VFF KomodoSport

New VFF KomodoSport

New VFF KomodoSport Black & Silver Color Scheme

I completed my first VFF Marathon in ENR2012. I got my second pair of VFF KomodoSport (Black and Silver color scheme, I still prefer the previous Yellow color scheme) and the New Balance MR00. I will be on full time minimalist running shoes. Next race is to challenge the sub-5 Marathon in SCKLM with VFF. Not too confident I can do it, but I will try.

New Balance MR00

PJ Dawn 2012 Race Report

This is another half marathon starting at 3am. My first HM started at this difficult hour is the last Penang Bridge International Marathon. But this time, I don’t need to travel so far and stayed in a noisy hostel. The pre-race preparation went well. The whole family went to bed around 8:30pm (I don’t know about the rest, but I collapsed around that time once light out). Wake up about 1am and felt fresh and excited, and the coughing and blocked nose seem to at ease.

Left home around 1:45am, drove to Kelana Jaya Stadium but the organizer blocked off the entrance of Old Airport Road from Federal Highway. I guess that is a good sign as they are putting some effort on the traffic control (but it can be hard to others whom less familiar with the other access ways to the stadium). Reached the parking around 2:20am. Done some usual stretching, warming up, and then standing in the starting pan wait for the flag off. Met my colleague who took part in 12km. Took some photos.

Race flagged off few minutes before 3am, I think this is the first race that flagged off before the planned time. Usual start off jam only cleared until we reached the Old Airport Road. I stay with my 5.5~6 minutes target pace all the way until we turned into the Ara Damansara after 9km, and then drop the pace to 6.2 minutes. The initial part of the race is very hot without any breeze; we only felt some breeze after few km into Ara Damansara. I lost my pace around 13km when facing the climb before the 2nd U-turn. May be due to the blister forming in my toes, the light breeze, or the very quiet Ara Damansara. I don’t feel like pushing it back to target pace after the U-turn. Stayed at 6.5 minutes all the way until finish. Again missed my sub-2 goal for 7 minutes. Anyway, still a PB in HM distances.

Look back to my HR records, the average HR only 157BPM, typical tempo running mode. And it is inflated too as I pushed at the final 1km back to 5.4 minutes pace. I imagined the average HR will be someway around 165~170BPM if I pushed all the way. It may not be a sub-2, but it will land closer or may be right on the target. I think the issue laid on myself i.e. I am not ready to die for the sub-2 HM. Read Jamie’s blog about this, I think I am still lagging the will to pushing all the way till the end. Need to include some training on the endurance in the mental stage.

Next race will be the SCKLM, I will do my first attempt of sub-5 marathon, but seriously I am lagging of training lately. The workload is catching up and I am currently down by coughing and flu. The training plan went out the window for about 2 weeks now. Hopefully I will be fully recovered by this weekend to squeeze in LSD that more than 32km. Else, I will only have one more chance for a 32km LSD before SCKLM. This is importance for the mind/mental stage training.

Next importance issue, get a replacement of my VFF KomodoSport. Brought the New Balance MR00 last week and tried it on BA-Sri Hartamas 20km, don’t think it can replace the VFF. Stay tune for more detail review next week after I put in more mileages to MR00.

428, what’s next?

If you are the first timer yesterday’s protest, thank you for the support and recognition of the Bersih3.0. I am not an activist and last year 709 is the first time I walked the street. The rally last year, I also like most of the protestors, we followed all the progress at Facebook and other sources, desperately looking for the latest updates, news, watching for the reaction from people and Government to the Bersih2.0. After that? I was totally upset by the Government's response! I felt so helpless and didn’t know what to do. So, if yesterday was your first time, the following are some suggestions:

1. Do something you enjoy doing. If you like to exercise, moderate exercise can improve your mood. Don’t let other people fault screw up your mood.

2. Now switch off the network and keep the entire Sunday to your family. Isn’t this is your purpose to join Bersih? To give your family a better future? But why future? There are some things you can do NOW.

3. Tell every one you know on yesterday's rally. Tell them about the purpose of Bersih3.0 and how it progressed with the government's actions.

4. If you were injured, please rest and take necessary steps to ensure speed recovery. The demand will not achieved by only one or two assembly. Be ready to Bersih 4, 5, 6!

428 然后呢？

如果你昨天第一次上街，谢谢你对净选盟Bersih3.0的认同与支持。我不是社运份子，去年709是我第一次上街。去年集会后我也像大部分的集会者一般看着Facebook，开着网络拼命找集会最新的信息，新闻，看人们与政府对集会的反应。然后？一直在为政府的反应而伤心，生气！进而对自己什么都不能做而感到越来越无奈。所以，如果昨天是你的第一次，以下有一些建议：

1. 去做你喜欢做的事情，如果你喜欢做运动，适量的运动可以改善你的心情。

2. 现在就把网络关掉，把整个星期天留给你的家人。这不是你参与集会的目的吗？给家人更好的明天？有些事情你其实现在就可以做。

3. 告诉你身边每一个人关于昨天的集会。集会的诉求，进展与政府的所作所为。

4. 如果你受伤了，请把身体养好。我们的诉求不是一两个集会就可以达成，准备Bersih 4，5，6 吧！

Off from Running... Prepare for Bersih 3.0

2 more days until 428, are you ready? See you at Dataran Merdeka!

Energizer Night Race 2012 Race Report

This is my first Marathon for year 2012. The last Full Marathon is 4 months ago, so I am exited for this event. The feeling of running is totally difference in both training and racing. Not that I am able to win or that competitive, but nothing will beat the feeling of running together with lots of people aiming the same objective.

The event was a nightmare in year 2011, but with the new organizer, Energizer managed to turn around that perception last Saturday. All the good arrangement showing that the organizer & Energizer really think through and plan for this event. You may have fewer runners this year, but you took extra miles to make sure all the 5k runners happy with the great event!

For some reason (mainly due to work), I am either in the “over” or “under” trained stage compare to the previous Singapore Marathon. I had 2 high mileages months in Feb and March, but really struggled in April. I was into the running mood dip since early April. I did only minimum training to ensure the body is ready for the FM, but this turn out to be a good move. The body is rested before the run and enabling me to push harder in the FM. The mind is cleared once we flagged off from the starting line. The pace is rather consistence for the first 20k, stayed around 6:50~7:30min/km. It is hard to resist an up pace when you running thru a pack of cheerleaders. The soles start complained about the workload and the pace drop to 8min/km. That was around 1/2 of the 3rd loop. The mind is strong and managed to push for another loop, and I had to slow down to brisk walking pace around 9~10min/km.

Around 3.5 laps, 25km, photo by hhh

Laps tracking screen before the end of each loop, photo by Tey.

At 34km (1/2 of the 5th loop), the body and stamina are still ok to continue, but the sole are very pain and 2 blisters formed underneath the toes joint. I start to walk up all the climbs. There will be no way I could do better the SCMS 5:42, so I just enjoy myself and practicing how to regenerate and slowly restart of running from walking. Finally, the laps tracking screen shown that I had completed 5 laps. I am so happy and heading back towards the circuit. The happiness not lasted long, the service route is tougher with 2~3 climbs packed into that final 5km. The clock is ticking and I entered the final stretch in front of the grand stand with 5 minutes before 6 hours. Pushed the last bit out from my body and ignored the pain in the sole, finally I passed the finish line with only 30 seconds before 6 hours.

Finisher Medal, Front

Finisher Medal, Back

VFF after 42km of hard work!

This is the first time I ran a FM in VFF KomodoSport. I found that is difficult to walk in VFF if I don’t want to burn a hole on the outsole (and subsequently on my wallet to buy a new pair). We tended to slip and slide when walking in the low profile shoes or slippers. My VFF already badly wore out at the outsole due to my lazy feet from previous 26km training. So, I am really glad that I not only completed another sub-6 marathon, but also did it in VFF.

VFF Right Outsole before the race

Both legs got similar lazy feet issue.

Overall, this is the best marathon so far I had joined. Sure I will return in their 2013 editon.

Pro,

1. Dedicated parking for Full Marathon, and this year we have no jam before entering the parking area.

2. Plenty of water station (every 2km each) and distances marking.

3. Cheerleading that really kept me going.

4. Laps tracking screen, the tracking is clear and the officers are really helpful to remind the runners on their progress.

5. Challenging route and looping. The looping really help me to adjust my running plan, I can visualize at which point in next loop to take my gel.

6. Shifting the event area to the Mall, with plenty of volunteers to directing participants along the way.

Con,

1. Some part of the route is without any illumination, especially the stretch from the beginning of the loop towards the first traffic light. The car headlight shined from the opposite lane really obstructing our vision.

Met KY and Nick. We had some discussion on Nick’s new favorite Skechers GoRUN. The good remark is tempted me to get one, will try it out on my next shopping day.

Met Paul before the start of the run. Paul really bared this round and running only with his tight & hydration. His body marked with “428 Bersih 3.0” and “Stop Lynas”, so I guess tentatively we will meet again in this Saturday in Dataran Merdeka for Bersih 3.0.

Met Khoo while looping on the route, he is volunteering again in this race. Thank you very much for the support, especially the cup of water at the final water station.

Next race will be PJ Dawn, coincidently the emcee that really screwed up herself in ENR2011 will be part of the “communication” team. I don’t know what is that means, but as the race will be running by PACM, I will still show up on the starting line. Enjoy yourself and have a safe race.