The Newton Race was my first race after raya. The fact that it was just a couple of weeks after raya prevented me from registering for the 25K distance, knowing that I'd never have enuff training to even complete it, let alone complete it with a decent enuff time. & to suffer for 3 hrs in the hot sun is not really my idea of a good race.
The main reason of my joining this race was the 2XU compression race socks, which was given free to all participants. This socks retails for almost RM180, & to pay just RM50 to get those, plus other race goodies like the vest, etc, was enuff motivation for me to sign up. Having used 2XU calf sleeves for the past year, I know what these compression socks & sleeves can do for U. The vest though, was a disappointment, not that I'ma use it anyway. I now have at least a dozen race vest with me, with at least another 5 to collect. I dunno what I'ma do with those, I've got my favorite race vest that I always wear in races. Normally I'd wear 'em for training, maybe also for going to bed...
The race was held in Bandar Kinrara & I've no idea how hard the course was. One of the runner/blogger went there & took some pics of the course. He called one of the climbs the "ammah" climb.. & from the pics it did look scary. But the problems was, I didn't know that climb was just one of many. There was to be another 4 climbs.. luckily, us the 12K runners won't have to tackle the "ammah" climb.
Since the race was pretty close to my house, I decided to go alone. I've also decided to use my Newton Neutral Racer, as it was the main sponsor anyway... also I'd use my Nike running tights, but I couldn't decide which top to wear. So I brought both my red Adidas Formotion running shirt which I just acquired during puasa & also my usual Nike fire-engine red race vest. My race began at 7.00am, these days the sun was already up by then, so in the end I decided to go with the Nike vest. A wise choice it turned out to be, as it was scorching hot. My usual gear that is the Livestrong visor, Oakley M Frame Livestrong glasses, & of course the 2XU compression race socks. & this time I didn't forget my Livestrong band. I decided not to run with my music on.. I'd earlier wanted to take this race lightly, just as a training.
I got to the start early, just after the 25K runners was sent their way. I did some warm ups & managed to get to the front. I'd set a target to run at 6:30-7:30 pace. So I set my Polar at that zone.
The climbs were murderers. It was harder than Lake Garden double hill course I did during the Pacesetters NB 15K. There it was steep, sharp climbs. Here it was more of a gradual climb, but there were 4 of them. 5 if U include the ammah hill we didn't have to do. The course went easy & flat for about 4K, then it started. Boy, on a bile it would've been hard ! It was one after another, rolling hills. Even the water station was uphill.
I just put my head down & tried as much as I can to maintain my cadence & rhythm up the hills. That seemed to work. I managed to maintain a smooth stride, which I didn;t really expect. There was 3 water stations in the 12k course, I skipped the 1st one, & stopped at the last 2. For short races under 15K, I dun normally bring my hydration belt with me. So I had to rely on water stations.
Then it came. I saw the ammah hill. But I saw that there was a signage directing some of the runners to the right.. it was for the 12K runners. We didn't have to climb it !! Hurray !! I would've been down on all fours if we had to climb it. I managed to cover the hills pretty much unscathed.
But as soon as we reached the last K signage, stitches hit me. I dun normally suffer from stitches. Even if I had stitches, it would go away in a few minutes. But this one didn't go away. Only when I saw the finish line the pain went away.
When I got to th finish, I received the medal. & I was surprised to see so few ppl at the finish. Normally it would've been crowded when I finish. Later I learned that I'd finished really early, #54 out of 392 finishers in my category. There was almost 2000 finishers in all. My time was surprisingly fast, less than 40 secs slower than my last 12K race, Men's Health Shape run. My 10K was also 1:01, which was surprising considering the toughness of the course.
This performance has given me the confidence ahead of the Nike 10K run. I really hope to run a sub 1-hour race, hopefully I can get around 55 mins. With about 10 days to go, I think I can.
Livestrong.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Raya 2010
Selamat Hari Raya !!! Although there's only a couple of weeks left before Syawal ends, everybody's still in Raya mood I guess, with open house invitations, 4-5 of them, almost every weekend. I on the other hand, haven't been able to have my own open house, becoz I was busy attending others' !! Quite a good excuse huh ?
Well, this year's Raya has been pretty good for my wife & I. There was no major incident, traffic was smooth, there was enuff resources, all is well. Traffic was a pretty major surprise I'd say, from lackthereof. Maybe it was the timing of this year's Raya. When we went back to Besut on the 2nd day of Raya, there was smooth traffic up until Kuala Krai, about 2 hrs from Besut. & during the trip home there wasn't really much of a traffic either, except for the usual crawl at Raub & Bentong. & the Ops Sikap had also a great success, managing to reduce traffic fatalities to acceptable levels. Kudos to the police.
In Besut on the 2nd day of Raya, it was like in a warzone. There was firecrackers all over, meriam buloh... it was really like a battle was going on. Well, Besut is just about 2 hrs from the Malaysia-Thailand border, so... getting all those mercun bola & ketupat was easy.
Sosilawati's murder.
The nation was shocked by the discovery of a gruesome murder of a prominent businesswoman, Datuk Sosilawati & 2 of her companions. The fact that it happened during a time of joy & festivities for the muslims & the manner of which the murders were allegedly carried out, I think everybody took notice of it. Not just the families involved, not just muslims, but everybody. Kudos to the police for working tirelessly to uncover the evidence & the gruesome details of the murders. To the families of Datuk Sosilawati & other victims, Malaysians are with U. Al-Fatihah.
Post-Ramadhan training
I'd stopped training about 2 days prior to Raya, I mean stopped all real training. I still did pushups, pullups, stretching... & I'm happy to note that I managed to maintain pretty much my training conditions during puasa.
After I came back from Raya holidays, I managed to get hold of a used tractor tire. I'd been looking for it & finally found it near a rumah kongsi near my house. Why would I need a tractor tire ? Well, for training of course ! Strongman athletes uses big, 350 lbs tyre to train. They do tire flips, tire pounding (with a sledgehammer), etc. Since there was playground with quite a big field just next to my house, I'd have a perfect place to use that tire, which require a big space of course.
The first problem was getting the tire home. I had to roll the tire about 2km back to my house, since it won't fit in my car's trunk & I can't find any lorry to transport it. Even rolling the tire home was a major exercise by itself. As soon as I got it home, I gave it a wash & started flipping right away.
Now, I dunno how much did the tire weigh, but it was a damn good workout for the whole body, not to mention the explosiveness needed to flip such a huge tire. The tire vertically was almost as high as my chest. After 3 reps of back & forth flipping, I could feel my legs, my arms burning.
The next step was to get a sledgehammer & do tire pounding. I'd earlier learned that U dun really need a huge tire to do it, a normal car tire will do. But since I've already got a huge tire, I'll just use it. I went to my local hardware store & the guy showed me 3 sledgehammers with different weights. The lightest was 6lb, 8lb & 12lb. The 6 pounder cost RM38, the heaviest one is almost 80 ringgit. I want a 10 pounder, but he didn't have it. So I guess the tire pounding will have to wait.
Post-Raya race menu.
This is my post raya race menu:
1. 26/9 - Newton 12K, Bdr Kinrara
2. 10/10 - Nike 10K, KLCC
3. 17/10 - Mizuno Wave Run 11K, UPM
4. 31/10 - Klang Run4It 12K, Klang
5. 21/11 - Penang Bridge Half marathon, Penang
There's still a couple of races in November that's not yet opened for registration, the Malakoff 12K & Adidas Adination of Runners (formerly known as Adidas King of The Road). That's 7 races in 3 months.. pretty bz eh ?
Livestrong.
Well, this year's Raya has been pretty good for my wife & I. There was no major incident, traffic was smooth, there was enuff resources, all is well. Traffic was a pretty major surprise I'd say, from lackthereof. Maybe it was the timing of this year's Raya. When we went back to Besut on the 2nd day of Raya, there was smooth traffic up until Kuala Krai, about 2 hrs from Besut. & during the trip home there wasn't really much of a traffic either, except for the usual crawl at Raub & Bentong. & the Ops Sikap had also a great success, managing to reduce traffic fatalities to acceptable levels. Kudos to the police.
In Besut on the 2nd day of Raya, it was like in a warzone. There was firecrackers all over, meriam buloh... it was really like a battle was going on. Well, Besut is just about 2 hrs from the Malaysia-Thailand border, so... getting all those mercun bola & ketupat was easy.
Sosilawati's murder.
The nation was shocked by the discovery of a gruesome murder of a prominent businesswoman, Datuk Sosilawati & 2 of her companions. The fact that it happened during a time of joy & festivities for the muslims & the manner of which the murders were allegedly carried out, I think everybody took notice of it. Not just the families involved, not just muslims, but everybody. Kudos to the police for working tirelessly to uncover the evidence & the gruesome details of the murders. To the families of Datuk Sosilawati & other victims, Malaysians are with U. Al-Fatihah.
Post-Ramadhan training
I'd stopped training about 2 days prior to Raya, I mean stopped all real training. I still did pushups, pullups, stretching... & I'm happy to note that I managed to maintain pretty much my training conditions during puasa.
After I came back from Raya holidays, I managed to get hold of a used tractor tire. I'd been looking for it & finally found it near a rumah kongsi near my house. Why would I need a tractor tire ? Well, for training of course ! Strongman athletes uses big, 350 lbs tyre to train. They do tire flips, tire pounding (with a sledgehammer), etc. Since there was playground with quite a big field just next to my house, I'd have a perfect place to use that tire, which require a big space of course.
The first problem was getting the tire home. I had to roll the tire about 2km back to my house, since it won't fit in my car's trunk & I can't find any lorry to transport it. Even rolling the tire home was a major exercise by itself. As soon as I got it home, I gave it a wash & started flipping right away.
Now, I dunno how much did the tire weigh, but it was a damn good workout for the whole body, not to mention the explosiveness needed to flip such a huge tire. The tire vertically was almost as high as my chest. After 3 reps of back & forth flipping, I could feel my legs, my arms burning.
The next step was to get a sledgehammer & do tire pounding. I'd earlier learned that U dun really need a huge tire to do it, a normal car tire will do. But since I've already got a huge tire, I'll just use it. I went to my local hardware store & the guy showed me 3 sledgehammers with different weights. The lightest was 6lb, 8lb & 12lb. The 6 pounder cost RM38, the heaviest one is almost 80 ringgit. I want a 10 pounder, but he didn't have it. So I guess the tire pounding will have to wait.
Post-Raya race menu.
This is my post raya race menu:
1. 26/9 - Newton 12K, Bdr Kinrara
2. 10/10 - Nike 10K, KLCC
3. 17/10 - Mizuno Wave Run 11K, UPM
4. 31/10 - Klang Run4It 12K, Klang
5. 21/11 - Penang Bridge Half marathon, Penang
There's still a couple of races in November that's not yet opened for registration, the Malakoff 12K & Adidas Adination of Runners (formerly known as Adidas King of The Road). That's 7 races in 3 months.. pretty bz eh ?
Livestrong.
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