Race review : Standard Chartered KL Marathon HM

Every year, I focus on 2 races : the SCKLM & Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM). Why? Becoz these 2 races are the only AIMS-certified race course in Malaysia. Plus these are the biggest races in the country, with a minimum of 35000 participants in all category. Since this year I'm gonna do full marathon in Penang, SCKLM becomes my main focus for half marathon distance. I've been training for this race since Ramadhan & I've had 2 prep races before the SCKLM, the TM 21km & Reachout run 15km. My performances in those races suggested that I was on the right track to break my PB during the SCKLM. 

Race build-up

Reachout run was on the 24th of July. After that race I began tapering for SCKLM. The timing of both prep races means that I was able to do a full 2 weeks of tapering, something that I wasn't able to do in the past. I was quite worried becoz my recovery period after TM & Reachout was longer than usual & I had to do recovery runs the day after those races. But I guess it was for the better, as I was feeling fresh after that. The recovery runs really helped. I was also clocking pretty good times at both races (2:05 for TM & 1:28 for Reachout). I ran both races at about 30-60 secs off my target race pace. 

I was also quite happy with my running technique. I've taken into account my previous injuries & decided to run with shorter strides, with more backlift, something like the POSE method. & I've been running injury-free since I recovered from my last injury at Larian Bomba. With the new technique, I was more relaxed but I was able to run at the same speed or slightly faster than with my previous style. With this new technique there was less stress on my calf, but my hamstring got worked a bit more than usual, becoz of the backlift. & I was able to keep my cadence high, around 90 spm.  

In the week before SCKLM, I scaled down my training even further & made sure I went to bed early every night to ensure that I've got enuff rest. I also keep myself hydrated & eat enuff carbo. I think this is the best race build-up I've ever had for any race that I've prepared for. 

Racepack collection

The nicest vest I've ever received from an REPC so far

Left: 2016 battery. Right : 2015 battery

If there was one thing I dun like about SCKLM this year it's the REPC location. For years the REPC was at the Dataran Merdeka, along with the Run Expo. But this year, for whatever reason, they moved it to Kenanga Wholesale City, one of the last places I would go in KL. At first I was positive about the location, & since Imran's birthday is on Sunday as well, I decided to go there with my family. Bad decision. It seemed like everybody was collecting their racekits on Saturday & the traffic was unbelievable. It took me 90 mins to get there. 

Once we got there, there was congestion at the elevators as well. The REPC was at their exhibition hall, accessible only through elevators or stairs. But since there was so many people, it was so slow getting there. 

The racekit itself was standard SCKLM. A drawstring bag, the bib, vouchers & Salonpas sampler kit. There was also batteries from GP, they've been giving out these batteries since 2013 I think. & then the Adidas vest. This year's vest was simply the best event vest I've ever got. Almost like a race vest. I wouldn't hesitate to race in them. & the sizing was spot on, at least for me. Kudos to Adidas.

The Run Expo was the usual feast of running equipment & also sponsor goodies. The biggest booths of course are main sponsors' booth : Standard Chartered & Adidas. Standard Chartered gave away free running pouch for those who applied for their credit card & savings account. Adidas also had special offer on the official SCKLM merchandise. I bought the running tee + cap for RM99, quite a bargain. 

I spend quite sometime going through the booths, but I didn't buy anything else other than the Adidas products. Wasn't really looking for anything anyway. There was Hoka shoes on sale, but the offer wasn't attractive enough for me. Plus, after trying out Hoka Tracer, I think I'd go for the NB Fresh Foam Boracay for my marathon shoes. 

Prepped my stuff early

My standard race uniform

Start line

I registered for a start in the front pen, pen 2 to be exact. Pen 2 is for runners who's targeted finish time is 2 hours & below. The start is at 5:30am. So I prepped my stuff early the day before & went to bed by 10pm. I wanted to be at the start by 4:45am at the latest, so I left home at around 4am. 

When I got to Dataran the roads were already closed, but I managed to sneak to my usual parking spots for races that starts at Dataran Merdeka. I managed to do a full warm up, along with a couple of other runners. So after I was done with my warm ups, I changed into my race uniform & headed for the start with about 5 mins to spare. Pen 2 is pretty close to the start line, so that gives me the opportunity to start with the fast runners. 

The race

This is the 1st time I run the new route, which they started using since 2014. I didn't take part that year due to injury & last year the race was cancelled due to the haze. As I ran the 1st couple of kms I glanced at my Polar & I was surprised to see the pace at around 4:30. Surprised becoz I was feeling good. That's the advantage of starting with a fast group I guess. My race plan was to race an even 55mins for both 10Ks. For half marathons, I usually split my race into 3 parts, the 1st & 2nd 10K & the last 1.2 km. 2 55-min 10Ks will give me a 20K time of 1 hour 50 mins, & I have another 10 mins to run the last 1.2K, which shud be no problem for me. Of course, to break my PB of 1:58 I'd have to run faster than that. 

I managed to maintain a high tempo for the 1st part & at 10km my time was 55 mins; right on target. Just before the water station at 12km I had to pause to tie my shoelace. My shoelace wud give me more problems later as my shoes became wet. I took my gel at 12km continued to press on. My shoelaces kept coming undone another 3 times & I began to get annoyed by that. 

We had to run about 5km on AKLEH & that was when I had the most problems. The course went up & down & I had some problems dealing with that. I tried to up the pace on the descent & limit my losses during the ascent. 

At KM15 I started to suffer from stitches. I managed to shake it off at first but it came back with a vengeance at KM18. To make matters worse, I can't seem to get hold of isotonic drinks at the water stations. I had hoped that isotonic drinks could help with the stitches. Finally I had to stop at KM18 as the stitches got so bad I couldn't breathe. After taking deep breaths & drinking some water, it went away & immediately upped as I knew there was still time to achieve a sub-2hr time. The last 500m felt so long, probably the longest 500m in any race I've been to. At about 200m out I saw the official clock already showing 2:00:00, but I sprinted anyway. I crossed the line at 2:01:00. 

Post race

My official net finishing time was 2:00:36.54. I missed getting sub-2hr time by 37 secs. If I add up the time I had to stop to tie my shoelaces & recovering from the stitches, I could've clocked 1:55-1:56 thus breaking my PB. I'd thought that the course was slightly longer & my Polar registered a distance of 21.46km. For a race that is AIMS-certified, I certainly didn't expect that to happen. Not that I'm blaming the over-distanced course. 2 hour flat was still a pretty good performance. The only other time I managed a 2-hour flat was in Penang in 2013. That year I clocked 2:00:33, with an average pace of 5:41. So I guess this is my 3rd fastest time ever for a HM. 

Lessons learned

Starting with a fast group can be advantageous. I was really grateful I started with Pen 2. Becoz everybody in the group started equally fast, I was able to settle into a rhythm from very early on. That helped me with the pacing.

Stitches are real. I really can't think how I got those. Becoz I've never really had to worry about stitches before. But it can happen to even the most trained athletes. I guess the best way is to learn how to deal with it. & dun panic. 

I can only get better. I went into this race without knowing what to expect, really. There's been a lots of firsts this year. I had to change my training, my stride, running style. & to top it all off, I turned 40 this year. I'm not quite sure how age affected my performance, but so far, I feel the effects only on shorter distance races, like 10K. It's true that distance runners get better with age. 

Ratings

Route (Challenging, unique) : 4.5/5

Organizer (Overall organization of race) : 4.5/5 

Runners welfare (Water station, pre & post race facilities) : 4.5/5 

Goodie bag (Content) : 4/5 (same old contents)

Race tee (Quality, aesthetics) : 5/5 (one of the best, if not THE best)

Medal (Quality, aesthetics) : 4/5

My performance (execution of race plan, finishing time) : 4/5 

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