New Balance MR759

New for 2011 !!!



This would proly be the only running shoes I'll be able to acquire for the new season 2011. Reason being I've gotta save some money for our upcoming baby (8 months away though) & I actually have 3 active shoes from last year. More on that later.

I bought this shoe using the 30% discount coupon I got from Penang Bridge. I'd planned to use it on a new pair of heavy, durable trainer as a replacement for my Newton Neutral Racer, which has been upgraded as my half marathon race shoes. All runners will get that New Balance 30% off coupon by entering any NB-sponsored race & this is the 1st time I've used the coupon. My decision to buy my first ever NB shoes is based on the fact that NB actually makes one of the best running shoes & it doesn't actually cost tht much. I've been eager to try NB & I guess the time is right.

I've been considering a few NB models, one of them is lightweight trainer/racer 828. But what I need is actually a shoe tht can go the distance, more than 500km. So far only my Mizuno Wave Aero has ever achieved 500km or more. So after much consideration, I finally settled on the not-so-heavyweight & neutral MR759.

The 759 is categorized as a cushioning shoe in NB website. & for a good reason. The amount of cushioning is just massive. NB's best cushioning shoe is 1064 & the 759 is the lightest of the cushioning shoes at 11oz. Heel drop is massive, the heel is even taller than my retired Mizuno Crusader 2. Not really a surprise with Abzorb cushioning.


The highlight of the NB cushioning technology is the Abzorb, which is placed at the heel. These looks just like Nike's Shox elastomers, albeit maybe a bit softer. But since I'm a predominantly a forefoot striker, it's very likely that the heel cushioning will barely be able to see action. I had to search 2-3 shopping malls before finally finding the size US11 I need for this shoe. Normally I'd take a size 11.5 or 12, but the shoe fits wide, so 11 is fine for me. The wide forefoot makes this shoe feels very roomy upfront, & I had to tie my laces extra tight to prevent heel slippage. I tried to tie my shoes differently but with that lacing it felt a little tight & restrictive of my heel movement. So I decided to go with the conventional lacing.



Much thought has been given into the design of the shoe & also the outsole, signifying the wide experience of New Balance in producing running shoes. The outer part of the forefoot & inner part of the rearfoot was built with a very durable Ndurance material. The 1064 had a very thin Abzorb material at the forefoot, which aids in forefoot cushioning, but I found it too heavy & thick, which sacrifices road feel. & it's very comfortable, proly my most comfy shoes to date. The extra width, the extra cushioning all contributed to the comfort. The forefoot is thick enuff to give extra cushioning but thin enuff to allow sufficient road feel. I've yet to try this shoe for LSD runs, but I bet it's gonna be superb & proly I can go further with less fatigue.



With a pricetag of RM300 (RM230 after discount), this shoes is a real bargain. Looking forward to an enhanced running experience with the 759.

Livestrong.

2011

Happy New Year !!! Well, okay, it's the 4th day of 2011 already & it may sound belated, but what the heck !! Well, as some of y'all might have known edi, the reason I'm very, very excited about 2011 is that my wife & I will be welcoming a new member to our family in 8 months' time !! Finally. After 7 pretty long & challenging years, we're gonna have a complete family. Allah knows how thankful I am for this mighty great gift. Although raising a kid in this era is no easy task, we're gonna try & be the best parent tht we can be.

Sick

Well, I celebrated 2011 with a cold. Lemme tell U tht cold is proly one illness that can really bring me down. Although in 2009, I ran the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 10K with a cold, it can really bother me sometimes. I didn't really know how it started, but I guess it was a culmination of all those outstation trips I've been to for the past 4 weeks or so, beginning with the JKTU recon trip early in December. Ending with the ascent up the pretty chilly Gunung Jerai in the final week of December, I guess I deserved the rest. I missed a couple of days of training as a result.

2011 season

I'ma have to do things slightly differently this season, as my wife's due in late August & I proly won't be able to do much for the rest of the year. So I'ma have to do all my major races before August. Last year I did some mistakes :

1. After PSKK I pretty much didn't follow a set program, everything was ad hoc
2. I put my running around my weight training,instead of vice versa
3. I screwed up big time on my weight training, resulting in an under-developed body

So to fix it this year, these are what I'm gonna do :

1. Focus on running up until May or June, around time for PSKK
2. During that period, I'ma run 4 times a week, & do weights twice, with 1 full rest day
3. I'ma try to run in 2 sessions on my running days, proly waking up early morning to do easy 30 mins, just to kick things off
4. I'ma set 2 races as my primary race to set my PB this year : the Energizer & Setia Alam
5. My PB target would be to go sub 2-hour, maybe 1:45-1:50 (very ambitious, but I'll try)
6. For PSP, I'ma focus on throwing & proly jumping event, most proly javelin, discus, triple & long jump.
7. If there's one track event I wanna do, it'd be the mile (1,500m)
8. For that period, it's gonna be 3 weights sessions per week.

Considering that my fastest 10K is 55 mins this year (distance is questionable though), a 1:45 half mara is pretty ambitious target. At that pace, I can finish the half mara in 1:56 proly. But that is my target & Ive got all the time in the world to work towards it.

My primary mistake this year was I designed my running training around my weights, which shud be the other way round. I'll refocus on weights for my field events.

Also, my wife's pregnancy means that I'ma have to train more closer to home. I'd proly have to do more weight work at home, since I have most of the equipment at home. Proly I'ma have to add some more weight plates & proly get another set of dumbbells.

Well, I hope this year will be a more successful year in terms of running. & I certainly hope our child will brighten up our lives more than ever before.

Livestrong.

Malaysian Rally scene

Car rally is one of the motorsports that is pretty close to my heart.. the former 500cc motorcycle GP was my first love. Rallying requires such skill that even F1 drivers finds difficult.. Make no mistake : Rally drivers can just jump on the track & drive F1 cars.. but F1 drivers would need considerable guidance & tutorial before they can take on the gravel or dirt roads... having said that, AFAIK, Kimi Raikonnen have raced rally cars with some success after his retirement from F1.

In Malaysia, Karamjit Singh & rally is like husband & wife. Karamjit is the undisputed King of Rally or as he was fondly called,"King of the Estates".. as most of rally tracks in Malaysia goes through Felda settlements. He was WRC Asia Pacific Rally champion for 3 straight years, from 1998.. & he was Malaysia's first ever World Champion in motorsports, winning the WRC Group N (production cars) in 1999. This despite the lack of support he got from the govt, who instead prefer to waste money, effort & time into supporting Alex Yoong to be the F1 tail-ender of the year back in .. I forgot which year. It was THAT insignificant.

I remember in the 2000 Merdeka endurance race, Karamjit Singh smoked the entire field to win comfortably, a field which included seasoned Touring Car drivers & also our first ever F1 driver, Mr Alex Yoong himself. This shows how good Karamjit was. & he still is. Karamjit won the final leg of the recently concluded Malaysian Rally Championship, racing an ageing Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII.

I was baffled with the lack of support the govt had towards this excellent driver. He was racing for PERT during his venture into APRC in the late 90s, using an ageing Evo V at that time, with limited technical support & all. Yet he still emerged as champion 3 straight years. & when he decided to race the WRC (World Rally Championship) Group N in 1999, still the govt decided not to support him. Yet he still emerged champion. World Champion that is. In the days when Nicol David was still finding her footing in squash.. Karamjit had already been the world champion.

I had bumped into him once. I was having breakfast in Shah Alam & there he was, sitting at the opposite table, having roti canai & reading newspaper. I've read somewhere that Karamjit is a man of few words. Still, the tall, handsome world champion had a kind of aura surrounding him, the aura of a journeyman who'd been through a lot I guess..

I hope the govt can give more support into sportsman like this. I dun think Karamjit is looking for titles.. Dato' or Tan Sri.. he was just doing what he loves most : driving cars & winning races. I'm sure at times it would've been very frustrating. But He kept going on.

Mr. Karamjit Singh : I salute U.

Livestrong.

Asian Masters Road Race 10K

This was my final race of 2010. Actually, I'd planned the Malakoff as my final race, but something came up at work & I had to change my plans. The Asian Masters Athletics Championship was in town & I didn't know there was a road race. Then I got an email saying that the registration's been extended, so I decided to run the race. Some ppl told me that they couldn't get enuff participants, so they decided to open the race to locals so that it would be more of a race that it would've been. The registration & stuff was simple enuff & typical of any races organized by the FTAAA, everything was old school. There was no electronic timing chip, no numbers printed on plastic, there was a reporting card & ribbon system employed.

My preparation

I've been prepping for Malakoff by doing loads of hills, hill repeats & hill intervals. But when I knew I won't be going for Malakoff, I decided to do more speedwork. The route was similar to Larian Bomba, so there was still some hills to conquer. So I did 2 consecutive speed days. & 2 days before the race I had to go to Kangar, so I didn't do anything. I did a short easy run on Saturday evening, as I normally do before races, just to check on my equipment. All systems go.

The race

There was veterans up to 70 years of age, from Asian countries. But I guess not all of them was here. I didn't see anybody from China, there was a lot of ppl from India & Sri Lanka.. most of them ran barefooted. I got to the start pretty early. I decided to go with only one number, as I've always said there was no point wearing 2 numbers, it's not like I'ma get top placings anyway. The announcer kept saying tht those who ran with one number will be disqualified.. anything that makes U happy la...

I've set myself a pace of 5:15 - 5:45, slightly faster than my normal pace of 5:30 - 6:00. I started at the front to avoid the slower runners & I started off pretty well. I managed to maintain that pace up until the 1st water station. Then I started to get into trouble. I couldn't maintain the pace. Even on the downhills I was having difficulties. But the 1st 5K was pretty encouraging, covered in about 28 mins, which means I was still on course for a sub-60 mins finishing time.

After the 7K mark I decided that my stride was too long, so I shorten my stride & I was able to get into a manageable rhythm. I tried to maintain that rhythm to the end, but it proved difficult. At the end, I clocked 58:48, so it was okay, good enuff for #47. Out of how many I dunno.

Lessons learned

This race have again proved that I lacked speed. I had some speed but I couldn't maintain it. I need to do longer tempo. As long as 10K. So I must remember to put that into my program next year.

As I said earlier this was my final race of the year. It's been a long year, I ran 12 races, including 4 half marathons. I've definitely improved from last year. I've been able to run 2-3 sub-60 10Ks, with the best being at Nike 10K, but as I only recorded 8.8K at that race, the Asian Masters remained my best 10K performance this year. I didn't get to run on the track at all this year. I dunno if I can run on the track next year, becoz I plan to do more field events, including the long/triple jump. For the throwing event, I'd like to add discus as another event I'd like to try.

Nxt year I'ma stay with half marathon, with the ultimate goal of running sub-2hr half maras. & I wanna be more selective on the races I run nxt year, I wanna be more focused, maybe I'll still ran 4 half maras, but there must be ample time for me to prepare... I can't run back-to-back half maras in 2 months for example.

Hopefully I'll get lighter as well. Last year I put the target to get to 75kg, but I'm still at 83kg this year.

Till then, Livestrong.

Racing the Bridge...

I just came back from Penang, from doing my last half marathon for the year, from running on the 3rd longest bridge in the world.. It was my first time running the Penang Bridge International Marathon, & it was my 4th half marathon for 2010 & my 11th race of the year.

Since it was already November, I decided to treat the trip to Penang as our holiday & asked my wife to come along. We went to Penang on Friday, 2 days before the race. We stayed in Summit Hotel Bukit Mertajam, we've stayed there a couple of years back during our trip to attend Azizah's wedding in Perlis. Most of the hotels on the island were fully booked for the marathon,& those who still got rooms was way off our budget. So we're gonna have to take a 20 mins drive to the start. This race had several firsts for me :

1. It was my first race outside of KL or Klang Valley
2. It was the first one with an early morning start (3am for half marathon)

The day before

We got to Penang at noon on the 19th. So we stopped for lunch at Aeon Seberang Perai, before checking into the hotel at 2pm. I'd reserved 2 tickets for the latest Harry Potter movie there at 8.30 pm, so we went there & had dinner before catching the movie. after the movie I decided to drive to the island to check out the course & the starting point. As soon as we crossed the halfway point on the bridge, it rained really heavily. So heavy that missed the turn into Queensbay & ended up in the Bayan Lepas Industrial zone. Roads in Penang are as winded as the sea surrounding them & as a result there was flash floods everywhere. We were lucky to have got outta the mess in one piece as there were times when we got caught in water so deep it slowed my car down considerably.

On the way back I saw the turning into the Queensbay area. We went back to the hotel & there wasn't a single drop of rain as soon as we reached the Peninsular. Strange. Tht's made me think again about my choice of clothing on race day. I tried to go to sleep as late as possible so that I can stay in bed the day after. I went to bed at 3am.

Race day

I tried to sleep as much as I can during the day, to prepare for the 3am start. But then the TV was showing the finals of the sepaktakraw inter-team finals at Guangzhou at 2pm so that kept me awake. Malaysia was soundly beaten by the Thais, who was much more superior, both in skills & in tactics. The Malaysians were so busy playing mind games & provoking the Thais that in the end, it was the Malaysians who couldn't live up to expectations. I played takraw during my schooldays & also during the early college days. Malaysians have been playing catch up with the Thais for so long, we didn't really have any secret weapons or tactics. Whereas the Thais have always been the innovator of the sport, introducing the "servis kuda" few years ago & now with the double killer. & their players really look lean & tall, Malaysian players look more like couch potatoes than athletes. We must innovate in order to survive, otherwise we'll lose out to the likes of China & Korea again.

I'd planned to catch another movie just before the start of the race, but then the TV was again showing the Arsenal-Spurs derby, plus the semi finals of badminton, LCW vs Chen Jin. So I decided to stay at the hotel.

The race

The bridge was closed starting at 1am, so we went off at about 12.30am. Traffic into Qeensbay was heavy, this time I didn't miss the turn. But the atmosphere was electric. There were at least 20 busses carrying runners from all over the country, even from Singapore & Thailand.. some of the runners have set up camp at the open car park, it was really cool. Once we got a parking space I decided to take a nap.

I got up with about an hour before the race. I decided to go on with my racing vest instead of the tshirt, seeing that the weather was okay. Then I did some warm up & was relieved to see my Polar footpod working fine, finally. Then we went to the start with about 30 mins to go.

There was like 6000 ppl in half marathon men's category alone, I was lucky to start quite far up. Traffic was heavy until the bridge, when the field finally broke up & I was finally into my rhythm. But as soon as we hit the bridge, I was in trouble. I was feeling drowsy & sleepy. I couldn't keep the pace up & was at times dragging my feet. I had some thoughts in my mind, I was reflecting on my preparation, on my targets... I've never felt that way in a race. & there was already some flashes of lightning on the horizon, the rain was coming.

As soon as we hit the turnaround, the rain hit us. The wind was unbelievably strong & the rain was heavy. Strangely, I felt much better running in the rain & as soon as we came off the bridge, I was back into my rhythm. I was really pushing it in the last 6K, I clocked 29mins for the last 6K. At the end, I saw the time, I got 2:10 unofficialy, better than expected, considering my preparation, the weather, etc... I couldn't have asked for more.

Lesson #1: Get enuff rest for early morning starts.
Maybe if I'd had enuff sleep during the day, I wouldn't have felt so sleepy & drowsy during the race.

Well, all the suffering, the weather, the traffic.. will I come back & do it all again next year ? Hell yess !!!

Livestrong.

Klang Run4It

This is one race that I would wanna do every year. The organization is nothing to shout about & I've seen races with better traffic control & security. But since the race venue is the place where I grew up.. & the race course goes through where I used to live, I've made it a point to do this race every year, as long as it goes through the same course. The fact that the course is the same every year (like Larian Bomba) makes it a good race to gauge your improvements year in year out. This race is also my 10th race of the year & I've still got a couple to do.

I went out early but even then I got to the start just 15 mins earlier. I had to stop for gas as I forgot to fill up the day before. But all is well & I went looking for Azam but he was nowhere to be found. I managed to catch up with him about 2km into the race.

The race goes through the very same route I took to ride home from school in 1989, thts 21 years ago... can U believe that ? The road was pretty much the same, but the surrounding areas is much more developed now. Taman Sri Andalas now in far more developed than it was some 20 years ago & that's a good sign.

I'd set a target to better my last year's time of 1:14 & I set my Polar for a 5:30-6:00 pace zone. I started off pretty fast & got a 28mins first 5K. However I started to suffer from stitches again at KM7. Normally breathing heavily in & out would make it go away, but even after a few mins of heavy breathing it didn't go away. This is the 2nd time in a race I gt stitches & I dunno why. I stopped for water at the 2nd water station & almost immediately it went away. Hmm...

Becoz of the stitches I couldn't follow Azam, but after the last turn & with about 3K to go I was feeling much better & began to push for the finish. At the finish I clocked 1:12:10, with a 30min second 5K. I'd done 59 mins for the 10K. I guess I could've done better but with a 5:58 average & 2 mins off my previous best, I guess I've achieved my race objectives. & with 2 days sick leave, a tooth extraction, & 2 days outstation, which has left me with no running at all in the week before the race, I guess I couldn't ask for more.

I'm now making plans for Penang & I guess I'm not gonna do any tapering, maybe a short one. I still have to do another LSD this week, preferably 20K before beginning my taper the week after that. Until then, Livestrong.

Mizuno Wave Run 2010

The Mizuno Wave Run was my 2nd race in October, the 2nd one in my 3-race line up for October, which began with the Nike KL City Run & ends with the Klang Run 4it. In the month of October, I have a race in every weekend except the 1st & the 4th week. All of them is 12K or less, so it was okay. I couldn’t imagine doing a half marathon every weekend, which never is in my plan anyway. The Mizuno Wave Run is also pretty special for me for one reason : it was my first race after my accident last year. Even with that condition I managed a 1:08 for an 11K course, so my goal for this year obviously is to do a better time.

Mistakes

I did some mistakes in the run-up to the race. Firstly, I didn’t even bother to read the race program or study the route, assuming that everything would be the same as last year. I didn’t know the start time, which I had to ask my race partner Azam the nite before the race. On the other hand, the race also had a few firsts for me as well. would be the same as last year. I didn’t know the start time, which I had to ask my race partner Azam the nite before the race. On the other hand, the race also had a few firsts for me as well. During the bib collection day, I decided to purchase the Powerbar Recovery drink mix. It costs me RM110, with a free Powerbar bottle, a Powergel & a Powerbar. At RM110, with 36 servings, it cost me about RM3 per serving. & after each race (or workout), I’m gonna need two servings. All this while, I’ve been relying on Gatorade as my post-race drink & usually I’ll down 2 bottles of Gatorade after each race, with each Gatorade costing about RM2.40, the Powerbar Recovery will cost me an extra of RM1.20 each race. Complicated huh ?

Race day

Well, on to the race 1st. Since UPM is pretty close to my house, I decided to go out a little late. I got to the stadium at about 7:05 & immediately I heard the announcer telling it’s 5 mins to the start. What the ? Azam told me that the start is 7:30. So I put my gear on & ran to the line. Strangely, the field was filled with ppl warming up, nobody seemed to care about what the announcer just said. Apparently the 7:15 start was for the women’s category… which is a bit strange still, coz most of the races (if not all) I’ve been, all the categories for the same distance will be flagged off the same time. So I went to the Powerbar booth but no one was there edi. So I just proceeded to the line.

My next mistake was to start too far back, although I had the chance to start further up. The thing I didn’t learn from last year was, the 1st 3K of the course is through a very narrow road, like half the width of a normal road. It was just chaotic. & my foot started to hurt almost right off. So I tried to navigate through the crowd of the slower runners, but it was pretty difficult. Normally I’d just bear with the slower runners, but that day, the urge to just shove a couple outta the way, along with some verbal abuse was just too great. Luckily I managed to keep cool.

I only managed to break free after the 1st water station, which I customarily skip. But the situation there was just awful. There was not enuff staff, & becoz the water distribution was slow, some of the runners just grabbed the bottles & threw it away half empty, which was bad race etiquette. & some was just standing at the station as if they were drinking at a kopitiam. I understand that there was a lot of rookies & non-competitive runners in the race, but that was no excuse.

The next mistake I made was thinking that there were 3 water stations, as what normal races would have. Generally, each race would have 3 water stations, at the beginning, mid-way & at the final 3rd of the distance. But for some incomprehensible reasons, the Pacesetters decided that 2 was enuff. When I finally got to the last water station I was already suffering pretty badly. & by then also I began to notice that the route didn’t go through some of the places I raced through last year.

I hit the line at 1:04, better than last year, but at 10K, it was worse than KL City Run. It was just a bad race for me. I met Azam after the race & had a look at his new Brooks T6 Racer. I guess that shoe can be a good half marathon shoe for me, as I dun think I’ma race with my Asics for anything more than a 10-12K races. More on that later.

Some of the lessons I’ve learned from what turned out to be my worst race of 2010:
1. Always study the race program & route, even if U’ve done the race before. The organizer might change the route, U’ll never know..
2. Always take note of the water stations. Some organizers might go against the norm. At the KL City run there was water stations every 2.5K, which was extraordinary.
3. Always try to get to the start early, at least 30 mins earlier. That way U won’t rush anything & won’t risk forgetting anything.
4. Try to start as high up as U can, especially if U’r targeting a PB.

Livestrong