Yesterday I broke the monotony of my training by going for a volleyball game with my officemates in Pancarona. I decided to see how my legs are doing, so I ran to Pancarona. If I'd taken the direct route, it'd took me about 10 mins maybe, it was less than 2km away from my office. So I took a longer route, the route used during PACM NB 15K earlier this month. The problem is, it was my 1st time to Pancarona & I didn't really know where it was. I just thought I went by that place during the race. So I had to gamble a bit & got there after about 17 mins. My legs felt okay, I'd use my Newtons & calf sleeve, just in case. & it was okay. So I guess Sunday is a go.
The volleyball game was great. The only thing bad was that while diving to retrieve a ball I'd scratched my Newtons a bit. My bad. I shud've known better than to use my race shoes for a volleyball game. I ran back to the office after the game. Good workout overall.
At home I was feeling some pain again. My plantar fasciitis. This really puzzles me. I just dunno what else to do. Maybe some ibuprofen would help. But I dunno where to get it.
Well, as a build up to the race, which is this Sunday, I'm drinking lotsa water. This is important to stay hydrated. Just wanna keep myself hydrated & well-oiled for Sunday. I've some pace options in mind. & I'll see how I feel in the 1st half of the race. My target is to break 2 hours of course.
Death of a marathon runner.
Earlier this month Sammy Wanjiru, 2008 Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist was killed in an apparent suicide. But that's got nothing to do with cardiovascular weakness or anything, he jumped off a corridor in his house. The death I wanna talk about is one that was brought up in LYNet forum this morning.
A friend of a forumer died of heart attack. He said that the deceased was a marathon runner. So he urged everybody to do medical check up & dun assume that becoz U run marathons, Ur in perfect health.
What he said makes perfect sense to me. Sometime ago I read a study that found marathoners who run too much, they have weaker blood vessel. The reason was that those marathoners run every race there is & they dun allow sufficient recovery time. I know of some runners who runs one race in KL at nite & then drive all the way to JB for a marathon in the morning. & she's a senior vet. I thought that was just too much. Sometimes U feel fit, but nobody knows what's underneath, especially if U haven't done any medical check ups.
I've signed up with a healthcare provider for annual medical checkups for the next 5 years. My wifey & I did our first one last year. So with that I hope I can detect if there's anything wrong with me at an early stage. Maybe all marathoners, or athletes shud do the same. When I was cycling with the Selangor team, we had medical checkups every year before we start the season.
The thing is very active ppl, they sometimes believe becoz they lead a healthy lifestyle, nothing can happen to them. That they're immune to cardiovascular diseases like heart disease & all. They shud really take a deeper look at that matter. Athletes consume a great deal of isotonic drinks & those drinks contain lotsa sugar. We run like there's no tomorrow & we dun allow our body to recover from that effort. As the saying goes, too much of anything, even good things can be bad for you. We live in denial just becoz we think we're healthy & nothing can happen to us.
I've been more selective in my choice of races since last year. Last year I ran 12 races (or was it 14 ?) & I think that's too much. But some ppl ran like 20-25 events, half of them are 21km or more. I ran 4 half maras last year. & this year, even in June, I'm only running my 2nd half mara, although I did run the Malakoff 26km in March. I think 4-5 half maras is my max. 10-15km races is different becoz they dun exactly exert that much effort from our body. I've been more selective in terms of events that I use as training, events that I really wanna do well in.
Sometimes things that we thought is doing us good, is actually doing more harm to our body & health than we thought it would. So, it's actually a virtue to live in moderation.
Livestrong.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Moment of Truth
Pacesetters NB 15K 2011
I realized today that I haven't wrote anything about my last race, the PACM NB 15K. The race was just about 2 weeks after PSP2011 & my preparation for that race was far from ideal. I had plantar fasciitis just after PSP, so I took a week's rest, just swimming & doing weights. I had to attend a course in Melaka, so I took that opportunity to rest summore. The hotel I stayed in had a swimming pool & a gym. I ran on the treadmill for 45 mins & felt good. Not that the injury had gone away, but it seemed that it didn't really gave me any problem anymore.
I haven't done any long runs in May, as I prepared for PSP. Thus my mileage for May was less than 60km, less than half the previous month's mileage. But the NB was only 15K, & it's in Putrajaya, so I guess it was gonna be fine. About a week from the race, the organizers scrambled an email to participants telling that the race will start at 6.30am instead of 7.00. I guess the hot weather nowadays made them think twice.
I wanted to take the race as training, becoz I didn't really train for the race. But these days, I guess I can run any distance below 21km without so much of a training. I know I can finish, the question is just how fast. I'd set my target pace to be between 6:00 - 6:30, good enuff to finish the race in 1:30 hrs.
LYNet runners had planned to meet up before the run, although I got to the start pretty early, I didn't go to the meet up point. I struggled with my Garmin at the start... sigh. 3 months already & I haven't mastered the usage of this seemingly complex device. Even during the run, the target pace alarm seemed to not functioning correctly. I'm really puzzled by this.
Well, the run went well. I maintained my target pace throughout & didn't really feel that bad. Only with 2km to go did I really put the hammer down becoz I knew where the finish line is & I know I was able to sustain that pace, about 4:30 - 5:00, for that distance. & I hit the line at 1:30:00 flat. Not bad. Given my conditions. Not bad at all.
Workload
I'm currently handling more workload at work, more than before. But it was to be expected becoz I was recently promoted & also becoz I was among the most senior PSU at my section, I was given some extra tasks. I dun mind all that. But what bothers me is the "lain-lain tugas yang diarahkan dari semasa ke semasa" thingy. U know, we oughta remove that clause from our job description. Becoz that gives the opportunity for our bosses to give whatever task to ask without us having any say on it. Heck, it seemed like that is my main task nowadays. & worse, if U get a hard time from Ur boss from Ur perceived inability to focus on that job. Which job exactly ?
My baby
My wifey is now almost 8 months into her pregnancy. That means in a little over a month's time, I'ma be a father. I really hope & pray that the baby would change some of the aspects of my life, for the better. I dun really know what's gonna happen of course. How the baby would change me. Change my life. All I know is that I can't wait to have him into our family.
Livestrong.
I realized today that I haven't wrote anything about my last race, the PACM NB 15K. The race was just about 2 weeks after PSP2011 & my preparation for that race was far from ideal. I had plantar fasciitis just after PSP, so I took a week's rest, just swimming & doing weights. I had to attend a course in Melaka, so I took that opportunity to rest summore. The hotel I stayed in had a swimming pool & a gym. I ran on the treadmill for 45 mins & felt good. Not that the injury had gone away, but it seemed that it didn't really gave me any problem anymore.
I haven't done any long runs in May, as I prepared for PSP. Thus my mileage for May was less than 60km, less than half the previous month's mileage. But the NB was only 15K, & it's in Putrajaya, so I guess it was gonna be fine. About a week from the race, the organizers scrambled an email to participants telling that the race will start at 6.30am instead of 7.00. I guess the hot weather nowadays made them think twice.
I wanted to take the race as training, becoz I didn't really train for the race. But these days, I guess I can run any distance below 21km without so much of a training. I know I can finish, the question is just how fast. I'd set my target pace to be between 6:00 - 6:30, good enuff to finish the race in 1:30 hrs.
LYNet runners had planned to meet up before the run, although I got to the start pretty early, I didn't go to the meet up point. I struggled with my Garmin at the start... sigh. 3 months already & I haven't mastered the usage of this seemingly complex device. Even during the run, the target pace alarm seemed to not functioning correctly. I'm really puzzled by this.
Well, the run went well. I maintained my target pace throughout & didn't really feel that bad. Only with 2km to go did I really put the hammer down becoz I knew where the finish line is & I know I was able to sustain that pace, about 4:30 - 5:00, for that distance. & I hit the line at 1:30:00 flat. Not bad. Given my conditions. Not bad at all.
Workload
I'm currently handling more workload at work, more than before. But it was to be expected becoz I was recently promoted & also becoz I was among the most senior PSU at my section, I was given some extra tasks. I dun mind all that. But what bothers me is the "lain-lain tugas yang diarahkan dari semasa ke semasa" thingy. U know, we oughta remove that clause from our job description. Becoz that gives the opportunity for our bosses to give whatever task to ask without us having any say on it. Heck, it seemed like that is my main task nowadays. & worse, if U get a hard time from Ur boss from Ur perceived inability to focus on that job. Which job exactly ?
My baby
My wifey is now almost 8 months into her pregnancy. That means in a little over a month's time, I'ma be a father. I really hope & pray that the baby would change some of the aspects of my life, for the better. I dun really know what's gonna happen of course. How the baby would change me. Change my life. All I know is that I can't wait to have him into our family.
Livestrong.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Dealing with injury
Here we go again. I've got a week to go before my target race, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon.. & now I'm down with shin splints so bad that just to squat in the toilet is a challenge for me. Now I've to find a way to train for the half marathon, with a target time of sub-2 hour, without running. I'm not quite sure where I am now in terms of fitness, I haven't done a long run for 2 months already. Why ?
Well, first, some background. After PSP, I was down with plantar fasciitis that I decided to take a week off. But everybody knows that my week off isn't exacly "off". As long as my other limbs are moving, I will do some training of any sort, just to keep things moving. If I can't run then I'll swim, bike or lift weights. If I can't do all three then there's something really wrong with me or my body. That means I'm really down. Okay, after I decided that my plantar fasciitis was okay, I began to run, just to accumulate mileage so that 21km won't come as a shock. But I guess at my level now, I know I can finish 21km, the question is how fast ? So I did lotsa 10km tempos, race-sims, etc. But then my shins started to give me problems.
For me, the shin splints comes & go. It never really did go away. I'm very much puzzled why is it so. Shin splints normally happens to very heavy runners, those with less than efficient stride or those who run with shoes with bad cushioning. I dun belong to any of those categories, albeit, I might be a little on the heavy side. I ran PACM 15K without any problems, & managed to clock a respectable time, despite my taking it somewhat easy. & 2 days ago I did a great 10K tempo without so much of hint that I had shin splints. But on Friday, on an easy run, it hurt so much that I had to walk the rest of the way. Why ?
& yesterday I was supposed to do a 2hr LSD, my last prep for SCKLM. I had to call it off after 4km, & had to walk back. I was wearing my compression tights & to have that kinda injury even with compression wear on, that's serious. The first person I called once I got back to my bike was my friend Hardy, a physio who works with MSN. Unfortunately he was on his way to Singapore, so I had to wait for him to come back next week. I really need an expert opinion, I'm scared that the injury might be more severe than I thought. Worse, a fracture.
So now I have to resort to riding my stationary bike, go swimming & lift weights. Or all three at once. Hopefully it'll heal before Sunday. Last year it was the same situation before Putrajaya Night Marathon. Let's hope I can come away unscathed from this one.
Livestrong.
Well, first, some background. After PSP, I was down with plantar fasciitis that I decided to take a week off. But everybody knows that my week off isn't exacly "off". As long as my other limbs are moving, I will do some training of any sort, just to keep things moving. If I can't run then I'll swim, bike or lift weights. If I can't do all three then there's something really wrong with me or my body. That means I'm really down. Okay, after I decided that my plantar fasciitis was okay, I began to run, just to accumulate mileage so that 21km won't come as a shock. But I guess at my level now, I know I can finish 21km, the question is how fast ? So I did lotsa 10km tempos, race-sims, etc. But then my shins started to give me problems.
For me, the shin splints comes & go. It never really did go away. I'm very much puzzled why is it so. Shin splints normally happens to very heavy runners, those with less than efficient stride or those who run with shoes with bad cushioning. I dun belong to any of those categories, albeit, I might be a little on the heavy side. I ran PACM 15K without any problems, & managed to clock a respectable time, despite my taking it somewhat easy. & 2 days ago I did a great 10K tempo without so much of hint that I had shin splints. But on Friday, on an easy run, it hurt so much that I had to walk the rest of the way. Why ?
& yesterday I was supposed to do a 2hr LSD, my last prep for SCKLM. I had to call it off after 4km, & had to walk back. I was wearing my compression tights & to have that kinda injury even with compression wear on, that's serious. The first person I called once I got back to my bike was my friend Hardy, a physio who works with MSN. Unfortunately he was on his way to Singapore, so I had to wait for him to come back next week. I really need an expert opinion, I'm scared that the injury might be more severe than I thought. Worse, a fracture.
So now I have to resort to riding my stationary bike, go swimming & lift weights. Or all three at once. Hopefully it'll heal before Sunday. Last year it was the same situation before Putrajaya Night Marathon. Let's hope I can come away unscathed from this one.
Livestrong.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
PSP2011 post mortem..
The 2011 Pesta Sukan Perbendaharaan was concluded recently, with my personal medal tally at 0-0-3.. 3 bronze medals from 4 events. That means I failed to medal only in 1 of the event that I signed for. How does that compare to my performance last year, with 1 gold medal ?
Javelin
I kicked off my PSP2011 campaign with the javelin. I was the defending champion of course. I felt that I've made significant progress since then. Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with my performance in the javelin, I got 3rd with 33.15m, which was shorter than my gold-medal winning throw last year of 35m. But the winner threw a 36m & the 2nd-placed thrower had a 33.80m. But the difference between us could've been a mere 1mm & still that would've separated between gold, silver & bronze. What went wrong ?
For starters, out of 6 regulations throws, I only managed to register 1 good throw, that was my 33.15m. The rest was either fouled or purposely fouled by me, due to lousy distance. But I wasn't happy with that. Last year all my regulation throws was over 30m. I think that had to do with my technique. If I wanna maintain this event as my pet event, I gotta train more, get a coach to correct my technique or something.
U see, in javelin I was considered the favorite, even before the PSP started. I'd bought a javelin spike before PSKK last year, & my warm-up routine would send shivers down my opponents necks... half the battle was won before the event started.. it was me who failed to live up to their expectations. Shame on me. I also felt my body, even though it was stronger than last year, wasn't strong enuff. There was no power. Maybe the reason was that my weight program didn't really included power exercises. I did do some power-specific workouts about 2 weeks before, but it wasn't enuff. It was even more evident during the discus event. I'll come to that later.
This is what I wanna do next year. I'ma use my contacts at MSN & SSBJ to find a javelin coach. I just need the coach to tell me whts wrong with my technique & form so tht I could fix it. I wanna do javelin-specific training at least 2 months before & I wanna throw farther than 45m. That's a big ask. But I wanna do it. I must do it.
Medley
This is one event that I didn't even expect to run. Even Pengurusan wasn't supposed to run it becoz we couldn't find anybody to run it. We managed to put together a team out of nothing & we had to ask permission from managers of the rest of the team becoz we didn't register. I think they thought our team was just making up the numbers. I also thought the same. In fact, I was thinking to run in my jeans even..
Then Diana made a great start & managed to pass the baton to En Wahid in 3rd position.. En Wahid surprisingly managed to hold 3rd, but the gap was growing. Then Hazizi was further left behind & the 4th placed runner was making up ground. I received the baton & ran the last leg of 400m. I've never run 400m before. I just ran as fast as I could on the bend when the other 2 runners was already entering the back straight. Surprisingly I felt really fine & I was able to hold my speed & saw that I was gaining ground on them & was increasing the gap on the 4th placed runner. I managed to enter the home stretch & increased my speed even further, but failed to catch the front runners. If there was another lap I would've been able to catch & even passed them.. I was very sure of that, judging on my speed & my ability to hold that speed.
That event was an eye opener of sorts for me. I had the speed & the endurance to run 400m at a competitive time. I might do that event next year, I was confident enuff to think that I can even run the 400m relay.
10,000m
I had to skip this event last year due to a calf injury. During my absence last year, a guy from Keselamatan got 2nd with a pretty good time of 54++. Before the event I wasn't sure how I'd do.. at the previous week's Larian Bomba I managed to do 58 mins over almost 11km. So I was confident I repeat that in the track. There was one issue : the discus event will be held about 2hrs right after the 10k. So that would put me in a difficulty. Discus was a new event for me.
There was only 7 ppl in the starting lineup. Only 4 looked like runners. There was a new threat, Kimi from Housing. I knew he played football & he has good built of a distance runner. Afri from Keselamatan was also there & of course the defending champion Amri was ever-present. I've always said that in this event we're only fighting for 2nd place.
We started off late, at 8am. My goal for this event was just to improve on my previous best, I ran a 59mins in 2009, the 1st time I did this event. I followed Amri as long as I could & lasted 3 laps behind him before I decided to peel off. Kimi was able to stay almost halfway before Amri decided to up the pace. I couldn't find Afri until he went past me at maybe lap 10. I kept him within striking distance.
At one point I felt like quitting so that I could conserve my enery for the discus. But with 7-8 laps Afri was slowing down considerably & I was right behind him. I was thinking whether I shud just stay behind him until about 2-3 laps to go before going past him. But I could see that he was really losing speed so I surged past him with 5 laps to go. I wasn't sure if I could maintain the pace all the way to the finish, so I just kept on pressing. After a while I could no longer here anybody close to me from behind, I crossed the line at 3rd with a new personal best of 54:50.03. That gave me my 3rd & last medal of PSP2011.
Discus
I've never did the discus in my life. But I've always imagined throwing the discus & I felt that I was able to do the event quite well. During training I never did get a grasp on the discus technique, it was far more complicated than it seemed. Nevertheless, becoz I've committed myself to the event, I went on with it.
The event was just after I completed my 10K, less than a couple of hours. I had prepared for this as soon as I saw the schedule, so I made 2 bottles of Endurox instead of the usual 1. But my strength never did came back & I did only 1 throw of over 20m. The rest was rubbish. & the winner got something like 25m. I knew I was already out of it, so I skipped the last throw. I guess that was gonna be my very last throw indeed.
Choices....
I really need to make some serious choices. I'm doing 4 events of a completely different nature. I need to lighten up for the 10K, but if I was too light then I couldn't generate enuff power for the throwing events. But I really have some bulking up to do. This PSP also served as an eye opener that I could actually do middle distance events quite well, the 400, 800 & maybe the mile. I guess I'ma need to do more gym & field work at least 6 weeks before the actual event. & I'm gonna drop the discus event, there's no point competing just to make up the numbers. I'ma try more events next year, insya Allah.
Until then, Livestrong.
Javelin
I kicked off my PSP2011 campaign with the javelin. I was the defending champion of course. I felt that I've made significant progress since then. Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with my performance in the javelin, I got 3rd with 33.15m, which was shorter than my gold-medal winning throw last year of 35m. But the winner threw a 36m & the 2nd-placed thrower had a 33.80m. But the difference between us could've been a mere 1mm & still that would've separated between gold, silver & bronze. What went wrong ?
For starters, out of 6 regulations throws, I only managed to register 1 good throw, that was my 33.15m. The rest was either fouled or purposely fouled by me, due to lousy distance. But I wasn't happy with that. Last year all my regulation throws was over 30m. I think that had to do with my technique. If I wanna maintain this event as my pet event, I gotta train more, get a coach to correct my technique or something.
U see, in javelin I was considered the favorite, even before the PSP started. I'd bought a javelin spike before PSKK last year, & my warm-up routine would send shivers down my opponents necks... half the battle was won before the event started.. it was me who failed to live up to their expectations. Shame on me. I also felt my body, even though it was stronger than last year, wasn't strong enuff. There was no power. Maybe the reason was that my weight program didn't really included power exercises. I did do some power-specific workouts about 2 weeks before, but it wasn't enuff. It was even more evident during the discus event. I'll come to that later.
This is what I wanna do next year. I'ma use my contacts at MSN & SSBJ to find a javelin coach. I just need the coach to tell me whts wrong with my technique & form so tht I could fix it. I wanna do javelin-specific training at least 2 months before & I wanna throw farther than 45m. That's a big ask. But I wanna do it. I must do it.
Medley
This is one event that I didn't even expect to run. Even Pengurusan wasn't supposed to run it becoz we couldn't find anybody to run it. We managed to put together a team out of nothing & we had to ask permission from managers of the rest of the team becoz we didn't register. I think they thought our team was just making up the numbers. I also thought the same. In fact, I was thinking to run in my jeans even..
Then Diana made a great start & managed to pass the baton to En Wahid in 3rd position.. En Wahid surprisingly managed to hold 3rd, but the gap was growing. Then Hazizi was further left behind & the 4th placed runner was making up ground. I received the baton & ran the last leg of 400m. I've never run 400m before. I just ran as fast as I could on the bend when the other 2 runners was already entering the back straight. Surprisingly I felt really fine & I was able to hold my speed & saw that I was gaining ground on them & was increasing the gap on the 4th placed runner. I managed to enter the home stretch & increased my speed even further, but failed to catch the front runners. If there was another lap I would've been able to catch & even passed them.. I was very sure of that, judging on my speed & my ability to hold that speed.
That event was an eye opener of sorts for me. I had the speed & the endurance to run 400m at a competitive time. I might do that event next year, I was confident enuff to think that I can even run the 400m relay.
10,000m
I had to skip this event last year due to a calf injury. During my absence last year, a guy from Keselamatan got 2nd with a pretty good time of 54++. Before the event I wasn't sure how I'd do.. at the previous week's Larian Bomba I managed to do 58 mins over almost 11km. So I was confident I repeat that in the track. There was one issue : the discus event will be held about 2hrs right after the 10k. So that would put me in a difficulty. Discus was a new event for me.
There was only 7 ppl in the starting lineup. Only 4 looked like runners. There was a new threat, Kimi from Housing. I knew he played football & he has good built of a distance runner. Afri from Keselamatan was also there & of course the defending champion Amri was ever-present. I've always said that in this event we're only fighting for 2nd place.
We started off late, at 8am. My goal for this event was just to improve on my previous best, I ran a 59mins in 2009, the 1st time I did this event. I followed Amri as long as I could & lasted 3 laps behind him before I decided to peel off. Kimi was able to stay almost halfway before Amri decided to up the pace. I couldn't find Afri until he went past me at maybe lap 10. I kept him within striking distance.
At one point I felt like quitting so that I could conserve my enery for the discus. But with 7-8 laps Afri was slowing down considerably & I was right behind him. I was thinking whether I shud just stay behind him until about 2-3 laps to go before going past him. But I could see that he was really losing speed so I surged past him with 5 laps to go. I wasn't sure if I could maintain the pace all the way to the finish, so I just kept on pressing. After a while I could no longer here anybody close to me from behind, I crossed the line at 3rd with a new personal best of 54:50.03. That gave me my 3rd & last medal of PSP2011.
Discus
I've never did the discus in my life. But I've always imagined throwing the discus & I felt that I was able to do the event quite well. During training I never did get a grasp on the discus technique, it was far more complicated than it seemed. Nevertheless, becoz I've committed myself to the event, I went on with it.
The event was just after I completed my 10K, less than a couple of hours. I had prepared for this as soon as I saw the schedule, so I made 2 bottles of Endurox instead of the usual 1. But my strength never did came back & I did only 1 throw of over 20m. The rest was rubbish. & the winner got something like 25m. I knew I was already out of it, so I skipped the last throw. I guess that was gonna be my very last throw indeed.
Choices....
I really need to make some serious choices. I'm doing 4 events of a completely different nature. I need to lighten up for the 10K, but if I was too light then I couldn't generate enuff power for the throwing events. But I really have some bulking up to do. This PSP also served as an eye opener that I could actually do middle distance events quite well, the 400, 800 & maybe the mile. I guess I'ma need to do more gym & field work at least 6 weeks before the actual event. & I'm gonna drop the discus event, there's no point competing just to make up the numbers. I'ma try more events next year, insya Allah.
Until then, Livestrong.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Energizer Night Race 2011
ENR2011 was my first half marathon for 2011. I've been preparing for the race for a good 10 weeks, following the same plan I followed last year, which was Ryan Hall's training plan. But I guess this year I was able to follow maybe 80% of the plan, compared to just maybe 60-70% last year. & for that I'd expected to be in a better shape this year. The race turned out to be an event to remember, partly becoz of my running but mostly due to the very unorganized nature of the race, with a lot of firsts for me.
Race Build-up
Although I tried to stick to my training plan as much as I can, there was some things that we can't really control. After I came back from Penang for Malakoff, I got sick & never really recovered until last 3-4 days before ENR. & I really dunno the exact reason. I had sore throat that seemed to go on forever. I took maybe 3 days break after Malakoff, but the thing was that I was never able to train at the level that I was supposed to even after that break. I even had to cut short my final long distance the week before ENR becoz I was so tired. I had trouble keeping to my target pace & a host of other problems. So my race build up was far from ideal.
New equipment
I've been considering a new training watch for quite sometime. I've been using my Polar RS300sd for more than a year (since Oct. 9th, 2009). Of course I had experience with Polar before during my cycling days so it was fine. But the more complicated my training becomes, the more I feel the shortcomings of the Polar unit. Especially during intervals.
So I began to study Garmin products. Particularly the Forerunner 210. It was one of a newer model from Garmin targetted at intermediate runners. It was on sale for RM945 during last month's PC Expo but at that time I didn't think much of it. But after much studying, I decided to go for it thru one of the resellers. Unfortunately the deal was called off even after I'd placed a deposit for the product as it didn't include the footpod. Of course the 210 is a GPS device, but I also do intervals indoors on treadmills, so a footpod is necessary. I decided to wait for the PC Fair.
Unfortunately the distributor didn't have any stock ready during the PC Fair. I'd taken a day's off just so that I can go to the PC Fair (something I've not done for quite sometime, I used to be a loyal visitor to PC Fairs) to get it at RM899. After much consideration, I decided to go for the current top-of-the-line Forerunner, the 410. It costs only RM200 more with more features, but still without the footpod. But I guess that'll have to do for the moment. & guess what ? I bought the 410 just 4 hours before I was supposed to start the ENR.
Equipment choice.
Shoes. I've been training with my new Asics Gel Speedstar 5 for about 120km, including the Malakoff. But something was just not right. I'd even replaced the laces with Lock Laces. It was light alright, but I guess I need more time with it. So I decided to go with my tried & tested Newton Neutral Racer. I used it for my final hillsprints on Thursday.
Tights/shorts. This was an easy choice. I bought CW-X compression tights just 2 weeks before the race & although I only had less than 10km with it, it was so comfy that I decided to use it for the race instead of my usual Nike running tights. Good choice.
Vest. I had two choices for tops. Usually I'd use my fire engine red Nike vest, which was really, really light. But after I bought the green-colored Speedstar 5 I bought another similar Nike vest in green as well. I thought it was the same as the red one, but it was different. & although it was the same size, the green one felt roomier. So I went with the green one.
Tackonz. After Malakoff I bought one of those Tackonz from Azam. With Tackonz I dun need to use pins to stick the racebib to my vest. & tht'll put my bib belt out of action as well. But it turned out that sticking the bib with the Tackonz was not as easy as I'd thought.
Ultimate Directions fuel belt. I went with it as usual & this time I really needed it coz the water stations was just disastrous. I also brought 3 GU gels with me, the 1st time I'm using Gu for races, usually it was Powergel.
Headgear. I decided not to wear any caps, instead I went with just my Oakleys.
The Race.
I got to the circuit pretty early, at about 6:45. So I waited to perform my maghrib prayers before proceeding to the start line. The start line was pretty far from the entrance where the surau is, so I did my warm up on the way there. I didn't see any counter or signages that points to the headlights collection, & when I got to where it was supposed to be, all that was left was just empty boxes. No matter, I thought, one less thing to carry.
Once I got to the track, I made my way to the start & I saw one group of runners was flagged off. It was the marathon runners. I'd earlier thought they were flagged off much earlier, at 6pm or something. With a 7:45 start time, it's gonna be way too late for even the average runner to finish the marathon. It'll take at least 4 hrs I'd reckon. So a 7:45pm start is very, very late.
I dun even know those in the starting area was the half marathon runners. I knew the start time was 8pm, but there was no announcement or reminders. Even as the so-called race director brief there was no mention of the category. He was busy reminding everybody where the water stations are & for everyone to step onto the timing mat. It was really bizarre to have just one small timing mat, which was no bigger than a lane on normal road, for 5000 runners to step onto. That will comeback to haunt us later in the evening.
My raceplan was run between 6:15-7:00 pace in the 1st 11km & then run at my goal pace, 5:45-6:15 until the end. Half marathoners will have to do one loop round the outside of the circuit, then re-enter the circuit & do another 2 laps. Each lap inside was about 5.5km. I was able to go faster than my planned pace for the 1st 11km, although I did try to stay below 6:15 for fear of blowing off too early. Nevertheless, I felt good & light, which was a good sign. True enuff, the water stations was a chaos, I didn't make a single water stop at the water stations, relying entirely on my bottles. I also didn't see a single sponge on the road, although the race program said that there will be sponging stations at every water station.
I'd programmed my 410 to give audible alert to enable me to stay within the planned pace. But becoz I'd locked the bezel, I couldn't activate the backlight or change the view, so I had to totally rely on the alarms. The reason for this was I read in many reviews of the 410 the bezel could be accidentally activated even by rocking motion.. so in my quest for a personal best I wouldn't want any misreading from the 410. So I locked the bezel. More on this later (in my review of the 410, hopefully). I thought there were 2 water stations on the outside loop, but there was one long stretch of road that was unlit, unsupported & unescorted... if any bad thing were to happen during that stretch, help would be very slow.
Once we reentered the circuit, there was some light & I finally can read the 410's display. We've only covered about 9km, so I guess the overall distance would be short by at least 2km. I decided to wait until 10km for my feeding, I didn't really feel that hungry anyway. But once we hit the starting area, I saw one whole bunch of runners... they've just flagged off the 5.5/11km runners !!! I knew there would be disaster.. that's the risk of running in laps. 10,000 ppl running in a 5.5km lap can't be good, there will be confusions. Before we reentered the circuit we were given a marker band. Then before we start the 2nd inner lap we were given another, but no one seemed to keep track of which category got how many bands. I got 3 I think, I dunno how many we were supposed to get. Then at the start of the 2nd lap everybody had to step onto the timing mat again, that caused a considerable loss of pace on my part..maybe tht was where I lost the 3 mins required to break my 2-hr target. I saw at the line I was at 1:16, so I guess I was really on track to break the 2hrs... too good to be true actually.
In the second lap I really put down the hammer all the way. I was running out of water & I began to feel the need to have another gel. But becoz I didn't have enuff water left, I was worried I won't have enuff to wash the gel down. I was hoping that by the 2nd lap, at least one of the water stations would've been cleared enuff so that I can have at least some water. But it was still the same. So I pressed on. For some reason, my 410 stopped giving the pace alert, so I didn't really know how fast I was. I just ran as fast as I could without risking a bonk. So at the finishing straight I switched on the KERS system (?) & clocked 2:03:50... besting my previous record at Setia Alam by about a minute. That was a high point for a nite of lows..
There was two long lines along the track, almost as long as the pit area, I knew that was the queue for the goodie bags. Nobody greet us at the end, there was no clearly marked finishing gate, nobody handed over water or any sorta drink... I decided to just skip the goodie bags & headed back to the parking area, where I knew 2 bottles of Gatorade would be waiting.. I was close to collapsing in the walk to the parking, the tunnel was still empty at this time, around 10pm.. in the news everybody was complaining about the stuffed tunnel. I could only imagine. I had to take the gels or I would've bonked bad.
Once I got to my bike I straightaway guzzled one bottle of Gatorade right after another. What a relief. I'd forgot to prepare my Endurox.. heck, I didn't even had them when I got home. But at that time, nothing in the world tasted better than the Grapefruit flavor Gatorades... Nicol David never looked more beautiful. After putting on my track bottoms & changing to a long sleeved shirt, I headed home. Once I got to the outside loop, there was still some marathoners just beginning their second lap. & there was still 3 inner laps to do. I can only imagine... with the water stations poorly manned, no medic on sight... haih.
I was happy that I managed to improve on my previous best. But I was less than happy becoz I didn't go below 2 hrs. But considering the less than ideal build up that I had, coupled with a bunch of other external factors that might have slowed me down, I couldn't really ask for more. But ENR2011 left a lot of bad memory to a lot of runners. It was the first race that I didn't get a single thing from the organizer, not even a bottle of mineral water. I heard the situation was so bad police had to be called to control the very angry crowd. What a dark night for Malaysian running scene.
Livestrong.
Race Build-up
Although I tried to stick to my training plan as much as I can, there was some things that we can't really control. After I came back from Penang for Malakoff, I got sick & never really recovered until last 3-4 days before ENR. & I really dunno the exact reason. I had sore throat that seemed to go on forever. I took maybe 3 days break after Malakoff, but the thing was that I was never able to train at the level that I was supposed to even after that break. I even had to cut short my final long distance the week before ENR becoz I was so tired. I had trouble keeping to my target pace & a host of other problems. So my race build up was far from ideal.
New equipment
I've been considering a new training watch for quite sometime. I've been using my Polar RS300sd for more than a year (since Oct. 9th, 2009). Of course I had experience with Polar before during my cycling days so it was fine. But the more complicated my training becomes, the more I feel the shortcomings of the Polar unit. Especially during intervals.
So I began to study Garmin products. Particularly the Forerunner 210. It was one of a newer model from Garmin targetted at intermediate runners. It was on sale for RM945 during last month's PC Expo but at that time I didn't think much of it. But after much studying, I decided to go for it thru one of the resellers. Unfortunately the deal was called off even after I'd placed a deposit for the product as it didn't include the footpod. Of course the 210 is a GPS device, but I also do intervals indoors on treadmills, so a footpod is necessary. I decided to wait for the PC Fair.
Unfortunately the distributor didn't have any stock ready during the PC Fair. I'd taken a day's off just so that I can go to the PC Fair (something I've not done for quite sometime, I used to be a loyal visitor to PC Fairs) to get it at RM899. After much consideration, I decided to go for the current top-of-the-line Forerunner, the 410. It costs only RM200 more with more features, but still without the footpod. But I guess that'll have to do for the moment. & guess what ? I bought the 410 just 4 hours before I was supposed to start the ENR.
Equipment choice.
Shoes. I've been training with my new Asics Gel Speedstar 5 for about 120km, including the Malakoff. But something was just not right. I'd even replaced the laces with Lock Laces. It was light alright, but I guess I need more time with it. So I decided to go with my tried & tested Newton Neutral Racer. I used it for my final hillsprints on Thursday.
Tights/shorts. This was an easy choice. I bought CW-X compression tights just 2 weeks before the race & although I only had less than 10km with it, it was so comfy that I decided to use it for the race instead of my usual Nike running tights. Good choice.
Vest. I had two choices for tops. Usually I'd use my fire engine red Nike vest, which was really, really light. But after I bought the green-colored Speedstar 5 I bought another similar Nike vest in green as well. I thought it was the same as the red one, but it was different. & although it was the same size, the green one felt roomier. So I went with the green one.
Tackonz. After Malakoff I bought one of those Tackonz from Azam. With Tackonz I dun need to use pins to stick the racebib to my vest. & tht'll put my bib belt out of action as well. But it turned out that sticking the bib with the Tackonz was not as easy as I'd thought.
Ultimate Directions fuel belt. I went with it as usual & this time I really needed it coz the water stations was just disastrous. I also brought 3 GU gels with me, the 1st time I'm using Gu for races, usually it was Powergel.
Headgear. I decided not to wear any caps, instead I went with just my Oakleys.
The Race.
I got to the circuit pretty early, at about 6:45. So I waited to perform my maghrib prayers before proceeding to the start line. The start line was pretty far from the entrance where the surau is, so I did my warm up on the way there. I didn't see any counter or signages that points to the headlights collection, & when I got to where it was supposed to be, all that was left was just empty boxes. No matter, I thought, one less thing to carry.
Once I got to the track, I made my way to the start & I saw one group of runners was flagged off. It was the marathon runners. I'd earlier thought they were flagged off much earlier, at 6pm or something. With a 7:45 start time, it's gonna be way too late for even the average runner to finish the marathon. It'll take at least 4 hrs I'd reckon. So a 7:45pm start is very, very late.
I dun even know those in the starting area was the half marathon runners. I knew the start time was 8pm, but there was no announcement or reminders. Even as the so-called race director brief there was no mention of the category. He was busy reminding everybody where the water stations are & for everyone to step onto the timing mat. It was really bizarre to have just one small timing mat, which was no bigger than a lane on normal road, for 5000 runners to step onto. That will comeback to haunt us later in the evening.
My raceplan was run between 6:15-7:00 pace in the 1st 11km & then run at my goal pace, 5:45-6:15 until the end. Half marathoners will have to do one loop round the outside of the circuit, then re-enter the circuit & do another 2 laps. Each lap inside was about 5.5km. I was able to go faster than my planned pace for the 1st 11km, although I did try to stay below 6:15 for fear of blowing off too early. Nevertheless, I felt good & light, which was a good sign. True enuff, the water stations was a chaos, I didn't make a single water stop at the water stations, relying entirely on my bottles. I also didn't see a single sponge on the road, although the race program said that there will be sponging stations at every water station.
I'd programmed my 410 to give audible alert to enable me to stay within the planned pace. But becoz I'd locked the bezel, I couldn't activate the backlight or change the view, so I had to totally rely on the alarms. The reason for this was I read in many reviews of the 410 the bezel could be accidentally activated even by rocking motion.. so in my quest for a personal best I wouldn't want any misreading from the 410. So I locked the bezel. More on this later (in my review of the 410, hopefully). I thought there were 2 water stations on the outside loop, but there was one long stretch of road that was unlit, unsupported & unescorted... if any bad thing were to happen during that stretch, help would be very slow.
Once we reentered the circuit, there was some light & I finally can read the 410's display. We've only covered about 9km, so I guess the overall distance would be short by at least 2km. I decided to wait until 10km for my feeding, I didn't really feel that hungry anyway. But once we hit the starting area, I saw one whole bunch of runners... they've just flagged off the 5.5/11km runners !!! I knew there would be disaster.. that's the risk of running in laps. 10,000 ppl running in a 5.5km lap can't be good, there will be confusions. Before we reentered the circuit we were given a marker band. Then before we start the 2nd inner lap we were given another, but no one seemed to keep track of which category got how many bands. I got 3 I think, I dunno how many we were supposed to get. Then at the start of the 2nd lap everybody had to step onto the timing mat again, that caused a considerable loss of pace on my part..maybe tht was where I lost the 3 mins required to break my 2-hr target. I saw at the line I was at 1:16, so I guess I was really on track to break the 2hrs... too good to be true actually.
In the second lap I really put down the hammer all the way. I was running out of water & I began to feel the need to have another gel. But becoz I didn't have enuff water left, I was worried I won't have enuff to wash the gel down. I was hoping that by the 2nd lap, at least one of the water stations would've been cleared enuff so that I can have at least some water. But it was still the same. So I pressed on. For some reason, my 410 stopped giving the pace alert, so I didn't really know how fast I was. I just ran as fast as I could without risking a bonk. So at the finishing straight I switched on the KERS system (?) & clocked 2:03:50... besting my previous record at Setia Alam by about a minute. That was a high point for a nite of lows..
There was two long lines along the track, almost as long as the pit area, I knew that was the queue for the goodie bags. Nobody greet us at the end, there was no clearly marked finishing gate, nobody handed over water or any sorta drink... I decided to just skip the goodie bags & headed back to the parking area, where I knew 2 bottles of Gatorade would be waiting.. I was close to collapsing in the walk to the parking, the tunnel was still empty at this time, around 10pm.. in the news everybody was complaining about the stuffed tunnel. I could only imagine. I had to take the gels or I would've bonked bad.
Once I got to my bike I straightaway guzzled one bottle of Gatorade right after another. What a relief. I'd forgot to prepare my Endurox.. heck, I didn't even had them when I got home. But at that time, nothing in the world tasted better than the Grapefruit flavor Gatorades... Nicol David never looked more beautiful. After putting on my track bottoms & changing to a long sleeved shirt, I headed home. Once I got to the outside loop, there was still some marathoners just beginning their second lap. & there was still 3 inner laps to do. I can only imagine... with the water stations poorly manned, no medic on sight... haih.
I was happy that I managed to improve on my previous best. But I was less than happy becoz I didn't go below 2 hrs. But considering the less than ideal build up that I had, coupled with a bunch of other external factors that might have slowed me down, I couldn't really ask for more. But ENR2011 left a lot of bad memory to a lot of runners. It was the first race that I didn't get a single thing from the organizer, not even a bottle of mineral water. I heard the situation was so bad police had to be called to control the very angry crowd. What a dark night for Malaysian running scene.
Livestrong.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Malakoff 2011 Penang
Finally I get to run in my first race of 2011. It's been quite slow ths year, well, I would've ran in my first race early ths month @ Bareno, but I had to skip that one becoz I had to go kayaking in Langkawi. I've never run more than a half marathon, so 26km, although just 5 km longer than a standard half marathon distance, is gonna be challenging. After I came back from Langkawi I did a 23km LSD just to prepare myself for the distance. I did that in a little under 3 hrs, averaging around 7:38. My race plan was to go easy (somewhat) in the 1st half, then push up to my half marathon goal pace in the 2nd half. Good enuff I guess.
Trip to Penang
I went to Penang with Azam, we've been running pretty much together in races since early 2010. We've agreed to share the hotel room, along with Chin Leong, another runner from the LY Net forum. Chin Leong would meet up with us @ Penang while I drove from KL with Azam.
It was raining pretty much all the way from Ipoh I think.. & the rain didn't stop in Penang. It was raining when we collected the racekit, & it didn't stop until we went out for dinner at about 8pm. As soon as we checked into the room, we went out for lunch, I was starving, Azam as well & we went to town. After that I was just trying to get as much rest as I can, but it was difficult coz my stomach was so full. Nevertheless, I did manage an hour's powernap.
For dinner we went to Padang Kota. Penang is known for it's very winding & confusing roads, so I was lucky Azam was there as my navigator, we found most places in a matter of mins. It started raining again while we were having dinner... I had RM8 worth of pasembur, one of Penang's signature food. On the way back we stopped at a petrol station to buy some food for breakfast.
The Race
It was still raining when I went to bed, but luckily it stopped when we got up. The starting point was just a walking distance from our hotel. But I guess we were among the last runners to leave the hotel..
My race plan was simple. As I wanted to treat this race as a race-sim, I'd spend the 1st half in a comfortable pace, then push to race pace after the halfway mark. In total there was less than a thousand runners, so the crowd seemed so small. When we went out for dinner, we saw the course markings & thought the course would be flat. We were dead wrong. About 3km into the race, we hit the biggest, longest climb I've ever ran in a race. It was about a kilometer & half long... It reminded me of my days racing in Penang. Penang race was my favorite race becos of the climbs. I didn't have much problem tackling the climbs, I didn't push that hard.
The halfway point was at the Esplanade. The sky was just about to open up when we got there. But it did for just a moment so all was well. & I really opened up to my half marathon goal pace once past the halfway point. But the bad thing was that I was only able to maintain that pace for maybe 6K, then I slowed a bit & when I hit the 21K mark I was virtually slamming on the brakes. Not a strange thing but, my limit seemed to be 21K... after that I realized that I had another 5K to go & I was starting to wobble badly... so bad that I had to walk for maybe 2-3K...something I've never done in a race.
It was a lesson learned with great pain. But after the race I guess it was okay. I got to the finish line alone... & the announcer said,"Here comes a runner, on green shoes with matching green tops !" Hahah... it was really funny. The skies really did open up as soon as I finished my post race meal, so we had to stay there until the rain stopped. Azam had finished about 5 mins earlier & Chin Leong got to the finish in 3hrs plus...
All in all it was a good trip to Penang & although I really suffered in the last 5K, I think I'ma come back nxt year.
Livestrong.
Trip to Penang
I went to Penang with Azam, we've been running pretty much together in races since early 2010. We've agreed to share the hotel room, along with Chin Leong, another runner from the LY Net forum. Chin Leong would meet up with us @ Penang while I drove from KL with Azam.
It was raining pretty much all the way from Ipoh I think.. & the rain didn't stop in Penang. It was raining when we collected the racekit, & it didn't stop until we went out for dinner at about 8pm. As soon as we checked into the room, we went out for lunch, I was starving, Azam as well & we went to town. After that I was just trying to get as much rest as I can, but it was difficult coz my stomach was so full. Nevertheless, I did manage an hour's powernap.
For dinner we went to Padang Kota. Penang is known for it's very winding & confusing roads, so I was lucky Azam was there as my navigator, we found most places in a matter of mins. It started raining again while we were having dinner... I had RM8 worth of pasembur, one of Penang's signature food. On the way back we stopped at a petrol station to buy some food for breakfast.
The Race
It was still raining when I went to bed, but luckily it stopped when we got up. The starting point was just a walking distance from our hotel. But I guess we were among the last runners to leave the hotel..
My race plan was simple. As I wanted to treat this race as a race-sim, I'd spend the 1st half in a comfortable pace, then push to race pace after the halfway mark. In total there was less than a thousand runners, so the crowd seemed so small. When we went out for dinner, we saw the course markings & thought the course would be flat. We were dead wrong. About 3km into the race, we hit the biggest, longest climb I've ever ran in a race. It was about a kilometer & half long... It reminded me of my days racing in Penang. Penang race was my favorite race becos of the climbs. I didn't have much problem tackling the climbs, I didn't push that hard.
The halfway point was at the Esplanade. The sky was just about to open up when we got there. But it did for just a moment so all was well. & I really opened up to my half marathon goal pace once past the halfway point. But the bad thing was that I was only able to maintain that pace for maybe 6K, then I slowed a bit & when I hit the 21K mark I was virtually slamming on the brakes. Not a strange thing but, my limit seemed to be 21K... after that I realized that I had another 5K to go & I was starting to wobble badly... so bad that I had to walk for maybe 2-3K...something I've never done in a race.
It was a lesson learned with great pain. But after the race I guess it was okay. I got to the finish line alone... & the announcer said,"Here comes a runner, on green shoes with matching green tops !" Hahah... it was really funny. The skies really did open up as soon as I finished my post race meal, so we had to stay there until the rain stopped. Azam had finished about 5 mins earlier & Chin Leong got to the finish in 3hrs plus...
All in all it was a good trip to Penang & although I really suffered in the last 5K, I think I'ma come back nxt year.
Livestrong.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The urge to venture into multievent sport..
Ever since I can remember being in a competitive sport, I've always been involved in several sports at the same time. But currently of course I've been focusing on running as my main sport, but at the same time I do play badminton, I still can hold my own in basketball & of course swimming & weightlifting have been part of my routine.
I'm pretty big & well-built for a runner. In fact, most ppl dun really believe that I run in half marathons. & since I am a pretty good swimmer, ppl thought that I was a triathlete. My previous involvement in cycling made that possibility even stronger. Some of my friends, especially those who knew me as a cyclist before, encouraged me to venture into triathlon. I would've.. & I think that if I hadn't sold my bike back in 2001, I would've been involved in triathlon.
Triathlon is a combo of 3 very challenging events : swim, bike & run. There are several distances for a triathlon event: the sprint, olympic & ironman. The sprint is the shortest distance, 750m swim, 40K bike & 10K run. The Olympic is as the name suggested, is the distance competed during the Olympics : 1.5K swim, 80K bike & 21K run. The Ironman is the most challenging of all, especially since the world championships has always been held in Kona, Hawaii : 3K swim, 180K bike & a full marathon. Just to run a full marathon is an achievement in itself, imagine the what a challenge it would be to run a full marathon after swimming for 3K & being on the bike for 6 hrs... extraordinary.
My weakest leg would be the swimming. While I'm a pretty good swimmer, a strong one I am not. I couldn't last 200m continuously. Maybe with training I can. I dun think the bike leg would give me any problems, but still, I need to train.
Perhaps the biggest problem is I dun have a bike. Bikes nowadays costs an arm & a leg. RM4000 would proly get U a mediocre steel/aluminium frame with entry level Shimano Sora/Tiagra components. If I'm lucky maybe I can find some bikes with SRAM Red parts. I dunno how good the bikes can be & to invest that much on a bike.. well, I need to do some CAF.
Recently though, I've been reading articles about duathlon. This is for me a much more doable sport as it consists of run, bike, run. I was researching about its popularity in the country. The event has the support of a pretty big corporation : Malakoff. Malakoff has been organizing events in th country & the biggest event is the Malakoff duathlon in Lumut. It also organizes the Duathlon University championships, consisting 3 or more events throughout the year. If I wanna invest in a RM4000 bike, I wanna make sure there's enuff events for me. & 4-5 events a year sounds just fine.
What fascinates me about this multievent sports is the ages of the participants. In the recently concluded Ironman World Championships, the winner was 38 years old & more than 60% of the participants are 35 or older. I'm gonna be 35 this year. Of course my target have always been to run in a full marathon by next year, which is a definite possibility, insya Allah. So the question now remains : shud I buy a bike ?
When & if that happens, competing in duathlons are a very interesting & definite prospect.
Livestrong.
I'm pretty big & well-built for a runner. In fact, most ppl dun really believe that I run in half marathons. & since I am a pretty good swimmer, ppl thought that I was a triathlete. My previous involvement in cycling made that possibility even stronger. Some of my friends, especially those who knew me as a cyclist before, encouraged me to venture into triathlon. I would've.. & I think that if I hadn't sold my bike back in 2001, I would've been involved in triathlon.
Triathlon is a combo of 3 very challenging events : swim, bike & run. There are several distances for a triathlon event: the sprint, olympic & ironman. The sprint is the shortest distance, 750m swim, 40K bike & 10K run. The Olympic is as the name suggested, is the distance competed during the Olympics : 1.5K swim, 80K bike & 21K run. The Ironman is the most challenging of all, especially since the world championships has always been held in Kona, Hawaii : 3K swim, 180K bike & a full marathon. Just to run a full marathon is an achievement in itself, imagine the what a challenge it would be to run a full marathon after swimming for 3K & being on the bike for 6 hrs... extraordinary.
My weakest leg would be the swimming. While I'm a pretty good swimmer, a strong one I am not. I couldn't last 200m continuously. Maybe with training I can. I dun think the bike leg would give me any problems, but still, I need to train.
Perhaps the biggest problem is I dun have a bike. Bikes nowadays costs an arm & a leg. RM4000 would proly get U a mediocre steel/aluminium frame with entry level Shimano Sora/Tiagra components. If I'm lucky maybe I can find some bikes with SRAM Red parts. I dunno how good the bikes can be & to invest that much on a bike.. well, I need to do some CAF.
Recently though, I've been reading articles about duathlon. This is for me a much more doable sport as it consists of run, bike, run. I was researching about its popularity in the country. The event has the support of a pretty big corporation : Malakoff. Malakoff has been organizing events in th country & the biggest event is the Malakoff duathlon in Lumut. It also organizes the Duathlon University championships, consisting 3 or more events throughout the year. If I wanna invest in a RM4000 bike, I wanna make sure there's enuff events for me. & 4-5 events a year sounds just fine.
What fascinates me about this multievent sports is the ages of the participants. In the recently concluded Ironman World Championships, the winner was 38 years old & more than 60% of the participants are 35 or older. I'm gonna be 35 this year. Of course my target have always been to run in a full marathon by next year, which is a definite possibility, insya Allah. So the question now remains : shud I buy a bike ?
When & if that happens, competing in duathlons are a very interesting & definite prospect.
Livestrong.
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