Sunday, January 17, 2010

Fat boy

Survived NB 30K, in a disappointing 3:20.
Target 3:15.
Time last year was 2:57.
Pls read report from last year http://jabbeer.blogspot.com/2009/01/polar-bear-on-run.html .

Verdict - 2 reasons
1. I'm fat
2. My legs are not strong enough

Woke up at 4, took the shower and had my ritual 'kubab'. Stomach still feels full from Nasi Lemak dinner binge , instead just had half a cup of coffee. Pushed off with Azmil arnd 4:40 and arrived at 5. Sampai2 je perut buat hal.

Walked from Tugu Negara to Pdg Merbuk. My heart was racing the moment I saw the long queues for the 4 portable toilets. Survival mode kicked in. No choice but to looked for the most isolated longkang to release my bombs there. Was unfortunate as Ikang caught me on the act. Not during the actual bombing, but just before....

At least my stomach felt good for the run. Was flagged off at 5:30. Maintained avg 6min/k for the first 10K. Enjoyed the hill at sekolah Arab cos they were no ligths at all and it was pitch black. Felt like running to Eternity and did not feel like u r climbing a hill as u cant see anything except for ppl few ft in front of u.

Slowed down the pace at the turning of Hartamas as suddenly the left knee felt so painful after running up the hill at Plaza Damas. Tried to put more weight on my right leg, and after 1-2 K, the left knee was OK. Was running at 6:30 avg until the start of Double Hill, probably KM 19. Started to walk for the first part of the hill as fatigue kicked in.

Met Mantat at 21K as he handed me the power gel. Managed to push myself to run 7K/min throughout the hills and came out around Tijani. Was excited to bump into my wife, D, Ezan, Yvone and Nizz at Tijani water station. They were in such a cheerfull mood, wonder why? Walked again for abt 100m just before the climb to go back into double hill. Ezan was there and encouraged me to run up the hill. I sure hell needed that and ran in 6:45 avg untill the start of Jln Sultan Salehudin.

Walked for abt 200m. As I wanted to start to run again up the hill, I start to feel tingling on my right quad. I know well enough that the cramps are coming. Couldnt do much and just walked from there on untill few hundred mtrs before Tugu. Told my self that I need to fight the cramps and slowly started running. As I started to pick-up my pace the cramp tangkap my right calf and left quads, almost stumbled to the ground. No choice but to walk again.

Started runing slowly pass Pdg Merbuk and stopped everytime the tinglings came. Met up my wife and D again at the junction of Bank Rakyat, they tried to give me encouragement and urged me to run. Wanted to run as I'm not really feeling tired but couldnt do much as still having the cramp problem. Sticked to 100 run 50 walk untill the finishing line.

I'm relieved that I can complete the run albeit 5 min off target and 22 mins slower than last year.

Really proud of Ikang from my running group as he clocked in 3:40, 20 mins earlier than target.

But for now;
Immediate target : Recovery and fix the knee
Intermediate target : Strength training + proper diet = Weight loss

Thursday, January 14, 2010

To 'tekan' or not to 'tekan'

I woke up late again this morning. 6:20, wont have enough time to do 5K and to be ready behind the desk before 8. This has been a constance battle for me lately. I can wake up to the rings of my alarm clock but I just dont have enough will power to stay awake.

Earlier, I woke up at 5:30, and turn off the alarm. Sedar2 je dah pukul 6:20. Crap...

My plan was to do at least 5K around KLCC park, in the early morning. Looks like now I have to go to the gym instead during luch to make ammend. So to the gym I went.

I never really enjoyed running on treadmill, so I set a modest target of 6-6:30min/K for 30min. Changed attire and dah pakai kasut semua cukup, terlupa pulak nak pakai knee brace. I've been wearing a knee brace on my left knee to give me extra support when running. I suspect I'm suffering from a minor meniscus tear, but Stupe told me not to self diagnose myself.

Anyway, malas nak bukak kasut utk pakai the knee brace so just decided that I will take it easy on the treadmill. But after 4-5 mins, the knee felt right, so i set the speed to 10.5, which will give me the pace of 5:45-6min/K. For some reasons, felt really good. Decided to 'tekan sikit' and increased the speed untill 12 and ran for 42 mins, tertambah sikit time utk genapkan 7K. So average was 6m/K pasal the earlier part lari2 anak.

Was very satisfied with the run as I think now my knee is getting better. Hopefully it will be in a good conditon for this Sunay 30K run. Insya'Allah.

Lesson learnt: When everything feels right, do extra than what u've planned. It will make up for the time when u feel shitty.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Catching up

I have not been writing in this blog for about 6 months. I dont need to give any excuses, this is my blog, I can write whenever I feel like writing, and nobody can say anything about it. That's the beauty.

Many eventful things happened in the last 6 months, Noah turned 1, I completed Half Ironman, Tesa completed half marathon to name a few. But one of the thing that stands out and that I take pride on is making my family and friends to lead a more healthy living. I shared and guided them with what little knowledge that I have to help them kickstart their healthy and fitness journey. It just made feel good that at least I'm making impacts on their lives.

But now, I'm gonna write on something that is more current. There are many things that I wanna do this year, but let me scope it down to sporting goal, as it is mainly within my control. I have 2 attainable goals;
1. Complete KL Marathon in 4:30
2. Complete Half IM in 7 hrs

Basically, its all abt improving the timing for these 2 events that I struggled the most last year.

This month, I'm still charting up the plan to attack this. There are so many factors that will come into place. As planning is very crucial, I'm using as much time as possible to design the most effective plan to me.

In general, There are few things that I need to improve to achieve the goals above.
1. Get into my optimal weight of 68KG.
2. Improve in my cycling ability

So my plan will revolve around the 2 areas of improvement above to achieve my goals.

From time to time, I will update the blogs to share my experience in terms of training, races, nutirition etc as I think ppl can learn as much as what I have learnt from this journey.

Wish me luck guys.