Post Mortem on the events I participated for 2010.
1. 30K run, January, Pdg Merbok-Bkt Tunku-Hartamas.
Time: 3:15
Good: Manage to complete with minimal training and while carrying an injury.
Bad: 18 mins slower than 2009. Cramped and walked the last 5K.
Lessons Learned : Train and prepare. Dont join a race unprepared and injured. Result will be bad and injury worsen.
2. PD Tri, July.
Time: 2:55
Good: Improved 35mins overall from 2009. Excellent(by my standard) bike time (1:15). Running was OK. (55)
Bad: Swim was slower than expected (39). Was panicky 3/4 of the course.
Lessons Learned : Good prep on bike. Apparently not enough sessions in the pool by looking at the result. Dont try to 'pulun' at the start of the swim. Hard to get back composure.
Run was ok considering minimal time spent training bcos of injury that got me sidelined for a good 4 months. Enjoyed the race overall.
3. Desaru LD Tri, Oct.
Time: 6:40
Good: Improved 1:10 from IM 70.3 PutraJaya. Bike was excellent ( again by my standard 3:07). Hot weather did not hinder my race bcos of acclimatisation sessions. Nutrition timing was good too.
Bad: Run (2:34). 20 mins off target. Struggled in the mid part of the course. Swim was ok-ok je la.
Lessons Learned : Good prep overall. Need to preapare cold coke on the run course to boost spirit. Enjoyed the race.
4. Penang Marathon, Nov.
Time: 4:56
Good: 6 mins faster than my last and only Marathon in 2009. No cramping and pain factor was kept at minimum.
Bad: Too Slow. Not enough speed work. Hard to sustain 6-6:30 pace for the first half of the run.
Lessons Learned: Need to loose some more weight. Need to be sub 70KG to truly perform for Marathon.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Of IM and long road to recovery
Since I started doing the multisports, I have come to a conclusion that being an Ironman would be the pinnacle for one's personal goal. I made friends with many IM, some before they become IM, and some after, so much so that I want to be like them. Not because of the glamour or the the title "IM" that u can proudly place in front of your name, it is simply because of the question that I would like to answer it by myself. "Can I do it?" I JUST NEED to know this...and so the long journey begins.
End of Feb, went to Langkawi to witness the 2010 IM for 2 reasons;
1. To recce the venue
2. To soak up the whole experience
Suffice to say the event was nothing short of inspiring, and now, I also have a better sense and idea on the full distance IM. With that, my goal is getting much clearer, which shd translate into a better training plan. Needless to say, the plan looks very long and intensive. It better be.
However...(mesti nak kena ada however punya, drama...) I need to overcome the first obstacle right from the word go. To begin with, I'm injured (since Jan). Dr diagnosed me of having minor meniscus tear and MCL sprain on my left knee. Need to undergo Physio and few assesments. The next one is gonna be early May, which if it doesnt turn out right, the knee will be put under the knife.
So, my training is limited to swim and cycle, which is actually a blessing cos cycling is my worst decipline and cant say otherwise for swimming too. So this "time out" from doing 'weight bearing' activity has forced me to focus more time on swim/cycle which I think is bearing some fruits now. Now my ass on bike saddle have a higher pain threshold and my swim stroke is looking better than before.
I also started slow runs, but not without problems. The pain is still there but not as bad as before. The bigger issue now is the confidence level. For every step with my left foot, I'm always cautious, which resulted in putting more strain on my right. Not good, need to improve this.
Diet is also another area that I'm focussing. There is a certain weight range that I need to achieve to race effectively. Its always hard for endurance athlete to loose weight bcos u always need to have high level of input(food) to sustain the high level of work without affecting performance. So I'm targeting on 3 areas, the 1-Quality of food, 2-The compositon of food and 3-The Timing of intake. It is showing some result as I've lost abt 2 kg for the last 1.5 months without ever getting starved. Hope to shed few more kilos of fat.
In terms of knowledge, now I have a better understanding of the bike, with the help of Bandit, Stupe, Kam and others. I spent some time browsing the net reading bike articles as I'm also planning to upgrade my current bike to something that can do the job in Langkawi.
In summary, to do an IM is a big commitment. I'm hoping that I'd have the tenacity and strive to achieve my dream.
P.S: Eventhough the post date is Mar 7, I only post this on April 27.I drafted this post in early Mar but only now get to post it. Lazy...
End of Feb, went to Langkawi to witness the 2010 IM for 2 reasons;
1. To recce the venue
2. To soak up the whole experience
Suffice to say the event was nothing short of inspiring, and now, I also have a better sense and idea on the full distance IM. With that, my goal is getting much clearer, which shd translate into a better training plan. Needless to say, the plan looks very long and intensive. It better be.
However...(mesti nak kena ada however punya, drama...) I need to overcome the first obstacle right from the word go. To begin with, I'm injured (since Jan). Dr diagnosed me of having minor meniscus tear and MCL sprain on my left knee. Need to undergo Physio and few assesments. The next one is gonna be early May, which if it doesnt turn out right, the knee will be put under the knife.
So, my training is limited to swim and cycle, which is actually a blessing cos cycling is my worst decipline and cant say otherwise for swimming too. So this "time out" from doing 'weight bearing' activity has forced me to focus more time on swim/cycle which I think is bearing some fruits now. Now my ass on bike saddle have a higher pain threshold and my swim stroke is looking better than before.
I also started slow runs, but not without problems. The pain is still there but not as bad as before. The bigger issue now is the confidence level. For every step with my left foot, I'm always cautious, which resulted in putting more strain on my right. Not good, need to improve this.
Diet is also another area that I'm focussing. There is a certain weight range that I need to achieve to race effectively. Its always hard for endurance athlete to loose weight bcos u always need to have high level of input(food) to sustain the high level of work without affecting performance. So I'm targeting on 3 areas, the 1-Quality of food, 2-The compositon of food and 3-The Timing of intake. It is showing some result as I've lost abt 2 kg for the last 1.5 months without ever getting starved. Hope to shed few more kilos of fat.
In terms of knowledge, now I have a better understanding of the bike, with the help of Bandit, Stupe, Kam and others. I spent some time browsing the net reading bike articles as I'm also planning to upgrade my current bike to something that can do the job in Langkawi.
In summary, to do an IM is a big commitment. I'm hoping that I'd have the tenacity and strive to achieve my dream.
P.S: Eventhough the post date is Mar 7, I only post this on April 27.I drafted this post in early Mar but only now get to post it. Lazy...
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
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Nasi Lemak Bukit Antarabangsa
Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa!!! U better watch out, there's a new rival in town, and she's loaded with Ribena Berry. Catchy starting sentence huh? Boleh buat iklan kat 'broadband', eh silap, billboard..
Lets go to the report guys...
Had Nasi Lemak at Ikang's house as a reward for him in completing larian Bukit Antarabangsa. His wife Dee, woke up at 5am to cook the rice and then waited through out the whole race to ensure her hubby will get all the support for his maiden run. In fact, as he claimed so often, it was a first attempt for him to do any health related activity after RMC. (Pls Ikang, cake throwing at Hard Rock is not a sport).
Ikang as he is affectionately known by his friends did something that he'd never imagined maybe few months back. He completed 7K of hilly Bukit Antarabangsa terrain and did it in a good 45 mins or so, very, very good for a first timer. And I made it a point to be there and join the race to support him.
But I think his wife was the most happiest. Her effort of persuading him to live a healthier lifestyle has paid off. Eventhough she has been pestered by her ever demanding friends to masak nasi lemak and invite us all to have breakfast at her house after the hubby complete the race. It's so worth it kan Dee?
As for me, a satisfying run and managed to complete it in 34 mins. The only difference for this race was that I got number 26, and top 30 was called to the stage to get a medal. It was so unexpected as I thought I will be slow having had to run sub 5min/km for 5.5K from my house to the venue bcos I woke up late. Had always planned to 'run from house' (my wife hates this phrase), but in leisurely pace as a warm up to the race. But as I mentioned, woke up late and had like less than 40 mins to reach the venue. Apalagi, pulun la, and the heavy rain also did not helped that much. Was happy that Tesa, Noah, Ezan 'Barra' Azira(kesian, couldnt join pasal Dr bodoh tak bagi lari), Ikang and Dee were there to witness it.
After race, ramai2 pergi serang rumah Dee/Ikang for the Nasi Lemak. Were joined later by Atuk(who didn't joined the run pasal bangun lambat), Piche&Ubai, Sahura&Doya, and Farouk&Aff.
Later in the afternoon few of them came to my house for a splish splash session at my condo's pool and Tesa's Kuew Tiow. We ended the day with a Karaoke session at Ampang Park.
All in all, it was time well spent on weekend. Feeling is good to know that more and more of my friends are inclined towards healthier living. Next mission is to get Mantat(in S'pore to see his new heroes - Liverpool) and Black(Piche) to run.
Lets go to the report guys...
Had Nasi Lemak at Ikang's house as a reward for him in completing larian Bukit Antarabangsa. His wife Dee, woke up at 5am to cook the rice and then waited through out the whole race to ensure her hubby will get all the support for his maiden run. In fact, as he claimed so often, it was a first attempt for him to do any health related activity after RMC. (Pls Ikang, cake throwing at Hard Rock is not a sport).
Ikang as he is affectionately known by his friends did something that he'd never imagined maybe few months back. He completed 7K of hilly Bukit Antarabangsa terrain and did it in a good 45 mins or so, very, very good for a first timer. And I made it a point to be there and join the race to support him.
But I think his wife was the most happiest. Her effort of persuading him to live a healthier lifestyle has paid off. Eventhough she has been pestered by her ever demanding friends to masak nasi lemak and invite us all to have breakfast at her house after the hubby complete the race. It's so worth it kan Dee?
As for me, a satisfying run and managed to complete it in 34 mins. The only difference for this race was that I got number 26, and top 30 was called to the stage to get a medal. It was so unexpected as I thought I will be slow having had to run sub 5min/km for 5.5K from my house to the venue bcos I woke up late. Had always planned to 'run from house' (my wife hates this phrase), but in leisurely pace as a warm up to the race. But as I mentioned, woke up late and had like less than 40 mins to reach the venue. Apalagi, pulun la, and the heavy rain also did not helped that much. Was happy that Tesa, Noah, Ezan 'Barra' Azira(kesian, couldnt join pasal Dr bodoh tak bagi lari), Ikang and Dee were there to witness it.
After race, ramai2 pergi serang rumah Dee/Ikang for the Nasi Lemak. Were joined later by Atuk(who didn't joined the run pasal bangun lambat), Piche&Ubai, Sahura&Doya, and Farouk&Aff.
Later in the afternoon few of them came to my house for a splish splash session at my condo's pool and Tesa's Kuew Tiow. We ended the day with a Karaoke session at Ampang Park.
All in all, it was time well spent on weekend. Feeling is good to know that more and more of my friends are inclined towards healthier living. Next mission is to get Mantat(in S'pore to see his new heroes - Liverpool) and Black(Piche) to run.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Maiden Triathlon - PD 2009
Apa ni? semuanya 'Maiden'. Well, its better than saying 'lost virginity' kan? as I lost my virgin in triathlon-ing. And did it joyfully.
This event came 2 weeks after KL Marathon, where I struggled to complete. So this time, I dont want to get hard done by again. I vowed to prepare myself better this time.
The real training only starts the Sunday, a week before the race. As this race intially, was supposed to be a warm-up for the half ironman(IM) end of July(postponed to Oct) , I planned for a heavy duty training sessions, fully knowing the risk that I might not be in peak condition for the PD race bcos I would only be in the middle of my 1/2 IM training.
That was also add on to the fact that my feet was still hurting from the Marathon. So the Sunday a week before the race, Bandit was kind enough to accompany me for an 80K ride in Dengkil/Sepang. Chipang was there too. Was sluggish after the first 50K, but was not worried bcos will be doing Olympic Distance (OD - Swim 1.5K, Bike 40K, Run 10K) in PD.
The week leading up to the race, did double sessions everyday. Gym during lunch followed by run/swim at night. By Friday, I think I'm at 60-70% condition. Good enough to pull me thru the race.
On Sat, checked in to PDGC. Then when straight to register for the race, took me bloody 45 minutes. I was actually intimidated a little bit, looking at all the well defined and toned body of most of the athletes, and the bikes, talk also no use, semua power2. But re-grouped my thoughts, I need to focus abt me only, dont get physcoed by this.
Had a trial swim in the sea with Bandit before the sprint event, which was really a good move, cos now I know how it feels to swim in open water. Needed some time to get to use to, as the water was quite choppy.
Later at night, had the carbo loading dinner and briefing at the hotel. Tesa, Noah, Cyrus and Alisha came arnd 9.30 pm. Went for another round of sea food dinner, and joined by Mantat as well.
Woke up at 6am on Sunday, do my usual stuffs, kubab 2 kali. Biked out from the apratment with Stupe and Bandit. They helped me a lot on how to organise my stuffs in the T area. Did the body marking and went kubab again as usual.
Went for a warm-up swim with bandit 30 mins before start. Tesa and Cyrus came to see me start-off, and I told them to wait 45 mins, cos Ill be out of the water by then. Confident je nak cakap mcm tu.
I was not really nervous at the starting line, even when I dont fully know what to expect. Maybe its because I was confident that I did enough training, and the fact that I've done distances more than the OD in my trainings, cuma tak pernah buat continously je la. The only thing that troubles me was how would I react if I have a puncture. Only had that once during training, and itupun Bandit yg tolong. Well, too late to back out now. Belasah je lah.
We were flagged off at 8:15, and what Stupe said was entirely correct, It was a contact sport. Ppl keep on sepak-ing, pelangkung-ing and shoving me left right up and down for the first 200-300 m. And the choppy water was not doing any favour either. It was very hard to keep my strokes, end up that I need to lift up my head every 3-4 strokes to look to where I was going. After the 1st bouy, as I was entering the marina, the strokes were getting smoother and the traffic clearer. Starting to enjoy it.
As I made the U-turn, tried to relieve myself, kencing la...Ok, now I learn 1 thing, susah nak kencing while swimming, kena stop jugak. The route back was excellent, really enjoyed it. I think I did the fastest in this section. But it gets harder again when I'm back at the last bouy as we were faced again with the strong waves. To my surprise, I clocked 47 min to finish the swim and Tesa n Cyrus were still there, keeping to my words that I'll be done in 45 mins.
Ran to T1, takkan nak jln kot, tak macho la. But at T1, relax gile, pakai kasut slow2 and jalan tolak the bike out. As I started pedalling, I remembered Bandit said not to push too hard for the first few K. Did just that. But after 5K, I've been passed by a lot of cyclist. Lembab sgt ke aku ni? Bila ada org potong je, I will look at the crank position they were using and try to emulate that. Tapi tak laju jugak. I even stopped to pump my back tyre as I tot it doesnt have enough air, a reason I was slow. Shdnt have done that.
I wanted to enjoy the ride, but looking at so many ppl passing me, on the route back I tekan sikit. Maybe shaved 5 mins off. But total bike time was 1:37. Terrible. Need to improve. Especially on the techniques.
At T2, sama jugak mcm T1, took my own sweet time to pakai kasut and tukar bib to my running vest. Leceh betul la nak kena pin2 ni. Shd have bought the racing belt the day before. Started off running behind Upiq and passed him few hundred metres after that, and saw Tesa and the whole family there to cheer me on.
Felt my legs very heavy for the 1st 5k, effect of cycling. Kam told me to do bricks to teach the muscle memory not to have this effect. Walked at all the water stations. Probably was doing 6-6:30 in the first 5K. But hit my strap turning back. Maybe it was like 5:30/km. Enjoyed it very much. Passed by all friends during this leg.
As I was entering the finishing line, wanted to sprint, tapi kaki ada rasa keras2 mcm nak cramp, so just maintained the pace. Greeted first by Chipang 30 m from the line, and then by Tesa, Noah, Cyrus, Alisha, and Mantat. Crossed the line in 3:31. Still in a very good spirit, and enjoyed it very, very, very much. Will come again next year.
Timing:
Swim 1.5K = 47 mins
Bike 40K = 1 hr :37 mins
Run 10K = 58 mins
Total Transitions = 9 mins
Total Time = 3hr 31 mins
Target was 3:30. Lari seminit.
*I want to say special thx to Bandit, Stupe, Mantat, Kam, Upiq, Chipang, Cyrus, Alisha and off course my beloved Tesa and Noah.
This event came 2 weeks after KL Marathon, where I struggled to complete. So this time, I dont want to get hard done by again. I vowed to prepare myself better this time.
The real training only starts the Sunday, a week before the race. As this race intially, was supposed to be a warm-up for the half ironman(IM) end of July(postponed to Oct) , I planned for a heavy duty training sessions, fully knowing the risk that I might not be in peak condition for the PD race bcos I would only be in the middle of my 1/2 IM training.
That was also add on to the fact that my feet was still hurting from the Marathon. So the Sunday a week before the race, Bandit was kind enough to accompany me for an 80K ride in Dengkil/Sepang. Chipang was there too. Was sluggish after the first 50K, but was not worried bcos will be doing Olympic Distance (OD - Swim 1.5K, Bike 40K, Run 10K) in PD.
The week leading up to the race, did double sessions everyday. Gym during lunch followed by run/swim at night. By Friday, I think I'm at 60-70% condition. Good enough to pull me thru the race.
On Sat, checked in to PDGC. Then when straight to register for the race, took me bloody 45 minutes. I was actually intimidated a little bit, looking at all the well defined and toned body of most of the athletes, and the bikes, talk also no use, semua power2. But re-grouped my thoughts, I need to focus abt me only, dont get physcoed by this.
Had a trial swim in the sea with Bandit before the sprint event, which was really a good move, cos now I know how it feels to swim in open water. Needed some time to get to use to, as the water was quite choppy.
Later at night, had the carbo loading dinner and briefing at the hotel. Tesa, Noah, Cyrus and Alisha came arnd 9.30 pm. Went for another round of sea food dinner, and joined by Mantat as well.
Woke up at 6am on Sunday, do my usual stuffs, kubab 2 kali. Biked out from the apratment with Stupe and Bandit. They helped me a lot on how to organise my stuffs in the T area. Did the body marking and went kubab again as usual.
Went for a warm-up swim with bandit 30 mins before start. Tesa and Cyrus came to see me start-off, and I told them to wait 45 mins, cos Ill be out of the water by then. Confident je nak cakap mcm tu.
I was not really nervous at the starting line, even when I dont fully know what to expect. Maybe its because I was confident that I did enough training, and the fact that I've done distances more than the OD in my trainings, cuma tak pernah buat continously je la. The only thing that troubles me was how would I react if I have a puncture. Only had that once during training, and itupun Bandit yg tolong. Well, too late to back out now. Belasah je lah.
We were flagged off at 8:15, and what Stupe said was entirely correct, It was a contact sport. Ppl keep on sepak-ing, pelangkung-ing and shoving me left right up and down for the first 200-300 m. And the choppy water was not doing any favour either. It was very hard to keep my strokes, end up that I need to lift up my head every 3-4 strokes to look to where I was going. After the 1st bouy, as I was entering the marina, the strokes were getting smoother and the traffic clearer. Starting to enjoy it.
As I made the U-turn, tried to relieve myself, kencing la...Ok, now I learn 1 thing, susah nak kencing while swimming, kena stop jugak. The route back was excellent, really enjoyed it. I think I did the fastest in this section. But it gets harder again when I'm back at the last bouy as we were faced again with the strong waves. To my surprise, I clocked 47 min to finish the swim and Tesa n Cyrus were still there, keeping to my words that I'll be done in 45 mins.
Ran to T1, takkan nak jln kot, tak macho la. But at T1, relax gile, pakai kasut slow2 and jalan tolak the bike out. As I started pedalling, I remembered Bandit said not to push too hard for the first few K. Did just that. But after 5K, I've been passed by a lot of cyclist. Lembab sgt ke aku ni? Bila ada org potong je, I will look at the crank position they were using and try to emulate that. Tapi tak laju jugak. I even stopped to pump my back tyre as I tot it doesnt have enough air, a reason I was slow. Shdnt have done that.
I wanted to enjoy the ride, but looking at so many ppl passing me, on the route back I tekan sikit. Maybe shaved 5 mins off. But total bike time was 1:37. Terrible. Need to improve. Especially on the techniques.
At T2, sama jugak mcm T1, took my own sweet time to pakai kasut and tukar bib to my running vest. Leceh betul la nak kena pin2 ni. Shd have bought the racing belt the day before. Started off running behind Upiq and passed him few hundred metres after that, and saw Tesa and the whole family there to cheer me on.
Felt my legs very heavy for the 1st 5k, effect of cycling. Kam told me to do bricks to teach the muscle memory not to have this effect. Walked at all the water stations. Probably was doing 6-6:30 in the first 5K. But hit my strap turning back. Maybe it was like 5:30/km. Enjoyed it very much. Passed by all friends during this leg.
As I was entering the finishing line, wanted to sprint, tapi kaki ada rasa keras2 mcm nak cramp, so just maintained the pace. Greeted first by Chipang 30 m from the line, and then by Tesa, Noah, Cyrus, Alisha, and Mantat. Crossed the line in 3:31. Still in a very good spirit, and enjoyed it very, very, very much. Will come again next year.
Timing:
Swim 1.5K = 47 mins
Bike 40K = 1 hr :37 mins
Run 10K = 58 mins
Total Transitions = 9 mins
Total Time = 3hr 31 mins
Target was 3:30. Lari seminit.
*I want to say special thx to Bandit, Stupe, Mantat, Kam, Upiq, Chipang, Cyrus, Alisha and off course my beloved Tesa and Noah.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Official Timing
Got the official timing for 42.195K
05:01:53.94
And this is my wife's timing for 10K
01:22:54.02
05:01:53.94
And this is my wife's timing for 10K
01:22:54.02
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Maiden Marathon
As I'm writing this, the pain below my feet is still tingling. Good, that will make my memory fresh from the marathon that I ran yesterday. Yup, I ran the Kuala Lumpur International Marathon and I completed the full 42.195 KM in 5hrs 02mins.
I shd porbably start with my journey to reach this goal. As some of u are aware, my ultimate goal is to be an IronMan(IM), and marathon is 1/3 of the disciplines that I need to complete to become one. It would be foolish if I go to IM without even completing the full marathon distance first.
The farthest that I had run before this was 30K, and this was back in January. And since then, my training has been irregular becos of so many unavoidable reasons, but some of it because I had lazy ass. To cut story short, I had compressed my training plan into 1 mth, and that was a month before the Marathon. (not a good idea).
With the compressed training plan, I never achieved the distance I wanted to achieve in training, because I will always get cramps abt 3/4 of the distance. Eg; If i planned to run 24K, I will end up running 20K only. So, coming in to the Marathon dates, I was not as prepared as I had hoped for. This is not good for me, because my confidence always comes from knowing that I had enough preparation. But I guess now I just had to rely on my mental strength than anything else to carry me thru this.
In terms of food intake, the preparation was the same as before, a lot of carbo 2 days before, but this time, I add on a lot of potasium and sodioum from stuffs like banana and prunes, hoping to prevent the cramps.
So on the race day, woke up at 3.3o. Had breakfast and most importantly, kubab. My dearest wife sent me to Dataran Merdeka, she needs to get back to prepare for her 10K which only start at 7. As I entered the field, met up with Kam, Budin and Akmal. Then Bandit and Shazly came along.
The race was flagged-off at 5 am sharp. The only thing that was on my mind was the the tip by Stupe, 'keep your pace, don't get overly excited'. I felt very good for the 1st 10K (1:10), as it was quite cooling after the slight drizzles just before the race. I re-hydrate at every water station, and that was my plan, to keep on drinking at every stops. Succesfully maintained 7-7.30m/km.
As I passed 15K, my mind started to think abt my wife and Noah. I dont know why, but I was feeling the goosebumps. One thing for sure, I know I have to do this for them, I need to show them u can do anything if u put ur mind into it. I had a banana at the food station, and my pace had risen up to abt 6.45K/min, the sun was abt to rise.
Reaching the 2oK mark, the time was 2hr 1omins. I was going too fast, need to slow down. Went to relieved myself by the bushes and continue running. At this point, I have not stop running yet.
Moving along, tried to slow down the pace to 7mins, but I felt strains on my calves if I try to do that, so maintained 6.45 pace. As I reached 25K, I think somewhere arnd Beach club, I walked up Jln Sultan Ismail instead of running as I'm starting to feel strains on my quads. So I changed my strategy, I will only run up any hills if I dont feel the strains.
But after that, managed to run at 6.45-7min pace till 30K. Eventhough, the pain in my legs is getting stronger, I told to myself, I'm not tired, I'm just in pain. Just shut-up, tahan sikit sakit and get on with it, dont be such a sissy.
I know Mantat is somewhere arnd 30K as he was distributing the power gel. From abt 100m I could saw his towering firgure. I dont why I just felt terharu to see him there. I even refused to take a power gel from the person in front of him, I want to take it from his hands. Well this is what 30k of running is doing to u, it will get u emotional.
It was 8:15 when I reached 30k. I have 1hr 15 mins to do it sub 4:30 and 1:45 to do sub 5. Very do-able. Or so I thought...
I'm telling you guys, the marathon only starts after 30K. The last 12K felt like forever. I only ran when there were flats and downhills. Unfortunately, half of the last 12K was uphill. The part from Istana to Jln Sultan Sallehuddin was ruthless, with big hills and totally exposed to the sun and traffic.
But the worst has yet to come. I was doing the walk 50m run 200m strategy from lake gardens to the peak of Jalan Sultan Sallehudin, to my horror, there was no water at the water station. Its 5k to go and 40 mins to do it sub 5. Sounds easy right? wrong. It was the hardest 5k of my life.
As I start to run with a faster pace, both legs started to cramp, everywhere. Shit, all sort of questions came thru my mind. Will I be able to finish this? I cant even run without having any cramps. But I have to do it, for Tesa and Noah. They must know that I'm not a quitter. I'm not running against time anymore now, I'm running against myself.
At 39K, my strategy is walk 100 run 100. On top of the cramps, I'm starting to feel sharp pain at my rib cage. I was trying as hard as I could to run, but the legs just wont give in, it will just lock.
As I see the finishing line, I was trying with all my might to run, I dont want to finish a marathon walking. But I couldnt bend my legs anymore now, little bend will cause severe cramps. I was limping 100m from fininsh. To withstand the pain, I was grinding my teeth so hard that I think it would crumble into sands.
50m from finish, the public was cheering for the finishers. I tried to run really slowly. I could hear Isma and Callie (frow work) cheering for me.
But my saviour, my angle, my wife came to me 30m from the line. She screamed on top of her lungs and dragged me to complete it running. I dont care abt the pain anymore, I ran as hard as I could without bending my legs at all, to reach the goal, the ulitimate recognisiton of being a MARATHONER. And so I did....Alhamdullillah. Thank God for giving me the opportunity to realised my dream, my everloving wife, the pillar of my strength. And my family and friends, for giving the me support.
I shd porbably start with my journey to reach this goal. As some of u are aware, my ultimate goal is to be an IronMan(IM), and marathon is 1/3 of the disciplines that I need to complete to become one. It would be foolish if I go to IM without even completing the full marathon distance first.
The farthest that I had run before this was 30K, and this was back in January. And since then, my training has been irregular becos of so many unavoidable reasons, but some of it because I had lazy ass. To cut story short, I had compressed my training plan into 1 mth, and that was a month before the Marathon. (not a good idea).
With the compressed training plan, I never achieved the distance I wanted to achieve in training, because I will always get cramps abt 3/4 of the distance. Eg; If i planned to run 24K, I will end up running 20K only. So, coming in to the Marathon dates, I was not as prepared as I had hoped for. This is not good for me, because my confidence always comes from knowing that I had enough preparation. But I guess now I just had to rely on my mental strength than anything else to carry me thru this.
In terms of food intake, the preparation was the same as before, a lot of carbo 2 days before, but this time, I add on a lot of potasium and sodioum from stuffs like banana and prunes, hoping to prevent the cramps.
So on the race day, woke up at 3.3o. Had breakfast and most importantly, kubab. My dearest wife sent me to Dataran Merdeka, she needs to get back to prepare for her 10K which only start at 7. As I entered the field, met up with Kam, Budin and Akmal. Then Bandit and Shazly came along.
The race was flagged-off at 5 am sharp. The only thing that was on my mind was the the tip by Stupe, 'keep your pace, don't get overly excited'. I felt very good for the 1st 10K (1:10), as it was quite cooling after the slight drizzles just before the race. I re-hydrate at every water station, and that was my plan, to keep on drinking at every stops. Succesfully maintained 7-7.30m/km.
As I passed 15K, my mind started to think abt my wife and Noah. I dont know why, but I was feeling the goosebumps. One thing for sure, I know I have to do this for them, I need to show them u can do anything if u put ur mind into it. I had a banana at the food station, and my pace had risen up to abt 6.45K/min, the sun was abt to rise.
Reaching the 2oK mark, the time was 2hr 1omins. I was going too fast, need to slow down. Went to relieved myself by the bushes and continue running. At this point, I have not stop running yet.
Moving along, tried to slow down the pace to 7mins, but I felt strains on my calves if I try to do that, so maintained 6.45 pace. As I reached 25K, I think somewhere arnd Beach club, I walked up Jln Sultan Ismail instead of running as I'm starting to feel strains on my quads. So I changed my strategy, I will only run up any hills if I dont feel the strains.
But after that, managed to run at 6.45-7min pace till 30K. Eventhough, the pain in my legs is getting stronger, I told to myself, I'm not tired, I'm just in pain. Just shut-up, tahan sikit sakit and get on with it, dont be such a sissy.
I know Mantat is somewhere arnd 30K as he was distributing the power gel. From abt 100m I could saw his towering firgure. I dont why I just felt terharu to see him there. I even refused to take a power gel from the person in front of him, I want to take it from his hands. Well this is what 30k of running is doing to u, it will get u emotional.
It was 8:15 when I reached 30k. I have 1hr 15 mins to do it sub 4:30 and 1:45 to do sub 5. Very do-able. Or so I thought...
I'm telling you guys, the marathon only starts after 30K. The last 12K felt like forever. I only ran when there were flats and downhills. Unfortunately, half of the last 12K was uphill. The part from Istana to Jln Sultan Sallehuddin was ruthless, with big hills and totally exposed to the sun and traffic.
But the worst has yet to come. I was doing the walk 50m run 200m strategy from lake gardens to the peak of Jalan Sultan Sallehudin, to my horror, there was no water at the water station. Its 5k to go and 40 mins to do it sub 5. Sounds easy right? wrong. It was the hardest 5k of my life.
As I start to run with a faster pace, both legs started to cramp, everywhere. Shit, all sort of questions came thru my mind. Will I be able to finish this? I cant even run without having any cramps. But I have to do it, for Tesa and Noah. They must know that I'm not a quitter. I'm not running against time anymore now, I'm running against myself.
At 39K, my strategy is walk 100 run 100. On top of the cramps, I'm starting to feel sharp pain at my rib cage. I was trying as hard as I could to run, but the legs just wont give in, it will just lock.
As I see the finishing line, I was trying with all my might to run, I dont want to finish a marathon walking. But I couldnt bend my legs anymore now, little bend will cause severe cramps. I was limping 100m from fininsh. To withstand the pain, I was grinding my teeth so hard that I think it would crumble into sands.
50m from finish, the public was cheering for the finishers. I tried to run really slowly. I could hear Isma and Callie (frow work) cheering for me.
But my saviour, my angle, my wife came to me 30m from the line. She screamed on top of her lungs and dragged me to complete it running. I dont care abt the pain anymore, I ran as hard as I could without bending my legs at all, to reach the goal, the ulitimate recognisiton of being a MARATHONER. And so I did....Alhamdullillah. Thank God for giving me the opportunity to realised my dream, my everloving wife, the pillar of my strength. And my family and friends, for giving the me support.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 6)
Day 3 - 22 May 2009 ( Summit Climb)
The guides told us that we need to reach Sayat-Sayat, the last and only checkpoint, before 0530. That gives us abt 2.5 hrs to do that, very do-able. Our game plan was to stick together as a group, at least until Sayat-Sayat, where the guides will verify and certify you to climb to the top.
If I'm not mistaken, we were the 2nd group that started the climb to the peak, as we can see few moving lights ( assume to be headlights, abt 50m ahead of us). We were all walking in a single file. To make sure everybody was close to each other, we started calling ‘nombor dari depan’. I was no 2, behind Ayun and in front of Idi.
It was pure climb all the way man, and you couldn’t see anything except the person in front of you. From time to time, when there were clearances(no trees/rocks), as I turned back, I can see the shimmering lights of KK city. And at that point , I started to realize that the view was not much different from an aero plane. Heck, we were like 3500m above sea level, that’s abt 10-11K feet.
Every 10-20 mins, Ayun will shout for nombor. Mula2 tu dgr la, 1 sampai 11, lepas tu 1 sampai 7, bila dah sampai 1-5, dah malas dah nak call for nombor lagi . Apparently, some of us needed to stop and rest. Air was getting thinner, susah nak bernafas.
To keep the spirit high, at the front of the pack, Ayun, Idi and myself tried to keep the spirit high by singing. But it was a tall order, adala 3-4 lagu je kitorg menyanyi, sampai ‘Taman Rasyidah Utama’ kitorg stop, tinggi beb lagu tu, tak sampai….angin pun dah tarak.
The real...I mean the 'real' climb came when we saw so many lights high above us, but not too far from us, basically kena dongak abt 45 degree jugak la. It was a little bit congested actually, bcos this was the part kena start panjat pakai tali, so pergerakan agak slow.
There were no more trees to protect us from the forceful wind. And for the first time, I doubted myself. All the negative thoughts started to kicked in (kalau terlepas tali, mesti jatuh bergolek2 masuk gaung) . But I stopped for a moment, rechecked, and doubled up the positive thoughts. I’m not one to be put off with this challenges. I must carry on.
At this point, I realized that only Ayun and Idi were left with me. And bcos of that, Ayun was the sole victim of the angin that came out of my ass. Gila bai, asyik terkentut2 je. Ni la bahana makan byk sgt, tapi tak berak2. Eventhough Ayun was walking in front of me, because of the wind, dia yg terpaksa menghirup dan menikmati kentut aku. Sorry bro, Mantat kata pasal ‘Nature’s Valley’ bar. Byk kacang dlm tu. Don’t blame me.
After abt 1.5 hrs, we reached Sayat-Sayat. We cheked in our name and I went to kencing. Still no sign of rasa nak 'kubab'.. good. We(Ayun&Idi) shared, the power gels and put on lip gloss here.
After abt 10 mins rest, we started again. In my opinion, this was the hardest part of the whole climb. Steep gile, kena pakai tali and totally exposed to the wind. Silap langkah mmg Jatuh gaung punya, gerenti.
But it had the most beautiful view of the sky, it was soooo clear. I just felt so close to the stars, I feel I can reach them. But on the ground, we struglled to move up. We stopped every 50 steps.
Kaki rasa berat gila and perut tiba2 buat hal. Byk org kata, tuhan akan bagi dugaan yg berbeza2 dalam perjalanan ini. To me, the god was testing whether I can hold my stool or not. FYI, when I climbed G. Tahan, I sudah melepas kat puncak, and perut sakit the whole way back (Own, my G.Tahan buddy can verify that). Now I don’t want to make the same mistake again. I said to myself if I have to berak dlm seluar, so be it. I don’t care any more. Well obviously, I did not do that. I kept my dignity intacted and passed the test with flying colors as the sakit perut hilang after 10 mins.
Few stops later , suddenly we heard a very familiar voice. Capoi!!!.
As he was the only experience climber, initially he was at the back of the group trying to support the others who he anticipates gonna have problems. But he said, he needed to make a move up bcos he would not be able to continue the climb if he arrives too late at Sayat-Sayat.
He urged us to walk faster if we were to catch the fantastic sunrise. But we told them its hard to do that, so he asked us to walk zig zag. Really zig zag man, like if u walk straight u take 5 steps, by zig zagging u’ll take 20 steps. Sounds like kena jalan lagi jauh, but it fought off the effect of gravity as compared to climbing straight. It works man, it really worked. But by then, Capoi was nowhere to be seen, mcm sherpa la dia jalan.
Now, we were not struggling as much as before. I kept on walking, and I made a target to reach a landmark abt 200m ahead where I saw few lights close to each other. It was actually the 8K mark signboard(3929m). I stopped there and waited for Ayun and Idi. They arrived few minutes later, with Itik and Own, who also started at the back as the sweepers. Unfortunately, they told us that Izzat could not join us to the summit . I feel for Izzat but at the same time I felt very happy as I can reach the summit, which was abt 750m away, with at least 4 other guys at the same time.
We stopped abt 10 mins, gobbled up the PowerBar Gels and drinks and snapped up few pics. Now, this is it man, the last climb up to the peak. We started walking again and I felt very comfortable doing the zig zag. After a while, I turned back, the others were quite a distance from me. But I couldn’t stop, I’m on a good rhtym now.
At the 90 degree turn, maybe 100-70m from the peak. I started to feel very tired again. But as the sun started to rise, I can see the imposing figure of the peak....It was a very humbling feeling.
Allahuakbar, Allah maha besar, those were the words that I uttered, subconciously . The feeling was indescribable. I just felt like I'm soooo small, terharu, sebak and happy. God is great. I don’t know what else to say.
Well I need to keep on. I'm not there yet. I kept on saying “One little step at a time, don’t stop until u reach your goal’. Abt 50m from the peak, suddenly I can hear very clearly Capoi shouting, “C’mon Jabir, sikit lagi”. Those words brought strength to me. I ramp up the pace and at points was running. 5m from peak, Capoi held out his hand to reach and hug me.
At 5:50 AM, 22 May 2009, I was the highest man standing in South East Asia (4095m). Alhamdullillah....
Ayun, Idi, Itik and Own reached the peak few mins after me, to join Capoi and myself at the top. We spent quite some time at the peak to take pics. No need for me to elaborate on the view, it was fantastic. But more importantly, we stayed up there as long as we could (sejuk gila bai angin dia) to enjoy the moment, the moment that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. The moment where we celebrate 20 years of friendship....
Farouk, Pelat and Mantat reached the summit a while later. I’m just so happy for them that they can reach the summit despite all the problems(during the climb) that they had. Bedul succefully reached the 3929m mark and Izat also achieved 3272m.
TIADA GUNUNG TERLALU TINGGI, BUAT KAMI DAKI DI TENGAH "MALAM"....
The guides told us that we need to reach Sayat-Sayat, the last and only checkpoint, before 0530. That gives us abt 2.5 hrs to do that, very do-able. Our game plan was to stick together as a group, at least until Sayat-Sayat, where the guides will verify and certify you to climb to the top.
If I'm not mistaken, we were the 2nd group that started the climb to the peak, as we can see few moving lights ( assume to be headlights, abt 50m ahead of us). We were all walking in a single file. To make sure everybody was close to each other, we started calling ‘nombor dari depan’. I was no 2, behind Ayun and in front of Idi.
It was pure climb all the way man, and you couldn’t see anything except the person in front of you. From time to time, when there were clearances(no trees/rocks), as I turned back, I can see the shimmering lights of KK city. And at that point , I started to realize that the view was not much different from an aero plane. Heck, we were like 3500m above sea level, that’s abt 10-11K feet.
Every 10-20 mins, Ayun will shout for nombor. Mula2 tu dgr la, 1 sampai 11, lepas tu 1 sampai 7, bila dah sampai 1-5, dah malas dah nak call for nombor lagi . Apparently, some of us needed to stop and rest. Air was getting thinner, susah nak bernafas.
To keep the spirit high, at the front of the pack, Ayun, Idi and myself tried to keep the spirit high by singing. But it was a tall order, adala 3-4 lagu je kitorg menyanyi, sampai ‘Taman Rasyidah Utama’ kitorg stop, tinggi beb lagu tu, tak sampai….angin pun dah tarak.
The real...I mean the 'real' climb came when we saw so many lights high above us, but not too far from us, basically kena dongak abt 45 degree jugak la. It was a little bit congested actually, bcos this was the part kena start panjat pakai tali, so pergerakan agak slow.
There were no more trees to protect us from the forceful wind. And for the first time, I doubted myself. All the negative thoughts started to kicked in (kalau terlepas tali, mesti jatuh bergolek2 masuk gaung) . But I stopped for a moment, rechecked, and doubled up the positive thoughts. I’m not one to be put off with this challenges. I must carry on.
At this point, I realized that only Ayun and Idi were left with me. And bcos of that, Ayun was the sole victim of the angin that came out of my ass. Gila bai, asyik terkentut2 je. Ni la bahana makan byk sgt, tapi tak berak2. Eventhough Ayun was walking in front of me, because of the wind, dia yg terpaksa menghirup dan menikmati kentut aku. Sorry bro, Mantat kata pasal ‘Nature’s Valley’ bar. Byk kacang dlm tu. Don’t blame me.
After abt 1.5 hrs, we reached Sayat-Sayat. We cheked in our name and I went to kencing. Still no sign of rasa nak 'kubab'.. good. We(Ayun&Idi) shared, the power gels and put on lip gloss here.
After abt 10 mins rest, we started again. In my opinion, this was the hardest part of the whole climb. Steep gile, kena pakai tali and totally exposed to the wind. Silap langkah mmg Jatuh gaung punya, gerenti.
But it had the most beautiful view of the sky, it was soooo clear. I just felt so close to the stars, I feel I can reach them. But on the ground, we struglled to move up. We stopped every 50 steps.
Kaki rasa berat gila and perut tiba2 buat hal. Byk org kata, tuhan akan bagi dugaan yg berbeza2 dalam perjalanan ini. To me, the god was testing whether I can hold my stool or not. FYI, when I climbed G. Tahan, I sudah melepas kat puncak, and perut sakit the whole way back (Own, my G.Tahan buddy can verify that). Now I don’t want to make the same mistake again. I said to myself if I have to berak dlm seluar, so be it. I don’t care any more. Well obviously, I did not do that. I kept my dignity intacted and passed the test with flying colors as the sakit perut hilang after 10 mins.
Few stops later , suddenly we heard a very familiar voice. Capoi!!!.
As he was the only experience climber, initially he was at the back of the group trying to support the others who he anticipates gonna have problems. But he said, he needed to make a move up bcos he would not be able to continue the climb if he arrives too late at Sayat-Sayat.
He urged us to walk faster if we were to catch the fantastic sunrise. But we told them its hard to do that, so he asked us to walk zig zag. Really zig zag man, like if u walk straight u take 5 steps, by zig zagging u’ll take 20 steps. Sounds like kena jalan lagi jauh, but it fought off the effect of gravity as compared to climbing straight. It works man, it really worked. But by then, Capoi was nowhere to be seen, mcm sherpa la dia jalan.
Now, we were not struggling as much as before. I kept on walking, and I made a target to reach a landmark abt 200m ahead where I saw few lights close to each other. It was actually the 8K mark signboard(3929m). I stopped there and waited for Ayun and Idi. They arrived few minutes later, with Itik and Own, who also started at the back as the sweepers. Unfortunately, they told us that Izzat could not join us to the summit . I feel for Izzat but at the same time I felt very happy as I can reach the summit, which was abt 750m away, with at least 4 other guys at the same time.
We stopped abt 10 mins, gobbled up the PowerBar Gels and drinks and snapped up few pics. Now, this is it man, the last climb up to the peak. We started walking again and I felt very comfortable doing the zig zag. After a while, I turned back, the others were quite a distance from me. But I couldn’t stop, I’m on a good rhtym now.
At the 90 degree turn, maybe 100-70m from the peak. I started to feel very tired again. But as the sun started to rise, I can see the imposing figure of the peak....It was a very humbling feeling.
Allahuakbar, Allah maha besar, those were the words that I uttered, subconciously . The feeling was indescribable. I just felt like I'm soooo small, terharu, sebak and happy. God is great. I don’t know what else to say.
Well I need to keep on. I'm not there yet. I kept on saying “One little step at a time, don’t stop until u reach your goal’. Abt 50m from the peak, suddenly I can hear very clearly Capoi shouting, “C’mon Jabir, sikit lagi”. Those words brought strength to me. I ramp up the pace and at points was running. 5m from peak, Capoi held out his hand to reach and hug me.
At 5:50 AM, 22 May 2009, I was the highest man standing in South East Asia (4095m). Alhamdullillah....
Ayun, Idi, Itik and Own reached the peak few mins after me, to join Capoi and myself at the top. We spent quite some time at the peak to take pics. No need for me to elaborate on the view, it was fantastic. But more importantly, we stayed up there as long as we could (sejuk gila bai angin dia) to enjoy the moment, the moment that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. The moment where we celebrate 20 years of friendship....
Farouk, Pelat and Mantat reached the summit a while later. I’m just so happy for them that they can reach the summit despite all the problems(during the climb) that they had. Bedul succefully reached the 3929m mark and Izat also achieved 3272m.
TIADA GUNUNG TERLALU TINGGI, BUAT KAMI DAKI DI TENGAH "MALAM"....
Monday, June 1, 2009
Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 5)
Day 2/3 - 21/22 May 2009 (Laban Rata)
We were given 2 bunks at Laban Rata Rest House. One can fit 8 and the other 4. Semua double deck. The only good thing arriving earlier than the second group was that we can pick the lower deck. Sorry ye kawan2. You know, kalau dah letih tu, nak panjat katil double deck pun considered a serious effort.
After taking the icy cold shower (to be fair, kadang keluar jugak air panas), we waited for dinner and the 2nd group to arrive. We wanted to greet them as they arrived, so Farouk was on standby with his cam. And as I mentioned earlier, they arrived just as the rest house was starting to open the food buffet counters.
I never had that much food since god knows when. Hentam cukup2 punya. Nasi 2 pinggan, mee sepinggan. Belum campur lauk2 and other stuffs. Literally rasa mcm nak pecah perut. Ni bukan carbo load lagi ni, ni dah kira mentekedarah. Lepas makan, most of us just hanged out at the canteen drinking the local coffe and tea, and not forgetting the PowerBar recovery powder, again, courtesy of Mantat. It tasted quite good, mcm orange Tang.
During this time, we were not so active compared to when we started in the morning. Mainly to conserve the energy, or we were actually dead tired. By 7.30PM , most of us went back to the room. Nak kena tidur awal, pkl 1.30 pagi nak kena bangun dah. Semua dok apply deep heat and put on layers of clothing, sejuk gila bai. The room heater only started working at 8PM, and that was only after they stop the water heater, kena gilir2 la... So we lights off at 8.30PM, the heater was still not working.
At this point, lying flat, I started to have difficulties breathing. Rasa mcm tak cukup oxygen je masuk. Took me like 30 mins to get my breathing rhtym back. For me, the key was to inhale really slowly as compared to sharp and intense inhalation. And I was also not feeling comfortable bcos of the bloating in the stomach. Perut tak digest2 lagi. I started to worry bcos I know I need to excrete the food before the summit climb, kalau tak mesti susah nak cari tempat kubab punya.
Tiba2 arnd 10-10.30 most of us bangun serentak, and to my horror, I saw the towering figure of Mantat wearing only his underwear, walking out of the room. Baru je nak sound dia gile ke sejuk2 pakai spender, I felt so hot and warm. Rupa-rupanya the room heater was working sooo well that it made the room felt like an oven. To make it worse, tak boleh nak control la pulak heater ni. Cikai betul. So Mantat was actually walking up to open the door to let the cold air in and balance up the temp. After that it took abt an hour for most of us to get back to sleep.
At 1 am, we were awaken by the thunderous voice of Bedul. Angin betul kitorg semua, ye la, semua kunci jam nak bangun pkl 1.30, mamat ni sudah masuk awal setengah jam. Dah la susah nak tidur, especially si Pelat, langsung tak tidur(teringat girlfriend kot). So we started the final prep for the summit climb and went down to get supper.
This was the point where we needed to wear the snow caps, the gloves, the wind breakers, the headlamp and all the other essentials for cold weather. All set and ready to go. But I was still feeling worried, ishh, tak kubab2 lagi ni, bahaya betul, cos I know I had too much for dinner, and tak keluar2 lagi ni.
At around 3 am, we huddled up outside the rest house. This time, we were in a more serious mode. Nothing much was said, just the recital of the doa. But Bedul had said one powerful statement. "Kita nak panjat puncak ni niat mesti betul. Allah jadikan gunung dan Allah jadikan manusia, jgnlah niat untuk 'tawan' gunung ni, niat untuk menikmati kebesaran Allah"
Dgn bacaan bismillah, we walked up one after another into the darkness of the nite and the bitter coldness of the mountain wind.
We were given 2 bunks at Laban Rata Rest House. One can fit 8 and the other 4. Semua double deck. The only good thing arriving earlier than the second group was that we can pick the lower deck. Sorry ye kawan2. You know, kalau dah letih tu, nak panjat katil double deck pun considered a serious effort.
After taking the icy cold shower (to be fair, kadang keluar jugak air panas), we waited for dinner and the 2nd group to arrive. We wanted to greet them as they arrived, so Farouk was on standby with his cam. And as I mentioned earlier, they arrived just as the rest house was starting to open the food buffet counters.
I never had that much food since god knows when. Hentam cukup2 punya. Nasi 2 pinggan, mee sepinggan. Belum campur lauk2 and other stuffs. Literally rasa mcm nak pecah perut. Ni bukan carbo load lagi ni, ni dah kira mentekedarah. Lepas makan, most of us just hanged out at the canteen drinking the local coffe and tea, and not forgetting the PowerBar recovery powder, again, courtesy of Mantat. It tasted quite good, mcm orange Tang.
During this time, we were not so active compared to when we started in the morning. Mainly to conserve the energy, or we were actually dead tired. By 7.30PM , most of us went back to the room. Nak kena tidur awal, pkl 1.30 pagi nak kena bangun dah. Semua dok apply deep heat and put on layers of clothing, sejuk gila bai. The room heater only started working at 8PM, and that was only after they stop the water heater, kena gilir2 la... So we lights off at 8.30PM, the heater was still not working.
At this point, lying flat, I started to have difficulties breathing. Rasa mcm tak cukup oxygen je masuk. Took me like 30 mins to get my breathing rhtym back. For me, the key was to inhale really slowly as compared to sharp and intense inhalation. And I was also not feeling comfortable bcos of the bloating in the stomach. Perut tak digest2 lagi. I started to worry bcos I know I need to excrete the food before the summit climb, kalau tak mesti susah nak cari tempat kubab punya.
Tiba2 arnd 10-10.30 most of us bangun serentak, and to my horror, I saw the towering figure of Mantat wearing only his underwear, walking out of the room. Baru je nak sound dia gile ke sejuk2 pakai spender, I felt so hot and warm. Rupa-rupanya the room heater was working sooo well that it made the room felt like an oven. To make it worse, tak boleh nak control la pulak heater ni. Cikai betul. So Mantat was actually walking up to open the door to let the cold air in and balance up the temp. After that it took abt an hour for most of us to get back to sleep.
At 1 am, we were awaken by the thunderous voice of Bedul. Angin betul kitorg semua, ye la, semua kunci jam nak bangun pkl 1.30, mamat ni sudah masuk awal setengah jam. Dah la susah nak tidur, especially si Pelat, langsung tak tidur(teringat girlfriend kot). So we started the final prep for the summit climb and went down to get supper.
This was the point where we needed to wear the snow caps, the gloves, the wind breakers, the headlamp and all the other essentials for cold weather. All set and ready to go. But I was still feeling worried, ishh, tak kubab2 lagi ni, bahaya betul, cos I know I had too much for dinner, and tak keluar2 lagi ni.
At around 3 am, we huddled up outside the rest house. This time, we were in a more serious mode. Nothing much was said, just the recital of the doa. But Bedul had said one powerful statement. "Kita nak panjat puncak ni niat mesti betul. Allah jadikan gunung dan Allah jadikan manusia, jgnlah niat untuk 'tawan' gunung ni, niat untuk menikmati kebesaran Allah"
Dgn bacaan bismillah, we walked up one after another into the darkness of the nite and the bitter coldness of the mountain wind.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 4)
Day 2 - 21 May 2009 (The Climb - 1st stage)
Ironically, the climb started with a descent. As if telling us to enjoy the gravity before it saps the energy out when you go against it. We started by walking in one big group. All 11 of us. The air was cooling and refreshing. Couldn't be better. But, after few corners, the track changed to ascending mode.
We passed thru a small waterfall after abt 20 mins of walking. Then we faced the first hurdle, a very steep makeshift stairs with the elevation of about 20m. It may sounds low, but the distance between one flight to the other was quite high. We had to raise our leg as high as the hip to get to the next flight of stairs. Some of us let the others passed thru at the bottom of the stairs. They wanted to catch as much air as possible before climbing up.
Just after the stairs, we stopped at the first hut - Kandis. Few of us starting to have doubts on the climb. But ppl like Itik, Capoi, Own had really helped them by giving motivation and cheering them up.
As I mentioned in previous posting, we kind of split into 2 groups. I was with the group that push off first from the hut. But as we started walking, Capoi reminded us no to go too fast, as it is still a loooong way up. And its not a race anyway. Stick to the target -> to reach Laban Rata in healthy condition with enough gas to climb the peak the next day.
At this point, we were still walking in thick jungle with mostly moist clay track. Humidity was quite high. After 30-40 mins, we stopped again at the 2nd Hut - Ubah. Bedul, however, continued walking as he told us that he wanted to keep his pace and rhytm.
The group that I was in had Ayun, Idi and Farouk. We will always munch something every time we stop. Betul la cakap Capoi, u'll always feel hungry. Luckily the ration pack that they gave us was quite a huge portion. Every pack had 3 sandwiches, 2 boiled eggs, 4 popiahs, 1 fried chicken and 1 big fuji apple. Air dpt air soya. It was supposed to last untill Laban Rata. The ration reminded me of the food they provide in Charlie(TUDM's Hercules C-130). As a boy, I always had this kind of food when travelling between Kuching and KL. As a matter of fact, it almost tasted the same. Same caterer kot.
In addtion to the ration, we had all the supplements given by Mantat, and not forgetting the cola electrolyte tablet as well, that we can put in our drinks to replenish the stuffs that goes out with the sweats. I fully utilised the stuffs given by Mantat. Before climbing, had the peanut butter PowerBar, managed to finish it albeit struggling a little bit. Powerbar ni kalau time sejuk keras gila. Boleh patah gigi. On top of that, I always munched my trusted mini sneakers bar, even if I felt slightly hungry. Worked for me in Gunung Tahan, I'm sure it will do its wonders again in Kinabalu.
Ironically, the climb started with a descent. As if telling us to enjoy the gravity before it saps the energy out when you go against it. We started by walking in one big group. All 11 of us. The air was cooling and refreshing. Couldn't be better. But, after few corners, the track changed to ascending mode.
We passed thru a small waterfall after abt 20 mins of walking. Then we faced the first hurdle, a very steep makeshift stairs with the elevation of about 20m. It may sounds low, but the distance between one flight to the other was quite high. We had to raise our leg as high as the hip to get to the next flight of stairs. Some of us let the others passed thru at the bottom of the stairs. They wanted to catch as much air as possible before climbing up.
Just after the stairs, we stopped at the first hut - Kandis. Few of us starting to have doubts on the climb. But ppl like Itik, Capoi, Own had really helped them by giving motivation and cheering them up.
As I mentioned in previous posting, we kind of split into 2 groups. I was with the group that push off first from the hut. But as we started walking, Capoi reminded us no to go too fast, as it is still a loooong way up. And its not a race anyway. Stick to the target -> to reach Laban Rata in healthy condition with enough gas to climb the peak the next day.
At this point, we were still walking in thick jungle with mostly moist clay track. Humidity was quite high. After 30-40 mins, we stopped again at the 2nd Hut - Ubah. Bedul, however, continued walking as he told us that he wanted to keep his pace and rhytm.
The group that I was in had Ayun, Idi and Farouk. We will always munch something every time we stop. Betul la cakap Capoi, u'll always feel hungry. Luckily the ration pack that they gave us was quite a huge portion. Every pack had 3 sandwiches, 2 boiled eggs, 4 popiahs, 1 fried chicken and 1 big fuji apple. Air dpt air soya. It was supposed to last untill Laban Rata. The ration reminded me of the food they provide in Charlie(TUDM's Hercules C-130). As a boy, I always had this kind of food when travelling between Kuching and KL. As a matter of fact, it almost tasted the same. Same caterer kot.
In addtion to the ration, we had all the supplements given by Mantat, and not forgetting the cola electrolyte tablet as well, that we can put in our drinks to replenish the stuffs that goes out with the sweats. I fully utilised the stuffs given by Mantat. Before climbing, had the peanut butter PowerBar, managed to finish it albeit struggling a little bit. Powerbar ni kalau time sejuk keras gila. Boleh patah gigi. On top of that, I always munched my trusted mini sneakers bar, even if I felt slightly hungry. Worked for me in Gunung Tahan, I'm sure it will do its wonders again in Kinabalu.
By the time we reached the 3rd hut-Lowii, we met the first group coming down. Exchanged few words, well, mostly we asked their experience climbing it. They gave some encouraging words, enough to keep our spirits high.
I still sticked with the same group from second hut. We took the opportunity to snap any nice pics along the way. And from time to time, Ayun and me will start singing. Our repertoire of songs ranges from P.Ramlee, to lagu cheer to lagu rock kangkang 80s&90s. Most of the time lagu rock kangkang la. Mcm terer je nak nyanyi, padahal tercungap2 jalan. Habih lirik semua kitorg tukar.
Next stop was Mempening. By the time we reached there, we saw Bedul lying to the tiang with both feet flat on the bench. He said he was starting to feel the cramps. Tgh lepak2 makan my mom called, asking me to go the Australian Embassy to sort out her visa. Alamak, lupa nak cakap mak aku yg aku panjat gunung, sori la mama, balik kl nanti baru buatla.
From this hut and all the huts until Laban Rata, we will call Itik asking on the condition of the group he was in everytime we stopped. It seemed that the are still slugging it out and enjoying every moment of it. Itik said not to worry, they will be in Laban Rata in time for dinner, which will be at 5 pm. So, they are shifting their focus to food now, not a bad idea.
After Mempening, some of us were showing signs of struggles at times. Ayun and myself could only give them words of encouragement to keep them going. Hold on, we did more than that, we finished up their food. Some of them wanted to reduce the load, so I helped them by finishing up their rations, bcos mine dah habih by 4th hut. OK la tu, kira tolong la jugak tu, tolong makan. This was also the time when masing2 sudah bawak keluar all the deep heats and what not. Kaki dah cramp2 beb.
Yg best bila berenti makan kat hut was that all the cute squirels will kerumun u mintak makan. Bagi apa pun depa telan je. Mcm aku la, bagi apa pun aku telan je. Mantat cerita, in his group , Izat will cabut lari bila tupai2 ni mintak makan kat dia. Geli dia kata.
After Villosa, 5th Hut i think, the terrain has changed. And we are now above the clouds. I think the altitude was more than 2.5K M. It started to get cold, and pokok2 pun berubah kepada pokok2 renek. The track pun dah start berbatu, air started to get thinner. Tapi, mamat2 and minah2 porter boleh selamba lagi panjat angkat tong gas lah, tong minyak lah, pakai kasut getah je bai. Rasa malu je kalau kena potong dgn diorang.
By this time, Capoi managed to catch up with us, dia kata kupon makan ada kat dia and dia nak kena check-in utk kitorg. Pasai tu dia kena cepat, so he had to leave the 2nd group. So he climbed with my group until Laban Rata. Yg lawaknya, Farouk ada la dekat 5 kali kena con dgn Capoi. Bcos he kept on asking 'brp jauh lagi Poi?', after Paka hut. And almost everytime Capoi will said 'lepas corner depan tu"... mmg tak pernah betul la. Angin je Farouk, tapi terubat dgn keindahan awek Jepun yg jalan depan kitorang .
At last, after abt 6-8 hrs of climbing. the first group reached Laban Rata arnd 1515 and 2nd group arnd 1700, just in time for dinner. Way off from our targets. But as I said earlier, its not a race, we were just enjoying every moment of this first stage of the climb by taking pics, singing and busy rubbing deep heat.
*To get a better idea of the trail, u can go to http://www.mount-kinabalu-borneo.com/mount-kinabalu-summit-trail-1.html
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 3)
Day 3 - 21 May 2009 (pre-climb)
For all the talk that we have talked, this is the time to walk the walk...
Woke up at 0600, dah terang benderang. Bangun-bangun je sudah angin, nak kubab tak boleh pasal air tarak. Dah la terpijak air yg bertakung dlm toilet, mak ai..sejuk gile. Ni semua Mantat punya kerja la semalam. He wanted to sort of clean/rinse the toilet floor, but to his horror the toilet doesnt have any water outlet. Leceh betullah...
We reported to Capoi of this water problem. He went down. 10-15 mins later air dah ada. I think the org cabin tu takut dgn loud speaker Capoi kut. Cepat2 dia bukak pump. Dekat cabin ni, the water heaters are a bit special. They are being heated by actual fire. Serious man, no kidding. They have this kind of penunu bunsen bawah heater compartment to heat the water up. Jakun jugakla kitorang tengok.
We went down arnd 8, wearing the magnificent orange dyr-fit t-shirts designed by Mantat. Jauh sebatu pun boleh nampak. Had another photo session with the mount as the backdrop. Betul la cakap Itik, bila tgk gambar balik mcm team Holland, except the real team tak boroi2 mcm kitorang la.
One thing I wanna touch about this t-shirt is that we had a line of lyric from commando song written at the back "Tiada gunung terlalu tinggi, buat kami daki di tengah MALAM". I'm sure you can spot the difference. Yep, the original line was PANAS, but Mantat changed it to MALAM, accidentally. But come to think of it, it does make sense, bcos our final climb to the summit will be at 2-3 AM. Good thinking lah Mantat.
We reported ourselves at Kinabalu Park arnd 0830. They passed to us the permit to climb, a tag that bears our name. You need to hang it on your neck at all time. As expected, they misspelled my name - Mior Arip Iskandar. Arif la bang. Ada jugak 2-3 org yg nama tak betul. We need to correct this at the last checkpoint(Sayat-Sayat) tomorrow, kalau tak tukar, it will be the one written in the cert.
The guides (Tubik & Sigol) did a briefing on our climb. Some key points that they touched were on cleanlines (jgn buang sampah rata2 and kalau nampak sampah tolong kutip)and on the pace (dont stop for too long nanti senang cramp).
The plan for the whole climb was,
1. Timpohon Gate - Laban Rata (4-7 hrs, 6K)
The next day
2. Laban Rata - Sayat-Sayat (1 - 2.5 hrs, 1.5K)
3.Sayat-Sayat - Low's Peak (1 - 2 hrs, 1.5 K)
4. Low's Peak - Laban Rata (1-2 hrs)
5.Laban Rata - Timpohon Gate (3-6 hrs)
Got on board the van again to get to Timpohon. This time they sumbat all 11 of us in the van. The spirit was very high. Hingaq gila with the usual kutuk-mengutuk. We were anxious and excited. The adrenalin starting to kick in. As we got off the van, Ayun had the last say..."selamat menZAKI"....as he saw the sign at Timpohon.. "SELAMAT MENDAKI"...Mantat panas.....
Some of us bought the nicely carved climbing pole for RM3 at the gate . Others have the canggih aluminum poles they brought from KL. This walking stick/pole really helps the climb. Advisable to use, as it can lessen the force you put on your legs.
Before the climb, I lead the strecthing and warm up. Meletup-letup bunyi sendi2 and lutut budak2 ni. Angin2 dlm badan, dgn kentot2 semua keluar sekali. Then we huddled up ala-rugby team, one hand on top of the other person's hand, the other hand hugging the mate next to you. Masing2 memberi sepatah dua kata which was caught on Farouk's camcorder. This moment was..... special.
After that, Bedul and Own recited the doa. Finally we had the loudest roars of GEMPUR WIRA. Habih terkejut beruk2 and ungka2 dekat Kinabalu Park yg baru nak makan breakfast.
3 kali GEMPUR WIRA!!!
GEMPUR...WIRA!!!
GEMPUR...WIRA!!!
GEMPUR...WIRA!!!
The official climb started at 0910. And so it began...
For all the talk that we have talked, this is the time to walk the walk...
Woke up at 0600, dah terang benderang. Bangun-bangun je sudah angin, nak kubab tak boleh pasal air tarak. Dah la terpijak air yg bertakung dlm toilet, mak ai..sejuk gile. Ni semua Mantat punya kerja la semalam. He wanted to sort of clean/rinse the toilet floor, but to his horror the toilet doesnt have any water outlet. Leceh betullah...
We reported to Capoi of this water problem. He went down. 10-15 mins later air dah ada. I think the org cabin tu takut dgn loud speaker Capoi kut. Cepat2 dia bukak pump. Dekat cabin ni, the water heaters are a bit special. They are being heated by actual fire. Serious man, no kidding. They have this kind of penunu bunsen bawah heater compartment to heat the water up. Jakun jugakla kitorang tengok.
We went down arnd 8, wearing the magnificent orange dyr-fit t-shirts designed by Mantat. Jauh sebatu pun boleh nampak. Had another photo session with the mount as the backdrop. Betul la cakap Itik, bila tgk gambar balik mcm team Holland, except the real team tak boroi2 mcm kitorang la.
One thing I wanna touch about this t-shirt is that we had a line of lyric from commando song written at the back "Tiada gunung terlalu tinggi, buat kami daki di tengah MALAM". I'm sure you can spot the difference. Yep, the original line was PANAS, but Mantat changed it to MALAM, accidentally. But come to think of it, it does make sense, bcos our final climb to the summit will be at 2-3 AM. Good thinking lah Mantat.
We reported ourselves at Kinabalu Park arnd 0830. They passed to us the permit to climb, a tag that bears our name. You need to hang it on your neck at all time. As expected, they misspelled my name - Mior Arip Iskandar. Arif la bang. Ada jugak 2-3 org yg nama tak betul. We need to correct this at the last checkpoint(Sayat-Sayat) tomorrow, kalau tak tukar, it will be the one written in the cert.
The guides (Tubik & Sigol) did a briefing on our climb. Some key points that they touched were on cleanlines (jgn buang sampah rata2 and kalau nampak sampah tolong kutip)and on the pace (dont stop for too long nanti senang cramp).
The plan for the whole climb was,
1. Timpohon Gate - Laban Rata (4-7 hrs, 6K)
The next day
2. Laban Rata - Sayat-Sayat (1 - 2.5 hrs, 1.5K)
3.Sayat-Sayat - Low's Peak (1 - 2 hrs, 1.5 K)
4. Low's Peak - Laban Rata (1-2 hrs)
5.Laban Rata - Timpohon Gate (3-6 hrs)
Got on board the van again to get to Timpohon. This time they sumbat all 11 of us in the van. The spirit was very high. Hingaq gila with the usual kutuk-mengutuk. We were anxious and excited. The adrenalin starting to kick in. As we got off the van, Ayun had the last say..."selamat menZAKI"....as he saw the sign at Timpohon.. "SELAMAT MENDAKI"...Mantat panas.....
Some of us bought the nicely carved climbing pole for RM3 at the gate . Others have the canggih aluminum poles they brought from KL. This walking stick/pole really helps the climb. Advisable to use, as it can lessen the force you put on your legs.
Before the climb, I lead the strecthing and warm up. Meletup-letup bunyi sendi2 and lutut budak2 ni. Angin2 dlm badan, dgn kentot2 semua keluar sekali. Then we huddled up ala-rugby team, one hand on top of the other person's hand, the other hand hugging the mate next to you. Masing2 memberi sepatah dua kata which was caught on Farouk's camcorder. This moment was..... special.
After that, Bedul and Own recited the doa. Finally we had the loudest roars of GEMPUR WIRA. Habih terkejut beruk2 and ungka2 dekat Kinabalu Park yg baru nak makan breakfast.
3 kali GEMPUR WIRA!!!
GEMPUR...WIRA!!!
GEMPUR...WIRA!!!
GEMPUR...WIRA!!!
The official climb started at 0910. And so it began...
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 2)
Day 1 - 20 May 2009
Woke up at 4:15, went out arnd 4:45. Picked up Bedul at Taman TAR. Supposed to rendezvous with Ayun at KL Sentral. Arrived arnd 5:30, tapi Ayun lambat sikit so we couldnt check-in at Sentral. And we scrapped the idea of using a cab as ERL would be much efficient and just cost a little bit more. Arrived at KLIA arnd 6:15, tried to check-in using the kiosk, failed. Nasib baik Ayun stayed in the line, so managed to check in without much problem, anyway, I didnt have any check-in luggage, so it was fast.
At arnd the same time, Farouk, Mantat and Capoi were on their way to LCCT. The Air Asia flt was abt 30 mins earlier than us. They spent the night before at Itik's house, and they did not sleep at all, as they were busy looking for Farouk's watch which was lost, as assumed by Farouk, in Itik's house. So terbongkok-bongkokla diorang tgh2 malam dok cari jam farouk.
While waiting for Itik and Idi to arrive, we had breakfast at KFC. Ni semua Ayun punya pasai la, dok mengidam KFC dari dlm train lagi. So hentam la kat KFC without knowing that MAS provides meal. Arnd 6:45, Itik and Idi sampai. While waiting, sempat la jugak aku 'kubab'.
Along the way to the aircraft, Idi dok mintak mcm2 kat Itik, mintak upgrade la, mintak tu lah, mintak ni lah. Sekali Itik sudah perli baik punya "Company in memang aku punya, mintak la apa2 hang nak mintak" Adusss, tajam...
Flt was 80% full. I think the meal in the box by MAS is a good idea, cos u can easily carry it off the plane if u want to. And BTW, we did that, saje nak bagi Mantat panas bcos dia naik air Asia, makan kena beli.
Flight was smooth, except for the landing, bumpy sikit. Mantat, Capoi and Farouk greeted us at arrivals as the van picked them up first. We pushed off straight to Hyatt where we will meet Izzat and Own who had checked in there the day before. Bila sampai, berlonggok2 lah kitorang semua duduk dlm satu bilik while waiting for transport to Kinabalu Park. Rasa mcm lepak kat 'bunk' masa boy dulu la. Asap berkepul2.
We had lunch and last minute shopping kat mall sebelah Hyatt. And Pelat, the last member met us there. For some, that was the first time they met Pelat after RMC, 16 years ago man. Quite emotional, especially for the Delta boys.
Bought myself a pair of football socks, to give extra warmness while climbing. Most of them bought towels as Capoi told us our next destination tak provide towels. Ada jugak yg stocked up their medical kits and food supplies, But Farouk was the best, he bought a digital watch for 48 bucks. Dia kata tak complete kalau tak pakai jam.
At 1430, we pushed off to Rose Cabin, located 5 mins from Kinabalu Park, 2 hrs from KK. We split 8 into the van and 3 in a car. The view along the road was breathtaking. Its kind of ironic as Sabah has so much land, but still some areas need to be reclaimed. I can understand this bcos its easier to dump land rather than to blow up hills, especially to widen roads that are sandwiched by the sea and the hills.
We were busy taking photos of the mountain at any glimpse we could get from the van. Memang susah, siap pening2 kepala semua cukup. Fortunately, we pit stopped (more than an hour actually) at pekan Nabalu, abt 30 mins before Rose Cabin, which has an opposite view of the mountain. The town is about 1000M above sea levels, and it is separated with the mount by a valley. We had tea break and took a lot of photos again. Some did their craftworks shopping. I bought a fridge magnet, beli la something buat kenang-kenaangan, takkan tak beli langsung kut.
We reached Rose Cabin arnd 6 and checked in. This was when we supplied our names for certificate preparation. I bunked in with Itik and Mantat. Crap, masa tu terlupa pulak yg Mantat punya dengkur mcm bot ekzos pecah. Settled in an waited for dinner. We had a good look of our track for tomorrow because u can see the landmarks(Power station, Laban Rata) from our balcony.
While waiting for dinner, we were busy packing our stuffs for the climb tomorrow. We tried to minimised as much as possible but not leaving the essentials behind. I brought my medical kit, knee guard, compression top and tights, 1 dry-fit shirt, windbreaker, gloves, scarf, snowcap, toiletries, camera, phone, polar HRM and footpod, a small towel, PowerBars and Gels and last but not least my beloved mini pack Sneakers. I guess the others were also bringing up more or less the same stuffs.
We had a good dinner at 7. After that we had the last briefing for the climb by Capoi and distribution of supplements by Mantat. We did discussed on the strategy for the climb and decided that we shd only decide whether to break into groups after the first checkpoint tomorrow. The objective for tomorrow was simple, to reach Laban Rata and yet still conserve enough gas for the summit climb the next day.
Woke up at 4:15, went out arnd 4:45. Picked up Bedul at Taman TAR. Supposed to rendezvous with Ayun at KL Sentral. Arrived arnd 5:30, tapi Ayun lambat sikit so we couldnt check-in at Sentral. And we scrapped the idea of using a cab as ERL would be much efficient and just cost a little bit more. Arrived at KLIA arnd 6:15, tried to check-in using the kiosk, failed. Nasib baik Ayun stayed in the line, so managed to check in without much problem, anyway, I didnt have any check-in luggage, so it was fast.
At arnd the same time, Farouk, Mantat and Capoi were on their way to LCCT. The Air Asia flt was abt 30 mins earlier than us. They spent the night before at Itik's house, and they did not sleep at all, as they were busy looking for Farouk's watch which was lost, as assumed by Farouk, in Itik's house. So terbongkok-bongkokla diorang tgh2 malam dok cari jam farouk.
While waiting for Itik and Idi to arrive, we had breakfast at KFC. Ni semua Ayun punya pasai la, dok mengidam KFC dari dlm train lagi. So hentam la kat KFC without knowing that MAS provides meal. Arnd 6:45, Itik and Idi sampai. While waiting, sempat la jugak aku 'kubab'.
Along the way to the aircraft, Idi dok mintak mcm2 kat Itik, mintak upgrade la, mintak tu lah, mintak ni lah. Sekali Itik sudah perli baik punya "Company in memang aku punya, mintak la apa2 hang nak mintak" Adusss, tajam...
Flt was 80% full. I think the meal in the box by MAS is a good idea, cos u can easily carry it off the plane if u want to. And BTW, we did that, saje nak bagi Mantat panas bcos dia naik air Asia, makan kena beli.
Flight was smooth, except for the landing, bumpy sikit. Mantat, Capoi and Farouk greeted us at arrivals as the van picked them up first. We pushed off straight to Hyatt where we will meet Izzat and Own who had checked in there the day before. Bila sampai, berlonggok2 lah kitorang semua duduk dlm satu bilik while waiting for transport to Kinabalu Park. Rasa mcm lepak kat 'bunk' masa boy dulu la. Asap berkepul2.
We had lunch and last minute shopping kat mall sebelah Hyatt. And Pelat, the last member met us there. For some, that was the first time they met Pelat after RMC, 16 years ago man. Quite emotional, especially for the Delta boys.
Bought myself a pair of football socks, to give extra warmness while climbing. Most of them bought towels as Capoi told us our next destination tak provide towels. Ada jugak yg stocked up their medical kits and food supplies, But Farouk was the best, he bought a digital watch for 48 bucks. Dia kata tak complete kalau tak pakai jam.
At 1430, we pushed off to Rose Cabin, located 5 mins from Kinabalu Park, 2 hrs from KK. We split 8 into the van and 3 in a car. The view along the road was breathtaking. Its kind of ironic as Sabah has so much land, but still some areas need to be reclaimed. I can understand this bcos its easier to dump land rather than to blow up hills, especially to widen roads that are sandwiched by the sea and the hills.
We were busy taking photos of the mountain at any glimpse we could get from the van. Memang susah, siap pening2 kepala semua cukup. Fortunately, we pit stopped (more than an hour actually) at pekan Nabalu, abt 30 mins before Rose Cabin, which has an opposite view of the mountain. The town is about 1000M above sea levels, and it is separated with the mount by a valley. We had tea break and took a lot of photos again. Some did their craftworks shopping. I bought a fridge magnet, beli la something buat kenang-kenaangan, takkan tak beli langsung kut.
We reached Rose Cabin arnd 6 and checked in. This was when we supplied our names for certificate preparation. I bunked in with Itik and Mantat. Crap, masa tu terlupa pulak yg Mantat punya dengkur mcm bot ekzos pecah. Settled in an waited for dinner. We had a good look of our track for tomorrow because u can see the landmarks(Power station, Laban Rata) from our balcony.
While waiting for dinner, we were busy packing our stuffs for the climb tomorrow. We tried to minimised as much as possible but not leaving the essentials behind. I brought my medical kit, knee guard, compression top and tights, 1 dry-fit shirt, windbreaker, gloves, scarf, snowcap, toiletries, camera, phone, polar HRM and footpod, a small towel, PowerBars and Gels and last but not least my beloved mini pack Sneakers. I guess the others were also bringing up more or less the same stuffs.
We had a good dinner at 7. After that we had the last briefing for the climb by Capoi and distribution of supplements by Mantat. We did discussed on the strategy for the climb and decided that we shd only decide whether to break into groups after the first checkpoint tomorrow. The objective for tomorrow was simple, to reach Laban Rata and yet still conserve enough gas for the summit climb the next day.
After dinner, lepak2 and sembang2 until 10-11.Some of them were still packing and repacking their bags. I only managed to sleep after putting on the ear plugs. Dalam bilik tu mcm medan perang, kalau tak pakai ear plugs tak tidur la aku.
End of Day 1.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 1)
Background
3 Jan 2009 marked 20 years I knew most of my batchmates from RMC. On the same date 20 years ago, we registered ourselves, not fully knowing what to expect, into The Royal Military College, our home for the next 5 years of our lives. Should I say here, 5 wonderful years of our lives. From that moment on, we were strangers no more. We have become more than friends, we are family.
To strengthen this bond, Itik and Mantat came up with the boldest idea early this year- "Apa kata kita panjat Gunung Kinabalu to celebrate this?" My first reaction - Gile ke budak2 ni? I fully knew the pain and tribulation of climbing a mountain having had the opportunity to climb Gunung Tahan with some of the boys. This was back in 1992 when we were in form 4. And I can tell you it was not that pleasant of an experience. And this was when we were at the peak of our fitness level.
But I guess, the feeling of doing this kind of activity again, only with the boys, was a good enough reason for me to sign up. And I do agree with Itik and Mantat, what better ways to celebrate our friendship than doing silly things, yeah, its kinda silly considering the fitness level of most of the boys now. Well, boys will always be boys.
Preparation
Mantat and Capoi were the ones who were practically doing the actual planning and organising. Stuffs like sending emails and sms communications, budget, itinerary, and etc were mostly done by them. We did have few meetings, well basically more of a TTS at Rasta Taman Tun to sort things out and do some discussions.
Itik organised few futsal sessions just to get back the boys in shape in a fun way. I also lent my experience by conducting fitnes sessions (running and climbing stairs). Some of them also had few ping pong sessions, dont ask me how it can help in climbing a mountain, it works for them
All the while from the moment the idea was mooted until the climbing day, the list of participants keep on fluctuating. In the end, only 11 confirmed to climb, they were;
Flight ticket masing2 beli sendiri. MAS ada Air Asia pun ada, in the range of 170-450 for return flights, we purchased early.
>>to be continued.
3 Jan 2009 marked 20 years I knew most of my batchmates from RMC. On the same date 20 years ago, we registered ourselves, not fully knowing what to expect, into The Royal Military College, our home for the next 5 years of our lives. Should I say here, 5 wonderful years of our lives. From that moment on, we were strangers no more. We have become more than friends, we are family.
To strengthen this bond, Itik and Mantat came up with the boldest idea early this year- "Apa kata kita panjat Gunung Kinabalu to celebrate this?" My first reaction - Gile ke budak2 ni? I fully knew the pain and tribulation of climbing a mountain having had the opportunity to climb Gunung Tahan with some of the boys. This was back in 1992 when we were in form 4. And I can tell you it was not that pleasant of an experience. And this was when we were at the peak of our fitness level.
But I guess, the feeling of doing this kind of activity again, only with the boys, was a good enough reason for me to sign up. And I do agree with Itik and Mantat, what better ways to celebrate our friendship than doing silly things, yeah, its kinda silly considering the fitness level of most of the boys now. Well, boys will always be boys.
Preparation
Mantat and Capoi were the ones who were practically doing the actual planning and organising. Stuffs like sending emails and sms communications, budget, itinerary, and etc were mostly done by them. We did have few meetings, well basically more of a TTS at Rasta Taman Tun to sort things out and do some discussions.
Itik organised few futsal sessions just to get back the boys in shape in a fun way. I also lent my experience by conducting fitnes sessions (running and climbing stairs). Some of them also had few ping pong sessions, dont ask me how it can help in climbing a mountain, it works for them
All the while from the moment the idea was mooted until the climbing day, the list of participants keep on fluctuating. In the end, only 11 confirmed to climb, they were;
- Razlim Rashid - JUO C (Capoi the Sherpa, 6 time reached the summit)
- Ahmad Razman Zaki - SP C (Mantat, PowerBar Man)
- Khairul Nizam Tajul Hasnan - SP C (Ayun, blackberry Man)
- Khairul Anuar Abdul Wahab - SP D (K-Own, Futsal Owner)
- Rafiee Kamarudin - JUO D (Pelat, Org kuat Pekan, reached summit in form 4)
- Farouk Abd Khalid - SP D (Farouk, Got Streamyx problem, call him)
- Tuan Azmil Abdullah - SP E ( Bedul, Official pembaca Doa)
- Mior Arif Iskandar - JUO F (Jabir, IronMan wannabe)
- Romizan Hanifah - SUO G (Itik the Sweeper, with Golden(MAS) wings)
- Eikma Izzat Ripin - SP G (Izzat, Towkay Minyak "we are drivers too")
- Idi Kadiron Mat Isa - SP H (Mataron, can sell anything under the sun)
For equipments, Capoi gave us a list of stuffs to bring. I took the opportunity to get my stuff during my biz trip to the States. The others were being advised by Mantat on what and where to get those stuffs. Most of them bought Salomon trekking shoes, damn good. Benda2 yg susah nak cari mcm headlamp, Capoi beli murah je dekat uptown Danau Kota.
For food and supplements, we were fully sponsored by Mantat with his PowerBar products. We got everything, from PowerBar bars, to carbo gels, to recovery drinks and etc. Semua Mantat sponsor.Flight ticket masing2 beli sendiri. MAS ada Air Asia pun ada, in the range of 170-450 for return flights, we purchased early.
>>to be continued.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Congrats Baby
I just want to specially mention to everbody that my wife, Tesa, completed her first 10K race in 1:22 last Sunday in Larial Amal Bukit Jalil.
I want to give special credits to her for having the determination and commitment to achieve it. Her target was simple, complete 10k in 1:25 and not to stop at all in doing it. She achieved both.
FYI, she had just given birth to our wonderful baby just 7 months ago, and to be able to do this when she was not even running this far pre-pregnancy was something to be proud of and shout about.
And I need to mention here too that she got a lot of help and motivation from Ezan, who also completed the race in 1:15.
Congratulations to both of you, and good luck for more races to come.
I want to give special credits to her for having the determination and commitment to achieve it. Her target was simple, complete 10k in 1:25 and not to stop at all in doing it. She achieved both.
FYI, she had just given birth to our wonderful baby just 7 months ago, and to be able to do this when she was not even running this far pre-pregnancy was something to be proud of and shout about.
And I need to mention here too that she got a lot of help and motivation from Ezan, who also completed the race in 1:15.
Congratulations to both of you, and good luck for more races to come.
Running in "Lone Star State"
I have not been updating my blog for more than a month that I dont even bother to write what I've been doing duirng those period. Too much to write.
Anyway, I've been a week in Houston now and have 2 more weeks to go. Before I flew off from KL, I made a pledge to myself not to make this business trip as an excuse not to train. Initially, it was very hard to start, with jet-lag and all. But last Wednesday, I finally managed to pull myself together and did a 3 miler (saje nak ikut org US, diorg pakai mile je semua kat sini). I ran at arnd 10 pm and there were still so many ppl running or playing in the park. And the way the park being lit, was very helpful.
Then on Friday, I did a run in the morning. I only realised how cold it was only after I got out of the hotel. Crap, just last nite it was like 30 deg, and now like 5 deg. Luckily I wore the compression top that I bought for Kinabalu trip. Did a 5 miler.
On Saturday, went out in the morning as well. And it was worse. Freezing temp + rain. I took it as a challenge and did 10K in 49 min. I guess bcos it was too cold I ran faster than normal bcos I wanted to finish it faster and get it done with. And btw, Houston is as flat as it can be thats why I can do good timing.
Besides that, ate a lot of steaks and did a lot of shopping. Its crazy2 cheap. Well, they are stimulating their economy by getting ppl to spend. Most of my shoppings are done at Factoty Outlets, and most of the deals are discount 50% on selected items, and on top of that 30% for entire store. So an item that cost 100 bucks, will end up like 35 bucks. And its already cheap to begin with becos its being sold at Factory outlets. Simply said, ada org pesan coach handbag, it would costs 1,500 rm in KL, but got it for only 165 USD. Crazy man...
Off course, bought 2 adidas shoes for total 70 USD. Got myself the Adidas Response Cushion 17 for the marathons and Boreal TR for Kinabalu escapade.
And Noah is the one getting the most of my shoppings. Talking abt that, I miss him and Tesa so much. Especially when Tesa told me that he'd 'cebik' when I'm being put on speaker phone when I call home. Man....2 weeks to go.
Anyway, I've been a week in Houston now and have 2 more weeks to go. Before I flew off from KL, I made a pledge to myself not to make this business trip as an excuse not to train. Initially, it was very hard to start, with jet-lag and all. But last Wednesday, I finally managed to pull myself together and did a 3 miler (saje nak ikut org US, diorg pakai mile je semua kat sini). I ran at arnd 10 pm and there were still so many ppl running or playing in the park. And the way the park being lit, was very helpful.
Then on Friday, I did a run in the morning. I only realised how cold it was only after I got out of the hotel. Crap, just last nite it was like 30 deg, and now like 5 deg. Luckily I wore the compression top that I bought for Kinabalu trip. Did a 5 miler.
On Saturday, went out in the morning as well. And it was worse. Freezing temp + rain. I took it as a challenge and did 10K in 49 min. I guess bcos it was too cold I ran faster than normal bcos I wanted to finish it faster and get it done with. And btw, Houston is as flat as it can be thats why I can do good timing.
Besides that, ate a lot of steaks and did a lot of shopping. Its crazy2 cheap. Well, they are stimulating their economy by getting ppl to spend. Most of my shoppings are done at Factoty Outlets, and most of the deals are discount 50% on selected items, and on top of that 30% for entire store. So an item that cost 100 bucks, will end up like 35 bucks. And its already cheap to begin with becos its being sold at Factory outlets. Simply said, ada org pesan coach handbag, it would costs 1,500 rm in KL, but got it for only 165 USD. Crazy man...
Off course, bought 2 adidas shoes for total 70 USD. Got myself the Adidas Response Cushion 17 for the marathons and Boreal TR for Kinabalu escapade.
And Noah is the one getting the most of my shoppings. Talking abt that, I miss him and Tesa so much. Especially when Tesa told me that he'd 'cebik' when I'm being put on speaker phone when I call home. Man....2 weeks to go.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday romantic run and 10th Thoroughbred ride.
We celebrated Valentine's this year by running at KLCC park. To make it even sweeter, Noah was with us.
We went out from our house at 7:15 to meet up with Ezan at the park. We were a bit anxious as this would be the first time we are bringing Noah out while he is still sleeping. He was sound a sleep while we get in the car and put him in the strolller as we reached KLCC.
Initially, I was running and pushing the stroller at a leisurely pace of 7-8 min/km. Noah still sleeps. So I ramp up my pace to max 5min/km, and Noah just slept like a 'baby', well he is still a baby. He must be enjoying the motion. And I'm glad that the stroller can hold up to my run. I only need to slow down at the un-rubberized part of the jogging track as it can cause the stroller's front wheels to shake uncontrollably. So after this, we can always bring Noah for our family run.
Was also proud of my wife, completed 5 rounds( abt 7K) without stopping. Her target by mid March is to complete 10K without stopping, which I truly believe she could, and I think she can complete it less than 1.5 hrs.
Had a sort of welcoming dinner to OP Farouk and Af. They had just moved in to UK Perdana, which is about 5 mins away from my house. So Farouk is now officially part of Ulu Kelang cycling fraternity. I'd surely enjoy my ride up to his house. Damn long hill.
On Sunday, did a ride at Guthrie. Co-incidently, all the riders were from my batch (Chipang, Itik n Farouk). First time(distance wise- abt 40K) for both Farouk and Itik and they did it with ease, except for few complaints on sore ass. Farouk was using Chipang's MTB and Itik was using fully carboned Giant Time Trial road bike given by his National Coach brother in-law. Ringan gila beb...
I truly enjoyed the ride, especially when we stopped for our breakfast at Elmina R&R. I think the time we took to eat was almost half the time we ride. We were joined in by Mantat, the Powerbar Man. Well, he definitely did not rode with us. He drove from his house to join us just for the breakfast, but by the portion of rice that he took, looks to be more of a lunch rather than breakfast.
Hopefully we can do this ride with my batch mate more often in the future.
We went out from our house at 7:15 to meet up with Ezan at the park. We were a bit anxious as this would be the first time we are bringing Noah out while he is still sleeping. He was sound a sleep while we get in the car and put him in the strolller as we reached KLCC.
Initially, I was running and pushing the stroller at a leisurely pace of 7-8 min/km. Noah still sleeps. So I ramp up my pace to max 5min/km, and Noah just slept like a 'baby', well he is still a baby. He must be enjoying the motion. And I'm glad that the stroller can hold up to my run. I only need to slow down at the un-rubberized part of the jogging track as it can cause the stroller's front wheels to shake uncontrollably. So after this, we can always bring Noah for our family run.
Was also proud of my wife, completed 5 rounds( abt 7K) without stopping. Her target by mid March is to complete 10K without stopping, which I truly believe she could, and I think she can complete it less than 1.5 hrs.
Had a sort of welcoming dinner to OP Farouk and Af. They had just moved in to UK Perdana, which is about 5 mins away from my house. So Farouk is now officially part of Ulu Kelang cycling fraternity. I'd surely enjoy my ride up to his house. Damn long hill.
On Sunday, did a ride at Guthrie. Co-incidently, all the riders were from my batch (Chipang, Itik n Farouk). First time(distance wise- abt 40K) for both Farouk and Itik and they did it with ease, except for few complaints on sore ass. Farouk was using Chipang's MTB and Itik was using fully carboned Giant Time Trial road bike given by his National Coach brother in-law. Ringan gila beb...
I truly enjoyed the ride, especially when we stopped for our breakfast at Elmina R&R. I think the time we took to eat was almost half the time we ride. We were joined in by Mantat, the Powerbar Man. Well, he definitely did not rode with us. He drove from his house to join us just for the breakfast, but by the portion of rice that he took, looks to be more of a lunch rather than breakfast.
Hopefully we can do this ride with my batch mate more often in the future.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Update 2nd Half January
I can sum up this update with only 1 word, COLONOSCOPY. Yep, I had that procedure done to check on the everlasting stomach pain that I had for more than 3 weeks.
COLONOSCOPY = Having a camera shoved up the Ass.
And I was relieved that they found nothing serious (eg; polyp, ulcer, cancer) in my stomach/intestine/liver etc.. only some bacteria infections that can be solved by taking some antibiotics and regular worm medicine. But I cant tell you how does it feel, bcos I passed out. Well, I was supposed to pass out, kalau conscious cuak jugak...And BTW, they also inserted 1 more camera through my throat, like the nurse asked me, 'Encik nak kena masuk atas bawah ke?' while prepping me up.
Spent my CNY in Cherating. This was when I discovered that u can take cinnamon to cure stomach problem, especially for heartburn or acidity problem, bcos cinnamon has some level of alkali that can cure that problem. At first, asked my wife to sprinkle ground cinnamon on a toast bread. And it worked. But after that, whenever I had pain, I just chew the cinnamon raw, and believe me, it is sweet and quite soft, and easily dissolved in your mouth. But it leaves a soapy after taste, like u just licked a soap kind of taste.
We also attended Stupe's open house. His house is nice and cosy, complemented by the warm hospitality of Stupe, his wife, Ryan and Nadia. And the nasi lemak was fabulous, no wonder the towkay drives a C-class, as Stupe told me, he sent the nasi lemak to Stupe's house using that car. Business must be really good.
But last Wed, as I started going back to offc, the pain in my stomach was unbearable. So decided to see the specialist (gastroenterologist). They had taken my blood sample and told me to come the next day for the colonoscopy. I think the worst part about this procedure is the preparation. I need to fast more than 12 hrs and can only eat plain white bread/porridge before fasting, and then drink up 2 litres of laxative in 2hrs time to start excreting the content of my stomach to be ready for the procedure.
First, the laxative drink's taste was terrible, mcm minum air laut yg tawar campur glukos. 2 liter pulak tu nak kena minum.
Second, had to go to toilet 15-20 times, mula2 tu ada jugak keluar isi, last2 tu keluar air je. letih.....
So guys, better watch what you eat, as the Dr told me, the possible cause of my problem might be bcos some contaminated food.
On my training, took almost a week rest after GE 30K. Started with recovery run in Taman Tar, then did 1 x DUKE ride, 2 x beach run in Cherating and 1 x Guthrie ride during CNY holidays. Azmil rode for the first time in Guthrie and he did very well to complete the 40K.
After the pain on Wednesday and procedure on Thurs, start of again with a 10K run in Pandan loop on Friday. It was sluggish, I think it may be the after effect of the laxatives and the procedure. Did and interval run on Saturday using Polar for the first time. Set 3 zones with different speed limits. It will beep whenever u go too slow or too fast. I like it a lot.
COLONOSCOPY = Having a camera shoved up the Ass.
And I was relieved that they found nothing serious (eg; polyp, ulcer, cancer) in my stomach/intestine/liver etc.. only some bacteria infections that can be solved by taking some antibiotics and regular worm medicine. But I cant tell you how does it feel, bcos I passed out. Well, I was supposed to pass out, kalau conscious cuak jugak...And BTW, they also inserted 1 more camera through my throat, like the nurse asked me, 'Encik nak kena masuk atas bawah ke?' while prepping me up.
Spent my CNY in Cherating. This was when I discovered that u can take cinnamon to cure stomach problem, especially for heartburn or acidity problem, bcos cinnamon has some level of alkali that can cure that problem. At first, asked my wife to sprinkle ground cinnamon on a toast bread. And it worked. But after that, whenever I had pain, I just chew the cinnamon raw, and believe me, it is sweet and quite soft, and easily dissolved in your mouth. But it leaves a soapy after taste, like u just licked a soap kind of taste.
We also attended Stupe's open house. His house is nice and cosy, complemented by the warm hospitality of Stupe, his wife, Ryan and Nadia. And the nasi lemak was fabulous, no wonder the towkay drives a C-class, as Stupe told me, he sent the nasi lemak to Stupe's house using that car. Business must be really good.
But last Wed, as I started going back to offc, the pain in my stomach was unbearable. So decided to see the specialist (gastroenterologist). They had taken my blood sample and told me to come the next day for the colonoscopy. I think the worst part about this procedure is the preparation. I need to fast more than 12 hrs and can only eat plain white bread/porridge before fasting, and then drink up 2 litres of laxative in 2hrs time to start excreting the content of my stomach to be ready for the procedure.
First, the laxative drink's taste was terrible, mcm minum air laut yg tawar campur glukos. 2 liter pulak tu nak kena minum.
Second, had to go to toilet 15-20 times, mula2 tu ada jugak keluar isi, last2 tu keluar air je. letih.....
So guys, better watch what you eat, as the Dr told me, the possible cause of my problem might be bcos some contaminated food.
On my training, took almost a week rest after GE 30K. Started with recovery run in Taman Tar, then did 1 x DUKE ride, 2 x beach run in Cherating and 1 x Guthrie ride during CNY holidays. Azmil rode for the first time in Guthrie and he did very well to complete the 40K.
After the pain on Wednesday and procedure on Thurs, start of again with a 10K run in Pandan loop on Friday. It was sluggish, I think it may be the after effect of the laxatives and the procedure. Did and interval run on Saturday using Polar for the first time. Set 3 zones with different speed limits. It will beep whenever u go too slow or too fast. I like it a lot.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Polar Bear on the run
Had a shopping spree mid-week last week. Not really a spree, just wished it was. Actually went to Mantat's sports shop in Bandar Tasik Permaisuri. Mantat co-owned this outfit. They are, if I'm not mistaken, sole distributor of Powerbar in Malaysia. You'd never missed them in any of the endurance events. They'd normally set up booth to sell their product, which BTW not limited to Powerbar only. And sometimes, co-sponsored those events.If you want to buy cheap high quality sporting goods, u guys can go to his shop, sorry la lupa nama kedai dia, but u wont miss it if u go to Bandar Tasik Permaisuri as his shop is the only sport shop there. It might not carry the major brands, but I can tell u, the stuffs that he is selling is the same quality if not better than what u can find in the mainstream market. I bought an un-orthodox designed cycling jersey for RM75 and Polar(HRM+FootPod) for a much lesser price. Cant disclose, but definitely much cheaper. So guys, pergilah beramai-ramai ke kedai Mantat. And Mantat, aku dah buat promo ni bagi la diskaun lagi.
Bila dah dpt jam baru, apalagi, Batak la nak try. Petang tu jugak sudah layan Taman TAR dgn Tesa. Yes, my wife has picked up again her love for running. So she was using the nike+ while I used Polar. She did 1 round but I continued another round to test out more features on the watch. Verdict - Very satisfied, couldnt say much actually as I have only compared it with nike+, I know, its not apple to apple comparison.
On the other note, Ezan, Mantat's wife is also addicted to running now. And I felt good cos she said I'm one of the reason she wanted to run again, well, actually the main reason bcos her hubby gave her a Polar watch too. I was happy that I could give some tips for her to get started, not to say that I have enough experience, just trying to help anybody starting out. In Ezan's case, starting out again.
Slowed down my run routines for last week as the big race was on Sunday. Did freakish carbo loading on Fri and Sat. Tibai nasi 2 pinggan pkl 5 on Friday and malam boleh tibai pizza and pasta lagi. Saturday was no different, had 3 pinggan nasi and lauk sikit during my batch 20 yrs friendship re-union dinner. But had to passed the Kambing golek.
The dinner was great as this time we did something more meaningful. Did the Maghrib, Yassin, Isya' and sembahyang Hajat. After dinner we viewed a slide show on old photos. As you could imagine, suasana gamat ya'amat. Kudos to Ikang and other committee.
Well, at last, Sunday is here. Woke up at 4.30. Had 2 slices of bread and a cup of coffee. Azmil and Faisal came to my house and we went off together at 5:15. Arrived arnd 5:40 had difficulty finding parking space. Walked down for about 1.5 K, which is good, sort of to warm up. Lepak kat tent Powerbar Mantat. Met Kam. Terkucil 2 kali behind the bushes.
The run started excatly at 6:17am. Cant do much on the 1st K as the run started up a hill, so it was quite slow and very crowded. Took this oppotunity to jump into the bushes and terkucil for the 3rd time, well, at least tak terasa nak ter'kubab' tu dah kira cukup bagus la. Maintained arnd 5:30/k pace for a good 10K. Clocked 56 min/10K. Was dong quite fine and was enjoying the climbs more than the decsends (note: need to work on downhill run). Reached 15K on 1:26. Walked for few hundred meters to eat the carbo gel and replenish my fluid.
As I started running back, felt some pain on the outer part of my left foot. Kept on running but couldnt shake off the pain. Stopped and re-strapped my shoe. Pain still there. I think Adizero LT is good only for short distance 20K or less, coz the impact of the run started affecting me arnd that distance. The cushion is quite minimal, more for speed I guess (Shd have listened to Stupe to get a more cushioned shoes). Just buat bodoh and kept on running. Met up with Stupe(he was pirating) arnd Plaza Damas. He ran with me for few hundred mtrs and he left off to seek for OP Chief Kutu. Tabik la kat Stupe. He was supporting few other runners as well by giving encouraging words, even after he had ran more than 20K.
The real pain started at 18K mark. It was unbareable, the pain in my foot. But had to maintained as I know Shazly is waiting somewhere there taking photos, tak nak la dia snap photo muka aku kesakitan. When I reached 20K. The pain was too much. Walked for about 500m. And started running very slowly for abt 1-2K. Was doing as slow as 7min/K.
But some how, got back my spirit. Was telling my self don be such a sissy. So pushed myself not to exceed 6min/K if I were to complete it sub 3 hrs. Almost wanted to stop again at KM 26/27. But Shazly came a long and told me 'jgn nak mengada2 berhenti skrg, 3K je lagi'. Well, just pinned back my ear and pushed whatever left in my tank. Finished GE30K in 2hrs 57min. Puas hati...memang puas hati. Next stop, Kenyir triathlon.
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