Saturday and in the office! Grrrrrr

Hi at the office now.  I haven’t done much running since Thursday.  In fact I haven’t done much running all week.  Probably still recovering from the 15k race, emotionally.  Couldn’t run on Friday because I had a dinner to attend.  Today (Saturday) I had to attend a talk at the office.  I thought the talk would end at 345pm, but it ended before 230pm!  Which gives me a chance to do a bit of blogging.  I had a late lunch so I’m waiting till the food digests before I go for my run in the gym.  Will head to the gym at about 4:00 to 415pm.  Ronnie just told me that Ah Beh won’t be going for the Bomba race tomorrow.  I might take his position instead.  In the meantime I have to stick around because there’s a concert I have to attend with some colleagues, to be held at the office. 

 

Have a good weekend people. 

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Phantom Menace

Thanks to all for their encouraging words in the past few days. Ajeep, I'm glad we're cool. You know that I meant no malice in what I said about you, just as you bore none when you said it to me. It served as a wake-up call, that's all. Yup, like what Baxter said to Ron Burgundy. And Baxter is Ron's "Little Buddha". Thanks Jamie, John, Kenny and Julian for your encouraging words.

Julian- I've been a red wine person for the past 2 years. But I'm not very discerning lah. Usually I take a Merlot, which is supposed to be the easiest tasting and the "Ribena" of wines. Otherwise, it's a Cabernet Sauvignon, or Shiraz. I usually have 2 glasses at the front porch of my house. It is quite cool and relaxing at night. I'm not much of a white wine person. For some reason I get the feeling that white wine somehow tastes more "fermented", if I can describe it that way. Haha. Maybe I just have no "class" lah. It took me a while to like red wine. On my part it is certainly an acquired taste.

I've been resting since Sunday, and I only started on Wednesday. I was on Tuesday and I rested by watching Revenge of the Sith a 2nd time. Somehow I am affected by the tragic story more than I thought, because (believe it or not), (and to borrow a phrase of Anchorman) it really cut to the core of me. I know- 1st Ajeep, now the story of Revenge of the Sith. Hahhaa. The thing is, Padme would not have died if Anakin stayed on the good side. His clairvoyant visions of Padme's death in fact was as a result of him turning to the dark side. I'll watch it again.

Anyway Wednesday was my first run since Sunday and I ran a 12 lapper. It was raining at the park when I started my run at 6:35pm, but I ran anyway. On my 7th lap, Ronnie joined me. I jokingly told him I was on my 10th lap. I ran another 5 laps before stopping. Jason Lim Fang Hau was there after my run and I chatted with him briefly before going.

Thursday was alright- arrived at track on time. The menu was as follows:-

1 x 400m- 3 quarter pace

1 x 400m- 50m fast, 50m slow

6 x 1000m- 3:37, 3:34, 3:35, 3:37, 3:33, 3:26

2 x 400m- warm down

Thereafter, as usual I had a nice chat with Kenneth, Ronnie, Kenny and Jessica.

NB Pacesetters 15k

PM19 reporting from a cybercafe. I had a pretty bad race on Sunday's 15k.

My finishing time was disappointing, and I can't really offer any excuses. And I don't want to. At best, all I can say is that I had a really off day. I am happy about one thing though- I continued pushing as hard as I possibly could, despite the way I felt. In the end, on that day, at least I can say that I gave it my very best. I fought my inner demons to quit and ran the whole race.

I hadn't run since Thursday. I rested on Friday and Saturday, and despite my previous blog downplaying my hopes for the 15k race, I had hoped to run a faster time than my ultimate finishing time. I felt confident. Physically and mentally, I felt fresh.

I had rested the whole of Saturday with naps. I did go and watch Revenge of the Sith (a 930pm screening at Berjaya Times Square) and reached home late, but I felt that I had enough rest by then.

When I arrived at the Lake Gardens carpark, it was already full but I saw Azwar's car parked on the yellow line and I slotted my car behind his. Walked with him to the starting line but not before greeting a few friends along the way. Nelson, Kenneth, Ronnie, Li Sar, Kenny were among them. There was a buzz of excitement. I could feel it.

The race started at 7am sharp. After the initial hills, we were onto the main road that led us towards Bank Negara. I already sensed that something was wrong- I was feeling more winded than usual. I was already suffering! Somehow my legs also lacked its usual zip. The sides of my calves were lactic acid laden. Still I persisted, but it didn't get better. Along the roads leading to Bukit Tunku, I huffed and puffed. Looking at my watch and the km marker, I was running at 4:18 pace. But I was really suffering. As it turned out in the preceding kilometers, my pace slowed.

As I started my ascent to the double hill, Azwar passed me, and I offered no resistance. Then Kenny passed me. Ditto response (i.e NONE). More people passed me, and I just could not summon anything within me to respond.

Past Bukit Tunku and onto the main road, it was a matter of hanging on. Yes, it was that bad. Thoughts of DNFing crossed my mind as I entered the long and windy road of the Sultan's palace. John Tan had passed me before that. As I passed the National Monument onto the traffic light, I looked at my watch and saw my time 55:32. The km marker had stated that it was the 12km mark. 3k or so to go.

I plodded along the Carcosa route, and it was sheer hell. I was overtaken there by another runner. My breathing was extremely laboured. My legs? Absolutely dead. More thoughts of DNFing crossed my mind. I just wanted to quit. Then I thought- it was already so close to the end, I might as well complete the race. And besides, DNFing is a coward's way out. Like tanking in tennis, where you lose deliberately. Or when you take a dive in boxing. Whatever it is, it is a coward's way of dealing with poor performance. So I continued.

As I went back into the Lake Gardens towards the finishing line, I knew my running form was ragged. It was just a matter of surviving. I completed the race in 1:08 and change.

Changed and went back to the race to hang out with other friends and have some breakfast. One key moment was when I spoke to Ajeep and he told me that he had heard I was off form, to which I replied that maybe I was overtrained. And he said something along the lines of "You've been the one advising all of us to rest, and now you also do the same thing". Ouch. Very very ouch. That really drove a stake through my heart. I tried to remain cheerful, but that statement was very painful. I began to wonder whether I was really overtrained?

I was (in fact still am) disappointed. I'm trying to conduct a post-mortem on what had happened. Was I over trained? Physically I felt fine. My heart rate wasn't elevated, my legs were not aching, and my mind wasn't jaded in the days leading to the race. In fact I was probably over excited with the race. Maybe I psyched myself out. Then again I was already suffering from the start of the race, despite having run at that same pace so comfortably in previous workouts. I dunno. I can only speculate that I had a completely off day. Just way off. I was never comfortable at any point in the race. My body just didn't respond.

I will recover from this disappointment. I was happy to win the fight against my inner demons who were calling on me to quit. It would have been an easy way out. This is a mere bump on the road. One bad race does not turn me into a "bad" runner overnight. Yes, I wanted to run a faster time but it was just an off day for me. It is how I bounce back from this slight "setback" that will define me. One should remember now only the successes experienced, but also (and perhaps more importantly) the failures, for both serve to teach us valuable lesssons.

On a side note, I wonder how Jamie has done in his race at Bangkok. In fact I wonder how his holiday was. He should be back by now. I guess he will detail his experience in his blog.

I will be back!

In the meantime I will just take it easy for the next week. I bruised my knee last night, hitting the table. Now there's a nice beautiful bruise the size of a 20 sen coin on my inner left knee. I will be on leave on Tuesday.

Short term plan? Get the hell outta this cyber cafe and have some red wine. That should help ease some of the pain.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Thursday- was the beginning of my tapering, although I still needed to have one intense session. I was late for track- due to the traffic and by then the group had run 1 x 2400 m. So, I did the remainder workouts, which consisted of 3 x 800m, and 4 x 400m. Thereafter I hung out with Azwar, Kenny, Ronnie and Jessica just talking nonsense.

Friday- no running. Attended a departmental party before heading for Luna Bar with my colleagues. Reached home at 12:30am.

Saturday sofar- Woke up at 9am. Received an sms from Ronnie that Tey Gege had PRed once again in his 3k time trial. Congrats Tey! Also asked me what time I was going to collect my bib. I replied with a question as to what time the collection of the bib was over. He didn't reply, so I gave him a call. Ronnie wasn't sure, he said, but he will sms me once he finds out. Then I headed downstairs for my breakfast before taking another nap again. Not sure how long I slept, but I woke up at 1pm and then had a light lunch. Ronnie smsed me and told me that collection of the bib was up to 6pm Good, I thought. After lunch, I pumped some petrol before driving to Lake Gardens. Collected my bib and bought the accompanying pair of shorts for RM20. I was also given my latest copy of Footloose. To my surprise, I found my previous blog detailing my experience at KLIM 2005 was published as an article!!! I never knew about this. Must ask Jamie about this....

I then took another nap, which then brings me to now, 7pm-ish. Am watching Revenge of the Sith tonight, so I will miss out on the FA Cup final. At least I got a fair amount of rest today. Apart from pumping petrol and walking up and downstairs in my house, and collecting my bib, my feet were up most of the time. I feel good. Hopefully I can feel good for the race tomorrow. My goal- I don't want to predict a finishing time, but I just want to go out there and try my very best; otherwise I'm not doing myself any justice, and all the high mileage and hard work that I've put in the past months will go to waste. So, that is all I'm asking out of myself.

Good luck to all out there competing tomorrow. Kick some butt!

Jon Jonsson wannabe and running FREE

Good morning.  Photo shoot took up most of yesterday so I have some catching up at work to do today.  A few e-mails to reply to, documents to prepare, meetings to attend and so forth.  Yesterday’s photo shoot saw me holding documents, having “discussions” with colleagues, using the laptop, posing at the stairs, giving the “thumbs-up” sign, and “checking out” the share prices of the day.  It is quite exhausting too, and I can see how it can be pretty demanding on a model, physically.  I mean it’s not exactly mentally challenging stuff, but you do need to concentrate on your task at hand- “act out” certain scenarios, look a certain way and all that.

 

I managed to make it for a late lunch with Kenneth (who’s all excited about watching Revenge of the Sith back to back that means he’s watching the movie TWICE at GSC Mid Valley, the first at 9pm, and the second one immediately after the 9pm show.  Mad FELLA!), Jamie, Newton and Geraldine. Obviously with Kenneth’s excitement, there was only one topic at lunch.  He also proceeded to give us a lesson on the Jedi and the Sith.

 

Went back to the office, continued with the photo shoots and left work by 630pm.  Amazingly Azwar was there.  It’s a rarity to see him running at KLCC park nowadays.  Ronnie, Newton, Li Sar, Rohaizad, Ah Loong, even Adam Loh turned up.  It was a pretty large group.  And to top it off, for all the single male runners out there, there were plenty of women! Another rarity.  Azwar was running in a pair of shoes he bought called Nike Free.  It is supposed to simulate barefoot running.  I do remember trying it on once and feeling that there’s absolutely no support or cushioning.  In other words, the only thing separating my feet from the ground was a piece of rubber.  Still Azwar looked very comfortable in them as we ran together.  I ran 7 laps before stopping (Azwar had stopped by then) the curiosity got the better of me and I asked him if I could run in the shoes.  I was surprised by how lightweight and simple the shoes were.  It was strictly a no-frills.  The upper material was similar to the “foot sock” that was present in the Prestos.  There was really good grip on the soles, but apart from that there was no cushioning or support of any kind from the shoes.  I think it is good for efficient light runners.  If you’re someone who is heavy, or over-pronates then the shoes could lead you to serious injury.  Heck, I’m not even sure if you can last 2ks in them. 

 

Anyway I’ve always been a forefoot runner.  When we run barefoot, the immediate/ subconscious reaction would be to land on your lightly on the forefoot because that would be the most efficient way in absorbing the shock and providing a natural cushioning.  My point is, for me Nike Free is a good pair of shoes for me to run in.  I enjoyed the lightweight.  In fact, my forefoot running was probably even more evident as I landed even lighter, towards the outside of my feet before pushing off my toes.  I think it is good for me up to a 15k race.  Beyond that distance, it is probably wise to wear something with better protection. 

 

After my run, hung out with the boys and chatted for a while.  Of particular interest was upcoming Pacemakers Anniversary Run. 

 

Went home, had dinner and spent the remainder of my waking hours catching up with the rest of Star Wars episodes since Revenge of the Sith is out now.  Lights off at 1140pm.

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Monday and Tuesday, 16/5 and 17/5

Monday

 

I wasn’t fully recovered after Sunday, but obviously I had to go into work on Monday anyway.  Because we worked on Sunday, we were entitled to one day’s unrecorded leave.  I promptly submitted my application for leave when I got into the office.  Intended day- next Tuesday.  Which will be good! In addition to the 15k run, this Sunday is actually a public holiday (Wesak Day), which means that Monday is a public holiday too.  So, if my leave is approved, it will be a 4 day weekend for me.  Hopefully!

 

Lunch on Monday with Jamie, Newton, Ronnie, William, Wen Dee and Geraldine at Wisma Sentral- managed to get my 3k time trial photos.  As usual, time passes by too quickly. 

 

Kenny called me at 6pm and asked if I was going to the park.  He said he was still at Sunbang and will see us there.  I arrived at KLCC park around 640pm.  Saw that Newton, Li Sar, Ronnie, Kenneth and gang.  Jamie was not around.  May be due to last minute work or some family matters, I thought.  With my intended workout in mind, I ran 2 laps with them before starting the workout.  In the end, I ended up not completing my workout.  It was very taxing, mind you.  I ran 4 laps initially, completing it in 22:15, and then ran another 2 laps, completing it in 11:10.  I was pretty tried after that.  So I ran one more lap with Kenny (who arrived later and seemed to be running very well) and that was the end of my workout for the day. 

 

Total- 9 laps. 

 

Went home and spent some time clearing up all the rubbish in my car.  Sprayed some Baygon in the car because some mosquitoes contrived to get in and were bugging my legs when I was driving home. 

 

 

Tuesday

 

I received an e-mail yesterday from someone in the Group Corporate Communications department.  Seems that I’ve been requested (along with a few others) to attend a photo shoot for an intended new lay-out of my company’s corporate profile.  It’ll be on Wednesday….  I think some of my colleagues here have suggested my name.  GrrrRRRRrrrr…. This is slightly embarrassing, imagine seeing my face on some brochure!  The photo shoot is expected to take up most of the day.  I didn’t realize it would take that long. 

 

Tuesday morning I met up with Jamie for a quick breakfast.  I had to pass him his 3k time trial photos that were taken by Tey. 

 

Overall, Tuesday as usual was busy.  In fact nowadays work has really picked up.  Which is good anyway because then I would feel useful to the organization.  So far, thankfully most of the work can be completed by the end of the office day and I can still go for my runs.  Or even if I do stay back, it isn’t too late anyway.  I can’t complain.  I’m enjoying it much more over here then in my previous place.

 

I planned to go to track since it is a Tuesday, but when it started raining i was pretty sure that I wouldn’t go because the rain would produce a massive traffic jam and there is really no point in me getting stuck for one hour or so (yes, even for such a short distance- after all, on the average, it takes about 30 minutes to arrive there on a non-rainy day) and arriving at track when everyone is half way into their workout.  I’d also have to warm up etc before joining them.  Who knows- they might even have almost finished by then. 

 

It was raining at 6pm and I called Azwar to ask if he was going to track.  He said he wasn’t and was already at the car park of KLCC ready to run.  Then I called Ronnie but he didn’t answer the phone.  Must be running already, I thought.  That pretty much made up my mind.

It was raining when I arrived at the park but that didn’t prevent me from my workout.  For starters I ran an 8 lap.  Splits, in general, were as follows:- 6:45, 6:21, 6:23, 6:24, 6:20, 6:23, 6:21, 6:15.  Time for 8 laps- 51:12.  Then after a 5 minute rest (drank some water at the nearby fountain) I did another long interval- 4 laps.  Each lap were as follows:- 5:30, 5:28, 5:28, 5:15.  Time for 4 laps- 21:41.

 

Grand total for Tuesday at KLCC- 12 laps

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Mah weekend and mah planned workouts for the week

It’s been a weekend of less running and more work related stuff.  On Friday I did manage to run 8k in the afternoon (in the gym) at 4:30 pace before running another 8 laps in the evening.  By the time I arrived at the park at 7pm, most of the runners have either completed their runs or were almost completing their runs.  Ronnie was already warming down, and the rest like Newton, Li Sar, Rohaizad were concluding their runs.  So I ran alone.  I’ve been increasing the intensity of my runs in anticipation of the forthcoming 15k.  This high intensity-lower mileage workout will continue until this coming Thursday, and thereafter I will rest and carbo- load.  Anyway my intended plan for Monday to Thursday goes something like this-

 

Monday plan- long intervals.  1 x 5000m, 1 x 4000m, 1 x 3000m, 1 x 2000m, 1 x 1000m, warm down.  Intervals will be at Max V02 intensity.  Seems like an awful lot but I’ve done this workout about 1 week (or less) before my past 2 races (Singapore, Nilai) and it has reaped dividends, so why change something that has worked for me in the past?

 

Tuesday plan- shorter intervals, even higher intensity.  Morning- may be a time trial; evening- at track, will be going as hard as I can.  Track session may be run at Max V02 pace, at least until the last few when I will go anaerobic.

 

Wednesday plan- 5-8 k, high intensity

 

Thursday plan- Final track session, lower intensity

 

The purpose of this week’s workouts would be to “sharpen” myself.  Thursday onwards I will be carbo-loading.  Some of you reading this may not agree with my proposed plan.  It might be too intense.  I dunno, you may be right.  But I intend to go ahead with this plan and see if it bears fruit this coming Sunday.

 

Anyway back to my weekend.  Saturday- busy day! Didn’t run much!

 

Sunday- I had to work on Sunday.  There was a day-long conference held by my company.  My day started at 6:55am.  Wearily woke up and drove to KL.  Arrived at destination by 7:50am.  Was at the conference by 8:00am.  I was to man a booth/desk of my company’s products and give the participants (of they approached us and asked us) about the products and services that we offer.  We were standing quite a lot and although for most of the day we were either standing up or sitting down, I think it took a lot out of us mentally; by the end of the day (which was 7pm!!!) I think many of us were mental zombies by then.  Mental fatigue does affect you physically as well.  After that all I wanted to do is go home and sleep.  So, no running for me on Sunday.  Any interesting looking participants?  Sorry fellas- I didn’t see anyone!

 

Will be going for lunch with Jamie today.

 

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Quid Pro Quo!

Tuesday

 

Things are getting really hectic in the office.  I’ve had to come in early so that I can do the extra work and still leave on time at 615pm to do my runs.  I had to give track a miss- I had to meet a VVVVIP.  I still managed a run, though, at Lake Gardens, one of my least favourite running spots.  I dunno why- I just prefer running at KLCC.  Managed to run 6 laps. 

 

 

Wednesday

 

Will I or won’t I go to Melaka for the meeting?  That was the question throughout the day as I ran around the office with lotsa work to do.  It was hectic, once again, and I left the office at 645pm with that question answered- I am definitely heading to Melaka tomorrow for the meeting.  At least I get to sleep longer, which is always a bonus.  I ran twice on Wednesday- I rushed to the gym during lunch time and managed to run 8k; and in the evening, 10k at KLCC at about 6:15 per lap pace. 

 

I normally take the path at Menara TR on the way back to the carpark after my run.  It just occurred to me yesterday to check the parking rates there, because where I’m currently parking charges a cut throat price of RM6.50 per day.  It’s really expensive.  I found out that if I arrived at the Menara TR carpark before 8am then the parking charge per day is RM3.00 flat.  That is so much cheaper than my current parking spot.  So I made a mental note to park there from Friday onwards. 

 

 

Thursday

 

Woke up late- 9am.  It was wonderful to get in some much needed sleep.  Drove down to Melaka- arrived by 1230pm and the meeting proceeded without much problems.  510pm meeting was over and I tried as much as possible to speed home hoping to make it for track.   I managed to arrive at track just short of 7pm.  I could see that everyone were already running.  Looks like no time for me to warm-up properly.  Coach told me to run half a lap and proceed back to the starting line which in effect was 400 meters.  Then it started- the group had done 4 x 400 m at that point and I joined them at the final 400m.  Then came the rest of the workouts- 3 x 800m, followed by 1 x 1200, and 1 x 400.  Then I concluded my run for that session with an easy 2000 meters. 

 

I really need to put in more mileage, because it was NOT sufficient!  Maybe I can make it up by running extra on Friday.

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Weekend Updates, Monday and Tuesday

Weekend has been filled with lots of activities, most of which did not involve running.  Mileage is down to a low.  No matter.  I intend to put in as much as I can handle before starting my tapering next week.  Although I did run on Friday evening (8 laps), Saturdays and Sundays were just busy for me, socially.  And I was tired enough not to be able to run as much as I wanted.  I did go to Kampung Pandan on Saturday to pace Ronnie in his 3000 meters time trial.  I managed to complete it in 11:11.81.  I know I could have run faster, but my legs started feeling tired by the 2^nd lap, as if there was a lot of lactic acid.  It just felt lead-like.  Still I managed to run negative splits for each lap but I was a tad disappointed with my final finishing lap where I thought I could have gone faster if my legs were not so tired.  Anyway the former national cyclist Shahrom attended the time trial, as did the tall Caucasian fella (about 6’ 3”) whose name I later found out to be Andreas, Ronnie, Bee Hon and a few others.  Andreas is something of a nemesis to me- actually I was just dissatisfied that I lost to him at the Nilai Half Marathon, where I got within 5 feet of him but in a tactical blunder I allowed him to surge at a certain point in the race and he was too far from me to respond.  Naturally, he finished ahead of me. 

 

Back to the time trial- Ronnie and me lined up at the inner lane of the 200 meter mark- and off we went!  Andreas surged strongly in front and started very aggressively.  He was probably 50 meters ahead of everyone.  Ronnie and I completed the first 200 meters in 41 seconds- 4 seconds too fast but it was alright- it wasn’t so fast that we would slow down dramatically if the pace heated up.  We completed the next 400 meters in about 1:28.  By then Shahrom zoomed past us (although it looked as though he was just easing or jogging past) and Andreas.  He practically passed us as if we were standing still.  He sure is fast. Anyway in the subsequent laps the pace then slowed down to about 1:33, 1:32, 1:31 before I decided that the pace was too slow and I began running harder, because I was about 4 seconds off the pace.  The remaining 3 laps were run at a faster pace (although I’m not sure what the pace was, because as you may be aware, my basic stopwatch does not have a split timing function).  I did manage to overtake a rapidly tiring Andreas at around the 4^th lap (woo hoo!).  Obviously he started out too aggressively and is paying the price.  I completed the time trial in 2^nd place.  I believe that I could have run faster if I wasn’t running high mileage and if I had tapered.   There are other time trials ahead anyway.

 

After the time trial I hung around with Ronnie, Joviet, Jason, Kenny, Jessica and Tey for a while.  Even jogged barefooted around the track with Kenny, about 3 laps.  Maybe it was the stress of the time trial, but my feet hurt like hell when I ran barefooted.  Oh yeah, Tey took some silly photos of us.  The photos are posted here.  Ronnie also passed me the Excel Isotonic drinks that he bought at a very cheap price.  4 bottles of the 1.25 litres  variety.

 

Thereafter I proceeded to Sunway to meet up with William and Wen Dee.  We were  supposed to rendezvous at Sunway College before heading to Jamie’s apartment to help him with his moving of house.  Before that I headed to a bakery to get some breakfast.  Anyway upon my arrival at the rendezvous point, to my pleasant surprise Rohaizad was there.  I thought that of all runners, it was only CM who was going to be helping Jamie out.  Turns out that he found out about Jamie moving house from my blog and he offered to help. Nice to see him there!

 

The moving proceeded without any hitch, as we transported Jamie’s stuff from his apartment into our cars, and then to his new home in Puchong.  The new home is extremely spacious and there’s certainly enough space for Jamie and his family, and if he wants to, I think the house is definitely large enough to accommodate a further addition to the Pang clan!  For running nerds like myself all I looked out for was the potential running routes around the area.  Jamie informs me that one loop around his area covers about 7km.  Sounds good to me!  I even managed to try on his Asics Gel Cumulus, recently purchased for a sinful price of RM59.00 from Ipoh.  I ran about 500 meters in them, and I am jealous.  It is a really good pair of shoes.  Maybe I can be as lucky in the future.   After helping Jamie out I had to rush off to Sungai Buloh to get my grandma and take her to Subang Jaya.  And then I took her back, before heading home and crashing.  That was about 4:00pm.  I was so tired by then, and after a quick shower I slept for 2.5 hours but that didn’t help.  I wanted to run but I was just too tried.  Walked around Ikano Power Centre.  Had a late dinner at Fasta Pasta.  Watched some football on tv.  Man U are really pissing me off.   They either concede early goals and can’t score an equalizer or they play well, score a goal but concede an equalizer.  Really irritating.  Sir Alex Ferguson better do something about this.

 

Sunday- headed to church before going for lunch.  Did not go for the 15k trial run organized by the Pacesetters.  Went shopping at Bangsar Shopping Complex for my Mother’s Day card (yes it was last minute) and also checked out Times bookshop which was not very good when you consider Kinokuniya and MPH. I had to get ready for Mother’s Day, so I didn’t have much time for my run.  Still, I managed to put in an hours’ worth of run, so it wasn’t that bad.

 

Dinner was a simple affair- my mom wanted it that way- because she felt that the restaurants would have been overpriced, trying to take advantage of the Mother’s Day. So we (the family) had a simple Chinses dinner, followed by a nice bottle of very mild red wine (Merlot) at the front porch of my home. 

 

Went to bed early and on Monday, I woke up later than usual 615am- in fact I slept up to 745am! Reason being- I had a meeting in Cyberjaya.  After the meeting I went back to the office.  Things were pretty hectic but I managed to leave before 630pm.  Ran 12 laps at KLCC, most of which were with Kenneth and Newton.  Later ran 1 lap with Ronnie.

 

Tuesday- woke up early as usual and was in the office by 740am.  I hope to get some work done so that I can leave on the dot today.  It is TRACK TUESDAY, after all.

 

Have a good week ahead everyone.

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Thursday track and Friday stress

Work has been hectic and stressful this week.  To add further to this week of stress- the VP gave all of us a severe lecturing on Risk Management.  I have tonnes of work to do but provided I manage my time properly (i.e. no going to the chat box) then I should be able to leave by 615pm today.  I was in before 840am anyway. 

 

Every morning that I wake up, I never seem to have enough sleep.  I fall asleep too late and wake up too early.  For me a nice leisurely sleep would mean that I go to bed sometime around 1am, and wake up around 9 to 930 am. 

 

No luxury of having a long lie-in tomorrow morning- I have to be up early to pace Ronnie in his 3000m time trial at the Kg Pandan track.  Thereafter I’m heading to Jamie’s place to help with his moving of house.  A few of us are going to help transport his goods to his new house in Puchong. 

 

Now, Ronnie intends to hit 1:30 per 400 meters.  It sounds daunting when you consider that I’m not really a morning person.  I can only put my mind and effort into races, which are usually held in the early mornings in Malaysia.  Apart from that my morning runs are usually slow.  I have to prepare myself psychologically for tomorrow.   Additionally, I do wonder if I can maintain the pace.  It always seems daunting before I run it and sometimes I wonder how on earth I manage to run at the paces I usually do because it seems so tiring physically and mentally.   I must make sure that I warm-up and stretch properly.  When running, run aggressively and try not to think too much- just let go.  It’s only 7.5 laps, so I will be running at LT pace.   In the final lap, just push as hard as I possibly can.

 

Arrived at track on time yesterday.  Ronnie and Kenneth were there.  Coach turned up briefly and told us that he has another appointment to attend to, so he gave Ah Wah the menu.  Menu- 4000m at 75% pace, which I completed in 18:15; thereafter was 8 x 400m (at a set time of 2:00), with each lap covered in about 1:30.  Then I ran another 4800 meters at an easy recovery pace. 

 

Total:- 12km

 

Went home, whacked a very generous helping of rice.  Felt a tad uncomfortable when going to bed. 

 

OK I’d better go now.

Wednesday 4/4/2005

Started my Wednesday run late- at about 7:30pm- because I had some last minute work that had to be completed.  As the seconds painfully ticked by I grew increasingly fidgety at my desk.  It sounds moronic, to the point of nutty, but I felt my fitness draining away from me, the longer I stayed in the office.   By the time I started my run, it was already dark.  The park appeared to be empty.  No matter.  I would run alone. Or so I thought.  Before completing my first lap, there was Ronnie, who had just started his run as well.  At least I had a mate for the next 50 minutes or so.  During our run though, one thing that bothered me was the smell/quality of air at various parts of the park.   One part smelled of burnt materials; another part smelled of that anti-denggue spray.  I hope I didn’t contribute to any permanent damage to my lungs as I ran past the various spots of the park. 

 

Because of the lack of time, I managed to complete 8 laps instead of my planned 12.  Each lap was run at an average of 7:30 per lap.  Anyway the air quality wasn’t very good (despite the rain) and my soreness from the previous day’s speed interval was getting more apparent, so 8 laps was sufficient for me. 

 

Getting pretty busy with work.  Stress levels are increasing.  There is a possibility that running will have to take a back seat.  One option- run regularly in the mornings to get in the mileage.  Definitely a more tiring option.  But that may be the only time I have, in future.  At the very least running is a great stress reliever.

 

With the certain roads closed for traffic this morning due to rehearsal of the Non-Aligned Movement, I came in early but was too sleepy to run or work, so I rested in the car. 

 

It’s Thursday already- but I have tones of work to do.  With the traffic I hope to be able to make it for track.  Otherwise I’ll run at KLCC park.   We’ll see how it goes.

 

Track workout and slightly more

Traffic to Kg Pandan was decent, surprisingly. Long may that continue. Arrived at Kg Pandan at about 635pm. But the guards didn't allow me to park at the usual parking area and I had to park by the roadside. Not the first time this has happened. Anyway Coach wasn't there yet.

1 x 400m - 50% effort
1 x 400m - 60% effort
1 x 400m - 50 meters fast, 50 meters slow
2 x 400m @ 3 quarter pace:
1 x 400m- 50 meters fast, 50 meters slow

Next:
2000m time trial- 7:23:34

Fartlek- 6 x 400 meters, consisting of sprinting 100m on the straights, and jogging on the bends.

I like sprinting sessions- they are really tiring but are very effective for sharpening purposes. These sessions work our anaerobic capacity, improve our leg turnover and perhaps even tweaks our running form and efficiency- but they are fun.

Total track workout- about 7 km.

Total for the day, in addition to my run in the morning- 15km

I had to rush from track to Mid Valley because I had free tickets to watch Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, to name a few. Stupid thing was that we (Jeanne, Carrie, Joe Jer, and Ronald) were not allowed to bring in out handphones (even the ones that cannot be recorded) and this resulted in a minor incovenience for me and my friends. I volunteered to have the handphones kept in my car. The movie was an "epic" movie- directed by Ridley Scott. If you liked Gladiator and Troy then you'll probably like this. Honestly, the movie was okay. It was better than Troy though. Maybe there's an oversaturation of these movies around now- what else hasn't been filmed? All the action "battle" sequences, intended to be exciting, don't really do anything for me. Still the movie business (esp in Hollywood) is all about raking in the profits. So, I suppose if the box office take-ins are sizeable, then the powers-that-be in Hollywood will be happy, regardless of the quality.

Arrived home at 12:15am. Thighs were filled with lactic acid. My keys could not open the main door. I shook the door a little, and that set off the alarm. Grumpily (but nicely) I had to wake the domestic helper to open the main door. Was getting tired and impatient at that time because it was late and I knew I had to wake up early today. Took a shower, and managed to hit the sack by 12:30am.

Post day of rest

Yes, I did take a rest on Monday.  And I feel much better too.  It's not as if I didn't do anything- on the contrary- I had other stuff to do.  Removing everything from my car, for instance.  I'm sending the ol Wira in for re-spraying.  After years of driving and subjecting the fella to some abuse, minor accidents and dents, it was an appropriate time for a fresh new coat of paint.  Next- shopping for new clothes.  Checked out Isetan (which was having a sale) and bought some post-workout clothes.  There were some nice stuff at Topshop and Zara but I held myself back. 

 

Back to work today.  I've managed to put in a run this morning, 8k at 4:55 pace. Felt good. 

 

It's track today so we'll see how it goes.

Weekend Updates

I'm slightly torn between continuing with my training or taking a brief rest. If you look at my recent entries you will note that my legs have been feeling quite dead, even after being fully warmed up. This is I think is a sign of extreme fatigue. Possible symptom of overtraining? Probably not, because mentally at least I feel fresh and motivated. Anyway taking the "Recovery" drink and modifying my diet has helped a bit, but not quite enough. I've increased my protein intake, because I suspect that with my months of high mileage, my legs, already experiencing tiny micro fiber tears, are possibly not recovering quickly enough from the previous days' workouts. I am gearing myself for the upcoming NB Pacesetters 15k in about 20 days time, so I'm training pretty hard.

Anyway my possible options are either:-

1) Taking a brief break from running; include cross training for maintenance of aerobic endurnace; but continue going to track for speed workouts; OR

2) Continue with my running and plod on. NOT a good idea because the workouts will suffer anyway; OR

3) Take a one day break and see how I feel. If all's well, then just continue with my usual running.

As I'm typing this my legs are feeling fine, so who knows?

Friday evening my intention was to run 12 laps at KLCC park. Running in the opposite direction with Newton, Rohaizad and later, Li Sar, I completed 8 laps because the legs were dead. Went home; had a Protein Bar, in addition to an extremely generous helping of fish fillet and rice. After completing my income tax form (yes I am one of the last minute Malaysians submitting my forms) I calculated (rightly or wrongly) that the IRB owed me monet instead of me owing them taxes. Went to bed feeling a tad uncomfortable with all that food in my stomach.

Went to the IRB office at Kg Attap. Was expecting a long queue but surprisingly took me less than 5 minutes to submit my form. Went home had a little breakfast and went online for a bit. Tey has updated Ajeep on the latest time trial. After that I felt that I needed another workout so I headed to the Holiday Villa gym, hopped onto the new treadmill there and ran. Grand total for Saturday- 17k. I then had to attend a talk at Tropicana- I was barely awake as the speaker went on for what felt like eternity although the talk was from 1:30pm to 5:30 pm and I arrived late (2:00pm). Thankfully my colleagues wanted to leave early and we left at 4:00pm- that also gave me an opportunity for a 1.5 hour nap. It still wasn't enough though and when I woke up I was still extremely tired. Had to attend a wedding dinenr at Westin so I wearily showered for the 4th time of the day (it has been an extremely HOT weekend) and changed. The night ended at about 3am for me.

Sunday I woke up at 845am and headed to church and thereafter joined my parents for breakfast. Walked around Atria for a while and bought the latest edition of Runners World. Bought it because there was a feature on Haile Gebrselassie moving up to the marathon. Nowadays I prefer Running Time, because it is a better read. Got a new CD too- the new Snoop Dogg album. Ran 5 easy kms. Legs still tired.

Another realisation as I type this- maybe I'm not resting my legs sufficiently. To quote Arthur Lydiard which perfectly sums up how I feel- "....the failure is muscular, not cardiac". The legs are dead although my heart and mind aren't.

OK will rest today (Monday).

Hope you had a good weekend.