Sexyback is a catchy song

Wednesday I had the privilege of running with John (who recently PRed in the full marathon at Putrajaya in 3:43)and Kenny Tan. We ran the usual loop. After a fairly pedestrian 1st loop, John, still in his 3:43 shape, powered away past me first, and then Kenny as we pushed the last kilometer or so towards the Bukit Aman carpark and completed it in about 26 minutes. It was quite a sight to behold! He fully deserves the title of Der Speedy Gonzalez indeed! After our run he still looked very fresh and looked like he could've run more. When I suggested that he should go ahead and run a few more ks, he modestly replied that he usually runs 1 hour, and since we have run 1:05, he already has had the extra 5 minutes of running and that was sufficient. Total distance run- around 12km.

Thursday ran an easy 10k in the morning, before meeting up with Ronnie in the evening to run another approximately 12k.

Friday is here! Woo hoo!

Tight like a tiger

It's approximately 10 weeks to go to the Singapore Marathon. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a great way to end the running year on a high, regardless of my finishing time in the 21k. Singapore Marathon is probably the closest thing to a world class running event that I will ever experience. Let us not forget the camarederie among runners that comes along with it- our hopes, our fears, our training (or lack of it) leading up to the race, the pre-race carbo loading meet-up, the pre-race bib collection, the expo, our particular life's experience which we gained in the 12 months preceding the race (job-wise, personal life-wise, health-wise, etc). Each runner would have taken their own separate unique path leading to, and culminationg in, what many will consider to be their final races of 2006.

Some may have run less (or more); some have set PRs throughout the year; some are experiencing downtime in their running due various reasons- family/work commitments, motivational issues, some may have experienced a sudden flashing lightbulb/EUREKA! on what they finally want to do with their lives. Some have babies on the way. Some may have experienced or are in the midst of experiencing loss, death in the family. No matter. The end result is the same. We are all gonna be at the starting line, we're gonna go out there and enjoy ourselves. Savour the moment.

On Friday evening I had the company of Adam to run with me along the usual Lake Gardens route. After an easy 1st loop, we cranked up the pace a little to run a faster 2nd loop. All in all, approximately 11km.

Saturday- zero running. Picked up Mrs Rabbit from the airport. Spent the whole day at home with her, in which she recpuerated from an exhausting week-long trip to Singapore.

Sunday- the usual morning church and then brunch with parents, before heading to the Curve to catch Miami Vice. What we've all discovered? The Censorship Board deems sex scenes to be inappropriate (and hence, snip snip) but blood, violence, with guts splattering and limbs decapitated or severed, are OK.

Later that evening, met up with Kenny Tan at Lake Gardens where we did speed work over the loop (at the incline portions) and recovered at the declines. Total- approximately 11km.

Monday- Total of 17k with Kenny.

That's it so far.

Mizuno Wave Run 2006

I decided, rather belatedly, to sign up for the Mizuno Wave Run 2006. I guess I needed to affirmation of running a decent race (being the Putrajaya Marathon 21k) to make up my mind. The Putrajaya race left me with no doubt on the level of my endurance (which I felt was at a decent level). As I had mentioned in my earlier posting, I run a relatively hard 15km the day before the race and still managed to complete the 21k in 1:41. What was lacking from my training since "returning" to "proper" training is speed work. That is why I decided to sign up for the Mizuno Wave Run- it was a 10k race; the route is one of my least favourite routes (the dreaded double hill); the distance was short enough which meant that, yours truly not being fully race-sharpened, can force himself to run at a fairly fast pace, as the route will give yours truly a good speed workout to provide his body and legs with the stimulus towards running faster.

Set the alarm for 615am and woke up in an extremely groggy state, which was strange as I had gone to bed rather early. As I hadn't done it the night before, I pinned the bib to my runing vest; then my usual pre-race routine which consisted of a morning coffee (to jolt the sense awake) and toast with honey. Left the apartment at 650am. Parked my car at Lake Gardens and headed towards Padang Merbok. Handed in my registration card to the race officials and proceeded to the starting line. Practically the whole gang was there- Jamie, Sim, Jason Learn2Eat, Lai, Chen, Tey, Adam, Anil, Kit, Li Sar, Kevin Chow, RunWitMe, KNN, Lawrence, Khoo Yit Kiat, Onn Chai (i.e. Forefoot Dude with whom I had an "epic" battle with in Putrajaya); even Azwar was there, as a phantom runner. After joking for some time while waiting for the race to start, the blow horn went off, and the race started. Because we were a few rows behind the front, many of the faster runners were forced to zig zag and overtake the slower runners at the start of the race. I estimate that we probably lost at least 2 minutes because of that.

Anyway the race proceeded without much incident (at least on my part). When I arrived at the dreaded double hill, it took alot out of me. I shortened my stride, and tried my best to get my legs to move as quickly as I could , quickeining my RPMs. Khoo Yit Kiat overtook me at this point. I was quite winded at the top of the hill, but we all know that the inclines were by no means over. After a slight decline in the terrain, there was another one, which, again slowed me down considerably. It was after that that I could finally catch my breath, when there was a major decline before the roundabout. From then on, the route was somewhat flat or declining again (save for the road leading up to the palace, where once again, there was a slight incline) and although I wasn't feeling tired, despite attempting to push the pace, I couldn't quite do so.

Up the road towards the palace, on the windy road towards the National Monument and all the way back to Padang Merbok, all I could do was to maintain the pace I was running. I couldn't find a higher gear to go faster. I finished the race feeling somewhat fresh in a time of 48:12. Position- 64th.

I then saw the rest of the gang after the race- Kelvin Ng, Chen and others. We hung around for a while and took some photos.

The Mizuno Wave Run was a well organised race. I would prefer it if there were distance markers, but apart from that I can't really complain.

Running-wise, I know now that endurance-wise, I'm at a decent level. The race gave me an insight on my condition (decent) and race-readiness (not quite there yet). As my goal race is the Singapore Marathon in December 4th, I still have time to work on another facet of my running, which is speed.

In summary, the diagnosis- endurance-wise- decent. Speed- could do better.

Prescribed medicine- more speed work, in the form of long-ish intervals (mile repeats of up to 6 repetitions); strides. More short distance races, time permitting. But speed work most be balanced with endurance work. One cannot be done at the expense of the other.

PM19, over and out

stiff neck...need massage

As is his wont, my prick of a boss gave me some last minute work to do which meant that I was quite certain I couldn't keep my appointment with KNN to run with him at Lake Gardens at 630pm. I left the office only at 630pm. With the time taken to drive there, park my car, change my clothes etc, I finally started at 7pm, whereupon I ran 11k.

Plans for today- I will try to squeeze in a run. There's a Gym Night barbecue thing at the club tonight to attend as well. I can't count on being able to start early though. Might decide to run during lunch time instead.

Putrajaya

F555. That's my bib number for the Putrajaya International Marathon. I ran the half-marathon event. Position- 55th. That is alot of 5s. Maybe I should buy lottery?

The Putrajaya International Marathon wasn't my "goal" race. I'm focusing and training towards the Singapore Marathon. That being so, there was no tapering of any kind-I was running my normal mileage leading up to 8th September. I had run an energy- sapping 15km (at 85% effort, with some surges thrown in along the way) the day before the race (at about 5pm) and was still tired when I woke up at 4:50am on race day. I had stayed in Subang instead of at my apartment, because Putrajaya is closer to Subang.

Kenneth had arranged to meet me at my Subang house around 530am. He arrived on the dot but had to make an urgent visit to the loo. Lawrence (who barely recovered from a bout of flu) dropped by my house too, and we decided to go together in one car. We left my house around 545am. Arrived at Putrajaya some 25 minutes later. First impression of the event- they had changed the location of the Start/Finish, some 1km away from previous year's. We managed to find a parking spot very near the Start/Finish. After relieveing ourselves at the nearby shrubs located by a government building we proceeded to the "kandang" and saw alot of familiar faces-the pacemakers and other friends too.

The race started on time. What I noticed about this year's event is that the route has changed somewhat. There were some familiar landmarks (similar to the one we took last year), but there were some changes as well. Overall the route was undulating and challenging.

At the start, Adam was running the same pace as me. Then I lost him for a while but later in the race we were back together again. He was running at a very good pace.

At around the halfway mark, I noticed someone passing me on my right, running on his forefoot as well! There I was wondering who this fella is. I didn't know his name at the time, but he was in the H category and running a very strong pace. And so began the battle of the forefoot runners. Everytime he surged I caught up with him, and I overtook him moments later. He would then catch up with me and surged and overtake me, only for me to catch up with him again. In the midst of all this Adam was loping comfortably also trading surges. But I lost him again at around the 16km mark, if I'm not mistaken. I later found out that Adam had some stomach pains. Pity, because it would've been nice to push each other all the way to the end!

This surging and counter-surging went on all the way to the end of the race. When I overtook him near the Shangri-La loop, he cayght up with me, whereupon I turned to him and said, "come on bro! Let's go!" to which he replied "Wah very strong oace you're running!" In that instance I felt we became friends- friends in sharing the pain and the pace. He then surged some 25 meters ahead and my thighs, starting to feel the effects of my previous day's 15k, began to ache. As he headed towards mosque and roundabout, his lead was 50 meters, and I had all but given up hope of catching him. At the roundabout I could see the finishing line...which was about 1km plus away, and with a straight road ahead, I thought- "wow! I'm pretty close to the end...maybe I'll be able to run a season best for the half!" Forefoot Dude was running even faster. I turned around and saw no one behind me. Thinking that my place was more or less secure, I decided to maintain an even pace all the way to end.

Then, came the painful part...as we thought of heading towards the finishing line the traffic warden directed us to turn left, and run behind the government buildings. I think that took the wind out of many runners when they saw that, myself included. But I noticed that Forefoot Dude has slowed down considerably and I overtook him shortly after. As I passed him, I told him to join me but he told me that he had nothing left. I decided to press ahead, and when I turned around I was already some 50 meters ahead!

The final kilometer was painful and I was just waiting to see the finishing line. Finally, after making that large loop I saw the finihsing line. I maintained my even pace (no final sprinting/mad kicking to the finihsing line) and finished in 1:41.29.

After the run, I hung around and saw my other friends finishing the race as well. Chatted with Ryan for a while, took some photos with Ronnie and the PM gang and headed back home.

And I found the name of the Forefoot Dude- Oon. He's a regular Pacesetters and apparently has trained under the venerable coach Chan Chee Seng. Thanks for sharing and making the pace with me, Oon.

Overall, the Putrajaya International Marathon isn't my goal race the event is one of the better organised races in the country. The distance markers were inaccurate but apart from that I can't really complain. There was even an ice pool for the runners to soak their feet in. Obviously the food and drinks were free, for the participants. And there was also a massage tent. Aesthetically, the arch was very nice, almost Singapore Marathon-like. I now wonder why I didn't choose to sign up for this run earlier, when it was actually cheaper to sign up. This year's event was better than last years, in my opinion. I would definitely run again next year. It would be a good tune up for those running in Singapore as well.

I didn't run yesterday (Monday). A combination of factors prevented me from running- my thighs were sore, it took me ages to get out of the office (even though I left on the dot)- the rain had slowed traffic down considerably and it took me 20 minutes to get out of the carpark alone, and after leaving the carpark, I was stuck in another jam at the junction immediately after the car park. Then it started raining, and traffic was just getting worse. So, it was a rest day for me.

Today I plan to run of course. Anyway care to join me at Lake Gardens? I hope traffic is ok. Hopefully then I can start at 630pm.

Belated (last) weekend update

Weekend was not bad- managed to run 10k each on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday evening I managed to run 7km, before stopping because if it was any later, I would have been late for my parents' anniversary dinner. Dinner was at low key Chinese restaurant at SS2. Food there was decent though, with the signature dish being the Asam Fish particularly excellent. After dinner I received a call from Jamie who told me that the eagerly awaited and anticipated (at least by me and him) book "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon", written by Kenny Moore, has finally arrived! But the book is only on sale at Kinokuniya, KLCC. But, as I was planning to head to The Curve on Saturday, I told him that I would check out Borders as well. The book was priced at RM115; it may seem expensive but upon calculation of the conversion rate from US $ to RM, it was a reasonable price.

Saturday I headed to The Curve but didn't have enough time to check the availability of the Bowerman book. Oh yeah, ran an easy 10km. So, on Sunday, I went to Kino instead. Proceeded straight to the runnning section to Kino and to my chargrin, found that the book wasn't there. I was wondering whether a kiasu fella took the book and hid it in some other section of the bookshop. I went to the Kino computer to search the book, and voila! I was told that it was strangely located in the "Enterprise" section. Quickly proceeded there and found 2 copies and grabbed them both. There were only 2 there, anyway! So, admittedly, it was a kiasu thing to do but Jamie and I have been waiting for ages for this book to come out!

Workouts, in brief, from Monday to Saturday:-

Monday- 10k
Tuesday- 10k
Wednesday- 10k with Kenny Tan and KNN
Thursday- 11k
Friday- 11k
Saturday- 15k

TGIF

Well, I didn't manage to run 1.5 hours on Tuesday, but at least I ran. I joined KNN at Lake Gardens and ran 11km in total.

Wednesday I ran another 11km.

I've made up my mind- after 1 year of working here, I'll be leaving. No sense in being in the receiving end of personal insults, and being subjected to abuse from someone who's essentially an anal-retentive, fault-seeking tyrant. I deserve better. And I want to happy. I've hardly been happy since I started working here.

Yesterday (Thursday) I ran 11km.

It's my parents' anniversary today and the celebration will be low-key in the form of dinner at a Chinese restaurant, probably fpllowed by some cake and wine at the Lee household in Subang. Before that though, I intend to leave on the dot at 6pm today and run at least an hour.

Have a good weekend, y'all.