Friday's here!

The boss gave us a holiday yesterday. I only found out about it after lunch time, although he apparently made the announcement early in the morning.

Had to do a double workout yesterday because I may not be able to find the time to workout today. I'll be heading to Singapore tonight to spend time with the wife, who needs to stay there over the weekend due to training.

On the employment front, my employers contacted me to confirm that my Employment Pass has been obtained. Finally! I'm due to start on 4th June.

Have a good weekend.

Power Run 2007

Near finishing line

Ditto

Group photo

Signing up for Penang Bridge 2007. Thankfully they had a tent set up after the race.

I had certainly approached the Power Run casually- no tapering (although I'm not exactly hitting high mileage either), no particular attention to diet- i.e. carbo loading, no speed work. In fact on Saturday afternoon, I was at the gym doing some weights, followed by a session of tennis at Jalan Duta. I haven't played in a while and it was nice to get back into it again. But, your body conditions itself for the sport you train for, so while I had no problems with my stamina (obviously), after the game and into the evening, both my legs (in their entirety) became progressively sore. From the top of my hip bones, to my upper thigh muscles, all the way down to my achilles. Sore sore sore. Must be the other leg muscles that I've neglected using in the last year and a half since I last played. I woke up in the morning of the race feeling no different (by the way, its just as well that I didn't stay up to watch Man U draw with Boro). As I walked to the "kandang" at Dataran Merdeka on Sunday morning, 715am, I was still extremely sore. I did some stretches in an attempt to loosen the muscles, which helped a little.

The race started at 730am sharp and I settled into a comfortably hard pace, my half marathon pace. I resisted the temptation to bolt from the start (like many other excitable runners, experienced and less experienced alike) and let many runners passed me. I knew that I would overtake them come the Jalan Duta incline. The first few kilometres were rather uneventful. Things got a tad more interesting when I encountered the bane of a few runners- this tiny fella (who wasn't even running in my category), who ran with a very pronounced, loud foot-strike, as if he's slapping the roads with his feet, creating a "PAP PAP PAP PAP" sound effect. Every time I get near him, he would increase his pace for 100 metres or so, then slow down. This happened at least 4 times before the Duta roundabout, prompting another Malay dude (in my category) to remark "apa la dia ni?". I chuckled.

He didn't pose any further threat when I decisively overtook him before the Duta roundabout, simply because, he didn't have enough stamina to continue doing his fartlek-like running. At the Duta incline, I overtook a few runners, and it was at this point that I was tiring. Up to that point, I was running comfortably, well within my limits. I was glad to see the end of the incline and was greeted by a long , beautiful decline. I leaned forward and let my momentum push me to run faster and my breath was back again.

Past the Indian Embassy and beyond, I overtook 3 runners and I was feeling good. Up slight incline and the flyover to the Lake Gardens/Parliament, we merged with the runners in other categories. Past the traffic lights leading into Bukit Aman and the Lake Gardens, I upped my pace a little and managed to overtake another 5 runners from my category.

I crossed the finish line in 49:16. Got some drinks, took some photos and chatted with the gang.

Overall I'm satisfied with my performance. As I mentioned before, my plan is just to run through the 1st half of the year without any pressure. If all goes well, then the 2nd half of the year is what I will focus on. For now, I'm just gonna have some fun.

Some people just never learn despite life dishing out the lesson

Ran with Ron and Lai yesterday at Lake Garden. Total= 5 laps round the lake. I wouldn't run around the lake alone because it bores the crap out of me. Conditions were awful- it was extremely sunny and hot the whole of yesterday, resulting in humid, stifling, sauna-like conditions at the lake. I wonder how it would be in KLCC park, because the surrounding buildings would "lock-up" the hot air, making the air very still, humid and difficult to run.

At the lake, there was some air blowing in our direction, but it was very hot air that didn't help matters at all. Lai, still on his way back from injury, failed to keep up with Ron and me by the 3rd lap. It was generally a very uncomfortable run- the easiest part of yesterday's workout was at the beginning, when we were going slowly.

Kms= 11.5km
Time= 1 hour 11 seconds

Average time per lap, just over 12 mins per lap. Tough conditions.

Thereafter, sat around and chatted a while with Ron and Lai. Collected my Power Run bib as well.

Plan today- an easy run, that's for sure.

Have a good weekend. I will be at the Power Run this Sunday. No real goals, just run for the fun of it.

P. Diddy Ft. Keyshia Cole - Last Night

Constantly playing in my MP3 player when I use it to workout. Off P Diddy's new album, titled "Press Play". The best song of the album. Nice car too.

Buckeye Outdoors

With the use of Buckeyeoutdoors, I can now log in my daily training. For those of you interested, my name is "Live2Run".

The Pussycat Dolls - I Dont Need a Man

Heh heh. This is my favourite Pussycat Dolls video, for obvious reasons.

USA For Africa - We Are The World

Love the song. It was in the late 80s (yes I'm that old). But still relevant today.

Orange Run- DNFed

Yup, that is me. Photographer Tey took this without my knowledge but the picture said it all- while the rest were running the Orange Run yesterday morning, I had to stop and walk back to my car because the race had started too late (745am) and I had to be in church by 830am.

Magnificent Seven and more photos

Another pre-race (Larian Polis) photo of Ron, myself and Adam

Near the end, side by side with Chen

Workouts- Monday was a moderate paced run with Kit, round the usual Carcosa loop, followed by some weights. Approximate distance- 11.6k.

Tuesday- easy 5k on the treadmill (as warm-up for my RPM class), some weights, then RPM class- 50 minutes, at a tempo-based effort. Saw Aunty Shine there. Aunty Shine, secret training eh?

On a separate note, I'm so happy that Man U demolished Roma 7-1 in the 2nd leg of European Champions League, quarter-finals. I couldn't stay up to watch the match as I was too knackered (I K.O'ed at about 11pm, and its the best sleep I've had in the last week or so), so the earliest I knew about the result was watching Eurosports this morning after I woke up. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the score on tv- 7-1!!! Braces by Carrick and Ronaldo, with a goals each from Smith, Rooney and Evra completed the rout to secure Man U an aggregate win of 8-3 and a semi-final spot against either Milan or Bayern, for the first time since 2002, if I'm not mistaken. I'm only worried about their depth in the squad, as there's very limited resources with so many matches left. I certainly hope the players can hold up and maintain their fitness and level of play. C'mon guys, its the final push on all 3 fronts. Sir Fergie certainly needs to strengthen the squad for the summer, with at least another player in each department- goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers.

I certainly have to watch the match tonight. Photos below:-

Larian Mesra 200 Tahun Pasukan Polis, and more...

Up the incline near the finish line, with Chen

Event- Larian Mesra 200 Tahun Pasukan Polis
When- 8th April 2007
Where- starting point at the opposite of Pudu Jail ending at police station, Jalan Hang Tuah
Distance- 10k (approx)
Time- 41:22

I couldn't post any new entries as the server was down.

Anyway I didn't have much hopes for the race. I wasn't in a good condition to run a good time, but I wanted to run the race anyway for the heck of it, and to get in a tempo workout. Throughout the whole of last week I've been logging in consistent workouts of at least an hour, but most of it were at an easy to moderate pace. The hardest workout I had was on Saturday (the day before the race) when I went for a lung busting, 50 minutes RPM session at the gym. My thighs were rather wobbly after that.

Went to bed around 1130pm and woke up at 545am. Skipped breakfast. Made sure I fully cleared my bowels (didn't want any reprisals of KLIM again) and headed to near the vicinity of Pudu Jail. Parked my car, and jogged to the starting point. The usual faces were there- Ronnie, CM, Khoo Yit Kiat, Adam, Chen, Ah Toh, and a few others who routinely worked out at Lake Garden.

I was in the 2nd row of runners. Once the gun was fired (at approx 735am), we bolted out. The front group of runners were running at a furious pace and I realised that I was getting too caught up trying to keep up with the front group at their pace, i.e far beyond my planned pace, and my own capabilities. After about 300 meters or so, I slowed down to a pace I was familiar with, and although I let a whole bunch of excitable runners pass me, I knew that I would pick them off later in the race.

We passed Imbi Plaza, then Oversea Restaurant, the Caltex Station, turned right past the traffic lights in front of Bangunan LTAT, and onto Jalan Tun Razak. On Jalan Tun Razak, we passed Menara Tan & Tan, and then took a left, past the Ampang Park LRT station, took another left (with Menara Citibank on our right), and took the windy road past the KLCC Mosque. Then, we ran past KLCC (which was on our left), and onto Jalan Pinang (with Ascott on our right). Then we negotiated the road that led us to behind the Equitorial Hotel. At that point Chen caught up with me, and we briefly ran side-by-side before he eventually passed me.

Next up- another left turn past Beach Club and onto Jalan P Ramlee (Shangri-La on our right, MUI Plaza on our left). There was an incline there and the pace slowed down as the runners negotiated that incline. Then another left turn took us past Menara Weld and onto Jalan Raja Chulan. Past Istana Hotel, the traffic lights and Wisma Genting, it was downhill-ish before we made the extreme right u-turn that led us towards Jalan Bukit Bintang and Westin Hotel-Starhill. Then, past the next set of traffic lights, then YTL Plaza. At the traffic light we made a right turn, and some 100 meters later, a left turn into a small lane. Another 200 meters or so later, another left turn and up a very steep incline of about 80 meters or so. I caught sight of Chen, upped my speed and passed him, made another left turn towards the police station (and finishing line) and crossed the line in 41:22.

Overall I ran at a comfortably hard pace, and even as I sprinted towards the finishing line, I was feeling quite good. I was a tad surprised to have ran the race in that time, but it appears to me to be below 10k. I don't know. I'd have to verify the distance with Ronnie. If I indeed ran the 10k in 41:22, it would already be a PR for me. I wasn't running hard (compared to the SJ 10k where I ran 'em in 41:46 and 42:00 plus in the preceding 2 years, both of which were lung busting efforts for me), so it seems unlikely that I would be posting a time with comparatively lesser effort. Nonetheless I'm satisfied with my timing. The plan is not to peak, but to plateau, at least until the 2nd half of the year. For now I'll just train at an easy to moderate pace, run some races (whenever I feel like it), and just generally enjoy the whole process. Anyway, I'm still recovering from my suspected plantar fasciitis (which by the way, is about 90% healed now).


Remainder of the day

It was Easter Sunday so I went home immediately after the race, showered and headed to church with the wife. Then, breakfast with my parents, before heading to One Utama. After One U, we were at the in-laws for a couple o' hours. We went back to our apartment, where I tried to nap but only managed a maximum 10 minutes of it (I dunno, I just wasn't tired at all). Then, an easy recovery swim at the pool of about 30 minutes. Dinner was at Lake Club, before we headed to the Kanye West concert at Stadium Negara. That concert rocked the house down! In total, we spent almost 3 hours on our feet, although the concert itself was about 1.5 hours.


Plan today- easy recovery run, followed by a session in the gym.

Ayam back!

Ah, back from Bali. It was a wonderful 3 days there, and with each visit, you leave Bali wanting to return again the next time. There is just so much left to explore. In short, we didn't stray far from the spots we're already familiar with.

Thanks to Lai, Nezz and Waterman for their well wishes. I certainly had a great time.


Bali in brief, and some photos

Arrived at LCCT around 3pm. Long queue. Apparently the computer system was down, and it took us more than 1 hour to check-in. The flight was supposed to be at 440pm but due to the delay (there was still a massive queue behind us), we finally took off at 530pm.

The flight took approximately 3 hours. I tried the nasi lemak on the plane, which, frankly, tasted like airline food.

Touched down at Bali around 820pm. The baggage handlers were super efficient and we got our luggage almost immediately (cue to KLIA and LCCT baggage-handlers to work faster). Our friends (who had arrived on an earlier flight) picked us up around 845pm and we were whisked straight for dinner. We were told that we were having seafood for dinner. I thought- ok, so we're heading to a stall of some sort to have cheap but nice seafood.

When we arrived, the appearance of the place did little to change my mind. There was a row of single storey open lots, each with separated tanks filled with live fish, prawns, squid etc and an extremely large barbecue pit. It was already dark and there was a lot smoke billowing out from the barbecue-ing of seafood. It seems that these whole row of shops were filled with seafood stalls.

After choosing the seafood we wanted, we then walked towards the beach to be greeted by this sight:-



I was pleasantly surprised to say the least! Venue- Menega Cafe, Jimbaran Beach. Food- Seafood. Quality- excellent stuff. Name-forgetting experience.

Apparently we had to enter the Cafe via the rear. It was necessary for us as we had to choose the seafood we wanted to eat. It was a very romantic setting- tables by the beach, with the cooling sea-breeze, and excellent seafood. We had red snapper, squid skewers (like satay), king prawns, mussels, vegetables, drinks. All came up to approximately 75,000 rupiah per person, which is about a mere RM32. There were 6 of us. When you factor in the ambience and setting, this is really reasonable.

After dinner, we headed to the villa. The name of the villa is called Karma Jimbaran, and is located next to the Four Seasons hotel. The villa is best described by the photos below:-

This looks almost like the villa I stayed at during my honeymoon in 2005, at Ubud. Each villa comes with your own private pool.

Poolside, by the restaurant. Approximately 40 meters in length. Swam for 30 minutes at a hard enough pace for me, my breathing and heart rate was equivalent to a 15k race pace.

Next day, we headed to Uluwatu- a surfer's haven. We had to park our car some 800 meters from the beach, and walk the windy steps towards the main area, which was situated on a cliff. The beach was some 60 meters below, so you had to take another set of steps to head to the beach. Anyone who watched The Amazing Race Asia would know what I'm talking about. Lunch was at a little cafe there. Photos:-

Uluwatu cafes/surf shops,. If walk beyond that point, you'll get the view, shown below:-

Uluwatu cliff

Dreamland beach

Swam a little, we then headed to Dreamland beach (not too far off Uluwatu) and headed back to the villa for a short rest, before heading to an Italian restaurant for dinner, by the name of Trattoria at Seminyak. It is described as a "...simple open-air restaurant... serving excellent home-cooking at very reasonable prices. Choose from the daily changing antipasti, salads, home-made pasta, tasty main courses and sweets, all priced between 15,000 Rupiah and 59,000 Rupiah. A limited wine list with still acceptable prices, friendly service and the relaxed atmosphere...[makes]...the TRATTORIA very popular with the international and Italian crowd who often bring the whole family."

Next up, we headed to Ku De Ta for drinks. Photos below:-






After Ku De Ta, we headed to Hu'u Bar. Happening place and we partied till 2am.

Next morning, with a massive hangover ( I had a baaaad headache), we headed to Ubud. Ubud's a nice little town about an hour from Denpasar, filled with arts, craft, culture and the like. Photos below:-

Main street and market

Had lunch, followed by a massage, designed to detoxify your body. Felt much better after that, and my hangover was cured. We were at Ubud for some 3 hours. We then drove back and headed to Kuta (for the 1st time). Kuta is the most commercial area of Bali, filled with tourists, and we wanted to stay out of the place unless absolutely necessary. After hearing our friends raving about Krispy Kreme donuts (not available here in KL), we headed to a shopping mall and bought a dozen. I walloped a couple, and it was fantastic- better tasting than Dunkin Donuts, for sure. In the mall, we bought tonnes of CDs and DVDs- much cheaper in Bali than in KL, that's for sure, including the latest episodes of Prison Break, Entourage, and also The Departed, and An Inconvenient Truth. We then headed back to Cafe Menega for round 2 of dinner.

Final day- we headed to Kuta again, because that is where all the CDs/DVDs are sold. Bought more titles, including Justin Timberlake and P Diddy's new albums. Lunch at Warung Made (pronounced "Mah-Day"). Hung around, bought another dozen Krispy Kremes and checked out Kuta Beach for the 1st time since arriving. Then, we headed back to the Villa, and were driven to the airport.

We were delayed for a good 30 minutes after checking in, but that is another story. Flight was supposed to leave at 810pm. We touched down at LCCT around 1115pm, and I arrived back at the apartment around 1am.

So, back to KL. I had a very good trip, and certainly plan to return. Next time, instead of hanging out in the usual places, I want to check out the other sites, like Tanah Lot for example, the Lakes, etc.

Plan today- to run at least 1.5 hours. Haven't done much in the last 4 days!