Larian Perpaduan 29/04/2012

That is one damn GOOD LOOKIN' group!!

Another Sunday and another race...there is no better way to spend a Sunday morning in my opinion. This was a tough week as this was the first week in my Hansons training that included both speed work and a tempo run, as well as a significant mileage increase. The week ends with 30 miles in the books...I did short some of the training runs, mostly due to soreness in my hip flexors, but still a decent amount of mileage. Anyway, back to the race, This was another smaller race held at one of the local schools, Westlands. nice venue, good race course, well run event. the only problem, if you can even call it that, is that the race was sold as a 6.5KM race, I had it clocked at 7.1KM. .6KM is not a big deal....My intention was to try and stay at around 8.00/mile and I timed out at 8:04...the heat was a problem today as the race did not go off till almost 8:00am and that is not good...it had also rained overnight so it was a bit steamy. I always have to remember that my pace will suffer due to the heat index here, the local runners are more used to it than i am, but it effects everyone the same. The I-run folks again figured into the top runner spots, with quite a few of the men and women ending up in the top 30, including Choo Gim Chuan,

L-R: Me, Mei Ling (warrior pose)Choo Gim Chuan, Jerry Koo?,??

The group!

w/ Ding Ding Heng

w/ Mei Ling

Ding Ding Heng, Jorene Lim, and Hoay Jen...
if there are others, I am sorry I missed you. As for the trophy and medal winners in their respective divisions. Woman Open 6th Place: Lay Hooi Ch'ng, 2nd place:Lay Khim Ch'ng. Men Open 6th Place:Wong Jin Ji. Men Veteran Champion: Goo Neoh and Woman Veteran 3rd Place: Chung Mei Ling. Oh the other thing about this race, that was somewhat problematic...I hate to complain but there was no JR veteran division...not that I would have placed any higher if there was...I did not run for placing, more to achieve a time goal...its just nice to see how you do against your peers. for me its a push to get better and train smarter. This race was a good measurement for my progress as it was the same distance as the Malakoff run on March 25th...so figure in a months time I was able to cut 30 seconds off my overall time and move an 8:17 pace down to an 8:04 pace...and the Malakoff run was a bit shorter...only 1/10th of a mile. I also has some pretty fast pacers for Malakoff. All things considered its an improvement...I cant wait to run a race at a significant distance at my old 7:20/mile pace...and the way things are progressing now, that should be around the time of the 1/2 marathon in Australia (July 2012). Another great thing about these Sunday races, is the food afterwards...As I accompany the group, its always something local, usually a place I have never been, and the food and company is always outstanding. today was no different as I had the pleasure of going to one of the best Char Koay places in Penang!

Great food, great company!

Another well spent Sunday, what more could an old guy ask for! Loyal reader, RuN HaPpY!!!

Energizer Night Race 2012 15K

I jumped on an Air Asia flight from Penang to Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning, took a Taxi to Rumah Putih B&B, about 20  min from the LCCT terminal of the KL airport, Nice place, perfect for an overnight, run by two really nice folks, James and Jo Needham. Got myself settled, got some lunch and took a siesta. Caught a Taxi to the Sepang F1 track for the race and had the opportunity to see friends Bee Hong and her husband. Got to see my friends from Brooks Malaysia also and then found Andrew Loh, Chun How Lee, and later found Lim Guan Choon and Khoo Siew Swan, Most of them did the full marathon, except for Khoo Siew Swan, who i think placed well in the women's division of the 15K. This race made me nervous from the start...usually races don't make me nervous...for years I let people shoot small frozen pieces of galvanized rubber at me at well over 75 miles an hour, and liked it...so running has never made me nervous. I always knew that if I prepared and trained I would be fine...for this...I had not trained properly. Now a bit of back story on this race...last year this race was a disaster, i heard from people who ran it and read on line that there were near riots by competitors who were cheated out of medals, not enough water, staff who seemed to care less for runners...it was just a poorly run affair. With the energizer name in front of it though, the people were heard, changes were made and i have to say with everything i read and heard about last years affair, This one was over the top good!!  Excellent staff presence, good crowd control, each race went off on time, numerous watter and cooling stations around the course and lots of people to cheer on the runners.

L-R Andrew Loh, Chun How Lee, Aung Moe, Me

Lim Guan Choon and Me.

                                                                                                    

from R-L Alex Ong, Aung Moe (3rd placing), Chun How Lee, Bee Hong Ewe,
Debbie Chinn (1st placing), Andrew Loh, Me.

My concern was if my leg would hold up over a 9+ mile distance...i had not done a training run of that distance, I have made it through a 6 without a struggle, and an 8 that was a struggle...so this was a concern. I started well and my pace around the F1 track itself was really good. I wanted to hit 4 miles in about 35:00. I was able to do that with my 4 mile at 34:38...then, the hills started, and after that they did not stop, and my leg was screaming. I hate to admit it...I had to walk a few times...I am embarrassed to say that, especially when this was only a 15K. It does give me an idea as to where I am in my recovery though...no where near being prepared for a race of 9+ miles. I was able to make it across the finish line and did cramp badly at the end. I took advantage of some ice at the medical tent. the final mileage was about 9.6 miles and my final time...i hate putting this in print 1:32...I have not run a race that slowly since I started running in 2008...I was not ready and it showed. I finished though and for now, where I am in my recovery, its good enough. I really need to find some pictures of the actual race as i have been looking at my stride on the pictures i have, and its bad...not enough leg swing...I'm shuffling more than running and I wanted to see if the same was true in this race. The Taxi was supposed to pick me up at 11:30pm following the race, but the security was not letting anyone into the venue, only out. So i walked down to the main road at the entrance, hoping that the driver would be waiting there...no such luck, so then phone tag with James from the B&B and the driver started. so there I am standing in the medium of the road waiting for a driver that I don't know will come, wondering what i will do if they don't show up...eventually it got worked out, but 11:30 turned in to almost 1am...that was really the only snafu in what was otherwise an awesome experience. I will run this race again, and hopefully next time I will run it better. Loyal reader, Run Happy!!

Annual Round the Houses Relay

Another Sunday and another race! So this was a fun concept and something i have never done before. A relay. It consisted of a team of 8 runners, each running 1.5 miles along a simple loop, beginning at the Penang polo club. According to one of my friends in I-run  Mrs.Ding Ding Heng, this is a race that has been going on since she was young, so there is some deep tradition with this particular event. I was placed on a team and although I did not know any of my teammates, except for Mr. Steve Baron, it was a good chance to meet some of the I-run people that I had not met. I figured that even though my Hansons training had me doing a five mile easy run today, this event was too much fun to pass up, and i really wanted to see if i could do a sub 6:00 mile, especially with only 2 real months of running since being cleared by the doctor. Well to be honest i pulled it off with a 10:57 finish time for 1.57 miles, it was close but i did it, (6:58 pace) and it feels good.

I always want to do better but sometimes its the little victories that give you motivation to continue. today i felt like I won one, even though the team came in 5th out of five, it was a great effort by everyone, and I-run as a whole had another great showing, especially the I-run ladies! I-run took 8th and 12th out of 19 in the Men's open category, a highly competitive grouping.  1st and 3rd in the women's open category, some great runners in both of those groups, congrats ladies! 3rd and 5th in the Junior Veteran category, again some great runners in both groups, if i do say so myself and 1st and 5th in the Senior Veteran group, congrats gentlemen, Well done all I-run runners, no matter where you placed! The event was well run, especially attempting to run a relay on the road and not a track. This group of organizers seems to be in charge of quite a few races and they always do very well. So to sum it up this was a fun run, challenge completed, and good friends and good times is a great way to spend a day.

Team Blue

Next week its onto KL and the Energizer night run...15k of pure brutality...I only hope i dont DNF...not sure if i am ready for the distance....wish me luck loyal reader, and most of all RUN HAPPY!!

Botanical garden training.

So its a Thursday evening in penang. I have not been able to do morning training all week, as Brenna is on school holiday, so I have had to wait for Roxanne to get home in the evening and then go. Its so much hotter and the breeze that makes the morning run so nice is gone. When I saw that the running group was doing a training at the botanical garden in the evening I figured I would join in. From home to the gardens is about 2 miles and since my required run was only 3 miles I figured that would be good, get in a bit of extra mileage and have a good training....you know one of these times I am going to be right, this time I was wrong, again. The training was TOUGH, as the gardens are hilly and the group ran a good majority of the run in the grassy areas. I am not quite ready for hills and the uneven surface of a grass track was not going well with hip felexors that are still in recovery/strengthening mode. the two mile run to get there was not helping either. I was good for maybe the first mile, mile and a half and then the cramping started. I was able to stretch it out a few times, but by the time the group finished what was probably 4 miles...I was done. My 3 mile requirement turned into 6 miles of very difficult and challenging work. The group was very supportive, which is appreciated and I would have liked to have had a better showing, but recovery is recovery and sometime I have to accept what my body is willing to give me. I have determined that I need to static stretch more than I am. I need to begin to lengthen some of these muscles that knot up when overly worked. Penang has its share of great runners, hopefully before I leave I can be included in that description. For now though I am happy to be running in Penang, great, good, bad, it does not matter...Thanks to Mei See Chin for the push to keep going, Ah Seng (I think) for pushing me at the end, Tan Cheng Jin for the pacing at the start, and of course Mei ling for the photos. Everyone else was great also, and a special thanks to Phua Chin Eng for the ride home. there was no way I was going to be able to do another 2 miles home, just sayin! So on the running scale of places to go the botanical gardens gets a 9, its beautiful, I saw parts of it this time out that I had not seen before, its challenging, lots of inclines.I would give it a 10 if not for the monkeys...finding yourself in the center of a macaque turf war is no fun. Run Happy!

2 month anniversary.

It's been two months since the doctor cleared me to run and since that time it's been an exciting and sometimes frustrating time. It began slowly with 3 mile runs, and now I can manage 6 miles, but not well, my hip flexors seize up at about 3 miles and I have to stretch or walk it out, but that is a far sight better than sitting doing nothing or laying in bed. For almost 8 months that was my situation, other than the time on the crutches. I am happy with my progress, but I am still impatient and want to be back where I was, now. The two months have included two races, the first was the Merestas Desa, which was a 6k, and a tough one to boot, very very fun!

The next one was Malakoff. a 7k road race and that one went pretty well. I had a time goal in mind and actually came within a minute of achieving it. That was a good race, with all things being equal. I am now up to running 5 days a week and although my hip flexors don't like it at times. it generally feels good. With more races coming up, and having just begun my Hansons training it should get better and better. Run Happy!

Kota Kinabalu

We took a much deserved vacation which meant a few days off from my newly begun Hansons training schedule. For an obsessive Virgo like me that was tough, so to balance it out I felt i had to get in a run. Our final destination was the "Borneo Rainforest lodge" in the Danum Valley about two hours outside Lahad Datu. I figured while there I would have little chance to run and with as much hiking as we planned to do, I may not want to anyway. So for the day and a half we were in Kota Kinabalu I decided I would follow my schedule and run my required 4 miles on Sunday morning. Getting out from the resort was fine, and thanks to the concierge I was able to locate a nice park with some loops, it was a bit boring but served its purpose. I also discovered that KK was a bit hotter than Penang is and that 4 miles was a bit tougher. So with that we were off to Lahad Datu, and the Rainforest Lodge, which was amazing. although no running was done there was a great deal of hiking and this video shows one of the roads that i considered running, but there was so much mud that it would have been very difficult.

We got back to Penang on Friday night and I texted my friend Thuan and he was going to get in a 10K run on Saturday so i figured I would join him and at 52:20...it was not a bad little run. My Hansons requirement for the day was 4 miles and that was done in 33:10, so the split was not great but not bad either. I am still consistent in my times and that is the goal at this point is consistency. So another long run tomorrow and then hopefully, I can get my runs in next week with Brenna being off from school. Run Happy!!