Saying "Hello" to photographer , Tey .I think if its a real race , I wouldn't have time to say hello ! 

My friends at recent circuit run , from left to right : Kenneth, Me , Sim and Jason  

(19/2/05)-Happy painless run at FTAAA circuit run

After 2 days of resting from my injury on 17/2 and 18/2 , I commenced my run . The 2 days rest did a lot of good , there was no pain at the hamstrings nor the thighs .

At times , the run was done at 4 min 45 sec per km pace for a 11 min 2.3 km lap , at times at 5 min 15 sec per km lap for a 12 min lap .

There is an improvement , as 2 days ago I was going at 6 min per km lap in order not to aggravate the injury . I could have pushed myself to 4 min 30 sec per km lap but didn't coz I was just recovering .

There was abundance of 100 + Power and water at the run and all in all I was very satisfied with my performance and enjoyed the run .

Overall for the Half Marathon category , I came out in 4th placing .


Duration of workout : 1 hour 55 min

Location : Lake Gardens

Mileage : 23 km

(16/2/05)-Night run from 11 pm for an hour ( with a bit of pain)

I did my night run again . Due to my injury on hamstring , I didn't really push , just went at 6 min per km pace . Surprisingly didn't feel any pain on hamstring while running but there was some pain on thighs .

If not for the pain , I would have gone for 20 km .

The night run i feel is good training for me for the Kedah 12 hour run coming soon which is from 7 pm to 7 am .

Anyway , no choice but have to do night run due to busy hectic life during the day .


Was entertained to a lot of fireworks in the night sky as the Chinese were celebrating CNY with fireworks , beautiful sight indeed , helped me to forget the pain a bit .

Duration of workout : 1 hour

Location : Tmn Desa

Mileage : 10 km

(15/2/05)-Track training couldn't go all out

No more THIGH pain but my hamstring injury almost act up again.

We did the following today :

Warm up : 1.2 km

50 % speed :400 m

Fast and slow : 400m

80 % : 2 km

80% : 1 km

80 % : 800 m x 2

and then the hamstring injury act up . I felt a bit of pain and did a small jog and didn't join the rest for the 1st round . And then decided to join the rest but can only be in last group .


400 m x 4 ( for me , others x 5)


I think its not so serious and I will be able to do 6 min per km pace tmw.


Duration of workout : 1 hour

Location : kampung Pandan Sports Complex

Mileage : 8.6 km

(13/2/05)-Pacesetter 30km practise run :I had to shorten my run to 20 km

My hamstring is healed but my thigh wasn't healed yet . There was pain after running for 8 km + . In fact I was running with Bee Hoon as I wanted her to pace me as i know she had run 30 km before whereas this distance was my 1st time .

We therefore started at a slow 6 min per km pace . After running past the 1st half at the Petronas stn at Hartamas , i stretched my thigh but the pain persisted . I told myself i will have to run only 20 km for today and not aggravate the injury/ache .

So , looks like have to try again next time for the 30 km long run .

Leg stretching , urinating twice and taking my time brought my pace to only a 6 min per km pace .(although towards the end I was going fast )

Saw Mr. Sim (Petaling Runner) at last 1 km walking back and i just joined him in his walk . ( He had blisters from the new shoe)


Duration of workout : 2 hour

Location : Pacesetter route to and fro Bukit Aman to Hartamas

Mileage : 20 km

(11/2/05)-Long Run , no hamstring pain but thigh pain and I know why ......

I just realised the loop at the Polo ground is actually 1360 m and not 1300 m , therefore I have readjusted all my blogs from 7/2/05 onwards . Now I know why I 'm getting hamstring pain and this time thigh pain . I have been going a bit faster in my training run , instead of the average 5 min 25 sec per km pace , its approx. 5 min 10 sec per km pace , 15 sec faster .

May be that 's why or i'm just not strong enough and need to build up my muscles . Anyway ,I'm still glad i went at that pace and hope to go below 5 min per km pace when I do my training run and hope it will be easy .

NO ASTHMATIC FEELING THIS TIME :) BREATHING EASY :)

Just as mentioned , leg pain .

SATURDAY REST DAY FOR PACESETTER PRACTISE RUN ON SUNDAY ......






Duration of workout :

Location : Ipoh , Polo Ground

Mileage : 12.24 km

(10/2/05)-No more asthmatic run but run with a bit of hamstring pain

As I had to run 8 rounds , I used 2 pacers . For the first run , I was running with a stranger until my 4th round when he said he has finished and the same with the next 4 rounds .

IT SEEMS I EASILY GET BORED RUNNING ROUND AND ROUND ON SMALL LOOPS OF 1.36 KM S !!


Felt a bit of a pull in hamstring , I think its not completely recovered yet even thought I didn't have any pain yesterday and the pace was the same as yesterday .



QUESTION :

Will I be able to join Pacesetters practise run this Sunday ?
That will all depend on the condition of my leg tmw .





Duration of workout : 55 min

Location : Ipoh , Polo Ground

Mileage : 10.8 km

(9/2/05)-Still a bit asthmatic run at Polo Ground

Things are improving . I still felt asthmatic but didn't use inhaler . BREATHING IS LIKE TRAINING IN HIGH ATTITUDE LOCATION LIKE CAMERONS .

The smoky smell near one part of the route didn't help .

This time I just tried to keep my runs below 7 min per lap for an average of 5 min 10 sec per km pace .

I managed 4 min 37 sec per km pace for the last lap .

STILL , I feel I can go faster but it looks like there isn't enough training .



Duration of workout : 55 min

Location : Ipoh , Polo Ground

Mileage : 10.8 km

GONG XI FA CAI EVERYBODY !!

HPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR !!

Enjoy yourselves and remember to keep fit .

I'll still be running during CNY and blog will be updated .

(8/2/05)-Asthmatic run at Polo Ground

Actually before running , slept at 3 pm and felt cramp , probably duue to sweating while sleeping in hot room .But had some 100 + before the run and no more pain in calves .



Felt asthmatc but ran on , I wasn't intending to go very fast , I calculated it was
5 min 08 sec per km pace as I was going at 7 min per lap of 1.36 km . I wanted to put in more mileage today but also couldn't due to have to rush home to inlaw on time for reunion dinner .



Duration of workout : 35 min

Location : Ipoh , Polo Ground

Mileage : 6.8 km , including warm up

(7/2/05)-Balik Kampung , run at Ipoh

Went back wife hometown , reached about 4 pm , no jam . After that went for the first time to Polo ground . Saw many many people , saw a KL friend who trains at Kg Pandan track ( Ah Soon ).

Found out from him 1 big round is 1.36 km . As it was late already and have to be back at in law's soon , quickly did a fast 4.08km run at 4 min 28 sec per km pace ( Felt asthmatic and took inhaler before that fast run ) for a time of approx 18 min 15 sec .


Very glad there is a place for me to run in Ipoh !!


Duration of workout : Approx. 25 min

Location : Ipoh , Polo Ground

Mileage : Approx. 5 km including warm up

(5/2/05)-(Evening)-Report on Kolej Poly-Tech Mara Tsunami Charity Run 2005

ONE OF THE FIRST TO ARRIVE FOR REGISTRATION

3.20 PM : Arrived at the Kolej , registered and paid my fee , 3 other Indians were there but in the end they didn't take part coz no medal offered .

4 PM : According to schedule suppose to start , but found out will start only at 5 PM . Senam robik for almost 20 mins in the hot sun .


ODD ONE OUT :

4.30 PM : Found out I'm :

1)The only outsider enrolled for this run , the rest are from Mara colleges .
2) The only one wearing shorts , the rest wearing track suit .In fact people were looking at me annd 1 guy asked how come i'm special , I replied i didn't know can't wear short , I said i knew about this run from friends (PM1 website) , he said no problem actually .
3)I'm the only yellow skin .


RUN MECHANICS

4.50 pm Found out there are 8 check points ( 1 km each) and every group will be based in a check point and run 1 to 2 km to another check point and the next group will take over . A lot of flags to be carried . Very few will run the whole 8 km

STARTING LINE : COLLEGE HEAD SAYS DON'T RUN SO FAST !!

5 PM At the starting line , a number of big Malaysian flags were being passed for whoever to carry , I didn't have to carry any flag . The head also says don't run so fast , I thought oh no !!

As we ran , I just followed the slow speed for 500 m until out of the college , some students with flag started going fast , some of their friends shouted at them not to go fast . I followed the fast pack , they began to slow down and waited for the rest .

LONELY RUN

At first i was shy to go front and run fast , but as they slowed down , i told myself , JUST DO IT ! GO ONLY LAH !!

So , I ran by myself alone , following the signboard's directions .


RUNNER'S HIGH

Literally , as I'm running alone and left the whole group behind , and as I reached the checkpoints , the people who were waiting for their turn to run were actually cheering and clapping for me as I passed them . It was very encouraging . I smiled and waved at them . It felt like a real race where you are leading and people are clapping and cheering for you . Its really a RUNNER'S HIGH !! .

WRONG TURN

After running for about 6 km , suddenly I came to a section where there was no sign board at all , so i kept on running on my intuition . After running for about 1 km , I felt something was wrong , I turned back and stoppped to asked somebody the direction to the Kolej Poly-tech Mara and he told me its actually the other side . I ran the other side and suddenly saw a group of people waiting at the last checkpoint . One of them came over to show me the direction .


END

As I ran towards the correct direction , I still kept at a constant speed until the empty finish line .All in all , it was quite an adventurous run and one that gave me an emotional high , but mainly its more of a workout for me . Wanted to time myself for 8 km distance but in the end couldn't coz of the wrong turn .

CONCLUSION

What matter most was , I have done my small part for charity as the proceeds will all go to the Tsunami fund .





Duration of workout : 51 min ( Could have been just 40 mins if not for wrong turn)

Location : Bangi

Mileage : 10 km ( Could have been just 8 km if not for wrong turn)

(5/2/05)-(Morning)-Easy run at Bukit Jalil

Had a rest day yesterday ( 4/2/05) , I believe after 1 week MY HAMSTRING IS COMPLETELY HEALED !! HALELUYA !! .

ran with my friend at Bukit Jalil at an easy pace . Didn't want to go to fast to conserve energy for evening KPTM Charity run .




Duration of workout : 1 hour 10 mins

Location : Bukit Jalil

Mileage : 10.8 km

(3/2/04)-15 km , 10:55 pm night run

After coming back late from work and dinner appointment , had to run again . This time surprisingly during the run , I didn't feel anymore pain at the hamstring for the 1st half of run . I suppose my hamstring is stringing together pretty well . Could go faster then two days ago .

For the 2nd half , felt the hamstring getting a bit tight so didn't push so hard . I had to concentrate on my running posture and movement so as to not run wrongly and injure the hamstring . Breathing felt great . I just know that my hamstring is really healing but I must not really push too hard yet lest it get "unstrung" again .

I can foresee its gong back to normal after exactly one week getting this injury ( last Thursday) .

As second half was a bit slower , averaged to be 5 1/2 min per km pace .


P.S : Really miss track speed work and has not gone for 2 sessions already .

Duration of workout : 1 hour 23 mins

Location : Taman Desa

Mileage : 15 km

(2/2/05)-Running with heavy feeling

Was suppose to join Ronnie and gang at KLCC but at 6.15 pm was still at Kesas coming from Subang . Figured if continued to KLCC , by that time it would have been 7 pm already , with the heavy KL traffic and they would have finished and i'll be running alone .

So detoured to Bukit Jalil as Kesas connects to it .

I literally felt heavy when my workout began . Not sure why . Its like wanting to go faster but some weight holding me down kind of feeling . Perhaps coz my hamstring not completely healed yet . Perhaps Bukit Jalil very hilly and I actually couldn't go up so fast the slopes .Perhaps it was feeling very warm .

Anyway , didn't really push too hard as there is still a bit of pain in hamstring . Ran at 5 1/2 min per km constant pace .


Duration of workout : 1 hour

Location : Bukit Jalil

Mileage : 10.8 km

Pictures of Prize Presentation during Sin Chew Charity Run 2005

At last !! Here are the 2 pictures of the event on 16/1/05 in which I got 2nd placing .



Posing with the other winners , I noticed they are all thinner than me , may be that;s why I got 2nd place only :) 

Me , receiving the gift . 

(1/2/05)-Another treadmill run

Did another run on the treadmill coz by the time I came home already very late at night . This time the treadmill run wasn't boring at all coz i watched a show and run (Rose Rose I love you Chinese show on TV) .

I put on the speed a bit faster and felt that there was improvement in the healing of my hamstring .

Looking forward to complete healing ASAP . In fact , I went to Sports Physio in the afternoon and he used the electrical thingy on me and I think that helped .


Duration of workout : 45 mins

Location : Inside my house

Mileage : Not sure

(31/1/05)-11 30 pm night run

After 3 days of inactivity recovering from injury , (Or boring activity where Saturday 15 min treadmill run and Sunday 30 min treadmill run) , I really beh tahan already .

Put on my shoe at 11.30 pm and started running around my neighbourhood . Had some weird stares from some cars passing by but just ran on .

Started very slowly at 7 min per km pace , still felt a bit of pain .

At half way mark , upped the pace to 5 min 30 sec per km pace , the pain at hamstring became less but nevertheless kept a constant pace uphill and very slow pace downhill . Didn't want to injure hamstring further . Felt a bit of knee pain as I ran but I guess this is due to the posture of my run .

Felt great after the run , breathing normal . Could have gone further if not for the knee pain and i think i should only gradually increase mileage

Duration of workout : 50 mins

Location : Taman Desa

Mileage : 8 km