Running with horses: Week Summary log (19-25 September)

19 Sept (Mon)

Pm – 10km (48 mins)

20 Sept (Tues)

Am – 10km (47 mins) at MacRitchie

21 Sept (Wed)

Pm – 2 x Bukit Jugra and 4.8km tempo run

1km uphill challenge (10m30s), downhill (5m22s) ~257m elevation

1km uphill challenge (9m22s), downhill (4m27s) ~257m elevation

4.8km jog (20 mins)

22 Sept (Thurs)

Pm - 4.8km jog (18m30s)

23 Sept (Fri)

Rest

24 Sept (Sat)

Rest

25 Sept (Sun)

42.195km (Taiping International Marathon) – 3hr21m39s

Total – 71.8km (5:35:9)

Average speed – 4.67 min/km or 7.47min/mile

This week’s highlight is definitely Bukit Jugra hill challenge and Taiping International Marathon.

On Wednesday, Harn and I went to his usual training ground - Bukit Jugra hill, located at our childhood ‘kampung’. It stood at approximately 257m from sea level. I definitely remembered climbing Bukit Jugra numerous times as a child as it is not only a place for exercise, but it’s where our grandparents were buried so we have to return every year to clean their graveyard. As a child, I normally walked up the hill because of its steep gradient so to imagine running up the hill is something new to me. Nonetheless, Harn and I were there to ascend the hill as fast as we can, either we run or hike.

Before we started, Harn warned me that my calves would totally be incapacitated if I tried to go too fast. I told him that I have already trained my calves to withstand vigorous uphill running so I would be fine. So after we pressed the button on our timers, I set up at a good speed, widening my gap with Harn each step I took. About half way up, true enough, my calves started to stiffen and scream out. My pace slowed down considerably, and it felt like it was going to cramp anytime. Then, of course, Harn started to close down the gap, and overtook me before we reached the peak. In coming down, I just followed his pace and it took over 5 minutes plus for us to reach the bottom, about half the time it took to reach the peak.

The second time round, I decided to play smart. I did not go too fast this time, but maintained a steady pace with good hands-on-knees posture to aid running up. I had the lead all the way, reaching the peak in 9 minutes plus, more than a minute faster than my first attempt. (Harn said he has never done it under 10 minutes before). This time in coming down, Harn asked me if I was interested to break his record, which was 5min11s. I agreed immediately and started sprinting down, focusing on shorter stride rate and extreme fast cadence. Harn followed behind. I reached the bottom in 4m22s, completely shattered his previous record. He also reached the bottom in 4m47s, and he could not believe that he could lower his old record by that much. That’s the thing about record. It has a mental barrier to it which sometimes requires external help to overcome.

My own mental barriers include running under 40 minutes for 10km, 1hr30min for 21km and sub-3 hr for a full marathon. I hope I can achieve all of them this year. (Maybe except running a sub-3 marathon coz it takes a lot of time to do it whereas I only really started running marathon this year).

From the peak of Bukit Jugra

Training in Jugra in 2007 with friends from infinity milers

Taiping International Marathon was fun. During the race pack collection, I found out that there is only over 50 plus runners joining the full marathon distance. Of course there were some big names – Kenyans and Malaysians alike. Since I ran a 2hr22mins for the Glasshouse 30km trail run, I was aiming for a sub-3hr20min timing. At first, I sticked with the top pack of Malaysian runners. I could see the Kenyan runners in front of us for about the first 10 minutes before they disappeared into oblivion. I kept up with the front pack of Malaysian runners for about the first 7.5km before they slowly pulled away from me. There were four of them in total. After the first 10km, I was alone. There was no one in front or behind me. I ran the rest of the marathon alone. The course was relatively flat, and I did the first 25-30km in the dark. What a cool experience. There were no major hiccups in the run. I consumed my GU gels at 12km, 22km and 30km, which was a right thing to do to ensure I have sufficient fuels in my tank to run consistently. The only problem in the race is that the distance markers were inaccurate. The distance markers were longer than the actual distance, hence giving me the false impression that I had much longer to go. I felt quite discouraged that I still had much distance to cover, and my target of a sub-3hr20min time was slipping away. However toward the end, I saw that there was 5km more to go at slightly less than 3hr. My motivation returned and I tried to increase my pace, finally finishing at a time of 3:21:39, with some reserve left in my body. I came in 5^th place. The first and second Malaysians finished at 2hr50min, and 3^rd guy finished at 2hr58min and the fourth guy finished at 3hr. So there was a big gap between them and me.

Overall, I felt good about the run. It was my fourth marathon, shaving about 24 minutes off my previous effort. The run was relatively pain-free, barring some minor aches in my upper chest and back that were due to muscle fatigue. My aim is to go under 3 hours in Gold Coast Marathon next year. If I can continue running and training, the goal should not be too difficult to achieve.

My gf has been with me throughout the run. I told her to return to the resort to rest after the flag-off coz I was worried about her safety but she refused. She waited for me to return and gave me a big hug after I completed the marathon. I am really happy and grateful for her love and support. :)