Change of plan

Sometimes things are just not meant to be. I received news that KL marathon has been postponed to 29 September due to public health concern over haze. Was quite disappointed initially, after i have trained so hard for it. But a while, i thought: well, if God closes one door, He surely will open another. So I have change of plan now. Instead of wasting my hard-earned fitness to natural or man-made events which i have no control, I am going to attempt a Fastest Known Time (FKT) project in some well-known mountains in Malaysia. And I will start with Gunung Nuang.

Fastest known time - as the name suggests, is the the fastest time known to cover a certain distance in a certain place. It is specific to a particular place, as other place with the same distance would have different course profile and elevation gain. You can also call it course record (CR), and it's not transferrable to other terrain or mountain.

Now i am not sure if there is an official FKT in all the mountains in Malaysia. I think in certain well-known ones there are, such as Mount Kinabalu or Mount Nuang. I don't know the FKT is for Nuang, though in the past i have been told by the old folks who live or work there that the FKT is around 2hours30mins, set by a Malaysian commando. Honestly, having climbed Nuang before, i doubt that is humanly possible. It's either it's not true, or the person who did it did not go all the way to the peak.

Anyway whatever it is, i will go try do my fastest time next Monday. I will start the clock right from the entrance to the mountains, go all the way to the peak, and then come down to the same entrance. The entire journey will be recorded in my Suunto Ambit so there is no way i can take shortcuts. While the time that i do may not be a true FKT (that is if i take longer than 2hrs30mins and the commando's timing is actually true), i will still be glad to set a time in this mountain which other people, including myself, can return to beat the time in the future.

There is something mysteriously attractive about mountains. I have that feeling since i was a kid. I remembered in my first ever mountain expedition (Gunung Angsi) led by my school teachers as a 14 year old, I broke away from the group pretty much half way in the expedition and hiked to the peak on my own. (that night, I received a proper scolding from my teachers) Somehow, i feel at home there. It's there i can connect with God the most, in the natural environment, surrounded by the vast wilderness. I suspect that the joy i would have there would far outweigh that of KL marathon. So I am glad. And i am at peace with myself. :)

Preparation for KL marathon

Firstly, i want to apologise for being so inactive in blogging this year. This year has been a massive year for me in my personal life (like getting married), in work (i am working hard to present some scientific papers in conferences and journals), and running. Hence, finding the time to write is difficult and i realise that the longer i stay inactive, the higher the tendency for me to remain so as time passes. But i thought as KL marathon looms around the corner, I just want to give everyone an update of how i  am doing.

The build-up this year has been a gradual, smooth-sailing, almost injuries-free one. I started serious training after our wedding on 23 February, and i slowly increased my mileage to around 100km per week (about 8-10 hours). For the past two years, despite my best effort and intention, i was not able to incorporate speed work and tempo run into my training because the moment i did so, i got injured.  This year however, has been a breakthrough year for me in that i was able to do them regularly. As a result, I have achieved personal best timings in all distances i have never achieved before. After being through countless disappointment and headache in the past due to injuries, I have realised the formula to injury-free is actually quite easy - sandwich these hard work-outs in between the easy ones and make sure you recover adequately before the next hard work-out will most likely prevent injuries from happening. So far, the only nagging injury which pops its ugly head out every now and then is plantar fasciitis of my left foot; but it usually responds well to 1-2 days of trigger point therapy (rolling the sore point on a golf ball).

Last month's Cook's Tour 50km ultra trail marathon was a memorable one. I initially selected this race (and Mt Mee Marathon) as preparatory races for KL marathon (which will be held next weekend), so i didn't have much expectation for it. Since these races were held close to where i live, i thought i would give them a go. Cook's Tour turned out to be a great race for me. I was leading from the start and was followed closely by another NZ runner -  Andrew (who won Wild Horse Criterium 70km this year) all the way till about 20km mark. From there, i slowly pulled away and maintained my lead till the finish, in 1st place at a time of 4:08:59.  The course was challenging, with a good 1053m of ascent and 1073m of descent according to my suunto ambit. (check out the move here). This is my first solo win in Australia.

This picture made me realise i need to cut my hair :D

Crossing the finish line!

One week following the race, my wife and I finally packed our bag and went for our long-awaited Honeymoon in Scandinavia (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark). During these two weeks of honeymoon, my training quite understandably took a back seat while my wife and i spent quality time together. We wanted our honeymoon destination to be different from the popular ones, so we chose Scandinavia since we both love nature and sea and mountains/fjords. These two weeks were one of the best times of our lives as we traveled together to some of the most amazing and beautiful places in the world. We also ate a lot in this trip, with buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner in most days of the trip. So not only did i gain some weight, I only managed some minimal training during this period (it was done mostly on treadmill in the hotels).

So from being very fit before the honeymoon, I have lost considerable amount of fitness after the honeymoon. This was worthwhile though, as honeymoon is once in a lifetime! I was back in Malaysia for two days (11-12 June 2013) before I returned to Australia for work. During these two days, I did some running in Taman Bukit Jalil (close to where my wife's family lives and my usual training ground). 10 minutes into the run and i was completely drenched in my own sweat. The heat and humidity again got the better of me. I did a 14km run in what i felt to be a moderate-to-hard pace, but my heart rate monitor says otherwise. It says i was running in extremely-hard pace (average heart rate of 168). This certainly got me worried because the pace was not fast but it is clear that my body was visibly straining.

Since I returned to Australia, I knew I only have two and a half more weeks to KL marathon. Clearly I have a lot of ground to cover but i have to guard myself from over-doing it. So I have to be very smart about the precise mileage, intensity, nutrition and recovery in this period. Under-doing it, I will find myself struggling to finish; and over-doing it, i would either get injured or arrive at the starting line tired. This period is extremely crucial in deciding whether I would achieve my goal in the upcoming KL Marathon.

So what is my goal? Since I knew what a marathon really is, I have always felt that a Sub-3 hour Marathon is impossible for me. If i could not even run under 40 mins for 10km, how is it possible to hold that fast pace for the entire 42km? Now, after all the training i have done and books I have read, I have seen a glimpse of hope that a sub-3 marathon might actually be possible for me.  So yes, I am aiming for a sub-3 marathon in this upcoming race. 

Obviously the heat and humidity are my biggest worries. And have i done enough in this period to regain the fitness that i had before my honeymoon? I am not sure. Coming next weekend, I would have to do my best to run a smart and surrendered race. Smart in the sense that i need do all i can to maintain my body physiologic parameters (blood glucose, hydration, temperature etc) in constant levels, and I also have to be very patient and run a sustainable pace. A surrendered race? Well, this means that I have done everything I can and I am surrendering everything to God Almighty. He will carry me through to the finish line.

Lord, if it's not Your will, I wouldn't have come this far in my running journey. You have my life at the palm of Your hand, so teach me to trust in Your goodness and perfect plan. Help me to do my best to glorify You. In Jesus' name, amen.