End of Hell Week

I am glad to say I survived Hell Week more or less in one piece. Along the way I tested out my new Adizero Ace and so far it's in the pole position for my marathon race shoe. Oh, I also broke new ground in completing my longest run since I started the plan and at the same time broke through the 100k per week barrier. All in all, I can't complain too much.

Sunday Long Run/Marathon Specific Workout 1

Jog to Youth Park

25k run (5k easy with 20k at marathon effort) - 2.07.35

4 strides at the car park

Shoes: Adidas Adizero Ace

Today's was supposed to be the first marathon specific workout of the plan and actually called for marathon PACE. Since I had no marathon experience and my target pace will probably kill me at this point, I decided to do it at marathon EFFORT, iffy as it may seem. I was slightly late to the starting point and the rest of the morning runners have all set off. This was probably a blessing in disguise as I could just relax and not be sucked into chasing after people.

I was a bit unsure about how fast to run when it was time to crank up the pace, so I settled for being relaxed but moving well. The effort I was aiming for would not leave me too breathless. As I approached the turnaround for the first 15k loop, I picked up Yeoh. He picked up his pace and we ran together for the next few k. Not long after, we surprisingly caught up with Tiger. He told me he wasn't sure which route he was going to proceed on, so I invited him along.

After refueling back at the Youth Park car park, the 3 of us continued on the remaining 10k. The plan was to run to Botanical Gardens and do the balance via big and small loops. With 4 small laps to go, Yeoh decided to call it a day, leaving me and Tiger to press on. Despite not pushing off too hard with my stride, my legs were hurting at this point and I even felt a few twinges in the calves. Thankfully, those twinges did not develop into full blown cramping and I was able to run till the end. Tiger was just too strong or perhaps it was the 100 odd km already in my legs, but I felt myself losing contact at the end.

Having done such a grueling week, I will be reducing the mileage a bit for this week. Hopefully the injury demons will continue to stay far away.

Start of Hell Week: Raya Run

In the nearly 1 month period since the last post, many things have happened in my running. My fitness had really picked up, only to plunge after holidaying in Taiwan for 9 days. The long road back to form was compounded by a bout of fever after arriving back home with a few new additions to my shoe arsenal. Still, I have to be grateful that the expected long journey back to my previous fitness turned out to be much shorter after the initial jolt to my body.

Easy steady run - Botanical Gardens, morning

Jog to the gardens

Light drills

14 small loops - 1.02.40

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer, older pair retired)

With this week consisting of national and school holidays and rainy season wreaking havoc in the late afternoons, I decided to shift the main workouts to the morning. This way, the rains and holiday crowds can be avoided, somewhat. We avoided neither this morning, but they were still at a manageable level.

I woke up this morning to chilly temperatures with biting winds every now and then. It was a real struggle to get out of the door but the conditions were quite nice once I got warmed up a bit. I reached the gate of the gardens expecting an odd morning walker or two. Surprise, surprise the place was filled, especially considering it was 6am in the morning and it was dark as night.

Hoping to take advantage of this holiday week to log some serious mileage, I had early issued a clarion call to all my running buddies, but only 2 showed up today, Kok Leong and Andrew. Never mind, we just got on with the day's plan, at least 1 hour of easy steady running. This will be my longest run since before I left for Taiwan, so I was careful to not overextend myself.

The guys must have felt quite good though, as I constantly have to rein them in and remind them to control the pace a bit. A few laps in, it started to drizzled, but thankfully did not turn into a full blown downpour and stopped a couple of laps later. Right around this point, Boon, the veteran marathoner with a lifetime PR of 2.3x steamed by us. The temptation to ramp up the pace was really great at this point but I held myself back. There will be a time for that.

The pace got a bit faster the last few laps but still within relaxed levels. I threw in a few short surges as planned to break up the monotony. The last lap was supposed to be run as fast as possible while relaxed. Unfortunately, I felt my left calf start to twitch towards the end of the penultimate lap. That developed into jolts whenever I tried to extend my ankle forcefully on the last lap. Kok Leong took the lead and maintained a steady rhythm. Damage control was in order and I tried not to limp too much to the end. After we finished, Andrew told me that he was also suffering from similar twitchiness in his calf. I guess the cold conditions played a part.

All in all, it was an enjoyable run, as I told the guys halfway through, just like riding a bus.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines...

... or rather run while the sun ain't shining that brightly. The decent rainfall yesterday night did help after all. Today's weather wasn't that hazy and got less so when it was time to run. In any case, I left the house a bit earlier than normal in a bid to get in some extra strength work. That plan wasn't entirely successful.

Hilly medium long run - Botanical Gardens

Jog to Youth Park, 5x short strides, proceed to the gardens

Light drills

10x big loops - 1.35.41

Light exercises

Jog back

Shoes: Brooks Green Silence

I had planned to follow up my strides at the Youth Park with some exercises, but ran out of time. As for the strides themselves, I didn't really feel smooth or fast. Oh well, the main work was still to come. At the gardens, I found out that I was going to have more pacers than usual with Siao Tieh and Ah Choon joining me and Ah Yeoh for the run.

For once, I managed to complete my run as planned. To give myself a better chance of finishing the punishing 10 laps, I decided to designate a few hydration breaks. It would be wise anyway to practise that for raceday. I had planned to drink up every 3 laps or so, but in the end we decided to drink every 4 laps as it just felt 'right'.

Mindful of the long road ahead, I was focused on running easy. With the super-fast Siao Tieh along, I needed to keep reminding myself to run easy. Even after he stepped off after the sixth lap, the pace threatened to get out of control. That's just the momentum at work. Still, we will probably pay for that at the latter stages.

Yeoh managed to hang on till the 2nd hydration break at the end of lap 8. After that, I had to make a monumental decision, one that will make history or collapse and fold instead. Nah, not really. The choice was whether to suffer alone for 2 more laps or give in and shoot the wind with the rest of the guys. Of course I chose to suffer. The lap immediately after rehydrating wasn't that hard. But as the gardens got darker and lonelier, the last lap felt like forever. Once again at this point, I didn't really sweat much anymore. I wasn't lying when I said this would be monumental though, since this is the first time I have done that many big loops. With that in mind, I forged on.

All in all, I was really pleased with this run. Nevertheless, there are much longer training runs up ahead. For now though, I prefer not too think too much about them. They are scary.

Suffocation and Suffering

The skyline from my apartment looked a bit blurry and I feared the worse. Luckily, the haze cleared up a bit by the time it's time to run. Or so I thought, I was greeted with smoky looking air when I approached the gardens. To compound things, the bright sunlight and sweltering humidity did not abate.

Medium run - Botanical Gardens

Jog to the gardens

Light drills

17 small loops - 1.17.08

Light exercises

Jog back

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

The original plan was to do 16 small loops with the last 7 at 15k to half marathon pace. Barely halfway through the first lap however, I decided to scratch that. The heat and humidity coupled with Ah Yeoh feeling the effects from yesterday's run made me change the run into a medium run of 20 small loops. Throughout the run, I kept the pace quite slow. Still, I found myself running into a heat wall for the last few laps. Ultimately, I cut the run short at 17 laps. By the end, I wasn't even sweating much, a sign that I need to hydrate.

The weather seems like it will hang around a bit and that's surely not welcome news. Nevertheless, training must go on, I just gotta slot some hydration in my runs.

Short and Sweet

After taking the past 2 days off, I decided to turn today's rest day into an easy day with some speed thrown in. The effort level wasn't supposed to be too hard and it's supposed to be a prep for tomorrow's harder workout.

Fartlek+Hill strides - Botanical Gardens

Jog to the gardens

Light drills

3 small loops - easy-fast-easy

5 small loops+lilly pond - fartlek

8 short hill strides/sprints

Light exercises

Shoes: Nike Zoom Speed Lite ST+

While the workout got broken up into a few parts, I actually wanted to follow up the 3 small loops with a fartlek. The plan was to do the first lap easy, something like a warmup, then run the second fast with the third lap a bit slower but still fast. In other words, laps 2 and 3 were meant to simulate a race, partly done because there will be a race this Sunday. For this part of the workout, I have my usual pacer Ah Yeoh for company. Things didn't exactly go to plan. I ran the fast lap too fast, or rather my engine hasn't fully started up, and then tanked the third lap. I had to pause after those 3 laps before continuing the fartlek.

Siao Tieh joined us for this portion. Since I didn't wanna do anything too killer, I kept the fast parts short with each lap having only 2 or 3 of them. Recovery between those fast stretches was an easy jog. There were a few instances where I was tempted to blast the fast stretches, especially when Siao Tieh ramped up the pace, but I was able to rein myself in.

The final part of the workout were the hill sprints. Again, nothing too hard. The length of each rep was probably about 50 metres with generous recovery in between. The idea is to be able to run fast but relaxed. I gradually increased the speed of each rep, beginning with something like a stride to near all out sprints for the last few.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the day's training. Hopefully this is the sign of things to come for this week's training.

Green Silence: Unsealed

I was hoping to clock a long run today and decided to give my errant pair of Green Silence a shot. It was bought to be my long distance racer, but after a couple of underwhelming runs which resulted in my calves tightening up, I temporarily shelved them. Hopefully, they will prove their worth in today's run.

Botanical Gardens - medium long run

Jog to the gardens

Light drills

10 x small loop + 4 x big loop

Light drills and exercises

Bonus lap

Shoes: Brooks Green Silence

I actually woke up with sore leg muscles despite taking yesterday off. During the jog to the gardens, I did suffer a bit. Thankfully, the soreness subsided by the time I was ready to begin the long run. My pacers for the day were Yeoh and Neoh. My initial plan was to do 20 small loops from the other direction. Regardless of direction, the sheer number of laps meant we would have to be mindful of the pace.

Whatever plans for careful pacing quickly went out the window. Neoh's loud footsteps were messing up my rhythm. Imagine someone scratching their nails on a blackboard, loud and jarring footsteps probably have a similar effect on me, especially when they are shadowing me throughout my run. I was getting agitated and annoyed. Normally if this was a race situation I would have just put in a hard surge and dropped the offender, but doing that now might have toasted my training. I needed a plan fast.

Subconsciously I was already cranking up the pace, perhaps in hopes of getting away from the nasty sound. That didn't work, so by the third lap, I decided to switch things up. I turned towards the large loop. Hopefully I can gain some rhythm. And so it went, I alternated 2 small loops with a big one. Somehow, doing the big loop from the other direction helped. The long downhill at the end of the loop helped a bit in recovery. Since each big loop is about twice as long as a small loop, I was starting to feel the strain at the equivalent of lap 16. I decided to do 2 more, with the last lap being a fast but relaxed effort.

By this point, only Yeoh stuck around, in fact he was still right on my heels halfway through the last lap. The competitive side of me panicked a bit, I didn't wanna get outkicked. Somehow, I managed to widen the gap a bit after that as his footsteps fell away. I was able to relax a bit. To his credit, he surged again near the end but I managed to hang on.

Since this was my longest run since my 21k in KL, I am quite pleased with today's effort. Other than that, my Green Silence finally came through! They felt much better than both the Launches. It might be my marathon shoe yet, that is if it survives the training...

The Boot's on the Other Foot

Since I was laid low by sickness more than a week ago, I have not set foot in Botanical Gardens. With tigers baying for my blood, it's time to answer the call.

Botanical Garden - Aerobic run

Jog to the gardens

45 min easy pace

Jog back

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

Like the previous runs post-illness, the jog to the gardens was a slog. I don't think my gym soreness was the main reason, I just felt really heavy. At the meeting spot, Yeoh, Siau Tieh, Neoh were already waiting for me. I was a bit worried about being able to stay the course.

I planned to follow the workout prescribed in my programme, that meant 16 small loops with the first 9 easy and last 7 at 15k to half pace. I didn't really know how I would fare jumping into the deep end, but at the very least I must last longer than the other 2 post comeback runs.

The first lap was really really slow, the slowest I have run there in years. I picked up the pace for the subsequent laps, though they were still slow. Despite that, I could feel a bit of strain. Once I got past the halfway mark, I did feel a bit hopeful of completing the run. That hope got stuck in the pipeline a couple of laps later though. After 1 lap at a faster pace, I was toast. I stepped off just after completing 10 laps, leaving Yeoh and Siao Tieh to forge on.

Kudos to Yeoh for outlasting me this time. Anyway, today was still an improvement so no complaints.

Kenyan Style

I was forced to take a break from training for more than a week due to sickness and some leftover malaise and I gotta be honest, coming back was hard. Physically, my body just felt tired but the damage was worse mentally. I found it easier to say 'not today' and keep pushing training off. I finally mustered enough gumption to step into the gym yesterday, and it wasn't pretty. I could barely do a couple of miles, never mind the long run I originally intended. The pace was anything but hot too.

After pulling the plug on that torture, I resolved to train hard, in the morning bla bla bla. Well, morning came, I got up and my inner couch potato was up to no good again. And that's despite it being absolutely beautiful running weather outside. It was already 9 but the sunshine was just warm enough with no trace of haze, since it rained the night before there was a really cool breeze too. With an epic inner struggle, I reminded myself of something I read somewhere, Kenyans tend to do their second daily run just before 10am. Living in Malaysia, that won't be possible most of the time, so I better grab this opportunity to emulate them. That sealed the deal, or maybe I embarrassed the inner couch potato too much with my half assed excuse, either way I was running on a nice grassy field with the wind in my hair. Ok, I lied, the field was crap and filled with ruts and roots and that breezy feeling lasted barely 2 laps before I struggled. 6 laps in, I was ready to throw in the towel. Somehow, I lied some more to myself and managed to sneak in a fartlek for the next few laps. All in all, I can't complain much, a bit more money in the bank.

On the Edge

Today's weather was simply the best by far since I started this training plan. While it was slightly hazy in the morning, early afternoon showers came to the rescue. As a welcome side effect, the temperatures felt slightly cooler. With such nice conditions, I was looking forward to putting in some good miles today. Alas, training is like walking a fine line between soaring or crashing and I am probably close to the edge now.

Medium aerobic run - Botanical Gardens

Jog to Botanical Gardens

Easy drills

17x small loop

Light exercises

Jog back

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

Despite being a bit fatigued from the previous workout, I was shooting for 20 small loops. To shake things up, I wanted to run counter to the usual direction. Joining me for this run is once again Ah Yeoh. However, there will be more company too in the form of Ah Wong, Ah Choon and Ah Neoh. The pace was supposed to be slow but I was quite worried some of the guys would get impatient. 5 laps in, the pace noticeably picked up. Before that, I noticed Ah Wong was speeding up a bit on the downhills and sure enough he initiated the surge. I managed to control myself and tried to stick to the plan.

A couple of laps later, Wong dropped out. He was followed by Choon and Neoh respectively. At least Ah Yeoh was still going strong. He flagged a little at the start of lap 12 and signaled for me to go on. I knew it would be tough to hit 20 laps then. I revised my target to a minimum of 17, which would at least my personal record for the highest number of loops completed. Unlike Tuesday, I didn't feel like I was being choked. Instead, my legs were weakening. Fortunately, lap 17 did not drag on forever and I even managed to turn my legs over a bit. Overall, it was an ok run and I felt that doing the small loop in this direction would be more even in terms of effort exerted. You can't really rest that much on the gradual downhills.

There were some minor aches and niggles in my legs, but the worse was yet to come. Once I got home, I was feeling a bit sick. Perhaps some bugs sensing a weakened immune system? Fortunately, I swiftly felt better after lying down a while.

Recovery turned medium run

After taking yesterday off due to the haze, it was back to the Gardens again. Since I missed out on the long run scheduled for yesterday, I decided to stretch out today's recovery run. How much? No idea exactly, just depends on how the body and legs are feeling.

Medium run - Botanical Gardens

Jog to the Gardens

Light warm up and drills

6x Big Loops+1 small loop

6 hill strides

Light exercises

Once again, the pacer of the day was Ah Yeoh. Since most of my runs at the gardens are on the small, much flatter loop, I decided to hit the big hills for today. We started out at an easy pace, but gradually ramped it up every loop. I still felt sufficiently OK enough to add to the initially planned 4. Still, while my breathing was ok, the legs were gradually taking a beating. We got off the big loop after completing 6 and headed for the small. While I told myself to shoot for 4 loops, I knew halfway after the first that it would be the last. I managed to put in a bit of a surge to the finish. Many thanks again for Ah Yeoh for sticking till the end. Overall it was a solid hour.

Medium Moderate Run

After taking yesterday off, albeit with some regret, I geared up to tackle week 2 of my training.

*thanks to blogger being such a bitch, I lost the whole post, so here's a summary*

Went down the the gardens to do 16 laps. The target pace was an easier 1st half and then try to push a bit if I still had energy. Ah Yeoh was the pacer of the day so I thankfully didn't have to run alone. The first half more or less went according to plan, the pace being slightly slower than last Friday's run. Credit to Yeoh for sticking with me till 10 or 11 laps, but the last few laps were in danger of becoming a lonely death march for me too.

I didn't really feel the onset of crashing, at least not the usual kind. Instead of rebelling legs and robot-like form, I felt like a vise was tightening around my chest. As for the running form, I would probably be like a car gradually crumbling. I couldn't do much breathing-wise, but I did consciously tell myself to tidy up the form with cues. Despite my efforts, the discomfort reached a nadir 4 laps from the end and I really felt like throwing in the towel. The old me would have quit, or indeed he might never have made it that far. Some unseen force pushed me on past the hurt. Maybe that's the heart of the real Peter the runner? Whatever it is, I hope it's not going to make only cameo appearances.

The vise on my chest didn't let up, but that didn't stop me from trying to surge at the end, though it was nothing to write home about. All in all, I can't complain much as I did accomplish what I set out to do. Many thanks to Ah Yeoh too for running with me.

Week 1 Summary

I am certainly glad to have 'survived' week 1, but it has been far from an easy task. For starters, I didn't manage to hit the planned mileage. Among the dropped workouts were an unimportant recovery run and a much more pertinent long run. The long run was probably a bigger step for me at this point and I have to be patient. My legs were too heavy and it was probably better to skip it. All in all 60+ km was an ok progression from my existing training.

Freedom!!!

Disclaimer: Ok, before any aspiring politicos jump on my back, this post is completely about running.

I skipped yesterday's run simply because my body wasn't up for it. Anyhow, it was supposed to be a recovery run. Despite the extra day of rest, I woke up early this morning and immediately decided to push my run to this afternoon. That turned out to be a good decision indeed as I later woke up to see heavy showers. Short though they might be, they did scrub away most of the haze that had been plaguing Penang. I was still on tenterhooks though for the next few hours while hoping the haze would stay away.

Small Loops at Botanical Gardens (14+k)

Easy run to Botanical Gardens

Short warm up with light drills

16 small loops, 67:11

5x short strides on grass

Jog back

Shoes: Brooks Launch

My plan for the day was supposed to be 9 miles of general aerobic work so I decided to cover 16 laps of the gardens. It must have been the week or so of not running on solid ground but the initial warm up run to the gardens really felt a bit off. I had wanted to jump straight into the 16 laps, but my easy warm up pace was starting to leave me a bit winded. I decided to do some drills and dynamic stretches, but they were really to help me reset my rhythm. Thankfully, I found some guys from my O2 teammates to pace with too.

Mindful of the fatigue in my legs from the week's previous runs, I wanted to keep the pace slow. However, miscommunication between me and Ah Wong, my 1st pacer, put paid to that. He thought I said the initial pace was too slow while I really meant slow down. After Ah Yeoh joined us a few laps in, I stood off from Ah Wong's pace. He would drop out before halfway.

Despite having endured the treadmill the past few days, my mind was still having difficulty clicking off the laps. The heat and humidity was as unrelenting as ever even though it rained earlier. The last few laps were a slog. I kept telling myself to ease off the pace a bit but we were not slowing down at all. Ah Yeoh wilted a bit the last few laps, and Siao Tieh surged to the front. I would have him to chase the last few laps, all while telling myself to slow down.

Overall, I am pretty happy to finally get to run outside again. Many thanks to my (inadvertent) pacers for dragging me through the run!

Long run on the treadmill

Today's workout was supposed to be a 11 mile medium long run. As the haze has shown no sign of abating anytime soon, that would mean I will have to run on the 'mill much longer that I already have. Before I get to tackle that potential mind killer however, I have to deal with the after effects of yesterday's run. I had planned to head to the gym in the morning, but my body had other plans when I woke up. I really felt depleted and I knew there was no way I could muster up enough mental strength while feeling physically subpar. I dropped straight back into the warm embrace of my bed, wasn't surprising really. What's surprising was I only woke up at 2pm. That would mean I was knocked out for nearly 13 hours. And I still felt tired. Dayummmmm.

Mid-week long run (treadmill)

13+5k

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

Mindful of the length of the run, I started out at a much slower pace. For the first 40 minutes or so, I alternated between increasing the incline and pace at 5 minute intervals. Once I got up to the 13+kph range, there was no more playing with the incline for the simple reason of me tiring out. Still I managed to hold on till just after the hour mark where I stepped off for a short while to have a short drink break. I took about 23 minutes more to complete the balance of the workout. All in all, pretty glad I survived this day.

Today My (Marathon) Life Begins

Echoing the Bruno Mars song, today marks the beginning of my training as a marathoner. I actually planned to start yesterday, but the haze gave me another reason to rest my sore right foot and clear any straggling phlegm, both battle scars from the KL marathon 21k. Besides, Mondays on the training plan I am following are marked rest or cross training anyway.

With a fresh beginning in mind, I went to bed early, at least by my standards. I enthusiastically woke up at 6, to find... even heavier haze. The haze this year sure picked an excellent time to show up, exactly on the day I intend to start marathon training. I guess this is an early test of my resolve and determination. I simply cannot falter at this early hurdle. Faced with such difficult and potentially harmful running conditions, I chose a lesser evil, the treadmill. At least the boredom should foster mental strength.

Day 1 (Treadmill)

13k, 57 minutes

10x100m strides

Shoes: Brooks Launch

The plan for the day way to do get some general aerobic work in along with some speed, aka 8 miles and 10 100m strides. The main run should not be a jog while not being a hard workout. Hmmm, tricky. I started out at 13.2kph. Since I get bored easily on the treadmill, I decided to increase the pace 0.2kph every 10 minutes. To distract myself further, I used the full length mirror in front of me to admire my dashing good looks adjust my form and try to infuriate myself further by counting my stride rate every 12 minutes (yea, random number) or so.

Towards the end, the pace was around my half marathon pace, certainly too fast according to the plan as anything higher than 90% of marathon pace would be considered specific work or some other mumbo-jumbo. I guess my starting pace would be too fast too going by that rationale, but any slower would require me to plod. Well, maybe the relative ease of treadmill running would compensate somewhat. I think it would be better for me to just focus on relaxing no matter the pace.

After taking a short breather, I proceeded to the speed portion. Now, if the stupid haze didn't show up, I would be doing the strides on a grass field somewhere, with the wind in my hair and maybe monkeys and hot chicks and spectators (ahem). Instead, I have the treadmill motor blowing hot air, thankfully not on my face, and trying not to do a faceplant to occupy myself. All this while hearing some disconcerting roar from the motor whenever I dial the treadmill to the stride speed. After experiencing a passing imitation of food blender and the accompanying sound effects at the top speed of 20kph, I decided perhaps it would be unwise to subject the 'mill to 10 rounds of that. Of course, it would be better to start gradually too, so I started the first set at 18kph and proceeded to ramp up each rep.

Overall, it's a pretty solid start. I really hope I can stay the course for these 20 weeks. Perhaps I won't turn in an underwhelming performance for once.

KL Marathon: Mission fail

I admit, my training has been subpar and I am to blame for that. Far too easily, I get demoralised and duck out from training. Still, the small PR tempered the disappointment somewhat. Anyway, here's my race report.

SCKLM 21k

1.31.02 (1.31.00 net)

Shoes: Brooks T6

After having my legs seize up on my within the first few km the last 2 times I ran here, I made a conscious effort to try to relax. While my calves did tighten up a bit and my right shin was oddly getting a pounding, my plan seemed to work. The tight feeling did not get worse and my legs were able to loosen up after about 5k. I reached that point at about 20.2x. As that portion was a net downhill, I expected a fast split but that time still worried me. With the spectres of my past failures here still lingering, I really stuck to cruising down the declines while trying not to push off too hard going uphill, both to decrease muscle fatigue.

The next few km passed by in a blur. Many would claim that this KL course is easy peasy, but to me, the many twists and turns are a bigger obstacle compared to mere elevation change. For a non-KLite, that made the course a bit unpredictable and really throws you for a loop. Personally, I find it hard to get a nice rhythm going here. All I can do is just focus on the particular stretch I am running on and hope I didn't misjudge my effort.

About midway through, I told my body that it was time to put all that saved energy and fresher legs to use and my body responded by... making no change. The power wasn't there at all. Probably a consequence of my lackluster training, my heart and lungs just couldn't spin into overdrive and my legs couldn't generate any power. It wasn't even like my heart is pumping like mad, I just had no extra gear.

Throughout the race, I tried to maintain a strong running gait and to a certain extent that probably resulted in my miniscule PR. Even so, as I approached the last few km, I was hurting and thought about shifting to a more comfortable gait. Nevertheless, I managed to hang on to the end. Heading down the finishing straight, never mind my target of sub-1.30, even sub-1.31 was slipping away before my eyes. Despite striding (my best effort at this point) all out, I was still a couple of seconds over that barrier.

I would reckon the middle part of the race was the toughest and my stopwatch would back that up. My first and last 7k segments were under my target pace while I really lost the plot in the middle. Bear in mind that I was hurting the last 4k or so. It's either the route is much harder in the middle or they really screwed up the distance markers.

Long story short, I really have to take a long hard look at myself before I start thinking about the full distance.

Legs are Still Not Fully Mine: Fartlek, Day 22

I took a break yesterday after 7 consecutive days of training. While my legs have indeed started feeling more and more leaden by the day, I woke up yesterday feeling like they weren't even mine! On top of that, the heavens really opened up just as I was about to head out for my run, so there, even nature told me to take a rest.

My legs still didn't feel like mine when I woke up today, but they got better as the day went on. I figured 48 hours should be adequate lest I start to get sucked into a vicious cycle of copping out from training. The menu also didn't sound that bad, an extended fartlek at a lower intensity.

Day 22 (Botanical Gardens+Jesselton)

Run to Youth Park (warm up)

75min fartlek (easy moderate)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

There were not many fast guys who showed up for this run. Except for Richard, most of the crowd would probably not follow or initiate surges. I was proven right as it turned out to be an easy kinda run for most of them. Richard did follow a couple of my surges towards the end, but on the whole, it was just me mixing up the pace, albeit less frequently. Since this was like the longest fartlek for me this year, I am quite satisfied with being able to finish it. I also discovered that wet surfaces are to be avoided in this pair of trainers as the rough grippy treads have worn away. I nearly slipped on some of the slippery surfaces.

Hanging Tough, Day 20

Today's run was also partly run under light drizzle. After the past few days, my legs were really feeling it. Imagine the relief I felt when my SMS to Kang on what kinda run we will be doing today was replied with 'EEEZ'. Then imagine my eyes popping and tongue hanging out when I find out halfway through that it was not.

Day 20 (Botanical Gardens)

Run to Youth Park (warm up)

~11k steady (relaxed moderate)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

The plan today was to run to the Gardens and do 10 small loops. I was going to go really easy, but Kang's pace was a bit faster than I expected. It wasn't really that fast but the accumulated fatigue took its toll. There were a few times when I really wanted to let go and run at my own pace, but there was no one from the group near behind. Getting stuck in no man's land at that point might have led to me cutting short the run. It might sound like a paradox, but to beat fatigue I had to run harder.

Fartlek in the Rain, Day 19

I woke up (late, again) to news of the passing of Samuel Wanjiru, the reigning Olympic marathon champ. This left me in shock, he was not yet 25. Although Haile is the biggest (and probably only) name in marathoning for most people, Wanjiru is a hero to me for his absolutely fearless way of racing. I am going to try to adopt that fearlessness in my own running.

Day 19 (Botanical Gardens)

Run to Youth Park (warm up)

1hr fartlek (moderate) (last stretch back from Gardens: 3.51)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

After yesterday's tough and long treadmill session, I was kinda hoping for a more relaxed pace today. Despite Kang saying that would be the case, the reality couldn't be further away. The pack was splintered time and again but the repeated trips to the hilly parts of the Gardens. It might partly be due to yesterday's workout, but I was really hurting. Halfway through, it even started to rain. Still, I kept thinking of how Wanjiru would hang tough and gutted through the pain. When it came down to the final stretch, I really turned on the jets, or so I thought. My watch told me a different story. Nevertheless, it was still a solid session and I am glad for it.

Heading to Madness on a Conveyor Belt, Day 18

I missed my morning long run yet again, but this time I can at least blame it on sore legs and general post race blues. Once again, I had to substitute it with an afternoon session. With the current likelihood of extreme weather, the choice of location for this was always going to be the gym... which means the utterly mind numbing, soul destroying treadmill. This time, I have armed myself with a plan that will hopefully stave away the monotony.

The omens were certainly not good though. I really struggled to break free from my afternoon nap, usually a sign that the willpower is not in top form. Never mind, if nothing else, treadmill running will teach mental strength, a problem in a few of my recent races.

Day 18 (gym, treadmill)

12k (progression run, moderate) 52min

Short rest

11k (hilly run, moderate to hard) 50min

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

Overall, I was quite satisfied. Although I didn't exactly hit my target of at least 1 hour for the first part, 52 mins is close enough. The hilly run consists of 800m at a slower pace at a minimal gradient (2%) before speeding up to another constant speed while alternating between 2%, 5% and 8%. The segments were either 1 mile (5%) or half a mile (2% and 8%). I got this workout from a site called runningplanet so there are more where that came from. The 8% parts were a bit of a killer, but I was glad I stuck to the end and even ran a bit extra.

I had to cut short my strength workout due to a lack of time (thanks to the post nap dilly-dallying) but I can't complain much today.

Rising from the Ashes (ahem), Day 17

After yesterday's shambles, today's 5000m no longer became an afterthought. Mostly I wanted to avoid DNF-ing again, but I was also hoping for an acceptable performance at least. Just before the race, the stakes were heightened again when I found out that Raj, my senior and erstwhile miler, was also going to be making his 5000 debut here. Since it's not his distance and he's not even in form, I must stay ahead of him to avoid being more of a laughing stock than I am already.

Day 17 (Darulaman Stadium)

5 min warm up jog

4 short strides

5000m race 19.47

1000m 3.44

2000m 7.44

3000m 11.44

4000m 15.48

Shoes: Brooks T6

Overall, I can't complain much about it. While the time wasn't a PB, it was my best in 2 years and the weather was hot. My strategy was to try to start fast but remain relaxed and in this sense, I think I executed well. Unfortunately, that still left my dead last for most of the first kilo. However, I started reeling people in soon after. The plan for the subsequent kilos was more of just hanging on and for the next 2, I did just that. When I got to the penultimate kilo however, I could feels my legs start to rebel. The pace slipped a bit and my plan to push the last kilo was a no go. Nevertheless, I managed to slightly up the pace. All in all, it was a decent race. I managed to finish ahead of Raj and I haven't started any intensive intervals yet.

Anyway, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my friend, Jane and family for being excellent hosts for my stay in Alor Star. Without them stuffing me with food, I wouldn't be able to do half as well.

P/S: I actually wrote a much more detailed account of my race, but a lousy Internet and a careless stroke of the 'delete' key put paid to it.

Epic fail, Day 16

As sung so infamously by Rebecca Black, it's Friday! It's Friday! and it happens to be competition day 1. It was supposed to be the first leg of a suicidal, hence epic, 2 day double. It turned out instead to be an epic fail. I not only turned out to be the suckiest by far of a 5 man field, as expected, but I didn't even finish the race. I don't like to make excuses, I sucked. Although this track meet is only a tune up for me, DNFs always hurt, and this one hurt more than the burning in my leg muscles.





Day 16 (Darulaman Stadium)


6 min easy jog (warm up)


10000m race (DNF at 6400m, 26.28)


Shoes: Brooks T6





Hopefully tomorrow's 5000 will be much better. At the very least, I must finish.

Double trouble, Day 16

I didn't get to run much today since tomorrow will be race day. Of course, the weather also played a factor in me being unable to get a morning run in. Contrary to the yesterday's muggy weather, it was raining buckets all through the mid-afternoon when I left Penang. Once I reached Alor Setar, it was already late afternoon. Only then did I manage to get a very short run in. The conditions were certainly less than ideal, what with the sub-par roads of the housing area I was in and the super enthusiastic dogs.

Day 16 (somewhere in Alor Setar, next to some paddy fields)
15 min (easy)
4xvery short strides
Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

Nevertheless, I gotta make do with my conditions. There were some 'good' news waiting for me when I came back. From the moment the person in charge of registrations told me that 'there was no 5000m', the event I have been bracing myself for is the 10000m (yes, I agree that I am repeating myself too much). But lo and behold, it turned out that my name has been entered for BOTH these killer events held on back to back days. After picking up my jaw from the ground and swallowing back my heart, I came to terms with it. This will be my 3rd double, the 1st was also over 2 days, while the 2nd was over 3. God bless me.

Burning up the roads, but in a bad way: Day 15

Today's workout was my first since setting foot on Penang. It was pertinent that I get back to training ASAP, and not just because of all the lack of sleep, secondhand smoke and diet I had to endure in Medan. I managed to sign up for a race just before I boarded my flight to Medan and that race happened to be the most grueling track event, the #@$$%#@ boring and long and #$%$ nausea and snore inducing 10000m. To top it all off, that race will be on Friday afternoon. Oh wait, I forgot one more thing. It seems that someone decided to turn up the heat all over Malaysia while I was gone! Something tells me the race will be a world of hurt...

Day 15 (Jesselton)

Run to Youth Park

Jog to Jesselton

6 laps of Jesselton loop, alternating stride-float stretches (essentially 12x ~250m strides with equal distance jog recovery)

Jog back

Shoes: Brooks T5

I wanted to use this as a rust buster and planned to go relaxed. The heat wave didn't feel like a big problem when I left the house. In fact it wasn't sunny at all. But appearances truly are deceiving. Despite the downcast skies, I was already sweating profusely at the start of the main work out.

Anyway, the areas I focused on are trying to run fast while being relaxed. I think I managed to do that up till the last loop, despite having the pace ramped up mercilessly by people old enough to be my father. As it is, my legs are fine though the old aches and pains are creeping in again. Having said that, I have no doubt that my upcoming race will be in another realm of hurt altogether if the weather doesn't cool down.

(Near) Conclusion of block: medium hills at medium effort, Day 10

If I fail to break free from dream land tomorrow, today's hill workout will be the last run before I go to Medan for a short break. I am saying this not because I lack faith in my determination to wake up early, but because I know that is like trying to beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Anyway, I don't think I would have enough time to update this blog even if I do get the run in. Looking back, these 10 days have been quite solid training for me. Although some runs were a bit underwhelming, I found it's easier to keep my spirits high by looking at training as smaller blocks. Hopefully, the 4 days in Medan would rejuvenate me for the next phase where I ramp things up.

Day 10 (Botanical Gardens)

Run to Youth Park (warm up)

Run to the Gardens, 10x medium hills (~150m, moderate)

Run back

Shoes: Brooks T5

Days 11 to 14: no training (probably, unless I get some in while in Medan)

Situation fartlek-ing normal, Day 9

It turns out my sub-par appearance wasn't for nought. In fact, it paid dividends in today's run already. As usual, Thurdays with the Youth Park gang means fartlek (really just a posh way of saying speed play). And this slightly rude sounding type of run is a good testing ground for changing gears and in-race speed. Remembering some sage advice from an article about always training within myself, today's fartlek wasn't really balls to the wall, yet I felt good stepping on the gas when the situation calls for it.

Day 9 (Botanical Gardens)

Run to Youth Park (warm up)

1hr fartlek (moderate)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

Overall, it's good to find that my legs and body were less lethargic than the last 2 or 3 workouts. I also kinda 'felt' my form was better, especially my arm carriage, but then I can't really be sure till I get someone to video me while running.

Track 1 Peter 0, Day 8

Since I have a steamboat appointment later in the evening, I decided to do my workout at the USM track. Oh yeah, in case anyone would think that I am too ashamed to mention that I overslept again, it was raining so I couldn't run anyway. Pffftt.

I decided to do some 200s with generous recovery, sort of a true speed workout mentioned in one of the posts here. Anyway, 'speed' turned out to be the misnomer of the day as far as I was concerned by the end of the workout. To avoid embarrassing myself, I will keep the times to myself :P.

Day 8 (USM track)

10min grass (warm up)

4x200 (last 3 all out but relaxed, long recovery ~6min)

10min barefoot

Shoes (for the shod portions): Brooks T5

While the recommended recovery was as long as it takes to fully recover, my legs were getting heavy even with 5 minutes worth of rest, especially for the last 2 reps. Nevertheless, the positive side of me wants to think that this is due to a lack of speed training on my part and consequently my current form is just temporary. *fingers crossed*

Despite my low training load, I went on to gorge at the steamboat do later, just an extension of my elevated appetite really.

Semi-aborted run, Day 7

Barely a week into my new training regime and I have already nearly fallen off the wagon. In my defence, I didn't sleep well at all last night, and I passed off 20 minutes of lying on the bed as an afternoon nap. The signs were bad from then on, I really had to force my ass outta the door. I thought things would get better as I ran. My initial plan was to do more than an hour over a hilly course. That sounds like a fat joke now. Barely halfway up the first hill, my body was telling me to pull the plug. So what to do? I decided to recycle it into a hill sprint work out, one which I had planned for tomorrow morning (morning runs? for Peter? another big fat joke HAHA).

Day 7 (Botanical Gardens)

Run to Youth Park (warm up)

Run to Botanical Gardens (medium run epic fail = 2nd warm up)

10x10sec hill sprints (all out, long recovery)

Run back to Youth Park

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

On the way back, I had the good fortune of pacing with Tong, who was doing the second half of his 13k run. Even then, I had to struggle to keep up. Oh yeah, did I mention he's more than twice my age? I don't know whether to be in awe or sorrow.

Tough day at the gardens, Day 6

Once again I couldn't wake up in the morning. And yet again, I had to really tear myself out of a afternoon nap induced stupor to run in the evening. It's all starting to sound like a broken record huh? Anyway, I followed the Payton Jordan Invitational Track Meet live on flotrack earlier in the afternoon and got pretty fired up, so that was the sleep-demon/demotivation kicking weapon of the day.

Day 6 (Botanical Gardens)

Run to youth park (warm up)

1 hr fartlek (moderate)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

Fartleks are usually moderate intensity runs for me, but somehow today I was feeling it even within the first 15 minutes. It might have been the added mileage load rearing its head or maybe Kang was really putting the coals on. Either way, with three quarters of the way to go, that wasn't a good sign. The DNF demons were ever present but I just blanked my mind and focused on each intense part while taking advantage of every single lull in pace. There was not much self initiated surging or extras today. I finished up with a sustained surge for the final stretch back to Youth Park, but I still got my ass kicked by 2 Masters runners. Tsk tsk.

Indoors vs myself, Day 5

Once again, I missed my Sunday morning long run. This time it was due to some unfortunate delays while crossing the dream-reality border. Serious, the dream was just that good.

Anyway, I decided to make up for it with an afternoon session at the gym, albeit with some fierce struggle with my dreams again. Darn, my dreams seemed determined to prevent me from training. Must do something about that.

Day 5 (gym)

1hr progression run (hard, treadmill)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (newer)

I really wanted to go long today, something like over 20k. Unfortunately, whenever I run on treadmills, it's always touch and go. Many people would say treadmill running is boring, and I will tell them that they are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! Most of the time I only have my reflection for company, and there are definitely no eye candy at my gym (unless you are into aunties and uncles la). So alleviate the boredom, I tend to play with the buttons. Unfortunately that means the run will only get faster or harder. Go figure, I have a masochistic streak. 1 hour is definitely good, in fact it's the longest I have run indoors.

Slogging on a bumpy field, Day 4

Decided to sleep in, so that means I was left with getting in a run in the evening. The trouble was Saturday evenings tend to suck me into their warm embrace. True enough, by 6pm I was complaining of being hungry and trying to delay lacing up my shoes to 7pm. Deep down, I knew it was touch and go, and the good guys didn't seem to be winning. That was until I saw something while surfing. Although it really had nothing to do with me, it really pissed me off. That ignited the fire in me, at least for that moment. I didn't know how long that would burn, so I quickly headed for the door before it went out.

Moral of the day, I finally used the soporific powers of the Internet against itself. Never again will I cop out because of the Internet muahahahhahaa. *fingers crossed*

Day 4:

30mins (relaxed progression) - Adventist field

Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

I just wanted to get in some easy miles while trying to focus on my form. Unfortunately my lack of self control meant I was kinda feeling my legs and feet a bit in the end, also partly no thanks to my shoes. At least I could do 30 minutes in them this time.

Barefoot+Hills=Time for new shoes? Days 2 and 3

The past 2 days have been fairly low intensity.

Day 2:

10min warmup (grass)

Light drills

45min barefoot (grass, easy)

Shoes: Brooks Launch

Day 3: (morning)

10min warmup (grass)

6x hill sprints, about 10secs each (fast)

Shoes: Brooks Launch (older)

I planned to do some running in the evening today, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, I got too tired. Anyway, what I gathered from these 2 days is I might need to chuck out the Launches, or at least the older pair. The reason those lame 10min 'warmups' became 'warmups' is because my feet were feeling sore and I could only make it so far.

Even if I just retire a pair of the Launches, what should I replace them with? That would leave me with precisely 1 pair of regular training shoes (the other Launches) since all my other shoes are racers. The new Launches are no longer affordable any more. Darn, decisions, decisions.

Sub 1.25 or bust: Road to KL Day 1

There are only about 8.5 weeks left until the Stan Chart KL Marathon. After last Sunday's less than stellar race, it's time for me to buck up. At the rate I am progressing, I would be consigned to the back of the pack by the up and coming young guns. Even Tiger went up a few levels with his 1.26. As Tiger will be going for the full distance in KL, I won't even get a chance to pay him back for that massive beating. Never mind, there's another way to one up his mark: sub-1.25.

I took 2 days to recover from Bidor, partly out of laziness, partly out of mylegscantevenwalkstraightitis. Both of them were still afflicting me today, but I was starting to feel guilty, so much so I was even able to disregard the unusual lethargy I was feeling after my afternoon nap. On top of that, the weather was bloody hot and humid. I sure wish I can replicate this kind of fortitude in the next 9 weeks and beyond.

Menu:

Jog to Youth Park, easy

Run to Jesselton, easy

12 strides (~250m), jog back recovery (supposed to be easy, but try telling that to my calves @#%$$#)

Jog back to Youth Park, death march

Running partners: Kang and gang

Shoe: Brooks T5 racers

Weather: Unbelievably hot and humid

The calves were a bit tight, and the humid weather had me gasping after 3 or 4 reps. Didn't know what made me go on. All in all, glad that I completed it.