Monday 26 January 2015

mental training


Come prepared, he said. Bring all you need, he said. We start at 11am, and we train till 3pm. It is called mental training. It got us all curious. What in the world is mental training? Well, the scorching hot sun certainly forms an element of the mental training. Could it be just running in the sun? Could it be that simple?

The few of us gathered, eager yet nervous at the same time. He just asked us to go for a slow jog, 3 laps for a quick warm up. Then, he told us to each take a lane. Coach said, ‘only one lap’. But, we don’t run, we roll. You should have seen my eyes widen, and my jaw drop. I was like, what in the world do you mean roll. He just said, start rolling, start rolling, START ROLLING!

And so, I dropped down and started rolling. I could feel my world spinning. I could feel my wantanmee breakfast going on a rollercoaster ride. The track itself was burning and I could feel my arms and thighs burning with every roll upon contact with the track. But I knew the longer it took me to roll, the worst it will be for me. The burning sensation would only get worse the longer I am in the sun and rolling on the track. I figured that everytime I stopped, I just felt like coughing up my breakfast. So I just kept rolling. I concentrated on counting my rolls. And that really is what got me through. I was done in 20 minutes.

 My running buddies, weren’t so lucky. They had major troubles enduring the dizziness. Their breakfast was all over the track. I kid you not. It was literally, sweat, blood and tears, oh and puke. I looked over and it was really like a scene out of a torture movie. I just saw them groaning and moaning in pain as they continued rolling. They were trying to supress puking, but it kept coming up. And they just lay there in the hot sun, on the hot tracks. 





after that we had to put our legs in ice cold water. it was nice, at first. until well, until you feel this really weird sensation. 

but it was a good day. have got to thank coach for his time and effort. really. 

Monday 19 January 2015

tahura trail run, 21km. 10km.

my first race of the year. also my first international run of the year. i was going to bandung for a business trip. and i was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to run the 21km tahura trail run in bandung. i was undecided on the 10km before arriving in bandung as i thought i might be a tad bit too tired. 

im going to skip the work part and focus on the race part.

touchdown on friday and i was surprised by the cooling weather in bandung. lucky me i brought all longs and no shorts. i heard about a friend who wore shorts in banda aceh and had stones thrown at her, asked to leave indonesia. not wanting to stir up any controversy, i packed all longs, and it was a great decision. bandung's weather is somewhat similar to cameron highlands. and the race was high up in the dijuanda park, and it was way way chillier than cameron highlands up there. 

the 21km was alot of steep clims. we climbed from roughly 700m above sea level all the way up 1700m above sea level, and back down. it was a tough route, but an enjoyable one. the scenery was amazing. i was in awe. way up high, overlooking the entire city of bandung, it was beautiful. the trails took us through villages, cabbage patches, it was really an amazing experience. the trails were punishing but the view was rewarding. i loved every single bit of it. 

my shoes were however the nightmare part of my run. on thursday i did training in the rain. so my asics were drenched. i had to bring my nikes, which my run buddies know i hate. i really hate my nikes. so the entire time i was running, i could feel my arch hurting, to be more precise, burning.the hike up was slow for me. the running downhill was slow for me too. my shoes aren't trail running shoes, so there were parts i had to go super slow. there were parts where i slipped one too many times. but when we came out at a pavement which went for about 4km, that was where i could pick up speed. 



i didn't place, but then again, i did not expect to place. i didn't push myself. i definitely did not deserve to place. i managed a 6th place though. although yes i do have that thought of kicking myself for not pushing harder. 

after my 21km, i decided to run the 10km. i loved the trail so much, this time, i wanted to take some photographs. so, on sunday, i got dressed, and before i knew it, i was at the start line. i ran, but the trails were not the same. 

we didn't get the overlooking-bandung view. the view was different. there was one in particular that i liked which was where we ran through a path with yellow flowers forming a wall on both sides of the pathways. it was beautiful. 

but there were people behind me, so photographs were difficult. so i just ran. my trail parts were slow. i had to let people pass me. i really should get trail running shoes. the whole time i was thinking just that. people buy trail running shoes for a reason. i had to let 2 girls pass me. when we came out at the same pavement, which was a 4km pavement before the finishing line, that was when i started chasing. i caught up to the 2 girls in front of me but didn't manage to catch one more girl who was way ahead. managed to place 2nd. my very first podium finish. i was delighted. i was more than delighted. 






so in one weekend, i managed to strike 2 things off my new year goals - run an international run and place top 3 in one of the runs. 

i enjoyed bandung alot. i didn't manage to see bandung because of work. nex year, i will be back, to do better in the tahura trail run and to see bandung. 




Tuesday 6 January 2015

new years training

new years, a day of significance to many. people stay up to watch the clock strike 12. there's the nyc ball drop, there's the fireworks in every major city against beautiful icons such as the london eye and sydney harbour bridge, then there's also me, who is sound asleep before the clock even struck 12. 

why? training on new years day! 

we were separated into 2 groups, the short distance and the long distance. thankfully i was placed in the former group. we started off with a 4km warm up, then moved to drills. after drills we did 3 rounds of 2km run, 3 rounds of a 1km run, 3 rounds of a 500m sprint and 3 rounds of 300m sprints. 

the menu for the long distance runners (which i was grateful for being excluded from) was a 10km warm up. 4km sprints, twice. then they started their 400m sprints x 30 times. in total they clocked in 30km that day. 

we were at the track basically till noon. 

i was starving by the end of training. went for chillipanmee after to fill my tummy. 

it was a great new years day. really started it with a big bang. last year, i did skytrek, this year i made it a meaningful training day. here's to many more to come. 




Sunday 4 January 2015

new years

boy doesn't time fly. 2014 passed in what seems like just a blink of an eye. there were ups and downs, joy and tears. there were tragedies and we still continue to mourn for them. my heartfelt condolences are extended to those affected by the 2014 line of tragedies. 

i'm a strong believer of new year goals. last year, i had a few goals, sports related set:

1. achieve a 4h 30 minute timing for a marathon (i managed my pb of 4 hours 14 minutes this year)
2. place in one of the runs (initially i joined the ss2 charity run, to hopefully place because its such a small run. i managed to place 4th. i also managed to place 8th in the new balance half marathon, 9th in the ipoh half marathon, 4th in the newton challenge 15km, and also my team managed to place 1st in the under 26 pacesetter relay run).
3. run at least 5 events (i definitely ticked this. i did ss2 charity run, xterra teaser, xterra, reebok challenge, 2xu run, viper challenge, klscm, powerbar duathlon, ipoh half marathon, maze challenge, pj half marathon, new balance half marathon, allianz pace setter relay and lastly wrapped it up with newton challenge). 

this year:

1. run a sub 20 5km
2. achieve my coach's goal of running 3000m in a sub 11 timing 
3. run a sub 4 marathon 
4. place top 3 in at least one running event (i've only managed 4th place in 2014, hoping to step up in 2015)
5. i'd like to see my career path to be slightly clearer
6. run an international run 

here's to having my goals all ticked of by the end of the year. 

happy new years everybody. have a glorious new years. we did the Armageddon wod for the new years.and we survived.