15 minute tempo run

the task was to do a 15 minute tempo run. 

in the midst, i managed to pb my 3km hitting 12min 35 seconds for a 3000m. managed to cover about 3.55km ish in 15 minutes. falling short of my aim of 3.6km. 

ill be back. faster. stronger. 

bukit saga

i love outdoor-ish stuff. so even on wad supposed to be a rest day, i just cant keep still. so of course i jumped at the chance when my uncle was going to bukit saga for a hike. i normally hike at gasinghill because it's near for me, but since my uncle and his friends were heading to saga, and i would have some form of companionship, i decided to follow them. 

saga is a longer hike than gasing, depending on how fast/slow u go. i took the hike, really slow. took me a little more than 3 hours to hike up to the peak of ahpek hill, down to the waterfall, soak my legs in the really cooling icy cold water and hike back out. i took it really slow. on my lazy days that i still want to do something, i hike. i even stroll downhill like i'm going window shopping. like i said, its my lazy day. 

the first part of the hike is up to the peak of ahpek hill. its an uphill climb. the second part towards the waterfall is mostly descending. i kinda left my uncle and his friends behind. waited for them at the waterfall. where i soaked my legs in the icy cold water. it felt really good. i would have soaked myself entirely but for the fact i didnt want to hike out with cold wet clothes. and its not like im a guy and can change anywhere. so the enjoyment was constrained to my legs. 

it was a pleasant hike for me. thoroughly enjoyed it except the part where there were bees. if there are 3 things i am afraid of in this world it would be lizards, bees and heights. so bees, i totally freaked out. 

so yeah, what i do for recovery. and wad i do for kicks =)

Milo Breakfast Day Run 2015

After my muar half marathon, i ate the entire muar, then came back to kl. i would have stayed longer, but for the fact i had another race the next day - the milo breakfast run. thankfully it was only 7km, because i was already dead tired. 

we got back to kl only around 730 ish at night. i was dead tired due to the lack of sleep the night before and the 21km run. i prepped for my race and went to bed 11 something-ish. when my alarm rang the next morning, i really had to drag myself out of bed. i even snoozed my alarm a couple of times. wanting to repeat my good run the day before, i had a cup of hot milo and 2 bars for breakfast. i ate one before my drive, and one when i got to the race venue. 

i wasn't particularly aiming for anything. i just wanted to do the 7km in an under 5 minute pace per km. 

i got there with zane. he just wanted to go there and hangout with the milocereal and milo drinks so i did the usual - i used the toilet, put on my shoes, stored my baggage and did a very short warmup. i stretched a little and made my way to the startingline which was already over-crowded! damn. i couldn't make my way to the front. there were just too many people. 

upon flagoff, i had to make my way pass the human obstacles. sometimes it can get a tad bit frustrating because it messes with your pace. i managed to keep my pace slightly under 5minutes for the first few km. i maintained it steadily. i didn't want to push myself too hard either because i know i just had a run the day before and i didn't want to injure myself. so i took it slow in the beginning. i also had a stitch upon hitting the 4 km mark. so i had to slow down. 

when i hit 5km, i started to pick up my speed. i managed to pass a couple of girls, managing 4th place. it was definitely a pleasant surprise for me as i was expecting something more like 10th place ish for this race.  

it was definitely a good run for me. 

major congratulations to don and darren who did an amazing job in this race. they both placed 3rd runner up and 2nd runner up respectively. 

congratulations darren. 

and thanks zane for comimg out to support.

congratulations to voonying, my pacesetter relay partner, who placed 3rd in the milo run.

muar corronation half marathon

one fine day, i saw this race pop up on my facebook page. the prizes were pretty damn good. and considering the fact that i have family in muar and i haven't visited for way too long, it was a no brainer to sign up for this run. 

friday evening, myself and daryl went to pick chingyi up from midvalley. we had a quick simple dinner, i packed some supper, and off we went. i drove the first part, from kl to senawang. it was pretty jam and i was getting sleepy so daryl took over the wheel and drove us down to muar. we left about 8 and arrived about 11 ish at night. i had my supper when we got to ayerkeroh. and we had a second supper upon arrival in muar. got to chingyi's house about 12-ish and immediately ko-ed. crashed. was super tired. and also questioning myself how i was going to perform the next day. 

alarm rang at 5. i dragged myself out of bed. took a quick shower. put on my racing gear. then had breakfast. i had a heavier pre-race breakfast than normal. normally i would just have 1 moolabar for a 10km race. considering this is a 21km race, i had 2 moolabars, had a hot cup of milo and had a couple of strawberry biscuits. coach recommended i take something hot pre-run because i tend to get stitches easily. 

daryl and chingyi followed me to the start venue, dataran tanjung emas in muar. i saw sheela and told daryl, no hope for first place. also saw a couple of running people with their coaches from JB and doubted my chances. but i just concentrated on my own warmup, and my stretching. in my head i was thinking to myself, just go steady. i didn't want to repeat my 3r run and nike run experience whereby i went too fast in the beginning and just died-ed towards the end. 

i was super nervous because my last 21km was in february and it was a nightmare for me. i wasn't sure how i would fare. 

upon flagoff, alot of people ran ahead of me, but i maintained about a 440 pace. i did feel like following them but i told myself to keep a steady pace, its a 21km and you don't want to k-o halfway. my arch also started hurting slightly so i slowed down to about a 450 ish pace. i kept two girls in my line of sight though. passed one of them about 4km-ish. 

after 3km ish, i felt pretty good. i had no stitch which is pretty normal for me to get. so i pushed to go on faster. i had a pretty strong run for the next couple of km. there were a few climbs and i was pretty strong at the climbs. at the 10km point, i passed the other girl, and caught up to another indian girl, that i later on found on was from jb. she has never done a 21km before and was super tired. i gave her some words of encouragement and motioned for her to keep going on. i remember i was okay running till about the 16km ish point. i could feel my legs tiring out. i maintained about a 5min to 510 ish pace till the 19km point then i picked up to about a 455 ish pace. i wanted to go faster but my legs really didn't allow me to. 

the joy when i saw the finishing line. when i was handed a card which said i got 2nd place, i was even more happy. it was great to see daryl and chingyi at the finishing line as well. and the icing on the cake was of course my new pb of 1h 43 min and 10 seconds. garmin distance was 21.18km. 

and the icing on top of the icing of the cake was of course seeing familiar faces - daryl and chingyi at the finishing line waiting for me. 

it was a great run for me, and a great weekend definitely. i ran less than 2 hours but ate for 4 hours straight after. muar has good food. 

i'd like to thank my coach for the neverending support and most importantly, he believes in me so much, so much so i am starting to believe in myself. id like to thank daryl and chingyi for being there to support me. i am so super thankful for that. seeing familiar faces at the finishing line, that feeling is really indescribable. thanks to all my hrc team mates who train with me and encourage me every single training. also have to thank moolabar for fueling my race. moolabar makes a great pre-run breakfast for me, every single time. 

400m x 20 training

after the long weekend, i was looking forward to speed training. and on the menu yester-day was 400m x 20, split into 5 x 4. the 400m intervals were at 2m20s, and between each set we get a 3 minute rest. 

i died-ed. that's wad a long weekend with way too much eating does to you. hehe. wad to do, i'm a foodie at heart. 

my timings were all over the place ranging from 126 - 139. i was hoping to go for a below 125 on my last lap but only managed 127 on the final lap. 

well, sometimes we have good days, sometimes we don't. i was slightly sad over my performance. well just have to try harder next time. 

pre-run jitters

i've run many runs but still the pre-run jitters gets me every single time. i have a big race coming up this weekend. but honestly, the week has been a slow one for me. 

from eating, to sleeping, to running, to life in itself, everything that could possibly go wrong seems to have gone wrong. what else could go wrong. 

emotionally - not in the mood to be able to perform. physically - unprepared to run. 

a friend texted me, 'u seemed okay just now' 

and of course, i will continue to seem okay. pretense is so powerful, it clouds your judgment between black and white, reality and fantasy, truth and lie. 

i would say im hoping for a good run this weekend, but hoping without putting in effort is of no use. then again what can i do in 4 days? the dilemma. 

#emostuffs

menstrual pain // period pain?

so, alot of reading material have in short said this:-

1. women who exercise regularly experience less menstrual pain
2. exercising helps relieve menstrual pain, hence despite the sluggishness you feel, you should exercise because you would feel better. 

i would like to say, the above 2 statements, well for myself at least, is completely utterly FALSE! 

i am a first-hand victim of excruciating period pain - especially on the inaugural first day. if i kick back and don't do anything on the day, it is painful but i can live. but if i run, the pain becomes unbearable. the pain is in both my abdomen and my lower back. after my run, i will turn ice-cold. cold sweat will pour. and i will fell like i went to hell and came back alive again, i kid you not. hence making the second statement false. and the first statement, well dude i exercise regularly, and really, if this pain is considered less, i'd hate to think what is the more i would experience. 

but then again, i love running so much. so i still go do my runs. and i regret it every single time after my run. and yet i do it again the following month. i'm weird like that. 

and then i tend to think alot and come up with scary conclusions. the more i read, the more it seems i have a chronic disease called endometriosis which affects 1 in 10 women. 

so, is it just me? am i the 1 in 10? or is it perfectly normal to experience this pain whilst running? 

something someone should do a thesis on!