Kuching Marathon 2015 - Still the best marathon event for me

Kuching has always felt like my second hometown as I have some good friends like the Fat Old Man Running Yahya and his wife Nasa who provides great hospitality when I am there.  I arrived at Kuching on 15th Aug with my wife Donna and some of my running members from the KK No Excuse Runners and upon exiting the immigration gate I was already warmly greeted by the FOMR and his better half.  We also met many Sabahan runners who were in the same flight as us.

We made our way to the REPC at Plaza Merdeka, and this year it was much more organised and a lot faster.  I really love REPC as this is the place where I get to bump into running friends I haven't met in a long time.

After the REPC it's refueling time.  This year I didn't make the mistake I made last year when I ate way too much before the race.  It was a simple plate of chicken rice and ABC Special.  Then it was back to the hotel and preping the gear for the big race at 3am.

Woke up at 1am to have my usual pre run meal, coffee and some buns, and then made my way to the flag off point.  Met up with some friends I haven't seen in a long time and also my gang from KK No Excuse Runners.  Some of us ran the half while others ran the full marathon.

After all the photo session, and a visit to the loo, it was time to get serious.  I came in to the race with one mission, to finish the race with a sub 4 hour time.  I quickly made my way to the starting line, trying to go as near to the front as possible.

The race flagged off at 3am as planned.  Right from the start, my plan was to run the whole race at a pace of about 5:40, assuming that I can maintain that pace throughout the race, to finish it just under 4 hours.  I didn't wanna make the same mistake I made last year by starting the race way too fast and cramped as early as km18.  At flag off, I was lucky enough to be behind some speedy Kenyans who made quite a space in front of me to maintain my planned pace.  I ran my 1st km at 5:30 then slowed down to about 5:35 after km2 and tried as much as I could to maintain that pace throughout.  Then 30 minutes into the race, I took my first planned DIY energy gel, and another one 45 minutes into the race.  There were water stations exactly every 3km.  90 minutes into the race, I took another dose of energy gel.

Everything was going smoothly until km25, when my left hamstring began to cramp.  I stopped and gave it a stretch and continued running.  Then it was time to take another dose of my energy gel 150 minutes into the race.  At the next water station after I got my cramp, I tried to drink a lot more 100+ hoping that the extra salt would ease the cramp.  At km28, my right hamstring started to cramp and I was beginning to slow down because of these cramps.  I stopped for a while to give it another stretch and continued running.  At km32, my left quadriceps started cramping and that forced me to run slower still.  My pace dropped to between 5:45 to 6:00.  At this point, a check at my Suunto watch race calculator showed that I was about 5 minutes ahead of my target sub 4 hour time.  However, this time was shrinking as the km went on as I couldn't maintain the planned 5:40 pace anymore because of the cramps and fatigue setting in.  I tried my best to run as close to 5:40 as possible but my legs and body were turning into jelly.  Then at the final 5km, came the infamous Chung Hua School Hill.  This final hill needs maximum effort to overcome as at so late into the race, my whole body was already drained of strength and my legs have turned into jelly.  I did what I have always been doing when I meet elevated roads, pumping my arms higher and lifting my knees 1-2 inches higher at every step.  I checked my watch again and it showed I am only 1.5 minutes ahead of my schedule.  This was getting really too close.  My legs were so tired after running up that hill, even the downhill run felt so tough.  My pace slowed down to 6:00 and I was running out of time to achieve my target time.  But I pressed on, trying to relax my whole body and run as relaxed as I could.  At the final 200m, I turned and saw the finishing line with the clock indicating 3:58:45.  I was thinking...the finishing line is still quite a distance away, and there's only less than a minute and half left, can I make it? I ran as fast as I could, without passing out, and made it to the finishing line by the skin of my teeth, in 3:59:33, making top 100 overall and 58 in my category in terms of position.

What a finish! Finally, all my focus and training throughout the whole year paid off and it was mission accomplished! 

After finishing my run, I was given a very generous helping of food and Revive and a can of Red Bull.  There was even a leg massage for us!

I waited for my members to come in one by one and all of them did well and did their best to finish their respective race.  Many congratulations too all of KK No Excuse Runners!  Notable mention to KKNER's Full Marathon Virgin Carol who came in under 6 hours! Superb effort and many congratulations for such a great run!

When everyone was back, we did our customary Poga.

Overall, this year's Kuching Marathon was a fantastic event despite hearing some issues about medals/finisher Tees not being given away to runners who came in more than 20 minutes pass Cut Off Time.  It is very disheartening for a runner to finish the whole distance but not given anything despite trying his/her best.  The organiser should have stated more clearly that this was going to happen, and provide at least a sweeper bus as an option for runners who did not want to continue the race after passing COT.

However, that very same runner should have also known before signing up for that distance whether he/she can run that distance in the allotted time called the Cut Off Time (COT).  Runners have to respect the distance, and those who do not prepare for it adequately will suffer.  In worse case scenario, they may tempt injury or illness, or worse.  Don't misunderstand me, it's not that people cannot spend their hard earned money to register in whatever distance they want.  As for myself, I register in races to test my fitness and the effectiveness of my training.  I can run 21k any day of the week at any pace I want, and there is no real need to sign up for a race to log mileage especially if it is held near where I normally run.  I join half and full marathons to see where I stack up against competition. I reap the reward of honest training, thorough preparation, and hard racing with a strong finish across the line where I know I did my very best on the day. To me, that’s the real post-race loot, and it’s what makes the registration fee worth it for me.  In short, one have got to respect the distance.  To look at it in another way, if the runner fails to make the distance within the COT this round, see it positively, train harder and come back stronger in your next event. This positive move surely beats bitching around about not getting a medal/finisher T if the runner fails to make it on time.  

I am sure me and most of my gang will be back next year for this race, as this is truly still the best marathon I have ever attended in Malaysia.  

Where do I go from here? I feel that I have almost reached my limit in terms of pace, so I will likely attempt longer distance runs but still do Full Marathons.  These old pair of legs still have many more miles to go.

How to use Runkeeper to record your runs

For the benefit of those of you who just started running and want to record your runs, I am sharing how to record your runs with Runkeeper so that you can also post your runs in the group to motivate each other.

First of all, I assume that you already went to the Play Store (sorry I don't use Apple so this is only for the Android version) to download Runkeeper, register yourself with an email, and put a username and password that you remember.  After that you go to your app screen and open Runkeeper and you will see something like below:-

Wait until the Searching at the left side of the screen becomes Good GPS.  If it is taking too long, you will have to restart your phone and try again.  After that make sure the activity says Running, otherwise you click it to change it to Running.  When GPS is Good..we are all good to go...press Start Activity and start running to record your run.

After you have finished your run, press the Stop button.  Your Runkeeper will tell you how far, how long you have run at what pace etc.

After that you will come to the above screen for you to save your work out.  If you want to share it on Facebook, you can slide the Share to Facebook to On, then Save Activity.

After that you will come to a sort of summary screen, press Done.

The next screen after you press Done has more details, also a summary screen.  Press back button on your phone, or the back button on Runkeeper as shown above.

At the next screen, Press Me to see yet another summary screen.  Press Activities to see all your workouts.  This is also the screen where you will be able to see how many kms you have done in the month.

To see your latest workout, press the top most workout.

To share this on Facebook if you haven't shared it yet, you can press the share button.  Alternatively, you can also screen shot this screen and share it in the group. 

You can also use your PC browser to log on to runkeeper.com and use your username and password to log on.  Over there, you can see a lot more details of your workouts.  Good luck and hope you all will be able to get this working!

How to finish your first 42.195km in one piece

Given enough time, most of us can finish running/walking a full marathon.  However, for those who aren't sufficiently prepared physically and mentally, the whole journey can be a torture and the after effects of muscle soreness and 'jalan like ketam' will last for days. To avoid the unpleasant issues mentioned above there are a number of things one has do and prepare to finish a FM comfortably, in one piece and still being able to function normally after that.

First and foremost is of course enough training / running.  How much is enough? It depends on whether you are starting from scratch, or is already a 10k or 21k runner.  Whichever level that you are starting from to prepare for a FM, the most important training is what we call the LSD (Long Slow Day).  I have written an article about that earlier.  Click here to read.  An important factor to always bear in mind when building up distance over the weeks when doing the LSD is try not to exceed your weekly mileage by 10% (15% is the absolute limit) over your previous week.  This means, if this whole week you have done 30km in total, the following week you should do no more than 33km in total.  As and example, for a person who runs 3 times a week, Tuesday she runs 10km, Thursday another 10km, then LSD weekend 15km.  That's a total of 35km for that week.  So the following week, she does another 10km on Tuesday, 10km on Thursday, and the LSD weekend can be increased to 18.5km (Cause 35km x 10% is 3.5km).  This is to avoid overuse of your muscles and prevent injury.  Increase the LSD weekend at this rate and not faster.  Try to do LSD for as far as 32k just 3 weeks before your FM, thereafter you cut down to 16k LSD the following week, then 10k on the last week.  On the final week, in terms of running, just keep it light with less than 8k run per session.  Your final running session should just be a 15 minute slow run on the eve of the FM.

On top of building endurance, the LSD also lets you try out your real race strategy and various things you wanna try out before the real race.  These include the taking of water, electrolytes, energy gel, etc.  For me (this varies for everyone so you gotta try out your timing), I take a little bit of water every 3km because there is water station along the route of most good marathons at every 3km.  I take my first energy half an hour into my run, and one every 1 hour thereafter.  As for electrolytes, I take it at every other 3km after my 15km.

Next is food and drink. On the final week before your FM, there is the carbo loading week.  You should increase the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, like sphaghetti, and drink a lot of isonotic and water.  You can also include high potassium foods into your diet like banana, potatoes, squash, beans, to lessen the chance of cramps by balancing the electrolytes in your body.  This is also the week you will want to get a lot of sleep/rest so that your body can recharge faster. 

On the eve of race day, take a good meal no later than 10 hours before flag off, and avoid taking too much vegetables and high fibre food that may induce you to go to the toilet during your run.  High carbs food and meat are good choices.  On race day, wake up at least around 2 hours before flag off and have a light breakfast like oats, bread, buns, eggs and drink your usual coffee or beverage.  Most importantly, visit the toilet to you know what.  You won't wanna be holding that throughout your 42k run if it decides to come out then.

As for the run itself, just enjoy yourself and run at the pace which you have trained for.  You will definitely feel very energetic and feel like you can run a lot faster but never give in to the temptation of going faster.  Just run at the pace which you know you can and have trained for, and you will finish the whole 42.195km in one piece.

Above are the very minimalistic stuff to complete a full marathon fairly comfortably.  There are a lot more things one can do or use, like compression pants, tapes, salt sticks, bringing extra water for the run, etc.  Well, you can try all those out during your LSD, and see which are the ones you need and don't. 

If you still have questions or would like to know more, don't hesitate to drop me a message, will be glad to help.

Post mortem of my X3 Duathlon in Karambunai on 6 June 2015

Our team made our way to Nexus Resort Karambunai early in the morning and reached there at about 6.10am.  It was not crowded at all for a place that was going to hold a triathlon and duathlon at the same time.  The first thing we needed to do was to get our timing chip and thereafter we made our way to the transition area to rack our bike and set up our transition items like drinks, etc.

We made our way to the starting line and met a few runners / cyclists friends, the crowd was not big at all, maybe just around 50 of us.  Flag off was on the dot at 7.00am.  My plan was to run the first 5km sector at around 5:30 to 5:40 min/km assuming this was a half marathon race.  But adrenaline got the better of me and I went off at a pace of around 4:40 min/km before I slowed myself down to a pace of about 5:16 for the rest of the run.  The last 800m sector of the route was very challenging as I had to run on sand!  I quickly looked for the harder wetter surface of the beach and made my way to the transition area where I was the 3rd one going in, clocking 27 mins.  Just as I was arriving the transition, I took my first dose of energy gel, unmount my bike and zoomed off.

Riding on a mountain bike, I was at a great disadvantage compared to most of the participants who were using road bikes.  One by one I saw them ride pass me, as I was going at an average of about 27km/hr on the flat surfaces.  I made 2 loops outside of Karambunai then turned back to the resort for the final 5km run sector.  Just as I was arriving the transition point, my right thigh started to cramp but I managed to stretch it off while still riding on the bike.  I dismounted, racked my bike, took another dose of energy gel and went off for the last sector of the race.

At that time there were quite a number of participants who finished their biking sector already as I could see many bikes on the rack.  I ran hard and overtook some of them along they way, but the weather was getting hot and that really slowed me down a lot.

 The last 2km was one of the toughest period of the whole race.  With heat setting in, I was really slowing down.  At the final 800m of the race, it was the beach route all over again but knowing where to run, I managed to overtake a few more participants.  

I am not sure what position did I finish but it was truly a very enjoyable and challenging race.  I managed to clock 2hrs 12mins which was very close to what I initially calculated.  

Will I do another duathlon again? Well I might but if I do, I want to be racing against the same bike that I will be using, it ain't fun riding an MTB against the RBs.

Long Slow Day (LSD)

I am sure many of you would have heard the term LSD or Long Slow Day by now as a runner.  LSD is a very important training tool for every runner who wants to improve their overall running.  It teaches your body to burn fats and conserve glycogen for the long runs like a half marathon, marathon and beyond.  It also trains the endurance of your body, and allows you to run further with less likelihood of suffering cramps.

One of the important factors about the LSD is the easy pace at which the runner runs at during training.  However, easy pace is very relative, and easy pace for you may be hard for someone else who isn't a faster runner than you.  So everyone has a different 'easy' pace and to get the fullest benefits from your LSD runs, you need to be running at your own LSD pace.  The easiest way to find that pace is that you are still able to engage in a conversation during your run, that is roughly your LSD pace.  A professional coach can also calculate the exact pace for you, and can also monitor your progress to tweak your pace as you improve.

So how far should you run to consider it an LSD? Generally, it depends what race you are training for.  10k runners do not need to do LSD, but half marathoners and marathoners do.  One of the most important thing about doing LSD is the slow and gradual build up of distance throughout the weeks to avoid injury.  Normally, the LSD is done on weekends as most of us have work on weekdays and have more time during the weekends. 

For those whose maximum distance is 10k and wishes to train to run a half marathon, build up your weekly LSD distance 15% per week up to a maximum of 32km, then scale down to 21k and slowly build it up again.  The maximum LSD distance for someone training for a marathon is also the same, ie 32km. 

And always remember, when you are doing longer than 1 hour LSD, always prepare enough water, and energy gel for longer than 2 hours LSD. 

From Fat to Fit

For those of you who did not know me before 2013, they didn't know that I was an unhealthy, fat, alcohol gulper who couldn't even run 3kms without stopping to gasp for air.  At that time, probably the unhealthiest time of my life, I weight 85kg at my heaviest, I was constantly having dizziness, and feeling like I wasn't able to breathe enough air.  One flight of stairs was hell for me.  I went for a blood test and found out I had a very elevated bad cholesterol level, and my liver was very high in fats.  The doctor at that time gave me a good scolding saying that my "jantung would sumbat" if I don't do something about it.  That was the fateful day that changed it all.

I embarked onto a journey of losing weight naturally, eating carefully and started exercising a lot more than usual, and I was adamant to do it without any slimming products.  Within 5 months, I lost 17kg!

Now there are many ways to lose weight of course, some spend thousands at slimming centers, some spend thousands taking slimming products which may cause harm most of the time, but I believe the best way to lose weight is to change your own mindset and habit to lead a healthier life.  By incorporating running as part of the weight losing program, I can show you exactly how I did it, and everyone can do it as long as you do it correctly.  Interested to know more? Just drop me a message and we can start from there. 

Correct Running Form

Some of you may have heard the words "Running Form" before, but what actually is it?  Today, I am going to touch a little bit about that, and explain what it can do for you especially in long distance running.

Most beginners will likely run with a posture shown at the left.  Their body will either be too straight up and out of balance, or some even have their body slanted a little backwards.  Their leg will overstride, and when they land, they will be landing heavily on the heel.  As a result of the heel landing, shocks from the heel will travel up the runner's leg and start to hurt his knee and sometimes waist and back. 

The correct running form

A good running form is what is shown at the runner on the right.  He has a balanced posture, stands tall and gazes forward.  He keeps his chest forward and shoulders back and relaxed.  It is very important that the runner does not bend at the waist, but rather at the ankle. 

The arms should swing with short, compact action and relaxed at all times.  Pump the arms back and forward, and don't swing it side to side.  The elbows should not extend past the waist unless the runner is sprinting. 

Next is a very important aspect of the correct running form, ie the foot strike.  There are a lot of debate about which heel strike is the better one, ie the midfoot strike, the heel strike, the forefoot strike.  After having read a lot about these foot strikes and watched countless videos, I can say for sure that a big majority of the elite runners have what can be considered a midfoot strike.  They land somewhere in the middle of the feet.  Some elite runners do land a little bit behind the middle of their feet but none land heavily at their heel.  So it is important to remember that when the runner lands, he lands softly underneath a bent knee, avoid overstriding and excessive heel strike.

The last aspect of a good running form is the cadence of the run.  Cadence is the number of times you land per second.  Studies have shown that at the most efficient cadence is 170-180 steps per minute.  To calculate what is your cadence, you take a stopwatch and count how many steps you take to run in a minute, that is your cadence. 

Long distance running with good running form

It is very important to have and efficient and good running form when you want to do long distance running.  Every step that you take will magnify to save you energy, or waste it depending whether your running form is good or not. 

X3 Duathlon on 6th June 2015

It will be the first time for me joining a duathlon this Saturday.  I trained riding on the bike occasionally to prepare for this event, longest bike ride I have been is about 50km.  Most of my training are running, but I have also tried simulating race conditions of run bike run and it makes my leg feels like jelly at the end of it. I am banking on the fact that I can run a lot faster than most cyclists, and pacing strategy plus other stuff which I won't discuss here yet until the race is over.  I will surely update you all.

Overall, I feel very excited going into this event as I feel I will have a good chance of being in front of the pack going against seasoned cyclists.  Wish me luck and see you all on Saturday! For those who are joining the dark run on Friday, run safe and run happy!

Welcome!

Running has turned into a passion for me since I took it up in June 2013 to prank a couple of friends who came over from out of state to run in our biggest marathon even of the year, Borneo International Marathon.  Ever since then, I have ran as often as I can and along the way, I find it very fun and satisfactory to share everything I know about running. 

And I hope with this page, I can help as many of you as I can, and let us all grow together in the running community!