AWESOME weekend!

Yes, with cap blocks! Awesome in the sense of “good” and “bad. Well, not exactly disastrous, maybe just funny. Let’s start with the bad awesome. On Saturday afternoon, I battled traffic (yes, it was massive), finding a spot in the car park and afternoon heat to get to the Curve to pick up my Soy Protein from egoNutrition to discover I forgot both the credit and bank ATM cards and only had spare change in my pocket. Awesomeness! Great job Sue! So it was back to the Curve yesterday evening – thank goodness Saturday’s madness was not present or I would have pulled my hair out!

Onto the “good” awesomenss…I came in third in the Women’s Open category for the TIBI Run 2010 (TIBI). This was a small local race out-and-back course from Padang Merbuk and running through the double hills of Bukit Tunku. Or so everyone thought, except the organizers. I have not clocked enough mileage around the Bukit Tunku area to know the route – hey, it all looks the same to me! Anyway, it was not the usual double hill that the KL runners train on – the route took us through an extremely steep straight road…one of the many on the course. My Garmin showed my slowest pace at this stretch – 6:02 min/km. All in, the 7km run (7.83km on the Garmin) was done and dusted in 41:41 minutes for a 5:20 min/km pace. Hey, Saturdays are easy or rest days for me, so I did not push it.

The DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) set in this morning – my glutes are aching mad and my right calf is still tight. Apart from a niggling left hip, burning right quads and tight right calf during the last km of the run, everything went well. I should have scheduled a massage after TIBI but for those errands (see first paragraph above). Hmmm perhaps I should have it this evening. Plus I have the perfect excuse – I had another toughie with Michael this morning.

The good and the bad of TIBI:

Good:

(a) It was a small local race and the carnival camaderie that goes with it was great – it felt inclusive where everyone knew just about everyone. They also had Julie to emcee the event and like everyone knows, Julie has a warm and nice personality and it shone through.

(b) There was good support from the volunteers – the crews manning the water station at the half way mark and at the race carnival. I think a few ladies from the FMV (Full Marathon Virgins) were there. There is something about races organized or manned by runners for runners – they know intuitively what to have or do or not have or do.

(c) Contrary to my expectation, the horn blew out on time. I was expecting the 7:30 am start to push to 8 am which would just give me enough time to run and get back home (I had a prior appointment with KC to get the car serviced). Instead, it started on time and I had some time to hang out and catch up with friends after the run.

(d) There was a water station mid way (I skip them for runs under 10km) and at the finishing point. There was also Revive isotonic drinks handed out at the finishing. The only bit I did not like was it was handed out in polystyrene cups instead of 500ml bottles – I would have preferred the latter since I tend that much to re-hydrate and it was silly to keep going back. Not forgetting the utter waste of having to throw away perfectly unused cups.

(e) I grabbed a few Gardenia “Pandan Coconut” buns for brekkie – they were very generous. There was also a Vico truck for those who want a chocolate drink – nope, I have not got around to replenishing with chocolate milk after my workouts, sans the chocolate protein shake.

(f) The best bit of this, ok, the second best bit (since item (a) is my fav) is the registration fee. RM20! Sure, there was no swag (which most of the time is filled with papers which will be thrown away in 2 minutes) but for that fee, you receive a cotton tee (orange…urrgh!), race bib and awesome run.

Bad:

(a) Ever since reading a post on SgRunners on route – there is absolutely no rationale justification for whining about a hilly route. You signed up for it, the route or in this case the starting and end points are made clear, you are well aware of the hilly nature of the route…train for it! Looks like Kei Ming and I have our work cut out for us. I am thinking of scheduling a more regular LSD (long slow distance) and hill trainings.

(b) I am not a fan of partial road closures or none at all. There was a motorcyclist who wheeze past us (left and right) on the Bukit Tunku slope. I was lucky that every time I came to a major intersection, the traffic police (who by the way, did a great job) stopped the traffic for me. So I did not have to stop and waste those couple of minutes.

Photo credits to Tey.

Moving onto this morning’s workout

Supersets of:

a) LF lat pulldown

b) DB bend over back row

c) Chin-ups

Supersets of:

d) Smith machine squats

e) Cybex plate loaded squats / leg press

f) Jumping jacks / squats

Supersets of:

g) Smith machine standing overhead shoulder press

h) Smith machine bench chest press

i) DB lateral raise

Supersets of:

j) BB bicep curl

k) LF cable tricep pressdown with iron bar

l) Abs crunches

m) Abs forward with fitball (instead of the usual wheels)

Yoga this evening? Oh wait…I thought it was massage? We will see how the day progresses.