Comatose

Yeah so I was comatose for most of yesterday. Literally. Seriously. I kid you not. This is what happens you’re crazy enough to do a back-to-back long run and a race the next day. Oh, throw in the Vinyasa Yoga since you’re at it.

The weekend started early on Saturday (like 6 am!) with a long run with Kenny. Here’s how it panned out. Oh, do get your coffee or snack or whatever since this is a long post (you’ve been warned!).

Seputeh – Desa Waterpark LSD – 16 July 2011

Distance: 17.3km

Timing: 1:39:24 for 5:44 min/km pace

It was 2 loops around Seputeh before the Shell pit stop and then onwards to the water park and back. Of course, I didn’t know this since Kenny wanted it to be a “secret” but he did know that my long run pace is 6 min/km. Off we trooped to Seputeh and unfortunately I dropped him on the second loop but he wasn’t that far back! I swear it’s the legs dictating the order of the things! He did asked me to go ahead when we regrouped but I said “no” because I’m still trying to figure out my pacing on long runs and didn’t want to risk fading out after 10km.

The pit stop came and I refueled with Revive. This time though, I opted to ask for a straw and carried the can with me – great fueling strategy because no cramps towards the end! And so I refueled (sips) at km8.88 (pit stop! And no, I didn’t engineered the prosperous numbers!), 10, 11, 12 and 13. We made our way to the water park and unfortunately, the legs felt fresh and decided to pull away. Oh well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do – listen to the legs! I bumped into Kenny on the way back from the water park and 3 other runners – the latter are a rarity on this stretch. Once we got to the traffic lights at Taman Desa, I considered briefly if I should do the 2km killer slopes but decided against it since I wanted some in the tank for the next day’s Jog for Hope 2011. Straight onto the home stretch and we’re done! Kenny came back about 3-4 minutes later.

I showered, had a quick and light breakfast before heading for Richard’s class. It’s amazing what a full range stretches can do for muscles after a long run!

Jog for Hope 2011 – 10km

Date: 17 July 2011

Venue: Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Distance: 10km (Garmin: 9.27km)

Gun Timing: 47:30

Garmin Timing: 47:25 minutes or 5:07 min/km for 9.27km

Result: 5th placing (Open)

Website: http://www.jogforhope.wordpress.com/

It was back on the asphalt on Sunday morning for the Jog for Hope 2011. This was a “kuci rat”/neighbourhood charity run organized by Taylor’s College. The plan was to go out, enjoy the sights and sounds of Sri Hartamas and try not to get killed by the hills (oh, let me assure you that there were plenty of them!) since I did a long run the previous day. In short, nice easy recovery run – yeah, what gives?! A hill run for recovery?! This was an out-and-back course: the 6km took us through to Solaris before heading back to the college while the 10km-ers will need to plow ahead and turning around at the apartments and passing Petronas on the way back.

Now let me tell you this…it was all hills! And don’t let the first km downhill fool you – that and the last 300 meters were probably the only downhills! Plus it was such a downer having to plod on when you hear the cheers / running past the finish line to do your other 4km. I did SERIOUSLY consider throwing in the towel at 6 since this was a non-chip, fun/charity event because the effects of the long run started hitting me from the word “Go” – glutes and hamstrings were EXTREMELY sore.

Right, we can do this – do it slowly, this is a recovery run, it’s not a competition, everyone’s a winner blah blah blah. Unfortunately things unraveled on this portion because I ran ahead to the Petronas station (auto pilot mode plus no marshals since it’s the usual LSD route) instead of turning left to the apartments and weaving out at Petronas! No wonder Jason and YK gave me odd looks as they whizzed past me on the home stretch! I was midway through the reverse route when 2 runners pointed out that I missed the earlier turning and said since the route was parallel, I might as well continue from there. Insert BIG le sigh. Crap! Crap! Crap! Anyway, I decided to turnaround and follow the “correct” route back to the finish. I probably lost a minute or two with this boo-boo. Once we were on Jalan Sri Hartamas, I relaxed a tad since it was more or less a downhill to the finish.

Pros:

a) Race day registration and bib pick up. Unfortunately, because of the former, race tees were limited. Although I did register ahead but they ran out of stock when I got there (7:30 am). Anyway, no biggie since my closet is chocked full with loads of race tees/vests.

b) Great communication – email alerts on bib pick up and race start.

c) Generous swag – definitely one of the better ones; in fact, it could be the best so far.

d) Parking at the adjacent Hartamas Shopping Complex was easy, plentiful and cheap (RM1).

e) Free flow of H-Two-O

Cons:

a) Poorly organized event – Taylor’s College should take a cue from Stamford College (Running for a Cause) and the polys in Singapore. I mean I can understand if there are cock ups in your first year but this is the second year running?! Bah!

b) Let’s see what went wrong:

• Race site (if you can call it such) was in the college itself – cramped. Make that extremely cramped. In that confined space, they put in counters for race registration, bag check, swag collection (after the run and again, like the race tee, first come first serve – run faster!), isotonic give-out and information counter. Oh yeah, include some escalators weaving in and out to that equation.

• Traffic flow after the event – take a cue from Energizer Night Race 2011. Yup, tables with small letterings plus everyone milling around.

• Insufficient marshals at various checkpoints or turnings. I was a perfect example.

• Rubber bands for checkpoints? Too small to grab – wasted time stopping to get it. Why can’t they hand out ribbons or at least have rubber bands with bigger diameters? You run past and the possibility of grabbing the band is higher with a bigger sphere! Bah!

c) Not even a partial road closure. I'm too used to this and will not say any word.

Will I do it again next year? Doubtful but like Tony Fernandez says: never say never.

Back to the grind

I tucked in early last night on account of being half dead after the weekend’s “festivities” (insert sarcasm here) and woke up feeling much better. The hammies were still angry but not at the level of the previous day. Thankfully, Michael and I were working on upper body this morning:

Supersets of:

a) BB bench chest press

b) LF cable wide grip low row

Supersets of:

c) Smith machine incline chest press

d) DB bendover back row

Supersets of:

e) Hoist chest press with iron bar (modified)

f) Hoist lat pulldown

Supersets of:

g) Technogym cable chest fly seated on fit ball

h) Technogym cable back row seated on fit ball

Supersets of:

i) Ab crunches on fit ball

j) Abs on wheels