Looking forward to 2012 after a great 2011. 2011 has been an awesome year of running, training, races and most importantly, meeting new people and getting to know existing friends better as we trained and travelled for races. Not forgetting the best support crew – family and friends (both running and non-running). From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.
I’m notching things down, in terms of races and events, this month as I would like to build up a solid base as we head into the new year. I’ve noticed that when I do more long runs and DHs, my times improve correspondingly, regardless of long run paces. So December with the many holidays and a less hectic work schedule (fingers and toes doubly crossed) will be dedicated to be less lazy and tacking on the mileage. Guys, please keep me accountable on this!
The weekend was spent “tempo-ing” the Larian TIBI 2011 i.e. kept a less-than-death pace and smiling throughout, putting in a session with Michael yesterday morning after yoga. Here’s what we did:
4 Single sets of:
a) Smith machine bench chest press
b) Smith machine incline chest press
Supersets of:
c) Freemotion cable seated chest fly
d) Decline push-ups (must learn how to tighten the abs; the upper body and the legs held up with the abs sinking. Le sigh.)
Supersets of:
e) Kettle bell pullovers
f) Abs on wheels (oh yeah, the lower abs were giving me hard time since Friday’s workout even up to this morning)
Today’s Workout:
a) Longish easy-to-moderate cross training on the elliptical cross trainer to give the legs a rest after 3 days of legs/runs.
b) Sun salutations A and B.
Larian TIBI 2011 – 8km
Date: 10 December 2011
Venue: Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Distance: 8km (Garmin: 8.55km)
Timing: 43:14 (Garmin)
Pace: 5:03 min/km (Garmin)
Result: 5th (Women’s Open)
Website: http://www.tibirun.com/
This was the second time the event was held and as with last year, it went well. This is one of the smaller local races and I enjoyed the atmosphere that goes along with it. I got to BA around 6:45 and took my time making my way to Padang Merbok – half jog, half walk to shake out the legs. After racing almost every weekend, there has been a feeling of déjà vu and fatigue and I decided to keep it a slightly lower than race pace. Plus, the route was the DH (why hello there hills!).
Km1
The race started at 7:30am (Meyyapan and I were caught offguard since we were chatting) and we climbed the Padang Merbok slope. This was quickly followed by the downhill towards the back of Bank Negara – our usual DH or LSD route.
Km2-3
The climb towards Bukit Tunku. Oh wait, this isn’t even a climb in most of our books since DH refers to the nearly 1km climb at Bukit Tunku and the one behind Carcosa. I spotted Suresh up front and tried to keep him in sight. Operative word: tried.
Km4
Downhill. Yippee! Then it was the long stretch towards the Selangor Properties and the hockey stadium. Suresh and Meyyapan was in front but Suresh pulled away and soon I found myself running along with Meyyapan and passed him! Biggest shock of my life! I also saw Pui San and Alexis heading in the opposite direction (return journey of their LSD) and gave them a wave. I was still smiling, an indication that I wasn’t racing this.
Km5
Why hello there Mr DH. Pace dropped dramatically – I checked the Garmin and it had me at 5:44 min/km here. Still faster than my training pace. My mantra for hills these days: “hunker down and go up” and “you’ll be rewarded by the downhills”.
Km6-8
Downhill and back onto Lebuhraya Mahameru/Jalan Tun Razak. I saw Pei Leng (hard to miss her since she was in a pink sports bra and skirt) and Brittany upfront but let them slide; was not in the frame of mind to push the pace and I wanted to smile for once in a race. Tey was at the last km at Padang Merbok and I gave him a wide smile and wave. Go have a look at his album – I was definitely smiling.
Pros:
a) Well put up.
b) Small local race atmosphere.
c) Great job by Julie on emceeing – her voice is clear and the instructions were well thought of.
d) Started on time (plus minus a few minutes) and the best part of all, wrapping things up by 9:30 am. I hate draggy events where you had to wait in the sun for the speeches and what not.
e) Online registration portal – first time.
f) Generous prizes – cash prizes for the top 20 winners as well as special finisher’s/placing medals for the top 5.
Cons:
a) They ran out of water at the finishing point! Perhaps they should have given each runner a bottle instead of pouring them out into cups – ease the congestion at the small table and I think a bottle should be sufficient for most. I only managed to have 2 cups; thank goodness one of the girls manning the VIP area had extra 500ml bottles and gave me one. Lifesaver!
b) As winners were to be given different finisher’s/placing medal, I missed (nearly) on getting the finisher’s cert package. I’m not too bothered about the cert but there was a Gardenia voucher included and I was super hungry/need breakfast. The organizers gave me a cert and a voucher when I approached, no questions asked unlike some of the snobbery in the last event. Definitely an A+ for this.
c) The roads were not closed to traffic although they were manned by the traffic police at the intersections. However the stretch at DH were neither manned by marshals or the police and I don’t think I spotted any medical crew along the way. Don’t remember any hydration station along the entire route either (I may be wrong?). Now this would not typically be a problem since the stretch is very quiet on weekends; however on Saturday, we had a cab that stalled on the 1km upslope and a lorry (?) from the nearby construction sites spewing noxious fumes from their exhausts. Noxious – definitely because the entire area was clouded in blurry white fumes and there was no way anyone could have held their breath and run through that – it was a few hundred meters.
Photo log:
Simple swag – race tee, finisher’s medal and finisher’s certificate
More photos on Tey and Moey’s album. Go check them out.
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