New Balance Klang Pacers 12Km Run 12 October 2008

Week 35 2008 the gods are againts me running... its bad enough that after all the Curry Mee , i gotta come back to KL to rain every morning & evening.

Above is a picture of my precious.. the Kayanos getting some breeze after a morning run... dammit !! hope the rain did not kill the adhesives...

Terrible this week with the excess fats of the Curry me & the weather turning againts me ... sigh
Monday 3Km... sluggish run cut short by rain
Tueday Body Pump & weights
Thursday 3Km also rain
Friday 8Km... now thats more like it :)

Lunch time... went to the gardens midvalley... to the New Balance shop to check out the shoes... looking for an alternate pair of runing shoes... to preserve the life of my asics..
tried the 1223, 1602, 768...
1223 is very nice... however advised by the retailer to wait as the 1224 will be out in 2 weeks... hope the rain does not kill my precious kayanos....

I also signed up for the New Balance Klang Pacers 12Km Run 12 October 2008...hehehe... looks like i got more purpose in life... gotta go figure out the Html and put a countdown timer for the runs... cant wait for the road runs...

so 1 week apart... October 12 New balance 12 Km & 19 October Mizuno wave run

no run in September though...sighhh ...

well nursing stiff calfs & still a weak ankle... run on!!

Yee Fatt Dry Curry Mee

On my way back to Kuala Lumpur… I just could not get the Yee Fatt Curry Mee out of my head… I was sleeping and dreamt I was queuing up for the curry mee..

So still cant let go of traditions… had to make a stop for my fix of curry Mee

Restaurant Yee Fatt located at the Sultan Abdullah round about … have been selling curry mee for more than 50 years…

The dry curry mee comes with very very thick gravy. The tang of the gravy is actually the very distinctive taste of curry powder laced into this 50 year old plus secret recipe. To add to that the char siew, siew yok & curry chicken bits(slurrpp typing this post makes my mouth salivate) is in my opinion the best curry mee for me..

Plate licking good :P

Ipoh Food

Food is really a matter or prespective..as the saying goes.. ‘One man’s meat is another mans poison’

I chance upon a trip up north and passing by the Perak state, I stopped by Ipoh… normally I will have my traditional dim sum at Foh San, then curry noodles at Restaurant Yee Fatt, & if there is still space… then .. Ipoh White coffee at Restaurant Sun Yin Loong..

However, this time round I decided to break tradition & try some new food haunts.. recomended by a local..

Restaurant Sun Seng Fatt.. Open since 1980 located Jln Market, famous for the Curry Mee. Ordered 1 dry & 1 soup, to my taste it’s mediocre. No apparent difference between the soup & dry, except the dry has less of the gravy, which has the exact same viscosity in curry.

However it is still better than the curry mee which we get in Kuala Lumpur. Guess in my mind, when ever I am eating Ipoh Curry Mee, the restaurant Yee Fatt is the bench mark. However.. Curry mee like bah kut teh.. Is a very personal & subjective to individual preferences...

Dry Curry Mee(Bottom) Vs. Soup Curry Mee (Top)

Next stop… Kong Heng coffee shop, walking distance from the Curry Mee, located at Lorong Panglima & Jalan Market,

Going into this shop, it’s like stepping back in time. The décor, interior & vendors.. reminds me of the colonial shops, with the 4’by4’ ceiling boards, different colored beading.. 3 bladed fans with round bowl axis, its like zap… going back to my grandfathers coffee shop in Malacca..

Anyway enough nostalgia, recommendations given pork satay & dry chicken hor fun;

Pork skewered & then cooked over an open charcoal grill is always a welcome… the way in which they serve the satay its like the Kajang in the old days… where they cook up a big plate of satay … then you eat whatever you can. Return what you cannot finish, then they bill you , on the number of sticks consumed. Unhygienic? Hey you can always eat else where … but seriously… all the good food is always located next to a big drain, under a big tree, above a big drain or most definitely somewhere dirty & with lots of Remy’s from ratatouille around.

Satay gravy is thick, tasty & good. Pork is lean, a little tough but seasoned in tumeric.. very nice.. I do not take spare parts… but each skewer of spare part satay comes with a magical crystal piece of lard in the center… gotta be heaven for some

Dry chicken floss hor fun.. maybe I am too full, but the noodle is nice in a weird way… the flavoring, is weird for my taste bud… there is loads of sesame oil, & some chili oil ? a little foreign to my taste buds… but nice for a different taste ..

Don’t even want to think how many kilometers I got to run to burn off all the food I ate..

Prolong runnning

After completing King of the Road... my running seems to have improve... in the sense of i am now able to run non stop for 5km, however at a reduce pace... previously the maximum i was able to run was only 2.5 to 3km. even to this distance it was a struggle for me ..

Referring to week 34, i have also graduated from the honeymoon-ish kind of run .. flat-ish small round around the Kiara Valley Lake, to the bigger round of the jogging track.. with small slopes at length of 2 kilometer per loop ..

This week i finished 3 runs... very motivating & long runs by my standards..

17th August 08, 8 kilometers
19th August 08, 8 kilometers
21st August 08, 7 kilometers

Reduced pace... was running about 7:30 mins/km to 8:00 mins/km but the motivation was that they were mostly either up or down slopes... & more significantly.. the running was continous.. without stopping..

Injuries... seem to be bearable with some kinks in the shins & ankle..running on alternate days allows my joints to recover from the heavy weight..

Its a really a big achievement for this fat guy .. :)

Now i gotta push the heart rate higher when i run to build up cardio stamina

Wave run hopefuls

After the king of the road... i passed my blog address to some of my friends.. on seeing my running seem motivated & expressed intrest on running with me for the Mizuno wave run..

In fact one of my ex colleague ran with me today...she did well finishing 1km non stop @ 9 mins .. a great achievement since she just became a mother ..

Well i really hope more of them will run .. but to date none have submitted and paid.. keeping my fingers crossed

Kitajima completes breaststroke double

Got home early from work today... naturally with all the olympic hype & the olympians smashing all the world & olympic records.. the competative sports buzz is about..
Statred watching olympics... at 6pm... swimming events... they were showing the highlights... it was so inspiring to watch them swim, epscially with the green line on screen marking out the world record..

Subliminally.. watching swimming, world record breaking.. champion athletes.. made me feel like swimming too *ahem*.. well all sports & running magazine always advised to have alternative cross training ..

So 630pm ... changed & got down to the pool... see i am a terrible swimmer... but with the image of kosuke kitajima... the Japanese who just won the 200M breast stroke gold... incidentaly my lazy swimmer discipline too .. i got hyped up & put on my trusty timex.. to check my time againts the champs...

Suprisingly no one was in the pool, maybe being 14th day, 7th month of the chinese calender... hungry ghost festival.. so showered then jumped in the pool... reset my watch & breast stroked so fast that i felt my calf, muscle starting to pull...That is not possible as i am in the water no impact... dammit...fatness catching up with me even in the pool

I am sure my pool is not 50 meters in length.. as in the official olympic pools.. one lap 51 :01 sec , 2nd lap 58 :31sec ... pathetic, if compared with the best..

Kitajima... 31.75 sec for 50 meters..... Olympic gold Beijing 2008 2min7.64 seconds for 200 meters..

I feel its more tiring to swim... anyway was thinking of swimming 10 laps... but on the 4th lap... was feeling sort of out of breath... so finished up my 5th lap then waddled in the pool for a while...

To wrap things up ... I decided to swim 1 final all out lap... time 1:50:18 ... to me it was fast because i swam out of my skin ... so fast that i felt myself sweat.. & my goggles fogged up till i couldnt see..

Swimmer... i sure am not... running.. still the better choice... dont think a triathalon will ever be in my sites... unless its a team relay ..

Mizuno Wave Run

Well with the King Of The Road under my belt.... sounds so cool & confident... hehehe

Gotta set another goal...

Today i went to the Pacesetters office, signed up for the Mizuno Wave run ... 19th October 2008... 10 Kilometers...

I have always been a honeymoon runner... running on flats.. start & stops... like what 1 fellow runner said... i am a hit & run ... kind of runner... with about 2.5 months to the run ...

I will train properly... proper speed & resistance runs, train the core muscle's, & have a systematic approch ... to be as injury free as possible...

Need to bring my weight even lower... so after the King Of The Road ... 93 Kg ===> NEW WEIGHT GOAL 85 KG... to finish the Mizuno Wave run, 10 KM below 60 minutes...

Gotta run more!!

Reward after The King Of The Road..

After all thats been said and done.. sorry run... what is it worth if we do not refuel... hehehe

Above is one of my new favourite haunts.. Village Park Restaurant, No 5. Jalan ss21/37, Damansara Uptown, 47400 Petaling... located Opposite Bank Rakyat.. next to the bicycle shop..

Owned by a Kelantanese couple, they server authentic Kelantanese food like nasi dagang, kerabu, and my favourite nasi lemak (pic above.. where is the rice nasi lemak)... please try the fried chicken nasi lemak if you are there... i was terribly hungry thus i ordered the extreme nasi lemak..:) food here i would say; top classservice & speed also excellent...

Will resume running soon enough....

King Of the Road 10th August 2008

Where do i start... could not sleep last night... went to bed at 10:15 pm... tossed & turned till about 12:15 before i slept... was feeling restless, hot & my ankle uncomfortable

5:25 am ... 1st alarm went off woke up straight away... washed up ... took 2 table spoons of L Carnatine.. changed .. 2nd & 3rd alarm went off 5:30 am, handphone, then radio clock..

applied the phiten relax gel... to all my injury prone areas ( fat people got more procedures).. put on my 2nd skins socks, Kayano & im out the door.. ate half an energy bar whilst driving..

6:20 am arrived at dataran shah alam... Adidas did a very poor job organising the run... no indication for reporting station... worse still no toilet...

6:45... the 22.7 km guys flagged off.. by Mb Selangor

7:00 start of run ... quite a big crowd... everyone funnelling into the first left turn ... i was in the middle of the crowd, thus i only started my watch when we passed the starting gentry...

worried about all my injuries... so started off really really slow... reaching the first turn off.. parallel the federal highway... 0.6 Km mark... my right calf started to tighten... so i ran slower.. & lighter... controlling the impact, as feather weight as possible

continued on and told myself, that when in training i could run at least 25 mins without stopping... thats 3 km ...

then my right shin starts to poke... at the start of uphill... just past the posf office... around 2 km mark... slowed down and brisk walked to the top of the slope...

from the top of the slope... i ran all the way down to the kayangan roundbaout... and continued on till i reached the drinking station... took 2 cups of 100+... argh really terrible... when you are thisty & your mouth parched, drinking warm carbonated isotonic water burns your mouth & the salt makes you thirstier...

from Concorde hotel the 4.3Km mark to the Persiaran Dato Menteri 6.5Km mark was a blurr to me ... i kept pushing myself on & on... chosing lamp posts, traffic lights & weird looking trees as rest markers, (ill walk till there then run) or stop markers(ill run till there then walk)…pushing on & on.. walking most slopes then running on the downside..:)

A relief for me was the traffic light at the police station... 5.1Km marker... time was 33:50 mins... which in my mind meant i will definately beat my 75 minutes trial run goal...
after the 6.5km mark i knew there is 3 more round abouts.. i did not look at the time... i just pushed & pushed myself... ignoring the pain in the ankle... stopping only when i was out of breath... when i stopped... only allowed myself maximum 1 minute of walking then ran again...

when i reached the 2nd last round about... Permai round about, (the 1 with Mcdonalds) i knew its the final stretch.. here i start to open my strides.. taking in the 2 inhales 1 exhales and telling myself 1 last stretch left...

Past the last traffic light i was out of breath... so i walked, telling myself i gotta run at the start of the last round about... however half way round the roundabout( seemed like the worlds biggest to me) i was out of breath… but alas… knowing I have another 500 meter & have to negotiate a small slope… I swing my arms harder to gain the momentum & pushed myself to the finish…

Cheers & jubilation +it was such a sense of relief… I felt lifted… finishing my very first 10K run.. Time 67:25.. I surpassed my own expectations & my trial time by about 6 minutes… Gotta plan for my next run…

After all the sweat, toil & pulling through all the injuries… this fat guy can run …



Next run... Mizuno 10 Km.... for now gotta go get some nasi lemak .....:P

10 hours to THE KING OF THE ROAD SHAH ALAM

All Geared up and ready to go... alarm clcok set at 5.30am... gotta make a detour to pick friend from Paramount garden then its....

King Of The Road... here i Ruuuunnnn......

49 days, Rm15.00 & King Of The Road

Training Center, Charts and Records

Costs only Rm 15.00 number & singlet

49 days & Rm 15.00 poorer, I trained all i can.. nursing injuries, shin splits, ankle problems, knee problems & sweating beyond measure

Sunday morning i will run... i am not hoping for any records.. i know my limits.. i wanna finish with a good time & if posible not limp to the finish line.. time to reap the dividends of the training....

Last week to race

So Last 3 runs before the race day... i am still having intermittent problems with ankle & shins...
nonetheless.. i gotta push on to make sure i do not come in last in my category;

1) Sunday August 3rd... 8 Kilometers, 69:06.. still running light, balancing & controlling landing...
N.B. gotta strenghten core & joints before next competition.. pressed for time gotta make do .. control landing & lift of each step

2) Tuesday August 5th.. 8 Kilometer, 68:41.. Ankle seem better... push a bit more .. and build stamina..

3) Thursday.. rained the whole afternoon, postponed to Friday morning, 8th August.. 5 Kilometer 48:56 .... terrible terrible ... my worst time to date... really worrying..sigh!! Woke up 6:30 am.. tried to mimic race day... took half an energy bar.. got to the lake .. then just cannot run... sluggish.. legs are heavy. bio-rythm completely out of sync .. pls dont let sundays run be like this +

Need to run

Training chart with times and frequency..:)

After the 7 days of rest ... i could not sit around anymore... i gotta get back to running & continue the training...

I started my run with baby steps... tuning into my bodies warning, specially on the ankle.. taking smaller & lighter steps.. suprisingly i dont have any problems on my shins like before..

Now i am governed by the condition of my ankle... when there is a slight ache... i slow down & brisk walk..

Running fat used to be following my breath (or rather short of it). But now i gotta balance my fragile ankle & my breath.. this is very disheartening.

This just justifies the fact that fat people like me are in no condition to run ... sigh!!

Clearing my head & my dissapointment i pushed on.... running then brisk walking to bring myself up to speed, with 10 days left to finish 6 kilometers...

Sunday ill run again...