Doing a long run under the sorching sun

I attempted this today, and I ended up calling dad to fetch me back. Well, started at 7.45am and the skies were clear. It was already quite hot and the cars were coming in. The plan was to head out to Sin Chew Daily via SS2 and back. Pace was to be slower than usual given the heat.

It was halfway through the run when I realized having sufficient fluids could only help so much.

While I made sure I drank enough throughout the run, the heat mercilessly brought my muscles and body systems down. Upon coming back to Subang Jaya from PJ, I was already going very slow and grew more and more doubtful about reaching home in one piece. The heat got so unbearable that I eventually sought shelter under some trees about 100m from the Kesas Highway. It was already past 10.30am.

Soon, a passerby came around and offered me a lift back home. Really really thankful for his concern but I turned it down as I thought I could still muscle some more energy to run back home. I recalled him driving what looked to be his family in his blue kancil. Hope to bump into you again.

Anyway, after 10min of resting, I started off again with some apparent energy boost. Unfortunately, that lasted a minute or two as I finally phoned my dad when I reached the Summit Hotel.

Total run time: 2hr 45min.
Total rest time: 25min

A long run on the 400m track

It wasn't my plan to do my saturday LSD on the track. But this was what I eventually settled for after the heavy early morning rain stopped pouring only after 8am.

Alrite, since I haven't ran too many rounds at a time for a while, I guess it was nice to just get some sort of a change. The last time I ran some distance on the track was back in 2004. It was a 20-lapper in wet conditions.

As for now, I need to get some distance since I'm preparing for PBIM full next month. So...hmm...let's try to really tough it out for 2 hours. For the record. My longest ever distance on the track was a 10k, which was done in Singapore in 2002. It took slightly less than 45mins.

This time, well, the run lasted a good 67min before mental block got the better of me. I tried things like running in both directions and running barefoot. Guess that helped, but it could only help so much. Total run time that included running from my house to MPSJ was around 1hr 20min.

Yeah, so that's basically all I could stand running round and round and round a little loop. I heard from some ppl that it can be useful in training up mental toughness. To each his own. But I seriously doubt my mind got any tougher after this run. Nonetheless, I think it is still quite fun to see how long you can actually take this :)

Running the Sub-5min mile

This personal goal came about after I surprised myself with my 1500m 7th placing in the Singapore Nationals Schools' Championships. I finished in 4min 44.19sec which was I say equivalent to a 5min 4 sec mile. Unfortunately, a combination of my naiviety and uncalled for situations meant I never lowered my PB which I set at 14 years of age. I left the track scene after secondary school with a 1500m time of 4min 48sec during my O Level year.

A sub-5 min mile is roughly a 4min 40sec 1500m. This personal goal was somewhat forgotten when I left the track scene but it came back recently after realizing I still had it in me after clocking 4min 48sec in last year's pacemakers track meet. Like now, I was then already involved in marathon running and only did speedwork for 3 weeks. So hey, if I am to continue improving my marathon running, I'm sure speedwork training top up for say a month will allow me to realize this dream.

Well, then again, it is if only there's a mile race in town. We had the new year's eve mile dash last year, and I do hope they will have it again.

Training today: Roughly 26km from USJ to Cheras. Started at 6.25am. Total run time:2hr 13min, including 7min for water stops and road crossing waits.

Newton-JW Cameron Highlands 12K Run Part 3: Touring Day 2

As mentioned previously, I had insufficient sleep the night before the race and thought that would not only ruin the race, but the rest of the day as well. But I guess the euphoria of racing through the streets of Cameron Highlands with the police car leading the way changed everything.

We checked-out of our apartment around 11-ish and headed straight to the BOH tea plantation at Sungai Palas. One serious thing I think I ought to bring up is the drive into the plantation. There is only one lane to support two-way traffic. Given this place is frequented by many tourists, one can imagine how difficult it is to negotiate in and out of this place. In addition, a good portion of this relatively lengthy passage way doesn't have side barriers even though it is, I must say, "quite a long way down". But then again, we can't really blame the BOH guys for they already did what they could in terms of expanding the road whereever the landscape allows so. Plus, they do send their people out to control traffic when the need arises.

All right, transport/traffic issues aside. The plantation's scenary was simply beautiful.

From far

From nearby


We had to hike up to the Tea Center



And we had hikewitme to lead the way



Tea Center

Refilling

The factory

Left the place around 1.30pm and headed to a nearby strawberry farm.

Posing with our medals

At the Strawberry shop

Spent roughly an hour there and headed back to KL right after. Didn't have time to visit the bee farms or splash around at the waterfalls from the "old road". Hope to visit these two places in the not too distant future.

Let's come back again!

First run with the SPI Belt

Frankly speaking, it was only until recently that I paid attention to securing my belongings during my runs. I would previously just leave my all my valuables in my car and somehow not worry even after hearing about car break-in cases from other runners. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay for my complacency.

Anyway, I got my SPI belt from Frank yesterday and was eager to test it on a 2 hour run today. Really glad that this piece of equipment did what it was supposed to do - hold your valuables with hardly any bounce when you run. So this means no more tying car keys to shoe and being able to carry my IC and phone for a run.

And speaking of carrying a phone (with camera function), I'm now also able to take photos during my run.

So yup, that's my SPI belt. It pretty pricey at RM70 as it is after all, made in US. But definitely something valuable to have for my runs.