Wednesday, May 25, 2005

New Balance - Pacesetters 15K Run...

Prologue:

I didn't train properly for this race, as I wanted to. My only excuse is only that I was pretty much busy with my music work for the last couple of weeks. However, I've definitely done some running every week, enough to keep up my stamina, build some endurance base, and general fitness. I wasn't even sure if I could do this race

Collected the bibs on the Saturday evening before the race, just short of 6pm, before the Pacesetters guys close shop for the evening. Did a short run after that too, to perk up my body for the race. I had to play at Alexis that night (and on the Friday as well), so I definitely wouldn't expect to get much sleep before the race. But I tried to rest as much on Saturday morning, to afternoon. Did the gig at Alexis, came back like 2-something in the morning, and slept only at about 3.

5:30am - Woke up sluggish, like always, when I don't have enough sleep. Called Kay Ti to wake him up. Plan was to leave at 6, 6-something, get there by at least 7am, and do the race at 7:30am. But I was shocked to find out, or rather DIDN'T find out, that the race starts at 7am!!! Pacesetters are smart fellas, they know what time is the best time to start a race!! So, I basically started to rush a little bit and picked KT up at around 6:15am.. already late.

6:45am - Reached Lake Gardens, took a while to find a parking space. But managed to slip my smaller sized Satria car into a corner. Got ready with some running stuff: my heart rate monitor, my Nike Hydration Pack (with a full bottle of Accelarade), putting on bibs and the reporting cards. We also had to pass the bibs to two other friends of Kay Ti, who were already at the start line.

3 minutes to flag off - Kay Ti and I were running to the start line, it's already like a slightly harder warm-up run, trying to run downhill to the Lake Gardens Boathouse.

Start of the race:

Baaammm!!! They flagged us off at 7am sharp!

Very organised, these guys are. And it's no surprised, they've learnt from the mistakes made by Malaysian race organisers, and definitely from other countries, like Singapore (who last organised the StanChart SG Marathon.. very well done, too!). It was really well organised, from bib collection, distance markers, water stations, etc. Even the bibs were done nicely. They weren't just rough cloth bibs, they were made with synthetic, anti-absorbent, plastic cloth, similar to the SG Marathon ones.

Back to the race.... they flagged us off RIGHT AFTER me and Kay Ti got into the start line at the back of the pack. While KT helped the girls with the bibs, I had already started running at a slow pace with the back of the pack. The three of them caught up with me a short while later. But it was already a challenge for us. We already had to start climbing the slope up the boathouse to Jalan Perdana, out back into the Bukit Aman car park, which eventually heads out to Jalan Parlimen going to Bank Negara.

Bank Negara to Bukit Tunku:

After climbing up the round-trip detour up the Bank Negara road, after the 3rd km marker, I stopped a while to stretch my calves, hamstrings and quads. I did it to avoid further complications in the later stages of the run, and definitely to try to increase the flexibility of my legs. The route then took us up Bukit Tunku road, which is a steady hill incline all the way up till the Bukit Tunku flyover, about almost 2km. They put up the first water station, with both mineral water and PowerBar Endurance sports drink. I took it even though I still had Accelarade. Then there's the short downhill slope which flattens out until the Laman Tunku road turn, which is virtually a steep uphill climb for at least 2 - 3km!! That, as I found out is what's known as the Double Hill route!

Post-Bukit Tunku:

At the 10km mark, the route had us out of Bukit Tunku, and headed back into Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, where the Agricultural Department was. That itself was another steady uphill climb. The route then turns into the road which leads to Tugu Negara, and at the end of the road, the route comes out back into Jalan Parlimen (the 12km marker), and right-turned to go into the Carcosa road. The Carcosa road is also another hilly part, also steady incline-decline.

The Last 1KM:

I was struggling a little bit, as I have begun to feel a slight tinge of fatigue. But I had taken several one-to-two minute walk breaks to help recover. But as I descended the downhill slope at Carcosa Road, back into Lake Gardens, I picked up the pace, but only to the point where I felt I could maintain it all the way to the finish line.

As I neared a few hundred metres to the finish line, I started picking up the pace almost to my sprint pace, and crossed the finish line with a strong finish!! My clocked time was 1:57:09. Not too bad for an inadequately trained fatso. I got the Finisher medal... Pewter, no doubt!

Saw one of KT's friend, Swee Ee, who finished slightly earlier than me. His other friend, Alexis finished a couple of minutes after me. And later on, KT, who had some recurring knee problems, but managed to finish the race as well! Congratulations y'all!!

Post-race:

I gladly helped myself with water, sports drink, Milo, cereals, tau foo far, and some gift bags. Got myself a pair of socks from the New Balance booth. I also met up with the rest of the Pacemaker gang: Ronnie (pm1), Justin (pm19), Azwar, Ryan Teoh, Tey, Sim Boon Haw, Kenneth the KNN man, Ajeep, Rohaizad, Vincent Wong, Jason Lim, and a few others. Got our pictures taken, chat a lot, etc. Good to meet up with some of these guys again. And considering the schedule I had for the last couple of weeks, it was definitely a pleasure to meet them again.
After shower and lunch, I headed straight home and straight onto my comfy bed, before waking up to work at a wedding on that night itself.

Post-race analysis:

Timings for the race:
1km - 8:52
2km - 7:16
3km - 15:20 (took a a walk break or two with Kay Ti, and some stretches, just to be safe)
4km - 7:40
6km - 16:58
7km - 8:24
8km - 7:16
10km - 9:11
12km - 15:14
13km - 8:17
14km - 7:26
15km - 5:12

1. Started out rather conservative, with a fairly easy pace. And only increased the pace slightly when it felt okay to do it, and during downhill slopes.

2. I strategized the race by dividing the distance into 3k blocks, where I took a minute walk break after each 3km, making it a five block of 3k's each to deal with. Psychologically, it was easier to handle it as five 3k blocks rather than one whole 15k block.

3. I use Accelerade as a sports drink when I train AND race.. didn't have to use any Powergels, so far.

4. I did the race without any expectations, and it definitely helped me enjoy the race a whole lot more that morning.

Epilogue:

See you next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! New Balance is sponsoring the 15K 2006... yay!!

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