It kinda sucks to run alone :(

My running partner is travelling to her mum's hometown of Terengganu for Chinese New Year! SOB! My running group is busy. So I ran alone today. Couldn't miss out on today's run as I imagine the amount of food I will be consuming over the next four days.

I practically had to drag myself out of bed. The intention was to wake up at 6am and get running by 7am. I didn't manage to get myself up until 6.15am. And I plodded around VERY slowly getting ready. I intended to run around Air Itam dam to train myself on some hills but I considered the crazy marketing crowd I will probably meet driving up there so I changed my running plans to Botanical-Jesselton.

Target distance: 10km.
Target time: 55 minutes (5:30 min/km)

I did managed to reach the Youth Park parking lot at 6:53am. I was still so darn sleepy and it was still so darn dark that I actually took a 5-minute power nap in my car. I really like running in the morning as the weather is so cool. Plus at 7am, you pretty much have the roads to yourself. The start of the run can be best described as sluggish. My body and brain was still asleep. As I entered Botanicals it got a little bit better. I suffered on the hills in Botanicals and Jesselton. On good days I can chug up it with a pretty good pace. But on both occasions today I felt my pace slacking off quite a bit at the end.

Detailed Map Here

I ended up taking 56:21 about 1:21 minute worse than my target. Grrr... I need more hill training and definitely more interval training.

-Chin-

Run 25k?!?

Tsen suggested we hit 25km this weekend for our long run. Since they are training for KL International Marathon, this is the distance they are supposed to be hitting now. Lynn, Kenneth and I won't be running that marathon. Our marathon will be the Sundown Marathon in Singapore in May.

Route: Rasa Sayang Hotel to Teluk Bahang dam (x2)
Target distance: 25km

I was pretty reluctant to run 25km as our longest distance has been 18km so far. I was worried that a 7km increase might break something. I still recalled the horrors of my first ever attempt for a 25k at Balik Pulau. It brings back bad memories and that distance still terrifies me until today. I told myself I was going to try, no matter what to push as best as I could. So I told myself, try to hit 25km.

Wei Chern announced that he will only do one loop as he was not feeling well. His brother Wei Khoon, a 70.3 triathlete and former winner of the Penang bridge half marathon joined us.

As I started my climb up to the dam, my legs started to slowly give up. I knew it was impossible to continue a 25km. It was going to be a stretch to get to 17km. If I had wanted to do a 25km I should have ran it at my own pace. Starting at Wei Chern pace drained me. When I descended from the dam, I made my mind up to run a really hard 17km because I knew I would hurt myself badly if I attempted a 25k.

Time: 1:34:00

Average pace: 5:32 min/km

Detailed Map Here

-Chin-

Sunday Activities

Its Sunday!Another day of long weekend run! Woke up late again!I couldn't remember switching off my alarm. *bummer* Woke up at 5.20am and was suppose to meet the rest at 6am. DARN! Managed to make it there quite on time ( perhaps late 5 minutes) The running group was larger today. There were 7 of us - Kenneth, Chin, Remesh, Tsen, KH Ooi and *WOPPS* forgot the other guy name and of course myself [duh]. Wei Chern did not join us today as he was not feeling well.

Our running route : Youth Park - Clock Tower- Youth Park [into Jesselton housing estate]
Distance : Roughly around 16km

Detailed Map Here

Guess today wasn't my day. During the last 3km as I was running into Jesselton housing estate, I tripped over the pavement. Whamp! Roll! Thud! Ouch...Had a small cut on my knee and a few bruises on my arm, butt and shin! I was frustated!:( Anyway I felt bad as well to make Chin stopped and walk back with me. Kinda limping back [whine! whine! ] - Thanks Chin! We were supposed to attend a running clinic after the run organized by the KL Marathon Organizer and register ourselves for upcoming run, but to our disappointment, the running clinic didn't exist and they just set up a small booth [not even a booth..just a sitting bench under a tree near the Youth Park field! ] Remesh, Kenneth, Chin and I registered for the half marathon while Tsen & Wei Chern signed up for full. Not too sure about the 2 new guys. If not mistaken one of them did sign up for full too. Headed over to Subaidah for breakfast with all of the runners including Wei Chern. I got to eat my chapati with sardin gravy. [sorry no pics...left my phone in the car]. Chin and I headed for our dragon boat practice after breakfast.

Sunday Adventures

Darn! As usual being careless, I accidentally closed the tab when I was about to complete blogging..and here I am trying to remember and retyping them again...*sigh*

Haven't been blogging close to half a year. Used to own a blogging site at http://www.xanga.com/lynnguan. Last posted my entry on August 22 2007. Since Chin decided to start a blog in 2008 as part of her TO-DO LIST in 2008, decided to combine a blog with her so that if I'm too lazy to blog, hopefully there will be still posting from her (right Chin? *grin*)

Had an early start of the day today. As usual, on Sunday we will normally try to do our long run with our running group. Nearly overslept till I got a wake up call at 5.10am. Left home at 5.25am. Was supposed to pick Chin up at 5.30am and meet with the rest of our running friends (Tsen, Wei Chern and Ramesh) in Youth Park Car Park at 6am. Managed to swing by Chin's house at 5.40am and reach on time at Youth Park. Thought we will be late but to our suprise, we were the earliest! We did a 17km run today (Route: Youth Park-Copthorne Hotel - End of Gurney - Youth Park) - See screen shot of route below

Mapped using Route Planner from RunnersWorld Training Log

Chin had a good run today, not so much for me. As usual I was struggling towards the end heading back to Youth Park and got stopped by a couple in a car trying to find their way to KDU College (not too sure if I gave a good direction to the couple- I hope so! :)). Thank god they didn't end up doing 25km. Since the run ended early, Chin and I decided to have breakfast with Wei Chern and Tsen near a 'kopitiam' (coffee house)at Tanjung Bungah market before heading off for dragon boat practice at 9.00am. Since next week I will be out of town, decided to attend todays session. I like the training session today though my shoulder and arms are falling apart now! Guess I LOVE pain! Training session ends around 12pm. By the time we finish bathing it was already 12.30pm, Chin called Naomi to confirm our lunch plan. Met up with Naomi and Pierric at New World Park at 1pm. We went to The Boulevard for lunch. All of us had the set lunch and ordered a bottle of French Wine - Chateau de Seguin 2004. I ordered Grilled Sea Bass with Tomato Vinaigrette as my main, Pierric and Chin had Duck Confit with potato gratin top with hazelnut Vinaigrette and red wine , while Naomi ordered the Grilled Chicken (I couldn't really remember the full name of the dishes besides duck confit). The mushroom soup wasn't that bad. Quite like it..but if only they were tad bit creamy and a little more mushroom. Chin offered me a small piece of her duck confit, didn't like the texture of the meat and tad bit salty for my liking. Chin did mention the same about the saltiness. She like the grilled sea bass. By the time we finished our lunch, it was close to 3pm. Dropped Chin's home and headed back.Weather was killing! HOT HOT HOT! arrgghhh

[Top to Bottom] Sea Bass, Salad, Wine, Soup, Duck Confit

Lynn