SCKLM - a 2nd FM, a PB, a race of my life

This SCKLM 2012 run report came a week late. Blame it on my busy schedule :)

OK, I completed my first SCKLM full marathon and my 2^nd, after 2011 Nov PBIM’s ‘virgin’ full marathon. Fit nicely into my plan to do 2 FM within a year, ~6 months apart. The problem is… I only seriously trained for this race 7 weeks ago. Prior to that, all my runs were pretty much what they called ‘junk miles’.. Some mileage with occasional weekend long runs but that was it. I browsed thru the Runner’s World, picked a training plan that suites me, that says it’s for runners targeting 4.5 hrs. Bingo ! I guess discipline played a key part in the last few weeks. I religiously followed thru the plan – hill runs, speedwork, interval, tempo, fartlek, LSDs etc. USM is my weekdays training ground, while weekends is Gurney & the usual LSD route. Logging my mileage in Dailymile.com helps as it keep track of my progress, not to mentioned motivated by the rest of fellow runners !! J The tapering 2 weeks came during the haze season and it didn’t help KL was pretty badly hazed up the week before the race. Well, thank God the haze also tapered off and it was a near perfect weather on race day !

T-1 day

Took the AA to KL in the morning. Met up with Hizam and Ana at race kit collection center, interestingly located at an underground building, right below the big flag pole @ Dataran Merdeka. Wandered for a while and hung around Burger King and admiring the Masjid Jamek (I have seen it umpteenth times but still charmed by its rustic and designs) while waiting to check in Swiss Inn @ Petaling Street. Managed to meet up Chris who took the MAS and stayed at DoubleTree, and also Shariff Blade Runner and Ray. Nearly got bumped from the Swiss Inn to the Swiss Garden Hotel which is ~2km away due to renovation which was delayed in the hand-over. I was pretty mad at the last minute change because it meant a lot of inconvenience of travelling to Dataran and back after the race. After showing some ‘black faces’, I managed to get my room, albeit a smaller room, but I wasn’t complaining – better than the hotel further away ! After taking some naps, met up with Hizam for my carbo loading. After a bad experience in fueling strategy @ Sundown, I was determined not to go wrong this time.. What’s more I am running 2X the distance ! Anyway, the last few weeks, I realized that my metabolism has increased significantly, resulting me going hungry more often than usual… Took my pasta @ Tony Roma’s at Pavlion. The Shrimp Pasta was a smart choice - That was one of the best pastas I have ever taken, and big portion too ! One the way back to hotel, I picked up the drinking water, few Gatorade and a 6-in Subway at Petaling Street.

Race Day

Race starts at 4.30am. Took my 6-in Subway at 2am. Pumped down my supplements, ORS and electrolytes and I walked to Dataran which is ~5mins away. Made plan to meet up with Stanley before the race. The day was also the Spain vs France Euro 2012 quarterfinal. Caught some actions of the first half at Dataran giant screen before they turned it off at half-time to make way for the run event (Spain eventually won 2-0 and now they are into the final tonight !). I also managed to meet up with Chris again (and his DNS story due to a misplaced handphone right before the race L), and Mei Ling, Choo, James, Sam (and the usual Sunday Youth Park running gang.

Lined up at the starting line area ~25mins before the start. This is definitely much better than the Sundown where we had to stand for close to 1.5hrs ! The plan for the race was : Run my 1^st 21km @ 6:10mins/km, then the 2^nd half @ 6:20 and I should be well within the 4:30 target. The weather was great with some cool breeze. I met Tee at the starting line. After a short chat, we were ready to start. I kept my Garmin GPS watch on real-time pace mode so that I can track the actual pace versus every 10km reset.

The start was smooth.. but alas, at KM6, I started to feel hungry with my stomach growling ! Looks like I failed in my fueling strategy for a 2^nd time, and I regretted for not buying an extra 6in Subway for the final carbo load. Nonetheless, I pushed on, determined not to let this disrupting my race plan. I did a pee pit-stop at some bushes (while still dark) before proceeding. I could feel the run was pretty well-oiled and I was doing a couple seconds @ sub-6 ! The cold breeze and slight drizzle did help too ! At 10.5km, I was still running very smoothly as this is the time where I usually feel like slowing down. After 15km, I was still @ a sub-6 pace. I told myself that I could do a sub 4:15 or even better if I kept this throughout the route… though I was doing some mathematics in my head if a sub-4 is possible.. I hit the 21km @ 2:02 (not bad, I told myself.. That is my 2^nd best 21km and I did it in a full).  Gave myself a pat on the back kept going and I was amazed myself that I was actually running non-stop except for a pit stop at almost every water station for drinks. By then, I could feel the endorphin being released. I was ACTUALLY ENJOYING a marathon, instead of the usual self-doubt and questioning why I would torture myself at that hour !  It certainly showed as I was greeting (Thank you, Hello, Good morning) at almost every volunteer and policeman !! Well, the policeman were more serious-looking and I guess they did not expect any runner to say ‘Hi’ to them. Only one greeted back.. but that’s fine. LOL

My first 21km was at a pace of 5:56 and 5:56 respectively. Pushing up a gear in my 22-27km, I was doing a close to 5:30-5:40 range. Going into KM28, the inclines started to take its toll and there’s when the traffic started to pile up with some impatient drivers honking away at the road blocks.  At KM30, I was @ 2:57 split, and a sub-4 is within reach if I could do a 12km within 1:02 !  One motivation I told myself was to keep running until at least I reach KM36 where the famous June Malik & CC Choi stall is situated. At KM33, I started to feel some ‘electricity’ flowing through my muscles which normally means a cramp is coming. Made a couple of stops to do stretching and keep plodding on. By then, I knew any negative splits is gone (well, wait til I see the Bukit Tunku !!). as I reached KM36, I saw a group of volunteers cheering – they were the Low Yat’s running group and June’s stall. I decided not to stop but made a point to look for June, had a hand-shake, pass her an extra bananas which I took and went on. Alas, the uphill run looked familiar as I slowed down significantly. A quick scan told me that’s exactly the same route I took during my Multi-Purpose Berhad Run (MPBR) way back in Jan’12 – the dreaded Bukit Tunku, posh and luxurious bungalows abound but a torturous hill run, what’s more after one has just ran for 36km !

I was doing a pace of 6:40 – 7:00 at the Bulit Tunku stretch. Towards the last 3km, it was downhill and a home run towards the finishing point. I found a 2^nd wind and continue running, and jogging at the same time.. with occasional stops. At KM40, it was a convergence of runners for all categories. Just like last year, it made running a bit difficult and I had to zig-zag in between runners while dragging my feet towards the finishing line. The end seems like forever. Once I caught a glimpse of the final stretch, I did my final exhilarating sprint towards the finishing point.

Total time : 4:12:49 (a PB for me)

Distance : 42.37km

My 10.5km splits:

1-10.5km - 5:56

10.5-21.1km - 5:56

21.1-31.5km - 5:47

31.5-42.2km - 6:15

Never in my wildest dream that I could do a 4:12 in my 2^nd full marathon. I guess the good weather, the cold breeze, slight drizzle, intensive training and well-controlled nutrition in the last few weeks all lined up perfectly for a great personal performance. It showed that one could achieve a better performance and still enjoy a run at the same time. Before I left, I bumped into familiar faces : Choo, Hooi, Jin Ji, Aleximon, Ramlan, Rahim, and Lai Lai.

Overall, it was an fantastic experience @ SCKLM. The PB for sure, but also meeting up with fellow runners from near & afar.

My next plan:

1)      Do a proper 16-week full marathon training plan

2)      Improve my nutrition – my carbo intake can still be fine-tuned

3)      Increase my running speed through larger strides

My next FM is PBIM 2012 but I may be in business trip by then.. So I am actually thinking seriously about the Putrajaya Night Marathon (PNM) on 20^th Oct. We shall see.

The next race ? 6km Peace Run on July 14^th.

 

My AA flight in the morning, Saturday

This is one of the timer cars for the leading runners

Me in front of the Start & Finish Line on pre-race day

Post-race - finisher tee, medal and my Brooks just completed a 42km

Finisher medal

Finisher medal



Finisher tee - I DO hope to be back next year !



finisher tee - nice design - M size

Finishing line photo : 4:12 timing

Captured at Bukit Tunku



Official Result

Captured by Tey near finishing line



at ~KM33