Larian Gegar 2015
Was not totally prepared for the race. The race was 2 weeks after 2XU Compression Run 2015. So I had my 1st race post Naela excitement through 2XU, and had less feeling this time around.
I took the week preceding it lazying around from much runs on the taper basis. By Saturday the legs didn't feel just as good, so I had low hopes on the race and would just go into it like a training run. I didn't even have proper nutrition before that. Was not eating well on the day before, and wasn't eating that properly as well the night before. I didn't even have my race flatlay as I always do. Even more a proof that I wasn't that ready for the race. But come night time before sleep, the nerves started to make its way in. Managed to prepare the necessary before actually went to sleep.
The race would start at 6 am. I thought half an hour journey would be sufficient. It was just exactly enough, by the Almighty's permission. To add salt to the wound, a lot of things went wrong in the morning. I had trouble putting my contact lense on, that has wasted me few minutes. While at the toll plaza, the smart tag barrier was broken. It couldn't detect our card and had minus the remaining balance that we had. And of course, wasted few more minutes. We wanted to perform prayer at the Petronas station, it was still closed and the surau was locked. We had to make our way direct to the venue without having settled my Subuh prayer. By the time we reached UM, it was already 6, and I haven't even had my prayer. I ended up praying outside the car. God permits, I had brought my telekung and prayer mat along. Lucky the race also started a couple of minutes late. I managed to make myself to the starting line before race starts. Managed to be close to the starting line even.
And then we were off. William passed, and I let him be. Of course, started off with the no fail strategy of following your own comfortable pace. But that comfortable pace seems to be very slow for a race. It was at a 7 ish mins kind of pace. Which is way too slow. I knew then that it will be a slow race. I had even thought that the GPS wasn't working, since it's way too slow. But the lack of GPS signal only cause a faster run, not a slower run. Nonetheless, it then got into its first checkpoint path. Many people were ahead of me (discovered through the U-turn, there were 5 U turns altogether). The checkpoint validation is through a sticker. For me, I'm quite fine with the sticker being used. But, they were not ready with the amount of runners passing by. Many runners were waiting to get the sticker, and I had quickly tore one for me, and then had no idea where to stick it on. I then stucked it on my watch. And then the Bukit Cinta climb started way too early. Since it was only the beginning, of course there was so much energy still. But I tried to maintain a comfortable pace still and managed to survive it without much sufferings. The downwards was my favourite. As I had always tell people, downhill is very much my thing. Not that I can do a very fast downhill, but I can do a relatively good downhill than my uphill. My best pace was 3:12, which is so unusual. But much understandable due to the downhill.
Next thing we knew, there was another route branching, which will definitely lead to another checkpoint and U-turn. For half marathon runners, there would be 10 of these. Which was fine with me. But the not fine matter was, in leading towards every checkpoint, there would be an uphill. Almost as high as the Bukit Cinta level itself. I knew I had to reserve a lot in this race, especially after the mishaps of 2XU. So I took it easy. So with that, the uphill didn't feel as torturing. The organiser had informed that the total elevation was around 240m, but it was actually 326m. But this cannot beat my normal training route of yielding more than 330m gain for 1.5 hour run (13km). Many had complained about the route torture, but it didn't feel as much frankly (again, due to the take it easy principle that I had). Looking to the ground rather than up and run easy as much as you can rather than run hard and breakdown and having to walk for the uphill seems to be a working uphill solution for me.
I had no idea whether I was at the leading pack or not, but for sure I was mostly among male runners, with only few stints of female. I was happy enough that I got to overtake some male runners. Traffic started to build up, but they were managed well. Never once that I felt unsafe with the heavy traffic. I was on my relax mode almost throughout, building pace up only when it was comfortable enough. Finally got into the 2nd loop of the race and had finally managed to catch up with William on the way down from Bukit Cinta. We ran along until the next route branching, on which I had to move along. after one of the checkpoints, I bumped into the lady whom I met at the start of the race. She encouraged me to take up speed and overtake the chinese lady upfront. It was very brief but was very encouraging. I cruised on and finally caught up with the said lady, and I managed to overtake without a fight. As I got closed to the finishing line, with still few checkpoints left, I noticed they have started taking down my bib number. I could sense something good was happening already.
The finishing line was finally near, and it didn't feel as hard as it did in 2XU (the over distance really took a toll on me it seems). Managed to speed up to the finish and to my surprise and delight I was given out a tag number. This is my 2nd tag number experience, only difference is that this is a top 10 experience. I knew something good was happening when they were taking my bib number but never have I imagined it would be a top 10. It says 8, but it was actually 7th.
Was very happy of course. Hubs was already sitting steadily out there. He was not that surprised or seems pleased with my top 10 position. I later bumped into Bovin. I didn't notice that I had took him over. He was well up front earlier on. Bumped into the lady who had encouraged me later on. We are facebook friends now.
It took a while before the prize giving started. Good thing the race started early, despite a while for the prize giving, it still ended at around 9 plus. The prize was simple but the experience that matters.
I took the week preceding it lazying around from much runs on the taper basis. By Saturday the legs didn't feel just as good, so I had low hopes on the race and would just go into it like a training run. I didn't even have proper nutrition before that. Was not eating well on the day before, and wasn't eating that properly as well the night before. I didn't even have my race flatlay as I always do. Even more a proof that I wasn't that ready for the race. But come night time before sleep, the nerves started to make its way in. Managed to prepare the necessary before actually went to sleep.
The race would start at 6 am. I thought half an hour journey would be sufficient. It was just exactly enough, by the Almighty's permission. To add salt to the wound, a lot of things went wrong in the morning. I had trouble putting my contact lense on, that has wasted me few minutes. While at the toll plaza, the smart tag barrier was broken. It couldn't detect our card and had minus the remaining balance that we had. And of course, wasted few more minutes. We wanted to perform prayer at the Petronas station, it was still closed and the surau was locked. We had to make our way direct to the venue without having settled my Subuh prayer. By the time we reached UM, it was already 6, and I haven't even had my prayer. I ended up praying outside the car. God permits, I had brought my telekung and prayer mat along. Lucky the race also started a couple of minutes late. I managed to make myself to the starting line before race starts. Managed to be close to the starting line even.
And then we were off. William passed, and I let him be. Of course, started off with the no fail strategy of following your own comfortable pace. But that comfortable pace seems to be very slow for a race. It was at a 7 ish mins kind of pace. Which is way too slow. I knew then that it will be a slow race. I had even thought that the GPS wasn't working, since it's way too slow. But the lack of GPS signal only cause a faster run, not a slower run. Nonetheless, it then got into its first checkpoint path. Many people were ahead of me (discovered through the U-turn, there were 5 U turns altogether). The checkpoint validation is through a sticker. For me, I'm quite fine with the sticker being used. But, they were not ready with the amount of runners passing by. Many runners were waiting to get the sticker, and I had quickly tore one for me, and then had no idea where to stick it on. I then stucked it on my watch. And then the Bukit Cinta climb started way too early. Since it was only the beginning, of course there was so much energy still. But I tried to maintain a comfortable pace still and managed to survive it without much sufferings. The downwards was my favourite. As I had always tell people, downhill is very much my thing. Not that I can do a very fast downhill, but I can do a relatively good downhill than my uphill. My best pace was 3:12, which is so unusual. But much understandable due to the downhill.
Next thing we knew, there was another route branching, which will definitely lead to another checkpoint and U-turn. For half marathon runners, there would be 10 of these. Which was fine with me. But the not fine matter was, in leading towards every checkpoint, there would be an uphill. Almost as high as the Bukit Cinta level itself. I knew I had to reserve a lot in this race, especially after the mishaps of 2XU. So I took it easy. So with that, the uphill didn't feel as torturing. The organiser had informed that the total elevation was around 240m, but it was actually 326m. But this cannot beat my normal training route of yielding more than 330m gain for 1.5 hour run (13km). Many had complained about the route torture, but it didn't feel as much frankly (again, due to the take it easy principle that I had). Looking to the ground rather than up and run easy as much as you can rather than run hard and breakdown and having to walk for the uphill seems to be a working uphill solution for me.
I had no idea whether I was at the leading pack or not, but for sure I was mostly among male runners, with only few stints of female. I was happy enough that I got to overtake some male runners. Traffic started to build up, but they were managed well. Never once that I felt unsafe with the heavy traffic. I was on my relax mode almost throughout, building pace up only when it was comfortable enough. Finally got into the 2nd loop of the race and had finally managed to catch up with William on the way down from Bukit Cinta. We ran along until the next route branching, on which I had to move along. after one of the checkpoints, I bumped into the lady whom I met at the start of the race. She encouraged me to take up speed and overtake the chinese lady upfront. It was very brief but was very encouraging. I cruised on and finally caught up with the said lady, and I managed to overtake without a fight. As I got closed to the finishing line, with still few checkpoints left, I noticed they have started taking down my bib number. I could sense something good was happening already.
The finishing line was finally near, and it didn't feel as hard as it did in 2XU (the over distance really took a toll on me it seems). Managed to speed up to the finish and to my surprise and delight I was given out a tag number. This is my 2nd tag number experience, only difference is that this is a top 10 experience. I knew something good was happening when they were taking my bib number but never have I imagined it would be a top 10. It says 8, but it was actually 7th.
Was very happy of course. Hubs was already sitting steadily out there. He was not that surprised or seems pleased with my top 10 position. I later bumped into Bovin. I didn't notice that I had took him over. He was well up front earlier on. Bumped into the lady who had encouraged me later on. We are facebook friends now.
It took a while before the prize giving started. Good thing the race started early, despite a while for the prize giving, it still ended at around 9 plus. The prize was simple but the experience that matters.
All in all, it was a good race. Decently managed and organised. Water station was sufficient, quite consistently positioned. Quality medal, and finisher shirt despite a very decent pricing. Pricing is quite a concern lately as race fees is starting to get very high. It's this kind of organiser that you need to appreciate and promote. Genuine organisers who's in it for a real run and not solely to make money. I especially appreciate how they manage the traffic. I understand the road cannot be closed totally. I would be mad myself if I was one of the drivers. But the traffic was managed so well. There was no gels or banana given out along the route, so this may be a room for improvement. But watermelons were given upon finished, so this might have covered it.
One very big thing (for me at least) and interesting to share is that, I didn't have any gels whatsoever throughout the race. I didn't have a particular need for food and I didn't at all until the race finished up until after the prize giving ceremony. I must credit this to the sweet potato and the Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) that I had consumed in the race morning. I had once shared the super energy that you will obtain from VCO, but never have I imagined it would be enough to last me through the strenuous race, which from run alone, had consumed me 1200 kcal. I had iced my legs soon after the race as this seems to be my permanent thing to do from now on. The ice can be strapped on your legs using some tape which they normally have at the medic area. This I learned from the recent Rugby World Cup.
So that's it. Last 2 weeks event, finally been put up. Important lesson learnt through this race which I hope I can adopt and emulate later on:
- Sweet potato + VCO provides tonnes of required energy
- Ice immediately after. You can either prevent an injury from occuring or put previous injury into history for good.
- Never stop during a race. Slow down if you have to but never stop. Your body will be hunger for more stops once you do. This excludes water break of course.
- Look down on killing uphils.
Larian Gegar 2015
Date: 15 November 2015
Venue: Kompleks Sukan University Malaya
Post Partum Progress: 17 weeks post partum
Distance: 20.09km
Time: :2:07.39 hrs
Pace: 6:21 mins/km
Date: 15 November 2015
Venue: Kompleks Sukan University Malaya
Post Partum Progress: 17 weeks post partum
Distance: 20.09km
Time: :2:07.39 hrs
Pace: 6:21 mins/km
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