I arrived in Selayang at 6.30am and there were very few runners around, only a hundred or so. There was no start line or banner in sight! It soon became apparent that the start would be delayed. I ran around the track 2 or 3 times to warm up, stretched my legs, as usual.
Eventually, after they managed to get the START banner lifted high enough to run under, we lined up. A barely-audible announcement was made that although the entry form said Malaysians only, the organisers had at the last minute decided to make it an "Open" i.e. International race. Lucky for me and the handful of other foreigners!!
Once the "VIP" turned up late at 7.20-ish, we were underway. As usual I was swallowed up by almost everyone at the start but in my normal fashion I was overtaking people after the first 1km. After that I made my way slowly through the stragglers and was overtaken by only 2 or 3 people. It turned out to be quite hilly, with a max. elevation change of 60m and an total ascent of 100m over the course. I was slow up the hills but quick down them, taking big strides.
I felt good all the way round and was confident of breaking my 1:04:00 target. After 7k or so the stadium came into view. My time was still only 47mins and I needed to run about 1.5km in 14minutes - something isn't right, I thought!
As I approached the finish I was sure I'd finish in under an hour, but was still sure that the course was a full 10k.
I finished in 0:57:54 (no medals or certs. left - boo hoo!) and was quite amazed at this fast time. Afterwards I drove the exact course and measured it at only 9.1km. This explains things. At that pace (6:21 per km) I would have done 10km in 1:03:38, just inside my target. My recent training runs have been at 6:25-6:30 per km pace so this seems about right. So I am still improving.
I look forward to the first races of 2007 so I can compare 2006 times to my latest times on exactly the same courses.
Here's my HR and Profile for this race. My average HR was 152bpm, which is fast becoming my standard...
Note that I didn't even push very hard at the end. My HR only goes to 161bpm.
My next "competitive event" will be the yet-to-be-announced Putrajaya triathlon on 16 December. So it's back to Tuesday night PCC bike rides, Thursday night runs and weekend swimming lessons and long PCC rides. I'm going to be coached by Malaysian ex-Olympic swimmer Wai Yen. She's going to teach me front crawl!
Looks like I'm going to have to fork out RM400+ for a nice pair of Shimano tri-shoes - the only size that Bike Pro has that fits well.
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