klingklangman: KLIM

Showing posts with label KLIM. Show all posts

Thursday, April 03, 2008

KLIM Photo

Tey missed me, but KC & gang managed to get a snap of me in full flight (not!) with 200m to go!

Thanks for the photo!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

I shot down another 2008 target yesterday by finishing the KL Marathon in under 5 hours - 4:53:57 to be precise. Here's my split times -

5km, 31:53 - 0:31:53
10km, 35:38 - 1:07:31
15km, 30:52 - 1:38:23
20km, 30:19 - 2:08:58
21km, 07:03 - 2:15:45
25km, 29:36 - 2:45:21
30km, 32:51 - 3:18:12
35km, 40:12 - 3:58:34
40km, 39:18 - 44:37:2
42.195km, 16:15 - 4:53:57 *not including pitstop

I was 124th/200 in my category. Official results for my category are here.

I met Eugene, Abu, Saiful, Ngae at the start and off we went. I went at my current "easy" pace which means about 65mins for 10km. Before Kg. Attap Azwar made an appearance on his "silly" bike. I love the way he has a triathlon-style aero bottle-holder on it! Along Syed Putra Steve Lee and Karoline came along, and Uncle Chan was accused by some DBKL guys of pacing runners as he ambled alongside us on his bike. (Pacing people already 30mins behind the leaders? - come on guys!)

Over the hill towards TUDM, I eventually shook-off a guy who was sprinting-walking (very unusual marathon strategy - doing that after only 6km!). Just after the 10km timing mats it was time for a pitstop - I won't go into details apart from to say that I was well-prepared for it. 3m31s later I rejoined the race and headed back into town.

Well into my stride now, I headed along Jalan loke Yew and then Jln Cheras. Just before 20km I joined Abu again, and reached halfway in about 2h18m. So far so good - I can slow by 25 mins or so in the 2nd half and still make it in 5hrs.

Through town again and I was beginning to overtake a number of runners. A few people beginning to suffer by now. Then the 21km front-runners began to whizz by. Gulped down a gel after about 2h30m and this helped me make it to the 30km mark. At 30km I was beginning to slow markedly - and so was everyone else. Once we we got to Jln Tun Razak I chatted to a Thai runner, who seemed to think I could speak Thai very well! Sorry to say I've forgotten a lot of Thai so it was a short chat.

Past PWTC and a long incline up to the first of the very attractive "...km to go" signs! My legs were beginning to struggle now but I kept going - baby steps. Finally got to the downhill stretch towards Duta, where I began to feel that I was losing my sense of the gradient (i.e. running slightly down still feels like running slightly up!).

Once on to Duta I was very slow now, down to about 8:00/km, but still ok for a sub-5 finish. From 6 to 3 km to go my stomach muscles became very sore which slowed me even more and I started walking a few times, but not for long. After a long time without seeing anyone I knew, I caught sight of Eugene on the other side of the road, and then Karen, Abu, Steve & Karoline in hot pursuit!

For some reason the last 3km didn't go down Jalan Parlimen, so we ended up on part of the Double Hill route past the JKR offices. I could sense the finish now and my timing was ok so I kept jogging along - there was certainly no repeat of my 21km sprint finish last year!

In the last 300m I was overtaken by a rather short - and friendly - middle-aged gentleman who ended up beating me by a few seconds. However I beat him to the girls handing out goodie bags a medals because he collapsed about 1m after the line! Glad to say I think it was a simple case of exhaustion.

So that was it. I'm happy I can say I've done a Marathon, but at the moment it remains to be seen if I do another one in the foreseeable future.

Gel intake - 2h35m, 3h20m and 4h05m.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Pacman

The reason for the reduction in blog posts is...Pacman!

We've decided on our hols! Delhi is too hot and not 6yo friendly so we've decided to hop over to Dubai on 12th April for 6 days. It's not too hot at the moment and there's plenty of stuff for Lucas such as water parks, beaches, Ski Dubai etc... And J and I can check the place out and see if it would be nice to live there for a while.

I can't stop thinking about KLIM this weekend. I'm itching to get my number, chip and vest tomorrow. I'm keeping my engine ticking over with some short super-easy runs. 5km after work on Monday and 4km this morning. I'll probably get another 5km in before Sunday.

Back to the pool tonight - my first swim in 3 weeks - so I'm wondering what sort of shape I'll be in. Fingers crossed.

Back to Pacman now...

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Weekend Wonderings

Sat p.m. in the office again. Keeping an eye on F1 qualifying, and thinking of the weekend (or rather "day off") ahead...

I've got no company car now, so I'll be cycling home. I've got Spurs v Portsmouth followed by Milan San-Remo lined up for tonight.

21km run in ze morning. Then off to the Nikko Hotel for Easter Brunch with J, L & Daryl.

And for the 1st time in 4 years I'm going to watch the F1 from my sofa - not as hot as being at the track, no driving, no jams - and more camera angles! Last year I remember driving like a madman from A'Famosa triathlon to get to Sepang on time!

Later I'll head off to jaelsports (Jasmine & Elmar) to their open-house, and in the evening I will use an intravenous caffeine drip to keep me up for Super Sunday!

I just bought myself a new Orca Race tri-suit, courtesy of Athletes Circle, who happened to be staying in a hotel in KL close to my office for the Easter weekend. I wanted to get the Distance 226 but it was too tight, even though it was also an "XL".

It's the KL Marathon next weekend (4.30am start!), so running should take a back seat to cycling and swimming from Monday. I'm pretty excited about it. The bit after 30km will be like a whole new experience to me!

My plan is to get to 35km without stopping (perhaps just while I swig some fluids), and then get through the final 7km by jogging between water stations.