Penang Bridge Half 2007

Ahem.. What can I say.

Being kiasu can sometimes be good. I took last year's timings with me just to see if I can break last year's record.

The first leg from island to the mainland started kinda slow for almost 3 km. I was getting skeptical of a PR. But then, I changed mein "mind-tune" to Shakira's "Hips dun Lie" (world cup version) and that did the trick. I ran consistently faster than last year, up to the U-turn segment. I was beginning to think if I don't run out of gas, I might just be able to make a PR. It was a tight race!!

As mentioned in a previous post, one complication was Fajr prayers. I planned to do it on the other side, stopping the chrono as not to count the time to perform it.

By golly! I pressed the stop button but it must have not activated (kinda tight). After fajr prayers, I saw the chrono was still running! Still, I said to meinself, let's just to try match last year's lap timings.

The return trip was OK up to the central span. Then HORRORS, I saw a deluge of 10k fun runners, and most of them are walking. It reminded my of last year's Seremban Half. It was a frantic run & dodge game all the way to the finish, and I was noticeably slowed down.

End result: 2:31:56 including fajr prayer time, which I estimate at least 1:30.

Last year's time was 2:31:25, which was faster by 31 secs, but excluded fajr prayers. No way I can perform fajr prayers in 31 seconds, right? Meaning, I HAVE BETTERED LAST YEAR'S TIME. Hooray!! But dunno exactly by how much, haha.. No matter!

Post-race it was the usual search for water routine. The effort during the run, with mein under-trained condition, showed itself in a slight "yellow vision" if I stopped walking around, meaning I was close to passing out. Haha!!

Later on I sat by the road and watched the full marathoners. I hold a deep respect for them lar. At this stage I can't imagine meinself capable of it. Then as I made my way back to mein car, I chanced upon Running Mom, a first time marathoner & cheered her on. It was past 6 hours, but she has accomplished what all aspiring runners (including meinself) only dream of - completing a full marathon. Tabik spring to the lady. The lady got guts. I until now have no guts to do a full marathon.

OK..Lastly, for the record, here are this year's timings. All done at 7:1 run-walk ratio. Segment numbers denote the km markers on the bridge's central divider.

segment ---------- lap ---- split -- lap vs 2006 -- split vs 2006
start to 8.5 --- 15:33 ---- 15:33 ----- slower ------- slower
8.5 to 7.5 ------ 6:02 ---- 21:35 ----- faster ------- slower
7.5 to 6.5 ------ 7:05 ---- 28:40 ----- slower ------- slower
6.5 to 5.5 up --- 7:13 ---- 35:53 ----- faster ------- slower
5.5 to 4.5 dwn -- 6:47 ---- 42:41 ----- faster ------- faster
4.5 to 3.5 ------ 6:37 ---- 44:18 ----- faster ------- faster
3.5 to 2.5 ------ 6:45 ---- 56:03 ----- faster ------- faster
2.5 to 1.5 ------ 6:29 -- 1:02:31 ----- faster ------- faster
1.5 to 0.5 ------ 6:48 -- 1:09:19 ----- faster ------- faster
u-turn segment - 14:09 -- 1:23:28 ----- slower ------- slower
0.5 to 1.5 ------ 6:55 -- 1:30:23 ----- faster ------- slower
1.5 to 2.5 ------ 6:51 -- 1:37:14 ----- faster ------- slower
2.5 to 3.5 ------ 7:04 -- 1:44:18 ----- slower ------- slower
3.5 to 4.5 ------ 7:10 -- 1:51:19 ----- slower ------- slower
4.5 to 5.5 up ----7:51 -- 1:59:19 ----- faster ------- slower
5.5 to 6.5 dwn -- 6:05 -- 2:05:24 ----- faster ------- faster - caught up!
6.5 to 7.5 ------ 7:15 -- 2:12:39 ----- slower ------- faster -10k fun runner deluge
7.5 to 8.5 ------ 6:49 -- 2:19:28 ----- slower ------- faster
8.5 to finish -- 12:28 -- 2:31:56 ----- slower ------- slower!

Looking at the data, up to the second last segment I was faster than last year (inclusive of fajr time) but squandered the lead because too kaput to do a nonstop final push. Ach zo! But whatever it is, I have truly enjoyed this year's run!

T-minus 4 days - 12km by the sea

Escaped from mein office early. "Taks Jaid!" (meaning nice weather). Did a fast 10k plus a 2k cooldown walk for total 12km. Gegel feeling is up! Thinking about the race all thruout the workout.


Timings
Round 1
TwoTrees to Tesco End 1.1km 1.1km 7:59 7:59
Tesco End to TwoTrees 1.1km 2.2km 7:49 15:48
TwoTrees to Barricade 0.9km 3.1km 5:32 21:20
Barricade to TwoTrees 0.9km 4.0km 5:47 27:08

Round 2
TwoTrees to Tesco End 1.1km 5.1km 7:19 34:27
Tesco End to TwoTrees 1.1km 6.2km 7:24 41:51
TwoTrees to Barricade 0.9km 7.1km 5:32 47:24
Barricade to TwoTrees 0.9km 8.0km 5:34 52:58

Round 3
TwoTrees to Tesco End 1.1km 9.1km 6:51 0:59:49 *** fastest
Tesco End to TwoTrees 1.1km 10.2km 7:35 1:07:24 ** sub 1:10 10k run
TwoTrees to Barricade 0.9km 11.1km 9:38 1:17:02 ** cool down walk
Barricade to TwoTrees 0.9km 12.0km 9:24 1:26:26 ** cool down walk

So this will be mein last run before the event. Training over! (if I can call it training). Now to rest and carboload till Sunday.

T-minus 5 days to Penang Bridge Half

General expectations: no record breaking run this Sunday. I'm too undertrained for a PR. Longest LSD prior was last week's 15km at Damai loop. It's gonna be hard to beat last year's time of 2:31:25.

Complications:
1. Race will start at 4:30 am this year. So Fajr time will be in the middle of the race. How to perform Fajr prayers? Does the other side have a surau?
2. The weather has been on the rainy side the past few days. Sunday's weather forecast for Georgetown says it's gonna be fair in the morning. Hopefully it's gonna be ok.
3. Mein Timex watch strap has snapped. Will be tedious to manage (with the power gels, water stops, et al)

Strategy:
1. Follow Galloway walk-run since I'm severely undertrained. Ratio will be 7:1 throughout
2. Maximize the downhills like during the GE20k
3. Powerbar 40 mins before start
4. Powergell at u-turn, maybe another at last water stop (mid-span)
5. Maximum 2 cuppas of water at water stops. No running with water bottle
6. Start near the middle because of huge crowd (estimated 8000+ just for half mara alone). Want to break off from the wannabes that will present obstacles later on.
7. Follow timing markers of last year's run to compare performance. Maybe want to run just slightly faster, hehe...

Goal:
I want to be the fastest Manager from my co to complete the half-marathon. No time goal, but just in case I will bring last year's timing.

4+km and a dog

Today it rained and rained. Finally at 6:20pm looked like the rain stopped. I was still at the office. Too late to go to mein usual training route. Whaddeheck let's do loops around the office.

1st loop: about 2+ km in 13m 9s mins. Angry doggy barked at me
2nd loop: about 2+ km in 12m 7s. Doggy not only barked, but gave chase

Decided against a 3rd loop. The trend was there, this time doggy may chase and gimme a bite. It was getting late anyways. I will bring a stick next time I run this route, if ever.

12k by the sea

Usual training grounds. Concrete trail by the highway in front of Tesco Penang. Normally this route is 5k round trip but because of bridge widening works, a barricade has been erected just before reaching the ramp onto the bridge. Ach zo!

BTW, mein timex watch strap finally snapped.

Timings
Round 1
TwoTrees to Tesco End 1.1km 1.1km 7:56 7:56
Tesco End to TwoTrees 1.1km 2.2km 7:42 15:38
TwoTrees to Barricade 0.9km 3.1km 5:43 21:20
Barricade to TwoTrees 0.9km 4.0km 5:47 27:08

Round 2
TwoTrees to Tesco End 1.1km 5.1km 7:32 34:39 ** fastest
Tesco End to TwoTrees 1.1km 6.2km 7:50 42:29
TwoTrees to Barricade 0.9km 7.1km 5:58 48:27
Barricade to TwoTrees 0.9km 8.0km 5:55 54:21

Round 3
TwoTrees to Tesco End 1.1km 9.1km 7:34 1:01:55
Tesco End to TwoTrees 1.1km 10.2km 7:54 1:09:49
TwoTrees to Barricade 0.9km 11.1km 6:23 1:16:12 ** oredi kaput
Barricade to TwoTrees 0.9km 12.0km 6:50 1:23:01 ** cool down

Overall an awesome run. Weather close to raining at the end, with thunderstorms, et al.

Rest day

Weather is perfect but today is a rest day. Further more, I got a conference call at 8 pm tonite.

Resistance is futile

I have resisted for so long... But what the heck, here goes. This will just be another running blog.

Objectives:
1. Keep a track of mein training
2. Keep a history of mein races
3. Mebbe, just mebbe make a few friends out there.

BTW. Tyro = novice. Not "terror" ok. I still consider myself a beginner. Cannot run fast lar.. No matter what mileage I run. Mebbe I need to start interval training, but scared of injuries.

I've been running quite some time. Really started to get serious some time in 2000. In 2001 I ran my first half-marathon @ Penang Bridge. Made it in over 3 hours. What a blast that was. 2001 saw me running the same event, but 15 minutes faster. 2002 saw me languish in laziness, & my timing worsened to 3 hours again (haha!). Then for some reason, mein favorite event went for a hiatus for a few years. In 2006 it came back, & I was determined to be a better runner. And so started the campaign in Feb 2006 with a 7k "fun run" @ KLIM. One event followed by another. Finally I ran Penang Bridge Half at 2:32.

So what about this blog? Hehe.. It's two weeks from the 2007 Penang Bridge Half. I've just started mein campaign barely three weeks from the event. So far: 10k run last W, another 10k friday, a 15k LSD sunday, and a measly 5k yesterday. OK lah... that's it for mein first entry.