KLIM 2008 - In the end of it was a DNS for me

After spending, three months of mostly running on treadmills in four different countries (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and United Arab Emirates) in addition to my regular training at Sweat Club in Malaysia, this morning I did not show up for KLIM. The night before I had my gear ready with the timing chip securely fixed to my Asics shoe. My bib (H7522) was also securely fixed to my dark blue Coolmax T-shirt.

On Sunday morning, at 4.00 am, I woke up and went to prepare my oatmeal breakfast. When I walked this morning, I realised that I would not make it to KLIM this year. My right knee was too unstable for me to realistically run 21.3 km. Stamina wise, I think I could have run at least 12km if my knee lasted that far but I didn't think it could. It was going to be a Did Not Start (DNS) for me.

Another missed KLIM in addition to the two (2006 and 2007) I had also previously skipped. I will just have to wait next year.

A Brief Update

Last weekend I made it back to Malaysia from my overseas trip to vote I flew from Abu Dhabi at an unreasonable time of 3.00 am and reached KLIA at 2.15 pm, Saturday. I had to wait almost 20 minutes to get a taxi. On my way home, the main road of my kampung (village) was festooned with posters and banners. As usual, the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN) had more posters than the perennially cash poor opposition parties. I had a shower, rest and rushed through my lunch and took the 5 minutes drive to the polling station. I made it to the polling station at 4.30pm, 30 minutes before the closing.

The BN supporters had a tent equipped with several lap tops. PAS, one of the opposition party also had a tent with one lap top. Unlike last year, the BN supporters were less boisterous, perhaps sensing the general mood against the BN. In less than 10 minutes, I had casted my votes for the candidate standing for the Selangor state assembly (Batu Tiga) and parliamentary seat (Shah Alam).

The counting of votes started after 5.00 pm. I stayed up until 3.30 am to watch the results on the TV. The outcome was a massive swing against the BN with the opposition parties for only the 2nd time in 40 years was able to deny BN 2/3 of seats in the Parliament. To top it all, five states will be ruled by opposition parties. I have to say it was a most satisfying feeling that my one vote had contributed towards a historic result.

Over the next four to five years, I hope that with a stronger opposition to BN, there will be greater transparency, improved governance and less racial based policies in Malaysia.

Alas, my return is very short. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I am going overseas again to three countries; Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and United Arab Emirates. I will be back on 27 March, three days before the KL International marathon.

Drop In Fitness

After 2 weeks of very little or no training, I started running again on Tuesday last week. My fitness has certainly noticeably decreases over the past 2 weeks. My suspicion was proven last Friday when I ran on the gym treadmill. Running at 10.0 km/hr took more effort than it did two weeks before. My effort running at 10.0 km/hr was about the same as 10.5 km/hr.

I still have about one months training before KLIM with 2 "long" runs (12 km to 15km) planned.

More Business Travel before KLIM

Next week (26 February) I am will be going to Uzbekistan, the third country I've visited with the country's name ending in "Tan" (the other two are Pakistan and Turkmenistan). This will be my first trip to Uzbekistan.

After one week in Uzbekistan, I will be going Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E.(United Arab Emirates) for one week to review a gas field project. After one week, it's off to Turkmenistan for five days. For the last leg of my trip, I will be flying back to Abu Dhabi from Turkmenistan and spend another week for a design review workshop.

I am going to return to Malaysia about 8 to 9 days before KLIM. The one month trip through three countries is not exactly the ideal circumstances to train for a 21 km race but I will try to maintain some level of training as far as possible.

Honestly if my right knee was 100% OK, I would be quite frustrated to scale down my training because of a long overseas trip just one month before a major race. As it is now, my right knee has become unstable again and I will have to stop running for a few days.

Chinese New Year Training

Friday : I ran at Klang stadium. Covered 4.0 km.
Saturday : Heavy rain fell just before 4.30 pm. Luckily it stopped raining just after 5.30pm. I ran 4.4 km (30 minutes - slow pace).

I was kept busy over the past 2 days preparing the materials for my presentation on Sunday and Monday. Not much of a holiday.

I won't be bringing my running shoes to Sudan. If everything goes to plan, I should be flying back to Malaysia on Tuesday taking Qatar Airways from Khartoum to Doha. After 4 hours transit in Doha, I will fly to Singapore (another 1.5 hrs transit) then to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Return travel time = 20 hrs including 5.5 hrs transit time.

I was looking forward to the Chinese New Year but now........

I had 3 days of solid training.
Sunday : ran 5 km at the Klang stadium
Monday : 6 km on treadmill. Followed waterman's formula; 8 km/hr for 10 minutes, 9 km/hr for 10 minutes and 10 km/hr for 10 minutes. I keep going after 30 minutes until I finished 6km.
Tuesday : 5 km on treadmill

Today : Rest

The chinese new year is tomorrow and it is a 2 day public holiday. Fourdays of bliss, not having to wake up at 6.00 am and being able to spend quality training time.But now I have to attend a meeting in Khartoum on Sunday. My flight will be departing on Saturday morning at 3.30 am. No more bliss.

Gong Xi Fa Chai to all of my chinese friends.

One week of Not Much Running

I haven't done much training over the past one week since my first 8 km training run.

I had to attend a workshop from Tuesday to Thursday at The Holiday Inn, Glenmarie in Shah Alam. The hotel has a huge golf green and an adjoining golf club 'The Glenmarie Golf and Country Club". I was sorely tempted to run on the green as there were some nice hilly sections. In the end, I ended up at the Health club which had ancient looking machines. I ran 4 km on a dusty treadmill. I guess golfers are not really into serious exercise. Otherwise, the club would use better machines and spend the money to maintain them.

Friday : Hit 8 km today but.........

I left the office a bit late today and only reached the gym at 6.15pm. As usual, the exercise crowd is a bit sparse on Friday evening.

My aim today was to run 8km and with grim determination, I did it. The woman and mat salleh (Caucasian) guy walking on the treadmill beside me were giving me funny looks. Maybe they were thinking "Why is this guy running so hard for?" Maybe they saw the read-out that displayed 10.0 km/hr (he must be fit). Or maybe it was the other two read-outs that gradually increased from "40 minutes" and "5.0 km" to higher numbers (When is he going to stop?). By the time I reached 6.0 km, my right knee became quite sore but I keep going until the read-out showed "8.0 km". Afterwards I felt quite exhausted and drained for 15 minutes. I could not even remember the last time I had run more than 6.0 km in training. I think it was probably way back in February 2005 when I was training for the KL International marathon (KLIM).

The price for running 8km? My right knee is still sore 5 hours later. I wonder if am going to make it to KLIM (half marathon) in two months time.

Post script :It's 1.00 am and my knee is still sore and I am wide awake.
Nine years ago (August 1999) when I started running consistently, I thought I could and would be able to run until the day I die. One day before my Time is Up, my prayer would be "Please God, let me just finish my 20km long run first!".

Tuesday : 6 km

Yesterday was a beautiful day to run outdoor but I decided to run in the gym instead. I can't believe I actually managed to run 6.0 km on a treadmill. (10 km/hr). The pace of 10.0 km/hr was as fast as I could run comfortably.

Back in 2003 and 2004, I regularly ran 8 km (12.5 km/hr) on a treadmill using the in-built program. My favourite was "River Run" which consist of an undulating "route" of 8 km. Sometimes after I reached 8 km, I pressed the Start button and keep going for another 2 km. Unbelievable to me now, back then I actually ran 12.0 km on the treadmill a a few times.

I have somewhat come up with a training plan for KLIM bearing in mind constraints from my injured left knee.

Feb : Run 8 km per day at 10.0 km/hr. Attempt to increase pace to 10.5 km/hr.
Do "Long" runs up to 12.0 km. On the treadmill, include the River Run program.

March : Increased distance to 10 km per day. Possibly attempt to increase pace to 11.0 km/hr. Do "Long" runs up to 15.0 km.

Going to Abu Dhabi

I will be going to Abu Dhabi In United Arab Emirates for 5 days. The UAE is one of the wealthiest countries in the world with the 16th highest GDP per capita in the world (USD 35,516 in 2007). There are lots of shopping complexes selling the usual western branded goods. But as I am not much of a shopper, the numerous shopping complexes are of no particular interest to me.

Today, after 10 months I bid goodbye to my faithful Saucony ProTriump4 shoes. The fabric and padding inside of the heel of the left shoe has worn and was ripped out. I had a badly chafed heel on Thursday from the exposed plastic rubbing against the skin. I have bought an ASICS Gel Cumulus 9 which will become my regular training shoes.

Losing the Battle but not the War

I think I have become noticeably "fat". My attempts to lose 5 kg over the past 3 months were not successful. If anything I have gained 1 or 2 kg extra. I have lost the battle but not the war. If I could only run normally, losing 5 kg would be easy. I just need to run 8 km a day and 50-60km a week. Alas that is not possible so I am trying to run as much as I can, injured right knee permitting.

I am taking glucosamine again for my knee. I bought a combined glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM tablets from the USA through the internet. I also got a "Final Warning" letter from the Ministry of Health, Pharmaceutical department. The letter said "
Importation of Medicines, Pharmaceuticals, Health Supplements and Cosmetics without registration/license is an OFFENCE under Regulations 30(1) of the Control of Drugs & Cosmetics Regulations 1984 which is punishable with a fine up to RM 25,000 and /or 3 years imprisonment under Section 12(1) of ther Sale of Drugs. Act 1952.

In Malaysia, only glucosamine sulphate tablets are available. The combined products are not available even under prescription from the pharmacies.

I have about 3 months supply. After 3 months, I have to figure out a way to get them into Malaysia.

I was satisfied with my run (3.6 km) yesterday at the Klang stadium. I felt quite energetic this evening and ran 5.0 km on the gym's treadmill at 10.0 km/hr. I could have continued for another 3 km but currently I am limiting my runs to 5 km or less.

The C and F Words

I came back from Kedah on Monday, 31 Dec. 2007. Kedah state is known as the Rice bowl of Malaysia. But nowadays rice fields close to the state capital, Alor Star has been converted to housing estates.

On the 1st day of 2008, in the evening I went to Klang Stadium to do some excercise. A*** and Kong were into their 2nd lap and I joined them. As soon as A**** saw me, he laughed and said the C word, "Chubby". A*** too had become chubbier as he had not run much since the Penang bridge marathon in July. I thought if I am not careful, the F word would describe me in the future. F as in "Fat". We ran together for 10 laps (4.0 km). If only I was able to run 30 laps (12 km) as did Kong on that day, perhaps I have some hope avoiding hearing the C and F words.

Holiday Time

I am going to the Northern states of Malaysia for 6 days until 1 Jan. 2008 for a 6 day holidays. It's going to be a long 6 hour drive to Alor Star, Kedah. There will be no blog updates until I return next year.

Keep on running and happy new year in advance to everyone.

Jakarta Running Report

I was in Jakarta for 8 days. Jakarta is not a city made for runners. Even walking around the city is not a pleasant experience as there are just too many vehicles and lots of people around. The latter is to be expected as there are 10 million people living in Jakarta. Another 5 million people travel daily to and from Jakarta for work. Although I stayed in a hotel near the Senayan stadium, I never ran there. I ran on a treadmill at the hotel's fitness centre. Out of the 8 days, I was glad to have been able to run 5 days.

Eating out is quite expensive in Jakarta. The prices at the shopping centres food court are surprisingly higher than Malaysia. A meal consisting of just 3 dishes and rice can cost RM 10. The cheapest places to eat are at the roadside warungs (stalls). There are two types of stalls; the semi permanent with tables and chairs and the mobile stalls. The simplest mobile stalls are just carts that have boxes with glass sides. To move these stalls, the operator simply pulls the cart along, so they should really be called "Pull carts".

At every traffic light junction, there will be lots of people knocking on the vehicles. The sellers mainly sell small stuff; a stick of cigarette and snacks. The saddest sights are children begging for money or sometimes food. There are many poor people in Jakarta but step into a 5 star hotel, the crowd will be totally different,. There you can see the minority of Indonesians who can afford to eat and stay at 5 star hotels.

By the way, if you are a guy, Jakarta and Indonesia in general is like paradise. There are many beautiful women around and it must a criteria for women employees at a 5 star hotel to be beautiful. Very few Muslim women in Indonesia are covered up like in Malaysia.

Travelling Here and There

I have been traveling here and there again. Last weekend I was in Kota Kinabalu for a company workshop. Other than the new buildings fronting the beach, the places where I used to walk around and had lunch/breakfast were still dilapidated. In fact, I would say most of KK has changed for the worse with more dirt on the road, more kids roaming on the streets amidst the decay of the an badly maintained city.

Today I am going to Jakarta for one week for work. Today is the Singapore Marathon. The marathon race started 2 hours 15 minutes ago at 5.30 am. Good luck to first time marathon runners.

Wednesday - KLCC park run

After several months absence from KLCC park, the cooler temperature and cloudy conditions compelled me to run at the park. I came across the American runners who asked me where the hell I've been to ? I told them I have retired. After I finished my stretching exercises, I started to run and eventually caught up with the three Americans. I ran with them for about 200m but the pace was too slow, so I ran ahead of them. I did a comfortable 3 laps (3.9 km) before I had to stop as the my right knee became too sore. I joined the three ladies; D, I and J for a one lap walk.

From the current condition of my right knee, I don't think I would be able to run any races/runs next year.

The Pacemakers, an informal group of runners have a unique vocabulary about running. Ronnie (PM1) describes these words and phrases.

Running Regularly

I have been able to run on a regular basis recently. I have to restrict most of my runs on a treadmill. It is very boring to run on a treadmill and to overcome the tedium I usually run with an iPod nano. In the early days (years 2000 to 2003) when I was more of a running purist, I only listened to my breaths when I ran. Occasionally I went into a semi meditative state when I managed to get into the "Zone". It that state, running and breathing became one and it seemed as though I could run forever. Nowadays I need an iPod to keep me going on a treadmill.

Music I am currently listening to : Inner Peace by Steven Halpern.
Book I am currently reading : Meditative States in Tibetan Buddhism

5 km at last

Yesterday I finally managed to run 5 km. I felt very good afterwards.

I think it has been 2 months since I had run 5 km continuously. 5 km is far cry from the past years (2002-2004) when running 5 km meant I was getting warmed up for a 10km training run.

I ran the 5k on treadmill with the "5km" program. Speed at was set 10.0 km/hr. Almost all of the treadmills were occupied save one. Luckily next to me there was a female "runner" for me to watch to stave off boredom. Thank you whoever you are. BTW, you have a pretty face but you need to work on those flabby legs.

Great Stuff

After nearly 3 weeks of almost zero running, today I've had enough. I just had to run but to preserve my right knee, I ran on the treadmill. I only ran 3 km at 9.5 km/hr. From today''s short session, I conclude that my fitness have not deteriorated much.

On the way home in Klang town, I almost stepped on a small sized cat laid on a shop's footpath. The cat's black and white coloured fur was stained with black coloured mud. The cat was dead perhaps from an accident but there was no sign of blood. I think it could have fallen into the drain and drowned. Poor cat!

Last night, I accidentally caught a TV program on CNN Travel and Living. The program showed Ian Wright famous for his off beat travels for Lonely Planet and Karen Mok, a famous singer and actress from Hong Kong. In the program during an interview with a H.K. radio station, she brought along her pet cat (grey and white striped coat). In dog loving H.K., she actually has five cats.

Training Mileage Has Drastically Dropped

Thanks to all who had wished me "Selamat Hari Raya".

My training mileage has drastically dropped since 02 October 2007. I stopped running for about 2 weeks due to a worsening knee conditions. I started running on Tuesday and Wednesday on the 400m at the Klang stadium. The result? I can confirm that I am fit to run even 3 km. I also sprained my left ankle two weeks ago. That inury combined with my bum right knee (gettting worse!), means I have to stop running for at least 4 to 5 days.

The only consolation is I was able to watch three DVD movies I bought from Amazon.com over the Hari Raya break. The three movies I watched were samurai classics directed by the late and great Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa; Seven Samurai. Yojimbo and Sanjuro.