Respecting the distance?

This, is always the mantra for runners. Either a 10km, half marathon, or full, it's chanted and embodied in the soul of every runner. But, have anyone thought of not respecting it?

You can go further, if you just thought otherwise.

"Do not respect the distance"

This ought to be the mantra for those doing the ultra marathon 84km this coming saturday.

A marathon is indeed hard. Lance Armstrong mentioned that his first marathon was the hardest. And I personally think, if you can run a marathon, you are at your fittest physically.

Make that double, and most will be wondering "no way in hell" they'll do it. Or opt to do it. I could speak from experience how it felt to run that distance. You'll hit the wall a few times. There will be also times you want to quit. Pain will be your closest friend. Sometimes you feel like you are making great progress, sometimes you are in the valley of hopelessness. You'll have to run, even if everything in your body wants to stop.

And that is why, respecting the distance, which translates to respecting the limitations of your body, cannot be applied here. In mathematical equivalence, it's like searching for the explanation of infinities, that most mathematicians do not dare to explore. It's looking into the unknown reservoir of your earthly body, and trying to find if you have anything else to spare.

It's hard. But I bet most will make it. Not because of physically overcoming the challenges, but with sheer unbreakable determination.

Putrajaya Ride

Putrajaya is certainly beautiful. Every building is nicely build. Roads are free from potholes. Less traffic. It's a no brainer why cyclist use this as their training ground. The only thing lacking is hill climbs. While there are some uphill slopes on the road, it's not as bad as bukit hantu.

In the gang was Michelle, Raymond Hee, Raymond Ng, Yik Thing. Azmar and Bink followed us for awhile though.

At one point, I was pushing real hard on the cadence on the highest gear, and the bike zoom to 50km/h. The only thing preventing this bike going faster was my legs. I couldn't push anymore.

Raymond Ng is certainly darn fast on the bike as well. He was pushing for speed while approaching the toll to KLIA. I tried to catch up but couldn't.

In total, I had just rode 42km. I still could go on, but had to rush for work.

Later in the evening, I push for the hills for bukit segar again. It's all hill work at this area. It's either uphill or downhill. No flats. I have the intention of cycling up from HOA to genting highlands. Sounds tough, but some guys have done it, so it's pretty doable.

Check out these guys:
Crazydarren

basikal gunung


While chatting with Azmar, he mentioned my cassette is probably a 23. I have no idea what it was, until I figured out there's a difference of cassette size between his and mine. And mine was quite small, which makes up for speed, but uphill climb like Genting will be a tough one.

Still lots to learn on bikes...

NEP creeping into running?

----
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/bm/news_sports.php?id=329284

27 April, 2008 15:40 PM

Kebanjiran Pelari Kenya Gugat Atlet Tempatan

Oleh Zulhilmi Supaat dan Ahmad Muliady Ab Majid

KUALA LUMPUR, 27 April (Bernama) -- Warga Kenya sekali lagi terus mendominasi kemenangan dalam pertandingan maraton di negara ini sekaligus mengundang pelbagai persoalan.

Di manakah pelari jarak sederhana dan jauh tempatan, apakah hadiah wang tunai yang ditawarkan menjadi punca kebanjiran atlet Kenya ataupun mereka sememangnya bagus dan bukan saingan kepada pelari tempatan?.

Pada Kejohanan Power Run edisi kesembilan sejauh 10 kilometer yang berlangsung di Dataran Merdeka, di sini hari Ahad, kedudukan lima tempat teratas bagi kejohanan terbuka lelaki dimonopoli oleh peserta dari Kenya sementara tiga tempat teratas bagi kategori wanita juga dikuasai peserta dari negara Afrika itu.

Tempat pertama bagi acara lelaki terbuka disandang oleh Alius Krputobungle dengan catatan masa 33 minit 12 saat, tempat kedua Wilson Songek (33:14s) dan tempat ketiga Daniel Muenia (33:16s).

Bagi tempat pertama acara wanita terbuka pula disandang oleh Margerat Wangui Njuguna (40:24s),Esther Kabuva Ngungi (40:48s) dan Luay Kurgat (41:17s).

Sebagai rekod, enam pelari Kenya menduduki tiga tempat teratas dalam Kejohanan maraton Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur ke-17 pada Mac lepas yang menawarkan hadiah wang tunai keseluruhan RM204,100.

Tiga memonopoli kategori Lelaki Terbuka dan tiga lagi menguasai Wanita Terbuka dengan jumlah keseluruhan yang dimenangi mereka ialah RM90,000.

Pada Kejohanan Separuh-Maraton Port Dickson April tahun lepas, tiga pelari Kenya mengungguli tiga tempat teratas kategori lelaki yang memberi ganjaran RM40,000.

Larian Jambatan Pulau Pinang sejauh 21 km pada Julai 2007 dan menawarkan hadiah keseluruhan RM120,000 menyaksikan penguasaan pelari Kenya menguasai tiga tempat teratas.

Ketua Pengarah Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) Datuk Zolkples Embong yang hadir di Kejohanan Power Run juga mengeluh dan mengemukakan soalan, "Di mana pelari tempatan. Pelari Kenya bagus kerana beri saingan tetapi nampaknya atlet tempatan pula tenggelam."

Naib Presiden Kesatuan Olahraga Amatur Malaysia (KOAM) Karim Ibrahim ketika dihubungi Bernama mengakui Malaysia sememangnya kekurangan pelari jarak sederhana dan jarak jauh.

"Pelari muda negara nampaknya kurang berminat mewakili negara tetapi lebih memberi perhatian kepada kejohanan yang menawarkan ganjaran wang tunai.

"Tetapi tanpa bantuan kejurulatihan dari KOAM, mereka sukar untuk menandingi kepantasan pelari luar terutama dari Kenya yang sememangnya terkenal sebagai pelari jarak sederhana dan jauh dunia," katanya yang juga pengerusi Jawatankuasa Kejurulatihan badan induk olahraga negara.

Sementara itu, Setiausaha Kehormat Persatuan Olahraga Amatur Wilayah Persekutuan (FTAAA), S.Vegiyathuman ketika dihubungi tidak menafikan terdapat sindiket yang membawa masuk pelari-pelari Kenya untuk mengambil bahagian dalam kejohanan yang menawarkan hadiah wang tunai.

Apa yang menjadi persoalan, katanya, pelari dari negara itu cuma mengambil bahagian dalam kejohanan yang menawarkan ganjaran wang tunai sahaja dan aktiviti tersebut berlaku bukan sahaja di negara ini tetapi di seluruh dunia.

"Pelari Kenya sememangnya bagus dalam acara jarak sederhana dan maraton penuh dan tanpa pelari jarak jauh yang bagus di rantau ini memudahkan mereka menguasai sebarang kejohanan," katanya yang berpengalaman luas dalam aspek teknikal acara maraton.

Vegiyathuman berkata, kebanjiran pelari Kenya itu pada asalnya amat dialu-alukan dengan tujuan memberi peluang pelari tempatan bersaing dengan atlet yang lebih bagus.

"Kami berharap atlet tempatan dapat menimba pengalaman pelari Kenya tetapi masalahnya pelari Afrika itu hanya muncul bila ada kejohanan yang menawarkan hadiah wang tunai," katanya.

Beliau berkata FTAAA kini sedang meneliti perkara tersebut dan merancang untuk menghadkan penyertaan dari Kenya. "Mungkin tidak adil kepada peserta luar (rancangan menghadkan penyertaan) kerana ramai peserta luar lain seperti dari Singapura dan Thailand.

"Cuma peserta Kenya lebih menonjol. Tetapi jika pelari tempatan lebih bagus, tentu isu ini tidak berbangkit," katanya.

-- BERNAMA

Here's another article:
Atlet maraton lega


While having dinner, and watching the sports news section, I almost choked watching KOAM is putting efforts to
refrain international runners from participating in Malaysia running events.

First, how could Malaysian athelets aspire to fight internationally, while we try to create a lesser environment to compete locally. In fact, we should be lucky if the kenyans came here. We could learn a thing or two from them. If the purpose is to deny them the prize money, then does it makes our runners go faster if they win it with zero overseas runners participation?

Although some may argue that genetics might have played a role for them to run superfast, but one still needs to train real hard to achieve success. And they had obviously did that, and whatever wins they achieve, it's rightfully theirs.

During the last A famosa triathlon, we have a singapore SEA gold medallist competing with local guys, as well as Austria's professional triathlete Elmar Schuberth. It won't be good sportsmanship to kick these fellows out just because they are not malaysian.

The issue was in hot waters among malaysian runners with a french man winning retracted during orange run 2008, just because he's a foreigner.

http://pm1.blogspot.com/2008/04/cinya-sad-but-its-true.html#comments

If you can't run as fast as them, stop whinning to KOAM, and go run faster!

Like Simon Cross mentioned in his blog: GET FASTER OR GET OVER IT!
http://tritwins.blogspot.com/2008/04/klim-2008.html

New bike

"300" bike...Imagine the spartans cycling this.


Both Raymonds at Genting Sempah

John's 10k bike....most of the parts are carbonized.

Raymond Hee's Merida bike.


I finally got a bike. Actually had wanted to get it next month, but after watching Lance Armstrong videos on youtube, I just have to get the same feeling of sprinting up mountains.

I went to a bike shop, that Vincent and I had went months before. It was either the dull grey Schwinn bike or a polygon. The red polygon looks nicer, although I think the frame is a bit larger. Plus, the striking ferrari red is certainly more captivating than the Schwinn. And oh yea, my helmet is red, and the air pump too. The gear set is Shimano's SORA (good for beginners). I also got myself a pair of Specialized cycling shoes plus the clip on pedal, and Cateye's speed and cadence meter.

All in all, it cost me about RM 2300. Quite cheap considering some of my friends bike cost 4 to 5k figure. The only thing carbon is the fork.

The next day, I took it for a ride from cheras to hulu langat bt 14, then made a climb up Tekala hill to the Semenyih lake. It's basically a 3km heart stopping climb. All my romanticism with hill climbing ala Lance is thrown out the window. It's so hard, even I had the highest gear set on. I had ran up this hill before, and it's bearable compared to this. As I reached the top, I was sweating all over. Then it's all downhill from there.

Downhill was fun, but I was constantly nervous of how fast I was going, as the path snakes left and right. I was not used to holding the brakes, and it was a chore to grip the brakes. Now who said cycling only need legs? You need a pair of strong arms as well.

I was eyeing Genting Peres, but I had some event going on later that day.

And going back Cheras was another big hurdle. It's either going to batu 9 cheras or up Ampang hill. I choosed the latter. It's basically a 4km up the hill steep climb. Trust me, running up is definitely easier. Constant mashing of the pedals finally brought me up, and then back to Cheras.
Total distance was a 62.44km.

----

Monday was Wesak day. So, Raymond Hee, Raymond Ng, John and I head for the KOM genting sempah route. We had parked our cars at HOA (Hospital Orang Asli). From what I read online, it's a 550 meters vertically up ride.

The route itself is a scenic one, and progressively gets harder as you go up. It's also the old road to Kuantan. Lots of cyclist were hitting it. While it's not hard as the two hills yesterday, but it's definitely a good training ground for hills.

There were a few hair pin bends as well, that snakes up at the end of the path. The effort up was great, as we were rewarded with the nice scenery of hills, and cooler air.

However, the distance covered was a measly 17km up. Anyway, it's just for a starter. We can go further next time.

Broga, anyone?

A'Famosa Triathlon 2008: First Tri

myself, upiq, kam, kc...and azmar


Before our full OD distance Tri (siok bee, michelle, emma, Yit thing, John)

With tomatoman, 2 men relay instead of 3.


I've always wondered how's the feeling when hundreds of triathletes bob around in the water, waiting for the swim. It was a scene I had viewed constantly from youtube on ironman. A'Famosa, though not ironman equivalent, still provided ample experience on how to do a tri.

I got no bike. I didn't actually want to join until I got one. When Raymond Ng asked me to be his relay partner, I was in the "no" mood. Partly because of comments of the murky and smelly water during swim. Anyway, since it could be fun, I jumped in.

What's so fun about tri? Maybe because it's more complicated. You can be a good swimmer, but it does not really matter if you bike and run slowly. You can be a good cyclist but if you can't run well, you won't go too fast on the running leg. You can be a good runner, but maybe sink like a rock during swimming. Basically, you just gotta be good at all three discipline.

For swimming, it's more like dancing.

For cycling, having the best bike won't bring you far, if your legs ain't strong. And that's not inclusive of the bike technicalities you got to master.

But running, it's the easiest.

----

The plan was that I do both the swimming and running leg, while Raymond Ng do the bike course. It's a 1.5km swim, followed by 40km cycling, and 10km run.

Now, while the rest of our friends were excited, I was kind of half excited. Maybe not doing the full individual distance, calms the nerves a bit. Those who stayed in the same accomodation were Ngae, Raymond Hee, Yik Ting, Barry, Joshua, Narin, Emma, Michelle and Siok Bee. Raymond Hee, Yik Ting, and John will be in the mixed relay. Joshua, Narin (from Uniten) with another swimmer will be in our same men's relay open.

7:30am, and we were off to the venue.

By 8am, we were all huddled near to the lake, just like the view of hundreds of yellow swimming caps bobbing in the water, that I had seen. I set my my Timex watch to time the leg, with a target of 30 minutes. The gun went off, without a warning, and soon, all of us start wading in the murky water. As the swim route was not straight, I found I had careened off course a few times. Swimming in pools is easy. You get to see a blue line beneath.

As I waded into the last turning into the landing area, I pushed as hard as possible. I had told my partner that I would finish around 30 minutes. After coming up from the water, I ran a fast sprint up to the transition area, and quickly handed a blue band to him. I clocked 33:58 minutes, which is pretty decent, but nevertheless happy with the outcome for a first time.

With nothing to do for the next 1 hour, I was able to witness how the rest of the triathletes continue on their biking leg. What was interesting, is that some are able to take off their feet from the bike when they came back from the cycling course, and into the transition, while letting the cycling shoes hanging at the pedals. With not a moment to waste, they'll quickly wear their running shoes in a second, and zoom off for the running part.

Raymond Ng did a fast cycling leg of 1:15. As soon as he handed me back the band, I quickly sprint for the next 10km. Since I was only doing the swim and the run, I was able to cut down many athletes. Although it's supposed to be a fun event, I had wanted to test my 10km time. But the best feeling was probably cutting a chinese guy doing the mens' relay as well. The rest were all doing the individuals, so it wasn't such a "fair" claim of beating them.

As I reach the finishing area, I looked back and noticed some of them was at the back, trailing close. I quickly made a dash, to ensure I was not cut off at the end. I had made it in 40 minutes and 7 secs. While finishing, I could hear someone shouted "3rd placing", but I doubted that we've won anything.

------

I had been toying with Raymond's merida bike, and it had been fun. I used to have a mountain bike, so riding is not a problem. The problem was the seat is causing butt pain. How could one mount this thing for 6 hours? The fitting was alright, so I had decided to get a similar size bike, since he's just the same height as mine.

After the tri, I did a 10km bike ride just to test it out. On the way back, met with Upiq, led by Shazly's gang was edging him on the run. This guy was doing the full tri, to solve his weight problem, which I had much respect for him. He proves that we all have the will to change for the better. You can read more about him at stupe's blog.

----

We all gathered for the prize ceremony because we got news that we won. Surprisingly, our team (tomato-ultraman) got third placing with the time of 2:25. Even more pleasant for Raymond Hee's, Yik Ting, and John mixed relay team, who also got third placing as well.

It had been great fun, so I've decided to go for Ironman 2009...couldn't be that hard since a bunch load of peeps I known have done it.

But first, I got to get a bike....or steal one.

Bukit Aman Ultra Run 84km

The Singapore Sundown marathon sure did a change to runners time of training. While most are sleeping or going clubbing on a saturday night, a few of us gather at Bukit Aman carpark to run. Some ran 30km, 40, and even 60km.

Ngae and myself opted for 84km. Shine, Victor, Raymond Ng, and my brother did a marathon. Raymond Hee, Maryann, and Siok Bee did a 30km. Mohan, brought some flashys strips of paper for safety purpose. Some wore blinking red led lights.

Soon, we were off. The route is pretty safe at night, saved for some Mat Rempits, which for whatever reason choose to drive this route. Maybe it's to evade police roadblocks. The first 21km was a fast affair. Everyone could easily consistently put on a fast pace.

The second leg of 21km was on a slower pace. I have to wait for my brother at times, since it's dark and it's better to look out for each other just in case. He haven't race a 10km, or 21km, or for that matter a marathon. But he managed to eke out 41km. Pretty impressive considering I had personally train 30km at least before trying a marathon.

As the second loop ended, Shine, Victor, and Ray Ng headed for home, leaving only Ngae and me, to do 84km. The lack of sleep didn't much cause a problem, but I have slowed considerably, and the usual pain starts to creep in. Ngae's pace was fast, so I had to catch up.

By the third loop, the sky lighten up, and some usual runners were doing their rounds. It amazes me, that some folks start running at 4:30 in the morning. I managed to reach Ngae on the third loop at the government complex, and told him I'll do the dawn prayer at the Masjid Wilayah. Later, I met Mohan, still running, I believe which is his 60km run. Unbelievable as it seems, but we had ran since midnite.

Coming back from the third loop, I saw Ngae going out again for the 4th loop. I headed to the gerai at the carpark to get some iced coffee and a pau. I desperately needed some caffeine to get rid of sleepiness.

The fourth loop is probably the hardest. It's hard because of the heat, and humidity, and also lack of wind. Besides, if my legs could speak, they would plead to stop. As I ran the last loop, all I could think was, the runners doing the 84km ultra better be more than ready for this punishing distance. You have to keep on running, when you have nothing left. Keep on moving when no one is cheering you on. Keep on placing your feet in front, even if your feet is in pain. This is what ultra running is all about. Its' meaning is deeper than just running.

I caught up with Ngae before going for the hills to hartamas. He was in some pain in the leg, and had opted to return. Although he didn't go for the distance, but understandably, this is not an organized event, so it could be dangerous to keep on running with injury.

The next few hill climbs is one of the worst scenario to run in. 6 hill climbs in hartamas might look easy if you ran it once, but try that 4 times, and it becomes monumental hard. It was blazing hot as well, that I didn't want to look ahead to where I am running, instead, just focusing a few meters ahead.

As I reached the carpark finishing, it was already noon. My time was 11:49:55, which was well above the 10 hours we tried to do. However there is another dimension to ultras, which is survivability. It's important you can survive the race. If you can survive all the challenges thrown to you, you can finish the race.

In the meantime, I'll put off some running and do more swimming in the coming week.