Date: 22 October 2017
Venue: Taman Tasik Cempaka, Bandar Baru Bangi
Making a comeback to a HM run after the injury. Two
months break from HM runs did make me nervous again on how my body will respond
to it.
Returned to a special event where I achieved something I thought was impossible
in my HM adventure, the sub 2.
However, that is no longer my motivation now and to be here today is already an
accomplishment due to the circumstances that I have dealing with for the last
two months.
I would be lying if I am telling myself that I don't want to achieve it again
but sometime I feel I need to be practical and realistic.
So, with far less than ideal conditions and preparation for MPKj HM 2017, I
arrived today with different goals and not with the only the sub 2 goal in
2017.
My first goal is to gauge whether my ankle can take the HM distance or not
after I completed the 15km Newton Challenge last weekend.
I have gained over 4kg from the run last year especially from the long rest due
to my injury, that made my second goal is to see how much that added weight
will affect my HM run performance.
Despite the extra kg is also from the muscles gained from my more frequent
upper body workouts at gym since the fasting month this year, I am still keen
to gauge the effects to my run.
THE PREPARATION
The build up to this event was just all my recovery runs from my injury from
middle September and the longest distance was 16km during my LSD run on 18 Oct.
In all that runs, I was only able to stay at pace 6 average and struggled to
stay at pace 5 compare to before I was struck by the injury. Also, due to the
added weight to body.
So, I came to this event with a realistic plan which is to run an injury free
and cramp free HM with the average pace target at pace 6.
I have also planned to try to push myself to maintain pace 5 for at least 10km
and then to try to get the finish under 2 hrs 15 minutes. The sub 2 is totally
impossible to achieve this time or anytime soon unless I truly workout on my
speed again with this new weight.
I took 2 days break from running and just did 2 gym
sessions for strength training and to keep muscles in the active mode.
On Friday and Saturday, took the typical extra carbo in my meals and drank more
water than usual. However, I might have more than needed when I attended the wedding reception on Saturday because meals available were so irresistible.
So, in general I was in a fairly good condition to start and finish a HM run again.
The only question was how strong I could finish it with my current health,
fitness and physical conditions after the injury scare.
For this year I joined this event with my wife who ran in the 5km fun run with
her friends.
We arrived at the venue at about 5.30 a.m. and straight
away went to the temporary surau and waited for the Subuh prayer. After the prayer, I left my wife and went to the FO area to perform some warm
up workouts. I decided to leave my phone at the luggage storage this time. It
was just to reduce additional weight during the run because I have already
about 4kg extra compare to the last year I came here.
I arrived at the FO area at about 6.00 a.m. Met my Anonymous
Runners friends who arrived earlier Esther, Marzuki and Hakimi.
Then I did about 5 minutes dynamic workouts to warm up. Then I re-joined them waiting for the FO.
The route for this year is quite different than last year.
There were no hilly routes to pass the UKM Campus but it was expected some
roller coaster uphill and downhill stretches at Sg. Merab after the 3rd km and
Section 3 Bandar Baru Bangi towards the last few km to the FL.
Some do complain about elevation at every event but when I signed up for HM and
FM runs, that would not be something my concern too much. That is the challenge
and just need to deal with it and if possible to enjoy it in the experience in
the same time.
MY RUN
I started fairly smooth and easy but forgot to start my watch after few hundred
metres.
The first 2km route was the same route as last year but
after that we entered the new route towards Sg. Merab. Runners were welcomed
with the first uphill and followed with more uphill and downhills after that
until the 5th km plus.
Despite that, surprisingly I was still able to maintain
at average pace 5 but close to pace 6 and maintained that until the 9th km.
However, my pace dropped to pace 6 after that. I did try
to get back to pace 5 but just unable to do it. Then I realized that the energy
and strength used to keep pace 5 at the earlier stage has started to give the
impact on my run.
This was also the time again, the extra kg I gained need
the extra strength and energy too if I truly want to run at the pace 5 that I
was hoping to maintain for more km.
Then I just decided to run at the pace that I am
comfortable with for the second half of the run. One more factor was about not
to push myself too hard that may cause the return of the pain of my left ankle.
I can wait for future runs to try to push further if possible.
So, after that I ran comfortably at pace 6 after that at
flat stretches and dropped to pace 7 at uphill stretches for the remaining of
the route.
With that strategy, I believed that I would be able to achieve my targeted time
of sub 2:15.
As expected, the last 5 km of the route to the FL was
another roller coaster stretches but with lesser elevation. At this stage I felt more relaxed and just continued with the same pace mix
especially when my watch showed that I was pretty much within the targeted time
to finish.
Photos by Fiz Zo
Along the last 2 km to the FL, I felt so happy and truly
enjoyed my run the whole stretch. At this stage, the traffic has started
becoming busy with vehicles. However, safety cones provided with crews and
traffic policemen available helped runners to stay safe and guided accordingly.
Compare to last year where I rushed myself to the FL to
achieve my sub 2 target, this year I just did my last few hundred metres
sprinting just to enjoy crossing the FL again and to mark that with both hands
raised in the air.
Also to mark my return to HM run and to make another confirmation that I have
fully recovered from the injury.
My watch clocked 2 hrs 12 minutes excluding the few
hundred metres that unrecorded after the FO. I achieved my goal of the average
pace 6 on the return to HM.
After crossing the FL, I collected my medal and finisher tee. Then I looked for
my wife to get my phone from her. In between I bumped into some regular friends
at events and some who communicated regularly through the social media.
Then I gathered for a while with my buddies from Anonymous Runners and took
group photos. Once I met my wife, we took more photos together and with some more friends
before leaving the venue happily.
THE EVENT
I have don't have much complain about the event because I had a pretty smooth
sailing from the start until I left the venue. The traffic control was good, enough WS with needed
supplies and the route itself was nice as well to me. Safety cones were
provided for almost along the route for motorists to be alerted about runners.
One more good thing was the interface between 21km and 10km runners was only in
less than 2km which gave less disruption in traffic and mentally to a 21km
runner like me. Pity to see one 10km male runner wrongly followed the 21km
route at the U-turn and later ran back to the right route.
The setup and operations at the FL area was also well organised and managed.
The weather was also more challenging this time with the
FO at 6.15 a.m. compare to 6.00 a.m. last year. This time, runners started to
deal with hot sunlight earlier as well especially in the second half of the
route.
So, MPKj HM will stay as one of my must join event in my
running calendar next year.
FINAL NOTES
It is a very satisfying performance to me personally and on top of that, it was
another pain free and cramp free run. My ankle did not give me any problem at
all from the FO to the FL and until the time this note is being written.
I can conclude that with this HM finish, my left ankle
has fully recovered 100%. It means, I can start to have my normal runs and to
plan on how to regain the pre-injury performance if I want to. Alternatively, I
can continue my running adventure to stay healthy and fit based on what I have
comfortably achieved today.
Generally, I did enjoy my run and what made it more
exciting and special is when some of FB friends recognised me and gave me some
words encouragement while I was running.
Some also asked about the injury at my ankle whether it
has fully recovered or not.
Yes...running does connecting us as one big family or community in many ways
and I feel blessed to know so many great and nice people so far.
And not to forget to all running photos captured by all
dedicated and great photographers at the run today. You fired us up!
Until we meet again at Allianz Pacer Run on 29 Oct at NU
Sentral KL
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