CONQUERING KIARA TRAILS AGAIN IN 2018

EVENT: KIARA CONQUER THE TRAILS RUN 2018

DATE:11 FEBRUARY

DISTANCE: 15KM

I made a return to Bukit Kiara trails site on Feb 11 after one year. Last year I did not know what to expect at all but this time with at least something in mind which was mentally and physically more prepared to conquer the route again.

It was 13km last year and increased to 15km this year and honestly, I truly did not have any idea on what was waiting for us with that 2km extra.

Few hundred metres to the finish line
Photo by Vivien Tay

My last trail run was at Semenyih Eco trail run in August 2017 when I twisted my ankle. That caused me the first major injury in my running adventure that stopped me from running totally for two months. Then few more weeks to recover to get back to my normal run. Yes, I was traumatised and decided to DNS for one already registered trail run at Janda Baik in November.

It took me sometime to decide whether I want to make a return or not at this event because among all trail runs event that I have finished, all have been the most demanding and challenging physically and mentally. On top of that, I did not run at any trail route since that injury due to the traumatic injury experience.

However, with the good recovery and progress that I have made since I returned to running from middle Oct 2017, finally I decided to register for the 2nd time for this event in the end of December 2017.

So, for the preparation I just focused on what I need to improve based on lessons learned in last year's event.

After successfully finished my FM at Twincity, I did more workouts to strengthen my lower body muscles and joints. Kiara trail run will have plenty of steep uphill stretches and that will be the biggest challenge to conquer. To overcome that, I did a lot of weight lifting with squatting for my knee and gluteal muscles strengthening workouts at the gym. I added that with some external downward and upwards workouts at the staircase for my knee muscles. I had a minor injury at the muscle above my right knee during the Twincity Marathon but glad it recovered two weeks after that.

I have less worry about the endurance because my LSD runs in preparing for the FM run from December has helped me a lot in the build-up.

Other than that, I trained with some uphill speed interval runs during my LSD runs to improve in my breathing techniques. I know I need that because breathing while climbing the uphill stretches at Bukit Kiara will demand for that.

Initially, I wanted to try use my hydration bag this time because I felt uncomfortable to run with the waist pouch with two small bottles last time. However, I misplaced it somewhere I could not find it. It simple because I have never used it since I bought it in 2016 and the reason I bought it because I wanted to use it for one trail run event in November 2016 but decided to DNS due to family matter. Since then, I have never put it on my body and just keeping it somewhere.

At the end, I decided to but one more waist pouch but with only one bottle located at the middle of my back when I put it on. I took that risk because I believed I might be more comfortable with it because the two bottles type was really disrupting my run when I used it last year.

For the supplements, I prepared 2 packets of energy gel this time compare to only one last year because I knew I need added energy towards the end of the route where I was truly struggling last year. 

Despite all the preparation, I still had the worry about how am I going to improve on my steps because I had no training at all on trails route prior to this event since my injury. However, I decided to just go ahead and will take more cautious approach for every step during my run.

One obvious different in a running strategy between trail runs and road runs is, in road runs, after the uphill, we can recover and make up for the time after that at the downhill. However, in trail runs, after the uphill which definitely will require more energy and lower body strength to overcome, we need to reserve some energy to manage our steps to deal with the downhill after that. In other words, it is not a truly a recovery period for our body at the downhill because we must be more careful with every step to avoid missteps or slippery surfaces to prevent from falling. 

To me, dealing with downhill is far more dangerous and tougher than the uphill in trail run.

This is where our lower body strength will be truly and fully tested especially our knee and ankle. The safety risks are also much bigger for trails especially at the route like Bukit Kiara where we need to be cautious at all angles to avoid untoward incidents. For example, in road runs, if we fall, it will be always on the road surface but in trail runs, it could be on anything and we could not never image what kind of injuries we may suffer. Other than that, we could not expect the medical team to arrive as fast as we can get for road runs if we face any safety incident at any point in the middle of the jungle.

So, the trail run is more technical than a normal road run especially at the route designed for Kiara Conquer the Trails Run. It is not a type of run that anyone can go out there and just having some fun and nice time from the start to the end. It needs some preparation and extra precautionary measures by runners to face the challenges of trail routes.

Trail runs are supposed to be challenging and designed to be as such by the organisers.

So, how was my run?

For the 13km distance in 2017 I finished the run in 2 hours 27 minutes (official time). This year, it was a different challenge and before I share further, kudos to the organizer for the very well organized and fantastic trail event! To me, it was almost seamless to me from the beginning to the end.

Arrived at the venue at about 6.40 a.m after performing the Subuh prayer at the nearby masjid.

It could say, it was only about 90% off road when the road surfaces were only at about 1 km something from the FO line and at the interchanges from one uphill to another uphill route in between. From the briefing, we were told that the total elevation is about 1000 metres. Whoaah!!!! It is for 15km distance! The route has more steep uphill parts than before and it did not surprise me with the added 2km from last year. It was raining a night before but not heavy. However, some slippery surfaces along the route were very much expected.

Mohd Helmi.Our bib numbers in sequence again.

I was very cautious with my steps especially at the downhills and very careful while applying any move that will need more pressure at my ankle. However, I fell once after about 2km at one of the downhills. Despite being very careful with my steps, I just lost my control due to the momentum when I accidentally stepped on a slippery rock surface. However, I did not get injured because I was not running that fast and managed to hold on something that prevented my back to fully hit the hard surface of the ground.

What I can remember, I had more opportunities to run last year after the 2km compare to this year. I was unlucky a little bit this time because I was blocked by runners who were in front of me for about 1km after I entered the off-road part. In trail runs, we can’t simply overtake runners in front of us because we don’t have the space to do it at all time until we reached the suitable and most importantly safe places to do it. By simply overtaking other runners can be very dangerous with trail route are often with very small and at some stretches, the patch only enough for one runner to pass through safely at one time. 

After I have managed to overtake the runners in front of me slowly and carefully one after another at different spots. Then I started to separate myself and ran at my own pace.

There were lesser flat routes this year to run because most of the stretches were all about climbing and then going down again. 

Added to the challenges were some slippery and muddy stretches and some stretches were with surfaces with small stones and rocks that runners had to step onto. This often very dangerous when runners had to deal with that at the downhills. Along the route, there were some fallen trees that crossed the path to overcome. I found it more of this barrier along the route compare to last year. 

What I can conclude is, the route was all about the cycles of uphill and downhill one after another with very little of flat stretches in between.

I am glad that my preparation on my lower body strengths and breathing to face this run really helped me this time. Most of the time, my energy was truly used to overcome every uphill and then to control my steps by fully utilizing the strength of my knee and ankle at every downhill.

My strategy to conserve some energy this time was not trying to use the strength of my knee alone to push my body upward along every uphill path. I also used my upper body strength by holding any or both of my hands to anything possible such as small trees and tree roots on my left and right to move up my body.
This truly worked and helped me a lot when I felt I could control my breath much better in the same time.

As a result, I did not feel exhausted that fast and had more energy left to deal with the downhill just after that or the later part of the route.

Other than the falling incident, I had little trouble to climb and later managing my steps at every downhill with my strategy. On top of that, I am glad that I was very comfortable running my trail run this time with the newly bought single bottle waist pouch.

Nice shots in sequence at one of the path along the route.
Photos by Advance AV Studio

The true challenge to me was to maintain my endurance level after I crossed the 2 hours mark. From this stage and later after I reach the 2 ½ hour mark, I started to feel fatigue at my calf and thigh muscles. This was the time I started to make stops in between for me to ease my muscles and took a deep breath before continuing. At some point I just about to reach the 3 hours mark, I felt like to have a muscle cramp attack at my right thigh. Luckily it disappeared gradually after I stopped about 2-3 minutes and relaxed while pressing and massaging that part.

Compared to last year, I felt more energized this year at towards the last part of the route. The water that I brought was enough until reached the first U-turn checkpoint and water station for me to drink to rehydrate and refill my bottle. I drank more water at the second water station too because I knew I need more fluid in my body towards the end. My re-hydration strategy worked very well also because by the time I reached the last 1 plus km to the FL, I have just finished the water in my bottle and that kept me lighter to move and running until the end.

Towards the end with Ravi CK Raman.
Photo by Al Hafiz

At about 12-13km, I heard some runners complained about the probably over distance because they claimed whenever they asked the crews at every check point, they were given doubtful answers in distance left when they compare with their GPS watch. However, all that did not affect me that much because I still felt little problem to continue for me to finish my run.

I think, I suddenly re-energized when I started to hear the noise from the FL. If I am not mistaken, that was about 1 km something from it. At this stage the route was all about the downhill but I was able to run again and there were some spaces for me to overtake some runners in front of me and in the same time, there were faster runners overtook me as well.

As I was getting closer and closer to the FL, I felt the route allowed me to run slightly faster and l was literally running alone to the end my run. Whoooaahhh!!! I conquered the Kiara trails again.

The official results

I finished the 15km distance (actual 15.6km according to my GPS watch) in 3 hours 29 minutes according to the official time. It does tell something if I compare it with the 13km last year and that only those who experienced the route this time could tell why. It's totally a different challenge this year to me. Some runners finished it in more the 5 hours.

The official result showed my timing is 3 hours 29 minutes and ranked 119/460 overall,100/331 by gender and 51/176 by my category for men veteran. Not bad at all right? He he he

However, I feel much better this time because overall, I had much more comfortable run this time and avoided any injury as well.

The other positive part of it is it was a very good further workout for me to strengthen my knee and ankle which will help me for my upcoming FM runs in March.

The event???!!!

• Still the best trail run event for me so far. 
• Good warm up session with led by the instructor just before the FO time.
• There were enough and very helpful crews in showing me the direction at all water stations, checkpoints and turns along the route.
• The route markers with pink in colours along the router were seen very clearly and much better than last year.
• The route was definitely much more challenging and demanding this year. More dangerous stretches but that was a part of the challenges to me as the runner.
• Enough meals and beverages for runners at the FL as well.

There are rooms for them to improve such as the distance between water stations and adding one more water station compared to only 2 now would be better for runners.

How was the route?

From 655 runners, only 460 finished within COT, 38 Did Not Finished(DNF)and 157 were disqualified(DQ) from the official result. The results tell something about how tough and challenging was the route.

To me, this event is not for beginners or those who expect just to join without any preparation at all. The route requires some basic technical skills of trail running to enable each runner to run safely and then to finish it within the COT. One more thing that is also important is the personal rehydration plan with only two water station available. Runners should know about their own need of water and other supplements to keep them hydrated and energised for them to finish their run.

Met some friends from last year and made few new friends well as I always do. Bumped in few FB and IG friends for the first time as well. Awesome!

New friend Khairrul

Cikgu Ahmad Ikmal

Rahman Ibrahim

Saiful Anuar Bahtiar

More special this time because I finished it just a day I turned 44 years old a day before on 10 February. Feeling blessed and grateful that I am still fit and healthy to enjoy my life further.

Will come back next year? 

Of course, I will...In sha Allah.

For those who want to try it for the first time, you better prepare.

Congratulation to all finishers! See you next year.

The trail running shoes, Adidas TR7 that has served me well so far since I bought it in 2016.

I guess I need a new pair of trail running shoes for my next trail runs which has much better cushion to ease my foot whenever I hit the hard surfaces.The Adidas pair has served me quite well so so far but the need to protect my foot from potential injuries is my more of  concern now for my upcoming trail runs. I will still use the Adidas for my hiking activities that don't require me to run because its condition is still fairly good for me to just throw it away.