At first I thought that the Tokyo Marathon would be the last of my marathons for a while . The Tokyo Marathon being such an extraordinary race, would have been a perfect race to think back for a while before attempted another.
But how can you miss Malaysia's biggest marathon of the year? The Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2017 is the most popular marathon race event in Malaysia and around the region. Registration for the events gets full really quickly, some category within the first few days of launch.
I did not sign up at first as I wasn't sure I wanted to race but a friend needed to let his registration go and so we transferred the registration to me and I scrambled with the training.
On a cool morning on 21 May 2017, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon started at 4am. Off we went. Started the race at a pace faster than I expected but I continue to pushed on. It all went well until towards the 30km mark where my body started to feel weak. Still I managed to maintain the pace than I planned for as long as I can. But started off too fast and was slow dwindling down. The weather cooled down a bit as it even rained very heavily towards the last 5km of the race.
Finished the marathon in 5:47. Fastest I've done under Malaysian weather. Far from my Tokyo Marathon sub-5 hour race, but that was at dry cold 5C weather with the amazing crowds the entire 42km!
Indeed the Standard Chartered KL Marathon is a very well organized race, by Malaysian standards. Would certainly do it again.
This would mark the 4th marathon I've completed in the span of 7 months. I think my body needs to rest from these long races for a while. Time to focus on some speed work. Maybe the next one is Tokyo Marathon 2018? :)
Have always seen pictures of friends running up towers and it sounds interesting. Always wanted to try it myself and finally got a chance to check off the bucket list for KL Towerthon 2017 on 14 May 2017.
The Kuala Lumpur Tower (Menara KL) is a communications tower located in the heart of the capital city in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its construction was completed on 1 March 1995 and stand tall in the city among the other buildings. The top few floors offers a revolving restaurant and a viewing deck. The KL Tower is 1,379 feet tall, which is almost as tall as the tallest building in the country, Petronas Twin Tower at 1,483 feet (452 m).
The race starts with a wave start of 5 person at a time spread by 30 seconds. This is to prevent overloading the stairwell with people, which could potentially be dangerous.
It begins with a 800m steep uphill run. Then to the stairwell door and up the 2058 steps up the tower. The tower might be a little stuffy but they did open as many doors as possible on different landing area to allow air to flow.
Improvement would be to install big fans blowing air into the stairwell to further improve the airflow. The stairwell was not crowded at all and had about 5 water stations along the way. Also, upon finishing, should allow runners to hang around the viewing deck instead of the fire safety room which is all concrete. So we get to enjoy the view of our achievement.
Heart rate was hitting max all the way up. Felt even a little dizzy at certain sections but the railing helps. So upper body strength does help by pulling you up while you run.
Completed the course with a time of 24:31. Ranked 30th place out of 165 in my age group.
Unfortunately, it clashes with the same weekend as Penang International Triathlon and Duathlon 2017. So some of the friends have to split between the events depending what some have signed up for earlier.
I choose this event so I could just drive down first thing in the morning at 4am, pick up the race pack at 6am, setup and to get to the race on time at 7am.
It was my first time doing the Sprint triathlon event. Never have I tried the shorter distance and I must say it is really exciting to be racing at almost max heart rate throughout the race.
Completed the event with a time of 1:18, split of swim (750m) @ 12:33, bike (20km) @ 38.36, run (5km) @ 27:04. Ranked 11th in the age group and 45th overall.
Was a great race and would certainly want to do the sprint event again. Maybe to include the olympic distance the following day as back to back events.
During the Challenge Iskandar Puteri triathlon race last year, my fellow triathlon training mate Jimmy advised that I should try signing up for the Tokyo Marathon 2017, in which the ballot for general participants will open in August. At that point of time, I have not done any full marathon before (and only a handful of half marathons). The only upcoming full marathon was the Penang Bridge International Marathon in November. Lady luck must have been on my side and the joy of receiving an email to state my selected entry to the Tokyo Marathon 2017 on 26 February 2017.
The all star marathon race for runners, Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM) which consist of Tokyo, B.A.A. Boston, Virgin Money London, BMW Berlin, Bank of America Chicago and TCS New York City marathons. Tokyo Marathon being the nearest to home and couple with the beautiful country and its people, would be a common port where most will try to ballot for in this region.
In a matter of 4 months, the Tokyo Marathon 2017 would mark the 3rd marathon for me. This is by far the best ever event I have every participated. Most organized ever and the environment is so alive! The experience is extraordinary! Something other events can emulate from - definitely examplarery!
During the race pack pickup, the Tokyo Big Sight was filled with participants, family and friends. Even the sport fair goers! The race number pick up was very quick even though the lines were long because of the speedy volunteers, the assigned booths and check-points. As you leave the t-shirt pickup area, the group of volunteers would clap and cheer "Ganbatte" (頑張って) to you. You'll feel like a superstar! Simply amazing atmosphere to be there!
The expo was very eventful. Lots of activities, promotions and photo opportunities. My nieces who came to support had a fantastic time there too. There were activities for supporters (adults and kids) as well. Race themed souvenirs and shopping was also aplenty and packed. All covered under 2 big floors at the Tokyo Big Sight.
TIP: The expo was in a span of 3 days from Thursday till Saturday. My recommendation is to go on Thursday and/or Friday as Saturday was very packed. It was hard to get a photo opportunity with the many Tokyo Marathon displays and also the long queues to enjoy the expo activities.
TIP: The Asics Tokyo Marathon 2017 running shoe GEL-KAYANO 23 TOKYO seems to be special here, being the themed shoe and title sponsor. But at the expo, it was sold almost MYR150 more than the Asics retail stores in Malaysia. And yes, the stores in Malaysia had the stock already! Do check before buying.
Come race morning, got to the Shinjuku train station early at 7am. Everyone was diverted out to the main road and you just follow the crowd and the signs to the respective start gate allocated to you. Once pass security checks, I headed to check in my baggage at the designated baggage truck area and then proceeded to meet the Malaysian contingent. The Malaysian support group could be found at Tokyo Marathon Malaysia Runners Group.
Before the start of the race at 9pm, I headed to the toilet stalls. There were plenty of it. There was almost 100 portable stalls but the queue was huge. Organized but lots of runners. Must be the cold 5°C morning. Took almost 20 minutes before it came to my turn.
Once I got to the start corral, the crowd was already ready to roll. You could hear the announcements over the loud speaker and the start with the fireworks. As I was in corral K, it took almost 20 minutes after the gun time before I could cross the start line.
The run was just amazing. Cool weather and fantastics water/food stations. The energetic crowd was cheering along the entire 42km on both sides of the road. Some of them were even dressed in costumes, offered food, drinks and muscle spray to the participants.
The atmosphere was very uplifting. The happiness and courtesy by volunteers and sheer helpfulness is what got many running faster.
My target time was 5:30 (about a 30 minutes improvement to my personal best in Penang Bridge Marathon. As I was running, I felt I could maintain a much lower average speed with similar or less effort. The cold and dry weather certainly helped, compared to the hot and humid Malaysian races. Muscles held up during the race, and had no issues to maintain a steady low 7 minutes pace most of the time. TIP: Many have claimed that the Tokyo Marathon race is a PB (personal best) race due to its flat course and beautiful weather.
I ended the race at 5:04, that is with a break to the little boys room for 7 minutes (off course and queues). So essentially, I managed a sub-5 and better my personal best by 1 hour! Yes, 1 hour!
This is the best run I've ever done yet! And what better place than to do it in beautiful Tokyo!
Would I try to get balloted for the Tokyo Marathon again? Of course! Look forward to return to Tokyo for another marathon. Extraordinary!
Thank you Japan!
YouTube video of me upon meeting my sister and family
Of all the races I plan for this year, the very first race to be the Twincity Marathon. Yes, a full marathon between the township of Cyberjaya and Putrajaya. This also helps to get myself back in after the 2016 year end binging and also to prepare for the upcoming marathon in February (more to come on this when the race comes).
The Twincity Marathon starts from Persiaran Flora in Cyberjaya on 15 January 2017. As for all marathons, got up very early at 2am to prepare for the race start at 4am. Got to the race site early enough to park and warm up for the race.
Wasn't expecting much from this race as it is sort of a "warm up" race for me before the big race. The crowd was pretty good at about 7500 participants in total for 42km, 21km and 10km. Nothing close to the Penang Bridge Marathons or the Standard Chartered Marathons but still have a good crowd. Most would have planned for this to be the first race of the year and a warm-up to the year of races.
Started of a steady pace and the plan was to hold this for a longer period of time. The cool morning (which is rare in Cyberjaya or Putrajaya) was a welcome. Also, made me drink too much water which ended up having to make 2 pitstop for the little boys room, which wasn't sufficient. Only 2 stalls in each water stations, and a fairly long queue (guess most overestimated the fluids intake)
I was also nursing an injury to the back of my knee and hence continue to maintain pace. The day started to get warmer at 7am and the pain returned at about 15km and was mainly walking then. Did a steady brisk walk and occasional run then. Concluded the race better than I expected but 50 minutes slower than my personal best at Penang Bridge Marathon. Had to resist the need to push on the run to prevent further injuries before the big race next month.
Time to get the pain looked into and strengthen the legs, which I felt was the biggest setback for me. Not much time left to the next big race, which I plan to surpass my personal best in the cold weather.
Overall, the race was fantastic. Lots of water station and enough of different scenery to keep on company throughout the 42km. Not many races you will find that they serve nasi lemak mid-course (not recommended to eat if you are going for a Personal Best)! Check out my race on Strava.
Till the next big race!
* Photos are borrowed from dedicated professional photographers and all rights and credit respectively belongs to them.
One word regarding this race, it was a torture. Maybe because I did a 30km run just a week before and couldn't recover in time. During the beginning of the run, I could still feel the strain of the leg muscles and joints from last week's 30km! Should have given a 2 weeks recovery.
Since we were in Penang Island, we had to do hawker food carbo loading. Plenty of choices of hawker food in Penang and reviews can be easily found online. We pretty much had everything we could order within reach!
The race started on time at the road in front of Queensbay Mall. After walking through the starting crowds, I started running at a very comfortable pace, keeping heart rates down. Maintain that pace and only walked the water stations. It was a long route on the island with humid still ait before finally reaching the bridge.
Once on the bridge, the wind blew and finally cooled down and sweat a lot less. But at 28km, I hit the dreaded wall. Had major pain at the back of my right knee reaching to the calf too. I thought it was cramp and just continue one but at a slower pace. Along the way, got ice to ice the back of the knee and also some counterpain. Was doing an average 9-10 mins/km.
Kept trying to run in between walks making sure that I kept to the targeted sub-6 hours run. At about 37km, the 6 hours pacer caught up with me! Had to start to pick up the pace and keep running to ensure I finish within 6 hours. As I kept pushing it, the pain started to go away. Must have been the adrenaline of chasing them. Slowly, I picked up the pace to catch up with the 6 hours pacer by 39km doing low 7 mins/km pace.
Kept the head up and pushing as I saw the last 2 km sign and nearing back to the Queensbay Mall area. By now, I am doing a low 6 mins/km pace to the finishing line.
The feeling was amazing. Never have I thought I could do a full marathon and with all that pain, yet finish within the targeted time of 5 hours 56 minutes.
So what does a recently accomplished full marathoner do? He went ahead and sign up for another marathon in 2 months time!
I initially planned the Port Dickson Triathlon to be the last triathlon event of the season for me. But this Sunset Triathlon was interesting to not give it one more for the year. Hence, extended the training further. However, didn't get much training in though as I had other activities and plans made. So I had to make the best of it.
Race start at 4:45pm. Early enough for a "safer" swim with some day light left. It was a little form especially during bike racking as the sun was shining full on. I think I got a little sunburn right there.
The start was a wave deep water start. Got to the front during the 3rd wave and started strong and kind of paced myself to a almost true 1.5km swim in the Putrajaya lake. The water felt "thick". Very dense and takes a lot more effort to swim through it (The next days, shoulders were hurting from the swim).
The transition was short and headed out on the bike in the usual 2016 Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya route which ended with a somewhat 2016 Powerman Duathlon exit back to the transition area. Managed to catch a few strong group in this draft legal race and manage to maintain a decent bike average speed. The 3T wheels work well as always keeping my rolling quick on the BMC TimeMachine.
Exited the transition really quick for the run. By now, it is already nightfall and much cooler. Started off with a pretty strong pace but slowly fell back to a more comfortable pace throughout. There was a 3 flights of stairs to climb in this run from the running path by the lake up the bridge and back to the lake.
Plenty of water stations along the way. Perhaps didn't need them all since it wasn't that hot but certainly good option to have.
Finished the race with a 2:57 in 24th (out of 107) place in my age group. Not my best timing but judging for the accurate distance, this would be my benchmark timing for this race.
Fueling strategy this race (wasn't quite sufficient as I was hungry at the end of the bike leg and wasn't enough water):
Tea Time - 2 granola bars, 1/2 Clif Bar and electrolytes drink
Before Swim - 1 Snickers bar and 1/2 a bottle of water
Bike - 1 gel - 2 bottles water
Run - 1 gel - water stations
Would certainly return again next year as I like the idea of accurate Olympic distance race to keep tab with the timing.
This ends this year of triathlon for me. A big run even coming up. Stay tuned.
Nice cool Sunday (28 August 2016) morning for the BHP Orange Run 2016, which starts at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara. Run consist of a 11km run in the Mutiara Damansara and Damansara Perdana neighbourhood.
Picked up my bib 10 minutes before the race started :) The run was around familiar neighbourhood and have ran parts of the route before. Quite a number of elevation according to the route map.
Also, my legs were still aching from 2 days worth of trampoline park jumping with the nieces. But the foam rolling did help relaxes the muscles for the run.
Started of the first 2km with traffic and chit chat with friends. Then picked up the pace and focus on the run. Lots of climbs, which is enough to get your heart rate racing if maintained at the pace but I was determined to go for my personal best.
Finally complete the run with a sub 1-hour at 10km mark at 57:51! The first time I dropped below the 1 hour mark.
Back to back triathlon weekend was something I've never done. And it turned out to be a good Port Dickson International Triathlon 2016 even after my first half distance triathlon the week before.
This is the 3rd year I'm taking part in this Olympic distance triathlon of 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run. PD tri was my first triathlon 3 years ago, so got a bit sentimental value la, haha.. and it was Facebook pictures of friends doing PD triathlon that got me moving from just pure cycling races to triathlon.
Race morning was chill (lol!) and cold. Started at the front row of the swim but on the 3rd wave start. Was a clear water swim but only got crowded when I caught up with the back markers of the earlier wave. Waters were calm unlike what I heard about the waves the day before on the sprint triathlon event where a fellow triathlete drown. Rest in peace.
The cycle was rolling short hills, same route as the years before. Very fast pace and managed to work together with a few friends on this draft legal race. It poured heavily towards the last 3km and was a little scary braking on the 3T Cycling Orbis II carbon wheels but it still managed to stop well enough with minimal drama in the heavy rain. Was impressed. Read more about my review on the wheels here.
The run was cooling and wet with flooded sections on the road... read: steeplechase! And it's Malaysia, it had to flood after a heavy rain one. With the soggy shoes in steady pace under such gloomy and cold weather, I didn't have to zip down to show my cleavage. All good till the end.
Completed with a personal best of 2:43! All 3 swim, bike, run was improved with a total of 15 mins from last year's event (albeit slightly different run routes).
Thanks to all for the great fun and laughter at these events. This is the best part of it all.
*photo edited from the great work of photographers at the event. Pics credits and all rights reserved by the respective owners of the photos.
Fueling strategy this race:
Breakfast - 1 coffee, 2 granola bars and 1/2 Clif Bar
Before Swim - 1/2 Clif Bar
Bike - 1 gel, 1 Clif Bar
Run - 1 gel
At first I thought that the Tokyo Marathon would be the last of my marathons for a while . The Tokyo Marathon being such an extraordinary race, would have been a perfect race to think back for a while before attempted another.
I did not sign up at first as I wasn't sure I wanted to race but a friend needed to let his registration go and so we transferred the registration to me and I scrambled with the training.
Finished the marathon in 5:47. Fastest I've done under Malaysian weather. Far from my Tokyo Marathon sub-5 hour race, but that was at dry cold 5C weather with the amazing crowds the entire 42km!
