Wednesday, April 26, 2006

It's been too long

My form has dropped drastically. I wanted to test the waters at the KLCC track yesterday before committing to any time trial. Ronnie was just about to start when I arrived, and I told him that I will try one lap before deciding.

I clocked 7 mins on my first lap, but at the end of it I knew that I wouldnt be able to push any much faster, especially if I wanted to do a 5 lap time trial. I decided to continue for another lap, this time I managed a 6m45s split.

A few hundred meters into my 3rd lap I had to stop as too much salt had gotten into my eyes and it was stinging badly. I rinsed my face and walked back towards the mosque carpark. Suddenly thats when I saw my saviours PM12 and PM18, "AH finally some company, which is exactly what I needed!"

Their pace for the day suited me just fine. We were averaging about 9 mins per lap and this allowed for some good coversation as well. I stuck with them for 5 laps before turning on the turbo on the last lap, just to see if I still had any speed left. I left feeling good as it was my longest run since march 5th.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Time trial challenge

I'm starting to feel the return of a competitive streak once again! Just had lunch with pm1, pm5 and pm18. Ron is trying to recruit as many people into joining his time trial frenzy at KLCC and even Newton joined him today in challenging me. As I've never ever really pushed my pace at KLCC before, this would be something interesting to prepare for.

I am not going to look at any more shoe investments for now. I shall make do with what I have. However I am considering getting a decent watch with Lap time functionality. This would be really useful in monitoring my pace, since running a good time requires proper pacing rather than pushing all out from the beginning.

Hmmm... perhaps by getting into a new phase of training, which would be more focused towards speed might help me in the NB15k event. I must try to fit in some time for a little hill training as well, but I suppose the undulating terrain at KLCC park should help a little.

A quick note on my last run which was on Wednesday with my regular gang back in Klang. Lim, Albert, Peter, Lee and Ajeep were able to make it. I managed 7 laps with a total distance of about 8.1k at quite an enjoyable, conversational pace. I noted that I don't feel as tired on my runs these days as I used to when training for the marathon. It must be the extra recovery time I have now between my runs which makes a huge difference.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

That question again!

What is the most common question young parents with only one kid are asked? "When is the next one coming?" This has been the story of our life everywhere we go recently. While both my wife and I definitely want more children, we have decided to wait for a year or two before our next child.



Yes I agree with many that it might be easier to have the whole lot in a row and get the late night feeds and sleepless nights over with. However at this stage we have both decided to concentrate our time and energy on Nicholas as much as possible while working on our business ventures. Our hope is that in a year or so, we would have developed the business enough for my wife to fire her boss and become her own full time boss.

To run or not to run?

I've somehow managed fit in two sessions of running into my hectic weekly schedule. Before yesterday, my last run was on Friday. I've decided to carry my running gear with me as much as possible since my schedules are uncertain these days, and I might get to fit in some time at the gym or at KLCC park.

Yesterday this became useful as I had a late appointment in the city so I decided to hit the track at KLCC. I was pleasantly surprised to see Ronnie, Rachel, Rohaizad and Newton at the park. They were hanging around one of the park benches chatting. It was good to have a quick chat with them as it's been sometime since we last met.

Since Ronnie and Haizad had finished their workout, and Rac and Newton were spectators for the day in support of Ronnie who was trying to achieve a PR for a 5 lapper, I had to run on my own. It was already just past 7pm when I started.

I felt really at peace as I ran. The weather was absolutely fabulous and the park was not too crowded. The sky was clear and the view of the city lights and the towers were magnificent as dusk slowly turned to darkness. I've missed this kind of feeling for sometime now. Having completed 6 laps in just over 45 minutes, I stopped and grabbed my things for a quick 'shower' before going for my appointment.

Oh ya, now coming back to the question on my subject of this posting... should I run in the upcoming NB15k event? I didn't feel the strain running 6 laps yesterday, even though my weekly mileage has been cut down such a lot. Perhaps 15k won't be too much of a problem? Hmmm... let me try 9 laps at the park one of these days before I decide.