Getting into race form

Since I decided this week that I don't want to 'sapu lantai' anymore at the races, and considering I don't have as much time for training as I used to... the only solution is to fit in as many fast paced runs as possible.

Yesterday the gang faithfully turned up at Tmn Rakyat for our weekly run despite the unpredictable weather. I arrived there almost 9pm and they had already started. While doing some stretching, I saw Li Hung leading with Peter at his tail followed by Lee not far behind.

Albert and Ajeep arrived at the centre court awhile later, and I joined them. About half a kilometer later, I decided that the pace was too slow for me (even though it was tempting to continue at that enjoyable pace) and broke away from the duo.

I did not want to time my laps, so I just continued at a slightly uncomfortable pace for the first few laps just to ensure I was hitting above 80% of my target heart rate. As I was about to start my last lap, Li Hung overtook me and I decided to try and keep up with him.

It seemed quite impossible at first as I saw him moving further away, but halfway through I found a little extra kick and pushed myself into turbo mode. I think he might have slowed down at the end of the lap, but I did manage to finish just behind him. That lap must have been run at about a 4min/k pace.

Later we chilled at the 'Andalas Corner' sipping on our 100 plus and for some of us, eating our dinner. The talk was mainly centered on the upcoming Penang Marathon and who was going to take the challenge of running the full marathon. I followed Ajeep's advice and just closed my ears as the jesting continued for me to sign up for my second 42k for the year.

I've decided to keep my race distance to no more than 21k for this year. My goal is to try and hit 50mins in a 10k race, and to run a sub 2 hour half marathon. All runners I speak to say 'aiyah... no problem lah you' but I'm not overly convinced that its that easy yet. We shall see as my training progresses what material I'm made of.

This Sunday the Klang gang shall be heading over to Bukit Aman for a change. I've decided to join them and we shall be trying out the New Balance 15k route, thats if we can manage to find the way by using the map. Call us 'kiasu' if you wish, but we just want to be prepared for the race... after all we aren't as familiar with the roads there as some of you KL runners are.