Tell the truth!

Why are we being lied to? Does the picture below look like an API reading of just 76? Why make statements that the haze will get better and clear over the coming days when it hasn't? Are the officials at the Metrological department capable of giving us some accurate information?


Picture taken this morning at 10am from my office block on the 7th floor, just before the API reading

Last night the rains seemed to have momentarily cleared the pollution so I put on my shoes at 11pm and ran for 30 minutes, followed by some weight lifting and stomach exercises. I hope I get to run again today!

Pacemakers Network Run 2006

This morning the Pacemakers once again organised a very fun and successful event. This time round it was the Pacemakers Network Run held at Lake Gardens KL featuring a 6 lap (13.8km) run for the men and 2 lap (4.6km) run for the women.

There were over 40 participants registered. Some volunteers including me had run the route a few days before the race. I had the privelage of flagging of the race since Rohaizad is still not back from Pakistan yet. Once the race was started just after 7.15am it was a mad dash with runners trying to find a comfortable pace so they could last the 6 laps.

I was in charge of the checkpoint for two categories... the mens 29 and below and the mens 35 to 39. The other volunteers working with me were Phyllis, SJ, Rachel and Tey. This was my first time being a volunteer and it was quite fun actually. I shall do it again perhaps in some events organised by Pacesetters in the future.

I had also setup my camera on a tripod and was multitasking by snapping photos while marking the number of laps each runner had finished. Despite the tripod many shots turned out blur since I hadn't really tried my camera in sports events or action shots before. I must learn how to use the sports mode and even try the manual modes since the model I use comes with full manual functions.

After the run, I was also privelaged to be selected to give away the medals and the trophies to the participants. Overall I must say it was a really successful event thanks to all the participants, volunteers and especially our dear captain Ronnie. I'm sure there will be many equally successful or even better events we can look forward to in the future! For more photos and race results visit der pacemakers site!

Group photo of all the runners, volunteers and family members

Group photo of all the volunteers

Wife and son woke up early today to join the action

Birthday celebration for the October pia kakis, from left Peter Goh, Ah Fook, Captain Ronnie and Dr Jamie

14-10-2006 Tempo Run

After getting my much needed rest yesterday and seeing the haze clear in the evening, I put on my Nikes and headed out for a quick workout. I wanted to do a tempo paced run but didn't plan on any specific distance or pace, I would just run according to how I felt. Surprisingly I felt much stronger than expected... sleep really makes a lot of difference.

Total distance: 1150m x 9 = 10.35km in 51m 17.58s

Split times: 6m 15.18s / 5m 34.40s / 5m 37.81s / 5m 37.44s / 5m 38.51s
5m 44.80s / 5m 45.38s / 5m 48.62s / 5m 15.44s

My training is finally paying off. My 10k split time was below 50min. With this run I've concluded that my New Balance 767 is really an under performing pair of shoe. It does not have much flexibility and almost feels like a piece of wood each time I land. I don't remember it being like that when I first bought it. Yesterday I had a really enjoyable and exhilarating run with my Nikes. For my next pair, I might choose to invest in either a pair of Mizuno or Saucony.

Much needed rest

I've not been getting enough sleep the past one week, with an average of 6 hours per day. Since the haze hadn't improved as our countries MET services promised, I told Tey that I wouldn't be joining them at Hartamas this morning and asked him to pass the message to the others.

Not having to wake up early I spent the night playing with a new Disney Kid's creative program I had downloaded onto my computer. I also finally took out my DV Video Cam which has been in storage for the past one year since we would be using it this weekend at the Network race.

I noticed there was some footage that was yet to be downloaded, so I copied that onto my pc and converted it into a SVCD which I later watched with Nick. It had some clips of his visits to Genting and also the Zoo last year. Now I remember why I had gotten tired of taking videos, the process of downloading and converting on a Windows based PC takes ages!

This morning, I woke up almost at 11am. Both wife and kid were still asleep... so I am not the biggest slob at home! Ahhh.. finally the body really feels rested. The cough mixture which I took last night must have really given me a good rest. My cough seems to be much better now. I shall continue taking the syrup for the next few days.

I'm looking forward to the PM's event tomorrow. I have a whole bunch of things to pack into my car including the medals, trophies, certificates, Gatorade, bananas, video camera... hmmm what else? Speaking about my car... I just realised today that my rear tyres are due for a change. It's going to cost another $300 at least... sigh! Everything is about $$$$$$ these days!

Pacemaker's Network Volunteer Run

Ronnie messaged me in the textbox asking me when I was going to do my volunteer run. I was not very keen in doing it actually since I am not well and my body felt tired from the increased mileage. However upon Ronnie's insistence and since he volunteered to pace me for the last few laps I agreed.

I arrived at Lake Gardens early to avoid the traffic jam. The haze seemed to be clearing quite nicely and the weather was cool since it had rained earlier. In fact it was still drizzling slightly. By the time I started at 5:20pm the drizzle had almost stopped.

My first lap was quite difficult as my body felt stiff and my right knee felt slightly painful. By the second lap I was feeling better and had eased into a pace that felt comfortable. At the end of the third however I was starting to feel tired and slowed down.

Upon completing the third lap, Kenny and Ronnie were waiting for me. Captain asked Kenny to pace me into my fourth lap while he went to clear his bowels. It was quite fun running with Kenny since he keeps you entertained with his talking. Ron joined us towards the end of that lap.

In the last three laps, despite having Kenny and Ron with me, I was still running at my own pace with them trailing behind with encouraging words. Fatigue was starting to build up in the final lap and I had to force myself to pick up the pace in staggered parts of the track just to gain back some time.

When we had completed the loop round the lake in the 6th lap, I started to push harder and in the last few hundred metres gave it my all. By the end of it all I was totally busted and out of breath. I didn't feel like warming down but forced myself to walk another lap to relax the sore and tired muscles.

My split times... 12'33" / 12'23" / 12'57" / 12'33" / 12'23" / 11'55"

Total time for 13.8km = 1:14'45"

Training 10-10-2006

Today I am on Sick Leave (MC). My throat was quite sore yesterday but is better today. However my nose is congested with thick green phlegm. At 4pm, the haze had disappeared in Klang so I decided to run before the winds brought the smog back.

Warm up - 1150m x 2 - 2.3km
6m 15.99s / 6m 16.61s

1150m x 3 at 90% pace = 3450m
4m 43.98s / 4m 49.00s / 4m 53.45s

Warm down - 1150m
6m 55.25s

Total distance - 6.9km

This is my first attempt to try an interval session. With my nose being congested and the 4pm sun blazing, I guess it was as much as I could give. I had initially planned 5 repeats but I felt too tired after 3 repeats.

Perhaps my pace was too fast, my target pace was 5:20 for each 1150m repeat, but as usual I failed to pace myself. Nevertheless I've broken the barrier of getting into speedwork other than tempo runs.

Lantern festival barbecue

My inlaws decided to have a barbecue in celebration of the lantern festival. It was a nice time of eating and relaxing again. After Saturday morning's LSD, the chicken wings, pork chops and lamb chops alongside the cold beer was really something I enjoyed.

Marathon over one weekend

I've only heard of runners running LSDs consecutively on Saturdays and Sundays. With the haze covering the country this week, I was desperate to log my planned training mileage one way or the other. By Friday, I had only covered 14k and was cracking my head on how I was going to cover the rest.

Saturday morning came and I was ecstatic when I looked out the window at 5am and saw that the haze had almost completely cleared in Port Klang. I messaged Tey and confirmed that I would be at Bukit Aman by 6am. As I left Klang, I realised that I should have just done my run here, because all the way from Shah Alam to KL visibility was getting worse.

Choi, Eugene, Geraldine, Tey, Chong Wah and Phyllis were all ready when I arrived. Since the air didn't smell too acidic, and the weather was really cooling, I decided to just enjoy the run. Once again I paced with Tey both to and back from Hartamas. The first half was run very briskly and we reached Hartamas in 57 minutes. Total time clocked for 21k was 2hrs 9mins.

Today I decided to join Albert, Lim and Ms Leong for another LSD using the Klang-Shah Alam route. Since my body hadn't fully recovered from yesterday's run, I was running at a very easy pace. The skies were clear when we started but the haze started to show its signs when we had reached Shah Alam. As we were reaching the Klang Stadium, we could see that the winds were slowly bring the smog back.

By the 13th kilometer, my body was really starting to show signs of fatigue. I just continued to push on for the balance 8k. Total time taken to cover 21k was 2hrs 19mins. Total mileage covered for the week is 56k. I might have overdone it a little bit, but hopefully once I'm fully recovered the body will be stronger.

I was speaking to a doctor at church today and when he shared the effects the haze can have to our health, I've decided against running outdoors when the haze is anything more than a mild smog. I'm starting to feel a sore throat coming and my nose is feeling a little runny. I've not had a cold in almost a year, so it could be both the haze and the extreme mileage I put in over this weekend which has reduced my body's resistance.

What future?

I was just reading the following article in the STAR today and it really sends a chill down my spine. The world's powers and governments of both developed and developing countries are spending billions of dollars yearly on so called improving the lives of their citizens and people of the world. With our focus on technological and infrastructural development which is meant to give us better lifestyles, we don't seem to mind risking some of the more basic but absolutely essential things for the survival of human kind...

Get ready for freak weather, world's polluters told

By Catherine Bremer

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - The world's top polluting nations were told on Wednesday to prepare for decades of weather turmoil, even if they act now to curb emissions and pursue green energy sources.

Environment and energy ministers meeting in the Mexican city of Monterrey vowed to work faster to control global warming as scientists told them each year wasted in curbing greenhouse gas emissions would cost them dearly.

Yet even if countries froze emission levels tomorrow, the world still faces 30 years of floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and coastal erosion, the British government's chief scientific advisor David King, said.

King - who considers global warming a bigger threat than terrorism - said rich nations must help the developing world prepare for a weather shift that could put millions of lives at risk.

"We've got 30 years of climate change ahead of us even if we stop right now. Were persuading countries they have to adapt to the changes that are ahead of them," King told Reuters at the meeting of top greenhouse gas emitting countries.

"Because we've raised the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere so quickly, the earth's climate system is falling behind. This is way in excess of anything the planet has known, probably for 45 million years," he said.

Among countries who sent ministers to Monterrey were China and India, whose ballooning demand for energy has made them some of the worst polluters after the United States, which pumps out a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases.

The United States, which could face fiercer hurricanes as sea temperatures rise, sent a senior official, but U.S. officials did not brief the press.

Already, a roughly 1 degree Celsius temperature rise over the past century has allowed icy Greenland to start growing barley, and farmers in Spain are battling arid conditions.

"The people in denial now are the equivalent of the Flat Earth Society," British Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks told Reuters in an interview. "Humankind is in a race for life against global warming."

Delegates discussed energy efficiency, conservation and how to fund initiatives like storing the carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants deep underground.

But it is likely to be at least the end of the decade before most projects can get off the ground.
"Time is running out, and the size of the challenge is enormous," Mexican Environment Minister Jose Luis Luege said.

Developing countries at the talks - including South Africa, Brazil and Mexico - were told to adapt for possible floods, droughts, storms and a surge in tropical diseases like malaria.

We can see these things happening right here in our country, with rise in the average temperatures and constant flooding. Now the problem with the constant haze has become a very big threat to the health of Malaysians throughout the nation. I once wrote in to the STAR sometime last year and remember mentioning that it's pointless for mega housing developers to focus selling the concept of botanical gardens and beautiful parks when we can't even step out of our homes without risking our health.

I really wonder what the long term effects this haze phenomenon is going to have on our health and children's health. Will there be a rise in cancer cases and heart and respiratory related problems over the next few years. It's been almost 10 years now since this problem was first seen, I wonder if the government has any statistical information about this type of thing. At the back of my mind, I keep wondering if our lives are being shortened not just by years but perhaps even a decade or two?

In the last few days I have been feeling very depressed as I had to stop myself from running outdoors. I felt like a prisoner in this world! I had to instead try to get some exercise indoors using my stepper and some free weights to compensate. This morning when I saw the sky was clear in Klang, I couldn't resist just putting on my shoes and running for 45 minutes before going to work. I was afraid that the dreaded haze will return by evening and sure enough as I type this I can see that the gloom has returned and the smog is everywhere!

Another week gone

It seems like week after week just seems to pass very quickly these days. Last week I managed to accumulate another 46km into my mileage bank. Almost half the mileage was done at tempo pace which helped wake up my normally lethargic body.

Saturday morning's weather was really cooling with a slight drizzle. Choi, Tey, Jason, Lynn and Ronnie turned up for the morning run to Hartamas. Tey paced with me throughout the run. It was really fun to have someone to talk to in contrast to my mundane daily solo runs.

We covered 21k in about 2h12m. This time I didn't feel tired, it must have either been the cool weather or my endurance is already increasing. I really wish we could get such weather in some of our races, especially if I am going the full distance (42.195k).

Yesterday I went for my swim again at the Matsushita pool. Managed to increase from 30laps to 40laps this time. I feel myself getting more confident and relaxed in the water. My muscles were slightly sore afterwards but it did feel good. Peter and Ms Chee were able to join us this time.