What's the relationship? To find a pond using GPS? No... there're none!
I just spend the whole morning cleaning the maintaining the garden/fish pond. Filter system was clogged and needs new sponge and took the opportunity to clean the pond. Quite a messy job, changed the tubing from the main pump to the UV lights as well. But was quite please with the water fountain since I cleaned that small pump too as well as direct attached the fountain water-outlet tube to the pump.
In the afternoon, try to view the pre-loaded US map in Mapsource to no avail. Have posted the questions in Garmin website as well as Malsingmaps. I think there is no way to do this has the map always have the Map Detail Locked eventhough I key in the 25 alphanumeric unlock codes.
Tomorrow morning will be the start of PBM2008 training for me. Intend to run a 10km - easy. Only 11 weeks before the race! Target to run as many morning run as possible to accustom to the very odd-hour of 3am start time of the full marathon.
Occasional rambling, whining, blogging on Family, Friends, Running, Mountain-biking, Reading and Gadgets!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
KLIM 2008 run report
Started the journey down to KL on Sat March 29 morning 8:00am with Khou, HS and CT. An uneventful drive down and only stopped at Sg Perak and Sg Buloh R&R for bathroom breaks. Reached Hotel Malaya at about 12:20pm and parked at the hotel’s rotary car-park nearby. Hotel is in the heart of Petaling Street and is very convenient.
After lunch, we walked to OCM to collect our running t-shirt, bib number and chip. Met HW Koh there with his wife. Good thing about KLIM was that you can register on-line and only pay for the registration upon t-shirt/number collection. PBM should follow the same as well as to introduce the chip timing system which will make it more professional.
After that, we walked all the way to Dataran Merdeka to survey the area and in preparation for tomorrow’s race. In spite, the heavy traffic, it took no longer than 15 mins walk from our hotel.
In the later afternoon, we took a cab to Berjaya Times Square for movie and dinner. Return back to hotel at about 8:30pm.
At night, sleep didn’t come easy in spite the tiring drive from Kulim. Toss and turn in bed but I still set both the table clock and cell phone to alarm-off at 3:15am. Actually ‘woke-up’ at 3:10am, did all the usual toilet business. Drank a cereal 3-in-1 from Khou. A very good idea to consume a sachet before early morning run, not only its warm but can provide additional carbohydrate. And I am out of the door at about 3:40am. Many runners already walking towards Merdeka Square. I was surprise to see half-marathon runners already start trickling into the Merdeka Square area although their start time is only at 6am. The buildings were beautifully lit.
I did some stretching and warm-up. And also did the last-time pre-race toilet business on one of the mobile toilets which was conveniently located.
Runners start to enter the barricade area starting at 4:00am but I enter 10 minutes before 4:30am. Saw Jamie Pang at the starting line, said hi and introduced myself. He mentioned me in his blog as well. Race started sharp at 4:30am. Much more full marathon runners compare to PBM2007.
My strategy was to start slow at average 9.5 km/hour and try to hold-on to this pace for as long as possible. The air is quite humid but windless. I am not familiar with KL roads, some of them are not brightly lit and some are not totally close with busy traffic on the outer lane. The first 10km was relatively easy and less traffic as we passed along the Sg Besi toll and the air-force strip beside it. We need to run up and down ramps and gradient roads which were to me still cope able in the first 20km. The hills training which I put in probably helped. I still felt very comfortable at this point. However, after the 20 km there are more ramps I think along Jln Tun Razak and highway leading to Parlimen and Jln Duta. This is unexpected and about 25km or so, minor cramps and stiffness on the thigh and calf started to sets-in and this resulted in painfully slow walk-run rhythm. At one point both the calf and thigh were total cramp and have to be iced and oiled. Pain was unbearable and fortunately a mobile medic aids on bike drove-by and provided the ice and oil relief. Stopped for about 5mins before resume the walk-run and finally at the last 10km, walked most of the way fearing a total cramp again. The last stretch of ramp on Mahameru Highway was really a killer, not only the sun was already high up at 9am but the long uphill gradient was very intimidating. I can actually see front runners on opposite side of the roads climbing the ramps. There was a u-turn infront but at that point I do not know what far it was before the turn. Even if I don’t suffer any cramp, most likely the running pace will drop tremendously because of the ramp. After the ramp, its down-hill all the way back to the finishing point but the area in front of Bank Negara was busy with traffic but the police did a good job of controlling it. Anyway, the crowd control was much better compare to PBM and we marathon runners didn’t have to push and fight our ways to the right finishing funnel. I completed on chip time 5h18s, a dismaying performance compare to the PBM2007.
On the positive side, drinks and sponging stations were aplenty and located at every 5km in the first 30km and every 2km the last 12km! No problem getting properly hydrated. However, sometimes I don’t stop for drinks but more in need of medicated oil for the cramps instead. Medical officers from St Johns/Red Crecent were helpful as usual. I consumed two Power Gels ie: one on 20km and got a one free at 30km. On a different note, no cheers from the road-side bystanders and on-lookers. I was expecting more cheering since this is on open road vs closed road (Costal Highway on the PBM route). Only handfuls will clap or cheer. However, Adidas – Nothing is Impossible team at least up-lift the running spirit on two locations along the route by making loud noise with fog horn and shouting. Even at one of the locations Adidas team came fully equipped with run-thru shower which looked more like a torrential rain-pour to me. I avoided this since I don’t like to run in wet shoes!
After crossing the finishing line, I took a short rest at Dataran Merdeka, the gang waited for me. I returned the timing chip thru a person who came to collect and pass me the RM20 deposit. Good service! Took a few photo with my cell phones after calling my wife. Limping back to the hotel with the gang and still manage in time to have the complimentary hotel breakfast at 10:30am!
KLIM2007 was a more professional event organizing compare to PBM but the route was more intimidating and challenging. PBM route was closely 100% to traffic and less ramp.
A long hot shower later, walked to Petaling Street to buy some “bak-kua” for wife and a dial-watch for Yan Yan. Drove back home at 12:30pm but stop at Kampar for the famous chick-bread.
Overall it’s a long hard race but training for the PMB2008 starts Apr 07 allowing myself one full week to rest. And this time, will really aim to finish sub 4h:30m and to run with guts!! ...
Stay tuned for the next running update ..... in the mean time to reward myself will purchase a PSP portable gaming console.
After lunch, we walked to OCM to collect our running t-shirt, bib number and chip. Met HW Koh there with his wife. Good thing about KLIM was that you can register on-line and only pay for the registration upon t-shirt/number collection. PBM should follow the same as well as to introduce the chip timing system which will make it more professional.
After that, we walked all the way to Dataran Merdeka to survey the area and in preparation for tomorrow’s race. In spite, the heavy traffic, it took no longer than 15 mins walk from our hotel.
In the later afternoon, we took a cab to Berjaya Times Square for movie and dinner. Return back to hotel at about 8:30pm.
At night, sleep didn’t come easy in spite the tiring drive from Kulim. Toss and turn in bed but I still set both the table clock and cell phone to alarm-off at 3:15am. Actually ‘woke-up’ at 3:10am, did all the usual toilet business. Drank a cereal 3-in-1 from Khou. A very good idea to consume a sachet before early morning run, not only its warm but can provide additional carbohydrate. And I am out of the door at about 3:40am. Many runners already walking towards Merdeka Square. I was surprise to see half-marathon runners already start trickling into the Merdeka Square area although their start time is only at 6am. The buildings were beautifully lit.
I did some stretching and warm-up. And also did the last-time pre-race toilet business on one of the mobile toilets which was conveniently located.
Runners start to enter the barricade area starting at 4:00am but I enter 10 minutes before 4:30am. Saw Jamie Pang at the starting line, said hi and introduced myself. He mentioned me in his blog as well. Race started sharp at 4:30am. Much more full marathon runners compare to PBM2007.
My strategy was to start slow at average 9.5 km/hour and try to hold-on to this pace for as long as possible. The air is quite humid but windless. I am not familiar with KL roads, some of them are not brightly lit and some are not totally close with busy traffic on the outer lane. The first 10km was relatively easy and less traffic as we passed along the Sg Besi toll and the air-force strip beside it. We need to run up and down ramps and gradient roads which were to me still cope able in the first 20km. The hills training which I put in probably helped. I still felt very comfortable at this point. However, after the 20 km there are more ramps I think along Jln Tun Razak and highway leading to Parlimen and Jln Duta. This is unexpected and about 25km or so, minor cramps and stiffness on the thigh and calf started to sets-in and this resulted in painfully slow walk-run rhythm. At one point both the calf and thigh were total cramp and have to be iced and oiled. Pain was unbearable and fortunately a mobile medic aids on bike drove-by and provided the ice and oil relief. Stopped for about 5mins before resume the walk-run and finally at the last 10km, walked most of the way fearing a total cramp again. The last stretch of ramp on Mahameru Highway was really a killer, not only the sun was already high up at 9am but the long uphill gradient was very intimidating. I can actually see front runners on opposite side of the roads climbing the ramps. There was a u-turn infront but at that point I do not know what far it was before the turn. Even if I don’t suffer any cramp, most likely the running pace will drop tremendously because of the ramp. After the ramp, its down-hill all the way back to the finishing point but the area in front of Bank Negara was busy with traffic but the police did a good job of controlling it. Anyway, the crowd control was much better compare to PBM and we marathon runners didn’t have to push and fight our ways to the right finishing funnel. I completed on chip time 5h18s, a dismaying performance compare to the PBM2007.
On the positive side, drinks and sponging stations were aplenty and located at every 5km in the first 30km and every 2km the last 12km! No problem getting properly hydrated. However, sometimes I don’t stop for drinks but more in need of medicated oil for the cramps instead. Medical officers from St Johns/Red Crecent were helpful as usual. I consumed two Power Gels ie: one on 20km and got a one free at 30km. On a different note, no cheers from the road-side bystanders and on-lookers. I was expecting more cheering since this is on open road vs closed road (Costal Highway on the PBM route). Only handfuls will clap or cheer. However, Adidas – Nothing is Impossible team at least up-lift the running spirit on two locations along the route by making loud noise with fog horn and shouting. Even at one of the locations Adidas team came fully equipped with run-thru shower which looked more like a torrential rain-pour to me. I avoided this since I don’t like to run in wet shoes!
After crossing the finishing line, I took a short rest at Dataran Merdeka, the gang waited for me. I returned the timing chip thru a person who came to collect and pass me the RM20 deposit. Good service! Took a few photo with my cell phones after calling my wife. Limping back to the hotel with the gang and still manage in time to have the complimentary hotel breakfast at 10:30am!
KLIM2007 was a more professional event organizing compare to PBM but the route was more intimidating and challenging. PBM route was closely 100% to traffic and less ramp.
A long hot shower later, walked to Petaling Street to buy some “bak-kua” for wife and a dial-watch for Yan Yan. Drove back home at 12:30pm but stop at Kampar for the famous chick-bread.
Overall it’s a long hard race but training for the PMB2008 starts Apr 07 allowing myself one full week to rest. And this time, will really aim to finish sub 4h:30m and to run with guts!! ...
Stay tuned for the next running update ..... in the mean time to reward myself will purchase a PSP portable gaming console.
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