Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Taiping Marathon apology (or should I call it complaint letter)

A fellow runner friend of mine, Adeline was very helpful in calling the race director of the Taiping Marathon to help me in my plight of getting what I think is rightfully mine, which is 3rd place in the half marathon. The race director, Dr. Rajendran asked me to email him with my dispute. I finally received a response from him yesterday. I was so disgusted reading his email that I didn't even bother to finish it. The email was titled "Apology" but it felt like the race director was writing a letter of complaint to me!

(pls click on the letter for full view)


There are a few "problems" with this email. At the race venue, I got into an argument with PAAA (Perak Amateur Athletics Association) about the results. They told me their decision is final and any complaints should be directed to the race director. When I direct my complaints to the race director, he tells me PAAA is the final decision maker and he can't overturn their decision. I got "tai-chi" from one place to another. GREAT.

Thanks a lot, Mr. Race Director. Until Taiping Marathon sees a new organizer, you won't see me running it anytime soon.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Pearl Izumi Tri Fly III Triathlon Shoes



Pearl's Tri Fly IIIs deliver top-notch comfort and efficiency for general riding and for racing triathlons. For top comfort even if you ride without socks, they feature light, breathable, lined mesh uppers that conform to your feet. Plus, there are vented nylon soles that provide excellent pedaling efficiency and keep you dry and comfortable. The lined heels hold your feet securely in place, too. You'll also love the heel straps, which help speed your transitions and the quick strap closures.

Features:

  • SELECT 1:1 Power Plate features SELECT Grade Nylon and Composite fiber plate for light stiffness and durability, Direct-Vent technology for cooling and draining, concave shaping for ultra low 7.0mm stack height, enhanced plate stiffness and anatomic support, and built in Longitudinal Arch Support for optimal support, power, and efficiency.
  • Fully lined mesh upper for bare foot comfort
  • Compatible with SPD and all three hole LOOK pedal systems


Availability: Size EU43 (US size 9)
Price: RM430

Here's a review from TriRadar.com on this shoes.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

AXN Big Challenge Malaysia 2012 (Straits Quay, Penang)

Date: 27th October 2012, Saturday
Venue: Straits Court, Ground Floor, Straits Quay Mall
Time: 10am - 8pm



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Taiping International Marathon 2012 Race Report

Venue: Padang Esplanade Taiping
Date: 16th September 2012
Time: 6.00am

As an event organizer, I do view the success of an event from a slightly different perspective. I try to be more forgiving of the race organizers if I have any criticism of the event at all. After all, I personally know the challenges each race organizer goes through and I try to take the short comings with a pinch of salt. You know you can never please everybody so as long as the majority of your participants are happy, you have done well.

However, the Taiping International Marathon was in my most humbled opinion, a mess from the start. For one, there was the incorrect printing of bib numbers. A women open marathoner got a men's open bib number. There was no proper information in the "race pack" on the race details. No route map was included and there was no instructions on what that tiny round plastic thing was or what to do with it. Of course, having run races for the past 7 years, I am already very familiar with what is a disposable timing chip and know how it should be attached but as race organizers we need to account for all types of participants. A newbie would be clueless on what to do with that!

I signed up for the women's open half marathon and the race started pretty much on time. I was told that the marathon start was delayed. My target was to try and run a 5:40 min/km pace (pace at MPSP Larian Hijau was 5:43 min/km). The starting pace of the front pack was pretty fast (5:00 min/km) and I had to hold myself back quite a bit and not get overtly excited and pace with them. I held back despite having tons of people pass me as I had a plan and I was going to stick to it. 21km is a long way to go to "pancit" after 5km. I hit the first water station at around 4.5km and it was a disaster! Two volunteers were scrambling to handle the horde of runners crowding the water station. I felt it was too much to bear so I made a decision to skip it. I picked up an almost full bottle of water a bit later and drank from that instead.

The route of the run was quite pleasant to run, even though some parts appear to be quite boring, think the industrial estate part before Giant, but overall I did enjoy it. It wasn't flat but quite rolling thanks to quite a number of flyovers that you have to go over, not to mention the one hill that comes just 1km+ into the race. I felt I ran well and was strong all the way until the finish. I didn't pace with anyone, just ran by myself most of the time. I started to pass people about 10km into the race and continue to overtake every woman I saw ahead of me. At the 12-13km mark, I met my wonderful support crew of Lie Wei and her mum who cheered on me! Slightly further down I would meet Lie Wei's sister, Lie Yee who jumped in on the run as part of her training. The last woman I was to overtake was only about 300-400m to the finish line. I finished third but sadly was considered disqualified as I lost one of the ribbons on route to the finish.

Pia-ing to finish line
Photo credit: Lie Wei

Photo credits: Kho Kwang Leng

Photo credits: Jamie Loke

Happy to come in 3rd place
Photo credits: Lie Wei

I do recall collecting two ribbons, the first being yellow and the second, purple. However, it was windy and all and the ribbons were flimsy. I did not even see it go missing. It was frustrating as I was told to wait while they verified my placing with the referees out on the course who were manually taking down numbers. I wonder what was the need for manual referees when there is a timing chip checkpoint. I spent a lot of time trying to find someone to talk to for this. Every race official I approached either gave me the blank, clueless stare or pointed to someone else. No one seem to be able to want to help me until I got so mad I went into a yelling fit. That was when people started to pay attention and a guy who was a secretariat got one of his referees to take down my number to check.

It took 4 hours for then to work out the final results and all the winners/potential winners were just kept waiting aimlessly. Kudos to the emcee though for being such a good entertainer. The result tabulation itself was a mess. I was at the official tent to witness this first hand. There was no proper verification of the results. 
For example, the manual marathon results were not even cross referenced to the timing chip results. If that is the case, why bother having such an expensive timing system? It's a bloody waste of sponsorship money. The marathon results were only cross referenced when a few Kenyan ladies came to the official tent to complain that there was some discrepancies in the results. This was another unfortunate situation and I feel very sad for those marathoners who got disqualified because they unintentional took the wrong turn. The signs were not clear and there were no volunteers to direct the way. I know they did not intend to cut short the route and they were just another casualty of bad event organization.

There was also a case where the prizes were given out and some guy was called on to stage to receive his prize only to have another guy come out to defend that he was the rightful prize winner as he was given a placing tag. In the end, the race officials gave the prize to the owner of the placing tag. I feel so embarrassed for the guy who lost out but he was so gracious in accepting the news. Hats off to you, sir! I am also seriously doubting who was the rightful winner because the race officials were just not doing their job right.

At the end of a 4-hour wait, I was told I was officially disqualified as I was missing one ribbon and only one referee on the course noted down my bib number. I was not to get my prize or placing even though the timing chip printout clearly stated I finished and passed through the checkpoint.

The list of issues did not end here. The location of water stations were not made known to participants so I was left second guessing when my next hydration point was to be. Water stations were badly managed, only 2 volunteers per station, and they were not ready to cope with the amount of runners. Instead of giving out water in cups, they handed out the water in 600ml bottles. What a waste of water! Runners just took a few sips and discarded the entire bottle and later on, a lot of these water stations actually ran out of water. If they had managed the water distribution a lot better, there would plenty of water to spare. There was no isotonic drink but the water stations gave out Spritzer Pop which was so sweet and gassy I doubt it would be fun to drink while on the run. I gave it a miss and stuck to water. The location of the water stations were also too close by in some situations, for e.g. one water station at 4.5km and another just 3km down the road.

The route markers were tiny! If you didn't pay attention, you can almost miss them. I am not surprised that people actually got lost! At certain critical junctions, there weren't even any volunteers or policeman to guide the runners. It was actually quite dangerous as runners had to run across road with no traffic control.

The finish line was so badly managed. It wasn't properly cordoned off and people were walking all over the place. You can hardly see the categories and after awhile all the race officials just abandoned the finish line altogether even though there were still marathoners coming in until 12noon. When they finished there was no one to give them water or medals anymore. I can't even begin to imagine what they felt. It must be horrid.

One of the weirdest thing to happen at the finish line is, that there was NO water! I came in thristy like crazy and there was no water but Spritzer Pop in the goodie bag. The distribution of the goodie bag was also very messy. They just handed them out without even checking if you are a runner or not so, I am not surprised if people were getting goodie bags that they weren't even entitled for.

However, despite the badly organized run, I am grateful to my support crew of Lie Wei, her sis and her mum who so graciously hosted my stay in Taiping. Thanks so much for all the homecooked meals! They were wonderful!

At this point in time, I am still in discussion with the race director on my placing. Stay tuned for updates on that.
Happier times with ultrafast runner, Debbie Chinn. Even she had some challenges with her marathon results.
Photo credits: Miow Chin

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

CEP Compression Socks Review

Thanks to CEP Malaysia, I had 3 weeks to test out the CEP compression socks and here is my review on the product.

This is the second pair of compression socks that I have come to own. The first was the 2xu compression socks that I got for free from the Newton Run in 2010. I took the CEP compression socks out on intervals, tempos, LSDs and I slept in it at night for recovery. Although the material of the socks are quite thick, I never felt they were hot to run with. However, when I wore them to bed, they can get a tad bit hot being worn inside my bedroom. Nevertheless, upping the fan/air-con volume will easily solve that.

The socks are not too hard to put on once you figure out the right system. I use the roll and pull system. I first roll up the socks to slip it onto my foot before rolling out the socks and gently pulling it upwards. It should not be an issue putting on these socks during a triathlon transition. They come on pretty quick. Once on, the socks felt snug and compressed. The effect of compression felt so much better than the 2xu compression socks. With the 2xu, I felt as if I was just wearing another normal pair of socks.

On the runs, the CEP felt great. You can feel the effect of the compression socks hugging your muscles. After some really hard intervals and tempos, my legs still feel fresh. Even after a brutal 24km LSD, the next day I did not get any muscle soreness. When I slept in them, I woke up the next day and went on a hard run with my legs feeling good.

Conclusion, this product is great because it is not too difficult to put on and it held up really well on all types of runs. On top of that it aids recovery.

CEP is endorsed by a group of talented athletes including New York Marathon champion, Meb Keflezighi, Ironman World Champion, Miranda Carfrae and Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Andy Potts. I am wearing the exact same compression socks as they are :).

 

To read up more on CEP amazing graduated compression technology which is what makes the socks so great, head to their website.

Sizing chart:

Colours: Black, White

Price: RM230 (RM207 with 10% discount)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Campaign for A Lane 2012

Venue: Esplanade, Penang
Date: 9th September 2012
Time: 7.00am

Firstly, kudos the G Club Cyclist and Rotary Club Tanjung Bungah for a well organized event. There wasn't any glitch from collection of goodie bag, ride flag off or finish area. The food line and medal collection was simple and hassle free. There were enough buffet lines for food such that the crowd was well spaced out. The expo was also pretty great... it is one of those rare glimpses of event expos where there are actually tons of booths with actual things to look at or buy!

Did I enjoy my second CFAL (my first being its inaugral event in 2009)? Lie Wei and I rode together all the way. I definitely took the ride easy. It was not a race and I wasn't really pushing myself. Granted I have not been on my bike since Century Ride in Ipoh also says a lot about my biking fitness. There were parts of the ride which I did have a good time but overall I felt I was jostling for road space half of the time and trying to avoid getting taken out by my dear fellow cyclists the other half. Perhaps next time, I need to ditch the clipless shoes and use my sneakers. Personally, I think a lot of the cyclists who participated in CFAL still had a lot to learn about good bike handling skills and cycling etiquette and a cycling event of such a large scale might not be the best place to do so. I also think that road users in Penang still have a long way to go in "sharing the road".

Lie Wei and I along the airport stretch
(Photo credit: Yeow Chin Hong)

Some incidences still stay fresh in my mind:

1. During the long straight the stretch that led towards Pulau Betong, I called out "On your right" to a cyclist in front of me as I moved to try and overtake. He did not move, so Lie Wei then called out "Please keep to your left" and again he did not move. In the end, we both had to overtake him by moving even further out on the road.  He was not wearing a MP3 player so I am very sure he heard us both. I think some cyclists also need to learn how to "share the road".

2. While making my way up from Balik Pulau to Teluk Bahang through the hilly section I had a few cyclist lose cadence on the steeper sections and wobbled their way into my path as I was overtaking them, thus I had to swerve out to avoid being hit by them.

3. At Titi Kerawang, a fellow cyclist on my left suddenly yelled  "Cramp" and immediately serve sharply to the right as he headed for the road shoulder on the other side to stop. I am so sorry that all I could offer back was "Oii" instead of "Hope the cramp gets better" as I was trying to avoid being rammed. A big thank you to his fellow friend in front who braked suddenly in front of me to stop and join him. Pulling over would have been much better.

3. Along Gurney, which in my opinion, is a particularly dangerous stretch to cycle on, seeing the amount of cars parking or leaving from the side of the road, I grabbed my water bottle to drink only to hear Lie Wei call, "Car coming out". Erms... a bit too late, with my water bottle in hand, I moved to grab my brake as the car in front of me braked to allow the car to leave the parking lot. To avoid him, I swerved out onto oncoming traffic on the opposite side. I was thankful the car on the opposite was going slow or I would have been road kill.

4. After my near death incident along Gurney, a women driving a car pulled up beside me while on the same stretch and drove  really close to me. Definitely not 1.5m thus leaving me no choice but to slow down and moved behind her.

Things that CFAL organizers can do to improve on:

1. Even though I understand that the purpose of CFAL is to create awareness for cyclists in Penang and to have our own lane, but it might be important to note that having too many participants on the road may actually compromise the safety of the event. Penang roads are very narrow in certain sections and too many cyclist can overcrowd the roads. CFAL organizers may want to consider limiting participants to maybe 2000?

2. Better placed water stations. I skipped the first two water stations because the road was so narrow and there were just too many cyclists cramming their way to get to the table. I didn't want to bother and I had two full bottles on my bike with me which was more than enough for 80km ride. The second water station was the worst as it was placed near such a busy intersection in Balik Pulau not only causing a jam of cyclist but a traffic jam of vehicles who had to wait for the mob of cyclists to clear the road before they could continue driving.

Group photo with some of the organizers
(Photo credit: Chung Mei Ling)


CFAL 2012 Medal... nice one

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Skins A200 Women's Racerback Top



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Look good, feel good. Improved tailoring gives you a comfortable fit and a slim silhouette. We've introduced seasonal color collections with inspiration drawn from the fashion runway catwalks. Added protection.

SKINS fabrics optimize your body temperature whether it's hot or cold out there and provides 50+ UV protection in non-mesh areas. No more excuses!

76% Nylon - 24% Spandex


Sizing chart:



Availability: M 

Price: RM220

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Larian Valdor 2012

Date: 09 Dec12 
Venue: SJK(C) Valdor, Sg. Bakap, Penang 
Distance: 11 and 8km 
Tel: 012-4526935 
Entry form here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/24iwk2dyus269y5/ValdorRun2012.pdf?%20m

NTCRC Run 2012

Date: 4 November 2012 | Sunday | 7:00am
Venue: Bangunan NTCRC, Taman Nibong Tebal Jaya, Nibong Tebal, Penang
Distance: 9.5km and 7.8km
Contact: 0125812189 | khoobakkiang@yahoo.com

Entry form here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/55e1mz9r13p9a0d/NTCRC2012-EntryForm.pdf?%20m

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Tips for running your first 10km race

Pre-race
Try to eat a light breakfast at least 1-2 hours before the start of the race. This keeps your body's energy high. A normal race breakfast for me would be multigrain toast with peanut butter and a banana. You can take cereal or muesli bars but always remember to read the nutritional labels. A lot of cereals or muesli claim to be healthy options but are in fact loaded with tons of sugar! If you are watching your weight, you need to watch your sugar intake. Remember not to try eating anything new on race day. It could lead to stomach problems.

During race
I am going to break down this segment into a few different parts.

Pace
A lot of newbies make the mistake of going out too fast at the start of the race. I understand that the start is very exciting and the adrenaline in your blood just wants to make you shoot off. However, starting too fast may result in a painful finish. After 2-3km, your body discovers that it has started to fast but you have used so much energy that you have nothing left for the rest of the race. Remember to stay calm and ALWAYS run at your own pace!

Target time
By now you should have run a sufficient number of training runs such that you should have an idea what your pace is and approximately how long it should take you to run a 10km race. Set a target time for yourself and use that to pace yourself to the finish line.

Hydration
Hydration is very important for good running performance. Try to drink at every water station. Stop, grab a drink, walk and take sips. Aim to drink just a portion of the cup. A full cup of water may be a bit too much and running with sloshing liquid in your stomach can lead to a side stitch.

Post-race
Walk/jog 5-10minutes to cool down and then stretch all the muscle groups. Check out this link for the top ten running stretches:

https://lornpearsontrains.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/running-stretches.jpg

The body needs good quality food to recover well after a race. The most critical window is 30 minutes after a run. Aim to get some good quality protein and carbs into your body. The easiest way to do this is to grab a glass of low-fat chocolate milk or a fruit smoothie.

Happy running!