SPECTATORS' GUIDE TO Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016.

SPECTATORS' GUIDE TO Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2016.

Do you have a loved one or friends that will cheer and support you during the marathon? There is nothing like a familiar face when you are digging deep during the race to boost your morale.

Here I am presenting the first ever spectators’ guide to SCKLM. As per last year , the LRT will start operating at 3am and the good news is that from 3am to 6am, the LRT is free.

If you are supporting your loved one or friend , you can park and ride from any of the LRT stations and send them off at The Dataran Merdeka. The flag off for the marathon is at 4 am.

After the flag off, hurry back to the Masjid Jamek LRT Station and take the train to KLCC LRT Station. You have to hurry because the 5:30 pace group will appear at corner of Jalan Ampang turning into the KLCC in just 23mins or at 4:23am. If you think that you can't make it in 23mins, take the LRT directly to Jelatek LRT station.

From Jelatek LRT Station walk in the direction to Jalan Ampang or towards Great Eastern Mall, the 5:30 pace group will go up to the Akleh Highway at 5:10am. This is at the KM 9 mark. After that go to the opposite direct of the Akleh over Jalan Jelatek.The 5:30 pace group will pass the same way towards MRR2 at 6:12 am which is Km17.

After that, take the LRT just one stop to Setiawangsa LRT Station, walk towards the Duke Highway. The 5:30 pace group will pass this point under Jalan Jelatek or the KM24 mark at 7:07 am.After that , the runners will be on their own on the Duke Highway. You can either take your car and go and cheer them at the Segambut roundabout towards Jalan Duta. The 5:30 pace group will pass the roundabout at 8:18 am which is Km33. Thereafter, you can drive towards the National Museum and wait for us at the bridge towards KL Sentral at 9:12am. I believe the TPRC Running Group had a support station here in 2014.

If you don’t have a car, take the LRT back to Masjid Jamek Station. Walk towards Bank Negara, the marathoners will come out from Jalan Tun Ismail and turn right into Jalan Parlimen. This is the 37.5km mark and the 5:30 pace group will appear at 8:53am.

After that, you can head back to the finishing line or maybe wait for us at the Bukit Aman Tunnel, we will pass this tunnel around 9:25 am so that all us can finish the 42.195km around the city of Kuala Lumpur at 9:30am.

See you guys there on the 7th of August 2016.tt

By Kin K Yum 

Reproduced with permission. If you wish to know more about SCKLM 5:30 hours pacer, you can click the facebook link " Kin K Yum " to follow KK.  

Tips to a successful completion 5:30 pace group in SCKLM with awesome pacers 2016.

It's less than a month to Standard Chartered KL Marathon. Here are the tips to a successful completion with the 5:30 pace group with Kelvin Ng Ch,Azhar Omran, Ahmad Hadafi Bin Jus and I.

This group’s balloon is Orange Colour. This group is suited for those who are doing their FIRST Marathon.

However, the person who’s attempting this pace should has :
1) Been running regularly and has completed at least three to five Half Marathons.
2) Been able to complete a half marathon in 2:30 or less.
3) Done a long run of 30km at least once prior to the marathon. For those who haven’t done it, the Newton 30km on 23rd July is very suitable for SCKLM 2016.

The targets for each 10km of the marathon are as follows
10km - 1:18
20km - 2:36
30km - 3:54
40km - 5:12
42km - 5:30

Please note that we will stop at every drink station , we might run slightly under this pace to cater for stoppage time. However, we do target to complete the marathon in 5:30 GUN TIME.

Note that we are running in smaller steps up hill so naturally we will slow down. The hills that we are going to encounter are:-
1) From Beach Club to The Weld on Jalan P Ramlee at km 4.
2) Jelatek Ramp entrance to Akleh at km 9.
3) Ulu Klang Ramp entrance to Duke Highway. This is the halfway point at KM21.
4) Jalan Kuching Ramp to Segambut Roundabout at km 33.
5) Jalan Langgak Tunku after Tijani Condo climbing to Jalan Tun Ismail at KM 34.
6) At KM 37.5, you will pass the Bank Negara and can almost feel the finishing point at Dataran Merdeka. You are NOT DONE yet, turn right into Jalan Parlimen for your last 4.7km
7) After you pass the Parliament Building, that’s a gradual climb along the newly constructed Mahameru Highway tunnel all the way to the National Museum.
8) This is the start of the Heritage Route. Please enjoy this part of the route for you have earned it. You will pass the latest and most luxurious hotel in KL, the St Regis followed by the grand hotel, The Majestic which was first built by the Sarkies brothers who also built The Raffles in Singapore, The E&O in Penang and The Peninsula in Hong Kong. On your right , you will see the icon of Kuala Lumpur which is the old Railway Station and the old railway office built in Moorish style followed by The National Mosque.
9) The last 200m, we will pass the Bukit Aman Tunnel, Make some noise, it has the best echo effect of all tunnels in KL.

Tips to prepare for the day.
1) Get sufficient sleep throughout the whole week leading to the marathon. You will be too excited to get a good night sleep on Saturday night.
2) Try to start carbo loading on Thursday. Simple carbohydrates such as Rice, Pasta, Bread etc. Avoid red meat on Saturday. It will take more energy to digest these food and it will sap the energy you need for the run.
3) Plan your nutrition and hydration properly for the marathon. You need a belt to carry these nutrition and some small change.If you feel hungry during the run, it is normal. If you feel bloated, then you are in trouble.
4) If you need to pee, check the colour. if it’s too dark, please drink more water. The urge to pee also means that you are properly hydrated.
5) Come for the 5km Friendship Run on Saturday to shake out those legs and sign up for the Pasta Party to meet new friends from all over the world.

KEEP CALM AND RUN

By Kin K Yum 

Reproduced with permission. If you wish to know more about SCKLM 5:30 hours pacer, you can click the facebook link " Kin K Yum " to follow KK.  

Hello CrossFit Pahlawan !

Hello CrossFit ! (ops... this suppose to post since last year after i joins CrossFit Pahlawan)

I'm hardly updating my blog as I found my new love!
Joins Crossfit Pahlawan foundation course back in June 2015, and i know im going to love it more!

So many things to learn in Crossfit. Always learning and trying new movements!

CrossFit is a fitness program created by Greg Glassman and is a registered trademark of CrossFit, Inc. which was founded by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai in 2000. Promoted as both a physical exercise philosophy and also as a competitive fitness sport, CrossFit workouts incorporate elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics, girevoy sport, calisthenics, strongman, and other exercises. It is practiced by members of over 13,000 affiliated gyms, roughly half of which are located in the United States, and by individuals who complete daily workouts (otherwise known as a "WODs" or "workouts of the day")

A paragraph that explain what is CrossFit about.

WOD - 1 hour high intensity work out of the day.

Mobility - The most interesting topic to learn and pickup ! A simple mobility workouts, spending 15 minutes on it everyday and I'm enjoying the benefits! Although i still have long way to catch up!

The benefit of mobility are so good that im enjoying it everyday. Improved mobility on my legs and hips helped my running, specially recently my SCHKM !

Not long ago on Saturday, 23 April 2016, CrossFit Pahlawan have its first in-house Pahlawan Challenge for members aka CrossFit Pahlawan 1 year anniversary ! It was team event where only for members. Morning session and evening session members basically are from different world and on that day we become teammates we fight we compete for the challenge!

Enjoyed all 3 events held on that day! We might not be the winning team of the day but we gains friendships, experience and fun during the event! 

Its was one of the Monday when we were doing the WOD, these Assault Air Bikes arrived! To be honest, i have no idea what this bike are, but i just know this bike being used in Crossfit Regional event! It must be good! 

Its been days, if not weeks, if not month these bikes are available for member use at CrossFit Pahlawan! Assault AirBike is fan bike, the resistant are depend on individual. The harder you pedal, the more resistant! 

The Assault Airbike resistant is way higher than my fluid trainer, a simple ride of 1 minutes are like in hell but can not compare directly for both. 

Soon its going to be my 1st year anniversary as CrossFitter with CrossFit Pahlawan ! 

Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2016

The thought of joining Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (SCHKM) 2016 were pop up in mind when i saw the facebook updates back in 2015 that 2016 will be the 20th anniversary year of SCHKM !!!

i thought why not joining this SCHKM this round on this special occasion ! A chit chat with friend found out that SCHKM is a very popular hot demand marathon in Hong Kong or Malaysia (at least among my running community)

Registration was fall on 25 Sept 2015, Friday. Somehow on Friday morning, i automatically wake up at 5:30am and get ready everything for work and im sitting in front my computer at 6:40am. Its the time im waiting for it, but somehow somewhere inside my mind have different thought!

I opened up the website and keep refreshing start from 6:50am. When the registration link appeared, i felt so excited. Proceed to register and its done!

This is my FIRST time running a marathon in Hong Kong yet everyone thought i'm been always running in Hong Kong! Yes, I did run in Hong Kong back to 2012 Ultra Trail Vibram Hong Kong 100KM...

Fast forward to 15 Jan 2016, my friend and i fly to Hong Kong on Friday. On the next day, we went to race expo for bib collection.

This trip, i was targeting 4:30 hours timing when i just registered for the race months ago. Somehow, this target this aim got forgotten as i'm so into Crossfit where i almost everyday check in to the box without fails, except rest day.

On 16 Jan, Hong Kong weather was not so good as its raining and cool but i like it! Weather forecast says tomorrow 17 Jan Sunday will be raining!

On the 17 January 2016, The SCHKM Race Day

I got the second wave starting time 6:45am. We left our hostel MongKok together with many others Malaysian runners who stay in the same building at 5:15am. Just 4 MTR stations away from Mongkok to the starting point!

The day was good at 5:45am, had our drop bag dropped to truck and we proceed to starting point waiting... We saw the first wave 6:15am took off. While we walking toward the starting line, we pickup plastic raincoat that first wave runners throw at roadside as it start to rain! We stand really in front near to starting line! Waitinggggg......Waiting... and waiting...  Suddenly its  HEAVY RAIN ! KNS... Run yet start and its rain! Lucky we have raincoat pickup earlier.

6:45AM
Flagged off! The race started! My race strategy always the simple one, where my
First 10km to clock 1 hour 10mins,
21KM at 2 hours 10mins to 15mins and lastly 30KM 3 hours 30mins as standard benchmark for sub-5 timing.

In the first KM, the road is like running down hills... without me realizing, my pace were faster than im suppose to be as reminded by friend! Then i try to control my pace... "I'm running my First marathon in Hong Kong, how wonderful its going to be" were running in my mental... The rain, from light to heavy does not stop me, but i felt good to push my legs!

The first thing i wanted to do after flagged off is pee! how come nobody go pee at roadside one??? Im running, keep running and forget where, i think some 30mins of running, suddenly i saw roadside there's runners pee-ing ! woohoo... time to release !!! its was wonderful... body felt lighter... resume back to run.

A lot of runners, really a lot of runners along the way, all the way and the rains, it rain, stop, and rain again! Thanks to my compression top, I never felt cold but wet. Water stations were good and im love the idea of big water bottles i think its 50Litres capacity as we seen in office were used !!! Unlike in Malaysia where uses 1.5L bottles which created bloody lot of rubbish!

First 10km timing were on target, and followed by 21km! Somewhere 15KM point, i was overtook by lead pacer who lead blind runner together with a friend. The friend have this music box playing Hong Kong oldies song! Split second spark decision hit my intention that i'm going to follow them! They are running at good pacing which i can try to follow as i'm feeling good, all system ready to go!

At 21KM, i felt something in my stomach! Aiks... Body need to release but i still can hold it. Waiting for the right time, right place to release! Whenever i ran pass mobile toilet, i will only stop when there's no queue, no people waiting... Just before the tunnel, suddenly saw a runner ran out from mobile toilet, and i know its time for the big business! Thank god, not much time spent in waiting, about 1 minutes and its just simple big business! Time loss for the break estimated about 5 minutes!

I lose sight of the lead pacer & blind runner and his friend! I'm all alone again, trying to fight back the time lost, i keep pushing my pace. Something in mind to chase for! After the short tunnel, its bridge, heading back to city. When its uphill, im focus and determined to pace myself. I noticed i can run a little bit faster when uphill... Keep pushing, somehow somewhere, the lead & blind runner and his friend came into my sight! Hoorey! It was at 30km mark i think, my pace is slow down and relax to pace with them as i know after 30km, there's a 3km long tunnel and long ascent up exiting the tunnel ! I pace with them and ran into the infamous tunnel with them...

Surprisingly, I did well in the tunnel and i felt good. Looking at my Polar RCX5 watch which suppose to be a great watch, but not for SCHKM as i use it as stop watch. Looking at the timing, i felt the need to bid goodbye to lead & blind runners in order for me to fight for 4:30 timing!

i had ran pass the 30km hit the wall mark and the infamous 3km tunnel, its time for me to speed up to 42KM finishing line! Although i can feel my left calf muscle were a bit tight, as long as no cramp hit me, i still able to push! in the last 5KM, i had another VFuel gel ! As im trying to run faster, the road were crowded i got blocked by slow runner and walking runner! KNS...

In the last 3KM, there's a fly over need to climb up! dammit! I did not see this coming! Suffer abit, but still able to push to it. 4:30 timing were so near yet so far for me to achieve it!

It's 4:33 when im crossing the finishing line!
It's my personal best timing since 2014 SCKLM marathon 4:45 !