2010 Resolutions

Mileage:
2009 - 1672.8km
(2008 - 1224.1km)

Races in 2009:
1. 15.03.2009; Larian Amal Seri Sinar; 10km; 1:19:30
Was depressed and had been binging after SCSM 2008. As a "come-back" race, I was happy to complete it even though the timing was lousy.

2. 12.04.2009; Orange Run; 11km; 1:19:54
A free run with lots of fun.

3. 26.04.2009; Bidor Half Marathon; Half; 2:33:51
Lousy timing but felt satisfied as I did put efforts to run.

4. 17.05.2009; New Balance-Pacesetters 15K Run; 15km; 1:50:35
Timing was worse than 2008 by about 2 min+. Anyway, the route was different from previous year. Just felt not happy that I had not improved at all.

5. 07.06.2009; Malakoff Penang; 26km; 3:17:30
Not an impressive timing, but was very proud that I "ran" the whole distance.

6. 28.06.2009; Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon; Full; 5:58:30
Still suffering binge problem. Trainings were not consistent. What could I blame.

7. 12.07.2009; McD Olympic Day Run; 7km; 49:45
Same route as 2008, but slower by 13 seconds. I had wasted the whole year.

8. 25.07.2009; Shape Run; 11.5km; 1:21:50
Well, ran for the goodies.

*** Due to lots of binging and low training mileage, chickened out from the Adidas King of the Road (21.7km) on 2nd Aug.

9. 04.10.2009; Taylor's AdventuRun; 8km; 49:50
Guess it was under distance, otherwise I won't do this well. Anyway, slowly got back into training since Sep for the Borneo Marathon

10. 11.10.2009; Borneo International Marathon; Full; 5:15:24
Truly unexpected PB! Boosted my confidence!

11. 25.10.2009; Mizuno Wave Run; 11km; 1:10:30
Had been training tempo run** at double hill numerous times during weekday morning. Ran this race with full confidence and pia from the beginning until end. Truly satisfied.
** Easy run for my faster mates... but tempo run for me :P

12. 15.11.2009; KRI-Bukit Kinding Trail Run; 1:25:10
Ventured to a new world -- trail running. Got my first ever trophy!** Hope it doesn't end here.
** 22 participants in my category, 19 turned up, 10 trophies were offer :P

13. 22.11.2009; Penang Bridge International Marathon; Half; 2:24:16
I thought I could do better (sub 2:20), but NO. Gotta train more and lose more weight.

14. 06.12.2009; Salomon X-Trail Run 2009; 10km; 1:44:10
I really like trail running now!

15. 20.12.2009; Malakoff Kuala Lumpur; 12km; 1:13:06
Totally pia and very satisfied with the results. However, probably due to chip problem, my name was missing in the full result list... *sigh...

The resolutions:
Few days before running Borneo Marathon, I had a thought of not doing any marathon next year. I wanted to build stronger base in shorter distance like 10K and 21K, finish strong in each LSD training. I agree with Mr. Wan from RunnersMalaysia, I could be doing too much too soon. I should have reduced more weight first (better for the knees) and put more mileage before attempting full marathon.

I developed this feeling after training very hard with a few faster friends in Sep and Oct. I discover I do have the potential to go faster. I should vary the training methods by adding some tempo runs and speed workouts, in addition to the monotonous slow easy runs. Another important factor is weight. I ran the PB of 5:15:24 in Borneo with the weight of about 85kg. Saw some sources which have mentioned the running time could be cut by about 2 seconds per mile for every 1lb lost.

Let say I was 70kg when running Borneo:
85kg - 70kg = 15kg ==> 33lbs
42km ==> 26 miles
Possible time saved: 33lbs X 26 miles x 2 seconds = 1716 seconds ==> 28 min 36 seconds
If everything was ideal (usually this rarely happen :P), I might have achieved 4:46:48 in Borneo!

Anyway, this is just theoretical. My weight was not 70kg. Even with lighter body, one still has to train well. But I see the potential here. I reached around 90kg five weeks before Borneo, every step was so heavy. After returning back to consistent training and shed about 5kg before the big event, I could feel the steps were much smoother and finally attained the unexpected PB!

My colleague in Darmstadt, Germany, sent me an email in mid of Nov 2009. He invited me to run the marathon in Frankfurt with the colleagues in HQ on 31st Oct 2010. The fire in my heart is ignited and I am very tempted to do this. Since it is so far away and the air ticket is super expensive, I have to do more than running marathon. I have got couple of buddies to travel Italy with me. At this stage, I have planned to run Venice Marathon on 24th Oct and Frankfurt Marathon on 31st Oct (yeahh... since travel so far away, might as well run two marathons... kiasu larr).

For the Frankfurt Marathon, there is a facility to engrave the name and time on the medal with a fee of EUR8. I gotta make a good timing for this purpose, really have to lose weight and train consistently. Since the theory tells me I could run 4:46 if I was 70kg at this stage, let's realize it and make it even better. So my 2010 resolutions would be:

1. 70kg by the time running Venice/Frankfurt Marathon
2. Achieve a timing of sub 4:40 in either marathon

Feeling dazzled when putting these goals. Not easy for me especially the weight issue. But I think this is the time to face it and overcome it for good. Will do my best!

*p.s. The new Energizer Night Marathon on 27th Mar and SCKLM on 27 Jun (to better my time) are also very tempting... :-)