White Ribbon Run And Week 8 IMMY

Last Sunday, myself, wifey and wifey's friend ran the White Ribbon Run organised by AWAM. It was a non-competitive run held to raise awareness for "Against Violence to Women". It was one of the cheapest race in recent time with a fast-dry like running t-shirt and unexpected finisher's medal and goody bag. No prize money for winner and that has sort of reduced the presence of fast runners. On the same day was the GM Klang 21KM run. 

Andrew, Chit, Tjean Na, Wifey and Don

The organiser mentioned that close to 3000 people registered for the race and from my estimates, perhaps close to 2000 showed up. It was almost a 50-50 split between the 7km and 3km category with many parents seen with their family and young kids. A good sign that parents are embracing the healthier lifestyle now.

Part of the crowd at the front

It was a race for me that I will treat as a "training". Not because there were no prizes (as I've never come close to podium anyway) but because part of the plan for my IMMY training is to "stick to the plan" - and it was actually a rest day on Sunday. Plans changes and since i've rested more than I should in Week 8, a "race" on Sunday doesn't sound too bad of a plan.

With Don. A regular at running events and part of the Skechers' family

So, what was my plan? The route was part of Bukit Tunku which promises some hill work and opportunity for speed work. I decided to turn it into a tempo run. Make it a RACE tempo run. That would meant effort of pushing through at LTpace of 4:24 or thereabout and within  acceptable effort as I have a spinning session planned after the run. One has to be "efficient" with the time and effort put in.

The officials flagging the participants

The horn blasted and everyone started running. For a non-competitive race, many were seen sprinting the first 100m up a hill. Don was strong and pulled away really fast like on turbo. It was also that moment that my bib has to dislodge from my running pouch and I had to slow down to check to see if I should hold, pin or remove the bib altogether. 

I tried catching up and clearly I failed in the first 500m. Don and a few others were too fast and I was pushing the run to be a 5c workout if i continued to push. Having a bit more racing experiences help me to be more pragmatic with my race approach. First, i have to stop to fix my bib, which i did. While doing tat near JKR, i subconsciously counted 6 person that ran past me, plus 3 others in front, I have to catch up to 9 person if I want to test how competitive I was.

And you know what? I allowed myself to push a bit harder going under 3:30 pace and caught up with Don near KTM station behind Bank Negara. That was a good interval run! 

I was clearly starting to be disorientated due to hyperventilating

By some luck, Don slowed down and I managed to overtake him about KM3 and he kept close. For once, in a race, i was leading. :D It was sure lonely out there with just the motorbike leading! Just when I thought I will continue to lead, two runners (later found out to be brothers) overtook me at KM5. They were fast - my 4:15 pace looked stationery as they pulled very strongly away. I then realised I was slowing down and my 5km was completed in a mediocre 21:30. Factoring in the hills, It was actually a-OK timing. Of course things can be better and excuses such as these should not even be justified (that it's a hill, hence, slower is OK)
Don overtook me soon after and then an expat runner cut me with ease - 10-2-1-3-4 and finally 5th. It was a short lived 2km lead in the front and a reality 5th placing in the end.

as captured by Tey at final 50m

I crossed the line in 30:48 (Garmin timing). A good pace that if i can hold it for another 3km, I possibly score a PB for 10km at 43:12 - and that was at lactate threshold pace 4:24; very manageable speed!

Goody bags waiting!

It was a well organised race taking into account the no-prize policy. However, they more than made up for it when there were 50-lucky draws and countless trolley travelling bags for grab! I did not get any lucky draw, but I know a viking friend grab a 32inch LED TV!

nicely done Andrew

My consolation for coming in 5th was a cap and the feeling that I know I put in yet another quality training session to start my Week 9 IMMY dream. Week 8 has been challenging with work-travel and these will only get busier as the new year comes in. Not going to complain as the job pays my bill, and racing is just a balance that gives me the opportunity to be better than I currently am. Not complaining of the low mileage, but happy to say since IMMY training started, the journey has been rewarding.

Week 8 IMMY. 

Accumulated 8 weeks time committed worked out to be 53hours 26mins and 10 seconds covering the distance of 1421.81km. I can already tell that 2014 will be an awesome-mileage year. Starting of Week 9 and a decent 45km has been logged since. Time to turn up the intensity and work on shorter speedwork on both run and bike. 

If you are training like me, don't stop, I will catch up soon.

For more photos of the AWAM White Ribbon Run, Click Here for Part 1 and here, for Part 2. Don't forget to LIKE TriStupe.com on Facebook!