..::EnAikAY::..

My Arctic Circle Story (Ep. 4 - Final)

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Fri, 15 May 2015 16:58:00 +0800

This might likely be the last episode of my Arctic Circle story. I'm going to focus only on the topic of how to photograph the Aurora. And as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm not a pro-photographer, I only learnt these tips from YouTube and reading from internet. I just want to share how I captured the Aurora Borealis. So if you are interested, read on.

Aurora Borealis at Ersfjordbotn, in Tromso, Norway. The little red guy there at the bottom center of the picture is me trying to take a picture of the Aurora.
(Picture credit: Nikita Pere, another awesome solo traveler I met in Tromso)

1) Basic Equipment

- DSLR camera - or any camera that has the option for manual setting (i.e change aperture, shutter speed, ISO, timer, white balance). I used Nikon D7000.

- Tripod - a must have item.

- Wide angle lens, especially with f/2.8. The smaller this f number, the better. I used a 11-16mm f/2.8 lens for this aurora shot.

- Spare batteries - because in colder temperature the battery may dry out quite fast.

2) Camera Setting

- ISO: High ISO setting is required. It ranges from ISO1000 to maybe ISO2000 or higher, depending on the ambient lights at the surrounding.

- Aperture: I set it at smallest 'f'' number I can, based on the lens I used. In my case, it was f/2.8.

- Shutter speed: Similar like ISO setting, it varies depending on the ambient lights, as well as the intensity of the aurora itself. My setting ranged from 10secs to 25secs exposure. You have to keep on trying and changing the shutter speed setting to get the best exposure. Because of this long exposure requirement, that's why a tripod is a must.

- White balance: This was something I didn't know much. But my friend Nikita told me to use 5000K for the white balance setting to bring up the dark-blue-ish colour temperature of the night sky. 'Warmer' white balance setting will make the dark sky turns slightly brownish-yellowish.

- Change to manual focus on your lens, and set the focus to be at infinity. In the dark you cannot rely on the auto-focus as most of the times your camera won't be able to focus in the darkness.

- You can either use a remote shutter, or you can also the built in auto-timer on your camera (e.g. 2secs or 5secs). We do not want to have any vibration at the camera when the shutter opens for long period of time or else the image captured will be blurry.

3) Others

There's only one final thing.. well, perhaps two things.

First, wear warm clothing and use proper snow boots if the area is covered in snow. You need to be standing outside in the cold for hours.

Second, be patient. Be extra patient...

It may not be clear in this picture, but there were purple and blue-ish colors too in this aurora.

A shooting star decided to join the aurora party.

These are the very first set of pictures when I first saw the aurora in my whole life. Taken at Skibotn near Tromso, Norway.
My camera setting were a bit haywire. I used auto WB therefore the color appears to be a little bit 'warm'.

My jaw dropped upon seeing the lights dancing and flickering in the sky above my head at Ersfjordbotn, Tromso, Norway.
Speechless moment it was.

That's roughly how I captured the aurora that I saw during my short trip to Tromso. However beautiful you may see it on a picture, it is much much much more beautiful and breathtaking in the real life. You just have to see it by yourself. It was such a spectacular and memorable experience for me.

I'm lost for words...

P/s: You can read about how to search or chase the aurora in my Ep. 3 here.

THE END

My Arctic Circle Story (Ep. 3)

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Thu, 14 May 2015 13:59:00 +0800

In this episode, I just want to quickly share about how I chased the Northern Lights while being in Tromso (that's my main objective for travelling this far away from my homeland), and perhaps if I have the time I can also squeeze in a few tips about how to photograph this beautiful natural phenomena called Aurora Borealis. Mind you, I'm not an expert, also not a pro-photographer either, I will just share how I captured this picture.

The Aurora Borealis seen at Ersfjordbotn in Tromso, March 2015

And before I proceed further, let me clarify that there are two basic ways to chase the Northern Lights.

1) Go with a tour group specifically chasing the Aurora. They will pick you up from the city center and bring you to wherever place they predict to have a clear view of Aurora for that particular day. Sometimes you may be on the road for 2 hours just to get to a place, and sometimes only 30 minutes. Plenty of tour package offerings you can find out from the net, and prices may range depending on group size, season of the year etc.

2) Chase the lights by yourself - which requires you to know more about how and when and where to go, plus with a little bit of luck. This was my choice.

Question 1: Where?

The Aurora Borealis is only visible inside the Arctic Circle (i.e. about 66 deg north of Equator). Based on my little search over the net, apart from Tromso in Northern Norway, other popular places to chase the lights are at Northern Finland, Northern Sweden, Alaska, and also Iceland.

So, once in Tromso, where did I go to find the Aurora?

The best place to see it is at the darkest place possible, i.e. away from light polluted areas such as city center and some small villages. You may choose to either go further inland (i.e. towards Finland border), or you may opt to go to the shore side. Make yourself familiar with the map so that you can make good decision on where to go.

I used Google Earth apps as a basic guideline to understand the geographical information of places I want to go

Once you know the darkest area (from searching from light pollution map from the net - sorry I can't recall what website I used), you may want to survey those areas during daytime to check for the landscape, or suitable parking area, as well as the time taken to drive there. This will be a good thing to do if you want to capture the picture of Aurora with a nice background landscape which may include mountains and fjords.

Question 2: When?

Generally speaking, Aurora is said to be visible normally during the time period of November to March. I went there in the middle of March, so I was really praying hard that the solar activity is still active by that time of the year. Outside of this time window, there may still be some aurora activities but the chance of seeing them is much lower.

Ok, another aspect to answer the question "when" is, 'when exactly' is the best time to chase the aurora? I think this is the most important thing to know, because aurora does not happen all the time or at the same time everyday. It's very random, as it depends on solar activity.

Upon talking to the guides at Tromso's tourist information center, they recommended me to check on these few websites as a guidelines.

www.spaceweather.com gives you some idea (with recent updates) on the general aurora activity at the Arctic Circle

www.aurora-service.eu also provide very updated forecast of aurora activity.
The higher the Kp number, the higher the chance you'll be seeing the aurora.

I was a bit carried away with the chasing of Aurora, that I even checked the real-time magnetogram spectrum so that I know roughly about what time the solar activity is at its peak.

Google up "flux phys uit no", and from this Geophysical Observatory website you can find a lot of information about geomagnetic data.
In this chart above, whenever you see big separation between the blue and green lines as well as peaks, it shows there are a lot of aurora activity going on at that particular time (on X-axis) - that's the time to look up into the sky.

Apart from the predictions of solar activity, another important aspect to consider is the weather of the day. Best day to see the aurora is when the sky is clear from clouds. When I was there, out of four nights, two of the days were very cloudy they even snowed. On the two clearer nights, I was able to see Aurora at two separate locations. So, here are some websites you can use to help with the weather predictions.

www.yr.no is where you can find weather forecast for Norway as a whole.
Check for clouds and precipitation, and go to places with the clearest sky.
Any trace of clouds in the sky and you won't be able to see the aurora.

www.windyty.com is another good website you can use to predict the cloud movement, especially in predicting whether or not the sky will be cleared up from the cloud, which depends on the wind movement.

With these information, you should be able to intelligently plan for your aurora chasing activity. However, because this is a natural phenomena, there's no 100% guarantee you will get to see it.

At some point, you may have a slight feeling like you are becoming a meteorologist hahaha...

Anyway, I have to stop here. I guess I have to continue in another blog entry for the topic of how to photograph the Aurora. Good luck with your chase!

P/s: Read here for Ep.1 and here for Ep. 2

My Arctic Circle Story (Ep. 2)

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Sun, 3 May 2015 18:05:00 +0800

It has been a month since I returned from my trip to Tromso, Northern Norway. I have plenty of photos yet to share, but in this post I would like to share the places I went to.

My first trip into a Scandinavion country. It was exciting!

I started my journey from London, right after I finished with my conference. From Gatwick airport, I took a flight to Oslo above the very cloudy day. It was the same day as the sun eclipse happened, but unfortunately I couldn't see any of the effect from of the window during the two hours flight.

Another two hours flight from Oslo to Tromso, getting inside the Arctic Circle zone.

After a quick layover at Oslo airport, I then hopped onto a domestic flight to Tromso. It took me another two hours to get there. I purposely booked for a window seat as I don't want to miss a view of how the land at Arctic Circle looks like. Below is one example of many other shots I managed to take from the flight.

Frozen lakes and snowy mountains entertained my eyes throughout my flight from Oslo to Tromso.

It was only end or March and I never thought there were still lots of snow down there and the temperature was still lingering below freezing point. I was slightly worried as I know I didn't bring so much of thick winter clothing except for one sweater and one jacket.

Anyway, I touched down at Tromso airport almost sunset time there. I rented a campervan, and the lady was kind enough to send over the campervan to the airport.

I was more concerned about the new place I just arrived and didn't have much clue about where to go or where to sleep later, but the lady's main concern can be summarized with this simple question, "Can you drive manual gear?"

Not wanting to make her worry about her brand new Volkswagen campervan (yes, I was the first person to rent this particular one), I had no other choice but to affirm her that I can drive manual car even with one eye closed. Ha ha ha.. (that's true anyway).

Her last words to me as I took the key from her was "Be adventurous, and keep exploring. I'll see you again at this airport in few days time".

And that's how my journey in Tromso began.

Places I went to: Tromvik, Ersfjordbotn, Sommaroy, Skibotn, and Finland border.

I didn't really do much in-depth research about the places I wanted to go. It was more driven by what I wanted to see. Three things made me want to come to Tromso:

1) Based on Wiki, Tromso is listed among the top ten best places on earth to look for Aurora Borealis. Wiki also said Tromso is an expensive place to go - yeah, no doubt about it. I was hunting for the Northern Lights each and every day I was there.

2) Tromso also has a few beautiful fjords nearby worth going to and only requires short drive (1-2 hours).

3) Like many other places in Northern Norway, Tromso is also a place where you may be able to see whales at the fjords - if you come at the right season.

I made my plans based on these three things I wanted to see. As you can see on the map above, I named the places I went to. The following places may not necessarily be in any kind of order, but the places I went to are:

How it looks from Google Earth apps.

Ersfjordbotn is a very small village by a fjord. Even with Google Earth you can imagine how beautiful it may look in the real life. Prior to coming to Tromso, when I searched for the best places to photograph the Aurora, Ersfjordbotn is listed as one of the best spot.

And yes, I would say this place is beautiful not only when you can see Aurora at night, but it is also beautiful during daytime.

Ersfjordbotn: I would say this is my favourite spot throughout my trip. Beautiful by day time, even more pretty at night with the dancing Northern Lights show.

I went to Ersfjordbotn on the next day after arriving Tromso to take a look, and managed to do some self potrait shots. Too bad the day was overcast, or else a blue sky would make this picture looks much better.

I went again to Ersfjordbotn a few nights later when the sky was predicted to be clear, to shoot the Aurora Borealis (I will share the pictures on another post, with some tips based on my experience).

Tromvik is a very small fishing village with only about 50 houses. I was hoping to see some whales at the fjord there, but I came a bit too late for their feeding season.

Next, I also made a short drive (around 1 hour) to go to a very small fishing village, Tromvik. On one blog I read, this guy managed to see a group of whales coming up to the surface at the fjord as he was driving towards Tromvik.

I stopped by the roadside at the fjord every now and then, and spent few minutes each time to spot for whales. Luck was not on my side. Later on when I was talking to a local, they said the whales have left the area since February when the feeding season has ended. Too bad I came a bit too late.

However, the drive towards Tromvik was fun and the view was fascinating. I departed from Tromso town very early in the morning, hence I managed to get some good sunrise view by one of the lakes there.

I drove East-wards into Sommaroy. The view by the roadside towards Sommaroy from Tromso was beautiful and I saw many people ski-ing up the mountains.

I also went to Sommaroy. Many tourists mentioned that this is another good place to visit in Tromso. I can't say much about it because the two times I went to Sommaroy, weather was not on my side. It was super cloudy and super snowy when I went there, hence I didn't have any chance to take many good pictures, and it was a bit disappointing that I couldn't see any Aurora Borealis from this little island or else I'm sure it would be great because this island is very dark and suitable for viewing the Aurora.

I spent one night sleeping inside my campervan at the yellow X mark on the map above. It was snowing quite a lot and pretty cold. My night ended early that day.

The next morning after spending the night at Sommaroy beach. I parked the campervan nearby this very small camping site with simple toilet facility.

From Tromso, I drove southwards to Skibotn. And the next morning, I drove further south into Finland!

I practically was hunting for Aurora Borealis each and every night I was there. One of the day, after a short discussion with the guide at Tromso's visitors centre, he suggested me to drive down south towards the Finland border to a place named Skibotn to look for it.

So, I drove down south for almost two hours to reach a small camping site. I actually met another tour van who was also on their way to Skibotn, so the guide was kind enough to let me follow them for their Aurora hunting.

Upon reaching the camping site, that was the very first time in my life where I see the amazing Northern Lights with my own two eyes. It was truly amazing, beyond words. I find it hard to explain with words, but I can still remember the moment very clearly in my mind even until today.

The show that night was not long, as the sky was quickly being covered by thick coulds. We made our way home after 1.5hours there, and it was already almost midnight.

While the tour group disappeared in the dark with their van back to Tromso city center, I was clueless of where to sleep for the night. I initially thought of looking for a petrol station at Skibotn but it did not open 24 hours, including the toilet. So, I drove in another direction and shortly I found a truck stop area where there were a toilet facility with running tap water, and I saw another campervan there so I thought it might be a good place to sleep for the night.

I arrived at this site at midnight to sleep without knowing how the surrounding looks like. The next morning, woke up to this beautiful view of mountains covered with snow.

This truck stop site is at Oteren, and I woke up to this view of snowy mountains.

Weather forecast was showing a very cloudy day with lots of snow that whole day. I initially made a plan to drive to Senja, another place famous for having many beautiful fjords. But I cancelled my plan due to the thick snow.

So, instead of heading west towards Senja, I drove further down towards Finland border. It was still snowing very heavily however I somehow like the experience of driving in the heavy snow. I was also actually looking for a better spot to look for Aurora at night, but too bad the whole day and night was forcasted to be covered with thick cloud all around the area.

Reaching the Norway-Finland border on the famous E8 road.

I drove further ahead into Finland for another half an hour before making a turn back at the first petrol station I met. That was the furtherst I drove throughout my whole trip.

I then made my self back to Tromso town centre and just explored the nearby places while waiting for the sky to clear at night to hunt for more Aurora Borealis.

That's all I can share about the places I went to. I may write more about other things in another posts, like how to hunt for the Aurora Borealis and how to photograph it. Stay tuned!

My Arctic Circle Story (Ep. 1)

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 10:17:00 +0800

To be honest, I've not been travelling much for the purest sake of exploring new places. Most of the times when I travel abroad, they are for business trips. And my business trips are normally very short, and schedules are often very pack.

Until one day when I was invited to present a technical paper at a conference in London in March, I had this crazy idea - to go to the Arctic Circle. Dah alang-alang dekat sana kan...

But, why Arctic Circle during winter?

This picture will explain why...

Aurora Borealis a.k.a. Northern Lights

P/s: I'm going to start blogging purely on my mobile device. Not really sure whether it is sustainable, exciting... or it will just be another "mentally" big hassle for me to continue sharing my experience...

My 2014 in charts

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 7 Jan 2015 10:02:00 +0800

As you may have known, 2014 was the year where I did my two main triathlon events which were the Ironman Putrajaya 70.3 in April, and the Ironman Langkawi in September. Not really sure if I would venture again into doing Ironman after this, I would like to put up this post to commemorate my training history which was not spared without drama (i'll keep them to myself - for now). While this may not mean anything much to you all, they are part of my big achievements (so far).

Dailymile.com, being the place where I record all my training stuffs, has just produced the annual report. Looking at it, it brought back some memories of stories and struggles through out the year. I regret a bit for not actively blogged about my training as it went (well.. some say FB has partially killed blogging, not sure if that's politically true). So, here are some snapshots..

The overall view. July was the Ramadhan (fasting) month so I cut down lots of training.
Ironman 70.3 was in April, and the full Ironman Langkawi was in September.

Swimming: The least I trained among all disciplines. Since my aim was just to finish the swimming leg during races, I didn't spend much time in enhancing my speed. Most of the (last minute) training was to develop my endurance.

Cycling: Being the longest discipline in triathlon, I had no choice but to buck up on the saddle-time. I can't express how much grateful I am for being introduced to a very healthy cycling group, else I won't be able to get all these high mileages riding during the weekends.
My preparation pre-April was really pathetic, hence during the 70.3 race I almost gave up when cycling.
However, I managed to get back some confidence for Langkawi race - thanks to the many hill climbing rides like Ulu Yam, Fraser Hill, Genting Sempah etc.

Running: Last but not least, my love-hate kinda workout. Looking back, it was pretty consistent month after month. The distinctive drop in May was due to a major 'almost-breakdown' post-70.3-race drama. Time was running out, so I picked up myself to do more high mileage long runs on Sundays.
Glad to know the struggle and pain I had during training paid back very well during my running leg at Ironman Langkawi race.

As I said, these are just the numbers. The statistics. And I'm far from being at the top of the leaderboard listing, as some of my triathlete friends were clocking almost double my distance especially on cycling. Imagine how their annual reports would look like (i'll be stalking them on FB for sure).

Good bye, 2014.
You've been awesome.

Brand new 2015

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Tue, 6 Jan 2015 13:56:00 +0800

I can't really remember when was FB's cover photo being introduced. I first put up my cover picture in October 2012 and until November 2014 there were only 6 pictures. Very little I know. I'm not really a fan of changing my cover photo every now and then.

But...

Coming to 2015 I want to start a new project which is to change my cover picture every single week. So hopefully by the end of 2015 (IF I can be very dedicated in doing it) we can see a collage of 52 totally random photos decorating my FB cover.

And this is also my first mobile blogging. We'll see how far can this go...

M-Dot Dream Came True

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Mon, 6 Oct 2014 23:57:00 +0800

The initial intention sparked when I first started doing triathlon back in 2008. From time to time I drew inspiration by watching this big events on YouTube. When I went to support some friends doing it in Langkawi in 2010, I was so resolute that I decided to give it a go in 2011. Unfortunately, the event was cancelled.

One day in 2013, friends were spreading the good news that Ironman triathlon is making a comeback to Langkawi in September 2014. Without much hesitation, I signed up for it.

Fast forward to the beautiful early morning of 27 September 2014, there I was, feeling nervous among other 1400 triathletes from all around the world, getting ready to start the race. And I was dearly hoping my breakfast stays where it should be.

The 3.8km Swim

I kept myself calm prior to the start. Once I settled with pumping air and taped my gels onto my bike, I went back to my room to lay down and clear my head. By 7am, I slowly made my way back to the transition area where we were gathered before the swim. I took 2 gels, few gulps of drinks and tried my hardest to keep staying calm and content.

Minutes before the swim start

(Photo credit Frank)

One main trepidation I always have when doing triathlon is the swim start. I can normally cope with beach wave start as I can plan properly on my swim entrance. However, deep water start is at the bottom of my favorite list. Deep water mass start would be totally chaotic. Luckily this time around, the swim start for Ironman Langkawi 2014 was set to be a rolling start.

Rolling start simply means, self-seeding. We select which group we want to be in (according to target swim time), slowly walked towards the pontoon and our race time will only start when we cross the timing mat right before we enter the water.

The swim course was a straight 1.9km out and back with a short turn-around in clock-wise direction. From the pontoon, you can barely see the last distance marker buoy. It looked far. During the swim test which I did two days earlier, the water was warm, pretty calm with a slight leftwards current, but very muddy and smelly nearby the pontoon. Some even get stung by jellyfish. I was praying hard for a smooth swim, for not being kicked in the face, and for not being stung by jellyfish.

My strategy was to swim as close to the buoys as possible. Fortunately I’m a right-side-breather swimmer and the buoys are on the right side. The first 500m was ok, I was swimming and sighting pretty calmly, but then after it got even better. One big guy came across and he swam right in front of me, at the same speed as I was. I decided to draft him straight away, saving my neck and lower back from becoming sore due to excessive sighting.

I can’t really tell my swim speed except that it felt smooth and easy. At times we were overtaking and some other times other swimmers came past us. I kept on drafting this guy, following the bubbles from his kicking. I think he got a little bit tickled because he sped off when I accidentally touched his feet a couple of times. We get to the turnaround point without much drama and made our way back to the land, this time with the sun brightly shining ahead of us, and a slight wave now and then.

Upon reaching big buoy number 9, the second from last, lots of swimmers were zig-zagging nearby so I made the decision to stop drafting the guy and slowly moved towards the left side for lesser crowd. By this time, my tongue started to feel numb. Perhaps because I’ve swallowed a tad too much salt water.

Not long after, I arrived back at the pontoon and carefully climbed up the stairs. A quick glance at my watch and it showed 1hr 31mins. I was elated. Arms still felt fresh, energy level was still in good condition. The crowds were cheering and that simply boosted my spirit to continue running towards swim-bike transition, the T1.

Glad to reach dry land again.

(Photo credit Tey)

Swim-bike transition, T1

It was a good stretch from the pontoon to get to the changing room. I quickly grabbed my blue bike bag and went into the changing area. I saw a few guys changing into their cycling attire, calm and relaxed. I quickly put on my helmet and shades, stuffed my goggles into the blue bag for safekeeping, and held my cycling shoes in my hand as I ran towards my bicycle. So far so good. No hiccups. I carefully took my bike and put on my cycling shoes before making my way out from transition.

Coming out from T1

(Photo credit Shanaz)

The 180km Bike

The longest distance I’ve ever rode during training was only 164km. I wish I could have done more training, but time wasn’t really on my side. When we went to recce the bike route the day earlier, we get to understand the challenging climbs we had to tackle in the two 90km loops bike course.

I learnt from my previous training sessions and races that if I hammer hard on the bike, most likely my quads will cramp up and I won’t be able to execute a good run. This time around, my approach was very conservative. I climbed up each and every inclines slowly but steadily, and I just cruised along the flat without really pushing the speed.

The very first steep climb really had me go very slow. I had to use the lightest available gearing, and still I was only going up the incline at about 8 to 9 km/hr. Some triathletes already had to push up their bikes on the very first loop.

I made a quick stop at the first aid station. Mainly to grab the banana to fill up my tummy before it gets hungry. The volunteers were superb, they know how to pass the bottles and banana to those who did not want to stop. Supplies were also aplenty, and mainly the waters were icy cold.

As I continued on, that was my game plan. Simply paddled at my comfortable speed (which obviously gets slower as the day passed on), and made quick stop at the aid stations to refuel on solid food, drinks, gels and to stuff in my salt pills. I consistently looked at my watch so that I am reminded to take my gels and salt pills every hour. I also kept telling myself not to chase anybody, and to feel at peace even if I get passed by other triathletes.

Hot day it was!

(Photo credit Jack Ah Beh)

The day was getting hotter. I completed the first loop (90km) just slightly over 3 hours. So far all systems were still ok except I can slowly feel the fatigue in my legs has increased a little bit. 180km is not an easy distance to cover, let alone you still have a marathon to run later. Everything on the second loop felt tougher – the inclines, the heat, the remaining distance. I paddled even slower on the inclines in the second loop for the fear of cramping my quads muscles.

During the second loop, I had the urge to pee every now and then. Too bad I can’t ‘do-it’ on the bike so I had to stop at the port-a-loo at each and every aid stations. I also realized that I’ve stopped taking gels on the second loop, for some reason I didn’t feel like it.

After making the final turn-around at Datai, I started to feel relieved. “It’s time to go home”, as I always call it. I noticed my speed was getting slower and slower. I was merely doing 25-28km/hr on the flat, that was all I could muster at that point having the objective of saving up some energy for the marathon later.

I was doing some maths in my head by each km passed. Something like “can I finish the bike in such-and-such time?”, “how much time do I have for my marathon?”, and also something like “where on earth is the transition lah!?!?”

I finally made it to the bike-run transition, also called T-2. As I dismounted from my bike, my stopwatch was showing 9hrs racing time has been passed. My bike time was a slow 7hrs 22mins, plus minus. I’ll take it.

Bike-run transition, T2

I walked very fast during the transition, couldn’t really run yet. Another quick stop for toilet, a splash of cold water, and then I quickly went inside the tent to change into my running shoes. I met Ee Van (Stupe) inside the tent, taking his own sweet time in the tent. A quick chat and he said he had some issues with his legs. I didn’t really stop for long. Wished him all the best and I made my way out from the changing tent.

Trying to do some quick math on the timing

(Photo credit Shanaz)

Then suddenly, my eyes went teary. I felt so touched and happy, and also relieved that I’ve completed the longest distance I’ve ever rode, with un-cramped legs that I was very sure I can finish the marathon and the grueling race soon. I can already feel the sweetness of success at that point.

The 42km Run

I immediately pounded the tarmac at my comfortable pace. Fortunately, no such thing as jelly legs anymore. I just had to make sure I didn’t go too fast by means of how my heart rate was responding to my effort. I didn’t wear my Garmin because I don’t want to be bothered about my instantaneous pace and distance. I remember all the hard work I’ve done during the training with multiple long distance run sessions on tired legs, so this time around I was very confidence I can at least finish the last leg of the Ironman race.

I made a quick detour to the mosque besides the road nearest to the transition for my prayers. Then I headed to the Dataran Lang for the first turn-around to get my green wrist band, marking my journey of the first 10km loop. I started to see many strong triathletes ahead of me, surprisingly some were first timers like me too. I cheered for each and everyone I know, giving them moral support. The sun was still up, and some of them were already in bad shape too. “Something must have gone wrong”, was my thought.

Going strong on first loop

(Photo credit Tey)

As I continued running, at some points of time I felt a short spike on my heart rate. I had to walk a little bit, just to ease it off. I counted 10 seconds and then continued running. It dazzled me why my heart rate went high, because my legs were still ok. I also stopped at every aid stations for a glass of water and half cup of de-gassed cola, and the becoming-customary-pee-stops.

Every now and then as I run and walk, I kept on cheering on everyone I know on the opposite side of the running route. In my little mind, I had someone I wanted to chase during the run – just to keep me motivated to continue running. It was a mental game for sure, between the urge to go faster, and between wanting to save some more energy for the remaining 3/4 distance of the run.

First 10km loop was completed in around 1hr16min if I’m not mistaken. “Not bad at all”, I encouraged myself. Went to pick up the second arm band, and went on to complete another 10km loop. The day was slowly getting darker, and I hadn’t taken any gels anymore. Heading into the dark towards the stadium where we were to do our turn-around was becoming my ‘alone-time’ time. Many have become ‘zombie’ runners, especially those in front of me who had done 3 or 4 laps.

My only repeating-drama during the run was the ‘stop-to-pee’ thing. I can’t deny I felt frustrated with the abrupt stops, but I told myself that it was better than having cramped legs. I was still running strong (but not fast), and like before I only walked for maximum 20 seconds every now and then to lower my heart rate.

Not too shabby yet on the second loop

(Photo credit Tey)

Finished my second loop after 2hr35mins (or so I remember). It was already dark by then. Supporters were getting noisier though – which was good. Getting into my third loop, I managed to catch on the person I marked earlier, who seemed to have settled into more walking. I myself has slowly turned into a zombie during the third loop. Some pains in the legs due to blisters started to stir up my pace.

By the time I finished my third loop, I started to feel more tired than before. Grabbed the white arm band, indicating my last loop to finish, once again I felt elated. I told myself my race will end in another one hour plus time. It was already 9pm-ish.

My stopwatch was showing almost 14 hours of racing time has been clocked. I know my maths normally don’t work well during running, so at that time, with the current pace and the remaining 10km distance to finish the marathon, I was expecting a 15hrs plus as my finish time. I was already super happy, as my initial target finish time was 16hrs plus.

To my surprise, as I exited the stadium after the final turn-around, meaning I had about 4km to go, my stopwatch was showing something like 14h20m or so. I was in disbelief for a moment there. Another quick maths told me that I could hit sub-15hrs if I keep my pace steady, with lesser walking and toilet breaks.

So that was exactly what I did. I increased my pace a little bit, and I reduced my walk-break times. As I reached the transition area with the last 2km to go, my time was still good for a sub-15hours finish. I guess the final gush of adrenaline came out as I suddenly didn’t feel tired anymore. My strides were steady as I made my final approach towards Dataran Lang, and especially towards the finishing chute.

"I'm almost there..."
(The clock was showing the pro-gun time, which was about 20mins earlier than my swim start time)

(Photo credit Shanaz)

No words can describe the feeling as I ran on the M-dot red carpet, getting into the finish line. I can clearly hear the announcer painstakingly tried his best to pronounce my name and the loud cheers from the many spectators there. I raised both my hands into the air as I crossed the line – having the best feeling a triathlete could ever ask for.

I finally did it!

(Photo credit Shanaz)

It took me 10 months to continuously train for it.

It took away lots of my family-time from them (and honestly speaking I still feel guilty every now and then when I think about it).

It has caused lots of mental ups and downs, while trying to balance between family time, work time, and training time.

Most of my weekend activities were scheduled around my long rides and long runs.

Most of my lunch times were spent inside the gym, specifically on the treadmill.

Most evenings I spent time washing my training attire, to make sure they are dry and ready for the next day.

And on 27 September 2014 in Langkawi, it took me 14 hours and 50 minutes to complete my first ever Ironman triathlon.

That’s when I became an Ironman.

Proud to be one!

Special thanks to those who have been involved in my M-Dot journey.
You know who you are!

Sincerely, I thank you.

Morib International Triathlon 2013

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 18:36:00 +0800

As I plunged my head into the water, all I could see was this murky, brownish water. Complete with yucky smell most likely resulted from the.. you know.. nearby livestock farm. I tested few strokes in the shallow water and immediately realized there was a strong current pushing left wards.

I then returned to the beach, to join another 400 triathletes who were there to compete in the first triathlon event held in Pantai Morib. The race consisted of 1.2km swim, 35km bike and 8.5km run.

The last time I did a triathlon race was back in 2010. After three complete years of hiatus, now I'm making a slow comeback.

The Swim

Wave start is much better than mass start - obviously due to the size of the crowd.

So, right at 7.45am, the first wave or participants in the age range of 16 to 29 were released to the open water. My group was second to be released, some two minutes later. The beach was so shallow that we couldn’t even swim for the first 150m. Fortunately the swimming crowd was not so big so I managed to avoid any physical contacts with others. Sighting in the water to make sure we swam in the right direction surely broke my swimming rhythm.

The hardest part was to swim against the current. And when once was not enough, we had to do two loops to complete the 1.2km distance. I finally made it to shore after 38 minutes, which I though was slow. Later on after the race when some friends with GPS watches said the distance was more than what it should, I felt slightly relieved with my timing.

I always feel relieved upon exiting the swim leg of a triathlon race.

Coming to the first transition (T1) was something that made me excited. Why? Because it was my first time to try ‘fly-mounting’ on the bike. I’ve watched how the elite triathletes secure their cycling shoes on the paddles and hold them in position by means of simply using rubber bands (hook the rubber band to the rear tyre quick release so that the paddles do not turn or spin). So, I gave it a try and thank goodness it worked!

So, I guess I had the quickest T-1 time in my book so far. Previously I had to sit down, dry my feet a bit before putting the cycling shoes on, and slowly walk-push my bike to exit T-1. But last weekend, I quickly put on my shades, helmet, race belt and run-push my bike out. Enough said, I was smiling when I started cycling.

I think this was the fastest T1 time I've ever clocked.

The Cycling

The biking course was flat with a fair share of cow dungs aroma. Triathletes need to make one turnaround at 17.5km. At the moment, cycling is yet to be my strongest discipline simply because I lack the training. Therefore I took the first half pretty conservatively. I didn’t push hard, just hovering around 30-32km/hr. I even rejected two invitations to join their drafting groups since I know if I pushed hard in the beginning to keep up with them, high chance I will get my quads cramped up.

So, basically I was just riding by myself, until when it came to the turnaround point where a group of about 10 cyclists came through me and I decided to stay with them. My speed immediately picked up from then on, where we were cycling around 35 to 39km/hr at most times. The headwind was picking up too.

Out of the ten cyclists in that group (can’t really tell as I was way at the back), I noticed only two of three of them took turns to be at the front. At one point, one of the guys dropped out and slowed down while giving signal that he had some cramps. At another point, somewhere about 3km before reaching back to the transition, a few guys in front of me slowed down and that caused us all to be dropped out from the main group.

Making my way after being dropped out from the big drafting group.

As the sun shone brighter, and the strong headwind intensified, I made my own way, solo again this time. My speed has reduced significantly, not wanting to push more than I should because I wanted to save more energy for the run. I finally made it to T-2 after roughly 1hr6mins cycling.

The Run

I felt so grateful upon dismounting from my bike without any cramps in my legs. Quickly, I changed to my running shoes at the T-2 and made my way to complete the 8.5km run.

The sun was already at full blast by then. Knowing that the run route is also flat lessened my apprehension. I started my run with a steady and comfortable pace. Even though 8.5km is not a far distance to run, anything can happen down the road. Fatigue, bonk, overheat, just to name a few.

I felt strong during the run when I realized I started to pick up some speed and overtaking some fellow runners. I only took some walk breaks during the water stations that served ice cold drinks. So far all body systems were good – heart rate, energy level, pace.

After making the turnaround, there were few moments where I had to slow down a bit as I noticed a slight increase in my heart rate. It might be due to the ambient heat, or I might have pushed up my pace unintentionally, or it might also be a sign of fatigue creeping in. I made quick walk breaks, making sure for no more than 20secs each time.

At the final 1.5km of the run, I was really relying on the endorphins to keep my pace steady. It was getting hotter, and my legs were getting slightly tired. I kept looking at my watch, trying to trick my mind into thinking “it’s ok, just 10 more minutes to go… keep running, keep running…”

Giving my best shot to finish the race strong.

Soon, I saw the entrance to the finishing line. With a big smile on my face, I made bigger strides, raised up both my hands into the air and with so much happy feeling I crossed the finish line as I heard the emcee called out my name as I was given the medal. Not that often I managed to finish a race feeling as strong as this time.

So yes, it was a good race for me.

I was happy, but not entirely because I finished this triathlon in a good time (in my own book lah).

But, I was ecstatically happy to know that my hard work in training so far is starting to show some good results.

Official result:

20^th placing in Men 30-39 category, 60^th placing overall.

Swim time: 00:38:14

Bike time: 01:05:57

Run time: 00:56:19

Total time: 02:40:31

P/s: All credits go to the respective kind-hearted photographers: Elaine&Victor, Tri-Stupe, Shanaz, Mohd Noor Izman, Zoe Chan, Arlan.

Anticipation is over

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 10:24:00 +0800

It was last held here in February 2010. I was there too, though only on the sidelines. Supporting some friends, and witnessing their courage and determination to get to the finish line in 17 hours or less.

I haven't done it myself yet, but I always wanted to do it.

To become like one of them.

The good news is, it is coming to town again - in September 2014.
The long wait has finally come to an end.
Official announcement has been made, and friends are busy talking about it over FB day and night.

Registration fee is going to be an issue for some, if not for many.
Though transportation and accommodation may not be so much of a deal for some, they still involve a good sum of hard-earned-money to spend.

Some will even have to train without hi-tech gadgets in the names of GPS watches, heart rate monitors, let alone power meters like some others do.

Some will spend even more time tweaking their training plans, scratching heads in the middle of the night thinking how could they balance the 24 hours into work time, family time, social needs time, own time, and training time.

Some others around them who are yet to understand the passion, will continue to ask questions of which they won't be able to comprehend the answers given.

But to live a life without dreams, is almost similar to not living a life - some say.

At least I know mine.

"M-dot dream", is one of my dreams.

InsyaAllah...

SCKLM 2013

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 9 Oct 2013 12:01:00 +0800

Seawal pagi keluar berlari,

Penat berlari naik lah teksi,

Cerita dah lama dah jadi basi,

Baru sekarang sempat di kongsi.

You’ve trained hard for months – long distance runs, speed intervals, you name it.

You’ve sacrificed lots of time being away from family on many weekend mornings.

You’ve done what is possible within your capacity.

All you want is to be able to perform well during the marathon, and hopefully finish it with a new Personal Best (PB) timing.

Well, that’s my goal anyway.

I did my first KL Marathon in 2009, and then in 2010 and 2012. I skipped the 2011 edition for the lack of motivation to train back then. Initially, this year around it was supposed to be held in June, but due to bad haze it was postponed to September.

This year, I came with the same ambition as last year but with a different approach. I’m still eyeing for the 4h30m finish time. I know it’s doable, and I also know it’s not easy (well, for me at least). I decided to seek some assistance from the official 4:30 pacers which the organizer has provided.

According to the pacer’s action plan , we were to run with an average pace of about (preferably) 6min/km for the first 21km. The strategy was to bank in some time in the first half, to allow some slagging in speed in the second half. Knowing the weather here, there’s no way you can escape the heat towards the later part of the race. Pace for the second half was planned at below 6:40min/km.

So, right at 4:30am on last Sunday morning (30th Sept), thousands of marathon runners were released from Merdeka Square. 20 seconds after the gun off I crossed the starting line. Carefully keeping up with the pacers with yellow balloon I made my way through the crowd in the cool breezy morning.

The first 5km was done in 29mins. Right on track. We had to skip the first water station (WS). Massive crowd there. The cool breeze gave some sort of energy refreshment.

Getting to 10km and 15km points, we were still within pace target – 59mins and 1h30m respectively. So far so good, I told myself. But still long way to go.

I believe they changed the route slightly after KM18 up to KM20, because Masjid Alam Shah where I planned to stop for Subuh was not in sight. My legs were slowly feeling the fatigue upon running for 2 hours, which explained why at 20km split point I already fell behind target by 5mins.

Still in hot pursuit - pic by Chuah Sakura

I made a quick diversion into my office building at around KM22 for Subuh prayer. Fortunately this time around my tummy behaved pretty good so I did not that much time during the quick break like the previous years. 6 minutes was all it was. Happy. Fast mind calculation would tell me that I was about 1km behind the pacers. If my engine was still fresh, I would be able to catch them up after 10km.

However, coming out right after that stop the fatigue in my legs started to creep up. Though my energy level and heart rate were still within green zone, I just couldn’t maintain pace. I started some walk breaks as early as KM24.

From then onwards, I was just forcing myself to run more than walk. I kept my walk breaks for 20 to 30 seconds maximum. I knew I can’t spare much more time to recover the fatigue in my leg muscles by walking as it would damage the targeted pace too badly beyond repair.

Amazingly though, unlike previous years, the heat and the long stretch boredom of Jalan Kuching and Jalan Ipoh didn’t intrude and dampen my spirit to keep moving. I kept my mind busy counting the number of seconds I took to walk and to run. I didn’t want to give up yet although I knew target finish time of 4:30 is already elusive. I crossed KM30 at 3h13m – 7minutes behind target pace. How disappointing that was.

From then onwards it was all about making sure my legs did not give up on me. I kept overtaking people when I run, and yet to see them overtake me again when I started walking. At KM35 I was 10 minutes slower than target and with that kind of fatigue accumulated I was pretty sure I couldn’t recover the time lost.

Struggling face of a marathon runner - pic by TKB

With 7 kilometers to go, I only had roughly a mere 40 minutes if I were to achieve 4:30 target timing. With fresh pair of legs – yes, very doable. But not in the state I was in. Each KM felt longer and longer. Energy was draining with every steps I made. Nothing much was in my head other than to tell my feet not to walk so much. Pressure started to build up. I may not get the 4:30 timing, but at least I badly wanted to get a new PB timing.

New target made: time to beat is 4h37m which I get during SCKLM2012. Reaching KM40 I already clocked 4h21m, which means I had less than 16 minutes to cover the final 2 km. I told myself if I could reach KM41 at 4h30m then I might have the chance to break PB.

For some weird reason, similar to how I felt during previous years of KL marathon, KM40 to KM41 always feel like the longest stretch in the whole route. Many other runners especially from the 10km categories were filing up Jalan Raja Laut, many of them were walking. I finally reached KM41 with the time of 4h30min. So, my spirit was high to go for the final push.

I was more concerned not to “lock” my legs with muscle spasm (cramp) for sprinting towards the finish line rather than having to criss-cross the many runners on Jalan TAR. With 6 minutes left to get a PB, I had to up my pace a little bit. It was really a race against time.

Once I saw the finishing line few meters ahead I kept on looking at my watch. It was already showing 4h35m30s, or something like that. I tried to sprint and I finally finished my marathon in 4h36m41s.

Trying my hardest to get a new PB - pic by Deo

Yes, a new PB – by less than 1 minute.

My disappointment for not being able to break 4h30m barrier exceeded my delight for breaking a new PB.

And like always, I only blame my preparation for this kind of shortcoming. This means I need to train harder. Perhaps I also need to enter more races as part of the training.

Well, there’s always next time.

Tukar hobby boleh tak?

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Mon, 3 Jun 2013 19:00:00 +0800

I happened to be in Kuantan last weekend for a family issue, of which the second Kuantan Century Ride (KCR160) was held on the same Sunday. I get to know few of my friends from JB and KL were going to participate in this 100miles ride (i.e. 160km) around Kuantan, I took the opportunity to pegi-menyebuk-ambik-gambar-diorang..

I took nearly 900 pictures altogether, of which 150 went to thrash and the remaining were all uploaded onto FB as spam pictures.. hahaha.

And I like this particular shot of which the cyclists were heading down the bridge heading to Tanjung Lumpur...

End of story.

(harap maaf saya memang dah tak pandai merapu panjang2 macam dulu)

Some say, photography is about being at the right place at the right time.

In Control

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:22:00 +0800

"Two things you can always control in life... Attitude & Effort"

Combining these two, you can achieve whatever you wish, insyaAllah.
Let us all keep chasing our dreams...

365

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:55:00 +0800

It has been 365 days since I last wrote here. In all honesty, there were few times I wanted to resume writing (more like rambling) but just after jotting down the third sentence, my fingers froze.

In the past year…

I managed to change my job. Big yeay because I now no more need to spend hours upon hours on a weekend at the golf course hitting that small little ball. It was enjoyable to a certain extent, but I would rather spend that time for family or running.

With the new job change, I was sent to Houston for two about months to undergo technical training. I went there with only one luggage, but brought back two luggage… as well as 6kg additional weight around my waistline. That additional 6kg gained in two months is so hard to get rid of, even until now. I still have 3kg to go. Aduhai…

Sports wise, I don’t want to put so much hope for this year. Good enough if I can participate in one marathon event this year. Triathlon-ing seems very vague for the time being, similar to what happened for the last two years (gosh, I miss doing triathlon so bad). I simply don’t have the luxury of time to do all swim/bike/run.

And… I miss blogging so much.

Call me lame, but I do miss the social interaction (reading and commenting) via blog. Now, not many friends are still actively blogging. I guess I have to accept the fact that FB has taken the lime light of what blogging platform used to offer.

I better stop now, I’m starting to ramble nonsense.

Pacesetter's 4 x 3km Relay

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:35:00 +0800

I guess a quick race deserves a quick story update.

Yesterday, I joined the Pacesetters Relay 4 x 3km speed race at Padang Merbok. I like to call it speed race because from my general understanding of endurance running (as an avid slow long distance runner), short distance means F.A.S.T.

Together in my team were Shanaz (team captain), Syah (anchor runner), Dan (an ultramarathoner - who had to replace Nana on the eleventh hour) and yours truly, a nobody who was brought in as the first runner. Was I nervous? Yes, a little bit. Target set by team captain was to run that 3km undulating race route within 15 minutes.

That’s a freaking sub 5:00mins pace requirement!! Something which I’ve never done before. 500m yes, but not for 3km.

For the first time ever I was standing at the very front of a start line. It was a considerably small size race with a total of 102 teams (so I was told). To my right was Marlin, and to my left was Ray. Left hand holding the baton, right hand getting ready to press the start button of my stop watch. It was 07:00hrs, wet dark morning. And the race started right on time.

Me: ”Ray, jam kau tu Garmin model apa bro? Ada GPS ke? Nampak canggih je tu...”
Ray: “Ini lagi canggih dari Garmin bro. Model ni diorang jual kat pasar malam Segambut je. Aku rembat anak aku punya pagi tadi. Haa, tengok ni.. ada keluar lampu kelip-kelip...”

Check out that guy in front row, third from right.
Gaya starting sikit-sikit dah macam pro, tapi baru bukak tiga langkah dah kena sayur dengan orang belakang, kiri dan kanan.
Ketara sangat beliau hanya pandai bergaya, tapi tak terer mana pun.

Kita terjaaaahhh..!!!!!

For those who are familiar with the area of Padang Merbok where the race started, one would know the starting of the race would lead us straight into a few hundred meters of steady climb. Although I was intimidated at first to follow the first pack of speedsters, I refrained myself from doing so and just ran as fast as I can maintain my heart rate to hover slightly above the comfort level.

Just after few meters running, the race leader was already out of sight. Partially because it was still dark, but mainly because they were in another league lah. There were sayuring and de-sayuring process taking place. Getting to halfway through, I didn’t manage to overtake anybody anymore, and no one overtook me. I was afraid to hit my booster much earlier for the fear I cannot maintain it until the end. I thought I’ll wait for the final decline to go all out. It was a struggle though. At one point I wanted to turn my head back to see if any other runner was trying to catch up, but I was afraid that might just turned me into panic mode. Hehe…

Tak ku sangka, aku pun kiasu gak sikit-sikit rupanya... ngeh ngeh ngeh.

A marshal at one corner said it was down to the last KM, I checked my stopwatch and it showed 10mins plus plus. ”Okay, target within sight. I think I can finish up the final km within 5mins”, I convinced myself.

I shifted slightly into another gear, trying to gain some speed. I had no idea what position I was in at that time, I just wanted to finish it once and for all. On the final descent towards Padang Merbok, I tried bigger stride and made full use of the gravitational energy.

The finish line was soon in sight and my team number (#54) was being announced by the emcee to let the second runner ready to take the baton. I tried sprinting down to the line and as I passed the baton to Shanaz as the second runner, I stopped my watch at 14min40sec. Someone told me I was among the top ten runners to arrive and that gave me a reason to smile, while I tried to catch up with my breathing.

The other runners in the team performed very well too. Finally, Syah, who was our anchor runner, crossed the finishing line and put our team into 11th position, out of 102 teams altogether. The total time clocked by our team was 1hr 1min. And in my book, that was an awesome effort by the team.

Well done team #54!

Now, it’s time for me to move back to the drawing board… for another mission in 2012 - The Marathons!

And as I mentioned earlier somewhere…

“Long run is tough on the leg muscles, sprinting is tough on the cardiac muscles.
Both require high mental strength to complete.

Some Points

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:20:00 +0800

I was clearing up my desk and I saw some old notes I took during one of the sales course which I attended last year August. Just feel like sharing it out here. I've forgotten the whole context of these stuffs, hence I won't be elaborating on each of them (and bore you to death). I jotted them down while I was struggling to keep myself awake during the course (teruk gile kan.. hehe).

1) Don't postpone any appointments - it shows your commitment.

2) Change something every month.

3) Do things that ONLY YOU can do. For other things... delegate lah!

4) Don't let people see or know your weaknesses.

5) In a win-lose situation, don't be afraid to walk out (if it is obvious you are on the losing side).

6) Don't believe others, just believe yourself.

7) Don't be a victim from the surrounding, be influential to the surrounding.

8) Don't be distracted by other things that make your progress slow.

Dah, itu je... sekian. :)

Lepas Gian

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Thu, 9 Feb 2012 11:50:00 +0800

Haritu ada cuti weekend yang panjang. Bersambung dari Sabtu sampai Selasa. Time nak tido hari Ahad malam tu, tiba-tiba terlintas nak bangun pagi besok nya untuk buat solo run – 30km. Suatu perkara yang memang dah lama ditinggalkan. “Takde sakit cari penyakit” nama sindrom ni. Harap maklum.

Malam sebelum tido dah siapkan air dalam CamelBak yang dibancuh dengan Glucolin perisa oren. Letak dalam fridge, atau bak kata orang Johor “ice box”, bagi sejuk secukup rasa. Dua-dua henpon aku dah set dua alarm on each phone, to make sure aku tak terbabas tido di hari cuti.

Gedebuk gedebak, 06:35hrs pagi esoknya di dalam gelap-gelap suasana Subuh aku dah start mengorak langkah perlahan dari Kiara menuju ke arah Bukit Aman. Telinga tak tersumbat apa-apa hiburan muzik melainkan alunan lemak merdu burung-burung dan katak-katak yang baru bangun tido. Suasana amatlah gelap bila lari kat incline sebelah KLGCC tu. Sekali sekala melintas laju kereta-kereta kat situ dengan lampu high beam. Lantaklah kalau depa nak terkejut beruk tengok makhluk berlari dalam gelap sorang-sorang. Dalam diam, hati aku masih ragu-ragu samada boleh habiskan jarak 30km ni atau tak. Almaklum ajelah, last time buat long run sebegini jauh ialah tiga bulan lepas.

Dalam keadaan takde apa-apa race yang terdekat, dapat kumpul motivasi untuk berlari sebegini jauh pun dah merupakan sebuah kejayaan yang boleh disebut-sebut di wall FB la. Tengok aje prestasi kecundang tahun lepas, lapan bulan straight aku rehat mengumpul lemak kat perut. Punyalah takde motivasi langsung. Arakian, buat masa ni sementara stok motivasi belum basi, aku belasah je lah apa-apa yang terlintas di fikiran.

Half way bila dah sampai ke Hartamas, lepas panjat bukit-bukit sikit kat depan Plaza Damas dan juga incline yang kat sebelah Masjid Wilayah tu, kaki terasa bersemangat untuk break personal record for 15km. Jarak dari Kiara ke Bukit Aman kalau trace guna MapMyRun ada la dalam 15.3km gitu lebih kurang. Actually aku pun tak tau apa personal best untuk 15km aku. Tapi tiga bulan lepas masa aku buat solo run yang seumpama ni, I clocked 1h35mins. Itu je yang aku ingat. So, aku shift masuk gear lagi satu level up, cuba mendesupkan diri dari simpang Jalan Duta sampai ke Bukit Aman. Kejap-kejap mata aku melilau tengok stopwatch. Tak best la kan kalau dah penat-penat push but still takleh nak break personal record. Maka bermulalah larian ‘game-face’.. ahaha poyo.

Kebetulan pada weekend yang sama ramai yang masih berlari di Hong Kong, dan segelintir berlari di TNF Thailand dan juga cuti-cuti Chap Goh Meh, maka tak ramai runners masa aku sampai kat parking Bukit Aman. Time clocked was 1h28m for the first 15km. Walaupun tak laju sangat pun kalau nak dibandingkan dengan para pelari tegar yang lain, tapi aku rasa sedikit kembang la hidung bila dapat pecahkan rekod piring hitam peribadi.

Decided not to rest for long time, genap 8 minit rehat aku terus re-start stopwatch untuk merakam waktu larian dari Bukit Aman ke Kiara pulak, the second 15km. Ego punya pasal, lupa nak top up teh tarik kurang buih ke dalam CamelBak masa kat parking Bukit Aman tu. Akibatnya.. kita sama-sama nantikan di peranggan yang akan datang.

Baru 9 minit berlari dari Bukit Aman, tiba-tiba degupan jantung jadi tak tentu hala, hilang arah tujuan. Sampai kat satu bus stop tu, aku terpaksa melontarkan bontots ke situ untuk rest and recover. Kaki dah terasa sedikit penat, tapi yang lebih kelam kabut ialah heart rate. Nampak sangat aku masih belum fit untuk long run, bisik ku perlahan (fuhyo, macam bahasa novel siot).

Sambung balik larian sambil-sambil mengawal rentak degupan jantung. Ternyata short break aku tadi tak mencukupi, ataupun aku dah ter-mendesupkan diri tanpa sedar. Maka aku pun terbongkang lagi sekali dan terpaksa berhenti rehat kejap semasa melayan lenggok-lenggok bukit kat Jalan Bukit Tunku tu. Heart rate amat mengganas, tak berani aku nak push takut diserang sawan mengkarung.

Tukar plan. Tukar balik ke gear paling rendah, layan perasaan lari slow sikit. Matahari dah makin meninggi, dan aku sedar air dalam CamelBak aku dah makin mengering. Congak-congak dalam kepala hotak, ada lagi 10km. Kaki dah makin penat, peha dah terasa akan terkena renjatan cramp tak lama lagi. Bermulalah mental game. Kuatkah aku untuk mengawal nafsu daripada menahan teksi? Jeng jeng jeng…

Penangan ‘mileage shock’ ni sangat memeritkan. Kalau program training untuk marathon, biasanya perlahan-lahan mileage dinaikkan from week to week. Ini tak, ribut takde taufan takde tiba-tiba gatal kaki nak buat 30k. In the name of ‘nak test power’, aku teruskan jugak perjalanan tanpa menahan teksi walaupun dah lebih lima bijik teksi lalu di sepanjang laluan aku tadi.

Lepas je cross flyover Jalan Duta, peha dah sengal lain macam. Signs of cramp setting up semakin ketara. Tak pernah-pernah aku training long run sampai cramp peha. So, orang cakap alang-alang menyeluk pekasam kan… so aku belasah la jugak lari pelan-pelan sambil tahan sakit maskels peha. Bila dah tak tahan sangat sakit cramp, aku berjalan. Yang aku heran, bila berjalan je cramp makin menjadi-jadi. Apa-ke-hey-nya…

Pun begitu, jiwa masih tekad nak pecahkan rekod lagi. The previous solo 30km run, total time was 3h15m. So dalam hati aku, walau dapat 3h14m pun jadilah. Run walk run walk je lah. Jiwa dah kacau, especially bila air dalam CamelBak dah kering kontang, dan aku ada lagi 7km sebelum tamat larian, dan matahari pada jam 9 pagi amatlah menduga akal.

Duit ada bawak RM30. Lepas sebijik teksi, lagi beberapa bijik lalu. Aku dah terlintas bestnya duduk dalam teksi berhawa dingin tu. Tapi aku fikir, kalau aku naik teksi, aku takkan cukup 30km, dan aku takkan tau samada aku boleh pecahkan piring hitam lagi sebijik atau tak.

Mak aih, panjangnya aku melalut.

Oklah, to cut long story short (aku tau korang dah boring baca). Akhirnya aku habiskan jugak larian 30km tu dalam masa 3h9m (i.e. the second 15km done in 1h40m). Yes, kembang hidung aku sekali lagi. Peha memang dah kesakitan, tekak dah kering kontang, kaki memang dah tersangat lunyai tak larat nak berdiri, tapi kepala hotak sempat lagi fikir pantun apa nak letak dalam status DailyMile….

Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat,
Akhirnya jatuh di atas batu,
Akibat LSD dah lama tak buat,
Baru 30K lunyai kakiku.

Newton Challenge 25km 2012

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:39:00 +0800

So, here comes the first race report for the year 2012. No drum roll is required. Al-maklumlah, cerita dah basi lama dah baru aku terhegeh-hegeh nak post. This race was held on 1st January 2012, which I'm sure some of you might have forgotten it.

First of all, I didn’t pirate this race. Which is a good start in conjunction with one of my new year resolutions. Ngeh ngeh ngeh. Barang yang lepas (pirating races) usah dikenang…

Secondly, and more importantly is the upfront preparation for the race. In the previous edition of this similar race, which was held back in September 2010 (wow, how time flies, kan?), it was held right after the fasting month, where I normally bring down my level of training to the minimum possible, i.e. zero. So, I didn’t fare the race as much as I wanted to do. Obtaining the medal with a time clocked at 3h18m during that race was good enough for me. Totally unsatisfied, but I can live with it.

So, for this time around, I came back with a mission – to beat my own timing. And fortunately, I’ve been training quite sufficiently and structurally (I think) a few months ago and I entered this race with a better confidence as compared to the previous edition.

Once arrived at the race venue, I began with a simple 5 mins warm-up to make sure my sweat factory is up and running. With a gulp of a powergel just a few minutes before the gun-off while chit chatting with some running buddies, I finally made up my mind to attack this race (read: try my best laa, bukan attack main perang-perang tuu).

Shakhir: “Korang nak ambik biskut PowerBar free tu ambiklah. Tapi jangan kacau meja PowerBar ni ok, yang ni aku dah booking sejak semalam. Aku nak convert meja ni jadi podium.”

A strategy I’m planning to follow from this year onwards is to run with my CamelBak. At least I don’t have to worry if the organizer screws up with the water stations (which sometimes happen).

Dari Kapas ke Pantai Kelulut,
Acara swimathon mencabar minda,
Punyalah panjang aku melalut,
Cerita sebenar baru nak mula…

Ok, ok. So, this is how the race went.

Right at 0530hrs, I started at the most back. Then immediately shifted into my comfortable race pace of a mid-range mileage (i.e. 20km distance race, hence 6min/km pace), and cruised my way through the crowd. Syah, Diket, Dett and myself diverted into a flat area at KM4 (or something like that lah) for Subuh. I spent 7mins there. There was a hilarious story at the surau but I missed the picture snapping opportunity to serve as a proof. But I surely will remember the joke forever. A keyword to remember is ‘terong’.

Time ni pernafasan masih tip top. Belum lagi bertukar ke mode nafas kuda.

When I rejoined the race, I was already way back behind. Only one or two other runners scattered around. Maintaining my pace, I slowly overtook one by one. Yes, this race route is famous for their ups and downs. So did my pace. I reduced my speed whenever going uphills while maintaining my breathing pattern, and I took revenge each time we went downhills. I was being extra cautious and careful not to over exert on my heart rate.

The fun part for me is always to see other runners on the other side of the road, upon nearing the u-turn points. Those were the times where you can see your friends, at the same time set a ‘target’ to chase upon, i.e. faster runners. At least, if your body ‘behaves’ well, that ‘targets’ could be used as a motivation to pursue the race strongly. No one can deny that it feels good to be able to overtake another runner, no matter how slow or fast you run.

Trying to remain focused with my ‘race pace’ – a not-so-easy thing to do actually.

If I’m not mistaken, there were two (or maybe three) turnaround points. At each points I tried to scan for possible targets to overtake. Not that I am that “competitive”, but it was more like a mental game to make sure my strides remain on the steady pace, rather than slowing down unintentionally. Not having any distance marker throughout the race route made it much tougher to gauge how far or how much longer should I keep the pace.

I may not remember loads of details anymore about the race (it has been more than 20 days!), but I do remember pushing myself pretty hard with a mission to finish this race as strong (not necessarily fast though) as I could. Getting towards the 20-th kilometer, I started to feel fatigue in my legs. I could also sense that my pace has reduced a little bit. Such a demotivation, to be honest with you.

Wajah struggle sebab tak cukup oksigen dalam maskels kaki yang baru diserang cramp.

I finally had to start pouring cold water onto my legs at the next water stations when my calves started to show signs of cramping. I also did some quick stops for stretching, which worked to prevent immediate recurrence of cramps. With a new ‘target’ locked a few hundreds meter ahead, I tried to remain focused and planted the idea of overtaking him before we get to the finish line.

Knowing that the finish line will be in sight after another hundred meters or so, I gave it all my will to chase my target. I finally managed to cross the finish line ahead of him, and to my surprise I clocked 2hr32mins, averaging the pace at 6:11mins/km.

Overtaking my final ‘target’ just a few meters before the finish line.

I was satisfied with the race indeed. Nevermind that there was no distance markers or the fact that it was one challenging hilly route. I’m restraining myself from complaining about races. On another note, I have always had nasty calf cramps during races whenever I push hard, but not this time fortunately. And it felt good to be able to finish the race strong. I would say it was a good opening race of the year (to be frank, I’m not so sure if I will be racing much this year either… hehe).
We’ll see how it goes.

When I grow taller I want to become a fast and strong runner like this guy.
Maskels betis dia berketul-ketul wa cakap luu…

The J pose!

In previous edition of this race, Ijam pengsan-ed as he crossed the finish line.
This year, he was lucky he survived (most probably sebab dia tak nampak ramai amoi this year maka dia takde tendency untuk pengsan)

Syah tak sempat cover line cara dia menyedut perut sebelum bergambar.

Gaya-gaya pelari lapar tak cukup breakfast..

Masing-masing dengan gaya menyedut perut dan menahan nafas di depan cameraman.

Astalavista 2011

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:36:00 +0800

We just had our annual performance review for 2011 yesterday, portraying to everybody in the company what have I achieved (read: contributed) for the past twelve months in terms of profit margins.

Continuing the same spirit, but diverting the attention to my current passion which is endurance sports, allow me to present you my glorious track record for 2011.

I gloriously spent EIGHT freaking months resting. Hahaha..
Satu contoh teladan yang tak wajar diikuti sama sekali.

To put things in bullet points...

1) I only ran in four events this year. Yes, FOUR only. And they were all short distance runs. Pirated two of them (Men’s Health & KOTR). The final two events were Nike KL 10k Run and Malakoff 12km.

2) My only medal of the year is the one that I get during Malakoff 12km run. Seketul aje dong!

3) No multi-sport events at all. No duathlon, no triathlon. I only participated in the jealous-thlon events when I saw my friends updated their stories on FB.

4) No marathon event at all. Makanthon event je yang selalu buat, almost every month.

5) Eventhough it has given me some degree of sun tan, I never consider golf as an endurance sport. It was purely for work/business, although it feels good when I started to see some improvement in my consistency of hitting those tiny little white balls.

6) Gosh, I miss my tangan-dan-kaki-belang-belang-hitam-putih due to sun tan caused by running or cycling.

7) For some reason, I’m quite surprised that this blog still exists until today.

To be honest, I do wish to make a come back in 2012. How, or what, or in what magnitude it will be is still in the planning process. Whether the plans will really come true, is nothing that I can promise either.

One thing I find out though, is that, indulging in your passion (like sports or anything else) is a good way to balance up your life, even though it is often not easy to find the right balance to do it. Just saying…

Astalavista 2011!!!

Pantun Penutup Tahun

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:18:00 +0800

Ucapan salam pembuka kata,
Pemanis mulut senyuman diserta,
Blog sendiri dah lama tak buka,
Asyik ber-FB dan Dailymile saja.

Ikan siakap ikan kerapu,
Dimasak sweet sour enak juga,
Sekian lama aku tak merapu,
Rasa dah macam tak pandai pula.

Blog tak update sekian lama,
Rasa rindu terkadang menerpa,
Mood dah hilang entah ke mana,
Idea dan ilham tak kunjung tiba.

Sepanjang 2011 banyak berehat,
Event dan races semua tak hirau,
Seluar dah rasa semakin ketat,
Perut dah buncit jiwa dah kacau.

Bila dah makan terlebih kenyang,
Butang seluar hampir tertanggal,
Nak lari semula bukannya senang,
Penyakit malas sangatlah tebal.

Perlahan-lahan mengorak langkah,
Berlari anak terkinja-kinja,
Baru nak lari memanglah mengah,
Kalau nak terer sangatlah seksa.

Berminggu-minggu berbulan-bulan,
Mileage ditambah hari ke hari,
Letih dan penat tetap ku tahan,
Asal terasa puas di hati.

Bila fitness dah makin meningkat,
Terasa diri semakin semangat,
Kekadang enjin ter-over hangat,
Kaki dah lembik jantung dah penat.

Tahun baru bakal menjelma,
Banyak rancangan banyak acara,
Nak masuk yang mana tak tau nak kata,
Poket dan wallet harus ditanya.

Tahun yang baru lagi seminggu,
Terasa nak buat lah azam baru,
Nak update blog lebih selalu,
Berjaya ke tidak belum ku tahu.

Kepada rakan dan juga kawan,
Yang jauh dikenang yang dekat tak lupa,
Happy New Year saya ucapkan,
Semoga terus gembira hendaknya.

Birthday Run Done!

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0800

Planned to do a 33km run on my birthday (in conjunction with my age), it ended up being 34km. Terbabas daa...

Tiada kata yang dapat digambarkan.... P.E.N.A.T..G.I.L.E!

Special thanks to Shanaz and Jaja who turned up to accompany me for the run this morning. You both rawks!

Demi Kerja

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:01:00 +0800

Demi tugas dan demi kerja,
Panas dan hujan ku harung jua,
Kalau dulu berlari sahaja,
Sekarang terjebak dengan golf pula.

Ku hayun hayun ku pukul pukul,
Si bola kecil berwarna putih,
Bukannya senang nak straight betul,
Banyak melencong itu yang letih.

Kalau 9 holes kena dua jam,
Kalau 18 holes minima empat jam,
Di bawah mentari terasa nak pitam,
Kulit dah makin hitam al-legam.

Makinlah susah nak balance training,
Family, kerja dan juga sukan,
Makin lama hai makin pening,
Silap strategi ada chance pengsan.

Amacam, berapa bintang nak bagi markah untuk gaya ni?
Hehehehee...

Ragu-Ragu Tapi Mahu

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:39:00 +0800

I posted up this message below on my Dailymile account about three weeks ago, with a wishful thinking that I would be able to 'up' my fitness from almost zero (ehem ehem, drama sikit), to a level that I can pull off a 33km run without causing any injuries.

Started to have this crazy idea to run 33km on my 33rd birthday.... just for fun.
From Kiara Park, through Matrade/Solaris, up to Bukit Aman for the turnaround, then back to Kiara Park.
It's a public holiday anyway.

I've been clocking some serious mileage in the recent weeks, in the nature of rush to get ready for this self-generated konon-nak-jadi-hero dream.

On the other hand, I'm also starting to have some self doubts about it, reflecting on how bad my body responded to the mileage I've been forcing it to get used to. Aduhai...

So there you have it. A part of me who is wishfully wanting to experience something special on his birthday in his own way. And another part of me who says I won't be able to do it - purely due to lack of preparation other than anything else.

Well, I guess we'll see how it goes...

It's just for fun anyway.

Runners Are Weird

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:15:00 +0800

Runners are weird, when they say “Never again!”, or “This is so going to be my last race E-V-E-R!!” after finishing a very challenging run race, they will end up registering for another race almost immediately after they reach home.

Runners are weird, they know all of the running shoe models (including the color variations, model year, price) in the market. Don’t be surprise, they might not know how many model of Proton cars are on the road currently. For them, cars are all same. But not running shoes, each of them are different.

Runners are weird, they can memorize other runners from the type or model of shoes they are wearing. Statements like ”Eh, do you know Mr. X? Alaaa… the guy yang pakai kasut Nike Free kaler merah tuuu…”.

Runners are weird, when other people collect fridge magnets or key chains, they collect running vests and medals (and some of them even collect running bibs!). Running shoes are already a collection item by default laa, no doubt about it.

Runners are weird, they have more running shoes than their work shoes. And they wish their work shirts or uniforms are made out of dri-fit material.

Runners are weird, they don’t mind if they get stuck in a traffic jam for an hour. But it will drive them crazy if there are too many runners starting up in a 10km race as that will slow them 3 to 4 minutes for having to maneuver in between them.

Runners are weird, they have this amazing ability to wake up at 5am (or earlier) on weekend mornings. However, they find it difficult to wake up before 7.30am on any other working days.

Runners are weird, some of them may appear quiet or serious. But once you tell them something like “I’m planning to start running…”, you’ll see how talkative they can be. You’ll fall sick listening to their non-stop dramatic stories.

Some runners are weird, when they feel they are not good at running fast or far anymore.. they switch to playing golf.

Eh wait, that sounds very much like me...

A Quote

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Thu, 6 Oct 2011 10:43:00 +0800

- Fran Lebowitz -

Very True.
I Like!

10 Perkara Dulu Dan Kini

noreply@blogger.com (EnAikAY) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0800

Masa tengah fit dulu…

1) Training hari-hari pun tak kisah. Infact, lagi banyak training lagi terasa ‘high’.

2) Hujan ke, panas ke, tak menjadi faktor penghalang. Kalau hujan boleh training dalam gym. Kalau panas di siang hari, boleh training di waktu malam.

3) Waktu bangun pagi di hari minggu adalah lebih awal daripada waktu bangun pagi di hari kerja. Semata-mata sebab nak keluar awal untuk pergi long rides or long runs.

4) Adakalanya sanggup makan nasi putih dengan ayam rebus je, demi nak dapatkan low fat percentage supaya bertambah fit dan lean.

5) Merata alam sanggup ku jejaki untuk pergi race events.

6) Pilihan makanan dan kuantiti makanan adalah untuk replenish tenaga yang telah diguna semasa training. Sangat berdisiplin.

7) Setiap kali nak masuk race, mesti training betul-betul supaya boleh buat PB baru.

8) Kalau kena muscle cramp semasa race masih boleh senyum sambil berkata, “Aaah.. biasa la tu. Orang kata no pain no gain kan”.

9) Tiap-tiap kali timbang berat badan, tersenyum bangga dengan pencapaian diri sendiri me-maintain berat badan.

10) Orang kata, badan sihat otak cerdas. Nak blogging pun terasa happy, idea flowing like water fall bak kata orang putih.

Bila dah tak fit dan bergelumang dengan virus MALAS…

1) Kalau boleh hari-hari tak nak training. Buat apa nak training kalau tak masuk race, kan?

2) Eish… orang kata tak elok dok kat luar time jerebu ni.. tak gitu?

3) Pagi hari minggu la yang paling tak senonoh. Kalau bukan nyaris-nyaris nak jadi subuh gajah, subuh dinasour la jawabnya… ish ish ish. Teruk betul.

4) Makan ayam rebus? Buang tebiat ke apa? KFC kan ada…

5) Merata alam sanggup ku jejaki bila ada orang ajak makan…

6) I can’t think of any other reason… semua orang makan sebab nak kenyang… kan kan kan? Mana ada sebab lain...

7) Langsung tak tau apa race event minggu depan dan minggu-minggu yang akan datang. Majlis open house raya ada la...

8) Jangankan muscle cramp, baru kena gigit nyamuk pun dah menyumpah seranah tujuh keturunan. Kesian nyamuk tu...

9) Tiap-tiap kali timbang berat badan, terasa makin menyampah.

10) Orang kata, badan pun lesu lidah pun kelu. Dah lapan kali terasa macam nak tutup terus je blog ni.

Drama betul budak EnAikAY sorang ni... kan?