..::EnAikAY::..

Newton Challenge 25km 2012

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:23:39 PST

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::..) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:57:12 PST

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::..) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:20:36 PST

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 10:07:08 PDT

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::..) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:16:40 PDT

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::..) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:01:24 PDT

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 02:41:33 PDT

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::..) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:45:43 PDT

- Fran Lebowitz -

Very True.
I Like!

10 Perkara Dulu Dan Kini

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:00:00 PDT

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?

Entahlah Belalang

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:53:22 PDT

Dahulu asalnya nak rehat sehari
Konon nak rest kaki dan sendi
Sebelum badan terkena injury
Juga nak focus pada family

Semakin lama semakin menjadi
Dulu sehari sekarang dah banyak hari
Berehat terasa hai senang hati
Perut pun mula menambah inci

Kawan-kawan tegar berlari
Menambah mileage setiap hari
Diri sendiri terasa envy
Tetapi malas membukit tinggi

Bila nak re-start susah sekali
Memberi alasan tak henti-henti
Meeting dan travel ke sana ke sini
Hujan, jerebu dan juga busy

Sedar tak sedar badan dah berisi
Lemak dah mula menonjol diri
Masih rasa tak sedar diri
Hari ni pun rasa nak rehat lagi

Marilah berehat lagi sehari
Cuaca pun mendung nak hujan lagi
Terpaksa cari alasan begini
Supaya tak rasa bersalah sendiri

Bergelak ketawa bergeli hati
Sambil tangan menepuk dahi
Sampai bila nak jadi macam ni
Daku bertanya diri sendiri

Entahlah belalang…

Slim La Sangat

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:00:03 PDT

I was chatting with a runner friend, when suddenly we changed topic and started talking about weights and metabolic rate and about me losing 3kg during the fasting month without any exercise. Here goes some of the excerpts... (of course modified, for better dramatization effect).

Me: I langsung tak run sejak start puasa. The last one I ran was at Putrajaya yang time malam Men's Health run tu je. Shockingly, I reduced about 3kg by the end of Ramadhan. Langsung takde run the whole month. Within 1 week of Raya je I dah easily gained back 1.5kg or so... and the number is terrifyingly increasing day by day.
Perut sudah bolaatt...

Friend: Wahhh so good ar turun 3kg. hehe. I think I gained back 1kg ni balik...
Metabolic rate you tinggi ok la. If you lose weight just like that meaning senang for you to control your weight...

Me: The truth is, bukan senang nak tahan nafas lama-lama di depan korang supaya kelihatan slim tau... especially bila ada photographer. Hehehe.

Moral of the story:
Training-training jugak, makan-makan jugak. Tapi jangan lupa training tahan nafas supaya nampak slim ye.

Ngeh ngeh ngeh...

Kot Ye Pun

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:14:12 PDT

Kot ye pun kalau nak perli aku, janganlah sampai hantar kad ucapan raya yang sebegini rupa bro.... bergenang air mata woooo...

Bergenang air mata sebab lupa bawak ironing board balik kampung.. huhuhuu

Hahahahaa... don't worry bro (identiti sebenar pengutus kad ucapan ni terpaksa dirahsiakan). I like this very much. Honestly speaking. Tergelak aku sorang-sorang bila bukak email pagi tadi.

Inilah kad raya virtual yang paling sempoi aku pernah dapat sepanjang berkecimpung dalam arena endurance sports ni.

Thank you my friend. Nanti kita training sama-sama lagi.. tengok sapa yang lebih terer iron seluar 2XU...

Not to forget to my dearest readers:

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

Pirate Out Of Shape

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:29:14 PDT

During one of the weekdays where I did my run at KLCC park last week, being entertained by the group of people doing poco-robics (as of poco-poco + aerobics) at each loop I ran, I was being told by some running buddies that there will be Shape run at Putrajaya on the weekend (last weekend that is).

In my schedule I would have a ‘free’ Saturday evening to go for the run. I never run in this event before, maybe that’s why I didn’t register for it either this year. A very typical me I guess.

In the morning, I had a round of 18 holes golf in Bangi with my clients. I scored my first “birdie” ever! So, that was good enough to keep my jovial spirit high throughout that very tiring day (since I’ve been having some sleep deprivation during the week).

After the golf and lunch, I rushed to Shah Alam for some errands, then back to in-law’s place with only 10 minutes time to spare for a nap, before driving myself down to Putrajaya – the night where I turned into a pirate again.

Ala, bukannya selalu sangat pun aku jadi pirate ni… kan?

So, I get to the race site with no specific target other than just to enjoy the run (and hopefully cure my legs-itchiness-to-race disease I’ve been suffering lately), and hopefully cross the finish line lah. Managed to meet some friends from running and triathlon groups at the back of the crowd, hoo-haa-hoo-haa a little bit before bumping into some familiar faces of KLCC park runners, namely Shanaz and Marlin. With that, I ‘locked’ my pacing targets for that 12.3km run, because I know they will be aiming for the limited edition medals.

With Nik Raiha and Yusran – triathlete buddies.

With Ironman cum Ultramarathoner cum Bomoh hantu, Zul-Kelakar-Hassan.

My pacing targets for the night – KLCC park runners
Shanaz and Marlin.

At 2020hrs sharp, the gun was fired. From the mid-back of the crowd we made our ways slowly and carefully in between the other runners. At some point it was so difficult to wade our way out that we had to run on the pavement for the first couple of clicks. Although at first my plan was just to follow Shanaz and Marlin’s pace, it turned out to be the other way round.

This was how far behind I started the race from…

… and this is those runners behind me. Ramai banget dong!

I thought I was not able to keep a sub 6mins/km pace due to the tiredness (and plus I don’t normally run that fast), but surprise surprise my legs and breathing felt normal. It is very seldom for me to do a short run race like this (anything around 10km distance) because I know I’m never a fast runner for short distance. My normal speed is always spelled as S.L.O.W. But I gave a second thought on that and just try to see if I can shift into my overdrive mode for that night.

And because I did not pay to run in this event, I didn’t stop at the water stations. Baik gile kan? Thanks to my fuel belt filled with Gatorade sponsored by myself. Lagi best! I just slowed down to wait for Shanaz who had to stop for hydration. Marlin was following by not so far behind.

What a statement!

The pace felt good, and all body system was showing a tip top condition. During the run I was thinking of how good if I can maintain this pace during triathlons or marathons, because normally my energy died quite fast especially when it is hot.

Oh yeah, talking about hot. Many runners were saying they don’t like night run because it’s humid. I think I should be grateful that humidity doesn’t effect me much. Yeah I was sweating buckets, but the night winds kept me cooler and fresher. But when it comes to daylight race time when the scorching sun is blasting its ray, itu jam kalu, saya punya enjin cepat kaput lah. Mandi air 100+ pun tak leh nak recover the heat..

Inilah rupa hantu-hantu yang lari lintang pukang setelah dihalau oleh Bomoh ZulKelakarHassan. Dua-dua hantu dapat medal, tapi bomoh tak dapat medal (I think). Kesian sungguh.

For people like me who seldom go to Putrajaya at night, I find it entertaining to see the views of lighted bridges like this one here.

Anyway, back to the pirating business. At some points after the half way through, my running buddy for the night was showing a little depreciation in her speed and started to give some warnings that her gastronomical contents were trying to escape upwards-ly (in laymen term, muntah). I let her take the lead with whatever pace that suited her current condition and told her that she has secured a place for the medal (based on the numbers of female runners we’ve passed and the timing we’ve taken so far).

Finally, we get to the finish line and dashed our way through the gate clocking a time of 1hr 9mins.

”Lanun sila ke tepi, jangan lalu finisher chute!!!”, kata pegawai larian yang bertugas pada malam tersebut dengan suara yang serak-serak basah tapi tegas.

But this pirate made stupid face and just walked through the chute with a pair of hidung kembang sebab dia perasan dia lari laju gile (padahal geng-geng dia yang lain seperti SyahSully, Diket Menchanak dan lain-lain lari lagi laju dari dia).

Sebuah adegan drama Jayaputra yang berjaya dirakam…
Karen: “Abang, kan saya dah kata jangan pakai kain pelekat hijau tu. Saya tak basuh lagi yang tu.”
Yim: ”Alaa, yang awak pegi pakai mini-skirt saya yang merah putih tu kenapa?”

Among the 200 fastest male runners of the night.

I love the sensation after a good race like this, where I know I came prepared and was able to push hard until the finish line, and seeing sweat drops falling from my chin, knowing I’ve done my best – the feeling of glory, my own way.

Tak dapat medal pun takpe.

Ye laa, saya sedar saya hanya seorang lanun….

Photographers are like a magnet to the runners. They never miss the chance, especially if the photographer is no other than Tey himself.

Night Time Mumbling

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:56:16 PDT

Last year when I was still working in JB, I was targeting to participate in many running and triathlon races, with an ultimate dream of finishing an Ironman triathlon one day. My typical weekly schedule was roughly like this:

Monday: Gym session + Swim
Tuesday: Run + Swim
Wednesday: Bike + Run
Thursday: Run
Friday to Sunday: Switch to my ‘weekend husband/daddy’ role in KL, while squeezing at least one long run (LSD) during the weekend. Or perhaps a back-to-back session if I feel a little bit desperate to ‘up’ my fitness level.

Starting this year when I switched my career and return to KL where my family is, my weekly schedule turned out awesomely not-as-what-I-wish kind of thing:

Monday: Lucky enough if I can run in the evening. Or else I’ll be stuck in the office doing some paper work when a submission is about to due.
Tuesday: I might need to go home early to pick up my kids, it depends.
Wednesday: I may set this day as my ‘off day’ without being obliged to justify any reason for it.
Thursday: High possibility for a round of 9 holes golf session with a client.
Friday: Again, high chance that what happened on Thursday might be repeated, although with another group of clients.
Saturday: A very ‘tough’ 10km run, which feels more like a 25km. (“tough” here doesn’t mean the running route is difficult. It simply means I FEEL IT IS DIFFICULT to finish this distance)
Sunday: It is the only day when I turn into an iron man (unless if one day I decided to start seeking some help from a third party, also famously known as ‘The Laundry Shop’.)

Tak dapat jadi Ironman triathlete, dapat jadi iron-man kat rumah pun jadi lah...

So you can see now why I haven’t done any single race this year, despite of already being in KL where races are abundant and just a few minutes driving away from home.

Am I whining?

Am I blaming?

Am I being hard to myself?

The answer to these are a strict and clear-cut NO.

No, no and no.

So, why do I bring up this issue?

It’s is to show how important someone has to prepare before attempting such an enormous endurance event in the like of marathon or triathlon. The higher the mileage of the race events, or the better Speedy Gonzales you are trying to be, the bottom line depends almost entirely on how much you prepare for it.

It is also to show that if you see your friends crossed the finishing line of a triathlon or climbathon or swimathon or marathon or makanthon or whatever which you thought you could never ever ever ever do the same, then you should think again.

It is really not a matter of who you are or how your body size is. Sports background or not, fat or not, busy or not. It is a matter of whether you set your mind to do it or not. What should appropriately come next to that is your proper preparation for it. Follow that through with smart execution, and put gazillions of patience while doing it. Never rush for a result.

At the end of the day, you’ll be crossing the same finishing line as your friends did.

Amboi amboi, pandainya aku ceramah. Macamla aku ni terer sangat.

Ngeh ngeh ngeh…

But the real fact is... I miss racing...

Pantun Side Stitch

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:08:26 PDT

Di pagi Jumaat nan indah berseri,
Cuaca mendung nyaman terasa,
Hormon pantunku tetiba tinggi,
Mari tengok apa hasilnya.

Anak haruan anak keli,
Berenang bersama bersuka ria,
Akibat dah lama sangat tak lari,
Maka side stitch datang menjelma.

Nasi lemak ayam berempah,
Dimakan bersama sambal berlada,
Pabila side stitch dah makin parah,
Mula lah gelabah tak tentu hala.

Mata terpejam mulut ternganga,
Melayan cerita movie yang horror,
Stretching dah buat tak hilang juga,
Nampak sangat aku tak terer.

Poco-poco ramai yang tengok,
Di KLCC Park they “move-it move-it”,
Bila dah side stitch lari pun tak syok,
Muka pun kelat menahan sakit.

Selalu bersukan banyak faedahnya,
Badan pun sihat otak pun cerdas,
Nak hilangkan side stitch senang caranya,
Traininglah selalu janganlah malas (macam saya!).

Ikan siakap goreng bercili,
Tomyam udang ‘terbaek’ juga,
Cukuplah dulu sampai di sini,
Hormon dah turun ke paras biasa.

Dengan kata lain… dah takde idea nak pantun la ni.

Have a nice weekend y’all!!

It Is Now Four

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 23:19:33 PDT

Today, four years ago was the first day EnAikAY blogspot came as part of my life. It started of when I was in the States having my job training, and I had plenty of spare times to blog about my sports activities.

And that's how I started doing endurance sports, in conjunction with blogging.

I did the runs, the swims, the cyclings, the races... partly because I want to have something to blog about. And I think that's pretty much what I always blog about, which unfortunately makes some people feel fed up. Well, as a matter of fact I cannot please everybody. Heck, I can't even please my own self all the times.

So, coming to the beginning of 2011 when I moved back to KL for a job change, a lot of things have changed. And with the appearance of my second child, that too has shifted my focus in life, for the time being at least.

Combination of both, I know I had to re-balance my focus and I made the decision to keep it low and slow this year.

I'm taking this opportunity to celebrate my fourth year of blogging by re-starting my writings. I hope it continues for a much longer period. It's been a fun journey and though I sometimes fall into trouble when some of the readers get the wrong perception or understanding of what is being posted here, I guess that's part of the package. I'll take it as positively as possible for what I believe, nobody is perfect. Myself included.

So with that, happy fourth year birthday to my blog!

May EnAikAY keeps moving forward.
"To be, or not to be."

Good Day, Bad Day

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:24:51 PST

On a good day, I am able to dip into the swimming pool and swim 2.5km in one shot, albeit being slow at it. It happened two weeks ago when I joined some friends at the Shah Alam aquatic center. Knowing some of them were there to train for the upcoming swimathon, I knew the distance to swim that day will surely be more than 1.5km. I was doubtful to be able to complete that pre-requisite distance since I’ve not been swimming for quite a while. Fortunately my energy level was there and every part of my body behaved well. So I just swam and swam and swam, and stopped once completed a total of 2500m with some extra energy to go further if I wanted to.

Well, that was on a good day.

On a bad day, I can’t even swim 200m without stopping in between. Just like what happened last Saturday morning at Bukit Jalil National aquatic center. I arrived at the pool with an ambition to hit 3000m, but nothing worked in sync with the goal. Not even close. Heck, I think I swam less than 1000m. However, the presence of some well-known-funny guys made it a day nonetheless.

After the swim, with Syah, Saiful and Shakhir (wow.. 3S gitu).
Sesi menggosip diri sendiri. Itu pasal gelak sakan tu.

I managed to convince Shakhir to join me for the swim, knowing that he had some obligation with his kids making him unable to hit the tarmac with his two-wheelers as he usually does. Syah, Ian, Saiful and Azmar also came. Once we hit the water, the fun began. The focus of attention went to Shakhir, as it was the first time we met for a swim training. He was determined to be better at swimming so we showered him with loads of tips and corrections of his current swimming style. And being joker ourselves, every little points shared became a reason to laugh more and more.

On a separate note, I now know where Syah’s turbo button is hidden. I was swimming behind him, following closely behind the smooth bubble trail he left behind his feet. Then, I purposely tickled his feet as a sign that I’m following him. Out of surprised, that triggered his turbo engine and instantly he changed into a speedboat and all I could see was bubbles and bubbles. Ini orang sangat marabahaya woo. Mengalahkan dugong.

Anyway, about swimming, I acquired the skill and knowledge the hard way, and the long way. I remembered the times where I was so envious to see swimmers doing laps upon laps when I can’t even swim half the pool. I even found it weird that people can float in the water just by doing some kicking and waving actions.

Back then I was a shy guy who was afraid to ask people to teach me how to swim (now I’m still a shy guy... percayalah. hehe). So, I spent lots of time observing how other people swim. Then I mimic them. I spend a good 3 months or more just to be able to swim front crawl (a.k.a. free-style) for 25m without panting or drowning. Another couple of months to observe and learn how to thread water (i.e. floating). It was a long process indeed.

The reason for not taking a swimming coach is that I’m not a patience kind of guy (albeit being a shy guy). I don’t have the patience to be repetitively asked by the coach to do something that I am not good at doing. You know, in swimming there are lots of individual drills you have to master before combining everything and form a front crawl, or breast stroke. There’s the kicking drill, the one arm stroke drill, the body balancing drill, the single and bilateral breathing drill, and many more. And the stamina for long distance swimming does not come that easily as well.

Either way, with coach or without coach, the moral of the story (fullamak!!) is that, if you put your effort into it and stay focus to get what you want, you will get what you want even though you initially think you can’t do it.

So, with a Saturday well spent in the pool laughing more than swimming, I made a plan to go for a long run on Sunday morning. That didn’t happen either as I was feeling lazy to drive 40km all the way just to run. So, with the leftover mood of swimming from the day before, I made myself a coach for my little prince for his first swim training. His first lesson was backstroke.

And I am assisted by my little assistant coach.

Yet to Decide

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:53:17 PST

Every time my right brain wants to write something for this blog, my left brain will start to dysfunction. At the end, nothing came up. The idea to write just flew through my head without being jotted down. Time availability, a.k.a. the “line-not-clear” factor also contributes to the lack of blogability I’m experiencing nowadays. For that reasons, this blog is going to:

a) Be closed forever and ever. Sayonara.
b) Be re-activated, but with more nonsense and crappy entries which have nothing much to do with endurance sports
c) Be continually ignored, as it is for the past couple of months until Blogspot deletes it automatically
d) Be sub-contracted to another blog writer (anyone interested?)

I am yet to decide actually.

The truth is, I find it fun to blog. I find it fun to share something which might be beneficial for others in endurance sports specifically, rather than just being a plain bed time reading material. And it is fun (for me at least) to be virtually socializing through words left by readers on the comment box. I have a mix feeling between pitiful and happy when I see the statistics of visitors. Happy that there are still some of you out there who come and visit this blog albeit it being inactive. Pitiful because I can feel their disappointment when seeing nothing new is being put up.

I am yet to find the key to unlock this mental blocks inside my head.

Until then, let’s just hope there will be another blog entry after this one.
Ngeh ngeh ngeh.

New Prince of EnAikAY

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 03:28:33 PST

Introducing, the new prince of EnAikAY
NIK ABDUL AZIZ

Once upon a time, there was a friend who told me that there are four significant phases of life which will somehow change our character in a way or another.

The first phase is when you start a job/career.

The second phase is when you get married.

The third phase is when you get your first child.

The fourth and last phase is when you get your second child.

I'm not so sure what was his source, and I'm not sure whether he said this based on his own experience. Anyway, if the above is somehow true, I'm now passing through my fourth phase of life. And if by any means my character is going to change, I hope the changes will be in the good direction lah.

Goodbye JB, Hello KL!

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:37:53 PST

Finally, after being ‘stucked’ in JB for more than 3 years, I am now making a new career move which brings me back to the capital of this beautiful country we call home. Today is my last day at work here in JB, and in a few hours time I’ll be driving back to KL for good. Alhamdulillah.

It is such a relief, to me and to my family more importantly. Having done a long distance relationship all this while, I can now tell you that it is tough, and sometimes risky. Lots of sacrifices, lots of tears, lots of anxieties and agonies were involved. Not to forget the loads of hours spent on the seat of the express bus when I have to travel back and forth on every weekends.

Now, a new chapter of life has begun. Getting into a new career which is so much different from what I am currently doing is surely going to be a great challenge. With the new lifecycle, it’s time to refine my priority-balancing skills. To be honest, I have no clue of how it is going to be. But, I’ll work hard to make sure I survive.

Whether or not I’ll be able to join running or triathlon races this year, that’s not the main issue at this moment. And although I’ve been missing weeks upon weeks of daily runs due to work commitments, I’ve started to clock some long distance runs during the weekends. Sometimes when the itchiness was too much to handle, I did back-to-back runs. However possible, I’ll always make healthy living as part of my lifestyle.

I’m surely going to miss JB and the bunch of good athlete buddies I’ve called friends. I hope I’ll meet them again at race events. So, farewell JB.

Meanwhile, "Hello KL!!!"

Poison

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:00:35 PST

Sometimes we do not realize that some of the words we use on daily conversations are not the best options there is. And even worse, these words bring negative energy, which I like to believe may have a subsequent effect on how we behave or react. For example, the word lazy, or in Malay, malas. You may not realize how often you use this word in your daily conversations, but let’s look at some of the classics (that I mostly experienced saying them myself).

“Hmm, malasnya nak pergi lari petang ni, mendung semacam je iklim khatulistiwa kat luar tu.”

Or,

“Aduh, susah betul la nak register race marathon online ni. Asyik sangkut je. Malas aku nak layan. Aku pirate kang baru diorang tau.”

Or,

“Hebat betul la diorang ni, almost everyday diorang update blog. Aku sorang je malas update.”

And you may have also heard about the “M-bug” flying around, haven’t you?

I know it is naturally difficult to reflect or observe our own behavior, and specifically our weaknesses. Having some little experience working and living in Japan for 364 days back in 2002, I generally concluded that one of the reasons why Japanese can be as what they are now today is that, they are not lazy. It is so obvious even in their conversations that until today, to be frank, I don’t know how to say the word “lazy” in Japanese language. For what I always hear, they would either say “I don’t want to blahblahblah…”, or “I cannot do blahblahblah…”. I never heard they say “I’m lazy to blahblahblah…”

It may be difficult to prove this scientifically, but somehow I believe using negative words may have direct consequences to how we react, or behave. It is such a poison to our little subconscious brains.

Talking about poison, don’t you think it is also a kind of negative word?

Especially when we talk about influencing another runner into doing something greater. Like motivating them to go for longer distance, or to run faster, or to upgrade from half marathon to full marathon. We tend to use the word poison, rather than any other positive words. How often have you said something like, “I want to poison him/her to do marathon”. Pretty often, right?

But, is it the best word to use? I mean, poison is a sort of negative word in this essence. So, when I woke up this morning and got a little sparkle of idea of what topic I want to blog about today, I came to think about this. About how we should promote using positive words, so that we become more positive minded and behave more positively.

Then I came to think, instead of using negative word like poison, why don’t we use the opposite and positive word like, fertilizer? Just like how we want to grow beautiful flowers or fruit trees, we would use fertilizer and not poison, right? And it would be much better especially when associating it with growing, or influencing, or motivating another runner into doing something better like a marathon. Don’t you think?

Perhaps we might try saying something like, “I think I want to fertilize her to do a marathon lah.”

Eeerrrkkkkk!!!

I think I’ll stick to the word poison lah.
At least it is a safer word. Hik hik hik...

Apa Khabar Ku?

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 22:19:30 PST

Alhamdulillah diriku sihat,
Walaupun perut dah makin bulat,
Keje kat ofis berlipat-lipat,
Nak makan pun rasa dah macam tak sempat,
Nak baca blog dah rasa tak larat,
Nak tulis blog sendiri lagilah penat,
Tak lama lagi password pun tak ingat.

Tapi apa boleh buat,
Di dunia ini begitulah adat,
Sekejap lapang sekejap terjerat,
Bila senang bolehlah berehat,
Bila dah busy nafas pun tersekat,
Syukurlah badanku masih sihat,
Akal pun masih berputar ligat.

Walaupun cuma sekadar sekerat,
Cerita dah basi story dah berkarat,
Inilah aje yang aku larat,
Kepada korang masih ku ingat,
Pembaca setia dan juga peminat,
Waktu rehat ku dah hampir tamat,
Di sinilah aje yang aku sempat,
Semoga bertemu di lain tempat.

Oh, I miss group running so much...

Gambatte SCSM Runners!

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:11:45 PST

Oleh kerana hormon pantun saya hari ini sangat tinggi menchanak, terpaksalah saya kumandangkan beberapa rangkap pantun merapu moden untuk tatapan rakan-rakan yang akan berjuang di tanah seberang Selat Tebrau pada hari Ahad ini.

Pulau Pandan jauh ketengah,
Gunung Daik bercabang tiga,
Training dah sudah prepare pun sudah,
Waktu berjuang tiba masanya.

Pisang emas di bawa belayar,
Masak sebiji di atas peti,
Flight dan hotel sudah dibayar,
Jangan lah sampai tak jadi pergi.

Pucuk pauh delima batu,
Anak semilang di tapak tangan,
Mulakan langkah satu persatu,
Berhenti halfway dibuat jangan.

Buah cempedak di luar pagar,
Ambil galah tolong jolokkan,
Korang semua pelari tegar,
Apa nak takut apa nak heran.

Tuailah padi antara masak,
Esok jangan layu-layuan,
Pelari dah ramai bersesak-sesak,
Yang penting jaga keselamatan.

Modal berpantun dah makin kurang,
Otak dah beku idea dah tiada,
Good Luck All The Best kepada korang,
Semoga berjaya di Singapore sana.

P/s: Oh ye, pesanan penaja sikit. Adalah dengan ini ingin dimaklumkan bahawa EnAikAY tak masuk acara marathon kat SCSM tahun ni ye. Jangan percaya kepada dakyah-dakyah yang disebar oleh parti "Lambung Sakan" tu. Sekian, terima kasih. Hehehe.

Maintenance Is Better Than Repair

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:23:47 PST

We are all used to the quote which says “Prevention is better than cure”, right?.

We can prevent a car accident from happening by driving in safely manner, and by being alert all the time. Of late, we see lots of people using their handphones while driving. And more dangerously, they even dare to read or write text SMS while driving. I used to do that too, but I’ve slowly stopped doing that, in the name of safety. I’ve seen a real video footage of a nasty car accident caused by a driver who was not paying attention while driving. His car knocked down a female pedestrian crossing a road, and she died.

In that particular scenario, the word “prevent” plays the most important role. Those are the scenarios where we can prevent something bad from happening.

But, when we talk about health, how do we prevent from something bad from happening? I mean, talking about disease, or sickness? Can we prevent everything?

Let’s just take an example on dental care. How many of us who rarely get dental problems think that taking care of our teeth is also part of healthy living? For what I know, most of us brush our teeth once or twice a day because we want to get rid of tahi gigi.

Bila masa pulak gigi kita pandai berak ni? Woops, pardon my budu language here.

In actual fact, taking care of our dental is one of the most important aspects of health. Just because we seldom get toothache, that doesn’t mean it is not important. And the way we used to prevent from dental problems to occur is by brushing our teeth, at least once a day. But as we also know, brushing our teeth alone is not enough. We need more than that.

Just as we need to send our cars for maintenance servicing so that they do not eventually cause a massive repair job, same thing for our teeth. At least once a year, we need to send our teeth for a maintenance servicing, before we end up with a massive repair job. That is, if repair is still one of the options.

Not being a good boy, I’ve neglected this maintenance service for a good four years. The last time I visited a dentist was more than four years ago, when I had to do the very painful root canal treatment. The moment I stepped out from that dental clinic, I never made a visit back again.

Until yesterday, when I can’t take it any longer with some food keep on sticking up in between my teeth every time I eat. I finally made another visit to the dentist. No, I didn’t go to Taiping to see Doctor Julinda (she’s busy running). I just went to a nearby dentist for some scaling, polishing and some filling up work. Furthermore, the validity of the dental insurance from my company is going to end in 30 day or so. Hence, better make use of it.

The scaling job was a bit nasty. We are talking about a bunch of teeth that has not been ‘serviced’ for several years. Not that I have a bad breath or rotten teeth, but it made me belief that brushing our teeth alone is not enough to properly clean them. That’s why it is recommended that we visit the dentist at least once a year.

The normal polishing job was ok. I asked about whitening too, but I don’t want to spend RM300++ just to get a sparkling white teeth. Yeah, I may be a drama-man, but I’m not a celebrity. And let’s not talk about the whitening process using laser, which costs more than a thousand Ringgit (I better save it for Cervelo.. hihi).

I had to fill up three small holes in my teeth. My jaw was sore from the non-stop jaw opening action. The price for filling up has raised quite tremendously lah. I’m not whether sure it is due to the professional workmanship, or the cost of the filler material, or to compensate for the lack of dental patients coming into the clinic. All in all, I spent a good amount of money, of which I can get myself a new pair of running shoes. Inflation, inflation… sigh.

The funny thing was, the dentist who was very friendly kept on asking me about where I work lah, about what I do at work lah, what kind of products I design lah; all during the time when my mouth was wide open and she was using her tools to clean up my teeth. How to answer lah?

“Hokher… hulut haye herhange hachang hi, hachahane haye hak hakhap?”

Letting The Curtains Down

noreply@blogger.com (..::EnAikAY::..) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:50:16 PST

Apart from the months of April and August, December is another month in this year where I do not participate in any kind of competitions. No running, no triathlon, no swimming, no cycling, no nothing. If there is such a thing as 'resting competition', I might change my mind though.

On a slight look, 2010 is the year where I joined the most races since I started this little endurance and multisports stuffs back in 2007. I cannot deny that this is among the most awesome experience in my life – to see how far I can expand and extend my mental and physical limitations. I pushed my speed limit, and I pushed my mileage limit. Not that I’ve reached my peak yet, as I know I can still do more and do better. I strongly believe, the more effort I put on the training and preparation, the better I can become. And so can you.

That’s why it is so simple to be better in sports. You just need to put more hours on your training, and keep on looking for more efficient ways to get the best result. The difficult part is to stay motivated. Because, to get better in sports, it takes lots of time.

Having done this endurance multisports for close to three years doesn’t make me the best of all. My performance curve is no where near to showing any positive inclination. Fortunate for me you may say, because I love doing sports and getting my sweats out on daily basis even if I have no more competitions to participate. But, living in my real life, there are times where others things come higher in my priority list.

Saying that, I hope it is proper to say that I’m letting my curtains down, for now. I need to take some time off to rebalance my life to suit the current needs, which mainly evolve around family and career. It doesn’t mean that it was unbalance though. I just need to rebalance it.

The good news is, I will still be around. I may still do the geli-geli long runs or gelak-gelak LSD, or swimming, or cycling if I have the opportunity. I may still go for run or to the gym on daily basis – as part of my fitness maintenance program. I am still active in sports, although not as much as when I was preparing myself for competitions. Living a healthy lifestyle is still what I will continue to embrace and promote.

The bad news is, this blog may be more boring lah.

But, it has always been boring, right?

P/s: Yeah yeah, I know I still owe you my Malakoff Powerman story. The story is now stuck at 50%. I have no idea when I will continue the story, or whether I should continue the story. Dah basi sangat dah...