Cycling Diary - Perkampungan Kampuchea

Diari Kayuh Seorang Macik.

Sabtu sbelum PIC macik & geng super santai riders telah ke kg merbau sempak, paya jaras untuk misi mencari daging salai. oleh kerana kami ke Pulau Perhentian secara back to nature & bercadang nak camping dan memasak sendiri, maka kena la bawa bekalan utk sessi main masak2 ditepi pantai nanti.  best gak dah lama bebenor macik tak buat keje camni hehehehe.

One of our geng membesar di kawasan berdekatan so dia mmg familiar sgt dgn perkampungan islam kampuchea nih.  pandai je dia bawak kitorang lalu celah2 jalan kampung and for a while terasa macam meronda2 di bumi asing.  mereka di sini masih kaya dgn bahasa dan amalan ibunda... macik tak sangka plak ada tempat2 sebegini tak jauh dr my own backyard.  nnti bebila macik akan dtg lg menjenguk tempat ni dgn famili macik.

Detail kayuhan:

Total distance - about 44k
Time - 3 jam setengah, pegi balik (plus sessi meronda kg & bergambo)
Weather - hujan renyai ketika pergi & panas berjahang ketika balik.
Route - sebahagian besar GCE, sebahagian lg jalan tarmac 2-way
Rating - doable for beginners, interesting dpt tgk kg org2 islam kampuchea

Super Santai Riders of Shah Alam

Sosej daging kalori tinggi

Gerai macik kampuchea mcm2 ada

Cycling Diary - My first 100km

Diari Kayuh Seorang Macik

First time macik ni layan highway was at GCE on merdeka day 31/08/2012... hadoila masih teringat sengsara masa tu.  dah la pungkok macik rasa lebam semacam, rupa2nye kalau baru kayuh ni bukan kaki yg sakit tp otot blakang tengkuk plak yg berdenyut, pelik sungguh.  depa kata lama2 biasa la sbb dok bongkok ja masa kayuh tu.

From there macik telah berjaya tambah mileage skit demi skit sehingga la pada tanggal 29/09/2012, i broke my first 100km weehooo.  dari shah alam ke kuala selangor & back melalui jalan kapar.  masa tu macik bertiga ja, biasa la kan, geng kayuh ni ada pasang surutnye... sat depa nak pi sat ada commitment, kite pun camtu gak so sape yg bole pi, kire ON jela.

Route mmg bagus for beginners... walaupun kenderaan banyak tp jalan sgt mendatar dan generally lurus je so we are tested only thru the distance travelled and not thru gradient or toughness of terrain.  ada kala coach kami, si jey yg hensem, berjaya tarik kami melepasi 30km.. something tht is quite impossible kalau kayuh kat GCE.  overall macik sgt happy kerana telah berjaya melepasi 100km dalam keadaan yg penat namun tidak tersiksa :)

Detail Kayuhan:

Total distance - 104.7km
Total Time - 5 jam 15min (2 jam one way plus sessi bergambo & makan2)
Weather - redup & sgt marveles
Route - shah alam ke kuala selangor via kapar
Rating - doable utk beginners yg ingin tambah mileage sbb route mendatar dan jalan yg sgt straight.

SA-KS-SA - 104.7km

 Naek kete pun macik tak pernah sampai hehe

My cycling coach jey & cycling buddy ann

Tanda 'kuala selangor' in the hills dh tak nampak

Cycling Diary - Highway Foray

Diari Kayuh Seorang Macik

Selepas puas ronda2 biasakan diri naek kenderaan dua roda (instead of the usual four) macik relakan diri dipujuk mencuba highway plak.  cuak tak terkire tp keinginan nak mencuba tu mengatasi segala... i can do it la, macik repeat dlm hati so on merdeka day 31/08/2012 macik ikut geng kayuh kat GCE. masa tu naek mtb anak and pakaian pun kurang sesuai.  nasihat macik, kalau uols nak kayuh jauh2 skit sila la pakai seluar padding, otherwise suffer the consequences!!  dan route guthrie mmg berbukit & mencabar, nak pingsan jugak la dibuatnye hehehe. dari situ macik belajar deal with the initial pain & discomfort of long distance cycling as oppose to ronda suke2.

Detail Kayuhan:

Total distance - 42km
Total Time - 2 jam lebih termasuk sessi bergambo & minum.
Weather - panas & semakin terik
Route - GCE bukit jelutong ke last toll to rawang and back
Rating - doable tetapi guthrie highway sangat la mencabar utk beginners - gradient yg meninggi pada kadar yg agak lama. juga ada elemen membosankan sbb its straight and can be hot. walau bagaimanapun marveles sebagai training ground.

My first ever ride on the highway 

Subsequent rides di GCE

First spin with Tizzy my RB

Super santai riders yayyyy

Perhentian Island Challenge 2012

I stuck to tarmac & pavement all these years bcos i have weak ankles....running on any uneven surface scares the hell out of me.  and thats the main reason why i've given trail runs a wide berth.

But 2012 is a year of awakening for me.  it dawned on me that if i dont try new things now, i might never have the opportunity ever again, not with age closing up on me... and that realisation have somehow given me new courage i guess lol.  so i registered for salomon trail run @ UPM, bought myself my first pair of trail shoes and allowed myself to be persuaded into joining PIC 2012.

Salomon X Trail Run 2012 (UPM 30/09/12)

My bib & new trail shoes

Daybreak & the trail round UPM

Finally the finishing line lol

For better for worse, here's sharing my PIC experience.

I cant really give u guys a fair account of the run bcos i cant compare it to anything else since this is my first trail run (UPM wasnt really something i'd consider as trail, more like muddy road ekekeke). personally, it was pretty tough.. 21km measured flat (the steep inclines makes it so much more), 4 hills in total and 3 of it was before the cut off checkpoint. all along the way people were moaning & groaning, me included...in fact i was screaming obscenities while climbing the 3rd hill, the hill face was almost flat and i was totally dependent on natural vines & foothold.. thank God for the soldier's spirit burning deep within me.

There were no marshalls placed within the jungle route and there were long stretches where nary a soul was in sight, very solitary and very 'its just u & me God' kind of situation.  only 4 water stations and they were definately too few and far between. i came across many runners weak from dehydration,  a few were even desperate enough to drink from the small streams trickling down parts of the hills. and i'm not talking about maciks like me but strong young men & women who probably pushed too hard, forgetting to pace themselves.

In total 12 checkpoints, 5 wristbands and checkpoint no. 6 was the 5hr cut off (initially they said 4hrs but they found out it was just generally too tough so they extended it to 5hrs) . i reached checkpoint 6, 35mins too late so i wasnt allowed to continue but honestly, if given the opportunity i would've wanted to see it thru...i might not be fast but i felt i still had it in me to finish.  all in all i heard only 20-30% made it thru, the rest DNF, me included.  the organizer left a lot to be desired..starting with limited medals, limited finisher tee, limited participant tee, limited food, and a less than committed crew... but perhentian island is so beautiful that one is inclined to forget all that hehehe...so if things go right, i might just be giving PIC another try next year  :D

Perhentian Island Challenge 2012 (11/10/12-15/10/12)

Base camp at teluk keke.. we were the first group to arrive

Then the rest came in droves lol

PIC briefing

The morning of PIC 2012.. lets do it

At pulau kecil waiting for the elites to swim across

 And off goes all the novices

I didnt make the cut-off checkpoint by 35mins 

Favourite pastime at perhentian...snorkelling

And feeding the ever hungry fishes

View of pulau perhentian kecil from pulau perhentian besar

And we were the last group to leave hehehe

Cycling Diary - How it started

Diari Kayuh Seorang Macik

Macik ni jenis yg suke berlari & berkejaran tetapi tetiba one fine day terkena la plak foot injury dan trus segala aktiviti running macik tergendala.  sambil menangani kekecewaan yg melanda, mata macik dok usya gak la beskal anak sulung macik blakang sofa tu...ish ish, sayang dah berabuk rupanye.

Beskal MTB anak macik

Helmet pun ada sampai dua

Maka satu hari tu, terpanggil la plak macik nak cuba round2 kawasan rumah. setelah meng'adjust' beberapa perkara (i sawed off the tube to lower the seat wakakaka) dan berjinak2 dgn gear dan brake yg sgt kuat menyentap sehingga ada ketika macik hampir terpelanting, i went on my first ronda2.

Of course one ronda let to another lol.

I started in my neighbourhood... macik memandai je sengsorang hehehe.

 Bantai jela labu hehehe

Then a friend came over to help me with the basics...

Thx ann for all your help

One nite my nephew took me for a moonlight spin round shah alam weehooo...

First time pusing shah alam

Lepas tu macik panjangkan langkah ke Bukit Jelutong..

Woman power ahaks

BJ oh BJ

Sambil jenguk2 Bukit Cerakah..

MTB sesuai utk bukit2

Hutan pun ku redah heheh

Waaah seronok gak berbeskal nih ye ;)

I'm back

Blame it on fb... it makes communicating short & sweet but it doesnt really help in sorting out the thoughts in your head.  kekadang tambah serabut lagi ada but then again, we're supposed to be controlling the things around us, not the other way around. so no fb has not taken over my life *and if i say it often enough i might believe it lol*

Lots have been happening, things that i can and want to share, things that i cant. and as usual when theres an overload of info, we'll just cut the trimmings and get down to the basics.

I'm still running, its the love of my life.... but, sad to say, i'm still bugged by my foot injury.  somehow that plantar faciitis that i had just refuses to leave me alone.  i used to moan & groan about it, but now i realise that when God closes one door, in His absolute Mercy, He opens up so many others.  one of it is my exposure to the joys of cycling.  i would never have wanted to try anything else when i was so absorbed in my running, but the moment that i had to start crosstraining and find a suitable alternative, the world opened right in front of me.  now i have no regrets.  well to be honest, theres still that tightness in the pit of my stomach whenever i think of the good old painfree days when i was happily pounding the tarmac day after day after day... but now i know, that i hv the means to go that much faster & further and its also a good feeling indeed.

So now i have added another chapter in my life.  yup, its true that life begins at 40, but then it also starts again at 50, 60, 70... insyaalah selagi hayat dikandung badan and as long as faith & hope flows thru your veins,  life will never stop unravelling its mystery & surprises :)

One week of bike hunting... could this be the one?

Finally my very own... BH Crystal Women Pro-series

http://www.bicycling.com/node/59735

Look out for Diari Kayuh Seorang Macik after this k and share my journey as i try my best to grow old maybe not gracefully, but meaningfully  ;)

SCKLM 2012.. a macik's story

The excitement of the running community over the recent scklm is slowly dying down.  understandably so, those who lost their 'virginity' and the many who achieved PBs, its a glorious moment to be relived over and over again.

I seriously thought i would be missing out on the event again even though i was among the early birds to register for the half marathon, my second attempt at 21k. last year i had to skip my first scklm when the opportunity for a dubai trip suddenly manifested itself and this year the flu bug got me real good and i was having an overdose of phlegm & a heavy head right up to race day.

SCKLM 2012

But thank god i survived, without pain nor injury to boot, and clocked in 2:40:49.  for the non-runners, no, its not about getting a placing like 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 10th and 11th.  top positions & placings are usually for the elite runners.  for the rest of us struggling to put one foot over the other until we cross the finishing line, its more about timing and how to keep improving, thus the term PBs or Personal Bests.

And truth be told, its also about the medals.  yup, that 'useless' looking piece of metal that might come a dime a dozen but the absence of which can turn the mildest mannered person into a terrorist lol.  i guess its actually quite justified to think of runners as a mad bunch *wink*

21km finisher medal 

Anyways for the other maciks (and paciks also why not lol) out there who're already in their 50s and wondering if they should ever consider trying out 21km, this is my story :)

First and foremost, put away your fears of ever making it to the end... yes it can be done even if we're not spring chickens anymore and you don't have to be an athlete or a sportswoman/man either.  insya allah if you put your mind to it you'll cross that finishing line in one piece.  but of course nothing meaningful ever comes that easy, you will have to put in some effort in the form of scheduled training & consistent running prior to that 21km.  you need to cover some serious mileage or at least build up a solid running base.

For me its probably my consistent running rather than any specific training that has helped carry me thru.  More for health maintenance than anything else, I've been running a minimum of 4km 3-4 times a week since 2005 but not until last year did i take my running seriously and trained with a running group.  with the help of my running group & buddies, i completed my first half marathon at the PJ Half Marathon last year with a PB of 02:20:38... and i did it with minimum pain and no injuries.  the only injury i have suffered so far came much later but thats a whole different story altogether, to be shared another day perhaps.

OK other than the basic requirement of having some kind of training plan (especially if u want to do it injury free) theres also a couple of things you will need to help you along the way.  and top on the list is  of course your partner in crime, that all important pair of shoes.  running 21km in the wrong shoes can mean the difference between success & disaster.  after years of running within the adizero range, this time i switched to one with better cushioning.  after my injury, plantar faciitis to be exact, i have to be mindful of additional support so i gave up my norm and went with adidas response cushion 20. thankfully it was the right choice.  good running shoes don't come cheap so you want to keep making the right choices lol.

My Adidas Response..  and its pink lol

Then theres also my other running musts.. 1. hydration & multipurpose belts for fluids, gels, keys and that inseparable phone lol and 2. my iPod. music can be quite a motivating factor especially when you're pounding out 21km on the hot tarmac.  for scklm 2012 i decided to go for a purely techno playlist, i somehow find the instrumental beat to be the perfect background for my zikir. and instead of the hydration belt, which in all honesty isn't something i am really comfortable with, i decided on my dual-pocket spibelt which would hold my gels & my phone.  in this case, comfort won over fear of thirst.  i was hoping that water would be aplenty along the way, and thank god i was proven right :)

Belts & iPod

And this next section is especially for women.  now regardless of whether your boobs are huge or small, you'll be needing a sports bra.  trust me, it'll be good for you as well as the people around you.  theres nothing more distracting then a pair of swaying or jiggling boobs lol.  and u certainly don't want to have chaffing where the skin is soft & sensitive.  slathering a generous amount of vaseline will also help.  and if you're unlucky enough to be having your period during the event, then tampons will also minimize further chaffing (might not be suitable for the younger girls though).  don't forget 2-3 hours of constant rubbing can even cause blisters so we might as well be extra careful.

Ladies arsenal.

Running 21km can be tough on the body, especially when we're already in the middle-age group.  so be prepared, stay hydrated a couple of days before the race and take some form of oralites to prevent or at least minimize cramps on race day itself. sadly for me, i was bogged down with flu and didn't have the luxury of such preparation.  during scklm 2012 i relied heavily on the strength of my daily supplements i.e. multivits, vit C, omega 3 fish oil, lechitin,  EPO & glucosamine sulphate, usually taken  in the mornings.

My normal pre-breakfast fare

During the race i armed myself with a supply of 2 tangerine powergels and a nuun tablet (which i actually forgot to take tsk tsk).  i had earlier decided against a power gel to start off the race and took my first energy booster when i was into my first hour.  the weather was excellent and i was feeling pretty good despite the phlegm and the running nose (hahaha even my nose was running ).  my greatest enemy has always been the heat & humidity and thankfully throughout the run, the sun was shaded by the tall buildings of kuala lumpur lol.  i downed my second gel about 15km into the run and until the end, i wasn't hit by fatigue, alhamdulillah.  i also made sure i stopped at most of the water stations to keep myself hydrated.

Energy & electrolyte boosters

Despite my fears of inadequate training & preparation due to months of injury and less than optimum health, i ended up really enjoying my second half marathon around the city of KL  again, the weather couldn't have been better and the organizers made an excellent job of running the event.  nothing is perfect and of course there's always room for improvement but i can't say i have anything much to complain about. yup, i'm that easy to please lol.

Majectic KL

Running in familiar streets

Water & sponge stations

Relief for aching muscles

Cooling zone for heated bodies

The finishing line

(pics courtesy of Leong Kwan Weng, tqvm)

One thing that really made a huge difference to my mental state was staying overnite in the city.  the swiss hotel was probably as close as u can ever get to dataran merdeka, venue of the race lol.  not having to rush and deal with the inevitable traffic jam and parking problems really took the edge off. i found myself very relaxed prior to flag off and that, i can assure you, is no easy feat.  when it comes to races, i am the undisputed queen of gabra hehehehe.  much thanks to my running family & friends for making it an enjoyable experience for me.  you know who you are mwaah3.  

Allow me to also share an incident that left me smiling the rest of the day.  as i was queueing up for the medal & goodie bag, a guy came over and excitedly told me that for most of the way, he was pacing me.  picking up someone to pace is a game that runners play to make the run a little more interesting.  i was wearing green so i guess i sort of stood out in a sea of blue, that probably made it easy for him to track me. 'you run well' he said, 'i tried overtaking you once but you stayed ahead after that'.  of course it's always nice to have someone compliment you to your face but it was also rather embarrassing for me bcos i knew i wasn't all that fast to begin with lol.  still, i thanked him but by then my curiosity was piqued.  taking a quick peep at his bib i asked,  'so dan, whereabouts are you from?', all the while thinking he was going to say ipoh or something.  but it was indeed an international event bcos he replied. 'oh I'm from hong kong'.  needless to say it took me by surprise and we parted ways just like that, strangers bound by a common love for running lol

Onwards to the finish

(Pic by TET, tqvm)

Post run, i actually felt better than my first half mara.  i woke up to almost zero pain... no muscle aches and my right foot was acting pretty normal, surprise surprise.  in conclusion, i can just say that God really loves me lol.  truly, He's given me a huge break and I'm again hopeful of making that 42km one fine day :)

Yay i did it !

SCKLM 2012 Official Results:
Rank -108/226
BIB No - H 12097
Name - LATIFFA ZAM ZAM
Category - 21KM WOMEN'S VETERAN
Gun Time - 02:45:30
Chip Time - 02:40:49
Split 10km - 01:20:49 

So please maciks & paciks, if i can do it so can YOU!! Jom lets run woot woot :)