Interning and training part1

Blogger's guilt: The gnawing feeling that grows stronger over time for those who have been neglecting their blogs.

Hiya everyone, It's been an outrageously long time since the last post. I've been interning in KL and this is an update about the feasibility of training and working in KL. Been working at Chulan Tower which takes around 60mins to walk-LRT-walk from my place, my job starts at 8am and ends at 5:30pm after which I usually train at KLCC park. Many people have complained that KLCC park is far too crowded with runners and sightseers to do any quality running, but I find that the other park users usually do not hinder me due to my running on the grass... yes there's a perfectly good running track (albeit rather hard) but I've been super-paranoid about getting re-injured since my 4 month injury.

drinking fountains

 Along with grass-running, the other things I do that freak people out a little are 1) running clockwise instead of anticlockwise for half the workout 2) Doing Lim Chee Hiong's Kung-Fu-wannabe-dynamic-stretching (scorpion, donkey kicks etc) and 3) weaving back onto the running track when I encounter the bridge.

Overall, KLCC park is a great place, there are drinking fountains to be found in abundance, I have a secret place to stash my bag before I go running and most people are actually there to run. Besides, how many parks have a marked, 3000m track surrounding it's perimeter?

pacemakers 

Track markings

 However, I have a few personal issues with running at KLCC. Firstly, the park is veined with pavement which causes neither the track nor the grass to be continuous. Secondly, everybody must run on the bridge (unless u've mastered the shinobi art of running on water). The bridge is also the hotspot for photographers which forces me to run on the pavement for about 70 meters per loop and increases the chances of runners running full tilt into photographers backing up looking through their lenses trying to get the right angle. And lastly, the park is crawling with love birds, which makes me feel like a voyeur when I need a place to sit and stretch or do some push-ups!

Le bridge

 These issues brings us to the second running spot that I frequent for non-track stuff: Amcorp mall cricket field. This field is around 2 or 3 times the size of a football field and is great for fartleks and running in general. I have been gravitating to this place recently as it's right below one of the LRT stations that I pass through.

Contrary to all the stories that I have heard about the difficulties of training during internship, I haven't found it difficult or troublesome at all. This could be due to the fact that my job is an office job, my benign office hours and the abundance of potential running spots between my office and home. The only thing that has been forcing me to train inconsistently is my right calf's habit of flirting with injury. Due to that, I have not trained more than 4 days a week since I came home.

P.S Tareef bro, u asked what do i think about compression calf guards? I've never tried them before although many people have lauded their benefits. Maybe because I hate wearing lots of extra stuff when running.

Before training

panorama fail

After training