KL Towerthon & MUDS UPM 2012

It has been awhile since i updated the blog. These 3 weeks after MUDS in UPNM are such hectic and challenging weeks especially the first 2 week as I still working on my final year project until the very last hour before the presentation. Never did I expect to be in this kind of situation in my whole life! Luckily, the presentation went on smoothly and now I am working on my thesis and hopefully submit the whole thing by end of this month.

MUDS UPM

Departed from UTM around 8.30pm. Spend a night inside the bus, at an R&R, near a petrol station. Some of us sleep in the Surau, hehe (including me & Chau). Lesson learned-depart at late night (after 12 midnight) if we cant secure an accommodation. Around 5.30am, we headed to UPM. We were sending one men & women open (Black & Jiha), one mix team (Fikri, Amirul Ali, & Tiang), two men university (me & Bahtiar) and two women university (Lau & Afiedah).

I just have one goal for the race which is improve from last year. Initially, we did not plan to join this year MUDS, somehow Malakoff was generous enough to sponsor us, so I have decided to take this opportunity (since this is my final year, hehe). By the way, our preparation for KL Towerthon, helped a lot as we are more physically & mentally prepared for racing, the sad news-injury issues & cancelation of KL Towerthon team event.

As I am more confident in running, so I try to push harder during the run session and just hold on during the bike. During the bike session, it truly remarkable to see the way Amirul Ali pedaling to the medal. He was behind during the bike session but caught up with the front pack in no time. During the halfway u turn, a long line of cyclist was formed and he was among the leader, who set the pace (a small sized but powerful and humble cyclist).

Black & Bahtiar were working hard also but they both were on different kind of mission-a mission to help their respective partner secure a podium finish. Black was pacing Jiha while Bahtiar was supporting Lau all the way to the finish line. Chau & gang were at numerous places snapping pictures and giving encouragement. It was a really a great team effort out there. Everyone was trying to do their part for the team. Small actions which combined together have significant effect on the team morale and future prospect.

Selected Results;

 

 

 

 

We came very close to get podium finish for our mix team relay. Anyway it was a great result for all considering the fact that many of them were inexperienced.  We hope UTM Kakithon will be able send more team and individual participant next year.

KL TOWERTHON

            Here we go again, hehe.  Due to budget and time constrain, hehe, we decided to ‘borrow’ some spaces in the Weld Mall and rest there before our race starts at 8pm.It was a wise decision that we all went to the Weld Mall together as the recent news strongly reminded us to be more thoughtful and considerate when travelling with our friends.

Link for the shocking news (from missJeweLz’s blog)

http://missjewelz.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/a-true-account-near-miss-kidnapping-at-the-curve-mutiara-damansara/

Meet with my sister and the kids before the race (the kids were joining for the second time and they all improved).

The training for this semester has been mainly focused to perform in the towerthon. Ong came all the way from Genting around 2 hour before race. We packed all our stuff inside his cars and off to the starting line. We were all in the same batch (301-600). There were quite a lot of people during our climb. It was kind of obstruction but for myself, it did helped to better my timing as whenever I need to overtook someone on the stair, I must make sure that I complete the pass or risk stuck in the middle. I was quite rough in process (sorry for that, hehe) but that was the only way to go.

Selected results;

 

 

 

Good job to all kakaithoner who improve their PB and those who clocked decent timing for their debut appearance plus also to everyone who simply give their best. Li Ting started earlier and she decided to go back after the race. We stay a night at Afiq’s house before going back the next day. Overall, it was a great outing as we gain a lot valuable experience and hopefully next year we will come back stronger.

This damn shirt

Hi guys, I know that you're expecting a report on MUDS 2,3 and Towerthon but I didn't race any of them so I really don't feel like posting about it, so please wait till Wong is not so busy with his PSM k? Anyway there's something that's been getting on my nerves lately........ It's our team shirt!

For your information, the team shirt has been "in progress" since before I joined UTM! From what I heard, once upon a time, Ong wanted to make a team shirt, and someone promised that he/she/they will settle it. Sadly, in the end Ong, Chan, Hsiung etc graduated without a team shirt to remember us by. Before he left, Ong told me to handle the team shirt personally and not put my faith in other people's empty promises (True story, man... true story...).

However, I forgot Ong's advice (sorry..)..... And once again xxxxx (The names of the associated parties have been censored to protect their privacy XD) promised to handle the whole hoohaa with the team shirt. Due to the cheaper fees the more shirts are being made, I waited for xxxxxxx ... 3 months later, here we are...... still shirtless....

Well, my friends, the holiday is almost upon us, and I refuse to let history repeat itself. Had originally wanted to finish this shirt before Wong, Ting and Zaheen finished their last sem, so that the shirt could be given to them and also our alumni who are already in the work force. So, I'm going to post all the potential designs here, please give your comments (as comments please.. the chatbox is too full of junk) and your designs if you have any (to gchau89@gmail.com). The design will be finalized by next wednesday(6 june) noon, no matter how many of us want to make the shirt. So... please, please, please comment, design (if possible), vote and confirm on facebook, the blog, or sms me before wednesday! Even those who have graduated, please feel free to vote or comment!

The price for the shirt plus printing (a4 size, mono-color) will be around RM20. I'll leave for my internship on 15th june but I'll settle everything before I leave and someone will collect and distribute the shirts. After we finalize, I'll ask the sprinters and jumpers if they want to chip in, so that we can get a cheaper price.

 These are some of the available shirt designs, the brand is A1, dryfit. The other option (not posted) is single color, no design, also dryfit, brand: orensport. Both are same price. Please pick a shirt when you vote.

What I propose is just a simple design at the back of the shirt, only the white portion will be printed.

 These are images that Tareef found on the web. This is how they look like with the words on too: http://www.classb.com/sports/designs/trackfield/screenprinted/1.html

Once again, please vote for a design, shirt. The shirts should be ready before the hols. TQVM!

Run, cycle some and then run somemore

Yes , it's that time of the year again..  the MUDS season! And many a firsts for us too.... (1) first time having our transport and accommodation sponsored by Malakoff (Thanks Malakoff and Mr. Black!) (2) first time we sent a mix team (3)first time I couldn't participate in the individual category due to injury.

Our contingent consisted of Wong, Amirul Ali, Shamsul, Lau and Kar Sing in University Individual category; Me, Afiq and Tiang in mix team, and Kak Jiha in Open. By the way, Shamsul is a UTM masters student that we met at Malakoffs UTM duathlon clinic; Lau and Tiang were Mr. Blacks sports science students; while Amirul Ali was a jelajah Malaysia cyclist currently studying at Johor Poly.

 Departed from UTM at 8 something with Lim (Chee Hiong) who was hitching a ride to KL. Stopped at a rest area and asked for a sample at baskin robbins without making a purchase (This is a kakithon tradition, it's good for training thick-skin). Continued our journey and reached the hostel in the middle of the night.

Morning found us in front of  UM sports complex waiting for the gun to go off. Omar(masum 5000m guy) was the first one back to T1, with Wong, Afiq and Kar Sing around 200-300meters behind. Had some issues with the race belt, wasted some time but managed to wear the shoes on the bike, caught up to Kar Sing and rode most of the way with Wong up and down Bukit Cinta (Do them hills get taller each year?). Came into T2 with Wong and relayed to Tiang. Amirul was a great cyclist but had just started running, so he alternated between getting overtaken on the run and overtaking on the bike. Congrats to Shamsul on finishing his first MUDS, and good job to Wong on his 5th place finish and Jiha for her first place in women's open.

In a nutshell, it was a relatively simple and hassle-free trip compared to our previous MUDS (None of that stuffing-bikes-into-a-bus-and-then-a-car crap), yet the response was poor with only 5 new participants from UTM, further more we would not have a single university category medal if not for Wong, which is a shame, because it's logical that we should perform better after being sponsored.

UTM Award-Giving ceremony 2012

Aloha everyone ,

So today's post is just a recap of last Saturday's dinner event which was on saturday night @ the Zon  (but no clubbin was involved)  ;)  .
After a long wait for the bus, finally the bus moved @ around 5:40 PM, where we have been waitin there since 5:00 PM. Zaheen being familiar with such punctuality, he decided to follow us later by his friend's car so he dont have to waste time (smart) .... This time it was Zaheen, Chau,Mozes, Khairul, syusukesyafa , and me (guess who)  who made it to the dinner night.

The most important thing was the food, basically i felt like we went to tasting night not a dinner night . Aside from the small portions, we had to stop multiple times while eating due to running out of rice. it was quite delicious thought, but not enough. Moreover, the dessert was only just some kind of juice !, no cake no fruits , nothing . Thus, i would rate the dinner tht night 7/10 .

But UTM was smart, in order to overcome such issue(small portion), they assigned a group of guys to perform a dance right after the dinner, and i wish they didn't !!!!!! As soon as they started to dance.. omg totally GAY . Just imagine couple of guys (with no girls) on the stage dancing on ''Sway with Me'' and grinding all over the singer !!! no way am gona listen to that song anytime soon for sure .. So UTM plan did work, right after those guys finished dancing i felt suddenly full , and lost my appetite to continue eating.


Away from the food, we encountered tht night a problem which was us being scattered all around, not all sitting on a same table . since Zaheen had to sit on the front tables so he can go up stage to get awarded faster, Khairul being a member of ETP (Excellent Track Program) so also she had to sit other table. Whereas me n Mozes sat on a table different from Chau n syusukesyafa since our team was a bit late to confirm the reservation .

Just settin there watching the students getting awarded for their achievements, it was like a motivational boast. imaginin ourselves self being on tht stage one day, ohh it just feels great ..

At last lets congrat zaheen for being awarded that night for his performance in last masum. Hopefully by the coming awards night we shall see more kakithoners being awarded ;)

Now i leave u with a couple of photos tht we managed to take tht night ..

Malakoff-UTM Duathlon Clinic 2012

taken from drblacksps.blogspot.com:

Proudly to announce an inaugural Malakoff-UTM Duathlon Clinic 2012 will be organized by UTM Sports Innovation & Technology Centre, in collaboration with Johor Triathlon Association and Mentor Training. Also Malakoff Corporation Berhad as a title sponsor for this event.

This event purposely:

• To prepare university student to compete in Malakoff University Duathlon Series 2012 (MUDS 2012)
• To introduce & expose university student with knowledge, skills and sports science aspect in duathlon race
• To find university  representatives during Malakoff University Duathlon Series 2012 (MUDS 2012)

Details of this event as below:

Date: 28 April 2012
Time: 8:30 am to 2:00pm
Venue: Sports Innovation & Technology Centre, UTM Stadium
Fee: FREE! (for university students)
No of Participants: 40 persons only


Contents of this event:

• Introduction to Duathlon (Class)
• Sports Science Approach in Duathlon (Class)
• Running Aspect in Duathlon (Tutorial & Practical)
• Cycling Aspect in Duathlon (Tutorial & Practical)
• Transition Skills & Practice
• Duathlon Race Simulation

Who will coaching & assist you?

• Powerman Finisher since 2003, 
• Ironman Finishers, 
• Malakoff Malaysian Duathlon Series Contenders,
• Malakoff University Duathlon Series Contenders
• Sports Science Practitioners,
• International Triathlon Union Level 2 Coach (only two coaches in Malaysia)

Posing before the DU..

Run the DU..

Cycle the DU..

Crossing the DU finish line

Another pose after DU..

You will get:

• Free packed meals (tea break & lunch)
• Certificate
• Drinks (mineral & isotonic)
• T-shirt
• File & notes

Bring together your:

• running shoe
• bicycle (any type of bicycles)
• bike helmet (if any)
• sports towel/hand towel
• smile
• sporting spirit

So that, mark this event into your schedule, and don't miss to attend this event!

For early registration, please email me your full name, ic no, university name and matric card no. to:

miha5123@gmail.com 

Hurry up the number of registered participants is still increasing!

Art thou broken?

Bonjour! For these past weeks 3 kakithoners have been members of the injury/cross training club (congrats to Wong on leaving the club recently, we will miss you..), in light of that I would like to share a few excerpts from Lauren Fleshman's interview and blog that I found funny and informative...

Firstly the funny, emo one yet also kinda mirroring my feelings ( she sounds like she's going to turn into the hulk XD )

The Olympic Trials are in less than four months and I can’t even jog a 5k much less race one. This is clearly not how I pictured my season shaping up. As I walk home there are no tears. I hate everything. I want to hurt something. The fire inside me makes me impervious to the winter air. I can feel it, the rage, like a screaming kettle building inside me. It burns the backside of my eyes. I want to run over to those fisherman on the side of Pre’s Trail and snap their fly rods over my busted knee and hurl their open tackle boxes toward the river, watching the contents erupt through the sky like fireworks. 

And now the informative part, her training menu after resting for 1 month:

*in between 30s rest walk*

Day

1     5x 1:00                                             (total 5mins)

2     3x1:00//1x2:00//1x1:00                    (total 6mins)

3     1:00//2:00//1:00//2:00//2x1:00          (total 8 mins)

4     1:00//2:00//1:00//2x2:00//2x1:00      (total 10mins)

5     1:00//2:00//3:00//1:00//2:00//1:00     (total 12mins)

6     1:00//2:00//3:00//4:00//5:00              (total 15mins)

7     10:00//2x5:00                                    (total 20mins)

8     2x10:00                                             (total 20mins)

#1 week of 20mins continuous runs

#1 week longest run 40-45mins

#1 week longest run 60mins

If no pain is felt the workout progresses downward, else, stop running or retry the same workout after a few days rest.

The aforementioned program might sound like overkill, but considering that you never know whether you've completely recovered it actually makes a lot of sense to test things out gently. Of course, nothing is written in stone, it's just to illustrate the point of easing into it after a serious injury. Feel free to adjust the program to suit the degree of your injury and how you feel. However, a 50mins run directly after a long running sabbatical is definitely a bad idea (dude, you know who you are..).

Cross training such as swimming, cycling etc is a great way to keep up your fitness and  there are enough articles on the internet praising the uncountable holy benefits of cross training, so I'm not going to be redundant. A little reminder though the 10% rule may not be THE LAW but it's made for a reason so don't get over-enthusiastic ramming up the miles suddenly while cross training. (Scenario: busting your shoulder swimming a 30km week when your knee is fractured = adding insult to injury  hahaha...)

That's all folks... hope I didn't get you down with all this injury talk, here's a phenomenal 4x400m vid (check out the 3rd and 4th runners really digging deep to hold England, Australia and Nigeria at bay!)

The whole is more than the sum of it's parts. (Aristotle) 

Kakithon- Captain

Just a small tribute to Kakithon Captain / Co founder on his "Tai Yat Chi", hehe
Still going strong after graduated, hehe

 

 Hope Kakithon will continue to improve and become a running powerhouse in Malaysia, hehe