.... the jackal rides and run....

It started out with a 42km Marathon 'Feeler' run where I did the entire PCN of the East including ECP. It was really tough but I completed it nevertheless, never once stopped to walk because I was tired. I just pushed on in my Puma H-Streets. It was quite a feat for me! Then I embarked on my 12-week Marathon Training Program. 2 key exercise per week for 12 weeks. Its beginning to heat up now as I am hitting the 25km workouts. The next few weeks this will progress to 30km, 33km up till 36km, as lead-up to the Sundown Marathon in May. Then there was the issue of getting ready for the inaugural 1st ever Kuantan Century ride, covering 160km on a bike under the baking hot 35+deg celsius sun. I made myself do a long solo 115km ride a week prior just to get my ass ready. I survived this ride and in pretty decent time as well (finishing around the top 30% of participants), considering I waited a few times for me mate and also had to deal with a rear tire puncture halfway throug...

After a day's rest (Monday) post Kuantan, I started again with my running. Wk4 Act1 completed on Tuesday, followed by a 12km barefoot run on Wednesday. Thursday was just a simple ECP-Coastal-ECP on my trusty Z3 (after re-gluing my rear tubular tires 2 days prior, I think I did a much better job this time around!). I've not done Wk4 Act2 yet (which is basically a fast 10km run) and decided to put in a special run instead : 21km on bare-feet. Mostly to pay homage to 5 months of minimalist+barefoot running (which Ryo inspired me to do and got me back into running with less pain!) and also partly because I'm so close to that 250km mark for the month! Friday morning 5am start. I hid my slippers at the same corner and started running. Headed towards lagoon first. Somehow, my body will just go for a slow pace, knowing that I am trying to complete a longer distance...what laziness! Started with a sub 6 pace but quickly went into 6:40ish after lagoon. My barefeet was not familiar ...

Total participants : 762 Total Finishers : 562 Total DNF (or outside 7hr time limit) : 200 Complete Results HERE (I'm not sure if this link will stay alive for long!) I'm placed at position 249 registering a finishing time of 5:30:51. First group came in at 4:25 (huge peloton). The course is indeed slightly tougher than Ipoh Century last year, judging by the timing of the front guys. I'm placed 53 amongst SIN entries (173 riders : 43 of which DNF).

Yes, it was nice to complete the 160km and all but the trip itself to Kuantan was wonderful. This is my FIRST TIME in Kuantan and Ben's friend CY (with his dad) were excellent hosts despite their schedule. What makes this also very special to me is that they are Singaporeans, residing/working in Kuantan! The irony : The Singaporeans working in Malaysia, hosting the Malaysians working in Singapore, in Malaysia! Ben basically drove the entire way up (this made me feel even worse for not waiting for him during the final portions of the ride...). Right just after Kota Tinggi, in the middle of nowhere, we went to Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh. Great tasting stuff over here! Possible one of the best I've tried anywhere. Probably has a lot to do with MSG as well. Along the way, at Endau, we wanted to try the Nasi Lemak with Siew Yuk (roasted pork) but could not find it...that would have been great. At Kuantan, we visited some new land developments. Seems like the there has been some kind ...

I came into this ride with very low expectations but nevertheless set a target of under 5hrs completion, using last year's Ipoh Century as a benchmark. However, this was not to be! A dastardly puncture, brutal headwinds and just basically poor cycling form gave me a 5hr 28mins elapsed time. Average moving speed recorded was 32.3km/h which brings my total moving time to be about 4hrs 58mins for 160km (In Ipoh, it was 33.2km/h). Participation seems to be just below 1000 riders. 160 riders came up from Singapore and some from Thailand and East Malaysia as well. Here's a rough km-to-km account of my ride... 0km : Wow, the starting point is just like 500m away from where we were staying (Ben's friend). Had a nice breakfast before setting out at 6.50am. 0km-20km : A short 4-5km round the town for show and we are headed off to the outskirts. Basically for this stretch it was with police escort and speed controlled. This was a bad idea and the police should have let go a bi...

The 12 week MTP has been quite challenging the past 3 weeks, especially in anticipation of the Kuantan ride this weekend as well. I've not been putting much saddle time since Bike Rally and only managed 3 rides since then, 2 of which are 30km Coastal rides and 1 long solo 115km ride last weekend. I guess I'll survive the Kuantan Century...just not hopeful for a good timing like what I got from Ipoh Century last year (under 5hrs). Anyway, any ride taking place outside of Singapore is fun. Cycling over here on this tiny island has grown laborious and painfully boring over the past years....not to mention more dangerous as well with the increased traffic these days and more people thinking they have the right to run you over just because they pay road tax for their cars. Just finished my last cycling prep for Kuantan this morning. Basically a 30km ride....started off lazy but in the end pushed a bit on the 2nd half. Decent speed and the bike is in good condition. I just remedied...

Saturday : 112km Ride I was tad under-confident for this one. 112km Singapore Clockwise non-stop is no easy loop though I've done more than 14 times (most of it solo) and the last time I did this was with Ryo, one of our last rides prior to TDB2011. I had not been riding much since Bike Rally last month....just put in 30km on my SS since then. The cycling legs have degraded a bit! But I'm much lighter than before though. Started out at 9am and was quietly trying my best to do a "back by nine ride" which was a last year favourite whenever I did this route. Started off quite well....hitting 29km/h average speed upon entering the West Coast viaduct. Reached my top 31km/h average speed after Jalan Buroh. This promptly became increasingly difficult to keep at Boon Lay but managed to get back to form at LCK straight which is really a slight downslope. Legs still good at 50km after Kranji but quickly deteriorated from then on. Did respectably at Mandai (did not lose spee...