Kyoto Marathon 2016 Race Report + + +

Boy this is along overdue post and I still have 2 more to catch up with.

I have to admit, this wasn't "the race" I was looking for in Japan, I was hoping for Tokyo Marathon which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year but instead I raced in Kyoto. Nope I didn't get it wrong, I know.. Kyoto is Tokyo read backwards :) but believe me this 2 places are a total opposite just like the name sake. Long story short, Nick and I throw in our ballot for both Kyoto and Tokyo race back in Sept 2015, while Nick was hoping to strike the lottery on Kyoto due to the scenic and historic run, I was secretly hoping to strike for a Tokyo slot. Well things doesn't always works out the way you want it to, so Nick won and I lost, saying that both of us got the Kyoto ballot. Nick sign it up almost immediately, but it took me quite sometime to mourn my lost on Tokyo ballot and decided to sign up for Kyoto only days before the ballot entry expire.  With everything signed and sealed, I capitalized on the fitness carried over from the Vietnam Mountain Marathon (race report here) and starts ramping-up my weekly mileage as early as Oct last year. I was averaging 70-80 km weekly since Oct to late Dec, was I tired running close to 80 km accumulative week after week? Yes I was, but I was determine too, I want to run a big personal best and not just a mere 2 mins improvements (which was what happened for my previous 3 races).

Fast forwarding to 2016, came January, Nick experienced a knee injury but not knowing what it was really, he decided to take it easy on the training and scaled back drastically on his mileage. The big upset came in Feb 2016 just weeks before the race, Nick tore his meniscus while walking down the stairs :(. Nevertheless, I met up with Nick and Nessa at the earlier agreed spot and I would hitch a ride from them to the airport since Nick wanted to drive and park his car there instead of taking a cab. We arrived early at the airport, the baggage check in was smooth and decided to take our dinner before boarding the flight so we can sleep or at least try to sleep all the way over a night flight.

Rise and shine, we reached Kansai Airport at Osaka early in the morning the way we liked it so that we have a whole day to our dispose. Anyway it was too early so we head to look for breakfast around the airport before we decide on which one to patron. It was officially Nick and Nessa's first Japanese meal in Japan, they loved it; I told them that it would be their least tasty meal in Japan and I was dead right.. why? Read THIS, THIS AND THIS by happiefeet. Back home, me and Jamie have  been telling Nick how nice is the country and how much we loved Japan and he was already in awe with the country with just the first meal!

Kansai Airport

After getting our stomach warmed, we head out to Rinkutown for some shopping or windows shopping since we had all day and our accommodation in Kyoto check-in time was 4pm.. yeah really late, but no complaints. The sales at Rinkutown this time around wasn't that great compare to December, but we took the opportunity to fool around with some silly pictures, get impressed by the various and colorful vending machines and visiting their equally impressive convenient store "The Family Mart".

No idea what we were doing.. apart from being silly

After spending a few hours there, is time to for us to head to Kyoto on their Haruka Train (Limited Express). Train arrived on the dot, not a minute earlier not a minute late, my dear friend was again impressed. I fell asleep almost immediately after finding myself a comfortable seat, put up my MP3 and Zzzzzz away since is going to be a 75 mins train ride.  Then, the unexpected happen, damn!! The Haruka train service was interrupted just merely a stop away from our destination Argghhh.. And off we go taking our luggage, wading through floors of train platform and wondering what's next??? As I have said to Nick and Nessa countless time "how not to love Japan?" and you think this would spoil the whole awesome Japan experience? hell no.. we were all upgraded to Shinkansen (Japan famous bullet train) FOC !!! Untungla as we would say it back home means value for money in this context haha!! Not my first time on a Shinkansen, but let me tell ya.. it is better than taking a flight, far better than a lot of air lines especially our local budget air which kept rescheduling their flight recently :P. Though it was a short ride (200km+/hr), it was a welcome "disruption" for all of us.

Hello there

Reaching Kyoto, I just put all my trust on Nessa's research and in no time we've reached our Airbnb like apartment. Whipped out our phone, scanned the QR code that was send to us along with the "survival" guide and we are in. Although small as expected, it was clean, equipped  with a kitchen, private bathroom and washing machine. It was well worth the price that we were paying and it is located in one of the best part of Kyoto - Gion. After dinner at an unique Ramen place and a short look around, we decided to call it a day.

At Kyoto Station waiting for a bus ride. 

The next morning, we have decided to put on our shake down running gear and head out to Nishiki Market (walking distance from where we stayed) for breakfast before heading to race pack collection. We were there a little early, as most of the shops/stalls are not open for business yet, nevertheless we managed to find a few stalls and munched away 1-2 hours satisfying our taste bud. Although we were in our running gear, but we knew very well before reaching Japan that our planned shake down run to the race pack collection, would be called off due to Nick's injury and it was coincidentally raining on that day. We then decided to take the train to the nearby Heian Shrine, once we got off the train we could see a bee line of people walking towards the same direction and we just followed.. is a no brainer thing to do.

No joke we were in our running gear checking out food at Nishiki Market.

After a short walk, we reached the Miyakomesse for our race pack. The collection was very well organized, with English speaking greeter all ready to guide the overseas' runners like us. They even have a big sticker over the volunteers' jacket that says they are English and/or Mandarin speaking volunteer, talking about putting in effort for customer's experience!! Two thumbs up! We were guided to a overseas' runners queue, Nick in the elite queue and I was of course in "the rest of " queue. Collection was smooth and fast, took a few picture and of we go heading to the expo

Photo courtesy by Mrs Philips

At the expo entrance, official photographers were all ready to take the runners' photo; they even welcomed family and friends to be in the frame which you can opt to purchase as part of your race event photo. That was to me a nice touch, I mean how many official race photo that your family or friends were in the same frame? Honestly, I don't think many can say they have one.

CW-X was the first stop, the event tee was nicely done, but would be too expensive for me to stomach in and decided to give it a pass (which I regretted dearly after). Toyota was there to promote their green technology, we decided to visit the booth to show our support for Richi. They also gave out small sticker where runners could write any inspiration/motivation phrases that would be displayed on different section along the race route. We took a few shots with the Toyota's staffs before moving on.

Next stop Asahi hehe, yes Asahi was there to give out beers to visitors and mind you the promoters are very pretty too better than the beer itself haha. Whipped out our camera shamelessly again asking for a photo or two with them.

Soon enough we reached a section of the expo where the history of Kyoto Marathon was narrated with the route,  the past years winner and how the race was setup to help raise funds to relief the great eastern earthquake since the 1st edition of Kyoto Marathon

We then reached the sports good retail section, unfortunately the place was too crowded proving navigating around is a pain. We didn't spend much time there and decided to move on. By then, it was past noon time and coincidentally we land ourselves at the food section hooraayy.. more food. Too promote Kyoto tourism further, the organizer had invited some of the famous local eatery to set up stalls and many more. Like a kid walking into a toy store, I was very excited and concluded that this was the best part of the expo. We found ourselves a bench sharing with other visitors, put our staffs there and start roaming around for food. Grill fresh scallop, BBQ squid, Japanese beef bento, Okonomiyaki and green tea ice-cream are among the local delicacies available at the expo.

Photo courtesy by Mrs Philips

After concluding that we could not stomach in anymore food, we decided to take a walk heading home. It was still drizzling, but that didn't stop us to take a long stroll on what was supposed to be the shakedown run route, it was truly a nice route Nessa has mapped out for us. We took an early dinner that night and call it a day preparing for racing the next day.

The Race Day
The race starts at 9am, that gives me a couple of hours of sleeping time compare to the early race we have in Malaysia love it!! love it!!.

Nick and I met up around 7am and started walking our way to the train station which is about 10 mins away from where we stayed. We were glad there were no rain in sight that morning albeit chilly and we layered enough to keep ourselves warm. Since the race start at Nishikyogoku Stadium (different location from the race pack collection/finishing line Heian Shrine), hence we were not 100% on the direction to the race site. Luckily there were runners going the same direction, we just followed, hopped on the train and reached the race site after a short walk from the train station.

Pacer group

Found our designated baggage truck, layered down and checking in the baggage was just simply smooth and hassle free. Although we have layered down, we were still among those who "Overdressed". Some runners were just going with skimpy shorts and racing vest and just like you would in a hot weather race. Is mind blowing how they can fight off the cold temperature with so little, while me and Nick were shivering at a corner waiting for the race start. 30mins or so later, we went for a not so quick toilet break (queue), Nick wishes me good luck and we proceed to our respective race pen. Nick nursing an injury meant he would not run the whole race but will try to beat the sweeper bus to checkpoint 1. Although not an ideal outcome but with him tolling the start line with me meant a lot to me and it goes to shows how big a fighter he is by starting the race.

Skimpy shorts

Race started on time but it took me close to 10mins to cross the starting line, once out from the stadium there were already tonnes of supporter from all walks of life cheering for their loves one and strangers. Atmosphere was really great and is race on for me!! The streets are narrow and I'm fighting every inches of available tarmac with other runners to keep my target pace. Zig-zaging all the times passing the slower runners and at times I have to ran on the street divider and drainage cover to keep going at my target pace. It wasn't all bad, I learnt alot from them as a matter of fact, the runners respect each other very much and gave every one enough space regardless what pace you were running. Runners also took a quick look behind before they come out and pass other runners, that's how it should be done!!

Photo from Kyoto Marathon Official Facebook

Keeping pace was not an easy task with human traffic, and judging from past Japan run experience, the challenge is here to stays. After about 4-5 KM into the race, the body is nicely warmed up this time and starting to get into my own rhythm running along the scenic Katsura River and the famous Togetsukyo bridge can been seen from afar.

KM5 - KM10 the steep climb.
This is where the elevation starts. We were running along a parallel road to Tenryuji, heading towards Arashiyama Koka Bridge abeit a short climb but it got my heart pumping. After a short downhill run after the bridge, the next 3 KM towards KM10 was an elevation fest, the road doesn't seems to end especially with a hard climb. Nevertheless the crowd of supporter were amazing and the shout of "Gambate" has turned into a chant-like music to all the runners fighting against the hills. Took my first gel at KM10, to my surprise the temperature wasn't that cold anymore compere to the race start. Nevertheless, to be cautious I only have one glove off to see if is a good idea to run with gloves

Arashiyama Koka Bridge

KM10 - KM15 - the breather.  I can finally catch a breather from the hill. The roads are more gentle to the heart on this part for the race course. At this point, the runners crowd are still pretty much the same but fortunately most of the runners are now running at a very similar pace without impeding each other. One unique sight that I remembered along that stretch was running pass Ninna-Ji temple, the resident monk came out in the cold giving their support for all the runners with a banner which I could not make out what it means, but something along the line of "Rebuild". I waved my hand to say thanks to all who came out to support, amazed with the beautiful structure of the temple and I quickly move on.

As you can see, one of my hands without glove

KM15 - KM20 -  the narrow roads. This part of the race see us navigating through some of the narrow roads, however the runner's crowd starts to disperse a little giving ample space for all the runner who are still keeping the same pace. Along this stretch there are rolling hills, saying that it wasn't a big issue as the gradient were mostly kind to the tiring legs by now.  We ran passed a few temple along this stretch namely Daitokuji-Temple and Imamiya Jinja Shrine. Then we were back to the open road running along Kamo-Gawa river make our first (out of seven) u-turn across the small bridge heading towards KM20. By now both my gloves are off, yes it was warm enough to run without gloves.

Imamiya Jinja Shrine can be seen at the background

KM20 - KM 25 - the slight dip. The biggest thing around this stretch was how did I fair half way point of the race. Well to be honest, I have had a sub2 in mind to give it a shot at a sub4 overall race time. Unfortunately, the disruptive run from the start meant that I'm not able to keep to my goal pace and the dream for an official sub2 21KM was long gone at the early part of the race. Nevertheless, a time of 2:03 at the half way point wasn't all that bad. There wasn't much to see between the distance here, we were running along the Kamo-Gawa river then crossing a small bridge into a flat fast section with 2 u-turns ahead. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capitalize on the flat course and my performance started to drop slightly going into KM25. One interesting thing that I spotted here was the digital sign-board that gave out information to runners on the portable toilet whether the toilets were vacant or occupied. Such are the effort that the organizer put in giving detail information to runners helping them to manage their race/goal time. I applaud the effort.. kudos to the race organizer

Kamo-gawa river at the background. Notice the runners' crowd at about KM20

KM25 - KM30 - the painful drop. After a short straight and the 4th u-turn on the same straight back, we then ran into the Kyoto Botanical Garden. Believed it or not, there were some tress with flower blossoming in the month of February and it does seems like Sakura flowers. I don't care, I'm just gonna take it as Sakura. Took my first long walk here not because of the beautiful garden mind you.. it was because my calves nearly froze up and decided to walk it off. By then all my hope doing a sub 4:15 timing was slowly diminishing. Since I'm walking, I took the opportunity to really look at the beautiful surrounding of the garden instead of running pass with a fast glance of the many attractions at the earlier part of the race. There were also a few Geisha (presumably arranged by the organizer) playing traditional musical instruments entertaining the runners as well as the supporters and tourist alike, Out from the botanical garden, we are back at the Kamo-gawa river again (yes a long river) heading towards KM30

Photo from Kyoto Marathon Official Facebook

KM30 - KM 35 - the struggle continues. KM30 marks the point for most runner hitting the wall, really? look at some of the runners around me, doesn't seems like they are; but my struggle continues. KM30 was also the entry to the riverbank, the terrain was soft and sandy. The path was narrow, damp and slippery due to the overnight rain. Puddles of water can be found along the path especially where there were water/aid stations. This was the part of the race I didn't enjoy, but don't get me wrong is just a personal preference to run on dry and solid ground. It was a 2 KM of riverbank path, there was a slight pain developed on the calves, again took another walk hoping that it will be fine after that. Back to the road after 2 KM of riverbank and we are next to the Kyoto Imperial Palace... Sweet.

Entry to the riverbank. Do you see the contrast between me comparing to the lady behind me? This is KM30

Then the nature decided to throw in another challenge to me, the wind started to pick up and so was the rain. The temperatures dropped and I had to put back my gloves to keep whatever little warm I have left with me. Although the rain was not heavy, but the headwind was, it was cold and started to get wet. I had to hide my tired body behind a bigger runner to stay away from taking it head on against the wind. It worked for a short bit until the runner in front of me started to drop back, then I had no choice but to take the wind all by myself. KM35 was the sixth and coincidentally it was at the Kyoto City Hall. This section would be my slowest 5KM interval for the race

Kyoto City Hall

Sixth U-Turn with Kyoto City Hall at the background

KM35 - KM42 - the second wind. After the final U-turn, I picked myself up again and knew I had to keep my strong for the remaining 7KM. I was running right at that stage and started to pick up my pace again; told myself to keep going, running by feel instead of looking at the watch. I did however took a few peep at the watch and to my surprise at some part I was running faster than my goal pace. The headwind hasn't slow down, however I found my second wind of my run and kept pushing through with a pace to me was a strong one. KM38, KM 39, by then I was very comfortable with the pace that I'm doing at the late stage , although tired, I'm pretty confidence I can keep running at the pace that I was doing for the remaining distance.

Came the seventh U-turn, the last we would see for the race, make the turn and head towards gradual climb again.. oh god. Crossing the 40KM mark feels like eternity, fortunately there were many locals who are out cheering for us. Then came the Kyoto University, which was a landmark that signified the finishing line is within sight. It was about a kilometer or so from the finishing line, soaking with all the positive vibes around, I pushed on along with a few local runners pacing and pushing each other to the final stretch of the race. At the final turn towards the finishing line at Heian Shrine, the atmosphere was simply unbelievable with everyone cheering on. Some runners slow down to wave to the crowd  while some sprint on hoping to achieve their respective personal best. For the first time, I actually slowed down to wave and express my gratitude to the locals as well as the volunteers making this a fantastic race. Crossing the line with a new personal best, shaving off 20 mins from my previous best was ecstatic and beyond words.

Picked-up the finishing medal and towel, I moved on quickly to the drink station for some sports drink, I was literally drained from the race. After 2 pack of drinks, l walked towards a temporary tent that was setup to give out the completion certification to finisher. Pick up the cert, and my baggage I proceed to the changing area and quickly change to some dry cloths and put on my jacket to stay warm. At the same time I didn't want Nick and Nessa to be waiting too long out in the cold for me.

Nick gave me a hug and congratulated me on the run upon seeing me walking towards the agreed meeting place which is outside of a 7-Eleven. Wanted to get a hot coffee, but the queue was simply too long and didn't want to wait. So we decided to quickly move on and walking back and along the way we manage to get our hot coffee from some vending machine... machine is everywhere. We walked back using the shakedown route but we took a little detour and venture a little and found ourselves at the back of the Yasaka-jinja Shrine. It was a beautiful shrine to start with, and as usual lots of photo opportunity with some silly pose.

All photo above are courtesy by Nick and Mrs Phlips

The race was very well organized to say the least, aid/water stations was plenty and space out nicely with volunteers are also doubling up as supporter for everyone who run past their station. Pedestrian traffic control was an eye opener for me, with a few volunteers holding on to a rope shifting from left to right and vice versa directing runners to the left or the right lane of the running course while pedestrians were crossing the road, it was very well orchestrate without slowing down any runners and at the same time impeding the public from crossing the road. Runners also plays a big part  in keeping the area clean, emptying the drinking cup and made sure it was thrown into the designated bin. Amount for effort put in by the organizer to help runner achieve their goal time was second to none, for example digital board informing number of vacant toilet and number of tables at each of the aid/water stations so that runners doesn't clog up at the first slowing down the rest were some of the examples that our local race organizer can learn from. I have to say... I love racing in Japan!!!

Product Review : Saucony Triumph ISO2

A little under a year ago, I was fortunate enough to receive an opportunity to test and review on the Saucony Triumph ISO, it has a lot of cushioning and works very well for long training run and for recovery run. The shoes was quite a hit in a few markets, love it and it is still with me. With the Saucony Triumph ISO2 due to be launched in Malaysia soon, let's take a look whether the successor is living up to the expectation.
 

First look at the shoes saw a few tweak on the upper, a totally revamped outsole and of course the most talked about EVERUN. I'm pretty excited about the EVERUN technology which in included in the ISO2 :) What is EVERUN really? According to the folks at Saucony, EVERUN is a breakthrough in continuous cushioning that provides cushioning closer to the runners feet returning up to 83% of energy.. bouncy bounce.. What does it mean really? To put it simply in my own language, it means more cushioning during your run but in contrast to the norm, it is also very responsive allowing me to run looooonger and strooooonger. I will touched on this topic as we go along

Removing the sock liner, immediately you will see the EVERUN right under it. Cushioning closer to your feet as promised

ISO2 stays with 8mm drop with a stack height of 31mm (Heel), 23mm (Forefoot) weighing 10.2 oz for a US size 9, very decent weight considering the amount of cushioning that the shoes gave. Similar to ISO1 the heel collar is overly cushioned and the sock-like ISOFIT technology is about all that was carried over from the first version. The upper mesh used on the forefoot area sees a welcome tweak which is now more breathable, no hot spot even running in the heat and as evidenced you can tell what color of socks you are wearing LOL (pic below). Yes, Saucony has answered my call to reduce the upper mesh cushion/padding resulting from the tweak, the forefoot area feels a little roomier compare to the predecessor.

Noticed you can see the yellow/black color socks that I'm wearing through the upper mesh on the ISO 2 but not the ISO 1

The plastic overlay on the ISO2 is now housing only 3 eyelet instead of the 4 from the ISO1. Gone are the 1st eyelet overlay stitching which in my opinion was limiting the forefoot width and feels tight at the forefoot. With the stitching taken out, it is no longer limiting the mesh material from expanding and a little more compliant to wide forefoot runners.

Only 3 eyelet on the plastic overlay

 I did not use the 1st eyelet on the Triumph ISO1 (bottom in Black/Red) in the hope of giving me a roomier forefoot area

EVERUN layer is sandwiched between the sock-liner and  the midsole, surprisingly  instead of making the ride mushy with the amount of cushion, the overall ride actually feels firmer and more responsive to run in. I have ran more than 70 km in it confirming the ride and actually wore the ISO1 and ISO2 on each of my feet to confirm the feel.  The outsole sees a complete revamp in the layout, it is now more simple and straight forward weaving pattern from side to side.  Saucony continue to use xt900 carbon rubber on the heel area for durability while iBR+ is used for the forefoot area for further cushioning.

The Silver/Grey is firmer and more responsive than the Red/Black

With the firmer and a more responsive ride, putting in the pace into sub 5 mins pace is now easier with EVERUN returning energy as compare to the ISO1 which absorbs too much energy from the thick cushioning which is a big deal !!! Saying that, still the Triumph ISO2 is not a racing flat, one should not expect this flats to give you a cushion ride and at the same time delivering the speed that you expect out from the likes of its racing siblings.

Wrapping up my review with some thoughts here. Although with the new mesh upper and the stitching gone on the first eyelet, it still feels a slightly tight compare to the other shoes that I ran in. This is not a big issue, you just need to try it on yourself and go for the up size option if necessary. It continues to be a good partner for long training run and recovery run, though you could run in a race but it is not the best option from the Saucony range. Love the EVERUN... now where's the Kinvara 7 and Peregrine 6?
The Saucony Triumph ISO2 is kindly provided by RSH (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, the authorized distributor of Saucony for review purposes; all opinion are formed base on actual test without influence. The shoes will be available at Running Lab from end March onward, retailing at RM529

Ultra Aquathlon Putrajaya Malaysia Race Report

Aquathlon is not a typical race on my calendar, however I've decided to give it a go just to stay in touch with multi-sports and also to gauge whether I'm still able to complete one since the last race back in April 2015

The race event comes with multiple categories and since I'm doing it, might as well sign-up for the most challenging Ultra category (yeah, I'm an ultra athlete too!!!) which involves a 2.2 km swim and 21 km run around Putrajaya. While Piew and Jacalyn is pairing up for relay, I on the other hand was going for the individual race.

Photo courtesy of Jeanie

Team 149 Piew and Jacalyn finishing 3rd placing in Mix Relay

On the race day, I met up with Jeanie and Jacalyn at our usual meeting point and carpool to the race site. Piew and Yan Leng (go kepoh) was already there when we reached, Jamie came to join us to cheer for us after his short training run too. I wasn't the usual confidence self as I know I didn't put in much endurance training on the swim and for the first time I am trying to transition from breaststrokes to freestyle swimming. Nevertheless, good, bad, ugly, I'm going in for a trouble race,

Photo courtesy of Jeanie

The race started on time for the Ultra category which require participants to swim 3 loops of 750 m open water race course and off I jumped into the Putrajaya lake. Started the swim with my trusty breaststrokes but almost after a few strokes, I got into a slight panic due to lack of confidence and almost immediately felt short of breath. Needless to say, nothing works after that. My freestyles sucks, forced to switch back to breaststroke for every less than 50 m of freestyles attempt. Swam off-course several times and saw Jacalyn who started the race 3 mins later swam past me on the first loop with ease. She was really fast and smooth, I tried to tail her for the swim but end up disastrous :( 

I then decided to give up on my freestyle swim and raced the remaining 2 loops with breaststroke. Although I felt more comfortable and a smoother swim for the remaining loops, however due to the lack of training, it was tiring to say the least and I have to pay for the price later in the run leg. 53mins from the start, I'm glad to have finished the 2.2 km swim in one piece instead of a DNF (due to panic). My legs wobbles as I head to the transition area to gear up for the run, I knew, my hope of finishing the 21km within 2 hours was nearly impossible.

Photo courtesy of Running Malaysia

Took my time in the transition area to put on my running gears, made sure I drank plenty of liquid as the hot weather in Putrajaya is very unforgiving. 5 - 6 mins later, I head out to start my 21km run on the familiar route which was the exact same as Putrajaya Ironman 70.3 only with a different starting and finishing point.

Photo courtesy of Yan Leng

By 8:30 am, the sun is out kissing every athletes and supporters, Putrajaya became very hot. Saying that, I was surprised that the first 8 km run was just a little over my target pace, and I secretly hope that I can carry the pace for the remaining 13 km. Well, it was not meant to be, after a fairly good run for the first 8 km, things started to go downhill from there. Keeping the pace under 6min was a challenge, at times the heartbeat was going too fast and I had to walk to bring it down.

Photo courtesy of Yan Leng

Soon, I finished my first loop of the 2 loops run. Although the legs felt fine by now (no wobbling) but it was difficult to keep a good pace due to the heat and tiring legs. It became a run-walk affair for me up until about KM 15, where I start picking things up again as I was already familiar with the route and know it is not far from the finishing line. It was uneventful for the remaining 6 km and finishing the race with a little sprint crossing the finishing line.

Photo courtesy of Yan Leng

Congratulations to Piew and Jacalyn who finished 3rd placing in the Mix Relay Category as expected coming from a fast duo from their respective discipline, a job well done!!! As for me, although it was a trouble race for me, I crossed the line within the top 40 for Ultra Category.

It was a well organized race overall with plenty good spots for spectators who came to support their family and friends. The swim leg was a straight forward loop format with sufficient life guards around, simple transition area and plenty of water/aid stations along the run route. Only bad point that I would pick on is the lack of ice soaking sponge along the running route. It was a hot day, and the ice cold sponge would do good rather than harm to all the runners regardless of which category you are racing in.

There is a lot of work to do on my freestyle swim, is not easy for me and swimming off course is also a problem. Nevertheless, first race of the year, first steps towards my Ironman quest wasn't all bad, at least I learnt from the race and I'm just glad I am still in touch with multi-sports finishing the race. 

Sepang International Circuit Night Duathlon 2015 Race Report

Have you ever signed up for a race that you were not trained for nor was it planned in your race calendar all year long? Well I just did and survived it in one piece LOL. I did not plan to participate in any more races for 2015 and certainly not a multi-sports event. With Foo and Zijill both newbie to multi-sports signing up for the returning Powerman Classic event in Mar 2016 after 2 years of absent from Malaysia, I thought it would be a good idea to get the both of them to join the inaugural night duathlon, introducing both to what a multi-sports transitioning is all about. On top of that, I was sold to the fact that the race will be carried out on a world class Formula 1 circuit... common how often do you get to ride/bike on a F1 circuit

I found out about this event just a mere 6 days before the race day, quickly I gave both of them some convincing session but unfortunately Foo could not join us promising his girl for a movie night out. With only me and Zijill signing up for the race, we met up at our agreed meeting point that evening and head to the race venue together with the skies ready to pour.

Upon arriving the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), we can hear race cars roaring around the 5.5 km circuit and little did we know there was a car race event on the same day too. Without thinking too much about it, we picked up our race pack in one for the paddock with volunteer helping us on the body marking. It was hassle free and smooth as a breeze, kudos to the organizer on that.

We then head back to our car preparing our war machine (hehe bike I mean), bike number sticker up, break checked and we are all ready to rack up our bikes at the transition area before race briefing. As if racing in a duathlon event is not challenging enough, some one up there just decided to throw in more dark clouds hovering over SIC and looks like we are in for a wet race. Shortly after racking up our bike at the transition area, it started to pour; some decided to push the bike to a covered area keeping everything dry while I decided to just bring along my helmet and let the bike play with the rain a little.

With experience in both duathlon and triathlon race before, I still find the race briefing not to be missed especially on the 2 transition flow from run to bike and from bike to run. The briefing finished on time, with a round of Q&A with 3 of the sports elite sharing their training program and what inspired them in the sports. By then the rain has stopped, a very cooling night for the race. While waiting for the youth category to start at 7:30 pm, we walked down the pit area to the start-finishing chute and along with it; a rare opportunity to watch race car engineer working on the race car inside the designated garage. It was all cool!!

Modeling for lollipop man

The youth category started at about 7:40pm, with Harry (Former Youth Ironman Champ) chasing them down giving the youth participants a 5 mins head start. As the youth race distance is half the race distance of the main race, it wasn't long the first runner completing the run leg and head out to the bike leg and boy they were really fast. While watching the race unfold, we saw some race lollipop lying around the pit wall and we starts goofing around at the pit wall taking photos with the lollipop. That said, we did observed a few mistake a number of participant made and I suspect they skipped the race briefing missing out some important information coming in for the last run leg. Soon after, we saw Harry sprinting neck to neck to the finishing line with the youth.

Youth Category before the race starts

The main race started on time at 8:30 pm with light drizzle, as we were just aiming just to finish the race, we decided to start with the mid pack. The run with a relaxing pace, however I have totally forgotten how well Zijill can run, as she starts picking up her race pace, we start picking up quite a number of participants that started in front of us running an average a 5:20 pace for the 1st leg of run. There goes my hope of having a fun run.... :(

Photo courtesy of Elaine

Finishing 1st 5km run without much problem, we head to transition 1 getting ourselves ready for the 22.5km bike around the beautiful circuit. Zijill being a new comer, I told her to take her time getting things ready, drinking enough water before heading out. With no cleats to mount, we started with the bike easy and just paddle on down the pit exit to the track. Immediately, the cool breeze was flowing through as we negotiating through a down hill turn 1 and 2 before going to a slight incline towards turn 4 with a very conservative pace. As she was struggling up the hill, I shouted out to her to change gears for the climb but she didn't want to as she was worried that the shifting will not work and the chain could fall off LOL.. don't laugh, it was possible since her bike was a 15 year old with many parts of the bike parts visibly rusted to the bone. I then decided to shift down a gear or two instead of pushing her saving the legs for the run later. The rhythm of the rain starts picking up and we have to slow ourselves down further as the track is very slippery by the time we completed the 1st loop. Nevertheless, there were riders still flying around the circuit while we are turtle-ing the remaining 3 loops. Without any incident, we were glad that we have completed the 4 loops of bike on the wet and slippery track heading for the last leg of the race with a remaining 5 km run.

Photo courtesy of Elaine

 Started the last leg of the race with a slight brick feelings to the quad, saying that as we were not pushing on the bike, it wasn't bad enough to affect the run. Running the same route for the second time, we were now familiar with the run route and start picking up the pace almost immediately. With our strong running base, again we picked up participants that overtook us on the bike for a strong finishing with an average 5:20 min pace again :)... I'm really happy with the running pace considering the running with tire legs after the run and bike we did earlier in the race. Both of us finishing the race slightly under 2 hours,but more importantly helping a friend gained a good experience before the the real thing... the Powerman Classic

Photo courtesy of  Elaine

Finishing my second duathlon race brought back good memories with a dear friend Kew who is fighting a bigger battle in the recent year. He inspired me into multi-sports and doing the exact same thing for me when I first venturing into this sports... sharing what he knows in this sports and making sure I'm doing fine on race day. Today, I feel proud doing the exact same, sharing what I know and making sure a friend is ready going into a new adventure of a lifetime. #FTT

The night race was very well organized to say the least, facilities was great, water station was strategically placed at every 2.5km run route offering water and isotonic drinks. Kudos and a big thanks to all the volunteers who stayed out under the rain shouting out their support and making sure things are fine for all of us. However, the race track was not light-up sufficiently, part of the race track was dark or at least the organizer could have inform participants to come with head lights or bike lamp for safety reason. Other than that, I had an enjoyable experience cycling around the beautiful race track. I would definitely give it another go next year.

#NoSwim #FTT

Saucony Peregrine 5

In my short 3 years of running experience, it has always been with Nike, Adidas, Asics and Skechers which are the more popular brand in this part of the world and never had I experience running in a Saucony until this year. My first experience with the brand was the with Triumph ISOFit, a heavily cushioned shoes good for long runs and recovery runs. The other pair of course will be the Saucony Peregrine 5 (which I will use SP5 referring to the shoes for this blog post)

If you have followed my earlier quick take on the SP5, I have given it an early thumbs up and since then I have put in more mileage to reaffirm that first impression.

The shoes itself does not wight much and it is a mere 9.6oz for a men's US9.0. Mere? you may ask. Yes, SP5 is not the lightest in its league, but with the cushion that comes with the shoes, it is one of the lightest that you can get your feet on. Saying that, SP5 is far from being a bulky cushioned shoes. When I first put on the shoes, my feet was comfortable wrapped around by the upper and boy I knew immediately this is a well designed shoes but will it lived up to the reputation as a fast shoes suggested by its name of Peregrine Falcon? Jeng jeng jeng!!

The upper material used gave no surprise and continue with the trend with light weight highly breathable mesh and FlexFlim. Running though a slightly damp muddy terrain patches had my feet immediately feels that water has found its way into the shoes, no problem there as it also means the mesh is highly breathable keeping the moist away quick too. On the downside, fine sands will find its way easily into the shoes but a gaiter would solve the problem largely, no biggie. However, I found no such issue for larger debris and no hot spot with close to 3hrs on a single run. The toebox is generous which suits my wide feet; with RunDry collar and a gusseted tongue, it wraps the feet nicely with no noticeable feet sliding. The rubber toe cap, is well executed and looks durable keeping the unwanted pain away kicking on roots or rocks.

PowerGrid form and nylon rockplate forms the midsole of the shoes giving the right amount of cushion similar to its road racing siblings. While the midsole provides protection and cushioning, it does not take away the ground feel and dulled the run.  On a few occasion, I ran over edgy and sharp rocks on purpose just to test out the cushioning and protection. There may be a slight protruding feeling that you can sense on the feet, but it is not serious enough to bother me and I suspect the nylon's flexing genetic from the rockplate did the job well absorbing the impact.

SP5 comes with a 4mm drop with a stack height of 21.5mm heel and 17.5mm forefoot. The outsole is made out of XT-900 carbon rubber which was proven to be durable over Suacony range of shoes. With the chevron patterned lugs that has 4 - 5mm deep are off different direction providing traction both uphill and going downhill.

The grip comes alive when put on the trail terrain, on the ascend it really bites well. A reader recently asked if I will test it in Nuang especially on the slippery mud/clay surface and whether the grip will go away with the lugs collecting mud, unfortunately I did not find time to do it due to other commitments. Saying that, I have churned in some tests on a steep (maybe 15-20%) soft ground incline, and to answer the question I believed SP5 will suffer the same faith as any other competitor brands of shoes if the mud collected covers all the lugs/rubber. The condition I tested in did not allow me to collect enough mud/clay covering all the lugs; while the lugs collect mud and sands slightly but it doesn't affect the grip as SP5 drops the element off the sole quickly and grip was never a concern over the duration of test.  There was only one occasion where I feel a small slip toeing off on a uphill wet tarmac, other than that, the outsole is giving the grip as it should on a trail shoe.

On the descend, putting my trust on the shoes, I ran as fast as I could again just to test out the traction. It was pure fun, in fact I ran the descend hard on a different occasion on both wet and dry weather to confirm the feeling is not a one off. It did not disappoint me. The stiffness of the shoes wasn't too bad, it gives room to flex but at the same time stiff enough to hold the shoes right as it should be attacking a descend.

Women's Peregrine 4 in Red and Men's Peregrine 5 in blue

I think Saucony has come out with a shoes that can give other established brand a run of the money. Retailing at RM 429, it is considerably easier on the bank account compare to the likes of Salomon SLab range of shoes.

The shoes are kindly provided by RSH (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, sole distributor of Saucony in Malaysia for review purposes; all opinion are based on actual test without influence.