My 10K Labrun

I ran a 10K yesterday. It was a planned 10K. They say running a 10K is the best way to gauge one's stamina. Yep, despite all the brick workouts (bunyi macam banyak je) and a 10K run in between at geli-geli pace, yesterday's run was more like a lab run. I've been wanting to do it after considerable amount of time spent throughout the raya weekend assessing my pass timing at Seri Manjung.

10K is just about a nice distance to run because it's an average of an hour pushing. Most people can run a 10K. And a 10K is a gauge distance to check on threshold level or HRM. I started off my running in the competitive level (larian berbayar) way back in 2007 with a 10K at AmBank KL Marathon. Here's amongst my earlier shoes:

Tamat perkhidmatan selepas terpijak taik lembu masa Qurban :]

After that, the sky was the limit. 10K races were sporadic for me. Aiming more at the 26.2 miler. Macam bagus je kan, but that was recent. Aku dah insaf sekarang :]

I trained hard for last year's powerman. I trained more for the run. The result was outstanding, Alhamdullillah. But this year, I only started running after raya and squeezing in strength or hard running risk injuries. However, this old goat still got some punch to gauge what's still left inside, though the actual event is just 3 days to go!

With a few twitch of the adhoc plan, the whole family went to KLCC. Venue was picked due to it's measurable miles. And kids, you have the whole one hour to play monkey at the monstrous playground, and mommy have all the time to sink into her books :]

Target : Anything below 1 hour. Shoes checked. Vest checked. Pants checked. MP3 checked. Started off with Higher - Taio but whilst halfway into Ziplock - Lit, my spider-sense told me a King approaching from behind. It was Nik! I shoud’ve known. KLCC throne is ruled by the Two Kings and All Hail to the Kings! I bowed to his presence and we ploded along catching up with lost stories, well mostly his actually. Hehe.

I shared my plan and Nik agreed to tag along. Looking at his constant running log on Dailymile, I know that it’s gonna be hard pacing with him. God speed, this will be one hell of a 10K.

We were guess-timating our pace at times. Humbly Nik gestured a 6.05 but I was confident that it’s a sub-6 pace, from my labour breathing of course. At times we were blaming each other for the increasing pace. I don’t know whether he was playing drama but I was totally freaking honest (arguing through my nostrils actually, labour breathing…remember?).

I tried to keep my gait and posture especially upon enduring pain at the last 2km. And Nik still suggested that a last lap sprint is viable. Are you for real?! My legs started to wobble and my arm swing was desperate. The slightest thought of quitting was inevitable. But, it was not just yet.

Dragging myself catching up with his pace was tormenting, but I know it’s for the good of the assessment. The last lap, Nik engaged his Audi gearbox right after the inlcine but I was non-responsive (sebab aku pakai gear auto je).  He was flying and yours truly was drag-racing. Lapan tiang dia tinggalkan aku! Pergh! Pedih ulu hati mengejor Yeop! Passing through Poco-poco regime was plain deaf because my heart was pounding louder than the music. Argh! Finally the 1KM mark was visible and I was reaching high and low trying to reach it at a descend timing. Sriaaap! 00:56:20. Poyo je kan? Macam ler bagus sangat timing tu. Orang lain tutup mata je buat sub-50.

From the assessment, I can conclude that should I pushed with that killing pace, I will definitely fall asleep on the bike, or maybe cari port bawah Jambatan Tuanku Bainun bentang tikar terus. And my second run will be a “walk in the park” pace sambil nanges! From that also, it seems that attempting anything below 4 hours is impossible. Thus, time improvement can only be done marginally at a reasonable effort. InsyaAllah. Amin.

Sub-4 will be next time... :]

One of the inclines at Powerman cycling route

Simply gorgeous engineering :]