Just Keep TRI-ing

I was too scared to miss it, i slept with my phone and submitted my entry when the reminder woke me up just as the registration open. Sure Can One Lah Syafei

I have set my target to join Tokyo Marathon in February next year. But the chance to win the lottery slot is rather slim. So as a fail safe action, I submitted my entry in Kyoto Marathon today. It is another major Japanese marathon and entry will also be based on lottery system. Registration for Tokyo will open tomorrow. I would be happy with either one. Just trying my luck

I was so excited when my coach told me that she has finalised my training plan. I will be having my first circuit training session with her this Thursday. She warned me that I will be hard. *gulp. She developed my training regime based on heart rate. Well I was struggling to train on HR before as I always ended up running faster than the designated HR. I cant for example run in Zone 1 where the bulk of the runs were made up.  I don't run the slow sessions slow enough during the LSD or recovery days to develop aerobic capacity and fat burning ability. You want to burn as much fat in your body as you can before moving into the lactate zone if you want to be an efficient endurance runner. Well I am not currently burning fuel aerobically as my weight fluctuates faster than that of the stock market indices.   What is HR zone? Well think of it as a pyramid, and Zone 1 where you run the slowest being the base. You run faster further up the pyramid but the time spent will decrease res...

I am only doing light training during this fasting month of Ramadhan focussing of developing core strength. It is a welcoming choice considering how hot and humid Doha is now.  As for running, I am only run 5 km twice and a slow 10 km once a week. The target is not to add fitness but rather just to maintain it, since I still have large amount of miles kept in my muscle memory. I don't have access to a gym since I moved to my new house, but I was assured by my coach that I don't really need a gym. I can still do strength training with lifting my own body weight and free weights. By the way, since a pro athlete like me, cough cough are always on the move, my training cannot be restricted to gym and machines. A gym is a luxury rather than a necessity. Sure Can One Lah Syafei First step of building my own gym.

My running career has been chaotic since I changed job in May. A lot of plans had to be either cancelled or revised. First because I was not allowed to take any leave while on probation but now that I have confirmed, I am only able to schedule my leave by fitting into my teams leave plan. In the end I was left with early September and middle of November including the two Eids off course. No matter how big running is to me, work still takes priority. I had to cancel Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne and the most difficult, New York. Nothing can stop me from running. I will run my own marathon if I have to. In the end I hope to conclude 2013 with 2 half marathon in September in Singapore, (SAFRA Army Half Marathon) and Sungai Petani, Malaysia (SP Half Marathon) in preparation for 2 Full marathons in Munich (October) and Istanbul (November). Munich is the one I will focus on. My formal training under the supervision of my new coach, Sarah Whittington will only start after Ramadhan. At the moment I ...

I have mentioned in my previous entry on how I am planning to qualify for Boston Marathon HERE . While I am currently is on track for that, I have set another goal for myself. A lofty one, which is to be among the top marathon runners in Malaysia. Off course it will not happen overnight. I have set two years to work on this project.  I want to be at the same league with the like of Shaharudin Hashim, Fabian @ Osmond Daimon, Lili Suhairi Ghazali and Jasni Khairil Jamaluddin. They are the reigning kings of marathon in Malaysia.  I know talk is cheap. But nothing is impossible if you put your mind and soul into it. Yang penting usaha dan jangan putus asa. Take Jasni for example. He ran his first marathon in 2009 after started running in 2004. He did 3:27 in his virgin marathon. He never looked back and have since keep on training and improving. He clocked his first sub 3 hours last year at Standard Chartered KL Marathon in a time of 2:56:07, a massive 13 minutes improvement from ...