Starting again

That's one of the flight of stone steps we had to endure during my 10 day trip to Annapurna Base Camp. I think this was on the way back, and if I remember correctly, I was heading to Bamboo village. At this point even seeing 2 steps was enough to drain my energy. The best thing about this one was that you couldn't see another 3 flight of stairs up above. Only when you reach the last few steps of the first one that you could see the second and third peeking up, each one even longer than before. I was glad that I am a stair loving girl. Even during my field hockey off season in high school I would run up and down the flight of stairs at home for 30 minutes straight. It's the best way to get fit and work your legs at the same time... of course, you could always stop then. In this trip you had no choice but to brave through all. 

But one thing I noticed that doing these steps helped me a lot in my uphill run after that. Especially the Mizuno wave run - I overtook more people than possible when I ran uphill - to which almost all of them passed me back downhill! hahah. But I realized that running uphill for me has never been a bad thing - I never really hated it even when I ran in the TTDI hills, even in Bukit Tunku. I enjoy the huffing and puffing and especially the burning sensation in my thighs. 

On the way back from the base camp, I decided to head down with these 2 Nepali boys whom we've befriended along the way. They were around my age - 24, and friendly and speak English well. I wanted to go down with them because I was bored of walking alone plus I just wanted to go down as far as I could. The boys were FAST. I lead for the first part of the trek, and I was going faster than usual just so that they wouldn't think I was a sissy girl (hahaha ade jgk part ego) but when it was Mukhti's part to lead he charged ahead. I stumbled down a couple of times especially going down the stairs (at that time my knees were hurting steadily) but I remember it was also the only time I felt excited and, well, alive. I mean, I was continuously pacing myself and playing with my breathing and mentally motivating myself to keep up with the pace. I was so glad that I didn't give in and said, "Stop!" We arrived in Deurali in one hour - a good one hour less.

The crowd in Singapore. I was glad I joined this race. It was well organized, of course, but I think so were all the other races I've been in back home.  Two things were missing in this race that races back home had - Ice and Milo! I was a bit disappointed - I look forward to drink Milo as much as I look forward to the finishing line. Milo from the van always tasted sooo good and it's a great thirst and energy quencher after a run. Also, Ice is always an important part in a race - there will always be runners with swollen ankles or knees, like me. I had to request for an ice bag and had to wait for a while for the lady to get it for me. I sipped the isotonic drink slowly but not really enjoying it. I never missed Milo so much as I had at that time. Still, it was a nice race.

Me seconds before running. You couldn't see the patellar stabilizer I had on both knees but let me tell you that they worked WONDERS. My knees didn't hurt one bit. They felt sore after the race though but that's to be expected since I just ran on an inflamed set of knees for 10k, but it was as bad as the mizuno run.

Yesterday I walked to a friend's house instead of driving. It was my first attempt on a road training after the race. I guess the looming penang marathon freaked me out. It was a short distance - my online pedometer mapped it as 3.47km and true enough I hardly broke a sweat. Well, but at least it got my legs moving. I'm going to train as much as I could and whenever I could -  going to take the longer route whenever I can and walk instead of driving. I just need to get my legs used to the distance. I thank god that I'd done the nepal trip. We walked for about 6 hours a day. I think I could do another straight walking. I'm nervous though!

Going for a swim Monday. My friend the basketball dude hurt both his knees too, although worse - he got ACL, so he said swimming would be good for him. We're going to swim every monday and wednesday. I'm adding another day - tuesday - with another friend. I'm also adding kickboxing class again on thursday. Then that saturday I have a badminton tournament for my department - mixed doubles! Urgh, I hate mixed doubles. I enjoy single sets more. Well, what can you do, I'm just going to (s)wing it!

UNDERTRAINED

I'm freaking out.

 My first half marathon is in 2 weeks or so, and I have yet to cover any respectable mileage. AT ALL. I've only done 2 10 k races. 

 I'm going for a long walk today to get my legs used to the exercise again. And lots of swimming. and lots of kickboxing. maybe just boxing.

too lazy to write

so I'm going to put in pictures...

My dad posing before we head out to UPM at 545 am. He looks like an excited  7 year old school boy on his first day of school. He ran a good race, considering that the route had double hills at the end and that his knees weren't really good as well. He thought that the Milo and 100 plus drinks that were being served out weren't free, so he just waited there dying of thirst until I arrived (I had the money in my pants). When I told him that they were gloriously free, he was ecstatic. I think he must have had 10 Milo cups.

The Great Eastern Women 10k. The elite runners were in front of the pack. This was just minutes before the race begins. It was cloudy. I don't like running in cloudy weather. 

 The race for me was quite horrible. I didn't know why but as I was just starting I started to have that discouraging thought, something like, "Oh, I'm going to get so tired," and sure enough that was what I felt throughout the whole race. 3km was a LOONG distance to cover. I was so surprised at my lack of mental strength. It was a flat route mostly, for which my legs were grateful for, but I was kinda hoping some hills were involved. I like hilly courses, especially going uphill. I think I run even faster uphill than downhill. 

 When I reached kilometre 5, I felt lightheaded. I wasn't sure what the reason was; I actually nibbled on a piece of bread earlier in the morning when I never ate anything in any of my race before. They had drinks out ever 2.5k. I drank some at 5k. 

 I was actually struggling at the 8km. My breathing was a bit labored and I felt sick. The last stretch was near to the ocean so it was nice to see the sun peeking through the clouds. The whole time I was using this matsalleh girl as my pacer - she was running steadily which was was I need, and I told myself to not lose the sight of her. 

 The best part of running in a race for me is that - pacing. I like to target someone or a couple of someone in a race and then challenge myself to try to keep up or beat them. During KOTR, I had several pacesetters - and whenever I sped by one I targeted another one. I find that doing that appeals to the inner competitive geek in me - I get to compete with my pacesetters - and its either I win or lose.

 Anyway I'm going to retrace back to Mizuno run, which was a greeeeaat run. I wasn't even tired. I was pacing this girl in a blue headscarf and at kilometer 5 she picked up the pace and left me waay behind. But since the end of the race were just hills, I caught up with her. I was so proud - hey my knees were burning and throbbing like they're Brazilian dancers on fire.

 One thing helped me a lot in the Great Eastern with my knees. I went to this shop called Motion Sport in Paragon Mall, initially wanting to look for a pair of headbands for my boyfriend's shaggy hair during football, but I went out of it with this knee contraception called Patella Stabilizer. And it was AWESOME. My knees didn't even utter a squeak. After the race before we head back, my friend and I headed back to  the shop where I bought another pair for my dad.

 I'm having a headache... guess I have to cut this supposedly long entry with many pictures short. i know what a downer!

Energized

I'm back! 

 I have been terribly busy the past few weeks. I know it's a shitty excuse to use, but I AM really busy with work. My new job's amazing, but that's not what I wanted to write about. I'll keep this update short because I want to do a longer one with pictures.

 Last two weeks, I ran the Mizuno wave run with my dad. It was my dad's first official running event - and he was so CUTE! He laid out his pants and running shoes (I bought for his birthday) and knee guards and what not, and got excited when I gave him his running bib. He reminded me to bring my receipts and i.d for verification, cautioning me that it's important. The next morning he woke up at 5, told me he couldn't sleep really well. And he insisted that I snapped a picture of us in our bibs. SO CUTE. I was amused and happy and nervous and glad that I was doing it with him. 

Last week I went to singapore for the great eastern women 10k. The race was the worst 10k in history, but it was also a good one since I ran a good time - with injured knees, I mean! I was so surprised with myself. My timing in the mizuno run was bad - normal with my swollen knees and the hills and all, but the great eastern was also better than some of my 10ks, especially my earlier ones. I think with mizuno I did 11km in 1:20, but for the great eastern I did 1:06 mins. haha ok it's NOT FAST. But I haven't been running - the last time I ran was the mizuno race, plus my knees were so bad, and before the mizuno race I didn't run for weeeks.

 okay the phone's ringing for the third time. later!

 

Running Withdrawal

"Let's talk about stress.

It is defined as a ratio of force per area.

Stress is when your muscles clench up, usually between your shoulder blades. It also applies to when you pronounce a word even longer and more defined than normal, more often than not to imply that the situation is serious. 

In everyday life, you stress out conversations to emphasize meanings. A stress test in material science determines which material is stronger by not showing signs of straining first. Stress to civil engineers is a computer software - STRuctual Engineering Systems Solver. What lucky fools. In the world of fashion, when you 'stress' your jeans, it means that you dragged some rough materials over them to achieve that semi-frayed, distressed look.

In an academic setting, stress has many possibilites. It could mean staying up all night blinking in the dark, going through equations. It results in either rapid weight loss or alarming weight gain. Hair turns gray. PMS cycles are frequent, sometimes faked. You body resorts to causing pain to alert yourself that your systems are frazzled. 

Stress: The gift that keeps on giving."

 I wrote that 3 years ago, when I was a student and dying over my final exams. Engineering was a tough course; sports was the only way I get to unleash all that wound up feelings. Studying after a great run, or running after a great studying session, both were rewarding. I get so tired to think afterwards.

 My knees still hurt. It hurts when I walk down the stairs. They throb for no reason when I watch the television. I eat medication like candy; I am on one everyday for the rest of my life from now on. My knees is more fucked up than Bart Simpson...

 On my calendar at work, today is my running day. I'm supposed to do a short 3.5km of speedwork, running in intervals of RPE 8 for 200m, 400m then 20 seconds more. It's a shoddy speedwork, but it gets my amateur heart pumping. I would be hating the warm up run. I would long to go straight home and read books. I would want to stop.

 Bet you don't know what you've got till it's gone. 

 I'm not having such a great week, even though its only Tuesday. My new job requires me to recall back technical terms I have left in second year. My new colleagues are friendly, but distant, of course, like all new colleagues are. I'm also juggling with some sort of a personal issue that defines adulthood. I'm worried and stressed almost all the time now. I miss running, getting my heart pumped like I'm about to die. I miss feeling awesome even for seconds. I'm feeling horrible and stressed all the time now. 

 Mizuno wave run is this Sunday. I was very looking forward to it because it would be the first race I would be running with my dad officially. My dad is very excited; his first race with an official t-shirt and all. He told me he's been upping his mileage now. I didn't have the heart to tell him I can only hobble to work. 

 The doctor that I went to told me, "Some people aren't born to be runners." He is talking about my legs, their bone structure, apparently I have this genetic bow-legged that was the sole reason why my knees hurt even when I play bowling. The x-rays of my knees were stark and scary - almost too honest and blunt - the wear on my left knee plus the obvious bow-leggedness that I only noticed then. 

 But. I'm still going to run. Maybe not now, but definitely after recovering.

 Anyway, that's a picture of me against the Macchapuchre Mt, fondly dubbed as Mt Fishtail by the locals. This was the first day of the hike.

 

She sounds spanish

but the injury feels like its from hell. Chrondomalacia Patella, that's the name of whatever's been bugging my knee. It doesn't really require a rocket scientist to figure it out; I'd done some googling of my own and when the doctor confirmed I actually lip-synched him. I mean, who can pronounce those two words unless they've got some practice during work hours thanks to Google? 

 Some people dub it the classic Runner's Knees, but whatever it's called, I got a nasty case of it because the intensity was heightened during my trekking trip. Especially the last 2 days or so when the course was just downhill and included thousands of steps (a porter we met said that we'd just covered 2 thousand or so steps on that day... but I was incredulous) 

 So no nothing for about 7 weeks... at least nothing intense. I've been fasting the whole week to compensate my inactivity - at least I got something good out of this month - but I think I should start swimming at least... or kickboxing. It's hard to find swimming pools that don't close at 8pm or get too crowded with little kids or rowdy college students who make it hard to swim smoothly, especially when they splash around until the water gets choppy. I could do badminton with the boyfriend again, but he's busy with school and also sporting an ankle injury of his own. The most I could do is swimming on weekends or maybe one weeknight, and kickboxing (maybe just boxing!) one weeknight.

 How safe is it to run early in the morning at KLCC park? My previous job was relaxed enough to allow me to leave at 5pm sharp and arrive at Subang's lake to run for 30 minutes or so (I usually arrive in subang at 630pm), but my new job seems to demand after 5 working hours. I hate running in the evening especially at the park where most of my colleagues would be ambling back to their cars, and the only option I could think of to run is early in the morning before work starts. I usually reach my office at 7am (one hour earlier) so I was thinking I could run for half an hour and shower in the gym (my department has a membership). Wait... but that's my previous department. Rats!

 There goes all my careful planning. I'm running out of options with my future running schedule. Is there anyone you know who is looking for a running partner to run throughout the week? Maybe I should join the Adidas running community since they run at klcc park every tuesdays.

what a predicament

i miss running.

it's been nearly a week - i'd just arrived on malaysian soil late saturday night. While in nepal my parents sold the house my siser and I were living in and all my stuff are currently in my sister's new apartment. I have no idea where most of my workclothes are, let alone my running shoes (and running pants, sports bras, etc). I haven't figured out how to get to work from the new place and vie versa plus at work I found out that I have to move to a new position too. There's a whole lot of packing up and repacking that I have to do.

I read an amazing article about recovering drug addicts who turned to running as a new addiction. The article featured this one man who ran ultra marathons of many themes ever since he started running. He was a meth addict, cocaine junkie, and various other recreational drugs for about 10 years. No doubt he says the drug high is more intense, but the high he gets from running is just as good. Sometimes, when the mood hits, he says, he'd be running around a simple lake for hours and it felt like a cocaine high. He still dreams about coke though, but nothing beats getting high as a kite and still get to meet his kids for dinner. That is the only difference between his former addiction with his current, and it's a really good difference, one that changes everything from bad to good.

My knees hurt when I touch them, tender like a bruise. They hurt even more and especially when I do my prayers, during sujud when I would have to exert pressure on my knees between movements. I can't go on a simple flight of stairs without feeling like there are hot rods stuck through my kneecaps. I thought that by simply giving my knees an extra long break after the trekking (it's been 7 days and counting now) they would feel a lot better and I could start running again. But the prospect of me running looks poor. I'm afraid of injuries, especially since I have about 4 upcoming races to run, the earliest being this 25th october, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if I should rest some more, or start running slowly to not lose my already flailing fitness.

I really do miss running. A lot of the things in my life seem unharnessed when I don't have a proper running routine. I miss the discplined, ramrod straight schedule of my week when I was running consistently.

Oh well.