2010 Malacca 12 hr walk

Just one week after the Singapore Marathon, I have another event at Malacca - 12 hr walk. During the Singapore Marathon, I have 2 blisters developed - one on left foot and one on right foot and both are at the ball of foot. I was very very worry about it. I am not sure whether I can recover in time for a long walk. Even I just recover, the blister may come out again with just 10 or 20km walk. But anyway, I went over there and give it a try. I set a very low expectation of maybe just beating my last year's 60 laps. I also want to try out to see if it is possible to walk 100km in 16 hours (cutoff time of Sundown Ultra 2011)

I took a coach bus from Singapore to Malacca at 8:30am, arriving Malacca around 2:45pm.

Since there is plenty of time to go, I decided to go to have a pre-race massage.
After that, I went over to collect my race pack and pay for the registration fee
The Race Pack has a t-shirt with collar (strange for a competitive event), some samples, a visor, a notebook and several pack of drinks.

There is a big team from Hong Kong with about a dozen of participant and two support. In view of last year that I felt cold at the middle of the night, I decided to use t-shirt + long compression tight and wearing Asics Gelfeather. But I am not going to carry a belt pack as I had placed my supply just on the side of the road in the race course.
The race route is a ~1km loop around the St. Paul's Hill. And participant can go as many rounds they can within 24 hours. There is supply of drinks (isotonic, water, soya bean milk, teh terik) and food (11pm, 2am, 5am). Though I did not eat their food, instead, I have my own cereal bar and salty crackers.
Learn from last year, I started slow in the 1st lap (8:52), accelerate a bit in 2nd lap (8:26) before going full steam for three fast laps (7:4x) and then settle back on 8:20 to 9:00 pace. I was drinking alternatively isotonic drink & water. Suddenly, I had pain in the abdomen at about 12km. I try to contain it for a few lap and finally need to visit the toilet at lap 19. I hit the half marathon at 3 hours and continue at around 9:00 pace. From lap 27, I started to feel sleepy. I struggle and need to take breaks every 2 to 3 laps. Then, I started to have pain at the back of the foot at around lap 36. I tried to change the lacing but cannot get rid of the pain. I finished lap 42 at 6hr 22mins. I decided to change to my spare shoe - Nike Katana. The Nike shoe did not solve the problem. Finally, I cut a cushion material with a hole at middle to put it on the top of my foot. The pain was then reduced to a manageable level. But I think I wasted at least 10 minutes on this shoe issue. After I solved the shoe issue, I had my 2nd wind from lap 42 to lap 50 with a strong finish for the 50km. At the end, I was ranked 17 on the 50km male.

After that, my back started to hurt. I had to stop almost every lap to stretch my back. I started to put on deep heat rub on the legs and the back. My timing is not good. I was not sure how many laps I can go on. I just want to beat my last year's 60 laps, and then go for 65 or 70 laps.

Even though I had the back problem, I continue to pile on lap-after-lap, though slower lap time of 10:00 to 11:30. But at lap 66, the morning started to come. And I was suddenly not feeling sleepy anymore. I had my 3rd wind. I started to lap at 9:00 pace. At the end of lap 70, the clock showed 11:08:34. I had about 51.5 minutes left. I thought I can only do 5 laps. But then, another participant numbered A067 passed me and was going faster. I believed he wanted to squeeze in an extra lap. After lap 73, the clock shows around 11:35:00. With only 25 minutes to go, if I could go at 8:00 pace, I would be able to squeeze in another lap. That really motivated me and I started to pickup the speed. My last three laps are around 8:00 pace and help me achieved 76 laps, something that I never thought of before the start of the race.
With completing 76 laps (around 75km since each lap is about 985m), I was ranked 11 among the male participant. It is extremely satisfactory
And I also got a prize of RM100!
From the timing, I completed 75km in 11hr 59minutes. If I can keep the same average pace, I would be able to just complete 100km in 16 hours. Now, I need to seriously think about Sundown Ultra.

After the post-race, I found a total of 9 blisters on my right & left foot. Thanks to the switch to use the Strappal tape. My 2 pre-race blisters are okay. Instead, new blisters are grown on the edge of the Strappal tape. Maybe I should use it more extensively to prevent blister.

2010 Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

After returning from the Penang marathon, I collected the race pack for Marathon Singapore. The singlet looks quite nice and there are lots of brochure/coupon and some samples in the pack.

On the marathon day, before the race, there was heavy rain around my area. And the weather forecast is thunderstorm all over Singapore. Therefore, I have selected to wear a t-shirt instead of singlet. 5 pack of gel was prepared. And I also bring along a disposable raincoat with me in case it rains before it starts.

The race starts at 5am from Orchard Road, running down to China town and loop back to Nicoll Highway where the usual route going to East Coast Park. Since I was on a mission of 6 hour pacing, I tried my best to follow the timing to the dot.



I have my run in the first 3km and switch to run/walk at about 15%/85% ratio. This continue till the exit of ECP and switch to almost 100% walk. I was within 2 mins from the km target time for all the km mark. After the ECP exit, it was Marina Barrage. There is little shades and the sun is hot (who forecast thunderstorm?). I should have used a singlet instead. It does not really affect my plan at all. On the East Coast Parkway, I was walking up the slope and run down the slope without much issue. I try not to use any deep heat rub. Approaching Padang, I try to pick up speed but some minor muscle on my legs are a bit out of control. But I still run the last 200m and finish at 5:58:05 (chip time). A very successful 6 hr pacing.

The heartrate is all the time in moderate range except running down the slope after East Coast Parkway.