Connect @ KK: 2010

DC Rainmaker : November Forerunner 210 Giveaway

Garmin watch giveaway is back . . by DC Rainmaker. Please click here.

WISH ME LUCK ! ! !

I'm back

I'm very happy that I can go back to running after resting for 1 month from my knees pain. Although not 100% recovered, I still continue doing the icing on the pain areas and some strengthening exercise at the gym. During the 1 month period, I have been to 4 Chinese tit da, 1 sport clinic and 1 clinic to treat my knees. The sport clinic and the clinic gave the same explanation that my both knees are okay. I'm glad to hear that :D

Also, need to thank my running frens who keep motivating me to get back to running and also the advises on how to treat my knee pains.

Here are my runnings for the past 1 week.

31 Aug 2010 - LSD 22.17km (2:38)

3 Sep 2010 - Slow run 7.38km (0:46)

5 Sep 2010 - LSD 25.03km (3:00) - first time hit 25K and running in a drizzling rain.. woohoo..

As I'm still worried about my knees, I now run at a slower pace with shorter strides to minimise the impact on my knees. I'm now the slowest runner in my normal running group... haha...

But the most important thing is I'm still running. Need to slowly gain back my endurance fitness and stamina.

Lastly, I have joined the adiNation of Runners on 3 Sep 2010 for their weekly run. Here is my first stamp! :)

I'm now looking forward the Newton 25K. My goal is to finish the run with no injury!

Garmin Forerunner 310XT Giveaway

Garmin watch is my dream running gadget. But, I don't have the budget to own one :'(

Now, DC Rainmaker is giving away one Garmin 310XT for selected winner. Pretty easy to enter this contest. Please visit www.dcrainmaker.com to find more details on how to submit your entry.

The contest will run until 9 Sep 2010. Be quick ya!

(The above picture is from www.dcrainmaker.com)

Wish me luck!

My toe nail falling off

I got this black toe nail during the SCKLM back in June 2010. Finally after almost 2 months, it has fallen off :)

It became loose when I have accidental kicked the toe nail against the floor (if I'm not mistaken) when I was swimming at Bandar Tun Razak this evening.

I still have to slowly pulled out the remaining nail. Luckily, there is no pain or bleeding.

Now my toe is going to get a new nail.

Bought a new book... again?

I don't really have interest in reading. I have gave up reading Tuesday with Morrie with 10++ pages to go... haha...

Yet I bought another new book today at KinoKuniya for RM32.00. Reason? Maybe because it has 50 different short stories.

And oh... I still have several other books untouched. I hope this book does not has the same fate like Tuesday with Morrie :P

Wanna get back to the gym & running

I went back to my hometown last Saturday and at the same time went for my knees treatment. My parent asked around and found out there is one Ti Da sifu at Kajang wet market which is quite famous. I think the sifu is more than 65 years old already.

I asked the sifu whether my case is serious. The sifu asked me not to worry too much and said it's not a joint or bone problem. He said there are some blood vessels/veins 'tightness' around the knees which caused the pain or uneasiness. The sifu massaged my both legs, from the thighs till to the toes. After the massage, the sifu just wrapped my right knee with some herbs. My right knee is more painful than the left knee. The sifu also reckon me to boil and drink some Chinese herbs for 3 days. So, he gave me 3 packets of Chinese herbs. I need to boil the herbs for 4 hours before I can drink the medicine. The massage treatment cost me RM50 and the herbs cost RM25 per packet.

Today, my knees feel much better. I can now bend down on my knees without much pain liao. I might go back to the tida sifu for final treatment this week.

Before that, I will go out and run.. I just want to have a feel on my knees condition.

Confirmation Slip for SCSM 2010

I received the Singapore Marathon's confirmation slip this evening. Anyway, it got a mistake. My birth month should be June instead of May. I have sent them an email to notify them to make the changes.

And oh.. they are going to give me the running vest with the size of XXXL!!! walao eeee........ :(

New Running Short

I wanted to buy a new running short cos my current Mizuno running short is just too fugly. Don't you think it's too baggy and from certain angles, it looks like a skirt? >___<

So, I went to to Studio R @ Sunway Pyramid to shop for new running tight:

Cost: RM119.90 (Normal price item same as in the Adidas Stores)

Size : L

Striped color : Blue - Not sure why I chose Blue over Red and White color. Probably, I have more blue colored items at my home... haha...

I'm going to wear it during the Newton run on 26 September 2010.

Won a slot to SCSM 2010 !

When I open the email from NB Singapore, it confirmed that I have won a slot for SCSM 2010! Giler habis!

It's was a FB contest by NB SG where ones need to upload a photo on their FB fan page wearing the NB running gear. It could be shoes, apparels and accessories. There are 5 slots (Half Marathon/Full Marathon) are up for grabs. I submitted my photo wearing NB 1225 shoes and SCKLM 2010's NB running vest.

Now, the problem is that I will be running PBIM's Full Marathon on 21 November 2010. The SCSM 2010 is being held on 5 December 2010. Can I recover on time in the 2 weeks' time?

These are what I'm thinking:

1. Sign up the SCSM's Half Marathon - I think I can run the Half Marathon, with a slow and easy run, within the qualifying time, or

2. Sign up the SCSM's Full Marathon - Can I run? My mind wanted to join this SCSM but I'm not sure whether my legs could take it or not. The risk of hitting the Wall and DNF are guaranteed!

I wish I could join SCSM after the PBIM. Whether I'm able to run or not, let's put this question aside for the time being.

Oh ya.. Just share with you this quote. I saw this quote while writing this post:

You should run your first marathon for the right reasons, because you'll never be the same person again. You must want to do it, not do it because your boss did it or your spouse did it. - Bill Wenmark, running coach

My reason? I just want to test my limit and enjoy my run.

Chinese Celery - Old folks natural recipe

A fellow runner reckons to boil a bunch of Chinese celery and drink the water to relieve joints aches and fever.

I went to the market today and bought a bunch of Chinese celery for RM2.00. I think it can lasts me for 3 or 4 days.

I read from the internet that Chinese celery is indeed good for arthritis and rheumatism. You can find out more about the Chinese celery here.

Besides the knees pain, I feel that I'm having the rheumatism symptom. I hope by drinking the boiled Chinese celery with water, it can really gives some relieves to my knees.

I do massage my knees with Ti Da oil, etc.. ya. Let's pray for a fast recovery.

By the way, since I cannot do running, RPM or any exercise that involves my legs, I will take up a swimming course (pai seh...) with a friend soon in mid-August. Got to wait for my friend to come back from his Gunung Irau trip. Darn! I'm going to give this hiking trip a miss too.

Goodies from the nite run

Hmm.. I still managed to complete the Shape & Men's Health Night Run although im still recovering from my knee pain. And I said to myself that I'll stop running after this Shape run till Sep 2010.

My time for this run is better than my 2009 Malakoff 12K run (1:18 - My second run after Mizuno run) mainly because Malakoff run is a hilly route. Whereas, the Shape run is mainly flat roads with a few slopes.

And these are the goodies.

It's time for me to start clearing off the goodies, including those from the previous runs... LOL

Men's Health Running Bib

This morning I went to collect the Shape/Men's Health Night Run at Wisma OCM at 10.15am. Not many people at that time. Within a few minutes, I got my running bib and the running vest ady. I like the rbk running vest. The design is not bad.

The Athlete's Circle is opening a booth there selling mainly running accessories like SIP belts, hydration belts and few other stuffs. I bought this Nuun electrolyte or salt tablets for RM28.00 per tube (12 tablets). Very cheap! This is the promo price until this Friday (30 July 2010).

Absurd

Many of my friends and FB friends wishing me to get well soon from my knee pain. The funny thing about it was that there are few of them asking me why the heck I go running everyday! What da F... That was an absurd! Do you think I am a bionic-man mea...

To go out and run on a daily is too much for me lah. Maybe, someone out there can do that on a daily basis but definitely is NOT ME!

By the way, my knee feels much better as compared to two days ago. Still taking a rest from any legs exercise and not to walk too much as well. Tomorrow, I will go back to Osso again for follow up treatment.

And today, I'll go and collect the Shape Run kit at Wisma OCM.

Treatment at Chinese traditional & chiro specialist

This is the problem for an active person huh?.. who's like to do running or hiking.

I went to Osso Bone Care Specialist today to treat my knee. I'm having some pain on my left knee. I got this pain in April 2010 not during my running but when I was sitting FB-ing at home! Maybe due to a wrong sitting posture as I like to cross my legs when I am sitting on a chair (at home only).

The specialist said that I have some misalignment on my knee. There are few reasons that might have had contributed to my problem - due to running, descending from a hill/mountain in a fast pace and a wrong sitting posture.

The specialist then gave me the Chinese traditional massage and bone setting. The treatment takes about 45 minutes and costs me RM80.00. I have to go back for 2nd visit on this coming Thursday. I hope that my knee will be getting better soon.

Oh ya.. these are the food that I have to avoid for at least 2 weeks:

- Stout or liquor is ok

- Chinese or green tea is ok

Anyway, after the treatment, I went to eat fish head noodle at Ah Soon Restaurant near the Osso Bone Care Specialist. The fish head noodle has salted veggie >.<

Running - Week 2/16

My easy & long run log for week 2:

21 Jul - 10K

23 Jul - 13.1K

24 Jul - 15.3K

Total mileage for week 2 = 38.4K (Plan : 32.2K)

I think I'll will just ignore the hill and speed works at this moment. I just want to build up my long distance endurance by focusing on the easy and long run in my training for FM.

Oh ya, the pain on my left knee is back again.... Aarghh.... ! I think I run too much ady. I'll take a rest from running for the this whole week because I'll be running the Shape/Men's Health Night Run on 31 Jul. So, got to postpone my week 3 training plan.

I'll go and visit this bone specialist by this week - Osso Bone Care Sdn Bhd.

20.07.2010

Saw this pic from FB. Ya, I noe it's kinda old.

'I Killed Madonna Because I Have perfect Abs' =.=|||

This week is my 2nd week of marathon training plan and the plan is as follows:

- 9.6km Easy run

- 8.0km Hills run

- 14.5km Long run

I will start with the easy run this evening.

The other day, I was having 'tong shui' with a friend at K.T.Z, 1U after our earlier lunch at Sushi Zanmai. My Friend posted this question to me.

'Do you know what you want to do or let me re-phrase, what do you want in your life?'

I was like... Huh!?

hmm... my plan is to move out from FI and I hope my wish will come true soon :P

Running plan - Week 1 / 16

Running

I ran 15km on Friday's evening in 1:38:56 with a mixture of road & garden route. This is the first time I hit 15K by running alone. And without running on the road, I don't think I can run that far.

With that, I have completed my 1st week of marathon training beginner plan by completing a total of 32.8k (8.8K more than the required mileage... lol). Reason: I run mainly on a flat roads. I am supposed to do some hill running in my plan. But I couldn't find any suitable route nearby my residential for the hill training.

Hiking

I was asked by MY to bring her and her colleagues to Gn Datuk 2 weeks ago. I asked around and see anyone wanna join us for the hike. Finally, I have few ex-colleagues and running fren wanna join this hiking trip. However, MY turned up only with her BF -.-|||

We started the hike around 8.30am and along the way, I saw some insects like spiders, antz and... centipede?

We reached the peak around 10.45am with some slow hikers. The weather is good although a bit cloudy.

We descended around 12.00pm and reached the base around 1.15pm. We left the park at 2.15pm and went to Seremban town to eat the famous roasted or baked crabs at Seremban Seafood Village :)

And today, I have a little bit of stiffness on my calf muscle and I don't feel like doing anything :(

More from eBay

This is my latest purchase from eBay :D

It's a hard rubber case for Nokia E71 with one free screen protector. I bought it for USD2.99 with free shipping cost.

Nike+ Sensor Holder (Lace Lid)

After waited for 10 days, my Nike+ Lace Lid had finally arrived from US. I bought the sensor holder via eBay. It costs USD 8.07 a piece including the shipping cost.

I bought total 6 pieces - I need 2 pieces and the other 4 pieces, I bought on behalf of running friends. They wanted to buy the Nike+ SportBands too.

I woke up at 4.45am yesterday morning and wanted to go to Bukit Jalil recreation park to run at 6.30am and to test out the SportBand. After thinking about the traveling time and petrol cost, I have decided to go running at the usual place ie garden at Pusat Bandar Puchong.

I know that I am not supposed to run and I need to rest my toes after the Seremban Half Marathon 2010 because I have damaged my toes nail on both side of my feet. This is due to the NB running shoes... sighhhh.

Anyway, I managed to do a slow run at a comfortable pace and clocked 11.24km in 1:09:18. Here is the result derived from the Nike SportBand.

The Nike SportBand provides simple information like duration, km, pace and calories burn.

The stupid gomen has increased the petrol price from tomorrow. From now on, I should have just walk out from my home and go running instead of driving to the nearest garden/park to run. I am thinking to grab a bottle of water (will get a waist water pouch soon) and do my LSD at 6.00am tomorrow. But I am a bit worried about running alone early in the morning when the sky is still dark (am afraid of kena wallop). Let's see how.

New Camel Hiking Bag (48L)

My new Camel hiking bag with 48L has arrived yesterday. I redeemed this hiking using the UOB UNIRinggit Rewards program. Total points utilised: 63,000

I'm actually looking for a bigger hiking bag with a rain cover than my current ones. The ones that could bring out to a camping or backpacking trip that could last for 4 to 5 days.

As soon as I saw UOB gives out this hiking bag in their rewards program, I quickly made the redemption before they replace it with another product or raise the redemption points.

This Camel hiking bag comes with a rain cover, mini whistle and it was made from a water repellent material :)

The good news is that I have saved at least RM150 +/- ... i think... woohoooo....

SHM 2010 - Mission Completed

This is my best half marathon so far. I completed the Seremban Half Marathon 2010 in 2:00:59 with distance of 20.46 km (based on Garmin FR405 by Kho Kwang Leng). The average pace is 5:55 min / km. Even though the route has few slopes, I couldn't believe that I still can complete the run with such a good timing.

The complaints: There are only 3 water stations along the route and sometimes we have to run along a few roads with busy traffic :S

They served mineral water and Revive isotonic drinks. Luckily, I brought along one bottle of Gatorade Tiger drink. Else, runners can bring along some moneys too and stop at those kopitiam to buy drinks.

The reason why I signed up this race is because the finisher medal is sponsored by Royal Selangor Pewter... lol

I think every year they sponsor the same medal design with the engraving of the year and distance on the medal only. Below is the front view.

Back view.

GNC member

I went to GNC IOI outlet to sign up as a GNC VIP member to enjoy the 20% discount on store wide purchase except local and Powerbar products. The membership costs RM15.00 a year and I have to sign up for 2 years for new member.

With the new member card, I bought 6 packets of GU Energy Gel which costs RM8.00 per packet and saved RM9.60 :)

It's really worth paying RM30.00 for the member card for long term purchase.

Old mags & docs = $$$

After so long, finally I have dug out those old mags and docs to be thrown away from all over the house. Oops! Should be sold it to a recycling center.

Total weight : 60 kgs so far.

Hmm... how much I can get from the selling leh? Will go and dig out some more.

Pinky

After spending about 1 day (half each on yesterday and today... lol), finally I bought this pink color T-shirt (Forests @ RM39.90) at JJ, Sunway Pyramid. Gosh! Really not easy to find a nice and reasonable priced shirt at this time, non-sales period.

I need this pink color T-shirt as a 'jimui' shirt for my fren's wedding this coming Saturday. Woot! I'm one of the jimuis? >.<

Luckily, I'm not the only guy.. hehe..

Hmm.. I'm not sure the games plan. Probably, the girls need us to block the door to avoid the bridegroom and his 'heng dais' from coming in to get the bride.. wakaka...

Seremban Half Marathon 2010

Haha.. this sounds crazy to non-runners. They will never understand why we like to go running :p

Today, I went to Antah HealthCare Group at Jalan 19/1, Petaling Jaya to register the 2010 Seremban Half Marathon. The run is on 11 July 2010 ie this coming Sunday. Although the closing date for registration is on 4 July 2010, a fren of mine told me that runners still can do manual registration.

At first, I have no intention to sign up this run because I have a wedding dinner to attend on 10 July 2010. I'm afraid that I could not wakeup on time the next morning to travel down to Seremban... lol

But after I think about it, I can actually treat it as a LSD training. And I might have 1 or 2 frens wanna sign up this run too.. weeee... :P

For RM12.00 registration fee, the goodies (sample packs) are:

T-shirt instead of a running vest
Revive isotonic drink
Salonpas - pain relieving patch
Deep heating rub
Mentholatum Charcoal face wash
Top liquid detergent
Shokubutsu shower foam

I signed up the Cat B and there are 250 finisher medals for runners who complete the run within 2:30. Hmmm... hopefully, I am 1 of the 250 runners that can get the finisher medal.. haha..

Nike+ SportBand

Yeah... I finally bought myself a sport watch that can gives me info on my running distance, pace, time and calories burned.

I bought this Nike SportBand for RM229.00 from the Nike outlet at the Berjaya Time Square. The SportBand comes with a watch and a sensor.

There is only one color available for men ie Black/Red for Malaysia market. For women, the color is Grey/Pink. However, I went in to the Nike US website to check, there are other colors like yellow and blue. Anyway, I like this black/red colored SportBand.

I can't wait to wear this SportBand for my running but I don't have a Nike+ ready running shoes. So, I need to get a Nike+ adaptor kit for the sensor for non-Nike+ ready shoes. The problem is that Apple stores in Malaysia don't sell Nike+ adaptor kits unlike Apple stores in Singapore.

Well, I have bought the Nike+ adaptor from eBay for USD 8.07... haha.. I'm now waiting for the adaptor to arrive.

My BD pressie

I received this package on my BD from a fren from the North. A fren & also an ex-housemate that I have lost contact since she left college. We keep in touch again in end 2009 through another ex-housemate that I found her through FB.