For the fourth year running Carole’s treated me to a
fantastic holiday in a country I’ve never visited before. In Kerala my achilles
was completely screwed and I could barely walk, let alone run, but I’ve managed
to experience running in Vietnam, Cambodia and, now, Malaysia. All offer
different opportunities to test my own boundaries of physical ability and
creativity. All have been hot and humid places to run in, which does make
physical activity more challenging than back home.
This particular holiday was split into two, starting in
Kuala Lumpur with 3 nights and then onto Langkawi for 10 nights. It always
seems a bit of a drag travelling to these far flung holidays, and so it was
again, though not as much a drag as the coming home. We took the Manchester to
Dubai, Dubai to Kuala Lumpur route, flying with Emirates. We left early on the
Saturday morning, arriving in Kuala Lumpur around the same time on Sunday
morning, with the time difference. Bonus: the hotel we were staying at had our
room ready, which meant we could have a quick shower, get changed and have a
look around. With not much sleep during the journey we decided not to venture
far, rather to look at the immediate area and get a feel for the place, and,
naturally, suss out any potential running opportunities.
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| Petronas Towers, look good day or night |
The hotel had a small gym and I was quite prepared to use
the one treadmill for my daily run. I was also, because my attitude has been
changed due to my latest injury problems, prepared to just do an intensive PT
session, should somebody else be on the treadmill. However, it turned out we
were close to the City Centre park. It still required crossing a few roads, but
it looked like a distinct possibility.
The next day we were up and out, we’d decided to give the
park option a go. Arriving at the park we found it busy, lots of people were
out walking or running, 90% of them going anti-clockwise around the marked
running circuit, handily marked out as a 1300m circuit, which enabled me to notice
how slow I was going. It wasn’t intentional, but the flight had taken it’s
toll, plus it was pretty hot and humid in KL. I shuffled around a few laps and
then went back to the hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast we were treated to a Lion Dance, this being
Chinese New Year, to wish us on our way with good luck. We spent the bulk of
the day walking around KL, following a tour in the guide book. Not the easiest
place to get around, thanks to a very busy road system, but we saw everything
we had hoped to and returned late afternoon for a dip in the pool, before
dinner.
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| Lots of luck, but no tangerine |
The next morning we decided the park was the best option
again. I was feeling a lot more awake so decided to try some speedwork, a
loosely based term for a session of repetitions that would be slightly faster
than the previous days steady run. Having knowledge of how difficult it is to
train in the heat and humidity of places, such as KL, I decided to keep the
reps short but, as time was a constraint, also keep the recoveries short. So a
session of 21 x 1 minute with 15 seconds recovery. This is a tough session any
time, if done properly, but it was very tough in this weather. Thankfully the
crowd mentality of mostly going in an anti-clockwise direction helped me
enormously, giving me loads of people to overtake, even on my recovery jogs. It
could’ve been a nightmare if 50% of the people were travelling against the
flow.
After breakfast another day’s walking around KL and another
dip before dinner.
The next day we were due to leave for Langkawi and we were
leaving fairly early, getting up early for a run was certainly achievable, in
fact a few years earlier it would have been a given, but I weighed up the
bigger picture, including my current fitness levels and current ambition, and
decided, for once I’d just chill and enjoy the holiday. So I did and a few
hours later we were disembarking in Langkawi.
A friend of mine from Edinburgh, and fellow runner, Stephen
Maniam, is travelling round the world, cycling as much of it as he can. It just
so happens he’s on a break from travel and currently teaching just South of KL.
Naturally, when he heard I was heading to KL he headed to Langkawi, as we disembarked,
he was on the other side of a glass partition, waiting to get on the plane we
had just vacated. We exchanged waves, he was due back in Langkawi at the
weekend so we’d be able to catch up proper then.
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| Too much cycling makes you sit funny |
We settled in our new accommodation and went for a walk to
see what the area looked like, and more specifically where we could run. The
gym was pleasant, 3 treadmills looking over the beach, so assuming they were
free that was one option. The town was a busy through road and the pavements
were both clogged and in a bad state of disrepair, completely unsuitable. The
road out of town was an option, but I try to avoid running on the road in most foreign
places but, in particular, here I wasn’t that impressed with the local driving
skills. The site we were on had some pathways, very likely to be busy but an
option. That left the beach. I don’t like running on the beach if it’s soft
sand, unless I’m just starting back from injury, even then I can’t take it for longer
than 20 minutes, though Carole loves it, so she was sorted. We had a quick inspection,
soft sand, and yet, as we got closer to the sea there was a band of firm sand,
the likes I’d not come across since training in Whitianga, New Zealand. Yes
this could be possible. The beach was reputedly 2k end to end, so it was a
pretty good option if the sand was firm all the way. I’d find out the next
morning.
Fully bedded in now, having been in Malaysia for 5 days,
despite the late night closing at the beach bar, with wailing karaoke style
singer, and the heat of the night being very similar to the day, requiring the
fan to be on permanently, causing all sorts of weird dreams connected with
engines and chainsaws, I decided I’d go for it on the beach and try my trusted
1,2,3 x3 session. The beach was great, surprisingly busy at 8:00am but respectful,
i.e. they got out of my way when I was running towards them. The first few reps
were good, but then I started to feel the heat on the 3 minute rep, after that
it was hard work, but I did just over 4 complete lengths of the beach, that was
enough. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool, we were too
knackered to be bothered with anything else, plus it was a nice pool, great for
shade bathing.
Back on the speed the next morning, this time it was a 1,2 x
6 (I know it seems a little unorthodox to rep day after day, but I’ll explain
at the end of the blog, why I’m training this way). A little easier not having
to do any 3 minute reps, but I was still starting to struggle towards the end.
And the following day I repeated my 21 x a minute with 15 seconds recovery. Now
that really was hard, I was slightly later getting up, it was definitely warmer
and I was really struggling from about rep 10, it was so difficult to breathe,
the 15 seconds was definitely not enough recovery in this heat.
By now we’d found the squash courts. Carole’s been saying
for years that she’d like to thrash me at squash, now I’m no squash player,
think I’ve played 3 or 4 times in my life and the last time was about 29 years
ago, but I figured I’m much fitter than I was then and it must be easy to pick
it up again so I’d always argued that she was talking a load of racquets. Today
was the day we were going to find out the truth. Some breakfast and pool
lounging first but before lunch we hit the court. Turns out Carole wasn’t
talking racquets at all, she had me running around all over the place. Clearly
fitness is no match for skill and I had no squash skill. Still I was getting
better as I taught myself how to hit the ball back and I never had a 9-0
against me. We finished after 53 minutes, I was tempted to carry on but Carole
was bored.
Turned out it was a good idea to stop at that point as the
heat had now started to hit me, the hard training of the last three days and
constant lapping of a squash court had left me exhausted so whilst Carole went
off to eat lunch I went back to the room to have a lie down. I felt a bit rough
and lost my appetite for the next two days, really, at my age, I ought to start
taking things a bit easier!
The next morning I was still feeling the effects of those
exertions so decided to play safe and just run on the beach, nice and easy, no
reps. But, in this heat, it was still hard work and I found it a bit tedious
going back and forth four times.
Not wanting another run on the beach the following day I
decided to do half a PT session instead. I didn’t feel as energised as I do at
home but I managed to string together a good mix of stuff. A welcome break from
running, and a timely reminder that you should only run because you love
running and not because you feel you ought to. Thankfully, by the end of that
day, I was starting to feel like my old self and my appetite had come back.
Back in the groove, the next morning I was keen to get back into
my running. I decided that I needed to shorten my session a bit, to ensure I
didn’t overdo it, so instead of my 1,2,3 x 3 I did 1,2,3 x 2 and a 1,2. 15
minutes of quality rather than 18. Still hard but that little bit of breathing
space gave me both the energy and the willpower to see it through.
I followed this up the next day with 1,2, x 5, plus I took
another thrashing in the squash court, though I was improving, just a little.
Having done two days of reps and the squash, I decided to do
a steady run again and went for the 8k run along the beach. I managed to catch
up with a Dutch guy, who was going just a little slower than me, halfway along
the first length. It was nice to have some company for a change, last time I
had company on my run was when I went training with Rob Tudor, and that was
only for about 100m before Rob zoomed off into the distance, on this occasion it
lasted a little longer, about 250m before my new friend decided he needed to
stop and stretch before facing the next 2k of beach, so I was back on my Jack
Jones. Still it was good to talk.
With two days to go until the end of the holiday I had two
more beach runs left. On the penultimate day it was the time of 1 minute reps.
Again I reduced this so I was only doing 15 and, conscious of how difficult it
had been the last time, with 15 seconds recovery, I decided to give myself 30
seconds, generous soul. It worked, it was much easier and enabled me to have
enough energy for a further squash thrashing, though on this occasion I got
almost close to taking a game.
Final run, it was mind games, which run should I do. If I’m
being honest I really didn’t want to do it, I was feeling tired and couldn’t
muster any enthusiasm, particularly as we’d be setting off for home at 7pm and
travelling for 22 hours with short hops and long breaks. But, it was the last
opportunity I was going to get to run on this beach so I gave myself a kick up
the backside and decided the best way to get through it was to do the long reps
first, whilst still fresh, and increase the number of reps as they got shorter.
I did 2 x 3 mins, 3 x 2mins and 4 x 1 min. It felt pretty good.
After a grueling journey home, in which I felt I was coming
down with a cold (nose constantly running, regular sneezing) we finally got
into our own home early Sunday afternoon. We were both shattered, each leg of
the journey home had been too short to get any proper sleep, with 3 hour gaps
between flights also unsuitable for sleeping, plus we were 8 hours behind
Malaysia so it was nearing bedtime. Some tidying up, washing kept us going but
we both fell asleep in front of the TV by 8pm. It was nice to have a rest day,
even though I didn’t feel rested.
The next day was the start of the next block of training.
Carrying on with the theme I was back doing quality, but it was a real
struggle, I really felt rough. Got through it, the next day I felt a bit better
and so it continued, day by day, able to go a bit faster, feeling a lot better
about my runs and now it’s down to managing my training so I don’t get injured
and get the most out of myself. And then, maybe even a race.
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| My training ground in Langkawi |
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| Not a bad place to see sunset |
I mentioned earlier that I would explain my unorthodox
approach to training, well here it is: Since last summer I’ve been getting
problems with my knees, it comes and goes but on two occasions it’s caused one or
other of my knees to seize up completely, meaning that walking is painful,
bending the knee is even more painful and running is out of the question for a
significant period of time. I’ve seen a physio and constantly do exercises to
stop this happening, but at the end of the day I have to face the fact that I’m
51 years old, have been running for 27 years, and it’s now starting to take
it’s toll.
The first thing I decided was that I needed to stop racing,
for the present. This would allow me to train as and when I feel without the
added pressure of trying to get fit for a specific event. That was fine but,
obviously, as you start to get a bit fitter you want to push the training more.
Ooops problem, I found that as I pushed harder and longer I started getting
problems. So I decided to restrict my runs to about 37 mins, if doing quality,
and 45 minutes if doing a steady, with the odd exception. This seemed to be
working and I was making some progress. However, ever the optimist, if I was to
decide I was ready to race again I’d want to be able to compete against my
peers and this wasn’t going to get to that position if I was to continue
training to a traditional pattern of three hard sessions interspersed with easy
runs.
So I decided to follow the method I used to do on holidays,
i.e. 2 days hard 1 day easy, only I wasn’t going to restrict it to 2 days. I
would run reps every day I felt up to it and only have an easy day or a rest
day if I wanted to. It’s a risky strategy but sometimes you have to take risks
to achieve your goals. I’m now four weeks into this regime and, despite the
setback I suffered on holiday, it seems to be working for me. I’ve currently
got no problems with my knees, though every time I say that to anybody the next
day my knee starts to ache….
I imagine there will be some of my running pals who will
read that and think I’m setting myself up for failure, or injury, but I feel it’s
the only way to keep me going, at this moment in time. I’ll adapt if I need to
and maybe I’ll even put in an appearance at a road relay or parkrun before the
end of March.
Written by Roger Alsop
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