Coffee, My Friend

I've been relying more on coffee to keep me awake while on the roads to work. I add a bit of the black powder into my usual mix of unsweetened low fat, high calcium milk. As long as the car is moving, I've no problems with my state of wakefulness but the traffic inevitably slows down when approaching city limits, specifically along the KL-Seremban Highway (a misnomer since "Highway" alludes to smooth flowing traffic). That's when I struggle to pry those eyelids open. Music helps just a bit but since listening to Steverunner's podcasts, I've been keeping torpor at bay. I did question my sanity of sticking to those 5am runs and have decided to reduce the frequency of those runs by limiting them to 3 times a week while the rest of the workouts are in the evening. I don't have the chance to sleep in on weekends as I typically wake up the same time on Saturdays for my short runs with Choi's group before conducting the Beginner's session. I've to be realistic on how much I dare to push my body as the last thing I'd want is to be down with some illness. Sundays are for long runs which are also done around that time.


The good thing about the 5am runs is that I'm already conditioning my body to face the 3am flag off for the Penang Bridge Marathon. That's training specificity. The other good thing (if you can see it that way) is that I occasionally have lost motorists, stray dogs, owls and cows (I'm serious) for company. I've ran into a couple of large owls who suddenly flew past me (and scared me shitless!) and a herd of cows. I can handle the cows as I can detect their presence via my olfactory sense. There's been no problems with the dogs as well as I'd give them a heads up that I'm approaching by slapping on my thighs or clapping - yup, they don't like to be surprised too. They usually run off when they see/hear me. I've twice been stopped by passing cab drivers and motorists who can't get their bearings right. The patrolling guards around my neighbourhood had gotten used to my presence and it's good to run into them while on my rounds.

To get over the loneliness of my runs, I sometimes listen to my iPod albeit for safety reasons I only wear one side of the earphones. My playlist are loaded with uptempo tunes as the last thing I want is doze off and run into a ditch.

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