Singing In The Shower

I got to the BA carpark 15 mins late, which meant that I could've done 2K. After lacing up the Forsters, I took off towards the National Mosque - 1K down and 1K back up - on a 6-min pace. I once again had a change of mind and decided to ditch my hydration belt and Forsters and changed into the 2120s. Then I was off again to meet LiSar at the traffic lights just up ahead. We were on a steady pace and my suspicion that we were going at sub-6 pace were confirmed when LiSar (a regular sub-4 marathoner) remarked that I was going rather briskly. But I simply felt very strong and easy, and was even talking away as she shared some training and racing nuggets. Nearing the Selangor Properties Apartment, we were joined by Patrick (4:17 PR) who had just u-turned with his group. The Plaza Damas climb didn't get to me and on the opposite side, Kenny, Bong and Ching Tai were already on the way back - boy, these guys were early! Patrick pulled ahead in the downhill but LiSar and I maintained pace and reached the Petronas station in 57:05. It was a comfortable pace for me and there wasn't any tightness from yesterday's run. Gane was there standing beside his Beemer with 2 bottles of chilled Powerbar Endurance, which was extremely nice of him. He was supposed to have joined us but decided against due to nursing a slight cold. The stop was just about 1.5 minutes before LiSar and I started off back to the BA carpark. Patrick was still in the loo.

The return was initially done at the same pace but just after Place Damas, we found ourselves running faster and at the mosque climb, I found myself running hard enough to puff. This steep climb of about 100meters are always hard to run. Then nearing the foot of the IRB downhill, misfortune struck. I pointed out a little squirrel who scampered onto our paths and just about then LiSar let out a cry. She'd twisted her right ankle and it was bad enough that she couldn't go on. I thought she had jumped to avoid the nut-loving creature but she said she stepped on a large pebble which made her slip. As we weren't carrying our mobile, she suggested that I run along and call Gane to pick her up while she waited at the nearby bus-stop. It was already light and since there were enough runners that will be passing her position, I made a quick run back to the carpark. Boy was it a hard run. My nipples were chaffing like mad for some reason and my lungs and legs were starting to make their discomfort felt. I only realized how fast I was running when I stopped my watch back at the carpark. 51:05! I'd just run the Hartamas out-and-back in 1:48 and the total 22K in 2:03 (including the time taken to change my shoes). I couldn't do another 3K as I needed to ensure that LiSar is picked up. After failing to raise Gane on his mobile, I drove quickly to LiSar's position, back-tracking the same route to ensure she wasn't walking back. As it turned out, she was still at the bus-stop. When I dropped her off back to her car I saw that the ankle was swollen which meant that the injury was quite bad. Just as I'm able to run at her pace I've lost a potential regular training partner. Hope she makes a quick recovery, because to race fast, I've to train with the fast runners.

When I got home, I'd forgotten about my sore nipples until I showered. It was bad enough that I let out a yelp when the water hit the spots! Though I ended the week slightly short of the target mileage, I'm very happy. I passed the first week of intense training and obtained valuable status check on my level of fitness.