Running under the Twin Towers

Have not really appreciate the simple fact that one of the modern wonders of the world – the Petronas Twin Towers – is just mere minutes away from us. Not until one of my colleagues from Sydney who was here a few months ago commented how she would luv to work in the Twin Towers!

Since I’ve always wanted to hit the tracks again, what would be better than running under the Twin Towers? 😛

Have been doing some time on the treadmill at the gym but as a (recreational) runner, you know the treadmill is just a preparation for the actual run on tracks. It’s been a long time since I last ran on the KLCC tracks but I’ll always remember how “soft” they are. They are laid using a special rubber track (the actual name is Ethylene Propylene Deine Modified, not that it means anything to me) but I enjoyed running on them.

The track is 1.3km long and my plan was to do four rounds (5.2km) and compare my time with the treadmill. I would have been able to cover 5km on the treadmill in about 30 min.

Note: 30min for 5km is not exactly “great” timing as those top marathon runners can probably complete 5km in 12min. For “unka” like me, 5km in 30m is pretty good time hehe.

Reached KLCC Park around 6.45pm and it was still drizzling. Been drizzling since late afternoon and we saw a few runners braving the rain to run on the tracks. Well, if they can do it, so can I (hehe).

A quick change in the car, some warm-up and off I went. It was already 7:09pm when I started off and dusk was falling.

The view of the Twin Tower (and Maxis Tower) when I started.. dusk’s here

The one thing I forgot to adjust when switching from treadmill to tracks was “pacing”. On the treadmill, you get all those nice readings in front of you to help you pace yourself.. be it for 5km or 8km.

Unlike sprints – where you aim to burn yourself out to run as fast as you could – in a longer distance run, you need to pace yourself so that you can hit your timing goal.

I didn’t pace properly. 😦

I kicked off pretty fast… probably too fast, at a pace I knew I won’t be able to sustain. I completed the first lap in 6 min. That’s a 4.6min KM. :O

True enuff, I couldn’t sustain that after the 2nd lap…

Overall, I did the four laps of 5.2km in 32 min – an average of 6:15 min per km which is as good as my treadmill time. For this, I’m happy. 🙂

Need to remind myself to work on the “pacing”.

After a rainfall when the air is oh so fresh, it’s nice to get to run in the outdoor. Will be back to the gym again during the weekdays to build up endurance and also work to improve my timings. But will certainly come back to the KLCC tracks again next weekend and hope to do 5 rounds!

View of the Twin Tower around 8pm

SCKLM (Standard Chartered KL Marathon) where I intend to run for charity is only 3 mths away… are you ready?