TransLantau100 2014

Other than BTS100 which I really tried to understand the elevation and the difficulty of the terrain that I was doing, I did not study the rest of my ultra-races. Doing as such meant a shocker for me for the first 22km up till CP2 of TransLantau 100 (LT100). In fact the difficulty started before the race.

To begin, let’s start on Thursday 13 March 2014. The work day started just like any other, but with the motivating knowledge of a trip to HK for the weekend. Quickly got back after work to pack my stuff for the trip and race, before meeting YMT at the airport. Did not even manage to get HKD which YMT confirmed that he should have spare.

Carbo-loading

Carbo-loaded at the airport lounge before boarding one of the oldest planes from CX. Poor food onboard, hot & stuffy and pretty noisy. Got maybe an hour of interrupted sleep after the inflight meal and finally reached CLK.

Roaming the streets and eating 'Lap Sap"

We cleared customs about 6am and joined Fia and Perry roaming and eating about HK streets before heading to Lantau at 1-2pm to check-in. We reached Silverview Resort to find out that we had no room as there was a mistake by the person who replied my email few days before that my room was confirmed. YMT was irritated already, so was I, but the hotel offered an apartment that was 10min cycle from the start point. We had no choice but to accept the apartment and when we finally settled down to rest, it was about 4pm and in less than an hour, Bain and Sam joined us and with noisy neighbours and dogs barking, we got little rest and subsequently headed out for makan with Fred, Terence and Patrick. 

Makan before race - Crazy good honey chicken wings

After dinner and back for 1 more hour of rest, we headed to the start!

We got ourselves checked-in and with some lion dance performance, the race started.

It was the beginning of the first ‘2 checkpoints’ and it was here that I realized that elevation was not the only thing to look out for, but the amount of continuous up/down between each CP that really mattered. The 750m up Sunset peak and the immediate decline thereafter really sapped me (like as if there was anything left of me after not sleeping for the 2^nd night at this point). I was really sleepy, exhausted and doing Zombie-walking already. After CP2, I knew that this will be the CP where most runner will DNF other than the mid-point which was more convenient for transport and also at least to ‘complete’ half. 

Taking a photo from the rock I slept on

500m from CP3, I decided to lie on a huge rock and took a 30min nap. 

I was awaken by a concerned runner and I was freezing. I started off shivering until I reached CP3 to grab some hot noodles to warm up and rested just abit more before feeling refreshed. 

CP3

Trust me, from CP2 to 3, the struggle to keep awake and not DNF to just go back hotel to sleep was so strong. I knew I could complete this race, but I didn’t want to fight sleeping. It was tough, but I have been to such a situation – tougher and colder before. It was good weather to do this race for someone that can’t take cold. I just wanted to be back, well-rested and be with my girlfriend for breakfast/lunch since she was the Sat morning, 6am. It was my first ultra-race that she accompanied and I was willing to DNF to accompany her since her birthday few days before fell on the day she left for Thailand and returned on the day I left for HK. In fact I drove to Changi Airport to coincide her arrival from ChiangMai so that she could drive home while I awaited my flight. 

To keep things short, refer to the below PrintScreen to the main reason I completed, coupled with the Whatsapp support from SG friends that I didn’t want to disappoint. 

Respect nature/the terrain by being prepared and well-equipped for the race, but even more so, respect yourself by training hard and racing easy. Know that you can never be fully prepare for every situation, but in spite of (injury, weather, …) many have overcame and triumphed. The race is tough only after you have trained hard and gone through it, not when it has yet to begin!

Below are some pics between CP3 and 5 to have a feel of the view and the terrain. 

I concluded that this race like Vibram HK100 should be divided into 2 parts, one being difficult and the other easier. For VibramHK100, it was easier on the first half and LT100 should be easier on the 2^nd half just because my mind wouldn't comprehend a more difficult part 2. With that, I decided I was going to find out what laid ahead and I wouldn’t want a DNF knowing that I was right and missed that chance of cruising through part 2.

Me, before reaching Tai O CP (I think)

Somewhere before CP5

I Reached Tai O at 57km, caught another 30mins of eat and sleep and I was back on a relaxed pace until before the climb up Ngong Ping where I met fellow Singaporean Runner Calvin Kuan. 

Calvin Kuan at the Cable Car Station

It was an enjoyable and chatty climb up followed by a deceivingly long 5km before I bode him farewell after CP7 to try to finish before the end of Saturday and not to let the girlfriend wait too long. 

Wisdom Path

Gate to no turning back!

Lantau Peak

Misty Mountain

From CP7 – 8, which was relatively downhill, it was pretty quick.

CP8 – 9 was relatively flat but somehow felt longer than expected. In fact I was getting concerned almost finishing all my water and meeting runners along the way who were clueless about how far more the next CP was.

Upon reaching CP9, I thought of just running past after refilling water, but decided to eat a little, just in case there was no food at the end or stalls were already closed at this late hour.

I checked that the last 5km was flat all the way to the end, but ultimately realized that there were quite a bit of rolling hills. I decided to do this 5km stretch at tempo pace, held back from going all out just in case I somehow have to walk the last part of it. It went according to plan and I overtook all that I could see along the way back. 1 km from the end, suddenly a slightly more senior HK runner ran past me. Hmmm, a quick finish was  going to become a sprint finish I guessed. I followed his pace, he opened his stride, I opened, keeping the 1m distance. Every about 150m, I felt that he tried to pull away, but I was going to keep this exciting for both of us by completing the race together at such a pace. It was fun, but I wasn’t sure where the end was, although everything was familiar now. I just followed until about 300-400m from the end, when my feisty competitor checked back on me twice and tried to break away. Then I knew game on, it was going to be either me or him in this race. I checked my breathing just in case and knew that I got spare. When he finally slowed, I sprinted to finish!

                                                                                                    

My friendly competitor, whoever you are! Kudos to you for making me go all out at the end of a 100km. To me you are the winner, because me being a junior came back just seconds ahead of you =) Respect!

TransLantau 100 2014 Results

Notes

Train lotsa steps, climb 2-3 steps up as well as down.

Vibram HK100 1h30m – 1h40m between CPs  with 300 – 500ml of water

LT100 2h-2h30m between CPs with 500ml – 900ml of water
Rumour has it that race director intends to increase the difficulty of this race each year.
Race is mostly up or down and seemed to have only 20% flats.

Shoe
Salomon Speedcross - first 60k toe rub against front of shoe that went away after I started getting pacy. Running slow may have affect run gait, since I did not face this problem during training. This shoes since day 1 haven't been stable for me, causing sprains, but I wore em for Lantau just to finish 'using' them.

6 Inch Trail Marathon 2013

2 Weeks after SCMS added to BTS100, I am still not fully recovered, having a problem recovering from heavy and lazy legs. Still, running an Ultra while in Perth for work was alluring. Again, begged for slot from Dave Kennedy the race director, since it was a last minute decision as I had to help out in funeral matters due to the passing of my Grandma 2 weeks prior to the race and I hesitated until the last moment. sigh..

Anyway, back to the race, A supposed 2.50am reveille became a heart pumping, blood-rushing jolt up from bed at 3.50am. I was late and an hour away from the start point. Luckily, I had prepared my race vest and breakfast consisting of 2 hard boiled eggs and a loaf of bread to be brought and eaten along the way.

Started alone, since I was about 20-30 minutes late and the race had already flagged off. Thankfully the race personnel were along the main road and drove me a minute to the start point.

I saw no one for the first 30-40 minutes of the race and made a right choice from 1 of 3 split roads until I finally saw the first race participant, a walker. After speaking to him and ascertained that I was on the right path and had to follow pink ribbons, I got confused and followed some orangy pinkish ribbon. After 5-10 minutes of going what seemed like a loop, the walker caught up and directed me to the right path where pink ribbons were. I was supposed to follow the pink ribbons for at least another 3-5km before I would see yellow or orange ribbons from another race that had almost the same route.

I finally caught up with 2 elderly runners in their 60s and found out that they did not sign up for the race, but were running it anyway. They also knew the trail very well since they ran there often and had participated in previous installments of the race. They gave me a map of the Munda Biddi Trail which they just found. We chatted and I ended up running with them up to 20km point of the marathon. They were amazing runners and revving up the pace even though one was injured.

We parted when they reached the 20k mark that they intended to do that day. Subsequently, I saw them at the 40km mark at a U-turn route. It was about here that I met another Singaporean called Terence that was doing this race for the first time. We chatted and run-walk the rest of the way to the finish.

This race I completed using a chillax net time of about 5.5hours and realised that the route was increased by about another 2-3km to 48km from Terence.

This was a nice easy race even though I heard that many struggled due to the warmer weather at this time of the year, but to me, the temperature was just right and much more comfortable than our Singapore weather.

Nice trail making up of mainly compact mud and some sections of chipwood. There were only 2 slopes that we about 300m in length. It was also at this race that I realised that 2 hard-boiled eggs and 1-2 slice of bread provided me enough energy to about 35km. I am quite sure I did not use any gel and probably ended up with 10 gel packs instead of the initial 3-4 that I brought.

Bromo Tengger Semeru (BTS) 100 Ultra 2013

One thing always leads to another. I never liked riding a motorbike since young, but due to boredom from not working after an 'exciting' 9 month stint at a dubious company, I got my motorbike license for fun. I wasn't thinking to get a bike, but since I got my license, why not =)

Similarly like the motorbike license experience - Why not get the points needed to complete my minimum of 7 points to ballot for a UTMB slot. And since I was gonna run, why not run in the 100 miles category and get that virgin 100miles experience done and away with. I was thinking beyond the necessary points, I was treating this race as a prelude to the UTMB if I got the slot. BTS100 as shown on the website was 165km, with 7772m cumulative gain. Seemed like a good gauge if I should spend the money required to go to Mt Blanc which is around 168 km and 9600m of positive altitude change as indicated on the website. If I DNF BTS, it meant that I save on UTMB, if I complete, I would have the pride of being the first Singaporean to complete. It's a win-win situation.

Decided on the race 3.5 weeks before the race and as I was late and after the registration period, had to plead with the race director to let me in. I was in and it was training time. Being a noob and having read somewhere that there was really no way to train for an ultra and getting used to running on fatigued legs was key, I decided on a plan like this: 

20km X 5days with 2 days rest, 25km X 4 days with 2 days rest and 33km X 3days with 2 days rest. 

I supplemented one of the rest day with 15 storey X 15 sprint and did a Pinnacles@Duxton 50 storey X 7blocks at sub 15mins up and back down with positive splits to 12 mins on the last block. I replaced one of the 33k with this as I was getting drained from relentless ECP and MR runs.

It was tough and tiring. I am sure that I wasn't 100% fit from the lack of recovery when I reached Surabaya, but mentally I had the confidence knowing that I gave all I could to training in that short span of time training. 

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Apart from training, I spent quite abit of time hyping up this race to get people around me excited. I was gonna run this virgin 100miles, but wanted friends, friends of friends, colleagues, company, sponsors, etc to be part of it. I made people sponsor and in a short 2 weeks, got affirmation in cash and products. I mean if I spent my money on a race, not completing is easy, but to get people to believe in you and DNFing that trust, it was not an option. Smart move I thought considering I had only minimal time to train.

Now, there was no more turning back - Thanks to a friend who gave me the idea as he was looking for someone to sponsor in a separate adventure race.

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I reached Thursday night for a Friday 3pm race start. Slept and rested all I could at Lava View Hotel which was also the start point.

Lava View Hotel

Taken from my Samsung Galaxy S3. It's Real - Land of the Ice-cream cones and Candy-floss..

Next morning, I readied dropbag 1 with New Balance Minimus and dropbag 2 with Salomon Sense. Both bags had a supply of socks, gels and electrolytes and spare change. Submitted them after breakfast and more chillaxing.

This Bromo Massue just came by and dropped me some massage!

This guy will cook your egg in any way you like. Omelettes were good!

     Mt Bromo Erupted in 2012

Start and Finish point still in the midst of setup at about 1pm.

The few that dared to even tow the start line

22 Nov 2013, Fri, 2.45pm, made some friends, got some encouragement and took photos. Slightly over 3pm and we got started. I started off slow, still adjusting and naturally was at the back of the pack. Overtook a Japanese guy who was coughing alot and only after ensuring he was ok. 

I reached the first checkpoint at 7km feeling faint, unable to breathe and puky.

I mean 7k and I already feel sick and then I suddenly remembered YMT mentioned that he hates compression top coz it makes it difficult to breathe. I removed my compression and immediately felt better. I was alive again. I sped up a little, but was still feeling weird. I kept kicking roots, stones and whatever and felt my toes cringing up with each knock. This happened for the next 10km and at 17km I started motivational talking, but the other negative voice was like questioning if I had to start doing 'the talk' from 17km, what's gonna happend for the next 100+k?

Crazy! But strangely enough, the down slope to the 2nd checkpoint at Ranu Pane (18k), I overtook or caught sight of all runners except our Malaysian friend Puzi. This somehow made me feel better that I wasn't terribly slow. I rested, refilled and took off after 2 runners that reached ahead of me left.

I did the loop from checkpoint 3 to 4 and back to 3 and was ahead of everyone except Puzi. I had recovered and my mind wasn't thinking about anything except of how much tougher can UTMB or any other race for that matter be. I was 1 quarter way through and it already feels worse than the whole Vibram 100k race I did in HK in January. I finished HK100 feeling that I could run through the finishing line and top up the distance to 100miles.

At this point I was very much in a sadistic 
determination to complete this race, the whole 
time in my mind was 'bring it on' although it was 
crazy tough, I was enjoying it, knowing many would 
have stopped by now. Not me on this weekend, 
somehow. I was enjoying 'the gruel', fully absorbing and appreciating all of it.

I reached the first dropbag and reloaded gels and by this point, I was with Hendra Wijaya an Indo runner and race director. From somewhere after 40k, I wasn't sure where I was going, being ahead was risky for me being an avid 'hollander' (local terminology for someone consistently losing his way). I stuck with Hendra as he seemed to know the way. It turned out to be the wisest choice as he rearranged markers and even changed directions signs from left to right. I later found out that some were mistakes, but many were villagers messing around.

Somewhere at around 80k, Puzi came from behind!?!? I mean he was in front all the while from start till now. It seemed he went the wrong direction. Remember the left to right change of the direction arrow and did I mention the last 2 checkpoints where no water point were setup. I was dehydrated, but I'm sure Puzi was drained, however he was still eager to make back for lost time. 

Yeah, luckily there was a hut that I rested while I waited up for Hendra.. A critical decision that paid off, as here was where the left turn, became right!?

Puzi and I chatted abit and he was on his way, but shortly after Hendra, Puzi and I were running together to the second dropbag. My feet and shoes by now were wet, soggy and full of mud from an almost virgin stretch of vegetation we bashed and slide through loose soil. I got to a toilet upon reaching the 2nd dropbag and used the freezing cold water to wash my feet and socks. It was crazy. My numb feet felt cold, the first sensation for a long time and thinking that I could change into my Salomon sense ultra, I was wrong. My feet had probably expanded to 1 size bigger and the already squeezy sense which was only worn twice prior could not swallow my feet. Placed feet back into cold shoes, no socks change required as shoes were so wet, no difference. Freezing feet lasted for at least an hour until I could no longer feel them. Great! I was back on track to pain numbing, brain freezing cold.

A Shaq-out moment where my 2 running buddies lay sleeping after some 'yong-tau-foo' like food. I was wide awake when they were sleepy and weak when they were strong.. System was opposite from theirs.

The night got colder and colder and I brought out my emergency blanket and tried to get some sleep at Jemplang, since I was advised that reaching Bromo before dawn and without a clear view was dangerous. About an hour later, we were up and on our way. Still wrapped in emergency blanket, I did 2km before warming up and discarding the blanket. By now, my calf began to register a sharp pain and running on flats seemed to intensify the pain. I just continued subduing the pain, by focusing on keeping pace with Hendra. Upon reaching Bromo area, I tripped over some steel cables and a jab of pain shot up from my shin and I was really pissed with no illuminated or reflective sign being placed on this hazard. My shin got a strip of bruising each at a 45degree angle that when both legs were placed together, formed a perfect line. Enjoyed 30sec of pain and I could no longer see Hendra, due to the many folds of graveled hills at the foot of Mt Bromo. I climbed the highest one to try to locate my guide and saw him at a distance of about 500m away and caught up with him at the top of the stairs leading to the volcano.

Very similar feel to Tai Mo Shan, HK

Finally! One of the main reasons I did BTS, running the rim of a live volcano.Stood there in the awesomeness of the smoking crater for a couple of minutes, took some shots and I was on a 10km explosive joy running the rim of the volcano and its surrounding mountain range. No pain felt anymore, just joy. 

Finishing this 10k, I thought it was all the way back to end point in 5km, since Hendra said we were at 160km by now. I was wrong. I still had one more almost vertical Batok climb up and back down before heading back. Now, I was feeling my calves, they were ripe for an explosion, but who cares, I was gonna complete this regardless of the number of body parts left. I scaled the mountain quickly using all fives, including my back. I had for most part of the climb held my breath for 10-20sec of climb and turn away from the mountain to breathe. This was due to an upward draft that blew all the dust into our faces if we faced the mountain since we were climbing almost vertically up in a crevice.

Pinning the Singapore Flag on Mt Bromo from Batok

At the top of the last considerable elevation, I heaved a sign of relieve knowing it was now the home run stretch. How wrong I was! I spent some time clearing all the debris off my shoes and that was when I realised my trusty guide had taken off quite abit. He was good on the downs. Seemed like 700m off from me when I lazily got moving again. I made my way down Batok and had to go maybe 3km across a sandy plain and up back to the hotel end point. 

Asking directions on the way up I realised a right turn would lead me to the hotel, which would be just about the right distance to complete the 165km, but I saw the markers going left and decided to do whatever was the supposed right 'wrong direction'. It seemed that I would need to do one big loop and the villagers in Cemoro Lawang gave me estimated distance to the hotel ranging from 400m to 4km and it was very random. One moment I was 400m away, next 2km, then 1km, then 4km. To make matters worse, the markers disappeared at a major junction. It was the first time that I thought I could possibly DNF and all due to missing markers probably 1-2km away from the end. Did I mention I finished all water, gels and anything edible just before the left or right turn decision at the start of this paragraph.

Wristbands collected at checkpoints to remind you of what you have gone through.. I will Finish!

I took out my phone, tried to get some GPS thingy going, but it failed to pinpoint my location, hence I just guessed where I was on the map and headed to the hotel.

170km and 12km elevation later, I completed - First Singaporean ever. Haha. Guess whatever honor I could think off was good to bandage whatever pain I volunteered myself for the last, almost 2 days (44h).

Elevation shown on website was 165km and 7.7k elevation. As I don't have a GPS watch, info is from Hendra, who forgot to stop his watch until upon completion and after napping.

This race could be done in a much shorter time, probably 36h or less, but I can assure you, regardless of the finish time, the Brutality, Terror, Sadism (BTS) of this trail ultra will definitely be similar for all participants. It will increase your will, endurance and basically anything mental you will ever go through in a race.

Crazy heavy medal that equaled a crazy race..

Numbness, Doggedness, Psychotic, etc are the kind of traits needed to complete this ultra. 
Be not afraid, sign up for pain therapy now!

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After the race, my feet were numb and doing a search it seems that I have nerve compression and I have been numb for about 2 months now. It's either getting better or I am getting used to it. There is a constant tingling sensation in the front part of the feet and especially so after wearing shoes for more than 30mins.

Getting shoes with rock plates, thicker soles, etc will definitely help. Also ensure that the shoes you are using are made of tougher material especially on the sides of the toe-box.

Even though it wasn't really raining, it's crazy cold and wet in the morning.. Gear up!

Lotsa climbing on fours, some, almost vertically..

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Please feel free to use the photos as long as you link back to this blog =)