Just Keep TRI-ing

Remember I blog about my Runner's Knee or Patellofemoral problem a month ago? See  HERE . I finally had the chance to see Dr. Hellemondt, a Sports Orthopaedic at Aspetar recently. After a breief chat, I introduced myself as a marathon runner and my goal to qualify for Boston. Here how the consultation went: Doctor: How long have you been running? Syafei: About one year Doctor: Before that, what kind of sports you did? Syafei: TV, watching sports programmes on tele, that's about it. Nurse: That's very honest Doctor & Nurse : (Laughing) The Doctor asked then checked on my knees and asked me to do squat and one legged Squat After the assessment, Doctor: I have a good news and I have a bad news Syafei: What's the good news? Doctor: There's nothing wrong with your knees. Syafei: and the bad news? Doctor: You cannot qualify for Boston now...Period Syafei: Huh? Doctor: You are suffering from a condition called Patellofemoral .. bla bla bla (you can just Google about it

I was still at my infancy in running when I participated in this race last year. I thought finishing a sub 3 hours half marathon was already a remarkable achievement at that time. RAK really changed me. I'm no longer a weekend casual jogger. Running has been my passion after RAK Half Marathon 2012 and I was anxious to see just how far have I improved in a year. I did not really have a specific target other than trying my best as I did not have the best of preparation leading to this race, but I was quietly confident of finishing around 1:45, plus I will be running with my running buddy Stephanie Schneider from DBRC and she was planning to run it sub 1:45. I ran with her and she is a good pacer, so if I can keep her within sight, I should be all right. On top of that, we were also accompanied by many others from DBRC. Oumhani, Claire, Sheila, Evelyn, Gareth, and Becky among others. It was a great boost for my morale to have them here. I also met Otmane Lazrak from Qtel Doha Marathon

My 1st experience at Losail International Circuit  Yesterday was the Qatar National Sports Day for this year. This is a public holiday where the residents of this fortunate land get to enjoy the many sports and recreation programmes organised by the private and public sectors. One event that interest me was the Doha Dash. Largely because the race was held at Losail International Circuit, home of Qatar Motor Grand Prix. I participated in the 5km while Hani took part in 3km race. We were joined by our close friends Aizal and Yasir in 5km while Yeen and Lolyta ran the 3km. On top of that, a 5 year old Myra (Aizal's and Yeen's daughter) also took part in the 1km mini marathon. I was supposed to run a gentle 5km  according to my Half Marathon training plan yesterday as I cannot afford any injury or muscle fatigue when my half marathon race at Ras Al-Khaimah was just 2 days away. But at the same time, I really thought that this is the best opportunity for me to rewrite my 4 months

8 days to RAK Half Marathon . I participated in this race last year (you may read it HERE ) and it changed me. I was inspired to challenge myself and taking up running seriously after that race. I was inspired when I see Angie Salter of Doha Bay Running Club  ran on opposite direction after making a U-turn and finished the race in sub 2 hours. I was 8km or 50 minutes behind her. A sub 2 hours was magical and that was my goal. I did not look back, I signed up and trained hard, very hard for Asics Gold Coast Half Marathon 5 months later and DID IT in 1:56:11. Im proud of my progress but I am not slowing down. I registered for this race with an aim to run a PB Half Marathon. I am also excited to see how much have I improve in a year, but I honestly have not done anything to prepare myself for this race, except the 500m swim and 5km run last week during the 4th Aquathon race. I will rely solely on whatever residual fitness I have left from my Dubai Marathon training. I will just go out th

I have been following training plans by Marius Bakken for my previous races and very happy with the results. However, with the recent injury, I need to limit my running but at the same time increasing my strength and fitness. So I have decided to try the FIRST training plan from the book 'Run Less Run Faster'. It will require only 3 running sessions a week but with higher intensity and 2 cross trainings. In my case swimming and rowing in addition to my weight training and fitness. Hopefully it will work. Here how it looks like: