Tag Archives: run

How to Plan a Run-Work-Cation

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Love running, have to travel for work and love to explore new places? Can you do all these when you travel for work? Sounds like too much to plan, to pack? – here’s the good news, it is a lot easier now with technology; apps, location based technology and the internet.

Whether or not you are travelling alone, with a colleague or a friend, this is a list of 8 things you need to know for a Run-Work-Cation:

  1. Know your work-times
    First of all, know your work times and work schedules.
  2. Travel time
    Travel time can be long and at times, you don’t get much options. Try to arrive at your destination with some time for you to rest and adjust to time differences. If you are allocating a day to travel to your destination and another day to travel back, try to find flight options that takes you into the city of your destination in the daytime. Then you get to travel a bit later in the evening or at night. Do budget for travelling time from airport or stations to your intended hotel.

    Many museums like the National museum in Hanoi operate early at 8am.

    Many museums like the National Museum in Hanoi operate as early as 8am. I visited the museum before my 12 noon flight back home

  3. Find a strategic location to stay
    Road travels can be time consuming and you would want to stay somewhere strategic – close to your work location and tourist attraction spots. If you like running outdoors, find a place to stay that is closer to a park or a running area. If you have the freedom to choose where to stay, use trivago.com, booking.com traveloka.com, expedia.com or others. Pay attention to the the attraction locations when you book. It is also nice to know where the closest mosque is.

    Many tourist spots and monuments areas have wide open spaces with attractions close to each other - within 500 meter - 1km range

    Tourist spots and monuments have wide open spaces with attractions close to each other – within 500 meter – 1km range. There were many runners at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum area. It is next to the Ho Chi Minh Museum

  4. Plan Time to Run
    • Participating in popular international marathons or other races need more planning. You may need to go through ballots mechanism and there is registration deadlines. But who knows you may be lucky to be at popular races. Here’s a list of tops marathons across the globe.
    • If you plan to train and run –   morning before 8am or evening after 5pm is good. You can run outdoor as soon as the sun is out. If you have tight schedule and no time to go outdoor, run on the treadmill in the gym (book a hotel with a treadmill).
      1. Check out top running spots in the cities where you are at. Use Routes on MapMyRun mobile app to find nearby places to run or you can search for the city at MapMyRun. You could also create your route in advance and plan the distance. Unfortunately, not all city or countries routes are listed, but on those listed it would be of great benefit for planning your run times.
      2. Strava Routes do have similar route planning options that can assist you through your mobile devices, be it your phones or Garmin forerunner watches.
        Hoan Kiem Lake Loop Using Strava

        Hoan Kiem Lake is a tourist spot in Hanoi and here’s a route loop using Strava. You can get these routes in advance!

        These apps and technology have made running exciting as you can explore places while running on your own. Share your route!

  5. Plan Time to Play Tourist
    What are your area of interests? Be it adventure, shopping, sight-seeing, religion, history or culture, you can get many good suggestions at travel site such as tripadvisor.com, agoda.com or country-specific tourist guide websites.
    Select those to your interests, study their location and make sure they are close to your place of stay. Plan your visit to tourist sites based on their :

    • Locations. This is where location-based and google maps are useful. You can know how far they are from your hotel by using google  maps, and that would give you an estimation of how long it takes to reach your destination.
    • Operating hours. Typically this info is listed on websites or Google Business Site
    • Weather condition. Plan for indoor activities if the weather is not friendly, and plan for outdoor activities if weather forecast is good.

      Run & Explore tourist sites on foot

      At Hoan Kiem Lake. Running & exploring tourist sites on foot after work, then to the night market close-by

  6. Weather Forecast
    • Do know the temperature and climate of the cities you are travelling to at least a week before you travel and a day before you travel. It is important so that you can pack the right attires and shoes. Items like raincoats, sweaters and sun gaiters would be most useful in those circumstances.
  7. Pack Smartly
    • Athleisurewear & Travelwear
      Make your running attire your travel attire too! Hoodies, moisture-wicking tops, leggings, running pants, sportsbra, raazglove and scarfs that are lightweight are great for travelling.ar
    • You know what you need to bring. No compromise.
    • Shoes
      Wear running should when you travel and bring workshoes if you travel light. If space is not an issue, ladies, bring more !

      Travelling in my running attire

      Travelling in my running attire

  8. Transport
    • It is convenient to get around if you put up close to transportation hub. If you are not, use public transportation that is most convenient and safe for you. Nowadays, I find services like Grab and Uber super convenient. They can be faster and cheaper too.

      Other than on foot, I was on Grab  90% of the time in Hanoi. Super convenient!

Make sure you have your mobile phones, smart devices, good data services and purposeful apps of travel and sport installed to have a great Run-Work-Cation!

Most of all – Stay Safe!

Lexicon Cyberjaya Duathlon – Relay Category

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Relay runs carry deep historical significance. Before the internet, telephones, and cars were invented, relay running was a method to pass messages and mails over very long distances. The most famous relay runs are Japanese Ekidens. Although Malaysia’s running standards are not on par yet with the Japanese, I was delighted to see that relay running is slowly gaining popularity in Malaysia with new events emerging.

However, duathlon relay is a completely new concept to me. A duathlon relay is held exactly in a duathlon format, but the only difference was that one person cycles and later, another person runs. So when a friend said he needed a partner to run in Lexicon Cyberjaya Duathlon event, I immediately agreed to it. I have always wanted to know how are duathlons and triathlons conducted, so I can use this chance to observe and learn. Perhaps it might also spark my interest to branch out from my running career into duathlon and triathlon too. There was also the option of doing all run-bike-run by yourself in the individual category, but I will save that for a later day.

IMG_4241The only 2 familiar faces that I bumped into in this event. Both of them are participating in the individual category. Can you guess which one is a regular podium finisher in duathlons?

Our plan was simple: My partner runs for 2.5K, and continued to cycle for 30K. Then I will finish the duathlon by running 10K. Cycling was clearly my partner’s forté. He came in 2nd in our relay category. He got off his bike, quickly passed the timing chip to me, and I was happy with the head start. It was an easy route with minimal elevation. A few kilometers later, I can hear other runners catching up on me, and I was unable to maintain our 2nd position. I ran until my lungs were about to burst. The marshalls and volunteers along the way were encouraging, shouting at me to maintain my top 10 ranking. However, despite all the cheering, I could only manage to finish as the 11th position in our relay category.

IMG_4242The pressure is on when there are only 300 participants for this event

IMG_4250Relay partners at the transition area, waiting for their partners to finish cycling before we run 10K

IMG_4244Transitioning from cycling to the last 10K of running to complete the duathlon

I agreed to enter this relay duathlon as a learning opportunity with hopes that one day, I will be able to take on the individual category and complete a duathlon or even a triathlon by myself. There is still a lot to learn, such as improving on my running efficiency, polishing my cycling techniques, and in the long term, building up my endurance to swim in the open water. Until then, I’ll save up on investing the right bicycle first before I can even start on a BRICK (Bike-Run) training.

Until next week,

The Weekend Runner.

The Weekend Runner: WOW Run 2015 Malaysia

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Music was pumping, everyone was smiling, and the air was buzzing with excitement – The haze may have stopped our run, but it can never stop our spirits! It was in everyone’s best health interest that the 5km fun run had to be cancelled for Nashata WOW Run 2015. However, we can still have fun indoors. The Zumba, Fitness Challenge, and Women Empowerment Dialogue proceeded as planned, and everyone had fun.

 

Zumba was lead by Aida Mohd, a well-known fitness instructor. Thanks to her energetic moves, everyone was panting and sweating by the end of the session. We thought that Zumba would wear out everybody, and there will only be a handful willing to participate in the fitness challenge. We were so wrong! There was even a tie for the burpee challenge! I guess 3 minutes was not enough to wear these strong ladies out.

1781950_541543352670890_5857756829422841750_nWork it, ladies!

1948078_541544599337432_4596086542488002360_nWow, still energetic after Zumba? What did you have for breakfast ladies, a bowl of confidence laced with sugar?

 

Personally, I felt that the real highlight of the event was the Women Empowerment Dialogue Session. It was a very lively forum session, moderated by Nadiah Tan Abdullah (HR Director, Experian Malaysia), with real and personal stories from Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir (Women’s Right Activist), Dato’ Ng Wan Peng (COO, MDeC), and Karen Loh (Founder, Marathon Women Malaysia). They spoke about:

  • Breaking stereotypes – Women are leaders,  with their own distinct style of leadership. Their role as a leader is important because they set an example for their children. Do not allow these stereotypes to be a limitation on yourself.
  • Women in sports – running as a platform to build confidence and self-esteem, which can be used in the corporate world too.
  • Women in the IT world – the IT world is a good industry for women because of its flexibility and it focuses on talented minds instead of physical strength and attributions. Prove that you can deliver a good work, and you will get noticed for that.
  • Women should learn how to network better – your friends are your potential solutions to your problems too. Network from different fields, as it might be useful for you one day to have a various connections. Plus, use technology too.
  • Women should help each other – as role models, help pave the way for the future generation.

12189098_541547922670433_7039703854587554870_nI am glad that I was given the opportunity to hear from such inspirational people, for they have inspired me to be a COO/CEO and an ultra marathoner too.

 

We wrapped up the day’s event with prize-giving ceremony to the winners of the Most Creative Photo, Funniest Photo, and Best Wefie.

 

In conclusion, all of these would not be possible without the support from the ladies behind Nashata. Give these ladies a round of applause for making WOW Run 2015 a huge success!

 

12072628_10207710888120038_2637163957243059800_nAn incomplete picture of the ladies behind Nashata WOW Run 2015.

 

Note: All pictures are courtesy of Nashata’s website. Head over to their facebook profile for more pictures.

 

Until next week,

The Weekend Runner.