Maclehose Oxfam Trailwalker Training Stage 1-2 (Early and Rainy)

I went out on a training run very early. I would say I woke up at 3AM. Here is the highlights of my run. I was overall happy with the run since I didn't twist my ankle or fall down a stream

MacLehose Stage 3,4 [May 2/9] TrailRunning

Trail Running is a great way to quickly complete stages of the Hong Kong peaks and have enough time to do other things. Don't get me wrong, I think hiking is great as well to embrace the beauty. I'm just on a tight schedule. The first run was with the Hong Kong Hiking Meetup Group. It's a good mix of people because there are hikers, walkers, and runners. We did some 15 minutes of Tai Chi before starting stage 3. The trail is difficult; I believe Lantau and Sunset peaks are more difficult.

It's pretty much a "hike" going to the top, there are short distances to run but most of it is "short". Forget about running when it rains, it is quite dangerous from my experience. Once you hit the top, you head down and climb up all over again.

 

Stage 4 was only attempted on May 9th. The idea was to leave early and run stage 3 and meetup the "Meetup" group at stage 4. It didn't quite work that way. The terrain was very slippery and my running buddy got lost but was able to meet 10 minutes ahead of me at entrance of stage 4.

Stage 4 was muscle spam stage. I wasn't able to complete without stopping and stretching/resting. We were not able to catch the Meetup team because the fact that we got lost and I was just dead sore. It took 3 days to recover from my wounds.

HKMP 4X Country + Road Race [0:47:35]

The 4th Shatin Mixed Terrain Race was held on Apr 25 (Sun) starting at 8:30am at the Siu Lek Yuen Village Car Park; distance is around 9km.


First and foremost: This race puts me over 1,007km since I started keeping stats.



Click below for:
Garmin Full Stats; Official Results

KmSplit min/km  min/mile +Elevation -Elevation
1            0:04:52 7:51         216                 0
At the starting line, all you could see was a big steep hilly road. Well, luckily the weather was great and cool especially for Hong Kong. I have to tell you I was surprised how fast the runners went out because I myself was under 5 minutes for around 100m elevation. I know the elevation say 216; but I don't believe it. I looked at google map and believe that more.

2            0:06:34 10:35       246                 0
This was all steps going up and up and up. I don't really like to stop running and walk; but this race is a must. You wonder if you are in shape? Well, try this course and you'll realize what your body can handle. For me, I thought the 2 peak hike/run last 2 weekends were enough. I was wrong!

3            0:09:05 14:38       271            -201
This path turned technically difficult because now it's not steps but you are running half of it downhill like leapfrog. I remember parts of it being dirt trails; flashback 20years when I did cross country.

4            0:05:11 8:20            0             -302
All down hill on road. Picking up speed...
5            0:03:44 6:00            0             -206
Unbelievable? I thought I could only do this on a flat first 1k. Thank you gravity!

6            0:04:17 6:54          12             -144
7            0:04:16 6:53          42             -18
8            0:04:22 7:02           7                0
9            0:04:20 6:58         42               -41
10          0:00:50 6:23           0               -12
The rest of the race was all flat; similar to Tolo 5k. I was happy with this pace especially after the brutal first 3k, but some girl just whizzed me by 200m ;( before the end. Good for her!

Summary 0:47:36 8:19 836 925
If you are planning to run or hike the Oxfam Trailwalker in November, Moontrekker in October, or Lantau 2 Peaks 20k race in October; then this race was a little taste of hill race running/hiking/walking.


My T-shirt