Preparations: Airfare
When we're all set that we're joining this race, we spent on airfares first so that we can fix our schedules (know what dates to apply for vacation leave at work) and also because fares to KK are cheaper than the registration fee for the race. Round trip fare for 1 person is just 3,200 via Cebu Pacific.
Preparations: Race Registration
As soon as we've raised enough funds, we proceeded with online registration for 100K category, which is 500 MYR (6,500 PhP). Online registration is fast and allows you to book for shuttle service to and from the race venue for 100 MYR (1300 PhP).
Preparations: Accommodation
Given that our schedules are fixed and we're certain of our arrival/departure dates and dates that we'll be out running, we looked for accommodations through booking.com. We decided to have two bookings - one is from our arrival date in KK up to the day of the race and another reservation starting from our return from the race up to our departure date. It's likely I'd be away for more than 24 hours during the race and so we'll be wasting a day/night of stay in the hotel so we decided to just check out on the race day. We'll leave our bags at the race's baggage drop.
So from our arrival to the race day, we booked at KK room Sinsuran at Sinsuran complex, which is near the baywalk and Filipino market. More importantly, it's just 700 meters away from the race shuttle pick up point in Hyatt Regency Kinabalu. For the accommodation post-race, we booked at Mad Suite, which is more expensive but has a more comfortable/luxe vibe because we wanted to treat ourselves after the race. Madsuite is along the artsy street of Gaya and is just 400 m walk from shuttle drop off at Hyatt hotel.
Preparations: Training
Now that the logistical preparations are settled, we then focused on the more important aspect - training! As mentioned, my last race was Penang Eco 100, which was held on the 2nd week of May 2018. It has an elevation gain of 3500m, with a relatively flat course in first 40K and steep assaults in the last 50K (hello challenging climb when you're already exhausted). My time here was 27:30 and I used this as my benchmark. With TMBT's elevation gain of 5300m, I could have used my Four Lakes 100 last year as benchmark because it has an elevation gain of 5600m (my time was 27:20 as well) but my training this year was less intense compared to my last year's training. Hence, I had to stick with Penang experience. By merely looking at the elevation profile and without knowledge of the kind of trails that TMBT has to offer, I'm predicting to finish TMBT just right within the cut off time of 32 hours hahaha. Penang gave me 27 hrs at 3500m elevation gain and TMBT has an additional 1800 m of elevation gain compared to that of Penang - the latter can be translated to 5 to 6 hours of run-walk. Hence my estimated time is 27 hrs (penang time) + 5 hrs (for additional elevation gain of TMBT) = 32 hours hahaha.
Right after Penang Eco 100 in 2nd week of May, I rested for a whole week because of a bad knee wound that I got from this race. I came back after two weeks, gradually building my mileage. By June, I was able to joined two 21K trail races but my weekly mileage that time did not exceed 50K
My June training log:
After this, I decided to join Milo Marathon (held on last week of July), which entails more training for speed and on flats. Joining the marathon was more of peer pressure but I was also driven by the curiosity if I can improve my time last year and get a PR. Hence despite my apprehension of possible loss of forgetting how to hike, which is needed in TMBT, I still joined Milo Marathon. According to my friends, I will still benefit from the marathon training even if it involves less elevation training. For July, I logged a total of 225 km mileage, with weekly mileage ranging from 40 to maximum of 60Km. I also got my PR in Milo Marathon, which satisfied my curiosity (finish time of 5:20 compared to last year's 5:52).
Come August and right after Milo, I took a few days off to recover and then came back training on trails on weekend. For August, our target is 80-100km mileage, which I can't do on 1st week, which is my recovery week. On 2nd week, which is supposedly the comeback week, we suffered a set back because of the inclement weather - we were able to do daily 10k runs on weekdays but were unable to do back-to-back LSD on that weekend because of heavy rains. In fact, our training ground was badly hit by monsoon rains and heavy flooding. On the 3rd week of August, which is the last peak week - our last chance to do our mileage, we had no choice but to satisfy the 100km weekly target. Hence, we continued with our daily weekday runs and completed 50K trail on the Saturday of that week and another 10K trail run the following day. Here's what that week looked like:
For the fourth week or taper week, I completed 50km weekly mileage. On the week leading to the race, I still ran around 28km. The next section reports my race experience.
Pre-Race : Travel and Preparation
It was a busy week at work on the week of our travel to Kota Kinabalu and so I was not able to prepare much especially for our nutrition. I did not have time for grocery so I don't have my usual trail food (not even a bar of chocolate). I just brought two biscuits and one peanut butter whole wheat sandwich. I also bought 5 GU gels at 85 each the day before we left for Kota, but Richard left it and so we had to buy during the kit claiming. They were selling GU at 9MYR or 117pesos each. Huhu. But we had no choice.
Our departure was on a Wednesday night and we arrived in Kota at around 2 am of Thursday (so a night without a sleep). Thursday afternoon, after a day of rest, I did my conditioning run of about 5kilometers. The following day, Friday, we headed for race kit claiming at a hotel 7 kms away from the downtown. We finished claiming at around 1pm, ate lunch, and went back to the hotel to take a rest. We should be sleeping by 6pm but of course this did not happen. We're awake until 10pm, leaving us with only 3 hours of sleep.
Race Day: Before GunStart
Gunstart is at 6 am of September 1. As we're staying in downtown, which is 1.5 hours away from the starting line, we still have to travel through shuttle service. We woke up at 1: 30 and left the hotel at 2am to have enough time for breakfast before the pick up at 3am. Given that I had to prepare for an ultra race, I planned eating a regular breakfast meal consisting of rice. We decided to dine at KFC near the pick up point. Unfortunately, that store ran out of rice! So I checked 711, which had pasta, but no microwave to heat it! So we ended up eating bread instead. What a bad day! I feel bread is not sufficient to fuel a long run that's why I'm used to having rice before an ultra race.
We left few minutes before 3am. I noted that the organizers planned the transport aspect of the race well. We arrived with more than an hour before the gunstart, with sufficient time to fix our things and take bathroom breaks. I think the organizers managed the baggage drop off and pre-race check in despite the number of runners! 100km and 50Km have the same gun start so we expected a lot of runners and heavy traffic at the gun start.
Race Day: GunStart to AS1 (km 4.7)
As expected, it was traffic at the gunstart! But once we reached a wider road, I was able to jog until we reached the steep road climb of about 2km. 50k and 100k runners separated at the junction leading to the road climb, with 100k runners proceeding to the road climb and 50 k runners going straight. There were bananas and water in AS1. I reached this AS in 47 mins.
AS1 to AS 2: Km 4.7 to Km. 12.3
This section is mostly downhill on single track. It's runnable but you have be careful not to trip over the roos and loose rocks. You'll experience some traffic in this section as well because the runners in front of you tends to slow down on technical sections. Leadpack of 50k was able to catch us up in this section, since they are way faster than us, we had to give way to them. In AS2, there were water and fruits. I thought the AS offered 100plus (isotonic drink) but it was for sale and the seller's booth was just situated near the AS haha. I reached this AS in 2.12 hrs (from GS), a little less than 2 hrs away from COT here, which is 4hrs.
AS2 to AS3: Km 12.3 to Km 22.1
Based on the elevation map, this section should be gradual uphill. Yes, it is, but there are short steep sections inside the forest. You'll also pass by hanging bridges, rice paddies, and streams. The last portion of this section is a steep road climb leading to AS3. In this AS, there are unlimited water and lots of fruits like pineapple (which were very sweet!). I can't recall if there are 100 plus in this AS. I struggled in this section because I could feel the soreness of my legs already! This AS has a COT of 7hrs and I reached this AS at 4:30.
AS3 to AS4 Km 22.1 to Km29.6
Judging from elevation map, this section features longer climb and higher elevation gain compared to the previous sections. It is indeed more difficult than the preceding section. After some manageable rolling wide trails, we entered into a single track with steep uphills, it's steep that at some point some runners are crawling. The steep uphills was followed by a recovery period of about a kilometer then followed by rolling hills (but mainly going up). While the climbs here were not that steep (no crawling) and is relatively short), the trails are open and under the blazing heat of the sun. The scorching heat really doubles your exhaustion. Fortunately, there are stores at the peak selling not-so-cold drinks. I bought drink from two stores that are 1 km apart. After the peak comes the gradual downhill section that reminded me of Cordillera (with trail and views similar to the downhill section of Four Lakes 100 just right before going up Talmoy). After a kilometer of gradual descent is a steep downhill stretch of concrete road. Because I had some few stops back in the trail section, I thought I needed to compensate for the lost time and so I ran fast in this downhill stretch. Wrong decision because by the time I reached AS 4, my quads felt like they are exploding. I reached this AS in 6:48 hours, still ahead of race COT of 10 hours and my self-imposed cut off of 7hours haha.
I took a rest of about 30mins here. I think AS4 is a major AS - they have hot water, coffee, noodles, among others. I ate noodles while contemplating on whether I should push through because the route to AS5 has the longest climb and highest elevation gain (except for AS11-finish line section). I sucked in the uphills in the previous sections, which had milder and shorter ascents so I will probably do worse in this section. Anyway, I still have to try and I still have some buffer time and so I proceeded.
AS 4 to AS 5a Km 29. 6 to Km 38
After AS4, there's a long downhill stretch and I realized that I've lost my downhill power becuase of my damaged quads. That's the only time that I wished that downhill section ends. After a kilometer, the uphill stretch of concrete road started. I've lost track of the distance covered since we started with the uphill but after an hour or so, we reached a flatter section (so I guess it's a plateau) with a nice neighborhood that reminded me of homestay in Pulag. I thought we're almost near AS5 as we've seemingly reached the highest point of the course. But after walking another kilometer on the same stretch, we were directed by the race crew to left turn leading us to a wide fire road. At this point, we're still 2.5km away from the AS5a. AS5a is the shuttle section wherein runners will be transported via shuttle to AS5. AS5a to AS5 is 5km apart, I think runners were not allowed to run in this section hence the shuttle. But the distance and time from AS5a to AS5 is deducted from the race. I reached Km 38 in 9:07 hours. Still ahead of my 10-hour self-imposed cutoff and 12-hour official cutoff.
AS 5 to AS 6 Km 38 to Km50
This is the longest section in the entire AS to AS sections, with 12 km of gentle downhills and climbs. The first portion is a long stretch of downhill followed by a rolling uphill section. The course is similar to the trails from San Isidro (Ultramega) to Macaingalan but with even gentler hills. This section is my favorite because I can in the uphills and so I was able to catch up to other runners. After this is another stretch of downhill where we saw a race crew whom I asked how far are we from the AS. I thought he said 40m and so I ran faster! When I catch up with a familiar runner, I asked him the same question and he said that we're still 4 to 5km away. Hahaha. Hence I slowed down. I then met a Filipino runner when I reached the slippery downhill section of a veggie farm. Since he has joined this race before, he confirmed that the AS is indeed 4to 5km away and after that downhill, is a long climb to to the highest point of the highway (as he points to the location of the PErkasa Resort). When we exited the trails and reached the highway, we were greed by the magnificent view of Kinabalu, its surrounding mountains and marker of Desa dairy farm and as you climb towards Perkasa Resort, you'll get an even more wonderful view. Hence the climb here is more of a treat than a torture. I reached AS6 in 11:50 hours, ahead my personal target time of 12 hrs and official cut off time of 17 hours.
Food here is superb! Rice, chicken, soup, chips, dried fruits. Hence, I stayed long and had two servings of the dishes. Wasted a lot of time here though because I wanted to relax. I also changed clothes and fixed my baggage and gears for the next 50k. I left this AS at 7pm.
AS6 to AS7 Km 50.6 to Km62.5
This is another long section, with 11.9km of distance, and it will be difficult because it's dark already at 7pm. The first half of the section is a long downhill (not good if your tummy is still full). I got lost for 509 m because I missed the right turn (the right way was counter-intuitive so be very careful). I think the trails here were created for the race alone and so some portions are unstable. After reaching the lowest point of the section, the long but gradual uphill begins all the way to AS7. I reached the AS at 15:26.
