Details to a fine park

No. the above photo is not a button.

The above manhole cover is specifically designed for Taman Saujana Hijau. The design is iconic to pacesetters in Putrajaya. For more views of our home park visit our official website

 http://paceputrajaya.ucoz.com

My First Half Marathon

The above video says it all. Spot me having a glance at my stop watch to check my timings. 3 hours 2 mins. Not bad for a first timer.

 The joy of crossing the Finish Line. No words can describe the feelings. You have to cross the finishing line to feel for yourself. Alone yet amongst 5,000 other participants, confused yet realizing it was all over. Smile, yet difficult to make the attempt. Those were some of my feelings at the finish line.

I first started running the 5 km, then 7 km and before I knew it, I can run 10 km. My first run was the New balance 15 km in KL. This was soon followed by my run in the Standard Chartered KL Half Marathon.

I hope to run more half marathons before I attempt my full marathon, hopefully in 2010. That is my target. See you and join me in my runs.

Benchmark for Home Park Circuit

Our Home Park is Taman Saujana Hijau. The park has a main track running round the edge of the twin hills. The main track is about 3.5 km, with adequate gradual slopes for uphill training. The benchmark timings for the main track are as follows:

Experienced runners 12 minutes

Fair runners  15 minutes

Most runners  20 minutes

First time runners/walk 25 minutes

If you are just starting to run, do not worry of your poor timings. You will be able to achieve 25 minutes after several run/walks.

I am at the 20 minutes benchmark.

Test yourself next weekend. It is fun, and it is very satisfying when you achieve your target and start to improve on your personal best timings.

Believe me, I am still breaking my personal best (PB) at each Sunday's run.

Run Walk Run Method

Running the marathon is no easy task for beginners. How do we start ? I believe the best way is to try to use Jeff Galloway's proven method. It worked for me. It is called Run-Walk -Run  method and it can be used for all your races. The purpose of walking is to relax your muzzle groups in your legs before they give up on you. You should stop running and start walking even though you are not yet tired. This is a well developed strategy. Jeff Galloway produced the chart below for all runners to follow. 

Eg. If you are running at a fast pace of 7 minutes per mile, then you should only run for 7 seven minutes and walk for 30 seconds before running again for the next 7 minutes. This process is repeated throughout the race. You will finish on time. I did.

Enjoy your run.

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Pace / mile	Run	Walk
7 min	7 Min	30 sec
7 :30 min:sec	6 min	30 sec
8 min	5 min	30 sec
8:30 min:sec	4 min	30 sec
9 min	3 min	30 sec
9:30 min:sec	4 min	1 min
10 - 11:30  min	3 min	1 min
11:30-13:30 min	2 min	1 min
13:30- 15:30 min	1 min	1 min
15:30 - 17 min	30 sec	30 sec
17 - 20 min	30 sec	1 min

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Test Your Fitness - The standard 1 Mile Golden Test

Use the charts below to determine your fitness level and competitiveness. The chart is prepared by the World  Association of Veteran Athletes and extracted from Therese Iknoian's book Walking Fast. 

The following given standards are as follows:

100%  International Gold Standard.

90% International Competitive Standard.

80% Malaysian Gold Standard.

70% Club Gold Standard.

60% Local Competitive Standard.

50% Still Got Some Standard.

40% Finisher Standard.

30% Nearly There Standard.

20% Start Up Standard.

10% Don't worry there are others also in this Standard.

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MEN
AGE	100%	90%	80%	70%	60%	50%	40%
20-29	5:33	6:10	6:56	7:55	9:15	11:06	13:52
30	5:33	6:10	6:56	7:55	9:15	11:06	13:52
35	5:43	6:21	7:08	8:10	9:31	11:26	14:17
40	5:55	6:34	7:23	8:27	9:51	11:50	14:47
45	6:07	6:47	7:38	8:44	10:11	12:14	15:17
50	6:22	7:04	7:57	9:05	10:36	12:44	15:55
55	6:38	7:22	8:17	9:28	11:03	13:16	16:35
60	6:57	7:43	8:41	9:55	11:35	13:54	17:22
65	7:18	8:06	9:07	10:25	12:10	14:36	18:15
70	7:42	8:33	9:37	11:00	12:50	15:24	19:15
75	8:10	9:04	10:12	11:40	13:36	16:20	20:25
WOMEN
AGE	100%	90%	80%	70%	60%	50%	40%
20-29	6:10	6:51	7:42	8:48	10:16	12:20	15:25
30	6:10	6:51	7:42	8:48	10:16	12:20	15:25
35	6:21	7:03	7:56	9:04	10:35	12:42	15:52
40	6:35	7:18	8:13	9:24	10:58	13:10	16:27
45	6:51	7:36	8:33	9:47	11:25	13:42	17:07
50	7:08	7:55	8:55	10:11	11:53	14:16	17:50
55	7:28	8:17	9:20	10:40	12:26	14:56	18:40
60	7:50	8:42	9:47	11:11	13:03	15:40	19:35
65	8:16	9:11	10:20	11:48	13:46	16:32	20:40
70	8:46	9:44	10:57	12:31	14:36	17:32	21:55
75	9:21	10:23	11:41	13:21	15:35	18:42	23:22

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Example:

If you are a 40 years old man and can walk /run  a constant pace of  9 minutes  51 seconds per mile (1.6 Km), then your fitness is 60% or Local Competitive standard.

To calculate your own fitness level:

Run 1 mile (1.6km) at your nearest school field. ( 400 m per round)

Record your timings. Convert all timings to seconds.

Divide the the 100% timing at your gender/age level by your recorded timing and multiply by 100.

It is important to know your fitness and it can be used to be your personal benchmark for improvements.

Measure your improvements for motivation and self satisfaction.

Happy running.

26th AGM and Annual Dinner 2010

Hello all,

The club have given us enough early notice for the next AGM meeting cum Annual Dinner. It will be held in the Park Royal Hotel, Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL on 20th March 2010, with this year's theme as "Back to 70s" Tickets at RM55.00 per pax.

Confirm your attendance with the Exco or group leaders.

Let us all make an effort to attend this fun filled annual dinner. Pacesetters' annual dinners are never short of delights and surprises. Members not only know how to run but also to party.

Let's boogie. Yeh.

Membership Drive

Hospital Putrajaya together with Novo Nordisk organised Putrajaya Global Diabetes Walk at Dataran Putra on Saturday 14th November 2009. The day being World Diabetes Day. It was a cool and beautiful morning worthwhile of a 5 km walk. The crowd was fairly small but all energetic and keen for the generous prizes and lucky draws.

Mr Tan and myself took this opportunity to promote our membership drive for our area group. We handed out many application forms and past issues of our Footloose magazine. We were pleasantly surprised with the many keen listeners and potential members.

Mr Michael of Novo Nordisk (above) said that he will promote Pacesetters for us as and when he can at other activities to come.

Another happy new member.

Mr Tan, Encik Juswil and myself. Happily Encik Juswil is already a member as he had joined Pacesetters sometime ago. Encik Juswil is a newbie to Marathon runs. His first foray is at Gold Coast, Australia. Wow! Congratulation and more runs to come. Read his article in our Pacesetters website. Hopefully his wife and family will be our new members, now that we have our home park.

Can't wait for tomorrow's breakfast run at Taman Saujana Hijau, Presint 11. Did not sweat enough this morning.

Thank you Hospital Putrajaya and Novo Nordisk. We will continue to run for health.

Spoilt for Choice

Putrajaya have so many tamans and parks, all green, landscaped and dedicated to walking, running and recreational activities. Each park has its own signature and theme. Our area group is spoilt for choice to select any one park. Our members will be running in all the beautiful parks every weekend. But for starters we will run in Taman Saujana Hijau in Presint 11. So come Sundays, put on your running shoes and join us for our weekly breakfast runs at 0700 am. There will never be a dull run. Never!

Essential Reading for Beginners

If you are a beginner into walking and running, we recommend you read these two very informative and motivating books. These books should be available in your local bookstores or otherwise you can borrow them from the community library in Presint 16, Putrajaya.

If you want to run the marathon, start with half. Let Jeff Galloway show you how.

Jeff 's quest for the injury-free marathon training program led him to develop group training programs in 1978, and to author Runner's World articles which have been used by hundreds of thousands of runners of all abilities. His training schedules have inspired the second wave of marathoners who follow the Galloway RUN-WALK-RUN™, low mileage, three-day, suggestions to an over 98% success rate. 

Jeff has worked with over 200,000 average people in training for specific goals and is the inventor of the Galloway RUN-WALK-RUN™ method. Jeff is an inspirational speaker to over 200 running and fitness sessions each year. Follow Jeff’s website here:

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/

Therese Iknoian’s book Walking Fast is an informative guide that bridges the gap between basic fitness walking and serious competition. It is a must read book for all who enjoys walking and wants to increase their walking intensities, fitness level and performance. Follow Therese’s  website here:

www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/about_snews.html

For more information, Google for the book's reviews.

Taman Wawasan Presint 2

Taman Wawasan is the best kept taman in Putrajaya. You can access the taman from Wisma Putra, Presint 1, or the PJH office block in presint 2. The taman has a unique pebbled beach, abundant hilly running tracks, curvy ala San Franisco streets, opposite lakeside view of Dataran Putra, nice garden walks and more. The running tracks can be configured exceeding 10 Km.

Entrance at Wisma Putra.

Long running stretches.

Lakeside run.

Curvy roads adds to the excitement. Whats around the corner ?

Wide road for running sans vehicles and cars.

Decorative lush gardens.

Long stretch of beautiful landscapes.

Choice of running up or down hill.

Taman Warisan Pertanian Presint 16

Taman Warisan Pertanian is located in Presint 16. The taman is a fully landscapped rubber plantation and fruits orchard. The best species of all local fruits are planted in Taman Warisian Pertanian. It will always be 'musim' for one fruit or the other. Abundant the durian, ciku, rambutan, guava, banana, jackfruit, coconut, pineapple for all to savour but not to pick.

3 Km of running tracks, hilly or flat.

Fruits trees on both sides of the running tracks.

Shade from matured rubber trees.

Well trimmed running track.

Running through the slopes of a rubber plantation.

Taman Wetlands Presint 1

Taman Wetlands is located at the entrance to Putrajaya Presint 1.

Main entrance.

Vista and observation point.

Abundant sectors and tracks signages. 

Matured trees covering all  jogging tracks.

Taman Canseri Presint 15

Taman Canseri is located in Putrajaya's Diplomatic Enclave in Presint 15. 

 Park covers 3.5 km, beautifully gardenscaped

Dual Tracks and pavement for running.

Batu Cave like steps.

Lush park areas

Home Park Taman Saujana Hijau

Double click map to enlarge.

Taman Saujana Hijau, Presint 11, Putrajaya is our home park. It has a 3.5km running track on top of twin hills about 300 feet above sea level. The track is wide and beautifully paved in dual colours, allowing for easy contra flows in both directions. There are many smaller tracks zig zag crossing the main track,which is fairly undulating with manageable climb gradients. No cars are allowed into the park providing us total safety and peace of mind while focusing on our runs. Taman Sajauna Hijau gives us a feeling of running on a high platform with beautiful views overlooking Putrajaya.

Running session on every Sunday morning 7.00 am. 

 Dual Tracks for contra flow.

 Lovely pine trees.

 Clean toilet facility.

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Group Leader

Allow me to introduce our Group Leader Mr Tan Choon Kok.

Mr Tan lives in Presint 11 Putrajaya at the foot of Taman Saujana Hijau.

Mr Tan is an elite runner with Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia.

You can contact him at 012- 3739407

Welcome

Hello everybody,

Welcome to our own community blog. We are members of Pacesetters Putrajaya Area Group. Our area group is dedicated to all residents and people working in Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and its surrounding areas. 

Putrajaya has abundant beautiful parks and recreation areas dedicated for your outdoor activities, be it a stroll, brisk walking, jogging or running. We have excellent running and cycling lanes and themed sports areas like water sports centres, wetlands, horse trails, botanical gardens and xtreame sports park. Night sporting activities are safe and well lighted up.

Come join us and be a member of Pacesetters Athletic Club Malaysia in Putrajaya area. We have regular walking and running sessions every Sunday at Taman Saujana Hijau located on top of twin hills at Presint 11, Putrajaya. Flag off at 7 am. Mentoring and coaching will be conducted by elite runners of the club.

Running for fun and health.

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