Spartan Training at Crossfit Pahlawan, Citta Mall

First Spartan Race training session of the year at Crossfit Pahlawan, Citta Mall and it was a killer. The training session was organised by Spartan Race and Crossfit and was held in two sessions in the afternoon of 9 January 2016.

I love working out at Crossfit Pahlawan mainly because it comes equipped with a section for rope-climb practice. It was the ideal location to prepare for an obstacle race like Spartan or Viper. Specifically for the Spartan Stadium series or for Viper Arena. When we were preparing for our Trifecta attempt last year, my team used Crossfit Pahlawan for our training sessions. Check out the madness in the video courtesy of Hashida Lee below.

Follow the United Spartans of Malaysia on Facebook here for more training sessions and OCR updates.

Lo Hei with Shang Palace, Shangri-La Hotel KL

Shang Palace at the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur is offering seven varieties of Yee Sang to usher in the Year of the Monkey – Korean snow pear, crispy fish skin and jellyfish flower, salmon fish, Japanese tuna, sliced abalone, Canadian lobster and geoduck clam – at lunch or dinner with friends, colleagues and family for prosperity, good fortune and abundance.

Prices range from RM91 nett (small) and RM161 nett (large) for the Korean snow pear Yee Sang and Crispy Fish Skin and jellyfish flower Yee Sang, to RM126 nett (small) and RM220 nett (large) for Salmon Yee Sang and Japanese Tuna Yee Sang.

Sliced Abalone Yee Sang is RM173 nett (small) and RM313 nett (large), while the Canadian Lobster Yee Sang is RM290 nett (small) and RM546 nett (large). Geoduck Clam Yee Sang is RM266 nett (small) and RM511 nett (large).

Yee Sang is available for dine-in or takeaway from 8 January to 22 February 2016.

For reservations or more information, call 03-2074 3904 or email restaurantreservations.slkl@shangri-la.com or visit their website at www.shangri-la-specials.com.

Men's Health Women's Health Night Run by AIA Vitality takes Penang, Putrajaya and Johor

After 2015's successful race in Putrajaya, Men's Health Women's Health (MHWH) Night Run by AIA Vitality is back and is taking off in three different cities across Malaysia from North all the way to South.

In addition to Putrajaya, the MHWH Night Run by AIA Vitality will also take place in Penang and Johor where anticipated number of 33,000 runners can enjoy the scenery of three of Malaysia's most exciting and liveliest cities. Previously the race only offered a 5km fun run category and a 12km competitive category. This year, runners can challenge themselves with the new 21km category for both open and veteran age groups. The Entry fees are RM78, RM88 and RM98 respectively for these distances regardless of locations.

Under Armour Crowns 2015’s Ultimate Fitness Warrior‏

Under Armour ended the year with a bang, with the Under Armour SkyWarrior Rainforest Challenge – a fitness challenge like no other. The Challenge marked the finale of the ‘Earn Your Armour Challenge’, a series of free bi-weekly workout sessions organised by Under Armour and had gained widespread popularity with the Malaysian public in 2015.

As part of the Challenge, Under Armour’s gym partners sent in teams to battle each other and overcome challenging obstacles, to earn the title of the ultimate fitness warrior! A whopping 120 participants from all across Malaysia turned up last Sunday at SkyWarrior Putrajaya, all geared-up to face the challenging obstacles head-on.

Tokyo 2015 - Day 4: Last Day in Japan Thoughts

This entry will be mostly a photo entry because I feel that the pictures best describe how amazing Tokyo was for me. I revisited Akihabara and wandered the bustling Asakusa once more for gifts and treats and along the way, rekindled my affection for this beautiful country and its people.

My guided tour through Akihabara the previous day gave me a good bearing of my surroundings and I retraced my steps to revisit the stores for last minute shopping. My only regret was not dedicating at least two days solely to this area. Perhaps next time. 

SCORE Cupid Run 2016

Ola to all you lovey-dovey people.

This Valentine's Day, instead of doing the conventional dinner and movie date, why not slip on your running kicks and run hand-in-hand along the Glass Slipper Trail at Kepong Metropolitan Park! 

It's a perfectly healthy and romantic way to spend time together in an all-natural setting without the hassle of having to plan much. No, seriously. You just need to sign up, pay and just turn up with your partner. 

Kyoto Marathon 2016: Race Preparation Jitters

I kicked off the first day of 2016 with a 9km run starting and ending at Padang Merbok before joining up with the Kuala Lumpur New Year 2016 run for a 10km (it was actually 11.2km) race around the city center. You see, I was training for my first ever marathon, the Kyoto Marathon set to take place on 21 February.

Why I picked a marathon with a 6 hours cut off time, I have no idea.
Why I picked a marathon with cutoff points, I have no idea.
Why I picked a marathon set in winter, I too have no idea.
But I do know that I love Japan and running my first marathon in Japan is the dream.

By a stroke of beginner's luck, I won the lottery for the Kyoto draw. Not by a stroke of beginner's luck, my mum won the lottery too. I saw it as an encouraging sign from the Powers That Be. Then I recalled I have never ran further than 21km in my life. I also remembered that running is not my forte. I would sooner swim through an ice-cold river and climb up a rope than run. Running a marathon was going to be my toughest challenge both physically and mentally. Oh boy...

2015 Kautim. What Next?

Words cannot describe what 2015 was to me. Exhausting - physically, mentally, financially. Liberating - physically, mentally, financially not quite. Once again, I got to travel, I got to race and I got fitter. Much fitter but no less fatter.... T_T 

In spite of its many ups and downs, I find myself mostly looking back fondly on the ups. Despite having two trips cancelled, it was good year in terms of personal achievements. Even though I didn't conquer Mount Kinabalu, I did scaled Japan's highest mountain. I may not have gone to Korea, but I did get to enjoy two separate short weekends in Australia with my friends and a long week there with my sister in two cities for three race events. Madness I tell ya!

If I were to list down my 2015 achievements and memorable moments, this is it:

Spartan Trifecta Delta: Apa Tu?

My teammate spotted the image of what seemed to be a Triple or Quadruple Trifecta Holder on the international Spartan social media and shared it with the team. This apparently was a leaked image from Spartan.

source: http://blog.mudrunfun.com/

I must admit it was a pretty cool swag to the existing Trifecta wedges and tray. There were talks of a possible Triple Trifecta next year but of course, then someone pointed out it was probably a marketing ploy by Spartan. 

I agree and somewhat disagree. Yes, it was probably another Spartan marketing ploy but a triple Trifecta would be too on the point and too straightforward and knowing Spartan Race, it was anything but straightforward. 

Tokyo 2015 - Day 3: Harajuku & Akihabara

"Welcome home, My Princess and My Master!" was the greeting my friends and I received from the cheerful maids of @home maid cafe. This was the start of my first maid cafe experience or as the Japanese would say...Meido kafe or meido kissa.

It was quite literally an otaku's day out as we had a full day ahead of us with a guided tour in Akihabara scheduled in the afternoon and a trip to Artnia, the official Square Enix cafe. We started the morning sipping on a cup of coffee while watching the Shibuya crossing from the iconic Starbucks Shibuya.

Getting a window seat at this Starbucks was hard but we got one nonetheless and it was pretty peaceful. The only downside of going so early was that the crowd crossing wasn't that spectacular. On the plus side, Japan has super cute public buses.