running up Bukit Apek

After three months of marathon running and training on road, I decided to shift my last Sunday run to an off-road running. Alternating the training surface is one of the ways that I did to strengthen other ‘under-usage’ leg muscles. Yesterday, Cheramiche and I decided to recce Bukit Apek (near Bukit Saga) in Cheras. I think it was my first off-road run this year, and glad that it was also one of the steadiest trail runs I have done so far. I also noticed that my uphill running/hiking has improved tremendously. Come and see some of the pics;

How to get to Bukit Apek :

Use the Grand Saga expressway from Kuala Lumpur to Cheras. Take a left exit to Taman Cuepacs right after Petronas (before the first toll plaza). Follow the road to Econsave Segar Perdana. Upon reaching the T-junction near Econsave, you will see Shell on your left. Turn right and park your car along the road. This is the entrance to the trail of Bukit Apek.

The hike is interestingly very well marked with Level 1 (Station 1), Level 2 (Station 2) and so on until you reach Level 5 (Station 5) at around 386m. There you have a choice of going to the waterfall (steep descend) or continue on to Station 6 and the summit of Bukit Apek. As expected, we opted for the steep descent to waterfall.

We really had fun and hope to share this trail with others. Look out for our Progressive Outdoor Run (POR) sessions (Bukit Apek is definitely in the list), scheduled to start right after Raya.

let’s climb up CA’s ladder

Rock climbing involves strength, control and finesse. Using the muscles in your arms and legs ( I use mostly leg muscles as they are much stronger) to get yourself up a sheer rock face takes strength and control. When we use our brain to place the hands and feet so that the muscles can do their job, well …. that’s finesse.

Although rock climbing has an element of danger, people participate mostly for their own personal satisfaction — this sport does not offer much for spectators. It’s either the potential participants “get it” or they don’t. In other words, either you are excited about scaling a vertical piece of stone, or you aren’t. I used to have my own climbing team. We would go to ‘Damai’ and ‘Nyamuk’ in Batu Caves for our doses of adrenaline. I also frequented indoor climbing gym at Nomad Adventure for my own training.

Yesterday, I made a call to my dear friend Laura and discussed for a climbing cum gathering session among friends this coming June 5 at Damai. The thing is (macam Shuk plak …hehhe)….. I need to reactivate my climbing skills for the upcoming Nomad Adventure’s Eco X race in July 2010. It’s about time to bring out my harness, carabiners, belay, prussic cords etc and re-charge my love for climbing.

For those who would like to venture into this sport, probably you can ignite some excitement in you by dropping-by at Camp5, another climbing gym located at One Utama during its 4HR ENDURO TOPROPE & BOULDER CLIMBATHON this 5-6 June 2010. This grand sport event offers a 21hr toprope climbing comp and a standard 3hr boulder competition, where individual winners of the combined ranking will be crowned King and Queen of Camp5.

Flying in from the USA, Timy Fairfield; a national coach, climbing celebrity and Chief Routesetter of ESPN Asian X-Games will be the official host of the ENDURO 24HR CLIMBATHON. In addition, you can also witness Parkour performances from international traceurs to the breakbeats of DJ Blastique (U.K), Aerial Dance acts, Capoeira, Contemporary Dance & Martial Arts alongside a superb audio visual line-up designed to keep the vibes energized and pumpin’ as competitors climb ‘round the clock!

 Mark these dates and see you there. Let’s climb!

p/s – I’ll be there at midnite for its night climb.

wild whitewater weekend

Few weeks ago, I blogged about my strong passion in whitewater rafting. I love water activities and practically tried to get myself in any activities that have water involved! Past few weekends, CA collaborated with the local whitewater rafting expert, Riverbug, and organised a rafting and abseiling escapade at Sg. Itek, Gopeng. Nine friends/clients of CA participated in the outing - Zaidi & wife Zetti, Syukran, Anne, Amir and his bro & friend. We also met a nice Singaporean couple, Kiran & Omar; and trio-bachelors, Tengku, Fairuz and Fendi (first stopover of their cuti-cuti malaysia roadtrip). Ahhh the latter reminds me when I was young …

We went through several rapids with grades ranged from 1 -3, namely

Have a look at some of the pics taken:

More photos can be seen at my picasa web album (just copy and paste the add) or just click here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ianyusof.corporateathletes/WhitewaterRaftingGopeng#

We were served great lunch prepared by the locals after the rafting. All the rafters were then transported to Kg. Geruntum located merely 45mins away from the rafting put-off point, where we abseiled down the Geruntum Waterfall. I’ll upload more pics on abseiling in later post. I plan to organise another rafting trip probably in Feb or March this year. Just look out for the updates in this weblog. Cheerio everyone!

Great run past weekend

Past weekend, CA’s very own thewildgym coordinator, Cheramiche (Che), organized a Trail Running cum PotLuck at Kiara Park. Twelve weekend warriors were there to take up the challenge. Che planned the route in such a way that it resembled the Salomon Trail Run, scheduled on 6th December 2009.

We covered about 14km of trail (based on Shuk’s odometer) and it was really a fun run with a really fun crowd. Here are some of the photos taken using my Olympus miu Tough.

We had a ‘buffet’ spread right after the run. Unfortunately, Syukran & wife Nazlee, and Doris & partner could not join us the potluck. For the rest of us,  we grabbed the opportunity to replenish what were lost during the run (well, based on Shaq’s HR monitor, he lost approximately 1,400 kilocalories). I prepared a do-it-yourself Salad SpringRoll. Big thanks to Kash and hubby for the one-inch thick watermelon slices (really sweet and juicy!), Syah for the jemput-jemput udang (springyly-soft prawn balls – with bite-size prawns in it), and Shuk for the freeflowing icy-cool 100+ and mineral water.

p/s – do check out these guys’ blogs too for more interesting stories.

KASH – http://run-kooky-run.blogspot.com/2009/11/kiara-trail-run-report.html

ENAIKAY – http://enaikay.blogspot.com/2009/11/sneak-preview-kiara-trail-run.html

SYAH - http://iamsyah.blogspot.com/2009/11/salomons-x-trail-and-janda-baik-weekend.html

SHAQ - http://lifeashaq.blogspot.com/2009/11/gbss-kiara-trail-run.html

CHERAMICHE - http://cheramiche.blogspot.com/2009/11/kiara-trail-run-14-nov-09.html

DORIS – http://doriscbwong.blogspot.com/2009/11/kiara-trail-run.html

SHUK – http://runningandsome.blogspot.com/2009/11/thingsof-trail-and-klang.html

SHAKHIR – http://wcr1414.blogspot.com/2009/11/trails-trails-trails.html

Come and join us at The Wild Gym

Corporate Athletes’ thewildgym was created earlier this year to provide the most recent reviews on parks, waterfalls, national parks, adventure activities and so forth. Our main aim is to get people to get active, and to get themselves involved in the outdoor activities, thus lessening the carbo footprints. For Corporate Athletes, the wild is our gym.

In making sure that reviews are proactively added and updated, Corporate Athletes is proud to announce thewildgym’s very own coordinator cum reviewer, and also a dear friend / team-partner of mine; Cheramiche, to look after this Project.

Cheramiche has a very strong passion in mountain climbing since 1999. He has even summited all the seven (7) top highest mountains in Peninsular Malaysia, known as The G7 mountains. He has also done several other mountains, including the highest in South East Asia, Mount Kinabalu.

He has also completed his first adventure race in the gruelling 24hrs race at Kuala Kubu Bharu way back in 2002. Since then, he just couldn’t get enough of adventure racing. He is also a team partner of macambagus; Corporate Athletes’ very own Adventure Racing Team. 

Now, he is one of the common faces in the major running events and adventure races on our local ground. In his free time, he loves to kayak, mountain-bike and bowl. His other hobbies include traveling, adding more Coke Collectibles, and photography. He is now a proud father of two sons.

This coming Saturday, November 14 2009, Cheramiche is organising a trail running at Kiara Park. There will  be a potluck kinda picnic right after. Following is taken from his blog. Come and join us for a good fun. 

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Attention all GBS! – Next Trail Run – Kiara – 14 Nov 2009 – Latest Update

Due to popular demand, we will be having another trail run this Saturday at Kiara Park. Shah suggested that we have a lil picnic so if u feel like bringing something to share, please do so. (sukarela)

In the mean time, here is the post-run ‘menu’;

• Delicious ‘home-made’ che-kodok by Shah
• Water and ‘iced cold’ 100+ by Shuk
• Tasty ‘mouthwatering’ melon by Kash.
• Healthy  ‘tummyfiling’ DIY popiah by Bro Ian

Meet at Kiara Park (TTDI) carpark (in front of the school) around 7.15am (we will try out the Salomon’s X-Trail route). Latecomers will have to run on your own la.. (as a reminder to myself as well not to be late). So please be punctual yer? There will be a group warm-up stretching before we start running (dengarnye our celebrity CA trainer will lead it? ).

See u guys this Saturday then! Dont forget your hydration bag/bottle as the run will be 1.5hrs – 2 hrs long.

Jom? for non-GBS also welcome aa.. I will be The Guide and dont worry, no one get to left behind (but u still have to run ok) we will stop for ‘take 5′ whenever necessary (and to make sure everyone are present).

Just a lil reminder : As we share the same trail with MTBikers, please watch out where you are goin, esp when running up or near a corner. Do shout ‘BIKE!’ if you think the person behind u is not aware of it.

Safe running and enjoy it! Tschuss!

-Cheramiche-

A great hike this past weekend up in Nuang

Last weekend, I went up to Mount Nuang in Hulu Langat.  My bootcamp participants came along for the hike.  Saturday was an amazingly beautiful day, and we took full advantage and spent much of it outdoors enjoying the glorious hiking trails of Mount Nuang, the highest mountain in Selangor that stood at 1498m. Of course, we didn’t reach to the top, but we had a great time hiking upto Lolo Camp. Ginger flowers, come in large shape and colours, are thriving this season. Here are a few photos taken along the trail:

 p/s – the Adventure Bootcamp participants enjoyed the 6-hr hike very much, and spent some time dipping in the stream. They did a great job. With this complimentary trip from Corporate Athletes, the first series of Adventure Bootcamp is officially over

Outdoor Cooking

I used to spend my freetime hiking, camping etc. with friends and family. Sadly, I don’t seem to have that much privilege nowadays, owing to my busy schedule as the sole trainer of Corporate Athletes.

I enjoy cooking in the outdoors as well - the smell of burnt wood that gives the food a hickory taste, the rawness and freshness of ingredients. Basically, it’s a back-to-nature simple life.

I enjoy entertaining friends and family with food whenever we are in the outdoors, especially when the food is snapped up within minutes And I can almost assure you that none of these food are from cans or the instant type …. (you know how Malaysians are accustomed to those 2-minute instant noodles during camp-outs) … mine uses the freshest, simplest ingredients that one could find. The basics include veg-based stock Mirepoix (celery, carrots, onions), lotsa pastas, tomatoes, fresh herbs to avoid having to bring bottlles of dried herbs, dried mushrooms (just love them – it gives rather meaty texture to meals) and of course the Olive Oil.

During camp-outs, I cook about 4-5 meals a day in the woods. As most of my trips lasted over 2 nights, I normally have to prepare about 15 meals throughout the trip. Thanks to my gas-burner, I normally handled the outdoor cooking quite fast. In between meals, I take them out for adventure activities. I’m pretty much a full-time chef and trainer during these trips.

I enjoy it so much that I have my signature getaway created for friends, families and foreigners, known as Fitness Adventure Getaway. It’s definitely neither a tour package nor an adventure package. It’s more like a Fitness Training Bootcamp. So far, I managed to include following nationals in my track record – Australians, Germans, Europeans and Russians. To ‘exaggerate’ the foreigners’ gastronomical experience, I even served them our common malaysian cuisine like Satays, Ikan Bakar (bbq fish), cokodok (banana balls) etc., and all of these are prepared under the canopy of our heavily wooded forest! Talking about Outdoor Cooking to the extreme huh.

My first Bootcamp participants will get their first taste of outdoor dining today. They trained very hard throughout the Bootcamp sessions (the last session was last Tues), and I am very happy that they are living actively now. I am taking them to Gunung Nuang this morning. Everything is provided, courtesy of Corporate Athletes.

Have a great weekend everyone!

p/s – those who are taking part in the Siemen’s Run tomorrow, see you guys there. Good luck and enjoy the run. (I’m running with my client, and she’s doing it for her very first time – wish her all the best).

an afternoon at the park

We are staying at a top floor of an apartment just beside the Bukit Jalil Park. In fact, I bought this unit about ten years back because of this park too – a very big lush and well-maintained park. Now, we are enjoying the scenery of Bukit Jalil park on daily basis.

It has beautiful man-made ponds with bridges across it – filled with thousands of well-fed fish and tortoises. On rainy days, you can expect water-flowing streams around these ponds – this is Bukit Jalil’s retention pond. Magical fountains are switched on during day time. You can even spot monkeys and wild pigs in its jungle – something that you have to watch out whenever you hit its jungle trail.

If you are into stair-climbing, this park offers the most extensive stairway – stretching a straight line almost a kilometer in distance from one end to the other. For hill-run, it is a perfect place – covering more than 1.5km for a single loop.

I arrived home slightly earlier than usual yesterday, and decided to join wifey, munchkin and maid at the park. They were busy feeding the fish and tortoise. It was relaxing (plus stress-busting too) afternoon.

For those who have not been here, make a point to visit this park one fine day. It’s worth it.

p/s – We are going to upload our CA’s rating for Bukit Jalil Park soon in our The Wild Gym …. do have a look. For those who wish to contribute their crits for other parks, do let us know. We have a free CA t-shirt awaiting… Good day!

The Wild Gym : Uploaded

 

For the past 10 years, I’ve been running adventure boot-camps (back then was known as Adventure Getaway) at Pahang National Park. This is where I take a group of people for the adventure of their life. I would lead them into caves, swam at ‘luboks’, spent overnight at ‘hideouts’, tubing along the raging water of Tembeling River, trekked to waterfalls, hiked for sunset and even sunrise, night safari, camped in tents and so forth. And the biggest group that I handled single-handedly was 16 – most of them were foreigners from Australia & Germany.

Back then , I was already a ‘decent’ cook – prepared food on campfire and portable gas-stove. Menus include Satay, barbecued seafood & meat, loads of pastas, salads etc. I even prepared hot crabmeat soup and served at the river bank after their swim. And the good part, despite of hard work, I too  enjoyed myself. Even now, I still do it whenever there is a request. Last year, I even brought this one Czech guy for his adventure dosage at a whopping price of RM800.00 per pax (we even hiked in the woods past midnite).

For me, there’s nothing more satisfying than being in the outdoor, especialy with families. Whenever I’m free, I will take them for activities in the outdoor - be it camping by the beach & in the woods, strolling in the park around KL (thank God that our house is just beside a beautiful, really huge park), or just ‘picnic’king by the river. We truly enjoy them all.

With so much appreciation & passion poured into the outdoors, I have decided to create a new addition to my Project ; The Wild Gym. Come and have a look! Really appreciate your comments & feedbacks.  

Welcome to The Wild Gym !