You can lose up to a kg for every km you run...

An interesting article in The Star that I've stumbled upon while having my dinner last night....

Trainer: You can lose up to a kg for every km you run (Christina Low)

RUNNING in Malaysia’s hot and humid weather is one of the most challenging obstacles for personal trainer and runner Mark Williams.

“The weather in the city is awful for running, sometimes you can lose up to a kilogram for every kilometre you run,” said Williams during a recent running clinic held in conjunction with the upcoming Standard Chartered KL Marathon on June 27.

Williams, who has won various major running championships including the KL City Run 10K and Genting Trailblazer last year, advised runners to keep themselves hydrated at all times during a race especially in the current weather conditions.

Keeping pace: Williams guiding the participants through a set of warm-up exercises during the recent Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon running clinic.

“You should stop at each water stop and take your time to drink properly, especially if you are planning to win the race,” Williams said.

Besides keeping hydrated, the 39-year-old who teaches in Alice Smith School in Seri Kembangan advised those running in the full marathon to train early to avoid injuries.

He handed out a self-produced booklet with a 10-week running programme for beginners and intermediate runners which he hopes will give an idea of what they should do in daily training for the upcoming race.

“You need to train the body for a marathon, and not stop at the 5km mark, thinking you still have to run another 37km,” said Williams, whose most memorable run was the New Zealand National Marathon Championships where he was awarded the silver medal.

He touched on the importance of stretching before a run, nutrition, running gear and tips for women runners.

The group of 150 clinic participants later proceeded to a series of warm-up exercises before doing a short run around Lake Gardens.

Standard Chartered KL will organise another four clinics nationwide. The next one will be held in Ipoh, Perak, on May 9 and move to Penang (May 16), Johor (May 23) and back to Kuala Lumpur (June 6).

Participation in the clinic is free on a first-come-first-served basis.

Runners will need to register via e-mail and state the selected clinic as the subject. They also need to give the name, age, selected clinic (date and venue) and contact number and send the e-mail to klmarathon@gmail.com or clinics@kl-marathon.com. For details, visit www.kl-marathon.com.

With the recent super-hot weather that we've been experiencing for the past 3 months, I won't be surprised if we can lose up to a kilo for every 1km...

It'll make it easier to shed the remaining 4 kilos off my body ;)

Now everyone should start running since it's such a good motivation! ;)

Oh, and please sign up for THE marathon of the year for KL @ www.kl-marathon.com :)