Road relay orientation

This Saturday, we will have a Safra Road Relay which consists of teams from all the Safra running clubs. Grace, our team leader, put in some effort to form the first MF team. Tonight, she led the team (Kungfu Panda) to the route orientation. We were to run this route 3 times.

The first loop, all of us ran together to familarize the route. I was worried for Dear as she has not trained for weeks. The initial part of the route require us to climb up MF hill through the stairs behind the clubhouse. The stairs were enough to drain out 70% of our fuel tank. We sticked together and ran as a group. There were several blind spots to take note on this route.

The second loop, we gone for a real trial. I would like to know how tough it is. I was already breathless after the MF stairs. The downslope basically allowed us to recover. As it was quite dark, Jason suggested to run the main road in front of Fragrance hotel. I done the 3 km run in 12 min 05 sec, solo effort, 4.01 min/km.

The third loop, i have no energy to tackle the stairs. Went through the momentum, ran with much easier pace. I finished it in 13 min 50 sec. Personally, i felt that i was doing a long interval training.

Week 7 review

Planned: 50 km                                         Actual: 48 km

Executed according to the plan, an interval session and then back to back medium long run. After Monday & Tuesday’s hard session, i took 2 days completely off. During the off days, i was checking for the side-effects from the hard sessions. A bit of flu started to appear but manageable. On Friday, i started my medium long run – 16 km with another one on Saturday. My pace slowed down during the long run. It shows that my body never respond well to interval training. I would rather perfer tempo than interval.

Due to lack of hydration, gout relapsed on the weekend. One of the most painful eruptions, i was unable to sleep due to the pain. It’s definitely going to affect next week’s plan.

Mount Faber hill loop

One of my clubmate, suffered from gout recently. Twice attacks in 2 weeks, totally demoralized him. Been a gout sufferer for 7 years, i have numerous battles with this disease. Recently, i managed to bring the condition under control even with the intake of some red meat or beans. I gave him some advices to reduce his uric acid level.

Tonight’s training was my favourite – tough MF loop run. But with my interval training the day before, it made this run more challenging. I would be running with heavy legs. It’s a valentine day, so not many runners turned up for the training.

We have a 2 km warm-up run to MF loop. Zhilei was late to brief the runners, so Lai Chee took over the trainer’s role. The lactic acid built up on both of my legs were torturing me. I started the loops with easier pace, tried to remain as consistent as possible. Struggling at the uphill but i tried my best to push myself up. I was using Garmin lap by position. It was not accurate at all, missed the split times most of the time. A lot of cars parked on the hill with couples inside. We were like spotlights, passing by their cars each lap. I tagged on Melvin’s pace until the third lap. Below were my splits:

1st: 7.32 min; 2nd: 7.16 min; 3rd: 7.15 min; 4th: 7.35 min; 5th: 7.39 min

Avg pace of 4.36 min/km. I ended up at the middle of uphill as the split was not accurate. But it was not a bad performance for me, having a run of 4.36 min/km on hilly terrain and after a gruelsome interval the day before. My calves were very tight. Other than that, my body responded well to the training.

Punggol Park interval training

I hit straight for interval training at the beginning of the week as i had catered one for this week. It was such a long time since i ran an interval. The last time, according to my log book, 9th August (National Day), 8 x 1 km with 2 min rest. I almost forgot what to look for in the interval training.

The plan was 7 x 1 km with 3 min rest. I knew i can’t run like last August as i was totally lack of the endurance and the preparations for the interval. Today’s training was just a feel of the speed. I have a 1.2 km warm-up run to Punggol Park. Setup my Garmin interval workout, the watch was my trainer.

I went off the first set, trying to stay consistent on my stride and posture. I was quite unfamiliar with the speed. I was hanging on to it until the fourth set. The lack of endurance pulled me back, i ran easy on the fourth set and the sixth set. Below are the records:

1st: 3.37 min; 2nd: 3.30 min; 3rd: 3.35 min; 4th: 4.32 min; 5th: 3.42 min; 6th: 4.30 min; 7th: 3.28 min

I was surprised by the pace, probably helped by my racing shoe. The pace was much better than the previous time when i had done 8 sets. But the lack of endurance was obvious, i didn’t do any long run recently since the marathon in Dec. Now it’s time to check out any side-effects suffered from this workout.

Week 6 review

Planned: 50 km                                         Actual: 40 km

Started to increase the mileage. In fact, i had already hit 40 km on Saturday with one more 10km run to go on Sunday. Basically, i just skipped it. Maybe due to laziness, i was feeling stronger with no injuries or gout and perfect condition. I had my gout under control after stress-testing it for few months. Week 5, i have 3 rest days without any tempo run or long run. My 40 km run was mostly between 4.26 min/km – 4.50 min/km pace.

Week 6 – i am going to put on some intensity, stick on 50 km mileage. I will like to see whether i get injured or any signs of illness. In week 3, i hit up to 67 km with high tempo, my body fell sick straightaway. Soon i will hit up to 70 km again. It was such a long time since i had done an interval training. Maybe i will do one this week.

Week 5 review

Planned: Nil                          Actual: 32 km

Building up slowly, my cough subsided and i was able to sleep at night. Beginning of the week, my run pace between 4.30 min/km to 4.50 min/km. After that, a slower pace run was done. My body was feeling good.

I am targeting to hit 50 km next week.

Week 4 review

Planned: Nil                    Actual: 15 km

Chinese New Year’s week, a time for celebration. I totally take it easy, without any pressure of building up mileage or speed. Just did 2 runs, a 5 min/km pace at Punggol PCN and Safra Keppel Bay run (4.45 min/km pace). I am feeling alright with the run but the bad cough is still there. I had a hard battle with the cough at night. It is slowly getting better as more rest is catered in.