We have the Real Run and Nike Run last weekend. The 2 runs robbed some of our runners from attending our regular long runs. I was not expecting the turnout to be good and true enough, we have only 10 runners turned up for the run. Dear and myself arrived at the clubhouse around 6.45 am. It was very kind of our chairman, Wen Long, to help me out to brief the runners on the route. We still have some strong runners, Zi Li and Thow Wee, were running with us. Without delay, i deposited our bags to the club room and then did my warm-up. We would cover 2 big rounds in Sentosa island including the mini loop from the Gateway roundabout to the Satelite area.
The main group started off at around 6.50 am. I spent around 10 min to warm up before i started off. I briefed Dear how to run into the Sentosa Cove area and told her to tackle the distance slowly. She hasn’t been training regularly recently, so it would be a good achievement for her to complete at least 18 km. I started off a bit faster than last weekend’s MF attempt. At 3 km mark, near to Gateway, i was still running at 4.35 min/km pace and was feeling very frustrated with my recent long run pace. A lot of questions filled my mind, what’s wrong with me? I was running 4.20 – 4.25 min/km regularly on this route 2 months ago. How come i can’t do it now? My weekday runs were faster than before, managing under 4.15 min/km pace. But when come to morning long run, i felt my leg so tight and could not move any faster. Is there a difference between morning run and evening run? As i was thinking, passing by Hotel Rock Hotel, I saw Freddy, Dora, Ronald and Derrick on the slope, turning into Siloso Rd. I passed them and then met up with Boon Wee and Kenneth at Palawan beach. My avg pace pace was still 4.38 min/km.
As i was half way into Tanjong beach, Wen Long, Thow Wee and Zi Li were running in pack running out of Tanjong beach. I was about 1 km away from them. It would be fun to join in the pack. Sentosa route was full of undulating slopes, very difficult to control the pace. I went through the Gateway roundabout and then proceeded to Satelite. The front pack was still a distance from me, but i could see that i was closing up the gap. At the Satelite area, my Garmin sounded out 12.5 km. The time was 57 min. I used to clock 52 – 54 min at this point. I told myself to forget about the timing, just enjoy this nice and cooling run. I hit the Hard Rock slope again and the distance marker was exactly 15 km. I knew the distance was short if i just complete 2 loops. I carried on the second loop, going through Silosa beach, Palawan beach and then Tanjong beach again. Over there, i saw myself with 500m separated from the front group. Zi Li, dropped back slightly from the 2 leading men. Wen Long signalled to me to do an extra loop around the Gateway roundabout to Satelite. I acknowledged and proceeded to close up the gap.With the mini loop, it will fretch us a total of 33 km, ending at the clubhouse. I managed to close up as we were clocking the extra distance. Zi Li decided to skip the extra loop and ran back to the clubhouse. By then, Thow Wee was in front and Wen Long followed closely. Thow Wee was able to shift an extra gear. I had run with him once when he could throw me behind with his breezing marathon pace at the second half of the long run. It would be great to stay with him. My watch was showing under 4.30 min/km. Wen Long told me that i could take a break at the Allanbrooke canteen. I needed the drink to proceed further. Thow Wee was drinking there and he kindly passed a cup of ice water. I was thinking ‘Do we have to pay for the drink?’ Thow Wee was enjoying his ice lemon tea as i proceeded on. The final stretch to the clubhouse was just about hanging on to the distance. I finally took a break at Henderson Rd traffic junction, my watch was showing 32.2 km with a time of 2 hr 29 min, avg pace of 4.39 min/km. I slowly walked back to the clubhouse to relax my tired legs. It was a truly enjoyable run.
I have a total of 96 km mileage for the week. 3 consecutive of over 90 km weekly mileage. I caught a flu at night which signalled to me to take a step back week before i target the all time high of 110 km weekly. For the long run, i will continue to find out what’s went wrong.
Ong's running log with Safra 