FatBird Pacer Training

This morning Alber and I joined in the FatBird pacer training for a 28km run at ECP Big Splash. I donned my Asics shoes (had to continue Thursday's shoe trial experiment) and led the 5hr runners. There were 2 guys, and the 3 of us ran as a group all the way. During the run, I did a quick mental calculation. 5hr = 7min pace = 196min (3:16h) for 28km = 98min at the 14km u-turn point. I was not wearing my footpod and went by feel. The run started off nice and comfortable. I think our pace was just nice, we had 1-2 mis-turns on some of the forked paths, but managed to reachthe u-turn point along Coastal Road with about 10min to spare for some stretching. I saw various people along the way - Swee Kheng, Henry (Kops), Fennel, Hee Shen & his wife, Lixia, and KC on his bike.

We continued on our way back, and stopped again at Carpark G toilet to refill water. We were still on schedule with about 7 - 7.5km to Big Splash. When we reached F2 (the bougainvilla garden), one of the guys dropped back and asked us to go ahead. The 5:15h pacers were too fast and were beside us, so we got their help to accompany the guy. So I ran with the remaining guy and we paced each other all the way back. We had to pick up speed a little as there was no buffer left for breaks. I think the guy could have gone faster, but he held back a little for my sake. At 25km, my left knee felt a warm flush of pain so I could not speed up. Yet I could not stop either. We finally made it back to Big Splash. 3:21h. I guess the pace was just about right, taking away the traffic lights and stretch breaks. Time for a good warm down stretch and brunch at Old Airport Road to refuel.