Yellowfish Class

Class was so empty today! Some were away at the Aviva 70.3 race briefing, and perhaps some went away with their families for school holidays. There were only abt 10 of us today, ample space in each pool lanes. Coach was extra patient too, maybe the smaller group made it more cosy. We did some drills, then 500m, 400m, couple of 100m and 50m sprints. Technique technique. I went under 14min for 2 consecutive sets of 10laps! Yoohoo!

Swim & Run

Swam 22 laps. I was not sure if it was 20 or 22. Looking at the timing when I finished 2 sets, it was slightly fast. So I swam another 2 laps. But the timing became way too long. So I guessed I swam extra. Am I making sense? Haha.

Changed and joined in the Safra 10km MF loop run. Decent. Could keep pace with Alber for the first 15min - he was slower than usual of course. I managed to go up MF slope (yes, it was that long ago that I went up by Kg Bahru slope). Met Linda on the way down, we chatted. I continued my way back to club.

So tired, yet mentally a lot of things to think through, prioritize and do. Brrrr...... I needed extra bandwidth.

Track Intervals

Decided to forego swim class and join in the Safra run. Interval training tonight. Gosh, must have been 6 months since I last did interval. Legs and lungs were certainly not conditioned. 5x 1.2km intervals. Ong set us a target of 2min per 400m, ie. 6min per set. While most runners had a time target, my focus was 'not kill myself or legs'. Hmmm.... mindset problem? Chairman, shouting out times by the side, said I was running 'too easily'. Maybe I was paranoid about running round and round a track. That was how I injured my left knee last year, doing 3x 4km long intervals. That was 30 rounds (12km)! So I was naturally wary of track work now. During the 2nd set, I thought I felt my knee somewhat weird. I decided to stop at the 3rd set. I ended up with a 6:08min, 6:05min, and lastly 5:57min. Running back to Club by myself, I had the mental space to think through plans and work, and sorting out all sorts of nitty gritty. I took the longer Harbour Front route.

RPM Distraction

Lazy lazing lazily. That about summed up my current state of training mood. Oops. It was a bit of cruise mode, just sailing through, maintaining (weight), and not really training.

RPM class was a bit of distraction today. My thoughts wandered around all the upcoming trips and nitty gritty and planning. And my conference presentation too.... better do a decent job on the slides. Hmmm. Mentally skimmed through possible Busselton travel options for year end. I was ambitiously trying to keep total costs down to $1k or just slightly over, including race fees. Seemed feasible. Then there were other stuff that I had to research on, many mental notes to self..... Before my self murmuring was through, the class was over.

My Personal Biathlon

Sea swim this morning at Playground was to cover the 70.3 route, sort of. Coach had us do some warm up laps, then gave 1hr to complete 4 loops. He even had a mini come to beach and run back to water section, to replicate the 70.3! I swam 3 loops, 45min. Coach said I probably would not be cut off, but very borderline timing. Since I had no speed, I should concentrate on getting my direction correct and not drift unnecessarily. Guess I would save the advice for Msian races.

Had a slight cut on sole, so went to B1 car park to clean up. Then put on my shoes and hit the run. I had no specific target, just a nice and comfortable run. Perhaps up to F2, see how far my legs would go. The weather was good, cloudy and cool. There was a lot of people at ECP. I counted at least 3 organized Indian community parties, with banners, blasting music and all. Very carnival like. :)

After the run, I headed for the IT show. The crowd was amazing. When I left about 4pm, City Link was jammed pack, literally shoulder to shoulder. Human traffic stopped, totally. People were not pushing, but the air was stale and stuffy in the tunnel. The MRT shutters to City Link came down to prevent more people from entering the tunnel. Those of us on the other side had only a tiny door for exit! That seemed quite dangerous to me. If there was a fire, we would be toasted!

MR Run

Did a slow jog at MR. One loop. They closed off the section leading Pierce Reservoir! There was a security guy from the SICC who stopped me from running through the tarmac road. Hmmm???

Met Jan and KM's group for breakfast at LongHouse, and surprise! Bumped into WY, L and K who just finished their ride. Wow. I have been slacking. :)

Today - A Day of Firsts

I learnt how to roast a herb chicken, and make Vietnamese rice paper spring roll. They turned out rather yummy, especially the chicken. Oooh.... Well, theoretically I now know to roast one. Theoretically, because all I did was to chop the herbs!

Then there was a Southern Bridges walk today too. Lovely weather. It rained heavily at noon, and we thought the walk might be a wash-out. Luckily the rain stopped and provided very cool weather instead. Popped by in the evening to see Mt KK climb photos, brought back nice memories. :)

Swim class tonight went well. There were many swimmers in Lane 3, mostly faster ones on make-up class. We did about 10-12 sets of 100m. For the sprints, I managed to go under 1min for the first time! I checked my watch - 58:58min. Wow! Could have gone slightly faster too. When I saw the timing, I thought my watch was spoilt! :)