Swim Class

Tonight's class was easy compared to Monday. The rest yesterday helped too. We did a lot of drills. I quite enjoy those drills because they were interesting and also something that I would not do by myself in a public pool.

Drills -
Catch-ups, side kicks, pull-bouy kicks and swim.
Coach asked me to demo the side kicks! We had to flip-flop left-right like a skewered chicken wing. Haha, maybe I felt like a chicken wing, so can flip.

Training -
4x 200m (1 set with pull-bouy). Amazed that I clocked an average 4:53min consistently per set! Yeah!

We ended with treading water. Eeeks, I did not like it, stressed my knees.

Training Anguish

Dilemma. Anguish. Sigh.

Joined KM for intervals. Ran with Chantelle & Raymond. 3x 4km around Botanic Gardens. 22:40min (route familiarization cos first time & warm-up), 21min, 21:06min. Decent without going all out or killing myself. Could breathe with mouth still closed. That was my crude indicator for level of exertion. I could still go on, or faster.

Discussed how to train. Argh.... Short vs long. Speed vs distance. Confession: I am a distance (duration) addict. I find it extremely difficult to subscribe to a low-mileage high-intensity programme. Logically I understand it. Execution is another matter. I do not think I can run fast, therefore I run long. That, in essence, is the PS' logic, even if it is not much of a logic. Mental barrier, no confidence? No natural talent? But I also know many who started off way slower than me, but improved by leaps and bounds to be much faster. So that eliminates the 'natural talent born to run' theory.

Whatever the case (and I know I will be mulling over this dilemma for a long time), I am starting this cycle of training and races with a much more kiasee approach. I appreciate the flexibility in my training - to go hard when I feel up to it, to step back when I am tired. Having options always appeals to me, over abiding by structures. It is a blessing to be able to eat, run, swim, bike, talk, and even breathe normally. It is like a renewal, a second lease of life. I am not going to screw it up.

Safra 12km Recovery Run

We had a sizeable group of runners today. Maybe it was the distance. 12km was the sort of attractive distance that made you feel like a decent workout without over-doing it. It was my recovery run. Realised I did the equivalent of a long-dist IM over the long weekend, albeit over 3 days. No wonder I was struggling with swim class last night. So tonight I was committed to a recovery jog. No chiong-ing, no chasing, no gung-ho sprints. Just steady steps to rid the lactic. Easier said than done, hard to resist a chase when a runner overtakes from behind. But resist I must. No killing my knees or legs or whatever. It was hard to recover from injuries, almost half a year downtime. Sheesh. Now on a kiasu-kiasee mode to 'not kill myself' and preserve the recovery. Like a new lease of life, treasure it. :)

Draggy Swim

Swim class was a nightmare tonight. Jumped into the pool and did the drills. Then coach moved me to last swimmer Lane 2. Target 5x 200m @ 5:30 pace, alternate with pull-buoy. The first set of swim was so tiring, I barely clocked 5:24. Cannot tahan. Moved back to first swimmer Lane 1. Ok much better. But the last set took me close to 6min. Blown by now. Whew.

Then the medley swims - the 3 Bs: butterfly (by 3 lap, I looked like caterpillar instead....), backstroke, breast stroke (without hands, and then with heads up). Can die. Arms and legs tired now.

10 more minute. Dreaded sprints. 100m, 50m, 100m, 50m. Wah faint. Really could not move. Struggle just to complete, and clocked very bad timings. 1:11 for the last 50m sprint, gosh, even slower than my average 50m! Time to end the class. Breathe....

LSD 35km

Finally clocked a long run today. It rained so heavily in the middle of the night around 2am, I was hoping for clear weather for the run. I woke up late, thankfully the runners were still at the lobby when I arrived. Temperature screening booths were already set up and manned outside the main lobby entrance. We had a good attendance, considering the long weekend, MR Progressive Run and a long distance. Jimmy, Ong, TH, Julie, Dora, Henry, Melvin, Wong, Shirley, Simon, Alber, Karen, Freddy and a few others.

It was a new route this morning, from MF to West Coast Park to Pandan Reservoir. It was a leisurely run, at least for the fast runners, as we did a 6min +/- pace and waited at various junctions to regroup. I felt good on the run, able to keep up even though I was overtaken by all when we did the 6.3km loop OTOT at Pandan Reservoir. La-la-la.

The Pandan Reservoir loop was draining, for that was when the sun started to peek from behind the clouds. I liked the terrain there and kept a steady pace. The other runners too fell into their natural pace (and hence I was overtaken. Haha). After the reservoir, we ran across the road to a coffeeshop and got drinks. Thirst-quenchers! Then we ran back towards NUS, stopped outside the 7-11 near the prata shop, and had more drinks. It was my most quenched run in my running history! All in, I had 2x water refills, 1x Pocari, 1x Apple & Aloe Vera juice, and 1x Gatorade. Whew!

I managed to continue and finish the NUS - S. Buona Vista section, and ploughed through to Kg Bahru. Finally, finished 35km LSD. 3:30h total running time, excluding all the multiple stops. Felt good. :)

Long Swim

Had a swim this afternoon at Home Team. The first few laps felt tired, then I recovered. 20 laps at 27min. Unfortunately the next 10 laps took 14plus min, to a total of 42min. Sigh. Decided to do another 10 laps. Whoohoo! 2km in under 60min. Got hope! Haha.... And ended up swimming 10 more laps. Total 50 laps, 1:10h. :)

Bike & Butt

Reunited with my bike today after 3 months. The last time I rode was CNY eve to Desaru. This morning, a few of us (Amelia, Alber, Henry, Melvin J and myself) met at the Shell kiosk at Woodlands-Mandai and did 2 loops to Seletar Reservoir. The sun was so hot today, burning, I drank so much. Henry brought us Seletar Country Club for a drink and bite. Had an iced horlicks and fruit juice.

Legs and butt were aching, protesting after such a long break. The return last loop was simply going through the motion, all that slopes. Ouch ouch. Made it home finally. 80km. It really was labour day today. Whew.