NUS 10km Trial Run

Attempted a run at NUS and S.Buona Vista slopes this morning. Well, it was not really morning, since it was already 10am when I started. The idea was to re-test the route that took me down on Tuesday. The weather was rather cool initially, running under the shade and there was a light breeze blowing. I managed to clear one loop successfully, and planned a second round. But the sun was already out in full glory and it was very humid. I guess I would have to test mileage tomorrow morning then, perhaps on ECP flat grounds.

Yellowfish Swim - Bubble bubble bubble

I felt horrid in the pool tonight, strained and poor breathing. Barely made it through the training and laps. The sprint was a terror, and it was only 4 laps of sprints! I did the sprint in my normal lap time. Bleeaaah....... Breathe breathe. Self-consolation that it was a 'down' training week. Next swim should be better.

RPM Challenge

We had a departmental lunch today, and I needed to burn off 2 pieces of sinful succulent melt-in-your-mouth "dong po" meat (aka braised til soft very fatty meat).

RPM Challenge Andrew's class. Fun, loud and pumping as usual. There were a couple of new riders. The couple next to me came last week as well, and the guy cramped again mid-way through the class. It happened previously too, I wondered if it was his riding style or something.

After class I stayed on to chat with Andrew. He was telling me about his ride to Kulai over CNY and the route. Going across Woodlands immigration with/ on my bike sounded daunting. Perhaps I would stick with Desaru for the time being. He was going to Desaru this weekend for a 300km ride over 2 days, so I shared with him my recent ride. I was also considering doing a ride in Batam sometime, and would check with Andrew again when that happened.

Seeking Solace on the Dreadmill

Hesitantly went on the dreadmill at Safra today. Not sure if I could still run, given yesterday's depressing ordeal. First 10min, foot was a somewhat stiff and painful. Didn't want to give up. So I stopped the dreadmill, stretched my foot, ankle and heel. Restarted. Not bad, the discomfort went away and soon I was jogging on cruise mode - aka, slow, unlaboured, leisurely. I could run forever. The song 'I could have danced all night' by Audrey Heburn in My Fair Lady came to mind..... Oh the days of running forever......

Only boredom threatened to topple me. I hung on, and did 10.0km on the dreadmill. Towards the end, I experimented with some incline. I wanted to test if it was the inclined slope yesterday that strained the foot arch and triggered the pain again. My test was inconclusive. Maybe later in the week I would try another run. But as of current projections, I had better be ready to flag the marathon bus in HK.....

No Good Test-Run

The weather was fabulous throughout CNY. It was the kind of weather that was great for running or cycling the entire day. So I went, very optimstically, to NUS for a 10km test-run. It was to check the recovery of my foot and how far I could go. Last Thursday I managed 5km.

The going was smooth and virtually pain free. I did the usual NUS - Pasir Panjang - South Buona Vista - NUH - Clementi Rd - back to carpark. Unfortunately, the pain set in just after the NUS Sports Hall. I stopped, stretched and continued. I did that a few times, until I decided it was pointless pushing the foot when it was injured. So I stopped running about 8km along Clementi Rd, and walked back to my car.

How demoralizing.....

Desaru 100km Long Ride

My alarm went off at 5am. I hit the snooze button, clearly reluctant to get up. Finally, I pulled out from my blanket, 530am. Alber and I were meeting Henry at 615am at the Changi CSC Club car park. We crossed to Changi Point Ferry Terminal to meet the rest of the folks going to Desaru. There were about 20 of us. The immigration clearance was quickly settled and we loaded our bicycles onto two bum boats. The ride took about an hour across to the town of Pengerang in Johor. I was surprised to see Clarence and Cat too. They were riding with another group of cyclists. From the Pengerang Jetty, we began our 100km ride at 830am (map). I was already beginning to feel hungry. Oops.

The ride was split into a few sections. The first re-grouping point was 15km away in the town of Sungei Regit. The stretch was fairly easy and straight. Then we rode another 35km to the refuel point at Petronas gas station (~53km). The headwind was relentless along the coastal road. It blasted at us non-stop and occasionally swayed our bicycles. The stretch around 35-50km was fully of rolling hills. They looked really steep from afar, but were actually more long, gradual and manageable. But throw in the challenging headwind and we were looking at hard cranking up the slopes. Part of the route was familiar, we covered it during last year's Desaru Long Dist Tri. Our riders broke up into 4-5 packs of various speeds over the distance. We tried to huddle and draft, but it was not easy. We ended up overtaking, falling back and overtaking....

After a much needed refuel - I had a happy Magnum Classic ice-cream (cheap in Msia!) and Milo packet drink - we continued the ride towards lunch point. That surely was part of the motivation for the excursion today. :) We did not backtrack, but took a traverse route. The return route was had less headwind and we were able averaged much higher speeds. But the sun was also out in full blast by then and we could feel the heat burning through the skin. Before long we reached our lunch destination at Jade Garden. The iced lime juice was such a thirst quencher! I gamely gulped two glasses. Lunch was rewarding enough, we had vegetables, herbal chicken, cereal prawns and buttered lobsters.

The post-lunch ride was a 15km back to the jetty. I almost cramped up on my right quads, and then later on my left quads. My oh my.... I certainly did not wish to roll my bike and walk the distance! I dropped my chains to very light gear and switched to high cadence. Surprisingly, it did flush out the lactic after a while. The road sign that stated "Jetty - 2km" was very welcoming indeed! Counting down......

We reached the jetty before 3pm. Distance covered was about 97km. It was a fantastic ride with many of my Yellowfish classmates, and we got to know some new faces as well. The combination of sun and sweat (salt) lulled by the gentle waves was intoxicating, I slept through the return boat ride.

I was happy with my ride today, had put in effort - so that I could redeem my reunion dinner tonight! Haha.

Yellowfish #3

CJ joined our class today! I was so surprised to see him there, it took me a while to recognize the familiar face. Ok, everyone sort of looked different with goggles and swim caps. There were fewer students today, but more newies in Lane 1. I was still stuck in Lane 2, but comfortable with that, so no complaints.

We did some basic drills. I could now do the catch-up drills decently, after one season of 'punishment'. Scullying, catch-ups, side kicks. Then we swam 4x 200m, 3x 100m and 4x 50m sprints.

Good class. Now to prepare for tomorrow's long ride to Desaru....