Telok Blangah Hill Intervals

Late, and therefore did not join MF group at stadium. Wise decision it turned out. Sluggish. Could barely complete the warmup jog to TB hills. Heavy legs. Alber had to wait, several times.

Stretched and rubbed and hammered for so long before starting the first set. Idea was to do the usual loop - start/end at the higher carpark. Think it was about 800m? Should be less than 1km.

6 sets/ 2min rest interval:
1- 3:58min
2- 4:11 (??? died obviously)
3- 4:00
4- 3:45
5- 3:52
6- 4:01

Ok, bad day. Time to go home.

Need more Glide

Since this weekend was a major race day for many of us, Coach went 'lenient' on us. After some quick basic drills, it was time for some long-dist swim.

500m - 11:30min
8x 100m (supposedly sprints.....)
1- 2:15
2- 2:15
3- 2:20
4- 2:16
5- 2:18
6- 2:15
7- 2:20
8- 2:21
500m (but did not complete. Coach pulled me aside midway to observe other swimmers, and said to glide more.)
300m - 10:31min

More dills, in pairs.

Very sleepy.....

Sea-Run Brick

YF Sea swim today.

1- 1x big, 1x small loop - 12min
2- 2x big, 1x small - 20min
3- 2x big - 18min

I brought my bike to ECP wanting to test the adjustments. But Coastal Rd was closed for the time trials. Anyway, a group of Fish decided to run, so Alber and I joined in. It was a good run, for 1hr. Ran from F2 to NSRCC pavilion (20min), and back (20min), and to the lagoon and back (20min). Counted cadence, realised it was possible to keep at 90ish/min. Decent.

Had lunch with the group after the training. Ran errands for the entire afternoon. How tiring.... *Yawn*

MR Easy Run

Lazy Saturday morning, lazy MR run. Glad I went late and missed the rain and the crowds. There was an opening ceremony of the new MR facilities by DPM Teo.

There was no sun, but high humidity. Did the usual 10km route with Alber, both deliberately at an easy pace, but my breathing was all off. We were under the canopy, but the thick heavy air still penetrated. I thought about trail running vs road. I was so acquainted with road running recently that my rhythm was in disarray this morning. Trail runs are like sea swims. Beyond our 'base pace', one's pace and cadence were dictated by the rocks and waves, rather than purely within our control.

The new MR facilities were decent and nice, except for the showers. Both the Ladies and Gents had 2 sets of showers - outdoors and indoors. The outdoor shower jets were cool and playful. But the indoor ones were very badly designed. The shower heads were fanciful and totally unfunctional. The water sprayed at everything, but me. I had to tiptoe, and still unable to wash properly. The spray angle was too high and diffused. Why spend money to install fanciful showers, when simple, no-frills but powerful jets work much better??

Swim Drills

Did my own drills today, for sheer boredom of having to do laps non-stop.... (200 + 100) x3 sets, with 30sec rest interval between every 200 & 100.

200- 5:15/ 30sec
100- 2:29/ 30sec
200- 5:18/ "
100- 2:28/ "
200- 5:19/ "
100- 2:29/ "
200- 5:24/ "
100- 2:33/ "
200- 5:29/ "
100- 2:25/ "
Total: 1500m/ ~39+min

YF Track Run

Did a light 2+km warm up jog before the YF session.

Cadence Drill
Time was tight, we headed straight for a warm-up on the track. Then cadence drills - as many steps as possible within 30sec across the grass. x 5-6 sets. Well, then we realised that the grass was not long enough, so we reduced the time to 20sec. Aim was to hit a 90-100ish/ min, as Vinnie recommended a 90/min cadence at race. We did a similar drill on Sat at the workshop. So every pair of steps (left-right) = 1 count. Mine averaged 105/min. The trick was to go light and many repeats. A lot of people ended up sprinting, hard, and panting. I did that too initially, then I realised the purpose of the drill was to train leg turnover, not speed or distance.

Main Training
Option of 3, 4, or 5 x 1.6km (based on ability); rest interval 1:30min (how awfully generous today!)
1- easy; 2- moderate; 3- hard
1- easy; 2- moderate; 3- hard; 4- easy
1- easy; 2- moderate; 3- moderate/ hard; 4- hard; 5- easy
This was what Vinnie shared on Saturday as well - alternating the intensity of the workout, deliberately doing the Hard set after one was tired out.

1- easy 8:28min (easy warm-up)/ rest 1min (5:17min pace)
2- moderate 7:51/ rest 1:30 (4:54min pace)
3- moderate 7:50/ 1:30 (4:54min pace)
4- hard 7:19/ 1:30 (4:34min pace)
5- easy 8:00 (5min pace)

Felt good, except for a slightly strained ankle.

Drills Brick

Experimented with doing drills with Alber. Quite fun, took the monotony out of the long swim.

Swim - 8x 200m (30sec rest interval - which was not strictly enforced...)
Ok, ideally, it would be varying intensity. Like moderate, hard, moderate, hard. But since Alber had to slow down for me to catch up, it probably was easy-moderate for him, and moderate-hard for me.

1- 5:09min (I led, Alber drafted)
2- 4:54 (Alber led, I drafted)
3- 5:14 (I led)
4- 4:54 (A led)
5- 5:11 (A led)
6- 5:03 (A led.... happiness in drafting :))
7- 5:21 (I led)
8- 5:00 (A led)

Run 5x MF loops
Legs were quite tired, did not have the blast. But managed to stay consistent.

1- 4:18/ 5:28
2- 4:25/ 5:38
3- 4:22/ 5:31
4- 4:18/ 5:30
5- 4:18/ 5:31