Double Short Runs

Hmmm, is mileage from having two short runs a day worse off, equivalent, or better than one longer run?

Did a relaxed wake up run in the morning (50min).
Did a relaxed chill-out run in the evening (108min).

What does that add up to?

Double Trots

Had a rest from running yesterday, figured I had enough mileage over the new year's break and should spare my legs for a day. Went for a nice long massage instead. It was the first day back at work and I already felt like I needed another break....

Ran along Rifle Range Road this morning. Nice cool morning after last night's rain. Easy run, 50min.

Decided to haul myself down to MF tonight as well and ended up trotting along for an hour. Two loops around Alexandra - Telok Blangah St 31. Another breezy evening, after this afternoon's downpour. One of those "lost in my thoughts" kind of run. Brain decompression, nice.

Back in the Humidity

Chicago is not called the "Windy City" for nothing. Despite temperatures of 15-18 degC, the wind chill factors were enough to cut through my micro-fleece (lesson: research more on the place before packing), which was the only warm jacket that I brought. I was ignorant of the 'wind' until I arrived. Brilliant...

So after a few days enjoying the cool weather, I was back and blasted by the heat in Singapore.

Did a short recovery run on Tues morning, like 50min up and down Rifle Range Road. Legs started off light, then became weights after 30min.

Went down to Safra and ran around Canterbury with Alber on Thurs, about 12km. Ok, decent.

On Saturday, I tried out my brand new TNF shoes (I will blog about that separately). Felt in form and aided by the cool weather, I went from BT-MR-Zhenghua-DairyFarm MTB route. It was about 26 - 27 km, of which the last 4km was a sudden downpour. It was one of those catchment area rainfalls, coming down strong and hard. In no time, the trail was transformed into a teh-tarik-orange mud pool. At many parts, there was no where to step but right into the puddles, with no clue of how deep it might be. Most of them were feet or ankle-deep. After a while, I gave up trying to circumvent the waters (conserving the new shoes was futile). There is something about running in the rain, in the trail (very important - not roads, but trail), that makes one feel alive. Like a child told not to go out and play in the rain, this is like a rebellious streak at work. :)

Sunday was spent on a supposedly last long run with friends (before the TNF race comes up in two weeks' time). I ran to MR and met them inside along the way, then back out again to Zhenghua, up the park connector for a distance, u-turned and retraced the route. I got it wrong and continued towards the Ranger Station for a water refill, instead of towards Jelutong Tower. It was a good mistake anyway because by the last 1 km, I was very low on sugar and energy. Glad to make it back and end the run. 24km. Starving. Iced chocolate milk to the rescue.

Evening 10ks

Term break for now, free of evening classes until mid-August. Time to recharge and focus attention on getting my backlog of work cleared up.

Joined in the club's run last night, 11km with Alber, relaxed. MF 10km + 1 loop. Ran another 10km tonight on my own around the club - 2 loops around Telok Blangah. Lost in thoughts about stuff that I needed to finish tonight for tomorrow's work. Will be away this weekend in Krabi and trying to get some work out of the way so that I would not be the bottleneck.

I think I much prefer morning runs - IF I can wake up early enough for a decently comfortable run, aka 1-ish hour. Legs often feel so much fresher and lighter in the mornings, and my mind is always cleared up after that.

My Little Evening Run

Life feels normal again, just for this week. School's over. Exam's over. And I can go join my friends at MF for an evening run and dinner, with no time pressure and back-of-mind stress. Ahh, life is pretty good for now.

I started late but followed the MF designated route for today. The start of the road run was a bit lacklustre. Went up Morse Road and across the Henderson Wave. The wooden bridge looked rather nice against the sunset. I think Singapore won some urban award for this bridge design. Across the bridge and down the other end, I bumped into Melvin who was waiting for the last runners. They had gone around the TB Hill loop, so I skipped that and rejoined the group towards Depot Road. Re-joined, as in they were within sight, not that I was running with them. A big difference.

I ran into Canterbury estate. Jaime and Melvin both said that we were supposed to do the 'short loop', but I had no idea what was the shortened version. I had only one route around Canterbury, or else I would get lost somewhere. So I simply ran that complete loop that I always did. I sort of like running in Canterbury and peering into all those big, nice Colonial bungalows. They were state property and not for sale. Only for rental and I think all to foreigners. They pay rents in the region of S$20,000 per month for a giant house nested in the greens and seclusion, full of character. After the loop, I continued to Alexandra and TB St 31 to get back to clubhouse.

A nice little evening run. Ahhh.

Sunday - no run. :(
Monday - no run. :((

Tuesday - Made it a special point to go down to MF Safra on Tuesday evening for a much needed run. I facilitated a corporate townhall session in the morning, and was all hyped and wired up to go. Needed a run to unwind, and especially so after two run-less days. I ran the 10km MF loop, it was months since I last went up the MF slope. Surprisingly it was not a pain and I was actually 5min faster than my usual MF loops. It was a while since I last ran on tarmac, and the pounding made itself known. It was certainly a lot stiffer and harder on the legs and knees!

Wednesday - Woke up early for a longer run this morning. The mere thought of hitting the trail sent a warm fuzzy feeling to me. :) Oh! For the freshness of air, the quietness of path, and the soft trodden mud. Somehwere in the midst of Durian Loop, there was a fallen tree trunk with branches everywhere. It took me a couple of minutes to stare and figure out how to climb-jump over it without falling into the ants trail that was on it. Then I ran to the ranger station toilet at MR, went out slightly to the barricaded part of the trail 'entrance' and u-turned. Would have happily (and automatically) gone on further if not for work. But all in, a nice sweat-drenched morning run. Mind all cleared up to face the day!

Slow Easy Evening Run

Legs refused to move this evening. I did a short 5km loop around MF before continuing with the Safra route for tonight. An easy 10km to Fort Canning and back. It felt kinda stressful to be running with a group, even though I did not attempt to keep pace. But still, I was more used to my morning solo runs, at my own pace and cadence.

At dinner, we picked up an abandoned black hamster from the hawker centre. Told Alber to buy a 20c plastic food container and put it in. Haha. Brought it home, bathed, fed and housed it in a fully-equipped hamster cage! Oh, the life (of the hamster)! Everyone went gaga, wondering if it was a rat or hamster. But it was too tame and slow to be a rat. Ahh, a rat would never be caught, and if placed on the hawker centre chair, would have jumped off instantly. Oh well, a new addition. :)

Safra Evening Run

Joined in the evening run at Safra tonight. It felt kinda different running in the evening as compared to the mornings. More stressful. There was more traffic on the roads, and runners to 'chase' after.

We ran to Kent Ridge Park and did 5 loops, and headed back via Depot Road. Not used to the slopes for a while and knees felt a little 'burning' after the loops.

Total 1:38h.

More Recovery Runs

Tues - 1x MF 5km loop + 1x 9km Canal-Ridley-Tanglin route
Total 14km. Legs were still heavy.

Thurs - Late and only had time for 1x Henderson 5.3km loop. :(
Legs were fresh but alas! shoes heavy. Ran with a pair of Kayanos and boy, were they heavy!

Last 10km

This could be my last 10km before the Sundown Ultra. I can't believe it's happening in 4 days' time. 100km. Road, tarmac. Eeeeks. I must have been unconscious or deluded when I signed up last year.

I was late tonight, as usual. Ran by myself around the 10km MF loop. Managed to catch the guys in time for dinner.

Tired.

Canterbury Loops

Didn't join the Safra route today as I was late. Ran with Alber into Canterbury and we did 3 loops at conversational pace. Average 20min per loop of 3ish-km each. Total run time: 1:35h. Enough to earn my dinner.

Looking forward to the weekend trip with my IM kakis. Finally, an endurance trip of a different sort. No power gels, no bikes, no runners. Just pure city decadence!

Telok Blangah Loop

Legs felt like lead today. Attempted a 10km route - two loops around T.Blangah Heights. Plodded along, about 33min per loop. 10km felt like 50km. Groan.

Running round the MF 山

Loop and loop, revisited MF again.

6x MF loops. On average 10:++ min per loop.

Nice & chill. :)

What I Did Last Week

Post-Sundown marathon, my legs were still so jellied, I trotted a few times.

Mon - too dead to run
Tues - late meeting, no run
Wed - 2x Telok Blangah Hts 5km loop 1-ish hour
Thurs - spent 2.5h on the bus trying to get home, missed swim & did a 1:20h run around the estate
Fri - more furniture shopping
Sat - food marathon
Sun - it rained so heavily that many parts of Singapore were flooded. Managed to squeeze in an 1h run

Round and Round the MF Loops

I was very early today and went for a 5km run prior to Safra's group, followed by MF loops. I skipped the stairs and ran back to club.

5km - 29min

5.5x MF loops - 9.36, 9.47, 10.01, 10.01, 10.56, ...

Continued by the return via Kg Bahru.

Total 19km

Yeah!

Two new loops

Safra training plan: 3 loops of 5+km tempo run around Depot Rd - Telok Blangah Hts.

It was the first time I ran that route. There was a long gradual upslope near Telok Blangah Hts which was rather fun to attempt. The roads were slightly wet after the rain and the weather very cool. It was the perfect weather for a personal 'time out' chat to self. I did my first loop at 33min. Obviously not a 'tempo' pace. Oops. I went on my second loop and was overtaken by Jackie and WL at the mid-way point, their third loop. Very fast guys. Alas, towards the end of my second loop, it started raining, and most people stopped.

Sub-1hour

I ran the 10km MF loop tonight and was pleasantly surprised that I could still go below an hour, plus some walking. 58min to be exact. On Monday, it was 1:00h. 2min faster. Not a terribly huge difference, but it was significant in my context - slacking, long distance ploddings and generally slow, slower, slowest. So my face lit up when I checked my watch. :)

Running Ideation

I went running around MF tonight. 10km. It was a very warm evening, but the fun of running compensated for the humidity. It was amazing how running could become such a great ideation process. I was fresh out of a workshop and random ideas were still milling in my mind. Loved it when they collide randomly as I stomped my way around the MF hill.

Oooh! Now I wonder what it might be like to design and conduct a running brainstorming session. That's right, run and think at the same time. Oh and don't forget the facilitator having to trot alongside and get people thinking/ talking! Ahhh.... wicked!

First Love - Running Shoes

No amount of self persuasion or coercion could get me to the pool tonight. Sigh. My friends stopped the class and I found no motivation to enter the water. Very reluctantly. So I headed for the next path of least resistance, to my running shoes.

Alas, my calves and lower calves were so tight, no kidding. They were like rock solid 'bloated', and felt impossible to run with that heaviness. So I waddled along. Poor Alber had to keep jogging on the spot, running backwards and all sorts, just to wait for me.

We went up Morse Road, the usual 6km route. But we turned up a flight of stairs back onto MF loop, instead of running past clubhouse for a second round. A little confusing for my first time, but I soon understood the route.

Total: 12km.

Run & Core

Today we did a short run to the Queenstown Stadium, followed by some core exercises, then back to Safra. It was my first time joining in their group core exercises. Not as intense or long as the ones we used to do in Yellowfish Strides class, but it was a nice refresher. We did sets of jumping jacks, push-ups, leg raises, side planks and frontal plank. Fun! The 4km jog back to club was reasonably fast, I enjoyed the higher cadence and pace.

Now it remains to pack my gear and hope not to crash in HK marathon this weekend. :)