Late late late

Late for swim class. Left work about 7pm. I guessed I would only reach the pool at 745pm. :( So I went to Safra club instead for a swim. 30 laps.... I felt so stiff and tired that it was a struggle to get through the laps. :( 39:32min.

YF Strides Day 3

I was late and only managed a 1.6km (4x 400m) for warmup.

Static drills - today we increased the per set timing to 25sec (from 20sec).
1 set = Drill 25", rest 10", drill 25"
We did 8 sets:
- normal plank
- one-leg squat
- cunch & hold
- push-up & hold

Run drills -
1 set = 3 drills
High-knee 100m, recovery jog back 100m
High cadence 30m (it was more...), recovery jog to 100m mark & back
Horse-kick (almost like a butt-kick, but deliberately landing on entire soles & scooping heels backwards) 100m, recovery jog back 100m

Gaining muscle mass, aka bulk! Eeeeeks!

Safra Avventura Race

I set off early this morning for Jurong Safra where the Safra adventure race would be held. It was the first time they were using the brand new club and vicinity. After a gear check and registration, we were done and had to wait for an hour before the race flag-off. So I caught a snooze in the car while waiting.

The race began with a 8-9km run from Jurong Safra towards Discovery Centre near SAFTI MI. All the checkpoints would be conducted within the army training compounds. It felt like TNF run, deja vu! We were making good time on the run and were amongst the earlier mixed teams to reach the first checkpoint. The ride in was on tarmac so that was not as worrying for me.

Alas, at one of the checkpoints, we were asked to deflate 2 tires and re-inflate them. We deflated both of KC's tires, and that was when one of the valves broke as we were pumping it. Oops! Change of inner tube. But something was wrong with the tube too, and it burst after a short ride. Darn. Luckily Foo had another spare and gave it to us. So that was time wasted with tube changes and pumping, and we dropped far behind the other teams. What a lame activity...

Next up was the Team Biathlon segment - ie. one to ride, one to run. The organizers made us go many loops, I was totally lost. Thankfully KC was an ace navigator, all I had to do was follow. He was also a very strong runner, and I was hopeless cycling on the trail. In the end, he ran faster than I rode, and was even ahead of my bike! *unbelievable*

We rode to the canoe checkpoint, hauled the boat into the waters and rowed away. I think it was some reservoir that seemed closed to the public. More team biathlon after the canoe, we kept going round and round. The guys flew down the rocky slopes while I pushed the bike. Eeeks! I was still fearful of bashing downslope. There was a lot of cycling this year, some parts felt rather aimless to me. Cycling for the sake of clocking the distance.

Finally, we dropped the bikes and ran to the rope stations. It was held at the SOC area and we literally had to go through some of the army boys' SOC stations! Monkey bar, wooden beam, log steps, ramp, and then finally the jumar and abseil towers. But the bottleneck meant a long wait for our turn at the ropes. We waited more than an hour before getting hooked up onto the ropes. Sheesh. Ropework was my favourite, but unfortunately it was always the bottleneck during races. Reminder to self to get thicker gloves. My palms burnt as I abseiled down. Ouch.

That was the last checkpoint. We had to run all the way back to Jurong Safra. On the way exiting the military grounds, we had to do a few more obstacles. By the time we left, we had only 40min to make it back before the cut-off time. Gosh. We ran and ran, or rather, I chased and chased. We thought we were taking the same 8-9km route back, in which case, we might not meet the time. Argh, mad dash! Luckily, it was a different and shorter route and made it back safely within the time cut-off. Whew!

Long Swim

Dropped off my bike at Jurong Safra for the adventure race tmrw. Checked out the new clubhouse facilities, and used the pool. Rather decent lap pool.

We did 60 laps. I think I miscounted and did 2 more.

1- 12:56min
2- 13:23
3- 13:39
39:59:59 (wow!)

4- 17:02 (must have swam extra)
5- 14:44
6- 14:12
1:26h

Burnt!

Hopeless Merging

Coach put me in Lane 3 tonight. Lanes 2 & 3 were doing the same drills. Gosh, I had a lot of chasing to do, seeing who the swimmers in the lanes were.

We did countless laps of pull drills. Then on to swim. I was the last swimmer in the lane. I gave up timing after a while because the distances were off since I did not end at the wall, or I had to merge along the way.

100m, 200m, x 3 sets
100, 200 x 4 sets
To me, they seemed like 300, 300, 300.... or simply 900 & 1,200m non-stop!

Then 12x 50m sprints. Due to the large number of swimmers, and my slow speed, the first swimmer set off even before I reached the end. Hence a few near-collisions because people were swimming towards me. Argh... super ego-bruising. Darn.

YF Strides Day 2

Interesting circuit training and drills for tonight. I saw many groups at SMU track doing circuit training ala boot camp style. They looked like they were having fun, executing high-paced, high-intensity drills.

For our YF Strides, the circuit menu tonight was:
Station 1: push-up hold 20", rest 10", push-up hold 20"
Station 2: superman hold 20", rest 10", repeat 20"
Station 3: one-legged squat 20", rest 10", change leg
Station 4: side plank 20", rest 10", change side

2.4km drills x 2sets
Run 300m, and do a specific drill for 100m
There were 6 drills in total: high cadence, butt kick, russian dance, hop, high knee, heel strike stride.

1- 1:54
2- 2:03
3- 2:14
4- 2:15
5- 2:11
6- 1:58
Total: 12:38min

7- 2:02
8- 2:07
9- 2:20
10- 2:11
11- 2:18
12- 1:55
Total: 12:57min

----- and the post-training spiel from Coach -----

I saw most of you were bashing through the 100m drills during the 2x2.4km.Slow down and focus on the techniques and concentrate on the form during the 300m, it's not how fast you can do the drills, it's how well you can execute.. (gee, that sounds familiar, like his swimming tagline)

Many reasons for what all those drills --

Fast cadence---A lower cadence causes you to land harder on the ground. With higher cadence allows you to reduce contact on ground.

Kick butt---It's mainly for the hamstring. Focus is on a the smooth action.

Russian----Just want to make fun of you all

Hopping---Spring up to train your legs strides flexibility, strength...

High knees---Increase leg turnover and improve your knee lift when you need to pick up the pace.

Heels stride---You will need these on the last 2 to 5km in Triathlon.Just open your stride to increase the speed

Adventure Calendar

I am still wondering what adventures to fit into my calendar this year. Let's see, I've a few things in mind, major events that I have or would really love to do each year (and that list is getting longer... in no order of priority):

1x Ironman
1x Ultra-run
1x High altitude climb

In that context, I think I'd have to give Mongolia a miss. Between the Mongolia 100k and a climb, the latter has more appeal. I guess that's simply because I just ran the MR-Ultra 84km and suddenly the 100km seemed less challenging and daunting. I probably only have resources, time & money, for one of the two events.

So then I wonder if I should attempt the Gold Coast marathon in July? The grand paper-plan is to do Phuket half as a lead-up to GCM full. But would I be able to do a good timing in GCM if I am not training for it? The expectations (personal & external) of a good sub-4h carried some pressure.

Or maybe I could combine 2-in-1 and go for the Everest Base Camp marathon, achieving both a high-altitude trek and run. But that's not a climb, really.

Argh.... options and temptations.