Starting them early

Hitting the 30kph average

For the longest time, we have been languishing in the sub-30kph average in our rides. Along came EN and he pulled us to hit the new high over 60km.

The next ride, SC kept us at that magical 30kph average over the same route, and we were beaming from ear to ear.

Following that, we came in at 28 kph average, over almost 60 km, but with two loops of Kaki Bukit. Thanks to CS and SC. We are definitely on a roll here :)

Should be a nice ITT for our friends next week.

MAMILs

BBC article on Middle Aged Men in Lycra (MAMILs)

Back on the bike

Too many LSD runs have left my cycling muscles dormant for too long. So it was good to get back to cycling again, with a mid-week ride with JN and IN, and two longer rides over the weekend with FOTR.

The Sat ride was 75km through Braddell and Kaki Bukit viaduct (nice!), Punggol Point (what a rush), Sengkang (got lost), YCK (never ending; met AY there), Mandai (never seen so many cyclists at the Shell station before) before heading back via Upper Bt Timah. It was WL's first ride on cleats, so he had some difficulty adjusting to them. To his credit, he did not fall! So he's now officially our cleat hero.   :)

Sunday ride started off with dark clouds looming, but we decided to go ahead anyway. Towards the end of CCR, it started pouring and we took shelter at Changi village - and had some hot coffee and toast. HP improved substantially and reached 30 kph! Bravo.

This morning's ride was called off due to lightning and thunder. A downer for sure, but we win some and we lose some.

Letter to the press

One of our regular FOTR-ers wrote this letter to the press. The event referred to in the article occurred last Saturday.

Educate road users on cyclists' rights

Well put indeed!

Road users should appreciate that cyclists have the right to use the roads as well. Many times we encountered inconsiderate drivers who would not give way to us, even though we had the right of way; honk at us for no good reason; cut into our lane recklessly expecting us to brake and give way; and coming so close as to force us off the road!

There has been a good number of articles of late focusing on the problems with riding on the roads. That this should come before a major cycling event - OCBC cycle - is testament to the need to overhaul the public attitude towards cyclists' rights.

Back to training, getting over rusty kinks

It had been a long long three weeks away from biking and swimming. It felt good to be back in the pool - an easy 30 lap swim just to get back into it. Lots of work to do to get back on track.

This morning was an easy 40km ride to Changi Village and Selarang. Couldn't sleep due to jet lag, so at 4 am, I went out. Streets were quiet. Somewhat startled by a car parked along the coastal road without lights on. It was certainly occupied, but hey, keep the lights on for safety reasons!

Good to work those cycling muscles, focusing on high cadence, pulling and the aerobar position. Back in time to say hi to the boys before they set off for school.

Gonna sign up for the Tribob Bintan training camp in Feb. 120km ride on Sat and the OD course on Sun.

Midweek ride with JoyRiders

It was with a mixed sense of anticipation and apprehension that JN and I rode to LH to join the JoyRider Wed newbie ride this morning. We'd heard much about the group, how large and enthusiastic the group is, and how fast they ride. But promptings from Sharon and Jodan brought us there - just to see for ourselves.

The website notes that newbie rides are at about 27 kph. With some mileage in the bank, we thought we could meet that speed.

We were early arriving at LH, reaching there about 4:50 am. Only one other rider was there. Within minutes, more than 40 to 50 gathered, all with blinkers and all primed for the ride. Caught up with Sharon and Joyce, and got introduced to many others. A friendly bunch of guys.

As newbies, we suck to the rear. Riding in twos is something we are new at, so we tended to leave some distance between us and the front cyclists. The route was via Thomson and Upper Thomson Road, not our usual Old Thomson Road. Almost missed the Mandai/Seletar reservoir turning. Several did not turn, opting to go the easier (?) route.

As we were not going to do RRR, we thought we would push it a bit along this stretch and we did have a good workout. Joyce teased us for overtaking, but the truth was that we were pretty flat by the end of this stretch.

We were among the last to arrive at Mandai Shell, and with less than a couple of minutes rest, the train was rollin'.

Got caught behind a traffic light and we saw later that Sharon and another lady rider were waiting for us. Thanks, ladies!

We got back at 6:11 am. Couldn't believe how early we were done.

Overall, good ride. Ave speed: 27.7 kph, a tad faster than our usual.

We really appreciated how the seasoned riders took care of us, especially making sure that we were ok.

Riding in a big group posed different challenges. It was almost like a race where we had to look out for others constantly. To consider overtaking, and looking back to see if the path was clear. To have others overtake us. To slow down or speed up with the group, etc. What we couldn't see was the front pack... only at the start at LH and at Mandai Shell. Real speedsters they were!

New cycling route and SCSM training run

This was a tricky week mainly because I had many guests in town for a symposium. Between hosting lunches, dinners, research seminars and of course the symposium, I had to juggle my schedule around. In reverse order, this was what I did this week:

Sun - a 44 km ride covering the same Mandai route as last week, with the addition of a detour to the end of Rifle Range Road. IN first suggested this a couple of weeks ago. Apparently TriBob uses this training route frequently; in fact, during our 36 km run last week, we saw a number of cyclists going up and down RRR.

From the BTVC, the road starting inclining, gradually at first and then increasing in gradient. The slope was not that bad, but it was the length of it that sapped our energy. In fact, I felt the burn in my quads (the left in particular), the first in many months since I'd felt that. Two nice declines, especially the last, where we reached a top speed of 48 kph. That meant that we had a tough first incline to negotiate on the way back. PK was very strong on RRR - overtook me and holding the lead to the end, and then putting a large lead on the way back. What would he do with a better bike?!

Great training route - the 3.5km long RRR. Was hesitant on the descent as I couldn't see very well in the early hours of the morning. And I didn't know the lay of the land too well.

Sat - a 22 km PMC run with DW and OPK. OPK ran just 5 km, and returned to PMC. The two of us slogged through the increasingly hot morning, at a modest pace of about 8 min/km. Took a couple of breaks, finishing in over 3 hours. This was the second in our training runs in the lead up to the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon for PMC running community

Fri - R&R

Thu - R&R

Wed - 8.5km trail run with increasing pace.

Tue - 30 lap easy swim

Mon - R&R

I guess the key question is how do my legs feel? They felt much better this week, even though I did 36k last Sat compared to the previous 30k. No pain in the right knee, which was a relief. Still some stiffness so I did a lot of stretches on the off days. The weekend workouts were good to burn off all the excess calories I took in during the week as a result of hosting lunches and dinners.

Nothing much to do except to taper for NF100 next Sat.

Another long bike ride and short run (55-5)

Twas a busy scene at PMC when I drove in at 4:50am. The youths were having a all-nighter, and there were many folks to say hi to. Unfortunately, JN forgot his helmut and it became a solo ride.

Headed through Pasir Ris into Tampines ave 10, turned into Old Tampines Road, retracing the route to Punggol Road. Pretty uneventful all the way. Backtracked via the same way as I didn't like the route along Eunos Link. Back to PMC and continued to Loyang, Changi V and the Changi Exhibition center where I u-turned.

The ride was smoother, by virtue of degreasing and lubing the chain a couple of days ago. In the big chain ring all the way. This was an easy ride, so I kept it comfortable, between 25 to 28 kph. No breaks except for traffic lights.

It might have been fatigue, but I struggled up Loyang Ave on the way back to PMC. Overtaken by a group of cyclists on the incline :( But at 50+k mark, I didn't feel like ramping it up.

There was a run session at 7:30am, and I thought no one was going to show up. But I was wrong. Edw turned up and we promptly went for a slow 5 k jog/run around Pasir Ris Park. On the way back, three groups of cyclists rode past - mainly Joyriders. Interestingly there was a tandem bike keeping pace with one of the groups. That's a first for me. Didn't know that tandem bikes could go so fast. :)

So how did it feel with a second back-to-back long workouts? Surprisingly the legs felt much better than last week. Not much tightness, definitely no limping. Granted, this week's mileage is a tad lower than last week's, and the ride is not as demanding.

View ride.
Well, let's see how the legs hold up tomorrow at the Prison Yellow Ribbon Run.

Master the Middle by Mark McKay

Have been thumbing through a few triathlon magazines over the past months. 220Triathlon, a British publication, provides very good training tips.

In the typical British understated way, the Ironman is referred to as long distance triathlon and the 70.3 is the middle distance. Here's an abstract of the article from Mark McKay on how to deal with the cycling leg of 70.3:

1. Strength and endurance
Goal is to develop body's efficiency by training it to cope with longer sustained efforts. Utilize a greater amount of body fat as fuel, and have strength for the run. Training periods of about three quarters of the total estimated race time. E.g. total race time is 6 hours, train 4.5 hours - either all on the bike or 3 hour bike plus 90 min run.

2. Core Strength
Need to build up core strength to hold the body together for 6 hours or more. Do planks.

3. Fuel ability

4. Recovery time

5. Equipment/bike position
Comfort over speed and aerodynamics. Important that shoulders, neck and back aren't too sore for the run (I got that problem at the Bintan OD!). Raise bars and drop saddle height.

Race Ready in 16 weeks

Week 1: Adjust bike position in preparation for increased training distances.

Week 2: Complete up to 3x2hr rides at non-burn pace - know this pace!

Week 3: Add an extra 30 min onto rides

Week 4: Do a 3hr ride non-stop if possible.

Week 5: Ride for up to 2hrs in the racing position.

Week 6: Review bike position, taking any aches/pains into consideration.

Week 7: Complete a 3 and 3.5hr ride non-stop.

Week 8: Practice the racing position for 2x90min in a session.

Week 9: Complete a 3 and 4 hr ride with a stop.

Week 10: Complete a 3 and 4 hr ride non-stop.

Week 11: Complete 2x4hr rides non-stop.

Week 12: Easy week with reduced distances.

Week 13 and 14: Shorter, faster rides.

Week 15 and 16: You're now race ready.