Inexplicable

Runners know well how it is. Struggling with an easy run one day, and cruising through a fartlek workout the next.

That was how I felt. Struggled with yesterday's easy 10km run, found the heat and humidity hard work. Then this evening, with a cool breeze and lower temperatures, I was surprised at how relatively enjoyable the 4x1 km fartlek (target 6:40 pace) workout went.

Pace and HR
6:38@148
6:35@149 6:23@156 6:26@150

1km recovery jog in between.

Water, water everywhere ...

Never thought that it would be cooler to run in Singapore than in ADL. But the temperature reached 43 deg C on Wed, the day that my family and I returned to SIN.

Tuesday was a decent day for another 16km fartlek run (2km@HR155 and 1km@HR165) along my favorite Torrens River NE route, and I managed to squeeze in a short 8 km run on Wed morning round the oval for the last time.

Thursday was Christmas eve, but I was able to do a 15 km easy run that evening. It was fortuitous in some sense for it rained on and off most of this past week. HR was a little erratic, but I think it is just the HRM.

Christmas day run was another 16km fartlek (same workout as Tue's). I was quite pleasantly surprised to attain the same pace as in ADL, even with the higher humidity. Caveat - it was a cool evening run.

Boxing day was a ride with the 5 am gang, now nicknamed FOTR (Fellowship of the Ride). Good to be back feeling the sweat and humidity. It just didn't feel right to complete a long ride with a dry jersey. For more details about this ride, read post by thebesttaticanbe. I wasn't sure if my legs would be up to the challenge of Mandai and RRR after 55 km of running this week. But surprisingly, muscle memory pulled me through. And the legs felt better after the ride :)

Sunday was supposed to be a rainy day, but it rained only in the evening, spoiling my plans for a long run. Never mind ... enjoying the cool wet respite from the hot dry weather of ADL, and enjoying my favorite Asian food as well.

Would love to get back into the pool ... missing on the swim for the past three weeks.

Heat wave!

Summer's finally here, with two consecutive days at 38 to 39 deg C. Stepping out of the air-conditioned office felt like stepping into a furnace. Every surface, wall and road radiated hot burning heat. Certainly not ideal weather to run.

However, I ran early morning on the first 38 deg day and late in the evening on the second to avoid the worst of the heat wave. Short runs - fartleks about 1:15 to 1:45 hours. The second session was long intervals - 2km at HR155, recover and then 1 km at HR165. Supposed to do this twice, but I did three sets instead for good measure. Able to come within the time targets, although HR was a wee bit higher than the 155 target.

Thu's rain brought much welcomed relief, bringing the temperature back down to the low 20s. Getting spoiled by this cool weather...

Anyway, did a short 7km recovery run around the Oval at HR145, ave pace 7:00.

Festivities

Tis the season to be jolly. Christmas is round the corner, and the festive spirit is in the air.

I couldn't help but notice this on my run yesterday evening. It was 6:30 pm when I started off (summer days in the southern hemisphere), and there was a big concert at the Torrens river. Further up, there was a Christmas display by the riverbank. Both events attracted hordes of people out to enjoy the cool Sunday evening.

Headed on the path westwards, as far as Adam St where the path was under construction. Covered 12km, fartlek-style.

That was the third fartlek run of the week. Yes, this week, I ran more than I biked. Partly training intensity was stepped up for the Jan race, and partly, I had to burn off all the excesses from the good food and wine consumed over the past two to three weeks. I had more fine dinners and great wines during this period than for the entire year.

Overall, 45km run and 40km bike. Coach has scheduled more higher intensity runs instead of long easy runs in view of my high mileage for TNF. Good to feel the burn of hard runs.

TLog: All the usual suspects and Lost in Transition

Tuesday: 44 laps including 6x50m pull buoy and 6x200m fast paced swim.

pull: 0.59, 0.57, 1.00, 0.59, 0.59, 1.00 with 30s recovery
200m: 4.31, 4.39, 4.47, 4.40, 4.42, 4.42 with 1 min recovery; decent timings compared to last 200m's.

Without realizing it, some bad habits started creeping back. Noticed that the legs and hip were sinking, kick was too strong (outside shadow zone), head too tilted when breathing on the left, not waiting for the recovery hand to catch up before pulling, not catching, etc. All the usual suspects! So this session main focus was to remedy the above faults as best as I could.

Wednesday: 35k bike + 3k run brick session.

Forecast was for rain in the early morning.. not again! It was not raining when I rode out and thankfully the weather held up. Went on aerobars and big chainring most of the time now. Quite pleased that I was able to maintain close to 30 kph speed even on aerobars. All the way to Changi village and back with detours to commando camp and Simpang Bedok.

5x10min fartlek (give or take a few minutes, as I use 5 km instead of 10 min, and depending on traffic lights). After some getting used to, it is actually more comfortable and easier riding in the aero position. Half way through, I found the arm rests soaked with sweat, a new discovery! :)

Ave 26 kph, time taken 1:20, ave HR 136

Run leg: Ave pace 6.33, ave HR 151. Started off quite fast, below 6:20 pace and had to slow down to maintain expected race pace. Good transition run. Started to drizzle and rain after 2k, but that's a welcome relief. I enjoyed running in the rain, but not cycling in the rain for obvious reasons.

TLog: Fartlek and Mandai loop

8.5 km fartlek run yesterday evening at Hougang and Seng Kang. After 1 km warmup, 1.6 km at faster pace (which turned out to be 5:15 average - faster than my usual tempo pace). 400m recovery and repeat. Went past the flyover that we ran during teh Suburban Run. Ended up at the large field on east side of Seng Kang, before turning back. Many kites and hobby planes there.

Trailed an elderly gentleman on the way back. I was winged after the flyover, but the gentlemen dropped me like a snail. :(

This morning was another ride on the Mandai loop. SY joined us and we met at JN's place. Same route as two weeks ago, but the change this time is that we turned into Mandai Road instead of heading via Mandai Avenue. Was told that this would be an interesting stretch. Indeed it was. Slopes for about 2 km ... nice.

Next up - Kranji and Lim Chu Kang!

BFG Rave Runs: Fartlek in Stockholm

Fartlek, as readers know, is speedplay in Swedish. What better place to do a fartlek run than in Stockholm Sweden!

Headed due east this morning, toward Ladugårdsgärdet, a part of the 27sq km Ekoparken, the world’s first national park within a city. Just 2 to 3 km from Gamla Stan (old town), it was quite startling to run into vast open spaces and woods (pine trees?) under a clear blue sky. There were many stately houses at Nobelparken (Nobel prize winners get to live here?) and ran past the PRC embassy.

An old poster from the Stockholm marathon was left on a lamp-post, a reminder that this is part of the marathon route. Some day, perhaps?

Over to the north was the Kaknastornet, the tallest building in the city. This is the automatic operations centre for radio and TV broadcasting in Sweden, that opened in 1967 and provides what is termed the best view of Stockholm. Since I didn't have my camera phone with me, this pix (aerial view from the east) will have to do:


Crossed the short bridge into Djurgården, this time I ran due west along the unpaved footpath besides the waterway. The crunch of gravel beneath the shoes was the only sound along this stretch, and I was glad for the occasional runner out there with me.

Today's training called for 3 sets of 10 min fast-paced run with HR above 150, followed by 3 min recovery. Basically a mile-repeat training.

Completed the third set just at the bridge heading back toward the whart, and took a slow 2 km warm down back to the hotel.

At a traffic junction, a lady cyclist pulled up beside me. She's riding a Cervelo P2 - exact color scheme as mine. Nice! (I mean the bike, not the biker.)

Noticed a few walkers and skaters out there, with Nordic inline skates and ski poles. Stockholm has a good network of cycling lanes, even in the town center. From my limited observation, I see good discipline amongst cyclists. Something to emulate, Singapore!

View Larger Map
Today, there's a marathon over at Kustmaran, a remote town in Sweden. Last Sat, there was the Midnight Sun marathon at Tromso Finland. Yes, I'd checked these out for some future reference! ;)

Enjoyed the tremendous weather, fresh air, cool evenings and long days.

TLog: fartlek session

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of speedwork (which explains why I am slow). But today's fartlek session went like this:

2 km warm up
1 km @ 7 (actual: 6:48)
1 km @ 6 (5:48)
1 km @ 5 (5:00)
1 km @ 8 (4 min recovery jog)
1 km @ 6 (5:56)
1 km @ 5 (5:08)
2 km cool down

Max HR:187