Florida - a dangerous place?

Of all the runs I'd done in foreign lands, I think I did the most runs in Adelaide. Next would be Florida.

I'd always thought that Florida is rather uninteresting as runs go. Flat as a pancake, unless it's in north-west Florida where the terrain is closer to that in Georgia. And the Floridians there are more Georgians than Miamians. I'd also thought that Florida (other than the big cities) is safe. Until today.

I was minding my own business on my 22km run when a car passed me and I heard a cat whistle. The window was wound down, and I couldn't be sure that it wasn't the same driver who hollered at me two days ago. It was along the same stretch of road. (Incidentally, MBH didn't appreciate that at all.)

Surprised - and somewhat shocked - I couldn't imagine why someone would do that. Not unless it was a old fat lady who gets a kick cat whistling a bald fat guy. Or was it the SKINS compression tights?

BFG rave Runs: Naples, FL

Where would you see flashy cars such as the BMW X6, Acura, hummers, vintage cars and hear a lady driver wound down her window and shouted "Whoo-hoo, way to go!"when running? Where would you get stopped by Americans asking for directions, and go green with envy with the dedicated bike lanes? Where would you run past nicely manicured and stately million dollar real estate?

Many places, I'd bet. But I happen to be in Naples, Florida. For a conference. Two years ago, I was in the vicinity, about 30 miles to the north at Captiva Island. Four months ago, I was freezing my butt off in Orlando, four hours away. Florida, the sunshine state, home of wealthy retirees and millionaires. And for me, merely flat roads to build up my mileage.

So the first two of a series of runs here - 10 km and 15 km easy runs, both at HR target of 150. Been a while since I ran in such nice weather, with a good wind but not strong enough to become an issue.

Tackling Kampung Kaki circuit

We had been talking about the Kampong Kaki circuit for a while, but didn't have the gumption to do the climbs. This morning was our first attempt - a relatively short challenge to confront our nemesis - the climb.

We rode down Farrer and Queensway, just to get the legs going. Road works along Pasir Panjang were annoying, but once we started up Henderson, it was all systems go. Led by our resident champion cyclist AY, we turned into Telok Blangah hill and although it was tough, we found it manageable.

This is the Kampung Kaki website describes TB Green:

The climb here is longest. From start of Henderson Road to the carpark, located at the top of Telok Blangah Hill Park, is approximately 2.1km. The climb distance is 2.0km. This is a popular spot for visitors most mornings of the week; the park provides keep fit amenities for elderly citizens as well as joggers.

Back to Henderson, through Depot and down Alexandra - that was a thrill. Hit 45 kph.

The fun really started at South Bouna Vista. Our front riders decided to turn right into Vigilante Drive. That, in my humble opinion, is another climb altogether. Almost immediately, we hear groans and moans (and silent curses), and one after another, we stopped. All except Albert, who went all the way to the top, proving why he's our champ!  I made it up to only the second turn. HR was 190 when I bailed out.

After Vigilante, SBV turned out to be relatively easy, and so was Kent Ridge. I could still remember how tough I found KR last year. Good to see many cyclists going round NUS. Then it was back up Clementi, Ulu Pandan before heading back to RV.

Tough ride, but well worth the sweat. Should do more such rides to build strength.

As for me, I was only too happy to survive this ride without cramping, especially after 70+ km of running this week. The Zipp 303s I borrowed helped in a big way.

Now for the other KK rides (utlimate climb: Mt Faber).

LSD run with Team FatBird

On KL's prompting, I registered with Team FatBird for their ultra marathon training program. Although registration had closed, they were kind enough to accept WD and me. Each week, we'd get an email detailing the training runs for the week as well as a number of organized runs. This evening, I joined their 25km run at the Big Splash, starting from 9:30 pm.

Quite a large turnout, and TFB coach gave a short talk on the importance of sleep and recovery. As I learnt later, TFB coach is a 2:30 marathoner!

The organizers - DR and DO - were very hospitable, and introduced me to a number of runners. Spoke at length to H, who is a strong ultra runner. During the run, DO ran with me most of the way until the half marathon training turnaround point. He was really sincere in sharing his running and racing experiences,

I turned back just past NSRCC (the turnaround time is 1.5 hours) for safety and accountability reasons. Started to feel the impact of the tarmac, and slowed down to almost 8 min pace. Took a few toilet breaks,  and pace slowed over the last 4 km.

Overall pace 7:12 over 20km; HR 153.

BFG rides for Charity

Registered for the 2010 Charity Bike n Blade! Committed to raise funds for the St Luke's Eldercare.

Check out the website at give.sg

Let's Share Our Roads

Togoparts.com launched the "Let's Share Our Roads" cyclist awareness car decal campaign in response to the tragic death of a cyclist. MBH and I went down to East Coast MacDonalds where the car decals would be given out.

Let's do our part to raise awareness!

TLog: back to long runs

Received the overview of my training plan for SD, and it is both expected and unexpected. Expected: mileage buildup with back to back long runs, the highlight of which would be two 42km btb runs followed by a 60km run a few days later. Unexpected: my race plan of keeping HR below 140 is thrown out of the window. In its place HR of 150, a stepped up intensity from WDWM training.

Coach has a target race time in mind, and I almost fell off my chair when I read it this morning. Too embarrassing to declare the target here. Some things are best kept private. Let's just say that I would work toward that target but I'm going to keep my original strategy as the fall back plan.

Anyway, after all that hot long runs to prep for Aviva, it was a joy to run in the cool evenings. More so because of the recent rain. Yesterday's 18km run felt - dare I say it - relatively easy. In this evening's short 5 km run at HR150, pace went as fast as 6:04. Just a temporary blip after two weeks of R&R. Let's see how I feel after a few more weeks of high mileage runs.

One friend commented recently that I don't write much about running these days. Guilty as charged. The fact is that I find cycling to be a lot more fun, especially with the FOTRers. But running is the inescapable core, providing the best mode for retrospection and meditative therapy.

It is good to return to the core.