Weekend Exercises
Its 11.50pm and I'm in FuZhou, China. Just checked in, freaking tired. Did not get any sleep during the flight (quite a good flight with Xiamen Airlines though). So here I am in the hotel, just think I'll post something and finish updating my business cards (!!). Interesting stuff at work but that's another story.
Anyway, great weekend otherwise. I just had to do one long ride to acclimatize my butt to the long 160km Bike Rally next Sunday. To be real honest I don't think I can fare as well as last year (where I actually came into the finish with the front pack!) as since taking up a lot of running, been neglecting my top of the line electronic shifting carbon bike!
Managed to rope KL into this ride (he's in the Bike Rally as well) and met him at Nicoll at 5.45am. I did not intend to push, just to last the distance with a decent speed was the target. However, upon going up the Viaduct, KL was leading at 35km/h. There was Anza tri-bike loner drafting us. Decided to push up the pace and took the lead up to 40-43km/h.....managed to keep the speed for a good 2-3km and the tri-bike did his part leading at similar speeds. KL was dropped and my HR was pushing 184bpm. Slowed down and motioned the Anza guy to go on by himself as I needed to wait for KL. We hit like 31km/h ride average at Jalan Buroh already and at Jalan Bahar a really fast group passed us. Decided to tail them...wow these guys are fast.....faster than those Anza groups. It was a mad dash after every traffic lights and they hit 40+km/h fast. I was at the tail end and at LCK they really pumped up the speed from the red lights....I tried my best to catch their draft but just could not get to the tail end and they were pushing 50 already.....gave up and waited for KL....by that time already the end of LCK. Lots of riders on the road that day. We did pretty good, ending my 101km ride with an ride average of 30.5km/h. Felt 'ok' but I used to do this route (and longer) at these speed same time last year ALONE without any drafting. That's how much I've deteriorated.
Tired from yesterday's ride and only managed a 4.5hr sleep.....I was struggling at 5am...whether to wake up to run....it was a mental battle and eventually I decided to move my ass at 5.30am I got up. Mostly because of the fact that I'll be away 4 days and there'll be no running (though I'm bringing my shoes along, just in case). Got out there and it was windy, cold and drizzling. That won't stop me. I was actually shivering walking up to my usual start point.
Not unlike my other long runs.....I start conservative...couldn't even get to 6:10! It gradually got worse and I was doing 6:30 towards the 6-7km point. But then, it suddenly just jived.....at the 10-11km point, my body just got into this groove and my pace got better and better. The rhythm just arrived somehow. Last 3-4km was below 6:00....at one point at 18km.....I even closed my eyes and ran for about 100m! Strange feeling....probably lacking sleep. I was trying to switch off parts of my brain and just make myself an running automaton. 21km completed in 2hr 11mins. 5 mins better than my previous best. Still a long way to go getting under 2hrs!
No HR straps, no phones. Just me GPS watch, shorts and sleeveless. Bliss. Its actually more fun without music and stuff dangling around. Damn if I had a better looking body, I don't even need a shirt!
Anyway, great weekend otherwise. I just had to do one long ride to acclimatize my butt to the long 160km Bike Rally next Sunday. To be real honest I don't think I can fare as well as last year (where I actually came into the finish with the front pack!) as since taking up a lot of running, been neglecting my top of the line electronic shifting carbon bike!
Saturday : 100km Singapore Loop Clockwise
Managed to rope KL into this ride (he's in the Bike Rally as well) and met him at Nicoll at 5.45am. I did not intend to push, just to last the distance with a decent speed was the target. However, upon going up the Viaduct, KL was leading at 35km/h. There was Anza tri-bike loner drafting us. Decided to push up the pace and took the lead up to 40-43km/h.....managed to keep the speed for a good 2-3km and the tri-bike did his part leading at similar speeds. KL was dropped and my HR was pushing 184bpm. Slowed down and motioned the Anza guy to go on by himself as I needed to wait for KL. We hit like 31km/h ride average at Jalan Buroh already and at Jalan Bahar a really fast group passed us. Decided to tail them...wow these guys are fast.....faster than those Anza groups. It was a mad dash after every traffic lights and they hit 40+km/h fast. I was at the tail end and at LCK they really pumped up the speed from the red lights....I tried my best to catch their draft but just could not get to the tail end and they were pushing 50 already.....gave up and waited for KL....by that time already the end of LCK. Lots of riders on the road that day. We did pretty good, ending my 101km ride with an ride average of 30.5km/h. Felt 'ok' but I used to do this route (and longer) at these speed same time last year ALONE without any drafting. That's how much I've deteriorated.
Sunday : 22km Run
Tired from yesterday's ride and only managed a 4.5hr sleep.....I was struggling at 5am...whether to wake up to run....it was a mental battle and eventually I decided to move my ass at 5.30am I got up. Mostly because of the fact that I'll be away 4 days and there'll be no running (though I'm bringing my shoes along, just in case). Got out there and it was windy, cold and drizzling. That won't stop me. I was actually shivering walking up to my usual start point.
Not unlike my other long runs.....I start conservative...couldn't even get to 6:10! It gradually got worse and I was doing 6:30 towards the 6-7km point. But then, it suddenly just jived.....at the 10-11km point, my body just got into this groove and my pace got better and better. The rhythm just arrived somehow. Last 3-4km was below 6:00....at one point at 18km.....I even closed my eyes and ran for about 100m! Strange feeling....probably lacking sleep. I was trying to switch off parts of my brain and just make myself an running automaton. 21km completed in 2hr 11mins. 5 mins better than my previous best. Still a long way to go getting under 2hrs!
No HR straps, no phones. Just me GPS watch, shorts and sleeveless. Bliss. Its actually more fun without music and stuff dangling around. Damn if I had a better looking body, I don't even need a shirt!
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