Long Weekend Fun
Last week was not a good week. I injured my knees (suspected quad tendon strain on the right and the usual I think, Pes Anserinus on the left!). That came right after my 10km run in massive winds and heavy rain which hit unexpectedly. I am not sure what attributed the that but prior to the run I was also coping with sore calves which seemed rather prolonged since the 21km barefoot run the previous week. Since Monday, I've cut back on speed and concentrate on just covering the distance, painfully. Thanks to some googling, I managed to pull through with some self-treatments. Coming into the weekend, I still had to complete a 30km run as part of the MTP. The regime required me to run this 30km in a 'prolonged progression manner', with progression towards Marathon Pace for the last 30mins. I wanted to give my legs some rest before I do this so Friday was a riding day.
Friday : 35km-ish ECP-Coastal-Siglap with Ben and KL.
Started off tamely at the ECP service road but things got a bit more interesting at coastal when KL pulled to 38-39km/h. I was right back behind Ben. Upon noticing the speed dropping to 36 level, I pulled up front to 45km/h and eventually steadied on a 40km/h pace as much as I could. There was some headwind but not much to be concerned about. HR hit 180bpm and managed to keep at that for a good while. I was surprised that even with my achy dead legs and sore calves, I could still manage this. After the ride, my legs felt better.
Saturday : 30km Run solo.
The pint of DUNKEL last night did not help. When will I ever learn from experience that beer + running = No-No. Woke up with dead legs. I put on the Kinvara's (which by the way I realize, has nothing minimal going for it) and started the run. Dead legs with padded shoes - no feeling. I laboured till the 10km point and still, legs felt like Sh*t. I seriously wanted to give up as I passed the starting point at 10km but decided that I should give my legs a chance. Bad decision. They never really woke up much! Stopped 3 times for water top up and liquid release. Ran a 2km into coastal road and u-turned back. It was getting hot with the sun hitting my back and I stopped for more water. Picked up the pace with 5km left and with 2km left at the lagoon, I took my freaking dead shoes off. Revelation. Legs felt much better with my bare sole hitting the ground and managed to complete respectably. Timing : same as my first 30km run in January, which I think is not bad at all given the situation.
Sunday : 80km West Loop with KL.
Its been a while since I've done this loop and really needed this to unwind the tiredness of the legs due to running. Met KL 6am at AML and off we went. This guy is fitter than ever. I used to be able to drop him at certain points but not this ride. I was being quite friendly for this ride as I was not sure what my fitness level was given all the leg problems I've been having the past week. Pace really picked up at Mandai where I led the until the CTE exit. KL took over after that. We combined our efforts into Kranji, Neo Tiew and LCK with speed averaging about 35km/h. There was a lady in our draft from end of Mandai till after LCK just before NTU where we had a short gel-stop. Continued with good speed into Jalan Buroh and West Coast Viaduct. At the viaduct we tried to keep the 40km/h range throughout. No JRs in sight. KL says that these guys go 40+km/h easily on this road. I tell him, that's no biggie for us if we are drafting them, hell, we could even lead for a while if we wanted to. I'm not a fan of big groups....I normally leave my participation in such for the events. I don't mind at all if it was the masher group cos we have a great level of understanding and know our limits but with other groups....too many people with rogue-like intentions and varying ride experience.
My legs feels much much better now. Cycling does help a lot to release the 'tension' in the legs especially on the lower leg area. Ok, back to MTP but will do it at reduced speed from now on.
Friday : 35km-ish ECP-Coastal-Siglap with Ben and KL.
Started off tamely at the ECP service road but things got a bit more interesting at coastal when KL pulled to 38-39km/h. I was right back behind Ben. Upon noticing the speed dropping to 36 level, I pulled up front to 45km/h and eventually steadied on a 40km/h pace as much as I could. There was some headwind but not much to be concerned about. HR hit 180bpm and managed to keep at that for a good while. I was surprised that even with my achy dead legs and sore calves, I could still manage this. After the ride, my legs felt better.
Saturday : 30km Run solo.
The pint of DUNKEL last night did not help. When will I ever learn from experience that beer + running = No-No. Woke up with dead legs. I put on the Kinvara's (which by the way I realize, has nothing minimal going for it) and started the run. Dead legs with padded shoes - no feeling. I laboured till the 10km point and still, legs felt like Sh*t. I seriously wanted to give up as I passed the starting point at 10km but decided that I should give my legs a chance. Bad decision. They never really woke up much! Stopped 3 times for water top up and liquid release. Ran a 2km into coastal road and u-turned back. It was getting hot with the sun hitting my back and I stopped for more water. Picked up the pace with 5km left and with 2km left at the lagoon, I took my freaking dead shoes off. Revelation. Legs felt much better with my bare sole hitting the ground and managed to complete respectably. Timing : same as my first 30km run in January, which I think is not bad at all given the situation.
Sunday : 80km West Loop with KL.
Its been a while since I've done this loop and really needed this to unwind the tiredness of the legs due to running. Met KL 6am at AML and off we went. This guy is fitter than ever. I used to be able to drop him at certain points but not this ride. I was being quite friendly for this ride as I was not sure what my fitness level was given all the leg problems I've been having the past week. Pace really picked up at Mandai where I led the until the CTE exit. KL took over after that. We combined our efforts into Kranji, Neo Tiew and LCK with speed averaging about 35km/h. There was a lady in our draft from end of Mandai till after LCK just before NTU where we had a short gel-stop. Continued with good speed into Jalan Buroh and West Coast Viaduct. At the viaduct we tried to keep the 40km/h range throughout. No JRs in sight. KL says that these guys go 40+km/h easily on this road. I tell him, that's no biggie for us if we are drafting them, hell, we could even lead for a while if we wanted to. I'm not a fan of big groups....I normally leave my participation in such for the events. I don't mind at all if it was the masher group cos we have a great level of understanding and know our limits but with other groups....too many people with rogue-like intentions and varying ride experience.
My legs feels much much better now. Cycling does help a lot to release the 'tension' in the legs especially on the lower leg area. Ok, back to MTP but will do it at reduced speed from now on.
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