Adidas Running Community – 22 October 2009

I capped another milestone yesterday – a sub 50 min for 9.2km or 4 loops around Lake Gardens! And the best bit being not too winded after the run – I was running a bit faster than usual but not too much to be breathing heavily (oh well, maybe except the last bit). It was negative splits for the first two rounds, a minor positive split for the third and a bit more for the final. Overall, the pace was pretty even at 5:20 – 5:30 min/km unlike Kee’s. He pulled away even at the start and probably did a sub 10 min in the first and a bit more for the second but all in, he only finished slightly ahead of me. Ronnie commented that he probably needs the huge lead in the beginning as he tends to drop back drastically in the final 2 laps.

The rain had abated by the time I got to Lake Gardens. The earlier showers kept the temperature at an even keel vis-à-vis the scorching heat during the day that we have been experiencing throughout the week. This made for a comfortable run although most of us had to watch out footing since there were still puddles of water in crevices on the footpaths (yeah DBKL’s maintenance record is spotty) as well as fallen twigs and leaves. Although I didn’t lose my footing but I did felt minute slippages at the halfway mark of the loop – just after bridge/near the public loos. I was thankful that we did distance training yesterday as opposed to speedwork simply because the wet grounds weren’t suited for sprints and I need the mileage.

I was a tad worried about the tension on my right calf from the cramps 2 days ago and was glad that it held up; not that it’s any better this morning. I probably need a reflexology session this weekend to straighten it out – before the Great Eastern Women’s 10K (GE) next week. I’m also holding my breath that the bunion problem in the last Army Half Marathon doesn’t flare up.

While yesterday’s run wasn’t the do-or-die pace, I was sufficiently drained to do anything else except sleep right after dinner. The 6.5 hours last night apparently wasn’t plentiful or maybe it the cumulative effects of Tuesday’s legs training combined with the run (maybe I did push myself a bit) as I felt pretty listless in the gym this morning.

Yesterday’s run will be my last “long” run before the GE race. I’ll probably do a another 1 or 2 short runs with distances circa 4 to 5 km in between and these will definitely be easy runs. So let’s hope next week’s Adidas’ training will be speedwork – while it can sometimes be tougher than distance runs, the training will come in useful for the race. I did notice that I clocked better times on the Saturdays after Thursdays’ speedwork.