adiNation Training Run – 31 March 2011

Attendees:

a) “Boss” Ronnie

b) “Group Lead” Kei Ming

c) Fong SS

d) KK Yum

e) Azam

f) Vijay

g) Bee Hoon

Distance: 9.95 km (Inter-State route)

Timing: 55:50.05 for 5:37 min/km pace

Yup, it was another party yesterday evening with the big turnout; Bee Hoon came along thinking that we were going to do hill intervals. Actually, the menu was fartlek but KK and I were itching to head out and more or less cajoled everyone to come along for a “fun and easy” Inter-state run. We plodded up the 2.8km loop before returning to the lakeside and took the tunnel heading towards Bukit Persekutuan. Ronnie and Kei Ming were in the lead and I was between 20-60 meters back for most of the run; the closest 20m was at the uphill at the Travers police station and the furthest? The last km back at Lake Gardens. I think Boss may have been “suffering” tremendously throughout the run since the pace was much slower and there was no way he could have gone faster since he was practically clueless of the route. Fong, Vijay and Bee Hoon were trailing me with KK and Azam a little bit back.

Along the way, everyone modified the route – I followed Ronnie and Kei Ming and I had no choice but to keep as close as possible to them lest I lose my way. Do not roll your eyes! It has happened before and that time, I had Lai who was equally as clueless! KK and Azam skipped the Jalan Negeri Sembilan Selatan loop because of the hill; actually, KK even glossed over 50% of the hill climb at Carcosa! Vijay, KK and Azam came home via the gate at the bridge while Bee Hoon took the longer route via Muzium Negara.

The pace was pretty moderate despite having to keep up with Ronnie and I did not feel too winded after the run. In fact, throughout the run, there was not any huffing and puffing and I felt great. The Inter-State route is an excellent training ground for hills and Fong and I agreed that it is even better than the Bukit Aman-Hartamas route. I needed yesterday’s run more than ever – to zone out from the present difficulties and challenges in the other part of my life, even if it’s only for an hour.

Difficult times

This week has been extremely trying to say the least and frankly, I am at a loss at how to fix things, move on or keep my spirits up. Sure, logically I have been telling myself to keep my chin up and if things are really at rock bottom, there is nowhere to go except up. Somehow, it is not working and I have a premonition that this is just the beginning of a spate of things to come. I put a call to Oceanos just before lunch yesterday – it helps to have someone who understands about the charm and its intricacies. We also made plans to meet up next weekend and hopefully by then my spirits would be higher, even a tad is better than none.

Workout this morning: 60 min Cybex elliptical cross trainer at easy pace – taking this as recovery work – and 5 min cooldown on the treadmill.