Friday, July 1, 2011

Five Things Friday

1. Blogger “died” on me yesterday. Was it just me? It could be a problem with the office connection because our server was down for a couple of hours in the afternoon and for the past few days, I have not been able to access SCKLM’s page (it was blocked!). Look, do not tell me our incredibly “talented” IT team decided that KL’s biggest running event is p0rn or racist.

2. I had 2 incredible runs in the last 2 days – Wednesday and Thursday. Well, here is a recap of Wednesday’s adiNation Training Run. Forget the tenses – I wrote the post yesterday but hit a snag posting it.

adiNation Training Run – 29 June 2011

Attendees:

a) “Boss” Ronnie

b) Group Lead Kei Ming

c) KK

d) Suresh (walker)

e) Jeff

f) Wern Tian

g) Chin

Distance: 5 laps * 2.3km = 11.5km (Garmin: 10.2km coz it picked up the GPS signal late)

Timing: 60:55 for 5:58 min/km pace using 10.2km

Laps 1 - 2

KK, Suresh and I warmed up with 2 laps around the lake in the 7 – 7:30 min/km pace; yes, it was that slow and Suresh adjusted his stride to walking. KK had just finished the SCKLM over weekend and will be doing the Gold Coast this weekend and obviously, was not in the right shape to hammer out anything faster than that. We spent time catching up on the SCKLM; on the second lap, Ronnie and Jeff whizzed by – beats me how Jeff can even run after his century run last weekend; he came home with a 14:40 hours and can still beat the rest of us with a 4:23 min/km yesterday!

Laps 3 - 5

I dropped KK and Suresh towards the end of lap 2 and continued at a faster pace but keeping it easy. Somehow, the 5:10-5:15 min/km does not seem so difficult (far cry from a couple of months back when I would be huffing and puffing at this rate). I spotted Chin walking at the waterfall slope and cajole him to run with me but he declined although he did start running again. He told me Kei Ming was probably 5 minutes ahead; I upped the pace slightly hoping to catch up with him. Hey I needed to gossip about Boss and his SCKLM story, ok?! Ahh it was never to be and we only met up at the end. I had planned to complete 2 laps to make the usual 4 but since the pace was slower and easier, I had some spares and decided to make it 5. All in, 2 warm up laps and 3 easy pace laps. Fabulous mid week run with lots of catching up with friends.

3. I was out again on Thursday morning for my regular date with Kenny.

Taman Desa Run – 30 June 2011

Distance: 6.71km

Timing: 38:24 for 5:44 min/km pace

This was supposed to be a recovery run for both of us with a catch-up session thrown in. Hey, what can I say…I’m a gossiper. So sue me! LOL! And that’s exactly what we did for the first 3 km; of course, Kenny’s recovery pace is about 6 min/km or under although it was pretty difficult running 2-abreast and yapping along Old Klang Road. As we turned to the hill climb at Taman Desa, it was clear that there was no way we could go 2-abreast as the multi lane Old Klang Road turned into a single lane. I ran ahead and Kenny was a few paces back; seeing that this was a recovery run, I used the time to observe, check and correct my form and stride. Yeah, the heel striking pops up now and again, especially when I sprint. I also took the time to observe the traffic, motorists and neighbourhood and got lost in my thoughts. Soon, the hill climb was over – wow, that was fast! Coming downhill at the apartments, I had the crazy thought of doing the 4km loop judging that the tank was about half-full but thought better of it – just in case Kenny couldn’t find me. I did run a loop around the furniture center and met Kenny as he was coming up the road and we finished together. Great start to Thursday.

What else can a gal ask for? Fantabulous runs on consecutive days.

4. We have a team lunch today but I might be sidelined with a soup or something liquid, not that I mind. The right hand side of my lower teeth are sending out pain signals every time I chew or bite down. SW gave me the dentist’s number and I’m hoping to fit in an appointment on Monday. Please pray for me…I’m a chicken when it comes to anything medical related.

5. It was a total body workout this morning; odd, I thought Michael usually sets aside Fridays for functional training. Oh well, change is good and this morning’s sessions rocked (in a sense).

Supersets of:

a) The dreaded free standing pull-ups (oh forget that LF contraption there since it was unassisted!; right…stop whining and get it done! Guess what…it wasn’t all that bad and I actually managed to get the first 2 sets, sort of)

b) DB bendover back row

c) Technogym cable mid level back row with iron bar

d) Freemotion cable chest fly

e) Technogym leg extension (oh wow…I could actually feel the quads working on the first rep. Nonetheless to say the first set was the toughest)

f) Nautilus Nitro hip abductor and hip adductor

Supersets of:

g) TRX hamstring curl

h) Atomic

i) DB bicep curl

j) Hoist tricep pressdown

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