Hill Training cum Tempo Run – 15 December 2011

Route: BA > LG > Bird Park > Planetarium > National Mosque > LG + 1 lap around LG

Distance: 10.56km

Timing: 55:26 for 5:16 min/km pace

BA > LG (~1.6km)

• It rained yesterday evening. Correction, it poured; hence the skipped adiNation Training Run. Plea to God: please don’t let it rain on Wednesday evenings, I miss my group runs. Please please please. Pretty please.

• Warm up lap – changed it up!

• I decided to head into LG through the gate at Deer Park instead of the one near Lake Club.

• Hey, first km was all downhill. Talk about a great start and warm up!

LG > Bird Park > Planetarium > National Mosque > LG (~6.6km)

• Hunker down and tackled the slopes at:

o Km2: Deer Park to the gate

o Km3: Bird Park

o Km4: Planetarium although I enjoyed whizzing down them as well!

o Km5: School after the National Mosque

• The legs had a mind of their own (what else is new, right?) and I let them be. The middle miles were definitely fast – around 5:15 – 5:20 min/km pace (hey, it’s fast for me, ok!) – especially given the slopes.

1 lap around LG (~2.3km)

• This is usually the toughest portion of the run because I so wanted to be done after the hills.

• What got me going: dedicating the last km (oh you know…the slope near the waterfall) to Ashley. Picturing her standing at the top urging me on.

Hey, I received an email from Matt Frazier (No Meat Athlete) this morning and subject title is “How do you keep going when it hurts?”. How apt. Here’s the link.

How do you guys keep going?

I’ve used some of the following either on its own or in various combinations

• Telling myself that I would hate myself more if I stop now.

• Dedicating runs or kms to family and friends. It was Ashley this morning.

• Running for those who are sick or battling illnesses. The Stamford College run last year was particularly poignant.

• Counting down the kms.

• Of course, the epic one was the Amok dinner I had the night before the Angkor Wat run. LOL!