My adiZero's virgin run

Finally had a chance to test out my new adiZero this morning at the SAFRA MF LSD into Sentosa and then Mt. Faber Hill. It rained cats and dogs from 5am, and by the time I awoke at 6am, it slowed to a drizzle. Took a cup of coffee and a small piece of banana, then put on my Cumulus. I brought along the adiZero just in case the rain stopped, and the grounds were ok to try it. Met the SAFRA TP bunch too, as they too were running MF hills in preparation for their upcoming NZ and Phuket Marathons.

The MF group was relatively small today, with Trainer Ong, Jaime, wee san, DO, Teck Hou, Derrick, Wong, Freddy/runalone, Jimmy, Chin, TLR, NewGalRunner and myself. Just before the run, I changed into my adiZero.. happy that the rain had stopped and the ground was not too wet. In the initial part of the run, I felt that the shoes sort of made me supinate a little more.. could be due to the slight lack of support for the arches...I felt it more on my left foot. As I ran on, it settled and became much better after about 2km. I ran with ws for the first 9km into Sentosa, giving her some encouragement and tips on breathing and running form. It was a good time for me to sense my own form, as well as how the shoes were behaving.. quite good I must say, for its virgin run with me. Though the two of us were doing small strides, our cadence were good enough to keep us within 200m-400m of the front runners. It was nice cool weather, after that heavy rain, and I was enjoying the cool fresh air. We ran along Sentosa Cove, then Tanjong Beach...essentially the NB Real Run (NBRR) route. The group had a break at the beach toilet after running for about 9-10km.

After the water break, I left ws and the gals in the good hands of Wong, and moved ahead with the rest of the front group. We ran on along Dolphin Bay, and then out along back to the Visitor Centre. We skipped the jungle trail and ran up the steeper section. The NBRR route is quite a challenging route, and I always relish the many slopes it offers. I took a final visit to the toilet at the Visitor's Centre, before catching up with the guys. We ran along Kampong Bahru, and then ascended Mt. Faber on the steep portion. I narrowed my strides, dropped my hands slightly, relaxed my shoulders, and began the slow and steep climb. I passsed Jim, then was following behind Fred and Derrick for most of the way. Teck Hou had stormed up the slopes quickly (hmm... must be his ninja training with Alan that is giving him all this power). There was a point that I found my new shoes to be lacking in cushion as I dug my feet in on the steep section. As I reached the top, I overtook Fred (who was recuperating from his ligament injury) and then followed Derrick onto the downslopes. Midway down, I felt a mild tension on my left leg, and I decided not to go for the planned second round. I headed all the way down Morse Road, took a left turn along Harbourfront, and ran alone all the way back to ClubHouse along Kampong Bahru way.

The rest of the people came back shortly. ws had a good run today, conquering Mt. Faber with no pain. DO was satisfied he did 2 loops of Mt. Faber, which is no easy feat at all. Derrick and Kumaran took it easy today, and enjoyed their slower paced run. Derrick and Jimmy were commenting that I was good with upslopes, and that I ran with ease....haha, it only looked like I ran with ease; I was actually huffing and puffing like crazy...but my small strides and easy posture did make it a tad easy. The adiZero performed well for me... will see if it continues to be good fitting as I get it run-in. I will continue to monitor the cushion support for the arches, and see if I can do something to improve that bit. I had a enjoyable run today, with a good nice 6:30min/km pace for 10km, and then averaging 5:45min/km pace for the remaining 12km.


Distance Ran:22km ___Time:2hr15min____Pace:6:08min/km
Average HR:N/A____Max HR:N/A____KCal:1,500KCal est.