Back to Climbathon and MF training

The forum has been hacked, and though there is a temp forum, it still doesn't feel the same for many of the people. One positive thing coming out all of this on top of fostering a closer spirit amongst SgRunners, is that it leaves us with more time for training and runs :)).

Stairs-Climbing (Monday):
Re-started Climbathon training this evening with stairs climbing at Toa Payoh 40-storey HDB blocks. When I got there at 6.45pm, there was no one on sight, and later found out that all had started promptly... duh! I met Carmen at the foot of the block, and began my sets. The steps in this block are definitely lower than the usual Bishan place that we train at, and certainly not as challenging as well. It took about the same time 7min+ to do this 40floors as compared with the 30floor Bishan block. The air this evening was pretty stale, with not too much wind. I did the first 3 sets, without panting much....hmm, bummer. Took a drink, and continued to do the next 3 sets. This time the cardio did get a little high, and the legs were getting the workout. Still, it was damn boring doing so many sets. I planned to do for about 1hr15min and then call it a day. Not sure if I did 8 or 9sets, but from the time ended at 8:15pm, I think it was more of 9 sets. Well, had a short chat with David, Henry before calling it a night... stairs climbing is downright boring :(


Intervals (Tuesday):
Joined SAFRA MF for intervals at Queenstown Stadium. It has been some time since I joined the group for intervals, and it was a large group this evening. Good to meet familiar faces, as well as touch base with the newbies too. Met Hedgehog who was doing ninja training with his own team, and saw Kops too, who was doing his solo run around the challenging MF area.

Did a 4km jog to Queenstown Stadium along Depot Road, Alexandra Rd, then into Queenstown. After a shirt brief by trainer Ong, we did 2 x 1.6km, and 4 x 800m. I skipped the last 800m set as I had had enough. My legs were feeling a little tired from yesterday's stairs climb, but otherwise, was in good form.

4km warm-up jog - 22min
1st 1.6 km set - 6min24sec
2nd 1.6km set - 6min44sec
1st 800m set - 3min6sec
2nd 800m set - 3min13sec
3rd 800m set - 3min21sec
4th 800m set - skipped
4km jog back to ClubHouse

Kudos to my team-mates who did all the sets...they really pushed themselves to the higher levels, and will surely see good improvements in their strength and speed. A very good and hard workout for me. I could feel the tiredness in my legs, and my heart really got a good workout...thats the intent of intervals according to trainer and cm, to work the heart, not so much to run at top speed...hmm, interesting concept.


Climbathon Training (Thursday):
Received an urgent email informing of a change in Climbathon training to Thursday. Seems like there will be some TV crew there to do some interviews (presumably on the event), and the team is requested to be fully present. Well, seems like I will have to leave my running to Saturday then, for the Animiles Run...and this time, we are expecting quite a number of SgRunners to come... all needing to ramp up their training and mileage for the upcoming Army Half Marathon:).

Went down to Toa Payoh 40-storey block at 6.45pm, and saw Mida, Yusoff with The New Paper cameraman. I proceeded to join the rest for the stairs climb. Did the first 2 sets pretty quickly, and was joined by DO and Rodney. The cameraman took some shots during the 3rd and 4th set of climb. Thereafter, the team were called together for lots of photo-taking and short interviews. We ended the session close to 9pm, and I did not get my workout in at the end.