HK Marathon Prep: Sentosa Run

With barely 6 weeks to the HK Marathon, there was no break in the SAFRA MF Training Program. The plan for this Sunday was a 34km endurance run from MF Clubhouse -> Henderson Rd -> Harbourfront -> Sentosa Gateway -> (Sentosa Crove -> Tanjong Beach -> Siloso Beach -> Jungle Trail) x 2 -> Kampung Bahru -> MF hill -> MF loop (1 rd) -> Morse Rd -> Harbourfront -> Telok Blangah Hill -> MF Clubhouse. This was the first time I would be doing 2 loops of the Sentosa NB RealRun route.

I woke up to see that the grounds were wet. It rained in the night, and we were expecting good weather. There were about 10 runners at the clubhouse, very small turnout, maybe all wanting to sleep in in such nice weather :}. We started off at 7.30am, and I went at a steady pace of about 5:30min/km. Ricci, Ong, Jimmy Chow and DO were in front, with me and fennel tagging about 100m behind, while the rest of the group of Michael, Peter, Julie, Teck Hou, Wong, Phei San, Colleen, small Chua followed from behind.

We entered Sentosa together, and tackled the first NBRR loop, going by the Satellite station, and back along the long road along Artillery Drive. Saw some SAFRA TP runners like Eddie running on the other side of the road. They too were having their training @ Sentosa, what a coincidence. I was running with Do mostly as we turned into Tanjong Beach. On the way out, spotted hunky IMD who was cheering us on...hehe. He just went for a swim, likely doing his ironman training :). We moved on along Palawan stretch, and then to Jungle Trail. As I got out of Jungle Trail, I saw more TP runners....said hello and went ahead towards Visitor Centre. Then I heard DO shouting to me that I had taken the wrong turn. I turned back from about 300m away, and slowly caught up with DO again near the Satellite station for a second loop of the NBRR route.

The weather was still very cool as I ran alone into Tanjong Beach for a second time. Saw Ong and Jimmy coming out, and we acknowledged one another. The TP runners had just finished their workout, and were packing to go back. Spoke with Eddie, Rita and Shirlyn for a bit, before proceeding towards Palawan and Jungle Trail. My legs were still feeling ok at that point. I continued on at a steady pace, taking care not to push too hard, as there is still the slopes up Mt. Faber to contend with. As I exited Sentosa, I would have covered about 25km, and elapsed time was about 2hrs. Teck Hou caught up with me at the traffic junction, and we waited for quite a long time before proceeding on towards Kampong Bahru.

My attack on MF slopes today was a lot more gentle, as I strided very gingerly. When I reached the top, I was still breathing well...hmm, quite happy with the ascent effort. Teck Hou told me that we were supposed to do an additional small loop once we have reached the top. Midway through that small MF loop, my calves felt tight. With about 300m more to the top, I decided not to risk getting a pull. Since I have covered quite a distance already, I was contented to just go straight back to ClubHouse. On the way along Harborfront, Ong overtook me and from there, I kept within a 200m distance from Ong till the finish. Spotted Jimmy coming out from the drinks shop along Kampong Bahru. With his thumbs up, I opened up my strides and maintained my steady tempo to finish in 3hr4min.

I felt pretty good for today's run, very likely due to the steamboat carbo-load I had the previous night, plus the many goodies I had consumed over the past few days :). I did not take any powergels at all, but I did consume half a pack of Sports Beans during the run. I am finding out that having proper carbo-loading before a long run does give me sufficient energy to last the longer distance, without me feeling like hitting the wall...hmm. I will probably be doing about 3 more 30km+ runs over the next 4 weeks, and then tapering down.

Distance: 33km__Time: 3hr4min__Pace: 5:35min/km