Tempo & Fartlek

It rained a little just before we were about to set off from SAFFRA MF Clubhouse. I decided to change into my old pair of adiZero SN (1000km mileage) and put on my adidas cap. The large group of us proceeded to trod through the series of traffic junctions along Henderson Road, all the way to Tiong Bahru Park. We bypassed the turn into Tiong Bahru Park because of some construction, thereby cutting down the 14km distance to an estimated 12km.

This route being relatively flat and easy and with the distance cut short, I thought I should just do a tempo run to practise running at a sustained hard pace. I broke away from the rear group along the Delta Canal, and ran by myself at a constant, but not too fast pace. At the end of the Canal, I saw Ong walking back, and the whole group of frontrunners waiting by the bridge. I thought they were waiting for us at the back....it was later that I realized that Ong had fallen and cut himself rather deep. That was the same spot that Sok Hwa fell and cut herself 1.5years ago, landing her in hospital for a few days. Ong later went to the Hospital and fortunately had his injured leg taken care of.

From Delta Canal into Ridley Park, I moved up to run alongside Alber, Bill, PS, just behind Jim. They were setting a good pace for me to up my tempo. I maintained that, and increased a little down to Dempsey Road, where I saw DO waiting. We ran together from there, with a new runner KK drafting me closely. KK has good pace and steady strides. We moved along steadily along Margaret Drive and all the way back to Delta Canal. I could feel KK increasing his pace, and I decided to push it as well. Along Delta Canal, I could feel KK breathing hard, and he was maintaining very good pace...well done. With about 3km left, I did some fartlek-style running, speeding up and then steadying the pace, varying my strides from short to mid. All those while, KK was running alongside me....He later said it was a blistering, but good pace.

We reached Henderson Road to be joined by Alber, PS and a few others. With 1km left, I told KK to push it, and we finished off at the ClubHouse feeling very satisfied with the hard run. The stretching routine led by Julie was good. When I had washed up, and on my way to my favourite Red Rice Wine Chicken Soup, I received a call from Jaime, who said Alber found my cap lying outside the gym...Arghh, so forgetful of me...I am just not used to having a running cap with me :)

Distance: 12km__Time: 1hr__Pace: 5min/km average