Night Hawk #3 with Team FatBird

Calling, Calling, NightHawk Central

This week's NightHawk LSD had us returning back to the nest at ECP, The PlayGround @ Big Splash. The place was already all set up for the AVIVA 70.3 race the next say, Sunday. A good number of NightHawk runners were already there by 7am. The regulars made up about 70% of the runners, with about 30% new ones. By 7.15am, attendance was taken for the 50+ who were there in the morning. David Shum, Lai Chee were among those who joined for the first time....really happy to have them join us, and bringing their friends too. Eugene was there to do another 18km, after the previous evening's 18km with Team Coconut :)

Ops NightHawk - Session #3 Briefing

FatBirds Anthony and David gave a quick brief of the route, as well as introduce the NightHawk Central Team of pace setters/run motivators made up of Group A (Anthony, Keonz, David, YN and Terry) leading the 20km-26km and Group B (Jancy, Spencer, Beng) leading 10km-15km. The skies were cloudy but the runners were in high spirits. Since it was fat-burn training, we started off at an average 6:30min/km pace for Group A, and 7:30min/km pace for Group B. The rather large group running towards Bedok Jetty, NSRCC and Changi Coastal Road was a sight to behold.

After about 3km, the various timing groups have settled into their paces. Lots of getting-to-know-one-another and chatting were happening among the various NightHawk runners....it was good to know they were having fun on a Saturday, doing what they love. We spotted many familiar faces along the way...tekko, raven, sumiko, Sarah, weng kong, siew lee, et al....some doing Ninja training runs, others roller blading and having fun. I was chatting with various people along the way, watching my heart rate to ensure it was averaging 135bps. A number of runners were asking about the compression tights, while others discussed about their progress with Sundown preparations....all making the runs enjoyable and taking the mind off the road...hehe.

With the mileage projected on my Garmin, I was able to mark out the 12km shelter, which was the U-Turn for the 26km distance. Max was there too at the 3rd Shelter, and he mentioned a number of the runners had gone for the 28km distance. We rested for a bit, chatted about Gold Coast, cheered a few NightHawkers on their way back, before moving back to catch up with the rest. I gestured to Beverly, ericx, and those running towards me to the U-Turn in front. The remaining 10km was spent running an average 138bps with a few of the 26km runners, exchanging pointers and tips on marathon preparations, including proper gear, nutrition, diet, and training.

Section of the NightHawkers @ The PlayGround

The 10km-15km group of about 15 runners had gone home by the time I finished the 26km in 2hr46min. We had some refreshments, before I gave them a brief of how to get some of the 2XU tights and Ultimate Direction hydration systems. We took the customary group photos, X-Men and NightHawk Central 8 poser shots. Instead of raining as predicted by the weather forecast, the sun came on rather strongly. Since all the runners have learnt not to rush during the LSD, they enjoyed the easy paced run, and found that they had lots more energy at the end.....just a little tiredness felt. We went for wash-up at 11am, before adjourning to Old Airport Road for lunch.

Distance: 26km__Time: 2hr46min__Pace: 6:25min/km

Facebook Photos by FatBird Spencer