Bad to Good

My week started badly. On Monday I was suffering from PRT (Post-Race Tension) and that co-incided with encountering a distinct lack of co-operation from certain colleagues at work - so you could say I had a "bad day".

On Tuesday my brain and legs were both still a bit fatigued from the 30km run, but I managed to join the PCC evening ride and, for a pleasant change, stayed on for some recovery roti canai and chit-chat.

The week brightened considerably on Wednesday (a recently announced public hol) when I went for a 50km ride around Putrajaya followed by a swift 10min transition run. I spent the rest of the day doing little chores and tidying up bits n pieces of personal "business" that I would do regularly if I had more than 24hours off at the weekend!

Jackie and Lucas flew to Singapore on Thursday so I set up the turbo trainer in front of the TV and did a 1-2-3-4-3-2-1min (hard) pyramid set whilst having my mind nicely numbed by American Idol - I only watch the audititon shows as they can be quite entertaining - almost like a freak show. I later settled in front of the box and indulged in some cheese and a few glasses of red.

On Friday evening I went out for a rare evening of beer and wining and dining with a colleague from Hong Kong, and another who's retiring next week and heading back to England after 20 years in Asia. We had some great food (lamb) and nice Chianti in Flam's restaurant on Cangkat Bukit Bintang. I'm proud to say I declined the offer of further pints after dinner, and got a taxi home, with my morning cycle to work on my mind.

Taxi #1 quoted RM20. Taxi #2 quoted RM15 (better). Taxi #3 went on the meter - it was RM6.90 - but he asked for RM10. I was going to give him RM10 anyway - my policy is to reward drivers who just invite you to hop in and go by the meter.

Saturday am rode to work. After work I dodged the cops (demonstration at KLCC?) and traffic wardens and did a swift 3 laps (a mere 3.9km) but included a 1-2-3-4-3-2-100m pyramid of sprints. Wasn't feeling great - must have been the previous nights wine.

I'm typing now (Sun lunchtime) as I'm quite excited about my run this morning, and I'm waiting for a call from J & L to pick them up from the LRT on their way back from S'pore...

I've done plenty of running recently, but very little this week, so this mornings 1h15m KLIM training run suited me nicely and yesterday at work (I switch off by Saturday 4pm!) I was working out how fast I'd have to go to squeeze 6 full 2.3km laps into the 1:15 time limit. The answer was 12m30s laps at something like 5:30/km. Very unlikely I thought.

To my great surprise - and delight - I managed to do 6 laps in 1:13:53, and I must admit my pacing was wonderful - increasingly fast laps all the way...

6 x 2.3km @ 12:31-12:26-12:18-12:16-12:15-12:07 = 13.8km in 1:13:53

I reckon on lap 5 I must have passed the 10km mark only 20s or so down on my PB. I really think that my training routine is responsible for this...I don't just go for "a run" anymore - I do short sprints with rests, intervals, acceleration runs etc...at quite a high intensity, following sessions printed in 220 Tri mag. This combined with LSD runs definitely seems to be having the desired effect.

And...in a couple of hours I'm heading off to Sepang to drive a 350Z around the track as fast as I can!