Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sunday Mount Faber Training Ride

Speed and cardiovascular endurance training. This probably describes this morning's ride with Dad. The long distance Malaysian expeditions are great for endurance training but speed can be factored into such rides locally since we almost do not carry anything as opposed to our heavy supplies when cycling overseas.

I felt that we were going way over our usual average speed for the first part of the ride before we hit Mount Faber. The weather was cool and traffic was minimal, in a way facilitating us to ride at a higher than optimal speed. I was quite hungry when we reached the foot of Mount Faber. SAFRA Running Club was conducting a run and there were scores of joggers making their way from Harbourfront to Mount Faber. I think they were doing a circuit.

Anyway, the climb up Faber felt terribly taxing. Obviously, my flu had not completely gone away and I was gasping and coughing as I struggled to maintain speed. Perhaps, it has become unnatural to drop to a lighter gear and slow down, and I just couldn't help but to push at the heaviest gear possible.

The ride down was as usual - enjoyable. We proceeded to Havelock Road for breakfast, but were disappointed to find the hawker centre undergoing upgrading. In the end, we had to settle for noodles with curry vegetables from the coffeeshop next to the hawker centre.

I could feel the strain in my muscles as we made our way home in less than an hour. I felt that I could use more water today as my body had been overheating for the past week. But as usual, we both consumed only a standard sports bottle 750ml of liquid for the entire distance. I think acclimatisation over the years have done wonders.

Total distance: 80.1km
Money spent: $2.50
Participants: LSH, Dad

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