Sunday, September 30, 2012

Thrills Of The Hills


We kicked off with the hills training segment of the Sunbird Program this morning at the Mt. Faber training area.  As there was a slated Mizuno Wave Run at about the same time, we made some adjustments to the timing and the routes of advances to the twin hills of Labrador Park and Mt. Faber.


Armed with Hills Training tips and a sense of adventure, the Sunbirds were all bright and early, ready for what would be a tough workout to build strength and speed.  As some running guru has mentioned "Hills training are speedwork in disguise", we have built in a good amount of hills training into the Sunbird Program to better enhance the sustained marathon endurance and speed of the runners.


 
 
 

The respective Pace Groups were flagged off separately for their independent workouts according to their planned distances and Basebuild paces.  There was a good distribution of participants in each of the 4 groups with more runners in the faster Groups 1,2 and 3.  The run up to Labrador Park was smooth as the Mizuno Wave runners have yet to be flagged off...already there were race marshals deployed along Alexandra and Telok Blangah Roads.



The Labrador 'Figure Of 8' hills repeats were lapped up with much gusto as the trainees felt pretty strong.  All were steady up the hills, being careful not to over-extend themselves since they had more ground to cover at MF.  When the time limit was up, most of the trainees were able to do 2-3 repeats, before proceeding back out towards the MF slopes.



The HM Sunbirds were happy they were giving the MF slopes a miss this round as they headed back to ClubHouse for a total of 15km.  The FM groups proceeded up Morse Road strongly in spite of the draining workout at Labrador.  From there, they went for the 1.6km MF repeats given the stipulated time.  Many were strong enough to go for 2-3 laps, with Group 4 deciding to do just 1 lap to save themselves for the remaining 4km run back to ClubHouse.



The feedback at the post-training run debrief was that although they found the hills workouts challenging, they liked the format in which they could do them as teams, making the difficult hills more achievable and quite a number of Sunbirds actually found that they felt stronger after all those hills training.



As we munched on our post-run bananas and reflected on the morning's run, there was a sense of satisfaction as well as anticipation of more hills awaiting us in the coming weeks. The Sunbirds Were Thrilled By The Hills!


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sunbirds in the trails

Photo Credits (c) FatBird CK Chin

The Sunbirds arrived at MacRitchie Reservoir Park bright and early for their second session of Ops Sunbird 2012 marathon training.  Most had no problem finding the Amenities Centre even though that was the first time for a number of them training in that lush greenery.  It was great to welcome more new trainees to the program as they look to incorporate structured training in their marathon plans, something which they have not experienced before.



The trainees were sectioned into their respective groupings along with trainers and Running Guides who were all eager to provide a targeted training pace, through what would be a mixture of undulating trails and rolling slopes along the Reservoir roads.  It was a revisit to this training area for those trainees who have been with us for some of the previous FatBird training operations, while it was a eye-opener for those who joined us for the very first time.



As usual, the trails and the slopes of the course provided lots of challenges and a good workout, even at the lower-intensity training pace we adopted during this Basebuild phase.  The cloudy weather and lush greenery flanking our sides made the run interesting as we tackled the trail slopes as a group.



Maxifuel, the Ops Sunbird nutrition sponsor was on hand to provide electrolyte refreshments to hydrate our run, so essential in doing Long Runs in that kind of terrain without too many water stops along the way.  It was great that the majority of the trainees had with them their fuel belts and hydration packs for although it was a cloudy morning, the humidity levels were high and water/electrolyte replacement became so essential for optimal training performance.



After distances of 14km for the HM participants and 20-24km for the FM trainees at their respective sustainable paces, the Sunbirds were all too glad to be back to the MR Amenities Centre.  Although the Sunbirds exclaimed that the workout was challenging, they enjoyed the experience of training hard with a group and going for a common objective of achieving their target marathon timings.  



As they refueled with the bananas and electrolyte drinks post-run, there were lots of chatter and sharing of stories of how their first training at the trails went.  From their satisfied and smiling faces, we could see that they have enjoyed their training run thoroughly and were looking forward to next week's program of hills and more hills.  


 

Overall we had a successful trails session and we hope to see those who have missed this second training return for more challenges next week.  Those who are still interested in joining the Sunbird Program may CLICK HERE for more information and registration.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

RUN SINGAPORE: FatBird Special

2nd Issue (June/July 2012) of RUN Singapore

Team FatBird is honoured to be featured in what was only the second issue of RUN Singapore - our very own local, specialized, glossy print magazine for the RUNning community.

This very reasonably-priced magazine for runners has lots of great running content...looking not just at runners' gear and apparel, but also zoning in on good running tips, programs and plans from an expert panel of running stalwarts and practitioners, knowledgeable scientists and researchers.

Since its inaugural (April/May) issue, RUN Singapore magazine is establishing itself to be Your Complete Runner's Guide!

and now...a special offer to all Sunbirds and FatBird members


RUN Singapore is offering a limited-time special subscription for 6 copies plus an additional backcopy of a older version ie. 6+1 issues @ $22. 

Please send name, contact to teamsales@teamfatbird.com for order form.


Monday, September 17, 2012

A Roaring Kickoff

Photo Contributions (c) FatBird Chin

Operation Sunbird 2012 roared off to a good start with more than 130 participants attending this first session at ECP.  Although the turnout was about 80% because of a number of races the following day, it was still an happening kick off for this 12-week marathon training journey with Team FatBird which will see our flock base-building and picking up the paces across hills, trails, slopes, roads and park connectors.



We had a nice mix of trainees from various FatBird training operations, and also new runners who have joined us for their maiden structured marathon training, all having hopes of bettering their own performances and achieving set targets at the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS) on Dec 4.   By the time we began with the welcome and ops briefing, most of the participants have already done their sizing for training and finisher apparel, plus settling outstanding admin matters.


From the looks on their faces, this cohort of Sunbirds have come well prepared, even the relatively new birds, for they have done quite a fair bit of homework and preparations – certainly a good step in the right direction.  As with all FatBird operations, the participants were teamed into respective groupings of similar capabilities in order that all can train and improve together within groups led by experienced marathoners and pacers.



After the morning’s objectives were dished out, along with the customary group photo, we set off in the direction of the NSRCC at our target base-build pace and effort.  There was a hive of activity along ECP as the Olive Run was also started at around the same time, just that they were running in the opposite direction to our flock – traffic was quite smooth nonetheless, and we were able to maintain that ‘chit-chat’ effort mostly along the prescribed 13km and 21km distances. 


For many of the past participants, especially those coming straight off from Ops Kingfisher and AHM, this run was more of a recovery and settling into a marathon rhythm – quite manageable and almost relaxing as we ran in groups getting to know one another.  Most of the participants finished within the maximum time allocated, and because of the different return timings, we conducted 2 separate post-run debriefs.  The Sunbird trainees were all excited and wanting to learn more, especially after what some termed to be ‘a rather challenging’ experience for the newer birds.

 
 

This successfully executed first session should set the tone for progressive buildup of the foundation of these Sunbirds, and as they progress with distance and pace over the course of the next couple of weeks, we will see the participants settling into their training groupings, all ready to tackle pace training in the second half of Ops Sunbird 


The Sunbird Trainers were happy with what we saw in this Sunbird cohort, and we look forward to meeting up with the rest who did not manage to be at this morning’s session.   The Sunbirds Have Started The Wheels Of Motion – for what should be a memorable voyage of endurance development and marathon performance enhancement. Operation Sunbird 2012 - Follow Our Pace, Win Your Race!  


  
Photo Slideshow (c) FatBird Chin