Week #4: Mt. Faber Hills In Clear Skies

Till the eve of Saturday, we were still unsure of the Sunbird training on Sunday morning proceeding as psi levels crossed into the Very Unhealthy (200+) range.  A number of major events like KL Marathon, FINA World Cup swimming had to be cancelled because of the haze of a nuisance.

However, the winds of change began turning at 8pm, bringing the psi levels down to Moderate levels (<100) by 12am.  On Sunday morning, a happy flock of Sunbirds gathered at SAFRA Mt. Faber for the planned long hills run as part of the progressive buildup towards the SCMS race in December.

With the pent-up energy in many of the Sunbirds, all engines were raring to go at the start line as we flagged off in our respective training groups.  The 4km run up to Mt. Faber hills along undulating terrain provided a good warm up to all participants.

The run up along Morse Road saw some of the Sunbirds huffing and puffing, probably due to the lack of weekday runs caused by the haze terror.  The highlight of the training was the  1.6km hill repeats around MF Loop which saw both the HM and FM Sunbirds putting their hills running skills to good use.

With the foundation built up in the past few weeks, the Sunbirds were in reasonably good shape to tackle the uphills as well as executing some smooth downhills, all of which would extend their strength and speed endurance.

The HM groups completed their 30min hills repeats before turning back to SAFRA Clubhouse along rolling hills for a challenging 13-15km workout.  The FM groups stayed on the hillslopes for an additional 30min before proceeding back along the similar rolling hills terrain.  

HM groups completed their training earlier with a group stretching led by Sunbird Trainer, Kevin, while the FM groups proceeded to complete another 5-8km of hills run to complete their training requirements for week #4.

The final group of Sunbirds completed their training at 10:45am, all very happy with maximizing the clear weather to put in sufficient mileage as they progress towards week #5 of training.

We hope to have good psi conditions again next weekend as we move to MacRitchie Reservoir (MR) Park for 16km and 28km long runs of trail and rolling hills.  With the progress of the Sunbirds, the trainers are confident of them achieving their race targets on race day (as long as their commitment towards training continue and the haze stays away during long run days).

The Sunbirds Conquered The Hills In Clear Skies

Photos & Collages by FatBird Ronnie