Sunday, January 25, 2015

Weekend #3: The Hills Beckon


After a good round of cruise intervals last weekend, The Falcons were given a treat of the hills workouts at our Western Hills training enclave.  A favourite with many of our trainees and training operations, the Mt. Faber region offers many good hills workouts for building those strength endurance bases.



The group of trainers and trainees were a tad smaller this morning as most were away for the HongKong (HK) marathon.  As we compile this report, we have heard that they have done very well in spite of the well known hilly terrain of the HK course, with a number of good Personal Bests (PBs) registered.



Back to the Falcon training...the respective Groups 1-4 trainees were led through a basebuild run from SAFRA Mt. Faber along Depot Rd, Alexandra Rd before entering into the Labrador Park region.  



Once in the Park, the Falcons were taken through 3-4 repeats of the 1.4km hills course, employing the knowledge they have about effective hill training.  Although there were a few new trainees in the midst, most of the Falcons managed the paces and effort well to complete this main menu item up to expectations.



After the Labrador Hill repeats, the Half Marathon (HM) trainees proceeded back to SAFRA MF running 4km of moderate hills while the Full Marathoners (FM) were shown their way up Morse Road to Mt. Faber Loop junction for that well-known 1.6km merry hills workout.



Many of the Falcons who were quite drained by the Labrador Park workout and the run up Morse Rd actually recovered pretty fast to be able to tackle the 2-3 Mt. Faber loops at sustained basebuild paces.



The HM training was completed by 9:30am while the FM groups finished their entire menu by 10:15am - a well managed workout by the Falcon trainers who have spent much effort to engage and motivate the Falcon trainees to complete their planned workouts in targeted timings.



The Falcons wore tired looks but were very satisfied with the hills challenges they faced and overcame this morning, ocne more enhancing their self confidence in their marathon training progress.



We will be back to MF in weekend #4, but this time with a touch of intervals and speedwork sandwiched by 2 blocks of hills runs.  Most of the Falcons should be back next week to enjoy this 'tasty' menu.  Should new runners wish to join in the program or just drop in at some of the Falcon sessions, do check out the Falcon website at www.OpFalcon.com.

The Falcons Have Overcome The Hilly 'Mental' Barrier 

Facebook Photos by FatBird Chin