Ops Kingfisher: Western Park Intervals

Into the second weekend of the training program, the Kingfishers were given yet another surprise....this time for a bout of speed interval workouts at the Labrador Park, a scenic enclave in the western part of our training zone more known for its undulating terrain.  While a few trainees were away for races, we welcomed a number of new and drop-in participants who were joining us for the first time.

When we gathered at Mt. Faber, the participants were half expecting us going for hills training, but they were in for a pleasant surprise.  After a pre-run briefing and review of the past few sessions of training, we had starters of a 4km TempoBird paced run to the start point of interval training, where the advanced party of logistics and drinks support had already secured a nice shelter.

 

First up was the mile run to determine the paces for the individual Kingfishers, especially useful as a reference and to set the tone for our interval training.  The participants came back with strong mile timings, putting in solid effort but yet not going all out in a bid to have sufficient reserves to sustain the interval sets that was in the main menu.

 

For many, it was a refreshing way of doing 800m speedwork in the park, in the midst of lush greenery overlooking the majestic seafront.  Although the distances were similar to what they had done in the track, the layout and surface of the course made it a whole new experience for the participants, who thoroughly enjoyed the hard runs of each set, with rests for that quick recovery in between sets.

 

In fact, the Kingfishers did so well that they were given an additional set as a bonus treat, although they could have even gone further with even more sets at sustainable target paces - but we decided to leave that for future sessions as the training objectives have already been well met.  After a quick post training debrief, we finished off dessert with a 3km run in undulating terrain, drawing on the final reserves in the tanks of the runners.

Back at the Club House, there were some good post-run sharing among the various groups as well as demos of stretching techniques and foam-rollers to help the trainees ease off their 'tightening' muscles and mainly strained calves.

The training crew did a good job of organizing and providing support to ensure that the Kingfishers enjoyed and get the most out of their training sessions, something which we will strife to continue for the remaining 4 weeks of training.  With the kind weather and enthusiastic participation by all participants, the morning's session was highly enjoyable and productive for all.

Well done, Kingfishers!