As much as I could?

It has been awhile since I joined AdiNation in KLCC (ok... months), particularly I have evening Project meetings every Thursdays. I have missed running with these seemingly immortal runners darting around the track (ok... I missed collecting Adidas stamps. I need a new pair of running shoes).

There were about 10 of us yesterday, divided in 3 packs. While Ronnie heads the front pack, I did not push it at all, and stayed at the middle. Chased Malcolm up the first incline, and stayed with him. His pace was OK, but when I started to pull away, he tagged along. He was already struggling, but refused to stop, so I slowed down a little for him to get a breather. 
We were running together when I bumped into the Tok Ketua Kampung KLCC, finishing off his secret training (I know what you did last Thursday! ahahahah). We stayed on until the 4th lap, and by the 5th lap, he was really struggling, but we finished 5 laps (6.5k) in 37mins. My pace was, moderate, but Malcolm was ecstatic for leaping so far from his PB. He ran very well.

It was a really good refreshment run with AdiNation, as it allows me to pick up the pieces of what's left in speed training. Ronnie told me that he opens up speed training on Tuesdays at KLCC from 6p.m., where anybody could join. Good!

And today, I think I had a crappy, sometimes-good swimming. After a short warm-up and one-arm pull, Eric made me do the breaststrokes, which I haven't done since we moved from Dutamas to MSQ. As always, even worse, my coordination has not improved at all. It felt stiff, and I moved really slowly. Well, we I only have a window of 30 minutes between work and packed lunch, correcting front crawls are all on my mind.
Suddenly, there are no enough time to do it all. And we want it all.

Crappy too, when I had to keep the pullbuoy between my legs the whole time. It felt like having my kain-pelikat-nak-terlucut moments, and because my techniques are not polished, I tend to over-roll to each side everytime. My challenged-brain would incessantly fail to remember to pull, and as a result, I wasn't really enjoying the swim. Actually, it trains swimmers not to kick so hard, as it takes more effort to pump oxygen to the feet (longer distance) as opposed to arms (shorted distance), and it helps tremendously to endurance swimming as we conserve more energy and reduces wastage. 
What can I say, I need my propellers.

Even when we did our 8x100m drills, I kept slowing down as the buoy were slipping away (kurang daya cengkaman) midway. If I increase the grip, I'd get tensed hamstrings, and I didn't like having it while running some months back.
But as the drill progresses upon more laps, I started to see the light as the swim turned from tasting like a sour milk, to a rojak when some strokes felt effortless, and some still struggling. What I do realise is that I do not have a strong upperbody to challenge the enormous power from my borrowed palms (swim pedals). And I ended up kicking too, probably the reason why the buoy was slipping.

The good part was understanding the coordination and balance. For me, swimming in underrated, and progress is slow, but like running, is rewarding. I just have to take more time, and I am OK with that. 

I need to re-plan my lunch swims. Like running, there should be separate days for speed, LSD (with intensity training), water threading, single-arm, bilateral breathing, oh, pull buoy etc etc. 
With evening runs, I need to eat a lot more, lah...


Comments

ian yusof said…
you made it sound as if the pool is just in your office building ..... ;) ... what time is your class? and u even have lunch swims? WOWx22! :)
Diket said…
running tempos or anything fast with friends are awesome. you can pace each other and it really helps maintaining the tempo. bila la aku nak turun klcc ni?

p/s. bro, try la kacip fatimah utk tambah daya cengkaman X)
tolldoll said…
I always see runners at the klcc park but never tried running there although my office is in klcc. Too many people and plus I do not want my boss to see me running when I could easily be in the office trying to suck up suck up like other 8pm office leavers.

Swimming mmg camtu, sometimes rasa best gila sometimes rasa macam wtf am i doing? its not like running where even on your suckiest day pun you know you've completed a run PROPERLY.
kookykash said…
swimming is a skill, kan. You are doing so well, dont fret too much.
iamsyah said…
Ian - pool kat rumah. nasib baik la dekat (classes on fridays at 7.45 am), tu je masa boleh swim without any kids zig-zagging across the pool

Diket - Tok Ketua dah ambik attendance... sapa tak cukup 85% kena denda buat poco poco sejam beb
(kacip fatimah ka? aiyooo)

nadia - hahahhha run at night pun very der safe kat situ. I tried running at 9pm before, ok je ramai guards making rounds

agree !

Kash - swimming is an important skill. btw thanks Kash... it will take me years to make swimming effortless like yours. Unlike running, swimming could be overwhelming at times... :)

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