Week #2: Track Attack and Hilly Thrills

Ops Kingfisher Week #2 had the Kingfishers launched their first track attack at the Stadium.  For a number of Fatbirds who have experienced Team FatBird's speedwork sessions in the past, it was a refresh of the great moments of past.

The trainees new to trackwork were just thrilled to be running about in the track in a structured fashion led by experienced Kingfisher Pacers.

After a quick warm up and some activation drills, the Kingfishers established their speedwork base with a mile (1.6km) time trial.  Their mile timings will be used as a guide to their paces for respective 400m and 800m interval sets, as well as set a reference point to determine speed improvements in the following weeks.

The main menu of 4 x 800m sets were executed with great enthusiasm under the guidance of the group pacers.  This was followed by 3-4 sets of 400m with shorter work:rest ratios which served to enhance the cadence as well as stride length, taxing the trainees' fast-twitch muscles for growth and development.

There were many other runners of the public using the track, and a number of them joined in the fun chasing some of the Kingfisher groups for that added motivation.

We completed the whole workout within 60min, and this was followed by cool-down stretches and core-work led by the Kingfisher Trainers.

Training concluded at 8:45pm, leaving some time for the runners to share their experiences and feelings about their first track session with Team FatBird, and it seemed all enjoyed the hard workout thoroughly.

As they left the stadium, the Kingfishers were already looking forward to their next track session in a fortnight.  Meanwhile, it is back to the hills for next week's Wednesday session.

_________________________

The weekend Long Steady Run (LSD) was a snappy menu of thriller hills at the Labrador Park 1.2km circuit.

After a dynamic drills warm up, the Kingfishers proceeded on a 4km run at BaseBuild Pace and the respective Pace Groups led their runners on a 4-5 lap around the rolling hills circuit.

It is always a love-hate challenging workout at the Labrador Hills segment, but the satisfaction of completing the required laps more than make up for the huffing and puffing, along with the 'heavy legs' feeling when climbing the double slopes.

After the completion of the menu, we ran a shorter 3.5km back to SAFRA MF, with a good push atthe final 1.5km up along Henderson Road for good measure.

The training rounded off with a good stretch down and ended off at 9:45am, to the delight of all the Ops Kingfisher participants.

When the challenges get rough, the Kingfishers get tough!

Wednesday & Sunday Photos By FatBird Onin