Didn't taper but had to take Friday off due to work commitments (55k total before the race). Given the consistently poor organizations and inaccurate distances for races in Singapore, I followed Ewen's advice not to taper and forget about peaking. There are probably only 1-2 IAAF certified road races here, so will try to peak for those ones (and track races which are definitely accurate).
The course turned out to be very, very DIFFICULT with more than 30 twists & turns, 4 overhead bridges (stairs) and running through the lobbies of several apartments. I felt that I lost around 2 minutes due to the 'slow' course.
For readers outside Singapore, here is an example of public apartment (HDBs) where parts of the race course was ran today. The lobby of these apartment blocks are open space in order for people to meet, chat, and play mahjong..
The splits were very VOLATILE, with some splits varied by more than one minute due to the stairs. I am not good in stairs climbing so I walked on all of them and I had to hold the hand rails whilst going down.
Splits:
3:48/168 (got sucked in with the lead pack)
3:58/174
4:02/176 (pace was okay since we ran on straight paths)
4:12/177
4:13/177
4:20/179 (the course started its twists & turns)
5:16/176 (60 secs lost due to stairs up the overhead bridge & drink stop)
4:28/177 (twists & turns)
4:41/176 (drink stop)
4:18/183 (getting warm as indicated by HR spike)
4:51/183 (30-40 lost due to stairs up the bridge)
1:21/189 (last 400m)
Total distance was 11.4k according to Garmin, but I am not too sure how the GPS measured the stairs climbing up the overhead bridges. Finished in the Top 9 out of 200 runners in 49:35 (av 4:19 pace), which wasn't too bad given I probably gave about 90% effort. With a fast course and slower early pace, most likely I could complete the run about 1.5-2 minutes faster comfortably.
So, what's next? My next two races are a 10k in 4 weeks time (questionable distance, gravel surface) and a HM in 8 weeks time (big race, so distance could be accurate). I plan to increase my mileage over the next few weeks and make myself comfortable to run at HR 170-180 for a longer period of time.
My training this week:
Monday:
AM (track)
10 mins warm up incl strides
5 x 1000m at 8k pace Intervals (av 3:50 min/km) with 2:00 recovery
Splits:
3:47 (av 163 bpm)
3:49 (166)
3:52 (168)
3:51 (172)
3:49 (175)
6 mins cool down
The plan was to do 6-7x1000m at 3:55 min/km to train LT, but went too fast in all of them. Last week mileage was low (fresh legs), so found it tough to control the pace (it was akin more like 8k pace). Recovery was perhaps a bit short and was struggling in the last rep.
PM (treadmill)
26 mins jogging (5:39)
Tuesday (treadmill):
50 mins Recovery Run (5:23)
Wednesday (pavement):
10 mins warm up
7k in 32 mins at around marathon pace (4:32)
3 x 00:30 hill repeats, walk/jog return
6 mins cool down
Felt sluggish due to humidity and stiffness. It seems I was slow to recover from Monday's intervals. Haven't run at 4:30 pace for a long time so probably the body needs to adjust.
Thursday (treadmill):
72 mins Easy Run (av 5:09)
Friday:
Off
No run, team building day with work colleagues
Saturday (pavement):
36 mins Easy (av 5:18) with strides
Garmin had flat battery, so pace was approximated.
Sunday (pavement):
2k warm up with strides
12k Pearl Izumi Run Series 1 in Bedok Town park
3k cool down
Total 71.4km for the week, 1687 km for the year
2 comments:
"through the lobbies of several apartments"! Sounds "fun". If you have Sportstracks, you can edit garmin runs to get something close to accuracy (not sure about stair bridges though).
I'd say that was a good hit-out, and valuable for the half. First km a tad quick, which you'll need to watch. Looks like HR 175-7 is about right for this distance (maybe a half).
The fast 1000s, probably a sign that your speed is quite good - just have to bring in the endurance. Good!
sounds really funny. Even in HK there are similar housing estates, but I never heard about a race inside them !!
you sounds progressing quite well
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