Inspired by the success of fellow bloggers --- Clown, by7, Epi, Trailblazer etc in their marathons, I've been thinking (again) to do a marathon later this year. There are a couple of regional marathons around November/December, such as in Bangkok and Singapore but gee, the weather in these places are hot and therefore, unconducive for marathon running. Given the strong Aussie dollars, Sydney & Melbourne marathons are too pricey to my liking.
That leaves me with the Far East where the weather is cool (autumn). There are Beijing & Shanghai marathons but the air quality is terrible. The only one that appeals to me is JoongAng Seoul Marathon on 2 November. Morning temperature is around 7c - which is 75% cooler than Singapore. It is a large marathon with over 20,000 runners. The route is a bit undulanting, especially in the first 30k but flat in the last 12k, finishing at the Olympic stadium.
The catch is that registration closes on 15 July, so I must decide really quickly. Personally, I think I am still far from marathon shape given I always struggle running more than 1h:30m-1h:40m in the heat of Singapore. Another complication is that we will be going on holiday between 12-22 September (hard to do running), which leaves me only with a training block of 5.5 weeks before the marathon.
My thinking is just to register for the race anyway (US$50) and decide around late August before deciding to book airfares, hotel etc. If I am not up to it, I'll just forfeit the entry fee.
Training wise, I did 80k this week - highest in 3 months. Longest runs were 1h:30m. Gotta start increasing the duration pretty soon, I think !
Mon (treadmill):
30 mins Easy Fartlek (av 4:46 min/km)
incl 8 x 1min HMP on, 1min MP off
Only had 1/2 hour to run, so decided to do something a little brisk but not hard.
Tue (track):
12mins warm up incl strides
7 x 1000m Intervals @ 10-12k pace with 200m recovery
3:51/155 bpm
3:55/167
3:55/171
3:54/174
3:55/175
3:55/178
3:52/179
Average = 3:54 min/km, av HR 174, high HR 184
5 x 200m Repetitions in 40, 42, 41, 42, 42 (200m jog)
13mins cool down (total 15k)
Felt good in the first four, jogging 1:20 as recovery. Last 3 intervals were harder, took 1:20 jog plus ~30secs drink/towel stop as recovery. Ran the 200s clockwise.
Wed (treadmill):
45mins Recovery Run (av 5:38)
15mins weights
Thu (treadmill):
1h:30m Easy-to-Moderate Run (av 5:09)
Weather wasn't cooperating, so ran indoor. Started at 6:00 pace ending at 4:45 pace. First 30mins av 5:30, next 30mins av 5:07, last 30mins av 4:52
Friday (treadmill):
37mins Easy Run (av 5:20)
Saturday (concrete):
36mins Easy Run incl. short sprints (av 5:13)
Incl 3 x 10sec hill sprints + 3 x 10sec grass sprint
Slept at 3am last night. Felt sluggish.
Sunday (track/road):
2.5k warm up incl strides
3 x 2400m Lactate Threshold Intervals with 400m jog + drink
94, 95, 97, 96, 98, 97 = 9:37 (HR 165-168)
95, 97, 97, 98, 97, 96 = 9:38 (HR 171-174)
96, 97, 97, 98, 96, 95 = 9:39 (HR 176-184)
Average = 4:01 min/km, av HR 174 bpm, high 184
4 x 200m Repetitions in 44, 44, 42, 41 (200m jog)
6.7k cool down (total 19k)
Legs felt a bit heavy from the start. Last interval was tough because the sun was in full force. The 200ms in 44secs were the slowest that I've done in a while due to tiredness.
Total 80k for the week, 1836k for the year (av 65 kmpw)
4 comments:
Sling, some good sessions there. Great to see that you are thinking of running another Marathon.
for sure! the 1k reps,2400's!!!, and 200's all very good...always good to have a goal to work towards, maybe switch to the Half if things dont work out...One of my brothers his wife is from near Seoul...All the best with whichever directions you go in!
Seoul
I did send the entry by e-mail and they did not make any objection ...
so it seems a flexible approach
(if you want to join, do not forget to send your recent PB race certificate in attachment, because they have separate starting corral based on PB)
I was going to say enter and then see how it pans out. Seoul sounds like a good choice. I guess you can't really edge the long runs up until the weather cools down a bit (if it does).
Your track sessions seem to be going well - very consistent. The 200s aren't going to be brilliant after such long sessions. If you started with them I imagine they'd be under 40.
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