Week 4 of 8 (Seoul)

Two quality workouts (one good and one so-so), while the rest of the week is filled with short easy runs.

1) 32k Long Run incl 7k-6k-5k-4k-3k-2k-1k ladder at MP

Borrowed this workout from Ronaldo da Costa, a former WR holder who reportedly did 6-5-4-3-2-1km ladder during marathon prep. To make sure I can complete the workout, I sandwiched 3mins rest/jog breaks between the intervals in order to take gel & rehydrate. I have a high metabolic rate, so I prepared 3 gels, 600m sports drinks, and 1.5lt of water. I read that Ritz took gels very 5k for his 24miles long run av 5:05 min/mile before Beijing. So if Ritz does it, perhaps I should make sure I am well loaded too (ghaha)

For a change, it was a cool morning in Singapore (24c?) due to the rain overnight. Ran both 7k and 6k intervals well under MP and the effort felt naturally comfortable. Legs were fresh after 3 easy days and the weather was cool and cloudy. Recovery time was about 3mins of jogging and/or standing rest to re-fuel. The latter intervals got harder & harder and my pace got slower by a few secs per km but still under MP. Fortunately for me, the interval distance got shorter and shorter, hence the pain flew very quickly (yay!). Overall, I accumulated 28k or 2 hours worth of MP running. With warm up & recovery jogs, the total run was 32k in 2:24 (av 4:31 min/km), excluding stoppages. After the workout, I was tired but not entirely spent because I was well fueled and helped by the favourable weather.

2) 23k incl. 4 x 10mins at HM pace (threshold)

The plan was to do Tinman’s style big workout of 1hr ez + 6 miles of HM pace running. However, my body had not recovered fully from Wednesday’s session. The morning was terribly humid too. The 305 showed funny HR reading of 200 bpm+, perhaps the strap was very wet as it was soaked in sweat. Decided to cut the warm up at 5k, then did 2 x 2400m in 9:56 & 9:55 with 400m jog. Took a longer break to re-fuel and go to the toilet. Did the last two in 9:47 and 9:41, hence I accumulated about 40mins of running at Threshold effort. Finished with ~7k cool down incl 5 x 12-15secs hill sprints (total 23k). In retrospective, I should perhaps defer the workout by another day to allow more recovery, so I could do a longer quality session.

Two more training weeks to go now……wish I could have a few more weeks to train duh!

Mon (Easy):
50mins Moderate (av 4:46)
Ran some sections of the Singapore F1 circuit where the race was held last night. It was an awesome feeling running in the middle of the track with high fences and grandstands around me.

Tue (Easy):
40mins Easy (av 5:15)
Treadmill with 0-1.5% inclines. Conserving energy for tomorrow’s big workout.

Wed (Marathon Pace):
10mins warm up
7km at MP, av 4:22, 162 bpm
3mins rest/jog
6km at MP, av 4:24, 166bpm
3mins rest/jog
5km at MP, av 4:26, 169 bpm
3mins rest/jog
4km at MP, av 4:25, 170 bpm
3mins rest/jog
3km at MP, av 4:26, 172 bpm
3mins rest/jog
2km at MP, av 4:27, 172 bpm
3mins rest/jog
1km at HM pace, av 4:16, 174 bpm

All up, 32k in 2h:24m (av 4:31 min/km)

Thu (Rest):
OFF. 30mins deep tissue massage.

Fri (Easy)
45mins Easy (av 5:25, 140 bpm)
A crap run due to high humidity, bad stomach, sluggishness, and stiff muscles from yesterday’s massage. Cut the run short.

Sat (Threshold):
5k warm up
4 x 2400m @ HM pace in 9:56, 55, 47, 41
7k cool down in 5 x 12-15secs hill sprints
All up, 23k in 1h:51m (av 4:51)

Sun (Easy):
78mins Easy (av 5:14, 145 bpm)
Ran on parts of FI circuit again and along the Singapore River.

Total 98k for the week, 2763k for the year