1 week 2 go

Training this week:

Monday: 4k warm up with strides (5:12), 8 x 3 minutes intervals with 1 minute jog, a bit of self-improvisation by turning them to 800s, covered ~810m by GPS (normally overstates distance). Splits: 2:55/160, 3:04/166, 3:01/168, 3:04/169, 3:01/171, 3:05/174, 2:58/175, 2:59/177. Av for the interval was 3:01, surprisingly feeling fresh two days after 29k long run., 3k cool down (5:37), total 13k+ (av 4:37 pace excl breaks). Wondering how fast I would run Yasso 800 with 3 minutes steady jog instead of 1 minute slow jog?

Tuesday: 46 minutes easy including 1 set of drills & strides, warm and humid, lucky I tweaked Sean’s schedule as otherwise I would struggle to do the intervals today, total 9k+ (av 5:10)

Wednesday: 80 minutes at easy pace, but it wasn’t easy effort-wise, heat index 40+, took a couple of lengthy breaks to stay under shades, total 16k (av 5:04 excl breaks)

Thursday: 42 minutes easy on treadmill, 120 abs crunches, myrtle hip exercise, core work, one-legged squats, lunges, total 8k (av 5:15)

Friday: 4k warm up with strides (5:20), 6k sustained run in 23:48 (av 3:58 pace). Splits: 3:56, 4:01, 3:58, 4:00, 4:01, 3:52. Av HR was 165 bpm (high 172) which was better than the same workout a month ago at av 4:01 pace, 170 bpm (high 183), short jog, 10 minutes up and down 100m hill at steady effort, 3k down (5:10), total 15k+ (av 4:40)

Saturday: off

Sunday: 90 minutes long run with a bit of self improvisation, first 30mins easy pace (5:05), next 30mins moderate pace (4:40), last 30mins steady pace (4:28), total 19k (av 4:45)

Total 81k for the week

Week in Summary:

A decent week with a couple of solid workouts. Good 800s on Monday at around 5k pace, while Friday's 6k tempo run was 3 secs/km faster with 5bpm lower HR compared to the same session one month ago. Comparing the 6-week training blocks between Melbourne ½ (87 min) and Singapore ½, this time I am doing more mileage (15% more over 6 weeks total) and longer long runs (3 runs between 29-32k vs a single 29k for Melbourne). Hence, it looks like my endurance is better. For Melbourne, I did 2 race pace sessions, a 9k and 10k sustained runs averaging 4:05 pace, while this time my most specific run was 2x6k at 4:08 pace (on tired legs). All in all, I am not sure of my chance to get a PB next week and certainly the conditions (300% higher temperature than Melbourne on heat index basis) will make it a challenging task.

Will be interested to see the marathon results and whether the course records will be broken this year. The SCSM organizer has invited 8 sub 2:10 African male runners and 8 sub 2:30 female runners to battle for the glory. I’d say the Singapore Marathon has the deepest field of all marathons in Asia excluding Japan & Korea and is definitely stronger than any Australian marathons.