Week 9 of 13 Marathon Training

Monday:
15mins warm up with strides
Fartlek
4 x 2mins at 5k effort with 1.20 rec
4 x 30 secs hard with 1.00 rec
3 x 4mins at HM effort with 1.20 rec
2 x 30secs hard with 1.00 rec
2.00 jogging between sets
5mins cool down
Total 13k in 61mins (av 4.43)

Ran during lunch time, 32c with a heat index of 40c. This workout is an easier version of the infamous Portsea fartlek (3x3mins @ 3k, 4x30secs, 3x5mins @ 5k). I was totally saturated at the end, socks and shoes were soaked with sweat.

Tuesday:
20510 metres medium-long run in 1h42m (av 5.00)

In memory of Sammy Wanjiru (PB 2.05.10)

Wednesday:
OFF. Flew to HK

Thursday:
2.4k warm up with strides
16k Tempo run in 67 (av 4.11 min/km), Bowen Road 4k route
1.6k cool down
Total 20k in 88 (4.25)

Splits:
4.06, 4.11, 4.09, 4.09 = 16.35
4.25, 4.03, 3.58, 4.26 = 16.52
4.14, 4.18, 4.09, 4.15 = 16.56
4.20, 4.13, 4.06, 3.56 = 16.25

What a difference in weather can make! HK temperature is still considered warm at 24c, but probably this is my inner threshold - where anything above this I will simply get fried. Did 2 return trips of Bowen Road (4k running path) without any drinks nor stopping. Some of the splits were slightly off, due to trees.
 along the route

A couple of weeks ago, I did 8k at 4.14 pace in Singapore with an average HR of 165bpm. So I am reasonably pleased running 16k at 4.11 pace with an average HR of 162bpm. That's twice the distance, slightly faster pace but at a lower HR!

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to do a long tempo such as 24k at MP since I had to return to the hotel for a breakfast meeting. I landed in HK very late and checked-in at the hotel around midnight, so I couldn't wake up early enough. In that sense, I lost an opportunity to do a long, race specific workout there at a much palatable temperature.

Friday:
12.4k easy in 62 (5.00), Bowen Road HK

A nice relaxing run with an average HR of 140s. Post-run recovery also seems to be quicker with the lower temperature.

Saturday:
25k Passion Run in 1.52.30 (av 4.30)
5k slow cool down
Total 30k

5k Splits:
21.37 - 22.56 - 22.55 - 22.55 - 22.07 (watch time, excluded 1min forced stop at traffic light)

My plan was to average around 4.20-4.25 pace for the 25k (5-10secs slower than goal MP) as a race simulation. However, I got to attend a birthday party early arvo and I arrived at the race venue very, very late. Just in time to start in Wave 3 or about 20mins later after Wave 1 was flagged off. This meant that I probably had about 5000 runners and walkers starting ahead of me.

Since Wave 2 started about 10mins ahead of Wave 3, I had a pretty clear route for the first couple of ks averaging around 4.15 pace, but from km 4-20, it was virtually running into a great human wall of Singapore. Had to zig-zag and ran mostly on the beach sand and grass to overtake prople, especially in the ECP sections. I probably averaged around 4.35-4.40 pace during this 15km stretch. In the last 5k the crowd got more scattered, and I was able to run with greater freedom. I wouldn't be surprised if I passed around 4000-5000 runners from the start to finish.

At the end, I averaged around 4.30 pace or around 94% of goal MP. Looking back, it wasn't that bad of an outing to run 25k at 3h10m marathon pace, facing a human wall and 30c temperature (37 heat index). I never struggled during the run and was able to converse normally with other runners. HR wasn't also that bad, averaging 164 bpm or 85% MHR (my typical marathon HR in cold temp was around 163-167).

Sunday:
OFF

Week in Summary:

96k for the week in 5 runs. Was initialy contemplating whether to do my long tempo (marathon simulation) in HK or during Saturday's 25k race. At the end, it turned out to be half-and-half. Due to time constraint, I only managed to do 16k (non-stop) tempo in HK at a pace somewhere between MP and HMP. During Saturday race, I ended up running at 4.30 pace, but given the crowd issues and racing un-tapered -  doing 60% of marathon distance at 95% goal MP without workoing too hard is perhaps not too shabby.

Overall, a decent week with 1 fartlek, 1 medium long run, 1 long tempo, and 1 hard long run. Adding Thursday (16k) and Saturday (25k) sessions, my quality kms were 41k in 3 hours - that's about 3h05 marathon right there.

The bad news is that I began to notice symptoms of posterior tibialis issues (in the same leg) like last year which caused me to miss Melbourne Marathon. I've taken anti-inflamatories (both Voltren pills and gel) as well as icing and treatment on the TENS machine. With 4 weeks to go, I am not gonna take any unneccesary risk and will only do workouts when I am ready. Finger crossed that it won't develop into anything serious!