Feelin' Better

Mon (8 Aug):
7.5k easy run @ treadmill (av 5.22) - started at 6.00 pace, ended at 4.50 pace

Tue (9Aug):
2k warm up, strides
14k Tempo run in 60mins (4.18)
3k cool down jog
Total 19k (av 4.38)

Today is public holiday and streets were empty, hence I decided to do a long tempo on the roads. The route started/ended at the doorstep of my condo and has some undulations here and there. Completed '1/3 marathon' (14k) in about an hour, excluding 2 very brief stops (less than 1min) at 9k for drinks and at 12k where I struggled to climb the slopes from Elber Rd to Oxley Rise due to fatique. Av pace was 4.18 m in/km but heart rates were on the high side - akin to Threshold effort, further evidenced by a high 186 bpm reached in the last k.

Wed (10 Aug)
7.5k recovery run @ Keppel Island (av 5.26) - light drills

Thu (11 Aug)
13k easy (5.02)
A couple of ks slow along the river, 10 easy laps of Padang grass field with 6 x 25secs strides, last 3k at  moderate pace (4.37) back home .

Fri (12 Aug)
5k easy (5.45) @ treadmill in Mulia Hotel Jakarta

Sat (6 Aug)
28k long run in 2h12m (4.43)

Ran from/to home + 3 loops of Botanic loop which is roughly about 7k (Nassem Rd, Evans Rd, Bukit Timah Rd, Cluny, Holland Rd). Did a wave-style run by alternating easy effort and harder effort.

15mins @ 5.20, 15mins @ 4.15
10mins @ 5.05, 10mins  @ 4.12
5mins @ 5.13, 5mins @ 4.03
15mins @ 5.12, 15mins @ 4.17
10mins @ 5.18, 10mins  @ 4.16
5mins @ 5.13, 5mins @ 3.58
10mins ez

Total 80k for the week

Summary:
Overall, a much better week. It seems my aging body enjoys the new structure of 2 workouts a week. This means that I have 3-4 easy days between workouts for recovery and I think that's exactly what my body needs. I felt much fresher and more energized now. The extra recovery enabled me to make my hard days harder by putting more quality into the two sessions (long tempo + fartlek long run). Plan to do similar structure next week - probably a 90mins midweek session (intervals) and a 2hr+ weekend fartlek long run. Rest of the week will be short slow runs.

My strides rates during Tuesday's tempo was 192 strides per minute (Garmin footpod), Really needs to work on the stride length and midfoot striking (to avoid the braking action of heel strike) to get myself faster.
Only 8 weeks left....