Anxiety

Mon (12 Sep):
30mins elliptical + 30mins treadmill run (av 5.45)

Tue (13 Sep):
8* (400m fast, 200m float) + 200m fast
91 (52), 88 (54), 89 (54), 89 (54)
90 (55), 90 (56), 90 (54), 88 (51), 38
Total 5000m continous in 19:50
Av pace - 400s @ 3.43 min/km, 200s @ 4.28 min/km
5mins recovery
800-600-400-200 cutdown (1min standing rest in between)
2.54, 2.11, 1.24, 0.36

Only reached the CCAB track about 6.30am, so I only had 1 hour to run before going to work. Did a short 2k warm up on grass, then straight into the Deek Quarters session, which I completed in 19.50 for the 5000m. A lot slower than the same session on the road in 19.35 a couple of weeks ago. But this is expected given I have residual fatique from a long run a couple of days ago, distance is more accurate than GPS, and today some spots on lane 1 was closed for some patching work so I had to swerve into outside lanes. Av HR for the 5000m was 170 bpm, which is about 89% Max HR (only reached a high of 182 today). Quite a low HR - but I think this is driven more by fatique and low glycogen (after doing 114k last week) rather than better fitness.

Did some maths on stride length. My cadence for the deek session was 194 strides per minute, which translated to 3850 footstrikes for the 5000m or an average length of only 1.30 meters !! I think Jack Daniels did a study showing that females' stride length were averaging 1.5m for marathon race distance :( Even on the 200m sprint today (212 strides per minute), my stride length is a paltry 1.60 meters !

PM: 35mins recovery (5.45), Sentosa broadwalk

Wed (14 Sep)
8k easy (5.23) around local neighbourhood, tired

Thu (15 Sep)
9k easy (av 5.13) @ Keppel Island
with 4 strides, drills

Fri (16 Sep)
Threshold fartlek (2400m 'cooked' in 5 ways)
1) straight tempo effort; time 9:55 (av 4.08)
2) varied pace (600m @ 3.50s, 300m float @ 4.40); time 9.54
3) progressive effort (increasing pace every 600m from 4.20 to 3.55), time 9.59
4) 1600m @ tempo effort, 800m at 5k effort; time 9.45
5) 2.4k worth of 30secs fast/slow fartlek; time 10.15
all with 2mins recovery (jogging/walking)
Total 12km of work in 49:50 (av 4.09 min/km)
Total 18k with warm up/down

Kind of bored doing tempo session at a constant effort on a 1200m road loop, so I decided to make it a fartlek style. Times were pretty consistent in all the 5 repetitions (9.55, 9.54, 9.59, 9.45, 10.15); eventhough they were all done in different format (last one was slower because of the equal jog recovery). HR were mostly in the 170 range, with a high of 183 in the fourth rep. Personally, I enjoyed this kind of session better than, for instance, running 6*1600m at tempo pace. Training alone really made pacing concentration a bit difficult. Also, I guess this kind of session could be beneficial because it involved some efforts beyond and above LT.

Sat (17 Sep)
OFF.

Sun (18 Sep)
32k long run (av 4.50) @ District 9

Hot and humid morning. Was crusing at 4.45 min/km pace for 2 hours, then it became a death march due to the heat. Slept little last night.

Total 90k for the week


Overall, an okay week with 2 workouts and one long run. Speed workout times were slower than previous cycles, but I am not complaining. I know that I am less fit than where I was in 2009 and 2010 where I ran 2 marathons in low 3s. However, I'd say my training at the moment was not materially different to my pace and mileage from my prep to JoongAn marathon in 2008 where I ran 3.11. So, let's see where my training will take me in the next couple of weeks.

Three weeks left meaning there are 2 training weeks and then one week of taper !! Currently, I feel (finger cross) that my legs are holding up. However, until that taper week arrives I think I will be in a continuous anxiety state that my history of marathon jinx will repeat itself and my post-tib tendon could flare up anytime. Really need to toe the marathon start line in a healthy state in order to recover my morale and bring me out of this depression! However, I am a guy who likes doing workouts and gets confidence and satisfaction from doing them. My plan is to do a couple more of 80-100k in the next two weeks (including 30k+ lon run and long workouts), so my body will be on the edge.