Homestretch?

Mon (19 Sep):
OFF. Massage

Tue (20 Sep):
15mins warm up
Varied Pace Tempo @ The Canal
10mins @ 4.05, 5mins @ 3.55, 10mins @ 4.03, 5mins @ 3.50
Total 30mins continuous tempo, av 4.00 min/km
15 mins easy jog
5 x 00:30 hill sprints, walk down recovery
Total 14k

Had difficulties sleeping last night (over-trained a bit???), therefore I only had about 1 hour to run this morning. Decided to do something that offers the most bang for the buck - which, for me, is a tempo run. Came across this workout from reading R4YL magazine whilst doing my morning toilet dump prior to the run. Overall, it was a good short & sweet session combining threshold running and some surges at 10k pace.

Wed (21 Sep)
11k easy-recovery (5.25)
Along Singapore river and a bit of Padang's muddy grass field.

Thu (22 Sep)
OFF. Cold/flu.

Fri (23 Sep)
2k warm up
18k Tempo run in 76:00 (continuous)
3k cool down
Total 23k
Splits:
4.09, 4.13, 4.13, 4.11, 4.13, 4.14, 4.14, 4.14, 4.27 (water fountain stop),
4.10, 4.14, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.13, 4.16, 4.00

With couple of rest days this week (enforced by minor sickness), legs felt good and springy this morning. Drove to East Coast Park and did a long tempo on traffic-free bike path. With about 2 weeks left before the marathon, I was actually apprehensive about doing a long tempo. Firstly, I don't know my goal MP is - I haven't done a lot of sessions this cycle and in the most recent race, I recorded a PW for Army HM even on a short course. Secondly, I think I am walking a thin line between injury/overtraining and desire to cram in some quality sessions for the race in 2 weeks time. My immune system is surpressed (cold/flu) and I've had some sleeping difficulties lately.

Therefore, I just ran at a controlled HR at between 160-175 bpm. My cold weather marathon HR is normally around 165, but under Singapore conditions, I presume it would be 5-10 bpm higher. On the surface, the splits indicated that I might be aiming for sub-3 pace for the tempo, but honestly it was just coincidental that the average pace turned out to be that way. Tried to keep HR under 170 throughout the run but after an hour then it slowly began to rise. The plan was to do 20k but decided to play safe and end the run a couple of ks earlier. To test whether I still have some juice in the tank, I ran the last k at harder effort. Av HR for the 18k continous run was 166 bpm, which is similar to the HR recorded at Army HM, but today's pace was about 8 secs/km faster. Overall, the run didn't take a lot out me but it wasn't a walk in the park either.

Sat (24 Sep)
5k recovery run (5.40)

Sun (25 Sep)
33k long run @ ECP (av 4.51) @ ECP

Woke up late due to EPL last night and started running at 7am which is unusually late for me. Decided to do it at ECP, as hopefully the flat terrain will be easier on the body given there are only 2 weeks to go the D-day. Ran the first 15k at 5.00 pace, the second 15k at 4.40s, and the last 3k as cool down. Pretty hot day and I was punctured from 25k onwards. Also, had a 10mins toilet break during the run.

Total 86k for the week

A good week with 1 short tempo, 1 long tempo, and 1 long run. So thankful that I managed to finish another training week with my legs still in one piece and holding up well. I also battled cold/flu, so the reason for 2 rest days this week.

Need to tackle one more week of training left before I can confidently say that I will be toeing the start line in good health. That means a couple of more workouts on my plate for next week. My plan is to do intervals midweek, and then one final tempo workout in the weekend . I don't think a lot of benefits from next week's training can be realized in time for the race, so I need to make sure that I don't over-risk it and then fall on the very last hurdle.