Stand-by Training (Week 1 of 14)

I am keepin' one eye on Seoul Marathon on 18 March. I'd say the chance is around 50-50, because there are still too much uncertainties around life/family.work commitments at this juncture.
I have been training crap lately and also really struggling with motivation. For some reason, I only get excited when I am preparing for marathon. The training itself is a bitch, but I always enjoy the overall process, including creating both training plan and traveling/holiday plan that come with it!

Since my chance of doing Seoul is 50-50, I decided to focus more on aerobic stuff this time around. If I end up not going, I still get the benefit of aerobic development and use that as a foundation for another marathon later in the year (eg Gold Coast). I am considering to loosely follow the Pfitz plan (12 weeks, 55-70 miles) because it is a very aerobic-centric program (I've had his book for about 5 years, but I never actually follow his plan). With a standard structure of 1 workout, 2 medium long runs, and 1 long run per week, I hope I'll get pretty fit by the end of it.

With the above in mind, I will start working on 'STAND-BY TRAINING' in case I am running Seoul. If that doesn't happen, I don't think I have much to lose.

The key is that I really NEED A REASON to motivate me to train and get up every morning !! And for me, fortunately (or unfortunately) that reason is running an overseas marathon!!

Since there are 14 weeks left to Seoul, my plan is to spend the next couple of weeks to familiarise with the Pfitz structure (1 sess, 2 med long runs, 1 long run) before embarking on the 12-week plan (albeit very loosely).

Mon 12-12-11
12 km (av 4.30) with 7k Tempo in 27.30 (3.56 min/km)
Warmed up for 15mins to my Canal loop, then did 7k continuous tempo. Ran the first 5.5k at 3.58 min/km, before made a push in the last mile at 3.47 min/km. Quite surprised to find out that running 7k tempo slightly faster than my SCMS 10k race pace wasn't that hard (probably an affirmation that my 10k performance was crap !). Av HR was pretty low at 167bpm, helped by the cool weather. Pfitz plan schedules LT run between 4-8 miles, so doing a 7k today was a good intro to what will come.

Tue 13-12-11
15 km medium long run in 75mins (av 5.00)
Ran the first 11k easy in 56mins (5.06), including 8k on Padang grass field. Accidentally stepped on a pothole, which sent me flying for a few meters. I was wearing a skimpy split-race short and the fall caused bloody abrasion to my hip and thigh. Ran the last 4k on the way home at moderate effort (4.40 min/km).

Wed 13-12-11
Off (unplanned). Felt tired and struggled to wake up.

Thu 14-12-11
15.3 km medium long run in 71mins (av 4.42)
Only started running at 6.15am and had to go back before 7.30am, so I only had a window of 70mins. Pfitz' standard for medium long runs is between 11-15 miles (18-24 km), which probably needs 90-120mins for me to cover. Due to the shorter distance, I decided to add a zest of quality by doing the run in progressive fashion. Ran 2k segments at 5.30, 5.05, 4.40, 4.27, 4.15, finsihing at 4.05 min/km. Warmed down for 3k+ including 4* 30secs strides.

Fri 15-12-11
6.7 km recovery run in 36mins (av 5.23)
Easy run, doing 2.5 loops of Singapore River/Moh Sultan.

Sat 16-12-11
26k long run in 130mins (av 5.00)
Felt sluggish today, possibly from office christmas party. Very humid too. Felt like quitting the run at 16k, but the thought of a possible marathon spurred me on to last a futher 10k. Hopefully this 'ghost protocol' will continue to trick my mind for the months ahead.

Total 75k (5 runs) in 6h07m (av 4.54)