26 March 2011

Week 1 of 13/15 Marathon Training

Monday:

AM -- 3k up, drills + 1k worth of strides/jog; 6 x 1k Intervals at the Canal loop - splits: 3.51, 3.52, 3.51, 3.53, 3.46, 3.40 - total 6k of work averaging 3.49 pace; first 4 reps at 10k pace off 90secs jog, last 2 reps at harder effort off 90s walk; highest HR 182 bpm - 2k down. Total 13k in 62

PM -- 5k recovery in 30 (5.47), 5mins gym work

Tuesday:
AM -- 10k easy in 53+ (5.21), Keppel Marina 1k loop, very cooling after the rain and the run felt effortless
PM -- 10mins core work

Wednesday:
AM -- 3.5k up, , drills + 1k worth of strides/jog; 10k continuos Tempo run in 40.40 - av pace 4:04 min/km (last k at 3.54); av HR 172 or around 90% Max; circled my usual 1.3k Canal loop about 7x - jog a bit then 4 x 100m hill sprints, walk rec then 3k down. Total 18k in 82+

PM -- 1 hour yoga stretch class

Thursday:
AM -- 10k easy in 54 (5.23), Keppel Marina 1k loop
PM -- 2 reps of James Boag beer with calamari for recovery at pub watching WC cricket

Friday:
AM -- 6k recovery in 34+ (5.42)
PM -- 10mins gym work

Saturday
AM -- 30k long run in 2.26 (4.52), home-holland rd-ulu pandan rd-clementi rd - upper bukit timah rd and back, did 1-3mins pick-ups every 5mins

Sunday -- OFF

Total 92k for the week

Week in Summary:

A good week with a couple of good workouts and a 30k long run. After medicore training in recent weeks, this is the first time that I am able to pull together some decent sessions. This week's mileage is also the highest in 6 months, so it's been a while !

Made a couple of tweaks. Initally, I was trying to replicate my training for last year's Seoul Marathon (3.03) under Coach SW by doing interval, tempo, medium long run, and long run, so that's 4 sessions in a 6-day running week. However, work is a bit more stressful this year and coupled with ageing legs, the structure is not that doable at this moment. Therefore, I made a little tweak by incoporating the tempo run inside a medium long run (currently still 18k, but this will increase to 21+ over coming weeks). The nice thing about this is that it gives me 3 easy days within a 6 day cycle to tackle the two workouts and the weekend long run. I also found having 2 easy days before a long run helps a lot!

Another tweak that I made is inserting some pick-ups in the long run. I often struggle during long runs, both physically and mentally (maybe because I train solo). One day I came across Charlie Speeding (london marathon champ) training log and saw that he often did long run with 1, 2, 4 mins fast pick-up every 5mins of steady running. So this morning, after a couple ks warm up, I ran 5mins ez, 1min pick-up, 5mins ez, 2mins pick-up, 5mins ez, 3mins pick up and repeat. At this juncture, my pick-ups were more like medium effort (around 4.30 min/km pace) instead of fast effort to keep them aerobic. But they were sometimes challenging especially when the pick-up portion happened at the hill ! The good thing is that I am not so bored doing my long run anymore !

Plan for next week is to do around the same number of ks. I will travel overseas for work for 2D1N, but I don't think it will disrupt my training.

20 March 2011

Didn't run much

Monday -- 3k warm up, drills + 1k worth of strides/jog; 4-4-3-3-2-2-1-1 fartlek at the Canal loop - paces 4mins reps at 3.50 min/km with 90secs jog; 3mins reps at 3.45 with 90secs jog; 2mins reps at 3.40 with 1min jog; 1min reps at 3.37 and 3.27 (last one) with 1min jog - total 20mins of fast running averaging 3.45 pace, - 2k cool down. Total 13.2k in 62mins (av 4.42)

Tuesday -- ran with colleague in Bintan golf course, no watch, probably 8k in 45mins (av 5.40)

Wednesday -- Bintan, 6k in 30mins (av 5.00) - hang-over from last night

Thursday -- OFF, at work until 9pm :(

Friday -- 3k warm up, drills + 1k worth of strides/jog; 6k tempo in 24.06 (av 4.01 pace), av HR 171 bpm; 3k cool down including 3 x 200m strides - wanted to do 8k tempo, felt shitty so stopped at 6k. Total 13k in 60mins (av 4:42)

Saturday -- 27k easy long run in 2:17 (av 5.05), didn't sleep much last night, struggled physically and mentally, time excluded 10mins of stoppages

Sunday -- OFF; Sling Jr's 2nd birthday

Week in Summary:

67k for the week versus a plan of 90k. Unfortunately, this week was interrupted with company trip to Bintan and lots of work-related stuff. Seriously, I reckon offsite team conference equals opportunity to get pissed at company expense ! Had a hangover and only managed to do a couple of short runs (30-40mins) over there. Missed my medium long run on Thursday, got stuck in meetings until 9pm.

Currently my training doesn't resemble marathon training at all! Weekly mileage so fare are 64, 80, 67 kms with long runs between 20-27k and medium long runs of 12-14k. Moreover, speed/tempo sessions are about 20-25mins long, certainly on the low side of things. Counting down. there are 13 weeks to go to Perth (or 15 weeks to GC). Hopefully there are enough time to put in a good block of marathon training, assuming I can find the balance between work and running!

12 March 2011

Easing into things

Monday -- 5k warm up, drills + 1k worth of strides/jog; 5 x 1k intervals at approx 10k pace at the Canal loop, splits 3.50, 3.51, 3.50, 3.50, 3.49 (av 3:50) with 70 secs jog rest - HR for reps 2-5 average 178bpm with highest 187 in final rep; felt pretty controled the whole way, legs fresh after 2 off days - 2k cool down. Total 13k in 60+ (av 4.36)

Tuesday -- 8k easy in 42+ (av 5:18) treadmill

Wednesday -- 12k easy in 60+ (av 5.03) incl. 8 x 15-20secs hill sprints - lunch time run from office to Labrador and back, hot and muggy

Thursday --- 5k warm up, drills + 1k worth of strides/jog; 4 x 1.6k intervals at tempo pace at the Canal loop, splits: 6.28 (4.03 pace), 6.25 (4.01), 6.23 (3.59), 6.13 (3.53) - average pace 3.59 with 90secs jog rest - av HR for reps 2-4 177 bpm with highest 182 in final rep; legs a bit tired from yesterday, picked it up in last rep, damn humid - 3k cool down. Total 16k in 77+ (av 4.50)

Friday -- 6k recovery in 35 (av 5.45) treadmill

Saturday -- 25k long run in 121mins (av 4.50) - consisted of 18k easy in 90+ (5.02) on undulanting route, then 15mins at 4:23 pace, 2mins rest, 15mins at 4.12 pace (downhill) - cool morning for a change

Sunday -- OFF

Total 80k for the week

Week in Summary:

Still easing back into marathon training. Had a hard time re-familiarizing myself to get up early in the morning again, hence a couple of runs early in the week were on the short side. The two workouts this week were decent, but not too solid. I am upping the mileage by 20% this week (64 to 80), so trying to limit the hard stuff a bit. Happy to be able to squeeze in a dash of quality in 2 non-workout days - hill sprints during 1hr Wed run and 30mins near MP at the back end of Sat long run.

Next Mon-Wed I will be off to Bintan Island for team off-site conference, looking forward to run in a different route and take my office mates to go for some jogging while over there. Plan for next week is to do 80-90k and increase my long run to around 28k. Doin' everything one step at a time at the moment :)

04 March 2011

Reset

Back from holidays and straight into the dreaded marathon cycle again !


I am currently keeping both Perth and Gold Coast options open. Although, Perth is presently looking more attractive due to 30% cheaper airfare (for a family of 3, the difference is pretty sizeable), 50% shorter travel time (cutting out driving time from Brisbane), and the benefit of doing local races as tune-ups (e.g. can choose between 25k race 5 weeks out or 21k race 4 weeks out versus 6-7 weeks out if opting for GC). Gold Coast, of course, offers better racing atmoshphere and (normally) calmer weather conditions, but in marathon, you'll never know.

Both races will open registrations in April, so I have a good one month to ponder and gauge my fitness.

For fall marathon, I've entered the ballot for Osaka Marathon on 30/10 and the result should be out in April. Will either do this or Melbourne (9/10) as a present (or self-torture !!) for my 40th birthday.

Training wise, I am re-familarizing myself with mileage and running frequency. I only averaged around 40-50k a week in the last 3 months since coming back from injury, so this week is all about taking little steps back into marathon training. Currently my workouts (Mon and Thu) are only 50mins long, my plan is to increase the length of these sessions gradually to around 60-75mins. Same thing goes for my medium long run and long runs which are only 70mins and 100mins long respectively. I am hoping to increase them gradually over the coming weeks.

Travelling to Jakarta in the weekend meaning only 5 days of running and doing a long run on weekdays before going to work. Therefore I am quite ok with the relatively low mileage and a slow start to the marathon cycle this week.

Mon: 55mins (av 4.35) incl. 6k Tempo in 24.18 - progressing from MP to 10k (km splits 4.17, 4.10, 4.05, 4.00, 3.55, 3.51)
Tue: 70mins easy (av 4.58), weights/core
Wed: 40mins recovery (av 5.30), abs/squats/med balls
Thu: 50mins (av 4:50) incl. strides workouts on grass - 6x300 + 6x100
Fri: 20k long easy run in 99mins (av 4.56)
Sat: off
Sun: off
Total 64k for the week