Week 9-10 of 12

Lots of workouts re-shuffling in the last 2 weeks due to a combination of work trip, family matters, and a couple of missed/failed workouts.

In the first 8 weeks, I'd say that I have followed the Pfitz program to the tune of around 90-95%. Missed some mileage here and there (e.g. my highest mileage was 108 km versus 113 in the plan), but I did all the scheduled workouts.

However, nothing resembled the program in the last 2 weeks. Essentially, my aim for Week 9-10 was to do a 'salvation job', i.e. 1) to minimize missed workouts/mileage as scheduled in the program; 2) doing make-up sessions on a couple of missed/deferred workouts; and 3) find the balance to achieve #1 and #2 while simulatenously trying to not over-tax the body.

I want to have a proper taper in Week 11 and 12, so Week 10 is essentially the last drop dead date for making training adjustments. The changes as follows:

- The deferred Race (10-15k) from Week 8 was replaced by 8*1300m @ Threshold in Week 9 (no race available, too lazy to do TT)
- Due to the above adjustment, Intervals (6*1000) scheduled in Week 9 was replaced by Yasso 8*800m in Week 10
- For the final long run of 32km in Week 9 which was cut short to 20k, I decided to leave as it is.
- Week 9 actual mileage is 25% lower than Pfitz program due to travel/family reasons. I decided not to chase the shortfall, but I did slightly did more kms Week 10
- The scheduled Race (8-10k) and 21km medium long run in Week 10 were 'integrated' into a single run which included 2*9km at MP

Sorry Mr Pfitz for being a bad boy….will try my best to follow the last 2 weeks schedules to the T :)

Two weeks left to Seoul…..

Mon 20-02-12
8 km recovery run in 42mins (av 5.22)
Went on a work trip to Aceh, a site of the tsunami disaster in 2004 and decades of civil wars. The good thing is that we stayed in a staff housing compound, so the place is safe and has less traffic. Tired legs from yesterday's 37km run.

Tue 21-02-12
13 km easy run in 67mins (av 5.10)
Found a quiet 2k loop around the complex and ran it 8 times. Also did 6*15secs hill strides on gentle hills
Wed 22-02-12
22 km in 102mins (av 4.37) - including 8*5mins tempo intervals (3.52 min/km)
Since I missed the schedule TT last week, I decided to do a replacement workout that slightly mimicked a TT intensity but with less stress. Found a 650m loop around the circumference of Arun football stadium which has a long gentle decline and then a short uphill to bring back the elevation drop to 0. After 3k warm up, did 5*1300m (2 laps) with recovery between 1.5-2.00 minutes. Splits 5.05, 5.02. 5.03, 5.02. 5.02, 5.00, 5.02. 4.54, total 10.4k worth of work in 40.10 (av 3.52 min/km). Surprisingly the effort didn't feel too hard. Hmm…perhaps the GPS overshoot the loop distance because it was akin to running round and round the track? Did 7km cool down to make it 22k for the day.

Thu 23-02-12
8 km recovery in 43mins (av 5.26)
Tired, heavy legs.

Fri 24-02-12
13 km easy in 66mins (av 5.07)
Felt a bit sluggish.

Sat 25-02-12
20 km medium long run in 96mins (av 4.50)
The schedule calls for 32km as final long run before entering the Taper phase. Ideally, I would like embed some MP running into the run, but today I was really off-form. About 5km into MP, I felt crap and shitty. My quads were on fire, presumably from the DOMS due to doing the Wed session in a course which had some downhills. The body also felt tired in general, as the work trip probably took a bit out of me. To make things worse, I was running at ECP which is about 10km long from end to end. Hence, after going out, I had to run back 10k to the place where I parked my car

Sun 26-02-12
OFF. I was hoping to do a slow 30km long run today to meet Pfitz target mileage of 70 miles (113km). But my son was unwell due to fever.

Total 84k in 6h58m (av 4.59)

Mon 27-02-12
17 km in 80mins - including Yasso 800s (av 2.54 per 800)
A deferred session from last week's scheduled intervals (Pfitz 6*1k at 5k pace). Decided for a Yasso because I thought 800s would be less painful than 1000s. A hot day with 35c heat index. Splits: 2.54.3, 2.55.2, 2.56.3, 2.55.2, 2.56.4, 2.56.9, 2.55.0, 2.48.8 = average 2.54 (or 2.56 excluding the last rep). Recovery was 2mins jog around the inner football field, except after reps #3 and #6 where I took a full ~3mins recovery

Tue 28-02-12
8.4 km recovery in 45mins (av 5.25)
Stiff leg from yesterday's workout, ran mostly on grass.

Wed 29-02-12
11.2 km in 60mins (av 5.23)
Easy run around the river.

Thu 01-03-12
22.4 km in 100mins - including 2*9 km @ sub-MP (av 4.11)
A substitute workout for the 8-10k TT in the Pfitz program. Went to East Coast Park and ran a 9km stretch between Big Splash and the water tap at the Country Club. Covered the first 9km in 37.39 (av 4.11 min/km) with splits 4.03, 4.10, 4.11, 4.11, 4.12, 4.10, 4.13, 4.14, 4.12 (av HR 163 bpm, cadence 192 per minute). Then I had 3mins rest for gel + drinks. The second 9 km was completed in 37.35 (av 4.10.5 min/km) with splits 4.12, 4.13, 4.15, 4.14, 4.13, 4.12, 4.13, 4.05, 3.55 (av HR 170 bpm, cadence 192 per minute). Looking from a different angle, in the first segment, my heart had to beat 680 times to cover 1km. The efficiency worsened by 5% to 710 bpm in the second segment, but I am not too concerned given I went for a kick in the last mile and there was of course, the dehydration element. Was hoping to run more at MP, but had to go home to drop my son at school.

Fri 02-03-12
9 km recovery in 49mins (av 5.27)
Ran back and forth a 500m wooden boardwalk

Sat 03-03-12
30 km easy long run in 150mins (av 5.00)
Final long run before 2-weeks taper. Tired legs and felt sluggish.

Total 98k in 8h04m (av 4.58)