Did 80k in over 6.5 hours (av 4:59) during Week 1 of 5 to Army Half
I took a more cautious approach to training this time. A general rule of thumb for marathon recovery is 26 days (one day for each mile raced). Although, legs felt fresh but I am pretty sure there are some microscopic muscles damages inside. I just didn’t want to repeat the same accident last year where I embarked a full-on training straight away after the marathon and a couple days before the 10k race, I damaged my ankle ligament and was injured for 2 months. While it was a freak accident, but I think weak and stressed ankle joints, tendons & connective tissues post-marathon (further stressed by subsequent heavy training) were also responsible.
This week’s training has been fairly easy with the exception of Saturday’s workout. I did a 1-hour progression run on Tuesday, which wasn’t that hard in terms of effort spent. On Saturday, I did a big workout consisting 10k easy + 5 x 2k at HM ‘effort’ to simulate a second half of HM race. I emphasize the word ‘effort’ because I don’t know my goal HM pace is. McMillan calculator predicts a 1:27 based on GC timing, but the latter was done on good running weather. The average pace of the 2ks turned out to be 4:07 min/km, but I am not sure whether I could run at this pace for 21k straight.
Mon (Off):
AM: 40mins Elliptical
PM: 1-hour Pilates
Tue (Workout):
16k run in 75mins (av 4:42) including 60mins Progression Run
Progression run with pace change every 10mins at 5:15, 5:00, 4:45, 4:30, 4:15, and 4:00s, covering last 30mins at sub-3 MP and last 20mins at 87mins HM pace. Finished with Hill Sprints of varying length: 2 x 20secs, 2 x 15secs, 2 x 10secs.
Wed (Easy):
6.5k Recovery (av 5:29), treadmill
Thu (Easy):
17k Easy in (av 5:00), out at 5:00-5:10, back in 4:50-5:00
Fri (Easy):
AM: 10.5k Easy (av 5:03) incl 4 laps of sprint the straights, jog the curves
PM: 1-hour Strength Training (abs, lunges, squats)
Sat (Workout):
24k run in 116mins (av 4:50) consisting of:
- 10k Easy (5:12)
- 5 x 2k at HM effort (av 4:07)
- 3k cool down (5:34)
The aim is to get a feel of how the second half of HM will be like. Ran 10k easy from home to East Coast Park as a warm up, then did 5 x 2k at HM effort. Splits: 8:16/168, 8:14/172, 8:14/175, 8:14/176, 8:04/181. Recovery was 2:00 jog + 00:30 standing rest to drink & stretch, except for the last one whereby I took a 3:00 standing rest to ensure I ran a bit quicker. A hard workout, but not awfully tough. Legs still lacking zip. Happy to see that HR hitting 180s since I haven’t been at this range during marathon training.
Sun (Easy):
6k Recovery (av 5:35)
Total 80k for the week
18 July 2009
12 July 2009
Post Mortem & Race Plans
Post race analysis and personal findings:
1) I found that the temperature differential (30c during training vs 10c during racing) will only allow me to sustain the projected MP for the whole 42k without bonking. Unlike other trained runners (e.g. by7), I still don’t have that ability to utilize the cooler racing temperature into running faster than projected MP. A heat chart by Tinman suggest that a change in temperature from 50F (Gold Coast temp 10c) to 90F (Singapore temp 30c) will cause a performance drop of 5%. Since I have been practicing MP at 4:20-4:25 min/km in Singapore, ‘theoretically’ the heat training in Singapore could enable me to do sub-3 (4:20 pace x 95% = 4:12 pace
2) My marathon HR in Gold Coast was 165bpm or 85% Max HR. My last max test was done 3 years ago and it was 195 bpm. I am not sure what my max is now but maybe it’s down by a couple of beats. Hadd training article and other lets run posts suggest that well-trained runners (with 190+ HR Max) can run marathon averaging 175bpm (87-88% Max). So my marathon HR is about 10bpm lower than those people.
The aforementioned points above may indicate a few things 1) Assuming if I was well-trained, I was too conservative during the race and didn’t realize the possibility that I could run a bit faster; or 2) I wasn’t very well-trained, hence I was unable to capitalize on the lower temperature and run at a higher HR; or 3) I am just one of those average joes.
Race Plans:
My next race is the Army Half Marathon in mid-August (did 1:28 last year). There are only 5 weeks of training left (including taper) to prepare for the race, hopefully I can match or slightly better last year’s timing.
No other races planned for the rest of the year. There are possibilities that I sprinkle a couple of short races here and there (e.g HM leg of Singapore Marathon in Dec or Freo HM in Sep if family allows). My wife and kiddo will return to Singapore at the end of the month, so training times will be slightly constrained and less flexible. My current aim is to do general type of base work consisting of moderate mileage, 2 day offs per week, in order to balance family life.
Have yet to decide on next marathon. What currently comes to mind includes Seoul International Marathon in March (flat course, sub-zero temperature in 2007), Gold Coast Marathon again in early July or perhaps Perth Marathon (not sure when).
Training this week:
M: off
T: off
W: 7.5k Recovery (5:28) in Melbourne
T: 12.5k Easy/Mod (4:48) with last 30mins moderate(4:40)
F: Arrived in SG, 6k Recovery (5:27) + massage
S: 5k Easy (5:00), 2 strides
S: 8k POSB Run for Kids race in 32:23 (4:03) + 6k wu/cd (5:40)
Total 45k
Despite just ran a marathon a week ago, I decided to do a low key 8k race. Initially planned to run this at about 4:05 pace to get HR data for next month’s Army HM, but got sucked in to a fast start. Felt good in the first half, but found no leg speed in the second half despite feeling as strong as an ox. HR was almost constant at 182 in the last 5k. Just couldn’t push harder. Finished 4th, about 50secs behind the 3rd runner and 3 minutes after the 1st runner. Splits: 3:53/167 (hill), 3:57/177, 4:00/180, 3:57/183, 4:04/182, 4:12/182 (hill), 4:07/181, 4:02/182, 10secs extra. I am not sure whether I can maintain this pace for 21k, so probably a 1:27-1:28 is an appropriate HM goal for me.
1) I found that the temperature differential (30c during training vs 10c during racing) will only allow me to sustain the projected MP for the whole 42k without bonking. Unlike other trained runners (e.g. by7), I still don’t have that ability to utilize the cooler racing temperature into running faster than projected MP. A heat chart by Tinman suggest that a change in temperature from 50F (Gold Coast temp 10c) to 90F (Singapore temp 30c) will cause a performance drop of 5%. Since I have been practicing MP at 4:20-4:25 min/km in Singapore, ‘theoretically’ the heat training in Singapore could enable me to do sub-3 (4:20 pace x 95% = 4:12 pace
2) My marathon HR in Gold Coast was 165bpm or 85% Max HR. My last max test was done 3 years ago and it was 195 bpm. I am not sure what my max is now but maybe it’s down by a couple of beats. Hadd training article and other lets run posts suggest that well-trained runners (with 190+ HR Max) can run marathon averaging 175bpm (87-88% Max). So my marathon HR is about 10bpm lower than those people.
The aforementioned points above may indicate a few things 1) Assuming if I was well-trained, I was too conservative during the race and didn’t realize the possibility that I could run a bit faster; or 2) I wasn’t very well-trained, hence I was unable to capitalize on the lower temperature and run at a higher HR; or 3) I am just one of those average joes.
Race Plans:
My next race is the Army Half Marathon in mid-August (did 1:28 last year). There are only 5 weeks of training left (including taper) to prepare for the race, hopefully I can match or slightly better last year’s timing.
No other races planned for the rest of the year. There are possibilities that I sprinkle a couple of short races here and there (e.g HM leg of Singapore Marathon in Dec or Freo HM in Sep if family allows). My wife and kiddo will return to Singapore at the end of the month, so training times will be slightly constrained and less flexible. My current aim is to do general type of base work consisting of moderate mileage, 2 day offs per week, in order to balance family life.
Have yet to decide on next marathon. What currently comes to mind includes Seoul International Marathon in March (flat course, sub-zero temperature in 2007), Gold Coast Marathon again in early July or perhaps Perth Marathon (not sure when).
Training this week:
M: off
T: off
W: 7.5k Recovery (5:28) in Melbourne
T: 12.5k Easy/Mod (4:48) with last 30mins moderate(4:40)
F: Arrived in SG, 6k Recovery (5:27) + massage
S: 5k Easy (5:00), 2 strides
S: 8k POSB Run for Kids race in 32:23 (4:03) + 6k wu/cd (5:40)
Total 45k
Despite just ran a marathon a week ago, I decided to do a low key 8k race. Initially planned to run this at about 4:05 pace to get HR data for next month’s Army HM, but got sucked in to a fast start. Felt good in the first half, but found no leg speed in the second half despite feeling as strong as an ox. HR was almost constant at 182 in the last 5k. Just couldn’t push harder. Finished 4th, about 50secs behind the 3rd runner and 3 minutes after the 1st runner. Splits: 3:53/167 (hill), 3:57/177, 4:00/180, 3:57/183, 4:04/182, 4:12/182 (hill), 4:07/181, 4:02/182, 10secs extra. I am not sure whether I can maintain this pace for 21k, so probably a 1:27-1:28 is an appropriate HM goal for me.
05 July 2009
Gold Coast Marathon 2009
Net Time: 3:04:50
A PB by 7 minutes and beat BQ for my age group (35-40) by 11 minutes.
Firstly, training for the Week 12 of 12. As mentioned previosuly, I felt that I peaked at the right time judging how easy my workouts were in the last 2 weeks (signs of adaptations). I had to patiently control the pace and duration of the workouts (including a 5k race), just to make sure I didn't 'race' my training.
M: 5k Recovery (5:26)
T: 13.5k (av 4:45) including 50mins Progression of 10mins @ 5:20, 5:00, 4:40, 4:20, 4:08. Covered last 30mins at MP, last 20mins at sub-3 pace
W: jetlagged
T: 10.5k (av 4:45) including 3.5k MP + 6 strides
F: 7k Easy (5:02), 4 strides
S: 12mins jog (6:00 pace)
Total 38k pre-race
Now, the race report:
Arrived at GC airport around 4.30pm (would love to get there earlier but no choice since it was a mileage ticket). Took the shuttle bus and arrived at the hotel. Picked up the bib + chip from Max (thanks a bunch) and went to have a pasta dinner at Surfers Paradise. Tossed and turned at the bed and couldn't sleep until about 1am. Had a weird dream that I was running a marathon carrying a monile phone and at km 10, I received a call from work. Stopped and talked for a few minutes, feeling de-motivated to run and DNF'ed. I then woke up and the clock was showing 4:00 am. OK, it was just a dream and I hasn't started running yet !!
Continue to sleep until about 5:20am, took shower, ate breakfast and took the bus to the race location. Had a mini fiasco during the warm up. I wore a belt which carries race bib and gels and I lost 2 packs of gel during warm up ! Luckily, I brought a spare one and now had 3 pax for the race. Now, I had to re-think about my fueling strategy as I initially planned to take gels at 10, 17.5, 25, 30 and 35k. I decided to rely on sports drinks for the initial part and would take gels at km 17.5, 27.5 and 35k.
I also happened to make the right decision on race gear. Bought a cotton glove after dinner and decided to wear long sleeve top for the run. It was a chilly morning, sub 10 degree and a bit windy in some areas. The course itself was 'relatively' flat (it's not 99% flat as Perth). There were a few gentle undulations along the suburban area and a couple of bridges. Would say it's about 95% flat but some of the slopes could affect your legs, especially after running on a flat ground for a long time. I found that the road is very cambered.
I ran pretty much even split for the first 30k, passing the respective 10k splits in 43:29, 43:31, and 43:45. No stopping at all as I drank during the run. Km 30-40k was harder since I began to feel tired and as we passed Southport, there were a couple of bridges to overcome. During this period, I had to resort to a few seconds walk breaks at the drink stops just to give the legs some rests. My average pace began to slow down to around 4:30s but I continue to dig deep. During this hard patch, I thought about my 3-month old son and how he always smiles. This enpowered me to keep going for the last 2k depsite the heavy legs. I managed to minimize the damage, hanged on to the finish and passed the clock at just under 3:05
5k 21:37 10k: 21:43
15k 21:47 20k 21:45
First Half Marathon: 1:31:39
30k 43:44
35k 21:55 40k 22:27
last 2.2k: 9:49
Second Half Marathon: 1:33:11
Net Time: 3:04:50
Av HR: 165 bpm (high 177)
Overall placing: 194 put of 3711 (179 of 2561 male)
Age group placing: 44 of 495
1k splits: 4:20/149, 4:18/159, 4:19/162, 4:19/162, 4:21/161, 4:20/162, 4:24/161, 4:23/161, 4:20/162, 4:23/163, 4:19/164, 4:21/163, 4:23/163, 4:21/164, 4:19/165, 4:25/165, 4:20/165, 4:17/166, 4:22/165, 4:24/165, 4:19/166, 4:20/167, 4:22/166, 4:24/167, 4:18/167, 4:27/166, 4:21/167, 4:27/167, 4:22/167. 4:21/169, 4:22/168, 4:23/169, 4:26/167, 4:23/169, 4:27/170, 4:29/168, 4:24/171, 4:32/170, 4:29/170, 4:27/172, 4:37/172, 4:27/174, 48/178
http://results.au.eventdirector.net/View.asp?EventID=3392&Bib=M2521
A PB by 7 minutes and beat BQ for my age group (35-40) by 11 minutes.
Firstly, training for the Week 12 of 12. As mentioned previosuly, I felt that I peaked at the right time judging how easy my workouts were in the last 2 weeks (signs of adaptations). I had to patiently control the pace and duration of the workouts (including a 5k race), just to make sure I didn't 'race' my training.
M: 5k Recovery (5:26)
T: 13.5k (av 4:45) including 50mins Progression of 10mins @ 5:20, 5:00, 4:40, 4:20, 4:08. Covered last 30mins at MP, last 20mins at sub-3 pace
W: jetlagged
T: 10.5k (av 4:45) including 3.5k MP + 6 strides
F: 7k Easy (5:02), 4 strides
S: 12mins jog (6:00 pace)
Total 38k pre-race
Now, the race report:
Arrived at GC airport around 4.30pm (would love to get there earlier but no choice since it was a mileage ticket). Took the shuttle bus and arrived at the hotel. Picked up the bib + chip from Max (thanks a bunch) and went to have a pasta dinner at Surfers Paradise. Tossed and turned at the bed and couldn't sleep until about 1am. Had a weird dream that I was running a marathon carrying a monile phone and at km 10, I received a call from work. Stopped and talked for a few minutes, feeling de-motivated to run and DNF'ed. I then woke up and the clock was showing 4:00 am. OK, it was just a dream and I hasn't started running yet !!
Continue to sleep until about 5:20am, took shower, ate breakfast and took the bus to the race location. Had a mini fiasco during the warm up. I wore a belt which carries race bib and gels and I lost 2 packs of gel during warm up ! Luckily, I brought a spare one and now had 3 pax for the race. Now, I had to re-think about my fueling strategy as I initially planned to take gels at 10, 17.5, 25, 30 and 35k. I decided to rely on sports drinks for the initial part and would take gels at km 17.5, 27.5 and 35k.
I also happened to make the right decision on race gear. Bought a cotton glove after dinner and decided to wear long sleeve top for the run. It was a chilly morning, sub 10 degree and a bit windy in some areas. The course itself was 'relatively' flat (it's not 99% flat as Perth). There were a few gentle undulations along the suburban area and a couple of bridges. Would say it's about 95% flat but some of the slopes could affect your legs, especially after running on a flat ground for a long time. I found that the road is very cambered.
I ran pretty much even split for the first 30k, passing the respective 10k splits in 43:29, 43:31, and 43:45. No stopping at all as I drank during the run. Km 30-40k was harder since I began to feel tired and as we passed Southport, there were a couple of bridges to overcome. During this period, I had to resort to a few seconds walk breaks at the drink stops just to give the legs some rests. My average pace began to slow down to around 4:30s but I continue to dig deep. During this hard patch, I thought about my 3-month old son and how he always smiles. This enpowered me to keep going for the last 2k depsite the heavy legs. I managed to minimize the damage, hanged on to the finish and passed the clock at just under 3:05
5k 21:37 10k: 21:43
15k 21:47 20k 21:45
First Half Marathon: 1:31:39
30k 43:44
35k 21:55 40k 22:27
last 2.2k: 9:49
Second Half Marathon: 1:33:11
Net Time: 3:04:50
Av HR: 165 bpm (high 177)
Overall placing: 194 put of 3711 (179 of 2561 male)
Age group placing: 44 of 495
1k splits: 4:20/149, 4:18/159, 4:19/162, 4:19/162, 4:21/161, 4:20/162, 4:24/161, 4:23/161, 4:20/162, 4:23/163, 4:19/164, 4:21/163, 4:23/163, 4:21/164, 4:19/165, 4:25/165, 4:20/165, 4:17/166, 4:22/165, 4:24/165, 4:19/166, 4:20/167, 4:22/166, 4:24/167, 4:18/167, 4:27/166, 4:21/167, 4:27/167, 4:22/167. 4:21/169, 4:22/168, 4:23/169, 4:26/167, 4:23/169, 4:27/170, 4:29/168, 4:24/171, 4:32/170, 4:29/170, 4:27/172, 4:37/172, 4:27/174, 48/178
http://results.au.eventdirector.net/View.asp?EventID=3392&Bib=M2521
28 June 2009
Week 11 of 12
Did 70k in 5 and ¾ hours (av 4:55) during Week 11 of 12
I really enjoyed my first week taper. Singapore mornings have been cool (26c & cloudy) all this week and these made running much more palatable. In addition, I felt that all the runs were relatively easy effort-wise, which could mean two things: 1) my body has adapted to training and ready to peak, or 2) I didn’t train hard enough and my training intensity during taper were too easy.
Ran 6 days a week and only had Monday off. My taper plan was to maintain running frequency (to keep weight in check) with a 20-30% reduction in mileage, for instance long run was cut from 30 to 24k, recovery runs from 40mins to 30mins, as well as shortened duration for speed session. I did 3 workouts at varying intensities this week: 10k MP run 12 days out, 2 hour easy long run 10 days out, and a controlled 5k race at 10k pace effort 7 days out.
My plan for the race week is to do a short run on Monday, 12-13k on Tuesday including 5k of moderate pace running (sub MP to MP), fly to Melbourne Tuesday night, rest on Wednesday, 8-10k run including 3k MP on Thursday, 30mins jogging Friday, and 10-15mins jog once I arrive in GC on Saturday evening. Probably 35-40k in total for Mon-Sat.
All the best to Rob, Craig, TB, and Henry who are running Perth Marathon on Sunday as well as Max, Ewen and others who are doing GC. All the best to you all!
By the way, for anyone who cares, my bib is M2521.
Training this week:
Mon (Rest):
Off.
Tue (Tempo):
14k run in 65mins (av 4:38) including 10k @ 4:18 min/km
Jogged for 2k and then ran 10k tempo in 43mins flat (av 4:18) at a few seconds faster than MP. Av HR was 164 bpm with a high of 173. Hopefully today’s tempo will make the MP feel easier at least for the first half of the marathon next week. Broke-in a new pair of shoes for the marathon.
Wed (Easy):
6k Recovery (av 5:23), 3 strides
Thu (Long):
24k run in ~120mins (av 4:55)
Last long run 10 days out and decided to make it an easy one (previous 2 long runs were moderate paced and not fat-burning mode). After a couple of ks of warm up jog, ran ~90 minutes at 4:55-5:00 pace. Then picked up the pace to MP + 5%-8% (4:30-4:40) in the last 20minutes. Tried the Endura (GCM sports drink) for the first time.
Fri (Easy):
9k Easy-Moderate (av 4:55) + 6 x 15sec hill sprints
Sat (Easy):
5k Recovery (av 5:32)
Sun (Race):
11.5k run consisting of:
- 600m warm up
- 5.24k Brooks Republic Run in 20:28 (av 3:55, 5k in 19:36)
- 5.7k cool down
My plan was to treat the race as my last speed workout and to run it at 10k pace. Didn't sleep well the night before and arrived late at the race location. Only had the time to deposit bag and go to the toilet. Did only 600m warm up to the start line and went off. Very controlled effort from the start and once I hit the target pace, I just locked it in and stayed there. In fact, my shoe lace got undone after 2k, but too lazy to stop and tie it. Just ran steady, without any huffing and puffing and no attempt to kick.Splits: 3:55, 3:54, 3:57, 3:56, 3:53 (passed 5k in 19:36), and 51secs for the last 235m. Average HR was 171 bpm with a high of 183 bpm versus my actual Max HR of 193bpm, hence it seems that I still have a lot of in the tank. In sum, I pretty much got all I wanted from the run: a good leg speed workout without having to dig deep into my energy reserves (straining) and came out without any muscle soreness. A quick look at McMillan calculator, it says that an all-out 19:36 5k is equivalent to 3:11 marathon, so hopefully my marathon shape is under that.
I really enjoyed my first week taper. Singapore mornings have been cool (26c & cloudy) all this week and these made running much more palatable. In addition, I felt that all the runs were relatively easy effort-wise, which could mean two things: 1) my body has adapted to training and ready to peak, or 2) I didn’t train hard enough and my training intensity during taper were too easy.
Ran 6 days a week and only had Monday off. My taper plan was to maintain running frequency (to keep weight in check) with a 20-30% reduction in mileage, for instance long run was cut from 30 to 24k, recovery runs from 40mins to 30mins, as well as shortened duration for speed session. I did 3 workouts at varying intensities this week: 10k MP run 12 days out, 2 hour easy long run 10 days out, and a controlled 5k race at 10k pace effort 7 days out.
My plan for the race week is to do a short run on Monday, 12-13k on Tuesday including 5k of moderate pace running (sub MP to MP), fly to Melbourne Tuesday night, rest on Wednesday, 8-10k run including 3k MP on Thursday, 30mins jogging Friday, and 10-15mins jog once I arrive in GC on Saturday evening. Probably 35-40k in total for Mon-Sat.
All the best to Rob, Craig, TB, and Henry who are running Perth Marathon on Sunday as well as Max, Ewen and others who are doing GC. All the best to you all!
By the way, for anyone who cares, my bib is M2521.
Training this week:
Mon (Rest):
Off.
Tue (Tempo):
14k run in 65mins (av 4:38) including 10k @ 4:18 min/km
Jogged for 2k and then ran 10k tempo in 43mins flat (av 4:18) at a few seconds faster than MP. Av HR was 164 bpm with a high of 173. Hopefully today’s tempo will make the MP feel easier at least for the first half of the marathon next week. Broke-in a new pair of shoes for the marathon.
Wed (Easy):
6k Recovery (av 5:23), 3 strides
Thu (Long):
24k run in ~120mins (av 4:55)
Last long run 10 days out and decided to make it an easy one (previous 2 long runs were moderate paced and not fat-burning mode). After a couple of ks of warm up jog, ran ~90 minutes at 4:55-5:00 pace. Then picked up the pace to MP + 5%-8% (4:30-4:40) in the last 20minutes. Tried the Endura (GCM sports drink) for the first time.
Fri (Easy):
9k Easy-Moderate (av 4:55) + 6 x 15sec hill sprints
Sat (Easy):
5k Recovery (av 5:32)
Sun (Race):
11.5k run consisting of:
- 600m warm up
- 5.24k Brooks Republic Run in 20:28 (av 3:55, 5k in 19:36)
- 5.7k cool down
My plan was to treat the race as my last speed workout and to run it at 10k pace. Didn't sleep well the night before and arrived late at the race location. Only had the time to deposit bag and go to the toilet. Did only 600m warm up to the start line and went off. Very controlled effort from the start and once I hit the target pace, I just locked it in and stayed there. In fact, my shoe lace got undone after 2k, but too lazy to stop and tie it. Just ran steady, without any huffing and puffing and no attempt to kick.Splits: 3:55, 3:54, 3:57, 3:56, 3:53 (passed 5k in 19:36), and 51secs for the last 235m. Average HR was 171 bpm with a high of 183 bpm versus my actual Max HR of 193bpm, hence it seems that I still have a lot of in the tank. In sum, I pretty much got all I wanted from the run: a good leg speed workout without having to dig deep into my energy reserves (straining) and came out without any muscle soreness. A quick look at McMillan calculator, it says that an all-out 19:36 5k is equivalent to 3:11 marathon, so hopefully my marathon shape is under that.
Todays' race was won by a Kenyan Thomas Kiprotichs and the second place was Clinton Mackevicius, a former Australia's nation 1500m runner in late 1990s (~3:45 timing)
Total 70k for the week (1060k in last 11 weeks)
21 June 2009
Week 10 of 12
Did 92k in 7.5 hours (av 4:55) during Week 10 of 12
Starting my taper now with 2 weeks to go. Really looking forward to longer sleep time from now on since I have been getting up at 4 or 5am on my workout days to avoid the heat. My plan for the taper is 70k next week then 40k during race week (pre-marathon).
One dilemma I have is that I have a 5k race next Sunday (registered and paid long time ago). I am not sure what kind of effort should I put in for the 5k since the marathon is only 7 days later. On one hand, 5k is a short race and recovery should be quick. Read that lots of old-school elites used to run 5k/10k a week before marathon as part of peaking, leg turnover workout and to dissipate some nerves (race practice) before the big day. On the flip side, I don’t want to jeopardize the marathon which of course is more important (and costly) race.
Most training programs typically schedule 18-21k long runs on Sunday to remind the body and maintain adaptations of long runs done over many weeks. I think this shouldn’t be a big issue since I can play around with the structure, such as doing 20k on Thurs/Fri, run the 5k on Sunday, and then do an easy 15k on Monday.
What do you guys think? Should I run the 5k race at:
a) Race effort (probably sub/low 19 for the 5k)
b) VO2max workout: 3 x 1600m at 5k pace, 400m jog
c) Controlled effort: 10k pace (probably under 20 for the 5k)
d) Semi-controlled effort: 4k at 10k pace, last 1.5k hard/all out
(actual distance seems to be about 5.5k according to mapmyrun)
Training this week:
Mon (Intervals):
16k run in 72mins (av 4:32) consisting of
- Warm up + strides
- 3 x 1600 @ Threshold in 6:20, 6:20, 6:20 (av 3:58 min/km)
- 3 x 800 @ 5k pace in 3:01, 3:00, 2:59 (av 3:45 min/km)
- 3 x 400 @ 2k-3k pace in 65, 64, 61 (av 3:28 min/km)
- Cool down
Ran in the evening to give extra few hours of recovery. The SMU track was full of school kids; hence some of the splits were couple of seconds slower due to the traffic. Recovery was 90secs walk after each rep and 3mins after each set. Compared to the same workout a month ago, the 1600s were a couple of seconds per k slower while the pace for 800s/400s was similar. Pretty happy with the effort considering I did a 36k long run two days earlier.
Tue (Easy):
AM: 30mins elliptical + 30mins stretching
PM: 5k Recovery (av 5:40)
Wed (Easy):
11k Easy (av 5:10), 4 strides
Thu (MP tempo):
20k run in 93mns (av 4:39) incl 14k @ 4:24 min/km
One final engine test at goal MP with 17 days to go before the D-day. Covered 1/3 of marathon distance in 61:32 (av 4:24) without stopping on flat terrain. Average HR was 161, max 177. I did an exactly similar test run before Seoul Marathon last year in 61:47, av HR 162, max 170. Hence, today’s run was 1sec/km faster with 1bpm lower average HR, albeit higher HR at the end. Also did 4 x 25secs hill during warm down.
Fri (Off):
Off, 30mins pilates
Sat (Long Run):
27.5k in 2h:12 (av 4:47 min/km)
Started with 3k slow warm up (5:18), then ran 16k at MP + 10% (4:40-4:45) to get sufficiently tired. After arriving at the track, did 4 x 1000m intervals at HM pace (4:07, 4:06, 4:07, 4:03), jogging 200m. Despite the intervals being only at HM pace, I found the change in gear to be pretty hard, but maybe that’s because after 90 minutes of moderate-paced running. Finished the run with 4 x 100m strides and slow cool down jog.
Sun (Easy):
6.5k Recovery (av 5:30), gravel/sand surface
Total 92k for the week, 990k in the last 10 weeks (av 14k per day)
Starting my taper now with 2 weeks to go. Really looking forward to longer sleep time from now on since I have been getting up at 4 or 5am on my workout days to avoid the heat. My plan for the taper is 70k next week then 40k during race week (pre-marathon).
One dilemma I have is that I have a 5k race next Sunday (registered and paid long time ago). I am not sure what kind of effort should I put in for the 5k since the marathon is only 7 days later. On one hand, 5k is a short race and recovery should be quick. Read that lots of old-school elites used to run 5k/10k a week before marathon as part of peaking, leg turnover workout and to dissipate some nerves (race practice) before the big day. On the flip side, I don’t want to jeopardize the marathon which of course is more important (and costly) race.
Most training programs typically schedule 18-21k long runs on Sunday to remind the body and maintain adaptations of long runs done over many weeks. I think this shouldn’t be a big issue since I can play around with the structure, such as doing 20k on Thurs/Fri, run the 5k on Sunday, and then do an easy 15k on Monday.
What do you guys think? Should I run the 5k race at:
a) Race effort (probably sub/low 19 for the 5k)
b) VO2max workout: 3 x 1600m at 5k pace, 400m jog
c) Controlled effort: 10k pace (probably under 20 for the 5k)
d) Semi-controlled effort: 4k at 10k pace, last 1.5k hard/all out
(actual distance seems to be about 5.5k according to mapmyrun)
Training this week:
Mon (Intervals):
16k run in 72mins (av 4:32) consisting of
- Warm up + strides
- 3 x 1600 @ Threshold in 6:20, 6:20, 6:20 (av 3:58 min/km)
- 3 x 800 @ 5k pace in 3:01, 3:00, 2:59 (av 3:45 min/km)
- 3 x 400 @ 2k-3k pace in 65, 64, 61 (av 3:28 min/km)
- Cool down
Ran in the evening to give extra few hours of recovery. The SMU track was full of school kids; hence some of the splits were couple of seconds slower due to the traffic. Recovery was 90secs walk after each rep and 3mins after each set. Compared to the same workout a month ago, the 1600s were a couple of seconds per k slower while the pace for 800s/400s was similar. Pretty happy with the effort considering I did a 36k long run two days earlier.
Tue (Easy):
AM: 30mins elliptical + 30mins stretching
PM: 5k Recovery (av 5:40)
Wed (Easy):
11k Easy (av 5:10), 4 strides
Thu (MP tempo):
20k run in 93mns (av 4:39) incl 14k @ 4:24 min/km
One final engine test at goal MP with 17 days to go before the D-day. Covered 1/3 of marathon distance in 61:32 (av 4:24) without stopping on flat terrain. Average HR was 161, max 177. I did an exactly similar test run before Seoul Marathon last year in 61:47, av HR 162, max 170. Hence, today’s run was 1sec/km faster with 1bpm lower average HR, albeit higher HR at the end. Also did 4 x 25secs hill during warm down.
Fri (Off):
Off, 30mins pilates
Sat (Long Run):
27.5k in 2h:12 (av 4:47 min/km)
Started with 3k slow warm up (5:18), then ran 16k at MP + 10% (4:40-4:45) to get sufficiently tired. After arriving at the track, did 4 x 1000m intervals at HM pace (4:07, 4:06, 4:07, 4:03), jogging 200m. Despite the intervals being only at HM pace, I found the change in gear to be pretty hard, but maybe that’s because after 90 minutes of moderate-paced running. Finished the run with 4 x 100m strides and slow cool down jog.
Sun (Easy):
6.5k Recovery (av 5:30), gravel/sand surface
Total 92k for the week, 990k in the last 10 weeks (av 14k per day)
14 June 2009
Week 9 of 12
Did 110k in just over 9 hours (av 5:01 min/km) during Week 9 of 12
Was initially hoping for a hard training week, but it wasn’t meant to be. Mileage was good, but not the intensity nor quality. Had a massage early on Monday and the muscles were sore for the next 3 days. Consequently, I only managed to one so-so speed workout (normally I do two a week) and a weekend long run. In total, I had 5 slow/easy days this week.
Three weeks to go to GCM. Frankly, I am not sure whether I am in a better shape compared to my last marathon in Seoul. My average training paces are slower this year and I did less ‘long fast workouts’. Last year, I felt fresh and was able to do more intense quality workouts. While for the current training cycle; I’ve been hampered by groin problems and hot weather (one of the warmest on record). On a positive note, this year’s longer prep (4 weeks longer) is probably worth an extra 350-400 km in mileage (hopefully this will help!).
The plan for next week is to up the intensity since it will be virtually the last hard training week before I enter a 2-week taper. Plan to do 2 speed workouts (focusing on MP) during mid-week and 25-28km long run in the weekend.
Mon (Easy):
AM: 6k Recovery (av 5:30)
PM: Massage
Tue (Easy):
AM: 8k Recovery (av 5:36)
PM: 8k Easy (av 5:10), 4 strides
Too sore to do any workout after a painful massage yesterday.
Wed (Threshold):
AM: 19k (av 4:42) with 52mins worth of HM pace/MP work
PM: 5.5k Recovery (av 5:32)
Similar style to last week’s workout, alternating intervals at HM pace with recovery at MP. 3 sets of 1k HMP, 1k MP, 1k HMP, 1k MP with 2mins rest in between on the F1 track. Splits for the 4k sets: 17:12 (163 bpm), 17:12 (168 bpm), and 16:55 (170 bpm). Average pace was 4:08 for the HM segments, 4:25 for the recovery, and 4:17 min/km for the 12k total. I wanted to do another set but I was too stuffed from the warm weather.
Thu (Easy):
11k Recovery (av 5:19)
Fri (Easy):
AM: 9.5k Easy (av 4:58), 8 strides
PM: 20mins gym work
Sat (Long Run):
36k in 2h:50 (av 4:42 min/km)
Ran with Max again at East Coast Park. We started pretty early at 5:30am and didn’t see the mercury until near the end of the run - which was good for a change. After 3k warm up, ran 27k at 4:40 min/km or 3h:18m marathon pace (excluding a few brief drink breaks). After Max left, I planned to do 5k at goal MP to wrap up the long run. However, I was too tired by then, and only had energy to do 2 x 2k at goal MP (4:20 min/km) with a slow 1k jog in between. Including today’s run, total mileage for the last 7 days (Saturday to Sunday) was 130k.
Sun (Easy):
AM: 7k Recovery (av 5:26), 4 easy strides
PM: Yoga
Total 110k for the week
Was initially hoping for a hard training week, but it wasn’t meant to be. Mileage was good, but not the intensity nor quality. Had a massage early on Monday and the muscles were sore for the next 3 days. Consequently, I only managed to one so-so speed workout (normally I do two a week) and a weekend long run. In total, I had 5 slow/easy days this week.
Three weeks to go to GCM. Frankly, I am not sure whether I am in a better shape compared to my last marathon in Seoul. My average training paces are slower this year and I did less ‘long fast workouts’. Last year, I felt fresh and was able to do more intense quality workouts. While for the current training cycle; I’ve been hampered by groin problems and hot weather (one of the warmest on record). On a positive note, this year’s longer prep (4 weeks longer) is probably worth an extra 350-400 km in mileage (hopefully this will help!).
The plan for next week is to up the intensity since it will be virtually the last hard training week before I enter a 2-week taper. Plan to do 2 speed workouts (focusing on MP) during mid-week and 25-28km long run in the weekend.
Mon (Easy):
AM: 6k Recovery (av 5:30)
PM: Massage
Tue (Easy):
AM: 8k Recovery (av 5:36)
PM: 8k Easy (av 5:10), 4 strides
Too sore to do any workout after a painful massage yesterday.
Wed (Threshold):
AM: 19k (av 4:42) with 52mins worth of HM pace/MP work
PM: 5.5k Recovery (av 5:32)
Similar style to last week’s workout, alternating intervals at HM pace with recovery at MP. 3 sets of 1k HMP, 1k MP, 1k HMP, 1k MP with 2mins rest in between on the F1 track. Splits for the 4k sets: 17:12 (163 bpm), 17:12 (168 bpm), and 16:55 (170 bpm). Average pace was 4:08 for the HM segments, 4:25 for the recovery, and 4:17 min/km for the 12k total. I wanted to do another set but I was too stuffed from the warm weather.
Thu (Easy):
11k Recovery (av 5:19)
Fri (Easy):
AM: 9.5k Easy (av 4:58), 8 strides
PM: 20mins gym work
Sat (Long Run):
36k in 2h:50 (av 4:42 min/km)
Ran with Max again at East Coast Park. We started pretty early at 5:30am and didn’t see the mercury until near the end of the run - which was good for a change. After 3k warm up, ran 27k at 4:40 min/km or 3h:18m marathon pace (excluding a few brief drink breaks). After Max left, I planned to do 5k at goal MP to wrap up the long run. However, I was too tired by then, and only had energy to do 2 x 2k at goal MP (4:20 min/km) with a slow 1k jog in between. Including today’s run, total mileage for the last 7 days (Saturday to Sunday) was 130k.
Sun (Easy):
AM: 7k Recovery (av 5:26), 4 easy strides
PM: Yoga
Total 110k for the week
07 June 2009
Week 8 of 12
Did 99k in around 8 hours (av 4:58) during Week 8 of 12
Re: marathon decision….
It is gonna be Gold Coast. After discussion with my wife, doing a marathon in the East Coast is a better idea since I can make a combined trip to visit the family in Melbourne. Had a few things to take care (baby passport, shipment etc) before my wife and baby will head to Singapore in early August.
Apologies to the guys in Perth for not being able to run Perth Marathon this year. I’ve discussed with my wife about doing Perth Marathon next year (need to re-qualify for Boston if I want to run it in 2011) or perhaps even one of the WAMC’s weekend events. I hope that speedsters Epi and Clown will be kind enough to pace me to a 10k/21k PB since the road race culture and organization and in Singapore is really bad.
Anyway, training has been lackluster this week. I was unable to get the results I had hoped from the workouts (e.g. less tempo distance, slow pace of easy/long runs etc). One reason could be that I am just tired. During my last marathon prep, I did 8 weeks of training and I felt good the whole way. In contrast, the current training cycle is 12 weeks long and I passed the 8 weeks mark today. I’ve been feeling tired and sluggish (also running with sore groin/quads) since the last few weeks. Singapore weather during April-May also has been much hotter and humid (which is very draining) compared to the Sep-Oct period.
Below is the comparison between the two marathon preps. Two things that strike me are that a) I am doing less number of and much shorter LSDs; and b) training paces for the two preps are almost exactly the same, for instance tempos (4:00-4:10), intervals (3:50s), MP (4:20-4:30), and Easy (5:00-5:30). In other words, there is no increase in training intensity (in fact, the Seould prep was actually more 'dense' if we count the number of both easy and quality long runs completed during the short training cycle). The only difference is that I will have 4 weeks of extra training this time around and I wonder whether this will yield a different (better) results?
Seoul prep (followed by 2 weeks taper):
Mileage (6 weeks): 94, 91, 105, 98, 115, 105 = av 101 km
Long Runs (Easy): 32, 35, 35, 27, 30
Long Runs (Quality): 27 (21 @ MP), 32 (28 @ MP), 31 (21 @ MP)
GCM prep (another 2 week training + 2 weeks taper):
Mileage (8 weeks): 88, 90, 121, 97, 112, 93, 88, 99 = av 98 km
Long Runs (Easy): 25, 27, 24, 31
Long Runs (Quality): 30 (15 @ MP), 33 (24 @ MP), 35 (26 @ MP)
Training this week:
Mon:
OFF
Tue (Intervals):
15k av 4:50 with 6 x 1k @ 10k pace
Back in SG and I felt the difference in effort right away. Last week, Melbourne was 14c and the wind chill made it to around 11c (apparent temperature). This afternoon, Singapore was 32c with a heat index of 35c. This basically means that I am training in a place which is 3x hotter than in an ideal (lab-like) conditions. Ran 4k for warm up to the F1 track, 6 x 1k @ 10k pace (av 3:54) with 90secs walk, 5k cool down including strides and short hill sprints.
Wed (Easy):
AM: 10k Easy (av 5:17), on treadmill
PM: Weights/Core
Thu (Threshold):
AM: 7k Easy (av 5:06)
PM: 16k (av 4:45) with 6 miles Threshold (alternate miles of HMP & MP)
Due to limited running space in Singapore, sometimes I have to be creative in finding places to run. Tried a Threshold workout, alternating 1600m on the track at HM pace with 1600m recovery 1600m at MP on a short stretch of road. Splits: 6:36/7:05, 6:36/7:01, 6:37/6:52 (av pace 4:15 for 9.6k, 4:07 on the HM and 4:23 on the recovery) with 1min rest between sets. Also did 4 x 30secs hill during the cool down. Might do another variation of this workout next time.
Fri (Easy):
AM: 7k Recovery (5:27)
PM: Pilates
Sat (Aborted Long Run):
17k including 14k av 4:37
Ran with a friend (Max) in East Coast Park who has a 3h:15m marathon target. The plan is to do 3k warm up, followed by 24k of goal pace (4:37 min/km). Felt sluggish and my heart rate was hovering at 170-175 which was very high for the effort. Could be either due to dehydration or insufficient recovery from previous workouts. Didn’t want to take any chance of over-straining and decided to cut short the run.
Sun (Long Run):
27k Easy
Ran around Tanglin and Bukit Timah area which has a mildly undulating terrain. Ran the first half at 5:00-5:15 and the second half at 4:50-5:00. Had a few breaks in the middle to rehydrate. Tired legs, definitely in need of a massage.
Total 99k for the week
Re: marathon decision….
It is gonna be Gold Coast. After discussion with my wife, doing a marathon in the East Coast is a better idea since I can make a combined trip to visit the family in Melbourne. Had a few things to take care (baby passport, shipment etc) before my wife and baby will head to Singapore in early August.
Apologies to the guys in Perth for not being able to run Perth Marathon this year. I’ve discussed with my wife about doing Perth Marathon next year (need to re-qualify for Boston if I want to run it in 2011) or perhaps even one of the WAMC’s weekend events. I hope that speedsters Epi and Clown will be kind enough to pace me to a 10k/21k PB since the road race culture and organization and in Singapore is really bad.
Anyway, training has been lackluster this week. I was unable to get the results I had hoped from the workouts (e.g. less tempo distance, slow pace of easy/long runs etc). One reason could be that I am just tired. During my last marathon prep, I did 8 weeks of training and I felt good the whole way. In contrast, the current training cycle is 12 weeks long and I passed the 8 weeks mark today. I’ve been feeling tired and sluggish (also running with sore groin/quads) since the last few weeks. Singapore weather during April-May also has been much hotter and humid (which is very draining) compared to the Sep-Oct period.
Below is the comparison between the two marathon preps. Two things that strike me are that a) I am doing less number of and much shorter LSDs; and b) training paces for the two preps are almost exactly the same, for instance tempos (4:00-4:10), intervals (3:50s), MP (4:20-4:30), and Easy (5:00-5:30). In other words, there is no increase in training intensity (in fact, the Seould prep was actually more 'dense' if we count the number of both easy and quality long runs completed during the short training cycle). The only difference is that I will have 4 weeks of extra training this time around and I wonder whether this will yield a different (better) results?
Seoul prep (followed by 2 weeks taper):
Mileage (6 weeks): 94, 91, 105, 98, 115, 105 = av 101 km
Long Runs (Easy): 32, 35, 35, 27, 30
Long Runs (Quality): 27 (21 @ MP), 32 (28 @ MP), 31 (21 @ MP)
GCM prep (another 2 week training + 2 weeks taper):
Mileage (8 weeks): 88, 90, 121, 97, 112, 93, 88, 99 = av 98 km
Long Runs (Easy): 25, 27, 24, 31
Long Runs (Quality): 30 (15 @ MP), 33 (24 @ MP), 35 (26 @ MP)
Training this week:
Mon:
OFF
Tue (Intervals):
15k av 4:50 with 6 x 1k @ 10k pace
Back in SG and I felt the difference in effort right away. Last week, Melbourne was 14c and the wind chill made it to around 11c (apparent temperature). This afternoon, Singapore was 32c with a heat index of 35c. This basically means that I am training in a place which is 3x hotter than in an ideal (lab-like) conditions. Ran 4k for warm up to the F1 track, 6 x 1k @ 10k pace (av 3:54) with 90secs walk, 5k cool down including strides and short hill sprints.
Wed (Easy):
AM: 10k Easy (av 5:17), on treadmill
PM: Weights/Core
Thu (Threshold):
AM: 7k Easy (av 5:06)
PM: 16k (av 4:45) with 6 miles Threshold (alternate miles of HMP & MP)
Due to limited running space in Singapore, sometimes I have to be creative in finding places to run. Tried a Threshold workout, alternating 1600m on the track at HM pace with 1600m recovery 1600m at MP on a short stretch of road. Splits: 6:36/7:05, 6:36/7:01, 6:37/6:52 (av pace 4:15 for 9.6k, 4:07 on the HM and 4:23 on the recovery) with 1min rest between sets. Also did 4 x 30secs hill during the cool down. Might do another variation of this workout next time.
Fri (Easy):
AM: 7k Recovery (5:27)
PM: Pilates
Sat (Aborted Long Run):
17k including 14k av 4:37
Ran with a friend (Max) in East Coast Park who has a 3h:15m marathon target. The plan is to do 3k warm up, followed by 24k of goal pace (4:37 min/km). Felt sluggish and my heart rate was hovering at 170-175 which was very high for the effort. Could be either due to dehydration or insufficient recovery from previous workouts. Didn’t want to take any chance of over-straining and decided to cut short the run.
Sun (Long Run):
27k Easy
Ran around Tanglin and Bukit Timah area which has a mildly undulating terrain. Ran the first half at 5:00-5:15 and the second half at 4:50-5:00. Had a few breaks in the middle to rehydrate. Tired legs, definitely in need of a massage.
Total 99k for the week
31 May 2009
Week 7 of 12
Did 88k in just over 7 hours (av 5:00) during Week 7 of 12
A recovery week. Only had one workout but a decent one.
Felt jaded early in the week due to fatigue. Wanted to do a 10k MP run on Wednesday but could last a measly 5k since the effort felt like a race. I got very frustrated with the frequent inability to complete workouts.
Flew to Melbourne to see my 2-month old son (he is very, very cute). Since this week is a recovery week, I decided to take a couple of days off to freshen up. My objective is to practice a race week routine by having a taper, carbo loading, before doing a 26.2k ‘marathon simulation’ run on Saturday.
Came Saturday, the temperature was windy, but cool at 13-14c with 70% humidity. I wore a 220gram racing shoes and started my run. The course was from home to Collingwood and back on the Koonung and Yarra trails. The route had a combination of flats, undulations and a couple ks of dirt road.
Started with 5k warm up at 4:44 pace and it felt so easy (in Singapore, my aerobic runs are about 30-60secs slower than this and I had to work my butt off!). I completed the 26.2k simulation run in 1h:56m, averaging 4:26 min/km. Felt strong the whole way and still had a lot left in the tank with only a minor tightness in the legs near the end. Rest time were very brief (total stopagges were less than 10mins, excluded from running time) compared to Singapore, where I virtually had to rest 5mins after running every 30mins in order to re-hydrate (I am a heavy sweater, hence lose lots of body fluid). Quads were beat up from the undulations afterwards. All up, with warm up and cool down, the total run was 35k in 2:40 (av 4:35 min/km). Thank God for the Aussie weather!
Overall, I am pretty happy with the simulation run (~2 hours of MP running), although the pace is a bit slower than anticipated (was hoping for low 4:20s). Average HR was 160s or 82% Max. Hopefully the next 3 weeks of training will help me to increase the ability to hold MP from 26.2k to 26.2 miles !
Mon: 100mins Easy (av 5:17)
Tue: 40mins Recovery (av 5:28)
Wed: 95mins Easy (av 5:08), aborted MP run
Thu: off
Fri: off
Sat: 160mins Long Run (av 4:35), with 26.2k @ MP
Sun: 43mins Recovery on grass/trail (av 5:28)
Total 88k for the week
A recovery week. Only had one workout but a decent one.
Felt jaded early in the week due to fatigue. Wanted to do a 10k MP run on Wednesday but could last a measly 5k since the effort felt like a race. I got very frustrated with the frequent inability to complete workouts.
Flew to Melbourne to see my 2-month old son (he is very, very cute). Since this week is a recovery week, I decided to take a couple of days off to freshen up. My objective is to practice a race week routine by having a taper, carbo loading, before doing a 26.2k ‘marathon simulation’ run on Saturday.
Came Saturday, the temperature was windy, but cool at 13-14c with 70% humidity. I wore a 220gram racing shoes and started my run. The course was from home to Collingwood and back on the Koonung and Yarra trails. The route had a combination of flats, undulations and a couple ks of dirt road.
Started with 5k warm up at 4:44 pace and it felt so easy (in Singapore, my aerobic runs are about 30-60secs slower than this and I had to work my butt off!). I completed the 26.2k simulation run in 1h:56m, averaging 4:26 min/km. Felt strong the whole way and still had a lot left in the tank with only a minor tightness in the legs near the end. Rest time were very brief (total stopagges were less than 10mins, excluded from running time) compared to Singapore, where I virtually had to rest 5mins after running every 30mins in order to re-hydrate (I am a heavy sweater, hence lose lots of body fluid). Quads were beat up from the undulations afterwards. All up, with warm up and cool down, the total run was 35k in 2:40 (av 4:35 min/km). Thank God for the Aussie weather!
Overall, I am pretty happy with the simulation run (~2 hours of MP running), although the pace is a bit slower than anticipated (was hoping for low 4:20s). Average HR was 160s or 82% Max. Hopefully the next 3 weeks of training will help me to increase the ability to hold MP from 26.2k to 26.2 miles !
Mon: 100mins Easy (av 5:17)
Tue: 40mins Recovery (av 5:28)
Wed: 95mins Easy (av 5:08), aborted MP run
Thu: off
Fri: off
Sat: 160mins Long Run (av 4:35), with 26.2k @ MP
Sun: 43mins Recovery on grass/trail (av 5:28)
Total 88k for the week
24 May 2009
Week 6 of 12
Did 93k in 8 hours (av 5:05) during Week 6 of 12.
The recent increase in training load has finally caught up with me (600k in last 6 weeks vs 2 months of sporadic training during paternity break plus 2 months lay-off due to injury). Began to experience niggles and strains, around the knee and groin/quad area. The latter was particularly very sore around the area of lower groin, quads, and below the waist. Does anyone what kind of strain is this? I’ve gone for a massage, but since the pain is in the groin area and my masseur was a lady, there were a few awkward moments.
Due to Sunday’s race, there was no long run. Had a medium long run on Wednesday (25k), other runs were slow and easy. The race itself didn’t go that well. My plan was to average 4:00 pace for the 10.4k, but ended up averaging around 4:06 due to ‘human wall’ of slow runners who started the 15k wave earlier.
Will be flying to Melbourne on Wednesday to visit my son for a week. Probably a good opportunity to take a down week, before the final stretch of training (3 weeks of hard training, 2 weeks taper). Also, will discuss with Mrs. Sling about the next trip (which will determine whether I am running GCM or Perth).
Mon (Rest):
OFF
Tue (Easy):
AM: 60mins Easy with 6x100m strides (av 5:12)
PM: 25mins Recovery on treadmill (av 5:28)
(Total 16k for the day)
Wed (Workout):
AM: 25.6k Hosaka workout (av 4:58)
The June’s edition of Running Times has an article called ‘Day After Day’ about Yoshihisa Hosaka (WR marathon for 60-65 yo in 2h:36m). His training as follows:
AM: 2.5k up, 5x1k from 4:00 to 3:20 pace, 2.5k down (10k)
PM: 12k (5:00-6:00), 5x1k downhill from 3:40 to 3:20, jog up for rec (22k)
Essentially, Hosaka does this workout everyday, all year around, aka 32k per day in doubles (no long runs). He said intervals are the way to go for old runners since long runs are very taxing on the body. When asked about the lack of variety, he said that marathon is all about running at constant effort, therefore a runner needs to train to manage that constant.
Based on Hosaka’s MP (3:40 pace), my interpretation is he starts his morning intervals at MP+20sec, dropping the pace by 10secs each one to MP–20sec (4:00, 3:50, 3:40, 3:30, 3:20). For the PM session, he begins at MP, and then cuts it down by 5secs to end at MP–20secs (3:40 down to 3:20).
This week, I tried the Hosaka workout but instead of running doubles, I combined the two sessions into one as a variation of medium-long run. Did 3k ez, 5x1k (4:40, 4:30, 4:20, 4:10, 4:00), 10k ez (5:30 min/km), 4x1k on flat ground (4:15, 4:10, 4:05, 4:00), 3k ez. Recovery was about 1min standing. Total distance was 25k +, since I skipped one rep and didn’t do 1k recovery jogs due to time constraint.
Thu (Easy):
AM: 40mins Recovery (av 5:31)
PM: Massage
Very sore groin and it affected my running form. The massage was painful since that area is softer than other parts of the leg.
Fri (Workout):
AM: 55mins Fartlek (av 4:48)
PM: 25mins Recovery (av 5:50)
(total 16k for the day)
Did a light workout to test the legs. 15mins easy, 20mins Moderate (4:40), ½ Mona fartlek (90, 2x60, 2x30, 2x15, jog rec), 10mins easy. Effort was harder than it should be.
Sat (Easy):
PM: 40mins Easy (5:17)
Slept in and missed the morning run. Ran at 7pm in the evening.
Sun (Race):
3.3k warm up
10.4k Saucony Passion Run 42:36 (av 4:06)
6k cool down
(total 19.7k for the day)
Due to traffic jam, the cab dropped me 4k from the start line. Ran to start line and just made it in time. No time to do strides and do active stretching. My plan was to average 4:00 pace for the run and I was on pace for the first 2.5k. After that, I encountered ‘human wall’ of slow 15k runners who started 10mins earlier than the 10.4k runners. My pace then slowed for the next 6km since there was no enough room to pass. My pace blew up to 4:13, 4:11, 4:18, 4:15, 4:19, and that’s after pushing/elbowing runners and ran on the grass/beach sand beside the pavement. I was glad to finally reach the turnaround point, and ran home the final couple of ks under 4:00 pace. Should have skipped the race. Probably a long run in place of today’s race would have more training benefit.
Total 93k for the week
The recent increase in training load has finally caught up with me (600k in last 6 weeks vs 2 months of sporadic training during paternity break plus 2 months lay-off due to injury). Began to experience niggles and strains, around the knee and groin/quad area. The latter was particularly very sore around the area of lower groin, quads, and below the waist. Does anyone what kind of strain is this? I’ve gone for a massage, but since the pain is in the groin area and my masseur was a lady, there were a few awkward moments.
Due to Sunday’s race, there was no long run. Had a medium long run on Wednesday (25k), other runs were slow and easy. The race itself didn’t go that well. My plan was to average 4:00 pace for the 10.4k, but ended up averaging around 4:06 due to ‘human wall’ of slow runners who started the 15k wave earlier.
Will be flying to Melbourne on Wednesday to visit my son for a week. Probably a good opportunity to take a down week, before the final stretch of training (3 weeks of hard training, 2 weeks taper). Also, will discuss with Mrs. Sling about the next trip (which will determine whether I am running GCM or Perth).
Mon (Rest):
OFF
Tue (Easy):
AM: 60mins Easy with 6x100m strides (av 5:12)
PM: 25mins Recovery on treadmill (av 5:28)
(Total 16k for the day)
Wed (Workout):
AM: 25.6k Hosaka workout (av 4:58)
The June’s edition of Running Times has an article called ‘Day After Day’ about Yoshihisa Hosaka (WR marathon for 60-65 yo in 2h:36m). His training as follows:
AM: 2.5k up, 5x1k from 4:00 to 3:20 pace, 2.5k down (10k)
PM: 12k (5:00-6:00), 5x1k downhill from 3:40 to 3:20, jog up for rec (22k)
Essentially, Hosaka does this workout everyday, all year around, aka 32k per day in doubles (no long runs). He said intervals are the way to go for old runners since long runs are very taxing on the body. When asked about the lack of variety, he said that marathon is all about running at constant effort, therefore a runner needs to train to manage that constant.
Based on Hosaka’s MP (3:40 pace), my interpretation is he starts his morning intervals at MP+20sec, dropping the pace by 10secs each one to MP–20sec (4:00, 3:50, 3:40, 3:30, 3:20). For the PM session, he begins at MP, and then cuts it down by 5secs to end at MP–20secs (3:40 down to 3:20).
This week, I tried the Hosaka workout but instead of running doubles, I combined the two sessions into one as a variation of medium-long run. Did 3k ez, 5x1k (4:40, 4:30, 4:20, 4:10, 4:00), 10k ez (5:30 min/km), 4x1k on flat ground (4:15, 4:10, 4:05, 4:00), 3k ez. Recovery was about 1min standing. Total distance was 25k +, since I skipped one rep and didn’t do 1k recovery jogs due to time constraint.
Thu (Easy):
AM: 40mins Recovery (av 5:31)
PM: Massage
Very sore groin and it affected my running form. The massage was painful since that area is softer than other parts of the leg.
Fri (Workout):
AM: 55mins Fartlek (av 4:48)
PM: 25mins Recovery (av 5:50)
(total 16k for the day)
Did a light workout to test the legs. 15mins easy, 20mins Moderate (4:40), ½ Mona fartlek (90, 2x60, 2x30, 2x15, jog rec), 10mins easy. Effort was harder than it should be.
Sat (Easy):
PM: 40mins Easy (5:17)
Slept in and missed the morning run. Ran at 7pm in the evening.
Sun (Race):
3.3k warm up
10.4k Saucony Passion Run 42:36 (av 4:06)
6k cool down
(total 19.7k for the day)
Due to traffic jam, the cab dropped me 4k from the start line. Ran to start line and just made it in time. No time to do strides and do active stretching. My plan was to average 4:00 pace for the run and I was on pace for the first 2.5k. After that, I encountered ‘human wall’ of slow 15k runners who started 10mins earlier than the 10.4k runners. My pace then slowed for the next 6km since there was no enough room to pass. My pace blew up to 4:13, 4:11, 4:18, 4:15, 4:19, and that’s after pushing/elbowing runners and ran on the grass/beach sand beside the pavement. I was glad to finally reach the turnaround point, and ran home the final couple of ks under 4:00 pace. Should have skipped the race. Probably a long run in place of today’s race would have more training benefit.
Total 93k for the week
17 May 2009
Week 5 of 12
Did 112k in over 9 hours (av 4:57) during Week 5 of 12.
Had a couple of good sessions: track workout on Tuesday and long run on Sunday. Between these two workouts, I was struggling, probably due to slower-than-expected recovery (sign of getting old!!) and soreness in the legs. Luckily, a few easy days and a deep-tissue massage brought me back to life.
I have entered a 10.4k race next Sunday (wanted to do the 15k but it was full). I just don’t understand why the organizers can’t make the turnaround a bit shorter in order to round it up to a proper 10k. No taper and will not care about the timing, other than a hard solid effort to practice ‘mental toughness’ (I think I bailed out in some workouts too easily). Might do a longish warm up and cool down to make it a medium long run.
I will make a decision re: GCM or Perth in a couple of weeks time (early June).
Mon (Easy):
AM: 40mins Easy (5:08)
PM: 30mins Easy on grass with 4 strides (5:18)
(Total 14k for the day)
Tue (Workout):
AM: 84mins (av 4:32) including Intervals (see below)
PM: 25mins Recovery on grass (5:50)
(Total 23k for the day)
27mins wu to the SMU track and did drills & strides. Then ran ‘3-by-3 intervals’ which consists of 3 x 1600 @ 10k pace + 3 x 800 @ 5k pace + 3 x 400 @ 1500-3k pace with 90secs walking between reps and 3:00 walking between sets. Splits were 6:14, 6:18, 6:17 (av 3:56 min/km), 3:02, 3:02, 3:02 (av 3:48), and 1:23, 1:26, 1:20 (av 3:28). Av HR data are worthless since walking recovery reverted HR to low numbers, which in turn lead to low av HR for the reps. Max HR were 177 for the 1600s, 182 for the 800s, and 184 for the 400s. Cool down was a 25mins slow jog. If I were to prepare for a 10k, probably the recovery has to be modified to brisk jogs.
Wed (Easy):
AM: 45mins Easy on treadmill (5:22)
PM: Indian dinner feast
(Total 8k + 2 beer for the day)
Thu (Workout):
AM: 35mins Easy on treadmill (5:12)
PM: 50mins (av 4:42) including 2 x 2-mile Tempo
(Total 18k for the day)
Inner thigh and outer fibula on the right leg were sore and slightly painful. Planned to do 3 x 2miles at around 4:10 pace, but bailed out after two. Also felt really sluggish, probably have yet to recover from Tuesday’s hard session.
Fri (Easy)
AM: 35mins Easy (5:33) - painful quads and fibula
PM: Abs
Sat (Easy):
AM: 45mins Easy with 3 strides (5:15)
PM: Massage
Sun (Long Run):
33.5k Long Run with MP (av 4:42)
I sucked at previous attempts of MP runs, hence decided to run at a different place. Took a cab to East Coast Park at 5:30am and started the run at 6am. The plan was to do time-based ladder with each one a couple of seconds faster (I am guessing my MP is around 4:20-4:30). Started with 17mins warm up, then 30mins @ 4:27 (162 bpm), refuel + 5mins jog, 25mins @ 4:24 (167), refuel + 5mins jog, 20mins @ 4:22 (171), refuel + 5mins jog, 15mins @ 4:19 (170), refuel + 5mins jog, 10mins @ 4:16 (173), refuel + 5mins jog, and finally 5mins @ 4:09 (178). Refuel stop was 2mins and recovery jog was a slow-mo at 6:00 pace. Weighted average HR is 168 (or Max – 25) for the tempo segments. Next time, I will try to shorten the re-fuel break and make the jog a bit faster.
Total 112k for the week
Had a couple of good sessions: track workout on Tuesday and long run on Sunday. Between these two workouts, I was struggling, probably due to slower-than-expected recovery (sign of getting old!!) and soreness in the legs. Luckily, a few easy days and a deep-tissue massage brought me back to life.
I have entered a 10.4k race next Sunday (wanted to do the 15k but it was full). I just don’t understand why the organizers can’t make the turnaround a bit shorter in order to round it up to a proper 10k. No taper and will not care about the timing, other than a hard solid effort to practice ‘mental toughness’ (I think I bailed out in some workouts too easily). Might do a longish warm up and cool down to make it a medium long run.
I will make a decision re: GCM or Perth in a couple of weeks time (early June).
Mon (Easy):
AM: 40mins Easy (5:08)
PM: 30mins Easy on grass with 4 strides (5:18)
(Total 14k for the day)
Tue (Workout):
AM: 84mins (av 4:32) including Intervals (see below)
PM: 25mins Recovery on grass (5:50)
(Total 23k for the day)
27mins wu to the SMU track and did drills & strides. Then ran ‘3-by-3 intervals’ which consists of 3 x 1600 @ 10k pace + 3 x 800 @ 5k pace + 3 x 400 @ 1500-3k pace with 90secs walking between reps and 3:00 walking between sets. Splits were 6:14, 6:18, 6:17 (av 3:56 min/km), 3:02, 3:02, 3:02 (av 3:48), and 1:23, 1:26, 1:20 (av 3:28). Av HR data are worthless since walking recovery reverted HR to low numbers, which in turn lead to low av HR for the reps. Max HR were 177 for the 1600s, 182 for the 800s, and 184 for the 400s. Cool down was a 25mins slow jog. If I were to prepare for a 10k, probably the recovery has to be modified to brisk jogs.
Wed (Easy):
AM: 45mins Easy on treadmill (5:22)
PM: Indian dinner feast
(Total 8k + 2 beer for the day)
Thu (Workout):
AM: 35mins Easy on treadmill (5:12)
PM: 50mins (av 4:42) including 2 x 2-mile Tempo
(Total 18k for the day)
Inner thigh and outer fibula on the right leg were sore and slightly painful. Planned to do 3 x 2miles at around 4:10 pace, but bailed out after two. Also felt really sluggish, probably have yet to recover from Tuesday’s hard session.
Fri (Easy)
AM: 35mins Easy (5:33) - painful quads and fibula
PM: Abs
Sat (Easy):
AM: 45mins Easy with 3 strides (5:15)
PM: Massage
Sun (Long Run):
33.5k Long Run with MP (av 4:42)
I sucked at previous attempts of MP runs, hence decided to run at a different place. Took a cab to East Coast Park at 5:30am and started the run at 6am. The plan was to do time-based ladder with each one a couple of seconds faster (I am guessing my MP is around 4:20-4:30). Started with 17mins warm up, then 30mins @ 4:27 (162 bpm), refuel + 5mins jog, 25mins @ 4:24 (167), refuel + 5mins jog, 20mins @ 4:22 (171), refuel + 5mins jog, 15mins @ 4:19 (170), refuel + 5mins jog, 10mins @ 4:16 (173), refuel + 5mins jog, and finally 5mins @ 4:09 (178). Refuel stop was 2mins and recovery jog was a slow-mo at 6:00 pace. Weighted average HR is 168 (or Max – 25) for the tempo segments. Next time, I will try to shorten the re-fuel break and make the jog a bit faster.
Total 112k for the week
10 May 2009
Week 4 of 12
Did 97k in about 8 hours (av 4:56) during Week 4 of 12.
I scaled back training this week in order to let the body rest a bit and adapt after running 120k last week. Took one day off, had a massage, and only did 2 doubles days. Had the time to run more doubles, but decided against it and substituted them with non-running exercises instead (core, yoga, abs). Plan to bump the mileage again next week.
As mentioned last week, I planned to do a ‘spec test’ of 2 x 10k MP this week. However, the result wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Did the first 10k segment averaging 4:21 min/km and 164bpm (a high of 172, so it was pretty evenly paced effort). After 5mins break to refuel, I started the second segment and went through the 5k averaging 4:23 – a tad slower but HR was still stable at 165. My legs were heavy and I was thirsty at this point, and when I saw a vending machine, I decided to stop. The post-rain weather was cooling at 26c but awfully humid, so I lost a lot of body fluid. I wanted get a canned drink but the machine was broken. I then tried to resume the run; however I have lost the rhythm and motivation to continue.
Hence, it turned out to be a so-so workout. Unable to finish, but happy to see the HR pretty stable at 165 (30bpm < Max) for at least 1/3 of marathon distance. I feel that my body is currently not very efficient to run at MP effort. Having said that, with more favourable weather conditions (such as in Australia), probably I could do 20k at MP today without a break. With taper and fresh legs, perhaps it will add another 5k. Hence, I am still short by about 17k in terms of ‘ability to sustain MP for the marathon’. There are 8 weeks to go (6 weeks training + 2 weeks taper), hence I am hoping that all future training will improve my MP extend-ability by around 3k each week.
Mon (Rest):
OFF, massage
Tue (Threshold):
AM: 8 x 1k @ tempo effort, 4 x 200m
PM: 28mins Recovery (5:40)
Did 8x1k at threshold effort in lieu of continuous tempo. Thought that I could accumulate more volume doing it this way since a straight 20+ minutes will feel like a race effort in these conditions. Recovery was 1 minute walking. Splits: 4:02/158, 4:02/159, 4:01/162, 4:03/164, 3:57/167, 4:00/169, 3:55/171, 4:01/172. Felt good throughout, no straining, and I was tempted to make it 10 intervals, but didn't want to risk it.
Wed (Easy):
AM: 46mins Easy on treadmill (5:09)
PM: 37mins Easy on grass with 6 x 15sec strides (5:16)
Thu (Easy):
AM: 1h:35m Easy (4:59), around 150 bpm
PM: 1-hour Yoga
Tested a place that is often referred as Singapore’s best kept secrets for running – the old Bukit Brown (Brown Hill) Chinese cemetery. There is a 2.4k loop of walking path inside, nicely path with some undulations. Very green with lots of trees and more importantly, traffic free. Wow, this is just like a running trail found in national parks in Australia, except you will pass old tombstones and burials, most of them within a couple of meters from the walking path. However, I must admit that running alone and seeing these tombstones on a misty morning is a bit creepy.
Fri (Easy)
AM: 35mins Easy (5:00) with 4 x 10secs hill sprints
PM: Abs
Sat (Long Run with MP):
30k Long Run in 2h:22m (av 4:45) including abbreviated MP session
Consists of 2k warm up, 10+5 km at goal MP (4:23 pace), 13k cool down.
Sun (Recovery):
AM: Yoga
PM: 35mins Recovery on grass (5:15)
Total 97k for the week
I scaled back training this week in order to let the body rest a bit and adapt after running 120k last week. Took one day off, had a massage, and only did 2 doubles days. Had the time to run more doubles, but decided against it and substituted them with non-running exercises instead (core, yoga, abs). Plan to bump the mileage again next week.
As mentioned last week, I planned to do a ‘spec test’ of 2 x 10k MP this week. However, the result wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Did the first 10k segment averaging 4:21 min/km and 164bpm (a high of 172, so it was pretty evenly paced effort). After 5mins break to refuel, I started the second segment and went through the 5k averaging 4:23 – a tad slower but HR was still stable at 165. My legs were heavy and I was thirsty at this point, and when I saw a vending machine, I decided to stop. The post-rain weather was cooling at 26c but awfully humid, so I lost a lot of body fluid. I wanted get a canned drink but the machine was broken. I then tried to resume the run; however I have lost the rhythm and motivation to continue.
Hence, it turned out to be a so-so workout. Unable to finish, but happy to see the HR pretty stable at 165 (30bpm < Max) for at least 1/3 of marathon distance. I feel that my body is currently not very efficient to run at MP effort. Having said that, with more favourable weather conditions (such as in Australia), probably I could do 20k at MP today without a break. With taper and fresh legs, perhaps it will add another 5k. Hence, I am still short by about 17k in terms of ‘ability to sustain MP for the marathon’. There are 8 weeks to go (6 weeks training + 2 weeks taper), hence I am hoping that all future training will improve my MP extend-ability by around 3k each week.
Mon (Rest):
OFF, massage
Tue (Threshold):
AM: 8 x 1k @ tempo effort, 4 x 200m
PM: 28mins Recovery (5:40)
Did 8x1k at threshold effort in lieu of continuous tempo. Thought that I could accumulate more volume doing it this way since a straight 20+ minutes will feel like a race effort in these conditions. Recovery was 1 minute walking. Splits: 4:02/158, 4:02/159, 4:01/162, 4:03/164, 3:57/167, 4:00/169, 3:55/171, 4:01/172. Felt good throughout, no straining, and I was tempted to make it 10 intervals, but didn't want to risk it.
Wed (Easy):
AM: 46mins Easy on treadmill (5:09)
PM: 37mins Easy on grass with 6 x 15sec strides (5:16)
Thu (Easy):
AM: 1h:35m Easy (4:59), around 150 bpm
PM: 1-hour Yoga
Tested a place that is often referred as Singapore’s best kept secrets for running – the old Bukit Brown (Brown Hill) Chinese cemetery. There is a 2.4k loop of walking path inside, nicely path with some undulations. Very green with lots of trees and more importantly, traffic free. Wow, this is just like a running trail found in national parks in Australia, except you will pass old tombstones and burials, most of them within a couple of meters from the walking path. However, I must admit that running alone and seeing these tombstones on a misty morning is a bit creepy.
Fri (Easy)
AM: 35mins Easy (5:00) with 4 x 10secs hill sprints
PM: Abs
Sat (Long Run with MP):
30k Long Run in 2h:22m (av 4:45) including abbreviated MP session
Consists of 2k warm up, 10+5 km at goal MP (4:23 pace), 13k cool down.
Sun (Recovery):
AM: Yoga
PM: 35mins Recovery on grass (5:15)
Total 97k for the week
03 May 2009
Week 3 of 4
Did 121k in about 10 hours (av 5:01) during Week 3 of 12.
Happy with the mileage progression (88, 90 in the last two weeks). Totaled 375k in last 30 days, which is a decent increase after running only 60k in Dec, 160k in Jan, and 250k in both Feb and Mar.
I don’t expect mileage in subsequent weeks to increase significantly from this level (I did 3 doubles which artificially boosted the total). My aim for the rest of the training cycle is to keep the mileage around this level (plus or minus), and start increasing the pace (especially long runs, aerobic runs) and start to introduce long MP-type runs.
With respect to MP, currently I found that I can’t run at 4:20-4:25 pace for some reasons (last week only managed to do 4:35s during a 16k run). If conditions are right, I might do a ‘spec test’ next week, such as 2 x 10k at MP in order to evaluate my fitness level and identify things that I need to work on.
Mon (Easy):
AM: 35mins Easy Run with 4x100 strides (4:57)
PM: 35mins Easy on treadmill (5:27), last 5mins @ 4% incline
Tue (Intervals):
AM: 2k wu, 10 x 800 with 90secs walk, 2k down
PM: 30mins Recovery (5:40) on treadmill + light weights
Fed up of doing long intervals unsuccessfully, I did shorter intervals this week consisting of 10 x 800 on a bike path which is marked every 100m. In order to ensure that my HR will return to normal levels (<140), I took 90secs walking break in between (if I do jogging, my HR would be in 150 range and made the subsequent intervals harder). The plan was to do the 800s in 3:04 (3:50 min/km), but only managed to hit one. The remainder was done in 3:02 (5 reps), 3:00 (3 reps), and 2:52 for the last one. Note that this is not a Yasso workout.
Wed (Easy Long):
AM: 2h:06m Easy on undulanting terrain (5:15)
PM: Pilates
Replacement GPS was scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I used MapMyRun to create a running route. Ran at easy pace the whole way and pretty much uninterrupted except for short drink stops and traffic lights. Consumed 0.5l sports drinks, 0.5l water, and 2 salt tablets.
Thu (Easy):
AM: 40mins Light Fartlek (4:57) on treadmill
PM: 35mins Recovery (5:38, 70% Max HR) – new Garmin
Felt a bit bored running on treadmill, so sprinkled in 5 x 90secs bursts at HM pace (4:10), with 90secs recovery at moderate pace (4:45). Replacement Garmin arrived in the arvo and tested the HR monitor with a slow run.
Fri (Easy):
AM: 52mins Easy (5:04, 75% Max HR) with 4 x 12secs hill sprints
PM: Yoga
Sat (Aborted Long MP):
48mins Run (4:48) with 30mins @ old MP
The plan was to do 4 x 5k at MP, but 5 minutes into the run, it began to rain hard. Still attempted to do MP but the effort felt so hard. Due to the heavy downpour, socks & shoes were soaked in water and felt heavy. Decided to finish the MP run after 30mins and go home. Although the rain stopped afterwards, I didn’t feel like running and risk catching a cold. Felt a bit light-headed in the afternoon and took a couple of panadols.
Sun (Long):
31k Long Run in 2h:30m on undulating terrain (4:53)
Woke up at 5 but it was pouring hard. Slept again and ran at 7. Post-rain weather was cool, 26c, 90% humidity, but the good thing it was cloudy and windy. Since I did a bit of MP run yesterday, I decided to defer the long MP run until next week. I used Pete Pfitzinger’s guide for long runs, starting at MP+20%, ending at MP +10%. Therefore, I did 30mins sections @ 5:00-5:05, 4:55-5:00, 4:50-4:55, 4:45-4:50, 4:40-4:45 min/km. Consumed gels at km 17 and 24, 250ml sports drinks, 2 salt tablets, and lots of water. Felt good except in the last 30mins where I had to stop a couple of times.
Given the Singapore conditions, I am pretty happy to keep my long runs at around 28-30k level. At the end of the month, I’ll be flying to Melbourne to visit my wife and son for a week (passport application). During that time, I might do 35-36k run taking advantage of the weather.
Total 121k for the week
Happy with the mileage progression (88, 90 in the last two weeks). Totaled 375k in last 30 days, which is a decent increase after running only 60k in Dec, 160k in Jan, and 250k in both Feb and Mar.
I don’t expect mileage in subsequent weeks to increase significantly from this level (I did 3 doubles which artificially boosted the total). My aim for the rest of the training cycle is to keep the mileage around this level (plus or minus), and start increasing the pace (especially long runs, aerobic runs) and start to introduce long MP-type runs.
With respect to MP, currently I found that I can’t run at 4:20-4:25 pace for some reasons (last week only managed to do 4:35s during a 16k run). If conditions are right, I might do a ‘spec test’ next week, such as 2 x 10k at MP in order to evaluate my fitness level and identify things that I need to work on.
Mon (Easy):
AM: 35mins Easy Run with 4x100 strides (4:57)
PM: 35mins Easy on treadmill (5:27), last 5mins @ 4% incline
Tue (Intervals):
AM: 2k wu, 10 x 800 with 90secs walk, 2k down
PM: 30mins Recovery (5:40) on treadmill + light weights
Fed up of doing long intervals unsuccessfully, I did shorter intervals this week consisting of 10 x 800 on a bike path which is marked every 100m. In order to ensure that my HR will return to normal levels (<140), I took 90secs walking break in between (if I do jogging, my HR would be in 150 range and made the subsequent intervals harder). The plan was to do the 800s in 3:04 (3:50 min/km), but only managed to hit one. The remainder was done in 3:02 (5 reps), 3:00 (3 reps), and 2:52 for the last one. Note that this is not a Yasso workout.
Wed (Easy Long):
AM: 2h:06m Easy on undulanting terrain (5:15)
PM: Pilates
Replacement GPS was scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I used MapMyRun to create a running route. Ran at easy pace the whole way and pretty much uninterrupted except for short drink stops and traffic lights. Consumed 0.5l sports drinks, 0.5l water, and 2 salt tablets.
Thu (Easy):
AM: 40mins Light Fartlek (4:57) on treadmill
PM: 35mins Recovery (5:38, 70% Max HR) – new Garmin
Felt a bit bored running on treadmill, so sprinkled in 5 x 90secs bursts at HM pace (4:10), with 90secs recovery at moderate pace (4:45). Replacement Garmin arrived in the arvo and tested the HR monitor with a slow run.
Fri (Easy):
AM: 52mins Easy (5:04, 75% Max HR) with 4 x 12secs hill sprints
PM: Yoga
Sat (Aborted Long MP):
48mins Run (4:48) with 30mins @ old MP
The plan was to do 4 x 5k at MP, but 5 minutes into the run, it began to rain hard. Still attempted to do MP but the effort felt so hard. Due to the heavy downpour, socks & shoes were soaked in water and felt heavy. Decided to finish the MP run after 30mins and go home. Although the rain stopped afterwards, I didn’t feel like running and risk catching a cold. Felt a bit light-headed in the afternoon and took a couple of panadols.
Sun (Long):
31k Long Run in 2h:30m on undulating terrain (4:53)
Woke up at 5 but it was pouring hard. Slept again and ran at 7. Post-rain weather was cool, 26c, 90% humidity, but the good thing it was cloudy and windy. Since I did a bit of MP run yesterday, I decided to defer the long MP run until next week. I used Pete Pfitzinger’s guide for long runs, starting at MP+20%, ending at MP +10%. Therefore, I did 30mins sections @ 5:00-5:05, 4:55-5:00, 4:50-4:55, 4:45-4:50, 4:40-4:45 min/km. Consumed gels at km 17 and 24, 250ml sports drinks, 2 salt tablets, and lots of water. Felt good except in the last 30mins where I had to stop a couple of times.
Given the Singapore conditions, I am pretty happy to keep my long runs at around 28-30k level. At the end of the month, I’ll be flying to Melbourne to visit my wife and son for a week (passport application). During that time, I might do 35-36k run taking advantage of the weather.
Total 121k for the week
26 April 2009
Week 2 of 12
Did 90k av 5:00 during Week 2 of 12.
Singapore weather has been really hot and humid this week (perhaps end of moonson??). Although, I’ve been whining about this a lot of times, but lately it has been really horrendous. As a result, both of my workouts this week: intervals & long run with tempo - were negatively affected. I had to take lots of lengthy standing breaks in order to complete the sessions and the effort were harder that they were supposed to be (note that the rest times were not reflected in my running times).
My trusty 3-year old Garmin 305 died on Thursday. Have been waiting to get the new waterproof Garmin 310xt, but it will only come out mid-year. In light of this, I’ve ordered a new unit of Garmin 305 from Amazon as temporary measure. The watch will only arrive early next week.
Two weeks have elapsed and I must conclude that my training has been very mediocre. The aerobic fillers (40mins daily runs) are still too short for marathon training. In addition, I still need lots of breaks/stoppages in order to complete the long workouts such as interval/tempo and long runs. Only 10 weeks left to go now and I really have to up the ante. One positive is that I am now back to 90kmpw zone again (actually touched 100k on rolling 7 days basis). One negative is that I am still troubled by the conditions. I just don’t know how to train my brain and body to handle the conditions. Perhaps I should do more doubles !!
Mon (Easy):
45mins Easy Run (5:00)
Ran a new route with a few gentle hills for variation. Did 5 x 12secs hill sprints.
Tue (Intervals):
AM:
3.8k warm up
3.2k at MP effort (4:21)
1600, 1600, 4 x 400, 1600
6.6k cool down incl 8 x 100 strides
Total workout 20k in 91mins (av 4:35)
It was cloudy, thundery and was about to rain when I did the track session, so the humidity was really high (28c, 90%).The plan was to do 4 x 1600 at 10k pace. Did the first two in 6:14 and 6:16 (av 3:55 pace) with 2mins recovery and was completely stuffed. Decided to salvage the session by replacing it with 4 x 400m averaging 1:25 (3:32) with 1mins rest. This seemed to put some snaps into the legs and I did another 1600m again in 6:11 (3:52). Did the cool down in the rain.
PM:
27mins Recovery Run (5:30) on treadmill
Wed (Easy):
AM: 48mins Easy on treadmill (5:20)
PM: Pilates (one hour)
Thu (Easy):
40mins Easy on treadmill (5:23)
GPS died today, replaced the outdoor session with a treadmill run (can’t run without it). Planned to do a second run in the evening but other commitments got in the way.
Fri (Easy)
60mins Easy on treadmill (5:08)
Another run on treadmill. Gradually progressing from 5:40 min/km to around MP.
Sat (Long with tempo):
27-28k Long Run in 135mins (~5:00)
No GPS so ran an approximated distance with some track work included. Conditions were very tough again, 28c and 90% humidity when I left the house at 6am. An easy 40mins run to the SMU track, followed by 5mins rest, 2 x 15mins Tempo (av 4:09 pace) at the track with 5mins rest. Was cooked after the tempo and rested for another 10mins. Met a friend (Yuji) who was doing 800 intervals and joined for 2 with split of 3:05, 3:15. Decided to stop after the slow split and took another lengthy rest before running 11k back home. The running time excluded around 30mins of rest time, recovering from the extreme humidity.
Sun (rest):
OFF.
Total 90k for the week
Singapore weather has been really hot and humid this week (perhaps end of moonson??). Although, I’ve been whining about this a lot of times, but lately it has been really horrendous. As a result, both of my workouts this week: intervals & long run with tempo - were negatively affected. I had to take lots of lengthy standing breaks in order to complete the sessions and the effort were harder that they were supposed to be (note that the rest times were not reflected in my running times).
My trusty 3-year old Garmin 305 died on Thursday. Have been waiting to get the new waterproof Garmin 310xt, but it will only come out mid-year. In light of this, I’ve ordered a new unit of Garmin 305 from Amazon as temporary measure. The watch will only arrive early next week.
Two weeks have elapsed and I must conclude that my training has been very mediocre. The aerobic fillers (40mins daily runs) are still too short for marathon training. In addition, I still need lots of breaks/stoppages in order to complete the long workouts such as interval/tempo and long runs. Only 10 weeks left to go now and I really have to up the ante. One positive is that I am now back to 90kmpw zone again (actually touched 100k on rolling 7 days basis). One negative is that I am still troubled by the conditions. I just don’t know how to train my brain and body to handle the conditions. Perhaps I should do more doubles !!
Mon (Easy):
45mins Easy Run (5:00)
Ran a new route with a few gentle hills for variation. Did 5 x 12secs hill sprints.
Tue (Intervals):
AM:
3.8k warm up
3.2k at MP effort (4:21)
1600, 1600, 4 x 400, 1600
6.6k cool down incl 8 x 100 strides
Total workout 20k in 91mins (av 4:35)
It was cloudy, thundery and was about to rain when I did the track session, so the humidity was really high (28c, 90%).The plan was to do 4 x 1600 at 10k pace. Did the first two in 6:14 and 6:16 (av 3:55 pace) with 2mins recovery and was completely stuffed. Decided to salvage the session by replacing it with 4 x 400m averaging 1:25 (3:32) with 1mins rest. This seemed to put some snaps into the legs and I did another 1600m again in 6:11 (3:52). Did the cool down in the rain.
PM:
27mins Recovery Run (5:30) on treadmill
Wed (Easy):
AM: 48mins Easy on treadmill (5:20)
PM: Pilates (one hour)
Thu (Easy):
40mins Easy on treadmill (5:23)
GPS died today, replaced the outdoor session with a treadmill run (can’t run without it). Planned to do a second run in the evening but other commitments got in the way.
Fri (Easy)
60mins Easy on treadmill (5:08)
Another run on treadmill. Gradually progressing from 5:40 min/km to around MP.
Sat (Long with tempo):
27-28k Long Run in 135mins (~5:00)
No GPS so ran an approximated distance with some track work included. Conditions were very tough again, 28c and 90% humidity when I left the house at 6am. An easy 40mins run to the SMU track, followed by 5mins rest, 2 x 15mins Tempo (av 4:09 pace) at the track with 5mins rest. Was cooked after the tempo and rested for another 10mins. Met a friend (Yuji) who was doing 800 intervals and joined for 2 with split of 3:05, 3:15. Decided to stop after the slow split and took another lengthy rest before running 11k back home. The running time excluded around 30mins of rest time, recovering from the extreme humidity.
Sun (rest):
OFF.
Total 90k for the week
19 April 2009
Week 1 of 12
Did 88k @ av 4:55 during Week 1 of 12.
Happy with the mileage and the running frequency, given I just came back from a month of ‘holiday’ running and was nursing a damaged ankle early in the year.
However, Singapore’s hot weather capped my long run to 25k this week. I should have started the long run at 4 or 5am in order to avoid the heat. I also had a sub-par race in the 5.6k JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (distance turned out to be 6k), My average pace for the race was akin to my tempo pace and this was very disappointing, although I didn’t taper nor warmed up sufficiently. This adds up to a list of mediocre races in 2009 which included high19s 5k and 41mins 10k
Will decided which marathon race to do (Gold coast or Perth) in 6 weeks time. By then, I will have a better sense of my marathon fitness and also my travel plan. If work schedule allows, I’ll do GCM and visit my family in Melbourne at the same time. If work is busy, I will just make a quick weekend trip to Perth and registered for the race on the day itself.
Mon (Easy):
6k Easy in 31mins (5:10)
Ran at 10.30pm right after a 7-hour flight from Melbourne
Tue (Threshold):
AM:
2k warm up
3 x 7:00 at Threshold with 90secs recovery (3:57 pace)
4 x 200m Repetitions in 38, 40, 40, 39
2k cool down
Total workout 11k in 49mins (av 4:28)
Had to hold back to stop running faster. Ran the intervals by time instead of distance for a change. Accumulated around 21mins of Threshold effort, which I thought was about right given I had a race on Thursday.
PM:
25mins Recovery (5:32) on treadmill + stretching
Wed (Easy):
AM: 12k Easy in 59mins (4:55)
Last two days were ok in terms of weather, but this morning was back to Singapore standard with almost 100% relative humidity. Socks were soaked while shoes made squeaking sound due to the sweat. Shoe laces kept slipping also since it was very wet.
PM: Weights (upper body) + abs
Thu (Race):
1.5k warm up (40mins before start)
6k JP Morgan Corporate Challenge 2009 (23:38)
4.5k cool down
Really disappointed! Although, I didn’t taper for this but running 6k in a race environment averaging 3:57 min/km was really a sub-par performance. I’ve done numerous 5-6k tempo at this pace in Singapore, but only managed to do the race at the same pace! This year’s race has a new route starting at Esplanade and ending at F1 pitstop and as usual were attended by 10,000 runners/walkers. Did a short jog to the start line and just stood there for the next 40mins. Racing in Singapore is like this: all the runners, fast or slow would like to stand in the front and the start line is already full of people even half an hour before the gun.
The first k had 200m downhill and my split was 3:41. Passed km 2 & 3 in about 3:51 (one marker was long, another one short) including a hill. Km 4 has a long hill which slowed me to 4:07. Km 5 split was 4:13 and I just didn’t know why this was slow. Last km was 3:53. Note that the advertised race distance was 5.6k – which is a standard distance for all JP Morgan races all around the world, but the new route was 6k long as evidenced by distances recorded by Garmin/Polars and the winning times that are 2mins slower than last year. Thinking about it, my sub-par timing was probably due to the fact that I’ve lost the ‘guts’ to run hard (hurting) in races.
Fri (Recovery):
6.5k Recovery in 35mins (5:27)
Planned to run at an empty grass plot (to avoid pounding) but it was muddy and infested with mosquitos, so ran on pavement again. Sigh – Singapore is all concrete!
Sat (Long):
25k Long Run in 121mins (4:52)
Don’t think I am fit enough to do MP-type runs, hence the plan was to run parts of the long run at Steady effort (MP + 5-10%). Left the house too late at 6:30am and it was already warm and humid (90%). After 3k warm up (5:15), ran 16k at 4:30-4:40 pace with a couple of stops at km 8 and km 12. I slowed down in the latter part due to the rising heat and it was still not yet 8am! Was really drained and did a 6k ‘death march’ cool down under the strong sun, in order to make a total of 2 hours. Due to the weather, today’s run was much tougher than last week’s 31k long run @ 4:48 pace in Oz.
Sun (Easy):
11k Easy in 58mins (5:13)
Jogged 2k to Padang and ran around 500m diameter cricket field for about 6k, then jogged back. It’s so hard to find soft running terrain in Singapore! Also, did 4 x 15secs strides on grass.
Total 88k for the week
Happy with the mileage and the running frequency, given I just came back from a month of ‘holiday’ running and was nursing a damaged ankle early in the year.
However, Singapore’s hot weather capped my long run to 25k this week. I should have started the long run at 4 or 5am in order to avoid the heat. I also had a sub-par race in the 5.6k JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (distance turned out to be 6k), My average pace for the race was akin to my tempo pace and this was very disappointing, although I didn’t taper nor warmed up sufficiently. This adds up to a list of mediocre races in 2009 which included high19s 5k and 41mins 10k
Will decided which marathon race to do (Gold coast or Perth) in 6 weeks time. By then, I will have a better sense of my marathon fitness and also my travel plan. If work schedule allows, I’ll do GCM and visit my family in Melbourne at the same time. If work is busy, I will just make a quick weekend trip to Perth and registered for the race on the day itself.
Mon (Easy):
6k Easy in 31mins (5:10)
Ran at 10.30pm right after a 7-hour flight from Melbourne
Tue (Threshold):
AM:
2k warm up
3 x 7:00 at Threshold with 90secs recovery (3:57 pace)
4 x 200m Repetitions in 38, 40, 40, 39
2k cool down
Total workout 11k in 49mins (av 4:28)
Had to hold back to stop running faster. Ran the intervals by time instead of distance for a change. Accumulated around 21mins of Threshold effort, which I thought was about right given I had a race on Thursday.
PM:
25mins Recovery (5:32) on treadmill + stretching
Wed (Easy):
AM: 12k Easy in 59mins (4:55)
Last two days were ok in terms of weather, but this morning was back to Singapore standard with almost 100% relative humidity. Socks were soaked while shoes made squeaking sound due to the sweat. Shoe laces kept slipping also since it was very wet.
PM: Weights (upper body) + abs
Thu (Race):
1.5k warm up (40mins before start)
6k JP Morgan Corporate Challenge 2009 (23:38)
4.5k cool down
Really disappointed! Although, I didn’t taper for this but running 6k in a race environment averaging 3:57 min/km was really a sub-par performance. I’ve done numerous 5-6k tempo at this pace in Singapore, but only managed to do the race at the same pace! This year’s race has a new route starting at Esplanade and ending at F1 pitstop and as usual were attended by 10,000 runners/walkers. Did a short jog to the start line and just stood there for the next 40mins. Racing in Singapore is like this: all the runners, fast or slow would like to stand in the front and the start line is already full of people even half an hour before the gun.
The first k had 200m downhill and my split was 3:41. Passed km 2 & 3 in about 3:51 (one marker was long, another one short) including a hill. Km 4 has a long hill which slowed me to 4:07. Km 5 split was 4:13 and I just didn’t know why this was slow. Last km was 3:53. Note that the advertised race distance was 5.6k – which is a standard distance for all JP Morgan races all around the world, but the new route was 6k long as evidenced by distances recorded by Garmin/Polars and the winning times that are 2mins slower than last year. Thinking about it, my sub-par timing was probably due to the fact that I’ve lost the ‘guts’ to run hard (hurting) in races.
Fri (Recovery):
6.5k Recovery in 35mins (5:27)
Planned to run at an empty grass plot (to avoid pounding) but it was muddy and infested with mosquitos, so ran on pavement again. Sigh – Singapore is all concrete!
Sat (Long):
25k Long Run in 121mins (4:52)
Don’t think I am fit enough to do MP-type runs, hence the plan was to run parts of the long run at Steady effort (MP + 5-10%). Left the house too late at 6:30am and it was already warm and humid (90%). After 3k warm up (5:15), ran 16k at 4:30-4:40 pace with a couple of stops at km 8 and km 12. I slowed down in the latter part due to the rising heat and it was still not yet 8am! Was really drained and did a 6k ‘death march’ cool down under the strong sun, in order to make a total of 2 hours. Due to the weather, today’s run was much tougher than last week’s 31k long run @ 4:48 pace in Oz.
Sun (Easy):
11k Easy in 58mins (5:13)
Jogged 2k to Padang and ran around 500m diameter cricket field for about 6k, then jogged back. It’s so hard to find soft running terrain in Singapore! Also, did 4 x 15secs strides on grass.
Total 88k for the week
09 April 2009
Skeleton
Did a total 213k over the last 30 days in Melbourne, running 2-3 times a week. Will be flying back to Singapore next week. Wife and baby will stay in Melbourne until around July.
From next week, there are 12 weeks of full-throtle training until the marathon. With this in mind, this week I structure my training as skeletons for the actual marathon training. Basically it consists of core workouts without daily aerobic fillers (easy runs). Once I start the marathon training proper, then the rest days will be filled by aerobic runs since mileage is an important component for marathon.
Despite the cool climate, I haven't had the opportunity to do any tough & challenging workouts. Only slept around 4 hours on average, so my body wasn't really primed to handle a lot of training stress. So far, the sessions have been pretty mild in terms of intensity - just enough to maintain fitness. One good thing is that I have built my long runs to around 30k (today did 31k long run av 4:48 pace), which hopefully will bode well for the next 12 weeks of training. Will be interesting to see how my long run pace will start to decrease once I am back in Singapore.
My plan is to spend 2-3 weeks to get used to running 7 days a week again and build mileage to around 80-100k. Then I will focus on marathon specific sessions for the next 7-8 weeks before finally a 2-week taper.
Also, good luck to Epi who will be gunning for sub-3 in Canberra next Sunday.
Anyway, this week's training 'skeleton' as follows:
04/04: 19k Medium Long Run @ 4:50 av pace
06/04: 5k Tempo on grass @ 4:03 pace, 4 x 500m (1:52, 53, 53, 47), 10 x 10secs hill sprints
08/04: 13k Rolling Hills @ 4:30 av pace
10/04: 31k Long Run @ 4:48 pace
Total 76k for the week (in 4 runs)
From next week, there are 12 weeks of full-throtle training until the marathon. With this in mind, this week I structure my training as skeletons for the actual marathon training. Basically it consists of core workouts without daily aerobic fillers (easy runs). Once I start the marathon training proper, then the rest days will be filled by aerobic runs since mileage is an important component for marathon.
Despite the cool climate, I haven't had the opportunity to do any tough & challenging workouts. Only slept around 4 hours on average, so my body wasn't really primed to handle a lot of training stress. So far, the sessions have been pretty mild in terms of intensity - just enough to maintain fitness. One good thing is that I have built my long runs to around 30k (today did 31k long run av 4:48 pace), which hopefully will bode well for the next 12 weeks of training. Will be interesting to see how my long run pace will start to decrease once I am back in Singapore.
My plan is to spend 2-3 weeks to get used to running 7 days a week again and build mileage to around 80-100k. Then I will focus on marathon specific sessions for the next 7-8 weeks before finally a 2-week taper.
Also, good luck to Epi who will be gunning for sub-3 in Canberra next Sunday.
Anyway, this week's training 'skeleton' as follows:
04/04: 19k Medium Long Run @ 4:50 av pace
06/04: 5k Tempo on grass @ 4:03 pace, 4 x 500m (1:52, 53, 53, 47), 10 x 10secs hill sprints
08/04: 13k Rolling Hills @ 4:30 av pace
10/04: 31k Long Run @ 4:48 pace
Total 76k for the week (in 4 runs)
30 March 2009
Race Status
Currently I am about 50:50 of doing a July marathon. 50% chance of not running one because I like to see how my training evolves first before registering. There are 13 weeks left before the marathon and most likely I'll make decision with 6-8 weeks to go before D-day.
Out of 50% chance of running, the choice betwen Perth and Gold Coast is probably around 50%-50%. I just realized I have some frequent flyer mileage which will be expiring soon and it's good enough for return flights to either Brisbane or Perth.
This week marks my first running week as a father. Have yet to fully adapt to irregular sleeping patterns. I am presently running once every 2-3 days. Would love to run more but that's the compromise that I agreed with my wife. Baby is doing well and he is a handsome young fella.
Will stay in Melbourne until mid-April then heads back to Singapore. Wife and baby will remain in Melbourne for a couple more months, hence I have the time & flexibility to prepare for the marathon (11 weeks to train).
Buoyed by Melbourne weather, my long run paces are about 10secs faster than Singapore, although the pace for speed sessions remains the same (only did one so far). Got an okay from my wife to register for a 14k race (Run for the Kids), but unfortunately they closed the registration two days early since they hit the maximum crowd limit.
Wed, 18 Mar: 26k @ 4:45. Good run, but tired at the end, never ran this far in 4 months
19-24 Mar: 6 days off (baby + hospital stays)
Wed, 25 Mar: 21k @ 5:00. Felt sluggish due to lack of sleep and fitness loss (only 2 runs in last 2 weeks)
Fri, 27 Mar: 11k @ 4:35. Fartlek session, 4k @ 3:55, 3 x 230m very steep hill (walk down)
Mon, 30 Mar: 27k @ 4:50. Long run on Koonung Trail, Yarra Trail, & Capital City Trail to Yarra Bend Park and back.
Out of 50% chance of running, the choice betwen Perth and Gold Coast is probably around 50%-50%. I just realized I have some frequent flyer mileage which will be expiring soon and it's good enough for return flights to either Brisbane or Perth.
This week marks my first running week as a father. Have yet to fully adapt to irregular sleeping patterns. I am presently running once every 2-3 days. Would love to run more but that's the compromise that I agreed with my wife. Baby is doing well and he is a handsome young fella.
Will stay in Melbourne until mid-April then heads back to Singapore. Wife and baby will remain in Melbourne for a couple more months, hence I have the time & flexibility to prepare for the marathon (11 weeks to train).
Buoyed by Melbourne weather, my long run paces are about 10secs faster than Singapore, although the pace for speed sessions remains the same (only did one so far). Got an okay from my wife to register for a 14k race (Run for the Kids), but unfortunately they closed the registration two days early since they hit the maximum crowd limit.
Wed, 18 Mar: 26k @ 4:45. Good run, but tired at the end, never ran this far in 4 months
19-24 Mar: 6 days off (baby + hospital stays)
Wed, 25 Mar: 21k @ 5:00. Felt sluggish due to lack of sleep and fitness loss (only 2 runs in last 2 weeks)
Fri, 27 Mar: 11k @ 4:35. Fartlek session, 4k @ 3:55, 3 x 230m very steep hill (walk down)
Mon, 30 Mar: 27k @ 4:50. Long run on Koonung Trail, Yarra Trail, & Capital City Trail to Yarra Bend Park and back.
25 March 2009
Sling Jr
Baby Sling was born on Friday, March 20 evening in Melbourne. Weight 3.2kg, length 47cm and healthy.
Labour was quick. Checked in at hospital lunch time and my wife delivered at around 6 pm. I cut the baby's cord.
Got discharged from the hospital yesterday and now back at home coping with parenthood.
Only ran two times in the last 13 days. Spent the rest accompaying my wife's last few days before delivery, 5 days stay in the hospital post-labour, and now taking care of the baby.
Labour was quick. Checked in at hospital lunch time and my wife delivered at around 6 pm. I cut the baby's cord.
Got discharged from the hospital yesterday and now back at home coping with parenthood.
Only ran two times in the last 13 days. Spent the rest accompaying my wife's last few days before delivery, 5 days stay in the hospital post-labour, and now taking care of the baby.
16 March 2009
In Melbourne
In Melbourne for the next 40 days on paternity leave...
I expect to run around 3 times a week as a way to manage family time. Wife is on her 37/38th week, so the baby could on his way out any day now.
I only plan to post my blog once every 3 runs, so this could be once every 7 to 10 days.
Tues, 11 Mar:
Felt a bit jaded from the recent bump in training load (from about 0km due to injury to 300k total in last 30 days). Did 3k warm up along Singapore River to the F1 track and did 4 x 1k (3:51, 3:51, 3:51, 3:41) with 2mins recovery jog. Didn't want to do more since the effort was harder than usual. Jogged slowly back home. Total 11.4k in 57mins.
Thurs, 13 Mar:
Cool and cloudy day for Singapore standard and this helped me to do my longest run since late November. After 3k slow warm up, did 2 x 8k between 4:35-4:40 pace, then 5k cool down. Happy with the effort although it was only done at around 3h:15m marathon pace. Anyway, it's a decent start in my goal to increase my long run pace to around 4:40-4:50 levels. All up, 24k in 115mins (av 4:48 pace). Flew to Melbourne on a red eye.
Mon, 16 Mar:
First run in Melbourne after 3 days off. Temp was 15c, 60% humidity, 30km/h gusty wind which made the apparent temperature around 13c. I expected a good quality run today and but it wasn't meant to be. All muscles were very stiff, perhaps it was the effect of cool weather or maybe from the three days break without running. Breathing wasn't that great either. Did 2k downhill warm up from in-laws house to Koonung trail and this made my quads a bit sore. Then ran 12k at MP (~4:25) but had to stop a few times to stretch the legs and rest, so it was more like a fartlek style run. Finished with a few strides. All up, 18.4k in 85mins (av 4:38) which excluded stoppages. Hopefully, the next run will be much be better.
Total 54k in 3 runs (4 off days in one week).
I expect to run around 3 times a week as a way to manage family time. Wife is on her 37/38th week, so the baby could on his way out any day now.
I only plan to post my blog once every 3 runs, so this could be once every 7 to 10 days.
Tues, 11 Mar:
Felt a bit jaded from the recent bump in training load (from about 0km due to injury to 300k total in last 30 days). Did 3k warm up along Singapore River to the F1 track and did 4 x 1k (3:51, 3:51, 3:51, 3:41) with 2mins recovery jog. Didn't want to do more since the effort was harder than usual. Jogged slowly back home. Total 11.4k in 57mins.
Thurs, 13 Mar:
Cool and cloudy day for Singapore standard and this helped me to do my longest run since late November. After 3k slow warm up, did 2 x 8k between 4:35-4:40 pace, then 5k cool down. Happy with the effort although it was only done at around 3h:15m marathon pace. Anyway, it's a decent start in my goal to increase my long run pace to around 4:40-4:50 levels. All up, 24k in 115mins (av 4:48 pace). Flew to Melbourne on a red eye.
Mon, 16 Mar:
First run in Melbourne after 3 days off. Temp was 15c, 60% humidity, 30km/h gusty wind which made the apparent temperature around 13c. I expected a good quality run today and but it wasn't meant to be. All muscles were very stiff, perhaps it was the effect of cool weather or maybe from the three days break without running. Breathing wasn't that great either. Did 2k downhill warm up from in-laws house to Koonung trail and this made my quads a bit sore. Then ran 12k at MP (~4:25) but had to stop a few times to stretch the legs and rest, so it was more like a fartlek style run. Finished with a few strides. All up, 18.4k in 85mins (av 4:38) which excluded stoppages. Hopefully, the next run will be much be better.
Total 54k in 3 runs (4 off days in one week).
08 March 2009
Struggling with long run
An okay week, but I bombed again badly at the long run. Could only last 90mins before had to take walk breaks. Both my mental and physical endurance were just not there yet to do long runs.
This is my last full week in Singapore before heading to Melbourne next Thursday. I am really hoping the Melbourne weather will help me to start building up the long runs.
It's an exciting time for us with the baby. My wife is on here 36-37 weeks. The doc thinks there is a possibility that he might arrive early.
My current expectation is to run 3 times/week for those 5 weeks I am in Melbourne. Mileage wise, probably around 40-50k a week, which is lower to what I am currently doing right now. However, I''ll focus on 'bang-for-the-bucks' workouts such as long tempos and hard long runs. Personally, I'd like to get comfortable with running long runs at around 4:40-4:50 pace. My long run pace has stayed at 5:00-5:20 pace for the last 3 years due to a combination of no PBs (I don't earn anything that warrants a faster pace in training) and moving to hot & humid Singapore which slowed down the paces.
After 5 weeks of low quantity, high quantity training in Melbourne, there will be 11 weeks before either Perth or Gold Coast marathon. I hope that I could replicate the success of last year's Seoul Marathon preparation which was based on 8 weeks of training.
Mon (Easy Day):
60mins Easy (5:12)
No soreness from yesterday's race. Should have checked the watch battery and ran the race hard :)
Tue (Workout Day):
15mins wu, 8x400 (av 84), 4 x 200 (av 39), 15mins cd
Did the reps on bike path with splits: 83, 83, 86, 84, 85, 84, 84, 79 with 60-90 recovery in between. The first 4 was jog recovery but got stuffed afterwards and did standing rest. The splits for 200s were 39, 40, 40, 38.
Wed (Easy Day):
50mins Easy (5:16)
Thu (Easy Day):
45mins Easy/Moderate (4:56)
In Jakarta for work. Ran on hotel treadmill, started at 10km/h, increasing the pace by 0.1 km/h every minute.
Fri (Easy Day):
32mins Easy (5:12)
Also on treadmill. Flew back to Singapore late evening.
Sat (Workout Day):
40mins Fartlek (av 4:33) incl Mono Fartlek
Kept the float pace for the 90s and 60s segments at around MP (4:20s), however, they slowed to briks jog during the 30s and 15s segments. Covered around 5k so average pace was 4:00 min/km. Overall, it's a good & different workout, could feel the HR working hard during the 30/15s sections.
Sun (Easy Day):
90mins Easy (5:00)
Another failed attempt at the long run. Planned 2hrs but was walking after 90mins. Felt like sleeping in and only started running at 7.30 which was too late to my liking. The weather was terribly warm and humid by then. After the walk breaks, I decided there was no point in continuing further and cut my losses.
Total 73k for the week.
This is my last full week in Singapore before heading to Melbourne next Thursday. I am really hoping the Melbourne weather will help me to start building up the long runs.
It's an exciting time for us with the baby. My wife is on here 36-37 weeks. The doc thinks there is a possibility that he might arrive early.
My current expectation is to run 3 times/week for those 5 weeks I am in Melbourne. Mileage wise, probably around 40-50k a week, which is lower to what I am currently doing right now. However, I''ll focus on 'bang-for-the-bucks' workouts such as long tempos and hard long runs. Personally, I'd like to get comfortable with running long runs at around 4:40-4:50 pace. My long run pace has stayed at 5:00-5:20 pace for the last 3 years due to a combination of no PBs (I don't earn anything that warrants a faster pace in training) and moving to hot & humid Singapore which slowed down the paces.
After 5 weeks of low quantity, high quantity training in Melbourne, there will be 11 weeks before either Perth or Gold Coast marathon. I hope that I could replicate the success of last year's Seoul Marathon preparation which was based on 8 weeks of training.
Mon (Easy Day):
60mins Easy (5:12)
No soreness from yesterday's race. Should have checked the watch battery and ran the race hard :)
Tue (Workout Day):
15mins wu, 8x400 (av 84), 4 x 200 (av 39), 15mins cd
Did the reps on bike path with splits: 83, 83, 86, 84, 85, 84, 84, 79 with 60-90 recovery in between. The first 4 was jog recovery but got stuffed afterwards and did standing rest. The splits for 200s were 39, 40, 40, 38.
Wed (Easy Day):
50mins Easy (5:16)
Thu (Easy Day):
45mins Easy/Moderate (4:56)
In Jakarta for work. Ran on hotel treadmill, started at 10km/h, increasing the pace by 0.1 km/h every minute.
Fri (Easy Day):
32mins Easy (5:12)
Also on treadmill. Flew back to Singapore late evening.
Sat (Workout Day):
40mins Fartlek (av 4:33) incl Mono Fartlek
Kept the float pace for the 90s and 60s segments at around MP (4:20s), however, they slowed to briks jog during the 30s and 15s segments. Covered around 5k so average pace was 4:00 min/km. Overall, it's a good & different workout, could feel the HR working hard during the 30/15s sections.
Sun (Easy Day):
90mins Easy (5:00)
Another failed attempt at the long run. Planned 2hrs but was walking after 90mins. Felt like sleeping in and only started running at 7.30 which was too late to my liking. The weather was terribly warm and humid by then. After the walk breaks, I decided there was no point in continuing further and cut my losses.
Total 73k for the week.
01 March 2009
Ran without a watch
Forgot to charge my Garmin 305, so I ran the Active Newton 10k race today without a watch.
Since I am 100% dependent (perhaps over-reliant) on my Garmin for pacing guidance in races & training, I was simply pace blind this morning. My aim was simply to run at a solid effort the whole way and not going to care about the timing. But gee, 'running by feel' in a race is really tough!
Finished in 40:30. Didn't struggle too much and I was never in the red zone. Probably could have been a bit faster if I had a watch and was able to time myself during the run. I am not sure about the actual distance, but talking to some of my friends who owned GPS or footpod, the distance ranged from 9.8-10.1k. Temperature was 26c with 95% humidity.
Overall, I am not disappointed with today's effort. Timing wise, it's a bit slow to my liking. But since it's still early in the season and the fact that I am still not 100% in tip-top shape (only six weeks of training since injury), I have no complaints.
Chatted with people from SGRunners forum, hence didn't bother to do cool down after the race. Anyway, my legs felt pretty good and didn't feel tight in the muscles at all. It was a very organized race and the course was probably 90% flat. Will try to come back to this race again next year, hopefully with a watch!
Mon (Recovery Day):
am: Yoga
pm: 30mins Easy on treadmill (5:28 pace)
Tuesday (Workout Day):
20mins wu, 3x1000m/2 mins jog (av 3:53 pace), 3x500m/500m jog (av 3:40 pace), 20mins cd
Ran on F1 track again. Splits for the 1000m were 3:53, 3:52, 3:52 and for the 500m were 1:49, 1:50, 1:49. Very humid morning at 25c, 97% humidity.
Wednesday (Recovery Day):
35mins Recovery (5:40 pace)
Felt unwell. Slight fever.
Thursday (Off):
Sick. I think the recent increase in training load finally caught up with me. Did 80k in last 7 days, including 3 speed workouts. Probably too soon for me.
Friday (Moderate Day):
50mins Fartlek (av 4:49 pace)
Decided to test the body and legs with a moderate intensitity workout. Did 20mins MP (4:21 pace), 4 x 15secs hill sprints, and 400m in 82 secs. Not feeling too great.
Saturday (Easy Day):
30mins Easy (5:23 pace)
Sunday (race):
am: 800m warm up (arrived a bit late), Active Newton 10k in 40:30, no cool down (chat with SGrunners)
pm: 35mins Recovery Run (5:45 pace)
Total 60k for the week
Monthly mileages:
Dec: 60k
Jan: 160k
Feb: 270k
Since I am 100% dependent (perhaps over-reliant) on my Garmin for pacing guidance in races & training, I was simply pace blind this morning. My aim was simply to run at a solid effort the whole way and not going to care about the timing. But gee, 'running by feel' in a race is really tough!
Finished in 40:30. Didn't struggle too much and I was never in the red zone. Probably could have been a bit faster if I had a watch and was able to time myself during the run. I am not sure about the actual distance, but talking to some of my friends who owned GPS or footpod, the distance ranged from 9.8-10.1k. Temperature was 26c with 95% humidity.
Overall, I am not disappointed with today's effort. Timing wise, it's a bit slow to my liking. But since it's still early in the season and the fact that I am still not 100% in tip-top shape (only six weeks of training since injury), I have no complaints.
Chatted with people from SGRunners forum, hence didn't bother to do cool down after the race. Anyway, my legs felt pretty good and didn't feel tight in the muscles at all. It was a very organized race and the course was probably 90% flat. Will try to come back to this race again next year, hopefully with a watch!
Mon (Recovery Day):
am: Yoga
pm: 30mins Easy on treadmill (5:28 pace)
Tuesday (Workout Day):
20mins wu, 3x1000m/2 mins jog (av 3:53 pace), 3x500m/500m jog (av 3:40 pace), 20mins cd
Ran on F1 track again. Splits for the 1000m were 3:53, 3:52, 3:52 and for the 500m were 1:49, 1:50, 1:49. Very humid morning at 25c, 97% humidity.
Wednesday (Recovery Day):
35mins Recovery (5:40 pace)
Felt unwell. Slight fever.
Thursday (Off):
Sick. I think the recent increase in training load finally caught up with me. Did 80k in last 7 days, including 3 speed workouts. Probably too soon for me.
Friday (Moderate Day):
50mins Fartlek (av 4:49 pace)
Decided to test the body and legs with a moderate intensitity workout. Did 20mins MP (4:21 pace), 4 x 15secs hill sprints, and 400m in 82 secs. Not feeling too great.
Saturday (Easy Day):
30mins Easy (5:23 pace)
Sunday (race):
am: 800m warm up (arrived a bit late), Active Newton 10k in 40:30, no cool down (chat with SGrunners)
pm: 35mins Recovery Run (5:45 pace)
Total 60k for the week
Monthly mileages:
Dec: 60k
Jan: 160k
Feb: 270k
22 February 2009
Getting There
First of all, congrats to Epi who smoked his 10k PB by a huge 1 minute to low 38s. This showed how consistency is the most important succes factor in running. He did high mileage all spring/summer to prepare for Canberra Marathon, and prior to the 10k - has run 7 weeks straight without a day off.
From my end, I felt that I am slowly returing to full fitness. After being sidelined for 6 weeks (3 weeks of zero running, then 3 weeks of running through the pain), I've gradually built up my training over the last 5 weeks to around 75k this week. My speed is coming back, judging from the interval and tempo workouts. However, I am still behind in terms of long endurance runs as both the mind and body are still not used to it. All in all, I took me 1.5 months lose it and another 1.5 months to get back to around 80% of my old fitness level. Probably I still need a good one month before I am finally able to put in consistent, quality training week-in week-out. Ankle is occasionally still sore, especially after hard workouts.
Next Sunday, I will be running the Active Newton 10k race. I do not have a high expectation for this race given I am about 80% fit. The course has some undulations and just like other road races in Singapore, it's very crowded and the distance is normally inaccurate.
Mon: Rest Day
60mins Yoga
Paid the price of doing two races within 12 hours. Quads and ankle were very sore.
Tue: Easy Day
AM: 30mins Easy (5:39 pace)
PM: 30mins Easy (5:34 pace), light weights, foam roller
The damn DOMS won't go away!
Wed: Moderate Day
AM: 10mins wu, 25mins MP (4:23 pace), 5 x 15sec hill, 10mins cd
PM: 25mins elliptical, sauna
Planned to do intervals, but still felt the effect of DOMS. Decided to do a little workout instead (short MP running), good pace but not overly hard to have any negative effect on tomorrow's workout.
Thu: Workout Day
AM: 20mins wu, 6 x 1000m with 2mins rest (av 3:50), on F1 track, 20mins
PM: 30mins elliptical, light weights, sauna
My call to delay the intervals until today had paid-off. Been struggling with intervals in the last two weeks, so today's session was a surprise. Perhaps the F1 track had something to do with it! Splits: 3:53, 3:50, 3:55, 3:50, 3:55, 3:42 (last 200m kick). Felt good the whole way, although ankle was sore from the jarring afterwards. Temp was 25c, 90% humidity.
Fri: Easy Day
40mins Easy (5:22 pace)
Sat: Workout Day
15mins wu, 2 x 15mins Tempo (av 4:06), 4 x 15secs hill, 15mins cd
Happy with the effort, was crusing the whole way without working extremely hard. Temp was 26c, 90% humidity.
Sun: Easy Day
80mins Easy (5:12 pace)
Total 75k for the week + 55mins elliptical
From my end, I felt that I am slowly returing to full fitness. After being sidelined for 6 weeks (3 weeks of zero running, then 3 weeks of running through the pain), I've gradually built up my training over the last 5 weeks to around 75k this week. My speed is coming back, judging from the interval and tempo workouts. However, I am still behind in terms of long endurance runs as both the mind and body are still not used to it. All in all, I took me 1.5 months lose it and another 1.5 months to get back to around 80% of my old fitness level. Probably I still need a good one month before I am finally able to put in consistent, quality training week-in week-out. Ankle is occasionally still sore, especially after hard workouts.
Next Sunday, I will be running the Active Newton 10k race. I do not have a high expectation for this race given I am about 80% fit. The course has some undulations and just like other road races in Singapore, it's very crowded and the distance is normally inaccurate.
Mon: Rest Day
60mins Yoga
Paid the price of doing two races within 12 hours. Quads and ankle were very sore.
Tue: Easy Day
AM: 30mins Easy (5:39 pace)
PM: 30mins Easy (5:34 pace), light weights, foam roller
The damn DOMS won't go away!
Wed: Moderate Day
AM: 10mins wu, 25mins MP (4:23 pace), 5 x 15sec hill, 10mins cd
PM: 25mins elliptical, sauna
Planned to do intervals, but still felt the effect of DOMS. Decided to do a little workout instead (short MP running), good pace but not overly hard to have any negative effect on tomorrow's workout.
Thu: Workout Day
AM: 20mins wu, 6 x 1000m with 2mins rest (av 3:50), on F1 track, 20mins
PM: 30mins elliptical, light weights, sauna
My call to delay the intervals until today had paid-off. Been struggling with intervals in the last two weeks, so today's session was a surprise. Perhaps the F1 track had something to do with it! Splits: 3:53, 3:50, 3:55, 3:50, 3:55, 3:42 (last 200m kick). Felt good the whole way, although ankle was sore from the jarring afterwards. Temp was 25c, 90% humidity.
Fri: Easy Day
40mins Easy (5:22 pace)
Sat: Workout Day
15mins wu, 2 x 15mins Tempo (av 4:06), 4 x 15secs hill, 15mins cd
Happy with the effort, was crusing the whole way without working extremely hard. Temp was 26c, 90% humidity.
Sun: Easy Day
80mins Easy (5:12 pace)
Total 75k for the week + 55mins elliptical
15 February 2009
Double Up on Valentines Day
Did two races within 12 hours.
The first race was Wings XC on Saturday 4pm. Despite its title, it was nothing like a XC race. The first 3k was on concrete and the last 1k+ on gravel track. The only thing that resembled a XC was a steep hill after km 2, other than that the terrain was flat. The organizer said the total distance was 4.5k (vs the advertised 5k) but according to my Garmin it was closer to 4.4k. The race was among the most competitive in SG, attended by school and university runners. Hence, basically I was competing against guys half my age !! The winning time was under 13:53 by a 20 yo national triathlete who has PBs of 16mins 5k and 1:17 HM.
I did a poorly executed race. Despite just coming back from a long lay-off, I couldn’t resist the temptation to go out with the boys and passed the first k in 3:30-ish. As mentioned previously, I am currently having troubles sustaining pace under 4:00 min/km in training either due to lack of endurance/strength or poor lactate buffering ability. So it wasn’t a big surprise that I paid the price and slowed down badly to 4:00+ pace for the remainder of the race (ouch !!!) At the hill, I was virtually crawling due to lack of strength and was simply holding on until the end to finish in 17:13. I think if I have started the first k conservatively at around 3:50, I might have a chance to dip below 17mins. The only positive gotten out of this race was a ‘pain threshold training’ since I was huffing and puffing with a high heart rate for the last mile or so. I guess I never learned!!
12 hours later, I was at the start line for a race aptly called Bedok Valentine Run. Judging from the name, the race didn't look like it would be very competitive. The distance was 2 laps around Bedok Reservoir (8.6k) on gravel track. My plan was to run this as a tempo run aka no faster than HM pace. Started in the 5th position and was cruising at sub 4:10 pace for the first couple of ks before the muscle impact from yesterday’s race and the 95% humidity took their toll. I slowed down to around 4:15 for the next 5k. However, I managed to gradually cut the deficit with the 3rd place runner from 400m at km 4 to around 100m at km 7. I upped the ante (despite really struggling with speed at the moment) and passed him with just over 1k to go. Ran the last mile in 6:40 and finished in the 3rd place in 36:13 (4:13 av pace). The winning time was 33mins, so I was 20secs per km slower. Overall, it was a good tempo-effort run, despite the average pace only turned out to be equivalent to Clown and Epi’s projected marathon (42k) race pace !!!
Picked up a 3rd place trophy and in the lucky draw….get this !!! I won an Apple i-phone worth $1000+ :) My bet to double up on Valentines day Races had paid-off !!
Mon: Easy Day
AM: 40mins Yoga
PM: 30mins Easy on treadmill (5:43 pace)
Tue: Workout Day
2.5k warm up
3 x 800m (av 3:50 pace) with 2mins jogging (3:04, 3:05, 3:02)
4 x 400m (av 3:30 pace) with 2mins walking (84, 83, 85, 84)
2.5k cool down
A mini hard workout before this weekend’s race. Felt terrible in the 800s like last week. It seems that I am okay negotiating a tempo run at 4:00-ish pace, but always struggle every time I go below 4:00 pace. My speed endurance sucks.
PM: 30mins elliptical in the gym for recovery
Wed: Easy Day
45mins Easy (5:23 pace)
Thu: Easy Day
50mins Easy (5:10 pace)
Included a bit of running at old MP and 4x10secs hill sprints (two of them with a fast young European runner whom I met at the hill)
Fri: Easy Day
38mins Easy (5:10 pace) with 4 x 100m strides
Saturday: Race (28c, 73% humidity, 31c heat index)
1k warm up (arrived late)
4.4k Wings XC in 17:13 (3:55 pace), 51/91 Mens Open
4.4k cool down
http://www.wings.org.sg/wacxcountry09-individuals.pdf
Sunday: Race (25c, 95% humidity):
2k warm up
8.6k Bedok Valentine Run in 36:13 (4:13 pace), gravel track, 3rd place
4.3k cool down (with Aerosolcan & Trailblazer from SGrunners)
Total 66k for the week.
The first race was Wings XC on Saturday 4pm. Despite its title, it was nothing like a XC race. The first 3k was on concrete and the last 1k+ on gravel track. The only thing that resembled a XC was a steep hill after km 2, other than that the terrain was flat. The organizer said the total distance was 4.5k (vs the advertised 5k) but according to my Garmin it was closer to 4.4k. The race was among the most competitive in SG, attended by school and university runners. Hence, basically I was competing against guys half my age !! The winning time was under 13:53 by a 20 yo national triathlete who has PBs of 16mins 5k and 1:17 HM.
I did a poorly executed race. Despite just coming back from a long lay-off, I couldn’t resist the temptation to go out with the boys and passed the first k in 3:30-ish. As mentioned previously, I am currently having troubles sustaining pace under 4:00 min/km in training either due to lack of endurance/strength or poor lactate buffering ability. So it wasn’t a big surprise that I paid the price and slowed down badly to 4:00+ pace for the remainder of the race (ouch !!!) At the hill, I was virtually crawling due to lack of strength and was simply holding on until the end to finish in 17:13. I think if I have started the first k conservatively at around 3:50, I might have a chance to dip below 17mins. The only positive gotten out of this race was a ‘pain threshold training’ since I was huffing and puffing with a high heart rate for the last mile or so. I guess I never learned!!
12 hours later, I was at the start line for a race aptly called Bedok Valentine Run. Judging from the name, the race didn't look like it would be very competitive. The distance was 2 laps around Bedok Reservoir (8.6k) on gravel track. My plan was to run this as a tempo run aka no faster than HM pace. Started in the 5th position and was cruising at sub 4:10 pace for the first couple of ks before the muscle impact from yesterday’s race and the 95% humidity took their toll. I slowed down to around 4:15 for the next 5k. However, I managed to gradually cut the deficit with the 3rd place runner from 400m at km 4 to around 100m at km 7. I upped the ante (despite really struggling with speed at the moment) and passed him with just over 1k to go. Ran the last mile in 6:40 and finished in the 3rd place in 36:13 (4:13 av pace). The winning time was 33mins, so I was 20secs per km slower. Overall, it was a good tempo-effort run, despite the average pace only turned out to be equivalent to Clown and Epi’s projected marathon (42k) race pace !!!
Picked up a 3rd place trophy and in the lucky draw….get this !!! I won an Apple i-phone worth $1000+ :) My bet to double up on Valentines day Races had paid-off !!
Mon: Easy Day
AM: 40mins Yoga
PM: 30mins Easy on treadmill (5:43 pace)
Tue: Workout Day
2.5k warm up
3 x 800m (av 3:50 pace) with 2mins jogging (3:04, 3:05, 3:02)
4 x 400m (av 3:30 pace) with 2mins walking (84, 83, 85, 84)
2.5k cool down
A mini hard workout before this weekend’s race. Felt terrible in the 800s like last week. It seems that I am okay negotiating a tempo run at 4:00-ish pace, but always struggle every time I go below 4:00 pace. My speed endurance sucks.
PM: 30mins elliptical in the gym for recovery
Wed: Easy Day
45mins Easy (5:23 pace)
Thu: Easy Day
50mins Easy (5:10 pace)
Included a bit of running at old MP and 4x10secs hill sprints (two of them with a fast young European runner whom I met at the hill)
Fri: Easy Day
38mins Easy (5:10 pace) with 4 x 100m strides
Saturday: Race (28c, 73% humidity, 31c heat index)
1k warm up (arrived late)
4.4k Wings XC in 17:13 (3:55 pace), 51/91 Mens Open
4.4k cool down
http://www.wings.org.sg/wacxcountry09-individuals.pdf
Sunday: Race (25c, 95% humidity):
2k warm up
8.6k Bedok Valentine Run in 36:13 (4:13 pace), gravel track, 3rd place
4.3k cool down (with Aerosolcan & Trailblazer from SGrunners)
Total 66k for the week.
08 February 2009
Hi-Lo
A week of highs and lows, both physically and emotionally. One day I felt good, one day I got injured and so on. Money can’t buy this kind of thing, only running can…..
I decided to enter a 5k cross-country race next week. In fact, I ‘greedily’ will do 2 races on back-to-back days (5k Saturday 4:30pm, 8.6k Sunday 7am). This might not be the smartest move since I am just in my third week returning after a lengthy injury. But timing is a secondary issue for me right now.
Mon: Easy Day
AM: 1-hour Yoga
Today’s class was core-focused, lots of squats, planks etc
PM: 25mins jogging (6:07 pace)
Wanted to run on grass to avoid pounding, but I didn’t see a root and rolled my bad ankle again! Unfortunately, the impact wasn’t hard since I ran really slowly or perhaps I had a higher pain threshold from the last ankle injury :p
Tue: Workout Day
2k warm up
6 x 800m (av 3:53 pace) with 2mins passive recovery
2k cool down
Wanted to do intervals in order to gauge my fitness for next week’s 5k. Did the session on 800m road stretch. Splits (3:06, 3:05, 3:10, 3:05, 3:10, 3:00) were all over the place due to a slight headwind on the way out. It is emotionally depressing that pre-injury, I was able to do 5x1600 with 2mins active recovery but now after 6x800 with passive recovery, I was very wasted :( I think I am hard pressed to do a sub-20 min 5k now which is used to be my tempo pace. Flew to Jakarta for work in arvo.
Wed: Easy Day
AM: 20mins elliptical + a couple sets of weights in Ritz Carlton
It seems that running intervals yesterday with 5kg additional body weight wasn’t a good idea. Ankle was really sore from the pounding :( No mood to run, decided to XT
PM: 20mins Easy (5:15 pace)
Flew back to Singapore in the evening. Did a shake out at 10pm.
Thu: Easy Day
45mins Easy (5:10 pace)
Calf and hammies were really tight. It seems the muscles were overworked becoz I went from 0km to 40-60km in the last 3 weeks.
Fri: Aborted Workout Day
5k warm up to the track
2 x 1k in 3:50, 3:55 + 3x200m in 43-44
Walked in despair for cool down and took a bus home.
The plan was to do intervals as my last hard workout before the race. Felt good during the warm up, but the session turned out to be a disaster. Ran the first k on target pace, but slowed down badly in the second. I was struggling both aerobically and muscularly at this point. Decided to abort and run a few 200s in order to salvage something from the session. However, my 200s were in the 43-44secs range (normally sub-40) and this was even with 200m walk for recovery! I decided to have enough after 3x 200s. Tried to jog home, but the body seemed to be paralyzed and running at 8 min/km pace was frekingly difficult:( I walked 2k to the bus stop and took a ride home.
PM: 1-hour massage
Looked back at my old logs and found the problem was typically muscular-oriented. Managed to get a last-minute appointment and had a painful one hour session.
Saturday: Workout Day
2k warm up
8k Tempo (av 4:12)
4 x 200s (38-40)
2k cool down
30mins stretching/foam roller
I was thinking this is it! If I couldn’t get a decent workout then I should cancel my plan to race. Did an Ovett tempo (3 miles HMP, 1 mile MP, 1 mile 10kp) with splits 19:58 (4:09) + 7:02 (4:24) + 6:35 (4:07) = 33:35. Just didn’t have any strength to run the last mile at 10k pace. 3 months ago I did the same session with splits 19:48 + 6:57 + 6:16 = 33:00, hence today’s last mile cost me 20secs. I attribute this to the fitness loss and a drop in lactate buffering capacity. Despite this, I am happy to be able to squeeze in a decent workout considering that I was unable to run yesterday :)
Sunday:
90mins ez (5:05 pace)
Warm and humid day. The body just is not used to long runs anymore.
Total 64k for the week.
I decided to enter a 5k cross-country race next week. In fact, I ‘greedily’ will do 2 races on back-to-back days (5k Saturday 4:30pm, 8.6k Sunday 7am). This might not be the smartest move since I am just in my third week returning after a lengthy injury. But timing is a secondary issue for me right now.
Mon: Easy Day
AM: 1-hour Yoga
Today’s class was core-focused, lots of squats, planks etc
PM: 25mins jogging (6:07 pace)
Wanted to run on grass to avoid pounding, but I didn’t see a root and rolled my bad ankle again! Unfortunately, the impact wasn’t hard since I ran really slowly or perhaps I had a higher pain threshold from the last ankle injury :p
Tue: Workout Day
2k warm up
6 x 800m (av 3:53 pace) with 2mins passive recovery
2k cool down
Wanted to do intervals in order to gauge my fitness for next week’s 5k. Did the session on 800m road stretch. Splits (3:06, 3:05, 3:10, 3:05, 3:10, 3:00) were all over the place due to a slight headwind on the way out. It is emotionally depressing that pre-injury, I was able to do 5x1600 with 2mins active recovery but now after 6x800 with passive recovery, I was very wasted :( I think I am hard pressed to do a sub-20 min 5k now which is used to be my tempo pace. Flew to Jakarta for work in arvo.
Wed: Easy Day
AM: 20mins elliptical + a couple sets of weights in Ritz Carlton
It seems that running intervals yesterday with 5kg additional body weight wasn’t a good idea. Ankle was really sore from the pounding :( No mood to run, decided to XT
PM: 20mins Easy (5:15 pace)
Flew back to Singapore in the evening. Did a shake out at 10pm.
Thu: Easy Day
45mins Easy (5:10 pace)
Calf and hammies were really tight. It seems the muscles were overworked becoz I went from 0km to 40-60km in the last 3 weeks.
Fri: Aborted Workout Day
5k warm up to the track
2 x 1k in 3:50, 3:55 + 3x200m in 43-44
Walked in despair for cool down and took a bus home.
The plan was to do intervals as my last hard workout before the race. Felt good during the warm up, but the session turned out to be a disaster. Ran the first k on target pace, but slowed down badly in the second. I was struggling both aerobically and muscularly at this point. Decided to abort and run a few 200s in order to salvage something from the session. However, my 200s were in the 43-44secs range (normally sub-40) and this was even with 200m walk for recovery! I decided to have enough after 3x 200s. Tried to jog home, but the body seemed to be paralyzed and running at 8 min/km pace was frekingly difficult:( I walked 2k to the bus stop and took a ride home.
PM: 1-hour massage
Looked back at my old logs and found the problem was typically muscular-oriented. Managed to get a last-minute appointment and had a painful one hour session.
Saturday: Workout Day
2k warm up
8k Tempo (av 4:12)
4 x 200s (38-40)
2k cool down
30mins stretching/foam roller
I was thinking this is it! If I couldn’t get a decent workout then I should cancel my plan to race. Did an Ovett tempo (3 miles HMP, 1 mile MP, 1 mile 10kp) with splits 19:58 (4:09) + 7:02 (4:24) + 6:35 (4:07) = 33:35. Just didn’t have any strength to run the last mile at 10k pace. 3 months ago I did the same session with splits 19:48 + 6:57 + 6:16 = 33:00, hence today’s last mile cost me 20secs. I attribute this to the fitness loss and a drop in lactate buffering capacity. Despite this, I am happy to be able to squeeze in a decent workout considering that I was unable to run yesterday :)
Sunday:
90mins ez (5:05 pace)
Warm and humid day. The body just is not used to long runs anymore.
Total 64k for the week.
01 February 2009
Whip me into shape
January is over! 160k mileage for the month after 60k in December. If we add up the two, the total is 220k for last two months. This pales in comparison with my mileage prior to the injury of around 360k per month (Sep-Nov).
Ankle is improving and gaining strength, but a lenghty period of absence has created lots of new problems.
1) Weight gain
I gained about 5k in weight over the last 2 months. I am 170cm and my normal weight was 67kg (still heavy for a runner) which put me at 23.2 BMI. Due to a combination of little running during the lay-off, festive seasons, and pregnant wife who needs to eat frequently, my weight has ballooned by 5kg, implying a BMI of 25.3, and this is categorized as 'Overweight' .
No wonder that I am struggling at the moment. Increased weight leads to increased cost of running. I also feel that my knees take a bit of battering due to the added bulk.
2) Contamination to other body parts
I found that when you run with some kind of injury, your other body parts will be affected too! My injured ankle is still not 100% healed, and for some reaon, my brain tells me not to do 'push-off' using the injured leg. Hence, my good, healthy left leg has to carry the other leg. This imbalance leads to sore and niggles around quads and glutes for the left leg.
Another concern right now is my archiles. After two months of limited running, it doesn't seem to be used to the jarring and pounding anymore. Perhaps the archiles is forced to work more to compensate for the weak ankle.This morning I did 2 x 4k at steady state pace and planned to do a few quick 200s for leg speed afterwards. After the first 200s, I felt a weird feeling in the archiles and I couldn't run the 200 at my normal pace (today was 44secs vs 38-40 secs normally). I decided to do just one in order to avoid any risks.
Another funny thing is that even my elbow is sore, especally during tempo runs when fast arm swing is required. Talk about muscle memory hey ??
3) Loss of fitness
Lastly, after a period of length inactivity, fitness level really eroded rapidly. On Tuesday, I had to break my temp run in 10 minute chunks as I couldn't do a straight 20 minute classic tempo. On Friday, I tried to do intervals, but only lasted 800m since the pace felt like an alien to my body.
On another note, this week marked my baby's 31 weeks since conceivement (9 weeks to go before fatherhood !). My wife has left for Australia and I will be joining her in mid March. Until then, I have about 6 weeks with lots of time/flexibility to build up my training and whip my fat ass back into shape !!
M: off
T: 2 x 3.2k Tempo 4:10 pace, 4 x 200 Reps av 39-40
W: 35mins Easy 5:33 on treadmill
T: 45mins Easy 5:00 incl 4 x 10secs hill sprints
F: 30mins Easy 5:07 (tried intervals but felt crap)
S: off
S: am 70mins including 2 x 4k @ 4:20 pace, pm 40mins Easy 5:12
Total 57km for the week
Ankle is improving and gaining strength, but a lenghty period of absence has created lots of new problems.
1) Weight gain
I gained about 5k in weight over the last 2 months. I am 170cm and my normal weight was 67kg (still heavy for a runner) which put me at 23.2 BMI. Due to a combination of little running during the lay-off, festive seasons, and pregnant wife who needs to eat frequently, my weight has ballooned by 5kg, implying a BMI of 25.3, and this is categorized as 'Overweight' .
No wonder that I am struggling at the moment. Increased weight leads to increased cost of running. I also feel that my knees take a bit of battering due to the added bulk.
2) Contamination to other body parts
I found that when you run with some kind of injury, your other body parts will be affected too! My injured ankle is still not 100% healed, and for some reaon, my brain tells me not to do 'push-off' using the injured leg. Hence, my good, healthy left leg has to carry the other leg. This imbalance leads to sore and niggles around quads and glutes for the left leg.
Another concern right now is my archiles. After two months of limited running, it doesn't seem to be used to the jarring and pounding anymore. Perhaps the archiles is forced to work more to compensate for the weak ankle.This morning I did 2 x 4k at steady state pace and planned to do a few quick 200s for leg speed afterwards. After the first 200s, I felt a weird feeling in the archiles and I couldn't run the 200 at my normal pace (today was 44secs vs 38-40 secs normally). I decided to do just one in order to avoid any risks.
Another funny thing is that even my elbow is sore, especally during tempo runs when fast arm swing is required. Talk about muscle memory hey ??
3) Loss of fitness
Lastly, after a period of length inactivity, fitness level really eroded rapidly. On Tuesday, I had to break my temp run in 10 minute chunks as I couldn't do a straight 20 minute classic tempo. On Friday, I tried to do intervals, but only lasted 800m since the pace felt like an alien to my body.
On another note, this week marked my baby's 31 weeks since conceivement (9 weeks to go before fatherhood !). My wife has left for Australia and I will be joining her in mid March. Until then, I have about 6 weeks with lots of time/flexibility to build up my training and whip my fat ass back into shape !!
M: off
T: 2 x 3.2k Tempo 4:10 pace, 4 x 200 Reps av 39-40
W: 35mins Easy 5:33 on treadmill
T: 45mins Easy 5:00 incl 4 x 10secs hill sprints
F: 30mins Easy 5:07 (tried intervals but felt crap)
S: off
S: am 70mins including 2 x 4k @ 4:20 pace, pm 40mins Easy 5:12
Total 57km for the week
25 January 2009
Can't stand the withdrawal syndrome
I really can't take the withdrawal syndrome anymore....
Seven weeks and counting, my ankle is still about 70-80% good. Decided to ditch the physio. Decided to train on dodgy ankle like normal training but at reduced mileage.
My observations after this week's training is as follows:
1) My 'quality pace' has dropped by 15secs per km. Prior to the injury, I ran my short tempo at 4:00 pace and short reps (400s) at <3:30.>
2) My running form sucks big time. Today I did a 60mins run (longest in 2 months) and had to stop a few times to rest and stretch. Quads were hurting, hips got really tight, and I over-pronated than usual. It seems that due to the long lay-off, I have missed the feeling of 'how to run'.
And, of course, ankle still hurts especialy after interval and long run.
M - 60mins Yoga, 30mins easy 5:21
T - 40mins including 5k tempo 4:14
W - 40mins easy 5:30
T - 8 x 400m av 1:29-1:30 (ankle hurts)
F - 60mins spinning class
S - 30mins easy 5:20
S - 60mins 'long run' 5:10
Total 48k for the week
Seven weeks and counting, my ankle is still about 70-80% good. Decided to ditch the physio. Decided to train on dodgy ankle like normal training but at reduced mileage.
My observations after this week's training is as follows:
1) My 'quality pace' has dropped by 15secs per km. Prior to the injury, I ran my short tempo at 4:00 pace and short reps (400s) at <3:30.>
2) My running form sucks big time. Today I did a 60mins run (longest in 2 months) and had to stop a few times to rest and stretch. Quads were hurting, hips got really tight, and I over-pronated than usual. It seems that due to the long lay-off, I have missed the feeling of 'how to run'.
And, of course, ankle still hurts especialy after interval and long run.
M - 60mins Yoga, 30mins easy 5:21
T - 40mins including 5k tempo 4:14
W - 40mins easy 5:30
T - 8 x 400m av 1:29-1:30 (ankle hurts)
F - 60mins spinning class
S - 30mins easy 5:20
S - 60mins 'long run' 5:10
Total 48k for the week
19 January 2009
Life as a Jogger
Not much running last week due to uncontrollable factors, both at home and work.
A measly total mileage of 97k in the last 6 weeks (16k av per week) since I sprained my ankle. It's really demoralizing mentally given I averaged around 90-100k weekly prior to the injury.
8-14 Dec: 0
15-21 Dec: 9
22-28 Dec: 0
29 Dec - 4 Jan: 27
5-11 Jan: 36
12-18 Jan: 25
I've cancelled a couple of races in Jan & Feb because of the slow recovery process and loss of fitness. It's so frustrating when something that you value a lot is taken out of you.
On a happier note, I received a cheque for 2nd placing at the treadmill endurance challenge. This brings my total winning for 2008 to $350 in cash + $400 in product vouchers.
As I started the year with a very low base, I just hope the only way for the rest of the year is up !
A measly total mileage of 97k in the last 6 weeks (16k av per week) since I sprained my ankle. It's really demoralizing mentally given I averaged around 90-100k weekly prior to the injury.
8-14 Dec: 0
15-21 Dec: 9
22-28 Dec: 0
29 Dec - 4 Jan: 27
5-11 Jan: 36
12-18 Jan: 25
I've cancelled a couple of races in Jan & Feb because of the slow recovery process and loss of fitness. It's so frustrating when something that you value a lot is taken out of you.
On a happier note, I received a cheque for 2nd placing at the treadmill endurance challenge. This brings my total winning for 2008 to $350 in cash + $400 in product vouchers.
As I started the year with a very low base, I just hope the only way for the rest of the year is up !
11 January 2009
Still struggling
Still struggling, both physically and aerobically.....
In the physical front, ankle is probably around 70%. It's okay for short slow runs, but still not ready for uptempo stuff. Did a 3k fartlek on Friday in the track, and the ankle was so painful that I had to walk for a cool down. Muscularly, I'm beginning to have some aching on the glutes and quads of the good (left) leg because it still has to carry the other leg.
On the aerobic side, I've built my runs to around 10k (longest run in 5 weeks) and the effort felt like a hard half marathon race. At the current rate of ankle recovery, probably I am still 3 weeks away before I can ramp up my long runs and mileage to around 90 minutes and 50k+ weekly respectively. After that, another 3-4 weeks to get back to my fitness level pre-setback.
Hence, in total I will lose around 12 weeks of training (quarter of a year) from the ankle sprain. Damn!
M: Yoga
T: 6k av 5:40 on treadmill
W: 9k av 5:28 on treadmill
T: off
F: 2k wu + 3k of 00:30 on/off in 13:12 av 4:24 (very painful ankle afterwards)
S: 6k av 5:06
S: 10k av 4:56 (effort felt like a half marathon race)
Total 36k for the week
In the physical front, ankle is probably around 70%. It's okay for short slow runs, but still not ready for uptempo stuff. Did a 3k fartlek on Friday in the track, and the ankle was so painful that I had to walk for a cool down. Muscularly, I'm beginning to have some aching on the glutes and quads of the good (left) leg because it still has to carry the other leg.
On the aerobic side, I've built my runs to around 10k (longest run in 5 weeks) and the effort felt like a hard half marathon race. At the current rate of ankle recovery, probably I am still 3 weeks away before I can ramp up my long runs and mileage to around 90 minutes and 50k+ weekly respectively. After that, another 3-4 weeks to get back to my fitness level pre-setback.
Hence, in total I will lose around 12 weeks of training (quarter of a year) from the ankle sprain. Damn!
M: Yoga
T: 6k av 5:40 on treadmill
W: 9k av 5:28 on treadmill
T: off
F: 2k wu + 3k of 00:30 on/off in 13:12 av 4:24 (very painful ankle afterwards)
S: 6k av 5:06
S: 10k av 4:56 (effort felt like a half marathon race)
Total 36k for the week
03 January 2009
Learning to Run (again)
2008 Highlights:
Nothing much really, except for a marathon PB in Seoul. I'm still on the barren patch, continuing last year's trend of producing a measly rate of one PB a year (4k at Matilda Bay in Feb 07, ahead of Clown by a few secs).
My running year started at a very low, pariah-like level. I had troubles in adjusting to the conditions in Singapore and I didn't enjoy training at all (espcially long runs). The lowlights included a HM in 1:45 and a 10k in 49mins - how low can you go ?? My training began to pick up after the mid-year, especially after I began to slow down my Threshold pace from Jack Daniels' 60-minutes pace (Lactate Threshold) to a less painful, 90-minutes pace (aka HM pace) and my Intervals pace from 5k pace to 10k pace. In effect, the intensity was slower but the tempo/interval distances were longer. I felt less 'fried' and began to fall in love with running again, culminating in a 1:28 HM in August. Transitioning to marathon training was effortless as all I needed was to add long runs and longer warm up &
cool down to my Threshold/Interval sessions. Despite having only 8 weeks training, I managed to drop my marathon time from 3:17 to 3:11 - which is a BQ.
However, everything ended in square one when I sprained my ankle 2 days before the major 10k race and last race for the year. Had to spend the last month of the year in the sidelines. In terms of fitness level, I virtually ended back where I started from at the beginning of the year :(
First week of 2009:
The good news: I resumed running this week....
The bad news: I felt like passing out after each run. Even jogging pace felt like a hard race effort. After four weeks off, running is akin to a slow, death march. After a couple of ks at jogging pace, I already huffed and puffed, aerobically exhausted and wanted to quit. Ankle is still sore and swollen after each run, but the feel of not being able to run is even worse.
It is just so unfair that we (trained runners) lose aerobic conditioning so rapidly after a short period of inactivity. Even with a common injury like mine (sprained ankle), I was out for 4 weeks. I reckon it will take me another 2 weeks to be able to run on daily basis and more importantly, pain-free. After that, I probably need another 4-6 weeks to get back to my previous fitness and mileage levels. All in all, a simple ankle sprain will set me back for 10-12 weeks :(
Anyway, I felt like a beginner again this week. After one month off, my running form has became awkward while my endurance sucks.
M: off
T: 3 x 10mins jog @ 6:40 min/km, 3mins break in between (treadmill)
W: 4k jog in 25mins (6:10 av) on treadmill
T: off
F: 5k jog in 28mins (5:42 av) on treadmill + 30mins spinning
S: 7k 'easy' run @ 5:24 outdoor (felt like a marathon effort-wise)
S: 6k @ 5:30 including 'speed test' of 6 x 00:20 strides on grass
Total 27 km for the week (all against doctor's orders)
Nothing much really, except for a marathon PB in Seoul. I'm still on the barren patch, continuing last year's trend of producing a measly rate of one PB a year (4k at Matilda Bay in Feb 07, ahead of Clown by a few secs).
My running year started at a very low, pariah-like level. I had troubles in adjusting to the conditions in Singapore and I didn't enjoy training at all (espcially long runs). The lowlights included a HM in 1:45 and a 10k in 49mins - how low can you go ?? My training began to pick up after the mid-year, especially after I began to slow down my Threshold pace from Jack Daniels' 60-minutes pace (Lactate Threshold) to a less painful, 90-minutes pace (aka HM pace) and my Intervals pace from 5k pace to 10k pace. In effect, the intensity was slower but the tempo/interval distances were longer. I felt less 'fried' and began to fall in love with running again, culminating in a 1:28 HM in August. Transitioning to marathon training was effortless as all I needed was to add long runs and longer warm up &
cool down to my Threshold/Interval sessions. Despite having only 8 weeks training, I managed to drop my marathon time from 3:17 to 3:11 - which is a BQ.However, everything ended in square one when I sprained my ankle 2 days before the major 10k race and last race for the year. Had to spend the last month of the year in the sidelines. In terms of fitness level, I virtually ended back where I started from at the beginning of the year :(
First week of 2009:
The good news: I resumed running this week....
The bad news: I felt like passing out after each run. Even jogging pace felt like a hard race effort. After four weeks off, running is akin to a slow, death march. After a couple of ks at jogging pace, I already huffed and puffed, aerobically exhausted and wanted to quit. Ankle is still sore and swollen after each run, but the feel of not being able to run is even worse.
It is just so unfair that we (trained runners) lose aerobic conditioning so rapidly after a short period of inactivity. Even with a common injury like mine (sprained ankle), I was out for 4 weeks. I reckon it will take me another 2 weeks to be able to run on daily basis and more importantly, pain-free. After that, I probably need another 4-6 weeks to get back to my previous fitness and mileage levels. All in all, a simple ankle sprain will set me back for 10-12 weeks :(
Anyway, I felt like a beginner again this week. After one month off, my running form has became awkward while my endurance sucks.
M: off
T: 3 x 10mins jog @ 6:40 min/km, 3mins break in between (treadmill)
W: 4k jog in 25mins (6:10 av) on treadmill
T: off
F: 5k jog in 28mins (5:42 av) on treadmill + 30mins spinning
S: 7k 'easy' run @ 5:24 outdoor (felt like a marathon effort-wise)
S: 6k @ 5:30 including 'speed test' of 6 x 00:20 strides on grass
Total 27 km for the week (all against doctor's orders)
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