Move Me, Shake Me, Break Me

Counting my last days in Perth. Sold my car Accord Euro on Tuesday for a cheap-skate price. Our packing was scheduled on Friday and to our surprise, only one packer came to our apartment. He was so efficient that the whole packing process took 4 hours to complete (single handedly). A total of 34 boxes were shipped. Afterwards, the feeling began to sink in. The apartment is virtually empty except for furnitures and a couple of large suitcases that we'll carry into our flights. All of my shoes were shipped except for my Nike Free and Asics DS Trainer. But most of all, I will miss running in Perth with its mild weather, clean air, parks & jogging paths, and fantastic running ambience. We are scheduled to vacate the apartment on 22 Oct and leave for Singapore on 25 Oct.

Running wise, my recovery from Melbourne Marathon (DNFed at 37k in 2:52) went really well. Took a couple of rest days and did a a couple of short slow runs on Wednesday and Thursday. Muscles were so good that they didn't need any massaging or icing. The key workouts for the week were:

Sat 13/10: Threshold Tempo Run + Hill Reps

Summer is coming!! A pretty warm day for Perth morning standard at 22c. After 2.2k slow warm up, I did 5k tempo run in 20:04 (av. pace 4:01 min/km). Felt really strong for the first couple of ks (sub 4 pace) before starting to feel the rise in lactate and HR in the second half of the run and had to fight a bit to keep the pace in check. Av. HR for the 5k run was 174bpm or 89-90% MaxHR (bingo) - however it touched 186 bpm at the end of the run or 95% MaxHR -- Yikes !! I think I would struggle big time if I run at the same effort in Singapore where av. temperature is around 30c.

After the tempo run, I did 5 x ~120m hill charges in 25, 24, 25, 25, 25 seconds with walk/jog recovery, followed by 2.3k of slow jog to cool down. All up, 11k in 52:46 (av. 4:48)

Sun 14/10: Aerobic Medium Long Run

Ran the first 14k on rolling hills of Kings Park, averaging 5:05 min/km. Then ran the last 4k at 4:27 min/km pace on flat-ish terrain. Ran non-stops without water or rest break. Was feeling a bit sluggish in the first 10-15 minutes but felt stronger as the run went on. Total 18k in 1:28:50 (av 4:56)

Tue 16/10: CV intervals

After a slow 10:00 warm up, I did 5 x 1000m at ~10k pace with 1:45 very slow jog between the intervals. Splits: 3:54/168 bpm, 3:58/171, 3:56/172, 3:54/175, 3:54/175 bpm. Felt pretty comfortable throughout and was totally in control. Not sure whether this is due to endurance effect from my 'long run aka DNF'ed marathon' 9 days ago or just simply because the recovery duration between the intervals was too lengthy. Was short on time, hence I didn't manage to do any short reps or hill sprints or long cool down afterwards. Finished with 3 x 00:20 strides. All up, 10k in 47:54 (4:48).

All in all, none of these workouts were earth shaking or earth breaking !!!