As mentioned in previous post, I'm targeting to do Gold Coast Marathon in early July which leaves me with about 6 full months to train & peak for the race. My plan is to do base training for about 2 months before moving onto marathon specific training for the next 4 months. Looking at my running log, I've been averaging about 70-80 kmpw between January to September 2007. Since returning back to Singapore, my average mileage has gone down to about 40 kmpw. In light of this, I aim to build my mileage back up again to around 80-90 kmpw by the end of Feb.
Ok....week 1 of the base training phase... We were holidaying in Hong Kong for New Year and the HK winter was really running-conducive. It was cool at around 10c and very dry - perfect! Also, the Disneyland Resort was really quite and there is a scenic man-made lake called Lake Inspiration (1.5k loop) within the resort. To take advantage of the conditions, I did CV intervals, followed by a moderate-progression run the day after. The calf strain still persists but I decided to run through it.
Tue 01/01: 46m:00s Easy Run (av 5:25 min/km)
First run of the year. A nice leisurely run on treadmill at 1.5% incline (The Langham Hotel) to burn the excess calories from fatty Hong Kong cuisine. Found a restaurant near the hotel called Guandong restaurant in Kowloon and gee, the honey glazed BBQ pork is heavenly !!
Wed 02/01: 35m:40s Easy Run (av 5:30 min/km)
Thu 03/01: 1h:01m:00s (av 4:32 min/km) incl. CV Intervals
20:00 warm up (4:55) from Disneyland Hotel to Lake Inspiration, then 3 x 1600m at CV pace around the lake. Splits 6:16, 6:22, 6:15 (av pace 3:57 min/km) with 1:30-2:00 jogs for recovery. Then 4 x 200m Repetitions in 0:41, 42, 42, 42 with 60secs rest, followed by 13:00 cool down (4:50) back to the hotel incl. x 00:15 strides. Haven't ran 1600s at this effort for ages hence was pretty challenging. The weather helped tremendously, unsure whether I could do the same workout in Singapore.
Fri 04/01: 1h:15:00s (av 4:51 min/km) incl one-hour Progression Run
Took advantage of the cool weather in HK by doing another quality workout after yesterday's CV intervals. 10:00 warm up (5:30) from hotel to Lake Inspiration, then 60:00 Progression Run (15:00 @ 5:00, 4:45, 4:40, 4:30 min/km), and ended with 5:00 cool down. Felt really comfortable effort wise, but calves pain re-appeared again. Was limping for the whole day. Flew back to Singapore.
Sat 05/01: Rest
No run to rest the calves, but did some stretching and push-ups.
Sun 06/11: 1h:40m:00s Easy Run (av 5:16 min/km)
Back to the hot and humid Singapore and struggled with the conditions. Ran from home to Botanic Gardens and back. Av HR was 159 bpm with 181 being the highest and for god's sake I didn't run any faster than 5:00 pace at all !! Calf was really sore.
Total 63.0 km for the week
Total time 5h:17m:54s
Av. Pace 5:02 min/km
Sunday weight: 68.8 kg (post run)
Went to see a physio today to check my calf strain and had deep tissue massage plus ultra sound/wave treatment. Looks like Week 2 of Base Training will be at very minimal mileage sinceI need to nurse my sore calf and prevent it from going bust. Probably I'll go against the doctor's order and try to squeeze in 1-2 runs this week (or maybe just cross training) in order to lessen fitness erosion.
2 comments:
Good effort re the Intervals, seems as though you haven't lost that much fitness due to lack of training. Seems as though the cooler weather in HK was certainly a welcome relief, I can't imagine the running in the humidity in Singapore, hard enough over here when around 30 and humidity of 80.
Try and self massage the calves where you can, also bent knee calf stretches can also help, as well as normal icing and wearing of bandage incl when running.
All the best with the recovery
FYI..KLIM not the usual hilly route. it's both flat and hilly
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