Sunday, September 04, 2011

End of Hell Week

I am glad to say I survived Hell Week more or less in one piece. Along the way I tested out my new Adizero Ace and so far it's in the pole position for my marathon race shoe. Oh, I also broke new ground in completing my longest run since I started the plan and at the same time broke through the 100k per week barrier. All in all, I can't complain too much.

Sunday Long Run/Marathon Specific Workout 1
Jog to Youth Park
25k run (5k easy with 20k at marathon effort) - 2.07.35
4 strides at the car park
Shoes: Adidas Adizero Ace

Today's was supposed to be the first marathon specific workout of the plan and actually called for marathon PACE. Since I had no marathon experience and my target pace will probably kill me at this point, I decided to do it at marathon EFFORT, iffy as it may seem. I was slightly late to the starting point and the rest of the morning runners have all set off. This was probably a blessing in disguise as I could just relax and not be sucked into chasing after people.

I was a bit unsure about how fast to run when it was time to crank up the pace, so I settled for being relaxed but moving well. The effort I was aiming for would not leave me too breathless. As I approached the turnaround for the first 15k loop, I picked up Yeoh. He picked up his pace and we ran together for the next few k. Not long after, we surprisingly caught up with Tiger. He told me he wasn't sure which route he was going to proceed on, so I invited him along.

After refueling back at the Youth Park car park, the 3 of us continued on the remaining 10k. The plan was to run to Botanical Gardens and do the balance via big and small loops. With 4 small laps to go, Yeoh decided to call it a day, leaving me and Tiger to press on. Despite not pushing off too hard with my stride, my legs were hurting at this point and I even felt a few twinges in the calves. Thankfully, those twinges did not develop into full blown cramping and I was able to run till the end. Tiger was just too strong or perhaps it was the 100 odd km already in my legs, but I felt myself losing contact at the end.

Having done such a grueling week, I will be reducing the mileage a bit for this week. Hopefully the injury demons will continue to stay far away.

2 comments:

francis said...

FYI, there is a training calculator in Runner's World to find out your marathon pace. http://www.runnersworld.com/topic/0,7122,s6-238-244-0-0,00.html

Hope you find it useful.

Ken said...

Bro... you don't blog anymore?