I’ve gone through many cycles of false dawns in restarting my training or putting even the slightest consistency to my running, seemingly jinxing it whenever I share my progress with 2 of my travel mates, who with me, will be making the long flight to Europe this September. The last few months have always been “1 step forward 2 steps back”, and I’ve been numbed by disappointments. Fitness has taken a drastic hit with the VO2Max dipping under the 50 mark. Even the Garmin Race Predictor isn’t showing any sub-4 marathons at this point. This jinx has to be broken, therefore I’m keeping this series of posts private for my personal training record at least until August.
I’m close to wrapping up Week 3/5 of Base training as I’m typing this and while the mileage remains low (45.8 and 49.8), there’s far greater consistency in me heading out, the primary change being getting out of bed at 4:20am. The other change has been the incorporation of functional strength training, usually incorporating a kettlebell. In fact, I’d rather opt for functional strength training over a second run these days.
For Berlin, I spent a few weeks flip-flopping between McMillan plans and writing my own, and was also undecided on the duration of the plans. After a few weeks of percolation, I’ve decided on sticking to Luke Humphrey Running’s 18-Week Advance Plan which have brought me down from 3:50+ to sub-3:30 in 2 years. With work volume and intensity yet to peak, I feel that having a familiar plan will take the pain of figuring out the workings of a new one. There will definitely be some tweaking of the plans due to the working weekends right up to July.
I’ll cover my shoe rotation, and go in a little bit more on the training adjustments I’ll be making in my next post.
I stopped blogging about Week 11 because it was a case of pure survival for the entire family. The Mrs was the first to be down, testing positive and isolated in the bedroom. Soon after, the stress of rushing around, juggling work, cleaning, doing laundry runs, ferrying the kids to and from school and doing nearly everything else except cooking took a toll on my body and I came down with fever and throat infection. My fear immediately ratcheted up several notches fearing another case of COVID in the family, which fortunately wasn’t the case after repeated testing.
Sleeping in the spare room didn’t help and I didn’t get the rest I desperately needed. Thankfully I had sought treatment early and was already on antibiotics.
The Mrs made a surprisingly a quick recovery by Day 3, with the fever gone and testing negative consecutive days. By Day 5, she was able to leave room isolation and the additional hands were indeed helpful since both sons and my Mother were the next COVID casualties! It was a calamitous but unsurprising situation to be in with everyone stuck in the house.
With everyone except yours truly infected, the question then was what’s my risk mitigation plan. I was the one odd one out. Do they isolate in separate rooms or like my wife suggested, that I move to a nearby hotel room for the next 3 days before I fly off. That move would be akin to abandoning the post in the heat of the battle. Logical but not the appropriate thing to do. Leaving the family for a trip (Visa approval finally received 6 days pre-flight) was already a selfish thing to do in normal times, what more with 4/5 of the household down. The most pragmatic move would be that I isolate. My Mother’s symptoms proved the mildest of the lot and she was able to cook simple meals – porridge/rice, veg, eggs/meat – while the Mrs undertook the cleaner role. I broke the cyclical fever on my 2nd day of antibiotics and was able to help somewhat. I kept myself in the room mostly, going out only to get groceries and meds and disinfectants – hundreds of Ringgit spent on those essentials.
My last short run before coming down sick was June 20th, 6.4km. 4 days later, I was well enough to go for a 30-minute evening walk around the neighbourhood. A resident who saw me walking, familiar with my daily pursuits, asked if it was my rest day. The walk did me good. With movement, I was able to centre my thoughts, take in deep breaths and absorb the sunshine and oxygen.
I covered a little shy of 3km yesterday, the start of Week 12 (Race Week!). First few steps were heavenly even if everything felt off. After the jog, I savoured the sun at the park and marvelled at the rainbow. I followed that up with another one this morning, a 5km with 30-second cutdowns, from 6:15 down to 4:55, with a cooldown km at the end, a miniscule outing to work the legs. “Tomorrow is another day’“, as Vivien Leigh said in Gone with the Wind, and one can’t worry too much.
Weather forecast predicts the wettest weekend on the Gold Coast in recent times but a race is still a race. It’ll be my 10th GCM. I can’t imagine my first was back in 2011. Over the years, Good Times have evolved into Fast Times as I learned to train better and the Gold Coast have always been good to me. It would be sacrilegious if I don’t turn up and perform the best I can come July 3rd. My sense of belief might’ve been shaken the past week with the illness but I’ve not given up on the objective I’ve set myself since Dec 2021. The crew have trained well and from what we can see, we were at our fittest and strongest when we entered the taper phase last week.
The heavy lifting’s done. It’s time to summon the Warrior Spirit.
Kicked off the week with the usual easy Monday before the Commute Madness. The Tuesday Strength session was moved to Wed as I was just too wasted to tackle it. I knew I’d utterly fail any attempts to bulldoze through the 4 x 2.5KM with 800m recoveries. I was fresher (which is simply another way of saying “less wasted”) on Wednesday. The workout was OK, not spectacular. I wasn’t quite able to hit the set paces (tired legs) and I simply ran out of time before the rush into the office. Count me a voter for 100% remote work! Anyways, the average pace for each of the 3 sets were 4:40 > 4:40 > 4:39, essentially the quicker end of my MP and most definitely not the 10-seconds under as the menu required. I kept locking into MP which is a good thing I guess but we all know there’s a time and place for higher intensity workouts (yes yes, those Tuesday sessions) but it’s getting harder and harder to run these outside the track.
Having incorporated the 16KM MP into Saturday’s long run, Thursday was a comfortable 20KM, with the first 14KM completed in the old crimson VF 4% Flyknit (which I wore in 2019) and the remaining 6KM in the Alpha, simply because the 4%’s midsole came apart just after 8KM.
Friday was a short easy one, followed with the usual house chores. A rainy night ensured Saturday morning was cool. When I got to Peremba at 4:40am, Uncle Siah was already running! I quickly got in the 7.5KM warm up – not quite Chiam’s standard of a 10KM warm up just yet! – drank a few mouthfuls of On Amino before kicking off the main workout. The first KM (4:53) was a bummer. The old engine just needed to slowly come alive. Pace was see-sawing the first few KMs as my mind wandered to the still unapproved Visa situation as we precariously approach the final week and half before the flight. My attention snapped back to the task at hand only after a bit and only then there was some semblance of consistency. As it turned out, I lowered my 15KM PR by a minute to 1:09.27 after checking off the HM, 10-mile, and 15KM ones early June during the Simulator.
Sunday was when the drama kicked up a notch with the wife waking up to very bad sore throat and worse for the wear. I feared the worst and quickly went out for a very short run in anticipation of the prospect. True enough, her test came back positive and before she isolated herself in the bedroom, I handled the wholesale stripping of the sheets, pillow cases and what-have-yous to the laundry, sanitized the common contact surfaces, and while waiting for the wash cycle to complete, had breakfast, brought breakfast, moved the washed items to the dryer, delivered the packed breakfast home before returning to collect the laundry, stopping at the pharmacy for Panadol and several essentials. Back home, I showered, moved whatever things I need the next 5 days out of the room. By the time I was done, it was nearly 1pm. I’m unsure which of these I fear the most right now – the possibility of me contracting this so close to the race, if I ever get to race in the first place or if anyone else in the family is going to get it (we’ve so far all tested negative). It’s like somebody is taking pleasure in throwing me curveballs this go-around but like I told the guys, the greater the challenges, the sweeter the victory.
The next week is all about surviving and coming through unscathed for everyone, so blogging will be the last thing on my mind. Still keeping my chin up.
After rewarding myself with a Sunday rest day, it was back to the grind on Monday. Another extended weekend meant that I was able to avoid looping around the housing area and got in a nice 14KM at Cyberjaya. The morning was cooling but humid and the route chosen was somewhat rolling but it was OK. I thought about how ideal Cyberjaya is for Boston training (Kinrara being the other one), what with the wide roads, and undulating landscape. I like the apartments and condos in the area and fantasized about renting a unit there the next marathon training block. Won’t happen, though!
I failed Tuesday’s Strength workout badly, the body still unable to clear the recovery from last Saturday’s Simulator despite yesterday’s very comfortable 14. Completed just 1 of the 3 sets of 3x3K and told myself that it was OK to have bad days. The key is not to wallow in it and just move on. After all, marathon success hinges on the weeks and months of putting in the work and not on a single workout.
Wednesday was the obligatory easy run which I kept very much so to except for the topping up of a couple of KMs.
It uncharacteristically rained heavily on Thursday which resulted in a late start, which then resulted in not having enough time to cover the entire menu which was 2x8K at MP. Unlike Tuesday, however, everything felt ok and it was only due to time crunch that I had to bail. Splits were 4:48 > 4:54 > 4:44 > 4:45 > 4:44 > 4:43 > 4:43 > 4:39 (Average 4:45).
Friday was the same as Wednesday except for the addition of weekly house chores.
Saturday’s 32KM would be the final 32 in this training block. To make it a little challenging, I didn’t listen to podcasts nor music to kill time. I opted to cover the full 8KM loop 4 times which included some killer climbs just to add more steel to the mental setup. The discomfort has to be simulated in training so that one is able to deal with it when it inevitably comes during the race. Running the final loop with Sue and CY freshened things up a little and I closed the final 3KMs in 5:10, 4:40 and 4:24.
It rained much of Saturday night which made for a very nice Sunday morning run. The body and legs felt reasonably good considering yesterday’s 32 and I got the run I needed. There’ll be a miniscule reduction in mileage next week heading into a mini-taper but I’m trying to see if I can incorporate the 16KM MP into next weekend’s long run. I think that’ll space out the SOS workouts a bit more, providing an extra easy day in between.
On a related note, Philip, Sham, Cheong, and Uncle Siah are really really looking good. I’m expecting some breakthrough performances from these guys on July 3 and I’m praying that I’ll be able to join them!
It’s Week 8 and the wait continues. I told the crew that since I’m now closer to the completion of the 12-Week plan than I ever was, there’s nothing to lose but to just keep going. By the time this post goes up, it’ll be less than 2 weeks to taper. With that in mind, Week 8 was the most ideal one to be doing The Simulator, a long workout at MP that serves to 1. Test out the race gear and fuelling, 2. Fine-tuning race-day pacing and 3. Getting the mind in, hopefully, a good place. I’ll put out a separate post on The Simulator so suffice to say that other than an abbreviated Strength workout on Tuesday which was a 2x5K, all the other days were about keeping it easy.
I kept Tuesday to a single set since I wasn’t going to be as gung-ho as I was a few years ago and put my legs and body in any more stress than necessary. No sooner had I covered 2KM that I realised how comfortable it was – too slow! I was going by feel again, you see. That explained why the pace was significantly quicker the rest of the way – 4:49 > 4:59 > 4:39 > 4:32 > 4:33 (Average: 4:43).
I had several opportunities of throwing in a couple of evening runs but they were just too scorching hot and those were never good for recovery. In short, I played it safe most of the week.
Yup, it was a pretty boring week other than The Simulator, which I got myself PRs in the 10 Mile, 20KM and Half Marathon (1:39) distances. It provided some validation and much needed positivity yet I’m fully aware that that all count for naught when it comes to the Marathon. Remember, the Marathon only starts at the 30KM mark. That said, I’ll still savour the achievement today and set it aside to be recalled as motivation when the inevitable rough miles set in during the race. There are a few weeks left for training and it’s seriously not done just yet with 2 big weeks coming up before the taper.
As mentioned in last week’s recap (link below), the plan for this week was not to hammer but to take it easier, shorter and to pay attention to how I’m feeling. Accordingly, Monday’s 14 was slashed down to 12. Tuesday’s 5x1K @ 10K Race Pace was also eased back from sub 4:30s to 4:30-4:40 range.
I was very happy how Tuesday turned out. I’d sync’d the updated pace range to the watch and turned off the pace alerts as the decision was made to run by feel, which ended up with 4:34 > 4:33 > 4:31 > 4:26 > 4:23. Felt way better than last week and in fact, strong I might add.
Fuelling and nutrition-wise, I’m taking in protein drink after every run (even the Easy effort ones) and supplemented with iron tablets. The HR readings are all where they’re expected to be, nothing out of the ordinary observed. Stretching and strengthening are on-going as well and I’m self-massaging more than ever.
Wednesday’s easy 10 was dispatched uneventfully, which was great. HR readings looked good too.
Then it was time for the MP SOS. 2x8KM with 1 mile recovery, sandwiched between 3KM warm up and 1.5KM cool down. Other than a straight-through long MP workout, this 2×8 is one of the hardest sessions in the training block. Run it too fast, and you’d be too wasted the second rep. If you’re unprepared or simply too inconsistent in your base/training block to run the goal pace, you’d be found out. The 1.6KM recovery phase may seem to be a blessing but be mindful of getting too comfortable with the break because there’s another rep to execute. The effort-pace had to be just right and I went in with some doubts having had a poor Week 6. As a result of that, I’d allowed myself a wider pace window, from 4:40-4:47 to 4:40-4:52. That’ll stave off the endless pace alerts should I drop too far off the goal pace. Doubts were still coursing through my mind as I made my way to the “start line” and before it took further control of me, I quickly started the watch and got going.
First KM felt easy and pretty soon, I was moving through the splits rather comfortably. I did a lot of self-talk, running through positive mental affirmations and going through the specific parts of the GCM course as I move through the workout. The temps may be cool with a gentle breeze but I was dripping sweat. I had the foresight to have put an electrolyte tablet into the water bottle, and so was able to properly hydrate during the recovery phase. All in all, a very good workout, one which I didn’t struggle, nor lost my running form.
Friday was supposed to be a 14KM but I took the day off, having learned the lessons of Week 6. Even if I feel strong this week, I still need to be cautious, jumping to 117KM from 82 the week before.
I ran most of the first of 2 32KMs on Saturday solo – Cheong had to make a pit stop midway into my 1st loop and his menu called for 34KM anyways – averaging 5:18. The last loop was tough partly because I decided to go all the way up Bukit Chiam but I can take heart that I averaged 5:06 the last 5KM. I take fuelling more seriously these days and as do Cheong. 2 gels (taken at 13KM and 24km), 2 bottles of electrolytes and a post-run protein shake were in my cooler box, all consumed. A good start to the day on my 23rd wedding anniversary.
I re-read my log from last year’s same training week and noticed that I did pretty well then, with all targets met. I was resigned to the fact that Week 7 was the final week I was able to train considering the country was on the verge of re-entering another lockdown. It would be the final week when I was able to meet the planned weekly mileage as I would come out short by 10K for Weeks 8 and 9. In short, I need to be careful from here on.
Halfway mark! As I’m typing this, the fate of my travel visa application remains unknown – see post below. I’ve started questioning my dogged quest to check the day’s run off when the Garmin vibrates each morning. At Week 6 of 12, my training is neither closer to Race Day nor Day 1, and as if it’s not challenging enough, work (for me and my wife) has now aggressively ramping up, the 5-year old TV decided to display the black screen of death and the garden pipe has sprung a leak. Elsewhere around the house, the elder son has been studying late into the night, so late that he was just heading to bed just as I was getting ready for my weekend run at 4am. Everyone (except the younger one) is stressed.
While the week got off to a good start – a 16KM instead of the planned 14 on Monday – it became clear that I should try to be a little creative in keeping to the overall training plan without killing myself. I’ve mentioned about the day-to-day stress, and if you’ve followed this blog for sometime, running workouts in my neighbourhood presents a challenge in itself, with quicker training paces trying to avoid being knocked down by the cars and buses around these narrow streets. The school-rush start ridiculously early around here at 5:45am.
I will continue to stay the course of the training but I will spread the easy miles throughout the week (or shorten them) and not overload any particular day. Also, if the Speed and Strength workouts become too hard to execute (they should be hard but not at the expense of safety), I will cut those reps down or ease off the pace. There should be no compromise on the MP sessions however, and I’m considering running those at Cyberjaya when the distances start hitting 14KM and above. Indeed those days will require me to drive out at 4:30am, and get back in time to start work but I’m still keeping all options open. Things we do, right?
Tuesday’s Strength was supposed to be 3x3KM @ MP-10 with 800m recovery jogs but it was such a grind that I called it off after 2 reps. 1st rep: 4:31 > 4:41 > 4:44 | 2nd rep: 4:36 > 4:42 > 4:45 was the best I could manage. I padded on a longer Cool Down (5.3KM) and added an evening jog (another 5.3KM) for a total of 22.2KM for the day. I watched the HR closely and ensured all the easy segments were under 128 bpm.
Thursday’s 12KM MP was a complete failure. Too tired from Wednesday, I knew I would be too whacked for it the next morning. It wasn’t any better in the evening. I drove to Cyberjaya and within 15 minutes was laced up to go. The 4KM warm-up (around 5:15 pace) was fine but side stitches hit almost immediately when I started the main segment. Slowed down and told myself to suck it up as that could possibly happen during a race. Just have to deal with it. I wished the workout went well but the legs were dead after just 3K. I walked back to the car with the tail tucked between my legs. I knew then that I needed to finally take a rest day, and yes I kept to it.
I attempted the MP as part of the 24KM Long Run on Saturday. 12K moderate pace effort as warm up before the remaining 12 at MP. Utterly failed yet again. I was evidently not in the frame of mind. A couple more starts and stops before joining Sue and CY for their 20-minute tempo. Their 5:15 was comfortable for me and it’s anything below 5 that will put me in trouble. I took heart that I still managed a 20.7 on a relatively poor morning. I cut down Sunday’s 14KM to 12.5KM to wrap up the week, some 19KM shorter than planned.
My priority for Week 7 is to focus on keeping it easier, don’t rush back to the planned volume and pace just yet. I’m just hoping I’ve not overcooked my training.
Here’s the same training week from last year. Not so problematic since we were all still working from home.
Thus far, Weeks 1-4 have been manageable. Even though I’ve not taken a single day off – it’s not about maintaining a running streak but about movement as I’ve clarified in my earlier posts. I’ve been really minding my physical recovery and how I’m feeling whenever the Garmin alarm vibrates very early every morning. I can report that it’s been, “So far, so good”. Week 5 is an entirely different kettle of fish.
Unlike earlier weeks, there are no allocated rest days and for the next 6 weeks, the weekly mileage will hover above the 100km line. This is obviously not the first time this plan is put to use but it will be the first time I’m going to be tackling such volume at this pace when the firm has demanded us back to the office – useless hours spent on commutes and climbing escalators (no way I was going to stand and waste more time riding the old chugging escalators we have here in Malaysia!) and stairs on already tired legs.
Tuesday’s 6x800m @ 10K race pace with 400m recovery came after the previous morning’s 14K so it was not going to be a walk in the park. One of my goals was to break 45 minutes for the 10K, so the splits (4:24 > 4:21 > 4:32 > 4:30 > 430 > 4:28) I managed were actually quicker than my actual race pace. Since my focus is not on the 10, I’d say it was a good workout despite the actual paces prescribed by the plan were actually way faster i.e. in the low 4s to 4:15 – something I won’t be able to pull off running around my neighbourhood.
Thursday’s SOS was 10K at MP before rushing off to work which added some urgency to the proceedings. Splits were: 4:51 > 5:40 > 4:45 > 4:43 > 4:43 > 4:42 > 4:45 > 4:41 > 4:47 > 4:42 > 4:44 (Average 4:44).
With so much walking and rushing around, you can bet that I was pretty pooped by Friday evening. Added to the weight of uncertainty of the still-unapproved travel visa, my enthusiasm waned somewhat on the week’s 30K. I was tempted to cut back on the distance but I was glad that I didn’t. I’d suggested to Cheong (who is also waiting for the visa outcome) that we should take it easy with the pace, which we did – the first 18K were conversational, the next 6 slightly quicker before progressing to a 5:10 > 5:12 > 5:05 > 4:59 > 4:57 > 4:52 finish as the morning warmed up a fair bit. It was still a 5:37 average when I would’ve been happy with a 5:45, the average logged for the same distance, same training week, and same program last year. Yup, I checked (see last year’s post below). One of the reasons I blog my training weeks is so that I can review them.
Sunday’s easy/recovery run wasn’t fun at all despite getting a good night’s sleep. My HR readouts piped from the Garmin to my Bluetooth earbuds alerted me of the unusually high readings. When that persisted for the next couple of KMs, I decided to be safe than sorry and walked the uphills and jogged the downs. However, when that still didn’t bring the readings down, I halted the whole thing. I’d only covered half the planned distance but I was very concerned about being overcooked, and this early too even if the legs were just a little tired. I was curious to see if conditions improved in the evening and they did. HR was back in the 111s. I guess I overestimated my recovery from the long run. Yes, warning is now duly noted.
Tomorrow’s Week 6, roughly the same mileage before the next ramp up. I hope I will be informed of the outcome by Sunday, whatever that may be.
Week 4 was supposed to be the first of many 3-SOS weeks but as Tuesday’s weather turned out, it scuppered my Strength Workout i.e. 4x2K @ GMP-10 with 500m recovery jogs. It rained so heavily that we sought shelter at a bus stop and after a quick discussion, changed the planned workout to a moderate-effort run of the same distance. I made sure I didn’t over-extend myself since there’s an MP workout the very next day.
A decision was made to try out a new venue this time around, the 800m loop around the MBPJ Stadium – very short loops for longer MP sessions, but I was game with all that, “Variety is the Spice of Life” thing. It beats running around my neighbourhood anyway. The Adios Pro 2 received its first try-out. It felt OK although I had to stop to re-tie the left shoe during the recovery phase. No other fit concerns after that. Very secure and responsive but Lightstrike Pro foam isn’t as soft as ZoomX nor Fuelcell, resulting is mild soreness is the balls of my feet. I reckon it needed some breaking in. In his review, Eddbud did mention about the Pro 2 getting better with each run. Anyways, the workout went well. The plan was 2x5K @ GMP with 1.6K recovery jog.
This week’s long run was a 24K. The weather on Saturday morning was excellent and that helped in no small measure as my mileage have been on the rise. My start was typically slow, before getting into groove. I was glad to be tuning into the utterly inspiring episode of the Morning Shakeout podcast which feature Tommy Rivs. If you haven’t tuned in already, do check it out.
I was even pacing most of the way and KMs 14-18 were flat 5:21s before closing off the morning at 5:07 the last 3km, for a 5:27 average. That morning was my most consistent pacing yet. There were moments when I was totally in the zone and the KMs just clicked by. Running at a particular effort is one thing, but being in the zone and in a calm and peaceful state of mind is really what it’s about.
Ah Week 3, a quarter into the plan. The final Honeymoon Week before the commencement of 3 S.O.S. days per week…
Before I go any further, I’d like to state that the purpose for these training recaps is mainly so that I can go back and review what I did correctly (or wrongly) before I undertake any new marathon training blocks. I really do review my training logs which I keep in ol’ trusty Excel format dating back to 2015. So whenever a particular week shows zero rest days, my intention is not to brag but for my reference. Truth be told, other than the first 4 weeks, there are really no rest days from Week 5 to the penultimate week i.e. Week 11 in the plan I’m following. So why no rest days these 3 weeks, I hear you ask. 2 reasons.
Firstly, I wanted to keep the legs moving on the day after the speed/strength day. Slowly. How slow? At least 2 minutes slower than my race pace. How far? 6K and below. The past few weeks made me realise that I feel better with movement. I get through the work day easier, and I’m able to return to following days in better shape.
Secondly, the mileage is better spread out. I’ve a bit more flexibility in reducing the mileage the day after the long run down the week, what with those long runs are now executed on a quicker pace than previous years.
Will I be going through the entire training block without a rest day? Not at all because by default, there are no rest days after Week 5! Seriously though, work load is pretty bad these days and if I’m not getting restful nights, I won’t even think twice to reduce the planned miles on the easy days or swap some days around.
That out of the way, this week has been par for the course. Other than the slight bump in mileage creeping over the 90K mark, the other significant change would be the longer and straight-through MP session which was 8K. I stuck with a 4K warm up as the body needs a bit more time to warm up these days.
8K @ GMP: 4:42 > 4:39 > 4:48 > 4:50 > 4:42 > 4:50 > 4:53 >4:55 (Avg Pace: 4:47). There’s certainly room for improvement just looking at the splits. I went out too fast, even if 4:42 was within my set pace range (4:40-4:47). In the end, despite returning a 4:47/km average, I would’ve preferred a more conservative and even pace through out. The many turns around my small neighbourhood isn’t that conducive for tackling a quicker pace but that’s what it is. Just doing my best.
The “rest day not taken” was a recovery 6K, followed by an 11K on Friday. Saturday’s 25K (5:23 average) marks the start of a long weekend with Labour Day and Aidil Fitri holidays. We chose not to travel and contend with the expected crowds. If you’re part of the outstation travellers, be safe.
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