Not Today

Training Week 2 of 16 Recap (Apr16-22)

RT @JoshCox: Doing something only when you feel like it is a foolproof formula for failure. Passion isn’t enough, talent isn’t enough.Commit to the work.

Week 2 was successful in terms of following the program. Ran "only" thrice since my family and I went for a vacation in beautiful Bohol. I had a successful long run last week as described in my last post so I hope to get a similar result this week when I'm supposed to run 27k.

Monday - 4x800m with 2min rest (plus warmup/cooldown)
Wednesday - 8k tempo run at target 6:45/km marathon pace (plus warmup/cooldown)
Thursday (night) - 24km long run
Sunday - 34min mountain-bike ride at Panglao island's roads. Miles unknown but I had a great time hammering on the bike.

TOTAL km = 42km

***

My next race is the I Run For Integrity 15k on May 6th. I ran the 2011 10k version of this and the overall race organization was ok. No plan on my pace target for this one but I'm supposed to run 32k as my long run for that week. Crazy plan would be to make a blast on the 15k race (try to beat my 2010 1:35 PR) and do a relaxed 17k jog after.

We'll see.

Love the Long Run

The hardest part of this marathon training is the long run. I can go thru the speedwork and tempo runs with ease. But not the long run. The part that I don't like is the latter part of the run. Those last 4-5kms wherein the sun is shining brightly, my hydration bottles have run out, as I struggled for form between walk breaks. I'm really a poor sight, be it training long runs or during the latter part of a full marathon.

This week I needed to do a 24km long run. My family have vacation plans this weekend and the wife had specific instructions for me:

"No running in Bohol while we're there."

Of course, I needed some R&R and quality time with the wife and 2 kids so I have to oblige. No biggie, I thought, since I'll just move my long run on a weekday. The problem is that I normally leave the house for work at around 8:15-8:30am so that means waking up 3-4 hours earlier (assuming I finish 24k in 3hours).

Now I need my sleep as much as the next guy so I resorted to doing this run differently: I'm gonna run this at night.

In the UP 2.2km Oval.

Yup, for approximately 11 rounds I'll try to complete 24km.


THURSDAY NIGHT

I was able to get help from @Dagulrunner (who's running his first T2N ultra next month) to help with my hydration by way of providing an ice chest so I can put in my Gatorade and water there.

I wore my Brooks Pureflows but cautiously used thin socks so as not to flare up another PF issue on my right foot.

By 8pm I parked at Abelardo Hall (after munching on Drive Thru Burger Mcdo meal). After a brief chat with @Dagulrunner and his gang, I got myself ready and went off for my 24km run.

The target pace was 7:13/km but I decided not to follow it. Just see how I do this at easy pace but not bringing myself slower than 8:00/km. There were lots of runners and walkers around the oval at this time (8:30pm) so I was happy to have the company.

I went for my hydration stop every 2 rounds (or every 4.4k). The ice cold water and Gatorade helped refresh me to continue, add to that the cool weather that the evening provided. An officemate was able to run with me for 2 rounds so the good conversation throughout the run helped me forget about keeping track of the miles.

By 60 minutes I was averaging 7:30/km which was not bad at all. By the 2nd hour I was happy to see that I was still that same pace, even though the uphill climb of the oval started to bother my pace since I was averaging 7:40-7:50/km at that point but breaking it even by the downward segment (7:20-7:30/km).

At this time I was expecting PF issues on my right foot but it didn't surface since, probably, I was able to consciously keep quick leg turnover so as not to have my foot on the ground for long and a conscious effort to keep track of my hydration and nutrition (although I only used 1 gel which was at km12).

The last round was hard but I knew that I'll be able to finish it, probably because I didn't want to put @Dagulrunner's support efforts for naught. The guy and his gang were still there until the end of my run for support.

I was the only one running the oval at this time, with the company of skateboarders cruising down the road at adrenalin-pumped pace.

By 11:30pm, I saw 24kms on my Garmin and called it a night. At 7:33/km average, I didn't meet my pace goal but I was very pleased with having finished the distance at a very comfortable, easy pace. I guess without the morning heat I was able to run better with the cool evening weather.

Of course, the goal by race day is run at 6:45/km pace so I will really need to step up and obey the target pace for my long run workouts.

Nevertheless, I'll probably do the rest of my long runs for marathon #4 this way.

Evenings.

At the UP oval.

With ice-cold hydration on the ready.

Looks better in the daytime, but definitely cooler to run at night

Yup, I guess I'm starting to love long runs.

Training Week 1 of 16 Recap (Apr9-15)

As in my last post, my training for marathon #4 has been reset to last week.

Recap as below:

Monday - 1k repeats

This workout, supposedly for week4, was done before I had to reset my training. Still got a good workout from this one as I managed 5x1km at 6:05, 5:53, 5:54, 5:54, and 6:07 with 400m rest per interval.

Rested on Tues and Wed since I ran 3 days continously prior.

Thursday - Tempo Run

3k warmup. 3k at 6:03/km target (6:22, 6:00, 5:53). 3km cooldown.

Friday - Easy Run

6km in 47mins. I was on Maffetone pace mode during this run. Ave HR 126, max 140. Happy to have put my average HR below 142 (my Maffetone pace).

Saturday - Long Run

21km long run in 2:43 wherein 14km was with my officemate/running buddy. The sun was up as I ran from 6am to 9am. Terribly hot so I doused my head, chest and arms with water frequently to keep me cool. I didn't meet the 7:04/km target pace but still glad to have finished the run. I was even able to make 7:00-ish/km pace on km17 and 18 but succumbed to walk breaks the rest of the way until the finish. Still, glad to have completed the required distance.

TOTAL KM FOR THE WEEK: 45km


Good news: the plantar fasciitis on my right foot has healed. It seems that replacing my office shoes' worn out insoles did the trick (weird isn't it?). Further, I didn't encounter PF pain in my long run last week since I wore thin socks with my Brooks Pureflows. I'll try to remember that for my long run this week which is probably gonna be on Thursday night at UP Oval (24km).

Following these PF exercises from mobilitywod.com helped heal my PF as well:



Bad news: pain in my left knee is acting up again. It's probably due to the high pace demands of this training plan. I read in the Runnersworld forums that most of those who tried the FIRST training plan found it too difficult to follow in terms of pace ---same experience as mine. No biggie since I'll probably just follow the long run distance and not the pace requirement until the last quarter of the training. For my left knee, it's time to go back to my VMO exercises to hopefully alleviate it.

Training continues this week....

Reprieve

Now on my 4th week of training for marathon #4, the Milo Manila Elims, the long runs have been a disaster in terms of trying to meet the target pace (week 1 & 2) and target distance (week 3).

After reading takbo.ph's FB update last night and confirmed by Kulitrunner's latest post, I got myself a reprieve: the Milo Manila Elims is scheduled on July 29 and not July 08 as I earlier guessed.

This resets my entire 16-week training program to begin this week (originally started March 15th). I felt elated that my supposed 32km long run this weekend (which I was not really that excited to do) has been reduced to 21km since I'm back to week #1 this week.

Thank goodness for second chances.