Haven't update my training blog for quite some times as I was away in Japan for a trekking trip. Plus during this period I had very unfortunate illnesses twice, one happened before the trip and another post-trip. The latter was really unlucky was I was down with food poisoning for 5 days (suspected the raw vegetables I bought were not rinsed properly). All these ding-dong costed me a few long run sessions which I'm trying to train with the best I can for now.
Counting down to 4 weeks to Berlin, I just need to train base on how my body react and no point panicking. I just need to tune my sharpness and despite all the ding-dongs, I still have decent aerobic base despite some dip in fitness. It is quite easy to bounce back the fitness because the past few months of build up develop a certain level of aerobic stamina. Hence it is about being consistent in training throughout the entire years and a short period of detraining effect will not be detrimental. So from now until D-day, I will just reduce the overall volume and focus on the 2 keys sessions per week (1 speed and 1 quality long run).
Last Wed 15/8 was a session I pre-planned months ago that was differently from what I had done in my past marathons lead up. Typically I like to run 4 x 4k @4min pace with very short bout of rest intervals. This is to keep registering the marathon pace into the muscle memory so that on the race day it will be in autopilot mode. Through experiments, I always struggled in the final late stage in the marathon which deny me a breakthrough of sub250hr due to neuromuscular fatigue. So the focus is to build resilience towards the end either by training with (1) either longer duration or (2) at faster pace. I modified to progressive speed run as shown with dropping vol but increasing pace (inverse relationship), increasing both will only risk higher injury or burnt out:
12 laps 4.8k (95-96s per lap) with 4min RI
10 laps 4k (94-95s per lap) with 4min RI
8 laps 3.2k (92-94s per lap) with 4min RI
6 laps 2.4k (90-92s per lap) with 3min RI
4 laps 1.6k (88-90s per lap) with 2min RI
2 laps 800m (86-88s per lap) with 1min RI
1 lap 400m (<86s)
However the actual executed was below screenshot which you can see more clearly in my strava or garmin connect. I miscalculated set 6 instead of 2laps i ran 3. I had this perception of 3 laps and will pick up the pace in the final lap. However when my friend Gibert picked up the pace from the start which I felt it was too early and he was like 40m ahead and distance kept growing apart, I still didn't sense anything wrong but suicidal. When he stopped at 2 laps I was thinking oh he must had over done it while I continued my 3rd round and to realise I miscalculated. Hence the bad new was i didn't nail the pace prescribed at slightly slower but good new was I still haven't pick up my gear 5.
In summary, instead of training at goal pace of 4min/km from my usual practice, I have done the hardest session for a marathon that has the vol and specific paces that stretches from 4min/km and cut down to 3:45min/km. The faster pace for each subsequent set was to build resilence and endurance at acceptable stress (not sub5k pace but hover around 10k pace). Bear in mind that this was done in Singapore, a country that has very high humidity. The biggest comparison we tend to overlook is the humidity. 4min/km in Singapore versus 4min/km in a cool climate example Europe the PRE is much higher for the former. So I'm not too worry about pace but prioritize how my heart reacts and the amount of power from my running. As a self-coach runner for monitoring progression, the best quantifiable tools I heavily depend are my Garmin HR watch and Stryd footpod for analyze.
Double ASICS blows... damaged trusty strap which has been with me for 4yrs and an outsole delaminated GEL-Hyper Speed 6 that got me a PB in 2015 :((((
Tomorrow will be my first attempt for 35k long run for this block with Coney Runners (a local elite group that are the sub3hr marathoners). Hopefully I can pocketed another quality ROI for this week which my volume is reduced to 120ish km.
Me signing off and please do 'like' or comment if you have any questions.