Training report: BWM Anniversary, CNY Celebration and Training week 6 & 7

Training week 6 went well except the FB group BWM anniversary celebration on the 15 Feb. The long run was reduced into a 3km short run, with some catching up with fellow barefoot runners and sharing of experiences from the barefoot guru. Some training schedule in week 7 changed too to suit the travel plan and other family chore before and during the CNY. But nonetheless, I recorded some decent mileages for both training weeks, without further stress on my injury.

Week 6	Program	Done	Remark
Mon	Easy 9.7km	4km
Tue	Speed 4x 1200m	Speed 4x 1200m	All repeats paced around 5min/km
Wed	Rest	Rest
Thu	Tempo 11.3km	11.3km	10km in tempo pace
Fri	Easy 9.7km	7km
Sat	Easy 16.1km	10km
Sun	Easy 12.9km	3km	BWM Anniversary
Total Done		45km

Overall week 6 was the low mileage period after the long run in week 5. I seem to have some problem to stick with the planned mileage especially during weekdays. I woke up 4am but usually dragged until 5am only out the gate, and need to return home to prepare the children for school by 6am. The one hour will only enough for 10km and below. I think some improvement needed here to reduce the waiting time from 4-5am  :P

Week 7	Program	Done	Remark
Mon	Easy 9.7km	None
Tue	Speed Progressive	Speed Progressive	All repeats paced around 5min/km
Wed	Rest	10.5km
Thu	Tempo 11.3km	14km	12km in tempo pace
Fri	Easy 11.3km	8.6km
Sat	Easy 12.9km	None
Sun	Long 22.6km	25km	23km in 6min/km
Total Done		73km

The highlight of week 7 was the progressive speed work. You will redo all the distances you concurred in previous speed work at once, plus the longest speed work of 1600m. My CNY holiday started so I can add in extra warm up and cool down. Total mileage for the week was 73km, doing it in the CNY holiday increased the feel good factor. I ran in Polo Ground during the CNY break. This is a great running venue but you will not want to start too early (before 6am, or the first Morning Prayer) cause it will be occupied by Mak Rempit. Also it will be too busy after 7am with lots of people doing their morning walk. So most of the workouts started with few loops in Polo Ground, and then I will venture into the surrounding area.

I put on 3kg extra weight during the injury and the CNY break wasn’t help at all to bring it down. It will run with me during the Seoul International Marathon. But after I checked the weather forecast, I think these extra fats come in handy. The 15 March forecast stated a 5degC high and -2degC low. If this is accurate, it will be way cooler than what I experienced in Munich (10degC). I don’t have any suitable running attire for this temperature. I planned to use the similar approach in Munich Marathon (double top, compress short, cap, arm warmer sleeves & gloves). The challenge will be on the waiting for flag off; like normal I will try to lookout for a disposable poncho and I am thinking to standby my running jacket underneath the poncho. Anyway, I think I will be ok after the engine warmed up. If the body responded well with the cool temperature, I will probably score a PB in this race. For now, I can only hope for the best and continue to fine tune my running pace to the target racing pace.

14 days until my departure to Seoul.