Training report: Training week 12 & 13, Heat & Hills Training

With the ambitious to add in the evening run, I started week 12. But lately the evening rain ruined the plan. Also I made effort to spend time with the kids for them to pick up bicycle. So the evening run session now backed to the shelf. May be one day I will need it. The high light for the week was the first heat training. The Saturday long run completed between 8-11am. Been quite a while I didn’t run around under the 10am sun in Malaysia. Most of the races will finish by 8 to 9am. The body responded to the heat and I had to slow down to keep the core temperature low. I ran with the Nike 2011 Run t-shirt, compress short, cap and the sunglasses. Totally burned down by the heat and all I can do on Sunday was an easy 15km run.

Week 12	Program	Done	Remark
Mon	Easy 9.7km	Easy 9.5km	2 sessions
Tue	Strength 4x 2.5km	Strength 2x 2.5km	Not enough time for 3rd repeat
Wed	Rest	Rest
Thu	Tempo 14.5km	12.5km	11km in tempo pace
Fri	Easy 9.7km	6.4km
Sat	Easy 16.1km	23km	Started 8:15am
Sun	Easy 16.1km	15km
Total Done		75km

Training week 13 started with a day off to give extra time for body to recover from Saturday’s heat training. Did the Strength repeats and tempo run without any issue (except for not enough time to complete the planned distances as usual). Come weekend, I forgot how badly the heat training can be, and started another session on Saturday. This time, I started after sending the kids to their art class, 9:40am. The run continued to 12:30pm. I was going with long run pace for the first half. After 10k I had to drop to 6.5min pace, subsequently walking after 18k. I wanted to give up, but managed to convince myself to stay under the hot sun, checked 19k, 20k, 21k then 22k. I walked most of these last sections. Very slow, but the training objective achieved. I used the blue long sleeve t shirt from Seoul Marathon. Felt too hot under the sun and too heavy when soaked with sweat. I preferred to run lighter.  

Week 13	Program	Done	Remark
Mon	Easy12. 9km	Rest
Tue	Strength 3x 3.3km	Strength 3x 3.3km	Recovery cut short to 400m
Wed	Rest	Rest
Thu	Tempo 14.5km	11.8km	10km in tempo pace
Fri	Easy 11.3km	4.3km
Sat	Easy 12.9km	22.7km	Started 9:40am
Sun	Long 25.8km	22.2km	Triple Hills route
Total Done		73km

The body responded better to the heat this time. I still felt the heating impact on Sunday when I wanted to start the long run in triple hills route. I decided not to push, just took easy pace around 6.5min, and focus to concur the hills. The Petronas station at the Hartamas end reopened, but I didn’t plan for any replenishment. I ran with my 2x 500ml Gatorade bottles, one with water and the other 100Plus with chia seed. Had a great run and practiced some descending skill.

After this hills training, I think the Plan B for R68 is more realistic. I will find out myself on the MURA R68 route racee on 19 April (2nd part from Genting Sempah to Bentong hot spring). I was also doing few running sessions with the Bare Access to condition the legs to getting use to go with some shoes. I should be surviving with VFF, but after 20km they will be soaking with the sweat and very wet, causing potential blister issue. Bare Access on the other hand, very well ventilated, hopefully with the DryMax socks it will keep the feet dry.

Today the Osaka Marathon 2015 (25 Oct 2015, 3 weeks after SCKLM) opened for registration. I registered the marathon, but still not sure if I will actually joining. The entry will be selected with ballot system and announcement will be made on June. This is the 2nd largest marathon event in Japan (after Tokyo). With the Japanese currency weaken recently, running in Japan seem to be more affordable. May be this will be my first marathon in Japan if I was selected.

Meanwhile, 5 more weeks until the R68 challenge. There will be another set of back to back heat training plus hill training this weekend. Have fun!