Training plan for a Sub-5 Marathon

One of my 2012 target is to run a sub-5 marathon. I put up a training plan and some tips to remind myself on how to do it. Now, 10 weeks passed. I had faithfully stick to the plan for the first few weeks, but after my New Year Newton challenge, things just keep popping up and I didn’t able to follow 100% to the plan.

The plan mainly divided into 2 types of training, mileage/endurance training and target/strength training. Mileage training is those easy run and long run. You basically run at easy pace to accomplish certain mileages in order to build up the endurance. Say you hearth rate stabled at 145BPM around 6:30 pace after your body fully warmed up. It will start increase when you hit your endurance’s limit even you going in the same pace. This training helps to extend the 145BPM @ 6:30 pace for a longer period of time. On the other hand, target training working on your strength with tempo runs and speed works. It will reduce your stabled hearth rate @ 6:30 pace, say to 140BPM by time. Your body is now more efficient at the speed and the heart can relax a bit.

Out of all training plan, my personal preference will be speed work. The feeling of exploration to see how fast you can push your body is great! When my speed approaching the peak at sub 5 minutes pace, the feeling of you are about to take off from ground is just fantastic! This is a zone that I seldom experienced in my previous trainings or even in races. I am not a fast runner. Now I can only stay a very short period of time at this zone, but I think the speed works repeats will improve my running and may be this will be my easy pace one day.

On tempo run, it’s just like a faster easy run. Whenever I waked up late, all easy runs will upgraded to tempo run automatically (some time even to speed works if there is not enough time).

For long runs (which is >26km with easy pace), I never completed both requirements, targeted mileage with the suggested pace. I will either meet the pace with less mileage, or meet the mileage with slower pace. In the last 32km long run, suggested pace is 6:52, but I did with 7:40. Anyway, this is the first time I actually did LSD at 32km. Most (if not all) marathon training plan will propose the longest run of 32km before the actual 42km race. You may ask, how about distances in between 32~42km? After I did the mine, I start to understand the few reasons behind,

1. You need to allocate plenty for these slow long run (a marathoner typically cover 32km in 2.5~4 hours). Apart from commitment on time, running long hours outside may have difficultly to get hydration and food supply.

2. The physical & psychological wall may hit you anytime. You need to put in lots of effort to complete the 32km, and there will be not cheers, finisher medal and finish line awaiting you at the end of the workout. Some time, to deal with the psychological wall is more challenging then the physical one.

The 32km runs will give you a glimpse of the overall effort you needed on the marathon day, without wearing you out in the mid of training. Anyway, there is still a 10km gap to fill up during race day. The theory that normally used is the adrenaline rush on the event day will get you thru the 10km.

Looking at the LSD result, I am not ready for a sub-5 marathon. I will use the next marathon (Energizer Night Race 2012, 21 Apr) to gauge the effectiveness of the training plan, and then adjust accordingly. The target for ENR 2012 will be simple, run the whole 42km with minimum/no walking & complete within 5:44 (timing from SCMS 2011).

Regarding ENR 2012, its organized by 21st Century (who organized the 2011 Putrajaya Night Marathon and many other races). This is one of the reason I joined this race (other reason? There is no other Marathon event until June in Malaysia, how sad). As last year was a total failure, it will be difficult NOT TO IMPROVE in this year event. I am confident that they will do a good job! See you on the starting line :)

Running in VFF KomodoSport (Part II)

I got my VFF Komodo Sport since July 2011. For the whole year 2011, the longest training and racing distance covered in VFF is 12.3km during the Men’s Health Night Race. The running in VFF then was temporary put on hold as I signed up The River Jungle Marathon and lots of training needed for my first 42.195km. I will not able to cope with the training loads that focused on both endurance (FM training) and strength (VFF training).

4 months had gone; I completed 3 FM and some races in shoes. VFF used only few of my shorter training workouts. I didn’t lose my interest in running with VFF and finally, I restarted the VFF training in last month. It’s still fun to run with VFF! I spent all the training in CNY breaks with VFF in Ipoh, and the legs eventually addicted to the feeling. Post CNY, I completed 2 more LSD in 19k & 21k respectively in VFF. The experience is great and I didn’t have much problem post run. Only felt some hot spots on my sole and both calves are sore.

2012 CNY running in VFF, before the Bare with Me! mini running clinic. Photo by Tey.

I also joined the mini clinic that organized by Facebook group “Bare with Me!” regarding barefoot running. It was a great sharing session by the seniors/experts who love to running barefoot. I realized that I am still lagging on calves & quads strength and the sole is still too soft. Barefoot drills needed to fix these shortfalls. Some key take away from the clinic (for barefoot or minimalist shoes runners),

1. Running light with soft landing on mid foot.

2. Training on hard surface is better than soft surface.

3. Barefoot drills as cross training will helps to improve the strength of the muscles groups and the sole.

4. Important to run in proper form.

5. Give your foot & legs enough time to heal, never attempt running TMTS (too much too soon).

(More detail in FB post by CPTan, LINK)

Now I am included a morning of barefoot walking (hopefully soon it will be running) as part of the cross training. You will never realize how rough our road surface really is until you do this. The first BF walk was painful! I will also alternating the VFF and shoes on weekly basis. Hopefully I will be ready to run with VFF in SCKLM in June.

Training update & Further Thought on Running Injuries

After the Newton Challenge, I did my regular training runs on the following Tuesday (easy run) and Thursday (tempo run). After the morning tempo run, my lower back started to ache badly when I back in office. So I need to break on Friday and cut short the weekend long run.

Looking back on the source of the lower back’s ache, I think it’s caused by the last few kilometers speeding in Newton Challenge. Even thought I throated the speed from starting of the race, the body fatigue over 25km still very significant, hence I didn’t focus on my running form when I pushed at the final leg. I forgot the correct pose to run fast, which can be summed up in the Chi Running picture. I ran in bad posture and lots of stress cumulated at my lower back area. It just exploded after my tempo run. For workouts in this week, I kept checking on the gait to make sure I ran with up right body, and keep the up & down body motions to minimum. So far, after 2 easy runs, 3 speed works and a 30km long run, the lower back seem recovered and not giving another problem.

Talking about relation between postures and running injuries, we often refer to running gait only. For us who work in office, the sitting posture is actually far more important then the running gait. You sit in your work desk for 8 hours x 5 days a week, and run 50km in 7 hours a week. The running potion is less then 20% from the 40 hours of sitting! Your sitting posture will post some serious effect to your muscles groups & even to the spinal. I am not a doctor so I will not able to explain much, if you are interest to know more, please refer to here.

Few things you can do on your sitting posture to reduce the impact and risk,

1. Stop crossing your legs.

2. Keep both of your feet flat on the ground.

3. Don’t lean forward.

Some training that can improve your sitting posture and reduce the pain (if you already suffering some pain on lower back),

1. Yoga Butterfly stretching.

2. Superman pose stretching.

3. Spinal twist stretching.

4. Lower back muscles strengthening exercise – V-Up.

All these training can be done in low intensity before your bed time.

Spinal Twist

Yoga Butterfly

V-Up

Superman

New Year Newton Challenge Race Report

It was 4 weeks after SCMS but I am still struggled on my usual mood swing towards the end of the year. Whenever a major event is over, I normally felt kind of loss. Often, end of the year will posting the similar effect to my mood swing. That why I normally don’t schedule any major event towards year end. This year, this is unavoidable and SCMS is hitting me hard. Especially there the list of registered race is depleting fast and I can’t find any local race (oversea race will burn a hole on my wallet and may worsen the mood swing to depression) to fill it up.

During the Malakoff 12k, I don’t felt the usual excitement before, during & after the race. May be I took it too easy or I really got the over-trained syndrome (as described by Doc PuiSan in HERE). For time being, I am just following the 6months plan to tune myself properly for a sub-5 marathon (SCKLM) and hope I will soon recovered from the dipping mood. The New Year Newton Challenge is actually what I am looking forward to flip the mood.

The race is held at very challenging Bandar Kinrara Ammah Hill. There are lots of warning and sharing by experience runners about this route, so I will not really pushing for any dramatic speeding or PB. On the other hand, I am planning to run this race with slightly difference strategy, starting slow, pushing hard only if I felt like it towards the end of the race.

The race flagged off on time. I started at the mid of the pack and kept my pace at around 7min/km. The first 4km are ok, the usual settling period come and goes, and I can finally settle into the comfortable running mode. Then, the first drastic climb came right after the left turn at the traffic light towards the first U-turn point. My pace dropped but I pushed on and never stop for walking. Pushes my effort to conquer the peak, slow down when the Hearth Rate touched 160BPM, continue to push again when HR dropped to 150BPM, and then wait for the descending come. I hold back my legs during descending so that the HR dropping back to 140BPM zone. You can tell from my HR chart which it peak with the route climbs. After we took the U-turn and back to the traffic light, at 10km point with the dawn skylight, we can see the breathtaking Ammah Hill with 120ft climb for the next 1km. I went on and take down the Ammah Hill with the same push and hold strategy. I was only repeating the same thing for the rest of the course.

Towards the Finish Line, Photo by Louis Ong

Finally, I am at the second U-turn clocking 15th km (average pace 6:50/km). I felt like I wanted to push more, so I kicked in the high gear and pushing all the way back to finish line. Btw, the hilly route limited my effort; I can only do 6:23/km on average for the balance 10km. I took the advantage of the final 2km which is rather flat to push to sub-6 minutes pace and finished the race in 2:42’36”.

I found that I really enjoy this very obvious up-down hilly route. If you look into the elevation chart, there are total of 6 continuous ascends that more than 100ft in 1km. So, on the bright side, there are also total of 6 continuous descends with the same scale. You can really looking forward a good rest after each tough fight with each hard climb. I guess the Ammah hill is highlighted as it actually lay down the total 1km climb right in front of you (without any turns and twists like other climbs on the same route). Overall, the race is well organized but some improvement needed in term of water stations manning (at 14km) and traffic control (from 4~10km, and the finish line area). I fully understand that some of the roads are the only access to some housing area and highway, but a better planning will sure helps to reduce the potential hazard to all the participants.

I am happy with my game plan which actually helps me to finish strong in this race. This valuable lesson will be great helps in my future marathon or other running events. This adds in motivation to my running, and I am now looking forward not only to races, but also to each training and long runs. I guess I had successfully flipped my mood. It may be due to the great run in Newton Challenge, or just because it is now January! I will not digging in further, now, time to enjoy the life with lots of running :)

Malakoff KL 2011 Race Report

This is a yearly race organize by PACM. I took part in last year 7km and I can only eyeing on the 12km finisher medal. When the registration opened this year, I straight away register myself for the 12km category. I am taking this a part of my marathon training, so no plan to go very fast or PB.

As per my training plan, the menu for the Sunday morning is 19km. To make up the mileage, I arrived the venue early, started my warming up loop by 6am. The warm up loop done in 7 min pace, no stress at all except the 2 killer climbs right before the start and the end of the loop. I alerted some Rela, guess they may thought the race had started early. After complete the warm up loop and back into the Event area, the distance still short for 1km, so I continued to run a bit inside the resort area.

The time passed 7am, I took a short break when the ladies 12km category flagged off. Took a PowerBar from the sampling booth, and bounced into a very old friend before the men category flagged off. The starting line is jammed with runners. I can’t recall if we have so many runners in year 2010 version, but the congestion tolled 2 minutes from my gun time. Btw, I have no pressure and no target for this race. I just take it easy to walk until the gantry.

I felt comfortable with the slow start. I kept the very slow pace from the starting line until the end of the 1 killer climb. Then I pick up some speed from all descending and tried to maintain the speed on all climbing. I skipped both water stations on the first loop, as both were jammed up due to insufficient of manpower. I think this is a terrible mistake. I ran with my 500ml bottle during my warm up loop (which normally enough for 15~20km), took the PowerBar and finished the bottle before the flag off. I think it will be either my warm up session or the PowerBar lead to some extra demand on hydration. I felt slightly dehydrated with mild headache throughout the rest of the day. The 2nd loop is just a repeat but I actually felt thirsty and stopped at both water stations. Think next time need to plan my hydration properly.

Finish line. Photo by Jason.

Overall speed maintained around 6:10 min/km and finished the race in 1:11’56”. I ran slower compared to the 12km at the Men’s Health Night run. May be I found some other things from this race, the extra 7km I did before the start, or my ultimate aim isn’t here, I actually feeling great about this race.

On the race event, everything are well organized and the traffic control is ok. But we need to have a bit more volunteers at both water stations instead of the finish area (medal and goodie collection). Saw a photo that En Rustam was pull out from the race and to help the 1st water station, I am confident that we will have an even better 2012 edition.

This is the last running event I had for 2011. For sure, this event is a very good finale for my 2011 running journey :)

2012 New Year Resolution – Part II

How to run a Sub-5 Marathon?

We joked on the 4:12:11. But will this be my FM finish time?

What is the average pace for a sub-5 marathon? 7min/km. I think most of the regular runners will have no problem on this pace for 20 or even 30km, but the challenge is to do it for the whole 42km. From my observation and study on the web, I need to work on 2 main components.

1. Working on Top Speed

As we improving our short distance top speed, the body will learn how to perform efficiently. But eventually the body will need lots of repeating interval in order to pick up a faster pace. So, the classical speed work will involve few repeats of 1km or 1mile, pushing the body to accept the fact that it’s needed to run faster. My current speed work is very ad-hoc and involved very limited repeats.   

2. Working on Endurance

Endurance plays a major part for long distance running. It will allow the body to running on high gear for longer period of time. This involved 2 types of training, Tempo run and Long run. Tempo run working on the threshold of the lactic acid that body can produce and burn out efficiently (more reading: Here). Long run will basically let the body get used to the exercise duration and distance. My current endurance level still lagging after 30km point and the Tempo run is too short to really challenge the threshold.

Instead of blindly drafting out my plan, I downloaded one from RunnersWorld, with the SCKLM in June 2012 as target race event. The plan give some 4 workouts per week and weekly mileage increased slowly from 35km to peak at 79km. Compare this with my current simple workout routine, the plan look great and it will ensure some recovery interval between top and low intensity. You can make your own plan HERE. Btw, the 29 weeks training plan is just… boring… Let see if I can follow it for the first 2 months, then I will review the effectiveness again.

The tough part will be maintaining the pace and interval along the Speed work and Tempo run. The GF405CX will able to help. You can plan you workout via the Training Center, push it to the unit and load it (via Advanced Workout on the unit) to guide you thru the session. The ease run and the Long run will be guide by Virtual Partner from the unit too. Hope the GF405CX can last for another 7 months without problem.

I need to cut 44 minutes from my FM finish time for a sub-5 marathon. This is definitely not an easy target but I think it is still achievable. You may ask, how about the target to sub-1 hour for 10k and sub-2 hours for HM? The result will come naturally if I stick to the training plan.

Dream Big, Work Hard & Play Hard!

2012 New Year Resolution – Part I

The year 2011 is about to end. I clocked so far 1790km, with the few more week to go, I think I should concluding year 2011 with 1900km. It’s hard to belief when I looking back on my training and running. I completed 15 races (and 1 more next week) in year 2011, with 3 full marathons and 5 half marathons.  The experience on running is fantastic and it gave me the chance to see the city & town on foot. On races wise, although some time we have some limited medal to chase for, but ultimately your only competitor is yourself. We learned how to face the demon especially in long distance running, keep ourselves focused and not gave in. We learned how to plan and play the game of running, so we can had the most fun (or torture you may say) out of this activity.

Now, it is time to plan for next year. I more or less promised to myself and the family that I will only join the race once a month, so planning is very essential. Ultimately, I would like to:

1. Complete at least 4 Full Marathon (tentatively, SCKLM, RJM, PNM & PBIM)

2. Achieve sub-5 in a Full Marathon

3. Achieve sub-2 in a Half Marathon

4. Achieve sub-1 in a 10k race

I had put in some tentative plan on the races I wish to do next year (based on their 2010/2011 event date). There are still some blank to be fill up, but I am not in hurry to fill them up. You may not know if some very good events only come out last minutes.

Jan 2012	New Year Newton Challenge 25km
Feb 2012
Mar 2012	Brooks Half Marathon
Apr 2012	Bidor Half Marathon
May 2012
June 2012	Standard Chartered KL Marathon
July 2012	Seremban Half Marathon
Aug 2012
Sept 2012	River Jungle Marathon
Oct 2012	Putrajaya Night Marathon
Nov 2012	Penang Bridge International Marathon
Dec 2012	Malakoff KL

By doing this, I can also avoiding the depression feeling as the Up Coming Registered Events list get depleted towards the end of the year. I don’t know about you, but I felt the emptiness after a big event passed. I need some other thing to look forward and I can focus myself to move on.

By putting up the planning, I can also do better financially. I am thinking of doing Standard Charted Hong Kong Marathon in year 2013, and bring my family to visit the Disneyland when I am doing my marathon. I need to start saving money for the trip now :P

Yup, I described my targets. Part II will be about how to achieving it. Stay tuned.