Hitting 40km per week mileage

With the help of running group as well as a few holidays, I finally accumulated 40km/week of mileage for the 1st time.  However, the increase in mileage is not gradual which prone to injury.  Joining this running group, the pace is around 7~8min/km (comparing to ~6+min/km that I usually did) because of a few ultra runners in the group.

I have been controlling myself for not following the mileage of other runners.

The day before the last 8km run, the muscle of both of my legs a giving me strange feeling on and off.  So, I will just off for the next 5 or 6 days and hope for the best.

My longest (in time) run

Since a few weeks ago, I trained together with a few "ultra' runners.  To them, running 10km or even 17km is too short.  So, this week, I have decided to run 21km or 22km together with them.

To them, running at 7mins pace is a little to fast.  So, we started with around 8min or 8:30min pace.  Running at this pace was a bit of a challenge to me.  For one, my cadence is low and I'd expect knee discomfort after running for awhile, probably around 10km.  Strangely, no knee discomfort this time.  However, at around 12km, after running for 1h 44mins with two short walking break (for maybe 1 min each), the bottom of my right foot became very painful.  So, I took a walking break.  I tried to run again after the walking break with slight adjustment in landing position (to be closer to big toe), the pain seems to be bearable after the break and the adjustment.  Thus, I continued with journey back to the starting point with around 8 min pace.

After 16km, I felt that I still have energy left with my heart rate was just around 145bpm, I picked up my pace a little bit.  However, I didn't go fast but with only around 7min/km.  I wanted to run stride after 19km.  As my watch signaled me at 19km mark, I ran stride.  But I was too tired and could only do 6:10min/km pace.  It was after 2h 35mins of jogging!  The longest run I had so far.  Before this, the longest run I had was during the NTCRC 3-state HM where I ran for 2h 22min (for 22km).

After 5x of my usual stride, I slowly jog back to the starting point.  While jogging back, I was still debating if I should run a bit further to make this the longest (in distance) run.  But I gave up the idea and stopped after reaching HM distance.  Too tired, that's it.

2 h 45mins run.  The longest so far.  Now that I experienced how it feels for FM and I really respect those who finished FM regardless of time!

To me, definitely more training is needed to handle the time and distance!

Get back my feel of running

Finally, after a few months of set-back, I started to get back the feel of running starting mid of May, after the NTCRC 3-state HM.

However, due to slightly busy work schedule, I only managed to train long run during weekend and very difficult to squeeze time for run during weekday.

During the FIT Malaysia Run in end of May, I really enjoyed the run and felt strong after completing the 8.3km run.  Although not achieving my best timing, I felt very comfortable after the run.

For my 2nd HM this year in Garmin HM on Jun 4, I felt very comfortable after the run.  Again, I only managed to beat the 2 hour 15 mins target this time.  I was running with the pace of 6:30min/km after warming up at beginning 2 km.  It was until 11km, after my toilet visit, that I started to pick up the pace in trying to hit 6:00min/km.  However, a few km after that was with inconsistent pace.  Eventually, I sped up around 17km in trying to catch the 2hr15 mins pacer.  Finally, I managed to catch the pacer within the last 1 km and achieving 2hr 13mins finish time.

Anyway, I felt that my running feel is back and hopefully can continue until end of the year and improve my self until end of the year!

My Worst HM

I knew I wouldn't be running a good HM this time due to lack of training but I still hope that I could be in par with my 1st HM that I ran a few years back.  Unfortunately, this NTCTC 3-state HM turned out to be my worst HM since I first running.

Not only I clocked the slowest pace, but I felt terrible for the last 6 km.  I only managed to drag myself at close to 7 min/km pace after 16km.  After showing my results to a friend of mine, he mentioned that I ran too fast in the middle of the run, which could be true.  I was running at less than 6 min/km pace after 6km for 7km.  During that period of time my fastest lap was 5:38min/km.  Since I could run with around 5:40 min/km for my previous HM in Nov last year, I thought I could hold on to 5:40min/km pace until end of the race.

It turned out that I couldn't!  And it is due to lack of training.  Due to my busy work schedule and injury, my March training mileage was only 13km for the whole month.  Yes, 13km for the whole month!  Then, I put in some effort to look my training mileage prior to all the HM that I ran before.

Following is the summary:-

	Avg training mileage (km)
HM Pace	16W	8W	4W
1) 6:13/km	18.0	17.7	17.3
2) 6:06/km	17.5	17.5	13.2
3) 5:51/km	25.2	24.5	22.3
4) 5:58/km	16.2	17.6	17.1
5) 5:41/km	24.1	24.2	23.0
6) 6:16/km	14.8	11.8	10.6

Note: 16W, 8W, 4W are the number of weeks before the actual HM race.

From the summary, it shows that I need to train with average weekly mileage of 25 km for around 16 weeks prior to the HM to be able to achieve less than 6 min/km pace during the race.  As for the 6th HM that I ran for 6:16min/km, my average training mileage was only half (or less than half as approaching the race) comparing to my 5th (best so far) HM.  So, there's no short cut in training to get good results.

Looking forward, I can only run back my best HM results if I start with more than 25 km / week training now for 16 weeks.  So, the timing would be after Oct!

I hope I can keep to the training volume that I'd like to be.

My Worst Run

Coming to my fifth year of serious running, I experienced the worst running session this morning.  Not because of the distant, not because of the pace, not because of injury, but because of my mood!

Due to my busy work and life schedule recently, I had been skipping weekday run for 2 weeks now.  I wanted to run yesterday but too tired to wake up early for the run.  For this morning, I dragged myself out of bed early in the morning for the run.

Unfortunately, I couldn't motivate myself more.  After running for 2~3 km, I really felt like stopping.  It wasn't physically tired buy emotionally exhausted, I guess.  While forcing myself to continue running, I was debating with myself on the distance and time for this run.  Eventually, I decided to just stop after 7~8 km or 45 mins.  45 mins is my definition of Long Run that I set-up a few years back.  So, at least, I still had a long run today.

My Plantar Fasciitis doesn't seem to cure completely.  I even had a Silicone Heel Cushion but still feel a bit of pain after the run.

Hopefully, after the business trip next week, I can be re-charged and back to my running session again!