Of Snakes and Ladders

I am now on Week 9 of my Sub-2 training and it hurts to say that I have rolled the dice and it fell in a Snake pit.  It took me back to 2 weeks worth of training, as what I felt in yesterday’s long run.

Got to love that trail! @Timberland

Snake pits I’m talking about started on Week 7, where I missed my long run session because the “cross-training” became the base training.  I went trail biking that got complicated because I had to bike 1 hour to get money to pay for our food!  It was quite funny at the time and I felt I needed the extra workout so I volunteered.  Yes, it did give me the workout I needed… and more!

As with most learning experiences I had to go through with it the bad way, as the mid-day heat caught up with me and left me drained.  Not to mention my battered shins from the “falls” I had at Basekamp that added to the exhaustion.

Prior to that week it seemed that I landed on a Ladder as I have managed to do a 15k at an average 6:04/km run at 92%hr.  I deviated from the training plan as I wanted to know how fast I can go with an extra effort.  And it didn’t disappoint.  Weekday runs also were decent speed plays averaging 5:45/km for 5k runs at good 90%hr.  It would have been great if that continued, and I thought it would.

Coming into this week I already did two consecutive weekday 5k runs and hopefully catch a decent long run this weekend.  There’s a plan to stay over at a hotel this weekend.  Its near MOA so it’s a good spot for a run.  Too bad I’ll miss the weekend bike ride again.  If it doesn’t materialize then it’s the usual weekend run-bike sessions for me. Yey!

With a few more weeks to go I am still hoping to do better. I probably have to go back to week5 again to regain momentum and hope for the best for the remaining 5weeks.

Week # / Date	Distance	Ave. Time / km	% Heart Rate Ave.	Est fin 21k
Barley/Nov.'13	21.35	0:05:36	?	1:59:43
TGT/Oct. 24	25k	0:06:20	90%	2:38:20
TGT/Oct. 31	21k	0:05:55	90%	2:04:15
1 / Aug. 23	16k	0:06:44	88%	2:21:24
2 / Aug. 29	16k	0:06:22	91%	2:13:42
3 / Sept. 5	19k	0:06:51	84%	2:23:51
4 / Sept.12	20k	0:06:25	89%	2:14:45
5 / Sept.19	21k	0:06:20	90%	2:13:00
6 / Sept.25	15k	0:06:04	92%	2:07:24
7 / Oct. 3	missed	missed	missed	missed
8 / Oct.11	16k	0:06:17	90%	2:11:57
9 / Oct. 17	21k	0:06:10	90%	2:09:30
10 / Oct. 24	25k	0:06:20	90%	2:13:00
11 / Oct.31	21k	0:05:55	90%	2:04:15
12 / Nov. 7	21k	0:05:50	90%	2:02:30
D-Day Nov 15	21k	0:05:45	90%	2:00:45

The pressure is on!

Coming in to the 4^th week of training - a weekend plan that I failed to follow, again! I am close to finding out that I might have underestimated the lead time to train for a Sub-2.

Week # / Date	Distance	Ave. Time / km	% Heart Rate Ave.	Est fin 21k
Barley/Nov.'13	21.35	0:05:36	?	1:59:43
TGT/Oct. 24	25k	0:06:20	90%	2:38:20
TGT/Oct. 31	21k	0:05:55	90%	2:04:15
1 / Aug. 23	16k	0:06:44	88%	2:21:24
2 / Aug. 29	16k	0:06:22	91%	2:13:42
3 / Sept. 5	19k	0:06:51	84%	2:23:51
4 / Sept.12	20k	0:06:25	89%	2:14:45
5 / Sept.19	21k	0:06:30	89%	2:16:30
6 / Sept.26	16k	0:06:15	90%	2:11:15
7 / Oct. 3	18k	0:06:15	90%	2:11:15
8 / Oct.10	20k	0:06:15	90%	2:11:15
9 / Oct. 17	21k	0:06:10	90%	2:09:30
10 / Oct. 24	25k	0:06:20	90%	2:13:00
11 / Oct.31	21k	0:05:55	90%	2:04:15
12 / Nov. 7	21k	0:05:50	90%	2:02:30
D-Day Nov 15	21k	0:05:45	90%	2:00:45

I found 2013’s New Balance 25k and Sante Barley’s 21k race data and plotted them in my training plan in the hope to get the same output.  Given that I have been cigarette-free for a long time now, and the lead time to prepare for it, I think I’m on the right track.  All that’s missing is an actual race sometime in October to serve as a pre-race conditioning.

From the highlighted boxes above, I find the remaining weeks training plan a bit hard to reach.  Which is good because this is exactly the right mind set I’m supposed to have for me to focus.  I just agreed to do a bike ride with Jek to Antipolo this weekend.  A ride on tired legs will be good conditioning as well.

Going in to week 5 of training, tonight I have a company bowling tournament to attend to.  Reliving my previous bowling employment engagement before, the events that will happen tonight will have some damaging effect on my training – beer and late night rest might probably cancel my morning weekday run tomorrow, that will make me do successive active days to make up for it – an injury in the making.  Now let’s see how this goes.