Denouement

5k warm up.  Still feeling my head cold.  And Yiu Kit Ching is here.  So a bit sick, tired legs from long run on Friday, and my nemesis is ready to go.  I start off pretty well, about 3:35 for the first 3k, take the lead at 1k from an african who is training in HK (she got fourth in the Shek Mun race in December).  At the turn around I was 18:21, not bad, but not great either.  The course record was 37:10 so I wanted to beat that, but also didn't want YKC to beat me.  She was perhaps 10 seconds back at the turn around.  I try to push but am slowing down, the next 3k was 11:08, about 3:43 pace, and I am still in the lead.  I decide to make the 9th k like the last k and I pick it up, but then we take a curve and she takes the inside and passes me (the inside is a bike path and we are not supposed to be on the bike path).  So I am on the sidewalk like a doofus and she takes advantage, cutting the course a bit in the process.  I should have gone with her, but instead I basically fold.  7:34 for the last 2k.  37:06. Pathetic.  I just stopped caring, but I cared alot after crossing the finish line.  Very upset at myself.  But this is a good lesson to RELEARN.  Why do I have to relearn this again and again?  Even if you think you don't care in a race, you will care as soon as you cross that finish line, so leave NOTHING in the tank.  Be gutsy and race to potential.  At least this lesson will be fresh as I race Boston.  So my nemesis beats me again.  I have excuses.  Good for me.

6k cool down. 

AM: 45 min elliptical.  Reading Pickwick Papers -got it for free on my Ipad.  I am a little late on this, but so excited to be able to get free books where the copyright has expired.  This is my first one.  I love Dickens.  He his hilarious.  

1.5 hour massage, then 1.5 hour nap--time to get rid of this cold

PM:  7.75k run, then after dinner core workout and stretching/rolling 

AM: 8.15k at 4:48/k ave, feeling normal

PM: 6 x 1600m reps planned for tonight.  It starts to rain in the afternoon, then pour, then I get an email that it is an Amber rain storm (meaning heavy rain), and there is thunder.  I am bent on doing the workout, though it takes 45 minutes to get there.  I email runners to tell them I am still going.  It is raining moderately when I get there, and the track isn't flooded, but within 10 minutes it is raining hard with lightening (though it is not close, still scary).  Everyone else is under cover, and eventually a loud speaker requests that everyone get undercover.  Not a great sign. The first runner from my group comes at about 15 minutes to workout start time and we laugh because the rain is now coming down hard and sideways.  I put in a long warm up (7.25k) because I am not so sure the workout will actually happen but with 5 minutes til the workout start time the rain pretty much stops, and the track gradually drains (it was partially flooded during downpour).  A small valiant group is there for the workout, but unfortunately I am the fastest.  Still, it is great to have witnesses and people to start with.  I haven't been very sharp with VO2 max type stuff since my injury, so I have some trepidation coming into the workout, but there is plenty of rest (400m jog).  I decide to start at 5:45 and hope I can drop from there, but given my 10k on Sunday and being on my own in this workout, I would have been happy (maybe not happy, but OK) just maintaining 5:45. 

 

	Time	Rest	Philosophizing
1	5:43	2:36	Started out too fast on first lap
2	5:41	2:58
3	5:41	3:30	Went to the bathroom between 3 &4, and took a non-caffeinated ANS gu (a sponsor of Italia Running Club--shameless plug)
4	5:41	2:57	took my shirt off for this one, not sure if feel better because went potty, or bc shirt is off, or bc more than halfway done, but this one felt easier (22-23C and humid)
5	5:38	3:04	A guy named Anson jumped into this mile after one lap, so did 1200m, ran beside me but a little ahead on the outside of lane 1, helped me push a bit harder
6	5:36		This one was hard and I did an 80 sec last lap to practice caring when tired (when I write up my yucky 10k from Sunday you will understand)

So I felt not sick all day, but after warming up I felt a bit of sore throat, but didn't feel it really in the workout.  I am happy with this workout and I think it shows my legs are coming back, especially since this workout is on the heals of a long run (last Friday), then 10k (last Sunday).  6k cool down

AM: ran 12.5k, felt better than I thought I would, 4:50 ave pace.  It is starting to get toasty, 25F, 75-80% humidity, but mostly cloudy so that was good.  Almost dripping-on-the-MTR hot, but not quite.  

PM: core workout, 20 min walking on the TM at 3.6 pace and 15% grade, then 20 min elliptical 

AM: 22k at 4:30 ave pace/k.  Went on the back side of Ma On Shan for a rolling hill run, and came back the same way.  Trying to prep for the Boston rollers in a modest way.

PM: ate lunch with a friend at a Vietnamese restaurant, then hit the TM an hour later.  Thus started slow (7.0 pace) but gradually ramped up to 7.8 pace.

easy run, 5:00/k pace, felt a bit dizzy first half, but felt better coming back

will do core workout tonight 

Was planning a long run with a marathon tempo with Curtis, but he had to bail late Friday night, so I had nervous sleep and was on my own.

The plan was 35-36k with 26k tempo toward the end.   I wanted the first 5k of the tempo to be 4:20-4:25, then drop down below 4:00 pace for the remainder, getting faster as I went.  This workout was truly a test of grit.  I have never done a long tempo like this alone, and it was hard.  I went out 9k warming up.  At 7k or so I heard what sounded like a biker yelling at me but I ignored it.  I don't really want to "hear" "get out of our bike lane" anyway.  The bike lanes here are generally asphalt, and the sidewalks are cement when you are lucky, brick when you are not.  So I generally run on the bike path.  At around 8k, who comes up on me but Roberto on a bike.  He hasn't run in about three months and it is has been sad losing him as a training buddy, but here he was.   Though my running pace and his biking paces don't mesh well.  He had already biked 60k so he biked along side me for 4.5k.  Here's how my tempo went:

	Pace (k)	Pace (in miles)
1st 5k	4:16	6:53	Roberto was with me for part of this, so far so good
2nd 5k	4:04	6:35	Wanted to be a bit faster, but was just easing toward 10k
3rd 5k	4:00	6:28	This had some hills, so happy to hit 4:00
4th 5k	3:58	6:25	Wanted to quit by now, but tell myself to try to bring the pace down as I go and I can quit at 20k if needed
5th 5k	3:56	6:20	really wanted to quit in the first 2k of this 5k but told myself even if I just keep 4:05 the workout will improve my fitness.  Was 4:01 ave pace at 2k, then picked it up for the last 3k

 So I allowed myself to stop at 25 instead of 26k, but had about 2k of cool down. Though my paces were not stellar, I have never done a tempo this long by myself, and I battled my demons and negative splitted, and if I can do this on my own without taper (and I had heavy shoes on) imagine light shoes, taper, race magic, and people with me.  I think a great marathon is possible (please let there be good weather!).