Denouement

14.74k run, then 8 x 20 sec strides, core workout in the PM

AM:  Felt good on my morning run for a change-- 8.18k in 4:48 ave pace, not bad considering I went to Kowloon Tsai park, so it was a hilly run.  

PM:  Warmed up 4.74k in 5:00/k pace.  Plan for workout was 10 x 1k on the track, I thought it would be at 3:45 since Ali is training for the half marathon, but no, he wanted us to do 84 per lap for me, and 85 per lap for Ali (so 3:30, and 3:33), and taking off at 5:00 intervals, so just 90 sec rest, but a long rest after 5, so two sets of 5.  It felt very hot, but the weather website says only 29C, 80% humidity.  

1 - 3:30, Ali just one sec behind

2 - 3:30, already feeling hard

3 - 3:33, feeling like I need to go potty

4 - 3:31, went to the bathroom after this one so our rest was 2:08

5 - 3:35, rest about 5 minutes

6 - 3:29, the long rest helped

7 - 3:31, feeling the pain just 200m in, but held on

8 -  3:33, feeling the pain 100m in, coach says just to keep the effort up, Ali gets ahead of me in the middle but I outkick her

9 - 3:35, second to last one! The fatigue seems more aerobic rather than legs, like I need to lose some weight (I do)

10 - 3:36, coach challenges us to hit our target paces, but I am not feeling the love.  Ali actually passed me at 200m strongly and beats me, something she rarely has the nerve to do, I am proud of her.  I am proud of me for finishing the workout.  It is a good step forward in my workouts.  I can't wait until the weather gets more cooperative!

Long cool down about 6.5k 

10.11k easy (5:01 pace), I made the mistake of running in the sunshine.  It is punishing.  Then 6 x 20 sec on/ 1 min rest strides.  

Started tracking my calories today.

Did 40 min on elliptical in the afternoon and core workout and stretching at night.  Getting serious again period and or question mark 

Nasty workout planned for today.  Fartlek  in minutes with half rests 11, 9.7.5.3.1.3.5.7.9.11, so 71 minutes hard, lots of minutes easy.  This is basically a workout for Ali, who is targeting the World 1/2 Marathon Championships in 3 weeks.  She felt rather trashed today from Tuesday's workout still (only 34 hours since we did it).  I thought we should be targeting 3:50 pace, but she didn't seem chipper and the whole point of the workout is to progressively suffer, which I knew we would given the sun rising, so I went the pace she was going for the first couple.  Warmed up just over 3k then did 11 minutes in 3:57 pace, then 9 minutes in 3:59 pace.  By the end of the 9 min she was about 3-5 seconds back and it was clear that she was not going to be able to hang on well.  Did 3:57 pace on the 7 min, still hoping to pull her along, then 3:56 for the 5 min, then 3:50 for the 3 min, then 3:38 pace for the 1 min, then I gave myself a full minute of rest (instead of 30 seconds, then did 3:52 pace for 3 min, then gave myself 2:30 rest (giving myself half time of the longer rep ahead of me).  It was getting hot and I was unsure of my ability to finish the workout.  This is especially because Ali had dropped off, and the whole point was to help her, so mentally I was weak (what am I doing this workout for? this bad psychology bites me later on--read on). 3:54 pace for the 5 min, then 3:59 pace for the 7 min -- starting to suffer here.  I started into the 9 minute and was on pace after 3 minutes, but when I looked at my watch and saw that 3 minutes had passed and there were 6 to go, I just pretty much lost it.  My legs unwound, and I asked myself why push on, and I didn't have the toughness to say TO BE TOUGH DMN IT!  So that was 3:16 minutes at 3:52 pace (see I was doing fine).Anyway, I was very tired by then and had a long rest to the next water fountain (almost 11 minutes).  Meanwhile I thought about the meaning of life, whether it did or did not revolve around distance running, and calculated that I had done 54 minutes of hard running.  So I decided to get a drink then do one last 6 minute push to get to 60 minutes.  I did the 6 min push in 3:59 ave pace.  Then slow 2k jog to the MTR.  26.5k total.  Very long workout for midweek for me.  Total of 15.4k hard in 60:30, 3:55.8/k ave.  

PM: 5 miles on the tm easy (ave 7:56/mi), inverse sit ups, two pull ups.  I haven't done pull ups in months!  It strained some muscles I have been neglecting :D 

Ran easy around the Kowloon Tsai park.  Was going super slow till I got caught by Zachary, a local runner here, and we ran together and chatted and that helped me get into a decent pace.  Overall pace was 4:58.

Core workout in the PM. 

Slept in until 7:30am, then got myself and the family up and prepared to go to the beach for a church social.  Ben and Paul were able to wakeboard with the scouts, and Ben earned his watersports merit badge by going out and back into the boat's wake three times.  Awesome.  After beaching for 2.5 hours I went to Lily Lew's to chill for a couple of hours until my afternoon race.  I ran the course to check out the monster hill, and this hill was no joke.  It is the steepest hill I have ever raced on, and it is about a 1k long.  So the race is flatish for about a k, then steep uphill for about a k, then loop for a k, then steep downhill, then flat.  So my watch band has been screwy and broke in my backpack, so I couldn't wear it for the race, which was a good thing, because who wants a watch's feedback "You're going super slow up this hill!  Might as well walk it!".  

I wanted to keep in touch with Reiny, who beat me by four seconds in the last 5k.  The race started out fast, and I was about 10 sec behind Reiny's pack of boys at the start of the hill.  He tucked into the back of this pack of about 7, then there were two kids and an adult between me and that pack.  I told myself to watch the back of the people ahead of me the whole time I go up the hill, and catch the pack by the top.  So I got one kid by half way, then got another kid and the adult, then picked off about half of the pack as it broke up.  Reiny was on fire though and raced the hill just right.  Started the hill at the back of the pack and beat them all.  I passed another adult on the flat k, then was in no man's land (an adult about 15 seconds ahead, not feeling pressure from behind) for the rest of the race.  The first half of the downhill k I booked it, my legs were going so fast and I thought, "This must be what Alta Peruvian is like."  I was trying to make progress on the dude ahead but he was using the hill too.  I tried to keep the momentum as the hill decreased and transition to the flat well, but I am sure I would have done better if there were people around me.  As I passed where I thought I was 300m from the end, I saw that it was 19:07ish on my stopwatch, so I pushed it in to get under 20.  My watch said 19:41, and the official results are not up yet.  I will update this race report when the official results are up to show how I faired compared to others who also did this 5k and the 5k before. 

4k warm up and 6k cool down 

So I went 68 seconds slower than the race last week, and the average for other top runners who were men twas about 45 seconds slower, so I didn't fare so well in that comparison.