Denouement

This is an environmentally friendly 1/2 marathon, the only 1/2 in HK during this training cycle.  It is too hilly to be a good indicator, but ok for good workout and practicing racing in a long race.  Here is the elevation chart http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/54223238.  I think it is a bit more rolly on the top of the hills than the elevation chart shows, but it truly is two nasty hills.  I tracked 5k splits per garmin (theirs were short), and my splits really match the hilliness.

Woke up at 5:30, oatmeal, preping.  Then a short walk to a bus pick up station.  They picked us up at 6:30, but the race started at 7:30, so I knew I would only get a short warm up, which is ok because the first hill is the steepest and so will use the first 2.5k of the race as an additional warm up.  Ran about 1.5 k warm up, good stretching, no strides.  Three stars.  I don't see any Italia running club, so I am on my own. Strategy is to take it easier on the uphills, knowing I haven't trained for them and that they'd kick my butt (esp the first one), then push as much as I could on the downhill and flat.  Race for place not for time.  But it is hard to not look at your watch and watch the time anyway :/  I wanted to keep my overall pace at marathon pace or better (3:55).  My 5k splits were:

20:24 (4:05, net up), started nice and relaxed, hung behind a lot of guys going up the steep hill, then fly by perhaps 15 guys on the first downhill,

18:37 (3:43, net down) in this part of the race, I ran with two guys for a couple of k, one fell back and one pulled forward by the end of this k.

21:00 (4:12, net up) this bugger had a less steep but longer climb.  The first k of this 5k was flatish, then long climb of approx 1.5-2k, then rolling

18:43 (3:45, net down) first part downhill, then rolling then the inverse of the steep hill (so downhill) at the beginning of this race.  This hill was too steep to totally capitalize on.

final 515m: 1:49, or 3:32 pace, decent kick.  Overall pace was 3:56, and the race converts to 1:23:01, just one second above target marathon pace.  I'll take it.

Cooled down Legs felt pretty good, I was afraid they'd be banged up but they are just a bit sore in the hip and the opposite shin. 

No running today.  60 min easy pool running. Core and weights.

AM 14.45k in 70 min, quads sore, took it easy, about 7:48 ave pace

PM: went to CityU's gym to run 40 min on the treadmill. Set it at 7.5 speed and was planning on upping it a tenth each mile.  Legs still tired from Sunday race.  At around 1.75 felt a slight pain in my lower shin, about 1 inch up from my ankle sock.  Instead of it shaking off like most pains, it gradually intensified to where it was sharp, not radiating up the shin, but the pain cicle widened, with "nice" sharpness in the middle.  It was probably a pain of 5, where 4 or higher is form changing, and I stopped running at 2.62 miles.  The pain went away within a minute of stopping.  I jogged home to see if it was still there and it was only on the slightest degree (pain 1).  Iced it and called it a day.  There are always freaky pains right before a marathon, right?  (careful, this continues next day).

60 min easy run this morning.  Took it really easy.  Leg felt fine until about 5 miles in, then pain showed up really slight, and slowly got a bit worse, 2-3 by the end.  Went to CityU's doctor to get a referral just to get the ball rolling in case this doesn't go away.  So the plan is xray and orthopaedic specialist, will make appointment tomorrow if still present.

Core and weights, plus 10 minutes elliptical to try out the gyms elliptical.  These ellipticals are weird, Precor, don't like the motion because it's different than the one I used to own :(....

AM: 40 min easy run before big workout at night.  8.19k in 40 min, 4:53 ave pace.  Pain not there until 5k, and it gradually increased to a 3-4 by the end, worse than Wed, not as bad as Tuesday night.  Unlike Tuesday, though, the pain stayed with me when walking for about 10-15 minutes after my run.  Send an urgent email to my coach who counsels me to not run, but take it to the pool until I get some answers from the doc, got a 12noon appt for tomorrow.  I am not sure if I'll have any answers by then, though, which is so frustrating.  Since the appt is noon and many docs work a half day on Saturday, though, I might have time for further testing before the weekend.  I am supposed to be running a 15k this weekend, but it is hilly, so I am guessing even if this issue evaporates (and how would I know it has if I am not running on it?), a hilly race will not be advisable.  Best case is a 15k tempo this weekend. 

I have had some tears today but am trying not to freak out prematurely.  This Yokohama race is my last chance, my last last chance.

PM: workout in the pool. Heinous.  workout was 3-4x2 miles at HM pace with 2 min rest, so basically in the pool I did 4x12-12:20 intervals with 2 min rest, going as fast as I could sustain, huffing and puffing.  Got a bad charlie horse in the third one and modified my stride to a wider circle to prevent other ones.  It was hard to keep focused on the fourth one, and I felt tense in the third and fourth ones.  Probably not best to go from zero pool quality minutes to 48 quality minutes, but what can I do?  1:30 of pool running with rest and warm up/cool down.  Will go do 20 min elliptical to finish the day (want to ramp up usage more responsibly on this front).  Oh my.

60 min pool running, then weights.  Got an xray, then ortho apptment.  He said it doesn't sound like a stress fracture because the pain takes so much time to ramp up, and because there isn't as much swelling as would be expected with a stress fracture.  Nevertheless, he ordered an MRI to make sure.  I got into the MRI same day, but the results won't be in until Tuesday.  He understands that I am not the normal patient, and this isn't just a normal marathon cycle.  In any marathon cycle, we invest alot.  But this is the most important marathon cycle of my life.  So, he said I could run easy on it, get a sports massage if it isn't too deep, and then we'll discuss on Tuesday.  So I got a sports massage yesterday.  It did hurt quite a bit, but it is along my shin, got some bruising along the front of my leg, so the area was more sore after the massage than before it.  Is this a good, helpful pain, or a pain that shows I shouldn't have gotten the massage.  Perhaps time will tell, or perhaps it won't.  I trust my massage therapist generally, though not completely.  That takes a couple of years for me :/  Nothing personal.

AM: coach approved an evening run tonight, but wants me to do my hard workout in the pool if possible, on the elliptical if not.  Broke out a polar watch I owned, because it's heartrate monitor is supposed to work underwater.  Well, after making it as tight as possible, and adding a knot to the strap (to make it tighter) it sporatically picked up the heartrate, which was better than not picking it up at all (how it was when I just put it on as a usual hr fit).  Did 34 minutes warm up in the pool.  HR only up to 100-110, not a good sign.  I am supposed to be doing marathon pace for 58.5 minutes, which I think is around 150 heart rate for me, but not sure--I don't normally track my HR, dear me.  So I decide to give the tempo a go in the pool but if it didn't get high enough I'd move to the elliptical (even more risky than pool since I've only done 30 minutes total on the elliptical in the last three months).  Ended up doing 7.5 minutes in the pool, got up to 132 hr, but to get there I was breathing like I was doing a 10k, so there is a mismatch between effort and heartrate, perhaps pool running is partially anarobic, like lifting weights.  I don't understand it.  Changed my clothes, ate two stingers, and hit the elliptical.  Did 8 min of warm up (HR in the 130's), then 51 min hard, ave HR 158.  I am counting the 7.5 minutes of hard pool running because I was breathing hard and working hard enough for it, even if my heart doesn't agree.  Then did another 48 min on the elliptical, HR settled down to about 135. I'll be interested to see what my heart rate is on an easy run to compare.  So 41.5 min in the pool 107 min elliptical, 2:28:30 so far today.

PM:  Good news! 40 min really easy with no pain.  4.64 miles.