I ran 5.108k last night at E-Pace, or so I thought. My E-Pace ranges from 5:25 – 5:40, mpk and for the past several months, I would do my easy runs at 5:30 mpk. Last night, I finished my run in 28:28, with an average pace of 5:34 mpk, certainly within my E-Pace. However, I got alarmed when I reviewed my heart rate data. My average heart rate was 169 and my peak heart rate was 186. Just two months ago when I ran my 48:26 10k at the Century Tuna Run, my average heart rate was also 169 but my peak heart rate was only 182.
The decline in my fitness was expected. After the Century Tuna Run, I decided to take a few weeks’ rest from running. My definition of ‘rest’ was a weekly mileage of about 25 km. Thus, from February 22 to 28, I logged a total of 24.689 km. The following week, or from March 1 to 7, I logged 24.159 km. Then, from March 8 to 14, I logged 27.94 km. Everything was going according to plan and I thought I was all set to begin my 11-week 21k training program. You see, I was planning to run the 21k event of the RunRio Nature Valley Run scheduled on May 30. Based on my training plan, I should be able to finish it in 1:42.
Unfortunately, I got bogged down by a host of injuries. First was my ankle injury as discussed in The Good News. This limited my mileage to 16.093 km for the week of March 15-21. Then came my knee injury, which made me abort a 7k easy run only 2.83 km (I mentioned this in The Art of Cross-Examination and some of you may have noticed the odd mileage… now you know why) into the run. That was my mileage for the entire week of March 22-28.
Fortunately, with the help of my trusty knee brace, I was able to log 12.38km the following week. With my knee injury showing signs of recovery, I thought that I could still pull off my 21k training plan, with some minor adjustments in view of the couple of weeks lost. But it was not to be. A combination of work, vacation and play practically ended my dream of doing a sub-1:45 21k at the Nature Valley Run. In fact, I decided to scrap my plan to run the 21k event altogether. But no regrets. The following images would tell the story of my past two weeks.
April 7-9: Bella Rocca with the fam, where I was able to squeeze in a round of golf and a short easy run.
April 12-16: Tournament Week
Monday – Metroclub Monday League Bowling.
Wednesday – Day 1 of the Don Celso Tuason Cup
Thursday – Inter-Law Bowling at SM MOA
Friday – Day 2 of the Don Celso Tuason Cup
April 17-18: Office outing at Subic
All in all, not a bad two weeks. Now time to get back to my running.
Tags: Bella Roca, inter-law bowling, running
Lawyer on the Run 
April 23, 2010 at 10:15 am |
I’ve decided to skip two full days. Last Tuesday I did 2-min repeats on the treadmill in the morning, followed by 6 x 100m all-out in the evening, then heavy lifting–which included 300-lb squats–after dinner. The following afternoon, I could manage only 2 x 1600 instead of 4.
So, marathon pa rin? “)
April 23, 2010 at 10:42 am |
Hmmm, it’s still a possibility Brah. If Bro is running the Singapore Marathon then definitely I’ll be there.
April 23, 2010 at 11:12 am |
Haven’t ruled it out yet, either. We could make this interesting. If you’ll do the 21K, I’ll “race” you with my second 21K split. But if you’re running the full, I’ll run with you.
April 23, 2010 at 11:20 am |
Hmmm, I’ll see if my knees are up to the challenge. I don’t think the 21k virtual race will be interesting. I would be happy to do a sub-1:45, while you could easily beat this on even splits 😉 But let’s see. There might be a remarkable improvement in my fitness in the following months. Time to hit the roads again. 🙂
April 23, 2010 at 11:29 am |
Wala nang virtual. Just do the 21k. Anyway, you will have had your BQ by December.
April 23, 2010 at 11:32 am |
Bro, still keen on the Bella Rocca reunion? As I commented on FB, the villa fetches 100k (pesos naman) a night.
April 25, 2010 at 12:43 pm |
I can empathize with the injuries, been struggling with nagging ITB since BDM, cant train well and I’m supposed to start a new marathon cycle this may. Grrr. Hope you’re on the way to full recovery, and see you on the road!
April 25, 2010 at 8:34 pm |
Hey GBM, thanks for dropping by. I was actually beginning to think that I was lacking in motivation, and that I was just using the injuries as a convenient excuse for slacking off. I disproved that yesterday when I ran at 12 noon (sa Moro naman) because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to run in the evening. Hope to finally meet you and the other Takbo.ph peeps soon.