The first loop, all of us ran together to familarize the route. I was worried for Dear as she has not trained for weeks. The initial part of the route require us to climb up MF hill through the stairs behind the clubhouse. The stairs were enough to drain out 70% of our fuel tank. We sticked together and ran as a group. There were several blind spots to take note on this route.

The second loop, we gone for a real trial. I would like to know how tough it is. I was already breathless after the MF stairs. The downslope basically allowed us to recover. As it was quite dark, Jason suggested to run the main road in front of Fragrance hotel. I done the 3 km run in 12 min 05 sec, solo effort, 4.01 min/km.

The third loop, i have no energy to tackle the stairs. Went through the momentum, ran with much easier pace. I finished it in 13 min 50 sec. Personally, i felt that i was doing a long interval training.

Executed according to the plan, an interval session and then back to back medium long run. After Monday & Tuesday’s hard session, i took 2 days completely off. During the off days, i was checking for the side-effects from the hard sessions. A bit of flu started to appear but manageable. On Friday, i started my medium long run – 16 km with another one on Saturday. My pace slowed down during the long run. It shows that my body never respond well to interval training. I would rather perfer tempo than interval.

Due to lack of hydration, gout relapsed on the weekend. One of the most painful eruptions, i was unable to sleep due to the pain. It’s definitely going to affect next week’s plan.

Tonight’s training was my favourite – tough MF loop run. But with my interval training the day before, it made this run more challenging. I would be running with heavy legs. It’s a valentine day, so not many runners turned up for the training.

We have a 2 km warm-up run to MF loop. Zhilei was late to brief the runners, so Lai Chee took over the trainer’s role. The lactic acid built up on both of my legs were torturing me. I started the loops with easier pace, tried to remain as consistent as possible. Struggling at the uphill but i tried my best to push myself up. I was using Garmin lap by position. It was not accurate at all, missed the split times most of the time. A lot of cars parked on the hill with couples inside. We were like spotlights, passing by their cars each lap. I tagged on Melvin’s pace until the third lap. Below were my splits:

1st: 7.32 min; 2nd: 7.16 min; 3rd: 7.15 min; 4th: 7.35 min; 5th: 7.39 min

Avg pace of 4.36 min/km. I ended up at the middle of uphill as the split was not accurate. But it was not a bad performance for me, having a run of 4.36 min/km on hilly terrain and after a gruelsome interval the day before. My calves were very tight. Other than that, my body responded well to the training.

The plan was 7 x 1 km with 3 min rest. I knew i can’t run like last August as i was totally lack of the endurance and the preparations for the interval. Today’s training was just a feel of the speed. I have a 1.2 km warm-up run to Punggol Park. Setup my Garmin interval workout, the watch was my trainer.

I went off the first set, trying to stay consistent on my stride and posture. I was quite unfamiliar with the speed. I was hanging on to it until the fourth set. The lack of endurance pulled me back, i ran easy on the fourth set and the sixth set. Below are the records:

1st: 3.37 min; 2nd: 3.30 min; 3rd: 3.35 min; 4th: 4.32 min; 5th: 3.42 min; 6th: 4.30 min; 7th: 3.28 min

I was surprised by the pace, probably helped by my racing shoe. The pace was much better than the previous time when i had done 8 sets. But the lack of endurance was obvious, i didn’t do any long run recently since the marathon in Dec. Now it’s time to check out any side-effects suffered from this workout.

Started to increase the mileage. In fact, i had already hit 40 km on Saturday with one more 10km run to go on Sunday. Basically, i just skipped it. Maybe due to laziness, i was feeling stronger with no injuries or gout and perfect condition. I had my gout under control after stress-testing it for few months. Week 5, i have 3 rest days without any tempo run or long run. My 40 km run was mostly between 4.26 min/km – 4.50 min/km pace.

Week 6 – i am going to put on some intensity, stick on 50 km mileage. I will like to see whether i get injured or any signs of illness. In week 3, i hit up to 67 km with high tempo, my body fell sick straightaway. Soon i will hit up to 70 km again. It was such a long time since i had done an interval training. Maybe i will do one this week.

Building up slowly, my cough subsided and i was able to sleep at night. Beginning of the week, my run pace between 4.30 min/km to 4.50 min/km. After that, a slower pace run was done. My body was feeling good.

I am targeting to hit 50 km next week.

Chinese New Year’s week, a time for celebration. I totally take it easy, without any pressure of building up mileage or speed. Just did 2 runs, a 5 min/km pace at Punggol PCN and Safra Keppel Bay run (4.45 min/km pace). I am feeling alright with the run but the bad cough is still there. I had a hard battle with the cough at night. It is slowly getting better as more rest is catered in.

My cough got serious during the week, robbed my sleep. I was feeling very tired on the day time. I totally put a brake on my training. With the Chinese New Year at the weekend, it’s a good time to recover. I totally put running behind the back of my mind and relax.

I just did an easy run on Buangkok loop, my usual training ground. Firstly, I knew that the flu may be caused by my recent increase of pace and mileage. I am going to have a step-back this week. Secondly, my lungs are not used to the cold drinks which i totally ignored. This was a big mistake that i committed which caused me to have a hard time sleeping at night – coughing.

Dear joined me for a few rounds, she was totally out of running these days. I went out easy, at 5.25 min/km pace. Very comfortable and light breathing. After 1.5 km, the pace stepped up naturally. I did not sped up, just run naturally. I felt some pain on the side of my left shin. This was going to be troublesome, shin splint problem. Nevertheless, i did not stop and just carried on.

The pace raised up to 4.40 min/km. I was surprised by the pace appeared on my Garmin watch. I was running at a comfortable effort, so i did not think it’s wise to purposely reduce pace until jogging mode. I was very consistent on each lap and this went on for 8 loops. A total of 12 km with a time of 57 min, avg pace of 4.47 min/km. Before the SCMS, i couldn’t even maintain at this pace.

10% increment from last week. The pace remained fast with 3 sessions under 4.30 min/km. By Friday, i had already reached last week’s mileage. It was accompanied by some shins discomfort. I settled the problem with grass running. On the weekend, my calves were perfectly alright. But i caught a flu, telling me to step back.

What i am going to do this week will be stepping back my pace and adopt the same 67 km. I will observe my body reaction.