1) Murphy’s Law—If you think you have prepared for everything as planned, there is always a time that things will somehow go wrong. I wasn’t able to use my Nathan Water Belt because there was something wrong with the strap. It was not a factory defect but I made some adjustments with the strap on my own and the slight adjustment I made needs to be fixed and I needed more time to do it. So, I decided not to use it and instead opted to carry with me a bottled water and “inserted” it on my back, tucked in with my running shorts during the road race.
My Samsung MP3 suddenly stopped and turned off by itself. I tried to put it on but it later stopped. I knew I had it fully charged the night before the race. I was glad I was still at the Starting Area when my MP3 was not working. I had to remove my MP3 and handed it over to my staff. Surprisingly, my MP3 does not have any problems when I am using it in my running workouts in Jamindan or in Manila.
2) With or Without Music?—I had observed that having a music played on my ears while running gave me the “boost” to make my pace faster. Without music on this race made my time a little slower from my target goal.
3) Rest & Recovery—At least 5-6 days before the race, I thought of decreasing my mileage for the week and try to rest and recover from the running workouts and road races I joined after finishing the Pasig River International Marathon last 24 February. I observed that the results of the rest & recovery/tapering period did not take effect during the day of the race but on the days after the Runnex@25 10K Run. On the week after this race, I was able to increase my mileage and ran easily without much effort.
4) Speed Runs—I need to have more “speed runs”/interval training on the oval track and force my body to its limits. But this is only attainable if I have already enough strength and endurance built from my foundation training.
5) Runner’s Fashion—The Nike Sports Pro Kit that I used was nice-looking and comfortable to the body. The “NIKE Air Zoom Explosion Road 2” running shoes that I wore was my first time to use it directly to a road race without any “break-in”. It was a light racer shoe which has some protruding studs on the midsole that forced me to run on my toes. I am highly recommending this shoes to the younger and faster runners.
Bald Runner 
Br,
What worked for me is having at least one tempo run a week. I believe the max is 2 per week. The minimum is a 20 minute run. Just start with the usual 5 minute warm up then stretch. Do a couple of light jogs with strides (20 counts on one leg) before doing your tempo. After the tempo, cool down with strides again. (Thanks to RW for this) Since we have the 305, you can easily monitor your threshold pace.
Kindly base your T pace from the Vdot calculator link http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp?dist=10000&units=meters&time=04500
I took the liberty in putting the goal of a 10km finish in 45 minutes. T pace based on that is 4:37/km or a 1:51 minute time per round in a 400 meter track (lane 1)
The T pace should be maintained from start to finish. Focus is being able to run at a comfortably hard pace with an equal effort throughout the session. My pace varies from 4:15 to 4:40 per kilometer depending on the length of time. You can go as long as 35 minutes. Try to keep relaxed the whole time and just focus on the task at hand. Its quality running that counts the most. Im guilty of skipping this session for 2 weeks already and have paid the price.
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mark, at your age, you can do your tempo run easily but be careful with “injuries”. as for me, i am getting a hard time bringing back my speed when i was in my 30s like you. however, i am positive and hopeful that i am going to improve my time at a much slower pace. thanks for the input and i’ll be using the T pace soon. just this morning, i had a tempo run–6k (easy @ 6:00 min/km); 6K (tempo run @ 5:15 min/km); and 8.5K (easy/cool-down @ 6:45 min/km). my time might be slow but i am still comfortable that i could make it faster next time.
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Br, you are not slow. I still remember the times that I huffed and puffed just to get a glimpse of your back. : ) We all run our own race, its you against you.
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mark, i must admit that you really improved a lot for the past weeks. i predict that you can join the milo marathon already. good luck & happy running.
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Thanks Br! That sure made my day. Idol kita sa running and that was the case since I first read your blog.
I just have the Singapore marathon to train for. Let’s see how it goes for me, maybe I can join to just finish. What’s your experience with milo?
My training schedule will be mixed with dragonboat until August. I just agreed last night to join our team in competing at the World Club crew Championships in Malaysia. Maybe it was the red horse talking but I will keep my word. The good thing about this is that I now have Charlie to run the marathon with me. That was part of the deal, hope he won’t forget. : )
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Br,
Whats your asic shoe size (in cm)? I have a 25.5 cm brand new Asics DS Trainer 13 bought from Japan. It just arrived yesterday via post office but it does not fit my friend. He’s a 28 cm, got the wrong size. Sayang nga as he really wanted to use it today when we do our 2 hr run. Well, Im just goin to order again. If you’re interested, do let me know.
Here’s a pic of the Japan only color
Asics Ds trainer 13 is the shoe of choice by runners who want a light weight training shoe and can still be used even up to a marathon.
I also have the same model and currently use it in my long runs and intervals. I was able to have my break in when I first ran in Antipolo last april for a 3 hour session.
This model is currently not available locally. In the us, they only have a green and white color combo. This color is only available in Japan and Taiwan. Its suited for neutral, mild and moderate overpronators.
For more info, click here:
http://www.asicsamerica.com/products/product.aspx?PRODUCT_ID=240008490&TITLE_CATEGORY_ID=250001542
The one shown in Asics america is the US version.
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mark, my shoe size w/ ASICS is 27.5 cms (9.5 inches). i know that model is a light training shoes of ASICS. anyway, i still have 4 pairs of ASICS to use for my preparation for TSFM. thanks for the info.
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