Peak Week is here!

3 more weeks to Race Week and next week is Peak Week! The highest running volume week in the whole training period, the last week of the last-big-push, the come-on-you-got-this-week - well, you get the picture!

I'm going into Peak week in a much better mindset than I was in last week. Last week I was ready to throw in the towel. I've recalibrated somewhat after today's long run. Ran 18K and there was no funny knee pain and miracle of miracles, there was no post-run migraine either. It wasn't easy or elegant, but I did manage to complete that long, long run on a maddening 900m loop, on this very hot Sunday morning. 

I ran it at an average pace of 7'23". Come race day, I doubt I'll be able to go any faster than that. Between now and race day, I doubt anything's going to magically happen to bump up my pace from 7'23" to 6'09". Even though I'm able to do a 7K at that pace now, its only possible with the many, many breaks in between. Race Day is going to be as hot and muggy as this morning was, so weather-wise its not going to help either. Plus I'm sure the course will have at-least one flyover en-route. The only plus point I see which might be to my advantage is that the course will be 1 large 21.1K loop and not several 900m loops and the novelty of that, plus the general race ambience and energy may propel me a little faster. 

Anyhow... next week I'll have a better idea of how close or far away I am from my goal pace. 

Last Big Push

5 weeks to race day. This is my last big push - and I will really need it.

Last week I fell ill (again) but this time it was a full-blown flu, complete with temperature, body ache, cough and congestion. It might have been Covid, which, apparently is doing the rounds again. It took a while to get over it and the aftermath ran into this week. To top it off, mid week, I got my period and my body felt extra-beat this morning as I set off on my long 18K run. Of course, as was to be expected, I could not complete it. Around 12.5K, (to my absolute dismay) I developed a funny pain in my left knee which would stop as soon as I stopped running. The pain was too intense to be ignored. Ended the run at the 13K mark. 

Was (still am) feeling quite bummed out about not just today's run but also the way the whole training is going. Actually considered (considering) stopping the training and not doing this event at all. These past 6 weeks or so, after every single long run, I would develop migraines later on in the day. Migraines of varying degrees. The longer the run, worse the migraine! I'm guessing its the combination of heat and exhaustion. I believe I've been pretty good with my hydration and fuelling but obviously there are still some gaps to be filled. 

Currently as I'm writing this, there is a dull throbbing in my head which makes me think:

Is it all worth it? 

Should I keep at it?

3/4ths done

 ...well, almost!

Time is flying by and just like that I'm almost at the end of the 3rd block in my training plan. Today I ran 17K. It took me 2 hrs, 9 minutes and 59 seconds. Which funnily enough, is my race day goal time (for the whole distance of 21.1K). Which means to say, I am running short of 4.1K! I have 7 weeks to go to race day. I'm not sure that I can improve by that much over the next few weeks, in order to close that gap...  This feels like a really, really, tough ask!

7'39" pace today.  6'09" goal pace.  6'17" was my 7K pace on Tuesday - which is much closer to 6'09" but I did take quite a few untimed breaks. I am barely able to sustain 1 mile at 6'09" and I think I should be able to sustain at least 4K at goal pace at this point in my training in order for goal pace on race day to become a reality.

Last week, my Garmin race time prediction dipped down to 2:36:35. It is currently showing 2:33:58. This is a bit of a bummer. The prediction times are supposed to go up not down! 

Oh well, we trust in the process and plod on!