Recovery From Phuket Marathon

I did not feel all that tired after the Phuket Marathon, and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)...hope I got it right...set in on Monday evening, especially after a good massage...hmm. I planned to do some recovery runs after I reached Singapore.

Wednesday 21/6: Joined the Climbathon Training and did the 13km route from Bishan Statium -> Bishan Park -> LPR -> OUTR -> Main Gate -> Return the same way. Put on my Mizuno WR9, which was new, and started the run slowly. David, Tim, Henry, Yulan, Sabrina, Roland were there too. My legs felt ok, but I could feel that my engine was cold after a few days of rest. I took a while to get warmed up. When we reached the end of Bishan Park, DO and I carried on into LPR while the rest turned back to Bishan flats for stairs-climbing. I decided against doing stairs as I was in recovery mode. DO was runnning ahead most of the time, since I was doing a recovery pace of about 5:30-6min/km. DO was cautious about his knees while I was cautious about navigating those OUTR bends....at one stage, I thought I felt something on my outer knee...but phew, false alarm...I guess I am still concerned with ITBS since many of my friends like Divey, Bug and leggie has just developed the symptoms, and is causing them some pain... so the issue was still very fresh in my mind. We made our way at about a 5:45min/km pace all the way back...think we took about 1hr15min. Met the rest of the group back at the Stadium, took a break, and went back home for late dinner.
Distance Ran: 13km ____Time:1hr15min_____Pace:5:46min/km

Thursday 22/6: Went down to MF to do a recovery run with DO and Bug. Met up with the MF Runners at SAFRA, who congratulated me on my recent performance at Phuket Marathon. A big part of my improvements can be attributed to the good training program and team spirit of MF…thanks to cm, Ong and the team. The SAFRA Runners went for their 6-8 sets of hill intervals @ Telok Blangah Hill, and Alan Chao’s training team went to MF for ninja adventures, the 3 of us went for our slow recovery run along Canterbury Estates, then to Labrador Park doing 2 loops, and finally returning along Henderson Road. My legs felt lighter, and I can feel I am recovering well. I was careful not to push too fast, since one tends to feel real good after a well-run race. Bug and DO ran mostly along with me, and with 3km to go, they charged ahead and I just did a slow pace back to ClubHouse. The stretch of Henderson Rd did get to me, as I could still feel the tiredness on the slopes.
Distance Ran: 13km ____Time:1hr15min_____Pace:5:46min/km

Sunday 25/6: The SAFRA MF team were doing their tapering LSD run in preparation for Pattaya Marathon 2 Sundays from now. I joined in the planned 26km run at a slower pace to complete my week of recovery from Phuket Marathon. We took the route of Clubhouse -> Henderson Rd -> Tiong Bahru Park -> Havelock Rd -> Clark Quay -> Fort Canning Hill (2 rds) -> Esplanade -> Marina Promenade (2nd Toilet) U-turn -> Esplanade Bridge -> Shenton Way -> Keppel Rd -> Harbourfront -> Henderson Rd -> Clubhouse.

I collected my new Adizero SN (aka Adidas Supernova Cushion) from DO. I wore my current pair of Orange Adizero while DO wore his new pair to do a trial of the shoes. The skies looked gloomy after a night of rain. The group of Ong, Jaime, Wong, Adam, Freddy, TLH, Jimmy Chow, Derrick, small Chua, Teck Hou, Colleen, DO and myself started off at 7.15am. We ran in cool weather along Tiong bahru Park, then Clarke Quay, before turning off a new route to Fort Canning Hill..hmm, a new route, nice gravel slope up. As we hit Fort Cannong, the skies opened up and we were drenched. We were soaking wet when we finished one round, and by the second round at FC, we had to take shelter to assemble the whole group. We rested in the shelter for about 15min, and seeing that the rain wouldn;t stop, we continued on with the run. We ran all the way to Esplanade before the rain abated. Colleen, Do and I had a good discussion about Mt. kinabalu training and next year's possible K2/Nepal trip. Colleen, who was from the Everest traing team before had lots to share about ice mountain climbing, and also indicated that her friends might be interested to join in our K2 training and trip. Before we know it, we reached the 2nd toilet at Esplanade, and saw the rest of the group turning back.

After the short water break, the 3 of us continued on along Shenton Way and Keppel Road. DO was very happy with his Adizero SN as it provided good drainage as well. My shoes which was wet thoroughly by the puddles of water, were almost dry...very good drainage...very good value shoes....great forefoot cushion. We ran in the drizzling rain all the way, and it felt good. Colleen who was still recovering from a cold turned back along Kampong Bahru, while Do and I ran back along Henderson Road. Reached back very happy with the 26km run in the rain...took a warm shower, and headed to the Hawker Centre for nice Yong Tau Foo and hot kopi-si.
Distance Run: 26km___Time: 2hrs20min___Pace: 5:23min/km


I Did a total of 52km recovery pace run for this week. I felt good, and seems to be resting sufficiently. Next week I shall be back to Climbathon Training, starting with 12 loops around Labrador slopes on Tuesday...hmm...3 more weeks before going to Mt. Kinabalu for the prelims and recce run. A new kind of running for me...a good experience...looking forward to it :)