On interval training !

Dear Mike,

I just realised, while i was driving home just now, that you said you've started doing the interval training that i recommended. However, you said your interval was at speed 8km/hr and 9km/hr. It's not wrong to set your interval at such but you might not gain much of the benefits of an interval training if the speed of each interval are similar or too close together. What i recommended was a interval betweeen speed 8km/hr and 10km/hr or 9km/hr and 11km/hr. Try to have at least 2km/hr or more difference between the intervals. That way, your body can take and adapt to the lower limit as a recovery interval and the higher limit as the peak performance level.

So imagine, if you've been doing intervals of 9km/hr and 11km/hr, eventually you will feel that running at 9km/hr is like a rest, no big deal. So when you're running outside or during your marathon, you'll be very comfortable running at 9km/hr and still have the capacity to push faster. Even when you slow down cause you're tired, you won't fall back below 9km/hr cause you're body is accustomed to taking that speed as a resting speed.

You have only about 2 and half week before your race. There isn't enough time for you to train and improve that much but whatever you do now can still contribute to your race performance. Plan and sign up for another race in near future. This time, with the knowledge and experience that you've gained, you can train smarter and more effectively.

Train hard, very hard till a week before the race. By then i would give you some advise on carbo loading in order to have more energy for the race and how to manage rest and train period so you don't tire and max yourself out before the big day.

Amy Loh (Trainer Hot & Ripped)