Week before HM

7x1200m at 10k effort (90s RI)

Pace around 3:52-3:55min/km

Felt relatively comfortable although experienced some fatigue in the legs from the race. Aborted final rep (8th). Rest interval was 90s but gave a longer break after 4 reps.

3 reps of 8km with 2km,6km and 4km at HM-effort in each respctively. Remaining at marathon. 1km jog/hydration between reps.

Aborted this workout after about 20km. Lack of recovery and this was evident even the day before; good decision to cut the workout short

6X(1000m at just under VO2max effort) with 2:30 RI

Average times were 3:43-3:45min one-way and about 3:50min the other way. Stopped and restarted the last rep.

This was a difficult workout but it was important to get the legs turning quickly.

3 X 4km at an effort between 10k and HM (aim for 4:05min/km or faster on a flatter course)

Struggled with it. Aborted the second after 3km and changed from Razor Excess to Kinvara. That really helped and the 3rd rep was relatively fine. Pace was about 4:08min/km but there were some GPS issues (corrected pace would be about 4-5s/km faster)

Went relatively well. Instead of progressive, ran about 21.5km with 11km at HM effort, about 6-7km at marathon-ish effort and the rest warm-up, jog, hydration etc. Oddly, despite the lack of recovery I felt the previous day and poor sleep, I was able to sustain good pace although experienced severe numbness symptoms.

7 X (3min@10k + 4min@marathon) [Alternately 2km-1km-2km-1km-2km at 10k effort]

Changed the plan to 8 X(3min@10k +2min@marathon) which was not a good idea. Couldn't maintain float after 4 reps; regularly checking on the pace which meant no sense of rhythm.

3 reps of 8km with 2X2km, 4km, 3KM +1KM at HM effort in the three 8km blocks respectively. Remaining at marathon effort. Focus on recovery during the marathon segments and keep intensity high on HM. 1km jog/hydration between reps.

Median pace on HM segments was 4:14min/km (average was lower becuase of some uphill parts)

Struggled initially from lack of recovery but there was solid chunk of continuous running in between.

Progressive 12k starting 10s/km slower the HM-effort and finishing close to 10k effort

Average pace was 4:10min/km

I stopped after 11.2km because of numbness which also made me walk in between. Did pretty well considering the muscle issues.

26km at 4:30min/km (adjust depending on conditions in Sri Lanka)

Pace was 4:44min/km on average but the "on" segments were 4:30min/km or faster

Ran for 2:00:35 in honor of K. Kiptum. Bad idea in very humid conditions. Struggled throughout and particularly towards the end.

2X1.5km(HM-effort) + 2X800m + 2X400m + 1.5km(HM-effort)

Didn't quite do this as it was rather challening with the humid weather. I did do two runs midweek with faster segments in each - the first one involved considerable elevation variations too.

Almost perfect weather and near-perfect race. Carbon plated shoes certainly help; if not with pace, but definitely with freshness in the legs.

Avg pace: 3:45 (1000s) and 3:31min/km (400s)

Workout in Speed 3 shoes. Was pretty intense and while I kept it controlled on the 1000m I somewhat redlined the 400s.

Avg pace: 3:57-4:00min/km ; aborted

I had to abort this workout. On the second rep, I took the gel after the 2nd km mark, and I had bad gag reflex. Was forced to stop. On the 3rd, experienced severe numbness that led to truncating that. Somehow the exertion felt high but HR didn't go up

10k test workout (the classic one)

On the 2.4km: 3:57-4:03min/km; 1600m: 3:48min/km; 800s: 3:45min/km

Felt exhausted at the end of it despite Dany's excellent pacing. Pace was slighly underestimated but still the exertion levels were very high.

Not happy with outcome but gave my best. Recovery issues may have played a role but also low average HR (160bpm) suggests something about not fully "opening up".