Taipei, Taiwan 101 building and city scape.
I’m back in Taipei after a few months in The Czech Republic. The next month of training will be in preparation for a series of three races in Canada – Loop the Lake (Half Marathon, August 7, 2010), Canadian Derby Edmonton (Half Marathon, August 22, 2010) and the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon (September 26, 2010).
The Czech portion of my training focused on strength. Running the Silva Nortica cross country marathon in June involved hills and the need for endurance. I enjoyed being in the woods, the uneven terrain and solitude reminded me of Canada. My heart would go through the cycle of jumping out of my chest and recovering as I made my way up and down the trails. Gasping for breath brought back fond memories of the trails on The Sunshine Coast just north of Vancouver.
Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas
The Canadian races will be an attempt at increasing my speed. Loop the Lake is a training event where I’ll monitor my fitness level. A 5 min/km pace will test how well I can maintain the pace over the duration of the race. Based on the results, the Edmonton race will be an incorporation of the feedback and an effort to set a new personal record (PR) at the half marathon distance. 1:49:29 is the PR time to beat. At 5km/min, 1:45:00 could be the next race duration I’ll fixated on for my number days. Both races will ultamatly lead to the goal of a strong finish at the Toronto Marathon a month later. Running a sub 4 hour marathon remains as my main focus.
(more…)