Notes
Was in two minds whether I should race or not given the leg injury. At the end, I decided to give it a go because I needed a 'proof of life' that my legs could tolerate sustained running at MP or faster.Started with a low expectation that if my legs went, I just shut my system down and jog to the finish point. Used my planned marathon shoe - Nike Lunar racer and popped paracetamol at the start as insurance. Started too fast due to pent-up energy resulting from the reduced mileage, including a couple of kms at 3:50s. Passed 5k in 20.15 (4:03 pace) including one 500m long hill. Began to feel the burn, I cautiously eased back into the MP territory, running the next 5k in 21:04 (4:13 pace) - 10k in 41:19 (av 4:08 pace). Began to feel dehydrated after 10k since it was hot and humid (30c heat index at 6am) and walked at the drink station to get a drink. The split for km 11-15 was 21.43 (4:18 pace), slower than MP due to the drink stop but cumulatively I passed 15k in 63:00 mins, av 4:12 pace so still right on target. Leg tendons began to get tight and sore after this point and I simply decided to switch on the cruise control, passing km 16-20 in 22.14 (4:27 pace). I picked up the pace slightly in the last 1.1k to around 4:00 to finish in 89.35 (just under MP).
At the end, I was reasonable pleased with the result, despite all the similar story with all my HMs in Singapore. My pace always went progressively slower - on track for the 1st half before slowing down in the 2nd half. I think I am okay with running 5k-10k in Singapore, but anything beyond this (north of 40mins), my performance deteriorate sharply due to the heat & humidity effects . One positve thing is that I was able to run 21k at goal MP even with bad legs.