.... the jackal rides and run....

I started training for the Marathon using the above 12-week plan in March, right after doing a 42km Feeler Run (which took me a good 5hrs 30mins to complete, including stops). The initial goals were pretty high. Marathon pace was set at 6:00min/km, probably a bit too high as a first Marathon goal. I followed through until week 5 were the training took its toll on the knees (probably coupled with the fact that I was concurrently preparing myself for the Kuantan Century ride as well...) and at least 1+ week of slow running down time. After that I concluded that I should shoot for Marathon pace of 6:15min/km. Things started to look ok but still deep within I was a bit skeptical if that could even be achieved over such a long distance. A good thing that came out from the training was that I was able to hit consistently below 6:00min/km pace for 21km towards the 2nd half of the training plan. A realistic target for me in the end was to try to hit 6:30min/km. The reality : 6:44min/km ...