August 06, 2025 - Road to BM HM

If you’re wondering what this is about - One year ago I crawled through a 5K in 50 minutes—now I’m attempting the slightly unhinged goal of running a sub-2-hour half marathon, documented through daily brain dumps complete with training chaos, 5 AM existential crises, random tangents, and way too much heart rate data.

Disclaimer: Posts are lightly edited with LLMs for grammar and spelling, but the sleep-deprived thoughts and stubborn optimism are 100% human.

Sleep: 5h23m – Low
RHR: 54 bpm
HRV: 88 ms

Workout:
Warmup: 5 mins
Threshold run: 10K @ 5'43" - 6'23" min/km
Cooldown: 5 mins
Zone 2 run: 3K

Pre-run brain dump

I got less sleep last night. I did some foam roller work for the first time yesterday evening, along with the Myrtle routine. I was skeptical of foam rolling for the longest time, and it also felt messy. It was messy, and probably not pretty to look at, but I felt a difference—my lower body felt a bit lighter. I’m going to keep doing this more.

I still need to figure out a proper mobility routine—I’ll talk to my coach and write down a few exercises to do. The only problem is finding time to do it.

I remember one of the coaches at the box saying, “From here on, it’s mobility you need to focus on rather than strength if you want to keep at this lifestyle,” and I think I feel it. My general overhead mobility is terrible—I cannot overhead squat even if my life depends on it. My hip mobility is no better.

Today’s workout is a threshold run. The original plan had hill intervals, but given that I did interval work on Monday, I swapped it with a threshold run. The distance is arbitrary—2 weeks ago I was doing 7.7K or so at threshold pace (5'50"). I just increased that number to 10K. There’s also a zone 2 block post-run of 3K—I added this to handle the volume I missed in the last 2 days.

I’m not sure if I can do this distance and pace yet—my best 10K was in June at Runners Jatre, at barely around 6'00 min/km pace for 10K. But I’ve put some work in since then, so we’ll know if there’s any bump in fitness.

Post-run brain dump

This run was awesome. I was able to hit 5'45" for 10K. This has been my PB since the Jatre run in June. I shaved around 2 minutes off my 10K time, completing it in 57 minutes 23 seconds.

My heart rate was stable around 180 bpm, averaging 180 bpm, with a max of 188 bpm. The first 5K was fast (and a new PB at 28:08). My legs started to become a bit heavier in the last 2K. I think I wasn’t dead at the 10K mark, but I was surely glad that the run had ended.

Also, this new PB could be because this terrain is simply flatter than the Jatre course, and the new shoes may have had an impact. But nevertheless, it feels like a much-needed win.

VDOT is a simplified/practical measure that combines VO₂max capacity with running economy. Jack Daniels developed this method after experimenting with athletes. In theory, if you know your VDOT score, you can find out the corresponding training paces, and if you stay consistent with training at these paces, you should see your running fitness increase every 4-6 weeks. You can read more about VDOT here.

In June, when I did my 10K in 59m44s, my VDOT score was 32.5. With the new time of 57m23s, the VDOT score is 34. With this, I’ll also have to update my interval, threshold, and other paces (apart from easy run pace) and train at this new pace. Ideally, for my goal time for HM, the VDOT score corresponds to 36.5.

I use VDOT as a tool to know my training paces, rather than as a tool to predict my performance. So even hitting the VDOT of 36.5 wouldn’t translate to my goal being achieved, because performance is also unique to the athlete, distance, course terrain, weather, and a hundred other things. So obsessing over that wouldn’t do me any good, but it’s a good way to track my progress and know the effort I need to invest.

After finishing the 10K, I did another 1K in easy zone 2.

Post-run, at the box, we did some push presses and pike push-ups.

Thursday is usually a day off from running, so I will only be working out at the box.