Vientiane International Marathon Training Diary – Week 1 Recap

Race day is set for December 14th: the Vientiane International Marathon. I’m reloading the Dr. Will Connor 13-week, 5-days-a-week plan, the same one I used successfully in Khon Kaen. With TrainingPeaks Premium I’ve shifted a few days to suit my schedule and slotted in Luang Prabang Half Marathon next month and hopefully the Vientiane Classic 10K in November.

This series will be a weekly log of the block, session by session. Here’s how Week 1 played out:

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Day 1 – Tuesday

The block opened with a straightforward 60 minutes in Zone 2. Nothing flashy, just bread and butter. I covered 10.64 km, average HR 144, keeping it under 154 the whole way. Still hot out there, but I ran easier than I have recently. Fitting that marathon training starts like this — eays running is the basis for marathon training.

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Day 2 – Wednesday

Threshold test day — the session that sets the scene for what’s possible. I took caffeine beforehand, laced up the SuperComp Elite V4, and drove down to the riverfront (for a consistent flat route) just as a thunderstorm rolled in. Sat in the car watching for lightning until it was safe, then went out into driving rain and strong wind.

The goal: 30 minutes at 7–9 RPE, basically as hard as you can go without fading. I actually finished stronger, with the last 3 km at 4:07s for a 4:10/km average. That’s my best threshold yet, faster than the 4:16 I managed in January when I was feeling fit and sharp.

Plugging the result into TrainingPeaks gave me a new Zone 3 of 4:25–4:45/km, translating to a marathon projection of 3:19–3:06. Compared to the start of last year’s block, when my threshold was 4:31 (Zone 3 4:47–5:09/km) and I ran 4:50/km on race day, this feels promising. If I can again convert threshold to marathon pace at ~18–19 seconds slower, that suggests 4:28–4:30/km. That feels a little scary fast, but exciting nonetheless. It also matched what I had in mind before the block started — I thought sub-3:15 was on the cards, and this test confirmed it.

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Day 3 – Thursday

Medium long run, 60–75 minutes on the plan, so I went for the full 75 minutes. Covered 13.3 km, average HR 146. I chose my usual “hilly” loop for some variety — not big climbs, but enough to change the motion and break up the monotony of endless flat strides. The undulations give the legs a different rhythm and a bit of strength stimulus.

I also made a deliberate choice to keep the effort lower than in past builds. Normally I’d drift up into the 150s on these runs, but this time trying to keep the easy runs truly easy.

Spotted a small snake hunting frogs in the puddles by the road

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Day 4 – Saturday

Friday was a day off. On Saturday the Run Club wasn’t on, but I went to the Nam Phou Fountain anyway. I was the only one there, so I just set off solo around town, past a few landmarks, down some of the new unopened bus lanes, keeping it relaxed.

I ran 52:30 minutes, 9.2 km @ 5:44/km, average HR 143. Nothing fancy — just a super easy run. For these shorter, easy days, the plan is run these fasted, to become more efficient at low intensity, less carb-reliant, and smoother at what should feel like comfortable, all-day pace.

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Day 5 – Sunday

First long run of the block: (40 minutes easy + 3 km HM pace) × 2, then 2 km cooldown.

I used the back loop of the Vientiane Marathon course, about 20 km where the full marathon keeps going past the half before circling back on the main roads. It was good to scout new ground, feel what marathon day might be like in the dark and mostly alone. To my surprise, the bottom section was hillier than expected.

Conditions added to the challenge. I set off at 5 a.m. under a thunderstorm. Lightning flashed over Thailand, rain fell steadily, and by 5 km in it was absolutely torrential. Once you’re that far out there’s no turning back, so I just pressed on. counting put the time between lightning and thunder to make sure there was nothing hitting too close.

The first 40 minutes easy ticked by, then into the first HM segment: target 4:10–4:20/km. I ran it at 4:19/km average, right in pace zone, but probably working too hard in the heavy rain. this section finished pushing into the start of the hilly section,

The second 40 minutes easy felt tougher — soaked, chafing, counting down minutes. along the back road i was running the number in my head, hopping that i’d get over the hill on phonpapao before the HM effort, but sure enough, right as I crossed the canal at the base of Phonpapao hill, the watch beeped. The first 600 m of the HM segment was straight uphill on tired legs, no way to hit target pace there. But I pressed over the climb, worked hard along the top and back down towards the river, and made up for it: 4:20/km average for the second 3 km.

Totals: 22.97 km in 1:56, 5:05/km pace, HR avg 158. Splits of 4:19 and 4:20/km for the HM blocks, consistent even if a bit harder than they should have been in the condtions. I wasnt going to miss marks on the first long run of the block. After I felt pretty terrible afterwards. I wondered if the cooler rain offset the extra strain of running completely drenched, maybe had overcookedit. Then I realised I’d had no caffeine, so I got a coffee and I felt much better.

One concern: foot pain cropped up during the run. The SC Elites only have ~200 km in them, so they shouldn’t be worn out yet (last pair lasted longer). It might be residual from the NB 880s I wore the day before, and mid week, the’ve got 500 km on them so they might be done.Either way, I’ll need to manage carefully with a long block and lots of miles to come.

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Weekly Totals (TrainingPeaks)

• Runs: 5
• Distance: 66.1 km
• Time: 5 hrs 51 min

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Focuses for this Block

The two big priorities are keeping the legs and feet healthy — watching for niggles like the foot pain this week, rotating shoes wisely, and not forcing the issue — and keeping the easy runs truly easy. In the past I’ve always pushed right up to the top of Zone 2, but this time I’m backing off by 5–10 beats. To help with that, I’m planning on running my sub-60-minute easy runs fasted, using zero-sugar electrolytes so I stay entirely sugar-free off an overnight fast. That should keep the intensity low and hopefully train the fat-fuel system at the same time.