Wed AM Circuit

Run type: recovery/core strength
Distance: 5.8 km
Time 0:31:48
Weekly Cumulative: 29.6 km
Weather: 24 degrees, humid

Almost a repeat of last week, but just slightly quicker...and it wasn't raining today. The run was lovely. Just a nice easy pace. Not fast, not slow, gliding along with no pain and no particular effort and pulling up feeling as fresh as a daisy. The situps and pushups were easier today and the background ab pain has gone, so I can keep it up and even build gradually now.

A tendon on the outer part of my left ankle started to feel a bit sore as I was walking to the train this morning. Hope it is temporary.

Tues AM aerobic

Run type: Lower aerobic, target HR 140-145
distance: 16.2 km
Time: 1:13:58
Average pace: 4:34 min/km
Cumulative weekly km: 23.8
Weather: 25 degrees and moderate humidity

This run provides a very clear contrast to that of last Friday morning over the same course and distance. The only environmental difference was that today the humidity was lower. Today was 10 sec/km faster overall. That's quite a difference. Yet the heart rates were quite similar. In fact, even as I worked the legs at a solid effort today, the heart rate wouldn't rise. Today, at a heart rate of 143-145, I was doing the same kind of pace and leg effort that was previously producing heart rates of 150+ along with pronounced cardiac drift.

On the way home I decided to push the last couple of km. The last km was close to 4 minutes flat. Yet my heart rate maxed at 158. However, the really instructive thing was that as heart rate came up to about 153, only then did my breathing begin to labor at all. Prior to that it was pretty comfortable, with only the legs having anything to complain about. Hadd/Lydiard training works. It is now a question of continuing the conditioning so that the labored breathing does not cut in until closer to 160, and also getting the legs more used to running at faster speeds.

So, the conditioning has been taking place and the weather does make a difference. Which of course we know, but it is fascininating seeing it so clearly like this.

Monday Recovery

Run type: Recovery
Average pace: 5:20/km
Average heart rate: 135
Distance 7.6 km
Weekly cumulative distance: 7.6

With today off I was able to sleep in until 6:30 or so and get up and potter around a bit before getting out the door for a run at 8:00. On Saturday I bought a little Neoprene arm band for the MP3 player, so today I gave it a test run listening to a This Sporting Life podcast. Roy & HG in fine form as usual.

The run was really enjoyable. Just a nice easy pace with the heart rate mainly ticking over at about 135. The body was relatively free of after affects from yesterday apart from some initial stiffness. Conditions were pleasantly warm without excessive humidity. Could the weather have finally started to turn? Autumn is only two days away.

Long in Yoyogi

Run type: Long
Distance: 30.4 km
Time 2:45:38 (5:27/km avg)
Weekly Cumulative: 106.3 km
Temperature: 25 degrees

There is not a lot to say about this run. It was cooler than it has been, and I was pretty keen to crack through the 30km barrier for the first time in this campaign. So despite the mild conditions I took it pretty easy and ran 13:30 to 14:00 minutes per lap (5:20 to 5:34/km). And just kept it up until I'd done 12 laps. There was no great wilting like last week. Just that familiar growing fatigue and a few aches and pains in the upper legs, hip, lower back, such that stopping was welcome but not a desparate need. I started at a quarter to eight and was joined by Colin at eight, then Rie and Fabrizio and Paolo at nine. Paolo promptly ran off ito the distance. We were soon joined by a newcomer, a young lady on the JET program named Jade, and then Rebecca. Chiba san appeared from somewhere and after we finished Laura was discovered, and she still had eight laps ahead of her. Gareth, still battling his foot injury, cycled up just in time for a post-run beer. Not a bad roll-up.

Nobody can take that one away

Run Type: Hills
Distance: 11 km
Cumulative total for the week: 76km
Average pace 5:26/km
No heart rate

Last night was Tom's and Bob's party for copywriter's at Veniri Veniri in Harajuku. Very pleasant on the rooftop balcony looking out towards Aoyama and Roppongi. Food and drink was inclusive in the price. So I had a few beers, then a couple of G&Ts then a vodka & orange (or was it two?), and perhaps there was a quick whisky before the time was up and the grog was whisked away. So that was a fair drink without going overboard. Enough to get a charge up, but not enough to be a write off. Unfortunately though, also enough to threaten a hangover. I showed some restraint, but not enough.

This morning I had to leave at 8:00 to look at a prospective high school for Tatsuya with him and Chiemi. So if I didn't run early it was going to have to be late this afternoon. And with another 33-degree day on offer, and 30 km scheduled for tomorrow, I suspected that if I didn't run this morning, I would not run at all.

I didn't set the alarm, but still I woke at 5:30--a full five hours of sleep. I groaned and moaned, but got up and checked the condition of the hangover. Yep, it was a hangover alright. Not too severe, certainly easy enough to sleep off in another hour or two. But if the run was missed altogether, it would leave the weekly kilometer store a little light on. So kit on and out the door it was. I headed for the Aobadai hilly loop course, but feeling pretty crappy and fragile didn't push the pace at any stage, just slogged away at it. On the hill circuits I certainly didn't push on the uphills as one should. Yet each lap got slightly faster, finally getting down to a 5:06/km on the fifth lap.

So, it was slow, it was ugly, but it got done. What good it did I have no idea, but the kilometers are in the bank and in the end I was pretty pleased with myself for having the willpower to get out and do that one.

Fri PM - Hardly a run, but...

6km
Cumulative weekly km: 65
Went out with Tatsuya to the local park. I ran, he rode his bike. Then we ran a lap of the park. Then we did some crunches and pushups and chinups. Then he got a bit lightheaded and had to have a rest. Then we passed the rugby ball around for a while, and finally I did another lap of the park and jogged home. None of it was more than fairly easy aerobic pace. I suppose if I'd done something hard recently I could call it a recovery run. That's a big IF...

I'm a resident, permanently

Well, one of the little jobs I had to do during this long and luxurious holiday was go pick up my permanent residence visa. I applied for it back in January at the same time as renewing my spouse visa. A little postcard turned up a few days ago saying it was ready, so I made the familiar trip across to the Department of Immigration in Shinagawa. Picking it up was a fairly painless procedure--only about a 30 minute wait.

So now I can live here as long as I want, which is a strange feeling because at times I think I passed that point about two years ago. But, should things continue to drift on, at least I don't have to worry about my visa expiring in the stealth of night. And it will make it a lot easier to secure a mortgage or go into any business ventures should one or other of those paths open.

I'm still an alien though.

Fri AM Yet more aerobic work

Run type: Lower aerobic, target HR 140-145
distance: 16.2 km
Time: 1:16:26
Average pace: 4:43
Cumulative weekly km: 58.9
Weather: 25 degrees and very humid

In Japan we do not have tropical cyclones, we have typhoons. And they do not receive evocative names like Evie or Steve, Tracey or Paul. No, they receive a simple number. Totally utilitarian. And so it was that last night Typhoon No. 11 paid a visit to Tokyo. The television scenes of galeforce winds and waves crashing over breakwaters were menacing enough, but in the end No. 11 did not live up to the reputation that preceded it. We had plenty of rain and wind, but not enough to lift rooves or tear shutters from the hinges. Not enough to frighten pets or even keep us lying awake all night listening to the incessant howling of the wind. Perhaps we will have to wait for Typhoon No. 12 for that.

So, with the wind dying away and puddles still thick on the ground, I hauled myself out of bed at 6:30 am and headed off at the unusually late hour of 7 o'clock; such luxury afforded because I am having today and Monday off--about as much summer holiday as I am likely to have. The run, like the typhoon, contained few distinguishing features. I ran steady, but not hard. My heart rate stayed in the 140s until later in the run when it climbed up to around 150. Pace was mostly between 4:30/km and 4:50/km. Finished saturated in sweat.

Wed PM: Upper aerobic

Run type: upper aerobic, target HR 155
distance: 19.9 km
Time: 1:38:19
Average pace: 4:54 (4:25 when in HR zone)
Cumulative weekly km: 42.6
Weather: coolish 24 degrees and mederately humid.

So if yesterday morning was lower aerobic, then this had to have been upper aerobic. Ran from the sento to the park and half a loop for warm-up. Mika T. joined us for the first time in a long while as she has been doing a lot of mountain runs and cycling on weekends. She is just now starting to prepare for a fall marathon (still targeting that 3:15 goal). We ran a couple of slower laps discussing her situation and what she needs to do to give herself a chance at going sub 3:15. I was politely blunt in saying she is leaving it a little bit late to start when adopting such a difficult goal, but she does have a pretty decent base from the mountain running and so on, so if she knuckles down and does the work, she might be in with a chance.

After the chat we started cranking up the pace, by about which time Colin showed up. Target was 150 to 155 heart rate. The thing was, with the cooler weather we had to run quite bit harder to achieve the same heart rate as we have been running. In the end, we got into the HR150s for three or four laps and were running low 4:20~4:24/km, about 10 s/km faster than last week. Mika dropped off after two laps of that and Colin and I went through two more then half a lap cool down.

The interesting thing was that it was fairly easy to hold the pace. No problems with heart and lungs or heat build-up, but the muscles and tendons started to feel it after having rarely been working that hard in recent times. So there is no doubt that some more runs at and faster than marathon pace start to become necessary from now on.

Wed AM circuit

Run type: recovery/core strength
Distance: 5.8 km
Time 0:33:20
Weekly Cumulative: 22.7 km
Weather: 24 degrees, light rain
Time of day: 5:45 a.m.

It was almost chilly this morning with the temperature plummeting to 24 degrees. There is a typhoon out in the Pacific sending grey skies and rain our way. This morning's workout was almost identical to the same day last week. Very easy pace interspersed with situps, back arches and pushups. Stomach muscles were still a little tender from that first session three weeks ago. The session is meant ot be invigorating and a jump start to the day rather than any serious mileage.

Tuesday hitout

Run type: Lower aerobic zone
Distance: 16.9 km
Time 1:21:16 (4:49/km avg)
Weekly Cumulative: 16.9 km
Weather: 27 degrees, medium humidity, fine with light breeze
Time of day: 5:20 a.m.

Well, I have decided that I should be using 185 as my maximum heart rate and have re-studied Hadd. As a result, I should be doing the slightly easier of the two Hadd workouts (the "everyday pace") at a heart rate of around 140 to 145 (originally would have been 135 to 138, but I am assuming I've moved up a notch). So I am calling this the "lower aerobic zone" workout. I spent about 70 minutes at or close to that zone today. The first 10 minutes were just warming up.

The main body of the run consisted of four laps (2.15 km/lap) of Komazawa Park. The drift in heart rate is still happening. There was a gradual, like 2 sec/km) loss of speed over the first few laps while holding heart rate farily consistent, but from the third to fourth lap on the downhill section I slipped almost 12 seconds. I'm sure that's worse than in recent weeks. Maybe I dropped the heart rate back more than on other comparable runs, but it was certainly still in the zone. So, I don't know, there is still no strong sense of forward progress. I did have a crappy night's sleep, so maybe that was part of the reason...

Monday Rest

Quite weary after yesterday's effort. A lunchtime or evening recovery run would be nice on Mondays, if only there was an opportunity. Instead I just try to walk briskly between home and the train, train and the office and vice versa.

Sunday Too Far

Run type: Long
Distance: 28.7 km
Time 2:37:14 (5:29/km avg)
Weekly Cumulative: 96.4 km
Temperature: 31 degrees!

The long runs seem to be getting harder, not easier. I suppose the temperature has a lot to do with it, but despite the 31 degrees, there was lower humidity than last week and a pretty good breeze. Still, the running was hard. Basically not much to say except that I ground out 11 hard laps of Yoyogi Park, plus a little backtrack leg to meet up with Colin after the fourth lap. Had one lap down as slow as 6:07/km, but the majority were around 5:15 to 5:35/km. I'm still waiting for this break in the weather.

Saturday junk

Run Length 6.6 km
Time: 33:18 (5:03/km)
Cumulative weekly km: 68

Finally pulled the shoes on and got out for a couple of laps of the Post Office Loop at 5:00 in the afternoon. Felt pretty horrible, probably because of the combined effects of the hangover and the heat (30 degrees, but th humidity quite low). I probably could have let it go, but I want to make sure I get well over 90km for the week -- so nothing like a few junk miles when ya playing the numbers game.

Fri Evening - Full Moon over Otemachi

Run type: half & half
Distance: 10 km
Time 50:03
Weekly Cumulative: 60 km

There are few more beautiful sights in nature than a big, plump, golden harvest moon. Last night during our run around Tokyo's Imperial Palace, it was a particularly luscious version hovering above the city skyline as we rounded the Kamiyacho corner heading towards Otemachi. I was with Gareth, Colin & Jim, and on that first lap we were taking it nice and slow. So much so, in fact, that the first lap was a leisurely 28:07, or 5:33/km.

Colin's hip and legs were playing up and he didn't know whether to stop after the first lap or try to put mind over matter. As one would predict, he chose the latter. He started picking up the pace a little way into the second lap and I watched him gradually draw away for a little while before deciding it was time to do some work. So I got stuck in and soon caught and passed him and settled in at a heart rate of around 160. It felt nice and relaxed, but working fairly hard and moving at a stiff pace. I hadn't run at that high a heart rate for a sustained period for some time, what with all this base training, so it felt good to be moving along fairly quickly, I think around 4:10 to 4:15 pace. I got to the Takebashi Hill at a heart rate of 165, so I backed it off slightly rather than try to attack the hill. HR still crept up to 170.

From the top of the hill I just coasted along, conscious of not building up lactate because I wanted to run again in the morning. I had not been aware of Colin at all since going past him, so I figured he was a minute or so behind. Much to my surprise, as I was starting to ease off approaching the finish line, I felt a gentle push in the back; it was Colin! So I had to give a final little burst as we crossed the line together. It was a good run. I certainly enjoyed it. I just hope Colin's hip doesn't come back to bite him too hard today.

After the run we went to a beer garden and drank more beer than we should have and had a decent meal of pasta, pizza, and salad. On the way home Gareth and I popped into the new Aldgate in Shibuya for a cleansing pint of Yona Yona (or was it two!). I also poked my nose into the Black Lion, first time in ages, and had a brief chat with Alex. He is heading back to the States to take up studies to become a chef--at the age of 42! More power to him is all I can say. Fortunately I didn't have another beer there.

A little hung over today, so no run this morning. Hopefully later in the afternoon.

Friday AM Hills - breaking the chain

Run Type: Hills
Distance: 11 km
Cumulative total for the week: 51km

ooh...ooh...excitement! I actually broke the pattern of the last five weeks or so. Friday has for some time now been a steady 14 or 16 km to Komazawa Park at a HR of 145 to 155. But not today, oh noooo, not today. Today, was hills. The trigger for this radical action was that tonight after work I'll be meeting a few of the Namban fellas and going for a run around the Imperial palace followed by a few Asahi Super Drys (or preferably some real beer). So I wanted to do a few less km, but still make it a hardish workout because tonight will be a steady run.

Anyway, ran up to Aobadai along the Meguro River and did five loops of the 700 m hill circuit I have discovered up there. Then ran home again. Interesting thing was the comparative heart rate and pace of the out and back stretches from Aobadai bridge to Meguro Bridge. On the way out, nice and fresh, still warming up, the HR was 135 and pace 4:58/km. Coming back, after the hill repeats, HR was 137 to 140 and the pace was 5:24/km. How about that for a nice illustration of thermal accumulation, fatigue or whatever you want to call it? It was 27 degrees at the start of the run and 28 when I got home. It is going to be a hot one today!

Wed PM - Lark in the Park

Run type: steady aerobic, target HR 155
distance: 18 km
Time: 1:27:37
Average pace: 4:52 (4:32 when in HR zone)
Cumulative weekly km: 40.1

The usual Wednesday routine. Meet at the sento (public bath house) to change and leave our clothes, then run to Yoyogi Park at warm up pace before finally getting into some kind of a pace run. This time the target was about 4:30 pace and heart rate in the mid 150s. That is pretty much how it panned out. I did six Fulton laps (1.94km/lap) at that pace, seven altogether. Then jogged back to the sento. Temperature was warmish, but humidity slightly lower than it has been. Pretty tough run actually. After the run, the usual catching up over a few Yona Yona ales.

Wed AM - sore to the core

Last Wednesday I introduced a morning session of a light run accompanied by some core strengthening exercises. The routine is to run to a BBQ/picnic area in my local park, Rinshi no Mori (1.2 km), then do a set of exercises on the picnic tables. Then I run a lap of the park (1.7 km) and do another set, then another lap and another set before running home. Total run is only 5.8 km and not particularly fast.

One set of exercises is about 15 to 20 situps, 20 pushups, 20 back arches, and one other which changes with each set (e.g., plank, sideways crunch or whatever I think of). To do the situps, I sit on the table and hook my feet underneath the seat, only reclining back to about 45 degrees. It really gets you in the abs. After last week I was sore for days and days. To my great surprise, when I started to do them this morning, I discovered my abs were still sore -- not noticeable in the course of normal daily life, but very tender when asked to repeat what they did a whole week ago. Bloody hell!! So I have realised I have to really do these things more regularly. Anyway, I cut back the volume a bit today, but still did them.

The Miracle of Life #2

Sapporo Beer has a campaign every summer where they package little plastic figurines with individual cans of beer; they only sell them in certain convenience stores. They have the theme of some region or other of Japan. Last year was Okinawa. This year it is Kyushu. First I got one of an old woman picking up daikon (big white radishes) and then one of a mud skipper doing an improbable leap as if he were a marlin. Now, I only buy about one can of this beer a week, so I was really, really hoping to get the most prized item in the collection. Finally last night I got it. Now isn't she something! Ahhh, memories of Kinugawa Onsen, 2004.

The Miracle of Life #1

Yesterday when I got home Chiemi and Chiaki were kneeling on the ground staring intently at a pot plant. "Come and look at this", they said. Isn't he a beauty! An emerging cicada (semi). Rei had found him at the local temple as an intact nymph. He started popping out around 8:00 and by 9:30 or so was at the stage of the second photo. We eventually grew tired of staring at him and put him outside on the balcony. Pot plant, cicada and all. By morning he was gone.

Tuesday Slug Fest

Run type: steady aerobic, target HR 140-145.
distance: 16.2 km
Time: 1:18:12
Average pace: 4:50
Cumulative weekly km: 16.2

Ah, Tuesdays. The day after the rest day, which is the day after the long run. So Tuesday. Getting the legs turning over again. Sometimes I can feel so fresh on Tuesdays that I marvel at my recuperative qualities. Other times I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Today was a bus day.

It wasn't too hot, maybe 25 degrees. Storms last night but still so blinking humid. Woke a few minutes before 5:00 am by a cacophony of sirens attending some unseen emergency somewhere not far away. The mornings are becoming gloomier. Got out the door and on the road by 5:20. Immediately aware of a strong tightness in my upper hamstrings. Ran gingerly for one km in 5min 40 sec. Second km in about 5:10. Stopped and did some calf and hammie stretches. Took off and felt no better. The tightness seemed higher than my hamstrings. Oh well, nothing for it but to keep running.

Just after I hit the Park I saw a Japanese toad in the middle of the track. I ran past him at first, but knew some dunderhead would tread on him, so I went back and put the little fella off in some bushes.

Eventually warmed into the run and had the heart rate going at about 140. The aim was to be in the vicinity of about 140 to 145. In the end, I suppose I was pretty successful at that, but there was some solid creep up over 145 on the fourth lap of Komazawa, just before I had to stop and let some little brown monkeys out the back door. Forgot to tape my nipples and had some mince production happening on Nipple #2 (that would be the right one), so singlet went up and over my head, as if I was on the skins team.

Steady run home at heart rate of 143 to 146 in 18:41 (4:55/km).

All in all I got done what I had to get done, but it felt harder than it should have. Certainly harder than the same run last week. Maybe still some residual fatigue from Sunday.

Rest

Monday has been rest day for a long time now. And despite frequently flirting with the idea of a recovery run, I find it nearly imposible to wake up. So extra sleep and rest for the whole day continues to be the Monday diet.

The Weekly Sunday Sauna

Run type: Long -- no heart rate monitor
distance: 27.5 km
Time: 2:27:32
Average pace: 5:22
Cumulative weekly km: 96

Arranged to meet Colin at 8:00 at Yoyogi Park this morning to put in a few laps before the 9:00 starters on our way to 11 laps, or 27.5 km. Pleasantly surprised to find Jim waiting there as well, so there were three of us. Jim had his Garmin 301 all programmed to take him through the run within certain heart rate zones.

There was more rain last night and the temperature might have been down a touch to between 25 to 27 degrees. But the humidity...oh my goodness, it is just relentless. Day in, day out. Mould heaven. So we set off at 5:30 pace and basically stayed there for the first five laps or so. Were joined in turn by Satohi, Rebecca (new English lady, arrived via a long stint in France; has run an 87 minute half), and eventually Jay. Chiba san and Rie were also there somewhere. But anyway, through the heat and humidity we just kept churning them out. Laps 7 to 10 were all under 5:20 pace, and then finally pulled out a 4:51/km for the last lap.

Felt pretty much spent at the end, but probably could have continued if I'd really needed to. Overall time was 2:27:32 versus 2:30:38 for the same distance last week. I think last week was actually slightly hotter. Anyway, it's a good distance to stick at for a little while and then build on as soon as we get a break in the sauna-like conditions.

Went to Meguro Pool in the afternoon with Kohta, Chiaki and Rei. Rei catching cicadas left, right and centre! Now writing this up while watching the women's marathon at the Helsinki World Championships. The Japanese are well out of it and it is hard to justify showing shots of them on screen at all times, but still they do it. Right now, at around 31 km, we have had five or more unbroken minutes of the fourth placed (big gap to third) Japanese runner, who is running entirely by herself, while up front Radcliff is fighting hard to try and ease away from Dita. I'm listening to audio commntary from some web site. Like two different races. But here we go, Ndereba has overtaken Dita and might be closing the gap on Radcliff...time to turn my full attention to it..

Postscript: Paula won in 2:20:50 ... never really challenged and she seemed to pull up looking quite fresh and relaxed. The highest placed Japanese runner was fifth. Worst result in years and they were second to Kenya in the teams. Much gnashing of teeth.

Aobadai Hill Loop

Run Type: Hill workout. 13.4 km. Non-hilll portions at about HR 140 to 145.
Route: Home to Aobadai, around a little, then five Aobadai Hill Loops

I needed about 12 km this morning so that after tomorrow's long run (target: 27.5 km) I would have around 95 for the week. So, what to do? Well, we had a great thunder storm last night and the air felt cooler than it has been for a while, so, why not another hill workout? I was going to use Saturdays to alternate hills and core-strengthening circuit type workout. But I did the core exercises on Wednesday and my gut muscles are still a bit tender (DOMS of the guts) . So, hills it was, same as last Saturday. Ran up to the red bridge at Aobadai and quickly discovered that even though it was as cool as yesterday (at 25 deg C, I use the word "cool" loosely here) it was probably even more humid. Still, heart rate was lower than on the same run last week. Got a bit lost running from the bridge to the hill, so that was about another 2 km. Then decided instead of running up and down the same hill I'd make a loop. This worked out well because the uphill is fairly long and of moderate slope, total length, 708 meters. Here is the loop. So I did five of these. Really flogged myself on the last one and just about popped a gasket, but still the heart rate didn't go over 173. So I need another HRM to be able to measure HRmax. Ran back home at about the same heart rate as last week, but 24 sec/km faster. That's a clear indication of the heat effect. I like this hill loop and I think I'll do it fairly regularly from now on.

Tatsuya left for a soccer camp today for four days. His 15th birthday is tomorrow, the 14th, so we celebrated last night. Kasuya Rei and Obaa-chan came by. Here we all are:

Two degrees of separation

Run Type: Steady 14-km at HR of 145-155 bpm.
Route: From home to Komazawa park, three laps and return.

Crikey! It is amazing what a difference a small drop in temperature can make.

First of all, let's go back two days to Wednesday night. it was warm and steamy, probably 28 degrees, I was running at a heart rate of around 150 to 155. Found it hard to keep to that level as it would climb to 160 as soon as I forced the pace and on uphills. The pace at this level of exertion was around 4:37 to 4:40/km.

Now, on this run this morning there was light drizzle and the temperature was 26 degrees according to Weather.com. This time I found it hard to get my heart rate up to 150 until well into the run--if I wasn't careful it would easily slip down to 145. What's more, the pace was 10 seconds per k faster on the uphills (4:28) and 20 seconds faster on the downhills (4:15 to 4:18) than on Wednesday. Ran from the park to home in 0:17:26, an average of 4:35/km. Heart rate was mostly at 150 but finished at 157.

A pretty good benchmark run.

Losing it

Like most first experiences, I will keep this loss of blogging virginity short and to the point.

Ahh...yes, there we are. Let's hope it gets better than this.