Catching up...

Oh, the lack of an Internet connection at home is such a PITA! Yesterday was a holiday here too, so no chance to post from work. Well, actually, I have discovered that my home-based work notebook has a wireless card and it can "see" a number of open networks, just while sitting in our living room. Since Internet plans here in Japan are all just flat monthly fees, I have ventured on-line via this route a couple of times, but the connection is very iffy and we are a little uncomfortable about the ethics of it. What do others think? Starbucks are alleged to have WAPs at all their coffee shops, but we went to one last night and lo, it was one that didn't have it, the dirty, rotten scoundrels. Anyway, onto some running news, but first, anyone I owe an email to, please accept my apology, as it is just a bit too hard to keep on top of things at he moment.

Saturday the 7th
Ran to Komazawa park at 10:00 in the morning, plus a few laps for a total of 14 km. Nice run. Cool and crisp at about 2 degrees or whatever it was. Heart rate and pace slightly better than the equivalent run a few days before.Bad thing was that the top of my left foot has become sore. This is the same bloody injury that I have had the last two years in a row, at exactly this time of year! First year it was the left foot, last year it was the right foot, and now it is the left foot again. The other times I put it down to coming back from the marathon too hard, but that is definitely not the case thsi time. Maybe I need shoes with a taller build.

Sunday the 8th
Ran 20 km at an average of around 5:20min/km in Yoyogi park. Fairly slow, but consistent pace throughout. Bought a padded band-aid thing for the foot and I think it helped slightly, but the darn thing was still a constant nagging pain. Great lunch with Colin afterwards in La Verde. It has been a while since I enjoyed a few red wines on a Sunday.

Tuesday the 10th
Ma and Pa's anniversary today, so gave them a call before coming to work -- about 58 years I think they have chalked up now. But before even that, I arose at the ungodly time of 5:30 and hit the road. This was the first early morning start since moving to the apartment. A little bit of night-before preparation needed, but otherwise it is a better set-up as far as not disturbing SWMBO is concerned.

It was dark and cold, but at 2 degrees, noticeably not the biting cold that I experienced running to work last week (that was around minus two I think). The run was again to and from Komazawa with three laps (14k). It was a little disappointing in that the heart rate/pace data were not only worse than Saturday's run, but also worse than the run last Wednesday. I was allowing peceived effort to dictate the pace rather than the watch, and while it felt the same as the other day, the run was a couple of minutes slower and the heart rate almost as high as last week. Maybe the body needs to readjust to being asked to function that early again. The foot was still sore, but tolerable for the time being.