Gosho

Today's target workout: medium long upper aerobic (HR145-150)
Actual: 19.8 km with 13.2 at average heart rate of 149 and average pace 4:29/km

I met up with some Namban friends at Sendagaya. We left our gear at the Tokyo gym and ran one easy lap of Gosho, a 3.3 km loop with a couple of stiff little hills. The others then split off to do some intervals on a flat neighbouring course. I picked up the pace and continued another four laps of Gosho. Late in the third lap I met up with the others again and Jay fell in with me for the rest of that and the final lap. Both being on the wrong side of 40 we spent the time (when talking was possible) comparing notes on our respective battles of the niggle.

The pace for heart rate show I am certainly off my aerobic peak, as would be expected after the past month of disrupted training, but it was an encouraging run all the same as the leg was as good as it has been for a while and I generally felt strong throughout. I ran the downhills pretty hard and eased up on the uphills to avoid major fluctuations in heart rate. I am feeling a few twinges in the upper hamstring (probably not the right anatomical term) tonight, but nothing too serious. I'm feeling fairly upbeat about this new regime, though it is still very early to tell if it will actually deliver a decent training stimulus.

Do you like the photo I added t the previous post? I suppose you could call it "New Year Day Still Life". The picture of the runner is actually a digital television stream called "Wanseg" (one segment) that can be picked up by certain mobile phone handsets. It only started last year and is very cool--that phone is shared by two of my kids who need it (not teh TV so much) due to the fact that are often travelling to and from NHK by themsleves for work. I took the photo during the New Years Day Corporate Ekiden. The green sash the guy is wearing is called a taski and is the functional equivalent of a relay baton. The small ceramic cup shows my sake with the flakes of gold -- the bottle it came from is at upper right. The little green packet is some seaweed -- the snack of choice for discerning sake drinkers. The peanut and Lindnor chocolates are exactly what they appear to be.