Off the Mark for '07

Running on Gantan (New Years day) is pretty much out of the question in Japan. Instead you just lounge around, eat lots of traditional food and assorted treats and drink as much as you like. I had a bottle (750 mL) of sake with breakfast and then abstained for the rest for the day, I do mean day, and then knocked over another one over the course of the evening. The first one had gold flakes in it for visual effect and tasted quite good to boot.

The pattern for today was not much different. I watched the first couple of legs of the Hakone ekiden (two-day event for university teams that absolutely drips with tradition, having been held continuously for some 85 years apart from a brief break during WWII) and then got out for a steady 11 km in 51 minutes before we had our main meal of the day. The left leg is still far from cured, but was vastly improved over where it was a week and a half ago. My aerobic condition, as evidenced by heart rates, is definitely down a little, but having done a few speed sessions and the trail run, I think I am in a good place to stick to mostly aerobic running. As much as I'd love to launch into a lot of mileage, I think I will stick with the plan I have established of three key runs per week plus cross training and see what happens. If the leg continues to improve I might add in a few more aerobic runs later in January.