Got out of bed at 6 this morning and ran a total of 7.7 km, of which most was pretty easy, but also four lots of 1-km repeats at race pace on the same stretch of road where I did eight of them last Saturday. The pace was not actually very consistent, but that's OK, they were there or abouts. Near the end of the last one I encountered an old woman who'd just fallen off her bicycle. Silly old cow almost made me lose my stride. No, just kidding, I helped her up with the bike and made sure she was OK. A thousand sumimasens later I was able to finish the last 150 m of the rep.
So I think I might be about done and dusted. Thanks for all the good wishes folks. One of us will try to get on a computer or mobile phone with email in the afternoon to post the results. I will be sure to give Scott a punch in the guts for you, ladies. I'll probably wait until after the marathon if that's OK.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
42.195 km in 5 minutes and 49 seconds
A friend brought this to my attention. I'm not sure if you really want to watch, but...
Race pace repeats
Last night we went through our normal Wednesdy night ritual of meeting at the sento and going out for a run. However it was all very abbreviated and we were back in the sento by 8:00.
There were three easy km of running up to the track and back to the sento, plus the jog recoveries between repeats. And then there were the six times one-km repeats. Matthias was back in town from Cologne for the marathon. He joined me in the repeats from the start, though they were a bit faster than his race pace. And then some others, Motozo, Jay, and Anthony tagged on part-way through.
It was pouring with rain. Very light and drizzly when we left the sento, but as we started the repeats, it really started coming down. Everybody else seemed to be just pacing off me and some of them were chatting. I was a bit distracted and getting twitchy, but then decided that, no, no it was all good. Good practice for concentrating on my own pace through the distractions of other runners and rain and cold. The others could do whatever they wanted; I was going to run my pace. My target pace was 4:10. The repeats were: 4:10.4, 4:14.3, 4:11.1, 4:09.2, 4:13.0, 4:09.3. The 4:14 and 4:13 are a little bit off, but otherwise pretty much on the button. I was chuffed with that frst one! As I got into the repeats I was checking the 200 m/400 m splits less and less frequently. For the last two I don't think I checked my watch once, or maybe just at the 400-m split.
I thought my heart rate was a little bit higher than it has been in recent runs, being at about 148 or 149 at the end of the first couple of repeats and 150 or 151 for the last couple. I think in some recent runs I have been going in the low 140s at that pace, but maybe my mind is playing tricks on me -- not properly comparing apples with apples. Anyway, I suppose there is a minor drop in fitness through the taper. Some reports say there isn't. But as Mr 2P says, fresh legs will carry
you a lot further than tired legs. And definitely my legs are freshening up a lot. Even some of the old niggles are fading to grey.
I feel ready for this.
There were three easy km of running up to the track and back to the sento, plus the jog recoveries between repeats. And then there were the six times one-km repeats. Matthias was back in town from Cologne for the marathon. He joined me in the repeats from the start, though they were a bit faster than his race pace. And then some others, Motozo, Jay, and Anthony tagged on part-way through.
It was pouring with rain. Very light and drizzly when we left the sento, but as we started the repeats, it really started coming down. Everybody else seemed to be just pacing off me and some of them were chatting. I was a bit distracted and getting twitchy, but then decided that, no, no it was all good. Good practice for concentrating on my own pace through the distractions of other runners and rain and cold. The others could do whatever they wanted; I was going to run my pace. My target pace was 4:10. The repeats were: 4:10.4, 4:14.3, 4:11.1, 4:09.2, 4:13.0, 4:09.3. The 4:14 and 4:13 are a little bit off, but otherwise pretty much on the button. I was chuffed with that frst one! As I got into the repeats I was checking the 200 m/400 m splits less and less frequently. For the last two I don't think I checked my watch once, or maybe just at the 400-m split.
I thought my heart rate was a little bit higher than it has been in recent runs, being at about 148 or 149 at the end of the first couple of repeats and 150 or 151 for the last couple. I think in some recent runs I have been going in the low 140s at that pace, but maybe my mind is playing tricks on me -- not properly comparing apples with apples. Anyway, I suppose there is a minor drop in fitness through the taper. Some reports say there isn't. But as Mr 2P says, fresh legs will carry
you a lot further than tired legs. And definitely my legs are freshening up a lot. Even some of the old niggles are fading to grey.
I feel ready for this.
Sunday!!
No, Sunday!! 9:10 am Sunday February 18.
Sorry, maybe that first counter was confusing you. I deleted it.
Sorry, maybe that first counter was confusing you. I deleted it.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
For the benefit of Clairie the Running Fairy
The start time is 9:10 am EJT
9:10 am EJT = 10:10 AEST (Qld?) = 11:10 AEST +1:00 (NSW, Vic daylight savings time).
Actually, it has been rumoured that during the race there will be a way on the Japanese web site to input a person's name or number and get updates on their progress every 5 km. If I get a more detailed "How to", I will try to post it.
To keep you amused in the meantime, here is the course.
See those little hills at the end in the profile? They are bridges associated with the dreary reclaimed harbour land. I hate them. I loathe them. I am going to kill those bastards. I am going to destroy them. They will crumble beneath my size 28.5 cm Asics Gelfeathers. Mere pimples on the backside of a stoat. That's all they are.
That's all for now. As you were.
9:10 am EJT = 10:10 AEST (Qld?) = 11:10 AEST +1:00 (NSW, Vic daylight savings time).
Actually, it has been rumoured that during the race there will be a way on the Japanese web site to input a person's name or number and get updates on their progress every 5 km. If I get a more detailed "How to", I will try to post it.
To keep you amused in the meantime, here is the course.
See those little hills at the end in the profile? They are bridges associated with the dreary reclaimed harbour land. I hate them. I loathe them. I am going to kill those bastards. I am going to destroy them. They will crumble beneath my size 28.5 cm Asics Gelfeathers. Mere pimples on the backside of a stoat. That's all they are.
That's all for now. As you were.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Nothing to see here people
I didn't run today. Sadly, it came very easily to me.
I ran yesterday, but not very much. I also had a 500-yen massage. It was good.
I am eating a lot, growing sleek and fat like a laboratory rat.
I cut my toenails on Saturday, so at least that is done.
I think I will run a few laps around a track tomorrow night. Hmmm...that sounds nice...
I wonder what I can wear to keep warm after I hand in my bag?
I wonder if I can cope with the low mileage in my log for this week?
Tapering is kind of fun, but not.
Roll on Sunday, Sunday roll on.
I ran yesterday, but not very much. I also had a 500-yen massage. It was good.
I am eating a lot, growing sleek and fat like a laboratory rat.
I cut my toenails on Saturday, so at least that is done.
I think I will run a few laps around a track tomorrow night. Hmmm...that sounds nice...
I wonder what I can wear to keep warm after I hand in my bag?
I wonder if I can cope with the low mileage in my log for this week?
Tapering is kind of fun, but not.
Roll on Sunday, Sunday roll on.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Sunday Taper Run & Other Musings
So the object of the taper is to remove residual fatigue by race day without losing fitness. Removing fatigue is easy enough. Just stop running. But I don't think that is such a good idea because then your fitness slides. I also think that inducing very mild levels of fatigue promotes the body to undergo recovery processes...whatever that may mean. And practising race pace is Good. With these thoughts in mind, I decided that the last Sunday should be about 20 km with a mix of easy running and up to race pace, but nothing harder, and not too much of the race pace.
It turned out that my friend Colin had a plan for himself that closely matched what I wanted to do. So we ran two 2.5-km laps at pretty easy pace. I then changed to my brand new Asics Gelfeathers, purchased Saturday as a birthday present. I thought they and my feet probably should try to get to know each other a little before being forced to spend 42.195 km together next Sunday.
We switched from the off-road loop to the paved 1.94-km loop, then ran two loops at 4:40/km, two at 4:30/km, two at 4:15/km and one last one at 4:12/km. The pace was aerobically comfortable for me the whole way. My breathing was never very hard, though my heart rate was touching on 150 in the final two laps. Towards the end my legs were developing a few hot spots, but nothing too serious. Through the rest of the day I felt reasonably fresh as though I hadn't done anything much. Not like the fatigue you feel after a usual long run. So I do think that run trod a good line between a mild stimulus and not adding anything to the general fatigue level.
The new shoes were beautiful. Not even a hint of any rubbing or pressure that might lead to problems. I also wore a new pair of five-"fingered" socks, and they were great. This will be my marathon kit. When we were buying the shoes my wife said to the bloke in the running shop that I was there to buy some shoes for the marathon next week and did he have any recommendations. The patronizing bastard laughed and said you don't go buying new shoes now or you'll get blisters and other problems. Those shoes (pointing to the retired 2110s I was wearing) will do fine. I suppose I just didn't look much like a runner to him as I was wearing jeans and a down jacket over a flannel shirt. See, to be a serious athlete in Japan, you have to be wearing technical clothes festooned with logos. Gotta look the part. So anyway, I got a bit indignant and started to use the best Japanese I could muster to tell him that my present lightweight shoes, some Adidas Adizeros were just a little tight and also felt a bit hard on the footstrike, and that Asics shoes usually don't give me any problems, and that I had Gelfeathers in the past when I ran a 2:55 marathon, so I was thinking of using them again. Mr Smartypants stopped patronizing me after that and I only had to try the one pair of shoes to make the right decision.
Thanks for the encouraging words to my post of two posts back. Yes Ewen, controlled agression. I'm thinking an 87 minute half split, which will require some restraint because the first 5 km has a steady downhill gradient with a net fall of 40 m (so a tad under 1%). After that it is essentially flat. There are a few short sharp hills associated with bridges over the last few km, so their effect on pace will simply depend on how strong (or shattered) I am at that stage. But I'd like to think I'll be gritting my teeth and enduring some pain to maintain a pretty strong pace.
Scott, my self-esteem on the fathering front took a nudge upwards over the weekend when I fought off tiredness to eventually find a way to get videos from YouTube to Kohta's PSP. He'd been bugging me for a few days about it. Once it was cracked he was very happy, and I surprised him by loading this up as the first offering. Being 14 and a Harry Potter fanboy, he was pretty tickled. When I said I was a lousy dad, I suppose I was just trying to reflect the feeling we have that no matter how much we do with and for our kids, it never seems to be enough. And I know that with running and longish work hours, I spend much less time with them than I should or that I imagine I would if we lived in Australia...
It turned out that my friend Colin had a plan for himself that closely matched what I wanted to do. So we ran two 2.5-km laps at pretty easy pace. I then changed to my brand new Asics Gelfeathers, purchased Saturday as a birthday present. I thought they and my feet probably should try to get to know each other a little before being forced to spend 42.195 km together next Sunday.
We switched from the off-road loop to the paved 1.94-km loop, then ran two loops at 4:40/km, two at 4:30/km, two at 4:15/km and one last one at 4:12/km. The pace was aerobically comfortable for me the whole way. My breathing was never very hard, though my heart rate was touching on 150 in the final two laps. Towards the end my legs were developing a few hot spots, but nothing too serious. Through the rest of the day I felt reasonably fresh as though I hadn't done anything much. Not like the fatigue you feel after a usual long run. So I do think that run trod a good line between a mild stimulus and not adding anything to the general fatigue level.
The new shoes were beautiful. Not even a hint of any rubbing or pressure that might lead to problems. I also wore a new pair of five-"fingered" socks, and they were great. This will be my marathon kit. When we were buying the shoes my wife said to the bloke in the running shop that I was there to buy some shoes for the marathon next week and did he have any recommendations. The patronizing bastard laughed and said you don't go buying new shoes now or you'll get blisters and other problems. Those shoes (pointing to the retired 2110s I was wearing) will do fine. I suppose I just didn't look much like a runner to him as I was wearing jeans and a down jacket over a flannel shirt. See, to be a serious athlete in Japan, you have to be wearing technical clothes festooned with logos. Gotta look the part. So anyway, I got a bit indignant and started to use the best Japanese I could muster to tell him that my present lightweight shoes, some Adidas Adizeros were just a little tight and also felt a bit hard on the footstrike, and that Asics shoes usually don't give me any problems, and that I had Gelfeathers in the past when I ran a 2:55 marathon, so I was thinking of using them again. Mr Smartypants stopped patronizing me after that and I only had to try the one pair of shoes to make the right decision.
Thanks for the encouraging words to my post of two posts back. Yes Ewen, controlled agression. I'm thinking an 87 minute half split, which will require some restraint because the first 5 km has a steady downhill gradient with a net fall of 40 m (so a tad under 1%). After that it is essentially flat. There are a few short sharp hills associated with bridges over the last few km, so their effect on pace will simply depend on how strong (or shattered) I am at that stage. But I'd like to think I'll be gritting my teeth and enduring some pain to maintain a pretty strong pace.
Scott, my self-esteem on the fathering front took a nudge upwards over the weekend when I fought off tiredness to eventually find a way to get videos from YouTube to Kohta's PSP. He'd been bugging me for a few days about it. Once it was cracked he was very happy, and I surprised him by loading this up as the first offering. Being 14 and a Harry Potter fanboy, he was pretty tickled. When I said I was a lousy dad, I suppose I was just trying to reflect the feeling we have that no matter how much we do with and for our kids, it never seems to be enough. And I know that with running and longish work hours, I spend much less time with them than I should or that I imagine I would if we lived in Australia...
Saturday, February 10, 2007
A group running blog
For the information of my non-Namban readers, my friend Gareth started a group blog for the use of all the Namban Rengo runners (all 52 of them) to use as we approach Tokyo. He publicized the login and p/word to our mailing list. Though if that's how people post they have to be sure to sign their name to posts. Those with blogger accounts (like moi) could, however, set themselves up as contributers, so our posts (and of course comments) show up with our blogger identity. It hasn't quite taken off like wildfire, but is an interesting experiment and has certainly had a reasonable amount of activity. If you have time to kill or enjoy distractions, you may wish to have a browse of...Tokyo and Beyond.
Maybe some time you too will feel the need for a group blog.
Maybe some time you too will feel the need for a group blog.
Happy 44th to me!
I'm getting old! Running out of time to run any more sub-threes!
After the good run on Wednesday night I took a day off on Thursday. Then life got in the way of plans for a Friday run. First up I had to teach a workshop (English Business Letters) at 1:00 on Friday afternoon and was still preparing the bloody thing right up until 12:45, including a late night and an early start working on it. Once the thing was finished and the stress released I was dead keen for a run, but my littlest son Chiaki had received his results for a test to enter a selective public junior high school and...brrrt, had failed. So I was expected (not by him) to rush home and console him. I resisted at first, but felt like an absloute deadshit of a father (I mean I am anyway, but this just made me feel it for once). And the truth was, my legs felt weary from standing all afternoon teaching. So I traipsed home and gave Chiaki a hug and had my dinner and just shrugged off the run. It's the taper after all.
Mika talked recently about a good way to approach the taper. In fact I did something a bit like this before Ohtawara 2004 and 2005, but her approach is more structured. She suggested getting out and running 1-km repeats at your marathon pace with a 200 m jog recovery. You then progressively reduce the number of repeats each day closer to the big day. So today I got out and did a slowish warm up for a couple of km, then set off on a 1-km (turned out to be 1.1 km) stretch of back road that has very few intersections. I still had to dodge the odd daredevil taxi driver and a removalist truck that decided to overtake me and then immediately pull up, cutting off the left half of the road forcing me to run around him on the right within inches of cars coming the other way. The interesting thing about this stretch of road is that it has a gradual gentle grade, so for the first repeat I was all uphill and for the return, all downill. Repeat four times. So the pace was not especially consistent:
4:13, 4:12 || 4:05, 4:03 || 4:11, 4:04 || 4:11, 4:09.
up, down || etc
I did a walking/standing recovery rather than jog and just waited until my heart rate was about 85. A couple of minutes at most.
So I know Ewen is right, I do have to be careful of going too fast. But if my legs and back and energy levels all feel good, I think I'll go for a fairly aggressive pace anyway... and just see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! At the moment though, not all those things are in place.
After the good run on Wednesday night I took a day off on Thursday. Then life got in the way of plans for a Friday run. First up I had to teach a workshop (English Business Letters) at 1:00 on Friday afternoon and was still preparing the bloody thing right up until 12:45, including a late night and an early start working on it. Once the thing was finished and the stress released I was dead keen for a run, but my littlest son Chiaki had received his results for a test to enter a selective public junior high school and...brrrt, had failed. So I was expected (not by him) to rush home and console him. I resisted at first, but felt like an absloute deadshit of a father (I mean I am anyway, but this just made me feel it for once). And the truth was, my legs felt weary from standing all afternoon teaching. So I traipsed home and gave Chiaki a hug and had my dinner and just shrugged off the run. It's the taper after all.
Mika talked recently about a good way to approach the taper. In fact I did something a bit like this before Ohtawara 2004 and 2005, but her approach is more structured. She suggested getting out and running 1-km repeats at your marathon pace with a 200 m jog recovery. You then progressively reduce the number of repeats each day closer to the big day. So today I got out and did a slowish warm up for a couple of km, then set off on a 1-km (turned out to be 1.1 km) stretch of back road that has very few intersections. I still had to dodge the odd daredevil taxi driver and a removalist truck that decided to overtake me and then immediately pull up, cutting off the left half of the road forcing me to run around him on the right within inches of cars coming the other way. The interesting thing about this stretch of road is that it has a gradual gentle grade, so for the first repeat I was all uphill and for the return, all downill. Repeat four times. So the pace was not especially consistent:
4:13, 4:12 || 4:05, 4:03 || 4:11, 4:04 || 4:11, 4:09.
up, down || etc
I did a walking/standing recovery rather than jog and just waited until my heart rate was about 85. A couple of minutes at most.
So I know Ewen is right, I do have to be careful of going too fast. But if my legs and back and energy levels all feel good, I think I'll go for a fairly aggressive pace anyway... and just see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! At the moment though, not all those things are in place.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Last Big Wednesday
Adam and I have been running these upper aerobic runs of 20 odd km with 14 or so at upper aerobic pace. Last night, with only 11 days to the marathon we could be excused for doing something different. But this is the run that I think has been absolutely pivotal in the training stimulus I've received over the past four weeks. So if it ain't broke...but we did chop off some distance. With warm up and cool down we ran 17.5 km in 1 hour 20. My average heart rate was 136 (73%) and maximum 158 (85%).
******** Lap (1.9 km) paces (min/km) ***********
This: 4:18, 4:09, 4:01, 4:02, 4:02
2WA: 4:14, 4:15, 4:16, 4:16, 4:17, 4:17, 4:16, 4:12, 3:57*
3WA: 4:29, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20, 4:19, 4:14, 4:09, 4:05
4WA: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12
(WA = weeks ago)
The incredible thing was that we were still quite comfortable at those low 4:00/km paces. We were still chatting at the end of lap 2, though it was getting harder. We knuckled down a bit for the next few. But the very instructive thing is my heart rate. Note above that my maximum for the whole run was only 158. Not so long ago, this pace would have been a lactic threshold run for me, that is, a heart rate of 160 to 165. Last night, even running up a slight incline at close to 4:00/km, it never got above 158. And most of the time it was down in the low 150s. Hard but comfortable territory.
The problem for the marathon though is that although my cardiovascular system has responded so well, I am not convinced that I have the leg endurance to maintain a particularly aggressive pace. So I can't get over-excited about these numbers. All I know is that gives me the confidence to really go out after a sub three hour marathon -- 4:15 pace should feel like stroll in the park. But only time will tell. I wish the marathon was this weekend!
And again, a tip of the hat to Adam. He is looking so strong. He ran a 35-km long run last Saturday at not much slower than 3-hour pace, and says he pulled up without any real leg soreness to speak of. I think he might be one out of the box and I am probably more excited for his chances of going sub 3 on debut than I am for my own race.
******** Lap (1.9 km) paces (min/km) ***********
This: 4:18, 4:09, 4:01, 4:02, 4:02
2WA: 4:14, 4:15, 4:16, 4:16, 4:17, 4:17, 4:16, 4:12, 3:57*
3WA: 4:29, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20, 4:19, 4:14, 4:09, 4:05
4WA: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12
(WA = weeks ago)
The incredible thing was that we were still quite comfortable at those low 4:00/km paces. We were still chatting at the end of lap 2, though it was getting harder. We knuckled down a bit for the next few. But the very instructive thing is my heart rate. Note above that my maximum for the whole run was only 158. Not so long ago, this pace would have been a lactic threshold run for me, that is, a heart rate of 160 to 165. Last night, even running up a slight incline at close to 4:00/km, it never got above 158. And most of the time it was down in the low 150s. Hard but comfortable territory.
The problem for the marathon though is that although my cardiovascular system has responded so well, I am not convinced that I have the leg endurance to maintain a particularly aggressive pace. So I can't get over-excited about these numbers. All I know is that gives me the confidence to really go out after a sub three hour marathon -- 4:15 pace should feel like stroll in the park. But only time will tell. I wish the marathon was this weekend!
And again, a tip of the hat to Adam. He is looking so strong. He ran a 35-km long run last Saturday at not much slower than 3-hour pace, and says he pulled up without any real leg soreness to speak of. I think he might be one out of the box and I am probably more excited for his chances of going sub 3 on debut than I am for my own race.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Couldn't Keep it Up
My heart rate that is.
I have to dash for a Shinkansen now, but just very quickly wanted to blog that my heart rate test run just keeps getting more unbelievable each week. This morning I had to really reall work to get my heart rate up. The heart rate test lap was an incredible 8:44.. .Sorry will update later with the comparisons from previous weeks, but I thought last week was fast, this is getting towards 4:05/km pace.
14 km in 1:04:56
Finished hard at a heart rateof 153. It took exactly 54 seconds for my heart rate to fall to 90 when I stopped.
I'm feeling pretty upbeat just now.
I have to dash for a Shinkansen now, but just very quickly wanted to blog that my heart rate test run just keeps getting more unbelievable each week. This morning I had to really reall work to get my heart rate up. The heart rate test lap was an incredible 8:44.. .Sorry will update later with the comparisons from previous weeks, but I thought last week was fast, this is getting towards 4:05/km pace.
14 km in 1:04:56
Finished hard at a heart rateof 153. It took exactly 54 seconds for my heart rate to fall to 90 when I stopped.
I'm feeling pretty upbeat just now.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
35 km and a Japanese icon
Well, I did my planned 32 km run. The running pod reckons it was 34.8 km, but we all know that I would never break my word and run more than I planned, so it must have really been only 32 km ;-) . Running time: 2:51
Average pace: 4:54
Average heart rate 134
It was a pretty good run. I left home just before 8 am. It was a glorious sunny cool day of about 4 or 5 degrees. I made a beeline for Tama river (7.2 km @ 5:10/km). Then ran down river for 10.3 km @ 5:00/km. As I turned to head back up river there in front of me was Mt Fuji standing proud over the skyline. I'd never seen her quite so clearly and large from Tokyo. She was a feature of the view to my left or straight ahead for the 10.3 km back up river (@4:47/km avg). Notice I'd picked up the pace a bit there and the run was unfolding as I'd planned and I was feeling good. Then I turned for home for the final 7.2 km. I really worked hard at this and in long stretches had my pace down around the 4:15/km. There are a few uphills and other slow bits, so the final average pace for that section was only 4:36/km, but I was still happy with the strong finish.
I rewarded myself with a smoothy with a banana, two eggs, and small tub of ice cream. Yum.
So that's it. Final long run in the bag and nothing left now but to taper and start freshening up. Which means I'm off for a 7.5 km recovery this morning.
Footnote to Ewen: I actually like all my aunts as well, but was grasping at straws for a suitable metaphor.
Average pace: 4:54
Average heart rate 134
It was a pretty good run. I left home just before 8 am. It was a glorious sunny cool day of about 4 or 5 degrees. I made a beeline for Tama river (7.2 km @ 5:10/km). Then ran down river for 10.3 km @ 5:00/km. As I turned to head back up river there in front of me was Mt Fuji standing proud over the skyline. I'd never seen her quite so clearly and large from Tokyo. She was a feature of the view to my left or straight ahead for the 10.3 km back up river (@4:47/km avg). Notice I'd picked up the pace a bit there and the run was unfolding as I'd planned and I was feeling good. Then I turned for home for the final 7.2 km. I really worked hard at this and in long stretches had my pace down around the 4:15/km. There are a few uphills and other slow bits, so the final average pace for that section was only 4:36/km, but I was still happy with the strong finish.
I rewarded myself with a smoothy with a banana, two eggs, and small tub of ice cream. Yum.
So that's it. Final long run in the bag and nothing left now but to taper and start freshening up. Which means I'm off for a 7.5 km recovery this morning.
Footnote to Ewen: I actually like all my aunts as well, but was grasping at straws for a suitable metaphor.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Perserverance pays off
Waking up at 5:15 am, stumbling around sleepily, pulling on tights, strapping on the heart rate monitor, donning T-shirt and long sleeve layers, changing the battery in the footpod, doing battle with the shoes, lurching into the elevator, clicking the watch to start, off and running into the dark, cold morning.
Sometimes I embrace this routine like a reunion with an old friend--warmly, welcoming, breathing in each other's very being. Occasionally, when sleep is short and future goals hazy, I dread it like the approach of a cloyingly musty old aunt -- how do I get out of this? You can't! Just grit your teeth and give her a hug. Ugh!
This morning it was a feeling somewhere in between. I am driven by the thought of Tokyo Marathon just over two weeks away, but I am also getting tired and slightly leg-weary from some recent hard workouts and have a building trepidation of overdoing things too close to the marathon. Late yesterday I learn that we have a work function tonight. If I am to run today it is this morning or lunchtime. Lunchtime offers too little time, involves lugging gear to work, and runs the risk of being scuttled by the demands of work. So I choose morning, and thus, with the familiar "pip pip peep" of my Polar alarm at 5:15, the routine swings into action.
Today it was time for some speed. I was tossing up between four progressive paced post office loops (3.3 km per loop) or four 1600-m repeats at Komazawa Park. For reasons I can't well explain, I chose the 1600s. Last time I attempted this workout I pulled up very sore in my left knee. But I have had my Three Good Weeks since then. I still experience some pain in that old left leg, but it is higher in the thigh and and towards the groin...and quite bearable. The knee has actually been very settled.
I run the 4 km to the park and immediately have to have a toilet break. Good. Better than halfway through the repeats. I continue up to the start line in Komazawa Park and click the split button and I'm off. I'm running pretty hard and it feels fairly fast, but not flat out. It shouldn't need to be as it is only the first repeat. I do not look at my watch and try to run by feel. In the last 500 m I am working hard and breathing hard. This should be a reasonably fast effort I think. At least below 6:10.
I click my watch and am dismayed to see a time of 6:23. What!! I've been running so well lately. Fast, strong. Is it only my endurance system I've trained? Has my VO2 and leg speed gone completely? Do I pull out of this workout now and just go into the marathon on aerobic workouts alone? Finally I decide that, no, whatever happens I am not going to quit. I will finish this workout come hell or high water.
The next repeat I grit my teeth and try to push harder. Surely I have more to give than 6:23!! It gets tough over the last 400 m, which is slightly uphill, and finally I am encouraged to see a more respectable 6:07 on the watch. I have done my best here and don't expect to see any more improvement, so despite hoping that they'd all be under 6:05, at least this is getting closer to the territory I want to be in.
I jog back to the start and push hard in the third repeat. I am more warmed up now, my body more familiar with the hard effort. I focus more on my stride and foot strike, looking for ways to squeeze more out. It's been a long time since I've done intervals. Maybe I am just out of practice. And though I suffer again over those last 600 m, I'm even happier to see a flat 6:00 on the watch. Well, that's more like it. The cobwebs are clearing.
On the last repeat, with great prescience I say to myself, hey, this is the last repeat! and somehow, when I search inside, I find there is actually a little more to give. Oh, it hurts though. That rotten uphill over the last 600 m never gets any easier. But I push it right to the end, scaring the other denizens of the dawn, the old ladies and small dogs, with my hard breathing. Final rep: 5:56! Finally I can feel something approaching satisfaction!
This was not a perfect workout. In some respects it was even a bit ugly having such a wide spread of numbers, but at least there was a steady improvement with each rep. The temperature was only 3 degrees today, so I guess that simply getting warmed up was one of the problems. Ultimately though, I was most pleased with the fact that I simply stuck with it after the bad start and completed what I set out to do. I am sure it blew out some cobwebs. Running the 4 km home I was doing about 4:30 pace and it just felt like a stroll, my heart rate was barely getting over 135 (72%) and my cadence was easy.
When I got home, I quickly did some stretches and a few core exercises as it was after 7:00 and there was no time to linger. But as I picked up my heart rate monitor off the ground and walked slowly towards the front door, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief to have this run under my belt. Nothing could take it away from me now. Neither work, nor the mental contortions of mind versus will. And a feeling of satisfaction and warmth spread through my body. Except for my painfully frozen fingers.
Sometimes I embrace this routine like a reunion with an old friend--warmly, welcoming, breathing in each other's very being. Occasionally, when sleep is short and future goals hazy, I dread it like the approach of a cloyingly musty old aunt -- how do I get out of this? You can't! Just grit your teeth and give her a hug. Ugh!
This morning it was a feeling somewhere in between. I am driven by the thought of Tokyo Marathon just over two weeks away, but I am also getting tired and slightly leg-weary from some recent hard workouts and have a building trepidation of overdoing things too close to the marathon. Late yesterday I learn that we have a work function tonight. If I am to run today it is this morning or lunchtime. Lunchtime offers too little time, involves lugging gear to work, and runs the risk of being scuttled by the demands of work. So I choose morning, and thus, with the familiar "pip pip peep" of my Polar alarm at 5:15, the routine swings into action.
Today it was time for some speed. I was tossing up between four progressive paced post office loops (3.3 km per loop) or four 1600-m repeats at Komazawa Park. For reasons I can't well explain, I chose the 1600s. Last time I attempted this workout I pulled up very sore in my left knee. But I have had my Three Good Weeks since then. I still experience some pain in that old left leg, but it is higher in the thigh and and towards the groin...and quite bearable. The knee has actually been very settled.
I run the 4 km to the park and immediately have to have a toilet break. Good. Better than halfway through the repeats. I continue up to the start line in Komazawa Park and click the split button and I'm off. I'm running pretty hard and it feels fairly fast, but not flat out. It shouldn't need to be as it is only the first repeat. I do not look at my watch and try to run by feel. In the last 500 m I am working hard and breathing hard. This should be a reasonably fast effort I think. At least below 6:10.
I click my watch and am dismayed to see a time of 6:23. What!! I've been running so well lately. Fast, strong. Is it only my endurance system I've trained? Has my VO2 and leg speed gone completely? Do I pull out of this workout now and just go into the marathon on aerobic workouts alone? Finally I decide that, no, whatever happens I am not going to quit. I will finish this workout come hell or high water.
The next repeat I grit my teeth and try to push harder. Surely I have more to give than 6:23!! It gets tough over the last 400 m, which is slightly uphill, and finally I am encouraged to see a more respectable 6:07 on the watch. I have done my best here and don't expect to see any more improvement, so despite hoping that they'd all be under 6:05, at least this is getting closer to the territory I want to be in.
I jog back to the start and push hard in the third repeat. I am more warmed up now, my body more familiar with the hard effort. I focus more on my stride and foot strike, looking for ways to squeeze more out. It's been a long time since I've done intervals. Maybe I am just out of practice. And though I suffer again over those last 600 m, I'm even happier to see a flat 6:00 on the watch. Well, that's more like it. The cobwebs are clearing.
On the last repeat, with great prescience I say to myself, hey, this is the last repeat! and somehow, when I search inside, I find there is actually a little more to give. Oh, it hurts though. That rotten uphill over the last 600 m never gets any easier. But I push it right to the end, scaring the other denizens of the dawn, the old ladies and small dogs, with my hard breathing. Final rep: 5:56! Finally I can feel something approaching satisfaction!
This was not a perfect workout. In some respects it was even a bit ugly having such a wide spread of numbers, but at least there was a steady improvement with each rep. The temperature was only 3 degrees today, so I guess that simply getting warmed up was one of the problems. Ultimately though, I was most pleased with the fact that I simply stuck with it after the bad start and completed what I set out to do. I am sure it blew out some cobwebs. Running the 4 km home I was doing about 4:30 pace and it just felt like a stroll, my heart rate was barely getting over 135 (72%) and my cadence was easy.
When I got home, I quickly did some stretches and a few core exercises as it was after 7:00 and there was no time to linger. But as I picked up my heart rate monitor off the ground and walked slowly towards the front door, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief to have this run under my belt. Nothing could take it away from me now. Neither work, nor the mental contortions of mind versus will. And a feeling of satisfaction and warmth spread through my body. Except for my painfully frozen fingers.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Running out of time
The upper aerobic run in Yoyogi Park last night went pretty well. It was much more even paced than the previous two, just upping the pace a little on the penultimate lap and then throwing in a hard last lap. I ran with Adam again and we did one more lap than on the previous occasions. The hard aerobic segment was 17.1 km and with warm up and cool down the whole run was about 22.5 km in 1:45:11 with an average heart rate of 143 (77%). At times my legs (especially the left, and especially in the last 5 km) felt like they were being taxed, but generally it wasn't hard to hold the pace. I think these are the runs that have been giving me the strongest training stimulus over the past three or four weeks. These are the gift of the Running Fairy.
********* Lap (1.9 km) paces (min/km) ***********
This: 4:14, 4:15, 4:16, 4:16, 4:17, 4:17, 4:16, 4:12, 3:57*
2WA: 4:29, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20, 4:19, 4:14, 4:09, 4:05
3WA: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12
(WA = weeks ago)
*At the start of this lap I told Adam, "Off you go, see how much you can beat me by!" He beat my about 20 seconds the ungrateful sod ;-) He is going to have great debut marathon.
There were some conflicting comments to the recent pondering on my part about how to do my last long run. I think I will do it on Saturday. About 30 to 32 km at progressive pace. That is, slow for the first 10k, moderate for the second 10k, then lift towards marathon pace over the last 10k.
********* Lap (1.9 km) paces (min/km) ***********
This: 4:14, 4:15, 4:16, 4:16, 4:17, 4:17, 4:16, 4:12, 3:57*
2WA: 4:29, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20, 4:19, 4:14, 4:09, 4:05
3WA: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12
(WA = weeks ago)
*At the start of this lap I told Adam, "Off you go, see how much you can beat me by!" He beat my about 20 seconds the ungrateful sod ;-) He is going to have great debut marathon.
There were some conflicting comments to the recent pondering on my part about how to do my last long run. I think I will do it on Saturday. About 30 to 32 km at progressive pace. That is, slow for the first 10k, moderate for the second 10k, then lift towards marathon pace over the last 10k.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Training in my sleep
Just for something completely different, here is a post about not running. Not a non-running post, a not-running post.
Tonight is the monthly 5k time trial, so what I'd hoped to do is get up this morning and take my 20-km mid-week IV drip of aerobic goodness and then back up at the track tonight for the time trial. That's how good I'm feeling at the moment.
But sadly, last night I couldn't get out of the office until 10:30. I was home by 11:15 and fed by 11:40 or so, but feeling pretty tired.
Climbing into the farter at midnight, looking down the barrel of waking up five hours later to run 20 odd km...I thought, nup, I think it would be far better for my body to take an extra two hours sleep, move the 20k run to this evening, and toss the time trial out the window. So that's what I plan to do.
Now wasn't that a fascinating training session!
Tonight is the monthly 5k time trial, so what I'd hoped to do is get up this morning and take my 20-km mid-week IV drip of aerobic goodness and then back up at the track tonight for the time trial. That's how good I'm feeling at the moment.
But sadly, last night I couldn't get out of the office until 10:30. I was home by 11:15 and fed by 11:40 or so, but feeling pretty tired.
Climbing into the farter at midnight, looking down the barrel of waking up five hours later to run 20 odd km...I thought, nup, I think it would be far better for my body to take an extra two hours sleep, move the 20k run to this evening, and toss the time trial out the window. So that's what I plan to do.
Now wasn't that a fascinating training session!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
More good omens
Not so much omens and woo woo as hard, clear data. For the fourth consecutive week I did the 80% of HRmax pace test.
Last week I was over the moon that the third lap, the test lap, was in 9:03. This morning I actually had to work like crazy on the pace-up lap just to get my heart rate anywhere near 149. Finally by the start of the measurement lap, which is on a slight uphill, I was able to get up to the target of 149. On this uphill section in previous my heart rate would easily creep up to 151 before I would have to adjust; today it only made it to 150 and then the slightest of easing would halt the increase and soon get it back to 149, or 148, or 147...I had to be really careful or it would just start dropping. And this was going uphill.
The time for the lap: 8:51 ... that's bloody 4:07/km!! There is no conclusion to be drawn from this other than that long, hard aerobic runs are just a veritable pot of training gold. My Tuesday and Wednesday runs over the past three or four weeks have really paid off in aerobic endurance. The comfort at a stiff pace in the race on Sunday was very real. And speaking of that, I felt absolutely no fatigue or soreness from the race until about 12 km into today's run. At this point I had to decide whether to do another lap of the park (that would result in over 18 km for the run) or head home. I was a bit torn, but was feeling that my legs were definitely not real happy about the pace we'd been running. I took that as a sign not to overdo it and pointed the pony for home. I still managed a reasonably fast park to home leg, but had to crack the whip to keep the legs turning over as they were definitely interested in a more relaxed pace.
This certainly bodes well for Tokyo, but still leaves me with a bit of head scratching to do. In particular, the sense of being underdone for genuine long runs. I could squeeze in a run of about 30-33 km this coming weekend, leaving 14 days for recovery, or just keep churning out as many of these 16 to 22 km aerobic runs as possible. It is also going to make a pacing strategy interesting. I am definitely fit enough now to be able to confidently go out at 4:10 to 4:15/km pace and hold it long into the race...but for just how long? And how bad will be the fade? I really want to avoid another fade of Ohtawara-esque proportions, so am inclined to try and be more conservative and feel relatively fresh coming into 30 km. Well, I suppsoe these are good problems to have. Better than worrying about how to optimize a running/cross training regimen that could get me to the start line of the marathon, which is where I was at only a little over a month ago.
Last week I was over the moon that the third lap, the test lap, was in 9:03. This morning I actually had to work like crazy on the pace-up lap just to get my heart rate anywhere near 149. Finally by the start of the measurement lap, which is on a slight uphill, I was able to get up to the target of 149. On this uphill section in previous my heart rate would easily creep up to 151 before I would have to adjust; today it only made it to 150 and then the slightest of easing would halt the increase and soon get it back to 149, or 148, or 147...I had to be really careful or it would just start dropping. And this was going uphill.
The time for the lap: 8:51 ... that's bloody 4:07/km!! There is no conclusion to be drawn from this other than that long, hard aerobic runs are just a veritable pot of training gold. My Tuesday and Wednesday runs over the past three or four weeks have really paid off in aerobic endurance. The comfort at a stiff pace in the race on Sunday was very real. And speaking of that, I felt absolutely no fatigue or soreness from the race until about 12 km into today's run. At this point I had to decide whether to do another lap of the park (that would result in over 18 km for the run) or head home. I was a bit torn, but was feeling that my legs were definitely not real happy about the pace we'd been running. I took that as a sign not to overdo it and pointed the pony for home. I still managed a reasonably fast park to home leg, but had to crack the whip to keep the legs turning over as they were definitely interested in a more relaxed pace.
This certainly bodes well for Tokyo, but still leaves me with a bit of head scratching to do. In particular, the sense of being underdone for genuine long runs. I could squeeze in a run of about 30-33 km this coming weekend, leaving 14 days for recovery, or just keep churning out as many of these 16 to 22 km aerobic runs as possible. It is also going to make a pacing strategy interesting. I am definitely fit enough now to be able to confidently go out at 4:10 to 4:15/km pace and hold it long into the race...but for just how long? And how bad will be the fade? I really want to avoid another fade of Ohtawara-esque proportions, so am inclined to try and be more conservative and feel relatively fresh coming into 30 km. Well, I suppsoe these are good problems to have. Better than worrying about how to optimize a running/cross training regimen that could get me to the start line of the marathon, which is where I was at only a little over a month ago.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Shinjuku Half
I felt very relaxed about the Shinjuku half today. I decided I'd run it hard, but not aggressively. I think of aggresive as when you go at a pace that you really honestly don't think you can hold, but if all goes well, somehow you do, or close enough to end up with a great time. A couple of people asked me what my goal time was and I truthfully said I really didn't know but would be happy with anything under 85 minutes.
The race started and finished on the running track of the national stadium. Oh my, it was so crowded. And that was the theme of the day. I got with an audacious group of Nambanners right up near the front in the 1:15 to 1:25 group. Even so, it was a very slow start, and those that started further back later said that, for them, during the first kilometer "running was optional". I was able to get up to a steady pace after four or five minutes and eventually went through the first 5 km in 20:43. Not bad considering the slow start. And I figured I wasn't too much slower than 4:00 pace, but feeling fairly comfortable. The course consisted of four loops around the local area, and during the first loop we got, as a special treat, to run through a road tunnel. Yippeee!
The second 5 km split was 20:09, so tracking nicely. Still felt hard but comfortable. I had picked up a passenger too, a young chap named Christian who spoke to me at the starting line and had decided that I seemed "experienced" and he would try to stay with me for as long as possible -- his goal was to finish under 90 minutes. He was still there at 12 km but somewhere after that dropped off.
The 10 to 15k split came up in exactly 20:00.2 minutes. Somewhere around here things got ugly as the multiple loops meant we were running through the back markers, and in places we had a total of one traffic lane of space. Mostly there was a way through, but there would always be the odd dimwit who would stray over to the right and block the path prompting me to have to yell for them to make an opening. One guy did it wearing earphones and couldn't hear the call, so when I went through I tapped him on the shoulder to make a point. Probably not really the right thing to do, but the point is it was pretty frustrating because actually I was building up pace and feeling strong and wanting to really bring it home.
Anyway, I hit the 20 km mark with a 19:32 split. So, yes, I really had been building up. Then I had another curse-fest as there was a point after the 20 k mark where you had to leave the main course and head back to the stadium. Only it was just after a drink station so all the slower runners on their third lap were obscuring the exit point and the marshals were doing an awful job -- the exit lane wasn't even marked with cones or anything...blah! I wasn't the only one who missed the turnoff. I realized something was wrong pretty quickly and cut back across to the right course, but I reckon it cost me at least 20 seconds, and it also broke my rhythm and concentration so that I probably just coasted home instead of building to the big finish, so maybe it cost a few more seconds. So the final 1.1 km was 4:29 for a final gun time of: 84:56!! Exactly 4 seconds off my estimate. Not bad eh! And I was pleased that each successive 5k split was faster than the previous.
A very nice postscript was that young Christian came in under his goal of 90 minutes. I think we have added a new Nambanner to the ranks!
The race started and finished on the running track of the national stadium. Oh my, it was so crowded. And that was the theme of the day. I got with an audacious group of Nambanners right up near the front in the 1:15 to 1:25 group. Even so, it was a very slow start, and those that started further back later said that, for them, during the first kilometer "running was optional". I was able to get up to a steady pace after four or five minutes and eventually went through the first 5 km in 20:43. Not bad considering the slow start. And I figured I wasn't too much slower than 4:00 pace, but feeling fairly comfortable. The course consisted of four loops around the local area, and during the first loop we got, as a special treat, to run through a road tunnel. Yippeee!
The second 5 km split was 20:09, so tracking nicely. Still felt hard but comfortable. I had picked up a passenger too, a young chap named Christian who spoke to me at the starting line and had decided that I seemed "experienced" and he would try to stay with me for as long as possible -- his goal was to finish under 90 minutes. He was still there at 12 km but somewhere after that dropped off.
The 10 to 15k split came up in exactly 20:00.2 minutes. Somewhere around here things got ugly as the multiple loops meant we were running through the back markers, and in places we had a total of one traffic lane of space. Mostly there was a way through, but there would always be the odd dimwit who would stray over to the right and block the path prompting me to have to yell for them to make an opening. One guy did it wearing earphones and couldn't hear the call, so when I went through I tapped him on the shoulder to make a point. Probably not really the right thing to do, but the point is it was pretty frustrating because actually I was building up pace and feeling strong and wanting to really bring it home.
Anyway, I hit the 20 km mark with a 19:32 split. So, yes, I really had been building up. Then I had another curse-fest as there was a point after the 20 k mark where you had to leave the main course and head back to the stadium. Only it was just after a drink station so all the slower runners on their third lap were obscuring the exit point and the marshals were doing an awful job -- the exit lane wasn't even marked with cones or anything...blah! I wasn't the only one who missed the turnoff. I realized something was wrong pretty quickly and cut back across to the right course, but I reckon it cost me at least 20 seconds, and it also broke my rhythm and concentration so that I probably just coasted home instead of building to the big finish, so maybe it cost a few more seconds. So the final 1.1 km was 4:29 for a final gun time of: 84:56!! Exactly 4 seconds off my estimate. Not bad eh! And I was pleased that each successive 5k split was faster than the previous.
A very nice postscript was that young Christian came in under his goal of 90 minutes. I think we have added a new Nambanner to the ranks!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Busy couple of days
My last training entry was for Thursday morning. Here we are Saturday and I have had three runs since that post. I ran about 11.5 km around the Imperial Palace on Thursday evening at a fairly easy to moderate pace.
Had a sleep-in until 6:45 on Friday morning and then joined a few Namban friends last night at the Palace again. I ran three and a bit laps for a total of 18.5 km. The first 5k was just a nice steady pace around 4:50/km. The second lap I kicked it down a gear and averaged about 4:20/km for an average heart rate of 148(80%). At the start of the third lap I was joined by TRD and shortly after Motozo and they pushed me along for a slightly faster lap and an average heart rate of 151(81%). So this was a good upper aerobic run. It felt a bit harder than that pace has been at other times this week. So I think some accumulated fatigue is there even though I am recovering quickly and feeling pretty good during the day. So this morning I just got out for an easy 7 km. My average heart rate was only 128(69%) for that run, but on three occasions I accelerated up to top pace over a distance of 100-m or so.
I have a half marathon tomorrow. Shinjuku City. I haven't even mentioned it to now because it is not really a target race. I entered it because I thought it was a good proximity to Tokyo for a nice fast tune-up. I am partly regretting it because the leg troubles and then Shibuya ekiden last week meant that I haven't done as many long runs as I would have liked. And tomorrow is about the last chance. Still, I am in for a penny in for a pound. Let's see what happens. If I feel up to it I might do a further slow 10 km after the race. Could be tough.
I haven't filled my log in for days but I must be already up to about 90 km for the week.
Had a sleep-in until 6:45 on Friday morning and then joined a few Namban friends last night at the Palace again. I ran three and a bit laps for a total of 18.5 km. The first 5k was just a nice steady pace around 4:50/km. The second lap I kicked it down a gear and averaged about 4:20/km for an average heart rate of 148(80%). At the start of the third lap I was joined by TRD and shortly after Motozo and they pushed me along for a slightly faster lap and an average heart rate of 151(81%). So this was a good upper aerobic run. It felt a bit harder than that pace has been at other times this week. So I think some accumulated fatigue is there even though I am recovering quickly and feeling pretty good during the day. So this morning I just got out for an easy 7 km. My average heart rate was only 128(69%) for that run, but on three occasions I accelerated up to top pace over a distance of 100-m or so.
I have a half marathon tomorrow. Shinjuku City. I haven't even mentioned it to now because it is not really a target race. I entered it because I thought it was a good proximity to Tokyo for a nice fast tune-up. I am partly regretting it because the leg troubles and then Shibuya ekiden last week meant that I haven't done as many long runs as I would have liked. And tomorrow is about the last chance. Still, I am in for a penny in for a pound. Let's see what happens. If I feel up to it I might do a further slow 10 km after the race. Could be tough.
I haven't filled my log in for days but I must be already up to about 90 km for the week.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Sayonara baby!
Thanks for all the kind comments on Tatsuya. We saw him off last night. It might have been more emotional for us if his 24 current and former schoolmates hadn't shown up at the airport! We could have got a good game of touchy footy or cricket going. Half the kids, even the boys were bawling (actually I don't think the girls were!) He lost it a bit giving everyone a hug goodbye, and I suppose it must have hit home to him as hard as it possibly could that he is very popular and greatly loved here. Let's hope the quiet and lonely first few weeks in Australia aren't too hard. I had a long hug with him and let him have a good cry. I told him to be strong. He said he was. Told him to sieze this opportunity with two hands and use it to forge his identity as being firmly of two countries and two cultures. Not half Japanese and half Australian, but fully Australian and fully Japanese. He said he would. I was so impressed by the words from the Prophet I posted yesterday. So I told him that Mum and I are just a bow, and you are the arrow, and now we are releasing you to fly straight and true and make your mark in the world. He nodded, and I think he understood.
For a laugh, you might want to try looking at the boys' blog when run through Google translator. Don't ask me to explain!
For a laugh, you might want to try looking at the boys' blog when run through Google translator. Don't ask me to explain!
Three in a row
Today was the third day in a row that I was up for a run with less than seven hours sleep under my belt. After getting back from the airport at getting on for 10:00pm it was time for a snack (fish & a rice ball) and a beer and check emails before getting to bed around 11:30. Set the alarm for 5:30 and managed to prise myself out. I want to run twice today so decided not to head off on the 4-km jaunt to Komazawa park. Instead I set out to run three or four "post-office loops", a 3.3-km circuit course from my home that takes me past Meguro Post Office. At first I was thinking of doing one lap easy, one hard, one easy, one hard. But that just didn't seem very attractive, so I decided to try and run a progressive pace. It went pretty well actually, especially the relatively low heart rate for the pace of the last two laps. All up, 13.3 km in 0:58:45 for an average heart rate of 142 (76%). Here are the lap data:
Lap time Ave pace Ave HR(%max)
0:17:01 0:05:09 123 (66)
0:14:35 0:04:25 140 (75)
0:13:43 0:04:09 151 (81)
0:13:17 0:04:02 158 (85)
It was hard work keeping that kind of pace on the last lap, particularly because a little brown skin diver was knocking on the escape hatch.
Tonight's run will just be an easy 10k. The leg is feeling pretty good, as in not hurting much.
Lap time Ave pace Ave HR(%max)
0:17:01 0:05:09 123 (66)
0:14:35 0:04:25 140 (75)
0:13:43 0:04:09 151 (81)
0:13:17 0:04:02 158 (85)
It was hard work keeping that kind of pace on the last lap, particularly because a little brown skin diver was knocking on the escape hatch.
Tonight's run will just be an easy 10k. The leg is feeling pretty good, as in not hurting much.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A rare Wednesday morning run
With the airport trip tonight I won't be doing my usual Wednesday run in the park with Namban mates. So I got up early and headed out for a mid-week kinda long run (as Hal Higdon calls them). It wasn't quite as intense as the ones with Adam last week and the week before, but I still ran much of the second half at a heart rate up near 150 and pace between 4:10/km and 4:20/km. The averages are dragged down by the easy cool down.
Total distance: 22.3 km (week to date: 41 km)
Time: 1:40:10
Average HR: 140
Average pace: 4:30/km
Total distance: 22.3 km (week to date: 41 km)
Time: 1:40:10
Average HR: 140
Average pace: 4:30/km
Your children are not your children
Tatsuya will be leaving tonight to start year 11 in Australia and we head out to the airport with him later this afternoon. I mentioned to a friend yesterday that this would be just a little gut-wrenching (if gut-wrenching comes in degrees). It prompted him to send me an excerpt from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. It echoed what I already hold to be true, but I just thought it was worth posting as I prepare to see off my eldest. It seems it was only a few days ago that I pulled into a shop in Military Road on my way home from Royal North Shore and bought a teddy bear for my newly born son (the very same bear my wife discovered a few moments ago in his hand luggage!). Anyway, here is the passage from the Prophet
Chapter 3 Children
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Food
I'm feeling a bit down on myself about food. I have been eating far too many empty calories. Breakfast is alright...usually meusli, sometimes of late porridge. Lunch is alright...usually a tomato, cheese & lettuce sandwich and soup. Dinner itself is usually quite good, but often due to my our hectic lifestyles, especially on weekends, can be just rice and a piece of fish/meat, not much in the way of vegetables. But my dinner serving isn't much bigger than what the kids eat. And if it is bigger it is mainly by having more rice. So, for those that are doing some quick calorific accounting, you will realise this isn't really enough calories to sustain someone training for a marathon. The problem is, I top up with shit. Chocolates and cookies (bikkies) at work, maybe some chips on the way home. I keep telling myself to quit and buy something healthy instead. What I mean by healthy is simply something with some vitamins and minerals, maybe even some protein, for much the same kind of calorific value as the other rubbish. I'm sure it would help my energy levels and overall well-being if I could cram in a few more vitamins etc. The main impediments are laziness (to get up and pop out to the convenience store or getting organized), stinginess (I would have to pay out of my own limited pocket-money), and self-gratification (I actually do like the naughty foods, especially chippies and chockies, so it is kind of a comfort food I guess...but totally unecessary!)
I wonder if anyone else can identify? Anyway, I hope this post gives me the impetus to start doing something about this. In any case, I must try to eat more natto, even if it doesn't help you lose weight after all.
I wonder if anyone else can identify? Anyway, I hope this post gives me the impetus to start doing something about this. In any case, I must try to eat more natto, even if it doesn't help you lose weight after all.
Proof!
This morning's run bears testament to the oft-quoted line that it takes two weeks for a training stimulus to show up in your physiology. Yep, the old heart rate test again.
The protocol in brief for those who come in late: third lap of Komazawa Park, first lap at around 138 to 143 HR, then second lap getting the HR up to 149, then the third lap is the comparison lap.
Two weeks ago the time of the third lap was 9:15 (4:18/km) and that marked the first measure after I had really started to pick the training load back up following the knee soreness. Then last week the lap time was 9:23 (4:22/km), which might have been discouraging if I were not a man of great patience and forbearing. And today, ta-daaaahhh ... 9:03 for 4:13/km! Yeeeahhyy!! It might have been exaggerated slightly by the fact that partway through the second lap I had to stop and tie my shoelace, thus giving the cardio system some recovery time. But still, I had a sense right from the get go this morning that my aerobic system was in pretty good shape as I felt I was putting in quite some effort with the legs, and the pace was reflecting that on my watch, and yet I was breathing easily.
So things are coming together on the general aerobic fitness front. Endurance is going to be another thing as I feel a bit underdone for long runs. Never mind, at least I'm getting to a point of developing enough confidence to have a go.
The protocol in brief for those who come in late: third lap of Komazawa Park, first lap at around 138 to 143 HR, then second lap getting the HR up to 149, then the third lap is the comparison lap.
Two weeks ago the time of the third lap was 9:15 (4:18/km) and that marked the first measure after I had really started to pick the training load back up following the knee soreness. Then last week the lap time was 9:23 (4:22/km), which might have been discouraging if I were not a man of great patience and forbearing. And today, ta-daaaahhh ... 9:03 for 4:13/km! Yeeeahhyy!! It might have been exaggerated slightly by the fact that partway through the second lap I had to stop and tie my shoelace, thus giving the cardio system some recovery time. But still, I had a sense right from the get go this morning that my aerobic system was in pretty good shape as I felt I was putting in quite some effort with the legs, and the pace was reflecting that on my watch, and yet I was breathing easily.
So things are coming together on the general aerobic fitness front. Endurance is going to be another thing as I feel a bit underdone for long runs. Never mind, at least I'm getting to a point of developing enough confidence to have a go.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
New Shibuya Ekiden, 2007
The shibuya Ekiden changed its location this year from Oda athletic track and surrounds to inside Yoyogi Park. Each leg is 2.8 km. The Ekiden is for the community of Shibuya Ward, and since Namban Rengo's registered address is in Shibuya, we attend each year. Our numbers have really taken a bit of a jump lately, I suppose with a peak of interest in running due to the Tokyo Marathon and a bit of a raised profile for us.
So today we had more teams than ever before: 8 open mens, 3 masters mens, and 6 womens. Our top teams won the open mens (Gordon finally making it to the starting line and having a good run and Brett running with a broken toe) and womens divisions. Seeing Mika sprinting her guts out to catch a junior high school boy right at the end of the women's victory was a marvellous sight.
I was in the so-called masters A team. Our masters B team kicked our butts for three legs, and then poor Gareth, who had been unfairly drafted into the anchor position of Team B by the dastardly GPAA, was never going to hold off the flying Juergen. But alas, there was one team ahead of both of us, our arch enemies, the Shibuya Police. So we got 2nd and our Masters B came third, so not a bad effort overall. I was pretty happy with my run of 9:46 (3:29/km) on that fairly tight little course. A number of people said they thought the course was a bit short, and now that I think about it, I don't think I could have averaged 3:29 with all those twists and turns. Still, I know I worked very hard and was breathing like a steam train, so who knows...all I know is I ran hard and was happy enough with the result.
Due to family and some work commitments I wasn't able to get a long run in yesterday and had to settle for a squeezed-in 10k. So after the ekiden a group of us did not hang around but stowed bags in lockers at the nearest subway station (Harajuku) and ran to the Imperial Palace for a couple of laps and back to Harajuku for a 20 km run. With 5 km warmup before the race and the race itself and a few other odds and bobs I recorded about 31 km for the day, but not exactly comparable to a continuous 31 km. I was tired afterwards though!
So today we had more teams than ever before: 8 open mens, 3 masters mens, and 6 womens. Our top teams won the open mens (Gordon finally making it to the starting line and having a good run and Brett running with a broken toe) and womens divisions. Seeing Mika sprinting her guts out to catch a junior high school boy right at the end of the women's victory was a marvellous sight.
I was in the so-called masters A team. Our masters B team kicked our butts for three legs, and then poor Gareth, who had been unfairly drafted into the anchor position of Team B by the dastardly GPAA, was never going to hold off the flying Juergen. But alas, there was one team ahead of both of us, our arch enemies, the Shibuya Police. So we got 2nd and our Masters B came third, so not a bad effort overall. I was pretty happy with my run of 9:46 (3:29/km) on that fairly tight little course. A number of people said they thought the course was a bit short, and now that I think about it, I don't think I could have averaged 3:29 with all those twists and turns. Still, I know I worked very hard and was breathing like a steam train, so who knows...all I know is I ran hard and was happy enough with the result.
Due to family and some work commitments I wasn't able to get a long run in yesterday and had to settle for a squeezed-in 10k. So after the ekiden a group of us did not hang around but stowed bags in lockers at the nearest subway station (Harajuku) and ran to the Imperial Palace for a couple of laps and back to Harajuku for a 20 km run. With 5 km warmup before the race and the race itself and a few other odds and bobs I recorded about 31 km for the day, but not exactly comparable to a continuous 31 km. I was tired afterwards though!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Six-minutes times five
I took advantage of the fact that I am alone in the office today to slip out for a midday run. I ran to the Imperial Palace, hitting the course at Hanzomon, and then continued down to Sakuradamon at easy pace. I then hit the split button and took off running at long interval/hard tempo pace, aka cruise intervals. Rather than run mile repeats and record the time, I decided to make use of the footpod and ran for precisely six minutes with three minutes recovery. McMillan says my mile cruise intervals should be in 5:56 to 6:04 minutes. While it is a bit meaningless because of differences in terrain, the distances recorded for the six-minute efforts were: 1.56km (flat), 1.51km (uphill), 1.6 km (downhill), 1.44 km (flat + uphill), 1.49 km (flat & downhill). The pace readout showed zero a few times during the last two reps, so if the pod and watch were having trouble talking the distance might be underestimated slightly. But maybe not...
This was an interesting workout because it required a different mental approach. It seemed somehow harder thinking about how long I had to go rather than how far I had to go.
Total distance for the run: 14.6 km
Average heart rate: 141 (76%)
Maximum heart rate: 166 (89%)
It is the Shibuya Ekiden on Sunday. Many of us are anxious about when to do our long runs. The ekiden legs are only about 3 km, so it is a little bit of a hassle to be honest. Some people will do long runs after the ekiden. If I can find the time, I think I'll do mine tomorrow and then just take things pretty easy on Sunday (apart from the 3 km blast).
This was an interesting workout because it required a different mental approach. It seemed somehow harder thinking about how long I had to go rather than how far I had to go.
Total distance for the run: 14.6 km
Average heart rate: 141 (76%)
Maximum heart rate: 166 (89%)
It is the Shibuya Ekiden on Sunday. Many of us are anxious about when to do our long runs. The ekiden legs are only about 3 km, so it is a little bit of a hassle to be honest. Some people will do long runs after the ekiden. If I can find the time, I think I'll do mine tomorrow and then just take things pretty easy on Sunday (apart from the 3 km blast).
Thursday, January 18, 2007
What doesn't kill me...
Got out for a "recovery" run today lunchtime. I headed from my office over to Gosho (the Imperial Guesthouse). I just ran at a relaxed pace, which began at around 5:00/km and peaked at around 4:40/km. Oh, there was that one little downhill where I let fly for 100 m or so and smiled as I saw the pace readout on my watch say 3:09/km. Ha ha ... it was fun. It would have truly been a nice recovery run if I'd stopped at two laps (around 8 km total). But no, I had to go and run another lap didn't I. No damage or anything, but with 11.4 km all up I am feeling a little more fatigued now than I should be (but think of the adddition to the weekly mileage!)
I also spent a bit of time wrassling with Bloglines and learned how to add a Blogroll, which you should now see over at the right. It lists all the Namban Rengo bloggers. Please let me know if you notice any omissions.
I also spent a bit of time wrassling with Bloglines and learned how to add a Blogroll, which you should now see over at the right. It lists all the Namban Rengo bloggers. Please let me know if you notice any omissions.
More hard aerobic
Last night, Wednesday, I had very similar workout to last week: 5 km of warm up followed by eight hard-aerobic laps of the 1.9-km loop in Yoyogi Park. The average pace per km of each lap after the warm up, comparing last week and this week, were as follows:
This week: 4:29, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20, 4:19, 4:14, 4:09, 4:05
Last week: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12
Slower at the start than last week, consolidated to about the same in the middle, but then finished quite a bit harder last night. It felt it too. Actually, I didn't feel that great and was a bit dissapointed with how it was unfolding around lap four or five. That sort of spurred me to try and lift the effort a bit and resulted in the last two faster laps.
I did the workout with young Adam. He is a relatively new runner, joining us perhaps seven or eight months ago, and is now powering towards a great debut at Tokyo. Both last night and last week he gradually pulled away from me after the first few laps. He is actually a chance to break three hours on debut, but I fear he will not have the necessary long runs in his legs to hold pace through the final 7 km. It will be very interesting to see how he goes. Mika and Paddy also joined us for about four laps before dropping off to run at a more sensible pace. Paddy was far and away our club's most improved runner of 2006, and considering where he has come from, the fact he was running fairly easily with us at that pace last night was awesome. If his creaky knee holds out he is primed for another great PB at Tokyo (and if the crowds don't get us).
This week: 4:29, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20, 4:19, 4:14, 4:09, 4:05
Last week: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12
Slower at the start than last week, consolidated to about the same in the middle, but then finished quite a bit harder last night. It felt it too. Actually, I didn't feel that great and was a bit dissapointed with how it was unfolding around lap four or five. That sort of spurred me to try and lift the effort a bit and resulted in the last two faster laps.
I did the workout with young Adam. He is a relatively new runner, joining us perhaps seven or eight months ago, and is now powering towards a great debut at Tokyo. Both last night and last week he gradually pulled away from me after the first few laps. He is actually a chance to break three hours on debut, but I fear he will not have the necessary long runs in his legs to hold pace through the final 7 km. It will be very interesting to see how he goes. Mika and Paddy also joined us for about four laps before dropping off to run at a more sensible pace. Paddy was far and away our club's most improved runner of 2006, and considering where he has come from, the fact he was running fairly easily with us at that pace last night was awesome. If his creaky knee holds out he is primed for another great PB at Tokyo (and if the crowds don't get us).
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
No need to panic
Bit of a steady-as-she-goes day today. I basically did exactly the same run as last Tuesday except that I added a fourth lap of the park to make it 16 km instead of 14 km. I ran the first three laps according to the heart rate protocol as per last week. Last week the third lap averaged 4:18/km and this week...4.22/km! Gack! Backwards. The average heart rates were identical. I suppose it could be random variation caused by being slightly under or over pace on different parts of the course than last week, or it might be a function of the relatively hard week last week. I'm inclined to think the latter. But the legs were quite good so you are not hearing any complaints. But if next week is also slow you might! I also did the hard finish again and the return leg from the park to home was slower than last week by ten seconds or so.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Penn and Teller on Physical Fitness
Kevin Beck has embedded a video clip of a pretty funny take on something that I would hope you already know. For your discretion, the clip is about 27 minutes long and contains some strong language. As Kevin mentions in comments, the genetic predisposition line is over-simplified by Penn & Teller, but it is still an amusing look at the diet and fitness industries.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
One down, two to go
I asked for three good weeks and the running fairy says she granted them to me. She has been good to her word for the first one. After the 16km on Friday I had a nice 12-k run yesterday morning at mainly steady pace, but I also wended my way to my favourite 350-m hill and did six repeats. Instead of running up really hard and jogging slowly back down, I ran up at about tempo pace and then turned and ran back down fast and recovered at the bottom. Tokyo has 5 km of downhill at the start, you see, so I figure that some fast downhill running in the legs won't go astray.
Today I went to Yoyogi Park and ran 36 km in 3:03:15. There were some slow stretches in there disguising the substantial portion late in the run at under 4:40/km pace, and even a good bit at sub 4:30/km pace. Of course this is all pretty pedestrian compared to what some people do on their days off.
Still, that gave me 108 km for the week. Nothing to complain about for a broken down old man who only has one leg.
After the run we had a very enjoyable (read boozy) lunch at La Verdy in Shinjuku to celebrate the 53rd birthdays of my two goodest friends, Colin and Gareth. Happy birthday fellas!
Today I went to Yoyogi Park and ran 36 km in 3:03:15. There were some slow stretches in there disguising the substantial portion late in the run at under 4:40/km pace, and even a good bit at sub 4:30/km pace. Of course this is all pretty pedestrian compared to what some people do on their days off.
Still, that gave me 108 km for the week. Nothing to complain about for a broken down old man who only has one leg.
After the run we had a very enjoyable (read boozy) lunch at La Verdy in Shinjuku to celebrate the 53rd birthdays of my two goodest friends, Colin and Gareth. Happy birthday fellas!
Saturday, January 13, 2007
What are the good places in Brisbane to live for runners?
I know at least two of my beloved readers live in Brisbane. Maybe there are some other Brisbane-based lurkers. Anyway, a great friend from the running club needs some advice. She is moving to Australia at the end of February (a week after she runs Tokyo Marathon in fact). She is from the UK and has scored a permanent residence visa to Oz and basically it is a blank slate for her. If she followed the easy road, she has some friends in Sydney and could start off there. But my counsel has been, no, Sydney is a den of iniquity and as expensive as all get out. You want to follow the sun. Southeast Qld is a growth center, land of opportunity, and a pretty darn nice part of the world (you are hearing a born and bred cockroach swallowing his pride here). Carol's qualifications are in accounting, so she probably needs to head to a large center to pursue career opportunities; to me, the logical recommendation is Brisbane.
So the question I throw open to you good people is, what are the best suburbs in Brisbane for a runner who wants to be less than 30 minutes by bus from the CBD? Or at least a runnable/cyclable distance. I am asking here because Carol reads the blog and can easily pick up your answers in comments. And while her main need is advice on places to set up home, a longer bow is that if you know anybody nice that may be in a position to take on a short-term boarder until she finds a job and can get her own place, I'm sure she would be open to offers.
Brisbane readers who have other Brisbane readers, if you could post a short entry with a link to this post, it would be very much appreciated.
Over to you guys!
So the question I throw open to you good people is, what are the best suburbs in Brisbane for a runner who wants to be less than 30 minutes by bus from the CBD? Or at least a runnable/cyclable distance. I am asking here because Carol reads the blog and can easily pick up your answers in comments. And while her main need is advice on places to set up home, a longer bow is that if you know anybody nice that may be in a position to take on a short-term boarder until she finds a job and can get her own place, I'm sure she would be open to offers.
Brisbane readers who have other Brisbane readers, if you could post a short entry with a link to this post, it would be very much appreciated.
Over to you guys!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Hard Gay Meets Natto Meets Kids
I'm not going to even try to explain this, but you guys in Australia are going to love, perhaps hate, perhaps be just a little bit freaked out by this. Anyway, don't watch in an environment where laughter or non-PC might be frowned upon. But do enjoy (thanks Ingo for the prompt to have a peek at what is already on YouTube):
16 km of cool
Today: 16.7 km
Week: 60 km
I got to bed at a reasonable time last night but it seemed to take forever to go to sleep. This has become a recurring theme lately whenever I have an early training session scheduled.
Although I'd penciled Friday's in as 1600-m intervals, the failure last week has shaken my confidence in my ability to produce appropriate times on these chilly, chilly mornings -- about 2 degrees today. And there is always that knee to consider. So I just ran aerobically. Not quite as hard as Wednesday night, but something like first 4km at 68%, 2 km at 75%, 6 km at 77%, and the last 4km home at progressive build up averaging 80% (but finishing with a hard near-sprint reaching 88%). (Percentages are heart rate as % of HRmax.)
The whole run felt pretty comfortable, but a definite feeling of moving along at a good clip. Kilometers six through 12 averaged slightly faster than 4:30/km pace. The harder run home averaged 4:23/km. With three more weeks of training the way this week is unfolding I would expect to see these paces dropping by 5 to 10 seconds.
And related to Scott's post, I had some natto with dinner last night. I felt compelled to stir it briskly for 60 seconds and got a good slimey, icky texture going. It was almost enough to motivate me to learn how to post clips to YouTube. If anybody would like to see a gross-out video of me slurping up some natto or raw egg, mention it in comments and I'll see what I can do. Or Scott and I should perhaps compete to see who can come up with a clip of their most, er, adventurous Japanese dining experience. I still relish the day that a visiting former work colleague from Australia took me out to dinner and told me to order anything. He could handle anything, no problem. But it was sure fun watching him try to eat that chicken liver sashimi without gagging!
Week: 60 km
I got to bed at a reasonable time last night but it seemed to take forever to go to sleep. This has become a recurring theme lately whenever I have an early training session scheduled.
Although I'd penciled Friday's in as 1600-m intervals, the failure last week has shaken my confidence in my ability to produce appropriate times on these chilly, chilly mornings -- about 2 degrees today. And there is always that knee to consider. So I just ran aerobically. Not quite as hard as Wednesday night, but something like first 4km at 68%, 2 km at 75%, 6 km at 77%, and the last 4km home at progressive build up averaging 80% (but finishing with a hard near-sprint reaching 88%). (Percentages are heart rate as % of HRmax.)
The whole run felt pretty comfortable, but a definite feeling of moving along at a good clip. Kilometers six through 12 averaged slightly faster than 4:30/km pace. The harder run home averaged 4:23/km. With three more weeks of training the way this week is unfolding I would expect to see these paces dropping by 5 to 10 seconds.
And related to Scott's post, I had some natto with dinner last night. I felt compelled to stir it briskly for 60 seconds and got a good slimey, icky texture going. It was almost enough to motivate me to learn how to post clips to YouTube. If anybody would like to see a gross-out video of me slurping up some natto or raw egg, mention it in comments and I'll see what I can do. Or Scott and I should perhaps compete to see who can come up with a clip of their most, er, adventurous Japanese dining experience. I still relish the day that a visiting former work colleague from Australia took me out to dinner and told me to order anything. He could handle anything, no problem. But it was sure fun watching him try to eat that chicken liver sashimi without gagging!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Medium long upper aerobic
Tonight 21.7 km
Week: 43.7 km
Average HR: 77% of HRmax
Since I can't do speedwork, long, hard aerobic stuff is the next best thing. So tonight it was into Yoyogi park and after 5 km of warming up at around 5:00/km pace, I got stuck into an upper aerobic workout: 15 km at heart rate close to 80 of HRmax. It went well. It involved seven laps of 1.9 km each plus 1.3 km to make up the 15 km. The average per km pace of the laps was: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12 . The average heart rate of the last few laps was about 84%. My leg hurt a bit, but nothing unbearable or lasting. Thanks Adam and Stuart for the company, not that there was a whole lot of talking by about the third lap.
Week: 43.7 km
Average HR: 77% of HRmax
Since I can't do speedwork, long, hard aerobic stuff is the next best thing. So tonight it was into Yoyogi park and after 5 km of warming up at around 5:00/km pace, I got stuck into an upper aerobic workout: 15 km at heart rate close to 80 of HRmax. It went well. It involved seven laps of 1.9 km each plus 1.3 km to make up the 15 km. The average per km pace of the laps was: 4:23, 4:21, 4:20, 4:20, 4:16, 4:14, 4:12, 4:12 . The average heart rate of the last few laps was about 84%. My leg hurt a bit, but nothing unbearable or lasting. Thanks Adam and Stuart for the company, not that there was a whole lot of talking by about the third lap.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
My running club makes the news!
One of our members, Yukari Pratt, is a chef, sommelier, raconteur, writer and all-round nice person. She sometimes contributes articles to the Japan Times. Last year she forced at gunpoint a JTs photographer onto her motor-scooter and made him take photos of us as she buzzed us on the scooter during last October's Yamanote Mawari. Now she has used them to write this article about how she took up running and joined Namban Rengo. It was in yesterday's paper. Have fun picking me out in the photos. I must have been a bit camera-shy that day.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Interesting heart rate test
Today: 14 km (yesterday 8 km)
Week: 22 km
First, let's get the tedious news of the leg out of the way. It's holding up. There are two distinct problem areas, one behind the knee and one higher up the rear thigh extending almost into the groin. When the knee is bad, which seems to be brought on by things like intervals, I feel alarmed and want to stop running and rest for a day or two. When the thigh is bad, it is uncomfortable, but doesn't feel like it is going to get any worse and I can carry on. Topical anti-inflammatory lotion seems to be bringing the knee under control.
I felt alright yesterday despite the 34 km the day before and ran a nice easy 8 km at lunch time. Nice and easy for the most part, but I did some accelerations up little hills and steps and things. It was quite a nice refreshing run.
Although my new regime with the cross-training emphasis had today down as a cross-training day, I decided the leg was good enough to do a heart rate test like the one I was doing last year in the lead up to Ohtawara. So, I ran to Komazawa Park, got the heart rate to the low 140s, then on the second lap accelerated to get it up to 149 and held it there for that and the next lap. That third lap is the test lap. Interesting result. The average pace was 4:18/km. This puts me almost exactly where I was at almost exactly the same time out from Ohtawara. That is, on the 10th October when I did this test the average pace was 4:19/km. Effectively identical. Ohtawara was on the 23rd of the following month. Tokyo will be on the 18th of the following month. So I have four days less from now until Tokyo than I did from that previous test to Ohtawara. This is actually pretty encouraging.
I think a couple of things let me down at Ohtawara. My long runs were done a bit too slowly, I didn't do enough miles at upper aerobic pace, and there were possibly some nutritional/energy supply problems on the day. If I correct the last one with better management, I can get back some time with just the same level fo fitness. And if I can get some pivotal training runs in over the next three weeks, hey, then who knows, maybe I can even get my fitness back to and beyond where I was at Ohtawara (if nothing else I now have one more full marathon in my legs than I did then ;-)
After the heart rate test lap I ran home firstly at regular heart rate of 143-146, but then as I was getting closer to Toritsu-daigaku, about 2.5km from home, decided that I should put in a bit more effort. It really hit me then that this is what I have been lacking in some of my training over the past year -- the hard finish to recruit higher level muscle fibers. When I was at a much earlier stage of running, I used to run with these hard finishes, though with no particular purpose, it was just something that approximated racing, and to get faster I just figured you had to run faster. And it worked, though I never strongly attributed it to that type of training because I had a lot of potential improvement left in me and just about anything should have worked. Then I switched to heart rate based training and got a lot of benefit from it by getting much better conditioning of my aerobic system. And sometimes I would run intervals and sometimes a tempo run. But the progressive, hard finish type runs basically went out the window. Well, now that tempo and intervals are currently suspended from duties, it is time to bring back the hard finish. I ended up running the last couple of kilometers home at under 4:10/km pace, dipping down to 4:00 and below in places. I actually had to back off from the really hard sprint finish because of some twinges from the knee at about 500 m from home. But I still held the close-to-tempo type pace and ran it home strongly. I was pretty happy to have such a good quality aerobic workout while realising there are still things I can do to improve my condition without necessarily endangering the knee.
Three good weeks. That's all I'm asking for. Three good weeks.
Week: 22 km
First, let's get the tedious news of the leg out of the way. It's holding up. There are two distinct problem areas, one behind the knee and one higher up the rear thigh extending almost into the groin. When the knee is bad, which seems to be brought on by things like intervals, I feel alarmed and want to stop running and rest for a day or two. When the thigh is bad, it is uncomfortable, but doesn't feel like it is going to get any worse and I can carry on. Topical anti-inflammatory lotion seems to be bringing the knee under control.
I felt alright yesterday despite the 34 km the day before and ran a nice easy 8 km at lunch time. Nice and easy for the most part, but I did some accelerations up little hills and steps and things. It was quite a nice refreshing run.
Although my new regime with the cross-training emphasis had today down as a cross-training day, I decided the leg was good enough to do a heart rate test like the one I was doing last year in the lead up to Ohtawara. So, I ran to Komazawa Park, got the heart rate to the low 140s, then on the second lap accelerated to get it up to 149 and held it there for that and the next lap. That third lap is the test lap. Interesting result. The average pace was 4:18/km. This puts me almost exactly where I was at almost exactly the same time out from Ohtawara. That is, on the 10th October when I did this test the average pace was 4:19/km. Effectively identical. Ohtawara was on the 23rd of the following month. Tokyo will be on the 18th of the following month. So I have four days less from now until Tokyo than I did from that previous test to Ohtawara. This is actually pretty encouraging.
I think a couple of things let me down at Ohtawara. My long runs were done a bit too slowly, I didn't do enough miles at upper aerobic pace, and there were possibly some nutritional/energy supply problems on the day. If I correct the last one with better management, I can get back some time with just the same level fo fitness. And if I can get some pivotal training runs in over the next three weeks, hey, then who knows, maybe I can even get my fitness back to and beyond where I was at Ohtawara (if nothing else I now have one more full marathon in my legs than I did then ;-)
After the heart rate test lap I ran home firstly at regular heart rate of 143-146, but then as I was getting closer to Toritsu-daigaku, about 2.5km from home, decided that I should put in a bit more effort. It really hit me then that this is what I have been lacking in some of my training over the past year -- the hard finish to recruit higher level muscle fibers. When I was at a much earlier stage of running, I used to run with these hard finishes, though with no particular purpose, it was just something that approximated racing, and to get faster I just figured you had to run faster. And it worked, though I never strongly attributed it to that type of training because I had a lot of potential improvement left in me and just about anything should have worked. Then I switched to heart rate based training and got a lot of benefit from it by getting much better conditioning of my aerobic system. And sometimes I would run intervals and sometimes a tempo run. But the progressive, hard finish type runs basically went out the window. Well, now that tempo and intervals are currently suspended from duties, it is time to bring back the hard finish. I ended up running the last couple of kilometers home at under 4:10/km pace, dipping down to 4:00 and below in places. I actually had to back off from the really hard sprint finish because of some twinges from the knee at about 500 m from home. But I still held the close-to-tempo type pace and ran it home strongly. I was pretty happy to have such a good quality aerobic workout while realising there are still things I can do to improve my condition without necessarily endangering the knee.
Three good weeks. That's all I'm asking for. Three good weeks.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Long Run Achieved
Today: 34 km
Week/month/year: 81 km
Some friends, including Tokyo Running Days, were planning a very interesting long run this morning through the highways and byways of western Tokyo. The pace was planned to be a little on the stiff side, which would have been perfect from a training perspective, and I really wanted to join, but I was just a bit concerned about it (the pace) being too stressful on the leg at this stage. So I headed off to old faithful Yoyogi Park to see what I could accomplish. Again the leg had improved since the Friday morning run, so I was hopeful it would hold up for something upward of 25, hopefully 30 km. I was very pleased to notch up 34 and squeak over the 80 km mark for the week from four runs. Probably not an ideal regime, but it is what is helping me lurch ever onward towards Tokyo.
So Scott's son recognized my boys! That was pretty cool. I thought they would remain pretty much incognito on this blog, what with it being in English and the fan base being pretty much Japanese. But they've been outed now. So, yes Tesso, the two younger lads are cast members on a Japanese TV show on NHK (the national broadcaster) for kids called Tensai Terebi Kun MAX. It has music, talk spots, comedy, special guests, location shoots of things like "how to make xxx", etc. Until a couple of months back there were a bunch of clips on YouTube including some with the boys. But the Japanese broadcasters got wind of it and stacks of clips on YouTube that had been grabbed from various Japanese TV programs were unceremoniously removed. There seem to be a few from the show back on at the moment, but not featuring the boys. Here are a couple of links just to give you an idea of the show:
From last year's live stage event (Kohta is at far right, Chiaki 2nd from far left, both in the back row)
A version of Happy Birthday from the ending of the show during the 2005 season.
Riho learns to make tofu
The eldest boy, Tatsuya, also gets a little bit of modelling work and, Scott, if you keep your eye out you might see him in a PSP ad on TV at the moment where they have all this blue, white, pink, grey paint flying in slow motion (indicating all the colours that PSPs now come in). Then his ugly dial pops up in black and white for a second. He is looking up and then a blob of blue paint drops on his cheek. He is going to be moving to Australia at the end of this month to live with my brother in Newcastle and attend year 11 and 12. We will miss him.
As for me featuring in Flash magazine, I will first have to work hard on doing something worthy of a scandal. I suppose it could happen when I have the halo in at the dry cleaners.
Oh yes, I almost forgot: the boys also have their own blog operated through their agency. Good luck reading it. If you go back a few posts you will see a very dodgy looking Santa.
Week/month/year: 81 km
Some friends, including Tokyo Running Days, were planning a very interesting long run this morning through the highways and byways of western Tokyo. The pace was planned to be a little on the stiff side, which would have been perfect from a training perspective, and I really wanted to join, but I was just a bit concerned about it (the pace) being too stressful on the leg at this stage. So I headed off to old faithful Yoyogi Park to see what I could accomplish. Again the leg had improved since the Friday morning run, so I was hopeful it would hold up for something upward of 25, hopefully 30 km. I was very pleased to notch up 34 and squeak over the 80 km mark for the week from four runs. Probably not an ideal regime, but it is what is helping me lurch ever onward towards Tokyo.
So Scott's son recognized my boys! That was pretty cool. I thought they would remain pretty much incognito on this blog, what with it being in English and the fan base being pretty much Japanese. But they've been outed now. So, yes Tesso, the two younger lads are cast members on a Japanese TV show on NHK (the national broadcaster) for kids called Tensai Terebi Kun MAX. It has music, talk spots, comedy, special guests, location shoots of things like "how to make xxx", etc. Until a couple of months back there were a bunch of clips on YouTube including some with the boys. But the Japanese broadcasters got wind of it and stacks of clips on YouTube that had been grabbed from various Japanese TV programs were unceremoniously removed. There seem to be a few from the show back on at the moment, but not featuring the boys. Here are a couple of links just to give you an idea of the show:
From last year's live stage event (Kohta is at far right, Chiaki 2nd from far left, both in the back row)
A version of Happy Birthday from the ending of the show during the 2005 season.
Riho learns to make tofu
The eldest boy, Tatsuya, also gets a little bit of modelling work and, Scott, if you keep your eye out you might see him in a PSP ad on TV at the moment where they have all this blue, white, pink, grey paint flying in slow motion (indicating all the colours that PSPs now come in). Then his ugly dial pops up in black and white for a second. He is looking up and then a blob of blue paint drops on his cheek. He is going to be moving to Australia at the end of this month to live with my brother in Newcastle and attend year 11 and 12. We will miss him.
As for me featuring in Flash magazine, I will first have to work hard on doing something worthy of a scandal. I suppose it could happen when I have the halo in at the dry cleaners.
Oh yes, I almost forgot: the boys also have their own blog operated through their agency. Good luck reading it. If you go back a few posts you will see a very dodgy looking Santa.
Friday, January 05, 2007
The old two-step
Target workout: four by 1600-m cruise intervals amongst a 16-km run.
Actual result: Aborted intervals after two poor efforts. Clocked up the 16-km, aggravated the knee/leg.
Distance this week/month/year: 46 km.
The old two-step: As in, two steps forward and one back. You hear this all the time from runners with one eye on a goal race while trying to deal with annoying injuries. So why should I be any different? After my 19 km on Wednesday I was very encouraged that the knee/leg was feeling quite under control (not cured, but not painful either). I was also proud of myself for sticking to the regime and not hopping out for a run yesterday in celebration of this relatively happy state of affairs.
Today was the first day back at work after the new year break. I had four times 1600-m repeats on the program. I got to bed a lot later than I planned, but somehow willed myself out of bed at 6:00 am. I ran up to the park at easy-moderate effort; everything, leg included, felt fine apart from the fact that the perceived effort seemed a little harder than my pace or heart rate were saying. I started the first mile repeat and decided not to push too hard. But I still thought I was going at about normal mile-repeat pace, maybe slightly slower. It turned out to be a full 15 seconds slower than the first repeat one week ago. Blech. And I felt a twinge in the leg. Still, I gritted my teeth and started the next one. It was still 7 seconds slow AND I was putting in pretty hard AND my leg now felt decidedly sore AND I need to take a crap. So that was that. I decided that this session should be hereby terminated without prejudice and a resumption to normal aerobic running. And so that is what I did (after attending to business of course), at around HR143.
The leg is now sore/tender again, but not as bad as it was two weeks ago. I suppose this at least justifies the truncated training approach. The next task is to give it some TLC tonight and tomorrow with a view to completing an LSD on Sunday. <sigh>
Actual result: Aborted intervals after two poor efforts. Clocked up the 16-km, aggravated the knee/leg.
Distance this week/month/year: 46 km.
The old two-step: As in, two steps forward and one back. You hear this all the time from runners with one eye on a goal race while trying to deal with annoying injuries. So why should I be any different? After my 19 km on Wednesday I was very encouraged that the knee/leg was feeling quite under control (not cured, but not painful either). I was also proud of myself for sticking to the regime and not hopping out for a run yesterday in celebration of this relatively happy state of affairs.
Today was the first day back at work after the new year break. I had four times 1600-m repeats on the program. I got to bed a lot later than I planned, but somehow willed myself out of bed at 6:00 am. I ran up to the park at easy-moderate effort; everything, leg included, felt fine apart from the fact that the perceived effort seemed a little harder than my pace or heart rate were saying. I started the first mile repeat and decided not to push too hard. But I still thought I was going at about normal mile-repeat pace, maybe slightly slower. It turned out to be a full 15 seconds slower than the first repeat one week ago. Blech. And I felt a twinge in the leg. Still, I gritted my teeth and started the next one. It was still 7 seconds slow AND I was putting in pretty hard AND my leg now felt decidedly sore AND I need to take a crap. So that was that. I decided that this session should be hereby terminated without prejudice and a resumption to normal aerobic running. And so that is what I did (after attending to business of course), at around HR143.
The leg is now sore/tender again, but not as bad as it was two weeks ago. I suppose this at least justifies the truncated training approach. The next task is to give it some TLC tonight and tomorrow with a view to completing an LSD on Sunday. <sigh>
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
The lads...
We bought a new digital camera just before Christmas. I just downloaded the first batch of photos and there was a nice one of the boys; for no particular reason, here it is for your viewing pleasure. L-R are Tatsuya (16), Chiaki (12) and Kohta (14).
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Sunday 31st December: New Years Eve 2006
Summary of Distances (km)
Today: 6 (recovery at average pace of 5:29/km & HR of 129; easy, legs relatively good)
Week: 66
Month: 307
Year: 3580
Overview by Month
Jan 309k Shibuya ekiden; Namban Rengo placed 1st & 2nd (my team) in masters
Feb 210k PB'd half at Kanagawa; ran Ome 30k--a joyous race
Mar 340k Oyama mountain climb; very tough and unique 9 km race + Tamako ekiden
Apr 210k Ome Montrail 30k trail run; one word: hard! But fun! Plus Inagi ekiden; my team first masters
May 292k My company's ekiden; I had the 2nd fastest individual time: 5k in 18:12 Plus Arakawa Ekiden 10k leg in rain and mud
Jun 241k NOSH race in Sydney straight off a plane from Japan: A hard trail 15k in 1:12:58
Jul 223k summer drifting
Aug 234k Fujiyoshida Fire Festival. A funny old race, lots of uphill and lots of downhill. 20k in 1:33:20 -- shame about the hangover
Sep 431k Marathon training
Oct 481k Marathon training
Nov 303k Ohtawara marathon: 3:04:01
Dec 307k Recovery from Ohtawara & trying to start re-building for Tokyo
I have never approached my running by setting rigid plans or goals. I tend to just drift and enter races that come along or set bigger goals (like marathons) with a "just-in-time-delivery" approach. I set time goals based on what condition I'm in coming into a race, not by some kind of long-term absolute objectives (though another sub 18-min 5k would be nice!). At the start of this year I realised that this casual approach had led me to start doing the same races each year, and I decided that in 2006 I wanted to try a few different race experiences. I took on the Ome 30k road race at less than race effort (through lovely countryside and cheering crowds) , Oyama mountain climb, the Ome 30k Montrail trail run (a real eye opener), the Great NOSH in Sydney, and the Fujiyoshida fire festival. No flat, fast efforts these. Great settings and/or wonderful support and each with some unique defining character. So I consider the goal of acquiring some new experiences well and truly achieved.
The Ohtawara marathon was probably my main goal race of the year. It was the fourth time I'd run it and my fifth marathon overall. See the problem? This race is dominating my marathon record and I really want to start changing that. I have memorized all the aid stations and toilet stops and am starting to give nicknames to some of the potholes. It will take a lot to get me to do it next year, though the overnight trip to the Shiobara Onsen is very hard to beat. Perhaps I'll do the 10k and pick another fall marathon. Perhaps. The upcoming Tokyo Marathon Festa is going to make a contribution to balancing out the disproportionate representation of Ohtawara in my marathon record, and yet another different marathn later in the year would help a lot more.
After Tokyo I have no specific racing plans for 2007. Throughout 2006 I have, as this blog attests, struggled with minor niggling injuries to my left leg. A tender achilles, drifting, shooting pains in my rear thigh, and more recently, inflammation of some sort around my knee. I have, in the four and a half years since I started running, been a pretty low-maintenance sort of runner. No massages, except what I can do myself, no visits to the physio, no personal trainer or gym-based strengthening programs, no yoga. I don't have any particular pride about this; it is mainly a function of a lack of spare cash and time. In fact, it is really catching up with me and 2007 is the year to start addressing these niggling injuries.
But for now, my aims are to keep beating to windward, torn mainsail and all, and just get through Tokyo as best I can. I want to enjoy the race and the occasion, but also record a respectable time. Sub 3 hours is probably out of the question, but I will take the training one day, one week at a time and see what happens. After that, perhaps some time off or easing right back, some treatment for the legs and lower back, maybe have my biomechanics checked out, and just focus on recovery. If all comes good, I will probably have to go back to a period of base building, then, whether I do another marathon or not, I'm not prepared to say right now. Maybe I'll focus on reducing my 5k and 10k times.
So, that's 2006 in review and 2007 in preview to the extent that I am able. It is 15 minutes to midnight in Japan, so it would seem the only thing left to do is to say thanks to all who have stayed with the blog this year and lent their support, both in comments and through private email. May we all have successful years in 2007, and above all else, let's not forget why we run: because we can!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Today: 6 (recovery at average pace of 5:29/km & HR of 129; easy, legs relatively good)
Week: 66
Month: 307
Year: 3580
Overview by Month
Jan 309k Shibuya ekiden; Namban Rengo placed 1st & 2nd (my team) in masters
Feb 210k PB'd half at Kanagawa; ran Ome 30k--a joyous race
Mar 340k Oyama mountain climb; very tough and unique 9 km race + Tamako ekiden
Apr 210k Ome Montrail 30k trail run; one word: hard! But fun! Plus Inagi ekiden; my team first masters
May 292k My company's ekiden; I had the 2nd fastest individual time: 5k in 18:12 Plus Arakawa Ekiden 10k leg in rain and mud
Jun 241k NOSH race in Sydney straight off a plane from Japan: A hard trail 15k in 1:12:58
Jul 223k summer drifting
Aug 234k Fujiyoshida Fire Festival. A funny old race, lots of uphill and lots of downhill. 20k in 1:33:20 -- shame about the hangover
Sep 431k Marathon training
Oct 481k Marathon training
Nov 303k Ohtawara marathon: 3:04:01
Dec 307k Recovery from Ohtawara & trying to start re-building for Tokyo
I have never approached my running by setting rigid plans or goals. I tend to just drift and enter races that come along or set bigger goals (like marathons) with a "just-in-time-delivery" approach. I set time goals based on what condition I'm in coming into a race, not by some kind of long-term absolute objectives (though another sub 18-min 5k would be nice!). At the start of this year I realised that this casual approach had led me to start doing the same races each year, and I decided that in 2006 I wanted to try a few different race experiences. I took on the Ome 30k road race at less than race effort (through lovely countryside and cheering crowds) , Oyama mountain climb, the Ome 30k Montrail trail run (a real eye opener), the Great NOSH in Sydney, and the Fujiyoshida fire festival. No flat, fast efforts these. Great settings and/or wonderful support and each with some unique defining character. So I consider the goal of acquiring some new experiences well and truly achieved.
The Ohtawara marathon was probably my main goal race of the year. It was the fourth time I'd run it and my fifth marathon overall. See the problem? This race is dominating my marathon record and I really want to start changing that. I have memorized all the aid stations and toilet stops and am starting to give nicknames to some of the potholes. It will take a lot to get me to do it next year, though the overnight trip to the Shiobara Onsen is very hard to beat. Perhaps I'll do the 10k and pick another fall marathon. Perhaps. The upcoming Tokyo Marathon Festa is going to make a contribution to balancing out the disproportionate representation of Ohtawara in my marathon record, and yet another different marathn later in the year would help a lot more.
After Tokyo I have no specific racing plans for 2007. Throughout 2006 I have, as this blog attests, struggled with minor niggling injuries to my left leg. A tender achilles, drifting, shooting pains in my rear thigh, and more recently, inflammation of some sort around my knee. I have, in the four and a half years since I started running, been a pretty low-maintenance sort of runner. No massages, except what I can do myself, no visits to the physio, no personal trainer or gym-based strengthening programs, no yoga. I don't have any particular pride about this; it is mainly a function of a lack of spare cash and time. In fact, it is really catching up with me and 2007 is the year to start addressing these niggling injuries.
But for now, my aims are to keep beating to windward, torn mainsail and all, and just get through Tokyo as best I can. I want to enjoy the race and the occasion, but also record a respectable time. Sub 3 hours is probably out of the question, but I will take the training one day, one week at a time and see what happens. After that, perhaps some time off or easing right back, some treatment for the legs and lower back, maybe have my biomechanics checked out, and just focus on recovery. If all comes good, I will probably have to go back to a period of base building, then, whether I do another marathon or not, I'm not prepared to say right now. Maybe I'll focus on reducing my 5k and 10k times.
So, that's 2006 in review and 2007 in preview to the extent that I am able. It is 15 minutes to midnight in Japan, so it would seem the only thing left to do is to say thanks to all who have stayed with the blog this year and lent their support, both in comments and through private email. May we all have successful years in 2007, and above all else, let's not forget why we run: because we can!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
A week of recovery
Last Sunday I fought the root and the root won, forcing me into a layoff from running on Monday and Tuesday. The thigh was very sore and I was limping on Monday and Tuesday, much less so on Wednesday. On Tuesday morning I went to the gym and divided an hour between the bike and X-trainer (perhaps aka an elliptical trainer). I much prefer the X-trainer to the bike. Getting the heart rate up to a respectable level on the bike causes a sort of burning in the butt. Not the most pleasant of sensations. However I will persist with it in measured doses to see if my butt becomes conditioned to the stress that biking places on it. The other painful thing was that I couldn't get the little personalized TV on the bike to work. Apparently the volume button is a poor substitute for the power button.
On Wednesday evening I went to the track to make my first attempt at running. It went alright. I kept my ambitions very low and just toddled around at whatever pace felt tolerable. I ended up chalking up 11 km, so it wasn't too bad. I think it was good for the leg too as I was much less sore on Thursday.
Thursday. Last day of work before a week's break for New Year holidays. I resolved to give the leg(s) another day of rest from running, but hit the gym again in the afternoon prior to our office break-up party (pizza, sushi, and beer; what more could you ask for? What's that? Yakitori you say? Yes, there was some of that too). The biggest achievement in the gym was that I worked out which button made the TV work. Yaay. But alas, if only there were something worth watching. I did 20 minutes on the bike, 25 minutes on the X-trainer, and about 12 minutes ( 2.3 km) on the treadmill. I know I said no running, but I couldn't help myself.
Friday. Home on holiday I started off by sleeping about 12 hours. Lounged around with the family for an hour or two and then finally headed out for a run. The program I had made up last Saturday night (the night before the fall) scheduled 14 km with 3 x 1600 m intervals. Now, this schedule was put together to try and give my knee a better chance of recovery by cutting some days of running, mainly the shorter runs, to have three key running workouts per week: a long run on Sunday, a longish upper aerobic (race pace) run on Wednesday night, and long intervals or a tempo run on Fridays. The other days would be spent in rest or at the gym. I don't know if it will work or not but it is worth a try. Anyway, I ran to my nearest park that has a running course and being not too hampered by the leg launched into the 3 x 1600s with 500 m jog recovery. It was a bit taxing running hard after such a break, but I kept the level of effort within reasonable limits and was pleased with the times of 6:07, 6:04, and 6:07.
Saturday (today). Well, after that reasonably hard run yesterday, it was always going to be tough heading out today for a long run. But head out for a long run I did. I left home at 7:15 am. It was a bright, fine morning, but very cool or cold, depending on your standards. I guess it was about 2 or 3 degrees. I ran to Tamagawa (Tama river) and turned left until the pedometer registered 15 km, just short of Gas Bashi, for those that know it. It had been very comfortable and I'd been motoring along at a bit better that 5 minutes per km most of the time. As soon as I turned around I discovered why it had been so easy; I had a tailwind! Which is what I now had to run back into. A stiff, bitingly cold headwind. The next 8 km back to where I could turn out of the wind were some of the hardest kilometers I've ever run. My legs were stiff and yapping with little and not so little pains. I was struggling to keep a pace above 5:20/km. It was hard work, but I slogged away and eventually turned right and had a reasonably straightforward, if somewhat fatigued, 7-km run home. Taking out a few stops (toilet, drink), I managed 30.75 km (according to the footpod) in 2 hours 39 min. 30 sec. It was a very tough run actually, being a slightly faster pace than a lot of my long runs and the longest I've run since the marathon five weeks ago. But with Tokyo only 49 days away, it was a run I had to do.
On Wednesday evening I went to the track to make my first attempt at running. It went alright. I kept my ambitions very low and just toddled around at whatever pace felt tolerable. I ended up chalking up 11 km, so it wasn't too bad. I think it was good for the leg too as I was much less sore on Thursday.
Thursday. Last day of work before a week's break for New Year holidays. I resolved to give the leg(s) another day of rest from running, but hit the gym again in the afternoon prior to our office break-up party (pizza, sushi, and beer; what more could you ask for? What's that? Yakitori you say? Yes, there was some of that too). The biggest achievement in the gym was that I worked out which button made the TV work. Yaay. But alas, if only there were something worth watching. I did 20 minutes on the bike, 25 minutes on the X-trainer, and about 12 minutes ( 2.3 km) on the treadmill. I know I said no running, but I couldn't help myself.
Friday. Home on holiday I started off by sleeping about 12 hours. Lounged around with the family for an hour or two and then finally headed out for a run. The program I had made up last Saturday night (the night before the fall) scheduled 14 km with 3 x 1600 m intervals. Now, this schedule was put together to try and give my knee a better chance of recovery by cutting some days of running, mainly the shorter runs, to have three key running workouts per week: a long run on Sunday, a longish upper aerobic (race pace) run on Wednesday night, and long intervals or a tempo run on Fridays. The other days would be spent in rest or at the gym. I don't know if it will work or not but it is worth a try. Anyway, I ran to my nearest park that has a running course and being not too hampered by the leg launched into the 3 x 1600s with 500 m jog recovery. It was a bit taxing running hard after such a break, but I kept the level of effort within reasonable limits and was pleased with the times of 6:07, 6:04, and 6:07.
Saturday (today). Well, after that reasonably hard run yesterday, it was always going to be tough heading out today for a long run. But head out for a long run I did. I left home at 7:15 am. It was a bright, fine morning, but very cool or cold, depending on your standards. I guess it was about 2 or 3 degrees. I ran to Tamagawa (Tama river) and turned left until the pedometer registered 15 km, just short of Gas Bashi, for those that know it. It had been very comfortable and I'd been motoring along at a bit better that 5 minutes per km most of the time. As soon as I turned around I discovered why it had been so easy; I had a tailwind! Which is what I now had to run back into. A stiff, bitingly cold headwind. The next 8 km back to where I could turn out of the wind were some of the hardest kilometers I've ever run. My legs were stiff and yapping with little and not so little pains. I was struggling to keep a pace above 5:20/km. It was hard work, but I slogged away and eventually turned right and had a reasonably straightforward, if somewhat fatigued, 7-km run home. Taking out a few stops (toilet, drink), I managed 30.75 km (according to the footpod) in 2 hours 39 min. 30 sec. It was a very tough run actually, being a slightly faster pace than a lot of my long runs and the longest I've run since the marathon five weeks ago. But with Tokyo only 49 days away, it was a run I had to do.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Rooted for Christmas
Last post saw me cursing about an overuse injury. As foreshadowed in that post, I gave it the royal treatment with rest, stretching, self massage and anti-inflammataries. I also had a session in a gym that gave me confidence that I could substitute some running with gym machines and swimming.
By Saturday night the leg was feeling pretty good and I felt confident that it would stand up to a trail run being organized by Jay from Namban. I had a quick chat with my supportive wife and she sent me off with her blessing (well, a kind of through-clenched-teeth blessing, but you take what you can get).
The photo shows that it was an absolutely beautiful, though crisp, day out in western Tokyo. By the way, that is still technically Tokyo that we are standing in despite the mountainous and forested surroundings. Note also the prominent snow-capped peak in the background. I'd tell you its name if only I could remember it! I wonder if you can help me...
Well, the trails were firm, the company was good. The christmas carols on the uphills not quite so good as nobody could remember enough words, though Mika was in pretty good voice on some of the downhill sections -- the tunes were familiar, but I could swear she was singing in Japanese. Who would have thought there was a Japanese version of "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer!" Well, I can now assure you there is.
In many parts of the trail, there were countless erosion-exposed roots of the surrounding sugi trees. Just as I was thinking what a sure-footed fellow I am, my foot caught one. I lurched, regained my balance, then came to a short sharp drop that threw me off balance again, but after a fight with gravity, eventually came back to a safe equilibrium with dignity mostly intact. Phew, close call. My running partners said it was an impressive performance over a good ten or fifteen metres; something to rival the Bolshoy (what was that about dignity?)
Well, we were then discussing our various past near misses and mishaps and how you always have falls just when you think how clever you are...and then bang, my foot caught another tree root and this time there was no chance to recover. Hit the ground like a sack of spuds. I rolled nicely and, again, my pals said it was quite a good visual display. I would have got out of it unscathed but for a vicious tree root to the thigh on initial impact. After a bit of a stop I was able to continue, but the damn thing was bloody sore, and for the rest of the run it was quite a challenge to keep up with people I would be normally galloping ahead of. Today I am sporting a classic corked thigh that is helping me relive some of the least pleasant moments of my rugby league playing days. It was quite a hobble to the train station this morning. So if anybody has tips on how to quickly recover from a corked thigh, I'm all ears. At least it has given me something to take my mind off the knee niggle.
When I got home I showered and applied ice to the injury and then joined the wife in completing preparations for our Christmas dinner. We had a friend and her daughter over for traditional roast chicken (my job was stuffing and roasting the birds) with a mix of traditional (peas, carrots, gravy) and not so traditional (chips, egg salad) accompaniments. Afterwards we did our presents (Xmas day here, today, is just business as usual) and there were some smiling faces with a Play Station Portable, a Creative Zen V Plus, Buffalo Air Station for the Nintendo DS...and I think there was even some stuff for the kids too ;-) I scored a nice looking backpack for running and my wife got an o-cha pot and cups decorated with images of Totoro, her favourite character.
Well fed and with a few drinks through the evening and a body weary from the 24 km of trails, I ran out of steam at 11:00, and, once asleep, enjoyed the sleep of a dead guy.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Things not quite tickety boo
Well, I don't like to be a grizzle-guts, so I haven't said much lately. Things were kind of going along OK last week. I did an upper aerobic run in the park on the Wednesday night, then a rest on Thursday, partly enforced by a year-end party. Then I ran home on Friday night and had a couple of 5 km runs Saturday. So that was all going alright. Then on Sunday morning it was supposed to be the Magical Mystery Tour. Due to some sudden family issues I wasn't able to join that, but could squeeze in 18 km at a reasonable pace. During that run in particular, my old knee(?) niggle flared up. The one I'd moaned about prior to Ohtawara but managed to just keep under control. I had to run back to work on Monday morning (see above re: the previous Friday night) and it hurt during that run. So then I rested it Tuesday and tried to run again last night. But bugger me, it is still sore. I ran six km of warm-up and started the interval session but had to quit. It is such a bummer because apart from this I am running the faster stuff really well and things would be right on track to do a few more speed sessions before going back to strength and endurance.
Change of plans needed. It isn't a joint problem, so that is one thing in my favour. It is in the fleshy/tendony area at the rear and above my knee. So kind of below the hamstring and to the medial (inside) side. I think it is a tendon inflammation type of thing and it may even be related to my lower back issues. So I am thinking very seriously now, if I can get a release of funding, to visit a chiro-cum-acupuncture dude whose clinic is not far from where I work. At 6,000 yen (A$70) a pop it isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than the 12,000 yen (A$135) a pop for an Australian physiotherapist practising in this city (growing fat off the back of well-insured expatriates).
At the same time, my company has soome vouchers to a sports club near the train station I use, so I am thinking of seeing whether I can cut back to three runs per week and then spend a couple of sessions on the stationary bike, pool and weights. It might at least let me get through Tokyo. I am sure this puts paid to my hopes of raising the level of training to be able to run a really good time at Tokyo. But that's OK, it is more important to me to run it than to run a record time.
Change of plans needed. It isn't a joint problem, so that is one thing in my favour. It is in the fleshy/tendony area at the rear and above my knee. So kind of below the hamstring and to the medial (inside) side. I think it is a tendon inflammation type of thing and it may even be related to my lower back issues. So I am thinking very seriously now, if I can get a release of funding, to visit a chiro-cum-acupuncture dude whose clinic is not far from where I work. At 6,000 yen (A$70) a pop it isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than the 12,000 yen (A$135) a pop for an Australian physiotherapist practising in this city (growing fat off the back of well-insured expatriates).
At the same time, my company has soome vouchers to a sports club near the train station I use, so I am thinking of seeing whether I can cut back to three runs per week and then spend a couple of sessions on the stationary bike, pool and weights. It might at least let me get through Tokyo. I am sure this puts paid to my hopes of raising the level of training to be able to run a really good time at Tokyo. But that's OK, it is more important to me to run it than to run a record time.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Falling behind...
I'm having trouble even keeping my running log up to date let alone my running blog...
Had a good hard aerobic run of 15 km on Wednesday night. Nothing on Thursday due to work commitments, which included a bit of a drink in the evening with a committee of engineers I have been doing an editing job for. Turned out the chairman of the committe had just run his first marathon (Honolulu of course), so we had a bit to chat about as the sake flowed...
Hung over on Friday morning but ran about 15 km in the evening including some fartleks. Then two 5-km runs today to and from my mate's place to so some beer bottling. Then Christmas shopping this afternoon ... oops there goes the bank balance.
Tomorrow we are doing a Magical Mystery Tour 30 km run around the streets of Tokyo. About ten or eleven people have signed up, but only Gareth and I know the course (and only Gareth really knows .. I just have a rough idea.)
I have recently discovered this guy, Mr Keb Mo... a modern day bluesman in the Robert Johnson mould. I hope you enjoy his music. I certainly do.
Had a good hard aerobic run of 15 km on Wednesday night. Nothing on Thursday due to work commitments, which included a bit of a drink in the evening with a committee of engineers I have been doing an editing job for. Turned out the chairman of the committe had just run his first marathon (Honolulu of course), so we had a bit to chat about as the sake flowed...
Hung over on Friday morning but ran about 15 km in the evening including some fartleks. Then two 5-km runs today to and from my mate's place to so some beer bottling. Then Christmas shopping this afternoon ... oops there goes the bank balance.
Tomorrow we are doing a Magical Mystery Tour 30 km run around the streets of Tokyo. About ten or eleven people have signed up, but only Gareth and I know the course (and only Gareth really knows .. I just have a rough idea.)
I have recently discovered this guy, Mr Keb Mo... a modern day bluesman in the Robert Johnson mould. I hope you enjoy his music. I certainly do.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Wisdom of Nic Bideau
Nic Bideau is an Australian athletics coach who used to coach "our" Cathy and currently coaches our Buster and our Benita.
Thanks to a heads-up from Ewen, I came across a nice overview article by Bideau called“Coaching Middle and Long Distance Runners" that was reproduced from Modern Athlete and Coach (with permission) on Speedy Geoff's blog. As Speedy Geoff published it in parts over several posts, and as with all blogs the most recent post appears at the top, it is a bit hard to follow, so I have decided to set out links here to each of the parts in the order that they should be read.
Here it is:
Introduction
Regular long runs
Fast distance runs at around the anaerobic threshold
Intervals or repetition work (I found this the most useful)
Speed work
Recovery runs
Gym sessions
Thanks to a heads-up from Ewen, I came across a nice overview article by Bideau called“Coaching Middle and Long Distance Runners" that was reproduced from Modern Athlete and Coach (with permission) on Speedy Geoff's blog. As Speedy Geoff published it in parts over several posts, and as with all blogs the most recent post appears at the top, it is a bit hard to follow, so I have decided to set out links here to each of the parts in the order that they should be read.
Here it is:
Introduction
Regular long runs
Fast distance runs at around the anaerobic threshold
Intervals or repetition work (I found this the most useful)
Speed work
Recovery runs
Gym sessions
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Training for Tokyo has started
So, this morning I got up and did my first official Tokyo Marathon-oriented training run. I really should make a formal program I suppose, but the idea is to do several weeks in which there are are a couple of speed sessions per week before going back to three or four volume-oriented weeks that will include some longish marathon-pace runs and a half marathon (Shinjuku City, 28 January). If my body holds up.
This morning I ran 14 km all up, with six km in Komazawa Park being a speedwork session. I did seven times 400 m with a fairly long jog recovery, 1:30 to 3:00 minutes, between each one, so it was actually a little bit like a fartlek. The times for the 400-m efforts were a little uneven, but the course has some undulations and I have never done a string of 400s before, so probably OK. The times were: 84s, 80s, 80s, 80s, 75s, 81s, 76s. McMillan says I should be doing them in 79s to 84s (which I forgot to look up beforehand), so I guess it was about right.
This morning I ran 14 km all up, with six km in Komazawa Park being a speedwork session. I did seven times 400 m with a fairly long jog recovery, 1:30 to 3:00 minutes, between each one, so it was actually a little bit like a fartlek. The times for the 400-m efforts were a little uneven, but the course has some undulations and I have never done a string of 400s before, so probably OK. The times were: 84s, 80s, 80s, 80s, 75s, 81s, 76s. McMillan says I should be doing them in 79s to 84s (which I forgot to look up beforehand), so I guess it was about right.
A bit of running, the partner race, and our year-end party
It's time I updated. Life seems to be getting the better of me lately and the days between posts seem to mount.
I didn't do anything very exciting late last week. Just a steady 10-km on Thursday night to run home, similar return journey to work the next day. I regarded it as still a marathon recovery week, but getting towards the end of that.
On Saturday it was the Namban Rengo bonenkai (year-end party). I got the job of organising a pre-party race. The format was a partner race. Each person had to have a nominated time (not necessarily a flat-out time, anything would do) and attempt to run as close to that as possible, but without wearing a watch. The partner with the faster nominated time would start after the one with the slower time by an amount equal to the difference in their nominated times. So all the slower time runners started together and then the faster one started afterwards as the necessary time difference elapsed. In theory, if they ran to their nominated paces, the faster partner would catch the slower one just before the finish. And to make it interesting, the two partners had to finish together, so if one person screwed up their pace, it could affect both partners.
Anyway, on the day the weather was pretty bad. Very cold and light drizzly rain. We wavered between cancelling or not, but eventually went ahead despite losing a few wumps (that's "wimp" in Kiwi, eh Jason?). It really was cold, damp, and gloomy. This photo from Rie's blog would give you some idea (though Brett was the only one mad enough to wear shorts -- he is Canadian after all). Unbelievably there were some people doing a 24-hour race on the course we were running on! I was glad to be us and not them.
The winner of our little event was our club captain, Bob, and his partner (for the day) Ken. Actually they were the only pair to both have the same target time. Ideally that shouldn't happen, but it was so damn cold that when the random draw threw up that matchup, we weren't going to muck around trying to fix it. They nominated 5:00/km (for the 6.6 km distance) and finished within six seconds of their nominated time, that's a deviation of just 1 sec/km. Pretty darn good. I nominated 4 min/km (to provide a reasonable approximation of a tempo run) and my partner was 4:30. I caught him about half way through the last lap (it was five laps of a 1.33-km loop) and we ran the rest at about my pace. We ended up being 3 seconds per km out which put us in third place (out of eight teams). I'm not even sure if we were fast or slow, but I was happy enough with the result.
The party went very well. "A blast" would not be an unfair description. There were about 60 people and we held it in a large private apartment and ordered pizza, sushi and copious Yona Yona (beer) and wine etc...
Despite getting fairly happy at the party and home at about 1:15 am, I still managed to get out for a long run the next day, though not until 11:00, clocking up 23 km in just on 2 hours.
I didn't do anything very exciting late last week. Just a steady 10-km on Thursday night to run home, similar return journey to work the next day. I regarded it as still a marathon recovery week, but getting towards the end of that.
On Saturday it was the Namban Rengo bonenkai (year-end party). I got the job of organising a pre-party race. The format was a partner race. Each person had to have a nominated time (not necessarily a flat-out time, anything would do) and attempt to run as close to that as possible, but without wearing a watch. The partner with the faster nominated time would start after the one with the slower time by an amount equal to the difference in their nominated times. So all the slower time runners started together and then the faster one started afterwards as the necessary time difference elapsed. In theory, if they ran to their nominated paces, the faster partner would catch the slower one just before the finish. And to make it interesting, the two partners had to finish together, so if one person screwed up their pace, it could affect both partners.
Anyway, on the day the weather was pretty bad. Very cold and light drizzly rain. We wavered between cancelling or not, but eventually went ahead despite losing a few wumps (that's "wimp" in Kiwi, eh Jason?). It really was cold, damp, and gloomy. This photo from Rie's blog would give you some idea (though Brett was the only one mad enough to wear shorts -- he is Canadian after all). Unbelievably there were some people doing a 24-hour race on the course we were running on! I was glad to be us and not them.
The winner of our little event was our club captain, Bob, and his partner (for the day) Ken. Actually they were the only pair to both have the same target time. Ideally that shouldn't happen, but it was so damn cold that when the random draw threw up that matchup, we weren't going to muck around trying to fix it. They nominated 5:00/km (for the 6.6 km distance) and finished within six seconds of their nominated time, that's a deviation of just 1 sec/km. Pretty darn good. I nominated 4 min/km (to provide a reasonable approximation of a tempo run) and my partner was 4:30. I caught him about half way through the last lap (it was five laps of a 1.33-km loop) and we ran the rest at about my pace. We ended up being 3 seconds per km out which put us in third place (out of eight teams). I'm not even sure if we were fast or slow, but I was happy enough with the result.
The party went very well. "A blast" would not be an unfair description. There were about 60 people and we held it in a large private apartment and ordered pizza, sushi and copious Yona Yona (beer) and wine etc...
Despite getting fairly happy at the party and home at about 1:15 am, I still managed to get out for a long run the next day, though not until 11:00, clocking up 23 km in just on 2 hours.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
I like 1-km intervals
While I am still regarding this week as part of the reverse taper after Ohtawara, I wanted to do the Namban Rengo workout last night. The first Wednesday of the month is 1-km intervals (or 800-m should you so choose). This is my favourite interval workout for reasons I am not sure of. Maybe it is the simple maths, and ease of getting your head around the times, splits, and run versus rest cycle. Or maybe it is because this was the very first type of workout I did the first night I came to a Namban Rengo track workout. Anyway, I like 'em.
And last night I found myself as the most senior member of the group and had to lead the workout, which I certainly didn't mind doing. Juergen turned up later and helped with timing -- he had been detained for several hours of interrogation by the finest of Japan's police force for riding a bicycle not registered in his name (following a random check).
Anyway, I had a nice set of repeats last night: 3:35, 3:31, 3:28, 3:29, 3:25, and 3:30. I'm not sure what got into me on that second last one, but it felt nice to run that fast. I felt a little bit sore in the left lower calf after that and backed off on the last one, but was surprised that it still ended up at 3:30. I'd have to go back through my records, but I think that an average repeat of 3:30 would have to be close to the fastest I've ever done for this workout. It suggests that the fitness is there, but has been masked by fatigue from marathon training, and that perhaps the marathon itself was run with too much residual fatigue, OR that I am overcoming this digestion problem that I suspect had a little bit to do with me running out of steam in the marathon. Anyway, from next week I'll be doing more speedwork sessions as a part of my training strategy for Tokyo...
And last night I found myself as the most senior member of the group and had to lead the workout, which I certainly didn't mind doing. Juergen turned up later and helped with timing -- he had been detained for several hours of interrogation by the finest of Japan's police force for riding a bicycle not registered in his name (following a random check).
Anyway, I had a nice set of repeats last night: 3:35, 3:31, 3:28, 3:29, 3:25, and 3:30. I'm not sure what got into me on that second last one, but it felt nice to run that fast. I felt a little bit sore in the left lower calf after that and backed off on the last one, but was surprised that it still ended up at 3:30. I'd have to go back through my records, but I think that an average repeat of 3:30 would have to be close to the fastest I've ever done for this workout. It suggests that the fitness is there, but has been masked by fatigue from marathon training, and that perhaps the marathon itself was run with too much residual fatigue, OR that I am overcoming this digestion problem that I suspect had a little bit to do with me running out of steam in the marathon. Anyway, from next week I'll be doing more speedwork sessions as a part of my training strategy for Tokyo...
Monday, December 04, 2006
A brief update
The scare with my lower left leg has passed. I ran an easy 10 km with friends on Friday night and while the tenderness appeared, it wasn't very bad. Another 10 km on Saturday afternoon, some of it at around 4:30 to 4:40/km and again, no problems. Then Sunday I faced up to the ritual of the long run with the ambitious plan of perhaps racking up a mighty 15 km. I was happy to knock over a leisurely 20k in 1 hour 47 min and no sign of injuries (though my lower back was a bit stiff from a day of brewing on Saturday).
The pins are now feeling pretty good, but I will still not push the issue this week. Just try to get in some modest aerobic distance while joining the 6 x 1000s on Wednesday night. No ambitious mileage targets. We have our club bonnenkai (year-end party) on Saturday and I will be helping organise an "Inspire Your Partner" race to precede the party. More on that later.
The pins are now feeling pretty good, but I will still not push the issue this week. Just try to get in some modest aerobic distance while joining the 6 x 1000s on Wednesday night. No ambitious mileage targets. We have our club bonnenkai (year-end party) on Saturday and I will be helping organise an "Inspire Your Partner" race to precede the party. More on that later.
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