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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

Strong

TRD put up a lovely little post that I think you all should see for the quote about the greatest compliment that can be paid to a distance runner. It is so true and gives us all something to aim for apart from raw speed and clock times.

Which kind of makes me want to buy this book...

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.

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.

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!

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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!

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!

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):