It's my day off today.
I slept late until there was no influence from a large glass of beer and a few small glasses of wine I'd had on the previous night.
I had a few glasses of amazake, soup that I made from sake lees,
and a summer orange to wake up my system.
It was warm enough to run in shorts when I was ready to run.
The park near my house was nice and sunny.
There was a group of young men playing soccer, and a couple of groups of mothers and small children sitting on the grass and chatting.
The cherry trees that surrounded the track were partly blossomed,
but they were near the end of their peak.
I slowly ran across the park to the tap,
where I had a sip to wet my mouth.
I walked back to the area where a sign stands that says 0 m.
Today's goal is to run 1 K around at a 4:00/K pace,
rest for two minutes, and repeat it six more times
to altogether 7 sets.
The first lap. My body wasn't warmed up yet.
My energy level was supposed to be the highest,
but the time wasn't so good: 4:01.86.
I was already quite out of breath.
I couldn't imagine that I still had six more repeats to do.
Two-minute rest before the second lap quickly ended.
I was off to Round 2.
In order not to lose count I change the direction of running alternately.
I went clockwise in the second repeat.
I wanted to come under 4:00 because I couldn't in the opening lap.
I picked up the pace, but breathing quickly became harder.
Ordinarily I would have slowed down, but I pushed on.
I finished at 3:48.83.
It didn't feel so fast, but it turned out that I was going much faster that I thought I was.
Lap 3 was 3:57.66--another under 4:00 session.
I was glad that I finished under 4:00 in two consecutive laps.
But soon I had to pay the price.
Lap 4 was 4:05.27.
Lap 5 was 4:09.41.
Lap 6 was 4:10.40.
Slowly but surely I continued to slow down.
My ego sank low.
Then came the last lap.
I didn't push at first; I wanted to save up some energy to finish strongly at the end. I focused more on steady rhythm than charging down the track. I made a full circle of the 500-m track once, feeling strong. Another round to go. After taking two turns I was on the back straight where I had to run right into a headwind. My legs felt heavy. I pulled my chin down and took shorter and quicker strides in order to minimize energy loss. Once I hit the end of the back straight and turned around the corner, the influence of the wind became negligible as all the cherry trees blocked it. I pushed on along the track, passing an elderly woman following the petals falling from the cherry trees.
The last lap was 4:05.24.
I didn't come under 4:00, but it's a time that's better than any of the previous three laps. I was pleased.
My next training is this coming Sunday.
I'm doing double training of a 30 K run + 12.5 K run.
I already successfully completed it once last Sunday.
The purpose of repeating it is to make fair comparison between the two.
Hopefully I will find the second trial a little easier.
The result of today's training is as follows:
Lap 1: 4:01.86
Rest: 2:00.18
Lap 2: 3:48.83
Rest: 2:00.08
Lap 3: 3:57.66
Rest: 1:59.97
Lap 4: 4:05.27
Rest: 2:00.182:00.12
Lap 5: 4:09.41
Rest: 2:00.29
Lap 6 :4:10.40
Rest: 2:00.00
Final Lap: 4:05.24
Total 7 Laps: 40:19.31
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