13 K Run in Mito

I'm in Mito on a business trip. It's the capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, about 130 km the north of Central Tokyo. With mental rehearsal almost done for a seminar tomorrow, I went out for a quick training run around Lake Senba near my hotel. There was a river nearby and a cycling road alongside that led to the lake. I ran along it, hoping to reach the lake, because on the map the road appeared to lead directly to it. However, what appeared to be a river was, in fact, a moat that surrounded the lake, and the cycling road went away from the lake near the north west corner of the lake. Without realizing that I was off the right track, I went on running for about 10 minutes. It was when it started getting darker and darker as I went that I was afraid something was wrong. I turned around, and headed back until I was back to an area where lights were abundant and people were in sight. I found myself in a parking lot adjacent to a park. I checked where I was. I was only half a kilometer from the nearest shore of the lake. I followed the direction of the map and finally got to where I had originally wanted to be! From that on it was a pleasant fun run around the lake. Originally I was only going to run 5 K or so, but the breeze across the lake was so refreshing, and there were quite a few runners as well as friends, couples, and even families that were enjoying a stroll, so I felt like going further than that. After all I kept on running at a fairly brisk pace for an hour and 15 minutes to cover approximately 13 K. There were occasional water breaks and brief stops to see maps to check my locations and the right routes, so if I exclude those times, I was probably running at a pretty good pace. My legs were pretty tense from the high intensity cardio from earlier today, but the cadence was good, and even when I felt tired, after lowering the pace slightly for half a minute or so, I could tell that my body had re-fueled my legs, so it's possible for me to pick up the pace again. I cannot identify exactly what has enabled me to do it during a long and hard training run. But I am glad that I can.

Core Training

https://goo.gl/YjFiZE
Click the link above to access the training I do
to improve my single-legged stability
as well as overall core strength
required in daily training and competitive situations.

High Intensity Cardio: One-Minute by Ten Sets

https://goo.gl/sPBFz3

If you want to burn many calories, the easiest way to do so is probably slipping your shoes into jogging shoes to hit the road.  You can do it anywhere, anytime, and no equipment is needed. However, one small problem with running is that unless you are able to keep a fairly fast pace, you can't burn many without running a very long distance. Sometimes you don't have time to do it. Is there any alternative? There sure is. That is high intensity cardio.

Different from long slow jogging, high intensity cardio is shorter but more intense as the name suggest. Because of its intensity you cannot sustain the activity for too long, so each set is one minute, and there is a short break after that. Once a minimum rest is taken so that your muscles are charged with just enough energy to do another set, you start the next set. You repeat this cycle as many sets as feel challenging enough.

Today's set is made up of a number of different movements:
1) Burpee with hand-clap push-up and jumping knee tuck
This is a highly challenging opening combination. Because of the intensity of hand-clap push-up and jumping knee tuck you can immediately tell that your entire body gets all fired up!
2) Mountain climbers
This is a well-known cardio workout that engages legs, abs, shoulders, and tri-ceps as well.
3) Jumping leg lunges
This is an all-time favorite of many who want to burn calories quickly. Highly explosive as you use your calves and thighs to jump up to alternate your legs, this is a very good leg exercise, but because your legs account for much of your entire muscle mass, it puts a lot of stress on your cardio. You can tell you quickly get out of breath once you reach this stage.

The above makes up one whole combo. One minute is usually long enough for you to repeat it four times. But as you go through more sets, you get fatigued, each movement taking slightly longer to execute.

The whole exercise was video-recorded today against the background of beautiful sunset so that only my silhouette would be visible, but after shooting, I deleted it from my smartphone by accident, so I would like to share the link to a video in which I'm demonstrating a similar exercise. The only small difference here is that there is pike push-up before mountain climbers, but in the exercise today, that par t wasn't included. It would have been more total-body, if there had been, but the idea just didn't occur to me today.

10 K Hilly Road Work

With my body's batteries almost fully charged after relaxing all day and having a good dinner on Sunday, I was ready to hit the road. Today I tried a new loop that's 10.8 K. I left home after midnight. The road was deserted and traffic was very little. Every now and then large trucks passed me by, but other than that it was a quiet, lonely run. The new course has three long upward inclines, two in the first half, and the last near the beginning of the latter half. In terms of the length and incline, the last was the toughest. It was a good slope to work on running efficiency and to strengthen glutes. I ran it at a slightly faster than comfortable pace to finish in 59:45.83. I was originally aiming to make two laps, or do intervals after the first lap, but I felt too sleepy to continue, so I called it a day after the first round. All in all, it was a good course. I would like to run it more.

Wednesday Midnight Combo: 10 K Run + 1 K Intervals

It's been a while since I ran last. I've been busy with a business trip and working on the weekend. And after working for seven days straight I really needed to give myself a full rest, and finally tonight after sleeping more than ten hours for two nights in a row, I felt strong enough to hit the road.

The temperature wasn't too high when I got out around 10:30 pm. It's a lot cooler than the last several summers. It reminds me of the summers in my childhood when it was hot in the daytime, but not so unbearably hot and humid. Anyhow, it was perfect for a run.

I went round the usual 2.5 K loop four times at the pace slightly faster than my new target full marathon pace of 13:07. After that I slowly jogged around the 650M quarter-pie-shaped loop around the park to warm down. By the time I got where I started off, I was strong enough for another challenge: 1 K intervals.

I didn't set the goal. I just took off and went with the flow. The first set was good. And so was the second. But as soon as I took off for the third, my legs were heavy and I couldn't pick up the pace no matter what. I ran out of gas. I could have stopped, but I carried on. When I finished, my watch said: 4:24, almost twenty seconds slower than the previous lap. I called it a day.

The detail of tonight's training is as follows:
1st 2.5 K: 12.29.85
2nd 2.5 K: 12.33.50
3rd 2.5 K: 13:02.30 (including a brief water break)
4th 2.5 K: 12:47.65
Total 10 K: 50:53.30
Jog 650 M: 6:00.20
1st K: 4:00.17
Rest: 2:00.03
2nd K: 4:05.40
Rest: 2:00.34
3rd K: 4:24.90
Total: 13.65 K: 1:13.24

Weekend Combo: 5 K Run + 650 M Intervals

After getting a haircut in Tama Plaza this afternoon, I went to Ueno and bought a new singlet. It's a white adidas. As soon as I finished dinner, I threw it over my head, jumped into a pair of NIKE shorts, slipped my feet into split-toe minimalist shoes MUTEKI, and hit the road.

I ran the 2.5 K loop around my house two laps. I then did 650 M interval 7 sets with a 90-second rest between sets except after the 3rd and 5th sets where I extended the rest by 30 seconds to two minute because I needed a longer rest for recovery.

The detail of today's training is as follows:
1st 2.5 K: 12:33.72
2nd 2.5 K: 12:35.47
Rest: 1:30.32
1st 650 M: 2:33.33
Rest: 1:30.21
2nd 650 M: 2:40.50
Rest: 1:30.25
3rd 650 M: 2:40.10
Rest: 2:00.22
4th 650 M: 2:39.59
Rest: 2:00.34
5th 650 M: 2:45.67
Rest: 1:30.22
6th 650 M: 2:40.84
Rest: 1:30.22
7th 650 M: 2:35.76
Total 9.55 K: 55:16.76

Cadence-Focused 10 K Run + 7 Sets of Alternate Run

I ran 10 K and did 7 sets of alternate run after that.
(※Alternate run is speed-focused training in which you run fast for one minute, and then jog for another minute after than, and repeat the set until you reach the number of sets you set as your target for the day.)
I needed it badly after working from 8:50 am to 9:45 pm today.
My mind was burned out, and I wanted to do something purely physical
to re-set my mind.

I ran a 2.5 K loop around my house four laps at a pace slightly faster than my full marathon pace. But my focus was more on cadence than on pace. Cadence is how many steps I take in a minute. My target is 190. I counted my cadence at different points during the training run, and the average was between 188 and 192. When the cadence is low, stress on your thighs increases and running economy is compromised. In the worst case scenario you can get a cramp in your thigh in a long race. I don't want that to happen. So I am trying to improve my running economy by paying attention to my cadence.

Today's result is as follows:
1st 2.5 K: 12:55.97
2nd 2.5 K: 12:55.60
3rd 2.5 K: 12:45.32
4th 2.5 K: 12:52.58
Rest: 1:00.00
Alternate run by 7 sets + warm down: 15:03.19
Total 12.76 K: 1:06:32

12 K Run in the Heat

At 2:58 pm I left home in a singlet, a pair of running shorts, and a pair of Tesla Baretrek minimalist shoes, and headed for Morita Architectural Design Office in Central Sakura where an event was held.

I went down (and up!) the same usual route leading to the destination that has 5 long hills. It was brutally hot and humid, and I had to stop to have water from time to time. With 2 K to go, I felt so hot that I had to stop by a video shop just to use their men's room. I put cold water over my head, my face, and both of my arms. If I hadn't done it, I would have died from heat stroke. The cold water gave me the motivation to go on. I hit the road again and slowly picked up the pace. In no time I came to the bottom of the most challenging uphill known to the locals as "Kaburaki Zaka" . I pulled my chin down, took shorter strides, and swung my arms a little more strongly in order to charge up the slope. I was looking down on the road, so I couldn't tell how far up I came. The slope seemed endless. A moment later the sight of the tail of a stopping car was in sigh--a sign that an intersection was near. I finally reached the top of the hill. I was out of breath, and couldn't move. Luckily the light had just turned red, and I had to stop anyway. It was a bliss. A minute later the light turned green, so I ran past the road and headed for the goal.

The design office was quiet. But when I got closer, I saw quite a few customers checking out the stuff inside shop, some talking to a clerk who was probably the artist who made the clothes. I didn't get in, but stayed outside. Soon a man came out and said, "May I help you?" I bought a bottle of "Hokuso Cider." and quenched my thirst. It hit the spot. Once I finished the drink, I walked to Keisei Sakura Station and took a train back home.

I ran 11.9 K in 1:21.21. Time isn't an issue today. Cadence. That's what I care about. I kept it under between 185 and 190. Toward the end of the journey I was too exhausted to care about it, but most of the time I think I did a pretty good job for the unbearable heat that relentlessly tormented me.
https://goo.gl/9AbrYX