6 K Pace Run by 3 Sets with a Short Rest Between Sets

I ran 6 K three times with the target pace of 4:55/K, first two laps in aqua shoes, and the last one in bare feet, with a short rest between runs. The main purpose of this training is to familiarize myself with sub-3.5 marathon pace of 4:55/K. The purpose of the short rest is to re-set my motivation. The result is shown below:

1st 6 K: 28:25.97 (aqua shoes)
Rest: 1:00.10
2nd 6 K: 28:58.32 (aqua shoes)
Rest: 1:09.72
3rd 6 K: 28:46.10 (bare feet)
Total: 1:28:20

I wanted to run longer but I didn't, because I was expecting an important meeting with a client the following day, and I didn't want to feel fatigued there. I wanted to be there in my best condition.

Intervals: 1 K by 6 Sets @ 4:30/K Preceded by a 20-Minute Run @ 4:55/K

I did intervals after coming home from work: 1 K by 6 sets @ 4:30/K pace. I ran for 20 minutes to warm up at sub 3.5 marathon pace of 4:55/K. I got back home after that to take a pee break. About seven minutes after the warm up run, I went to the park near my house and used a 650 M quarter-pie-shaped course around the park to do the intervals. My butt was sore from doing leg lunges two days before, and my condition wasn't good. I almost gave up after the third lap. But I decided to stick to my original target of 6. I was going to jog for another 20 minutes to warm down. But when I finished the 6th lap, I was totally burned out, so I called it a day. After taking a shower, I felt like a new man. The result of the intervals is shown below:
1st lap: 4:14.62 
Rest: 1:00.28
2nd lap: 4:39.64
Rest: 1:00.33
3rd lap: 4:33.32
Rest: 1:00.28
4th lap: 4:37.77
Rest: 1:00.13
5th lap: 4:23.76
Rest: 1:00.14

6th lap: 4:27.28

I ran 6 K in the morning. I jogged 4 K before the intervals. And I ran 6 K in the intervals. So today's total running distance is 16 K. Not bad.

First Step to a Sub 3.5 Marathon: 6 K Run @ 4:55/K Pace

Following a rainy right, I ran 6 K this morning. I ran in aqua shoes because the blister in my right sole hadn't healed yet. My target today was 4:55/K. It's the pace that allows me to finish a full marathon under 3:33:00. I want to be accustomed to this pace, and slowly build my ability to run longer at that pace. Today I came back in 28:04.00. It means my pace was 4:40~4:41/K. I don't need to run this fast, but I need to be able to maintain a slightly slower pace at least seven more times if I want to run a sub 3.5 marathon!

34th Annual Yokota Striders Ekiden Race

On May 20, 2018, the 34th Annual Yokota Striders Ekiden Race took place at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, Japan. I ran the first leg of four in 20:40. Our team finished 35th at 1:23:46 out of at least more than 200 teams. 

The race was officially underway at 10:30 a.m. The starting area was very congested at first. I was in the heart of the crowd. I had a hard time getting ahead. For a while I had no choice but walk. But about twenty seconds later the crowd slowly spread out, and passage got easier. I took the outer route for an open space, and overtook one runner after another until I settled for a good 5 K pace of mine.   

I was running in bare feet. And in that caveman's one-shouldered one-piece costume I had promised to wear. In a race where the distance is much longer, the pace is a lot slower, and therefore runners often chat with one another as they run along. But in a race like this where the distance is short and the pace is a lot faster, practically no runners talk to each other. They just set their eyes straight ahead and go. So my entertaining costume and absence of foot wear were both almost completely ignored, except that, of course, cheerers along the course noticed me every now and then and some reacted wildly. I especially liked it when a very young blonde girl sitting on the road side said, "Caveman!" as if she were a girl who saw the Batman.

Until the 2 K mark I maintained a brisk pace with ease but from then on it became harder to keep the same pace. I had to slow down, but not too much. I shortened my strides but kept the same cadence. Passing the 3 K mark, as I found myself in the second half of the race, the road surface got rougher. My soles, that had withstood the shock and friction over 30 K once before, were getting sorer. I could feel a blister had developed somewhere in the right toe. This was all caused by the heat created by the constant friction between the road and the sole. It was uncomfortable, but not unbearably painful. Plus, the cardio-vascular challenge of running at a pace that is way faster than my usual training pace was more of an issue at the moment than a slight discomfort in the toe. I was overtaken by faster runners. I overtook slower runners. And slowly the relay station got nearer. As I gasped for air, but I felt like swallowing sand rather than air. I was in a state of severe oxygen debt.  I took the last right turn into a long stretch leading to the relay station. On the right hand side there was a wall of cheerers, yelling words of encouragement to the runners coming back. I wanted to kick, but suddenly I found myself running against winds. Feeling as if I was climbing a hill, acceleration felt next to impossible. Then as I got closer to the relay station inch by inch, a smell of grilled beef suddenly reached my nostrils, and in no time I was engulfed with a cloud of smoke. They were coming from barbecue tents where US soldiers served hamburgers and steaks to guests . This lasted for about half a minute. It was a fatal punch in my face. I was already out of breath and gasping for air, but the sudden deterioration of the air quality made me feel choked and my vision started blurring when the arch with "Start" on it was in sight and the small figure of Stuart was visible far ahead at the relay station. I felt renewed motivation swelling up in my mindbody. I swung my arms frantically like Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya kicking toward the finish line in the 2016 Olympic marathon. The figure of Stuart became larger with each step. I took the taski off my shoulder and grabbed it in my right hand. Stuart waved both of his hands over his head to let me know he was there. I shot my tasuki-grabbing right hand up in the air in response. Several seconds later, the taski was in his hands, and off he went down the road through the cheering crowd of runners and spectators! 

I was breathless, and felt for a while as if I were one giant bloody heart pumping out tons of blood into all over the world! It took several minutes before my heart rates were normal again and the sweat subsided.  

I slowly walked back to the relay station to cheer on my teammates. Stuart, an experienced cyclist, came back in a staggering 20:11. Yuko, who ran the third leg, finished under 25:00, faster than the time she had originally aimed at, and Yuki, who is the youngest member of the team with a PR of 2:50 from the Kyoto Marathon, darted off like a gazelle and came back like a cheetah in chase of a gazelle. He was on another level. By overtaking God knows how many slower runners in the fourth leg as well as those still in the third one, he brought the team to the position of the 35th finisher, by he himself finishing under 18:00. (His official time says 18:00, the time on his wrist watch said 17 something. The discrepancy seemed caused by the gap between the location of the sensor and the actual location where the exchange of the taski was done.)  

After the race was over, all of us enjoyed having complimentary ice cream, and some of us also enjoyed having grilled steak and hamburgers for surprisingly friendly prices for their volumes. Later on, we went to Akishima and had a party at Italian restaurant Saizeriya. We ate as if there was no tomorrow. And we enjoyed beer and wine as if we were going to deplete their whole stock of wine at the restaurant.

On our train ride back home many of us dosed off like babies, and murmured a goodbye to one another as the train reached each of our stations.

All in all, it was a very exciting day, and we all agreed that we should get together again for another relay race like this.

The next morning I ached all over, and felt as if both of my legs had become wood. 

Vulcan S 650 by Kawasaki

I finally decided on my bike. It's the Vulcan S 650 by Kawasaki.

I found it at a very small, but reliable workshop called M's Factory （エムズファクトリー）near Tokyu Tohyoko Motosumiyoshi Station. 

Mr. O, a mechanic at the workshop is calm and friendly. He kindly explained the value of the bike without being pushy. 

It used to belong to a gentleman who had owned two other bikes prior to this. This was his third. After letting it go, he bought a larger bike from the same shop.

I got an email from Mr. O today, saying the bike may be ready sometime next week. I cannot wait to hit the road on it. 

Final Phase Conditioning Before the Yokota Ekiden Relay Race

As a final phase conditioning activity I ran 6 K tonight. I was a bit sore here and there from the interval training on the previous night. So I jogged at a comfortable pace just to relax my body. I ran barefoot, of course, because this coming Sunday I'm running the Yokota Ekiden Relay Race held in the US Air Base in Yokota, Tokyo, and I'm running it barefoot. Today the animal print costume I had ordered from Amazon arrived. I tried it on. It fit me perfectly. I'm looking forward to running the race in it. Hopefully, people will enjoy seeing me run in it like a caveman.

Intervals: 1 K by 7 Sets Preceded and Followed by a 20-Minute Jog

Last night I didn't feel like running presumably because I was still a bit sore from upper body muscle training I had done two mornings before. Tonight I finally fully recovered from the fatigue, so I decided to do intervals instead of the regular 6 K run usually scheduled on Wed. night.

I ran 20 minutes at 4:50/K pace. It's a lot faster than my usual pace of the short run before the intervals.  I had a bite of some sponge cake once I got back home, had some water, and walked to the nearby park where I always do intervals. The target pace was 4:30/K. The interval was one minute. Keeping the right pace and keeping the interval short are both important, but my mind was more on improving the bio-mechanical efficiency of my running from. The laps tonight are shown below:
1st lap: 4:17.46
Jog: 1:00.34
2nd lap: 4:23.49
Jog: 59.97
3rd lap: 4:31.29
Jog: 1:00.13
4th lap: 4:20.77
Jog: 1:00.12
5th lap: 4:21.49
Jog: 1:00.21
6th lap: 4:21.01
Jog: 1:59.98
7th lap: 3:57.15

Ever since I started doing intervals with a one-minute rest, I had been doing only 6 laps, but tonight I did an extra lap with a two-minute rest before it, because I wanted to run at a faster pace at least one lap. I finished slightly under 4:00. I was out of breath, but felt good.

The warm-down jog after the intervals was begun after resting for 6:45.47. I ran at a brisk pace, but slightly slower than the pre-interval one. But this one I ran barefoot. The sole was a bit sore after doing the intervals, but it only helped me become more careful with my running form. With nothing to protect the sole, any instance of inefficiency inevitably resulted in discomfort or pain. Tonight I think I did a pretty good job of avoiding both discomfort and pain. I feel like I'm slowly but surely mastering the art of barefoot running.

Mother's Day Run: 6 K by 3 Sets Build-Up

It was a rainy day all day today. I had a bad hangover until almost mid afternoon. I took my mother to a sushi restaurant because it's Mother's Day today, but I didn't have much appetite. But by dinner time I felt better, and when dinner was over, I felt just as usual. Luckily the rain had stopped by then. So I decided to hit the road. There was slight stiffness left in my right food, so I decided to run in aqua shoes for protective purpose instead of running barefoot. I ran 6 K three times with a short break between laps. I gradually built up the pace with each lap.

1st 6 K: 32:26.97
Rest: 2:02.60
2nd 6 K: 30:20.81
Rest: 3:12.49
3rd 6 K: 29:25.34
Total 18 K: 1:35:25

Running 6 K in 29:00 is my short-term goal. It's easily doable in itself. But my ultimate goal is to keep that pace 7 more laps without any break. If I can do it, I can finish a marathon under 3:30:00. (Of course, I need to run just a little bit faster because there is 0.195 km more in a real marathon race, and it takes a little less than a minute to run that extra distance.)  When I do build-up training next, I hope to run my 3rd lap in 29:00, and go extra lap to keep the same pace. Eventually, I hope to run all laps in 29:00 without taking a break.

24 K Barefoot LSD

Today is the last day of my hour-day holiday. I ran 24 K in the early afternoon as heavy rains were expected in the late afternoon. I ran without shoes to toughen my soles. I ran slowly to develop my long-distance endurance. I ran my favorite 6 K shuttle course 4 times. When the third lap was over, my soles got too sore to continue, so I put on my aqua shoes to run another lap. It felt as if my feet were on a Rolls Royce. It was unbelievably comfortable. But I know I shouldn't be used to it, because my goal is running longer distances without shoes. Hopefully, next time I go for an LSD, I can run more than three laps without shoes.

I am used running 6 K on a daily basis, doing intervals once on a weekday, and one LSD on my day off. I hope to increase the volume of daily training to 10 K. Also, I want to do at least one build-up training where I gradually increase the pace over a long distance. 

Intervals: 6 Sets by I K @ 4:30/K Pace With 20-Minute Jog Before and After It

I did intervals tonight. They are usually scheduled on Thursday night. It was Thursday yesterday, but I went out for a drink at night because it was the night before a hour-day holiday, so I skipped running training. Today I made up for it. The result is shown below:
1st Set: 4:26.17
Jog: 1:00.17
2nd Set: 4:25.23
Jog: 1:00.18
3rd Set: 4:28.90
Jog: 1:00.21
4th Set: 4:23.19
Jog: 1:00.24
5th Set: 4:26.25
Jog: 1:00.30
6th Set: 4:31.53
Total: 31:42.37

I ran in split-toe minimalist shoes MUTEKI. 

I jogged 20 minutes before and after the intervals to warm up and warm down respectively.  

I also did high intensity cardio using an old car tire in the afternoon tonight.

https://youtu.be/oWNq6Jf27RM