Sunday, July 15, 2018

30 K Run in Socks and Alcohol-Free Sunday

Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is Marine Day, one of Japan's national holidays. For many people in the country it's the middle of a three-day holiday. For me it's the beginning of a two-day holiday because I worked on Saturday.

The day is about to end as it's almost midnight. It was such a fulfilling day, and feels twice as long as most other Sundays as I look back on it. I wonder why. It's probably because I did what I wanted to do. A psychologist once said in a TV program that your psychological sense of time is determined by the number of tasks you assign yourself. If you spend a day with no plans, it ends quickly. On the other hand, if you make plans for the day, and spend the day accordingly, the day feels longer. I feel it makes sense.

I had three goals in mind:
1) Some cardio workout in the daytime
2) Some fun bike ride
3) Blogging
4) 30 K run

They were all executed, and executed well. I'll pick up 4) and write about it below.

<30 K Run in Socks>
Today I ran 30 K in the Oleno running socks manufactured by socks company Showa Meriyasu. According to Katsuaki Inoue, the owner of the company, the Oleno running socks were made to help runners make use of their full potential to run bio-mechanically most naturally. In my understanding, many minimalist running shoes have also been made according to the same philosophy. I have worn both. I would like to make a few comparisons:
1) Running socks are less protective than minimalist running shoes such as MUTEKIs, and Baretreks, but they still ease the pain caused by edgy pebbles and rough road surface.
2) Running socks are a lot cheaper than most minimalist shoes.

When running in the Olenos, I almost feel like I'm running barefoot. Showa Meriyasu produces several different kinds of running socks, but with mine the toe is exposed. So there is some direct contact with the ground. However, much of the contact area is covered with garment, so the sole receives some protection against edgy pebbles and rough surface of the road. Eventually I am hoping to run the entire race distance without shoes, but the Olenos serve as a good transitional tool to bridge between shoe-clad and barefoot running.

Today I aimed to reach the target distance by flexibly combining a 2.5 K loop and 6 K shuttle course.

First I ran the 2.5 K loop twice in 28:15.30.

Next I repeated it once in 28:01.45 to reach 10 K. But I took a water and food break because I was both thirsty and hungry. I had a quarter a pineapple.

After the hydration & food break I ran the same loop twice in 28:11.64, and took a brief water break for 16.93.

I was going to run another 5 K without a stop. But then after running one lap in 14:11.22 I got hungry again, so I made a stop at home for 6:34.20 to eat and drink. This time I ate one whole peach, and a third of a banana.

I ran the loop again in 14:41.30. By this time I was getting increasingly dehydrated and had to drink more water, and more often. Also, my legs were getting tenser and tenser, so I had to loosen them up a little by stretching. I made a brief stop of 34.38. Up to that moment I had covered 20 K.

I chose to change the course, and started going the 6 K shuttle course, remembering that in Aqua Line Marathon there are more hills in the second half of the race. The 6 K shuttle course has hills. Very steep ones. So that sort of simulates the actual race. But by this time I was already pretty exhausted, so I had to slow down quite a bit. Ordinarily I would come back in 30 minutes, but today it took me 38:39.31 including a brief water break I took at a park along the course. When I reached home, I had covered 26 K.

The I had to eat something again to keep on going. And drink more water also. I took a break for 6:26.87 to eat another quarter of a pineapple and drink water.

Four more kilometers to reach 30 K. I ran the 2.5 loop once, and went the same route halfway, and took a U-turn after running about 750 M to run the remaining 1.5 K. It took me 28:06.34 to run just 4 K, because I took two water breaks at a park, but I completed it anyway.

I ran 30 K in 3:20:02. Time-wise it sucks, but feeling-wise it's AWESOME!

When I got home and took a shower, I was so tired that I couldn't bring myself to eat anything. The only thing I could have was water, nothing else. Even beer seemed unappealing. Just water. But as I watched World Cup final on TV, appetite slowly came back, so I finally had dinner that was made up of grilled beef & celery and asparagus, horse mackerel sashimi, and cubes of tuna boiled in sweet and salty sauce. I thought I would celebrate my achievement with beer, but somehow I never felt like drinking any, so it ended up being an alcohol-free Sunday. It's actually not such a bad idea. 





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