Eighty-Four-Minute Midnight Cycling with Ten 170 M Hill Repeats

March 12, 2020

I hit the road on my bike tonight. The interval training last night was so refreshing that I couldn't resist pedaling down the road again. 

I went down my favorite jogging course from home to a point on a 5 K loop in Yukarigaoka's residential district. From there I went around the loop twice.

While around the loop, I stepped on the gas rather intensively for about 2 K, taking about 4 minutes. It added a kick to what'd be otherwise a rather monotonous cruise.  

After lapping the loop twice I took a break at a convenience store and ate instant noodles. Once the stomach was filled I had renewed motivation to push myself further. I headed to a 170 M hill below. It's short but steep. I did 10 repeats there. It was challenging. But there was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment when I completed all ten reps without giving up halfway.

Bike Intervals: 10 Sets by 4-Minutes with 2-Minute Active Rest

I did intervals on a bike last night. I had my right calf injured at the beginning of this month while doing 20 K tempo run. I haven’t been able to do any quality running training since then. I’ve been doing “non-running” training to keep my fitness, But cardio has been somewhat neglected. I have a race in mid April. Further neglect could lead to unrecoverable setback. So I decided to compensate with cycling training because it doesn’t hurt the injured part. 

In the training tonight one set consists of a 4-minute all out session and a 2-minute cruise. I repeated it 10 times. It was done on a straight course with moderate undulation. There was a brief warm up and warm down before and after it respectively. 

All in all it was an awesome fat-burning cardio session because my waist looked noticeably thinner after the training. It was a good hormonal feast also because I felt the same usual exhilaration and subsequent calmness that typically follow interval training done by running. Those feelings are given to you as a reward for hard work because dopamine and serotonin are secreted. Cycling intervals have the same effect. 

How I Will Make a Transition from Sub 3.5 to 3.15 Marathon

March 4, 2020

<Race Pace Ks>
My fitness goal this season is to run a sub-3.5 marathon. I ran a near sub-3.5 race at Tateyama Marathon, and I am already quite content with my achievement. My mind therefore is already looking ahead to set a new goal for Year 2021. My next goal is to run a sub-3.15 marathon, that is to say finishing a marathon under 3:15:00. To achieve the goal I need to run each K in 4:36, and be able to repeat it 42 times without a break.  I am already capable of running each K in 4:55 and repeat it 42 times, so my next goal is slashing 19 seconds from each lap. I can't get there in one fell swoop. It's going to be a gradual process.

First of all, I must get used to the new and faster pace. How am I going to do it? I can't change the pace of my regular tempo run all of a sudden from 4:55 to 4:36.  I'd get burned out immediately. My realistic approach is to make it 1 K repeats at the new target pace with a short active rest between repeats. I did it for a trail, and was pretty satisfied with the approach. I'm going to do it to replace 1-hour jog at least once a week.

I still haven't decided what to do with interval training. My target pace was 4:30 when aiming at sub-3.5.  When you aim at a sub-3.15 marathon, you must run each K 6.5 % faster than before. 6.5 % of 4:30 is 18 seconds. 18 from 30 leaves 12. Therefore my target for intervals from now on is most likely to be 4:12.

4:36, and 4:12. These are my new most important numerical targets.                                                                                                                 

Recovery Run

March 2, 2020
8 K: 53:33.88
Jogged for a little less than an hour. My legs were stiff, and joints painful, so I ran very slowly as if to massage the legs by running!

20 K Tempo Run in MUTEKI

March 1, 2020
Warm Up: 5:14.01
<20 K Tempo Run: Target 12:17 for each lap>
2.5 K: 11:44.46
2.5 K: 11:48.41
2.5 K: 11:48.23
2.5 K: 12:14.20
2.5 K: 12:31.09
2.5 K: 12:30.27
2.5 K: 12:10.59
2.5 K: 12:16.10
Total 20 K: 1:37:03 (Target=1:38:20)
Warm Down: 5:11.31

I went to see the Tokyo Marathon today. Suguru Osako finished 4th with a new national record of 2:05:29. It was inspiring.

At night I did a 20 K tempo run. It's my first major training session after Ohme. I wasn't sure if I could successfully carry it out. It's highly stressful training. Plus, I hadn't done much training for almost two weeks. But I wanted to know how far I could go anyway.

As I jogged to the start venue, I felt a stinging pain in my knee. For a moment I suspected it might be caused by the stress of the Ohme 30 K Road Race. But the next moment I just shrugged it off, saying to myself, "Well, it's just my sub-conscious saying, 'Don't make it too tough.'" As I look back on it, I think I was right, because once I started running, the pain somehow mysteriously disappeared.

I lapped the 2.5 K loop below.  The target for each lap is 12:17. I ran the first 10 K a little faster than the target. Then in the second half it started becoming increasingly tougher to keep the same pace. I was outside the target two laps in a row. There was a tremendous amount of inner-talk, so to speak, regarding whether or not I should continue. I chose to continue, no matter what a miserable self I would have to be facing.

When the target distance was finally covered, and I found myself well inside the target time, I was glad that I didn't give up.

Tokyo Marathon 2020 （東京マラソン観戦記）

Only half an hour ago I was in Uchisaiwaicho a few minutes' walk from Metro Shimbashi Station in Central Tokyo, cheering on elite athletes who raced in the Tokyo Marathon 2020. I'm now at a Starbucks Cafe on Corridor Street between Ginza and Shinbashi, reflecting on the excitement of the last 2 kilometers of the race. By now the crowd at finish line must be going wild as they welcome home one finishing running after another.

内幸町での応援を終え、銀座七丁目はコリドー通りにある珈琲屋で寛いでいる。今頃ゴールは歓喜と興奮に沸き立っているだろう。

The race this year was a sheer joy for someone who enjoys watching a marathon. My eyes were particularly riveted to the expressions runners showed as they passed by. They are so rich in variety. Also, I was once again totally knocked out by how beautiful some elite female runners were.

さるにても今年の大会は見どころが満載だった。分けても目を引いたのは、選手達の見せる表情の豊かさと、女子アスリートの美しさだ。

Runners run in all kinds of expressions. Some look straight head, as if saying, "I mean business." Others smile at you as you cheer them on. Others looked fatigued and weak, looking down as if to avoid the eye contact with cheerers. Yet others ran in grimace, looking like a philosopher torn between two horns of moral dilemma. The variety of their expressions almost seems tantamount to the diversity of insects in a tropical jungle.

レース中のランナーの表情は実に多様だ。口を真一文字に結んで真っ直ぐに前を見つめてひた走る者、声援に笑みを浮かべて目線で応える者、疲労と落胆に打ちひしがれ下をうつむき走る者、幻の星を掴もうと手を伸ばす熱病の人のように悩ましい苦悩を眉間の皺に滲ませる者…。かくも単純な「走る」という行為をしながら、一人ひとりのランナーが見せる表情の多様性は、熱帯の密林に潜む昆虫の種類のように千差万別で、またロシア文学の長編小説のように豊かな奥行きに満ちていて圧巻だ！

And let's not forget how beautiful women are when they run!! They beauty can be divided into two categories. One is beauty of their dynamism. Their smooth move forward makes it look almost effortless. Smoothness is paramount in African female runners. They make their surrounding, which consists of ugly grey concrete buildings, look like the African savanna of red soil and blue sky where low bush grows and animals eat it. Their beauty is natural beauty of a wild cherry tree that blooms in the middle of a spring mountain without the aid of human care.

そして、女子アスリートの美しさ。それは二種類に分類できた。一つはアフリカ勢トップ選手達の美しい躍動感だ。その美しさは、内幸町のコンクリートジャングルを一瞬にして赤土と青空のサバンナに錯覚させる魔法の呪文のような神秘に溢れていた。その美しさは、生まれ持った身体的な才能を素直に伸長した結果辿り着く自然美のような美しさで、誰も手入れをしないのに山の中腹で見事に咲き誇る山桜のような美しさだった。

On the other hand, there is also a static beauty of muscle that well-trained female athletes show. I particularly admire their well-toned calf and hamstring, and the beauty they radiate the moment their foot strikes the land. Well-shaped bundles of muscle tissues get clearly carved out, looking as if the top of an aged mountain range. The skin, wet with sweat and slightly tanned from thousands of hours of hard training under the sun, glitters in the sun, giving their muscles melancholic and yet almost divine shades. It is a man-made beauty as opposed to natural beauty. It is the beauty of a 'bonsai' tree that has been carefully grown into a particular shape with ultimate intent and care.

一方もう1つの美しさは、訓練されたアスリートの肉体そのものの美しさだ。分けても着地の瞬間に怒張する脹脛と腿裏の筋肉の美しさは私の目を釘付けにした。ある日本人女性アスリートの脚の筋肉は、着地の瞬間筋繊維の一本一本が見事に隆起して、その姿はまるでなだらかな山脈の山波を模したジオラマを見ているようだった。また練習で日焼けした肌は、滲む汗が強い陽射しを照り返して、隆起した筋繊維の一本一本に、ほとんど神々しいまでの陰影を添えるのだった。アフリカ勢の躍動感の美しさが山桜の美しさだったらば、彼女の美しさには、意図を待って練磨された肉体の最高峰の美の形、考えに考え抜いて到達した肉体美の究極、言わば「盆栽」のｴﾛｽとも言うべき美が、滴り落ちるように感じられた。・・・。

The Japanese female runner who is the owner of the beautiful calf and hamstring I rambled on raced away, but her back was radiating pride. She makes me think that the body that is disciplined with a sense of purpose and commitment inevitably acquires pride as its inseparable quality.

美しい筋肉の幻影を残して走り去る女性ランナーの後ろ姿は、誇りに輝いていた。私は思う。意図をもって練磨された肉体は、自尊心を獲得するのだと。まる。