Midnight 25.1 K Barefoot LSD in the Rain

June 1, 2020

25.1 K: 2:31:22

The day after doing high intensity cardio I was afraid my legs might be too heavy for a long run, but to my surprise my whole body felt light, and the long cruise was mostly a pleasant experience, except that in the last twenty minutes I was caught in a shower and got drenched, but thanks to a wind-breaker with a hood that I had wrapped around my waist, I stayed warm enough till the training was over. 

After training was over, I looked back on how I would feel a couple of years ago during and after a long run like today's. During the run it was common that I felt slight discomfort in the leg, mostly a pain in the right knee. Today there was no such discomfort whatsoever during the run, except that there was just a slight discomfort in the right knee, but it's the sort of discomfort that I can shrug off, saying it's psychologically-induced. 

After the training I would usually be so sore that I wasn't able to move an inch. Now I feel normal after taking a quick shower, except that there is some soreness in the sole. Today I got a small bloody blister in the right sole. But that's one of those things, and nothing to make a fuss about. The point is my overall endurance has significantly improved over the last couple of years. I owe this to a book by former ultra-marathon world record holder, Takahiro Sunada. I still basically stick to what he preaches in the book. But I also see some danger in doing the same training over and over again, with the only variables being target times and paces. In 2020, I want to enjoy trying new things, without deviating too much from the philosophy of Sunada. My another marathon bible is a book by former coach of Naoko Takahasi, Yoshio Koide. He is the man who ignited my desire to aim at a sub-3 marathon. He says, "It's a joy to aim at a sub-3 marathon," not "It's a joy to run a sub-3 marathon." The joy of aiming at it. I just like the idea of it. I don't know how far up I can get. But I just want to see how far up I can go. If I drop dead while training, that's that.