One-Hour Recovery Run

Jul. 9, 2021

11.8 K: 1:10:04. 

Listened while running to "Stay With Me" by Miki Matsubara who prematurely died of cancer when she was still 44. 

Leg muscles were tense before run. They felt lighter and more relaxed thereafter. 

Listened to "Stay With Me" by Miki Matsubara who prematurely died of cancer when she was still 44. Leg muscles were tense before run. They felt lighter and more relaxed after run. 

Recovery Run (16.8 K)

Mar. 8, 2021

16.8 K: 1:43:00

Eighteen hours after I ran  28.5 K, I went for a recovery run, aiming to run a total of more than a full marathon distance within 24 hours. I ran 16.8 K to reach a total distance of 45.3 K.

I don't know whether it's good or bad, but I don't feel too exhausted. Let's just say it's good, because both runs were not speed training, and the main purpose of the run tonight is for recovery. You don't want to feel too exhausted to do anything as a result of a recovery run, you know.

This coming weekend I'm running with an older sister of a friend of mine. She is a sub-3 runner. She signed up for the Nagoya Women's Marathon. The event takes place online, and she's planning to run a course in her original hometown of Sakura City, Chiba where I live right now. She wants company of a fellow runner to boost her spirit. Knowing that her younger sister's friend, which is me, is also a runner who lives in the same city, she invited me to join her through her sister. I gladly accepted the invitation.

Our running abilities are very different, and if I run her pace, I can very easily burn out, so I asked her not to expect too much of me as someone to run along with her to push her for a good time. I know her pacing because she shares some of her race results on FB, which I always see with a feeling of awe and respect. She gets right into a highly competitive pace from the start. I'm more of a slow starter. I'm almost like jogging in the first 10 K or so. My pace increase is only slight even in the following 10 K. I don't usually increase my pace until past 25 K. My quickest pace usually takes place near 35 K, though the exact peak varies from race to race. 

Anyhow, I am satisfied that I did run more than a full marathon distance within 24 hours, which is what I almost always did a week or two prior to really successful races in the past. 

I'm confident that I will have some enjoyable run this coming weekend. 

 

Midnight One-Hour Recovery Run

Feb. 11, 2021

11.4 K: 1:09:45

Two nights after massive hill intervals. Still not completely recovered. So took a short nap after dinner. When woke up, felt fully charged to get out and hit the road. 

The street was deserted. The stars were less visible than usual because of clouds. But thanks to them, the drop in temperature was limited because they trap the air underside of it. 

Ran in aqua shoes in the photo below. Removed insoles to allow myself to directly feel the impact of landing. Insoles are good for protection. But sometimes being too protective is not good for you. One down side is that your running form may be crooked. Why? Because when your feet are protected, it doesn't hurt much even when your running form is not good. On the other hand, running barefooted or in minimalist shoes with little protection allows you to immediately detect a slight glitch. I hardly ever get my legs injured, running barefooted, and that's exactly why I don't. When you are in bare feet or minimalist shoes, you simply cannot continue to run in a form that can lead to injury, because you get the immediate feedback of pain if something is wrong with your form.  

Tomorrow night I want to have one more easy run for an hour or so if I feel strong enough. But I'm not sure. I have a lesson until 10:30 p.m. I come home past midnight. I have an early start on Saturday morning. I must be at the office in Tokyo by 9:00. It takes minimum an hour and a half between home and the office. I may skip training and rest. If I skip training tomorrow night, my next training will be Saturday night. I'm going to have either another easy run, or a tempo run, depending on how strong I feel.  

Midnight Recovery Run in New Pair of Aqua Shoes

Jan. 28, 2021

Fatigued from interval training on the previous night, I wanted to hit the bed as soon as I got home. But some kind of recovery training would be extremely beneficial after hard training, so I decided to go for a very slow jog. I put my feet into a new pair of aqua shoes that I had bought a few months before as part of my official race outfit.

The results? I ran out of gas before reaching halfway of what I was originally planning to run. I chucked a uey after running 3.9 K and got home 41:13.18 after I left home, covering 6 .9 K in total.

Though I failed to cover the originally scheduled distance, I don't feel bad at all. I could have skipped the training entirely. It's still better than zero training. Every effort counts. 

 

One-Hour Recovery Run

Jan. 5, 2020

5.1 K: 31:18.14

5.1 K: 31:18.14

Total 10.2 K: 1:02:36.28

Jogged at an easy pace to alleviate tension in the legs resulting from interval training on the previous night. It worked. A warm shower after the run felt like heaven.

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!

Recovery Run in Bare Feet

Jan. 29, 2020
10.6 K: 1:05:02

This is the first training session after the Tateyama Wakashio Marathon 2020. I jogged for about an hour without wearing shoes, feeling the cold asphalt on my bare soles. It felt great.

10 K Recovery Run in Aqua Shoes

Oct. 1, 2019
10.5 K: 1:11:31

What you do after intensive training is important. You feel like taking a complete rest. But if you do, you can kill the benefit of the training on the previous day. However, with some soreness remaining in your legs there is naturally a limit to what you can do. Doing yet another session of intensive training can lead to over-training. There is a risk of unrecoverable soreness that prevents you from training for days. I want to do everything to avoid that.

What's recommended by one experienced former marathoner is LSD. So that's what I did today. 

I aimed for a minimum of 90-minute run. But halfway into it I felt some pain in my right knee. It happens sometimes so I wasn't surprised. Ordinarily I would shrug it off and continue to run. But tonight I didn't have the willpower to endure the pain, nor did I feel the need to put up with it. I simply walked for a while instead. 

After running for a couple of minutes, pain returned. So I switched to walking again. Pain came back again every time I started again, but no pain was anything serious. I just dealt with it until I reached home by alternate running and walking. 

It took me 1:11:31 to cover the distance that ordinarily only takes me less than an hour. But that's OK. The purpose of the training tonight is recovery. 

Incidentally, I tried on the new pair of aqua shoes. To be totally honest, they are far more comfortable than the huaraches I ran in yesterday. So far they are THE BEST foot ware that I've ever run in. If the road is smooth, running barefoot is THE BEST. But if the road condition isn't that great, running in these can beat barefoot running. Running on poorly-maintained asphalt roads is simply painful, and not much fun, only testing a different kind of endurance from long-distance endurance. 

Post-Race Recovery 10 K Run + Body Weight Park Workout

Sept. 17, 2019

Two days after Kyoho no Oka Marathon 2019 I went out for a short recovery run, mixing it with some body weight park workout to hit upper body. Body weight  training became increasingly tough as probably because I was running short of glycogen as I ran longer.  

2.5 K 

Park workout 1:

Arm hang: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Dips: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Pike push-ups: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Arm hang: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Hand-stand: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Dips: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Pike push-ups: 30 seconds

2.5 K

Park workout 2:

Arm hang: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Hand-stand: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Dips: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Pike push-ups: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Arm hang: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Hand-stand: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Dips: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Pike push-ups: 30 seconds

2.5 K

Park workout 3:

Arm hang: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Hand-stand: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Dips: 30 seconds

Rest: 15 seconds

Pike push-ups: 30 seconds

2.5 K

Total 10 K 1:23:58

21 K Barefoot Recovery Run

Dec. 17, 2018

21 K: 2:10:17 

After doing a long run on Sunday, I would normally give myself a full rest, but today I did a recovery run instead, mainly because I was inspired to do so by the news of 70-year-old Gene Dykes who broke the world best time for men's 70s age group at the Jacksonville Marathon in Florida held on Dec. 15. He made dramatic progress after getting advice from a coach who pushed him into training more often.

I discovered a new route on Google Map, which is 9.4 K one way. 

I did one lap of the 2.2 K loop around the water treatment plant, and came back the same route. 9.4 doubled, plus 2.2 makes 21 K. I think it's a good recovery run following a 30 K run on the previous night.

I had a good late night meal consisting mainly of fresh veggies and fruit, and just a little bit of starchy stuff, which is baked sweet potato. Sugar content is high there, but it's rich in fiber also. 

I weighed slightly over 59 kg after the run. One more kilogram to go to reach my weight goal of 58 kg.