Yotsukaido Gas Light 10 K Road Race Test Run

Nov. 11, 2019

Six days until Yotsukaido Gas Light 10 K Road Race 2019. Just wanting to get the feel for the course and mentally rehearse the race, I hopped on my scooter to the venue after dinner, and test-ran the entire course.

I parked the scooter in the park near the start line, and took off my windbreaker pants and down-jacket to get ready.

There was some traffic near the start area, but after running for a couple of kilometers into the residential district, it suddenly became quiet, and I was alone on the road.

In the first 2 kilometers there are two steep downhills and uphills. With my legs still fresh I'm hoping to run through this zone under 8:10, though there will be no knowing how fast I'll be going because I won't wear my Ironman running watch. It's too distracting to run with the watch on.

The last few hundred meters of the first 2 K are going down slightly. I want to pick up pace there. Then the course turns left into a long stretch. The road surface is very smooth there. It's perfect for barefoot run. But the last half of this zone is a slight upward incline. This is where running efficiency is most important. If I run too economically, increasing cadence, but shortening strides too much, I can sacrifice time. If I use my quads and calves too much here, my heart rates will go too high, and I can struggle in the second half. I will probably life my knees nice and well so that I can smoothly turn the landing motion into forward movement by using tendon more than muscle.

In the last K of the first half and the first K of the second half, the road condition suddenly gets worse. It gets rough, and the paint of the line is poorly-maintained. So it will be rather uncomfortable 2 kilometers.  But this is also the area where I get to see runners who are still on their way to the turning point. I usually get some real good cheering yells from my runner friends around here. I'm hoping they will lift my spirit.   

Once the poorly-maintained zone is over, the next 3 kilometers are downhill. This is the only opportunity for me to mark any significant gain, because the last 2 kilometers are ups and downs, and the legs are expected to be suffering from building lactic acid. With roaring cheers from both sides of the road I will give it everything I have to maintain the pace that leads me to the target.

During the test run, what was originally only a slight discomfort in my left calf became a pain, which I had to deal with by slowing down. It must be cure before any serious running training. So tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I will avoid running and do some core training instead. But I will make it intense, and do it many sets so that I can keep my cardio. 

10 K Barefoot Jog

March 5, 2019
5.1 K: 29:49.04
5.1 K: 28:11.41
Total 10.2 K: 58:00.45

I had my first barefoot run after Ohme. I hadn't run barefoot for almost one month, so I was afraid that my soles had softened, but I could feel when I hit the road that they had actually toughened, and they were almost numb to slight roughness on the road.

10 K Run Including Three 1 K Fast Runs

March 1st, 2019

3 K: 19:20.07

1 K: 4:24.32

1 K: 6:26.72

1 K: 4:21.19

1 K: 6:39.98

1 K: 4:19.67

2 K: 12:08.32

Total 10 K: 57:40.27

My motivation is slowly coming back. I went off for a run without deciding of how far I was going, nor how fast I was going to run. I went with the flow as I listened to my body. 

When I reached the end of the 6 K shuttle course, I felt ready for a fast run. I turned around and kicked for a 1 K fast run down the hilliest part of the course. My legs were still a bit heavy, but as I went on, I felt they were gradually accustomed to the fast pace. I jogged back the same route after running 1 K, and repeated it two more times. 

I checked my running form both when running fast and when jogging. I didn't feel too out of balance. Both legs felt well-aligned. The landing point is straight under my body's center of gravity. Cadence was good also. I have gained a couple of kilograms since Tateyama. I will eat more veggies to shed a few pounds off my waist before running Sakura.

10.4 K Jog with One 1 K Time Trial

Feb. 12, 2019

4.1 K: 27:54.00

Rest: 1:00.07

1 K: 3:32.98

Rest: 1:00.39

5.3 K: 34:29.77

Total 10.4 K: 1:07:57

Six days to go before the Ohme 30 K Road Race. I was sleepy. And my legs felt heavy. I didn't know how to deal with my low motivation associated with these physical conditions. I spent almost an hour in my study, unable to make up my mind whether I should run or rest. When I finally threw myself into my running gear to hit the road, it was almost a quarter to 1:00 a.m. I decided to run the hilly shuttle course for a minimum of 6 K. If I was in a mood for it, I might do a few repeats of the hilliest part of the course. 

When I reached the turning point, which is exactly 3 K from home, I decided to keep straight to reach the water treatment plant an additional 600 M down the road, because I felt like doing a 1 K time trial around the 1 K loop next to the water treatment plant.

I rested a minute before taking off for the time trial. I immediately got in top gear and pressed on. I turned the first corner into the narrowest section of the loop that is only slightly going down. Passing an intersection at the far end of the narrow street, the course continued to slightly go down. I widened my strides for a time gain. I crossed another intersection, this time, to get into a slight upward incline. I shortened my strides and increased cadence to minimize energy loss. Once the upward incline was over, I changed my gear again and started winding up. I turned two corners, still trying to hold on to the same pace, but once into the final stretch I widened my strides to put on a last spurt. Tears welled up in my eyes for reason I didn't know. It happens sometimes when I'm running at a far faster pace than usual. Oxygen debt was now maximum. The legs would not move as well as I wanted them to. The light came nearer and nearer with each step that marked the goal. Breathing was hard. I gasped for air, but air just didn't seem to properly come into my lungs. Time seemed to have stopped. I felt like I was pushing through vacuum. A second passed. Then another. The next moment I stopped the timer on my Ironman, and my body suddenly relaxed. I bent forward and couldn't move an inch for a while. Then I slowly raised my upper body and started walking. The watch said: 3:32:98. It's almost 10 seconds slower than my PR for 1 K. I may have put on weight. Or I was simply too tired to give a go at renewing my PR. But either way, there was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. I did something I would never have imagined I would be doing when I first left home tonight. I felt like shit at first, feeling heavy, feeling sleepy, and simply feeling unmotivated. But now I felt like I was in seventh heaven.

After taking a minute's break I started jogging around the water treatment plant counter-clockwise to cover the remaining 1.7 K of the periphery road. 

Once I made a full circle around the water plant, I went back where I came from, enjoying the physiological changes that inevitably occurred after anaerobic training. The legs are still slightly under the influence of oxygen debt experienced, so they tend to be tense and sore. But on the other hand, breathing suddenly becomes a lot easier. It almost feels like your lungs got two times larger, capable of taking in twice as much oxygen in one breath!  It's a great feeling. And it is this feeling that makes me go for fast-paced anaerobic training no matter how hard it is when you are doing it.

After coming home, I took a quick shower and sat on my computer to write this blog post. With my small study heated comfortably, my eyes got heavy, and before I knew I fell asleep. Next time I opened my eyes, my watch said 5:47 a.m. I slept almost three hours at the desk. The heater was already off. And the room was getting colder. I went to the guest room where futon was ready, and crashed. My mind went blank in a second. 

10 K Jog in MUTEKI

Feb. 8, 2019

5.1 K: 32:30.52

5.1 K: 28:03.84

Total 10.2 K: 1:00:34

Since I ran 23 K this past Monday I hadn't run for three days in a row. On Tuesday I needed a full rest after the long run. On Wednesday I didn't run because I had an early start the following morning. On Thursday I was too exhausted and sleepy to run after teaching a 7-hour corporate seminar all by myself. Tonight I was still not fully recovered, and ideally should go to bed early to prepare for an early start on Saturday morning, but another absence of training could have led to a setback on the gain from all the previous efforts, so I decided to hit the road by significantly lowering the expectations of myself. I ran without weights. I ran with shoes on. I ran slowly. I picked up the pace only when I felt like it. And it worked. Just like in most previous sessions it felt like shit before you did it, but it felt like seventh heaven when it's done.  

10 K Pace Run in MUTEKI

Oct. 14, 2018

1st 2.5 K: [Target lap: 12:17.00/Actual lap: 11:46.78]

2nd 2.5 K: [Target lap: 12:17.00/Actual lap: 11:32.92]

3rd 2.5 K: [Target lap: 12:17.00/Actual lap: 11:55.45]

4th 2.5 K: [Target lap: 12:17.00/Actual lap: 11:12.59]

Total 10 K:  [Target lap: 49:10.00/Actual lap: 46:28.74]

One week to go before Aqua Line Marathon 2018. The training scheduled for tonight was 10 K pace run. The target pace was 4:55/K. The target finish time was 49:10. I ran a 2.5 K loop in my neighborhood four laps, with the target lap being 12:17 each. 

After stretching my legs a little, I started off for the first lap. I paced myself based on my average half marathon pace. The first lap was 11:47.78, almost 30 seconds under the target. I slowed down a little, trying to bring the pace closer to the target. But the second lap was even faster: 11:32.92. I took shorter strides to control the speed, but my cadence went up, and I ended up running faster. I made further effort to control my speed by not only taking shorter strides, but also by deliberately slowing down the cadence. The third lap was 11:55.45 as intended. The came the last lap. I kept the same pace as the previous lap, but planned to kick in the last 500 M. That I did, and finished it at 11:12.59, the fastest of four.

Tomorrow, I will give myself a good rest. On Tuesday and Wednesday I will jog for an hour. On Thursday I will do my last interval training. On Friday I will jog for an hour again. And the night before the race, I will give myself a complete rest. Is it too much? I'm not sure. It feels like it, because in the past I would rest more than  train in the week leading to the race day. But since that's what former ultra marathon world record holder recommends, and I want to give it a test to see how my body will react to this kind of stimulus.  

10 K Barefoot Hill Jog

Oct. 9, 2018: 10 K/Barefoot/1:01:04

The older you get, the more rest you need in order to feel sufficiently recovered from your previous training. What used to take only a day for recovery now takes two. I felt so when I came home from work last night. I had a good 25 K barefoot run on Sunday, and gave myself a full rest on Monday. That should be enough, but I didn't feel entirely refreshed. Should I skip training, or should I do it? I still hadn't completely shaken off my coughs, and increased acidity in my body resulting from hard training might make it vulnerable to germs and viruses, which in turn might prolong the recovery process...After some pondering, I decided to run, but without giving myself too much stress.

I had a choice between going barefoot or sock-clad or shoe-clad. I picked the first choice: barefoot. Not just because it feels the best, but also because with a race within two weeks I didn't want my soles to lose their durability built up up to this point through constant effort.

I ran the usual 6 K shuttle course, ran two 1 K hill repeats near halfway, went back where I came from, and added three laps around a 650 M quarter-pie-shaped loop, to make it a solid 10 K jog. While I was doing the hill repeats, I thought of doing two more repeats, but didn't, because I was hungry and tired, and just couldn't keep my motivation. But while running back home, the pendulum swung right and left between settling for 8 K or going extra miles to make it 10 K. I chose the latter by going around the loop near my house. Somehow, the nearer I am, the less lonely I feel, and the less lonely I feel, the easier for me to keep motivation. Funny. I didn't run fast at all. The main purpose of the training that night was sole maintenance and minor cardio conditioning. But the last 2 K presented to me a different kind of challenge: a rough road surface. It was a good practice because there are so many unpredictable elements in the race on 21st. One of them is the road condition. I am going to run it for the first time. The venue is a bit far, so I don't think I can make time to go there and test run the course. The road condition is unknown until I run it. So I need to be mentally prepared to adjust my running form according to the road surface condition in order to minimize damage to the soles. 

I think I was able to do good training both physically and mentally. 

One-Hour Hill Jog in Bare Feet

Sept. 11, 2018

Two days after the 30 K run this past Sunday, both of my hamstrings and buttocks were still sore from body weight muscle training and high intensity cardio that I had done prior to the 30 K run on the same day, but the soreness was not severe enough to stop me from going for a slow jog tonight.

I ran for an hour to cover 10 K at 6:00/K pace. I ran the usual 6 K shuttle course, but did four additional 1 K hill repeats during the course, because I felt good. The air was cool, and I heard the chirping of grasshoppers and crickets in the bush along the road. It was beautiful music that made what would otherwise be a monotonous activity a pleasant athletic journey.

I maintained a comfortable pace, mainly focusing on my form to minimize the shock and friction of landing. The training was over without leaving and pain nor discomfort in neither of my soles, so I believe my form was good. Hopefully I can keep the same form when I run at a faster pace in the race.

10 K Jog in MUTEKI

After resting for an entire day on Monday, I felt recovered, so I restarted my running training with an hour jog. I ran in minimalist split-toe shoes MUTEKI by Kineya.

I ran around a 2.5 K loop near my house four times at a very comfortable pace except for the last lap, and covered 10 K in a little less than an hour.

I carefully checked my running form as I usually do when I slowly jog. I listened to "Hairspray" while running because I wanted to make use of the training time for my English training also. 

The laps are shown below:

1st 2.5 K + 160 M: 16:22.25

2nd 2.5 K: 15:42.69

3rd 2.5 K: 15:27.62

4th 2.5 K: 11:16.64

Warm Down: 160 M: 1:10.51

Total 10.32 K: 59:59.15

In the 4th lap I surged, keeping a 4:30/K pace throughout the lap. I like finishing my daily training this way: finishing strongly.