Midnight One-Hour Jog

Jan. 17, 2022

0.72 K: 4:56.04

10 K: 52:07.36

0.72 K: 6:10.45

Total 11.44 K: 1:03:13

After dinner I had a mental rehearsal for an important corporate sesminar scheduled for tomorrow. It went well. I made a few minor adjustments. But after that everything looks all set. After the rehearsal I drafted two meeting documents and emalied them to my boss. A meeting is scheduled after the corporate seminar. I'm excited to discuss our vision for the new year. 

Since I was pretty much done for what's on my to-do-list for today, I decided to reward myself with some good endurance training. Two nights before I ran 10 K, and it didn't cause me any post-training discomfort. So, I put myself to another test to see if my body was ready for a similar training intensity after a two-day interval.

The result? Awesome. The entire run was pain-free. I even ran a little faster (though I should be more careful for that matter).

Breathing was still not so easy. And there was lingering soreness resulting from the run two nights ago. But nonetheless I am hopeful for the prospect of doing it more often. 

While running tonight, by the way, I listened to Brian Tracy's lecture on leadership. The lecture is imprtant for me because I can get some useful tips that I can share with my clients who take my seminar tomorrow. I always listen to Brian's lectures the night before an important seminar, usually as I run. Most of the time it gives me such relevant last-minute input that I can use in the seminar. Hat tipped to Brain! The lecture tonight got me thinking that I want to remind those who volunteer to be the leader in group work that the most important two questions they can ask themselves once they volunteer to be the leader of their group are as follows:

1) What do my team members know that helps accomplish the given task?

2) What do I want each member to do to accomplish the task?

I hope prospective leaders in tomorrow's seminar will find them useful.

11.4 K Jog

Apr. 1, 2021

11.4 K: 1:03:05

It was such a relaxing day today. The last of four 5-hour teacher seminars was finally over yesterday. Today I had a day off. I slept late, and started my day with a light breakfast of oatmeal with nuts, raisins and chopped kumquat. 

Shortly before noon, I hopped on my Kawasaki and headed for Togane City. The sky wasn't cloudless, but it was sunny enough for a pleasant motorbike ride.

I stopped by a farm stand in Yatomi Town, Sakura City. I bought a bundle of warabi and a Japanese yam 40 cm long. 

I got some work done at McDonald's on Route 126 in Togane. It's one of the best McDonald's restaurants that I've ever been to. It's spacious. There are many outlets. Windows are large and it's bright inside. The parking lot is huge. There is a space exclusively for motorcycles, with each lot large enough for a massive Harley-Davidson. 

The route between home and Togane is perfect for a bike ride. Some of the roads are rather narrow. But you have only a limited number of traffic lights in much of the way. So although they are 35 kilometers apart, it takes less than an hour to travel unless you are caught in a bad traffic jam. Today I wasn't caught in any. 

I had both the warabi and the Japanese yam that I had bought from the farm stand for dinner. They were exquisite. 

Having fully recharged my mindbody's batteries, I felt like hitting the road this time on my feet, not on my Kawasaki. I jogged my tempo run route at an easy pace for about an hour. It's been a while since I ran last. I felt clumsy at first. But about 45 minutes into it, I found my legs rolling on like an automaton. 

Midnight One-Hour Jog

Mar. 3, 2021

11.4 K: 1:06:56

Ran a little longer than an hour to cover 11.4 K. Ran the course that I use for tempo run. I like it a lot because it's rich in undulation and there is little traffic late at night.  

My glutes were tense before starting off. The tension was due to intervals on the previous night. But as I progressed, it eased off. By the time I was home, it was almost completely gone. Funny what makes most people tired such as running can make you feel more refreshed. 

Listened to a couple of informative lectures by world-renowned motivational speaker Brian Tracy while running. The topics were how to manage negative emotions and how to maintain mental health. Got some useful input for a corporate seminar I'm facilitating tomorrow afternoon. Cannot wait to share some with participants. 

One-Hour Jog in Vibram 5 Fingers

Feb. 8, 2021

11.4 K: 1:05:12

Another easy run after dinner for the purpose of conditioning my body for interval training scheduled for tomorrow.

Soreness resulting from high intensity cardio two night ago is almost gone. However, there is a slight pain in my right foot. It's not too bad to keep me from running, but I'll cancel the intervals tomorrow. Instead, I'll do some speed training on a bike. With a bike you can train cardio without putting too much of a burden on the foot. 

Two Days Till Ohme 30 K Road Race: One-Hour Jog

Feb. 14, 2020
5.1 K: 31:37.50
5.1 K: 33:07.24
Total 10.2 K: 1:04:44

I finished the last training before the race tonight. I feel satisfied.

Tomorrow I will give myself a complete rest, fully recharging the body's batteries for the race on Sunday.

It's going to be the 8th time for me to run the course, and each time is a renewed pleasure. I've almost learned the course by heart. The first 3 K is almost flat, and then past 3 K a slight upward incline starts and last for a while. There is a long downhill before the 5 K mark. This section is warm up. It's hard to pick up the pace because the road is narrow, but there are still so many runners around you. But then as the incline gets steeper, weak runners start slowing down, and strong ones increase the pace little by little. As runners become farther apart from each other, passage ahead through slow runners becomes easier. This is the section where I am planning to run faster than last year. I want to run between 5 K and 15 K minimum 1 minute, and ideally a minute and a half faster than last year. Should I be able to do it, I can reach the turning point between 1:15:00 and 1:15:59. I must save as much energy as possible for the latter half, so I will pick up the pace, but do my best to run as economically as I can also. 

One-Hour Jog in the Rain

Nov. 27, 2019

12.03 K: 1:02:00

Five more days to go before the Shonan Kokusai Marathon 2019. I've been roughly following the tapering method recommended by former ultra-marathon world best record holder Mr. Takahiro Sunada, and what he recommends five days before the race is one-hour jog, so that's what I did. 

It started raining just before I left home. I thought it perfect for acclimating myself for potential bad weather on the race day.

I put on a pair of 100-yen flip-flops turned into semi-handmade huaraches. 

I was planning to run at  6:30/K, but before I knew I was going a lot faster. When I almost finished running the 10.5 K loop below, it was still 8 minutes till one hour, so I ran an extra couple of kilometers to run just a little over one hour.

I felt a slight tension in the left calf. I gave it a thorough massage after taking a shower. I might skip running tomorrow, and do core training instead, just to rest my legs a little.  

One-Hour Recovery Run

Nov. 25, 2019

Warm up 750 M: 4:23.56

2.5 K: 14:34.37

2.5 K: 14:13.60

2.5 K: 14:35.83

2.5 K: 14:25.33

Warm down 750 M: 4:26.82

11.5 K: 1:06:39

Six days to go before the race. I cruised around a 2.5 K loop near my home four times to check my running form as well as to relax the tension in the leg muscles resulting from the tempo run on the previous day. 

The course in the next race is pretty much flat. It's a shuttle course with little change in landscape, though it's all along the coast line and the view of the Pacific Ocean can be enjoyed from time to time. Water & food stations are frequently available and famous local sweets are offered at some of them, though I won't be bothered to enjoy many of them.  

I watched a video showing the course the other day, and have a pretty clear picture of how I want to run the race. I will probably go easy until the first turning point in Enoshima. It will be only after halfway that I will pick up the pace just a little bit. Even then, though, the pace increase will be very slight. I will be very patient until after 31.5 K where the 10th water station is supposed to be. 

I will then shift the gear and increase cadence. Once the finish area is visible on the right on my way to the second turning point in Ninomiya, I will increase the pace further. And then after the turning point, I will take off my aqua shoes and put on a spurt for the last two kilometers, hopefully overtaking those clad in NIKE's Next%.

One-Hour Jog

March 18, 2019

Park workout: 15:29.87
1) Inclined pull-ups
2) Isometric push-ups
3) Isometric prayers
4) Isometric shoulder press
5) Single-handed pull-ups

One-hour jog: 1:01.58
1 K fast run: 4:02.30
Warm down: 2:16.71
Total: 1:23:47

Six days to go before Sakura Asahi Kenko Marathon 2019. As part of my final phase conditioning I jogged for about an hour, and wrapped it up with one 1 K fast run at the end.

While running, I listened to a fitness lecture by Jeff Cavaliere, who used to be head physical therapist of the New York Mets. I've always been fascinated by how disciplined he is as an athletic professional, as well as his eloquence as a social media star. Today he explained in his fitness video 6 keys to effective muscle gain. Out of six one thing left me with the strongest impression. That is, exercising is not training. While both involve movement of your body, only moving your body with a purpose in mind is training. I take it to my heart, because it has an important implication to me as a language teacher. I'm going to share this new knowledge of mine with my students next time I see them, and encourage them to train, not exercise by having a clear purpose in mind of doing something if they do something. 

Weighted One-Hour Jog in Bare Feet

 Jan. 12, 2019
5.1 K: 31:12.91
5.1 K: 29:37.88
Total 10.2 K: 1:00:50

Ran an hour in bare feet. Covered 10.2 K in 1:00:50. Carried a 2 kg dumbbell in each hand to increase the challenge. Another challenge came from running the second half faster, though speed wasn't main focus for tonight's training.

The soles are in pretty good condition after the run.

Weighed exactly 60 kg after taking a shower. With an empty stomach might weigh a little less. Felt thirsty so had hot brown tea with no caffeine. Didn't drink alcohol as I learned that alcohol will kill athletic benefit of your training.

Didn't listened to any business lecture while running, because left my IC-recorder in my office. Gotta be more careful.

Sunday I take the TOEIC Test. Later that night I am scheduled to run 25 K.