One-Hour Barefoot Recovery Run

Jan. 31, 2020
5.1 K: 31:23.32
5.1 K: 32:39.45
Total 10.2 K: 1:04:02

Interval Training: 2 Reps by 2.2 K + 1 K @ 4:15/K Pace with 1-Minute Rest Between Reps

Jan. 30, 2019
Warm Up 4.1 K: 26:23.38
Rest: 1:00.25
<Intervals: 2 Reps by 2.2 K (Target=9:21.00) + 1 K @ 4:15/K Pace with 1-Minute Rest Between Reps>
2.2 K: 9:10.61 
Rest: 1:00.28
2.2 K: 9:15.35
Rest: 1:00.37
1 K: 4:09.38
***********
Rest: 1:00.15
Warm Down 5.5 K: 33:19.97 
Total 15 K: 1:26:19

This marks the first interval training after the Tateyama Wakashio Marathon this past Sunday. The main purpose of the training is to boost my cardio-vascular capacity for the Ohme 30 K Road Race on Feb. 16. I'm aiming to run my first sub-2:24:00 race. To achieve the goal I must run each kilometer @ 4:45. It's 10 seconds faster per K than the pace I hammered out in Tateyama. The distance is shorter. But nevertheless I must repeat that pace 30 times to achieve the goal. It's not gonna be easy. But I want to give it a shot.

I jogged slowly to the Kashiwai Water Treatment Plant where I was going to do fast runs. The smell of chlorine reached my nostrils as I approached the facility. When it happens, I get an adrenaline rush as a Pavlovian reaction. Once I reached the water tap near one of the entrances to the park, I rested for a minute to muster up all of my motivation to face the challenge ahead. One minute quickly evaporated, and I found myself rolling down the street for the first 2.2 K journey. 

I followed a piece of advice I found on Facebook by a former Hakone Ekiden runner, who advises you to go with the flow for the first half of a session, and since it's always the second half that's tough, you pay particular attention there to your form and breathing to hang in there. I stuck to the advice to finish the first 2.2 K run under the target.  

I was out of breath. I didn't remember running the distance at such a fast pace. A mere prospect of repeating it made me sick to my stomach. I thought of giving it up. But then as I reached the end of a minute rest, I felt strong enough to hit the road again. I set off for another rep. 

This time the legs immediately felt heavy due to lactic acid that built during the first fast run. A prospect of a deteriorated time was demotivating. There was only one choice: give up, or face the reality and go on. I went on, asking myself how I would do if the same happened in a race. Should the same happen in a race, the only thing I can do is slow down to recover, and then strike back when recovered. That I did. I made sure I was able to run by 6-beat breathing where you breathe in taking three steps, and breathe out while taking another three steps. It eased the discomfort in the legs as well as breathing. So when I reached the top of a downhill, I surged to make up for the possible time loss in the first half. 

To my surprise I finished under the target in the second session also. The next fast run is only 1 K. Compared with the last two runs, it was less of a challenge. But with even a greater amount of lactic acid that had built in the legs, I wasn't able to kick as hard as I wanted to, so I had no choice but take shorter strides and increase cadence. That worked. I finished 6 seconds under the target. I nailed the target in all three fast runs. I was happy. 

 

The warm down run back home was the most pleasant jog. Breathing felt super easy once freed from the burden of oxygen debt. I felt like I had become a bird. Everything felt light and easy. 

My next speed training is this coming Sunday. I'm scheduled to do 20 K tempo run. I was originally thinking of 4:50/K pace, but it turned out that it's not fast enough to run a sub-2:34:00 race. I must run at 4:45/K. It sounds tough, but I want to give it a try. I'm going to run a hilly 1-K shuttle course. Ten round trips makes 20 K. If I keep the pace, I finish in 2:22:30. That sounds morbidly challenging, especially when there is no cheerer along the road like in a race...But dealing with solitude is part of training, and I kind of enjoy it, so no problem. 

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.

Two Days Till Tateyama Wakashio Marathon: 60-Minute Jog

Jan. 24, 2019

11.45 K: 1:07:50

Two days till Tateyama Wakashio Marathon 2019. Today is the last day of tapering. I ran around a 2.5 K loop near my house four times to cover a little more than 10 kilometers. I kept a comfortable pace so as not to tire my legs too much. It was a pleasant run though I was so sleepy from time to time that I wasn't sure if I was awake or asleep. I took a long warm bath, and am now relaxing as I am watching "View to a Kill". But my eyes are getting heavy because I woke up at 6 this morning for the seminar, and definitely didn't have enough sleep. I'll hit the bed. I have an early start. When I finish work tomorrow, all I need to do is rest, rest, and rest for the race on Sunday!

Three Days Till Tateyama Wakashio Marathon: Quick Intervals: 2 Sets by 1 K @ 4:30/K

Jan. 23, 2020
Warm Up 3.5 K: 20:00.63
 ＜Intervals＞
1 K: 4:24.82
Active Rest: 2:00.65
1 K: 4:15.89
Warm Down 4.5 K: 26:49.10
Total 9 K: 57:31.09

Did two sets of 1 K fast run. Feels awesome. Feel so light it feels like I could go on forever if I tried...Three more days till the race. Tomorrow I am jogging for an hour. It's the last run before the race.

76-Minute Jog in Yokohama

Jan. 21, 2020
Jog: 1:16:36

Five more days until the Tateyama Wakashio Marathon 2020.

I'm in Yokohama tonight. I'm staying at a hotel in Kannai two stops to the west from Yokohama Station, ready for an early start tomorrow.

As soon as I checked in, I took a quick bath, got changed, and hit the road. It was cold, but I forgot to bring my running gloves, so I put on my regular leather ones. It helped.

I ran the Yamashita Park. Ordinarily some couples would be eating, but not a soul was seen.

After running once around the park, I ran the Oh Sanbashi Pier, the So no Hana Park, and the Red Brick Warehouse. You never get bored running in the bay city.

I was originally planning to run just for an hour, but it felt so good that I ended up running longer.

90-Minute Jog

Jan. 20, 2019
16.8 K: 1:36:35

After completing my training for tonight, I hopped on my motorcycle, and hit the road for about half an hour to get to the Misatodai location of McDonald's in Narita City near the Narita Airport. It's my favorite place to blog. There are outlets all over the place. Wi-fi connection is good. It's clean, spacious, and windows are large so you can look outside, and there is a feeling of freedom.

Anyway, it's six days until the Tatekayam Wakashio Marathon 2020. It's Day 2 of the last week before the race today. Yesterday I did 10 K tempo run. It's a pretty stressful activity for me, because you need to sustain the race pace for almost 25% of the actual race distance. My legs were slightly fatigued from the effort. The purpose my training tonight is to relax them by running at a comfortable pace for 90 minutes. Running at a slow pace promote blood circulation, allowing metabolic wastes to break down quickly.

Since 90 minutes is a long time, I made use of the time to study something while running. I listened to the lecture on time management by Brian Tracy based on his best-selling book "Eat That Frog". It sold 1.5 million copies world-wide, and has been translated into 42 languages. It consists of 21 keys to successful time management. I personally applied a couple in my own life, and I'm already seeing some notable changes in my productivity. This Wednesday and Friday I have 7-hour seminars with a leading electronics company. I hoped to find some useful information to share with my participants. I took mental notes of a few things, but it's hard to remember them all. I will review it again tomorrow night. Hopefully, I'll come up with some good ideas to make use of what I've learned from Brian. 

Tomorrow night I'm staying at a hotel in Kannai, Kanagawa Prefecture. I have a very early start on Wednesday morning. Kannai has easy access to the venue of the seminar. Kannai is hop skip and jump from the Yamashita Park. It's good for running. I'm going to bring along my running gear and run at night once mental rehearsal is done for the seminar.