August 29, 2010

Recovery Week

Week of Aug. 23 ~ 29

Plan: 10/10/15/10/15/18.6 - 78.6km
Ran: 10/10/15/0/15/18.6 - 68.6km / 42.6 mi. 6:41

A strange recovery week, with a 5,000m time trial, then a marathon pace 5k in a 15k, then 2 hours of hills on Sunday. But one extra day of rest. That's because tomorrow (Monday) will not be a rest day, because the American School X-country team starts practice.
By the way, my fall races will be: a Half on Sept. 26, a 10k on Oct. 10, a Half on Nov. 7, and a full marathon (Tsukuba) on Nov. 28. The first three are speed work for the marathon.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
10:30 - Weights and core at the gym.
5:00 - 10k. 58:54 (29:55/28:59)
Legs stiff and heavy. Ran in old Mizuno's zero dropped (that is, I cut the heels off). I don't know where that term came from, but it seems to be what people are using. So they went from 240g to 205g. They felt ok.
Weather: 31C/88F, 50%
Weight: 59.6kg

Wednesday
7:30 - 10k. 2k warmup, 5000m time trial, 3k more (1200m barefoot).
18:49. 3:49/43/50/47/40. Legs felt good. Running with Yoshida-san all the way, which helped a lot (he is generally a bit faster than me over 5k (much faster over a marathon)). Kicked well, with last 400 in 84.
Wore new super-light shoes - Asics Sortie Japan Lyte, which I hope to use for the marathon. They weigh 145g on my scale (previous lightest shoes were 180). They weighed 160 in the store, but actually their scale said 1.6kg, so it was only accurate in steps of 100g, and in fact, did not look very accurate. I trust my own scale more and anyway that is what I weighed all my other shoes on. Anyway, they are very light!
They felt great, except that in the last k the bottom of my left foot hurt. I was worried about this (too light?) but ran in them Thursday and realized...ah ha! they were laced too tightly. My left foot is bigger, so when I lace shoes too tightly, the bottom of the foot (for some reason) starts to hurt. This happened once before, but I had forgotten about it. Anyway, I loosened them up and they were fine over 15k. I'll try them in the three races and for one long run prior to the marathon.
Weather: 29C/84F

Thursday
5:00 - 15k. 1:15:14. @5:01
27:40/26:09/21:25 @5:32/14/4:17. Last k 4:07
New shoes again. Planned last 5k @4:30-4:40. Seemed to have forgotten that this is a recovery week.
Weather: 32C/90F, 40% > 30C/86F, 50%
Weight: 59.4kg

Friday
Rest - Business trip
Planned 10k early in the morning but decided to take a rest day since I ran fast the last two days and next Monday will not be a rest day.

Saturday
10:00 - Weights and core at gym.
4:00 - 15k. 1:21:54. @5:27
28:50/27:21/25:42 @5:45/28/09
Felt only so-so, legs stiff.
Weather: 32C/90F, 40%

Sunday
18.6k. 2:17:32. Out: 1:15:00 very easy. In: 1:02:32 moderate.
On the Ome trial course. Through the woods, constant up and down, with some major climbs, including up large steps (roots and rocks) where you just haul yourself up slowly. Last 4k at a decent pace. Legs were pretty tired at the end.
Weather: 34C/93F, although cooler on the trial, which is completely in the shade. (Still hot of course.) Used Camelback and drank a liter and a half of sports drink.

9 comments:

  1. That's a good few races before the marathon Bob. We are all looking forward to the fall racing season in Japan, I'm sure ;)

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  2. The shoes might be too light for the marathon distance Bob but if you wear them with thick socks they should be fine, I reckon.

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  3. Good stuff.
    I put my current achilles problems partly (mostly)down to changing to lighter shoes....145 gm is damn light...but maybe you can handle it OK.

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  4. Yes, 145g is amazing. I'd be happy with 200g shoes. Did you ever try/weigh the Nike Mayfly?

    Anyway, good 'recovery' week and 2hr long run at the end - 1.5 litres tells me how warm it was!

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  5. You have out in some solid weeks and still quite a while to the marathon. You shoul dbe very well prepared with a great base. Some spped races should just tweak you ready for a great time. I never weigh my shoes but they are light.

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  6. you should try the Zoom Speed Spider of Nike. I love those shoes. I have a pair I bought way back in 2008. So good. I fly in those. Ran sub 9 min in bad shape on the shibuya ekiden course in those

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  7. Just discovered your blog looking at running in Tokyo bob and seem to have found some familiar Aussie cool running bloggers here too :)

    Any recommendations for fun races in October? (14 - 30?) - I have been trawling through the namban website without much success!

    Thanks for the good read :)

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  8. Hi Ellie,
    No, unfortunately, there are no races available for entry during that period. The best I can do is an offer to run with Namban on Wednesday nights. Email me at tokyoracer@me.com and I will send you the information.

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  9. Thanks Bob! I can see that on the Namban website so wont hassle you :) Hope to see you there if all works out as planned.

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