Progressing Nicely

Week of Dec 20~ 26

Plan: 98km
Ran: 98.6 km / 61 mi. 9:09

12 training weeks until the LA Marathon.
Decided to keep the mileage to about 100km rather than jumping up to 120, since my quads are still a bit sore. No calf muscle problems. Still applying the hot brick for 30 minutes each night.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:00 - machines and core at the gym.
3:30 - 20k in 1:48:02 @5:25
27:39/27:13/26:25/26:43
Felt ok.
Weight: 62.4kg
Shoes: 240g Saucony with insoles
Weather: 9C/48F

Wednesday
7:30pm - 8.4k at the track.
1000 x 3, 1200 x 2. Easy in 4:51, 4:34, 4:36, 5:07, 5:02.
Legs ok, but felt heavy - I am heavy.
Shoes: 240g Saucony with insoles

Thursday
11:30 - 20k in 1:52:56 @ 5:39.
28:39/28:03/27:47/28:26
Took it easy. Quads sore, also calf hurt a bit last night, due I think to running400m in street shoes. Used hot brick in the morning also, so the calf was ok, but I was a bit wary of it.
Weight: 62.6kg
Shoes: 240g Nike Cage+ with insoles
Weather: 13C/55F

Friday
3:30 - 10k in 53:24 @ 5:18
27:20/26:04. Felt ok
Weight: 61.7kg
Shoes: 240g Nike Cage+ with insoles
Weather: 10C/50F, sunny

Saturday
11:00 - machines and core in the gym.
2:00 - 20k in 1:47:27 @ 5:27
27:06/26:55/26:31/26:53
Quads a bit sore, right hamstring very slightly sore.
Weight: 62.6kg
Shoes: 240g New K-Swiss without insoles. They feel good. No model name on the shoes, but they are the LA Marathon colors (K-Swiss is a sponsor) and have the Flow Cool system.
Weather: 8C/46F, sunny

Sunday
1:00 - 20.2k in 2:01 @ 6:00. Not sure of time, because the garmin is a bit strange sometimes.
Took it easy. Quads slightly sore, but felt ok.
Weight: 61.7kg
Shoes: 240 K-Swiss no insole.
Weather: 10C/50F, sunny

Next week I will go up to about 120k and try to do some harder runs. At this point I would struggle to do 5k at marathon pace, so I need a good 11 weeks of training. Hope to be back to feeling fit and strong in 2 or 3 weeks.

Building Back Up

Week of Dec. 13 ~ 19

Plan: 80k
Ran: 77.3k 6:59

Tuesday
4:30 12.3k in Yoyogi Park. 1:07:53 @ 5:31
Felt ok.

Wednesday
10k at the track at night.
400 x 4 x 3 at an easy pace.

Thursday
3:30 - 15k. 1:21:48 @ 5:27
Calf ok, but quads sore.
Temp: 7C/45F, clear
Weight: 62.4kg

Friday
11:00 - weights and core
3:30 - 10k. 56:16. Easy, quads a bit sore.
Temp: 9C/48F, clear
Weight: 62.2kg

Saturday
3:00 - 15k around the Imperial Palace.
6.5 easy in 35:49 @5:31
5k in the Namban club partner race. You and a partner run 5k without a watch. You each give your estimated time and start separately. My time was 26:30 and my partner's was 25:00, so she started 1:30 behind me. If we both ran exactly the right pace, she would catch me right at the finish line. In fact, she caught me about 150m from the finish. Of course, we both could have been running the wrong pace, but we thought we were pretty close. And we were...we won! There were 10 teams. We were 8 seconds slow. (The two timekeepers did a great job of figuring everything out.)
The race was held before our bonenkai - year-end party, which was at the British Embassy, thanks to a woman in the club who works there.
Then another 3.5k easy.
(I just realized: the Palace is 26m long, so our 5k time was almost correct to the second.)

Sunday
3:30 - 15k. 1:14:17 @4:57
26:14/24:44/23:19. Last 5k in 4:37/39/42/35/44.
Felt ok and quads were ok (but sore afterwards). Nice to run at a good pace again...it felt all right.
Weather: 9C/48F, 30%, clear
Weight: 62.7 (due to parties Friday and Saturday night)

Running Again!

Week of Dec 6 ~ 12

Plan: 54K
Ran: 54K

Running again means, of course, running with no pain. If there was still pain, I would not be running.
So I decided to try 5 on Monday, then one more each day, and it worked fine.
One by-product of not running for 8 weeks is that I am really motivated to work hard to get back into good shape. So there is your new motivational technique: don't run for 8 weeks. Not really recommended, though.
Another is that it made me aware once more of how enjoyable running is. My runs this week were definitely the high points of each day. Does that mean I love running, or just that I don't have a life? ... Well, I think I do have a life, so it must mean I love running. And it's nice to be reminded of that. So let's remember to enjoy each run, even the bad, hard, wet, cold, etc. ones, because...they're better than not running.

Monday
3:00 - 5k in 28:49. Slow, but no calf pain!
Weight: 62.6kg (Ha! Gained 2 and 1/2 kilos. And it's all around the middle.)
15C/59F, clear

Tuesday
11:00 - Weights and abs in the gym, and 10 mins. walking on inclined treadmill.
1:00 - 6k in 33:24 @5:34
15C/59F, clear

Wednesday
1:30 - 7k in 39:18 @5:37
Calf ok, but quads sore! (maybe cause I haven't run for 8 weeks...)
Weight: 61.9kg
12C/54F, clear

Thursday
3:00 - 8k in 42:18 @5:17. Quads sore.
11C/52F, clear

Friday
11:00 - Weights and abs, 15 mins walking uphill
1:00 - 8k in 42:03 @5:15
12C/54F, clear

Saturday
12:30 - 10k in 52:57 @5:18. Wow, 10k! Quads still sore.
Each k got faster, from 5:36 to 5:07, which I was not trying to do.
15C/59F, clear

Sunday
4:00 - 10k in 50:48 @5:08.
Quads ok until last 2k. Last 3k in 4:52/50/49. But just cruising.
14C/57F, cloudy
Weight: 62.3kg (big lunch). I WILL get back down to 60.0

So, I guess the calf is all better. Due mainly to rest, OR mainly to the hot brick therapy. That's the thing with rest and therapies, you can never tell what it was that worked. But that guy swore by the brick, and I think it actually did help. I am still doing it every night, but cut out the mornings. By the way, Kylie, a woman in my club, said I should name the brick, so I christened it Fred. I always thought Fred was a funky name, and it also has "red" in it.
54K for the week. Rest tomorrow, then next week I'll try about 80. If that goes all right, I'll go back into marathon training mode at 120 per week.That will give me 12 weeks until the LA Marathon, with a one-week taper.

The Rock Island Line

Well, there's no running news to report, so I decided to treat you to some good music.
(I didn't run this past week, I'll do a test run tomorrow and am hoping to be pain-free after 8 long weeks.)

So thanks to an unrelated Leadbelly link from former running and blogging legend, now brewing legend, Steve Lacey, I came upon The Rock Island Line, one of the greatest songs ever, which I hadn't heard for years and years.
Here's the Leadbelly original:



Then it got juiced up a bit by Carl Perkins:



And reached full expression by Johnny Cash (this is a remix, but good; you don't have to listen to the last part):



This is also a great version. Little Richard can generate more excitement just sitting in a chair in a studio than most singers can on a big stage:



Hope you enjoyed that. Talk to you next week.