5K Week

Week of May 23 ~ 29

49.5K 4:15

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
1:30 - 10k in 58:56 - very easy
Legs VERY stiff - to be expected after hills friday, saturday and sunday plus 5k at MP on sunday.

Wednesday
7:30pm - 7.8 with 5000 easy at 22:00 on the track. Race effort tomorrow.

Thursday
7:30pm - 8.2k. 5000m time trial with about 8 clubs. Wanted to run 18:30, ran 18:28.
3:42/40/42/44/40
Felt pretty good and always had people to run behind. Spent the last 4 laps trying to stay with a girl wearing polka dot tights. Really did not want to lose to her. She opened up 5 meters with 600 to go but I figured I could get her in the last 200. Got to right behind her with 100 to go...and she kicked! Damn. Well, at least she got me under 18:30.
Fastest 5k in 3-1/2 years, but have not really "raced" 5k in that time. Also have not done regular speed training for 2 years. I am going to remedy that and plan to be faster in the fall.
This TT had 3 sections. First was for people over 18:30 and had 70 runners. Second was for 17:00-18:30 and had 57 runners (where I ran). Third was for under 17:00 and had 33 runners. Winner ran 14:47 and was fun to watch - just floating along.
Temp: 20C/68F, no wind
Weight: 60.8kg
Shoes: 145g super-light racing shoes

Friday
11:30 - machines and core at the gym
1:00 - 10k in 53:36 @5:21. Easy recovery run.

Saturday
12:00 - 6k in 33:57 @5:39
Easy - ekiden tomorrow.
Temp: 18C/64F, rain

Sunday
9:00 - Green Ekiden around the Imperial Palace.
A low-key, enjoyable ekiden. About 150 teams of 4 running 5k, 2k, 3k, 5k. Namban Rengo had 2 teams, each of which had two "fast' and two "slow" people, although the slow were not so slow. I was a "fast" anchor and started 3+ minutes behind the woman anchoring our other team. Didn't think I would catch her, but finally got her in sight with 500m to go. Worked hard and was 20m behind her with 100m to go. Ran her down about 20m from the finish. I felt a bit bad about that, but not bad enough to let her beat me. And my team was happy. The two teams finished 8th and 9th - not a high-level ekiden. Team time was 60:55.
My time was 19:30. I felt pretty good, but I suppose my legs were still a bit tired from Thursday. And it was raining fairly hard. Also, the Palace course is not so easy, with a long hill at the 2k point. Wore my new AdiZero Pro shoes (bright green - perfect for the Green Ekiden) and they felt great. I've seen pictures of Kenyans wearing them. They're very light (160g) but a nice firm feel.

Next week back to hills. Unfortunately, it is supposed to rain every day. Combination of a typhoon and the start of the rainy season.

Start of Summer Training - Hills!

Week of May 16 ~ 22

Plan: 90.4K
Ran: 88.4K / 55 mi. 7:58
The 1k hill is 500m steadily up, then 500m rolling with more up than down.
The up/downs were: hard/easy/hard/hard/easy/hard.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - Wt. machines and core training at the gym.
3:00 - 16k in 1:17:57 with 6k of hills
Bike out 3.5k. 5k Warmup in 25:41. 6 x 1k hills (2 hard up, 2 hard down) - 4:39/5:04/4:32/4:06/5:18/4:01
5k in 24:33
Felt good, legs felt fine.
Temp: 20C/68F, 65%, light rain
Weight; 60.9kg

Wednesday
7:30pm on the track. 1200 x 2, 1000 x 2, 800 x 2
4:21/4:21/3:34/3:36/2:51/2:49
Walk 200m in between (about 3 mins.)
Good workout! Worked pretty hard and felt good. Had other people to follow, or try to follow, so that was good.
Upon checking old logs, was surprised to find that except for time trials, this was the first Wed. night workout where I really tried to run fast since July 15, 2009! I have now come full circle and rather than relentlessly pounding out miles, have come back to the realization that speed training once a week is important, so I won't neglect this anymore.
Temp: 20C/ 68F
Shoes: very lightweight racing shoes.

Thursday
3:00 - 15k in 1:22:55 @5:32
28:05/27:23/27:26. Easy recovery run.
TemP; 25C/77F, sunny
Weight: 60.8kg

Friday
11:30 - Wt. machines and core training at the gym.
3:00 - 16k in 1:19:51 with 6k of hills
5k Warmup in 27:03. Hills- 4:44/5:11/4:31/4:08/5:28/4:02
5k in 24:40
Quads stiff.
TemP; 27C/81F, sunny
Weight: 60.9kg

Saturday
17.4k on trail thru the woods out at Ome. Continuous up/down, with many very steep climbs full of rocks and roots. Not exactly a recovery run, but I did it at an easy pace. This was a "birthday run" with 8 people for myself and another guy in the club.
Out: 1:02:55, In: 58:12
Afterwards we enjoyed ourselves at an onsen (hot spring - on the 6th floor of a building! - they pump the water up) and karaoke (at which I am terrible, but I can clap and sing along...and drink).
Temp: 27C/81F, but cooler in the woods.

Sunday
1:30 - 14k in 1:08:53 with 4k of hills
5k Wrmup in 27:39. Hills - 4:51/5:16/4:49/4:25
Back in 21:50 @4:22!
No rain when I left home on the bike. Slt rain when I started running. Downpour when I started the hills - with a strong wind. Cut off the last 2k due to big puddles and I figured I did enough hills yesterday. Planned to run back at a good pace, but it was faster than I expected, which was nice. Rain lessened as I ran back, then stopped. i picked the wrong time to run. Although this happened to me last summer also, 2 or 3 times. Heavy rain out at Lake Tama (9k away) and none at home. It seems to be a different micro-climate out there. Although it did rain later at home.
Anyway, a good 5k run to end a pretty hard week.
Temp: 27C/81F, down to abt. 17C/63F.
Weight: 60.7kg

Time to Get Serious

This week marked the end of my period of marathon recovery, and of running short intervals with the high school kids and easy runs the other days. Next week I start summer training in preparation for fall half marathon and possible marathon races.
That training will consist of first, six weeks of hill training, then nine weeks of short, long and generally hard stuff.
The hills will be 1km hard, 1km easy x 5, with 5km warmup before and 5km after at whatever pace I can run (20km). Those will be on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Wednesday will be fast intervals on the track. Thursday and Saturday will be 15k easy (total 100k).
The first week I will start off with only 6k of hills. The second week, Tues and Wed will be easy because there is a big multi-club 5,000m time trial on Thursday that I want to try to run fast.
Looks like a fun summer!

Week of May 9 ~ 15
59.3km / 37 mi. 5:09

Monday
3:00 - 7.5k with kids at decent pace.
Legs, inc. calves, felt ok.

Tuesday
11:30 - Gym workout for upper/lower body and core.
3:00 - 5k. Speed workout with track team girls. 550 x 1 @ 1:59, 400 x 4 @ 81,79,79,81.
Temp: 24C/75F, rain.

Wednesday
7:30pm - 8.8k at track, 800,1200,600,1200,600,1200,600
Very easy - just a recovery workout.
Weight: 60.9kg
Temp: 15C/59F, chilly and rainy.

Thursday
3:30 - At 300m track with the girls. 300 x 4, 200 x 3
60,58,58,56. 200s: fast, fast, cruise.
Temp: 16C/61F, chilly and rainy.

Friday
3:30 - 15k in 1:14:11 @4:57
26:53/24:00/23:18 @ 5:23/4:48/4:39 last k in 4:06
Felt good. Nice day.
Weight: 60.8kg
Temp: 25C/75F, 50%, sunny

Saturday
HS track finals. Top boy ran 9:11 for 3000m (1st), 4:16 for 1500m (2nd).
Top girls ran 2:34 for 800m (1st), 5:26 for 1500m (2nd, almost 1st)
Very warm (hot) day.

Sunday
3:00 - 20k in 1:43:31 @5:10
27:03/26:28/25:00/25:00 @ 5:24/18/00/00
Nice run, felt ok.
Weight: 60.9kg
Temp: 24C/75F, sunny

One More Easy Week

This was a relatively easy week, and I will have one more before I get into hard summer training. In fact, the coming week will be even easier than last, as the HS track team will be tapering for their Finals on Saturday.

To answer Scott's query, upcoming I have a multi-club 5000m time trial on May 26th and a 5k ekiden on May 29th, which I will run hard, but are not serious races. Then nothing but hard training (I will post a schedule next week) until mid-September. Will probably do a half at the end of September, maybe one at the end of October, and then either another half or a marathon in November or December, depending on a possible trip to Bangkok or Hawaii to see my daughter, who is moving to Bangkok. (There is a Bangkok marathon and Half in November).

Week of May 2 ~ 8
44.6K / 27.7 mi. 4:05

Monday
3:30 - 8.7k (approx) 52:17
Easy run with track girls, 6 x 100m strides afterwards.
Temp: 24C/75F
Weight; 61.2kg

Tuesday
11:30 - Weights and core at gym.
3:30 - 7.5k. 400 x 9 (3 sets of 3) at 300m track.
90/87/83/83/83/79/83/79/80 (70-90" walk/jog, 4' bet. sets)
With 4 girls, legs felt ok.
Also ran 600m behind the Takushoku university ekiden B team (16 guys), who were doing 12,000m (40 laps!) starting at 3:50/k, down to abt. 3:30/k. They were just cruising easily.
Temp: 17C/63F, light rain

Wednesday
7:30 - 7.6k. Back on the track, instead of the park!
1600, 1200, 1200, 800, 400
7:11, 5:33, 5:22, 3:21, 98
Legs tired, so VERY easy.
Ran the last 800 and 400 barefoot. The track has been resurfaced and is rough, so I tore some skin off one toe.
Weight: 60.9kg

Thursday
3:30 - 5.2k. 300 x 3 x 3 at 300m track.
Left calf sore due to running barefoot last night (after 9 400s previous day). It was a bit sore when walking, but felt fine when running, so I ran.
64/65/66/62/63/66/65/57/63
Calf felt more sore afterwards, so I'll rest the next two days.

Friday
11:30 - weights and core at gym

Saturday
TELL (Tokyo English Life Line) charity 5k/10k race, of which I am the race day director. A busy, tiring morning, but everything went well and a good time was had by all (about 700 people).

Sunday
3:00 - 15k in 1:20:32 @5:22
Calf still tight when walking, but ok when running. Just a nice leisurely pace on a lovely day.
Temp: 25C/77F, 40%, sunny
Weight: 60.6kg

Feeling Good

Week of April 25 ~ May 1

62.3km/38.7 mi. 5:51

Monday
3:30 - 9.6k. 9k (approx) with track team (1500/3000 boys) in 46:13 with second half at a good pace (4:20/k?).
75m x 8 barefoot on artificial turf.
Weight; 61.2kg
Temp: 16C/61F

Tuesday
11:00 - machines and core at gym.
3:30 - at 300m track. 400m x 9 (3 x 3) with girls.
83/86/83/81/83/81/82/83/84
(100m walk, 100 walk, 200jog bet. sets)
After a good warmup, felt pretty good.
Weight: 61.8kg
Temp: 21C/70F

Wednesday
7:30pm - in park. 5,000m time trial.
20:29 (4:04/05/07/08/05). Not trying to run all out - a moderately hard effort.
Legs felt good. Surprising, after 20k on sunday, good run on monday and 9 400s on tuesday.

Thursday
Rest. Business trip.

Friday
1:00 - 20k in 1:40:14 @5:00
27:36/26:01/23:25/23:12 @5:30/13/4:41/36
Along the shore in Makuhari. Nice run. Felt stiff going out (and into wind), but ok coming back.

Saturday
HS track meet all day

Sunday
10:00 - 17.4k of hills (constant up/down including some very steep places) at Ome.
2:07:54.
8.7k out - very easy in 1:08:50.
8.7 in - 59:04. Very easy for 39, fast for 15:30, easy for 4:30. A nice run.