5,000m in 18:13 — I'll Take It

Week of Oct. 24 ~ 30

Ran: 6/3/8/0/0/10/21 - 48km / 30 mi. 4:34

Monday
2:30 - 6k easy as the right buttock/upper hamstring is still sore.
Went to the local physical therapy place for some electrical (mild current) and ultrasound treatment, which may or may not help, but is very cheap with national health insurance. Also the sensei is a fun guy to talk to.

Tuesday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
3:30 - American School 3k fun run. Easy jog as the time trial is tomorrow.
More physical therapy.

Wednesday
3:00 - Visited the good acupuncturist (Yamate Street Clinic), and that made a difference! No pain during the run.
7:30pm - 5,000m. Goal was 18:00, time was 18:13. Splits were 3:40/37/37/43/36. Started a bit too slow, then my pacer Paddy picked it up and hit the right pace - unfortunately I slowed the 4th k. He actually finished in exactly 18:00.
It was a nice night for running and we had a big group (total of 50), so there were lots of people around. Saara, the Finnish woman in my new profile photo (and below) went smoothly by me with 800m to go and also ran about 18:00. Four of the ASIJ varsity team boys also showed up and I beat one of them, so felt good about that. It was a good run and I still think I can get under 18:00!
Weather: 17C/63F, slightly windy.
Weight: 60.3kg
Shoes: 145g light racers



Following Paddy (in black)









Thursday
Rest
Buttock a bit sore.

Friday
Rest

Saturday
10k in 53:12 @5:19/k 27:07/26:05
Just running very easily - still a bit sore.

Sunday
Namban Rengo did our annual run all the way around the Yamanote train loop that circles central Tokyo. It's 39k (29 stations), however, people can opt out at any station, so I went about halfway - 21k in 2:07, a 6:00/k pace because there are a number of not-fast runners. Also lots of stopping to wait for red lights, bathroom breaks, etc. But a lot of fun. We started with 29 people and I think about 15 ran the whole thing. I actually didn't plan on doing it, but one of the original Namban members from 23 years ago, Andy Robinson, was visiting Tokyo from London and it was our only chance to meet, so we ran together.

Next race will be the Toda Half on Nov. 20th. I've run it twice before and it's a good race, so I hope to run a good time.
Looking further ahead, I got into the Tokyo Marathon (300,000 in the lottery for 32,000 spots), so decided to apply and run it (Feb. 26). I'm also in the Kyoto lottery, but the race is only two weeks later, so I think I'll skip it. Just have to hope for good weather at Tokyo. I also applied for the Ome 10k, which is the previous week. I ran very well there this year (38:10), so I'd like to run it again - will have to think about that.

A Slightly Strange Week

Week of Oct. 17 ~ 23

Ran: 13/7/8.8/0/0/12/7 - 47.8km / 30 mi. 3:58

Took last Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to see if the soreness in my buttock would go away. It didn't. In fact, it seemed to feel worse on Monday than it did last Thursday. So my new strategy is: ignore it and it will go away. It hasn't but it's not getting worse and in fact seems to be not as bad.
Not a long, hard week as I am looking ahead to a 5,000m race (club time trial) next Wednesday night.

Monday
3:00 - 13k river run with varsity boys in 1:01:10
Out: 32:57 @5:00 In: 28:13 @4:20
First 5k: 25:50. Last 5k: 21:30
As above, some soreness, but no problem running, and it loosened up the 2nd half.
Weather: 24C/75F, 40%, sunny

Tuesday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
3:00 - 7k inc. 3 mile tempo run with varsity girls.
6:24/6:57/6:35 - 19:58 @6:39/mi. 20:48 5k pace
Good run. We were aiming for 6:50 but started too fast (it didn't feel fast). Top five girls finished well - they are in good shape.
Weather: 22C/72F - great weather.

Wednesday
7:30 Club track workout.
1200/1200/1000/1000/800/800
4:24/4:21/3:31/3;33/3:01/3:08 (200 jog 3:00-3:20)
Pushed a bit on the 1200s and a lot on the 1000s. Ran the 800s very easy.
Felt pretty good. Butt only slightly sore, but more sore on the 800s.
Weather: 19C/66F
Weight: 61kg

Thursday
Rest. After 3 kind of hard days.

Friday
11:30 - machines and core at the gym.
Rested another day.

Saturday
2:00 - 12k in 1:04/05 @5:20
Out: 34:18 @5:43 In: 3k in 15:15 @5:05, 3k in 14:31 @4:50
Felt fairly good after 3k. Slight soreness, but it didn't get worse. Feel a bit heavy - have to lose weight by next Wednesday.
Weather: 19C/66F, 70%, cloudy.
Weight: 61.2kg

Sunday
4:00 - 7k in 40:36 with 3 500m pickups in 1:58/1:49/1:48 - close to 18:00 5k race pace.
Felt ok, but not "fast". That is, I was running smoothly, but had to work a bit. Does not bode well for an 18:00 5,000m on Wednesday night. But we shall see!

Not Much of a Week

Week of Oct. 10 ~ 16

I've had this annoying niggle in my right hip/buttock area for a week, so decided to rest to get rid of it. I can run ok, but I would rather it not be there, especially as it could get worse....

So I took off Monday and Tuesday, then ran 4 800s at the "decent" pace of 3:05-3:10 on Wednesday afternoon with the varsity girls. I could still feel it. Went home, then went to the track workout, where I ran 1000/1200/1200/1000/800/400 with the 1200s at a decent pace, the second 1000 fairly fast at 3:32 (but comfortable), and the others very easy. It felt the same, neither better nor worse, as I expected.

Thursday I just jogged with the kids for 3.5km, and it felt the same, i.e, still an annoyance. So wanting to get rid of it, I decided to take three days off, yesterday, today and tomorrow. We'll see Monday if that did the trick.
It's not that it would slow me down for the 5,000 on the 26th, but I am looking ahead to the Half on Nov. 20th, so don't want any distractions in the month before that.
(Ewen: aiming for 18:00 in the 5,000. Or rather, I want to see if I can run 18:00 if I "race" 5,000.)

The American School cross-country team had their league finals today. The boys crushed everyone and the girls lost by one point to a school called Seisen. But they ran well and it was a good result, since Seisen had beaten them badly two weeks ago. It was rainy and muddy, a real cross country kind of day.
Actually, they have one more race - they go to Guam next week for the Far East International Schools championship.

"Kind of Hard" Week

Week of Oct. 3 ~ 9

Ran: 15.5/10.8/7.4/8.5/9.8/0/20 - 72km / 44.7 mi. 6:11

A bit difficult to assess this week. Some fairly hard runs, but not much distance, both because I'm still recovering from the half on 9/25 and because I'm focusing on shorter runs to get ready for a 5,000m time trial that I'll run as a race on the 26th.

Monday
3:30 - River Run with varsity boys. 13k in 1:02:45.
Out 34:12 (5:15/k), In 28:33 (4:24/k) with 5 500m pickups, progressively faster.
5 x 100m barefoot strides.
Weather: 21C/70F, 20%

Tuesday
11:30 - machines and core at the gym.
3:00 - Hills with varsity boys (behind them). 300m x 7 (20 mins.), 50m x 6, 400m x 2
All in all, a pretty hard workout.
5 x 100m barefoot strides.
Weather: 21C/70F

Wednesday
7:30 - club track workout. 6 x 800m, very easy as right buttock sore (3 pretty hard days in a row).
3:35/39/26/22/33/28 (200m jog 2:30-3:00)
Weather: Rain, 16C/61F, but felt much colder.

Thursday
3:30 - After warmup, 35 min run with Nos. 4,5,6,7 varsity boys. 5 x 4 mins hard, 3 mins. easy.
First four hard ones were at a good pace, the fifth was a very good pace. This is a good workout.
Weather: 22C/72F, 50%, sunny
Weight: 60.1kg

Friday
11:30 - machines and core at the gym.
3:00 - 2k + 1k warmup, then 3 mile tempo run with 5 varsity girls. Target was 7:00 per mile, we ran 6:53, 6:59, 6:44 (top girl picked up the last one, not me). So 4:18/km - good run for them.
Weather: 24C/75F, 20%, sunny

Saturday
Rest. I realized I ran 11 days in a row! Although thurs/fri/sat last week were quite easy.
But I worked outside cutting trees and bushes, then picking up branches and leaves, which required about 300 bends/squats, so didn't really rest my buttock much.

Sunday
1:30 - At Tsudanuma (father-in-law's). Nice 20k run in 1:45:11 (57:00/48:11 @5:42/4:48).
Coming back I picked up the pace for 3 2ks (1/2, 5/6, 9/10), which wer at about 4:20 pace.
Right butt is still a bit sore, but I felt ok. Will take two days off (school is on vacation).
Weather: 23C/73F.

Easy Recovery Week

Week of Sept. 26 ~ Oct. 2

Ran: 0/6.6/10.2/5/3/10/15.6 - 50.4k / 31 mi. 4:57

Recovery week after the half marathon last Sunday.
Last year, my faithful readers may remember, I trained pretty hard the two weeks after the Half, then ran (tried to run) a 10k race and tore my calf muscle. No repeat of that this year.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday

11:30 - machine and core at the gym.
3:30 - 4.8km (3 mi.) tempo run with varsity girls on our new course in the park next to the school.
Fairly easy in 20:27.

Wednesday
7:30 - 5,000m time trial at the track, which I ran easily, pacing other people. 22:20.

Thursday
3:30 - 5k easy with the team. Legs tired.

Friday
Cross-country meet on the ASIJ course. Jogged 3k showing the course to another team, then rode my bike, leading the girls. I.e, showing the course, as the top girl was from another school. Boys finished 1-2-3-4-5. Top boy ran 17:10 for 5k, all 5 were under 18:00. The girls unfortunately got beat by another school.

Saturday
4:00 - Easy 10k in 55:20.
Weather: 23C/73F, 30%, sunny. Nice fall weather all this week.
Weight: 60.1kg

Sunday
10:00 - 15.6k up and down the hills of Ome. Lovely day for a run through the woods. 1:53:34
Out VERY easy in 1:02:18, In easy for 19' then moderately fast, total 51:15.
Have to run with varsity boys tomorrow, so took it easy.
Hot spring and beer afterwards.