Good Week — Now Off to Thailand

Week of Dec. 19 ~ Dec. 25

Plan: 0/20/10/15/15/30/0 - 90km
Ran: 0/20/10/15/15/30/0 - 90km / 56 mi.  7:41

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
Read an article in the NY Times that said older runners can be just as efficient as younger runners, but they should go to the gym twice a week to work on upper body strength. So I've got that right!
2:30 - 20k in 1:47:28 @ 5:22/k
Left hamstring slightly sore last 10k. Legs still tired from hard run last Sunday.
Weather: 10C/50F, 20%, sunny
Weight: 60.8kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - Club track workout
1200/1200/1000/1000/800/800
4:57/4:49/4:03/4:04/3:15/3:17 (200m jog, 2:30)
Didn't want to run faster than 4:00/k to protect the hamstrings, but actually didn't feel like going any faster. It seemed to be extremely cold....
Weather: 7C/45F

Thursday
4:30 15k in 1:21:21 @5:25/k
Felt good - hardly any soreness.
Weather: 6C/43F, 50%
Weight: 60.9kg

Friday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
2:00 - 15k in 1:10:17 @4:41/k
27:00/21:51/21:25 @5:12/4:22/4:17
Planned to run last 10k at MP (4:20/k) and did so without any problem. Out 7.5k into a cold wind, but coming back was much easier.
Weather: 7C/45F, 15%, windy
Weight: 60.7kg

Saturday
1:30 - 30k in 2:32:47 @5:06/k
27:13/26:45/26:38/24:58/24:07/23:01
@ 5:26/21/20/5:00/4:49/4:36
Felt pretty good. Both HS slightly sore last 10k. Planned to come back faster, so this was a good run, especially after yesterday. Had to work a bit the last 5k.
Weather: 7C/45F, 25%, sunny
Weight: 60.3kg

Sunday
Off to Bangkok with the wife to visit our daughter and her husband until Jan. 5th. Will spend 3 days at the Koh Kutt resort and the rest in Bangkok. May run a 10k race on the morning of the 31st (6:00am). It's about 30C/86F there, so it will be interesting to see how the running goes. But I hate cold weather, so am happy to get away from it.
Hope you have a nice holiday and can get some good runs in. And not put on too much weight, which I am sure I will.

Longest Week in 17 Weeks

Week of Dec. 12 ~ 18

Plan: 0/20/10/15/15/20/25 - 105 km
Ran: 0/20/10/15/15/20/25 - 105 km / 65 mi.  9:04

Has it been that long? I've done lots of  good short and medium length runs, but no consistent distance. Time to rectify that as I get ready for the Tokyo Marathon on Feb. 26.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - machines and core at the gym.
2:00 - 20k fairly easy in 1:46:54 @5:20/k
27:34/26;30/26:03/26:36
Both hamstrings a bit sore the last 5k.
Weather: 12C/54F, 25%, sunny

Wednesday
7:30pm - club workout at track
600/800/1000/1200/1000/800/600
2:37/3:13/4:05/4:54/4:12/3:23/2:34 (jog 200m easy)
Took it easy, as running fast will surely aggravate the hamstrings. Right one was fine, left was only slightly sore.
Weather: 10C/50F

Thursday
2:00 - 15k in 1:23:04 @5:32/k
Relaxed pace. Right leg ok, left a bit sore.
Weather: 13C/55F, 25%, sunny
Weight: 61.3kg

Friday
11:30 - machines and core at the gym.
4:00 - 15k in 1:20:34 @5:22/k
Only slight soreness in left butt.
Weather: 10C/50F, 20%
Weight: 60.7kg

Saturday
2:00 - 20k in 1:42:37 @5:03/k
27:08/25:46/25:48/23:53 @5:24/09/10/4:47
Felt so-so, left hamstring more sore than yesterday. Against a brisk wind coming back.
Planned to run a faster last 5k.
Weather: 10C/50F, cloudy

Sunday
2:30 - 25k in 1:57:03 @4:41/k
25:25/24:15/23:54/22:13/21:15 @5:05/4:51/47/26/15
Felt good from the start. No pain in the legs, had a bit later, but didn't bother me.
Planned (hoped) to run the last 10k at MP (4:20/k). First 15k were faster than I expected, but felt fine. 4th 5k felt nice at a little under 4:30. But decided to see if I could pick it up with 5k to go and did without much difficulty. This was my best run (except for the Half races) for a good long time (esp. after a decent 20k yesterday).
Weather: 10C/50F, 20%, sunny - another perfect day for running.
Weight: 61.1kg
What do you think about this? I have one of those chairs with a footrest that powers up. I like to sit in it and read (or sleep) with my feet up all the way, which puts them higher than my butt. Elevation is supposed to be good, right? But I realized, maybe that position is stressing my hamstrings. Especially if I stay there for like 3 hours, which I did Saturday morning. So I skipped it Saturday night and Sunday morning, and my hamstrings felt better. Maybe this has been contributing to the hamstring issue.

Slightly Better Week and Great Party

Week of Dec. 5 ~ 11

Ran: 0/0/10/15/15/12/25 - 77k / 48 mi.   6:52

Monday
Rest after good ekiden run yesterday. Quite sore in some strange location that is not quite hamstring, not quite butt, not quite groin...somewhere inside there. But on the left side now, not the right as two weeks ago (?).

Tuesday
1:30am - machines and core at the gym.
Tried to run, but still quite sore, so better to rest.

Wednesday
7:30pm - Club track workout 1000m x 6
4:13/19/16/19/20/27 (jog 200m, 2:20)
Took it easy. Hip area a bit sore.

Thursday
12:00 - 15k in 1:22 @ 5:28/k
Slight soreness, but not bad, maybe because I took 2 ibuprofen at 9:00.
Weather: 8C/46F, 60%

Friday
4:30 - 15k in 1:17:15 @5:09/k
Slight soreness but felt ok.

Saturday
9k in Yoyogi Park before the Namban Rengo year-end party.
Then we went to the track and had 2 teams of 4 guys each trying to run a 4-minute mile. Each person ran 100m 4 times (run, then jog back to where you started). Last leg was 109m (mile = 1609m).
Could they do it? Well, four guys, going all out, the times were 4:12 and 3:56. Success! The 3:56 team was anchored by our top runner, Joe Stowe from Georgia Tech, who is an 800m guy. What this shows is that a 4-minute mile is really fast! This is a fun thing to try, but I'm warning you, you have to have four pretty fast guys (ok, or girls). I didn't run - didn't want to aggravate the sore hip.
(You can also do 200m x 2 x 4, but I prefer our way).
Easy 3k afterwards.

6:30pm - Namban Rengo party with 92 people. And we know how to party! A few photos are below to induce you guys to move to Japan and join our club.

Sunday
2:30 - 25k in 2:09:19 @5:10/k
26:45/26:01/25:25/25:33/25:34 @ 5:21/12/05/06/07
Felt pretty good. Pace was very comfortable. Slight soreness the last 10k in what seems now to be the upper hamstring. I plan to follow my previous plan of ignoring it until it goes away. (But not doing any fast running.)

Like I said, we know how to party!

Ekidens Are Fun

Week of Nov. 28 ~ Dec. 4

Ran: 0/15/7.6/0/0/5/6.5 - 34.1km / 21 mi. 2:52

Easy week...sore butt...ekiden on Sunday.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
3:00 - 15k in 1:15:21 @5:01/k
27:16/24:41/23:24 @5:27/4:56/4:41
Pace according to plan. Felt good.
Weather: 16C/61F
Weight: 61.7kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - 5,000m time trial at the track.
20:24 3:53/4:04/01/11/13
Planned about 19:30, but both buttocks were sore, so took it easier. From yesterday's run and last week's soreness not completely healed.

Thursday
Rest - sore when walking.

Friday
Rest (also cold rain)

Saturday
5k very easy in 29:54 - tomorrow is a race.

Sunday
Okutama Ekiden. The 73rd running of this race, the second oldest ekiden in Japan (oldest is Hakone - the university New year's ekiden). It's out in the countryside west of Tokyo - mountains, river, old houses...nice scenery. Namban has been running it since 1988 and this year we upped our presence with 3 men's teams (6 members each) and 3 women's teams (3 members each). The men's course is 44.4km and the women's is 11.1 (an old-school ekiden). I ran the third leg, which is 6.5k of rolling hills, more up than down. I felt good and ran pretty well. 26:00 or 4:00 per km, not bad for a net uphill course. I passed three guys and got passed by two..and almost caught another. i also passed one university kid! (different division but running together). The Namban teams were pretty equal so we had some competition, which was fun. My team was second of the three.
After the race we went to our traditional sushi place and watched the last part of the Fukuoka marathon on TV.

Next week a bit of rest and then start training for the Tokyo Marathon (Feb. 26th)