November 24, 2013

Easy Week

Week of Nov. 18 ~ 24
63.4km / 39.4 mi.

Monday
Rest from race yesterday.
Caught a cold - throat was sore from Saturday but fortunately I was all right yesterday.

Tuesday
Rest

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout.
600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1000, 800, 600
2:26, 3:18, 3:51, 5:11, 4:03, 3:26
Legs still not fresh and felt a bit "off" due to the cold.
Warmed up, then ran a decent 1000, then took it easy, and skipped the final 600.
Weather: 13C/55F
Weight: 57.8kg

Thursday
Rest

Friday
11:00 - 8k in 45:12 @5:39 - average pace
12:30 - Gym workout
3:30 - 12k in 1:06:47 @5:35

Saturday
2:00 - 3k warmup, 5k, 3k, 1k hard tempo
5k: 21:13 @4:15  4:16/18/13/12/14  (walk 6:00
3k: 12:39 @4:13  4:13/19/07 (jog 5:54)
1k: 3:57
Still have some sinus congestion, so this was a good workout.
Weather: 15C/59F
Weight: 57.9kg

Sunday
11:30 - 8k in 44:54 @5:37
3:30 - 12k in 1:06:13 @5:31 (34:09, 32:04)
Weather: 13C, 15C, 30%
Weight: 57.6kg

November 17, 2013

Today's Half 1:28:27, 4th in Age Group

Week of Nov 11 ~ 17
55.5km / 34.5 mi.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - Gym workout
2:00 - 12k with 4k warmup, 8k in 33:49 @4:13/k
4:18,25,14,14,13,15,06,03
A bit chilly and windy, so took a while to get going. But felt good last 2k.
Weather: 13C/55F, 50%
Weight: 57.7kg

Wednesday
7:30 - club track workout.
1200,1200,1000,1000,800,800
5:03, 4:55, 3:51, 3:50, 3:18, 3:19 (2:30 jog after 12s, 2:00 jog & 1:00 walk after 1000s).
Cruised 1200s, moderately hard 1000s, easy 800s. Legs felt good
Weather: 9C/48F, very chilly
Weight: 56.8kg

Thursday
2:30 - 12k easy in 1:06:37 @5:34/k.
Weight: 57.1kg

Friday
Gym workout. Resting for Sunday.

Saturday
Resting
Weight: 57.8kg

Sunday
Toda Half Marathon (in Saitama pref., just north of Tokyo).
Beautiful day for running, chilly in the morning, then warmed up. Temp was 17-18C/64F at the finish (12:00), which is my preferred temperature - I don't like cold weather.
This is my favorite race in Japan. It's big, but not huge, there is good competition in each age group, it's a basically flat course on a wide, smooth asphalt surface, it starts at 11AM (the later, the better for me), it's in a nice green area and goes around a lake, and is very well organized. Also, there are two places with 180° turns after long straights, which I like because you can see who is ahead and behind you, and by how much (if you are trying to finish high in your age group) and also wave hello to your friends who are running.
I ran a Half on Sept. 29 in 1:31:30 @4:20/k (26°), so wanted to run 4:10 pace today - 1:27:54.
Went out a bit slower than that - just seemed comfortable at 4:14 or a bit more, but that was ok, as I was planning to pick it up at 15k. Had a few people to run with or behind most of the way and basically just felt real good the first 15k.
Planned to pick it up at 15k and I did - just put the hammer down. I felt good and fortunately got into a good rhythm with another guy and we ran side by side for 4k. Managed to pick up the last k a bit more and had a good kick - in fact, I outkicked the first woman on the track at the end - sorry!
I had noticed an "old guy" running a little ways ahead of me at about 8k, so I put in a little spurt at 10k (the 4:03) and passed him. He apparently also figured I was in his age group, so he pulled back ahead. This happened twice more, after which I was content to just cruise behind him, feeling pretty sure that I would leave him at 15k - and I did. Beat him by 1:15 (he was 5th). At the awards ceremony he said he was rather shocked when I ran away from him.
So, 1:28:27, which is not great, but not bad. And I felt good the whole way, which was the best part. No hint of pain in my knee or anywhere else.
60s winner was 1:26:05. Actually, when I was 60 I won the age group in 1:23:30. 3rd was only 20 seconds ahead of me - next year!

1k splits: 3:59, 4:18, 14, 14, 20, 14, 14, 15, 18, 20, 03, 13, 19, 15, 18, 03, 08, 03, 11, 10, 3:53, 0:23 (.1k)
5k splits: 21:05, 21:22, 21:08, 20:34 (16K to 21k: 20:25)

Participants:
10K men: 1,780
10k women: 841Half men: 2,740Half women: 650
There were 264 in my age group. I got a Mizuno shoe bag for finishing 4th.





November 11, 2013

A Solid Week of Training

Week of Nov. 4 ~ 10
89 km / 55 mi.

Monday
2:00 - 12k with 4k warmup, 8k tempo in 34:09 @4:16/k
Still felt a bit sluggish even after the warmup, but felt good the last 4k after getting fully warmed up.
4:20/26/17/17/13/12/11/12
Weather: 18C/64F
Weight: 57.8kg

Tuesday
Gym workout

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout. 1000m x 6
3:41/38/42/41/42/31 (jog 2', walk 50")
Felt very good and ran well. Pushed each one and kicked strongly on the last one.
Weather: 17C/63F
Weight: 58 (but 56.8, somehow, before the workout)

Thursday
3:00 - 12k easy in 1:07:00 @5:35/k
Weather: 14C/57F
Weight: 57kg

Friday
11:00 - 8k easy in 45:33 @5:42/k.
12:00 - Gym workout
3:45 - 12 easy in 1:07:24 @5:36/k  (34:32/32:52)
Felt hungry!
Weather: 16C, 18C
Weight: 57.3kg

Saturday
3:00 - 14k with 3k warmup then 5k, 3k, 1k hard
5k - 21:16 @4:15/k (walk 6:00)
3k - 12:21 @4:07/k (jog 1k in 6:36)
1k - 4:01. Disappointed. It felt faster and I wanted to get under 4:00.
Weather: 13C/55F, cloudy and felt chillier.
Weight: 57.2kg

Sunday
11:00 - 8k easy in 47:27 @5:56/k
3:30 - 12k cruising in 1:06:32 @5:33 (33:52/32:39)
Felt good in the afternoon.
Weather: 13C, 18C
Weight: 57.1kg

Next week: tapering from Wednesday for the half marathon on Sunday.

November 3, 2013

18:57 5K — I'll Take It

Week of Oct. 28 ~ Nov. 3
72 km / 44.7 mi.

Monday
Rest - recovery from 9K "race" on Sunday

Tuesday
Rest and gym workout

Wednesday
7:30pm - 9k with club 5,000m time trial
18:57. Splits: 3:47/47/49/51/43
Felt great. Had three guys to follow, which helped a lot. Surprisingly, went past them all in the last k. Even had a good kick. So while it's not "fast,' given my past performance, it's the best I've run in quite a while so I'll take it.
Weather: 18C/64F. felt cool. This is the ideal temperature for me….
Weight: 57.4kg (56.8 before the run).

Thursday
3:00 - 12k easy in 1:07:18 @5:36

Friday
11:00 - 8k easy 44:15 @5:32
2:00 - Gym workout
3:30 - 12k easy in 1:05:45 @5:28. Legs felt fine.
Weather: 18C/64F
Weight: 56.7kg

Saturday
2:00 - 13k with 3k warmup, 4k, 3k, 2k hard.
4k in 16:48 @4:12 (walk 6:00), 3k in 12:15 @4:05 (walk 5:00), 2k in 8:08 @4:04.
Felt good. A little soreness in hip joint the last 500m, so abandoned the plan to do 400 x 2, 200 x 2.
Weather: 16C/61F
Weight: 57.5kg

Sunday
11:00 - 6k easy in 35:11
2:00 - 12k easy in 1:04:17 (different course, may have been a bit short).
Weather: 17C/63F
Weight: 57.2kg
Getting ready to watch Kawauchi in the New York City Marathon. Great live feed on abclocal.go.com