Enjoyable Ekiden

Week of Mar. 17 ~ 23

47.4km / 29.5 mi. — Race on Friday

Monday
3:30 — 8k. 5k easy with HS team, 3k alone in 13:06 @4:22/k
15C/59F, windy
58.1kg

Tuesday
11:30 - Gym workout - weights and core.
3:30 - 4.6k easy jog to and from the track where the team trains.
18C/64F, very windy!
58.2kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout. 8.8k
1200, 1000, 1000, 800, 800, 800, 400
5:26, 4:06, 4:10, 3:28/27/28, 1:46
Took it easy (race on Friday). Picked up 1000s a bit, but at a comfortable pace.
First time I gave the club this workout - I like it!
9C/48F
59kg

Thursday
Rest

Friday (national holiday)
9:30 Tama-ko Ekiden, 10k with warmup.
This is a 4-person per team ekiden on a cycle path around a lake (Lake Tama, actually a reservoir). Each leg 7.242k, I suppose that's accurate enough.  Tama-ko is where I used to do my long runs - it's 9km from my house, so I don't get out there anymore. Anyway, it's my "home course."
It was a nice event, with 362 men's and mixed teams, 16 women's teams and two kids' races.
The weather was good, about 12C/54F, but windy.
The club had 5 men's teams, which finished 15th, 27th, 34th, 40th and 110th, and one women's team, which finished 5th. I was on the middle team. Time was 29:18, with splits (probably not exactly accurate) of 3:59, 4:05, 4:08, 4:04, 4:08, 3:58, 3:53, 3:59, 0:59. The first 400m was straight into the wind, then the next 3.5k were partly into the wind (kind of diagonal, but not too bad), and then with the wind, although that part of the course is sheltered by trees on one side and houses on the other. The course is fairly flat, with a bunch of small rolling hills and one up/down section of 100m each.
I felt good and ran hard the whole way. Our first runner was our slowest, and I ran second, so I passed 25 people and was passed by just two. That was fun! Probably a lot of teams had just one good runner, who they put first - a lot of the people I passed were pretty slow.

Saturday
Rest - left calf a bit sore. But it's always good to rest a day after a race - more than a day after a Half or Full marathon!

Sunday
2:30 - 16k in 1:21:21 @5:06/k
43:54/37:27 @ 5:30/4:41.
Felt good coming back - comfortable pace.
15C/59F, sunny
58.7kg

Next week the weather is supposed to be warm all week. I'll probably try to run a good time at the club 5,000m time trial on Wednesday night.