2 Fairly Good Workouts

Week of June 23 ~ 29
59.3km / 36.8 mi.

Monday
2:30 - 5.9k very easy. Planned 8, but got twinges in the hamstring, so stopped. 10th day of running in a row, as I didn't rest last week, although only one of those days was a hard workout.
27C/81F, 50%
58.4kg

Tuesday
12:00 - Weights and abs in the gym.
59.2kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - 5,000m time trial. 5k warmup.
19:41 (3:52/59/59/56/54). Felt good. Ran right behind two guys for 4,000m, then they pulled away. Actually thought I was going faster (just pushed the split button, didn't look at the watch), but I'm nowhere near racing shape. Also it was very humid.
22C/72F, humid
59.4kg (but 58.5 before running)

Thursday
3:30 - 10k easy in 59:00. Legs a bit tired.
28C/82F, 50%
58.2kg

Friday
12:00 - Weights and abs in the gym.
3:30 - 14k in 1:18:20. 41:04/37:15 @5:52/5:19/k
27C/81F, 50%
58.2kg

Saturday
3:00 - 14k with 4k warmup, 3k x 3, 1k jog.
3ks in 13:49, 13:38, 13:04 (4:17/23/24) 5min walks in between.
Could hardly move the first 4k with heavy legs, but managed to get loosened up.
Planned to be happy with a 4:30/k pace.
24C/75F, 90% (rain before and after)
58.2kg

Sunday
3:00 - 4.4k easy, then faster. Planned to run 8 or 10k, but dark clouds were rolling in and thunder started at 2k, so turned around. Didn't feel like getting drenched and didn't want to run in lightning. First 2k legs were dead heavy, but picked up the pace and tried to get in an extra k, but rain started after 200m, so turned around. 600 to go, picked up the pace. 400 to go, rain a bit harder, picked up the pace. 200 to go, raindrops getting bigger, sprinted for home. Got slightly wet, but made it - the downpour began 20 seconds later.
28C/82F, 90%
58.4kg

No Aches, Pains, Nothing

Week of June 16 ~ 22
70km / 43.5 mi.

After two weeks of pretty much no running, all my aches and pains seem to be gone. Have some soreness in my right glute, but I don't feel it when I walk or run. And as I told Scott Brown, I switched from my bed to a futon on the floor last night, and it didn't hurt nearly as much when I got up this morning. So maybe my old mattress is the problem (it's fairly firm, but I guess not firm enough).
Anyway, after testing the right hamstring with two very easy runs last Sat and Sun, which produced no pain at all, I started in this week as below, albeit gently.

Oh, and I've gone on a SERIOUS diet to come closer to my Kenyan-thin ideal. Cut out almost all carbs, except for some at dinner. By that I mean oatmeal, cereal, crackers, bread, etc. I'm now getting my carbs through lots of fruit (mainly bananas) and vegetables (discovered frozen vegetables, which are good and handy - easy to heat up with tomato sauce). Lots of protein from beans, yoghurt, lowfat milk and protein powder.
Still counting calories (weighing all food, except at dinner and restaurants, which I estimate), which is the secret, I think, to consistent weight loss/maintenance.
And keeping beer/wine to a minimum, 2 or maybe 3 times a week, but only one or two beers, two glasses of wine. (One beer: 130kcal, one glass wine: 120kcal.)
Went from 60kg to 58kg in 12 days. 58 used to be my goal, but now I'm aiming for 57 or less, which will be pretty thin. Thin and fast.
I'm even doing my abs work every night - aiming for the Brad Pitt Fight Club look. (Want an intense workout program? Google (or better, Duck Duck Go) Brad Pitt Fight Club Workout.)

Monday
3:00 - 8k in 43:20 @5:26/k. Hamstring ok, cruising easily.
28C/82F, 40%
58.1kg

Tuesday
2:00 - Gym workout
3:00 8k in 44:00 @5:30/k. Easy run.
26C/79F, 50%
58.6kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout.
600/800/1000/1200/1000/800/600
Just ran at an easy pace, about 4:45/k. Hamstring was fine.
59kg

Thursday
3:30 - 10k in 56:10 @5:37/k
Felt kind of tired and weak - lack of fuel?
27C/81F, 50%
59.1kg

Friday
11:00 - Gym workout
3:00 - 10k in 56:45 @5:39/k (59:22/57:22).
Legs still a bit tired.
28C/82F, 40%
58.3kg

Saturday
3:00 - 14k with 4k warmup, 3k x 3 tempo, 1k home.
3ks in 13:18, 13:32, 13:22 (13:30 is 4:30/k)
Felt ok, not great. First hard workout in 3 weeks.
28C/82F, 50%
58.1kg

Sunday
3:30 - 10k very easy. Legs quite tired.
22C/72F, 60% (after rain).
58kg

On a side note, I'm in first place in my World Cup pool. I've got Argentina, Columbia and Costa Rica, 6 for 6 so far (Costa Rica - football superpower!). Bought them in an auction, with each person (8) putting in 6,000 yen. Clever of me to choose the South American teams, right? But much to my wife's disgust, I have to cheer for Columbia over Japan. Even though Columbia has already qualified for the second round, I need the points.

Race Cancelled

Week of June 2 ~ 8

Not much of a week. Monday and Tuesday were rest days after the 10K race on Sunday.
Wednesday was supposed to be 6 x 1000 on the track, but after two fairly easy ones, the hamstring felt sore, so stopped. A surprise, as it hadn't been sore in the race or afterwards.
Continued to be sore when walking that night and a bit the next day, so rested thursday and friday, as I was supposed to run a 10K leg in a triathlon relay on Saturday.
This was on an island, Oshima, off the coast a two-hour jetfoil (hydrofoil) ride from Tokyo. However, the weather was terrible - strong wind and rain - and after we got there, they decided to cancel the races (relay and an individual triathlon). The third year in a row it has been cancelled! They need to re-think their date!
I was just as happy, since I probably would have had to just run at a very easy pace, letting the team down.
They did have the "post-race" party though, and those triathletes know how to party! It seemed like most of the 6,000 yen entry fee went for beer and food.
Then today was a beautiful day.

So....rest until Wednesday, test out the hamstring and if/when it is completely healed, get back into training. The plan is, from once I start in June, through July, August and September, to train hard and diet hard, getting much thinner and hopefully faster, then race in Oct/Nov/Dec.

Hope you all have a good summer (winter) of training also!

43:33 on a HOT day!

Week of May 26 ~ June 1

50km / 31 mi.

Monday
10:30 - 8k in 47:26 @5:56
4:00 - 5k in 28:30 @5:42
Legs felt heavy in am, better in afternoon.
22C,24C/72F,75F
59.2kg

Tuesday
3:00 - weight and core workout in the gym.
4:15 - 10k in 56:19 @5:38. Easy run.
25C/77F
59.2kg

Wednesday
2:30 - 10k with 1000m x 4 alone (couldn't go to the track workout at night).
4k warmup, 1000m x 4 in 4:34/31/20/12 (3:00 walk), 2k warmdown.
Very stiff at first. Stretched four times and finally able to run. Getting down to 4:12 was good.
26C/79F
59.5kg

Thursday
1:00 - 7k in 40:15 @5:45. Felt ok
27C/81F
59.5kg

Friday, Saturday
Rest

Sunday
Munatsuki 10K. 43:33 for 18th overall out of 220 men (no age groups).
This is run on the (fairly wide) path along the Arakawa, one of Tokyo's major rivers. It's a nice little, low-key race. The club had 4 in the marathon, 6 in the half marathon and 5 in the 10k.
The major factor today was heat! It was at least 29C/84F and possibly hotter in the sun. As a result, none of the four finished the marathon (really no sense in running 42k in that heat) and only four finished the half. Us 10k runners all did pretty well. I was happy with 43 minutes and was happy to pass two young guys in the final 3k, who had pulled away from me earlier. Ha! Anyway, I didn't feel too great (I guess no one did), but pushed to the end and maintained my pace pretty well, I think - there were no km markers.
Fellow club member Harrisson and I had a joint birthday party afterwards with 17 people, where we all all stuffed ourselves on a buffet. Serious diet from tomorrow! From right now, in fact.

Most of today's Namban Rengo runners

Cake made by Harrisson, which tasted as good as it looks!