Finally, an 80K Week!

Week of July 21 ~ 27
80.4km / 50 mi.

It's been a long time since I had an 80km week. Too embarrassing to tell you how long, but it's only the third time this year! The various niggles and sorenesses have kept my mileage down - basically all due to trying to do too much, too soon after races. I used to be able to recover quickly from races but just can't anymore.
Feeling good now, though, except for tired legs....

Monday
1:00 - 16k with 8k very easy, 8k at a moderate tempo pace (5:03/k). I intended to go faster the last 4k, but the legs were not cooperating. They felt tired, and it was very humid.
28C/82F, 70%, sunny
59.1kg

Tuesday
Gym workout
58.3kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout. 14.4k with 6.2k warmup.
1000 x 4, 800 x 2, 400
3:58/47/44/42  3:02/01  82 (200m jog plus a bit extra rest after each - under 3')
Even with the warmup, legs still not ready to go on the first one. Felt ok from the 2nd one. Hot, humid.
28C/82F
58.5kg

Thursday
3:30 - 14k in 78:39 @5:37 (5:52/5:22)
Felt ok. Finished just before a big thunderstorm.
33C/91F, 70%
58.3kg

Friday
11:00 - Gym workout
4:00 - 12k in 1:10:23 @5:52. Legs tired, hot!
33C/91F, 55%, sunny
58kg

Saturday
3:00 - 12k with 4k warmup, 3k, 2k, 2k tempo (cut down from previous weeks' 4/3/2, which is too much in the heat).
3k: 15:09 (4:49/4:06/5:14) 4' rest
2K: 10:04 (5:04/5:00) 4' rest
2K: 9:48 (5:00/4:48)
Quads and thighs really heavy. Couldn't move at all on the warmup, finally able to run 5:00 pace but had to push to do that. Heat, humidity, general tiredness? I really should run a bit later, or at night.
34C/93F, 70%
58.3kg

Sunday
9:00pm - 12k in 1:12:34 @6:01 (6:21/5:44)
34° during the day, so waited until 9:00, when it was much cooler, with a breeze. However, I was still a bit full from dinner.
We usually eat dinner at 5:00 - neither my wife nor I eat much for lunch, so we're hungry by 5 - but she's agreed that I can run at 5:00 and we'll eat about 7:00. Will try that next week.
27C/81F, 55%
58.1kg

No Niggles - How Nice!

Week of July 14 ~ 20
67.8km / 42 mi.

Thanks for the comments on the fainting spell, No more problems, I guess it was just a weird, one-time thing.
No niggles at all, which is very nice. Tiredness for sure, but no pains.

Monday
Rest after the hard run (21k, lots of ups and downs) on Sunday.

Tuesday
Gym workout, no run.

Wednesday
7:30pm Club track workout. 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1000, 800, 600.
2:24, 3:05, 3:52, 4:44, 3:51, 3:02, 2:12
Worked hard to stay with my man Padraig, mostly unsuccessfully. Felt "just ok", legs seem to still be a bit tired from Sunday.
26C/79F, very humid
58.4kg

Thursday
3:00 - 13k with 12k very easy, and 100m x 10 barefoot striders in the middle.Was running in the park, so just took off my shoes and ran back and forth on the grass for a bit.
31C/88F, 70%
57.9kg

Friday
11:30 - gym workout
3:00 - 12k again very easy pace. Felt weak, plus it was very humid. I guess I should eat more.
27C/81F, 83%
58kg

Saturday
1:00 - 14k with 4k warmup, 4k, 3k, 2k tempo, 1k back home
Felt quite good!
4k: 17:54 (4:24,29,32,29) 5min walk
3k: 13:05 (4:20,23,22) 5min walk
2k: 8:21 (4:19,02) Decided to push the last k.
Didn't look at my watch for these, just hit the split button.
26C/79F, 90% with dribbles of rain off and on.
58.9kg

Sunday
2:00 - 14k at very easy pace. Back to legs feeling very tired.
28C/82F, 70%
58.4kg

They say the rainy season is supposed to end on Tuesday, and sure enough, the forecast for Wed,Thur,Fri, Sat is sunny, 31,31,31,32 degrees!

Hope you all had a good week. Now back to watching the athletes I really envy - golfers! They just stroll around and make a lot of money. I refer to the British Open, of course. Love the British announcers. Talking of the South African John Coetzee, who is small and pudgy: "Now here's John, he's got a comfortable look about him. He's built for comfort, not speed."

Curious Incident

Week of July 7 ~ 13
69km / 42.9 mi.

The curious incident was not a dog in the night (Sherlock Holmes) but a fainting spell! See Friday.

Monday
3:00 - 12k. 6k very easy warmup.
6k in 28:27 @4:44/km
Felt ok after stretching (after warmup), but legs still a bit heavy.
24C/75F, 85%!
58.2kg

Tuesday
Rest. To a hot spring resort with my wife for wedding anniversary. Ate a lot and drank a lot of wine.

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout.
1200, 1000, 1000, 800, 800, 800, 400
4:58/3:59/4:03/3:14/3:15/3:09/82 (200 jog plus a bit of walk in bet.).
Felt ok, but just didn't have it to run fast.
Steady rain, puddles on track, but that was not really the problem - just had no oomph.
23C/75F, rain
??

Thursday
12:00 - 16k very easy. Legs very tired and heavy. A long, slow run.
28C/82F, 88%
59.6kg

Friday
12:30 - gym workout.
Then came home, went upstairs, and fainted! Fortunately my wife heard me fall. I guess I hit the floor hard (got a few scrapes). All I remember is feeling a bit woozy. Woke up with my wife leaning over me with her phone in her hand, calling an ambulance. I went downstairs and thought I was ok, but started feeling woozy again, so rode to the hospital. By that time, I was ok.
Very strange. I think it was a combination of not eating much the day before or in the morning, sitting in the sun for a while, then doing a gym workout without drinking anything.
So I have to eat a bit more, and definitely drink more in the hot weather.
58.6kg - lost 1kg in one day - again, this is measured early in the morning.

Saturday
Felt fine today, so did a hard workout, but not real fast and cut it down a bit.
11k with 3k warmup, 3k x 2, 500m x 2. (Usually 3k x 3)
14:31 (abut 4:50/k), 14:01 (abt. 4:40/k).
500s in 2:04, 1:59, but it may have been a bit short.
Legs very stiff, otherwise felt ok.
32C/90F, 60%, sunny
58.8kg

Sunday
12:00 - 21.2km. Went to Zushi beach (below Yokohama) for a run up in the wooded hills with 7 other people. 2:40 running time, total 4 hours with many stops for rest, water, views and to let people catch up. Easy pace the whole way, but LOTS of uphill, including many stairs, stone steps, steep hillsides. Legs were ok, no soreness, but got very tired. Beer and BBQ on the beach afterwards, an enjoyable day.
27C/81F, but quite a bit cooler up in the woods.
59.6kg

The hills in the background are not exactly where we ran, but hills just like that.

Fun Event - 3-Hour Relay

Week of June 30 ~ July 6

62.4km / 38.7 mi.

Monday
3:30 - 14k with 7k easy in 42:03, 7k tempo in 30:50 @4:24/k.
Stretched after the 7k warmup and then felt ok. Good pace, was working a bit, but not too hard. (which is how a tempo run should be).
I didn't look at my watch each km, which is a new way of running for me, and which I rather like. Run completely how you feel.
26C/79F, 50%, cloudy
58.3kg

Tuesday
12:00 - Gym workout

Wednesday
7:30pm - Club track workout - 14.4k with 1000m x 6.
After a good warmup, 3:46/43/44/44/49/42
(200m in between, 2:50~3:10, 3:48 after 4th)
Felt good, ran well. Had people to follow, except on the 5th one. Worked fairly hard, but comfortable.
26C/79F, 64%
58.5kg

Thursday
12:00 - 8k very easy - legs tired.
29C/84F, 50%
57.8kg

Friday
Rest. No time to run and anyway, a "race" tomorrow.

Saturday
10km. Summer Festival 3-Hour Relay in a park at Odaiba (Tokyo waterfront area).
This was a fun event where you could enter teams of 2 to 10 people, who run for 3 hours. Each person runs a 2.5k loop, handing off to the next person (or however you want to do it). At least it was supposed to be 2.5k - it turned out to be 1.85k (garmin), which was actually better, as we all ran as hard as we could - "fun" for us turned out to not mean jogging around.
The club had two teams - the Work Team of 5 fast guys (although 2 of the fastest couldn't make it and were replaced with 2 slower guys) and the Play Team of 3 guys and 3 girls, including me.
The Work team came in 3rd out of 110 teams, running 27 laps or just about 50km. The Play team, whose 3 girls were all good runners, ran 24 laps and came in 7th! As a "fun event" there were not many strong teams, but 7th was still a surprise.
I ran loops of 7:01, 7:16, 7:18, 7:14, or about 3:54/k (with 38-39 mins in between). I was really working hard, and fortunately had other runners about the same pace to try to catch or stay with each loop. The weather was off and on light rain, which was actually good - much better than blazing sun.
Interesting relay, first time I had ever heard of that format, and it worked well (needless to say, they used chips to track the teams).
They had food and beer vans at the site, so we had a nice post-race lunch/celebration.
Oh, and the Work team's prize for 3rd place was a very large bag of fireworks - rather strange.

Sunday
1:00 - Gym workout
3:00 - 16k in 1:31:08 @5:42/k.  Out/back was 47:32/43:36 @5:56/5:27.
Recovery run, felt ok.