October 11, 2015

39:46, 3rd Place — I'll Take It

Week of Oct. 5 ~ 11
43.2km /26.8 mi.

Monday thru Saturday was just preparation leading up to the 10K race on Sunday.

Monday
3:30 - 13k. 7k with JV girls @5:45/k then 6k tempo alone. Wanted to run 4:40-45 pace and ran the two 3k loops at 4:43 and 4:44.
Quads were a bit stiff, but felt ok.
21C/70F, 50%, DP 10
57.7kg

Tuesday
Weights and core at the gym.

Wednesday
7:30pm - club track workout. 12.2k with 4.2k warmup and 1000m x 6.
4:13/3:58/4:02/3:54/59/52 (about 2:40 jog/walk in between)
Pushing just a bit, but basically cruising. Tapering for Sunday.

Thursday
3:30 - 8k. 15min warmup then 800 x 6 with JV girls. From 3:37 down to 3:20, with 90sec rest. Easy, but not slow-easy.

Friday and Saturday
Rest

Sunday
10:00am - 10K race at Nagareyama in Chiba pref.
Very good race, which I enjoyed last year and did again this year. More in fact, because five other club members also ran. It's a good course, quite a lot of turns and about 5 up/downs, but that's ok, it keeps it interesting.
I felt good the whole way - well, not exactly good the last 3k - and finished in 39:46, good for 3rd in the 60s age group, out of 366 men. I was also 3rd last year, but 55 seconds faster. However, I knew I wasn't in as good shape this year, so was happy with both the time and the place. And with the fact that I had no pains or discomfort at all during the race!
Also, since my 5,000 time trial on sept 30 was 19:40, all out, 39:46 was not bad.
Splits were (some approx): 3:58/56/57/58/57/58/4:05/56/4:01 - I kicked the last 500m, but the 500m before that is a gradual uphill.
It rained right up until 30 minutes before the race, but luckily stopped. It was only 18C/64F, so it felt cool, although the humidity was about 100%, so everyone finished drenched in sweat.
There were 3,581 total runners, out of which I was 204th - I think that was the total place out of all men and women (it just says "total").
The winner was about 30:15. He was an independent, ahead of 5 university guys in the low 31s. And the top high school kid was 30:27! The other top five were also low 31s. The top 50-year-old was a bit over 35 and the top 40+ woman was also 35:30! She must have been an ex-corporate runner. The top 60 year old was 38:30 and the top 70 year old was 41:20! Love the quality of races in Japan.

Next race is another 10k on Nov. 23, so will try to improve on today's time.
Long term, I obviously need more stamina. Well, my long runs now are only 14k. The journey continues!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,

    Congratulations on a great result and a well run race. I love the quality of the splits.

    Padraig

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  2. Well done Bob. Your splits are so consistent! Nice to get some feedback on the competition given I'll be back living over there in the New Year. Might need to up my game somewhat don’t you think ...

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  3. Hi Mark - nice that you'll be living here. looking forward to running with you.

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  4. Excellent race Bob - very good after the 19:40 5k the week previously. And good news about no aches or pains during or afterwards. You're not yet old, but when you get there I can assure you that 22-minute 5ks will feel as fast as 18-minute ones once did ;-)

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  5. Well done Bob - fantastic for a "comfortable" race. The standard in Japan is certainly high right through the age groups.

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