Week of March 7 ~ 13
33.3km / 20.7 mi.
Monday
3:30 - 8.6k including 6.4k (4 miles) "easy tempo" with the top 2 track team girls.
The four miles (on a slightly hilly course) were 7:43/36/46/10, so the first 3 at about 4:45/k pace and the last at 4:27.
Nice run, just cruising along, although there was a light rain and lots of big puddles to avoid.
13C/55F
59.8kg
Tuesday
4k - just an easy jog to and from the team's practice track.
Wednesday
7:30pm - 2k, 1k x 3, 500 x 2
8:58, 4:29/43/44, 2:17/11
Horrible weather: cold, rain and wind. I was ok on the 3.3k "warmup" and the 2k, but was only wearing cotton gloves so by the 1ks my hands were freezing. Like not just cold, but extremely painful. It's hard to run when all you can think about is how much your hands hurt.
My hands are cold much of the time anyway, all winter long, but this was extreme. Next time I'll dig out my heavy ski gloves.
Well, I planned to go easy anyway, as part of the taper for Sunday's race.
Thursday
Trip to Foodex, one of the world's biggest food and beverage trade shows, where companies give away lots of free samples. A Spanish triathlete who promotes the Toro wine region gave me tickets, so my wife and I went and drank a lot of wine and ate a lot of prosciutto, along with other goodies. A fun way to taper!
Friday
Yesterday and still today I had a bit of a pain in my left leg, so decided to keep resting.
Saturday
Another day of rest.
Sunday
Koga Hanamomo 10K. This was a good race, marathon and 10K, about an hour north of Tokyo - 2 hours travel for me. The club had 11 people take part in both races, which was fun, and the weather was pretty good - a bit too cold for me at around 9C/48F, but not too bad. Cloudy, so good for the marathoners.
I ran 41:23, 4:08/k pace, which I guess is where I am these days. I felt good and ran pretty well, but don't seem to be able to run 4 minute pace anymore. Well, the 5k time trial two and a half weeks ago was 21:12, so at least I was running faster than that.
Came in 44th out of a total of 1,250 men and women. No age group results - you are supposed to check the website, and if you are in the top three, they will send you the prize. Many Japanese races don't understand how to manage chips and results.
After the race, I traveled two hours down to Yokohama to meet up with our runners who ran the Yokohama Marathon, as well as Scott Brown. It was great to talk with him over a few beers.
2 days ago
Likewise Bob, I had a great time. And thanks for shouting me. I'll get you when come down to the Kansai. And no I'm not going to shave my beard! I
ReplyDeleteheard that once you do that the next step is shaving ones head!! It's a slippery slope, so to speak. ;)
Good to hear you were finally able to catch up with Scott. Next time you see him, tell him that bearded runners are much faster!
ReplyDeleteAt least you're close to running 4 minute ks. I'm sure you can get back down there again, just not in a race that requires ski gloves ;-)
On my 2nd run here in Osaka about 3 weeks ago I headed out on a route I thought I knew well. However, after 40 minutes something felt very wrong. 30 minutes after that, I had to accept that I was horribly lost. Only after losing all sensation in my cold near frost bitten fingers did I pluck up enough courage to ask someone for directions. Boy it gets cold here! A nice race on Sunday Bob ... well done.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff....44 th is a strong position. You would think you would have made top 3 in your age group. Well done.
ReplyDeleteDid you make the top 3 Bob ?
ReplyDeleteRegardless well done, I dislike the cold too !
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ReplyDeleteThey finally put the result up - I was 2nd out of 30. But they haven't sent me a prize....
ReplyDelete