Still Showing Progress

"Progress" as compared to the last year, not, of course, compared to 3 or even 2 years ago (38:51 10K).
Anyway, I'm running better than I have in a while.

Week of Oct. 10 ~ 16
Very easy week after the 10K race, with 3 days off and 4 light days.

Week of Oct. 17 ~ 23
64.7km / 40.2 mi.   6:32
Rest on Monday, then a 5mile/8k tempo run on Tuesday with one of the x-country girls at a 4:36/k pace, so not a bad run.
After which took it very easy on wednesday, rest on thursday and easy on fri, sat, sun with legs still a bit tired.

Week of Oct. 24 ~ 30
75.9km / 47.2 mi.   7:33
Monday - 8k easy
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 5,000m time trial on the track. 19:46, nice to be under 20:00 again.
Splits were 3:55/3:55/4:00/4:00/3:56.
Felt pretty good, followed two guys the first 2k, then was alone, but had people ahead to try to chase.
Temp was 22C/72F, but felt cool, however, the humidity was a very high 83%. Was drenched in sweat at the finish.
Weight: 58.7kg

Next four days were 100, 70, 70, 120 mins.
Friday was 12C and raining - it was really cold. That may sound silly, but I was wearing gloves and my hands were still really cold. A very unpleasant run, so I was proud of myself for getting out there, being I am not English or Irish.

Next two weeks will do some hard running, then taper for the Half on the 20th (for which I have no confidence of being able to run a decent time).

Surprisingly Good 10K

Week of Oct. 3 ~ 9

50.2k / 31.2 mi.    4:23 total time

Monday
19.2k to & from school + tempo run with x-c team.
4 mile tempo in 7:42/8:03/7:57/7:40 with some of the JV girls on our slightly hilly course.
Legs tired, so not such an easy run.
24C/75F, 90% (rain just before)

Tuesday - Gym workout

Wednesday
12.5k with easy 1000 x 6 all around 5:00.
Just cruised because legs tired, 5k run tempo tomorrow and race on Sunday.

Thursday
5k tempo run with JV girls.
23:23 - the pace seemed faster and the first mile WAS faster, but that's what the watch said, so I guess it was right. Anyway, it was a nice moderately hard effort.
29C/84F, 60%
58.3kg

Friday and Saturday - rest

Sunday
10K race in Nagareyama, Chiba pref.
39:58 which got me 4th in the 60s age group (out of 376).
193 overall out of 3,279 men.
Surprisingly good result, as it was only 14 seconds slower than last year, when I was in better shape. Also because my last two 5k time trials on the track were 20:04 and 20:28, so didn't think I could run under 40:00.
Also because it was raining fairly hard and there were lots of big puddles to splash through.
I missed some splits, but I think the 5k splits were 19:54, 20:04.
I felt good the whole way, although was constantly pushing to hold the pace. Followed a guy who I thought was in my age group (only one number in front, so couldn't see it) from 4k to 8k, then he pulled away (or I slowed). But I kept him within 10-15 meters and with 200m to go kicked a bit and caught up about halfway. So I decided to go for it and blasted the last 100m, which really surprised me. Caught and passed him, and then looked back to see his number and realized he was in the 50s.  Was very happy with that kick anyway.
I always run well at this race, will go next year and win the 70s age group.
24C/75F, 100% - rain (hard although not torrential) from 9:30 to 10:30, race started at 10:00)
Weight about 58.2kg

Next race is a half marathon on Nov. 19.

So-so Time Trial, Fun Ekiden

Sept. 19 ~ 25

79.3 km / 49.3 mi   8:06 total time

43.3 km / 26.9 mi   6:06 total time

Monday
120 mins with 2 long rests
To and from school, easy 10k run with x-country junior varsity boys.
22C/72F, 100%, light rain
57.9kg

Tuesday
Gym workout

Wednesday
Club workout - 2000 x 2, 1000, 500(?) x 2
8:21, 8:12, 3:57, 1:58, 1:47
Cool, but humid. Felt pretty good.
22C/72F, 80%
58.8kg

Thursday
70 mins

Friday
Gym workout, 90 mins

Saturday
70 minutes with 6k tempo run at 4:40/48/47/38/32/23.
Legs a bit heavy, but felt ok. Some rain, but even without the rain, the humidity is sort of oppressive. Been this way all week.
22C/72F, 93%, rain.
57.8kg

Sunday
70 mins
Quads tight, legs very tired, but a nice day!

Monday
51 mins, 10k with 4 mile tempo run on slightly hilly course with 3 varsity girls (not the top girl, who was running 6:20 miles).
7:15, 7:15, 7:05, 7:05 (7:15 is 4:30/k)
26C/79F, very humid
58.5kg

Tuesday
Gym workout

Wednesday
5,000m time trial on a track.
20:28, 24 seconds slower than last month.
Very humid, but also legs didn't feel very fresh due I guess to the tempo run on Monday. Also had no one to follow.
Almost everyone ran slower than last month, although we did have 8 under 19:00, including a 3-time olympic woman triathlete (Kiyomi Niwata), who ran 18:29 as a tempo run.
27C/81F, 85%
58.7kg

Thursday
Rest

Friday
Gym workout, 70 mins.

Saturday
Charity ekiden to benefit the Special Olympics. Teams of from 4 to 10 run a 1.1km course for 3 hours, and there's a chip in the sash that keeps track of each team's total distance. An electronic board updates the team standings each lap, which is fun and interesting to watch.
We put in a team of 5 men and 5 women and surprisingly came in 5th out of 184 teams. Not a high level race, although the top four teams were pretty good runners (all men).
5 people ran 3 times, and 5 ran 4 times. I was planning on just an easy, fun day, jogging a lot in between, but our first runner came in 8th, then the second guy brought us down to 5th, so Christ, I guess we'll have to go all out to keep this place. Which we did - go all out on each lap, I mean.
It was cool, but very humid (85%), with some light rain, so not easy running. Lots of fun, though.
We got a podium (stage, actually) finish for 5th, although our prizes were only small red megaphones.

Sunday
Easy 45 min run, 6.5k. Nice day!

Receiving certificate from Olympic marathon medalist Yuko Arimori.

Megaphones double as hats.