Suwako HM - A new HM PB!

I signed up for this after Namban folks said it was feasible as a day trip. Come to find out it was not, but Geraldine, from Namban, offered me to stay at her cottage up there, despite that she had never met me. Took the Azusa up on Saturday and arrived a bit before 9, Geraldine was kind enough to drive out to pick me up, and was accompanied by another Nambanner, Maya. At her house were two more women, Taeko, a nambanner, and Ruby, Geraldine's 82 year old friend from the UK. It was a pleasant night chatting a bit, and I managed to sleep ok on the thin futon and hard floor.

In the morning, I drank a huge almost one liter shake I had made for the trip. This was too much, as I would find out later with some stomach issues. Also, I had only brought 3 of the stomach pills with me, whereas I usually take at least four.
We got to the race area plenty early, and parked nice and close at a pachinko place. Got in a good warm up, the weather was warmer and more humid than expected with cloud cover that was starting to break. It was a nice enough lake, mainly surrounded by urban area, but some mountains as well that were pretty.
I met up with Paddie and we got in the line up together. There was another guy Richard that Paddie knew and said he was going for sub 1:20. Paddie said he would be happy with anything under 1:25, so I was happy to have someone in the same ballpark as me.
My strategy was to go out hard and just try to push it through all the way. That's what I did, and it hurt right from the beginning. My legs felt a bit stiff and tight, and my gut was bothering me right away. I did the first 3k in under 11:30, which was fast, but close to the target of where I wanted to be. Paddie caught up with me by about 4k, and we hung together for a while. It was my first time running with him, and I was quite surprised by the way he slapped his right foot. Seemed really inefficient, and was surprised that he can run as fast as he does. He pulled ahead as I started to feel worse and wonder if I was going to have a decent race at all. It was good to have him in my sights, though, and so I just focused on that. I meant to take my splits every 3k, but kept missing the markers, so just kept going as fast as my condition allowed. As we got close to the halfway mark I passed Paddie and tried to pull him a long with a fairly feeble, 'C'mon Paddie!'. There was a cool little band at the halfway mark, and there were great people cheering pretty much the whole way. I started to feel better and get a second wind. When I got to about the 16k mark, I started feeling like I was not going to make it without a toilet stop. That big shake I drank and the lack of medicine was taking its toll (despite the 4-5 times I had already crapped before the race...). I tried to hold off a bit, and then could not find a toilet. When there finally was one, there were only about 2k left, and I just decided to see if I could push myself. I was feeling pretty beat, and I knew if I stopped I would lose a lot of momentum.
When we came around the corner and could see the big finish gate, I was pretty excited, as always. I gave it a push about 400 meters out, but couldn't sustain it. There was one guy right with me, and as we got about 100m meters away he tried to overtake me, but I literally gave it a last grunt (and crowd pleasing) push and beat him.
Finished in 1:23:25, beating my old PB by about 1.5 minutes. Was pretty happy with the race, and my legs felt decent.
Got in a good walk around part of the lake on the way to the train station, and stopped for lunch at a little place selling kama meishi which I enjoyed while looking at the lake.
Overall a good race, although a bit far. Would be nice to go up there and stay with the family before and/or after.

Post-Suwako Recovery (?!) Week

Thought this would be a really easy week, but my legs recovered faster than expected, and so I got in some good workouts.
Mon: Rest
Tue: Bike 33k (Had some issues with my rear hub after having just replaced the bearings along with my chain, sprockets, and front bearings)
Wed: 1hr Run home in the Ultra liners. Legs felt quite good.
Thu: 1 hr run home in the ultras. Ran pretty hard for a while.
Fri: Picked up the bike and went out for about 42k along the Arakawa. Got my butt kicked riding back against the wind - good workout!
Sat: 23k/1:50:49/4:50/119/Ultra liners. Wanted to go out for about two hours. Was a good workout, ran pretty hard for part of it. First time measuring my HR in a long time, and was surprised how low it was. What a difference cool weather makes!
Sun: Bike 33k

Last Week Before Suwako HM

Mon: Zoom Streaks. Took the long way home from work along the Arakawa. Really beautiful night for a run. Let me legs loosen up a bit and then pushed for 6-7k. Right hamstring was a bit sore now and then, so had to back off, but otherwise felt good.
Tue: Rest?
Wed: Ultras. Easy run home along the Sumidagawa.
Thu: Bike 33k. First ride with the new Sidi dominators! A bit surprised at having sore feet, but I guess they need to be broken in a bit.
Fri: Rest.
Sat: Suwako HM (see separate post)
Sun: Rest.

Recovery from Arakawa 30k

Legs a bit stiff, but did get in a nice cold bath after the race. Achilles feeling 'fine', which is good!
Sun/Mon Rest
Tue/Wed Bike 33k
Thu: Ultras. Easy run home from work. Right hamstring still a bit tight, which was making me wonder if I should have waited another day, but iced it when I got home, and feels fine now.
Fri: Better run home, legs felt decent. Tried running in the Ultra liners (only) for the first time. Was worried about tightness, but they were fine. Just like running barefoot, but no worry about what I step in/on. Will definitely be getting more use out of them!
Sat: Easy 30 min down the Arakawa, then 10X150-200m hard and then 30m back. Felt good to get in some speed work on the grass in bare feet. Also the first time running in the KSOs in a long time, and they felt ok, but I don't love them any more than I used to.
Sun: Rest.

Arakawa 30K 2:04:25, 39th

I went into this with pretty low confidence after my run in the ekiden in September, and after I couldn't do the full three intervals at race pace I had intended to the weekend before. I was also nervous, as I always am before races, and had trouble sleeping the two nights before the race.
My plan was just to go out a bit behind the 4:15 pacer, and then try to catch up with him by the middle and through the end of the race. I figured if I could average that pace, there would at least be a chance I could run 3hrs at Tsukuba.
Conditions were almost perfect, if only slightly hot. There was only a light wind, which felt great, and actually, the overpass gave us shade for over half the race. There were more people than I anticipated, and good facilities, etc, although I did not need them because it was so close to home.
I tried some new stuff for this race. First, I decided to try making my own energy gels. Found a recipe on the net which was very simple: honey, molasses and salt. We didn't have molasses, so I dissolved some of the kurosato that we got from kagoshima in some warm honey, and then added salt. All very random measurements. I put the mix into some 100 yen travel shampoo containers. I also decided I would wear my belt that holds a water bottle and put the gels in the pocket.
The night before I decided to make a shake for breakfast: bananas, a raw egg, yogurt, mueslix, almonds, soy milk. It sat a little heavy just before the race, but did not actually bother me when I was running.
Decided to run in the XC Zoom Streaks, because I knew my feet would take a beating from running hard, and didn't want any issues. They worked just fine.
I did about 15-20 min easy warm up run, some exercises to loosen up as well. Got to the line early to be up front, and many of the guys up front ogled at me, probably incorrectly assuming that I was going to try to win the race or something.

Me and Sky Tree!

When we took off, I started out in front of the 4:15 pacer, and actually stayed in front. I could hear them right behind me for a while, but I slowly moved further away from them. The pace felt comfortable, so I figured I would stick with it. I stuck with one guy for most of the race, which was helpful in some way, because we would work off each other. I felt good during pretty much the whole race, and when we got to the 20k mark, I decided to start to go and welcome the pain. I moved up slowly and had a good 5k. I started to feel tired and a bit frustrated as a 4-5 guys passed me with about 6k left. But then the number 1 woman caught up to us, and I decided I was going to stick with or ahead of her. That was the motivation I needed and I started to work harder. I got a stitch in my side for a little bit, but it soon went away. A new number 1 woman zoomed by, and I new I wasn't going to catch her.
At 29k I tried to push and when I saw the finish line, I gave it everything I had left. When I crossed the finish line, I actually choked up a bit, I guess because that last 1k was tough. Miho was there with the boys, and that made me choke up some more. Yeah for having family at the finish line!
My 5k splits: 20:38/20:58/20:53/20:43/20:44/20:27. Pretty much what I was going for in terms of negative splits. If I hadn't pushed the last 10k, I think I had enough in me to keep it up for another 12k, but I guess we'll find out soon.
As always, I wonder if I could have pushed myself more. I also wonder how I will fare if conditions are not so favorable. Anyway, it was an enjoyable and confidence-building race, and having it so close to home was a bonus.
Now, I just need to maintain until Suwako HM in two weeks!

The last week before Arakawa 30K

Decided just to forget about HR, pace etc. for the week (or indefinitely?). Just running.
Sun: Nice barefoot run along the Sumidagawa near home, legs and feet felt good.
Mon: Bike 33k.
Tue: Ran home along the Sumidagawa, and decided after warming up that I wanted to do a hard run, so that's what I did, and it felt good. Ultras?
Wed: Rest.
Thu: Easy, slow run home. Was a little nervous about whether I should be resting three days before my race, but it was too nice of a night not to run...
Fri: Rest.
Sat: Arakawa 30k (see separate post).

Needing a Fresh Start Again

After taking five days off for the second time this month, I went for a slow run on Monday and ended up doing a lot of thinking. I was frustrated by being injured even though I thought I was being careful with Maffetone, and I was frustrated by my performance at the ekiden.
What I started to think about is how much I have gotten attached both to the idea of being a fast runner and the ambition of running races in certain times. I don't think it's a bad thing to want to run fast, and it seems like a natural conclusion for someone who runs a lot, but I do think there is the danger of getting too serious and too attached. The body can only handle so much, especially as a new runner, and while I think my training over the past 4-5 months has been reasonable, I also feel like some of my attachment to my goals has added stress to what in theory should be a stress relieving activity. I also wonder if it is related to some of my anger and aggression lately.
I started thinking about the way that Taiyo runs, how carefree he is, and how much fun he has when he does it. I was thinking that he needs to learn how to run from me, but maybe it is the other way around.
I'm not abandoning Maffetone or running, of course, but I'm going to back off a bit. I'll still monitor my HR, etc. when I run, but I won't check it until after my run is finished. I'll also try some other variety, especially that makes my legs go a bit faster, as I'd still like to hit that 3:00 goal in Tsukuba.
I've also started some exercises that I've gotten through Running Times, good warm up stuff and fun stuff with circuit workouts. There's no doubt it would help me to other general strength work, and I think it should be a good fit.
Mon: 1:14/126/Zoom Streak. I've started just including the warm up and cool down. I'll have the watch going whenever I am actually running.
Tue: 1:08/126/Ultra
Wed: 1:08/135/Ultra. Had a bit fun for the last couple of hundred meters and ran hard.
Thu: Circuit workout! 4X500m with exercises in between. Shot for marathon pace, but was a little fast. Not too tough, will try to do two circuits next time I do this.
Fri: 1:27:50/18.7/145/MWU4 Had the day off, so after teaching at the day care, went out for a hard workout. I planned to do 3X5k at marathon pace with 2k easy in between each interval. I was running right in the middle of the day, and it ended up being a hot one, so I got through second interval and decided I was done. I did the intervals relatively fast: 4:03 pace for the first one, 4:15 for the second, but was a little discouraged that I didn't get through the third one. I was pretty wasted, though, and the shoes are really too small for my left foot, so I ended up walking back about 6k, about half of that barefoot.