Race #2

I went to the race in Wakayama last Sunday and I would count it as a success. But first some background. Wakayama is about 2 hours from here by train and bus. It is kind of a mountainous prefecture.We took the train from Tennoji to Wakayama, it was quite cheap, just 800 yen and then we took a bus from Wakayama station to Marina city which appeared to be on a man-made island. I love to travel so it is always exciting for me to go to a new city and explore a bit. After about a 45 minute buss ride we arrived a the hotel. It was in a resort-like area. There were lots of big hotels and even an amusement park close by. The hotel was quite luxurious and our room was very big by Japanese standards. It had a balcony and a jacuzzi style bath so we were quite pleased. As soon as we got there we had to go to dinner which was part of the price. The restaurant was Italian style but the only resemblence to Italian food was in the name of the restaurant. It was a seven course dinner but each course was laughably small. Unfortunately I wasn't laughing too hard because I was starving. Anyway we managed to eat enough to stop the hunger pains. We then went to a private hotsprings to relax before bed.
The next day we were able to sleep in, because the race started quite late at 11:00. We went down to get my number around 9:30 and explored all the stalls and mini-stores selling running gear. It was quite the production with jazz bands along the course to cheer on the runners. Finally it was time for the race and when I got to the starting area everybody was already lined up. I managed to squeeze into the lead goup. When the gun went off it was a crazy start as Japanese races usually are and I had to keep my elbows high and do my share of pushing to avoid getting run over. I have come to the conclusion that i can't start fast enough to be on the front line anymore. The next race I need to be farther back. I guess that is a sign of age. Anyway the race went well. I felt strong and steady. The only problem with the race is that it turned out to be about 600 meters long. Luckily I had my Garmin on and I got my 5k time at 19:23. It is a post 40 PR which is always good but is not as fast as I would have liked to run. Oh well I will take it a step at a time. One interesting note, later that week the race sent everyone a note apologizing the the mistake in course measurement, which is one thing that never happened to me in the US.

Two tough workouts

This week has gone pretty well. I had two good track wokouts . On Tuesday I warmed up two miles and then did a three mile tempo run with the 1st mile at 7:15, the 2nd 7:05 and the 3rd 7:00. I recovered for 400 meters and then did 5 x 1000 at around 4:00. The first couple were about 4:02 and the last three were at 3:57. I felt pretty good. I finished the workout with 4 x 200 at 1500 race pace. It is quite a difficult workout. It seems like 2 workouts back to back. The interesting thing about it is the change in pace. You are running three different paces and they all seem like work. You also are running differently for each pace. The tempo run I was landing on the middle of my food,the 1000's I was farther forward and the 200's I was pretty much on my toes.. It was quite challenging.
The other workout was 20 x 4o seconds with an 80 second rest. I did it on the track because it is easier to run fast on the track. There are less obstacles and if feels smoother. It went well I think.
I have a race this coming Sunday. I am a bit anxious about it because of course I want to do well and I have no idea what kind of racing shape I am in. I know I am in much better condition than last year but I am not so confident in my ability to run fast at the moment. I will just try to relax and go in with a good attitude. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Week of Ocober 8th - 15th

Sunday - 15 easy pace

Monday 4.4

Tuesday - 2 w/u 3 mile tempo at about 7 minute pace 2 x 1 mile at 6:30 2 x 300 at 1500 pace - 8

Wednesday - 6.4

Thursday am 5
pm 5. 5

Friday - am 4
pm 6.6 including 3 x 10 minutes at marathon pace

Saturday - 7

Overall not a very good week. Total mileage 61.9. Missed a few morning runs. This year a bad week in 62. Last year a bad week was 22. I guess I am improving!

Morning run photos

Every morning up at 5:30 and out the door at 6:00 for an hour run.It is the hardest run of the day because of the hour and because I am always sore from the day before. It is a lot easier because I am not alone. It is a nice time for Loran and I to chat about the upcoming day and also a time to just be together. Thankfully fall is now officially here and instead of being drenched in sweat after the run we are being woken up by the chill of the morning.

Grocery shopping

Since we live in the relative boondocks, grocery shopping is quite an event. The nearest grocery store is about 25 minutes away by bus so every Tuesday night I take the bus into the nearest town to meet Loran, who is on her way back from her Japanese class. We meet at the grocery store, Heiwado, and do out weekly grocery shopping together. It has become kind of a nice custom. It goes rather quickly. We buy pretty much the same thing every week. Our typical grocery cart contains, a few loaves of bread. ( A loaf of bread has a max of six slices) Six cartons of yoghurt, 3 strawberry and 3 blueberry. ( The only non-plain flavors they have) One large container of plain yoghurtfor Loran. One container of yoghurt drink for out morning smoothies. Various kinds of meat or fish. Usually hamburger, chicken and stir fry meat. (Meat is not really that expensive here) Eggs, butter, cheese, granola. Two bottles of sports drink. (Not gatorade anymore. They sold it here for a while but one day it disappeared from the shelves.) Pasta, tuna fish, assorted vegetables...lettuce, carrots, onions. Fruit...bananas...pineapple and a few other odds and ends. It is never more than two people can carry on to the bus and usually costs around $60 for the week. Not bad for two people! After we are finished we have dinner together either at KFC or MacDonalds. For us this is an exciting night on the town.

Track workout

Today, Tuesday, I had a track workout scheduled after school and before Tuesday night grocery shopping. I didn't really have much time to get a real workout in, but I did manage to do it. I warmed up two miles, did a three mile tempo run at about 7 minute pace. Then I ran two x 1 mile at 6:30 and then finished with 2 x 300 meters at 1500 race pace. It is a tough workout because it is quite long, 6 miles on the track and relatively intense. I have two weeks until the next race. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of shape I am in. I haven't run much at race pace so I am a little under-confident but I have to trust the training. I know my coach is very knowledgeable and I know I am much stronger than I was a year ago so I just need to trust the training.

Training October 2 - 8

Sunday - 2 miles warm-up race 5k total 5 miles

Monday am -5
pm -5

Tuesday am -5
pm - 5

Wednesday am- 5
pm - 5

Thursday w/u 2
3 mile tempo at 21:28
4 x 1K at around 4:00
4 x 200

Friday - 6 .4

Saturday w/u 3
10 x 1 minute - 4 miles - total 7

Sunday - 15 easy

The race

I was all excited about my first race in a long time. I had done all my training, booked the hotel and researched the train schedule so I knew how to get to the race. On the night before leaving I went into Osaka to get a haircut. I was talking to my stylist about the race and I told her it was near Nagoya. She said she was from Nagoya and asked exactly where it was. I told her it was near a ski resort. When she said there was no ski resort anywhere near Nagoya I started to worry. I went home and checked my directions and discovered there were two towns with the same name, unfortunately the one I was supposed to go to, was nowhere near Nagoya. I called Yoko who was staying in Kyoto for a yoga convention, she talked to the concierge in her hotel and he made hotel reservations for me at the real location of the race.
We left the next day for the race. It was quite a journey, starting on the shinkansen, transferring to a two car train, then to a one car train and finally to a taxi for a $40 dollar ride. We finally arrived at the hotel which was conveniently two minutes from the race starting line. It was a ski lodge with traditional Japanese style rooms and a hotspring style bath. It was rustic but quite a nice place. We spent a nice night and had a delicious nabe dinner with beer. Unfortunately I always forget that beer can give my migraine like headaches if I don't drink tons of water afterwards so I was up most of the night with a killer headache. Finally about 4 in the morning it went away and I was able to get a couple hours of sleep.
After such a horrible night I was surprised that I felt decent that morning but I did. When I went out to warm-up on the course I was surprised to see that it was 2.5k downhill and 2.5k uphill.The downhill was incredibly steep. It dropped 200 meters in the 2.5k. I am not the best downhill runner in the world so I knew it would be a tough race. When the gun went off I was ok for the first 100 meters but when the course really started to drop I just couldn't keep up. It felt like everybody was going by me. I just wasn't willing to throw myself down the hill. After about a mile of downhill runnning it flattened out a bit and I started to pass people. When we turned back toward home and uphill I caught a lot of people and made up for some of the 1st half. Overall I finished 3rd in the 40-49 division and about 13th overall. I got a nice medal for my efforts and a box of traditional Japanese food.
Overall it was not a very pleasing race, because it was hard to run a good time but I was glad to place because I have never placed before in a Japanese race. I have two more races coming up one on Oct 22nd and the other 3 weeks later. Hopefully I can run fast at both of them.

Catch up

It has been a while since my last post. It is always harder to write when things are not going so well. The past three weeks have been quite low mileage, 38, 38, and 58. The biggest reason is that I threw my back out so I lost several days of traing and then I got sick right after that. This is the beginning of the new semster so I am sure that added to the stress. Anyway things are back to normal now I am feeling good and ready to roll again